Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
V-MIN: Efficient Reinforcement Learning through Demonstrations and Relaxed Reward Demands

Reinforcement learning (RL) is a common paradigm for learning tasks in robotics. However, a lot of exploration is usually required, making RL too slow for high-level tasks. We present V-MIN, an algorithm that integrates teacher demonstrations with RL to learn complex tasks faster. The algorithm combines active demonstration requests and autonomous exploration to find policies yielding rewards higher than a given threshold Vmin. This threshold sets the degree of quality with which the robot is expected to complete the task, thus allowing the user to either opt for very good policies that require many learning experiences, or to be more permissive with sub-optimal policies that are easier to learn. The threshold can also be increased online to force the system to improve its policies until the desired behavior is obtained. Furthermore, the algorithm generalizes previously learned knowledge, adapting well to changes. The performance of V-MIN has been validated through experimentation, including domains from the international planning competition. Our approach achieves the desired behavior where previous algorithms failed.
Estimation of the heat flux at the surface of ablating materials by using temperature and surface position measurements

In this article, the conjugate gradient method with adjoint problem is applied for the identification of the heat flux at the surface of ablating materials, by assuming no a priori information regarding the functional form of the unknown. Simulated measurements of the position of the ablating surface are used in the inverse analysis, together with simulated temperature measurements. The accuracy of the conjugate gradient method with adjoint problem is examined for functions containing sharp corners, by using different regularization approaches. Three different versions of the conjugate gradient method are compared, as applied to the inverse problem under observation.
Prevalence of tanning addiction and associations with behavioral health conditions among multiethnic adolescents

Evidence indicates that tanning may be addictive and is associated with other behavioral health conditions. Few studies have examined tanning addiction among adolescents. We performed a cross-sectional study to explore the relationship between tanning addiction, substance use, and psychological conditions among ethnoracially diverse 16–17 year-olds. Tanning addiction was assessed using the modified (m) CAGE measure among 11 th grade students in Los Angeles (N=2,637; response rate 78%). Overall, 7.02% of the sample met tanning addiction criteria. Tanning addiction was significantly associated with past 30-day smoking and marijuana use, problem substance use, depression, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and bipolar disorder in regression models. After controlling for all significant substance use and psychological variables, problem marijuana use and OCD remained significantly associated with tanning addiction (odds ratio 2.06, 95% confidence interval 1.03–4.09; and 2.54, 1.73–3.72, respectively.) Tanning use and behavioral health conditions. Our findings indicate an appreciable prevalence of tanning addiction among multiethnic adolescents, and suggest the importance of addressing tanning addiction in the context of comorbid behavioral conditions to reduce this high-risk behavior among diverse youth.
TMD DIAGNOSTIC GROUPS AFFECT OUTCOMES INDEPENDENTLY OF TREATMENT IN PATIENTS AT-RISK FOR DEVELOPING CHRONICITY: A TWO-YEAR FOLLOW-UP STUDY+

Aims— To assess whether a biobehavioral intervention would be more effective for patients with myogenous temporomandibular disorder (m-TMD) when compared to other patients receiving either a self-care intervention or no intervention. Three outcomes were assessed: psychosocial distress; pain; and functioning. Methods— Participants (n=435) were from community dental clinics in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex seeking treatment for their acute TMD symptoms, and were recruited between 2008 and 2013. Outcome evaluations were conducted immediately post-intervention, as well as at 1-and 2-years after the interventions. For the current study, analyses using two-level hierarchical Multilevel Linear Models (MLMs) were conducted. Results— Contrary to expectations, patients did not respond differently to the intervention based on their TMD diagnosis. However, acute m-TMD patients, especially those who had other comorbid TMD diagnoses, reported the highest levels of pain and pain-related symptoms and disability. They also exhibited poorer jaw functioning, especially if they were at high-risk for chronic TMD. Conclusion— This study supports the finding that acute m-TMD tends to result in more severe symptom presentations, particularly if diagnosed in combination with other TMD diagnoses. Additionally, patients do not appear to respond better to biobehavioral treatment or self-care on the basis of their
A randomized controlled trial of treatments for co-occurring substance use disorders and PTSD

Background and Aims—Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common among people with substance use disorders, and the comorbidity is associated with negative outcomes. We report on a randomized controlled trial comparing the effect of Integrated Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (ICBT) plus standard care, individual addiction counseling plus standard care, and standard care alone on substance use and PTSD symptoms. Design—Three-group, multi-site randomized controlled trial. Setting—Seven addiction treatment programs in Vermont and New Hampshire, USA. Participants/Cases—Recruitment took place between December 2010 and January 2013. In this single-blind study, 221 participants were randomized to one of three conditions: ICBT plus standard care (SC) (n=73); Individual Addiction Counseling (IAC) plus SC (n=75), or SC only (n=73). One hundred seventy-two patients were assessed at 6-month follow-up (58 ICBT; 61 IAC; 53 SC). Intervention and comparators: ICBT is a manual-guided therapy focused on PTSD and substance use symptom reduction with three main components: patient education, mindful relaxation and flexible thinking. IAC is a manual-guided therapy focused exclusively on substance use and recovery with modules organized in a stage-based approach: treatment initiation, early abstinence, maintaining abstinence, and recovery. SC is intensive outpatient program services that include 9–12 hours of face-to-face contact per week over 2–4 days of group and individual therapies plus medication management. Measurements—Primary outcomes: PTSD severity and substance use severity at 6-months. Secondary outcomes: Therapy retention. Correspondence: Mark P. McGovern, Department of Psychiatry, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, 85 Mechanic Street, Suite B4-1, Lebanon, New Hampshire 03766 USA. mark.p.mcgovern@dartmouth.edu. Declarations of interest: This research was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) R01DA027650 (PI: McGovern). The authors report no conflicts of interest. Clinical trials registration NCT01457391 HHS Public Access Author manuscript Addiction. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2016 July 01. Published in final edited form as: Addiction. 2015 July ; 110(7): 1194–1204. doi:10.1111/add.12943. A uhor M anscript
Audibility of loudspeaker group-delay characteristics

Loudspeaker impulse responses were studied using a paired-comparison listening test to learn about the audibility of the loudspeaker group-delay characteristics. Several modeled and six measured loudspeakers were included in this study. The impulse responses and their time-reversed versions were used in order to maximize the change in the temporal structure and group delay without affecting the magnitude spectrum, and the subjects were asked whether they could hear a difference. Additionally, the same impulse responses were compared after convolving them with a pink impulse, defined in this paper, which causes a low-frequency emphasis. The results give an idea of how much the group delay of a loudspeaker system can vary so that it is unlikely to cause audible effects in sound reproduction. Our results suggest that when the group delay in the frequency range from 300 Hz to 1 kHz is below 1.0 ms, it is inaudible. With low-frequency emphasis, the group delay variations can be heard more easily.
Identification and preclinical testing of a reversible cathepsin protease inhibitor reveals anti-tumor efficacy in a pancreatic cancer model

Proteolytic activity is required for several key processes in cancer development and progression, including tumor growth, invasion and metastasis. Accordingly, high levels of protease expression and activity have been found to correlate with malignant progression and poor patient prognosis in a wide variety of human cancers. Members of the papain family of cysteine cathepsins are among the protease classes that have been functionally implicated in cancer. Therefore, the discovery of effective cathepsin inhibitors has considerable potential for anti-cancer therapy. In this study we describe the identification of a novel, reversible cathepsin inhibitor, VBY-825, which has high potency against cathepsins B, L, S and V. VBY-825 was tested in a preclinical model of pancreatic islet cancer and found to significantly decrease tumor burden and tumor number. Thus, the identification of VBY-825 as a new and effective anti-tumor drug encourages the therapeutic application of cathepsin inhibitors in cancer.
Commentary Ocular Neovascularization Clarifying Complex Interactions

Neovascularization within the eye contributes to visual loss in several ocular diseases, the most common of which are proliferative diabetic retinopathy, neovascular age-related macular degeneration, and retinopathy of prematurity. Together, these three diseases afflict persons in all stages of life from birth through late adulthood and account for most instances of legal blindness. lens epithe-lium, corneal endothelium, and other cell types. Thrombospondin-1 has been located in surgical speci-mens of fibrovascular membranes in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy. In vitro inhibits endothelial cell and In vivo angiogenesis.
Complications from prophylactic replacement of cardiac implantable electronic device generators in response to FDA recall: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background— The number of cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) recalls and advisories has increased over the past three decades, yet no consensus exists on how to best manage patients with these CIEDs partially because rates of complications from prophylactic replacement are unknown. Objective— To establish rates of complications when recalled CIED generators are replaced prophylactically Methods— We searched MEDLINE and Cochrane Controlled Trials Register for reports of prophylactic replacement of recalled CIED generators. Studies with < 20 subjects were excluded. We then conducted a meta-analysis of qualifying studies to determine the rates of mortality, reoperation, and combined major complications. Results— We identified 7 citations meeting our inclusion criteria and reporting ≥1 endpoint of interest. Four were single center; three were multicenter. Six studies collected data retrospectively (n=1213) and one prospectively (n=222). Using a random effects model to combine data from all included studies, the rate of major complications was 2.5% (95% CI 1.0–4.5%). Combining data from 6 studies reporting mortality and reoperation, the rates were 0.5% (95% CI 0.1–0.9%) and 2.5% (95% CI 0.8–4.5%), respectively. Conclusions— Prophylactic replacement of recalled CIED generators is associated with a low mortality rate but non-trivial rates of other major complications similar to those reported when CIED generators are replaced for other reasons. Thus, when considering replacing a recalled CIED generator, known risks of elective generator replacement likely apply and can be weighed against risks associated with device failure.
Game Theoretical Demand Response Management and Short-Term Load Forecasting by Knowledge Based Systems on the basis of Priority Index

Demand Response Management (DRM) is considered one of the crucial aspects of the smart grid as it helps to lessen the production cost of electricity and utility bills. DRM becomes a fascinating research area when numerous utility companies are involved and their announced prices reflect consumer’s behavior. This paper discusses a Stackelberg game plan between consumers and utility companies for efficient energy management. For this purpose, analytical consequences (unique solution) for the Stackelberg equilibrium are derived. Besides this, this paper presents a distributed algorithm which converges for consumers and utilities. Moreover, different power consumption activities on the basis of time series are becoming a basic need for load prediction in smart grid. Load forecasting is taken as the significant concerns in the power systems and energy management with growing technology. The better precision of load forecasting minimizes the operational costs and enhances the scheduling of the power system. The literature has discussed different techniques for demand load forecasting like neural networks, fuzzy methods, Naïve Bayes, and regression based techniques. This paper presents a novel knowledge based system for short-term load forecasting. The algorithms of Affinity Propagation and Binary Firefly Algorithm are integrated in knowledge based system. Besides, the proposed system has minimum operational time as compared to other techniques used in the paper. Moreover, the precision of the proposed model is improved by a different priority index to select similar days. The similarity in climate and date proximity are considered all together in this index. Furthermore, the whole system is distributed in sub-systems (regions) to measure the consequences of temperature. Additionally, the predicted load of the entire system is evaluated by the combination of all predicted outcomes from all regions. The paper employs the proposed knowledge based system on real time data. The proposed scheme is compared with Deep Belief Network and Fuzzy Local Linear Model Tree in terms of accuracy and operational cost. In addition, the presented system outperforms other techniques used in the paper and also decreases the Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) on a yearly basis. Furthermore, the novel knowledge based system gives more efficient outcomes for demand load forecasting.
Inflammation-Induced Increase in Evoked Calcium Transients in Subpopulations of Rat DRG Neurons

The concentration of intracellular Ca 2+ ([Ca 2+ ] i ) influences neuronal properties ranging from excitability to neurotransmitter release. Persistent inflammation is associated with changes in the properties of primary afferent neurons ranging from excitability to transmitter release. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether previously described inflammation-induced changes in excitability and transmitter release are associated with changes in the regulation of [Ca 2+ ] i . Acutely dissociated dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons harvested from adult rats 3 days following a hindpaw injection of complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA) or naïve controls, were stimulated with 30 mM K + (Hi K + ). Hi K + evoked changes in [Ca 2+ ] i were assessed with fura-2 ratiometric microfluorimetry. Subpopulations of DRG neurons were defined by cell body diameter, IB4 binding, capsaicin (CAP) sensitivity and target of innervation (DiI labeling). Inflammation was associated with significant increases in resting [Ca 2+ ] i and increases in the magnitude and decreases in the decay, of the evoked increase in [Ca 2+ ] i . The changes in evoked transients were larger in neurons innervating the site of inflammation. Furthermore, there were differences among subpopulations of DRG neurons with respect to changes in magnitude and/or decay of the evoked transient such that the increase in magnitude was larger in small- and medium-diameter neurons than in large diameter neurons while the decrease in the decay was greater in CAP responsive, IB4 positive, small- and medium-diameter neurons than in CAP unresponsive, IB4 negative and/or large-diameter neurons. These changes in the regulation of [Ca 2+ ] i were not due to inflammation-induced changes in passive or active electrophysiological properties. Importantly, an inflammation-induced increase in evoked Ca 2+ transients in putative nociceptive afferents may contribute to the pain and hyperalgesia associated with persistent inflammation via facilitation of transmitter release from these afferents.
Selective Molecular Antagonists of the Bronchiolar Epithelial NF κ B-Bromodomain-Containing Protein 4 (BRD4) Pathway in Viral-induced Airway Inflammation

SUMMARY The mechanisms how the mammalian airway detects invading viral pathogens to trigger protective innate neutrophilic inflammation are incompletely understood. We observe that innate activation of the NF κ B/RelA transcription factor indirectly activates atypical BRD4 histone acetyltransferase (HAT) activity, RNA Polymerase II (Pol II) phosphorylation, and secretion of neutrophilic chemokines. To study this pathway in vivo, we develop a conditional knockout of RelA in the distal airway epithelial cell; these animals have reduced mucosal BRD4/Pol II activation and neutrophilic inflammation to viral patterns. To further understand the role of BRD4 in vivo, two potent, highly selective small-molecule BRD4 inhibitors were developed. These well-tolerated inhibitors disrupt BRD4 complex with Pol II and histones, completely blocking inducible epithelial chemokine production and neutrophilia. We conclude RelA-BRD4 signaling in distal tracheobronchiolar epithelial cells mediates acute inflammation in response to luminal viral patterns. These potent BRD4 antagonists are versatile pharmacological
A Market-Based Resilient Power Management Technique for Distribution Systems with Multiple Microgrids Using a Multi-Agent System Approach

Abstract In this paper, we present a market-based resilient power management procedure for electrical distribution systems consisting of multiple cooperative MiroGrids (MGs). Distributed optimization is used to find the optimal resource allocation for the multiple MG system, while maintaining the local and global constraints, including keeping the voltage levels of the micro-sources within bounds. The proposed method is based on probabilistic reasoning in order to consider the uncertainty of the decision model in preparation for expected extreme events and in case of unit failure, to improve the resiliency of the system. Basically, the power management problem formulation is a multiobjective optimization problem, which is solved using the concept of Nash Bargaining Solution (NBS). The simulation results show that the proposed method is able to improve the resiliency of the system and prepare it for extreme events and unit failure, by increasing power reserve and modifying the operating point of the system to maintain voltage and power constraints across the MGs.
Nb/Al-AlN/Nb superconducting tunnel junctions: fabrication process and characterization results

Modern radio astronomy demands for broadband receiver systems. For SIS mixers, this translates into objective to employsuperconducting tunnel junctions with very low RnA and low specific capacitance. The traditionally used Nb/AlOx/Nb junctions have largely approached their physical limit of minimizing those parameters. It is commonly recognized that it is AlN-barrier junctions, which are needed for further progressing of the broadband instrumentation for radio astronomy. In manuscript we present results of developing a fabrication process for high quality Nb/Al-AlN/Nb junctions and characterization the junctions' DC electric properties and their aging and annealing stability, as well as the junctions' specific capacitance.
Vglut1 and Vglut2 synapses on cholinergic neurons in the sublenticular gray of the rat basal forebrain: a double-label electron microscopic study

The basal forebrain (BF) comprises morphologically and functionally heterogeneous cell populations, including cholinergic and non-cholinergic corticopetal neurons that are implicated in sleep-wake modulation, learning, memory and attention. Several studies suggest that glutamate may be among inputs affecting cholinergic corticopetal neurons but such inputs have not been demonstrated unequivocally. We examined glutamatergic axon terminals in the sublenticular substantia innominata in rats using double-immunolabeling for vesicular glutamate transporters (Vglut1 and Vglut2) and choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) at the electron microscopic level. In a total surface area of 30,000 μ m 2 , we classified the pre- and postsynaptic elements of 813 synaptic boutons. Vglut1 and Vglut2 boutons synapsed with cholinergic dendrites, and occasionally Vglut2 axon terminals also synapsed with cholinergic cell bodies. Vglut1 terminals formed synapses with unlabeled dendrites and spines with equal frequency, while Vglut2 boutons were mainly in synaptic contact with unlabeled dendritic shafts and occasionally with unlabeled spines. In general, Vglut1 boutons contacted more distal dendritic compartments than Vglut2 boutons. About 21% of all synaptic boutons (n=347) detected in tissue that was stained for Vglut1 and ChAT were positive for Vglut1, and 14% of the Vglut1 synapses were made on cholinergic profiles. From separate cases stained for Vglut2 and ChAT, 35% of all synaptic boutons (n=466) were positive for Vglut2, and 23% of the Vglut2 synapses were made on cholinergic profiles. On average, Vglut1 boutons were significantly smaller than Vglut2 synaptic boutons. The Vglut2 boutons that synapsed cholinergic profiles tended to be larger than the Vglut2 boutons that contacted unlabeled, non-cholinergic postsynaptic profiles. The presence of two different subtypes of Vgluts, the size differences of the Vglut synaptic boutons, and their preference for different postsynaptic targets suggest that the action of glutamate on BF neurons is complex and may arise from multiple afferent sources.
Tyrosinase/Chitosan/Reduced Graphene Oxide Modified Screen-Printed Carbon Electrode for Sensitive and Interference-Free Detection of Dopamine

Tyrosinase, chitosan, and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) are sequentially used to modify a screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) for the detection of dopamine (DA), without interference from uric acid (UA) or ascorbic acid (AA). The use of tyrosinase significantly improves the detection’s specificity. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements demonstrate the high sensitivity and selectivity of the proposed electrochemical sensors, with detection limits of 22 nM and broad linear ranges of 0.4–8 μM and 40–500 μM. The fabricated tyrosinase/chitosan/rGO/SPCE electrodes achieve satisfactory results when applied to human urine samples, thereby demonstrating their feasibility for analyzing DA in physiological samples.