When Mining Electric Locomotives Meet Reinforcement Learning

As the most important auxiliary transportation equipment in coal mines, mining electric locomotives are mostly operated manually at present. However, due to the complex and ever-changing coal mine environment, electric locomotive safety accidents occur frequently these years. A mining electric locomotive control method that can adapt to different complex mining environments is needed. Reinforcement Learning (RL) is concerned with how artificial agents ought to take actions in an environment so as to maximize reward, which can help achieve automatic control of mining electric locomotive. In this paper, we present how to apply RL to the autonomous control of mining electric locomotives. To achieve more precise control, we further propose an improved epsilon-greedy (IEG) algorithm which can better balance the exploration and exploitation. To verify the effectiveness of this method, a co-simulation platform for autonomous control of mining electric locomotives is built which can complete closed-loop simulation of the vehicles. The simulation results show that this method ensures the locomotives following the front vehicle safely and responding promptly in the event of sudden obstacles on the road when the vehicle in complex and uncertain coal mine environments

Topological Atomic Spinwave Lattices by Dissipative Couplings

Recent experimental advance in creating dissipative couplings provides a new route for engineering exotic lattice systems and exploring topological dissipation. Using the spatial lattice of atomic spinwaves in a vacuum vapor cell, where purely dissipative couplings arise from diffusion of atoms, we experimentally realize a dissipative version of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model. We construct the dissipation spectra of the topological or trivial lattices via electromagnetically-induced-transparency (EIT) spectroscopy. The topological dissipation spectrum is found to exhibit edge modes at dissipation rates within a dissipative gap, decoupled from the bulk. We also validate chiral symmetry of the dissipative SSH couplings. This work paves the way for realizing topology-enabled quantum correlations and non-Hermitian topological quantum optics via dissipative couplings.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Three new ant-eating spiders of the family Zodariidae Thorell, 1881 (Araneae, Zodariidae) from Xishuangbanna, China

Three new zodariid spiders from the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden in Yunnan, China are described. A new species of the genus Euryeidon Dankittipakul & Jocqué, 2004, E. dian sp. nov. (♂♀), and two new species of the genus Mallinella Strand, 1906, M. banna sp. nov. (♂) and M. mengla sp. nov. (♂), are described. Euryeidon is reported for the first time in China

Successful treatment of methemoglobinemia in an elderly couple with severe cyanosis: two case reports

INTRODUCTION: Methemoglobinemia should be considered in all cyanotic patients who remain unresponsive to oxygen therapy. Rapid diagnosis is very important in emergency cases. Here, we present the cases of two patients, a married couple, admitted to our hospital with methemoglobinemia after exposure to sodium nitrite. CASE PRESENTATION: Two patients, a married couple, presented with methemoglobinemia. The 72-year-old Taiwanese man and 68-year-old Taiwanese woman were referred to our hospital with dizziness and tachypnea. On examination, their mucous membranes were cyanotic, and their blood samples showed the classic ‘chocolate brown’ appearance. The man also reported having experienced twitching of his right arm for a few minutes before arrival at the hospital. The symptoms of both patients failed to improve in response to supplemental oxygen delivered via oxygen masks, although the arterial blood gas data of these patients were normal and their pulse oximetry showed oxyhemoglobin levels of approximately 85%. A carbon monoxide-oximeter showed that the man’s methemoglobin concentration was 48.3%, and the woman’s was 36.4%. Methylene blue (100mg) was administered intravenously to both patients, and their symptoms improved dramatically. They were admitted to the intensive care unit and discharged three days later, without neurological sequelae. CONCLUSION: Severe methemoglobinemia is a life-threatening condition and, if untreated, may result in death. Early diagnosis and appropriate antidotal treatment are crucial in treating this emergency situation

Household Catastrophic Medical Expenses in Eastern China: Determinants and Policy Implications

Background: Much of research on household catastrophic medical expenses in China has focused on less developed areas and little is known about this problem in more developed areas. This study aimed to analyse the incidence and determinants of catastrophic medical expenses in eastern China. Methods: Data were obtained from a health care utilization and expense survey of 11,577 households conducted in eastern China in 2008. The incidence of household catastrophic medical expenses was calculated using the method introduced by the World Health Organization. A multi-level logistic regression model was used to identify the determinants. Results: The incidence of household catastrophic medical expenses in eastern China ranged from 9.24% to 24.79%. Incidence of household catastrophic medical expenses was lower if the head of household had a higher level of education, labor insurance coverage, while the incidence was higher if they lived in rural areas, had a family member with chronic diseases, had a child younger than 5 years old, had a person at home who was at least 65 years old, and had a household member who was hospitalized. Moreover, the impact of the economic level on catastrophic medical expenses was non-linear. The poorest group had a lower incidence than that of the second lowest income group and the group with the highest income had a higher incidence than that of the second highest income group. In addition, region was a significant determinant. Conclusions: Reducing the incidence of household catastrophic medical expenses should be one of the priorities of health policy. It can be achieved by improving residents’ health status to reduce avoidable health services such as hospitalization. It is also important to design more targeted health insurance in order to increase financial support for such vulnerable groups as the poor, chronically ill, children, and senior populations

Effect of Electronegativity and Charge Balance on the Visible-Light-Responsive Photocatalytic Activity of Nonmetal Doped Anatase TiO 2

The origin of visible light absorption and photocatalytic activity of nonmetal doped anatase TiO2 were investigated in details in this work based on density functional theory calculations. Our results indicate that the electronegativity is of great significance in the band structures, which determines the relative positions of impurity states induced by the doping species, and further influences the optical absorption and photocatalytic activities of doped TiO2. The effect of charge balance on the electronic structure was also discussed, and it was found that the charge-balance structures may be more efficient for visible light photocatalytic activities. In addition, the edge positions of conduction band and valence band, which determine the ability of a semiconductor to transfer photoexcited electrons to species adsorbed on its surface, were predicted as well. The results may provide a reference to further experimental studies