Simulation of the Landing Buffer of a Three-Legged Jumping Robot

In recent years, the research of planetary exploration robots has become an active field. The jumping robot has become a hot spot in this field. This paper presents a work modelling and simulating a three-legged jumping robot, which has a powerful force, high leaping performance, and good flexibility. In particular, the jumping of the robot was simulated and the landing buffer of the robot was analyzed. Because this jumping robot lacks landing buffer, this paper verifies a method of absorbing landing kinetic energy to improve landing stability and storing it as the energy for the next jump in the simulation. Through the landing simulation, the factors affecting the landing energy absorption are identified. Moreover, the simulation experiment verifies that the application of the intermediate axis theorem helps to absorb more energy and adjust the landing attitude of the robot. The simulation results in this paper can be applied to the optimal design of robot prototypes and provide a theoretical basis for subsequent research

Paternal Smoking and Risk of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective. To investigate the association between paternal smoking and childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Method. We identified 18 published epidemiologic studies that reported data on both paternal smoking and childhood ALL risk. We performed a meta-analysis and analyzed dose-response relationships on ALL risk for smoking during preconception, during pregnancy, after birth, and ever smoking. Results. The summary odds ratio (OR) of childhood ALL associated with paternal smoking was 1.11 (95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.05–1.18, I2 = 18%) during any time period, 1.25 (95% CI: 1.08–1.46, I2 = 53%) preconception; 1.24 (95% CI: 1.07–1.43, I2 = 54%) during pregnancy, and 1.24 (95% CI: 0.96–1.60, I2 = 64%) after birth, with a dose-response relationship between childhood ALL and paternal smoking preconception or after birth. Conclusion. The evidence supports a positive association between childhood ALL and paternal ever smoking and at each exposure time period examined. Future epidemiologic studies should assess paternal smoking during well-defined exposure windows and should include biomarkers to assess smoking exposure and toxicological mechanisms

Healthcare Students’ Perception of Social Distancing During the 2019 Coronavirus Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Background: Since the implementation of social distancing practices during the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic there have been a myriad of definitions for ‘social distancing.’ The objective of this study was to determine students’ awareness of the various definitions of social distancing, how strictly they adhered to social distancing guidelines, and how they perceived the importance of various social distancing practices.  Methods: This cross-sectional survey was distributed via email to students at Emory-affiliated graduate schools, including the Medical, Nursing, and Public Health Schools. Results: Of the 2,453 recipients of the survey, 415 students responded (16.9% response rate). The majority of respondents were medical students (n=225, 55.6%). Of the respondents, 357 noted that they “frequently” or “always” abided by social distancing. The most common definition of social distancing with which respondents were familiar was the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s (n=276 of 369 responses, 74.8%). There were significant differences across groups  when grouping students by the definition of social distancing that they were aware of, the social distancing guideline they most closely followed, and their school of attendance regarding the importance of specific social distancing examples (p<0.05 for each). Conclusions: A survey of healthcare students identified differences in the importance of social distancing practices based on the definition of social distancing that they were aware of. The results of this study underscore the importance of having unified definitions of public health messaging, which ultimately may impact disease spread

Auditory Discrimination Learning:Role of Working Memory

Perceptual training is generally assumed to improve perception by modifying the encoding or decoding of sensory information. However, this assumption is incompatible with recent demonstrations that transfer of learning can be enhanced by across-trial variation of training stimuli or task. Here we present three lines of evidence from healthy adults in support of the idea that the enhanced transfer of auditory discrimination learning is mediated by working memory (WM). First, the ability to discriminate small differences in tone frequency or duration was correlated with WM measured with a tone n-back task. Second, training frequency discrimination around a variable frequency transferred to and from WM learning, but training around a fixed frequency did not. The transfer of learning in both directions was correlated with a reduction of the influence of stimulus variation in the discrimination task, linking WM and its improvement to across-trial stimulus interaction in auditory discrimination. Third, while WM training transferred broadly to other WM and auditory discrimination tasks, variable-frequency training on duration discrimination did not improve WM, indicating that stimulus variation challenges and trains WM only if the task demands stimulus updating in the varied dimension. The results provide empirical evidence as well as a theoretic framework for interactions between cognitive and sensory plasticity during perceptual experience

The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey. VIII. The Spatial Distribution of Globular Clusters in the Virgo Cluster

We report on a large-scale study of the distribution of globular clusters (GCs) throughout the Virgo cluster, based on photometry from the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey, a large imaging survey covering Virgo's primary subclusters to their virial radii. Using the g', (g'-i') color-magnitude diagram of unresolved and marginally-resolved sources, we constructed 2-D maps of the GC distribution. We present the clearest evidence to date showing the difference in concentration between red and blue GCs over the extent of the cluster, where the red (metal-rich) GCs are largely located around the massive early-type galaxies, whilst the blue (metal-poor) GCs have a more extended spatial distribution, with significant populations present beyond 83' (215 kpc) along the major axes of M49 and M87. The GC distribution around M87 and M49 shows remarkable agreement with the shape, ellipticity and boxiness of the diffuse light surrounding both galaxies. We find evidence for spatial enhancements of GCs surrounding M87 that may be indicative of recent interactions or an ongoing merger history. We compare the GC map to the locations of Virgo galaxies and the intracluster X-ray gas, and find good agreement between these baryonic structures. The Virgo cluster contains a total population of 67300$\pm$14400 GCs, of which 35% are located in M87 and M49 alone. We compute a cluster-wide specific frequency S_N,CL=$2.8\pm0.7$, including Virgo's diffuse light. The GC-to-baryonic mass fraction is e_b=$5.7\pm1.1\times10^{-4}$and the GC-to-total cluster mass formation efficiency is e_t=$2.9\pm0.5\times10^{-5}$, values slightly lower than, but consistent with, those derived for individual galactic halos. Our results show that the production of the complex structures in the unrelaxed Virgo cluster core (including the diffuse intracluster light) is an ongoing process.(abridged)Comment: 23 pages, 17 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. Figure 1 has reduced resolution. Revised version with updated references, corrected typos -- no changes to result

Towards name-based trust and security for content-centric network. In

Abstract-Trust and security have been considered as builtin properties for future Internet architecture. Leveraging the concept of named content in recently proposed information centric network, we propose a name-based trust and security protection mechanism. Our scheme is built with identity-based cryptography (IBC), where the identity of a user or device can act as a public key string. Uniquely, in named content network such as content-centric network (CCN), a content name or its prefixes can be used as public identities, with which content integrity and authenticity can be achieved with IBC algorithms. The trust of a content is seamlessly integrated with the verification of the content's integrity and authenticity with its name or prefix, instead of the public key certificate of its publisher. In addition, flexible confidentiality protection is enabled between content publishers and consumers. For scalable deployment purpose, we further propose to use a hybrid scheme combined with traditional public-key infrastructure (PKI) and IBC. We have implemented this scheme with CCNx open source project on Android

A quantitative approach for measuring the reservoir of latent HIV-1 proviruses.

A stable latent reservoir for HIV-1 in resting CD4+ T cells is the principal barrier to a cure1-3. Curative strategies that target the reservoir are being tested4,5 and require accurate, scalable reservoir assays. The reservoir was defined with quantitative viral outgrowth assays for cells that release infectious virus after one round of T cell activation1. However, these quantitative outgrowth assays and newer assays for cells that produce viral RNA after activation6 may underestimate the reservoir size because one round of activation does not induce all proviruses7. Many studies rely on simple assays based on polymerase chain reaction to detect proviral DNA regardless of transcriptional status, but the clinical relevance of these assays is unclear, as the vast majority of proviruses are defective7-9. Here we describe a more accurate method of measuring the HIV-1 reservoir that separately quantifies intact and defective proviruses. We show that the dynamics of cells that carry intact and defective proviruses are different in vitro and in vivo. These findings have implications for targeting the intact proviruses that are a barrier to curing HIV infection

CCNF mutations in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are overlapping, fatal neurodegenerative disorders in which the molecular and pathogenic basis remains poorly understood. Ubiquitinated protein aggregates, of which TDP-43 is a major component, are a characteristic pathological feature of most ALS and FTD patients. Here we use genome-wide linkage analysis in a large ALS/FTD kindred to identify a novel disease locus on chromosome 16p13.3. Whole-exome sequencing identified a CCNF missense mutation at this locus. Interrogation of international cohorts identified additional novel CCNF variants in familial and sporadic ALS and FTD. Enrichment of rare protein-altering CCNF variants was evident in a large sporadic ALS replication cohort. CCNF encodes cyclin F, a component of an E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase complex (SCFCyclin F). Expression of mutant CCNF in neuronal cells caused abnormal ubiquitination and accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins, including TDP-43 and a SCFCyclin F substrate. This implicates common mechanisms, linked to protein homeostasis, underlying neuronal degeneration