Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
NeuroMechanics: Electrophysiological and Computational Methods to Accurately Estimate the Neural Drive to Muscles in Humans In Vivo

The ultimate neural signal for muscle control is the neural drive sent from the spinal cord to muscles. This neural signal comprises the ensemble of action potentials discharged by the active spinal motoneurons, which is transmitted to the innervated muscle fibres to generate forces. Accurately estimating the neural drive to muscles in humans in vivo is challenging since it requires the identification of the activity of a sample of motor units (MUs) that is representative of the active MU population. Current electrophysiological recordings usually fail in this task by identifying small MU samples with over-representation of higher-threshold with respect to lower-threshold MUs. Here, we describe recent advances in electrophysiological methods that allow the identification of more representative samples of greater numbers of MUs than previously possible. This is obtained with large and very dense arrays of electromyographic electrodes. Moreover, recently developed computational methods of data augmentation further extend experimental MU samples to infer the activity of the full MU pool. In conclusion, the combination of new electrode technologies and computational modelling allows for an accurate estimate of the neural drive to muscles and opens new perspectives in the study of the neural control of movement and in neural interfacing.
Genomic and transcriptomic characteristics of type VI secretion system in Klebsiella pneumoniae

The Type VI secretion system (T6SS) serves as a crucial molecular weapon in interbacterial competition and significantly influences cell-cell interactions. Various bacterial species utilize their T6SSs to execute a multitude of functions, dictated by their ecological niche. However, the characteristics of T6SS in clinical Klebsiella pneumoniae, a common opportunistic nosocomial pathogen, have not been fully elucidated. Here, we conducted a genomic analysis of 65 clinical K. pneumoniae isolates obtained from patients with varying infections. Genes encoding a T6SS cluster were present in all analyzed strains of K. pneumoniae. Strains of identical sequence type (ST) carried structurally and numerically identical T6SS. Our study also highlights the importance of selecting conserved regions in key T6SS genes for effective primer design in PCR identification. We then utilized the predominant ST11 K. pneumoniae HS11286 to investigate the effect of knocking out T6SS marker genes hcp or vgrG. Transcriptome analysis identified a total of 1,298 co-upregulated and 1,752 co-downregulated differentially expressed genes. Additionally, the absence of hcp or vgrG gene suppressed the expression of other T6SS-related genes within the locus I cluster. Pathway analysis showed that the Δhcp mutant exhibited alterations in transport, establishment of localization, localization and cell processes. Furthermore, interbacterial competition experiments showed that hcp and vgrG are essential for competitive ability of ST11 K. pneumoniae HS11286. This study furthers our understanding of the genomic characteristics of T6SS in K. pneumoniae and suggested that the involvement of multiple genes in T6SS of strain HS11286. Importance Gram-negative bacteria use T6SS to deliver effectors that interact with neighboring cells for niche advantage. K. pneumoniae is an opportunistic nosocomial pathogen that often carriers multiple T6SS loci, the function of which has not yet been elucidated. We performed a genomic analysis of 65 clinical K. pneumoniae strains isolated from various sources, confirming that all strains contained T6SS. We then used transcriptomics to further study changes in gene expression and effect upon interbacterial competition following knockout of key T6SS genes in ST11 K. pneumoniae HS11286. Our findings revealed the distribution and genomic characteristics of T6SS in clinical K. pneumoniae. This study also described the overall transcriptional changes in the predominant Chinese ST11 strain HS11286 upon deletion of crucial T6SS genes. Additionally, this work provides a reference for future research on the identification of T6SS in bacteria.
Resource-Constrained Station-Keeping for Helium Balloons using Reinforcement Learning

High altitude balloons have proved useful for ecological aerial surveys, atmospheric monitoring, and communication relays. However, due to weight and power constraints, there is a need to investigate alternate modes of propulsion to navigate in the stratosphere. Very recently, reinforcement learning has been proposed as a control scheme to maintain the balloon in the region of a fixed location, facilitated through diverse opposing wind-fields at different altitudes. Although air-pump based station keeping has been explored, there is no research on the control problem for venting and ballasting actuated balloons, which is commonly used as a low-cost alternative. We show how reinforcement learning can be used for this type of balloon. Specifically, we use the soft actor-critic algorithm, which on average is able to station-keep within 50\;km for 25\% of the flight, consistent with state-of-the-art. Furthermore, we show that the proposed controller effectively minimises the consumption of resources, thereby supporting long duration flights. We frame the controller as a continuous control reinforcement learning problem, which allows for a more diverse range of trajectories, as opposed to current state-of-the-art work, which uses discrete action spaces. Furthermore, through continuous control, we can make use of larger ascent rates which are not possible using air-pumps. The desired ascent-rate is decoupled into desired altitude and time-factor to provide a more transparent policy, compared to low-level control commands used in previous works. Finally, by applying the equations of motion, we establish appropriate thresholds for venting and ballasting to prevent the agent from exploiting the environment. More specifically, we ensure actions are physically feasible by enforcing constraints on venting and ballasting.
Comportement élasto-plastique d'un limon compacté

Une etude experimentale du comportement mecanique d'un limon compacte a ete menee sur un appareil triaxial d'un type nouveau permettant le controle de la succion par un dispositif osmotique, avec un suivi des variations volumiques de l'echantillon. L'etude a ete realisee dans un contexte elasto-plastique recemment propose pour les sols non satures, prenant en compte les effets de la succion, a partir d'un elargissement des modeles de type Cam-clay. Il s'agit en fait du premier programme experimental specialement concu pour la validation de ce type de modele. On met en evidence, a la succion de compactage, une forme elliptique inclinee de la surface de charge, representative d'une anisotropie mecanique due a l'etat de contrainte lors du compactage, et comparable a celle observee sur les sols mous naturels. L'extension de cette surface avec l'augmentation de la succion est egalement confirmee, correspondant a un ecrouissage isotrope. La regle d'ecoulement a ces differentes succions est clairement non associee et le potentiel plastique est hyperbolique, comme dans les sables
UNDERSTANDING , BUILDING , AND USING ONTOLOGIES

The fact that the van Heijst and colleagues don’t attempt to explore in detail the arguments sustaining this hypothesis is particularly puzzling, since they admit that it contradicts one of the main assumptions of their well-known KADS approach [Schreiber et al. 1993], namely the separation between domain knowledge and problem-solving knowledge. They report two reasons brought by Bylander and Chandrasekaran to support their hypothesis: “Firstly, the application task determines to a large extent which kinds of knowledge should be encoded. (.) Secondly, the knowledge must be encoded in such a way that the inference strategy used can reason efficiently”. In fact, at a closer inspection, the statement from Bylander and Chandrasekaran reported above mentions the problem of representing knowledge, and it is related therefore to the symbol level. Now, it is certainly true that the interaction problem exists at this level, but it seems plausible to assume that its importance decreases at the knowledge level, to which the whole issue of ontology belongs. Let us try for instance to re-state Bylander and Chandrasekaran’s statement at the knowledge level: “the knowledge required to solve some problem is strongly affected by the nature of the problem. ”. Put in this way, it sounds even trivial. Notice however that this formulation doesn’t refer to the way this knowledge is encoded, but simply to the relevance relationship between the knowledge and the problem. In other words, at the knowledge level the interaction problem reduces to the first of the two “reasons” reported above. Of course, a specific piece of knowledge may be
Skewing the CMB×LSS: a fast method for bispectrum analysis

Upcoming cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing measurements and tomographic galaxy surveys are expected to provide us with high-precision data sets in the coming years, thus paving the way for fruitful cross-correlation analyses. In this paper we study the information content of the weighted skew-spectrum, a nearly-optimal estimator of the angular bispectrum amplitude, as a means to extract non-Gaussian information on both bias and cosmological parameters from the bispectra of galaxies cross-correlated with CMB lensing, while gaining significantly on speed. Our results show that for the combination of the Planck satellite and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), the difference in the constraints on bias and cosmological parameters from the skew-spectrum and the bispectrum is at most 17%. We further compare and find agreement between our theoretical skew-spectra and those estimated from N-body simulations, for which it is important to include gravitational non-linearities beyond perturbation theory and the post-Born effect for CMB lensing. We define an algorithm to apply the skew-spectrum estimator to the data and, as a preliminary step, we use the skew-spectra to constrain bias parameters and the amplitude of shot noise from the simulations through a Markov chain Monte Carlo likelihood analysis, finding that it may be possible to reach percent-level estimates for the linear bias parameter b 1.
An ultra-deeply anchored GPS station in Tsukuba, Japan-preliminary report-

We installed a GPS station in the premises of the Geographical Survey Institute in Tsukuba. The station is directly attached to the inner tube of a subsidence observation well, anchored at a depth of 190 m, so that it is less affected by seasonal elastic deformations of shallow soils due to groundwater extraction for irrigation. We evaluated the quality of the station by comparing the GPS-derived vertical displacements with those from two independent measurements; subsidence-meter and leveling. For comparison, we prepared two sets of GPS solutions with different analysis strategies; 1) short-distance strategy: where we analyze GPS carrier-phases on L1 and L2 frequencies independently to estimate baseline components only, and 2) long-distance strategy: where we analyze ionosphere-free combinations of GPS carrier-phases on L1 and L2 frequencies to estimate tropospheric delays as well as baseline components. We found that while the GPS-derived vertical displacements in the short-distance strategy generally agree with those from the independent measurements, those in the long-distance strategy systematically disagree. We also noticed that the GPS-derived vertical displacements in both strategies have noticeable common errors in winter. We found that the disagreement of the displacements in the short-distance strategy are errors caused by the multipath from the surface of the roof of the room housing the subsidence observation well, and the latter errors are caused by water droplets formed inside the radome because of water condensation in the room’s air in winter. These errors should be mitigated before this station can be utilized as a reliable reference station.
Quantum entanglement: proposal for a new kind of experiment

This work aims at exploring whether the nonlocal correlations due to quantum entanglement could exist without nonlocal causation. This is done with the aid of a toy model which is based on a simple but decidedly unorthodox physical hypothesis: the nonlocally correlated outcomes of the wavefunction collapse of two entangled particles is driven by an exchange of information between them. Of course exchange of information between spacelike separated entities is forbidden in 3+1 space-time, thus we can wonder whether or not a way out could be found by invoking the existence of some hidden field propagating in an extra time dimension to make the mentioned exchange of information occurring at finite velocity through this extra dimension. Only the description of the wavefunction collapse would be affected by the existence of this extra-time dimension. The model proposed here is defined by borrowing Bohm-Bub’s proposal to describe the wavefunction collapse by means of nonlinear (non-unitary) dynamical equations and then elaborating this approach for an entangled system. The model so obtained is just speculative without any claim of being robust against any criticism, nevertheless, it satisfies the purpose of giving the possibility to the hypotheses formulated above to be verified experimentally; in fact, it makes the proposal of an experiment potentially interesting which would otherwise be immediately dismissed as manifestly trivial. The proposed experiment would consist of checking the possible violation of Bell’s inequality between two identical but independent systems under appropriate conditions. Beyond its theoretical interest, entanglement is a key topic in quantum computing and quantum technologies, so any attempt to gain a deeper understanding of it could be useful.
On the existence and temporal asymptotics of solutions for the two and half dimensional Hall MHD

In this paper, we deal with the $2\frac{1}{2}$ dimensional Hall MHD by taking the velocity field $u$ and the magnetic field $B$ of the form $u(t,x,y)=\left(\nabla^{\perp}\phi(t,x,y), W(t,x,y)\right)$ and $B(t,x,y)=\left(\nabla^{\perp}\psi(t,x,y), Z(t,x,y)\right)$. We begin with the Hall equations (without the effect of the fluid part). We first show the long time behavior of weak solutions and weak-strong uniqueness. We then proceed to prove the existence of unique strong solutions locally in time and to derive a blow-up criterion. We also demonstrate that the strong solution exists globally in time and decay algebraically if some smallness conditions are imposed. We further improve the decay rates of $\psi$ using the structure of the equation of $\psi$. As a consequence of the decay rates of $(\psi,Z)$, we find the asymptotic profiles of $(\psi,Z)$. We finally show that a small perturbation of initial data near zero can be extended to a small perturbations near harmonic functions. In the presence of the fluid filed, the results, by comparison, fall short of the previous ones in the absence of the fluid part. We prove two results: the existence of unique strong solutions locally in time and a blow-up criterion, and the existence of unique strong solutions globally in time with some smallness condition on initial data.
Architectural Evaluation of Collaborative Agent-Based Systems

Abstract : The Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method(Service Marks) (ATAM(Service Marks)) is an architecture evaluation technique currently evolving at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI). ATAM has been applied to a number of command and control, real time, and information systems. As collaborative, autonomous agents become a significant software technology, the demand for evaluating the quality attributes of the architectures of agent based systems will increase. Very broadly, agents may be thought of as software entities that have the ability to undertake action autonomously in their particular embedded environment, according to a typically general set of requests or desired goals, and that are able to communicate with other agents as determined by their own initiative. Given an agent system architecture, we need scenarios that could be applicable for conducting ATAM evaluations on instances of that agent architecture. This report identifies a few features in agent based systems that could be used to classify agent system architectures and to guide the generation of scenarios applicable to these architectures.
Fatty acid metabolism changes in association with neurobehavioral deficits in animal models of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) show various behavioral problems due to prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). Our previous study found significant changes in gene expressions linked to fatty acid metabolism in the brain of the PAE mouse model. Given the importance of fatty acids in normal brain functions and the contributions to neurodegenerative diseases, we hypothesized that the fatty acids changed by PAE contribute to neurobehavioral deficits in FASD. This study found an increase of palmitic acid and arachidonic acid in phospholipid compositions in the cerebral cortex of PAE at postnatal day 30. The increase of palmitic acid was consistent with the increase of the producing enzyme, fatty acid synthase (Fasn). The decrease of 26:6 fatty acid was also found in phospholipid. It is consistent with the increase of the Elongation of very long chain fatty acids protein 4 (ELOVL4) which uses 26:6 as a substrate for making very long chain fatty acids. However, there was no increase in the elongated products. Rather, we found an accumulation of the lipid droplets (LDs) in the PAE brain, suggesting changes in fatty acid metabolism that lead to the accumulation of excessive fatty acids. Although metabolic measurements, including plasma triglyceride level, were not affected by PAE, the abundance of fatty acid-related gut microbiota was altered. Interestingly, multi-omics association analysis revealed a potential contribution of the altered gut microbiota, primarily Ruminococcaceae that produces short chain fatty acid, to LD formation in the PAE brain and the behavioral problems, suggesting that the gut microbiome could serve as a tool to facilitate uncovering the brain pathophysiology of FASD and a potential target to mitigate neurobehavioral problems.
deter-Review The diagnostic power of salivary electrolytes for Sjögren’s disease: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis

to determine the power of salivary electrolytes for the diagnosis of Sjögren’s disease (SjD). Methods. A literature search was conducted (last search March 2023) using PubMed and Web of Science and completed with a manual search. Articles were screened for reports of human salivary ion concentrations, comparing SjD patients with healthy controls and/or sicca patients. Articles not us-ing the SjD classification criteria or performing the classification as part of the experimental design were excluded. Forest plots were used to present the meta-analyses results for each ion, distinguishing between salivary type (un-stimulated and stimulated whole saliva, submandibular/sublingual and parotid saliva).
Robotics and Autonomous Systems

Efficiently coordinating different types of robots is an important enabler for many commercial and industrial automation tasks. Here, we present a distributed framework that enables a team of heterogeneous robots to dynamically generate actions from a common, user-defined goal specification. In particular, we discuss the integration of various robotic capabilities into a common task allocation and planning formalism, as well as the specification of expressive, temporally-extended goals by non-expert users. Models for task allocation and execution both consider non-deterministic outcomes of actions and thus, are suitable for a wide range of real-world tasks including formally specified reactions to online observations. One main focus of our paper is to evaluate the framework and its integration of software modules through a number of experiments. These experiments comprise industry-inspired scenarios as motivated by future real-world applications. Finally, we discuss the results and learnings for motivating practically relevant, future research questions. © 2021ElsevierB.V. Allrightsreserved.
Efficacy of dexmedetomidine for treatment of patients with sepsis

Background: This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effect of dexmedetomidine on prognosis in patients with sepsis. Methods: Computer-related electronic databases were searched, including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, from the date of database construction to January 2019. Stata 12.0 was used to perform a meta-analysis of short-term mortality [intensive care unit (ICU) mortality or 28-day mortality], ICU length of stay, and mechanical ventilation. Mortality was expressed using risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). ICU length of stay and mechanical ventilation were expressed as weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% CIs. Results: We finally included 8 randomized controlled trials in this meta-analysis. Compared with the control group, the dexmedetomidine group had a lower occurrence of 28-day mortality (RR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.35 to 0.69; P = .000) and ICU mortality (RR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.23 to 0.84; P = .013). However, there was no statistically significant difference for the length of hospital stay (WMD, −0.05; 95% CI, −0.59 to 0.48; P = .840) and mechanical ventilation time (WMD, 1.05; 95% CI, −0.27 to 2.37; P = .392) between dexmedetomidine group and control group. Conclusions: In patients with sepsis, dexmedetomidine can reduce the short-term mortality of patients, but could not shorten the ICU length of stay and mechanical ventilation time. More clinical randomized controlled trials are needed to verify the efficacy and safety of dexmedetomidine on the length of hospital stay and mechanical ventilation time.
A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background: Clinical trials examining the therapeutic benefit of carvedilol on patients with dilated cardiomyopathy have reported inconsistent results. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of carvedilol on patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. Methods: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, web of science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang, and Chinese Scientific and Technological Journal (VIP) databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) before March 2018. Weighted mean differences (WMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to evaluate the effects of carvedilol on patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. Results: Twenty one studies including 1146 participants were included. There were significant improvements on heart rate (HR) (WMD=–14.18, 95% CI: –17.72 to –10.63, P< .001), LVEF (WMD=7.28, 95% CI: 6.53–8.03, P< .001), SBP (WMD=–10.74, 95% CI: –12.78 to –8.70, P< .001), DBP (WMD=–4.61, 95% CI: –7.32 to –1.90, P= .001), LVEDD (WMD=–2.76, 95% CI: –4.89 to –0.62, P= .011), LVESD (WMD=–3.63, 95% CI: –6.55 to –0.71, P= .015), LVEDV (WMD=–9.30, 95% CI: –11.89 to –6.71, P< .001), LVESV (WMD=–12.28, 95% CI: –14.86 to –9.70, P< .001) under carvedilol treatment compared with control. Conclusion: This meta-analysis demonstrates that carvedilol significantly improves cardiac function on patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. Further large scale, high-quality and multicenter RCTs are still required to confirm the impacts of carvedilol on patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. Abbreviations: CI = confidence interval, DBP = diastolic blood pressure, DCM = dilated cardiomyopathy, HR = heart rate, LVEF = left ventricular ejection fraction, LVEDD = left ventricular end-diastolic dimension, LVESD = left ventricular end systolic diameter, LVEDV = left ventricular end diastolic volume, LVESV = left ventricular end-systolic volume, NYHA = New York Heart Association, RCT = randomized controlled trial, SBP = systolic blood pressure, WMD = weighted mean difference.