Fuzzy Controller for Automatic Steering in Heavy Vehicle Semi-Trailers

AbstractTrucks with semi-trailers are widely used for transportation of goods due their low operation cost, but inherent to these vehicles are some problems such as a poor maneuverability. To minimize the effects of this disadvantage, among other solutions, the incorporation of steerable axles in the semitrailers has been proposed. This paper presents a steering equation, and a fuzzy-logic controller for a semi-trailer automatic forced-steering system to minimize the off-tracking and the total swept path width, resulting in an improvement of vehicle's maneuverability at low speeds. To accomplish this, the suggested control algorithm considers the articulation angle and parameters such as vehicle speed and direction. The system was tested on an instrumented experimental semi-trailer during various predetermined test maneuvers

Inhibición de Porphyromonas gingivalis por Cinnamomum verum eE Illicium verum.

Las plantas medicinales han sido empleadas por el humano como alternativa o complemento a los tratamientos contra diversas afecciones, entre ellas la periodontitis, se ha reportado que alimentos como Cinnamomum verum e Illicium verum tienen compuestos con actividad antimicrobiana. Por otra parte, la periodontitis es una enfermedad de origen bacteriano, que afecta de un 5%-20% de los adultos entre 30 y 60 años a nivel mundial. Una de las bacterias implicadas en la periodontitis crónica y agresiva además de ser considerada como su principal agente etiológico es Porphyromonas gingivalis. El objetivo de éste trabajo fue determinar la actividad biológica del extracto metanólicos de I. verum y extracto acuoso de Cinnamomum verum sobre P. gingivalis. Los resultados indican que los extracto evaluados de C. verum e I. verum inhiben el crecimiento in vitro de P. gingivalis. Estos resultados brindan perspectivas de estudio encaminadas a la búsqueda de nuevas alternativas de terapia antimicrobiana relacionadas con enfermedades periodontales

Caucasian Infants Scan Own- and Other-Race Faces Differently

Young infants are known to prefer own-race faces to other race faces and recognize own-race faces better than other-race faces. However, it is entirely unclear as to whether infants also attend to different parts of own- and other-race faces differently, which may provide an important clue as to how and why the own-race face recognition advantage emerges so early. The present study used eye tracking methodology to investigate whether 6- to 10-month-old Caucasian infants (N = 37) have differential scanning patterns for dynamically displayed own- and other-race faces. We found that even though infants spent a similar amount of time looking at own- and other-race faces, with increased age, infants increasingly looked longer at the eyes of own-race faces and less at the mouths of own-race faces. These findings suggest experience-based tuning of the infant's face processing system to optimally process own-race faces that are different in physiognomy from other-race faces. In addition, the present results, taken together with recent own- and other-race eye tracking findings with infants and adults, provide strong support for an enculturation hypothesis that East Asians and Westerners may be socialized to scan faces differently due to each culture's conventions regarding mutual gaze during interpersonal communication

Prasinezumab slows motor progression in rapidly progressing early-stage Parkinson\u27s disease

\ua9 The Author(s) 2024. Prasinezumab, a monoclonal antibody that binds aggregated α-synuclein, is being investigated as a potential disease-modifying therapy in early-stage Parkinson’s disease. Although in the PASADENA phase 2 study, the primary endpoint (Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) sum of Parts I + II + III) was not met, prasinezumab-treated individuals exhibited slower progression of motor signs than placebo-treated participants (MDS-UPDRS Part III). We report here an exploratory analysis assessing whether prasinezumab showed greater benefits on motor signs progression in prespecified subgroups with faster motor progression. Prasinezumab’s potential effects on disease progression were assessed in four prespecified and six exploratory subpopulations of PASADENA: use of monoamine oxidase B inhibitors at baseline (yes versus no); Hoehn and Yahr stage (2 versus 1); rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (yes versus no); data-driven subphenotypes (diffuse malignant versus nondiffuse malignant); age at baseline (≥60 years versus <60 years); sex (male versus female); disease duration (>12 months versus <12 months); age at diagnosis (≥60 years versus <60 years); motor subphenotypes (akinetic–rigid versus tremor-dominant); and motor subphenotypes (postural instability gait dysfunction versus tremor-dominant). In these subpopulations, the effect of prasinezumab on slowing motor signs progression (MDS-UPDRS Part III) was greater in the rapidly progressing subpopulations (for example, participants who were diffuse malignant or taking monoamine oxidase B inhibitors at baseline). This exploratory analysis suggests that, in a trial of 1-year duration, prasinezumab might reduce motor progression to a greater extent in individuals with more rapidly progressing Parkinson’s disease. However, because this was a post hoc analysis, additional randomized clinical trials are needed to validate these findings

Efficacy and safety of lebrikizumab in adult patients with mild-to-moderate asthma not receiving inhaled corticosteroids

Background: Asthma is a heterogeneous and complex disease in both its clinical course and response to treatment. IL-13 is central to Type 2 inflammation and contributes to many features of asthma. In a previous Phase 2 study, lebrikizumab, an anti-IL-13 monoclonal antibody, did not significantly improve FEV1 in mild-to-moderate asthma patients not receiving ICS therapy. This Phase 3 study was designed to further assess the efficacy and safety of lebrikizumab in adult patients with mild-to-moderate asthma treated with daily short-acting β2-agonist therapy alone. Methods: Adult patients with mild-to-moderate asthma were randomised to receive lebrikizumab 125 mg subcutaneously (SC), placebo SC, or montelukast 10 mg orally for 12 weeks, with an 8-week follow-up period. The primary efficacy endpoint was absolute change in pre-bronchodilator FEV1 from baseline at Week 12. Findings: A total of 310 patients were randomised and dosed in the study. The mean absolute change in FEV1 from baseline at Week 12 was higher in the lebrikizumab-treated arm compared with placebo (150 mL versus 67 mL); however, this improvement did not achieve statistical significance (overall adjusted difference of 83 mL [95% CI:-3, 170]; p = .06). Montelukast did not improve FEV1 as compared with placebo. Lebrikizumab was generally safe and well tolerated during the study. Interpretation: Lebrikizumab did not significantly improve FEV1 in mild-to-moderate asthma patients at a dose expected to inhibit the IL-13 pathway. Inhibiting IL-13 in this patient population was not sufficient to improve lung function. These data support the findings of a previous trial of lebrikizumab in patients not receiving ICS

Efficacy and safety of lebrikizumab in adult patients with mild-to-moderate asthma not receiving inhaled corticosteroids

Background: Asthma is a heterogeneous and complex disease in both its clinical course and response to treatment. IL-13 is central to Type 2 inflammation and contributes to many features of asthma. In a previous Phase 2 study, lebrikizumab, an anti-IL-13 monoclonal antibody, did not significantly improve FEV1 in mild-to-moderate asthma patients not receiving ICS therapy. This Phase 3 study was designed to further assess the efficacy and safety of lebrikizumab in adult patients with mild-to-moderate asthma treated with daily short-acting β2-agonist therapy alone. Methods: Adult patients with mild-to-moderate asthma were randomised to receive lebrikizumab 125 mg subcutaneously (SC), placebo SC, or montelukast 10 mg orally for 12 weeks, with an 8-week follow-up period. The primary efficacy endpoint was absolute change in pre-bronchodilator FEV1 from baseline at Week 12. Findings: A total of 310 patients were randomised and dosed in the study. The mean absolute change in FEV1 from baseline at Week 12 was higher in the lebrikizumab-treated arm compared with placebo (150 mL versus 67 mL); however, this improvement did not achieve statistical significance (overall adjusted difference of 83 mL [95% CI:-3, 170]; p = .06). Montelukast did not improve FEV1 as compared with placebo. Lebrikizumab was generally safe and well tolerated during the study. Interpretation: Lebrikizumab did not significantly improve FEV1 in mild-to-moderate asthma patients at a dose expected to inhibit the IL-13 pathway. Inhibiting IL-13 in this patient population was not sufficient to improve lung function. These data support the findings of a previous trial of lebrikizumab in patients not receiving ICS

Quantifying, displaying and accounting for heterogeneity in the meta-analysis of RCTs using standard and generalised Q statistics

RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are.Abstract Background Clinical researchers have often preferred to use a fixed effects model for the primary interpretation of a meta-analysis. Heterogeneity is usually assessed via the well known Q and I2 statistics, along with the random effects estimate they imply. In recent years, alternative methods for quantifying heterogeneity have been proposed, that are based on a 'generalised' Q statistic. Methods We review 18 IPD meta-analyses of RCTs into treatments for cancer, in order to quantify the amount of heterogeneity present and also to discuss practical methods for explaining heterogeneity. Results Differing results were obtained when the standard Q and I2 statistics were used to test for the presence of heterogeneity. The two meta-analyses with the largest amount of heterogeneity were investigated further, and on inspection the straightforward application of a random effects model was not deemed appropriate. Compared to the standard Q statistic, the generalised Q statistic provided a more accurate platform for estimating the amount of heterogeneity in the 18 meta-analyses. Conclusions Explaining heterogeneity via the pre-specification of trial subgroups, graphical diagnostic tools and sensitivity analyses produced a more desirable outcome than an automatic application of the random effects model. Generalised Q statistic methods for quantifying and adjusting for heterogeneity should be incorporated as standard into statistical software. Software is provided to help achieve this aim.Published versio

Color afterimages in autistic adults

It has been suggested that attenuated adaptation to visual stimuli in autism is the result of atypical perceptual priors (e.g., Pellicano and Burr in Trends Cogn Sci 16(10):504–510, 2012. doi:10.​1016/​j.​tics.​2012.​08.​009). This study investigated adaptation to color in autistic adults, measuring both strength of afterimage and the influence of top-down knowledge. We found no difference in color afterimage strength between autistic and typical adults. Effects of top-down knowledge on afterimage intensity shown by Lupyan (Acta Psychol 161:117–130, 2015. doi:10.​1016/​j.​actpsy.​2015.​08.​006) were not replicated for either group. This study finds intact color adaptation in autistic adults. This is in contrast to findings of attenuated adaptation to faces and numerosity in autistic children. Future research should investigate the possibility of developmental differences in adaptation and further examine top-down effects on adaptation