A Tightly Coupled Bi-Level Coordination Framework for CAVs at Road Intersections

Since the traffic administration at road intersections determines the capacity bottleneck of modern transportation systems, intelligent cooperative coordination for connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs) has shown to be an effective solution. In this paper, we try to formulate a Bi-Level CAV intersection coordination framework, where coordinators from High and Low levels are tightly coupled. In the High-Level coordinator where vehicles from multiple roads are involved, we take various metrics including throughput, safety, fairness and comfort into consideration. Motivated by the time consuming space-time resource allocation framework in [1], we try to give a low complexity solution by transforming the complicated original problem into a sequential linear programming one. Based on the "feasible tunnels" (FT) generated from the High-Level coordinator, we then propose a rapid gradient-based trajectory optimization strategy in the Low-Level planner, to effectively avoid collisions beyond High-level considerations, such as the pedestrian or bicycles. Simulation results and laboratory experiments show that our proposed method outperforms existing strategies. Moreover, the most impressive advantage is that the proposed strategy can plan vehicle trajectory in milliseconds, which is promising in realworld deployments. A detailed description include the coordination framework and experiment demo could be found at the supplement materials, or online at https://youtu.be/MuhjhKfNIOg

Knockdown of lncRNA-PANDAR suppresses the proliferation, cell cycle and promotes apoptosis in thyroid cancer cells

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been found to show important regulatory roles in various human cancers. Lnc-RNA PANDAR is a novel identified lncRNA that was previously reported to show abnormal expression pattern in various cancers. However, little is known of its expression and biological function in thyroid cancer. Here, we used the quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) to determine the expression of PANDAR in 64 thyroid cancer tissues. We found that expression of PANDAR was up-regulated in thyroid cancer tissues compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues. Functional assays in vitro demonstrated that knockdown of PANDAR could inhibit proliferation, cell cycle progression, induces the apoptosis, inhibit invasion of thyroid cancer cells. Thus, our study provides evidence that PANDAR may function as a potential target for treatment for patients with thyroid cancer

Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals cellular dynamics and therapeutic effects of astragaloside IV in slow transit constipation

The cellular characteristics of intestinal cells involved in the therapeutic effects of astragaloside IV (AS-IV) for treating slow transit constipation (STC) remain unclear. This study aimed to determine the dynamics of colon tissue cells in the STC model and investigate the effects of AS-IV treatment by single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). STC mouse models were developed using loperamide, with subsequent treatment using AS-IV. Colon tissues and feces were collected for scRNA-seq and targeted short-chain fatty acid quantification. We integrated scRNA-seq data with network pharmacology to analyze the effect of AS-IV on constipation. AS-IV showed improvement in defecation for STC mice induced by loperamide. Notably, in STC mice, epithelial cells, T cells, B cells, and fibroblasts demonstrated alterations in cell proportions and aberrant functions, which AS-IV partially rectified. AS-IV has the potential to modulate the metabolic pathway of epithelial cells through its interaction with peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ). AS-IV reinstated fecal butyrate levels and improved energy metabolism in epithelial cells. The proportion of naïve CD4+T cells is elevated in STC, and the differentiation of these cells into regulatory T cells (Treg) is regulated by B cells and fibroblasts through the interaction of ligand-receptor pairs. AS-IV treatment can partially alleviate this trend. The status of fibroblasts in STC undergoes alterations, and the FB_C4_Adamdec1 subset, associated with angiogenesis and the Wingless-related integration (Wnt) pathway, emerges. Our comprehensive analysis identifies perturbations of epithelial cells and tissue microenvironment cells in STC and elucidates mechanisms underlying the therapeutic efficacy of AS-IV

Natural gaits of the non-pathological flat foot and high-arched foot

There has been a controversy as to whether or not the non-pathological flat foot and high-arched foot have an effect on human walking activities. The 3D foot scanning system was employed to obtain static footprints from subjects adopting a half-weight-bearing stance. Based upon their footprints, the subjects were divided into two groups: the flat-footed and the high-arched. The plantar pressure measurement system was used to measure and record the subjects' successive natural gaits. Two indices were proposed: distribution of vertical ground reaction force (VGRF) of plantar and the rate of the footprint areas. Using these two indices to compare the natural gaits of the two subject groups, we found that (1) in stance phase, there is a significant difference (p<0.01) in the distributions of VGRF of plantar; (2) in a stride cycle, there is also a significant difference (p<0.01) in the rates of the footprint areas. Our analysis suggests that when walking, the VGRF of the plantar brings greater muscle tension to the flat-footed while a smaller rate of the footprint areas brings greater stability to the high-arched.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

A New Method for Automatically Labeling Aircrafts in Airport Video

For the problem that the airport video monitoring could only provide the image information while the label information including the flight number is not provided, a new method for automatically labeling aircrafts in airport video through the fusion of video and ADS-B data has been proposed. First, the image coordinates of aircrafts will be obtained through the image tracking of video. Then, the homography matrix between two projection planes will be calculated with the four and above point and line correspondences selected from the airport map and video image, respectively to the map image coordinates into the map coordinates. Finally, the aircrafts in video can be automatically labeled through the fusion of image tracking data and ADS-B monitoring data. Because an image coordinate measurement error exists at the time of selecting points from the image, the resulting coordinate conversion error is derived and the impact of point correspondence geometric layout on mesh coordinate mapping error is analyzed. Experiments have been conducted based on the actual data of Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport. The results show that the method can automatically label aircrafts in video in an effective way

A New Method for Automatically Labeling Aircrafts in Airport Video

For the problem that the airport video monitoring could only provide the image information while the label information including the flight number is not provided, a new method for automatically labeling aircrafts in airport video through the fusion of video and ADS-B data has been proposed. First, the image coordinates of aircrafts will be obtained through the image tracking of video. Then, the homography matrix between two projection planes will be calculated with the four and above point and line correspondences selected from the airport map and video image, respectively to the map image coordinates into the map coordinates. Finally, the aircrafts in video can be automatically labeled through the fusion of image tracking data and ADS-B monitoring data. Because an image coordinate measurement error exists at the time of selecting points from the image, the resulting coordinate conversion error is derived and the impact of point correspondence geometric layout on mesh coordinate mapping error is analyzed. Experiments have been conducted based on the actual data of Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport. The results show that the method can automatically label aircrafts in video in an effective way

Low skeletal muscle mass index and all-cause mortality risk in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.

ObjectiveThe relationship between low skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) and all-cause mortality risk in the general adults remains unclear. Our study was conducted to examine and quantify the associations between low SMI and all-cause mortality risks.MethodsPubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library for primary data sources and references to relevant publications retrieved until 1 April 2023. A random-effect model, subgroup analyses, meta-regression, sensitivity analysis, and publication bias were conducted using STATA 16.0.ResultsSixteen prospective studies were included in the meta-analysis of low SMI and the risk of all-cause mortality. A total of 11696 deaths were ascertained among 81358 participants during the 3 to 14.4 years follow-up. The pooled RR of all-cause mortality risk was 1.57 (95% CI, 1.25 to 1.96, P ConclusionsLow SMI was significantly associated with the increased risk of all-cause mortality, and the risk of all-cause mortality associated with low SMI was higher in adults with a higher BMI. Low SMI Prevention and treatment might be significant for reducing mortality risk and promoting healthy longevity

3D reconstruction and visualization for laser drilling hole on rock based on line laser scanning

The laser drilling hole on rock has a complex pattern, characterized with a generally small diameter and high roughness, so it is difficult to measure the parameters by traditional methods.Therefore, in order to precisely detect the drilling hole and expediently study the shape of the hole, a model of the laser drilling hole based on line laser scanning and reserve modeling is proposed.Specifically, to get the 3D coordinate of the drilling hole, which consists of the original point cloud, a line laser scanning stage is designed and the spatial coordinate system is established.Then, point cloud processing, including the valid points removal and point cloud registration, is implemented in MATLAB, and the removal of invalid points is realized by sequential search, also, based on the iterative closest point(ICP) algorithm, the multi-view point cloud registration is divided into two stages: the initial registration and the precise registration.Finally, based on Delaunay triangulation and surface reconstruction, the model reconstruction and 3D visualization of the drilling hole are accomplished, which provides a good matrix for drilling hole measurement.What's more, compared with the results from the model reconstructed, the titration test and cutting method are used to measure the volume and obtain the contour line of the real drilling hole, to evaluate the accuracy of the drilling hole model.The experimental results show that the error between the models reconstructed and the real drilling holes is less than 4%, hence the reconstructed model can meet the requirements of measuring the parameters of the laser drilling hole on the rock, and the method proposed is feasible.Furthermore, this approach belongs to a non-contact and non-destructive detection method accompanied with good repeatability in comparison with existing methods

Semiparametric single-index model for estimating optimal individualized treatment strategy

Different from the standard treatment discovery framework which is used for finding single treatments for a homogenous group of patients, personalized medicine involves finding therapies that are tailored to each individual in a heterogeneous group. In this paper, we propose a new semiparametric additive single-index model for estimating individualized treatment strategy. The model assumes a flexible and nonparametric link function for the interaction between treatment and predictive covariates. We estimate the rule via monotone B-splines and establish the asymptotic properties of the estimators. Both simulations and an real data application demonstrate that the proposed method has a competitive performance.NSF [DMS-1555244, DMS-1309507, DMS-1418172]; NCI [P01 CA142538]; NIH [U01-NS082062, R01GM047845]; NSFC [11571009]Open Access Journal.This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]