Resilient Output Consensus Control of Heterogeneous Multi-agent Systems against Byzantine Attacks: A Twin Layer Approach

This paper studies the problem of cooperative control of heterogeneous multi-agent systems (MASs) against Byzantine attacks. The agent affected by Byzantine attacks sends different wrong values to all neighbors while applying wrong input signals for itself, which is aggressive and difficult to be defended. Inspired by the concept of Digital Twin, a new hierarchical protocol equipped with a virtual twin layer (TL) is proposed, which decouples the above problems into the defense scheme against Byzantine edge attacks on the TL and the defense scheme against Byzantine node attacks on the cyber-physical layer (CPL). On the TL, we propose a resilient topology reconfiguration strategy by adding a minimum number of key edges to improve network resilience. It is strictly proved that the control strategy is sufficient to achieve asymptotic consensus in finite time with the topology on the TL satisfying strongly $(2f+1)$-robustness. On the CPL, decentralized chattering-free controllers are proposed to guarantee the resilient output consensus for the heterogeneous MASs against Byzantine node attacks. Moreover, the obtained controller shows exponential convergence. The effectiveness and practicality of the theoretical results are verified by numerical examples

老後扶養の方途としての負担付死因贈与の撤回(2・完) -中国「遺贈扶養協議」制度との比較を手がかりとして-

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WeakPolyp: You Only Look Bounding Box for Polyp Segmentation

Limited by expensive pixel-level labels, polyp segmentation models are plagued by data shortage and suffer from impaired generalization. In contrast, polyp bounding box annotations are much cheaper and more accessible. Thus, to reduce labeling cost, we propose to learn a weakly supervised polyp segmentation model (i.e., WeakPolyp) completely based on bounding box annotations. However, coarse bounding boxes contain too much noise. To avoid interference, we introduce the mask-to-box (M2B) transformation. By supervising the outer box mask of the prediction instead of the prediction itself, M2B greatly mitigates the mismatch between the coarse label and the precise prediction. But, M2B only provides sparse supervision, leading to non-unique predictions. Therefore, we further propose a scale consistency (SC) loss for dense supervision. By explicitly aligning predictions across the same image at different scales, the SC loss largely reduces the variation of predictions. Note that our WeakPolyp is a plug-and-play model, which can be easily ported to other appealing backbones. Besides, the proposed modules are only used during training, bringing no computation cost to inference. Extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed WeakPolyp, which surprisingly achieves a comparable performance with a fully supervised model, requiring no mask annotations at all.Comment: accepted by MICCAI 2023, codes are available at https://github.com/weijun88/WeakPoly

Blood–brain barrier endothelial cells in neurodegenerative diseases: Signals from the “barrier”

As blood–brain barrier (BBB) disruption emerges as a common problem in the early stages of neurodegenerative diseases, the crucial roles of barrier-type brain endothelial cells (BECs), the primary part of the BBB, have been reported in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases. The mechanisms of how early vascular dysfunction contributes to the progress of neurodegeneration are still unclear, and understanding BEC functions is a promising start. Our understanding of the BBB has gone through different stages, from a passive diffusion barrier to a mediator of central-peripheral interactions. BECs serve two seemingly paradoxical roles: as a barrier to protect the delicate brain from toxins and as an interface to constantly receive and release signals, thus maintaining and regulating the homeostasis of the brain. Most previous studies about neurodegenerative diseases focus on the loss of barrier functions, and far too little attention has been paid to the active regulations of BECs. In this review, we present the current evidence of BEC dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases and explore how BEC signals participate in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases

Comprehensive molecular etiology analysis of nonsyndromic hearing impairment from typical areas in China

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Every year, 30,000 babies are born with congenital hearing impairment in China. The molecular etiology of hearing impairment in the Chinese population has not been investigated thoroughly. To provide appropriate genetic testing and counseling to families, we performed a comprehensive investigation of the molecular etiology of nonsyndromic deafness in two typical areas from northern and southern China.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 284 unrelated school children with hearing loss who attended special education schools in China were enrolled in this study, 134 from Chifeng City in Inner Mongolia and the remaining 150 from Nangtong City in JiangSu Province. Screening was performed for <it>GJB2</it>, <it>GJB3</it>, <it>GJB6</it>, <it>SLC26A4</it>, <it>12S rRNA</it>, <it>and tRNA</it>^{<it>ser</it>(<it>UCN</it>)}genes in this population. All patients with <it>SLC26A4 </it>mutations or variants were subjected to high-resolution temporal bone CT scan to verify the enlarged vestibular aqueduct.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Mutations in the <it>GJB2 </it>gene accounted for 18.31% of the patients with nonsyndromic hearing loss, 1555A>G mutation in mitochondrial DNA accounted for 1.76%, and <it>SLC26A4 </it>mutations accounted for 13.73%. Almost 50% of the patients with nonsyndromic hearing loss in these typical Chinese areas carried <it>GJB2 </it>or <it>SLC26A4 </it>mutations. No significant differences in mutation spectrum or prevalence of <it>GJB2 </it>and <it>SLC26A4 </it>were found between the two areas.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In this Chinese population, 54.93% of cases with hearing loss were related to genetic factors. The <it>GJB2 </it>gene accounted for the etiology in about 18.31% of the patients with hearing loss, <it>SLC26A4 </it>accounted for about 13.73%, and <it>mtDNA </it>1555A>G mutation accounted for 1.76%. Mutations in <it>GJB3, GJB6</it>, and <it>mtDNA tRNA</it>^{<it>ser</it>(<it>UCN</it>)}were not common in this Chinese cohort. Conventionally, screening is performed for <it>GJB2</it>, <it>SLC26A4</it>, and mitochondrial <it>12S rRNA </it>in the Chinese deaf population.</p

Adaptive beamforming for optical wireless communication via fiber modal control

High-speed optical wireless communication can address the exponential growth in data traffic. Adaptive beamforming customized for the target location is crucial, but existing solutions such as liquidcrystal spatial light modulators and microelectromechanical systems require costly micro/nano manufacturing, delicate alignment, and a high degree of mechanical stability. These challenges reflect the fragility of integrating a fiber network with micro/nano mechanical or photonic systems. Here, we realize low-cost, low-loss, and fiber-compatible beamforming and continuous beam steering through controlled bending of a multi-mode fiber that modifies its modal coupling, and use it to enable flexible optical wireless communication at 10 Gb/s. By using the fiber modal coupling as degrees of freedom rather than an impediment, this approach offers a promising solution for flexible and cost-effective optical wireless communication networks.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure

Role of Probiotics in Mycoplasma pneumoniae Pneumonia in Children: A Short-Term Pilot Project

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is one of the most common pathogens causing community-acquired pneumonia in children. Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) can be successfully treated with azithromycin; however, antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) is a common adverse effect. Increasing evidence suggests that some probiotics may prevent the development of AAD. The present study determined the effects of probiotics (live Clostridium butyricum plus Bifidobacterium infantis) on the prevention and treatment of AAD in children with MPP when co-administered with intravenous azithromycin. Fifty-five children with MPP were enrolled and received azithromycin (10 mg/kg/day; once daily for 7 days) combined with probiotics (starting on the third day of azithromycin treatment; 1,500 mg three times daily); 50 healthy children served as controls. At the end of the trial, the incidence of AAD, fecal microbiota, intestinal mucosal barriers, and systemic inflammation were analyzed using recommended systems biology techniques. No cases of AAD or other adverse events occurred in children with MPP after co-administration of probiotics with azithromycin. A live C. butyricum plus B. infantis preparation partly reconstructed the gut microbiota, especially restoration of bacterial diversity. The indicators of intestinal mucosal barrier function, such as D-lactate, endotoxin, and diamine oxidase, were significantly improved and the systemic inflammation (interleukin 10) was attenuated after probiotic therapy. The present study indicated that co-administration of probiotics with azithromycin is a promising therapy for MPP treatment which could prevent and treat AAD effectively

Quantifying the effects of cold waves on carbon monoxide poisoning: A time-stratified case-crossover study in Jinan, China

BackgroundPrevious studies have shown that carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning occurs mostly in winter and is associated with severe cold weather (e.g., ice storms, temperature drops). However, according to previous studies, the impact of low temperature on health has a delayed effect, and the existing research cannot fully reveal the delayed effect of cold waves on CO poisoning.ObjectivesThe purpose of this study is to analyze the temporal distribution of CO poisoning in Jinan and to explore the acute effect of cold waves on CO poisoning.MethodsWe collected emergency call data for CO poisoning in Jinan from 2013 to 2020 and used a time-stratified case-crossover design combined with a conditional logistic regression model to evaluate the impact of the cold wave day and lag 0–8 days on CO poisoning. In addition, 10 definitions of a cold wave were considered to evaluate the impact of different temperature thresholds and durations.ResultsDuring the study period, a total of 1,387 cases of CO poisoning in Jinan used the emergency call system, and more than 85% occurred in cold months. Our findings suggest that cold waves are associated with an increased risk of CO poisoning in Jinan. When P01, P05, and P10 (P01, P05, and P10 refer to the 1st, 5th, and 10th percentiles of the lowest temperature, respectively) were used as temperature thresholds for cold waves, the most significant effects (the maximum OR value, which refers to the risk of CO poisoning on cold wave days compared to other days) were 2.53 (95% CI:1.54, 4.16), 2.06 (95% CI:1.57, 2.7), and 1.49 (95% CI:1.27, 1.74), respectively.ConclusionCold waves are associated with an increased risk of CO poisoning, and the risk increases with lower temperature thresholds and longer cold wave durations. Cold wave warnings should be issued and corresponding protective policies should be formulated to reduce the potential risk of CO poisoning