A Reactive and Efficient Walking Pattern Generator for Robust Bipedal Locomotion

Available possibilities to prevent a biped robot from falling down in the presence of severe disturbances are mainly Center of Pressure (CoP) modulation, step location and timing adjustment, and angular momentum regulation. In this paper, we aim at designing a walking pattern generator which employs an optimal combination of these tools to generate robust gaits. In this approach, first, the next step location and timing are decided consistent with the commanded walking velocity and based on the Divergent Component of Motion (DCM) measurement. This stage which is done by a very small-size Quadratic Program (QP) uses the Linear Inverted Pendulum Model (LIPM) dynamics to adapt the switching contact location and time. Then, consistent with the first stage, the LIPM with flywheel dynamics is used to regenerate the DCM and angular momentum trajectories at each control cycle. This is done by modulating the CoP and Centroidal Momentum Pivot (CMP) to realize a desired DCM at the end of current step. Simulation results show the merit of this reactive approach in generating robust and dynamically consistent walking patterns

Editorial: Blockade of PD‐1 and PD‐L1 restores defective innate immune responses in leukocytes from septic humans

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141591/1/jlb1229.pd

New strategies for treatment of infectious sepsis

In this mini review, we describe the molecular mechanisms in polymicrobial sepsis that lead to a series of adverse events including activation of inflammatory and prothrombotic pathways, a faulty innate immune system, and multiorgan dysfunction. Complement activation is a well‐established feature of sepsis, especially involving generation of C5a and C5b‐9, along with engagement of relevant receptors for C5a. Activation of neutrophils by C5a leads to extrusion of DNA, forming neutrophil extracellular traps that contain myeloperoxidase and oxidases, along with extracellular histones. Generation of the distal complement activation product, C5b‐9 (known as the membrane attack complex, MAC), also occurs in sepsis. C5b‐9 activates the NLRP3 inflammasome, which damages mitochondria, together with appearance in plasma of IL‐1β and IL‐18. Histones are strongly proinflammatory as well as being prothrombotic, leading to activation of platelets and development of venous thrombosis. Multiorgan dysfunction is also a feature of sepsis. It is well known that septic cardiomyopathy, which if severe, can lead to death. This complication in sepsis is linked to reduced levels in cardiomyocytes of three critical proteins (SERCA2, NCX, Na+/K+‐ATPase). The reductions in these three key proteins are complement‐ and histone‐dependent. Dysfunction of these ATPases is linked to the cardiomyopathy of sepsis. These data suggest novel targets in the setting of sepsis in humans.Review on infectious sepsis and new therapeutic targets that include complement activation products and receptors and histones.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149767/1/jlb10342_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149767/2/jlb10342.pd

The Impact of the Fruit and Seed of Date on Childbirth Stages and Pregnancy Complications

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of date fruit products on the childbirth process and pregnancy complications. MeSH keywords systematically were searched in scientific databases. Finally, 16 articles were reviewed. Overall results of studies illustrated that using seven date fruits per day(average of 80 grams per day) for 2 - 4 weeks before their estimated date of delivery leads to a better cervical dilatation at admission or improvement of bishop score, decrease in the need for induction or stimulation of labor and by increasing effective uterine contractions, decrease duration of pregnancy, and duration of the different stages of labor. Also, date fruit products can improve blood pressure parameters in pregnant women at risk of preeclampsia and accelerate episiotomy healing. Keywords: Pregnancy; Childbirth; Phoenix dactylifera; Date Fruits; Date Palm Fruit

An augmented Lagrangian-based preconditioning technique for a class of block three-by-three linear systems

We propose an augmented Lagrangian-based preconditioner to accelerate the convergence of Krylov subspace methods applied to linear systems of equations with a block three-by-three structure such as those arising from mixed finite element discretizations of the coupled Stokes-Darcy flow problem. We analyze the spectrum of the preconditioned matrix and we show how the new preconditioner can be efficiently applied. Numerical experiments are reported to illustrate the effectiveness of the preconditioner in conjunction with flexible GMRES for solving linear systems of equations arising from a 3D test problem