Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modeling and Trajectory Optimization for Standing Long Jumping of a Quadruped with A Preloaded Elastic Prismatic Spine

This paper presents a novel methodology to model and optimize trajectories of a quadrupedal robot with spinal compliance to improve standing jump performance compared to quadrupeds with a rigid spine. We introduce an elastic model for a prismatic robotic spine that is actively preloaded and mechanically lock-enabled at initial and maximum length, and develop a constrained trajectory optimization method to cooptimize the elastic parameters and motion trajectories toward enhanced jumping distance. Results reveal that a less stiff spring is likely to facilitate jumping performance not as a direct propelling source but as a means to unleash more motor power for propelling by trading-off overall energy efficiency. We also visualize the impact of spring coefficients on the overall optimization routine from energetic perspectives to identify the suitable parameter region.
Modelling the impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions on COVID-19 transmission and healthcare demands in Cambodia: a scenario analysis

Background The current low numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Cambodia suggest containment efforts have thus far been successful. However, as evident from the experience of other countries, there remains a risk that SARS-CoV-2 will begin to circulate widely in the population. In the event of transmission becoming widespread to the extent that containment is no longer feasible, the country may need to move to a mitigation or suppression phase, aiming to reduce transmission, minimise morbidity and mortality, and avoid healthcare systems becoming overwhelmed. This study assesses the impact of nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), specifically those aimed at reducing social contacts, for mitigation and suppression of COVID-19 epidemic scenarios in Cambodia.
Distributions of vesicular glutamate transporters 1 and 2 in the visual thalamus and associated areas of the cat

Glutamate is packaged in vesicles via two main vesicular transporter (VGLUT) proteins, VGLUT1 and VGLUT2, which regulate its storage and release from synapses of excitatory neurons. Studies in rodents, primates, ferrets, and tree shrews suggest that these transporters may identify distinct subsets of excitatory projections in visual structures, particularly in thalamocortical pathways where they tend to correlate with modulatory and driver projections, respectively. Despite being a well‐studied model of thalamocortical connectivity, little is known about their expression pattern in the cat visual system. To expand current knowledge on their distribution and how they correlated with known driver and modulator projecting sites, we examined the protein expression patterns of VGLUT1 and VGLUT2 in the visual thalamus of the cat (lateral geniculate nucleus and the pulvinar complex). We also studied their expression pattern in relevant visual structures projecting to or receiving significant thalamic projections, such as the primary visual cortex and the superior colliculus. Our results indicate that both VGLUTs are consistently present throughout the cat visual system and show laminar or nuclei specificity in their distribution, which suggests, as in other species, that VGLUT1 and VGLUT2 represent distinct populations of glutamatergic projections.
Adaptive Controllers for Quadrotors Carrying Unknown Payloads

With the advent of intelligent transport, quadrotors are becoming an attractive solution while lifting or dropping payloads during emergency evacuations, construction works, etc. During such operations, dynamic variations in (possibly unknown) payload cause considerable changes in the system dynamics. However, a systematic control solution to tackle such varying dynamical behaviour is still missing. In this work, two control solutions are proposed to solve two specific problems in aerial transportation of payload, as mentioned below. In the first work, we explore the tracking control problem for a six degrees-of-freedom quadrotor carrying different unknown payloads. Due to the state-dependent nature of the uncertainties caused by variation in the dynamics, the state-of-the-art adaptive control solutions would be ineffective against these uncertainties that can be completely unknown and possibly unbounded a priori. In addition, external disturbances such as wind while following a trajectory in all three positions and attitude angles. Hence, an adaptive control solution for quadrotors is proposed, which does not require any a priori knowledge of the parameters of quadrotor dynamics and external disturbances. The second work is focused on the interchanging dynamic behaviour of a quadrotor while loading and unloading different payloads during vertical operations. The control problem to maintain the desired altitude is formulated via a switched dynamical framework to capture the interchanging dynamics of the quadrotor during such vertical operations, and a robust adaptive control solution is proposed to tackle such dynamics when it is unknown. The stability of the closed-loop system employing both the proposed controllers are studied analytically via Lyapunov theory. Further, the effectiveness of the proposed solutions is verified by deploying the controller on a realistic simulator under various scenarios and by testing the performance by comparing them with state-of-the-art controllers.
New Proofs of Extremal Inequalities With Applications

The extremal inequality approach plays a key role in network information theory problems. In this paper, we propose a novel monotone path construction in product probability space. The optimality of Gaussian distribution is then established by standard perturbation arguments. The proofs of Liu-Viswanath extremal and vector Generalization of Costa’s entropy power inequality are illustrated into the unified framework. As applications, capacity region of the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) Gaussian broadcast channel and rate-distortion-equivocation function of the vector Gaussian secure source coding are revisited through our proposed extremal inequality approach. Index Terms Entropy power inequality, extremal inequality, Fisher information, mean squared error, MIMO Gaussian channel capacity, vector Gaussian source coding.
Cardiac‐specific deletion of FDPS induces cardiac remodeling and dysfunction by enhancing the activity of small GTP‐binding proteins

The mevalonate pathway is essential for cholesterol biosynthesis. Previous studies have suggested that the key enzyme in this pathway, farnesyl diphosphate synthase (FDPS), regulates the cardiovascular system. We used human samples and mice that were deficient in cardiac FDPS (c‐Fdps−/− mice) to investigate the role of FDPS in cardiac homeostasis. Cardiac function was assessed using echocardiography. Left ventricles were examined and tested for histological and molecular markers of cardiac remodeling. Our results showed that FDPS levels were downregulated in samples from patients with cardiomyopathy. Furthermore, c‐Fdps−/− mice exhibited cardiac remodeling and dysfunction. This dysfunction was associated with abnormal activation of Ras and Rheb, which may be due to the accumulation of geranyl pyrophosphate. Activation of Ras and Rheb stimulated downstream mTOR and ERK pathways. Moreover, administration of farnesyltransferase inhibitors attenuated cardiac remodeling and dysfunction in c‐Fdps−/− mice. These results indicate that FDPS plays an important role in cardiac homeostasis. Deletion of FDPS stimulates the downstream mTOR and ERK signaling pathways, resulting in cardiac remodeling and dysfunction. © 2021 The Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Development of a Diesel/Natural Gas Mechanism Model for the CFD Simulation of Dual-Fuel Engine

Diesel/natural gas (NG) can effectively improve the performance and reduce emissions of the reactivity-controlled compression ignition (RCCI) engine. In this work, n-hexadecane was used to characterize diesel and the methane/ethane/propane mixture was used to characterize NG, and a simplified diesel/NG mechanism containing 645 reactions and 155 species was established. We used brute force sensitivity analysis to optimize the key dynamic parameters of the mechanism and, through the laminar flame velocity, the substance concentration in the jet-stirred reactors and the ignition delay in the shock tube to verify the optimized n-hexadecane/NG mechanism and found that this mechanism can better respond to diesel/NG. Finally, the mechanism was coupled with the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) to study the effect of different diesel injection timings (DITs) on the combustion performance of RCCI engines. The results show that as the DIT advanced, the temperature distribution in the cylinder became uneven. Also, when the temperature was lower, the content of unburned methane in the cylinder increased. When the DIT was 45° crank angle (CA) before the top dead center (BTDC), the temperature and equivalent in the cylinder were more evenly distributed than in the cylinder and the unburned methane content was lower and diesel/NG exhibited a better combustion effect. The diesel/natural gas mechanism model can be better applied to the CFD simulation of dual-fuel RCCI engines.
Acute Psychosocial Stress Increases Cognitive-Effort Avoidance

Adverse effects following acute stress are traditionally thought to reflect functional impairments of central executive-dependent cognitive-control processes. However, recent evidence demonstrates that cognitive-control application is perceived as effortful and aversive, indicating that stress-related decrements in cognitive performance could denote decreased motivation to expend effort instead. To investigate this hypothesis, we tested 40 young, healthy individuals (20 female, 20 male) under both stress and control conditions in a 2-day study that had a within-subjects design. Cognitive-effort avoidance was assessed using the demand-selection task, in which participants chose between performing low-demand and high-demand variants of a task-switching paradigm. We found that acute stress indeed increased participants’ preference for less demanding behavior, whereas task-switching performance remained intact. Additional Bayesian and multiverse analyses confirmed the robustness of this effect. Our findings provide novel insights into how stressful experiences shape behavior by modulating our motivation to employ cognitive control.
ConRPG: Paraphrase Generation using Contexts as Regularizer

A long-standing issue with paraphrase generation is the lack of reliable supervision signals. In this paper, we propose a new unsupervised paradigm for paraphrase generation based on the assumption that the probabilities of generating two sentences with the same meaning given the same context should be the same. Inspired by this fundamental idea, we propose a pipelined system which consists of paraphrase candidate generation based on contextual language models, candidate filtering using scoring functions, and paraphrase model training based on the selected candidates. The proposed paradigm offers merits over existing paraphrase generation methods: (1) using the context regularizer on meanings, the model is able to generate massive amounts of high-quality paraphrase pairs; (2) the combination of the huge amount of paraphrase candidates and further diversity-promoting filtering yields paraphrases with more lexical and syntactic diversity; and (3) using human-interpretable scoring functions to select paraphrase pairs from candidates, the proposed framework provides a channel for developers to intervene with the data generation process, leading to a more controllable model. Experimental results across different tasks and datasets demonstrate that the proposed paradigm significantly outperforms existing paraphrase approaches in both supervised and unsupervised setups.
Increases in Integrin–ILK–RICTOR–Akt Proteins, Muscle Mass, and Strength after Eccentric Cycling Training

ABSTRACT Purpose Recently, it has been suggested that a cellular pathway composed of integrin, integrin-linked kinase (ILK), rapamycin-insensitive companion of mTOR (RICTOR), and Akt may facilitate long-term structural and functional adaptations associated with exercise, independent of the mTORC1 pathway. Therefore, we examined changes in integrin–ILK–RICTOR–Akt protein in vastus lateralis (VL) before and after 8 wk of eccentric cycling training (ECC), which was expected to increase muscle function and VL cross-sectional area (CSA). Methods Eleven men (23 ± 4 yr) completed 24 sessions of ECC with progressive increases in intensity and duration, resulting in a twofold increase in work from the first three (75.4 ± 14.1 kJ) to the last three sessions (150.7 ± 28.4 kJ). Outcome measures included lower limb lean mass, VL CSA, static strength, and peak and average cycling power output. These measures and VL samples were taken before and 4–5 d after the last training session. Results Significant (P < 0.05) increases in integrin-β1 (1.64-fold) and RICTOR (2.99-fold) protein as well as the phosphorylated-to-total ILK ratio (1.70-fold) were found, but integrin-α7 and Akt did not change. Increases in lower limb, thigh, and trunk lean mass (2.8%–5.3%, P < 0.05) and CSA (13.3% ± 9.0%, P < 0.001) were observed. Static strength (18.1% ± 10.8%) and both peak (8.6% ± 10.5%) and average power output (7.4% ± 8.3%) also increased (P < 0.05). However, no significant correlations were found between the magnitude of increases in protein and the magnitude of increases in CSA, static strength, or power output. Conclusions In addition to increased muscle mass, strength, and power, we demonstrate that ECC increases integrin-β1 and RICTOR total protein and p-ILK/t-ILK, which may play a role in protection against muscle damage as well as anabolic signaling to induce muscle adaptations.
Category-Level Metric Scale Object Shape and Pose Estimation

Advances in deep learning recognition have led to accurate object detection with 2D images. However, these 2D perception methods are insufficient for complete 3D world information. Concurrently, advanced 3D shape estimation approaches focus on the shape itself, without considering metric scale. These methods cannot determine the accurate location and orientation of objects. To tackle this problem, we propose a framework that jointly estimates a metric scale shape and pose from a single RGB image. Our framework has two branches: the Metric Scale Object Shape branch (MSOS) and the Normalized Object Coordinate Space branch (NOCS). The MSOS branch estimates the metric scale shape observed in the camera coordinates. The NOCS branch predicts the normalized object coordinate space (NOCS) map and performs similarity transformation with the rendered depth map from a predicted metric scale mesh to obtain 6D pose and size. Additionally, we introduce the Normalized Object Center Estimation (NOCE) to estimate the geometrically aligned distance from the camera to the object center. We validated our method on both synthetic and real-world datasets to evaluate category-level object pose and shape.
Robust and flexible inference for the covariate‐specific receiver operating characteristic curve

Diagnostic tests are of critical importance in health care and medical research. Motivated by the impact that atypical and outlying test outcomes might have on the assessment of the discriminatory ability of a diagnostic test, we develop a robust and flexible model for conducting inference about the covariate‐specific receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve that safeguards against outlying test results while also accommodating for possible nonlinear effects of the covariates. Specifically, we postulate a location‐scale regression model for the test outcomes in both the diseased and nondiseased populations, combining additive regression B‐splines and M‐estimation for the regression function, while the distribution of the error term is estimated via a weighted empirical distribution function of the standardized residuals. The results of the simulation study show that our approach successfully recovers the true covariate‐specific area under the ROC curve on a variety of conceivable test outcomes contamination scenarios. Our method is applied to a dataset derived from a prostate cancer study where we seek to assess the ability of the Prostate Health Index to discriminate between men with and without Gleason 7 or above prostate cancer, and if and how such discriminatory capacity changes with age.
Boosting Cross-Lingual Transfer via Self-Learning with Uncertainty Estimation

Recent multilingual pre-trained language models have achieved remarkable zero-shot performance, where the model is only finetuned on one source language and directly evaluated on target languages. In this work, we propose a self-learning framework that further utilizes unlabeled data of target languages, combined with uncertainty estimation in the process to select high-quality silver labels. Three different uncertainties are adapted and analyzed specifically for the cross lingual transfer: Language Heteroscedastic/Homoscedastic Uncertainty (LEU/LOU), Evidential Uncertainty (EVI). We evaluate our framework with uncertainties on two cross-lingual tasks including Named Entity Recognition (NER) and Natural Language Inference (NLI) covering 40 languages in total, which outperforms the baselines significantly by 10 F1 for NER on average and 2.5 accuracy for NLI.
Endo-sponge in management of anastomotic colorectal leaks: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Background and study aims Following colorectal surgery, anastomotic dehiscence and leak formation has an incidence of 2 % to 7 %. Endo-SPONGE has been applied in the management of anastomatic leaks (ALs) after colorectal surgery. This is the first systematic review and meta analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Endo-SPONGE in the management of colorectal ALs. Patients and methods The primary outcomes assessed were the technical and clinical success of Endo-SPONGE placement in colorectal ALs. The secondary outcomes assessed were the overall adverse events (AEs) and the AE subtypes. Pooled estimates were calculated using random-effects models with 95 % confidence interval (C. I.). The statistical analysis was done using STATA v16.1 software (StataCorp, LLC College Station, Texas, United States). Results The analysis included 17 independent cohort studies with a total of 384 patients. The rate of technical success was 99.86 % (95 % CI: 99.2 %, 100 %; P = 0.00; I2 = 70.69 %) and the calculated pooled rate of clinical success was 84.99 % (95 % CI: 77.4 %, 91.41 %; P = 0.00; I2 = 68.02 %). The calculated pooled rate of adverse events was 7.6 % (95 % CI: 3.99 %, 12.21 %; P = 0.03; I2 = 42.5 %) with recurrent abscess formation and bleeding being the most common AEs. Moderate to substantial heterogeneity was noted in our meta-analysis. Conclusions Endoscopic vacuum therapy appears to be a minimally invasive, safe, and effective treatment modality for patients with a significant colorectal leak without any generalized peritonitis with high clinical and technical success rates and a low rate of adverse events. Further prospective or randomized controlled trials are needed to validate our findings.
Return to Sports and Minimum 2-Year Outcomes of Primary Arthroscopic Hip Labral Reconstruction for Irreparable Tears in High-Level Athletes With a Propensity-Matched Benchmarking Against a Labral Repair Control Group

Background: Labral reconstruction has shown promise for the treatment of irreparable labral tears in high-level athletes. The literature is scarce regarding outcomes and timing of return to sports (RTS) in these patients. Purpose: (1) To report minimum 2-year patient-reported outcome (PRO) scores and RTS characteristics for high-level athletes undergoing primary labral reconstruction for irreparable labral tears and (2) to compare clinical results with a matched control group of athletes undergoing labral repair. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Data were prospectively collected and retrospectively reviewed for high school, college, and professional athletes who underwent a primary arthroscopic labral reconstruction between January 2010 and June 2018. Minimum 2-year PROs were compared for the modified Harris Hip Score (mHHS), Nonarthritic Hip Score (NAHS), and Hip Outcome Score–Sport Specific Subscale (HOS-SSS), as well as the visual analog scale (VAS) pain score, patient satisfaction, and RTS. The percentages of patients achieving the Patient Acceptable Symptom State (PASS) and minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for the mHHS (PASS, >74 points; MCID, >8 points) and HOS-SSS (PASS, >75 points; MCID, >6 points) were also recorded. These patients were propensity score matched in a 1:3 ratio to other high-level athletes undergoing labral repair. Results: A total of 17 high-level athletes with primary arthroscopic labral reconstruction were included with a median follow-up time of 37.1 months (95% CI, 37.2-60.3 months). They demonstrated significant improvement from preoperatively to the latest follow-up for mHHS, NAHS, HOS-SSS, and VAS for pain (P < .05). Further, patients achieved PASS/MCID for mHHS at high rates (PASS, 84.2%; MCID, 68.4%). Athletes were able to return to sport-specific training at a median of 3.33 months (95% CI, 3.07-4.71 months) and RTS at a median of 6.2 months (95% CI, 5.08-11.98 months). Fourteen (82.4%) of reconstructions and 29 (82.8%) of repairs either returned to sport or decided not to do so for reasons unrelated to the hip. PROs, RTS rate, and PASS/MCID rates were similar between the labral reconstruction group and a control labral repair group (P > .05). Conclusion: Primary arthroscopic labral reconstruction for irreparable labral tears was associated with significant improvement in PROs and high rates of RTS in high-level athletes. These results were comparable with those of a control group of athletes undergoing labral repair.
Gym and home-based combined training in men with primary hypertension: are they equally effective on functional fitness profile, body composition components, and biochemical parameters of hypertension?

ABSTRACT Objective This study aimed to compare the effects of 10 weeks of gym versus home-based combined training on the functional fitness, body composition, and biochemical parameters of hypertension in primary hypertensive men. Methods Forty-six patients (age 48 ± 9 years, BMI 30 ± 4 kg/m2) assigned into three groups: a gym-based combined training (GBCTr: n = 16; resistance at 60–80% of 1RM, using pin-loaded resistance equipment, aerobic at 40–60% HRR, and stretching), home-based combined training (HBCTr: n = 15; resistance at 12–15 RPE, using an elastic exercise band, aerobic at 40–60% HRR, and stretching), and control (CTR, n = 15). Results Following GBCTr and HBCTr, the functional aerobic capacity (P = .005 and P = .004, respectively), flexibility (P = .01 and P = .004, respectively), and lower limb muscle strength (P = .01 and P = .02, respectively) was increased significantly compared with the CTR group. The body weight (P = .02), body mass index (P = .008), hip circumference (P = .02), and nitric oxide level in GBCTr and HBCTr group (P = .002 and P = .02, respectively) was decreased significantly compared with the CTR group. No significant changes found in the plasma levels of NADPH oxidase 5, thioredoxin-2, thioredoxin reductase-2, and resting blood pressure after GBCTr and HBCTr compared with the CTR group. Conclusion These results suggest that in hypertensive men, HBCTr equally to GBCTr improved functional fitness and body composition remarkably without necessarily reducing resting blood pressure. Therefore, they can be advisable substitutes for gaining health benefits.