Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robot programming for manipulators through volume sweeping and augmented reality

Today's industrial robots require that human operators teach motions in advance. However, conventional methods for robot programming need deep knowledge and skills about robots or great effort for inputting information of working environment into computers. Therefore, a robot programming method in which everyone can easily teach robots “good” motions is demanded. For this purpose, our group proposed a robot programming method that uses manual volume sweeping by operators and automatic motion planning together to generate motion plans with short cycle times. Because a swept volume is the space through which the robot has passed without collision, it is movable space of the robot that can be used in motion planning. In this paper, we proposed using augmented reality in this programming method. We constructed a system in which operators can perceive obtained swept volumes and generated paths intuitively through augmented reality. Teaching experiments showed that non-skilled operators can make a robot move in shorter time than teaching/playback by direct teaching.
Environmental dynamism and strategic decision‐making rationality: an examination at the decision level

Several approaches have been used to explore environmental dynamism as a contingent predictor of the relationship between rational-comprehensive strategic decision-making and firm-level performance. At the decision level of analysis, however, small sample sizes, low statistical power, and statistical dependence have plagued the research. Through the use of a simulated decision-making environment and multilevel analysis, this study examined 400 decisions from 54 executive teams. Consistent with much of the existing firm-level research, the results indicated that environmental dynamism may moderate the relationship between rational-comprehensive decision making and decision quality. Surprisingly, the form of the relationship differed from much of the firm-level research. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Backward Visual Masking with Homogeneous and Patterned Stimuli: Comparison of Retarded and Nonretarded Subjects

10 mentally retarded and 10 age-matched nonretarded (normal) Ss were tested under two conditions of backward visual masking: with a homogeneous masking flash and with a pattern masking flash. The results showed that retardates had higher thresholds (impaired detection of the test flash) than nonretardates under both masking conditions, but especially with the pattern masking flash. These results are interpreted in light of published reports that masking with a homogeneous flash occurs peripherally, while masking with a pattern flash occurs centrally. Hence, the inferior performance of retardates under conditions of pattern masking implies primarily central perceptual deficits. In addition, evidence is presented that such deficits may be related to the actual degree of intellectual ability.
Low Power 3T XOR Cell using IDDG MOSFET

In this paper, a new design of three transistor XOR gate is proposed using Independent Driven Double Gate MOSFET to achieve ultra-low power in sub threshold conduction. The proposed design has been compared with the three transistor XOR implemented using Symmetrical Driven Double Gate MOSFET in sub threshold region. A three transistor XOR gate designed using Independent Driven Double Gate MOSFET is showing improved results in terms of power consumption with varying input voltage, temperature and operating frequencies. The simulation has been carried out on SPICE tool at 45 nm technology.
Simplified Methods for Determination of Calcium and Magnesium in the Saliva

Calcium, magnesium, and other metals are firmly bound in un-ionized complexes by certain organic compounds which have been called complexones. Certain dyes have a similar although weaker, metal-binding capacity. If the color of such a dye is distinctly different from that of its complex with a metal, it can be used as an indicator for titration of the metal ion in question with a complexone. Techniques based upon this principle have been rapidly developed during the last few years. For determination of the alkaline earth metals, disodium ethylene diamine tetraacetate (EDTA) has been applied most often; a basic paper on this subject is that of Biedermann and Schwarzenbach. ' In the biologic field, methods have been evolved to determine calcium in plasma3 and in serum, urine, and spinal fluid15 by titration with EDTA, using murexide (ammonium purpurate) as indicator. Another technique uses Eriochrome Black T as indicator for Mg ions. This dye shifts from red to blue when all Mg ions have been bound by the EDTA titration solution. It can hardly be used for titrations of Ca alone, because its color shift is then too gradual and indistinct. If Ca and Mg are present simultaneously, however, Ca is bound first by the EDTA, and a sharp end point is obtained in the Mg range. The total amount of Ca and Mg can thus be determined; if Mg is determined in a separate sample after the Ca has been precipitated as the oxalate, Ca is obtained as the difference. Such methods have been applied mainly in water analysis,5" 11 but also for determinations in biologic fluids.9 A third method, used for ultra-micro estimations on serum," involves the same determination of Ca and Mg, followed by the separate determination of Mg by a special colorimetric method"; Ca is obtained as the difference.
Power electronics on InAlN/(In)GaN: Prospect for a record performance

We compare basic physical parameters of Al/sub 0.2/Ga/sub 0.8/N-GaN quantum well with In/sub 0.17/Al/sub 0.83/N/GaN and In/sub 0.17/Al/sub 0.83/N/In/sub 0.10/Ga/sub 0.90/N quantum well parameters, respectively. It is shown that in comparison to conventional AlGaN/GaN approach, structures based on InAlN/(In)GaN should exhibit two to three times higher quantum well polarization-induced charge. We use high electron mobility transistors (HEMT) analytical model to calculate InAlN(In)GaN HEMTs drain currents and transconductances. A 3.3 A/mm and 2.2 A/mm drain current was calculated for In/sub 0.17/Al/sub 0.83/N/In/sub 0.10/Ga/sub 0.90/N and In/sub 0.17/Al/sub 0.83/N/GaN HEMTs, respectively. This represents up to 205% current increase if compared with AlGaN/GaN HEMT and a record power performance can be expected for new structures.
Competitive Paper for IMP Conference Dijon 2002

The broad research problem addressed in this conceptual paper is to identify and analysis the process of internationalisation of small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The process of internationalisation will be evaluated across the depth, scope and dispersion of the value chain of SMEs. This will provide a comprehensive model of the process and type of SME internationalisation. In addition, there are many theories that can be used to describe the process of internationalisation of the large firm (Burgel & Murray, 2000). To what extent these theories apply to the process of SME internationalisation is largely unknown (Madhok, 1997). The relevance of these theories to SMEs and their internationalisation process will be examined. In particular the Stage Models of internationalisation, namely the Uppsala models (U-models) and the Innovation-Diffusion models (I-models) will be reviewed (Wiedersheim-Paul et al, 1978). Finally, a network perspective of internationalisation will be discussed. A critical review of the literature has identified the main research problem as: How do SMEs participate and facilitate entry into international markets? Specifically, the purpose of the paper is to examine the process of SME’s choice of international strategy. The choice of international strategy will be examined in the context of related international issues facing the SME. Focus will include: how SMEs select markets for entry; how business relationships facilitate this process; how some SMEs compete in highly international business environments; why some SMEs de-internationalise as part of their international process; how selection of markets is affected by psychic distance; how the evolution of business relationship development and establishment facilitates the
Sequence similarities of a subgroup of CXC chemokines related to murine LIX: implications for the interpretation of evolutionary relationships among chemokines

The murine CXC chemokine LIX has distinctive sequence features that suggest it is a novel chemokine. Among known human chemokines, ENA‐78 and GCP‐2 are the two most closely related to LIX. We have recently cloned the human GCP‐2 gene. Phylogenetic analysis shows that the LIX coding region is more distant from both human GCP‐2 and ENA‐78 than is porcine AMCF‐II, the chemokine with greatest sequence similarity to LIX. Human GCP‐2 and ENA‐78 have very high nucleotide similarity in non‐coding as well as coding sequences, which suggests that these genes are the result of an evolutionarily recent gene duplication event. If this duplication occurred during primate evolution, then non‐primate species may have only a single chemokine corresponding to this pair of human genes. This example shows that a one‐to‐one genetic correspondence does not necessarily exist between all the chemokine genes in two different species. These observations may have important implications for other chemokines that belong to clusters of closely related genes. J. Leukoc. Biol.62: 598–603; 1997.
Trajectory energy minimization for cell growth tracking and genealogy analysis

Cell growth experiments with a microfluidic device produce large-scale time-lapse image data, which contain important information on cell growth and patterns in their genealogy. To extract such information, we propose a scheme to segment and track bacterial cells automatically. In contrast with most published approaches, which often split segmentation and tracking into two independent procedures, we focus on designing an algorithm that describes cell properties evolving between consecutive frames by feeding segmentation and tracking results from one frame to the next one. The cell boundaries are extracted by minimizing the distance regularized level set evolution (DRLSE) model. Each individual cell was identified and tracked by identifying cell septum and membrane as well as developing a trajectory energy minimization function along time-lapse series. Experiments show that by applying this scheme, cell growth and division can be measured automatically. The results show the efficiency of the approach when testing on different datasets while comparing with other existing algorithms. The proposed approach demonstrates great potential for large-scale bacterial cell growth analysis.
Rcs and PhoPQ Regulatory Overlap in the Control of Salmonella enterica Virulence

ABSTRACT Genetic screens based on the use of MudJ-generated lac fusions permitted the identification of novel genes regulated by the Rcs signal transduction system in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. Besides genes that are also found in the Escherichia coli genome, our screens identified Salmonella-specific genes regulated by RcsB, including bapA, siiE, srfA, and srfB. Here we show that the srfABC operon is negatively regulated by RcsB and by PhoP. In vivo studies using mutants with constitutive activation of the Rcs and/or PhoPQ system suggested that there is an overlap between these regulatory systems in the control of Salmonella virulence.
Mammalian Zinc Transport, Trafficking, and Signals*

Structural, catalytic, and regulatory functions of zinc in biology continue to be defined. The number of genes coding for proteins with zinc-binding domains is conservatively estimated at 3% of the human genome but possibly is asmuch as 10% (1, 2). Zinc utilization in abundant, yet diverse, applications illustrateswhy organisms have evolved specific pathways to homeostatically regulate availability of this essential micronutrient at specific cellular sites through an array of transporters. Animals regulate zinc gain and loss efficiently. In humans, about 1% of the total body zinc content is replenished daily by the diet (3). This is accomplished principally by tight control of two systems, absorption from the intestine and endogenous loss via pancreatic and other intestinal secretions. Loss-of-function studies have not provided a delineation of how zinc participates in physiologic activities. Nevertheless, immune function and resistance to infection and control of nitrosative and/or oxidative stress of inflammation are two areas of particular contemporary interest. Unfolding knowledge of cell type-specific expression of zinc transporter genes that respond differentially to hormonal and cytokine stimulation should aid in understanding the role of zinc in these physiologic systems. Coordination of intracellular zinc trafficking has focused on the cysteine-rich protein metallothionein (MT). 2 Zinc-dependent expression of Mt and its well documented response to multiple mediators, including oxidants, cytokines, hormones, and nitric oxide, have been extensively investigated. Here we review recent findings of how zinc transporters andMT influencemammalian cellular zincmetabolism and signaling pathways.
Intestinal Immune Response to Human Cryptosporidium sp. Infection

Cryptosporidium is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite that is a major cause of diarrheal illness worldwide. Cryptosporidium primarily infects the distal small intestine. Immunocompetent hosts control and eliminate the infection, which typically causes acute, self-limited watery diarrhea lasting 5 to 10 days. However, in patients with defects in cellular immune responses (e.g., AIDS, malnutrition, or defects in the CD40-CD154 system), Cryptosporidium frequently causes persistent or chronic diarrhea and may also involve the biliary tract (40). In malnourished children, persistent diarrhea is associated with increased susceptibility to recurrent diarrheal episodes, which can lead to death or chronic nutritional and cognitive sequelae (1, 9, 33). Thus, the host immune response plays a critical role in the control of human cryptosporidiosis. Although extensive studies with various animal models have provided important insight into the host immune response towards Cryptosporidium parvum, the ability of these models to explain the human immune response is limited. The clinical picture in rodents differs from that in humans, as mice do not get diarrhea after infection. Nonhuman primates, although probably the best in vivo model to mimic human disease, are difficult to work with, expensive, and not widely available. Cryptosporidium hominis, the pathogen causing most human cryptosporidiosis, infects only humans and gnotobiotic pigs, thus limiting data from animal models. Most importantly, comparison of animal and human data has shown that the immune response towards Cryptosporidium in humans differs significantly from that in animals; for example, in mice gamma interferon (IFN-γ) production seems to be associated with the innate and primary immune responses (35, 47), whereas in humans it is most probably associated with the memory response towards the parasite (93). Conducting studies to elucidate human mucosal immune responses is difficult. Patients with a natural infection would be the ideal subjects to study, but it is difficult to identify cases. Healthy human volunteers can be studied, but they typically experience a milder illness than malnourished children and AIDS patients. Human intestinal tissue samples can be obtained only by invasive procedures, limiting the numbers of subjects and samples available. Some data can be obtained from in vitro infections, but most of the target cells are immortalized and may not be ideal for studying mechanisms involving apoptosis. Furthermore, the immune cells in the peripheral blood may exhibit properties different from the properties of cells found in the intestinal compartment. Thus, knowledge about the human immune response towards Cryptosporidium infection is far from complete. Still, important recent advances have been made. The goal of this paper is to review the current literature to provide an understanding of the human immune response towards the parasite. We include some relevant data from other models only when the data shed light on studies performed with human cells or tissues.
Development, validation, and evaluation of a pediatric ulcerative colitis activity index: a prospective multicenter study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Colonoscopic appearance, the primary measure of disease activity in adult ulcerative colitis, is less acceptable to children. Our aim was to develop a noninvasive activity index of pediatric ulcerative colitis. METHODS Item selection was performed judgmentally using a Delphi group of 36 experts in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease. Item weighting was performed by regression modeling using a prospective cohort of 157 pediatric ulcerative colitis patients. Validation was assessed on a separate prospective cohort of 48 children with ulcerative colitis undergoing complete colonoscopy. Responsiveness was evaluated at a follow-up visit of 75 children using effect size statistics and diagnostic utility approaches. RESULTS A list of 41 items was generated and reduced to 11 by rank order. Two physicians completed the Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis Activity Index (PUCAI) on each of the patients in the weighting cohort. Six clinical items were significant in the regression analysis; the laboratory items and an endoscopic appearance item did not improve the PUCAI performance. In the validation cohort, the PUCAI was highly correlated with the Physician's Global Assessment (r = 0.91, P < .001), Mayo score (r = 0.95, P < .001), and colonoscopic appearance (r = 0.77, P < .001). Correlations were higher than 2 noninvasive adult indices calculated concurrently. Interobserver and test-retest reliability were excellent (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.95; 95% CI: 0.93-0.97). Cut-off points were established using receiver operator characteristic curves on the full cohort. Excellent responsiveness was found at repeated visits (effect size = 1.9, area under the receiver operator characteristic curve = 0.97). CONCLUSIONS The rigorously developed PUCAI is a noninvasive, valid, highly reliable, and responsive index with which to assess disease activity in pediatric ulcerative colitis.
Fragrance Measurement of Scented Rice using Electronic Nose

Abstract This article describes about an instrument and method for aroma based quality detection of Basmati and other aromatic rice varieties. It comprises few modules such as odour delivery module, sniffing module, water bath module and computing module. Odour handling module helps to deliver odour to the sensor array; a sniffing unit comprising a sensor array module that includes a eight number of metal oxide semiconductor sensors assembled on a printed circuit board, said printed circuit board fitted into a sensor chamber; a water bath module for preparing rice sample, said water bath module including a heater attachment to facilitate cooking; a computing module to quantify the aroma data acquired by sensors; data acquisition module etc. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) implemented for clustering the data sets acquired from sensor array. Also data generated from sensor array was fed to Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN), Back-propagation Multilayer Perceptron (BPMLP) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) for identification of different rice varieties. Finally, for aroma quantifying, pure-quadratic response surface methodology model used with mean square error (MSE) 0.0028.
On resistor-induced thermal noise in linear circuits

In a previous correspondence, M. Vargas and R. Pallas-Areny [ibid., vol. 45, p. 345, 1996] showed that the thermal noise introduced by a resistor in any linear circuit will ultimately decrease with the value of the resistance R, to explain some paradoxical behavior on certain active circuits. Here it is shown how this result, although correct for every physical network, has some noticeable breakdowns for ideal networks and, consequently, in some limit conditions that are worthwhile considering. Moreover, with the same hypothesis needed for the theoretical correctness of the results, more general considerations are possible and have been investigated.
Retailing and the period leading up to the Great Recession: a model and a 25-year financial ratio analysis of US retailing

Today, more than ever, retailers need to analyze the key solvency (liquidity) and efficiency financial ratio measures that affect how well their firms perform and to engage in long-term activities that will lead to improved results. Clearly, the recent ‘Great Recession’ has had a significant negative impact on retailers worldwide. Yet, an important question remains largely answered: Was the retail industry a major contributor to the events leading up to the economic crisis or was it an affected bystander shaken by the recession? This paper addresses the question for US retailing, the largest retail economy in the world. Although there has been considerable research on some aspects of the performance of the industry and individual firms, no prior studies exist that comprehensively examine the financial ratio performance of the totality of US retailing over time. Here, the financial performance of US retailers in 54 different sectors is analyzed for the 1982–2007 period using a model and data derived from Dun & Bradstreet's annual Industry Norms & Key Business Ratios. Results show that for many financial measures – such as the current ratio, liabilities to net worth, return on sales (profit margin), return on assets, financial leverage, and return on net worth – US retailing's financial performance has been in a steady decline for decades. The model introduced here is largely validated.
[Newborn Screening Program for congenital hypothyroidism of the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil: etiological investigation in the first visit].

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the etiology of primary congenital hypothyroidism (PCH) identified in the Newborn Screening Program from the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, from July 2007 to June 2009 in the first visit. SUBJECTS AND METHODS A prospective study was performed in 45 patients with PCH. For the etiological diagnosis, history, physical examination, and additional tests (TSH, free thyroxine, thyroglobulin, bone age assessment, thyroid ultrasound) were carried out in the first visit. RESULTS The etiology was established in the first visit in 53.3% of cases. Thyroid dysgenesis represented 51.11% of the cases, from which 20% showed hypoplastic thyroid, 13.3% showed athyreosis, and 17.7% showed ectopic glands; 2.2% were diagnosed with dyshormonogenesis. Umbilical hernia was the most prevalent sign (48.89%) and 20% had no clinical manifestations. Patients with dysgenesis showed significant differences (p < 0.05) in terms of cesarean section delivery, delayed bone age, and very high serum TSH. CONCLUSIONS The diagnostic approach used at first visit for PCH patients may determine the etiology in 53.3% of cases. Half of patients had thyroid dysgenesis.