Simple Manipulation Research Articles

Modeling of Photodynamic Self-Oscillation Based on a Suspended Liquid Crystal Elastomer Ball System.

Self-oscillation enables continuous motion by transforming constant external stimuli into mechanical work, eliminating the necessity for supplementary control systems. This holds considerable promise in domains like actuators, wearable devices and biomedicine. In the current study, a novel suspended liquid crystal elastomer (LCEs) ball system consisting of a light-responsive hollow LCE ball and an air blower is constructed. Stable illumination allows for its continuous periodic oscillation. Drawing from the theoretical model in conjunction with the dynamic LCE model, the control equations for the system are established, and its dynamic motion characteristics are explored from theoretical viewpoint. The numerical calculations suggest that two motion patterns are present, i.e., hovering and self-oscillatory patterns. The critical conditions required to initiate the transition between two motion patterns are quantified for different system parameters. As evidenced by the outcomes, manipulating the light intensity, damping coefficient, contraction coefficient, air density, gravitational acceleration, bottom illumination zone height, characteristic coefficient and vertical wind speed at the blower outlet facilitates precise control over the motion patterns as well as the amplitude and frequency. With its simple structure, customizable dimensions, remote activation and active manipulation, this system may potentially change the design approach for energy harvesting, microsensors and aerial vehicles.

Application and integration of computer vision technologies for automated recognition and recording of chemical experiments

Abstract Advancements in computer vision have significantly improved motion and object recognition accuracy. These advancements should aid the automatic recognition of chemical experiments, potentially contributing to the recording of experiments. Creating an electronic laboratory notebook from experiment filming enhances convenience and allows more detailed information storage compared to traditional manual recording methods. Our previous research focused on employing object detection and action recognition to automate the recognition of chemical experiments. This paper presents a novel system that combines object detection, action recognition, multiple object tracking, and barcode recognition to automatically generate experimental flowcharts. We implemented our system as a graphical user interface-based application for laboratory use that successfully constructs flowcharts from videos of chemical experiments, including simple chemical manipulations.

Visible-Light-Driven Method for the Selective Synthesis of Amides and N-Acylureas from Carboxylic Acids and Thioureas.

In this work, we developed a visible-light-driven method for the selective synthesis of amides and N-acylureas from carboxylic acids and thioureas. This protocol was featured as avoidance of additional oxidants and transition metal catalysts, simple manipulations, low cost, broad substrate scope, and good functional group tolerance. As only oxygen serves as the oxidation reagent, this method provides a promising synthesis candidate for the formation of N-aryl amides and N-acylureas, including late-stage functionalization of complex pharmaceutical molecules and biologically active molecules.

Cell-cell interaction determines cell fate of mesoderm-derived cell in tongue development through Hh signaling.

Dysfunction of primary cilia leads to genetic disorder, ciliopathies, which shows various malformations in many vital organs such as brain. Multiple tongue deformities including cleft, hamartoma, and ankyloglossia are also seen in ciliopathies, which yield difficulties in fundamental functions such as mastication and vocalization. Here, we found these tongue anomalies in mice with mutation of ciliary protein. Abnormal cranial neural crest-derived cells (CNCC) failed to evoke Hh signal for differentiation of mesoderm-derived cells into myoblasts, which resulted in abnormal differentiation of mesoderm-derived cells into adipocytes. The ectopic adipose subsequently arrested tongue swelling formation. Ankyloglossia was caused by aberrant cell migration due to lack of non-canonical Wnt signaling. In addition to ciliopathies, these tongue anomalies are often observed as non-familial condition in human. We found that these tongue deformities could be reproduced in wild-type mice by simple mechanical manipulations to disturb cellular processes which were disrupted in mutant mice. Our results provide hints for possible future treatment in ciliopathies.

Pre‐trained SAM as data augmentation for image segmentation

AbstractData augmentation plays an important role in training deep neural model by expanding the size and diversity of the dataset. Initially, data augmentation mainly involved some simple transformations of images. Later, in order to increase the diversity and complexity of data, more advanced methods appeared and evolved to sophisticated generative models. However, these methods required a mass of computation of training or searching. In this paper, a novel training‐free method that utilises the Pre‐Trained Segment Anything Model (SAM) model as a data augmentation tool (PTSAM‐DA) is proposed to generate the augmented annotations for images. Without the need for training, it obtains prompt boxes from the original annotations and then feeds the boxes to the pre‐trained SAM to generate diverse and improved annotations. In this way, annotations are augmented more ingenious than simple manipulations without incurring huge computation for training a data augmentation model. Multiple comparative experiments on three datasets are conducted, including an in‐house dataset, ADE20K and COCO2017. On this in‐house dataset, namely Agricultural Plot Segmentation Dataset, maximum improvements of 3.77% and 8.92% are gained in two mainstream metrics, mIoU and mAcc, respectively. Consequently, large vision models like SAM are proven to be promising not only in image segmentation but also in data augmentation.

Eco-Friendly Cellulose-Supported Nickel Complex as an Efficient and Recyclable Heterogeneous Catalyst for Suzuki Cross-Coupling Reaction.

In this work, we applied commercially available 2-pyridinecarboxylic acid to modify cellulose by simple manipulations, and then anchored low-toxicity metal nickel onto the modified cellulose to prepare the heterogeneous catalyst (CL-AcPy-Ni). The obtained catalyst was characterized by FT-IR, TG-DSC, BET, XRD, SEM-EDS, ICP-OES, XPS, and GPC. The catalytic performance of CL-AcPy-Ni in the Suzuki cross-coupling reaction was investigated using 4-methyl iodobenzene and phenylboronic acid as the model substrates reacting in THF under 120 °C for 24 h. The catalytic ability of CL-AcPy-Ni for various halobenzenes and phenylboronic acid derivatives was also further investigated under optimal conditions and demonstrated good catalytic activity, and a series of diaryls were successfully synthesized. Finally, this green nickel-based catalyst could be reused for five successive cycles by simple centrifugation.

Melt-blown polypropylene nonwoven as an efficient and eco-economic sorbent for pipette tip micro-solid phase extraction for the determination of tyrosine kinase inhibitors

BackgroundThe detection of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in biological fluids is essential due to their critical role in cancer therapy and the variability in individual drug metabolism, which necessitates precise dosing. Traditional methods for analyzing TKIs in biological fluids, such as blood plasma, typically involve complex sample preparation techniques that can be resource-intensive, environmentally burdensome, and not sufficiently sensitive for low-concentration analytes. There is a pressing need for more efficient, economical, and environmentally friendly methods that can enhance sensitivity and throughput without compromising accuracy. ResultsThis study explores the use of melt-blown polypropylene nonwoven (MBPP), commonly found in face masks, as a novel sorbent for pipette-tip micro-solid phase extraction (PT-μSPE). MBPP demonstrated excellent hydrophobicity and significant mesoporous adsorption capacity. An extraction device was fashioned by inserting a segment of MBPP (15 mg) into a 200 μL disposable plastic pipette tip, which was then attached to a 2.5 mL disposable plastic syringe. The MBPP's fabric form removes the need for a frit, allowing the extraction process to be completed in just 3 min through simple plunger manipulation. The method achieved extraction recoveries ranging from 60.5 % to nearly 100 %. Subsequent method validation using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) showed satisfactory linearity (coefficient of determination R2 > 0.993), accuracy (relative recoveries: 86.3%–114.8 %), and precision (relative standard deviation: 3.4%–11.3 %), with detection limits between 0.022 and 0.135 ng mL−1. SignificanceThe introduction of MBPP for PT-μSPE represents a significant advancement in the bioanalytical detection of TKIs, offering a highly efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable method. It compares favorably with existing techniques, offering advantages in terms of cost, environmental impact, and ease of use. This approach has the potential to be widely adopted for routine monitoring of TKIs in clinical settings.

Exploring The Many Tunings of Balinese Gamelan

Abstract The study of gamelan tunings has a long history, both within Indonesia and among the many foreign researchers who have sought to reconcile those tuning systems with ideas and practices of Western music. Challenges arise because Indonesian gamelan and Western tuning systems are based on fundamentally different concepts and principles. This article introduces and describes the Gamelan Tuning Explorer (GTE), a Max patch intended to help facilitate, through visualization and adjustable parameters, greater understanding of certain core aspects of Balinese gamelan tuning—specifically, the nonstandardized tunings used for gamelan gong kebyar, a large orchestra of bronze-keyed metallophones, tuned gongs, and other instruments. The Gamelan Tuning Explorer incorporates measured tuning data from 47 complete gamelan gong kebyar; each encompasses about 150 keys and tuned gong chimes. Forty-two of these tuning data sets were collected in the mid-1970s by American ethnomusicologist Andrew Toth, who spent decades in Bali engrossed in research on this topic; five were remeasured by the authors in 2019 to document how they had changed over the ensuing decades. In addition to collecting this treasure trove of data, Toth identified several key conceptual ideas of Balinese gamelan tunings. These include the consistent use of ombak (the prominent beating of two paired notes played in “unison”); the relationship of paired-tuning ombak to octave treatment; the stretching and compression of octaves, both by register and by note; the Begbeg versus Tirus models of intervallic formation; and more. Toth's data and each of these tuning concepts have been analyzed in two previous articles (Vitale and Sethares 2021; Sethares and Vitale 2022). We seek to make these concepts more immediate and accessible with GTE by using a graphical, interactive interface. Each of these parameters can be explored by the simple manipulation of a slider or other interface element. The corresponding changes in the sound can be readily heard, and visualized with interactive Toth plots—graphic representations of gamelan tuning profiles developed by Toth and named in his honor. This article describes a series of observations enabled by GTE.

Euphemism as a powerful framing device that influences moral judgments and punitive responses after wrongdoing.

Euphemism-that is, softening words or phrases substituted for more direct language-has become pervasive in our everyday personal and professional lives. Leveraging theory and research on construal and framing effects, we conceptualize euphemism as a linguistic framing device that influences how observers construe situations and the people, groups, objects, and events within them. We then experimentally investigate the effects of euphemism as a linguistic framing device on third-party judgments about moral transgressions (i.e., bribery, fraud). Across studies (total N = 3,081) we find consistent evidence that employing euphemistic labels (relative to their noneuphemistic analogs) reduces the perceived severity of moral transgressions and, as a result, also reduces third-party motivations to punish transgressors. Overt experimental manipulations to reconstrue euphemistic labels into their noneuphemistic forms reduced, but did not entirely eliminate, the effects on moral severity and punishment judgments. Participants did not sufficiently adjust their judgments. These findings underscore the power of simple linguistic manipulations in influencing public opinion, and they have important implications for the possibility of creating a more just and fair society. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The interplay of perceptual processing demands and practice in modulating voluntary and involuntary motor responses.

Understanding how sensory processing demands affect the ability to ignore task-irrelevant, loud auditory stimuli (LAS) during a task is key to performance in dynamic environments. For example, tennis players must ignore crowd noise to perform optimally. We investigated how practice affects this ability by examining the effects of delivering LASs during preparatory phase of an anticipatory timing (AT) task on the voluntary and reflexive responses in two conditions: lower and higher visual processing loads. Twenty-four participants (mean age = 23.1, 11 females) completed the experiment. The AT task involved synchronizing a finger abduction response with the last visual stimulus item in a sequence of four Gabor grating patches briefly flashed on screen. The lower demand condition involved only this task, and the higher demand condition required processing the orientations of the patches to report changes in the final stimulus item. Our results showed that higher visual processing demands affected the release of voluntary actions, particularly in the first block of trials. When the perceptual load was lower, responses were released earlier by the LAS compared to the high-load condition. Practice reduced these effects largely, but high perceptual load still led to earlier action release in the second block. In contrast, practice led to more apparent facilitation of eyeblink latency in the second block. These findings indicate that a simple perceptual load manipulation can impact the execution of voluntary motor actions, particularly for inexperienced participants. They also suggest distinct movement preparation influences on voluntary and involuntary actions triggered by acoustic stimuli.

Plinko: Eliciting beliefs to build better models of statistical learning and mental model updating.

Prior beliefs are central to Bayesian accounts of cognition, but many of these accounts do not directly measure priors. More specifically, initial states of belief heavily influence how new information is assumed to be utilized when updating a particular model. Despite this, prior and posterior beliefs are either inferred from sequential participant actions or elicited through impoverished means. We had participants to play a version of the game 'Plinko', to first elicit individual participant priors in a theoretically agnostic manner. Subsequent learning and updating of participant beliefs was then directly measured. We show that participants hold various priors that cluster around prototypical probability distributions that in turn influence learning. In follow-up studies, we show that participant priors are stable over time and that the ability to update beliefs is influenced by a simple environmental manipulation (i.e., a short break). These data reveal the importance of directly measuring participant beliefs rather than assuming or inferring them as has been widely done in the literature to date. The Plinko game provides a flexible and fecund means for examining statistical learning and mental model updating.

Long-term complications and management of dental trauma in the adult patient - Part 2: discoloured, displaced and missing teeth.

The second paper in this two-part review series aims to outline the long-term complications of dental trauma in the adult patient in relation to discoloured, displaced or missing teeth. A brief overview of the cause of discolouration is outlined, followed by assessment and management options. These can include bleaching, veneers, or crown restorations to mask the discolouration. Displacement of teeth from the socket can occur due to luxation injuries. Management can include simple digital manipulation, surgical repositioning, or orthodontic extrusion based on the severity of extrusion and the time from injury. Teeth can be lost early or in the long-term following dental trauma and associated hard and soft tissues deficiencies may also ensue. Replacement options can include a removable partial prosthesis, resin-retained bridge or dental implants. Often, hard and soft tissue augmentation procedures may be required to address any defects and rebuild lost anatomical contours. A thorough assessment followed by the development of a sound management plan which takes patients' general and local factors into account can ensure a predictable and successful treatment outcome. This would end in an aesthetically pleasing and a functionally stable result for the patient.

Highly Stereoselective Synthesis of 2-Acyl-3-sulfonamidobut-2-enoates Using Solid Calcium Carbide as a Substitute for Gaseous Acetylene.

Multifunctional group compounds, 2-acyl-3-sulfonamidobut-2-enoates, are efficiently constructed using solid calcium carbide as an alkyne source through the simultaneous formation of two bonds in one step. The salient features of this protocol are the use of an inexpensive, abundant, and easy-to-use alkyne source as a substitute for flammable and explosive gaseous acetylene, low-cost catalyst, mild conditions, wide substrate scope, high stereoselectivity, satisfactory yield, and simple manipulation. This method can also be extended to the gram scale.

Hotspot shelters stimulate frog resistance to chytridiomycosis.

Many threats to biodiversity cannot be eliminated; for example, invasive pathogens may be ubiquitous. Chytridiomycosis is a fungal disease that has spread worldwide, driving at least 90 amphibian species to extinction, and severely affecting hundreds of others1-4. Once the disease spreads to a new environment, it is likely to become a permanent part of that ecosystem. To enable coexistence with chytridiomycosis in the field, we devised an intervention that exploits host defences and pathogen vulnerabilities. Here we show that sunlight-heated artificial refugia attract endangered frogs and enable body temperatures high enough to clear infections, and that having recovered in this way, frogs are subsequently resistant to chytridiomycosis even under cool conditions that are optimal for fungal growth. Our results provide a simple, inexpensive and widely applicable strategy to buffer frogs against chytridiomycosis in nature. The refugia are immediately useful for the endangered species we tested and will have broader utility for amphibian species with similar ecologies. Furthermore, our concept could be applied to other wildlife diseases in which differences in host and pathogen physiologies can be exploited. The refugia are made from cheap and readily available materials and therefore could be rapidly adopted by wildlife managers and the public. In summary, habitat protection alone cannot protect species that are affected by invasive diseases, but simple manipulations to microhabitat structure could spell the difference between the extinction and the persistence of endangered amphibians.

Effects of UV radiation on human skin and its microbiota: a review on microbial UV sunscreens

Solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation is the culprit for molecular and genetic changes that occur to the skin. This effect can be direct or indirect through the generation of reactive oxygen species and free radicals. So, it is important to find potential molecules that can reduce both effects. In this review, we explored the contributions of microbial-originated UV sunscreens, particularly by mycosporines and mycosporines-like amino acids (MAA). These natural molecules are capable UV ray absorbers and antioxidant health protectors, given that they are eco-friendly, have strong photostability and are non-toxic. Furthermore, microorganisms are known for producing their compounds to survive harsh environments which in turn is beneficial to humans too. The reason behind it is the reduction of production cost as it has a simple growth culture and useful genetic manipulation. Thus, the knowledge regarding the synthesis pathway and therapeutic advantages of mycosporines of microbial origin is essential to be improved. Currently, only mycosporines production of marine life have been investigated, the remaining are unclear. We aimed to search more into the impacts of UV radiation on human skin and its microbiota and the microbial-based approaches to counter UV-induced damages.

Isolation of a facultative methanotroph Methylocystis iwaonis SD4 from rice rhizosphere and establishment of rapid genetic tools for it.

Methanotrophs of the genus Methylocystis are frequently found in rice paddies. Although more than ten facultative methanotrophs have been reported since 2005, none of these strains was isolated from paddy soil. Here, a facultative methane-oxidizing bacterium, Methylocystis iwaonis SD4, was isolated and characterized from rhizosphere samples of rice plants in Nanjing, China. This strain grew well on methane or methanol but was able to grow slowly using acetate or ethanol. Moreover, strain SD4 showed sustained growth at low concentrations of methane (100 and 500ppmv). M. iwaonis SD4 could utilize diverse nitrogen sources, including nitrate, urea, ammonium as well as dinitrogen. Strain SD4 possessed genes encoding both the particulate methane monooxygenase and the soluble methane monooxygenase. Simple and rapid genetic manipulation methods were established for this strain, enabling vector transformation and unmarked genetic manipulation. Fast growth rate and efficient genetic tools make M. iwaonis SD4 an ideal model to study facultative methanotrophs, and the ability to grow on low concentration of methane implies its potential in methane removal.

Construction of 3-Methyl-2-Substituted Benzo[b]furans and 3-Methyl-2-Substituted Benzo[b]thiophenes Using Solid Calcium Carbide as a Substitute for Gaseous Acetylene.

A concise method for the facile construction of 3-methyl-2-substituted benzo[b]furans and 3-methyl-2-substituted benzo[b]thiophenes using low-cost, abundant, and easy-to-use solid calcium carbide instead of flammable and explosive gaseous acetylene as an original alkyne source, o-bromophenyl ethers or o-bromophenyl thioethers as substrates through an intramolecular carbanion-yne cyclization in a 5-exo-dig manner, and subsequent double-bond isomerization is described. The simultaneous formation of two C-C bonds is realized in a one-step route. The wide substrate scope, high yield, and simple workup manipulations are also merits of this method. The synthetic strategy can also be suitable for the gram scale.

Bi-DexHands: Towards Human-Level Bimanual Dexterous Manipulation.

Achieving human-level dexterity in robotics remains a critical open problem. Even simple dexterous manipulation tasks pose significant difficulties due to the high number of degrees of freedom and the need for cooperation among heterogeneous agents (e.g., finger joints). While some researchers have utilized reinforcement learning (RL) to control a single hand in manipulating objects, tasks that require coordinated bimanual cooperation are still under-explored due to the fewer suitable environments, which can result in difficulties and sub-optimal performance. To address these challenges, we introduce Bi-DexHands, a simulator with two dexterous hands featuring 20 bimanual manipulation tasks and thousands of target objects, designed to match various levels of human motor skills based on cognitive science research. We developed Bi-DexHands in Issac Gym, enabling highly efficient RL training at over 30,000 frames per second using a single NVIDIA RTX 3090. Based on Bi-DexHands, we present a comprehensive evaluation of popular RL algorithms in different settings, including single-agent/multi-agent RL, offline RL, multi-task RL, and meta RL. Our findings show that on-policy algorithms, such as PPO, can master simple manipulation tasks that correspond to those of 48-month-old babies, such as catching a flying object or opening a bottle. Furthermore, multi-agent RL can improve the ability to perform manipulations that require skilled bimanual cooperation, such as lifting a pot or stacking blocks. Despite achieving success in individual tasks, current RL algorithms struggle to learn multiple manipulation skills in most multi-task and few-shot learning scenarios. This highlights the need for further research and development within the RL community.

Electrodynamic manipulator for commercial fluorescence microscope

We have developed a simple electrodynamic manipulator extension for a commercial fluorescence microscope. This extension allows single charged nano- and microparticles to levitate being isolated in space. The proposed electrodynamic manipulator is based on the linear quadrupole Paul trap. We measured the luminescence spectrum of a single microparticle filled with semiconductor quantum dots to demonstrate the operation process of the electrodynamic manipulator. This paper reveals the manipulator design features and restrictions are imposed by microscopic equipment; the issues of optical spectra recording are also discussed. The electrodynamic manipulator is a cheap and robust tool that can be compatible with any commercial microscopes, and can be easily adapted and modified for various investigation needs.

COLLECT AND PREPARE DATASET FROM HUMAN-DEMONSTRATIONS OF SIMPLE MANIPULATION TASKS USING XARM7 ROBOTIC ARM FOR TRAINING BEHAVIOUR CLONING ALGORITHM

The goal of the study is to understand what data structure is necessary to teach a robot to perform simple manipulation tasks. Training will take place thanks to Imitation learning, using the behavior cloning algorithm. Imitation learning is extremely useful for training any robotic system, especially with multi-jointed robots. This approach allows you to avoid writing complex and cumbersome heuristic algorithms. Heuristic algorithms often contain many hyperparameters that must be chosen empirically. Imitation learning algorithms allow you to develop an End-to-End policy from the collected data, which simplifies the system and increases its reliability. In the realm of training robotic systems through Imitation Learning, the criticality of data collection cannot be overstated. The efficacy of the Behavior Cloning algorithm hinges on the quality and speed at which data is gathered. Properly curated and swiftly acquired datasets serve as the bedrock for training algorithms that emulate human behavior, allowing the robot to seamlessly replicate intricate manipulations. The efficiency of data gathering is paramount in addressing the challenges posed by the dynamic nature of real-world environments. Swift adaptation to varying conditions and unforeseen scenarios necessitates a data collection process that is not only rapid but also comprehensive. A well-curated dataset not only expedites the training process but also enhances the model's adaptability and robustness in real-world applications. In conclusion, the success of Imitation Learning algorithms, particularly those underpinned by the Behavior Cloning approach, is contingent on the meticulous and expeditious gathering of data. This underscores the importance of streamlined data collection processes, ensuring that the resultant models are not only accurate but also capable of navigating the complexities of diverse and dynamic environments. Fastidious attention to data gathering is imperative to ensure a diverse and representative dataset. The xArm7 robot, in collaboration with the Realsense D435 camera, serves as an ideal synergy for capturing a myriad of movements and scenarios. The precision of data collection directly influences the algorithm's ability to generalize, making it adept at handling a spectrum of manipulation tasks.