Knowledge acquisition through human–robot multimodal interaction

The limited understanding of the surrounding environment still restricts the capabilities of robotic systems in real world applications. Specifically, the acquisition of knowledge about the environment typically relies only on perception, which requires intensive ad hoc training and is not sufficiently reliable in a general setting. In this paper, we aim at integrating new acquisition devices, such as tangible user interfaces, speech technologies and vision-based systems, with established AI methodologies, to present a novel and effective knowledge acquisition approach. A natural interaction paradigm is presented, where humans move within the environment with the robot and easily acquire information by selecting relevant spots, objects, or other relevant landmarks. The synergy between novel interaction technologies and semantic knowledge leverages humans’ cognitive skills to support robots in acquiring and grounding knowledge about the environment; such richer representation can be exploited in the realization of robot autonomous skills for task accomplishment.     

Immunohistochemical overexpression of p16 protein associated with intact retinoblastoma protein expression in cervical cancer and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia

A 35-year-old man with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) (follicular small cleaved, B cell, stage IVB) received double myeloablative chemotherapy with syngeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT). Although platelet recovery was delayed until day 29 after the second transplantation, thereafter trilineage hematopoietic reconstitution was achieved. The evaluation after PBSCT did not detect any residual tumor. The patient was in good health until day 138, when his platelet count suddenly began falling; on day 150, it had fallen to 1.5 x 10(4)/microliter, and the patient was re-admitted for treatment. The bone marrow was normocellular with a normal count and megakaryocyte structure. Other examinations, including serological tests and computed tomography of the neck, chest, abdomen, and retroperitoneum, did not indicate a recurrence of NHL or reveal the cause of thrombocytopenia. The patient's platelet-associated IgG (PAIgG) level was at 70.9 ng/10(7) platelets (normal range: 9-25 ng/10(7) platelets); a diagnosis of thrombocytopenia due to an autoimmune mechanism such as idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) was made. Prednisolone therapy increased the platelet count and reduced the PAIgG level. Thrombocytopenia with an ITP-like mechanism rarely occurs more than 100 days after autologous or syngeneic stem cell transplantation, and should be taken into consideration as a late complication of PBSCT.     

Time–temperature superposition in the enthalpy relaxation study of polystyrene

Enthalpy recovery measurement was used to study the physical aging behavior of a polystyrene. The aging experiments at temperatures (T_A) near T_g were conducted with aging times (t_A) ranging from several minutes to several days. The recovered enthalpy, ΔH(t_A, T_A), increased with t_A, and then a plateau value of ΔH_plate appeared in the long time aging experiment. The master curve was successfully constructed concerning the normalized relaxation isotherm of ? for the temperature range of T_g?16 < T_A < T_g?8 if ΔH_plate was used to calculate the normalized term. This implies that the enthalpy relaxation evolves with the same molecular dynamics in respective T_A. The shift factor in the master curve was interpreted in terms of the WLF (Williams–Landel–Ferry) equation to determine the coefficients for the superposition of ?–t_A curves. A smaller value was found in c₁ in comparison with those reported in the literature on polystyrene viscoelastic data, which was discussed in terms of temperature dependence of the relaxation rate in the enthalpy decay. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 56:561–565, 2016. © 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers     

c-Met expression of thyroid tissue with special reference to papillary carcinoma

It has become clear that papillary carcinomas of the thyroid often express the receptor for c-Met/hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) receptor, but little is known about the role of the HGF and c-Met system in the pathogenesis of thyroid carcinoma. In this study, the expression of c-Met/HGF receptor was evaluated in thyroid tissue by western blot and immunohistochemistry, and compared with the concentration of HGF. Clinicopathological characteristics were also compared. Fifteen of 20 papillary carcinomas (75%) showed c-Met bands of 145 kDa. No or only a low frequency of c-Met expression was detected in healthy thyroid tissue (0/5), thyroiditis or Basedow's disease (0/2), adenomatous goiters (0/8), follicular adenomas (1/9, 11%) and undifferentiated carcinomas (0/2). These results were confirmed by immunohistochemistry, but a relatively higher frequency of c-Met expression was detected in adenomatous goiters (25%), follicular adenoma (44%) and papillary carcinoma (100%) using formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded materials. A strong immunoreaction for c-Met was observed in the tumor cytoplasm of papillary carcinomas among the fibrous tissues situated at the periphery of the tumor. The densitometrically measured expression of c-Met had no relation to tumor stage in papillary carcinoma, but did correlate to the concentration of HGF in papillary carcinomas. In conclusion, in thyroid lesions, c-Met was highly expressed specifically in the cytoplasm of papillary carcinomas. c-Met expression was not related to the aggressiveness of the tumor but was related to the concentration of HGF, which was probably derived from the stroma. Also, the c-Met system might play a role in the pathogenesis of papillary carcinoma of the thyroid.     

Ionic products from the mechanical fracture of solid polypropylene

When polypropylene was fractured with tetracyanoethylene (TCNE) in the dark in vacuo at 77 K, the TCNE anion radical, TCNE — was detected (using e.s.r. methods). The TCNE — is produced by the attraction of an electron by TCNE from an anion arising from the mechanical fracture of solid polypropylene. This is presumably by ‘heterogeneous scission’ of main-chain carbon—carbon bonds in the polymer. Free radicals of the chain-end type arising from the mechanical fracture of solid polypropylene are also produced by ‘homogeneous scission’. At least 37% of scission occurs by the heterogeneous process.     

Relaxation processes and mobility of spin labelled polyethylene

A high density polyethylene was spin-labelled by the reaction of the alkyl type free radical,

with 2,4,6-tri-t-butyl nitrosobenzene as a spin-trapping reagent. Extrema separations and line widths of e.s.r. spectrum of nitroxide free radicals were obtained and used in order to calculate correlation times of the motion of the label in a wide temperature range. Spin rotational frequencies of free radicals were compared with the correlation frequencies obtained from a relaxation map which revealed α-, β- and γ-relaxation processes in solid polyethylene. It was concluded that the motional narrowing of the line width in the high temperature region 283–343 K with an activation energy of 9.2 kcal/mol, was caused by the β-relaxation process, which is normally attributed to the large scale segmental motion over the whole molecular chain in the amorphous phase. The decrease of the extrema separation in the higher temperature region 353–383 K was conisdered due to the same mechanism of the relaxation observed in the 283–343 K region in the case of the line width study. These e.s.r. techniques gave lower activation energies of β-relaxation process than those obtained by dielectric and mechanical relaxation measurements. This discrepancy was interpreted in terms of the distribution of relaxation times. The relaxation spectrum for the β-process was discussed based on the Miyake equation.