Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development and Grasp Stability Estimation of Sensorized Soft Robotic Hand

This paper introduces the development of an anthropomorphic soft robotic hand integrated with multiple flexible force sensors in the fingers. By leveraging on the integrated force sensing mechanism, grip state estimation networks have been developed. The robotic hand was tasked to hold the given object on the table for 1.5 s and lift it up within 1 s. The object manipulation experiment of grasping and lifting the given objects were conducted with various pneumatic pressure (50, 80, and 120 kPa). Learning networks were developed to estimate occurrence of object instability and slippage due to acceleration of the robot or insufficient grasp strength. Hence the grip state estimation network can potentially feedback object stability status to the pneumatic control system. This would allow the pneumatic system to use suitable pneumatic pressure to efficiently handle different objects, i.e., lower pneumatic pressure (50 kPa) for lightweight objects which do not require high grasping strength. The learning process of the soft hand is made challenging by curating a diverse selection of daily objects, some of which displays dynamic change in shape upon grasping. To address the cost of collecting extensive training datasets, we adopted one-shot learning (OSL) technique with a long short-term memory (LSTM) recurrent neural network. OSL aims to allow the networks to learn based on limited training data. It also promotes the scalability of the network to accommodate more grasping objects in the future. Three types of LSTM-based networks have been developed and their performance has been evaluated in this study. Among the three LSTM networks, triplet network achieved overall stability estimation accuracy at 89.96%, followed by LSTM network with 88.00% and Siamese LSTM network with 85.16%.
Cardiovascular disease subtypes, physical disability and workforce participation: A cross-sectional study of 163,562 middle-aged Australians

Background Workforce participation is reduced among people with cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, detailed quantitative evidence on this is limited. We examined the relationship of CVD to workforce participation in older working-age people, by CVD subtype, within population subgroups and considering the role of physical disability. Methods Questionnaire data (2006–2009) for participants aged 45–64 years (n = 163,562) from the population-based 45 and Up Study (n = 267,153) were linked to hospitalisation data through the Centre for Health Record Linkage. Prior CVD was from self-report or hospitalisation. Modified Poisson regression estimated adjusted prevalence ratios (PRs) for non-participation in the workforce in people with versus without CVD, adjusting for sociodemographic factors. Results There were 19,161 participants with CVD and 144,401 without. Compared to people without CVD, workforce non-participation was greater for those with CVD (40.0% vs 23.5%, PR = 1.36, 95%CI = 1.33–1.39). The outcome varied by CVD subtype: myocardial infarction (PR = 1.46, 95%CI = 1.36–1.55); cerebrovascular disease (PR = 1.92, 95%CI = 1.80–2.06); heart failure (PR = 1.83, 95%CI = 1.68–1.98) and peripheral vascular disease (PR = 1.76, 95%CI = 1.65–1.88). Workforce non-participation in those with CVD versus those without was at least 21% higher in all population subgroups examined, with PRs ranging from 1.75 (95%CI = 1.65–1.85) in people aged 50–55 years to 1.21 (95%CI = 1.19–1.24) among those aged 60–64. Compared to people with neither CVD nor physical functioning limitations, those with physical functional limitations were around three times as likely to be out of the workforce regardless of CVD diagnosis; participants with CVD but without physical functional limitations were 13% more likely to be out of the workforce (PR = 1.13, 95%CI = 1.07–1.20). Conclusions While many people with CVD participate in the workforce, participation is substantially lower, especially for people with cerebrovascular disease, than for people without CVD, highlighting priority areas for research and support, particularly for people experiencing physical functioning limitations.
The perception of patients with cancer at the time of discharge after surgery

THE ART OF CARING FOR PATIENTS IS FUNDAMENTAL to nursing. Caring is the adjective used most frequently by students and nurses to describe the nursing profession and is a major component of nursing curricula (Duffy & Hoskins, 2003). Nursing care includes attending to patients’ physical and psychological needs. The concept of nursing care may be interpreted differently by each patient, depending on his or her specific culture, socioeconomic status, gender, race, ethnicity, or age. Nurses often face barriers, including increased patient workload and patient acuity and decreased patient length of hospital stay, that may affect their ability to fulfill caring. In this era of emphasis on quality outcomes and patient satisfaction, exploring patients’ perceptions of caring is important to ensure that nurses are providing care according to what the patients want or expect and not what nurses perceive. Although caring has been termed as the essence and core of nursing, the concept of caring was not studied until the 1950s (Larson, 1995). In the late 1970s, the first national caring research conference convened. Research on caring became more plentiful with the work of Jean Watson in the 1980s. In 1988, caring was added as a term in CINAHL® (Brilowski & Wendler, 2005). However, little is known about patients’ perspectives on caring. Although several studies regarding the caring patient–nurse relationship have been published during the past 30 years, few focused specifically on the perspective of patients with cancer. The limited research found regarding perceptions of patients with cancer included studies that used instruments, such as the Caring Assessment Report Evaluation Q-sort (CARE-Q), developed specifically for use with patients with cancer, and the Caring Behaviors Inventory (CBI) (Zamanzadeh, Azimzadeh, Rahmani, & Valizadeh, 2010). This research has yielded mixed results regarding patients’ and nurses’ perceptions of caring. In a systematic review of nurses’ caring behaviors from an adult patient perspective, a contrast between patients’ and nurses’ perceptions of caring was found (Papastavrou, Efstathiou, & Charalambous, 2011). Overall, patients value instrumental and technical skills, including competency in performing activities, more than nurses themselves; nurses perceive their psychological skills and expressive caring behaviors as being more important than patients do. KEYWORDS
Composable energy policies for reactive motion generation and reinforcement learning

In this work, we introduce composable energy policies (CEP), a novel framework for multi-objective motion generation. We frame the problem of composing multiple policy components from a probabilistic view. We consider a set of stochastic policies represented in arbitrary task spaces, where each policy represents a distribution of the actions to solve a particular task. Then, we aim to find the action in the configuration space that optimally satisfies all the policy components. The presented framework allows the fusion of motion generators from different sources: optimal control, data-driven policies, motion planning, and handcrafted policies. Classically, the problem of multi-objective motion generation is solved by the composition of a set of deterministic policies, rather than stochastic policies. However, there are common situations where different policy components have conflicting behaviors, leading to oscillations or the robot getting stuck in an undesirable state. While our approach is not directly able to solve the conflicting policies problem, we claim that modeling each policy as a stochastic policy allows more expressive representations for each component in contrast with the classical reactive motion generation approaches. In some tasks, such as reaching a target in a cluttered environment, we show experimentally that CEP additional expressivity allows us to model policies that reduce these conflicting behaviors. A field that benefits from these reactive motion generators is the one of robot reinforcement learning. Integrating these policy architectures with reinforcement learning allows us to include a set of inductive biases in the learning problem. These inductive biases guide the reinforcement learning agent towards informative regions or improve collision safety while exploring. In our work, we show how to integrate our proposed reactive motion generator as a structured policy for reinforcement learning. Combining the reinforcement learning agent exploration with the prior-based CEP, we can improve the learning performance and explore safer.
Lung Fissural Integrity: It’s Written in the Genes

Evolution of diaphragm thickness during mechanical ventilation: impact of inspiratory effort. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2015;192: 1080–1088. 3. Goligher EC, Dres M, Fan E, Rubenfeld GD, Scales DC, Herridge MS, et al. Mechanical ventilation–induced diaphragm atrophy strongly impacts clinical outcomes. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2018;197:204–213. 4. Bachasson D, Dres M, Ni erat M-C, Gennisson JL, Hogrel JY, Doorduin J, et al. Diaphragm shear modulus reflects transdiaphragmatic pressure during isovolumetric inspiratory efforts and ventilation against inspiratory loading. J Appl Physiol (1985) 2019;126:699–707. 5. Chino K, Ohya T, Katayama K, Suzuki Y. Diaphragmatic shear modulus at various submaximal inspiratory mouth pressure levels. Respir Physiol Neurobiol 2018;252-253:52–57. 6. Foss e Q, Poulard T, Ni erat M-C, Virolle S, Morawiec E, Hogrel JY, et al. Ultrasound shear wave elastography for assessing diaphragm function in mechanically ventilated patients: a breath-by-breath analysis. Crit Care 2020;24:669. 7. Aarab Y, Flatres A, Garnier F, Capdevila M, Raynaud F, Lacampagne A, et al. Shear wave elastography, a new tool for diaphragmatic qualitative assessment: a translational study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2021; 204:797–806. 8. Flatres A, Aarab Y, Nougaret S, Garnier F, Larcher R, Amalric M, et al. Real-time shear wave ultrasound elastography: a new tool for the evaluation of diaphragm and limb muscle stiffness in critically ill patients. Crit Care 2020;24:34. 9. Levine S, Nguyen T, Taylor N, Friscia ME, Budak MT, Rothenberg P, et al. Rapid disuse atrophy of diaphragm fibers in mechanically ventilated humans. N Engl J Med 2008;358:1327–1335. 10. van den Berg M, Hooijman PE, Beishuizen A, de Waard MC, Paul MA, Hartemink KJ, et al. Diaphragm atrophy and weakness in the absence of mitochondrial dysfunction in the critically ill. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2017;196:1544–1558. 11. Hooijman PE, Beishuizen A, Witt CC, de Waard MC, Girbes AR, Spoelstra-de Man AM, et al. Diaphragm muscle fiber weakness and ubiquitin-proteasome activation in critically ill patients. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2015;191:1126–1138. 12. Shi Z, de Vries HJ, Vlaar APJ, van der Hoeven J, Boon RA, Heunks LMA, et al.; Dutch COVID-19 Diaphragm Investigators. Diaphragm pathology in critically ill patients with COVID-19 and postmortem findings from 3 medical centers. JAMA Intern Med 2021;181: 122–124.
Design and Implementation of a Measurement Framework for Time-Sensitive Networks

Networks in industrial control and automation applications must be capable of providing highly predictable delivery, both in terms of latency and latency variation. Thus, a network must guarantee deterministic behavior for time-sensitive traffic. Currently, dedicated and highly engineered networking solutions such as field buses are commonly used for time-critical traffic in industrial applications. Current trends in network convergence combine mixed-criticality traffic flows into the same real-time-capable networks. Currently, the IEEE Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) Task Group are augmenting the widely supported Ethernet standard to provide time-critical flows alongside best-effort traffic. For its capabilities in high bandwidth, mixed-application and real-timesupport, TSN is expected to be widely adapted in industries. In TSN, many of the guarantees on deterministic behavior have their basis in a traffic scheduling mechanism called Time-Aware Shaper (TAS). The development and integration of TSN-capable networks require increasingly powerful diagnosis and measurement tools. However, no such framework is publicly available at this point. The focus of this thesis is the development of a framework fulfilling requirements for performance analysis of physical networks with real-time constraints. This framework enables high-performance measurement tasks for TSN, which makes measurable the inaccuracies of physical network devices. As a first result of this insight, we show that many of the assumptions researchers often make about TSN networks are simplified and do not properly model the real world. Moreover, scheduling algorithms for the TAS often disregard the same inaccuracies in the synthesis of the traffic schedule. This could render invalid the guarantees on determinism for out-of-the-box scheduling. We propose a mechanism to improve the determinism of low-quality senders and the overall network bandwidth utilization, proving its effectiveness in a proof-of-concept setup.
Lying Behaviour in Dairy Goats: Effects of a New Automated Feeding System Assessed by Accelerometer Technology

Simple Summary Goat farming is becoming more important in Germany and as dehorning is forbidden, it is necessary to facilitate animal welfare among horned and mixed-horned herds. In this study an optimized automatic concentrated feeding system was installed in a mixed-horned herd and lying behaviour was detected by accelerometer technology. Results show a seasonal progression of lying behaviour in dairy goats and an adjustment of behavioural differences between horned and hornless goats with the new feeding system. Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate lying behaviour in dairy goats before and after installation of an optimized automatic concentrated feeding system (AFS). A mixed-horned herd of Bunte Deutsche Edelziege was used. As many agonistic interactions between goats happen at the feeding place, a new automated feeding system was installed to better fulfil the needs of horned goats. Lying behaviour is an indicator to ascertain animal welfare of ruminants. In order to measure lying behaviour accelerometer technology was used and verified by video analyses. The results show an agreement of 99.62–99.93% per lying time by comparing accelerometers to video data. Over all goats, a mean ± SD lying time (LT) of 11.78 ± 1.47 h/d, a mean ± SD lying bout duration (LBD) of 0.51 ± 0.10 h/bout and a mean ± SD frequency of lying bouts (FLB) of 24.35 ± 5.57 were found. Lying behaviour follows a seasonal progression with significant lowest LBD and highest FLB in summer. With the old AFS significant differences in LBD and FLB were detected between horned and hornless goats, but with the new AFS results were adjusted. Findings suggest that changes in feeding management do not affect the general seasonal progression of lying behaviour but can affect the behavioural differences between horned and hornless dairy goats.
Radio-Opaque Filaments Guided Bile Duct Division During Living Donor Liver Transplantation, a Simple Solution to an Ongoing Dilemma

Background: We describe our experience with two techniques of bile duct division in donors of right lobe living donor liver transplantation (RL-LDLT). Methods: 49 RL-LDLT done in Al-Rajhi Liver Hospital, Assiut University, Egypt were divided into 2 eras; from November 2014 till September 2018, the site of biliary division in 29 donors was marked by metal clips (Clips group) and from October 2018 till September 2019, 20 donors were marked by radio-opaque filaments (ROF group). Results: There were no differences between groups in donors’ and recipients’ baseline characteristics. In ROF group there were less number of bile ducts stumps (2, range 1-3 versus 2 range 1-4 in Clips group, p=0.044), less number of “imprecise-transection” (1 (5%) versus 11 (37.9%) in Clips group, p=0.009) and fewer number intraoperative cholangiographies performed (1, range 1-2 versus 2 range 1-3 in Clips group, p=0.001). There were no differences between groups in the number of biliary anastomoses or incidence of biliary complications in donors or recipients. Median follow up is 33 months (range 8-66). Conclusions: Marking biliary division by ROF is a simple and minor modification but can decrease the difficulty of surgery and reduce exposure of donor and operating team to
PREVALENCE OF H. PYLORI

Background: Acid peptic disease is a world wide problem among all the age groups and both sexes. Duodenal ulcer is common as compared to gastric ulcer. Its prevalence being 4:1 in USA & UK and 5:1 in Pakistan1,2,3. Etiology of peptic ulcer is almost certainly multi-factorial. Basic paradigm for ulcer disease is the imbalance between the digestive activity of acid and pepsin and the protective mechanism in place toresist mucosal digestion. Over the past few years a new line of thought has been evolved after isolating spiral campylobacter like organism from antral biopsy specimens. H pylori is now considered to be an important if not the only causative agent of gastritis and peptic ulcer disease. The dictum; No acid – No ulcer summarized the pathogenesis of peptic ulcer disease but new dictum seems to be; No H.pylori -No ulcer4,5, as over90% of Duodenal ulcer and 70% of Gastric ulcer patients are infected byH.Pylori6. Aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of H.pylori among Duodenal ulcer patients at Faisalabad District and its suburbs. Study Design: Descriptive Study. Period: From Mar 2008 to Oct 2008. Materials and Methods: 50 patients (40 Males, 10 Females) belonging to Faisalabad District and surrounding areas with upper gastrointestinal symptoms of acid peptic disease and endoscopy proved duodenal ulcer were subjected to gastric antral mucosal biopsies for evaluation of the H.Pylori status with the help of unease test and histological examination of biopsy specimen. Results: Epigastric pain was the most frequent symptom 90%. (46 out of 50 patients). 92% showed evidence of H. pylori infection. Maximum incidence of H. pylori was recordedin age group IV (46—55 years). Maximum number of patients was skilled workers (35 out of 50) 70%. 80 % of the patients belonged to lower and middle class. Percentage of H.pylori positivity was 89.1 % and 84.34 %. Conclusions: Acceptance of contributory role and high prevalence rate of H.pylori instigates us for addition of antimicrobial treatment to the conventional treatment with H2 Blockers and PPIs which is cost effectiveand alter the course of the disease.
Combining Forecasts for the 2021 German Federal Election: The PollyVote

ThePollyVote project began in 2004with the goal of demonstrating the value of combining forecasts for election forecasting. The PollyVote averages forecasts from different methods to generate a forecast of an election outcome. So far, the PollyVote method has been applied to seven major elections: five in the United States and two in Germany. On average, across the last 100 days prior to the five US presidential elections from 2004 to 2020, the combined PollyVote forecast wasmore accurate than any of its component forecasts (Graefe 2021a). Across the two German federal elections in 2013 and 2017, the combined PollyVote forecast ranked eighth of all 24 forecasts that were available for both elections (Graefe 2019). However, the PollyVote does not only provide accurate forecasts; in doing so, it also maintains a track record of available forecasts. This enables observers to see how forecasting practice changes over time. For example, Graefe (2021a) showed that for US presidential-election forecasting, fundamentals-only models—which rely solely on structural economic data (e.g., GDP, unemployment, and inflation) or political data (e.g., fiscal spending and war fatalities)—have given way to models that also incorporate public-opinion data (e.g., trial-heat polls and job-approval ratings), such as those published by FiveThirtyEight.com and The Economist, which currently are considered state of the art. In addition, PollyVote’s collection of historical forecasts allows for comparing the relative accuracy of different methods over time and in different contexts. For example, Graefe (2019) showed that the relative accuracy of different methods often varies substantially among elections. In other words, forecasts that worked particularly well in one election often performed poorly in the next election. Of course, this is a major reason why combining forecasts is such a good idea: the method prevents forecasters from choosing a forecast that ends up being way off. This article continues the long-term tradition of combining forecasts for major American and German elections and presents the PollyVote forecast for the 2021 German federal election. FORECAST COMPOSITION
The Plane Truth: Airline Crashes, the Media, and Transportation Policy

Flying is an extremely safe way to travel. Fewer than 14,000 individuals perished in U.S. airline disasters during the twentieth century. In contrast, nearly three times as many people lose their lives in automobile accidents every year. Yet plane crashes have a tremendous impact on public perceptions of air safety in the United States. When a crash occurs domestically, media coverage is immediate and continuous. Government teams rush to investigate, elected officials offer condolences and promise to find the cause, and airlines and plane manufacturers seek to avoid responsibility. Regulations are frequently proposed in response to a particular incident, but meaningful change often does not occur. In The Plane Truth , Roger Cobb and David Primo examine the impact of high-visibility plane crashes on airline transportation policy. Regulation is disjointed and reactive, in part due to extensive media coverage of airline disasters. The authors describe the typical responses of various players --elected officials, investigative agencies, airlines, and the media. While all agree that safety is the primary concern in air travel, failure to agree on a definition of safety leads to policy conflicts. Looking at all airline crashes in the 1990s, the authors examine how particular features of an accident correspond to the level of media attention it receives, as well as how airline disasters affect subsequent actions by the National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Aviation Administration, and others. Three accidents are considered in detail: USAir flight 427 (September 1994), ValuJet flight 592 (May 1996), and TWA flight 800 (July 1996). The authors also discuss how the September 11 terrorist attacks turned attention away from safety and toward security. Cobb and Primo make several policy recommendations based on their findings. These include calling on lawmakers and regulators to avoid reactive regulation and instead to focus on systematic problems in airline safety, like the antiquated air traffic control system. Concerned that aviation security is eclipsing aviation safety in the wake of September 11, they encourage federal agencies to strike a better balance between the two. Finally, in order to address the FAA's poor track record in balancing airline safety regulation with its other duties, they recommend the creation of a new federal agency that is responsible for aviation safety. The Plane Truth provides a framework for understanding conflicts about the meaning of air safety and the implications of these battles for public policy.