544 research outputs found
Low-Cost Exoskeletons for Learning Whole-Arm Manipulation in the Wild
While humans can use parts of their arms other than the hands for
manipulations like gathering and supporting, whether robots can effectively
learn and perform the same type of operations remains relatively unexplored. As
these manipulations require joint-level control to regulate the complete poses
of the robots, we develop AirExo, a low-cost, adaptable, and portable dual-arm
exoskeleton, for teleoperation and demonstration collection. As collecting
teleoperated data is expensive and time-consuming, we further leverage AirExo
to collect cheap in-the-wild demonstrations at scale. Under our in-the-wild
learning framework, we show that with only 3 minutes of the teleoperated
demonstrations, augmented by diverse and extensive in-the-wild data collected
by AirExo, robots can learn a policy that is comparable to or even better than
one learned from teleoperated demonstrations lasting over 20 minutes.
Experiments demonstrate that our approach enables the model to learn a more
general and robust policy across the various stages of the task, enhancing the
success rates in task completion even with the presence of disturbances.
Project website: https://airexo.github.io/Comment: Project page: https://airexo.github.io
RH20T: A Comprehensive Robotic Dataset for Learning Diverse Skills in One-Shot
A key challenge in robotic manipulation in open domains is how to acquire
diverse and generalizable skills for robots. Recent research in one-shot
imitation learning has shown promise in transferring trained policies to new
tasks based on demonstrations. This feature is attractive for enabling robots
to acquire new skills and improving task and motion planning. However, due to
limitations in the training dataset, the current focus of the community has
mainly been on simple cases, such as push or pick-place tasks, relying solely
on visual guidance. In reality, there are many complex skills, some of which
may even require both visual and tactile perception to solve. This paper aims
to unlock the potential for an agent to generalize to hundreds of real-world
skills with multi-modal perception. To achieve this, we have collected a
dataset comprising over 110,000 contact-rich robot manipulation sequences
across diverse skills, contexts, robots, and camera viewpoints, all collected
in the real world. Each sequence in the dataset includes visual, force, audio,
and action information. Moreover, we also provide a corresponding human
demonstration video and a language description for each robot sequence. We have
invested significant efforts in calibrating all the sensors and ensuring a
high-quality dataset. The dataset is made publicly available at rh20t.github.ioComment: RSS 2023 workshop on LTAMP. The project page is at rh20t.github.i
Iteratively Coupled Multiple Instance Learning from Instance to Bag Classifier for Whole Slide Image Classification
Whole Slide Image (WSI) classification remains a challenge due to their
extremely high resolution and the absence of fine-grained labels. Presently,
WSIs are usually classified as a Multiple Instance Learning (MIL) problem when
only slide-level labels are available. MIL methods involve a patch embedding
process and a bag-level classification process, but they are prohibitively
expensive to be trained end-to-end. Therefore, existing methods usually train
them separately, or directly skip the training of the embedder. Such schemes
hinder the patch embedder's access to slide-level labels, resulting in
inconsistencies within the entire MIL pipeline. To overcome this issue, we
propose a novel framework called Iteratively Coupled MIL (ICMIL), which bridges
the loss back-propagation process from the bag-level classifier to the patch
embedder. In ICMIL, we use category information in the bag-level classifier to
guide the patch-level fine-tuning of the patch feature extractor. The refined
embedder then generates better instance representations for achieving a more
accurate bag-level classifier. By coupling the patch embedder and bag
classifier at a low cost, our proposed framework enables information exchange
between the two processes, benefiting the entire MIL classification model. We
tested our framework on two datasets using three different backbones, and our
experimental results demonstrate consistent performance improvements over
state-of-the-art MIL methods. Code will be made available upon acceptance
Antibiotic Resistance Genes in the Human-Impacted Environment : A One Health Perspective
Antibiotic resistance and its environmental component are gaining more attention as part of combating the growing healthcare crisis. The One Health framework, promulgated by many global health agencies, recognizes that antimicrobial resistance is a truly inter-domain problem in which human health, animal agriculture, and the environment are the core and interrelated components. This prospectus presents the status and issues relevant to the environmental component of antibiotic resistance, namely, the needs for advancing surveillance methodology: the environmental reservoirs and sources of resistance, namely, urban wastewater treatment plants, aquaculture production systems, soil receiving manure and biosolid, and the atmosphere which includes longer range dispersal. Recently, much work has been done describing antibiotic resistance genes in various environments; now quantitative, mechanistic, and hypothesis-driven studies are needed to identify practices that reduce real risks and maintain the effectiveness of our current antibiotics as long as possible. Advanced deployable detection methods for antibiotic resistance in diverse environmental samples are needed in order to provide the surveillance information to identify risks and define barriers that can reduce risks. Also needed are practices that reduce antibiotic use and thereby reduce selection for resistance, as well as practices that limit the dispersal of or destroy antibiotic-resistant bacteria or their resistance genes that are feasible for these varied environmental domains.Peer reviewe
Beyond the ceremony: Mega-event, air quality and political career
This paper examines whether mega-events-initiated planning regulations improved air quality in Chinese cities and explores the driving forces of the enforcement of such regulations. Using the 2008 Beijing Olympics as an example, we find that mega-events serve as an opportunity for cities to combat air pollution. The 2008 Olympics prompted a handful of Chinese cities to cut pollution and sustain a blue sky: Cities with air quality regulated for the Olympics cut their Air Pollution Index by about 16 points during the Games, compared to non-regulated cities, and 60% of that effect remained four years after the event. These achievements are obtained through effective mobilization of city leaders by associating air quality with their political careers. This study reveals that 1) a mega-event may improve urban environmental quality beyond the host cities and the event period, and 2) successful implementation of environmental regulations hinges on incentivizing local leaders
Nickel Isotopic Evidence for Late-Stage Accretion of Mercury-Like Differentiated Planetary Embryos
© 2021, The Author(s). Earth’s habitability is closely tied to its late-stage accretion, during which impactors delivered the majority of life-essential volatiles. However, the nature of these final building blocks remains poorly constrained. Nickel (Ni) can be a useful tracer in characterizing this accretion as most Ni in the bulk silicate Earth (BSE) comes from the late-stage impactors. Here, we apply Ni stable isotope analysis to a large number of meteorites and terrestrial rocks, and find that the BSE has a lighter Ni isotopic composition compared to chondrites. Using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory, we show that core-mantle differentiation cannot produce the observed light Ni isotopic composition of the BSE. Rather, the sub-chondritic Ni isotopic signature was established during Earth’s late-stage accretion, probably through the Moon-forming giant impact. We propose that a highly reduced sulfide-rich, Mercury-like body, whose mantle is characterized by light Ni isotopic composition, collided with and merged into the proto-Earth during the Moon-forming giant impact, producing the sub-chondritic Ni isotopic signature of the BSE, while delivering sulfur and probably other volatiles to the Earth
Assessment of transmissibility and measures effectiveness of SARS in 8 regions, China, 2002-2003
BackgroundSevere acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a form of atypical pneumonia which took hundreds of lives when it swept the world two decades ago. The pathogen of SARS was identified as SARS-coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and it was mainly transmitted in China during the SARS epidemic in 2002-2003. SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 have emerged from the SARS metapopulation of viruses. However, they gave rise to two different disease dynamics, a limited epidemic, and an uncontrolled pandemic, respectively. The characteristics of its spread in China are particularly noteworthy. In this paper, the unique characteristics of time, space, population distribution and transmissibility of SARS for the epidemic were discussed in detail.MethodsWe adopted sliding average method to process the number of reported cases per day. An SEIAR transmission dynamics model, which was the first to take asymptomatic group into consideration and applied indicators of R0, Reff, Rt to evaluate the transmissibility of SARS, and further illustrated the control effectiveness of interventions for SARS in 8 Chinese cities.ResultsThe R0 for SARS in descending order was: Tianjin city (R0 = 8.249), Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Shanxi Province, Hebei Province, Beijing City, Guangdong Province, Taiwan Province, and Hong Kong. R0 of the SARS epidemic was generally higher in Mainland China than in Hong Kong and Taiwan Province (Mainland China: R0 = 6.058 ± 1.703, Hong Kong: R0 = 2.159, Taiwan: R0 = 3.223). All cities included in this study controlled the epidemic successfully (Reff<1) with differences in duration. Rt in all regions showed a downward trend, but there were significant fluctuations in Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Taiwan Province compared to other areas.ConclusionThe SARS epidemic in China showed a trend of spreading from south to north, i.e., Guangdong Province and Beijing City being the central regions, respectively, and from there to the surrounding areas. In contrast, the SARS epidemic in the central region did not stir a large-scale transmission. There were also significant differences in transmissibility among eight regions, with R0 significantly higher in the northern region than that in the southern region. Different regions were able to control the outbreak successfully in differences time
Study protocol of the global Effisayil 1 Phase II, multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of spesolimab in patients with generalized pustular psoriasis presenting with an acute flare
Introduction: Generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP) is a rare, potentially life-threatening disease characterised by recurrent flares of widespread neutrophilic aseptic skin pustular eruption. Despite the availability of approved biologics for GPP in Japan, Taiwan and Thailand, associated evidence is largely based on uncontrolled studies in which acute flares were not directly assessed. Therefore, there is a high unmet need to investigate new rapid-acting effective treatments that resolve symptoms associated with acute GPP flares. A prior Phase I proof-of-concept study showed rapid improvements in skin and pustule clearance with a single intravenous dose of spesolimab, a novel anti-interleukin-36 receptor antibody, in patients presenting with an acute GPP flare. Here, we present the design and rationale of Effisayil 1, a global, Phase II, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of spesolimab in patients presenting with an acute GPP flare.
Methods and analysis: At least 51 patients with an acute GPP flare will be randomised 2:1 to receive a single 900 mg intravenous dose of spesolimab or placebo and followed for up to 28 weeks. The primary endpoint is a Generalized Pustular Psoriasis Physician Global Assessment (GPPGA) pustulation subscore of 0 (pustule clearance) at Week 1. The key secondary endpoint is a GPPGA score of 0 or 1 (clear or almost clear) at Week 1. Safety will be assessed over the study duration by the occurrence of treatment-emergent adverse events. Blood and skin biopsies will be collected to assess biomarkers. Superiority of spesolimab over placebo in the proportion of patients achieving the primary and key secondary endpoints will be evaluated.
Ethics and dissemination: The study complies with the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki, the International Council for Harmonisation’s Good Clinical Practice and local regulations. Ethics committee approvals have been obtained for each centre from all participating countries and are listed in online supplementary file 1. Primary results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Trial registration details: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03782792; Pre-results
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