Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Wearable Robotic Glove Design Using Surface-Mounted Actuators

We propose a novel wearable robotic glove or exo-glove design scalable to the variation of the hand kinematics. While most of the traditional robot hand is driven by rotating the joint directly with a rigid body, our exo-glove deforms a robotic finger's skin and, thus, the hand skeleton joints. Multiple tendons woven on the exo-glove's surface can make multi-DOF finger joint motions. We allocated tendons to mimic a hand's intrinsic and extrinsic muscles. Thus, a robotic hand actuated with the exo-glove can perform natural finger motions, including abduction/adduction and flexion/extension of finger joints. Moreover, additional tendons for the thumb enable power grips and the robotic hand's human-like motion. The proposed design approach places all the actuators on the surface without directly actuating any of the hand skeleton's joint. Therefore, a random hand skeleton can work as a robotic hand by putting the wearable robotic glove on it. Thus, the proposed model provides a high degree of freedom on choosing hand skeletons. We expect the aforementioned biomimetic features of our proposed method will benefit not only traditional robotic hands design but also the design of prosthetic hands and robot power-assisted hand glove.
Targeting Fluorescence Imaging of RGD-Modified Indocyanine Green Micelles on Gastric Cancer

Early diagnosis and complete resection of the tumor is an important way to improve the quality of life of patients with gastric cancer. In recent years, near-infrared (NIR) materials show great potential in fluorescence-based imaging of the tumors. To realize a satisfying intraoperative fluorescence tumor imaging, there are two pre-requirements. One is to obtain a stable agent with a relatively longer circulation time. The second is to make it good biocompatible and specific targeting to the tumor. Here, we developed an RGD-modified Distearyl acylphosphatidyl ethanolamine-polyethylene glycol micelle (DSPE-PEG-RGD) to encapsulate indocyanine green (ICG) for targeting fluorescence imaging of gastric cancer, aimed at realizing tumor-targeted accumulation and NIR imaging. 1H NMR spectroscopy confirmed its molecular structure. The characteristics and stability results indicated that the DSPE-PEG-RGD@ICG had a relatively uniform size of <200 nm and longer-term fluorescence stability. RGD peptides had a high affinity to integrin αvβ3 and the specific targeting effect on SGC7901 was assessed by confocal microscopy in vitro. Additionally, the results of cytotoxicity and blood compatibility in vitro were consistent with the acute toxicity test in vivo, which revealed good biocompatibility. The biodistribution and tumor targeting image of DSPE-PEG-RGD@ICG were observed by an imaging system in tumor-bearing mice. DSPE-PEG-RGD@ICG demonstrated an improved accumulation in tumors and longer circulation time when compared with free ICG or DSPE-PEG@ICG. In all, DSPE-PEG-RGD@ICG demonstrated ideal properties for tumor target imaging, thus, providing a promising way for the detection and accurate resection of gastric cancer.
Automatic Improvement of Machine Translation Using Mutamorphic Relation: Invited Talk Paper

This paper introduces Mutamorphic Relation for Machine Learning Testing. Mutamorphic Relation combines data mutation and metamorphic relations as test oracles for machine learning systems. These oracles can help achieve fully automatic testing as well as automatic repair of the machine learning models. The paper takes TransRepair as an example to show the effectiveness of Mutamorphic Relation in automatically testing and improving machine translators, TransRepair detects inconsistency bugs without access to human oracles. It then adopts probability-reference or cross-reference to post-process the translations, in a grey-box or black-box manner, to repair the inconsistencies. Manual inspection indicates that the translations repaired by TransRepair improve consistency in 87% of cases (degrading it in 2%), and that the repairs of have better translation acceptability in 27% of the cases (worse in 8%).
Le vieillissement de la paroi artérielle

Au cours du vieillissement, se produit un remodelage progressif des arteres, caracterise par une augmentation du calibre des gros troncs et un remaniement de la paroi. Les fibres elastiques de la paroi sont alterees et le contenu en collagene augmente. Le collagene, qui subit une glycosylation non enzymatique, devient plus rigide et plus resistant a la proteolyse. Les cellules musculaires lisses acquierent un phenotype jeune, c'est-a-dire proliferatif et secretoire, qui contribue au remaniement fibreux et a l'hypertrophie de la paroi. L'espace sous-endothelial s'epaissit considerablement. Cette couche est constituee de collagene, de proteoglycanes, de cellules musculaires lisses et de cellules mononucleees, normalement absentes dans cette zone
Touch and Go: On the use of proprioception to convey a meaningful experience in virtual reality

Proprioception is the usually unconscious ability to monitor the position of our body in the world. Two aspects of proprioception may be of particular interest in the construction of virtual reality environments. The first, proprioceptive memory, occurs when a recalled position of our body overrides the actual position of our body or limb. The second, proprioceptive drift, occurs when the sense of ownership of part of our body is transferred externally. The abstract navigable virtual reality environment The Sonic Stage employs these two aspects of proprioception to enhance the place illusion and plausibility of the environment.
Factors controlling the growth form of Spartina alterniflora: feedbacks between above-ground production, sediment oxidation, nitrogen and salinity

(1) The relationship between above-ground biomass of Spartina alterniflora and sediment oxidation status (Eh), available ammonium concentration and interstitial salinity was investigated at twenty-one sites in a New England salt marsh. Sediment Eh gave the best prediction of above-ground biomass. The relationship between sediment oxidation and above-ground production existed between years and marshes. (2) Measurements in nitrogen-fertilized areas indicate that increasing plant production leads to more oxidized sediments. (3) Sediment oxidation in vegetated sediments occurs via air entry, which was found to cause a rapid and significant rise in sediment oxidation potential. Air enters the sediment in response to water removal from the sediment by evapotranspiration in short grass zones and evapotranspiration and drainage on creek banks. (4) The available data on the environmental controls of Spartina growth are used to construct a model consisting of a variety of feedbacks between plant production, available nitrogen, interstitial salinity and sediment oxidation state mediated primarily through the rates and pathways of interstitial water exchange.
Diffusion Tensor Imaging in Parkinson's Disease and Parkinsonian Syndrome: A Systematic Review

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) allows measuring fractional anisotropy and similar microstructural indices of the brain white matter. Lower than normal fractional anisotropy as well as higher than normal diffusivity is associated with loss of microstructural integrity and neurodegeneration. Previous DTI studies in Parkinson's disease (PD) have demonstrated abnormal fractional anisotropy in multiple white matter regions, particularly in the dopaminergic nuclei and dopaminergic pathways. However, DTI is not considered a diagnostic marker for the earliest Parkinson's disease since anisotropic alterations present a temporally divergent pattern during the earliest Parkinson's course. This article reviews a majority of clinically employed DTI studies in PD, and it aims to prove the utilities of DTI as a marker of diagnosing PD, correlating clinical symptomatology, tracking disease progression, and treatment effects. To address the challenge of DTI being a diagnostic marker for early PD, this article also provides a comparison of the results from a longitudinal, early stage, multicenter clinical cohort of Parkinson's research with previous publications. This review provides evidences of DTI as a promising marker for monitoring PD progression and classifying atypical PD types, and it also interprets the possible pathophysiologic processes under the complex pattern of fractional anisotropic changes in the first few years of PD. Recent technical advantages, limitations, and further research strategies of clinical DTI in PD are additionally discussed.
Gradient Boosting and Language Model Ensemble for Tweet Recommendation

In this paper, we describe the approach used on the RecSys Challenge 20201 which focuses on a real-world task of tweet engagement prediction. A large database of ∼ 160M public tweets, obtained by subsampling within 2 weeks, is used with the goal to predict the probability for different types of engagement (Like, Reply, Retweet and Retweet with comment) of a target user for a set of tweets. The proposed approach, uses the power of Gradient Boosting Trees to combine features from users and tweet text. Using a fine-tuned language model we are able to embed the tweet text to a vector representation and extract engagement probabilities from the language. Since Twitter is based on its users, we defined several features such as popularity, engagement and language reaction that represent users and their behaviour patterns when interacting with other users. Merging text and user features, we present an interdisciplinary model that is able to compete with the top submissions of the challenge. Popularity and text embedding turned out to be the most relevant features for our model. Regarding the competition, our team Not_Last_Place reached the ninth place of the challenge. All the source code is available online2.
Monitoring of PpIX-induced death dynamics in HeLa cells by digital holographic tomography

We present the analysis of the response of human cervix epidermoid carcinoma HeLa cells to photodynamic treatment with protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) synthesized in living cells under accumulation of 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA). PpIX synthesis was estimated by means of confocal uorescent microscopy basing on its uorescence intensity in the red wavelength range. The cell death dynamics and pathways caused by intracellular generation of reactive oxygen species under laser irradiation of photosensitized cells were examined using digital holographic tomography. These processes were studied both at early stages of cells death on living specimens and at later stages on paraformaldehyde-fixed specimens. Statistical analysis of changes in cellular morphology monitored using holographic tomography allowed us to conclude on cell death pathways, observed at different irradiation doses. Data obtained by holographic tomography have been validated by a standard AO/EB test for cell membrane integrity conducted using the confocal fluorescence microscope.
Insights Into Type I and III Interferons in Asthma and Exacerbations

Asthma is a highly prevalent, chronic respiratory disease that impacts millions of people worldwide and causes thousands of deaths every year. Asthmatics display different phenotypes with distinct genetic components, environmental causes, and immunopathologic signatures, and are broadly characterized into type 2-high or type 2-low (non-type 2) endotypes by linking clinical characteristics, steroid responsiveness, and molecular pathways. Regardless of asthma severity and adequate disease management, patients may experience acute exacerbations of symptoms and a loss of disease control, often triggered by respiratory infections. The interferon (IFN) family represents a group of cytokines that play a central role in the protection against and exacerbation of various infections and pathologies, including asthma. Type I and III IFNs in particular play an indispensable role in the host immune system to fight off pathogens, which seems to be altered in both pediatric and adult asthmatics. Impaired IFN production leaves asthmatics susceptible to infection and with uncontrolled type 2 immunity, promotes airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR), and inflammation which can lead to asthma exacerbations. However, IFN deficiency is not observed in all asthmatics, and alterations in IFN expression may be independent of type 2 immunity. In this review, we discuss the link between type I and III IFNs and asthma both in general and in specific contexts, including during viral infection, co-infection, and bacterial/fungal infection. We also highlight several studies which examine the potential role for type I and III IFNs as asthma-related therapies.
Examining the Impact of e-Retailing Convenience Dimensions on Behavioral Intention: The Mediating Role of Satisfaction

Abstract This research investigates the impact of service convenience dimensions (access, transaction, decision, benefit, and post-benefit convenience) on consumers’ behavioral intention and the mediating effect of consumer satisfaction in e-retailing in India. A survey was conducted, and responses collected from 351 participants who had e-retailing experience. Using multiple regression, the study reveals that decision, transaction, benefit, and post-benefit convenience influence consumers’ behavioral intention. The results of mediated regression process suggest that consumer satisfaction partially mediates the association between decision and post-benefit convenience and behavioral intention. However, the association between transaction and behavioral intention is fully mediated by consumer satisfaction. The study does not find any mediation effect of consumer satisfaction for access and benefit convenience dimensions. Results provide important insights to e-retailers about the impact of convenience dimensions on consumer satisfaction and behavioral intention. E-retailers need to improve their level of customer-perceived service quality to ensure service convenience to their consumers.
Towards automated safety analysis for architectures of dynamically forming networks of cyber-physical systems

Dynamically forming networks of cyber-physical systems are becoming increasingly widespread in manufacturing, transportation, automotive, avionics and more domains. The emergence of future internet technology and the ambition for ever closer integration of different systems leads to highly collaborative cyber-physical systems. Such cyber-physical systems form networks to provide additional functions, behavior, and benefits the individual systems cannot provide on their own. As safety is a major concern of systems from these domains, there is a need to provide adequate support for safety analyses of these collaborative cyber-physical systems. This support must explicitly consider the dynamically formed networks of cyber-physical systems. This is a challenging task as the configurations of these cyber-physical system networks (i.e. the architecture of the super system the individual system joins) can differ enormously depending on the actual systems joining a cyber-physical system network. Furthermore, the configuration of the network heavily impacts the adaptations performed by the individual systems and thereby impacting the architecture not only of the system network but of all individual systems involved. As existing safety analysis techniques, however, are not meant for supporting such an array of potential system network configurations the individual system will have to be able to cope with at runtime, we propose automated support for safety analysis for these systems that considers the configuration of the system network. Initial evaluation results from the application to industrial case examples show that the proposed support can aid in the detection of safety defects.
Antagonistic effects of iron and/or magnesium deficiencies on enzyme activities in lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) plants

Summary Lactuca sativa L. is one of the most important sources of phytonutrients including vitamins, carotenoids, and antioxidants. However, lettuce growth and quality are strongly affected by soil fertility. In this study, the influence of iron (Fe) and/or magnesium (Mg) deficiencies on the growth, anti-oxidant properties, and ferric chelate reductase (FCR) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) activities in lettuce plants was studied, after 15 d of treatment. Deficiencies in Fe and Mg decreased the accumulation of fresh weight and the concentration of chlorophyll. Intracellular Fe and Mg concentrations were affected by Fe- and/or Mg-deficiency, especially by the combined deficiency. This study also showed that Fe- and Mg-deficiencies had antagonistic effects on the activities of FCR and PEPC. The activity of catalase (CAT) was not significantly altered by Mg-deficiency, but a significant decline in CAT activity was recorded in Fe-deficient shoots. This decline increased with the concentration of Mg in the medium. Moreover, guaiacol peroxidase (GPX) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activities were reduced by Fe-deficiency at normal levels of Mg, but were increased by Mg-deficiency at normal or low levels of Fe.
How Do Negative Emotions Influence on the Conceptual Models Verification?: A live study proposal

The present live study is proposed with the objective of investigating the influence of negative emotions (i.e., stress) in the efficiency for verifying conceptual models. To conduct this study, we use a Model-driven Testing tool, named CoSTest, and our own version of stress detector within a competition setting. The experiment design, overview of the empirical procedure, instrumentation and potential threats are presented in the proposal.
An Empirical Study on Self-Fixed Technical Debt

Technical Debt (TD) can be paid back either by those that incurred it or by others. We call the former self-fixed TD, and it is particularly effective, as developers are experts in their own code and are best-suited to fix the corresponding TD issues. To what extent is TD self-fixed, which types of TD are more likely to be self-fixed and is the remediation time of self-fixed TD shorter than non-self-fixed TD? This paper attempts to answer these questions. It reports on an empirical study that analyzes the self-fixed issues of five types of TD (i.e., Code, Defect, Design, Documentation and Test), captured via static analysis, in more than 17,000 commits from 20 Python projects of the Apache Software Foundation. The results show that more than two thirds of the issues are self-fixed and that the self-fixing rate is negatively correlated with the number of commits, developers and project size. Furthermore, the survival time of self-fixed issues is generally shorter than non-self-fixed issues. Moreover, the majority of Defect Debt tends to be self-fixed and has a shorter survival time, while Test Debt and Design Debt are likely to be fixed by other developers. These results can benefit both researchers and practitioners by aiding the prioritization of TD remediation activities within development teams, and by informing the development of TD management tools.
Under the Surface of Images: Low-tech images produced by handheld devices for performance practice

‘Under the surface of images’ is a phrase used by Michel Foucault in the book Discipline and Punish when referring to the means in which Surveillance is implicated in the discipline, regulation, and normalisation of the body. Here in this paper is used to understand what can be unveil by low-tech images from two different situations: the first concerns Jazmine Headley’s case that had happen in the United States in 2018. The second is related with my practice as an artist and the use of handheld devices in my live performance This is a Low-Tech Movie . In the paper I propose to discuss the use of technology devices as tools for visibility and emotional memory imprint – as described by the neuroscientist Boris Cyrulnik – and how this knowledge can be used in performance practice. The paper is be divided into two main sections, one related to technology and ways of perception, with articles from Jonathan Crary, Camille Barker, and Boris Cyrulnik and, one to the discussion of the concept of 'low-tech image' or 'poor image' produced by handheld devices and developed in my own performance practice.
A preliminary study of open-source IoT development frameworks

The Internet of Things (IoT) market is growing fast with an increasing number of connected devices. This led many software companies to shift their focus to develop and provide IoT solutions. IoT development has its own challenges as typical IoT solutions are composed of heterogeneous devices, protocols and software. To cope with these challenges, many frameworks are available to help developers to build IoT applications. Some of these frameworks are open source and might be of great interest for small and medium-sized companies wishing to build IoT solutions at a lower cost. In this paper, we present the results of a preliminary study of four open source IoT development frameworks. In particular, we used these frameworks to implement a sample of three IoT applications and we analyze them against a minimal set of IoT requirements. We focus in our study on the IoT development for Raspberry PI as it is a very low-cost and popular platform.
“Professional Development Is Really Key”: Experiences of School Counselors Engaging in Professional Development Focused on LGBTQ Youth

This qualitative study explored the experiences and perspectives of eight school counselors who attended a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ)–related professional development event at a Midwestern University. The researchers identified three themes: (a) commitment and motivation, (b) learning from and connecting with others, and (c) critical takeaways. This article outlines implications for practice and future research regarding how school counselors can become more intentionally engaged in LGBTQ-inclusive professional development activities.
An Efficient Data Recovery Scheme with Block-level Mapping Approach on NAND Flash Memory

Flash memory has shortcomings, such as the limitations of life cycle and erase-before-write, which need a solution called Flash Translation Layer (FTL) to resolve. Nevertheless, flash memory has many well-known advantages: low power consumption, fast data speed, and high mobility. Nowadays, volatile memory is utilized to save periodic retrieve to mapping tables in flash memory. However, these tables can be missing after a sudden power failure occurrence. To overcome this, many solutions have been proposed, for example, Page-level mapping, Block-level mapping, and Hybrid mapping methods. Nonetheless, these methods also have drawbacks, namely, the recovery time and the mapping information management cost. In this study, an efficient data recovery scheme is introduced based on Block-level mapping using the spare area in FTL divided into ECC, ASN, mapping information, flag, and reserved. The results show that the approach yields - the better recovery time and mapping information management cost than the previous methods.