Artificial co-drivers as a universal enabling technology for future intelligent vehicles and transportation systems

This position paper introduces the concept of artificial “co-drivers” as an enabling technology for future intelligent transportation systems. In Sections I and II, the design principles of co-drivers are introduced and framed within general human–robot interactions. Several contributing theories and technologies are reviewed, specifically those relating to relevant cognitive architectures, human-like sensory-motor strategies, and the emulation theory of cognition. In Sections III and IV, we present the co-driver developed for the EU project interactIVe as an example instantiation of this notion, demonstrating how it conforms to the given guidelines. We also present substantive experimental results and clarify the limitations and performance of the current implementation. In Sections IV and V, we analyze the impact of the co-driver technology. In particular, we identify a range of application fields, showing how it constitutes a universal enabling technology for both smart vehicles and cooperative systems, and naturally sets out a program for future research

Toll-like receptor-4 signaling pathway in aorta aging and diseases: "its double nature"

Recent advances in the field of innate immunity have revealed a complex role of innate immune signaling pathways in both tissue homeostasis and disease. Among them, the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) pathways has been linked to various pathophysiological conditions, such as cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). This has been interrogated by developing multiple laboratory tools that have shown in animal models and clinical conditions, the involvement of the TLR-4 signaling pathway in the pathophysiology of different CVDs, such as atherosclerosis, ischemic heart disease, heart failure, ischemia-reperfusion injury and aorta aneurysm. Among these, aorta aneurysm, a very complex pathological condition with uncertain etiology and fatal complications (i.e. dissection and rupture), has been associated with the occurrence of high risk cardiovascular conditions, including thrombosis and embolism. In this review, we discuss the possible role of TLR-4signaling pathway in the development of aorta aneurysm, considering the emerging evidence from ongoing investigations. Our message is that emphasizing the role of TLR-4signaling pathway in aorta aneurysm may serve as a starting point for future studies, leading to a better understanding of the pathophysiological basis and perhaps the effective treatment of this difficult human disease

Global Existence Results and Uniqueness for Dislocation Equations

We are interested in nonlocal Eikonal Equations arising in the study of the dynamics of dislocations lines in crystals. For these nonlocal but also non monotone equations, only the existence and uniqueness of Lipschitz and local-in-time solutions were available in some particular cases. In this paper, we propose a definition of weak solutions for which we are able to prove the existence for all time. Then we discuss the uniqueness of such solutions in several situations, both in the monotone and non monotone case

A Federated Learning Benchmark for Drug-Target Interaction

Aggregating pharmaceutical data in the drug-target interaction (DTI) domain has the potential to deliver life-saving breakthroughs. It is, however, notoriously difficult due to regulatory constraints and commercial interests. This work proposes the application of federated learning, which we argue to be reconcilable with the industry's constraints, as it does not require sharing of any information that would reveal the entities' data or any other high-level summary of it. When used on a representative GraphDTA model and the KIBA dataset it achieves up to 15% improved performance relative to the best available non-privacy preserving alternative. Our extensive battery of experiments shows that, unlike in other domains, the non-IID data distribution in the DTI datasets does not deteriorate FL performance. Additionally, we identify a material trade-off between the benefits of adding new data, and the cost of adding more clients

Minimizing Detection Probability Routing in Ad Hoc Networks Using Directional Antennas

In a hostile environment, it is important for a transmitter to make its wireless transmission invisible to adversaries because an adversary can detect the transmitter if the received power at its antennas is strong enough. This paper defines a detection probability model to compute the level of a transmitter being detected by a detection system at arbitrary location around the transmitter. Our study proves that the probability of detecting a directional antenna is much lower than that of detecting an omnidirectional antenna if both the directional and omnidirectional antennas provide the same Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) in the direction of the receiver. We propose a Minimizing Detection Probability (MinDP) routing algorithm to find a secure routing path in ad hoc networks where nodes employ directional antennas to transmit data to decrease the probability of being detected by adversaries. Our study shows that the MinDP routing algorithm can reduce the total detection probability of deliveries from the source to the destination by over 74%.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

Health management in aquaculture

A textbook on diseases of cultured warmwater fish and shrimps in the Philippines. Eleven chapters cover essential information on the basic principles of disease causation, major diseases of cultured fish and crustaceans, particularly shrimps, and methods of prevention and control. Emphasis is made on major diseases that occur in the Philippines and other countries in the Asian region. Included also are topics on harmful algae, immunology and molecular biological diagnostic techniques.1st Ed

Are Endothelial Progenitor Cells the Real Solution for Cardiovascular Diseases? Focus on Controversies and Perspectives

Advanced knowledge in the field of stem cell biology and their ability to provide a cue for counteracting several diseases are leading numerous researchers to focus their attention on \u201cregenerative medicine\u201d as possible solutions for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, the lack of consistent evidence in this arena has hampered the clinical application. The same condition affects the research on endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), creating more confusion than comprehension. In this review, this aspect is discussed with particular emphasis. In particular, we describe biology and physiology of EPCs, outline their clinical relevance as both new predictive, diagnostic, and prognostic CVD biomarkers and therapeutic agents, discuss advantages, disadvantages, and conflicting data about their use as possible solutions for vascular impairment and clinical applications, and finally underline a very crucial aspect of EPCs \u201ccharacterization and definition,\u201d which seems to be the real cause of large heterogeneity existing in literature data on this topic

Hong-Ou-Mandel interference between independent III-V on silicon waveguide integrated lasers

The versatility of silicon photonic integrated circuits has led to a widespread usage of this platform for quantum information based applications, including Quantum Key Distribution (QKD). However, the integration of simple high repetition rate photon sources is yet to be achieved. The use of weak-coherent pulses (WCPs) could represent a viable solution. For example, Measurement Device Independent QKD (MDI-QKD) envisions the use of WCPs to distill a secret key immune to detector side channel attacks at large distances. Thus, the integration of III-V lasers on silicon waveguides is an interesting prospect for quantum photonics. Here, we report the experimental observation of Hong-Ou-Mandel interference with 46\pm 2% visibility between WCPs generated by two independent III-V on silicon waveguide integrated lasers. This quantum interference effect is at the heart of many applications, including MDI-QKD. Our work represents a substantial first step towards an implementation of MDI-QKD fully integrated in silicon, and could be beneficial for other applications such as standard QKD and novel quantum communication protocols.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Age and Cytokine Gene Variants Modulate the Immunogenicity and Protective Effect of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-Based Vaccination

: The introduction of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in late 2020 substantially changed the pandemic picture, inducing effective protection in the population. However, individual variability was observed with different levels of cellular response and neutralizing antibodies. We report data on the impact of age, gender, and 16 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of cytokine genes on the anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG titers measured 31 and 105 days after administration of the second dose of BNT162b2 vaccine to 122 healthy subjects from the health care staff of the Palermo University Hospital, Italy. The higher titers at 31 days were measured in the younger subjects and in subjects bearing T-positive genotypes of IL-1R1 rs2234650 or the GG homozygous genotype of IL-6 rs1800795 SNP. T-positive genotypes are also significantly more common in subjects with higher titers at day 105. In addition, in this group of subjects, the frequency of the CT genotype of IL-4 rs2243250 is higher among those vaccinated with higher titers. Moreover, these SNPs and TNFA rs1800629 are differently distributed in a group of subjects that were found infected by SARS-CoV-2 at day 105 of evaluation. Finally, subjects that were found to be infected by SARS-CoV-2 at day 105 were significantly older than the uninfected subjects. Taken together, these data seem to suggest that age and polymorphisms of key cytokines, which regulate inflammation and humoral immune response, might influence the magnitude of the antibody response to vaccination with BNT162B2, prompting speculation about the possible benefit of a genetic background-based assessment of a personalized approach to the anti-COVID vaccination schedule