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The utility of multigene expression assays in advanced (≥ 4 positive lymph nodes) early breast cancer (EBC) is limited. We conducted exploratory transcriptomic analysis of 758 genes (Breast Cancer 360 panel, nCounter® platform; NanoString) in primary tumor samples collected during a phase 3 trial comparing adjuvant taxane‐containing dose‐dense chemotherapy (ddCTX) versus standard‐dosed chemotherapy (stCTX) in resected EBC with ≥ 4 positive lymph nodes. Prognostic and predictive associations with disease‐free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated by Cox regression with false discovery rate (FDR) adjustment. Data were available from tumor samples of 141/226 patients (median follow‐up: 14 years). Several genes/signatures, including immune markers, showed prognostic relevance in unadjusted analyses. Of these, two remained significant after multiplicity adjustment: a positive effect on DFS of programmed cell death 1 ligand‐2 (PD‐L2) in the ddCTX arm (univariate HR: 0.53, FDR‐adjusted P = 0.036) and a negative effect on OS of HER2‐enriched (HER2‐E) signature in the stCTX arm (univariate HR: 5.40, FDR‐adjusted P = 0.036). Predictive analyses showed greater DFS benefit of ddCTX in tumors with high antigen processing machinery (APM) expression (multivariate interaction P = 0.024). Multigene expression assays have a prognostic and predictive potential in advanced EBC, and further investigation is warranted in order to identify candidates for de‐escalated treatment. In addition, intrinsic subtype and immune gene expression have predictive potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automating the assembly and handling of deformable linear objects requires their robust detection. This paper introduces a new evaluation metric for the results from instance segmentation. The metric enables estimating the proportion of valid grasp poses and graspable objects for specifc gripper models. The results demonstrate that masks with similar scores in area-based metrics can have different grasp pose validity outcomes. In addition, it is indicated that when handling deformable linear objects with a vacuum gripper, it is possible to achieve a grasp precision and grasp recall of about 90 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In industrial production, the handling and mating of electrical connectors are carried out manually in most applications. Therefore, automation offers potential for improvement. Designing a suitable gripper system is a crucial step. However, this is currently only possible exploratively, requiring empirical knowledge and time. This paper presents a concept for automating the design process of gripper systems for electrical connectors. For this purpose, physics simulation for the mechanical impact of cables and grasp planning for the complex geometry of electrical connectors are considered simultaneously. The concept aims to automatically derive CAD data for gripper jaws that are suitable for electrical connectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial part supply often uses universal load carriers. Bin picking offers a variant-flexible option for separating the unordered parts in universal load carriers. While numerous approaches exist for bin picking of rigid objects, deformable objects pose challenges. This paper presents a concept for localization and grasp planning for bin picking of deformable linear objects (DLOs). First, a method for localization and reconstruction of unordered DLOs is introduced. Then an approach for part selection and uncertainty evaluation is described. The proposed concept promises to identify grasp regions for picking selected DLOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During times of flexible production, the human-robot collaboration has the potential for flexible automation within the assembly process. Optimization of manual assembly workstations focuses on the workspace layout in particular. The storage boxes are placed within the grasping area of the human in order to save time. Regarding an application in a human-robot collaboration, there are several criteria for finding the appropriate layout for an assembly task. This paper describes identified criteria regarding the layout which have an influence on an efficient collaboration. These criteria include amongst others the movement lengths of human and the robot, the freedom of movement of the human depending on the robot's position, and the flexibility of the robot to perform a certain action. These criteria are used for an evaluation method in order to find the most fitting layout for the assembly task being considered. For the evaluation, the user provides inputs such as the percentages of various defined operating modes or defines the criteria, which should be taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]