bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Human-Like Posture Correction for Seven-Degree-of-Freedom Robotic Arm
Authors: Deng Yu-Heng , Chang Jen-Yuan (James)
Published: July 2021

Owing to advancements in robotics, researchers have been focusing on integrating humanoid robots into actual environments. Most humanoid robots are equipped with seven-degree-of-freedom (DoF) arms that allow them to be flexible in different scenarios. The controller of a 7-DoF robotic arm must select one solution among the infinite sets of solutions for a given inverse kinematics problem. To date, no suitable approach has been developed for identifying appropriate human-like postures for a robotic arm with an offset wrist configuration. In this paper, we propose a novel algorithm that considers the movement of the human arm to consistently find a suitable human-like posture. First, a one-class support vector machine model is employed to classify human-like postures. Then, the algorithm uses the redundancy characteristic of a 7-DoF robotic arm with a linear regression model to enhance the search of human-like postures. Finally, the proposed algorithm is demonstrated in simulation, where it successfully optimized point-to-point trajectories by modifying only the endpoint posture.
The floating point: Tales of the unexpected
Authors: Faux David A. , Godolphin Janet
Published: July 2021

Digital computation is central to almost all scientific endeavors and has become integral to university physics education. Students collect experimental data using digital devices, process data using spreadsheets and graphical software, and develop scientific programming skills for modeling, simulation, and computational work. Issues associated with the floating-point representation of numbers are rarely explored. In this article, problems of floating point are divided into three categories: significant-figure limits, propagation of floating-point representation error, and rounding. For each category, examples are presented of unexpected ways, in which the digital representation of floating-point numbers can impact the veracity of scientific results. These examples cover aspects of classical dynamics, numerical integration, cellular automata, statistical analysis, and digital timing. Suggestions are made for curriculum enhancement and project-style investigations that reinforce the issues covered at a level suitable for physics undergraduate students.
The Effect of Experience Levels on Injury Rates in Collegiate Rugby Players
Authors: Harvey Francesca A. , Schussler Eric
Published: July 2021

Due to increasing rugby participation in the United States, understanding the factors affecting injury rate during participation have gained in importance. The primary objective of this research is to determine the effect of experience on injury rate in collegiate union rugby. Forty-three participants (23 men and 20 women) from the club rugby team participated over the course of one season. Injury data were analyzed by high (3+) and low (<3) seasons of experience. Twenty-four unique injuries were identified for an overall rate of 36.14 injuries per 1,000 exposures. Females with low experience (n = 14) had a rate of 47.34/1,000 exposures; females with high experience (n = 19) had a rate of 34.38/1,000 exposures. Males with low experience (n = 10) had a rate of 28.57/1,000 exposures; males with high experience (n = 13) had a rate of 42.06/1,000 exposures. Inexperienced female participants and experienced male participants showed higher rate of injury during rugby play. Identifying this at-risk group can aid coaches and responsible health care providers in making safer training and game play decisions.
Antibiotics Shift the Temperature Response Curve of Escherichia coli Growth
Authors: Cruz-Loya Mauricio , Tekin Elif , Kang Tina Manzhu , Cardona Natalya , Lozano-Huntelman Natalie , Rodriguez-Verdugo Alejandra , Savage Van M. , Yeh Pamela J.
Published: July 2021

The growth of living organisms varies with temperature. This dependence is described by a temperature response curve that is described by an optimal temperature where growth is maximized and a temperature range (termed breadth) across which the organism can grow.
Direct Regulons of AtxA, the Master Virulence Regulator of Bacillus anthracis
Authors: Furuta Yoshikazu , Cheng Cheng , Zorigt Tuvshinzaya , Paudel Atmika , Izumi Shun , Tsujinouchi Mai , Shimizu Tomoko , Meijer Wim G. , Higashi Hideaki
Published: July 2021

Bacillus anthracis
is the Gram-positive bacterial species that causes anthrax. Anthrax is still prevalent in countries mainly in Asia and Africa, where it causes economic damage and remains a public health issue.
Accessory Genomic Epidemiology of Cocirculating Acinetobacter baumannii Clones
Authors: Mateo-Estrada Valeria , Fernández-Vázquez José Luis , Moreno-Manjón Julia , Hernández-González Ismael L. , Rodríguez-Noriega Eduardo , Morfín-Otero Rayo , Alcántar-Curiel María Dolores , Castillo-Ramírez Santiago
Published: July 2021

Whole-genome sequencing for epidemiological investigations (genomic epidemiology) has been of paramount importance to understand the transmission dynamics of many bacterial (and nonbacterial) pathogens. Commonly, variation in the core genome, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), is employed to carry out genomic epidemiology.
Barcode medication administration technology use in hospital practice: a mixed-methods observational study of policy deviations
Authors: Mulac Alma , Mathiesen Liv , Taxis Katja , Gerd Granås Anne
Published: July 2021

Introduction

Barcode medication administration (BCMA) can, if poorly implemented, cause disrupted workflow, increased workload and cause medication errors. Further exploration is needed of the causes of BCMA policy deviations.

Objective

To gain an insight into nurses’ use of barcode technology during medication dispensing and administration; to record the number and type of BCMA policy deviations, and to investigate their causes.

Methods

We conducted a prospective, mixed-methods study. Medication administration rounds on two hospital wards were observed using a digital tool and field notes. The SEIPS (Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety) model was used to analyse the data.

Results

We observed 44 nurses administering 884 medications to 213 patients. We identified BCMA policy deviations for more than half of the observations; these related to the level of tasks, organisation, technology, environment and nurses. Task-related policy deviations occurred with 140 patients (66%) during dispensing and 152 patients (71%) during administration. Organisational deviations included failure to scan 29% of medications and 20% of patient’s wristbands. Policy deviations also arose due to technological factors (eg, low laptop battery, system freezing), as well as environmental factors (eg, medication room location, patient drawer size). Most deviations were caused by policies that interfere with proper and safe BCMA use and suboptimal technology design.

Conclusion

Our findings indicate that adaptations of the work system are needed, particularly in relation to policies and technology, to optimise the use of BCMA by nurses during medication dispensing and administration. These adaptations should lead to enhanced patient safety, as the absolute goal with BCMA implementation.
Spiritual dimension in palliative medicine: a qualitative study of learning tasks: medical students, teachers, educationalists
Authors: Pieters Jolien , Verstegen Daniëlle , Dolmans Diana , Neis Evelien , Warmenhoven Franca , van den Beuken-van Everdingen Marieke
Published: July 2021

Background

Palliative care is gaining importance within the physician’s range of duties. In the undergraduate medical curriculum, education on the four dimensions of care is insufficient. The spiritual dimension is hardly addressed. Therefore, we developed a coherent set of learning tasks targeted at learning to communicate about the spiritual dimension. The learning tasks are based on educational principles of authentic learning, reflective learning and longitudinal integration in the curriculum. This article reports on the feasibility of using these learning tasks in the medical curricula.

Methods

Teachers and educational scientists were interviewed and students were asked to evaluate the learning tasks in focus groups. Interview transcripts were analysed by three independent researchers.

Results

The learning tasks encourage the students to reflect on the four dimensions of palliative care and their personal values. Learning was clearly organised around authentic learning tasks relevant to the later profession, using paper, video cases, as well as simulations and real patients. Participants suggest giving more attention to cultural diversity. As palliative care is an emotionally charged subject, the safety of both student and patient should be guaranteed. All participants indicated that the program should start in the bachelor phase and most agreed that it should be integrated vertically and horizontally throughout the undergraduate program, although there is some debate about the optimal moment to start.

Conclusion

The tasks, are authentic, encourage the students to reflect on the spiritual dimension of palliative care and are suitable for integration in the undergraduate medical curriculum.
Leading improvement at scale in healthcare: Sir John Oldham
Authors: Oldham John
Published: July 2021

Background

When I became senior partner at my general practice I undertook a part time MBA at Manchester Business School in the late 90s to learn the things medical school hadn’t taught me; organizational design and behaviour, finance, strategic management and human resources (as it was then called). My dissertation was on quality methods in other industries that could be applied in healthcare.

Journey

We tried out total quality management methods in my practice and began to demonstrably improve care, services and the use of resources. I titled this in presentations in the early noughties the Quality Trinity, which morphed into the now widely adopted triple aim. The practice won awards and I became a sessional advisor to the Dept of Health. I was invited to Boston by Don Berwick and saw the collaborative method of improvement. When a new Government came to power pledging to improve quality I designed a means of using the collaborative for large scale change. This opened a parallel career in quality improvement for the next 20 years, though I continued to be a practicing GP for the majority of that.

Reflections

When I started there was literature on total quality management in other industries but very little in healthcare, and nothing on large scale change. The methods challenged orthodoxy about how you changed healthcare delivery and met resistance, even hostility. Much that was suspect is now embraced, techniques that were unheard of are now common and the literature is expanding. This article gives experiential insight into large scale change gathered in my career that I hope may help others now charged with these tasks.
Effect of pulmonary rehabilitation on exhaled nitric oxide in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Authors: Clini E , Bianchi L , Foglio K , Porta R , Vitacca M , Ambrosino N
Published: July 2021

BACKGROUND

In patients with mild to moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) the exercise induced increase in exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) parallels that observed in normal untrained subjects. There is no information on the effects of the level of exercise tolerance on eNO in these patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a pulmonary rehabilitation programme including exercise training on eNO in patients with COPD.

METHODS

In 14 consecutive male patients with stable COPD of mean (SD) age 64 (9) years and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) 55 (14)% predicted, fractional eNO concentration (Feno), peak work rate (Wpeak) and oxygen uptake (V˙o2peak) were assessed at baseline (T–1), at the end of a 1 month run in period (T0), and after an 8 week outpatient multidisciplinary pulmonary rehabilitation programme (T1) including cycloergometer training.

RESULTS

Fenodid not significantly differ at T–1 and T0 (mean (SE) 4.3 (0.6) and 4.4 (0.6) ppb, respectively), whereas it rose significantly at T1 to 6.4 (0.7) ppb (p<0.02). Compared with T0, both Wpeak andV˙o2 were significantly (p<0.05) increased at T1 (mean (SE) Wpeak from 89 (5.6) W to 109 (6.9) W);V˙o2peak from 1.27 (0.1) l/min to 1.48 (0.1) l/min). A significant correlation was found between baseline FEV1 and the change in Feno following the rehabilitation programme (r=–0.71; p<0.05) and between changes in Feno and Wpeak from T0 to T1(r=0.60; p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with mild to moderate COPD is associated with an increase in exhaled nitric oxide.
Long term effects of non-invasive mechanical ventilation on pulmonary haemodynamics in patients with chronic respiratory failure
Authors: Schönhofer B , Barchfeld T , Wenzel M , Köhler D
Published: July 2021

BACKGROUND

It is not known whether long term nocturnal mechanical ventilation (NMV) reduces pulmonary hypertension in patients with chronic respiratory failure (CRF).

METHODS

Pulmonary haemodynamics, spirometric values, and gas exchange were studied in 33 patients requiring NMV due to CRF (20 with thoracic restriction, 13 with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)) at baseline and after 1 year of NMV given in the volume cycled mode. Patients with COPD also received supplemental oxygen.

RESULTS

Long term NMV improved gas exchange while lung function remained unchanged. Mean pulmonary artery pressure at rest before NMV was higher in patients with thoracic restriction than in those with COPD (33 (10) mm Hgv 25 (6) mm Hg). After 1 year of NMV mean pulmonary artery pressure decreased in patients with thoracic restriction to 25 (6) mm Hg (mean change –8.5 mm Hg (95% CI –12.6 to –4.3), p<0.01) but did not change significantly in patients with COPD (mean change 2.2 mm Hg (95% CI –0.3 to 4.8)).

CONCLUSIONS

Long term NMV in CRF improves pulmonary haemodynamics in patients with thoracic restriction but not in patients with COPD.
The usefulness of competitive PCR: airway gene expression of IL-5, IL-4, IL-4δ2, IL-2, and IFNγ in asthma
Authors: Glare E M , Divjak M , Bailey M J , Walters E H
Published: July 2021

BACKGROUND

Asthma has been described as an eosinophilic bronchitis driven by interleukin(IL)-4 and IL-5. The quantification of cytokine mRNA levels in airway samples has been confounded by housekeeping gene expression which differs between and within asthmatics and controls.

METHODS

The usefulness of competitive reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) that is independent of housekeeping gene expression for quantitating the mRNA for interferon (IFN)γ, IL-2, IL-5, IL-4 and its receptor antagonist encoding splicing variant IL-4δ2 was determined in a cross sectional study of 45 normal control subjects and 111 with asthma.

RESULTS

Atopic controls and atopic asthmatic subjects expressed more IL-5 than non-atopic controls (p<0.02) in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cells, but not in biopsy specimens. IL-5 mRNA expression in BAL cells from asthmatic subjects using inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) was significantly lower than those not receiving ICS (p=0.04). IL-2 mRNA levels differed with steroid use in biopsy specimens but not in BAL cells. IFNγ, IL-4, and IL-4δ2 mRNA levels did not differ between any groups and were not affected by steroid use. IL-4 and IL-4δ2 mRNA levels were positively correlated (p<0.0001), suggesting coordinated transcription.

CONCLUSIONS

While the signal differentiation of competitive PCR in asthma may rival that of in situ hybridisation and immunohistochemistry, the method is expensive and wasteful of material.
Localisation of transforming growth factor β1 and β3 mRNA transcripts in normal and fibrotic human lung
Authors: Coker R K , Laurent G J , Jeffery P K , du Bois R M , Black C M , McAnulty R J
Published: July 2021

BACKGROUND

Transforming growth factor β1 is implicated in the pathogenesis of lung fibrosis. It promotes extracellular matrix accumulation by increasing procollagen synthesis and reducing degradation. TGFβ1 gene and protein expression increase in experimental lung fibrosis, and TGFβ1 antibodies attenuate fibrosis in mice. The role of other TGFβ isoforms is unclear. This study aimed to localise TGFβ1 and TGFβ3 gene expression in fibrotic human lung and compare it with that in normal human lung.

METHODS

Lung tissue from patients with cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis and fibrosis associated with systemic sclerosis was examined by in situ hybridisation. Macroscopically normal lung from carcinoma resections was used as control tissue. Digoxigenin labelled riboprobes were synthesised from TGFβ isoform specific cDNA templates.

RESULTS

The digoxigenin labelled riboprobes were sensitive and permitted precise cellular localisation of mRNA transcripts. TGFβ1 and TGFβ3 mRNA transcripts were widespread in normal lung and localised to alveolar macrophages and bronchiolar epithelium. TGFβ1 but not TGFβ3 mRNA was detected in mesenchymal and endothelial cells. In fibrotic lung tissue mRNA transcripts for both isoforms were also detected in metaplastic type II cells. TGFβ1 gene expression was enhanced in some patients. TGFβ3 was expressed in fibrotic lung but was not consistently altered compared with controls.

CONCLUSION

TGFβ1mRNA transcripts were localised in normal and fibrotic human lung and TGFβ3 gene expression in human lung fibrosis was shown for the first time. The results suggest that TGFβ1 may play the predominant role in pathogenesis. It is suggested that TGFβ1 should be the primary target of anticytokine treatments for pulmonary fibrosis.
Efficient emulator for solving three-nucleon continuum Faddeev equations with chiral three-nucleon force comprising any number of contact terms
Authors: Witała H. , Golak J. , Skibiński R.
Published: July 2021

We demonstrate a computational scheme which drastically decreases the required time to get theoretical predictions based on chiral two- and three-nucleon forces for observables in three-nucleon continuum. For a three-nucleon force containing N short-range terms all workload is reduced to solving N+1 Faddeev-type integral equations. That done, computation of observables for any combination of strengths of the contact terms is done in a flash. We demonstrate on example of the elastic nucleon-deuteron scattering observables the high precision of the proposed emulator and its capability to reproduce exact results.
Identifying important nodes based on upstream and downstream time-respecting paths in temporal networks
Authors: Luo Liang , Li Minghao , Zhang Zili , Tao Li
Published: July 2021

Identifying the nodes that play significant roles in the epidemic spreading process has attracted extensive attention in recent years. Few centrality measures, such as temporal degree and temporal closeness centrality, have been proposed to quantify node importance based on the topological structure of social contact networks. Most methods estimate the importance of a node from a single aspect, e.g. a higher degree in time snapshot graphs, or shorter distances to other nodes along time-respecting paths. However, this may not be the case in the real world. On the one hand, a node with more nodes on its out streams (i.e. downstream) should be more important because it may affect more nodes along its time-stamped contacting paths once it is infected. On the other hand, a node with more nodes in its in streams (i.e. upstream) deserves closer attention, as it has a higher probability of infection by other nodes. We propose a new temporal centrality measure, upstream and downstream centrality (UD-centrality) with two forms of realizations, i.e. a linear UD-centrality (L-UD) and a product UD-centrality (P-UD) to estimate the importance of nodes based on the temporal structures of social contact networks. We compare our L-UD and P-UD to three classic temporal network centralities through simulations on 14 real-world temporal networks based on the susceptible-infected (SI) model. The comparison results show that UD-centrality can more accurately rank the importance of nodes than the baseline centrality measures.
Conservation laws of some multi-component integrable systems
Authors: Gui Linlin , Zhang Yufeng
Published: July 2021

Some multi-component integrable systems are introduced and constructed. These multi-component systems are selected as examples to help us study the self-adjointness of [Formula: see text] Frobenius equation by means of some new definitions and theorems that we introduced. It follows that the conservation laws of these multi-component systems are constructed based on a few symmetries.
Building healthy Lagrangian theories with machine learning
Authors: Valelis Christos , Anagnostopoulos Fotios K. , Basilakos Spyros , Saridakis Emmanuel N.
Published: July 2021

The existence or not of pathologies in the context of Lagrangian theory is studied with the aid of Machine Learning algorithms. Using an example in the framework of classical mechanics, we make a proof of concept, that the construction of new physical theories using machine learning is possible. Specifically, we utilize a fully-connected, feed-forward neural network architecture, aiming to discriminate between “healthy” and “nonhealthy” Lagrangians, without explicitly extracting the relevant equations of motion. The network, after training, is used as a fitness function in the concept of a genetic algorithm and new healthy Lagrangians are constructed. These new Lagrangians are different from the Lagrangians contained in the initial data set. Hence, searching for Lagrangians possessing a number of pre-defined properties is significantly simplified within our approach. The framework employed in this work can be used to explore more complex physical theories, such as generalizations of General Relativity in gravitational physics, or constructions in solid state physics, in which the standard procedure can be laborious.
Number of DoE Required for Estimating Different Quality Surrogate
Authors: Liu Yin , Wang Shuo , Lv Liye , Song Xueguan , Guo Zhenggang , Sun Wei
Published: July 2021

Surrogate models are commonly used in place of computationally expensive simulations in engineering design and optimization, and the predictive performance of surrogate models is usually influenced by the quality of design of experiments (DoE). One way to eliminate the effect of the randomness of DoE is to average multiple prediction accuracies over multiple DoEs. However, how many DoEs are needed to obtain stable prediction results for problems with different dimensionalities remains a challenging issue. Mathematical test functions have been employed in a large body of literatures to identify the predictive performance of surrogate models. In this work, 30 test functions ranging from 1 dimension to 16 dimensions are selected to investigate the relationship between the number of DoEs needed for a stable prediction accuracy and the number of sample points. A convergence condition is used to determine whether a reliable model accuracy has been obtained. In this paper, the number of DoEs required for estimating the model accuracy is provided as a suggestion for those who develop surrogate models and select test functions to validate the performance of models.
A Unified Simulation Framework for Fluid–Structure–Control Interaction Problems with Rigid and Flexible Structures
Authors: Kadapa Chennakesava
Published: July 2021

Vortex-induced vibrations are often unwanted as they can lead to catastrophic failure of the associated structures, warranting countermeasures to mitigate or suppress these vibrations. Due to the nature of nonlinearities in fluid–structure interaction (FSI) problems, analytical solution techniques for FSI problems have limited applicability at best. On the other hand, the numerical solution of vortex-induced vibrations is quite challenging, especially for problems undergoing large structural deformations, let alone the simulation of effective control techniques for suppressing unwanted vibrations. In this work, a robust and computationally efficient simulation framework is proposed to simulate fluid–structure–control interactions problems involving rigid or flexible structures. The effectiveness of the proposed framework in designing effective controller mechanisms for controlling the onset as well as the amplitude of vortex-induced vibrations is illustrated by studying the examples of lock-in of a circular cylinder, galloping of a square body and vortex-induced vibrations of a flexible, lightweight beam under different parameter settings for the controllers.
Outcomes of “Cross-Coupling Suture Button Suspensionplasty” for Thumb Carpometacarpal Joint Osteoarthritis: A Preliminary Report
Authors: Ota Hideyuki , Watanabe Kentaro , Sasaki Hiroshi , Fujihara Yuki , Murayama Atsuhiko
Published: July 2021

Thumb carpometacarpal joint osteoarthritis is a common condition that is treated nonsurgically. When conservative treatments fail, surgery is considered. Recently, suture button suspensionplasty has attracted attention and yielded good clinical results. We have developed a novel suture button suspensionplasty procedure called “cross-coupling suture button suspensionplasty” (CC-SBS) using a pair of suture button devices after a complete trapeziectomy. This retrospective study aimed to report the short-term clinical results of patients who underwent CC-SBS at our institution. We evaluated 10 hands of 10 patients (9 women and 1 man; average age, 67 years) who were refractory to conservative treatment and underwent CC-SBS at our institution between 2015 and 2017. We evaluated the preoperative Eaton stage and postoperative trapezial space height immediately after surgery and at the final visit; measured the trapezial space height, range of motion of the palmar and radial abduction of the carpometacarpal joint at the final visit; measured the preoperative and postoperative pinch strength; and recorded postoperative complications. The mean trapezial space height was 6.5 mm, and the mean radial and palmar abductions were 47° and 45°, respectively, at the final visit. The average pinch strength improved to 3.8 kg at the final visit compared to that pre-operation. In one case, a second metacarpal fracture occurred 2 weeks post-surgery, but no other complications were reported. Conclusion: CC-SBS showed short-term clinical outcomes similar to those of ligament reconstruction and tendon interposition and demonstrated faster overall recovery. Our procedure does not need a donor tendon for suspension and is technically simple and less invasive than ligament reconstruction tendon interposition. Thus, stronger initial fixation is obtained by using two suture button devices, and rehabilitation can be started from an early stage. We believe that this procedure is a good surgical option for carpometacarpal joint osteoarthritis.
DeepFormableTag
Authors: Yaldiz Mustafa B. , Meuleman Andreas , Jang Hyeonjoong , Ha Hyunho , Kim Min H.
Published: July 2021

Fiducial markers have been broadly used to identify objects or embed messages that can be detected by a camera. Primarily, existing detection methods assume that markers are printed on ideally planar surfaces. The size of a message or identification code is limited by the spatial resolution of binary patterns in a marker. Markers often fail to be recognized due to various imaging artifacts of optical/perspective distortion and motion blur. To overcome these limitations, we propose a novel deformable fiducial marker system that consists of three main parts: First, a fiducial marker generator creates a set of free-form color patterns to encode significantly large-scale information in unique visual codes. Second, a differentiable image simulator creates a training dataset of photorealistic scene images with the deformed markers, being rendered during optimization in a differentiable manner. The rendered images include realistic shading with specular reflection, optical distortion, defocus and motion blur, color alteration, imaging noise, and shape deformation of markers. Lastly, a trained marker detector seeks the regions of interest and recognizes multiple marker patterns simultaneously via inverse deformation transformation. The deformable marker creator and detector networks are jointly optimized via the differentiable photorealistic renderer in an end-to-end manner, allowing us to robustly recognize a wide range of deformable markers with high accuracy. Our deformable marker system is capable of decoding 36-bit messages successfully at ~29 fps with severe shape deformation. Results validate that our system significantly outperforms the traditional and data-driven marker methods. Our learning-based marker system opens up new interesting applications of fiducial markers, including cost-effective motion capture of the human body, active 3D scanning using our fiducial markers' array as structured light patterns, and robust augmented reality rendering of virtual objects on dynamic surfaces.
Stream-guided smoke simulations
Authors: Sato Syuhei , Dobashi Yoshinori , Kim Theodore
Published: July 2021

High-resolution fluid simulations are computationally expensive, so many post-processing methods have been proposed to add turbulent details to low-resolution flows. Guiding methods are one promising approach for adding naturalistic, detailed motions as a post-process, but can be inefficient. Thus, we propose a novel, efficient method that formulates fluid guidance as a minimization problem in
stream function space.
Input flows are first converted into stream functions, and a high resolution flow is then computed via optimization. The resulting problem sizes are much smaller than previous approaches, resulting in faster computation times. Additionally, our method does not require an expensive pressure projection, but still preserves mass. The method is both easy to implement and easy to control, as the user can control the degree of guiding with a single, intuitive parameter. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method across various examples.
Driving-signal aware full-body avatars
Authors: Bagautdinov Timur , Wu Chenglei , Simon Tomas , Prada Fabián , Shiratori Takaaki , Wei Shih-En , Xu Weipeng , Sheikh Yaser , Saragih Jason
Published: July 2021

We present a learning-based method for building driving-signal aware full-body avatars. Our model is a conditional variational autoencoder that can be animated with incomplete driving signals, such as human pose and facial keypoints, and produces a high-quality representation of human geometry and view-dependent appearance. The core intuition behind our method is that better drivability and generalization can be achieved by disentangling the driving signals and remaining generative factors, which are not available during animation. To this end, we explicitly account for information deficiency in the driving signal by introducing a latent space that exclusively captures the remaining information, thus enabling the imputation of the missing factors required during full-body animation, while remaining faithful to the driving signal. We also propose a learnable localized compression for the driving signal which promotes better generalization, and helps minimize the influence of global chance-correlations often found in real datasets. For a given driving signal, the resulting variational model produces a compact space of uncertainty for missing factors that allows for an imputation strategy best suited to a particular application. We demonstrate the efficacy of our approach on the challenging problem of full-body animation for virtual telepresence with driving signals acquired from minimal sensors placed in the environment and mounted on a VR-headset.
Clebsch gauge fluid
Authors: Yang Shuqi , Xiong Shiying , Zhang Yaorui , Feng Fan , Liu Jinyuan , Zhu Bo
Published: July 2021

We propose a novel gauge fluid solver based on Clebsch wave functions to solve incompressible fluid equations. Our method combines the expressive power of Clebsch wave functions to represent coherent vortical structures and the generality of gauge methods to accommodate a broad array of fluid phenomena. By evolving a transformed wave function as the system's gauge variable enhanced by an additional projection step to enforce pressure jumps on the free boundaries, our method can significantly improve the vorticity generation and preservation ability for a broad range of gaseous and liquid phenomena. Our approach can be easily implemented by modifying a standard grid-based fluid simulator. It can be used to solve various fluid dynamics, including complex vortex filament dynamics, fluids with different obstacles, and surface-tension flow.
Rhetorical hedonism and gray genres
Authors: Butts Jimmy , Walwema Josephine
Published: July 2021

As technical genres continue to grow and morph in promising new directions, we attempt an analysis of what are typically viewed as mundane genres. We use the term gray genres, which we find useful for interrogating texts that tend to fall in categories that tend toward a blandness that is invariably difficult to quantify. We use hedonism, along with a historical accounting for this value from its classical rhetorical lineage and run it up to contemporary applications. We posit that playful stylistic choices---while typically discouraged in more technical spaces---actually improves the rhetorical canon of delivery for informative documents. We close with case studies that offer close readings of a few attempts at employing hedonistic tactics within typical gray genres.
Technical content marketing along the technology adoption lifecycle
Authors: Mogull Scott A.
Published: July 2021

This article provides an overview of technical content marketing and examines the audiences and messaging for technical product messaging, which differ from general consumer products. Notably, technical products, particularly those in innovative categories, require a varying marketing strategy throughout the technology adoption lifecycle as products appeal to customers with different attitudes towards technologies. Especially, content marketing for innovative technologies requires an understanding of the technical consumers' (or audiences') psychological motivations and needs, which have yet to be reviewed in the technical communication literature. In this article, the foundations of marketing innovative technical products are explored, with a specific focus on the messaging strategies as it changes to educate and persuade different categories of technology consumers during different phases of the technology adoption lifecycle. For new technical products and categories of products, the messages and channels of information evolve as the technical innovation progresses from the early market to a mainstream market, with both requiring adaptation to different audience segments and in response to emerging competitive pressures. For the majority of technical innovations, the technical content marketing strategy and messaging is a long-term investment for change to reach different consumer groups at the appropriate stage of the technical product life cycle.
Unplugged assignments for K-12 AI education
Authors: Long Duri , Moon Jonathan , Magerko Brian
Published: July 2021

In this column, we introduce our two "unplugged" (i.e. no technology needed) Model AI Assignments: Introducing AI and Semantic Networks and Knowledge Representations. We also reflect on the potential benefits of unplugged activities for broadening access to AI-related learning experiences.
Prediction of quality of life in people with ALS
Authors: Antoniadi Anna Markella , Galvin Miriam , Heverin Mark , Hardiman Orla , Mooney Catherine
Published: July 2021

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a rare neurodegenerative disease that causes a rapid decline in motor functions and has a fatal trajectory. ALS is currently incurable, so the aim of the treatment is mostly to alleviate symptoms and improve quality of life (QoL) for the patients. The goal of this study is to develop a Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) to alert clinicians when a patient is at risk of experiencing low QoL. The source of data was the Irish ALS Registry and interviews with the 90 patients and their primary informal caregiver at three time-points. In this dataset, there were two different scores to measure a person's overall QoL, based on the McGill QoL (MQoL) Questionnaire and we worked towards the prediction of both. We used Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) for the development of the predictive models, which was compared to a logistic regression baseline model. Additionally, we used Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique (SMOTE) to examine if that would increase model performance and SHAP (SHapley Additive explanations) as a technique to provide local and global explanations to the outputs as well as to select the most important features. The total calculated MQoL score was predicted accurately using three features - age at disease onset, ALSFRS-R score for orthopnoea and the caregiver's status pre-caregiving - with a F1-score on the test set equal to 0.81, recall of 0.78, and precision of 0.84. The addition of two extra features (caregiver's age and the ALSFRS-R score for speech) produced similar outcomes (F1-score 0.79, recall 0.70 and precision 0.90).
Binocular Vision and Stereopsis Across the Animal Kingdom
Authors: Read Jenny C.A.
Published: July 2021

Most animals have at least some binocular overlap, i.e., a region of space that is viewed by both eyes. This reduces the overall visual field and raises the problem of combining two views of the world, seen from different vantage points, into a coherent whole. However, binocular vision also offers many potential advantages, including increased ability to see around obstacles and increased contrast sensitivity. One particularly interesting use for binocular vision is comparing information from both eyes to derive information about depth. There are many different ways in which this might be done, but in this review, I refer to them all under the general heading of stereopsis. This review examines the different possible uses of binocular vision and stereopsis and compares what is currently known about the neural basis of stereopsis in different taxa. Studying different animals helps us break free of preconceptions stemming from the way that stereopsis operates in human vision and provides new insights into the different possible forms of stereopsis.
Propylene carbonate based electrolyte for extended cycle life lithium-ion batteries
Authors: yang Li , Janakiraman Umamaheswari , woods Jacob , Moote John , wen wen , Fortier Mary E
Published: July 2021

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are rapidly taking over the electric vehicle (EV) industry as the main energy storage system. They provide high energy efficiency, long cycle life, and low self-discharge compared to other battery chemistries. LIB is generally made up of a lithium metal oxide or phosphate cathode, a graphite anode, a polymer separator and a liquid electrolyte solution. The electrolyte is comprised of a lithium salt dissolved in a mixture of carbonates, such as ethylene carbonate (EC), dimethyl carbonate (DMC), ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC), etc. The melting point of ethylene carbonate (EC, 36.4°C) is higher than that of its analogue propylene carbonate (PC, –48 °C). Therefore, PC is an attractive candidate to improve the low temperature charge/discharge capacity and the fast charge capability of LIBs. Several groups have attempted to replace EC by PC. However, co-intercalation of PC-solvated Li+ ions results in serious exfoliation of graphite layers and a faster degradation of battery cycle life. We used a combination of additives in PC based liquid electrolyte containing LiPF6 salt, to address this issue. The developed electrolyte offers superior cycle life for the NMC/graphite pouch cell. The rationale for improved performance was analyzed with the help of characterization techniques such as ultra-high precision coulometry (UHPC), EIS, XPS and gas analysis
Parameter Estimation of Gamma‐Gamma Fading with Generalized Pointing Errors in FSO Systems
Authors: Miao Maoke , Cai Weiwei , Li Xiaofeng
Published: July 2021

In this paper, the challenges of parameter estimation for the Gamma‐Gamma turbulence channels with generalized pointing errors are addressed. The Kolmogorov‐Smirnov goodness‐of‐fit statistical test results indicate that the approximate probability density function obtained by the saddlepoint approximation (SAP) method provides a better approximation for a larger value wz, and this means that the proposed method is more efficient for the FSO links over long distances when the transmit divergence angle at the transmitter side is fixed. Also, an additional parameter k needs to be estimated in addition to the shaping parameters α and β under the SAP method. An estimation scheme for the shaping parameters is proposed based on the SAP method. The performance of the proposed estimation is investigated by using the mean square error (MSE) and normalized mean square error (NMSE). The results indicate the proposed estimator exhibits satisfactory performance in both noiseless and noisy environments. The effects of the receiver aperture on the estimation performance are also discussed.
Wideband Slot Array Antenna Fed by Gap Waveguide with Right-Handed Circular Polarization and High Gain
Authors: Mahmoudi Kanesbi Pejman , Amiri Nasrin
Published: July 2021

A wideband and high-gain circularly polarized (CP) 16 × 16 array antenna based on gap waveguide technology is presented for millimeter-wave applications at 28 GHz frequency range. Four cavity-backed slots with linear polarized (LP) radiation are used as the subarray. CP is obtained by a 4 × 4 sequential feeding network which is also expanded to achieve high gain. The feeding network of the final array antenna consists of two layers based on the ridge gap waveguide (RGW), and it has four unconnected metal layers. It is shown by simulation that the proposed antenna has 20.5% impedance bandwidth over 25.8–31.7 GHz and 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth near 10% over 27.2–30 GHz. In addition, the maximum gain value for this antenna is 31.6 dBi at a frequency of 29 GHz, which shows good performance compared to other structures.
Improving Corrosion Resistance of Magnesium Alloy in Cl- Containing Simulated Concrete Pore Solution by Ultrasound-Assisted Chemical Deposition
Authors: Wang Ye , Wu Guosong
Published: July 2021

Coatings are playing an important role in corrosion mitigation of magnesium alloys, and in this study, a facile and eco-friendly chemical deposition process is proposed to improve the corrosion resistance of magnesium-neodymium alloys. The mixture of 1.5 mol/L KH2PO4 solution and 1.2 mol/L CaCl2 solution is used for reaction solution, and ultrasound is introduced into the process for assisting the chemical deposition. After 40 minutes of the surface treatment, the surface and cross-sectional morphologies are observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), which reveals that a layer of dense coating is formed on Mg alloy. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) are further combined to analyze the coating, and it is thereby confirmed that this coating mainly consists of CaHPO4·2H2O. Electrochemical tests and soaking experiments are conducted to evaluate the corrosion resistance of the treated samples in simulated concrete pore solutions. Both the untreated and treated samples have a good corrosion resistance in the Cl- free simulated concrete pore solution, but their corrosion behavior is influenced by the introduction of Cl- in this study. Fortunately, the coating can protect the substrate effectively in the Cl- containing simulated concrete pore solution. In summary, it provides a possible way for magnesium alloys to improve their corrosion resistance when they are used in building engineering.
A New Single-Valued Neutrosophic Rough Sets and Related Topology
Authors: Jin Qiu , Hu Kai , Bo Chunxin , Li Lingqiang
Published: July 2021

(Fuzzy) rough sets are closely related to (fuzzy) topologies. Neutrosophic rough sets and neutrosophic topologies are extensions of (fuzzy) rough sets and (fuzzy) topologies, respectively. In this paper, a new type of neutrosophic rough sets is presented, and the basic properties and the relationships to neutrosophic topology are discussed. The main results include the following: (1) For a single-valued neutrosophic approximation space

U
,
R

, a pair of approximation operators called the upper and lower ordinary single-valued neutrosophic approximation operators are defined and their properties are discussed. Then the further properties of the proposed approximation operators corresponding to reflexive (transitive) single-valued neutrosophic approximation space are explored. (2) It is verified that the single-valued neutrosophic approximation spaces and the ordinary single-valued neutrosophic topological spaces can be interrelated to each other through our defined lower approximation operator. Particularly, there is a one-to-one correspondence between reflexive, transitive single-valued neutrosophic approximation spaces and quasidiscrete ordinary single-valued neutrosophic topological spaces.
Outcomes and Complications of Sutured Scleral-Fixated Foldable Intraocular Lens Implantation: A Retrospective Study of 5-Year Follow-Up
Authors: Yu Ting , Yu Mengting , Wu Wenjie , Wu Xinna , Xiao Suzhen , Mao Jialiang , Wang Yanling
Published: July 2021

Purpose. To evaluate long-term outcomes and complications of sutured scleral-fixated foldable intraocular lens (IOL) implantation. Design. Retrospective study. Methods. Patients who underwent sutured scleral-fixated foldable IOL implantation using 10-0 polypropylene suture were followed up for at least 5 years at one Chinese tertiary hospital and two primary hospitals. Results. 52 eyes among 48 patients (35 male and 13 female) were evaluated. The mean age (years) was 50.27 ± 20.08 (range: 6 to 81). The mean postoperative follow-up time (months) was 79.70 ± 18.84 (range: 60 to 121). The mean best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) improved from 0.83 ± 0.69 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) at baseline to 0.50 ± 0.45 logMAR at the last follow-up visit. There was improved or unchanged BCVA in 44 eyes (84.62%) and reduced BCVA in 8 eyes (15.38%). Mild intraoperative intravitreal hemorrhage was observed in 3 eyes (5.77%). Early postoperative complications included transient elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) in 5 eyes (9.62%) and hypotony in 1 eye (1.92%). Secondary epimacular membrane occurred in 5 eyes (9.62%) and retinal detachment (RD; 3 years postsurgery), subconjunctival suture knot exposure (5 years postsurgery), and persistent elevated IOP (in a GRAVES patient) occurred in 1 eye (1.92%) each. No suture erosion or breakage nor IOL dislocation was observed. No visually threatening IOL tilt or decentration was reported in any patient. Conclusion. Sutured scleral-fixated foldable IOL implantation demonstrated satisfactory long-term outcomes and rare suture-related complications. This technology was safe and did not require complicated equipment and is of considerable interest in the setting of aphakia without adequate capsule support.