The development of a versatile, fully-capable humanoid robot as envisioned in science fiction books is one of the most challenging but interesting issues in the robotic field. Currently, existing humanoid robots are designed with different purposes and applications in mind. In humanoid robot development process, each robot is designed with various characteristics, abilities, and equipment, which influence the general structure, cost, and difficulty of development. Even though humanoid robot development is very popular, a few review papers are focusing on the design and development process of humanoid robots. Motivated by this, we present this review paper to show variations in the requirements, design, and development process and also propose a taxonomy of existing humanoid robots. It aims at demonstrating a general perspective of existing humanoid robots’ characteristics and applications. This paper includes state-of-the-art and successfully reported existing humanoid robot designs along with different robots used in various robot competitions.

The team-orienteering problem (TOP) has broad applicability. Examples of possible uses are in factory and automation settings, robot sports teams, and urban search and rescue applications. We chose the rescue domain as a guiding example throughout this paper. Hence, this paper explores a practical variant of TOP with time window (TOPTW) for rescue applications by humanoid robots called TOPTWR. Due to the significant range of algorithm choices and their parameters tuning challenges, the use of hyper-heuristics is recommended. Hyper-heuristics can select, order, or generate different low-level heuristics with different optimization algorithms. In this paper, first, a general multi-objective (MO) solution is defined, with five objectives for TOPTWR. Then a robust and efficient MO and evolutionary hyper-heuristic algorithm for TOPTW based on the humanoid robot’s characteristics in the rescue applications (MOHH-TOPTWR) is proposed. MOHH-TOPTWR includes two MO evolutionary metaheuristics algorithms (MOEAs) known as non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-III) and MOEA based on decomposition (MOEA/D). In this paper, new benchmark instances are proposed for rescue applications using the existing ones for TOPTW. The experimental results show that MOHH-TOPTWR in both MOEAs can outperform all the state-of-the-art algorithms as well as NSGA-III and MOEA/D MOEAs.

This review aims to familiarize the reader with research efforts on the cultivation media of lactic acid bacteria (LAB). We have also included a brief discussion on standard ingredients used in LAB media and chemically defined media as related to bacterial growth requirements. Recent research has focused on modifying standard media for the enumeration, differentiation, isolation, and identification of starter cultures and probiotics. Even though large numbers of these media have been developed to serve dairy microbial control, they have failed to provide consistent results. The research consequently points to the need to develop a reliable lactobacilli growth medium for the dairy industry.

Triticum boeoticum is a valuable gene source for tolerance to drought stress. In order to study the effect of drought stress on this plant, and to understand its adaptive mechanisms at the molecular level, 10 accessions of T. boeoticum were evaluated under non- and drought stress conditions. Evaluation of 31 different phenological, morpho-physiological and root-related traits showed that there were significant differences between accessions. Using the bi-plot resulting from the PCA, the studied traits and accessions were separated in different groups. The most tolerant (B5) and susceptible (B6) accessions to drought stress were identified, so these accessions were used for assessment of changes in the TaNAC2 and TaNAC69-1 transcription factors (TFs) expression. The results showed that in the most tolerant and susceptible accessions, TaNAC2 and TaNAC69-1 expression levels increased between non-stress and stress conditions significantly, but the increased level of these two genes expression in the most tolerant accession was much higher than the most susceptible accession. According to the obtained results, T. boeoticum can be a suitable and promising gene source for improving modern wheat. In addition, the results of TFs expression could improve our understanding about the complex mechanisms associated with drought tolerance in wheat, especially wild wheat.

Weeds are among the main limitations on chickpea production in Iran. The efficacy of herbicide treatments including linuron PPI, imazethapyr PPI, PRE, and POST, pendimethalin PPI and POST, bentazon POST, pyridate POST, and oxadiazon POST along with one or two hand weedings were evaluated for weed control and yield response in rain-fed chickpea in Aleshtar, Lorestan, Iran in 2015 and 2016. Wild safflower, threehorn bedstraw, wild mustard, and hoary cress were the predominant weed species in both experimental years. Total weed dry biomass in weedy check plots averaged 187 and 238 g m−2 in 2015 and 2016, respectively, and weed density and biomass were reduced in all treatments compared to the weedy check in both years. Treatments composed of pyridate followed by one hand weeding or imazethapyr POST followed by two hand weedings resulted in the lowest weed biomass. The presence of weeds reduced yield by 74% and 66% in the weedy check plots compared to the weed-free control plots in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Application of oxadiazon, bentazon, and imazethapyr PPI, PRE, and POST resulted in lower chickpea yields. All herbicides tested injured chickpea slightly, with pyridate causing the least injury.

Shear induced autoregulation is the natural ability of organs to maintain the local hemodynamic stresses in a stable condition in spite of altering perfusion rate. Endothelium cells are shear sensitive mechanoreceptors that are responsible for regulating the arterial wall architecture and mechanical properties in order to maintain homeostasis. This occurs by means of vasoactive mediators, which cause vasodilation or vasoconstriction. In this paper we presented a multiscale model of local flow regulation. First, a lumped parameter model of the whole cardiovascular system was implemented. Then a 3D numerical model of human common carotid artery was constructed considering fluid-structure interaction. The CCA inflow waveform obtained from the extended 0D model was applied to the 3D model as the boundary condition. After applying the Head-Up Tilt test, the local hemodynamics were disturbed. By considering the wall shear stress as the regulation criterion, then altering the arterial mechanical properties and the following vasodilation, shear forces exerted on the inner lining of the vessel were regulated and returned to the normal range. The resulting 0D/3D model can be considered as a plat-form for a more complete model containing local and systemic cardiovascular control mechanisms and patient-specific geometries which can be used for clinical purposes.

We theoretically study small-amplitude oscillations of permeable cylinders immersed in an unbounded fluid. Specifically, we examine the effects of oscillation frequency, permeability and shape on the effective mass and damping coefficients, the latter of which is proportional to the power required to sustain the vibrations. Cylinders of circular and elliptical cross-sections undergoing transverse and rotational vibrations are considered. The dynamics of the fluid flow through porous cylinders is assumed to obey the unsteady Brinkman–Debye–Bueche equations. We use a singularity method to analytically calculate the flow field within and around circular cylinders, whereas we introduce a Fourier-pseudospectral method to numerically solve the governing equations for elliptical cylinders. We find that, if rescaled properly, the analytical results for circular cylinders provide very good estimates for the behaviour of elliptical ones over a wide range of conditions. More importantly, our calculations indicate that, at sufficiently high frequencies, the damping coefficient of oscillations varies non-monotonically with the permeability, in which case it maximizes when the diffusion length scale for the vorticity is comparable to the penetration length scale for the flow within the porous material. Depending on the oscillation period, the maximum damping of a permeable cylinder can be many times greater than that of an otherwise impermeable one. This might seem counter-intuitive at first, since generally the power it takes to steadily drag a permeable object through a fluid is less than the power needed to drive the steady motion of the same, but impermeable, object. However, the driving power (or damping coefficient) for oscillating bodies is determined not only by the amplitude of the cyclic fluid load experienced by them but also by the phase shift between the load and their periodic motion. An increase in the latter is responsible for the excess damping coefficient of vibrating porous cylinders.

A hybrid thin film multilayer antenna for automotive radar is presented in this work. A 2 × 8 aperture coupled stacked patch antenna array is realized on a single layer printed circuit board (PCB) using a novel thin film-based approach. Using a compact 180° phase difference power divider, inter-element spacing in a 2×2 sub-array is reduced. Measurement results show a 19% (67.9–82.5 GHz) impedance bandwidth and a wideband broadside radiation pattern, with a maximum gain of 15.4 dBi realized gain at 72 GHz. The presented antenna compares favorably with other multilayer PCB antennas in terms of performance, with the advantage of simpler manufacturing and robust design. The antenna can be employed in mid-range automotive radar applications.

Heracleum persicum (golpar) is an endemic medicinal plant that is commonly known as hogweed or Persian hogweed. It contains flavonoids and furanocoumarins that probably could stimulate both cell- and antibody-mediated immune responses. Besides, golpar has a substantial immunostimulatory effect on beta-lymphocytes and macrophages that played important role in antibody synthesis. Its extract at a supplementation level of 1-2.5 ml/l in drinking water showed a remarkable increase in the total immunoglobulins (Ig) (70%), immunoglobulin G (IgG) (100%) and immunoglobulin M (IgM) (94%) titres and an increase in antibody titre against Newcastle disease virus (96%) in broilers. In addition, supplementation positively affected the feed intake (9.4%), weight gain (14.7%) and food conversion ratio (FCR) (8.7%) in broilers. Moreover, in several studies, it has potential as an antifungal, antidiabetic, hypocholesterolaemic and growth enhancer agent; which endorsed its extensive contents of phytochemicals (terpenoids, triterpenes, furanocoumarins, volatile substances, flavonoids and alkaloids). It has a positive effect on the levels of glutathione (GSH), peroxidation lipids (MDA), the total antioxidant capacity of plasma or ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) and glutathione s-transferase (GST), in addition to modulatory effects on liver enzymes including alanine transferase (ALT) and aspartate transferase (AST). After reviewing the published literature, it was apparent that golpar has multidimensional biological effects. Nevertheless, little research is available on the effects of golpar on productive performance and other health-related parameters in avian species. Hence, this review encourages veterinarians and poultry researcher to undertake further work to demonstrate the promising beneficial effects of golpar at effective levels to potentially replace the synthetic antibiotic growth promoters in commercial poultry diets.

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: To demonstrate the prevalence of ocular complications in patients suffering with Mycoplasma Induced Rash and Mucositis (MIRM). METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: In this retrospective observational study, we identified all patients in our hospital database who were diagnosed with MIRM. Diagnosis was confirmed by clinical information and positive Mycoplasma pneumoniae serology. Only patients with available records with formal ophthalmology consults were included. Clinical and laboratory data were collected from our electronic medical record system to capture key components of their clinical course. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: A total of 12 patients satisfied all inclusion and exclusion criteria and were included in our study. The average age of our included patients was 21.2 ± 14.7 years, and the majority were male vs. female (66.7% vs. 33.3%). In all 24 eyes, the only acute ocular findings included conjunctival hyperemia (n=20, 83.3%), meibomitis (n=4, 16.7%), and conjunctival epithelial defects (n=1, 4.2%). None of the patients required or were recommended to receive an amniotic membrane transplantation in the acute phase. Only 2 patients were followed in the chronic phase, one of whom showed evidence of meibomitis in both eyes. Otherwise, no other chronic complications were seen in either patient with chronic follow-up. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Ocular complications from MIRM may be much milder in comparison to ocular complications found in other bullous and inflammatory conditions such as Stevens-Johnson Syndrome or Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis. Understanding MIRM’s specific sequelae is important in understanding disease manifestation and prognosis in order to better inform acute and chronic management.

The main objective of this study was to compare the performance of different ‘nonlinear quantile regression’ models evaluated at the τth quantile (0·25, 0·50, and 0·75) of milk production traits and somatic cell score (SCS) in Iranian Holstein dairy cows. Data were collected by the Animal Breeding Center of Iran from 1991 to 2011, comprising 101 051 monthly milk production traits and SCS records of 13 977 cows in 183 herds. Incomplete gamma (Wood), exponential (Wilmink), Dijkstra and polynomial (Ali & Schaeffer) functions were implemented in the quantile regression. Residual mean square, Akaike information criterion and log-likelihood from different models and quantiles indicated that in the same quantile, the best models were Wilmink for milk yield, Dijkstra for fat percentage and Ali & Schaeffer for protein percentage. Over all models the best model fit occurred at quantile 0·50 for milk yield, fat and protein percentage, whereas, for SCS the 0·25th quantile was best. The best model to describe SCS was Dijkstra at quantiles 0·25 and 0·50, and Ali & Schaeffer at quantile 0·75. Wood function had the worst performance amongst all traits. Quantile regression is specifically appropriate for SCS which has a mixed multimodal distribution.

Ferulic acid is (FA) is a phenolic compound found in vegetables, fruits, cereals and coffee. It exists in both a free form and covalently conjugated to polysaccharides in the plant cell wall, polyamines, hydroxyl fatty acids, lignin, and glycoproteins. It has exhibited many vital biological properties, such as growth enhancing, antioxidant, antibacterial and immunomodulatory effects. It can be used as a food preservative and has a wide range of applications. FA has been reported to be a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent and is considered as part of a promising strategy for improving vascular cell-compatibility and blood compatibility as well. Additionally, dietary FA could improve the antioxidant capacity and, hence, meat quality in poultry. Supplementation of FA at 40 mg/kg or 80 mg/kg diet reduced the formation of hepatic MDA in case of carbon tetrachloride toxicity. The susceptibility of meat to oxidation in broiler chickens receiving oats at 200 g/kg diet as a source of FA was higher compared to the stability of meat in chickens receiving 200 ppm vitamin E. After examining the literature, it became apparent that the research on promising therapeutic effects of FA in poultry, in particular, is limited. So, the aim of this review was to indicate the importance of FA and its beneficial effects. In addition, this review includes information on the use of FA as a natural phenolic compound in poultry nutrition and its different applications in the poultry industry.

This paper presents a robust adaptive impedance controller for robot manipulators using function approximation techniques (FAT). Recently, FAT-based robust impedance controllers have been presented using Fourier series expansion for uncertainty estimation. In fact, sinusoidal functions can approximate nonlinear functions with arbitrary small approximation error based on the orthogonal functions theorem. The novelty of this paper in comparison with previous related works is that the number of required regressor matrices in this paper has been reduced. This superiority becomes more dominant when the manipulator degrees of freedom (DOFs) are increased. First, the desired signals for motor currents are calculated, and then the desired voltages are obtained. In the proposed approach, only a simple model of the actuator and manipulator dynamics is used in the controller design and all the rest dynamics are treated as external disturbance. The external disturbances can then be approximated by Fourier series expansion. The adaptation laws for Fourier series coefficients are derived from a Lyapunov-based stability analysis. Simulation results on a 2-DOF planar robot manipulator including the actuator dynamics indicate the efficiency of proposed method.

This paper presents a robust tracking controller for electrically driven robots, without the need for velocity measurements of joint variables. Many observers require the system dynamics or nominal models, while a model-free observer is presented in this paper. The novelty of this paper is presenting a new observer–controller structure based on function approximation techniques and Stone–Weierstrass theorem using differential equations. In fact, it is assumed that the lumped uncertainty can be modeled by linear differential equations. Then, using Stone–Weierstrass theorem, it is verified that these differential equations are universal approximators. The advantage of proposed approach in comparison with previous related works is simplicity and reducing the dimensions of regressor matrices without the need for any information of the systems’ dynamic. Simulation results on a 6-degrees of freedom robot manipulator driven by geared permanent magnet DC motors indicate the satisfactory performance of the proposed method in overcoming uncertainties and reducing the tracking error. To evaluate the performance of proposed controller in practical implementations, experimental results on an SCARA manipulator are presented.