Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Feedback motion planning of legged robots by composing orbital Lyapunov functions using rapidly-exploring random trees

We present a sampling-based framework for feedback motion planning of legged robots. Our framework is based on switching between limit cycles at a fixed instance of motion, the Poincaré section (e.g., apex or touchdown), by finding overlaps between the regions of attraction (ROA) of two limit cycles. First, we assume a candidate orbital Lyapunov function (OLF) and define a ROA at the Poincaré section. Next, we solve multiple trajectory optimization problems, one for each sampled initial condition on the ROA to minimize an energy metric and subject to the exponential convergence of the OLF between two steps. The result is a table of control actions and the corresponding initial conditions at the Poincaré section. Then we develop a control policy for each control action as a function of the initial condition using deep learning neural networks. The control policy is validated by testing on initial conditions sampled on ROA of randomly chosen limit cycles. Finally, the rapidly-exploring random tree algorithm is adopted to plan transitions between the limit cycles using the ROAs. The approach is demonstrated on a hopper model to achieve velocity and height transitions between steps.
2nd International Workshop on the Theory and Practice of Algebraic Specifications, Amsterdam 1997

ELAN is an environment for prototyping and combining different deduction systems described using rewrite rules and strategies. Two languages of strategies used for controlling rewriting are presented in this paper. The first one, called built-in strategy language, is hard-wired with the implementation of ELAN, and thus, non-extensible from the user’s point of view. However, it provides an efficient implementation of the more flexible second one, the defined strategy language. This paper illustrates the defined strategy language on an example of the leftmost innermost normalization strategy, and describes its implementation in ELAN through a meta-interpreter. An optimization technique based on partial evaluation of strategies is presented in this paper. This technique applied to the meta-interpreter of the defined strategy language gives promising results.
Behavior of Four Olive Cultivars During Salt Stress

Olive is considered as a moderately salt tolerant plant, however, tolerance to salt appears to be cultivar-dependent and genotypic responses have not been extensively investigated. In this work, saline stress was induced in four olive cultivars: Arbequina, Koroneiki, Royal de Cazorla and Fadak 86. The plants were grown in 2.5 l pots containing 60% peat and 40% of pumice mixture for 240 days and were irrigated three times a week with half-strength Hoagland solution containing 0, 100 and 200 mM NaCl. The effects of salt stress on growth, physiological and biochemical parameters were determined after 180, 210, and 240 days of treatment. Saline stress response was evaluated in leaves by measuring the activity of GSH and CAT enzymatic activity, as well as proline levels, gas exchanges, leaves relative water content and chlorophyll content, and proline content. All the studied cultivars showed a decrease in Net Photosynthesis, leaves chlorophyll content and plant growth (mainly leaves dry weight) and an increase in the activity of GSH and CAT. In addition, the reduction of proline content in leaf tissues, induced an alteration of osmotic regulation. Among the studied cultivars Royal and Koroneiki better counteracting the effects of saline stress thanks to a higher activity of two antioxidant enzymes.
Wadden Sea Eutrophication: Long-Term Trends and Regional Differences

The Wadden Sea is a shallow intertidal coastal sea, largely protected by barrier islands and fringing the North Sea coasts of The Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. It is subject to influences from both the North Sea and major European rivers. Nutrient enrichment from these rivers since the 1950s has impacted the Wadden Sea ecology including loss of seagrass, increased phytoplankton blooms and increased green macroalgae blooms. Rivers are the major source of nutrients causing Wadden Sea eutrophication. The nutrient input of the major rivers impacting the Wadden Sea reached a maximum during the 1980s and decreased at an average pace of about 2.5 % per year for total Nitrogen (TN) and about 5 % per year for total Phosphorus (TP), leading to decreasing nutrient levels but also increasing N/P ratios. During the past decade, the lowest nutrient inputs since 1977 were observed but these declining trends are levelling out for TP. Phytoplankton biomass (measured as chlorophyll a) in the Wadden Sea has decreased since the 1980s and presently reached a comparatively low level. In tidal inlet stations with a long-term monitoring, summer phytoplankton levels correlate with riverine TN and TP loads but stations located closer to the coast behave in a more complex manner. Regional differences are observed, with highest chlorophyll a levels in the southern Wadden Sea and lowest levels in the northern Wadden Sea. Model data support the hypothesis that the higher eutrophication levels in the southern Wadden Sea are linked to a more intense coastward accumulation of organic matter produced in the North Sea.
Oil Content, Fatty Acid and Phenolic Profiles of Some Olive Varieties Growing in Lebanon

Olive growing in Lebanon plays an important role at both a social and economic level. Nevertheless, the quality of olive oil produced in the country is rarely addressed. In this study, oil content, fatty acid, and phenolic profiles were studied along four different ripening stages for 11 varieties of olives, including two clones of the local variety “Baladi,” in addition to nine foreign varieties (“Ascolana Tenera,” “Bella di Cerignola,” “Itrana,” “Jabaa,” “Kalamata,” “Nabali,” “Salonenque,” “Sigoise,” and “Tanche”). Oil content was determined using the Soxhlet method and Abencor system. Fatty acid composition was determined using a GC-FID, total phenols using spectrophotometry, and the phenolic profile using HPLC-DAD. Results showed that variety, fruit ripening and their interaction have a significant effect on the overall studied oil parameters. Among the studied varieties, “Kalamata” presented the higher oil content on dry matter (OCDM = 48.24%), “Baladi 1” the highest oil content on humid matter (OCHM = 27.86%), and “Tanche” the highest oil industrial yield (OIY = 19.44%). While “Tanche” recorded the highest C18:1 (71.75%), “Ascolana Tenera” showed the highest total phenols (TP = 539 mg GAE/Kg of oil), “Salonenque” the highest oleacein (121.57 mg/Kg), and “Itrana” the highest oleocanthal contents (317.68 mg/Kg). On the other hand, oil content together with C18:2 and C18:0 increased along ripening while C18:1, total phenols and the main individual phenols decreased. Although preliminary, this study highlights the good quality of olive oil produced from both local and foreign varieties growing in Lebanon and encourages further investigations on the characterization and authentication of Lebanese olive oil.
Niflumic Acid Reverses Airway Mucus Excess and Improves Survival in the Rat Model of Steroid-Induced Pneumocystis Pneumonia

Although the role of adaptive immunity in fighting Pneumocystis infection is well known, the role of the innate, airway epithelium, responses remains largely unexplored. The concerted interaction of innate and adaptive responses is essential to successfully eradicate infection. Increased expression of goblet-cell-derived CLCA1 protein plus excess mucus in infant autopsy lungs and in murine models of primary Pneumocystis infection alert of innate immune system immunopathology associated to Pneumocystis infection. Nonetheless, whether blocking mucus-associated innate immune pathways decreases Pneumocystis-related immunopathology is unknown. Furthermore, current treatment of Pneumocystis pneumonia (PcP) relying on anti-Pneumocystis drugs plus steroids is not ideal because removes cellular immune responses against the fungal pathogen. In this study, we used the steroid-induced rat model of PcP to evaluate inflammation and mucus progression, and tested the effect of niflumic acid (NFA), a fenamate-type drug with potent CLCA1 blocker activity, in decreasing Pneumocystis-associated immunopathology. In this model, animals acquire Pneumocystis spontaneously and pneumonia develops owing to the steroids-induced immunodeficiency. Steroids led to decreased animal weight evidencing severe immunosuppression and to significant Pneumocystis-associated pulmonary edema as evidenced by wet-to-dry lung ratios that doubled those of uninfected animals. Inflammatory cuffing infiltrates were noticed first around lung blood vessels followed by bronchi, and both increased progressively. Similarly, airway epithelial and lumen mucus progressively increased. This occurred in parallel to increasing levels of MUC5AC and mCLCA3, the murine homolog of hCLCA1. Administration of NFA caused a significant decrease in total mucus, MUC5AC and mCLCA3 and also, in Pneumocystis-associated inflammation. Most relevant, NFA treatment improved survival at 8 weeks of steroids. Results suggest an important role of innate immune responses in immunopathology of steroid-induced PcP. They warrant evaluation of CLCA1 blockers as adjunctive therapy in this condition and describe a simple model to evaluate therapeutic interventions for steroid resistant mucus, a common condition in patients with chronic lung disease like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cystic fibrosis.
Interaction With Social Robots: Improving Gaze Toward Face but Not Necessarily Joint Attention in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

It is widely recognized that robot-based interventions for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) hold promise, but the question remains as to whether social humanoid robots could facilitate joint attention performance in children with ASD. In this study, responsive joint attention was measured under two conditions in which different agents, a human and a robot, initiated joint attention via video. The participants were 15 children with ASD (mean age: 4.96 ± 1.10 years) and 15 typically developing (TD) children (mean age: 4.53 ± 0.90 years). In addition to analyses of fixation time and gaze transitions, a longest common subsequence approach (LCS) was employed to compare participants’ eye movements to a predefined logical reference sequence. The fixation of TD toward agent’s face was earlier and longer than children with ASD. Moreover, TD showed a greater number of gaze transitions between agent’s face and target, and higher LCS scores than children with ASD. Both groups showed more interests in the robot’s face, but the robot induced a lower proportion of fixation time on the target. Meanwhile participants showed similar gaze transitions and LCS results in both conditions, suggesting that they could follow the logic of the joint attention task induced by the robot as well as human. We have discussed the implications for the effects and applications of social humanoid robots in joint attention interventions.
Use of fNIRS to Characterize the Neural Mechanism of Inter-Individual Rhythmic Movement Coordination

Background: Inter-individual rhythmic movement coordination plays an important role in daily life, particularly in competitive sports. Behaviorally, it is more challenging to coordinate alternating movements than symmetrical movements. The neural activity underlying these different movement coordination modes remains to be clarified, particularly considering complex inter-individual coordination differences. Methods: To further test the neural basis of inter-individual rhythmic movement coordination, a revised experimental paradigm of inter-individual coordination was adopted. Participants were asked to perform symmetric, alternate, or single movements (swinging the lower part of the leg) in the same rhythm. A multi-channel, continuous wave, functional near-infrared spectral (fNIRS) imaging instrument was used to monitor hemodynamic activity while 40 volunteers (9 male pairs and 11 female pairs) performed the task. Multivariate analyses of variance were conducted to compare mean oxy-hemoglobin concentration ([HbO]) across experimental conditions. Results: A significant three-way interaction (leg-swing condition × ROI × laterality) on mean [HbO] was observed. Post hoc analysis revealed a significant main effect of leg-swing condition only in brain regions of interest [right inferior parietal lobule (IPL)] contralateral to movement execution. Activation in brain regions of interest [right inferior parietal lobule (IPL)] was much stronger in alternate mode compared with symmetric or single modes, and the differences between symmetric and single mode were not statistically significant. This result suggests that the alternate mode of movement coordination was more likely to be supported by the IPL region than the other modes. Conclusion: The present findings provide neural evidence relevant to the theory of self-organization of movement coordination, in which an alternating movement mode appeared to be a more demanding condition than symmetrical movement.
Microbiome of the Black-Lipped Pearl Oyster Pinctada margaritifera, a Multi-Tissue Description With Functional Profiling

Elucidating the role of prokaryotic symbionts in mediating host physiology has emerged as an important area of research. Since oysters are the world’s most heavily cultivated bivalve molluscs, numerous studies have applied molecular techniques to understand the taxonomic and functional diversity of their associated bacteria. Here, we expand on this research by assessing the composition and putative functional profiles of prokaryotic communities from different organs/compartments of the black-lipped pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera, a commercially important shellfish valued for cultured pearl production in the Pacific region. Seven tissues, in addition to mucous secretions, were targeted from P. margaritifera individuals: the gill, gonad, byssus gland, haemolymph, mantle, adductor muscle, mucus, and gut. Richness of bacterial Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) and phylogenetic diversity differed between host tissues, with mucous layers displaying the highest richness and diversity. This multi-tissues approach permitted the identification of consistent microbial members, together constituting the core microbiome of P. margaritifera, including Alpha- and Gammaproteobacteria, Flavobacteriia, and Spirochaetes. We also found a high representation of Endozoicimonaceae symbionts, indicating that they may be of particular importance to oyster health, survival and homeostasis, as in many other coral reef animals. Our study demonstrates that the microbial communities and their associated predicted functional profiles are tissue specific. Inferred physiological functions were supported by current physiological data available for the associated bacterial taxa specific to each tissue. This work provides the first baseline of microbial community composition in P. margaritifera, providing a solid foundation for future research into this commercially important species and emphasises the important effects of tissue differentiation in structuring the oyster microbiome.
Gene Silencing and Over-Expression Studies in Concurrence With Promoter Specific Elicitations Reveal the Central Role of WsCYP85A69 in Biosynthesis of Triterpenoids in Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal

Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha) synthesizes a wide spectrum of triterpenoids that are produced via an intricate isoprenoid pathway whose biosynthetic and regulatory mechanism remains elusive. Their pharmacological examination position them as potent bioactive molecules, hence demanding their copious production. Previous investigations have revealed that P450 monooxygenases are pivotal enzymes involved in the biosynthetic machinery of various metabolites and assist in decorating their core skeletal structures. The present study entails the isolation and functional characterization of castasterone synthase (CYP85A69) from W. somnifera. The full length WsCYP85A69, having an open reading frame of 1413 bp, encodes 470 amino acid residues. Further, in vitro conversion of 6-deoxocastasterone into castasterone validated its oxidative functionality. Product formation was confirmed using LC-PDA-MS with a m/z value of 506 [M+ACN]+. In planta transient over-expression of WsCYP85A69 significantly enhanced castasterone, stigmasterol and withanolides (WS-I, WS-II, WS-III). Artificial micro-RNA mediated silencing of WsCYP85A69 resulted in the reduced accumulation of castasterone, stigmasterol and withanolides (WS-I, WS-II, WS-III). Altogether, these non-complementary approaches plausibly suggest a key role of WsCYP85A69 in the biosynthesis of castasterone and the accumulation of withanolides and stigmasterol. Furthermore, a promoter analysis of WsCYP85A69 resulted in the identification of several potential cis-regulatory elements. Elicitations, given on the basis of identified cis-regulatory elements, demonstrated methyl jasmonate as an effective inducer of WsCYP85A69. Overall, these empirical findings suggest that functional characterization of WsCYP85A69 may conceivably be helpful to unravel the mechanism of brassinosteroids biosynthesis and could also pave the way for targeted metabolic engineering.
Trichoderma atroviride P1 Colonization of Tomato Plants Enhances Both Direct and Indirect Defense Barriers Against Insects

Numerous microbial root symbionts are known to induce different levels of enhanced plant protection against a variety of pathogens. However, more recent studies have demonstrated that beneficial microbes are able to induce plant systemic resistance that confers some degree of protection against insects. Here, we report how treatments with the fungal biocontrol agent Trichoderma atroviride strain P1 in tomato plants induce responses that affect pest insects with different feeding habits: the noctuid moth Spodoptera littoralis (Boisduval) and the aphid Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas). We observed that the tomato plant–Trichoderma P1 interaction had a negative impact on the development of moth larvae and on aphid longevity. These effects were attributed to a plant response induced by Trichoderma that was associated with transcriptional changes of a wide array of defense-related genes. While the impact on aphids could be related to the up-regulation of genes involved in the oxidative burst reaction, which occur early in the defense reaction, the negative performance of moth larvae was associated with the enhanced expression of genes encoding for protective enzymes (i.e., Proteinase inhibitor I (PI), Threonine deaminase, Leucine aminopeptidase A1, Arginase 2, and Polyphenol oxidase) that are activated downstream in the defense cascade. In addition, Trichoderma P1 produced alterations in plant metabolic pathways leading to the production and release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are involved in the attraction of the aphid parasitoid Aphidius ervi, thus reinforcing the indirect plant defense barriers. Our findings, along with the evidence available in the literature, indicate that the outcome of the tripartite interaction among plant, Trichoderma, and pests is highly specific and only a comprehensive approach, integrating both insect phenotypic changes and plant transcriptomic alterations, can allow a reliable prediction of its potential for plant protection.
An Egg Parasitoid Efficiently Exploits Cues From a Coevolved Host But Not Those From a Novel Host

Egg parasitoids have evolved adaptations to exploit host-associated cues, especially oviposition-induced plant volatiles and odors of gravid females, when foraging for hosts. The entire host selection process is critical for successful parasitism and relevant in defining host specificity of parasitoids. We hypothesized that naïve egg parasitoid females reared on their coevolved host are able to exploit cues related to the coevolved host but not those from a novel host. We used the egg parasitoid Trissolcus japonicus, its coevolved host Halyomorpha halys, and the non-coevolved host Podisus maculiventris to evaluate this hypothesis. H. halys, a polyphagous pest native from Eastern Asia, has invaded North America and Europe, resulting in serious damage to crops. T. japonicus is the most effective egg parasitoid of H. halys in its native area and thus considered a major candidate for biological control. This parasitoid was detected in North America and Europe as a result of accidental introductions. Laboratory host range of T. japonicus includes P. maculiventris, an American predatory stink bug used as a biological control agent of several pests. Using T. japonicus reared on its natural host H. halys, we tested in a Y-tube olfactometer the responses of naïve parasitoid females to volatiles from tomato plants with a deposited egg mass and feeding punctures of either H. halys or P. maculiventris. Additionally, using two different olfactometer set-ups, we tested T. japonicus responses to volatiles emitted by eggs and mature males and females of H. halys or P. maculiventris. Tomato plants subjected to oviposition and feeding by H. halys were preferred by the wasp compared to clean plants, suggesting a possible activation of an indirect defense mechanism. Furthermore, T. japonicus females were attracted by cues from gravid females and mature males of H. halys but not from eggs. By contrast, naïve parasitoid females never responded to cues associated with P. maculiventris, although this non-target host is suitable for complete parasitoid development. Such lack of responses might reduce the probability of T. japonicus locating and parasitizing P. maculiventris under field conditions. Our experimental approach properly simulates the parasitoid host-location process and could be combined with the required host specificity tests for risk assessment in biological control programs.
GRP78 Level Is Altered in the Brain, but Not in Plasma or Cerebrospinal Fluid in Parkinson’s Disease Patients

Accumulation of misfolded proteins results in cellular stress, and is detected by specific sensors in the endoplasmic reticulum, collectively known as the unfolded protein response (UPR). It has been prominently proposed that the UPR is involved in the pathophysiology of Parkinson’s disease (PD). In the present study, the levels of the UPR proteins and mRNA transcripts were quantified in post mortem brain tissue from PD patients and matched controls. The level of a key mediator of the UPR pathway, glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78), was significantly decreased in temporal cortex and cingulate gyrus, whereas there were no significant changes in the caudate nucleus, prefrontal, or parietal cortex regions. On the other hand, GRP78 mRNA level was significantly increased in caudate nucleus, cingulate gyrus, prefrontal, and parietal cortex regions. GRP78 protein level was also measured in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid, but there were no differences in these levels between PD patients and control subjects. Furthermore, immunofluorescence labeling of the CD4+ T cells from PD patients showed that GRP78 protein is found in the cytoplasm. However, GRP78 level in PD patients was not significantly different from control subjects. Unlike the previous Lewy body dementia study, the present investigation reports reduced cortical protein, but increased transcript levels of GPR78 in PD. In summary, these data provide further evidence that GRP78 regulation is dysfunctional in the brains of PD patients.