Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Self-organized flocking with a mobile robot swarm: a novel motion control method

In flocking, a swarm of robots moves cohesively in a common direction. Traditionally, flocking is realized using two main control rules: proximal control, which controls the cohesion of the swarm using local range-and bearing information about neighboring robots; and alignment control, which allows the robots to align in a common direction and uses more elaborate sensing mechanisms to obtain the orientation of neighboring robots. So far, limited attention has been given to motion control, used to translate the output of these two control rules into robot motion. In this paper, we propose a novel motion control method: magnitude-dependent motion control (MDMC). Through simulations and real robot experiments, we show that, with MDMC, flocking in a random direction is possible without the need for alignment control and for robots having a preferred direction of travel. MDMC has the advantage to be implementable on very simple robots that lack the capability to detect the orientation of their neighbors. In addition, we introduce a small proportion of robots informed about a desired direction of travel. We compare MDMC with a motion control method used in previous robotics literature, which we call magnitude-independent motion control (MIMC), and we show that the swarms can travel longer distances in the desired direction when using MDMC instead of MIMC. Finally, we systematically study flocking under various conditions: with or without alignment control, with or without informed robots, with MDMC or with MIMC.
Hard, soft, and sticky spheres for dynamical studies of disordered colloidal packings

HARD, SOFT, AND STICKY SPHERES FOR DYNAMICAL STUDIES OF DISORDERED COLLOIDAL PACKINGS Matthew Daniel Gratale Arjun G. Yodh This thesis describes experiments which explore the role of interparticle inter actions as a means to alter, and control, the properties of dense colloidal packings. The first set of experiments studied phonon modes in two-dimensional colloid al crystals composed of soft microgel particles with hard polystyrene particle dopants distributed randomly on the triangular lattice. By mixing hard and soft spheres we obtain close-pa cked lattices of spheres with random bond strength disorder, i. the effective springs coupling nearest-neighbors are either very stiff, very soft, or of intermediate stiffness. Video microsc opy, particle tracking, and covariance matrix techniques are employed to derive the phonon modes of th corresponding “shadow” crystals, thereby enabling us to study how bond strength disor der affects vibrational properties. Hard and soft particles participate equally in low frequency ph onon modes, and the samples exhibit Debye-like density of states behavior characteristic of cry stals at low frequency. For midand high-frequency phonons, the relative participation of hard ve sus soft particles in each mode is found to vary systematically with dopant concentration.
The interplay between TGF-β/SMAD and BMP/SMAD signaling pathways in the epithelial mesenchymal transition of A549 cells induced by silica

Abstract The epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a phenotype transdifferentiation of epithelial into mesenchymal cells and contributes to pulmonary fibrotic disease. SMAD-dependent pathway has been reported to play a key role in the multiple fibrotic diseases. We hypothesized that TGF-β/SMAD signaling could cross-interact with BMP/SMAD signaling pathways in silica-induced EMT in A549 cells. We investigated that the ability of silica-induced EMT in A549 cells, and this process was significantly inhibited by SB431542 through up-regulation of Vimentin, α-SMA and collagen type I expression and down-regulation of E-cadherin expression. Whereas BMP/SMAD inhibition using LDN193189 enhanced EMT. In addition, we also demonstrated that SB431542 could enhance BMP/SMAD signaling pathways in silica-induced EMT and vice versa. Therefore, our study provides evidence that the TGF-β/SMAD pathway was a crucial regulator in silica-induced EMT and that SB431542 could prevent the EMT. More importantly, we have identified that the interplay of TGF-β/SMAD and BMP/SMAD pathways in silica-induced EMT in A549 cells.
The state of the science of whole blood: lessons learned at Mayo Clinic

AABB Standards specify that ABO group‐specific whole blood is the only acceptable choice for whole blood transfusions. Although universal donor group O stored whole blood (SWB) was used extensively by the military during the wars of the mid‐twentieth century, its use has fallen out of favor and has never been used to great extent in the civilian trauma population. Interest in the use of whole blood has been renewed, particularly in light of its potential value in far‐forward military and other austere environments. Evidence of preserved platelet function in SWB has heightened enthusiasm for a “one stop shop” resuscitation product providing volume, oxygen carrying capacity, and hemostatic effects. Experience with universal donor group O SWB is required to ascertain whether its use will be an advance in trauma care. Described here is the process of establishing a universal donor group O SWB at a civilian trauma center in the United States.
Mast cell degranulation and de novo histamine formation contribute to sustained postexercise vasodilation in humans.

In humans, acute aerobic exercise elicits a sustained postexercise vasodilation within previously active skeletal muscle. This response is dependent on activation of histamine H1 and H2 receptors, but the source of intramuscular histamine remains unclear. We tested the hypothesis that interstitial histamine in skeletal muscle would be increased with exercise and would be dependent on de novo formation via the inducible enzyme histidine decarboxylase and/or mast cell degranulation. Subjects performed 1 h of unilateral dynamic knee-extension exercise or sham (seated rest). We measured the interstitial histamine concentration and local blood flow (ethanol washout) via skeletal muscle microdialysis of the vastus lateralis. In some probes, we infused either α-fluoromethylhistidine hydrochloride (α-FMH), a potent inhibitor of histidine decarboxylase, or histamine H1/H2-receptor blockers. We also measured interstitial tryptase concentrations, a biomarker of mast cell degranulation. Compared with preexercise, histamine was increased after exercise by a change (Δ) of 4.2 ± 1.8 ng/ml (P < 0.05), but not when α-FMH was administered (Δ-0.3 ± 1.3 ng/ml, P = 0.9). Likewise, local blood flow after exercise was reduced to preexercise levels by both α-FMH and H1/H2 blockade. In addition, tryptase was elevated during exercise by Δ6. 8 ± 1.1 ng/ml (P < 0.05). Taken together, these data suggest that interstitial histamine in skeletal muscle increases with exercise and results from both de novo formation and mast cell degranulation. This suggests that exercise produces an anaphylactoid signal, which affects recovery, and may influence skeletal muscle blood flow during exercise.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Blood flow to previously active skeletal muscle remains elevated following an acute bout of aerobic exercise and is dependent on activation of histamine H1 and H2 receptors. The intramuscular source of histamine that drives this response to exercise has not been identified. Using intramuscular microdialysis in exercising humans, we show both mast cell degranulation and formation of histamine by histidine decarboxylase contributes to the histamine-mediated vasodilation that occurs following a bout of aerobic exercise.
6 Drosophila Model of Congenital Heart Diseases

Congenital heart defects (CHD) are the most common birth defects, occurring in about 0.7% of all newborn infants. There are multiple lines of evidence that genetic components are involved in developing CHD pathogenesis. An important aspect in understanding disease mechanisms is that in addition to contributions from a single disease-causing gene (usually seen in many familial cases of CHD), a multitude of other genetically interacting loci can also influence the severity or progression of the disease, often diagnosed as idiopathic CHD. It is likely that such genetic interactions underlie a large proportion of cases of idiopathic CHD, where a direct link to known cardiogenic genes yet to be identified. Recent advances in stem cell research and in the growing field of systems biology provide a tremendous amount of new data leading to new hypotheses and to new heart disease gene candidates that may also have potential roles during heart formation and establishment of cardiac function. Usually, these hypotheses are tested in cell-based assays and eventually in the mouse model, however both systems have their own particular set of limitations. In this article we review recent advancements in using Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism to study basic mechanisms of heart development, cardiac function and disease.
Letter to the Editor: Stability of Random Forest importance measures

The goal of this article (letter to the editor) is to emphasize the value of exploring ranking stability when using the importance measures, mean decrease accuracy (MDA) and mean decrease Gini (MDG), provided by Random Forest. We illustrate with a real and a simulated example that ranks based on the MDA are unstable to small perturbations of the dataset and ranks based on the MDG provide more robust results.
Thermomechanical characterization of Ni-rich NiTi fabricated by selective laser melting

This study presents the shape memory behavior of as-fabricated and solution annealed Ni50.8Ti49. 2 alloys fabricated using the selective laser melting (SLM) technique. Results were compared to the initial ingot that was used to fabricate powders. Optical microscopy was employed to reveal the microstructure. The shape memory effect under constant compressive stress and isothermal compressive stress cycling tests were utilized to investigate the shape memory characteristics of the initial ingot and fabricated alloys. It was revealed that the SLM method and post heat treatments can be used to tailor the microstructure and shape memory response. Partial superelasticity was observed after the SLM process. Solutionizing the fabricated samples increased the strength and improved the superelasticity but slightly decreased the recoverable strain.
The Role of Microstructure in Creep Strength of 9-12%Cr Steels

Tempered martensite lath structure (TMLS) plays a vital role in creep resistance of high chromium martensitic steels. Under creep conditions the TMLS could be stabilized by three agents: (i) a dispersion of boundary M23C6 carbides and Laves phase; (ii) a dispersion of M(C,N) carbonitrides, which are homogeneously distributed within ferritic matrix; (iii) substitutional alloying element within ferritic matrix. The boundary particles exert a large Zener drag force which effectively hinders migration of low-and high-angle boundaries. A dispersion of M(C,N) carbonitrides both within ferritic matrix and lath boundaries provides the pinning of mobile dislocations. This process is responsible for reliving long-range elastic stress field originated from lath boundaries. In addition, M(C,N) carbonitrides provide high threshold stress. Substitutional elements as W and Mo effectively slowing down diffusion in ferritic matrix retard climb of lattice dislocation that also prevents the aforementioned knitting reaction. The suppression of knitting reaction between lattice dislocation and low-angle boundaries prevents their transformation to subboundaries by concurrent operation of all three agent types. Depletion of W and Mo from solid solution leads to the occurrence of static recovery and precipitation of Laves phase at boundaries under long-term aging. This process is responsible for creep strength breakdown. The strain-induced formation of Z-phase at the expense of V-rich M(C,N) carbonitrides highly facilitates this process. However, slow strain-induced coarsening of M23C6 carbides and M(C,N) carbonitrides provides the suppression of the knitting reaction between mobile lattice dislocations and intrinsic dislocations of lath boundaries and replacement of TMLS by subgrain structure. Ostwald ripening of boundary M23C6 carbides and Laves phase leads to rapid creep rate increase with strain in tertiary creep and premature rupture owing to the formation of subgrain structure replaced TMLS and further subgrain growth.
Resource Pooling in Large-Scale Content Delivery Systems

Content delivery networks are a key infrastructure component used by Video on Demand (VoD) services to deliver content over the Internet. We study a content delivery system consisting of a central server and multiple co-located caches, each with limited storage and service capabilities. This work evaluates the performance of such a system as a function of the storage capacity of the caches, the content replication strategy, and the service policy. This analysis can be used for a system-level optimization of these design choices. The focus of this work is on understanding the benefits of allowing caches to pool their resources to serve user requests. We show that the benefits of resource pooling depend on the popularity profile of the contents offered by the VoD service. More specifically, if the popularity does not vary drastically across contents, then resource pooling leads to an order wise reduction in central server transmission rate as the system size grows. On the other hand, if the content popularity is skewed, the central server transmission rate is of the same order with and without resource pooling.
A passive physical model for DnaK chaperoning

Almost all living organisms use protein chaperones with a view to preventing proteins from misfolding or aggregation either spontaneously or during cellular stress. This work uses a reaction–diffusion stochastic model to describe the dynamic localization of the Hsp70 chaperone DnaK in Escherichia coli cells during transient proteotoxic collapse characterized by the accumulation of insoluble proteins. In the model, misfolded (‘abnormal’) proteins are produced during alcoholic stress and have the propensity to aggregate with a polymerization-like kinetics. When aggregates diffuse more slowly they grow larger. According to Michaelis–Menten-type kinetics, DnaK has the propensity to bind with misfolded proteins or aggregates in order to catalyse refolding. To match experimental fluorescence microscopy data showing clusters of DnaK-GFP localized in multiple foci, the model includes spatial zones with local reduced diffusion rates to generate spontaneous assemblies of DnaK called ‘foci’. Numerical simulations of our model succeed in reproducing the kinetics of DnaK localization experimentally observed. DnaK starts from foci, moves to large aggregates during acute stress, resolves those aggregates during recovery and finally returns to its initial punctate localization pattern. Finally, we compare real biological events with hypothetical repartitions of the protein aggregates or DnaK. We then notice that DnaK action is more efficient on protein aggregates than on protein homogeneously distributed.
Immune system dysfunction during exposure to poult enteritis and mortality syndrome agents

Abstract Poult Enteritis and Mortality Syndrome (PEMS) is a condition of yet undefined etiology. Affected flocks may exhibit 100% morbidity with mortality up to 50% or more between 2 to 4 wk of age. The current study reports the immune status of poults experimentally infected with PEMS agent(s) in various trials. When compared with the unchallenged controls, PEMS-infected poults had significant atrophy of the bursa (up to 2-fold), thymus (up to 11-fold), and spleen (up to 2-fold) (P < or = 0.05). When challenged with SRBC, PEMS-infected poults had 1 to 2 log2 lower anti-SRBC antibody titers than the controls (P < or = 0.05). Responsiveness to a mitogenic lectin, phytohemagglutinin-P, was reduced significantly in PEMS poults (P < or = 0.05). These data show that the immune system of the poults is compromised significantly during PEMS infection in terms of lymphoid organ integrity and humoral and cell-mediated immunity. These findings imply, therefore, that immune dysfunction may contribute to the mortality observed during PEMS outbreaks.
Lapatinib plus capecitabine in treating HER2-positive advanced breast cancer: efficacy, safety, and biomarker results from Chinese patients

Overexpression of human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is associated with poor prognosis. This single-arm open-label trial (EGF109491; NCT00508274) was designed to confirm the efficacy and safety of lapatinib in combination with capecitabine in 52 heavily pretreated Chinese patients with HER2-positive MBC. The primary endpoint was clinical benefit rate (CBR). Secondary endpoints included progression-free survival (PFS), time to response (TTR), duration of response (DoR), central nervous system (CNS) as first site of relapse, and safety. The results showed that there were 23 patients with partial responses and 7 patients with stable disease, resulting in a CBR of 57.7%. The median PFS was 6.34 months (95% confidence interval, 4.93–9.82 months). The median TTR and DoR were 4.07 months (range, 0.03–14.78 months) and 6.93 months (range, 1.45–9.72 months), respectively. Thirteen (25.0%) patients had new lesions as disease progression. Among them, 2 (3.8%) patients had CNS disease reported as the first relapse. The most common toxicities were palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia (59.6%), diarrhea (48.1%), rash (48.1%), hyperbilirubinemia (34.6%), and fatigue (30.8%). Exploratory analyses of oncogenic mutations of PIK3CA suggested that of 38 patients providing a tumor sample, baseline PIK3CA mutation status was not associated with CBR (P = 0.639) or PFS (P = 0.989). These data confirm that the lapatinib plus capecitabine combination is an effective and well-tolerated treatment option for Chinese women with heavily pretreated MBC, irrespective of PIK3CA status.
Classification of Cowpox Viruses into Several Distinct Clades and Identification of a Novel Lineage

Cowpox virus (CPXV) was considered as uniform species within the genus Orthopoxvirus (OPV). Previous phylogenetic analysis indicated that CPXV is polyphyletic and isolates may cluster into different clades with two of these clades showing genetic similarities to either variola (VARV) or vaccinia viruses (VACV). Further analyses were initiated to assess both the genetic diversity and the evolutionary background of circulating CPXVs. Here we report the full-length sequences of 20 CPXV strains isolated from different animal species and humans in Germany. A phylogenetic analysis of altogether 83 full-length OPV genomes confirmed the polyphyletic character of the species CPXV and suggested at least four different clades. The German isolates from this study mainly clustered into two CPXV-like clades, and VARV- and VACV-like strains were not observed. A single strain, isolated from a cotton-top tamarin, clustered distantly from all other CPXVs and might represent a novel and unique evolutionary lineage. The classification of CPXV strains into clades roughly followed their geographic origin, with the highest clade diversity so far observed for Germany. Furthermore, we found evidence for recombination between OPV clades without significant disruption of the observed clustering. In conclusion, this analysis markedly expands the number of available CPXV full-length sequences and confirms the co-circulation of several CPXV clades in Germany, and provides the first data about a new evolutionary CPXV lineage.
Efficient collective swimming by harnessing vortices through deep reinforcement learning

Significance Can fish reduce their energy expenditure by schooling? We answer affirmatively this longstanding question by combining state-of-the-art direct numerical simulations of the 3D Navier–Stokes equations with reinforcement learning, using recurrent neural networks with long short-term memory cells to account for the unsteadiness of the flow field. Surprisingly, we find that swimming behind a leader is not always associated with energetic benefits for the follower. In turn, we demonstrate that fish can improve their sustained propulsive efficiency by placing themselves at appropriate locations in the wake of other swimmers and intercepting their wake vortices judiciously. The results show that autonomous, “smart” swimmers may exploit unsteady flow fields to reap substantial energetic benefits and have promising implications for robotic swarms. Fish in schooling formations navigate complex flow fields replete with mechanical energy in the vortex wakes of their companions. Their schooling behavior has been associated with evolutionary advantages including energy savings, yet the underlying physical mechanisms remain unknown. We show that fish can improve their sustained propulsive efficiency by placing themselves in appropriate locations in the wake of other swimmers and intercepting judiciously their shed vortices. This swimming strategy leads to collective energy savings and is revealed through a combination of high-fidelity flow simulations with a deep reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm. The RL algorithm relies on a policy defined by deep, recurrent neural nets, with long–short-term memory cells, that are essential for capturing the unsteadiness of the two-way interactions between the fish and the vortical flow field. Surprisingly, we find that swimming in-line with a leader is not associated with energetic benefits for the follower. Instead, “smart swimmer(s)” place themselves at off-center positions, with respect to the axis of the leader(s) and deform their body to synchronize with the momentum of the oncoming vortices, thus enhancing their swimming efficiency at no cost to the leader(s). The results confirm that fish may harvest energy deposited in vortices and support the conjecture that swimming in formation is energetically advantageous. Moreover, this study demonstrates that deep RL can produce navigation algorithms for complex unsteady and vortical flow fields, with promising implications for energy savings in autonomous robotic swarms.
Fabrication of TiO2–SiO2 Photonic Crystals with Diamond Structure

Ceramic photonic crystals with diamond structure were fabricated using stereolithography and successive sintering. The green body of an epoxy resin incorporating 10 vol% TiO2–SiO2 was formed by stereolithography and then heated in air at 1100°–1400°C for 2 h. The sintered products maintained the diamond structure with a linear shrinkage ratio of about 57% and a porosity of 38%. The ceramic photonic crystal with eight unit cells showed a photonic band gap at the center frequency of 23.5 GHz. This fabrication method of three-dimensional (3D) ceramic photonic crystals is applicable to other 3D structural ceramics and does not require any molding techniques.
Crowdsourcing Accurate and Creative Word Problems and Hints

The current state-of-the-art method for generating educational content, such as math word problems and hints, is manual authoring by domain experts. Unfortunately, this is costly, time consuming, and produces content that lacks diversity. Attempts to automatically address the time and diversity issues through natural language generation still do not produce content that is sufficiently creative and varied. Crowdsourcing is a viable alternative - there has been a great deal of research on leveraging human creativity to solve complex problems, such as user interface design. However, these systems typically decompose complex tasks into subtasks. Writing a single word problem or hint is a small enough problem that it is unclear how to further break it down, but also far more complex than typical microtasks like image labeling. Therefore, it is not obvious how to apply these worker improvement methods or which ones are most effective (if at all). We build upon successful task design factors in prior work and run a series of iterative studies, incrementally adding different worker-support elements. Our results show that successive task designs improved accuracy and creativity.