Parameter identification and model based control of direct drive robots

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Low Cardiorespiratory Fitness is an Independent Predictor of Metabolic Syndrome in Young Korean Adults

Objective: To investigate the relationship between cardio/respiratory fitness (CRF) and metabolic syndrome (MS) in young Korean men. Design: In a cross-sectional study, we examined 909 young Korean men (mean±SD age, 24.0±2 years) who were healthy and not taking any medications affecting blood pressure, glucose, or lipids concentrations. Body fatness, resting blood pressures, and fasting blood levels of lipids, glucose, and insulin were measured with our standardized laboratory protocols. CRF was quantified as the maximum volume of minute oxygen consumption measured during a graded treadmill test. Metabolic syndrome was defined with the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III criteria and a modified cut-off value of waist circumference from the Asia-Pacific Perspective: Redefining Obesity and its Treatment. Results: Group analyses showed significant and inverse dose-response trends between the metabolic syndrome markers and CRF levels such that men with high and moderate CRF levels had more favorable profiles in body fatness, resting blood pressures, mean values in fasting lipids, glucose, and insulin, and homeostasis model of assessment-insulin resistance than men with low CRF level. After adjusting for several potential confounders such as age, smoking, and body fatness variables, the low and moderate CRF groups had odds of 4.64 (95% CI, 2.00 to 10.79) and 2.57 (95% CI, 1.04 to 6.34) for having metabolic syndrome than the high CRF group. Conclusion: These findings suggest that low CRF is a significant and independent risk factor for metabolic syndrome in young Korean men

IL-4 Inhibits IL-1β-Induced Depressive-Like Behavior and Central Neurotransmitter Alterations

It has been known that activation of the central innate immune system or exposure to stress can disrupt balance of anti-/proinflammatory cytokines. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in the modulation of depressive-like behaviors, the hormonal and neurotransmitter systems in rats. We investigated whether centrally administered IL-1β is associated with activation of CNS inflammatory pathways and behavioral changes and whether treatment with IL-4 could modulate IL-1β-induced depressive-like behaviors and central neurotransmitter systems. Infusion of IL-4 significantly decreased IL-1β-induced anhedonic responses and increased social exploration and total activity. Treatment with IL-4 markedly blocked IL-1β-induced increase in PGE2 and CORT levels. Also, IL-4 reduced IL-1β-induced 5-HT levels by inhibiting tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH) mRNA and activating serotonin transporter (SERT) in the hippocampus, and levels of NE were increased by activating tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) mRNA expression. These results demonstrate that IL-4 may locally contribute to the regulation of noradrenergic and serotonergic neurotransmission and may inhibit IL-1β-induced behavioral and immunological changes. The present results suggest that IL-4 modulates IL-1β-induced depressive behavior by inhibiting IL-1β-induced central glial activation and neurotransmitter alterations. IL-4 reduced central and systemic mediatory inflammatory activation, as well as reversing the IL-1β-induced alterations in neurotransmitter levels. The present findings contribute a biochemical pathway regulated by IL-4 that may have therapeutic utility for treatment of IL-1β-induced depressive behavior and neuroinflammation which warrants further study

The Port Hamilton Affair and Russo-British Rivalry in the Far East, 1876-1905

DURING the late eighteenth century, Britain, as a country of mercantile capitalism, was mainly interested in world-wide markets. At the same time, Russia was conscious of the restrictions which her existing territory placed on commerce during the winter. Therefore, she was especially interested in an ice-free port for trade and as an outpost from which to extend her power and influence to southward regions

Are Value At Risk And Maximum Drawdown Different From Volatility In Stock Market?

Measuring risk is the key component in many asset pricing models. Although volatility is the most widely used measure for the risk, Value at Risk (VaR) and Maximum drawdown (MDD) are also considered as alternative risk measure. This article questions whether VaR and MDD contain additional information to volatility in equity market. The empirical analysis is conducted using the stocks listed in Korean stock market. By constructing portfolios in accordance with three risk measures, cross-sectional predictability is tested. The primary findings are as follow; (1) the return patterns are bell shaped in all measures and (2) VaR and MDD do not capture additional risk factors after conditioning volatility

Impacto de las actividades de lenguaje motivacional en la motivación de los maestros novatos de inglés: Una perspectiva de la teoría de la actividad

The study aims to explore the influence of languaging on novice English teachers’ motivation and to investigate the uniqueness of each English teacher’s reactions to motivational languaging activities (MLAs) from an Activity Theory (AT) perspective. Three novice English teachers at secondary schools in South Korea were interviewed using questions based on an AT framework, and they completed six sets of MLAs consisting of two parts: motivation and languaging. Our findings indicated that the two relatively motivated teachers could use MLAs to develop their ideal teacher identity and improve their teaching confidence. By participating in MLAs, a demotivated teacher can reshape her thoughts regarding teaching and motivate herself again. It has also been shown that MLAs can mediate participation in an imaginary teacher community, possibly leading to enhancement of L2 teacher motivation, but that this also might not occur depending on one’s teacher agency. (143 words)El estudio tiene como objetivo explorar la influencia del lenguaje en la motivación de los profesores de inglés novatos e investigar la singularidad de las reacciones de cada profesor de inglés a las actividades de lenguaje motivacional (MLAs) desde una perspectiva de la teoría de la actividad (AT). Se entrevistó a tres profesores de inglés novatos de escuelas secundarias en Corea del Sur con preguntas basadas en un marco de AT, y completaron seis conjuntos de MLAs que constan de dos partes: motivación y lenguaje. Nuestros hallazgos indicaron que los dos maestros relativamente motivados podrían usar los MLAs para recuperar su identidad de maestro ideal y mejorar su confianza en la enseñanza. Al participar en los MLAs, una maestra desmotivada podría remodelar sus pensamientos con respecto a la enseñanza y motivarse nuevamente. También se ha demostrado que los MLAs podrían mediar en la participación en una comunidad de maestros imaginaria, lo que posiblemente conduce a una mejora en la motivación del maestro de L2, pero esto no ocurriría dependiendo de la agencia de maestros de uno

What Explains The Equity Risk Premium In ASEAN Countries?

This paper aims to mainly investigate the impact of the selected macroeconomic variables such as inflation (INF), gross domestic product (GDP), foreign direct investment (FDI) and stocks traded turn-over ratio (STTR) on equity risk premium (ERP) of six major ASEAN member countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.  Applied methods are panel pooled regression and panel vector error correction model (VECM) through the latest version of Eviews9. In the former approach, among the selected macroeconomic variables, both INF and STTR significantly and positively affect the ERP. Both periods and years show to have fixed effects as dummy variables. One cointegration has been determined among macroeconomic variables and ERP suggesting a long term equilibrium association which led to employ Panel VECM. INF denotes a significant long-run relationship with ERP and the error correction term results suggest deviation of INF is a relevant factor but not the errors of liquidity as the STTR didn't show any significant impact in the model. Granger Casuality test suggests both INF and ERP do granger causes each other in the short run. Thus, inflation is a robust factor of ERP in two different methods while the STTR is not a robust as it shows different results.

Higher-order Neural Additive Models: An Interpretable Machine Learning Model with Feature Interactions

Black-box models, such as deep neural networks, exhibit superior predictive performances, but understanding their behavior is notoriously difficult. Many explainable artificial intelligence methods have been proposed to reveal the decision-making processes of black box models. However, their applications in high-stakes domains remain limited. Recently proposed neural additive models (NAM) have achieved state-of-the-art interpretable machine learning. NAM can provide straightforward interpretations with slight performance sacrifices compared with multi-layer perceptron. However, NAM can only model 1$^{\text{st}}$-order feature interactions; thus, it cannot capture the co-relationships between input features. To overcome this problem, we propose a novel interpretable machine learning method called higher-order neural additive models (HONAM) and a feature interaction method for high interpretability. HONAM can model arbitrary orders of feature interactions. Therefore, it can provide the high predictive performance and interpretability that high-stakes domains need. In addition, we propose a novel hidden unit to effectively learn sharp-shape functions. We conducted experiments using various real-world datasets to examine the effectiveness of HONAM. Furthermore, we demonstrate that HONAM can achieve fair AI with a slight performance sacrifice. The source code for HONAM is publicly available

Immunoglobulin VH Chain Gene Analysis of Peripheral Blood IgM-Producing B Cells in Patients with Kawasaki Disease

PURPOSE: Kawasaki disease is a systemic vasculitis, and its etiology and pathogenesis are still not clear. Our study was undertaken to investigate the characteristics of the activation of B cells in the peripheral blood of Kawasaki disease (KD) patients and evidence of stimulation by superantigens. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Blood samples were obtained from three patients (2 males, 1 female) with KD, who were admitted to our Hospital, Seoul, Korea. The mean age was 1.2 years. Distribution of B cells was studied in the acute and subacute phases of KD patients. From the RNA of B cells, we obtained complementary DNA (cDNA) and performed polymerase chain reaction (PCR). To determine the oligoclonal expansion of immunoglobulin M (IgM) V(H) family, we cloned and sequenced the PCR products from each group and analyzed DNA. RESULTS: In the peripheral blood of acute phase patients, T cells were significantly decreased (p < 0.05), whereas B cells were significantly increased (p < 0.05). When the first PCR was done on the B cell chains, V(H)1 to V(H)6 were all found to be expressed. The number of micro gene clones obtained from 3 patients was 312, and they belonged to V(H)3, V(H)4 and V(H)5 family. M99686 germ line was most frequently used and the next most frequently used, were X92224/J, L21967 and L21964. A similar order was seen in patients. Among the clones, 20 sets of clones showed the same base sequence and this was frequent between V(H)2 and V(H)5. There was one set, which showed almost the same base sequence between different patients, and the homology was 99.5%. Twenty sets of clones that had the same base sequence showed high similarity to the germ line (94 - 100%). Among these, the clones that utilized the M99686 germ line were 4 sets which were most frequent. The 3-dimensional structure of one of these clones showed typical beta, sheet structure of immunoglobulin chains. CONCLUSION: The IgM transcripts expressed by the B cells in the peripheral blood of KD patients in the acute phase of the disease clearly showed an oligoclonal expansion, suggesting that KD is caused not by stimulation of a superantigen, but rather by a conventional antigen.ope