Predicting Continuous Locomotion Modes via Multidimensional Feature Learning from sEMG

Walking-assistive devices require adaptive control methods to ensure smooth transitions between various modes of locomotion. For this purpose, detecting human locomotion modes (e.g., level walking or stair ascent) in advance is crucial for improving the intelligence and transparency of such robotic systems. This study proposes Deep-STF, a unified end-to-end deep learning model designed for integrated feature extraction in spatial, temporal, and frequency dimensions from surface electromyography (sEMG) signals. Our model enables accurate and robust continuous prediction of nine locomotion modes and 15 transitions at varying prediction time intervals, ranging from 100 to 500 ms. In addition, we introduced the concept of 'stable prediction time' as a distinct metric to quantify prediction efficiency. This term refers to the duration during which consistent and accurate predictions of mode transitions are made, measured from the time of the fifth correct prediction to the occurrence of the critical event leading to the task transition. This distinction between stable prediction time and prediction time is vital as it underscores our focus on the precision and reliability of mode transition predictions. Experimental results showcased Deep-STP's cutting-edge prediction performance across diverse locomotion modes and transitions, relying solely on sEMG data. When forecasting 100 ms ahead, Deep-STF surpassed CNN and other machine learning techniques, achieving an outstanding average prediction accuracy of 96.48%. Even with an extended 500 ms prediction horizon, accuracy only marginally decreased to 93.00%. The averaged stable prediction times for detecting next upcoming transitions spanned from 28.15 to 372.21 ms across the 100-500 ms time advances.Comment: 10 pages,7 figure

A nanobody-based molecular toolkit for ubiquitin–proteasome system explores the main role of survivin subcellular localization

Targeted protein degradation is a powerful tool for determining the function of specific proteins nowadays. Survivin is the smallest member of the inhibitor of the apoptosis protein (IAP) family. It exists in the cytoplasm and nucleus of cells, but the exact function of survivin in different subcellular locations retained unclear updates due to the lack of effective and simple technical means. In this study, we created a novel nanoantibody-based molecular toolkit, namely, the ubiquitin–proteasome system (Nb4A-Fc-T2A-TRIM21), that can target to degrade survivin localized in cytoplasmic and cell nuclear by ubiquitinating, and by which to verify the potential roles of survivin subcellular localization. Also, the results showed that the cytoplasmic survivin mainly plays an anti-apoptotic function by directly or indirectly inhibiting the caspase pathway, and the nuclear survivin mainly promotes cell proliferation and participates in the regulation of the cell cycle. In addition, the Nb4A-Fc-T2A-TRIM21 system can degrade the endogenous survivin protein in a large amount by the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway, and the system can provide theoretical support for ubiquitination degradation targeting other endogenous proteins

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (3rd edition)

In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. For example, a key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process versus those that measure fl ux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process including the amount and rate of cargo sequestered and degraded). In particular, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation must be differentiated from stimuli that increase autophagic activity, defi ned as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (inmost higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium ) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the fi eld understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. It is worth emphasizing here that lysosomal digestion is a stage of autophagy and evaluating its competence is a crucial part of the evaluation of autophagic flux, or complete autophagy. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. Along these lines, because of the potential for pleiotropic effects due to blocking autophagy through genetic manipulation it is imperative to delete or knock down more than one autophagy-related gene. In addition, some individual Atg proteins, or groups of proteins, are involved in other cellular pathways so not all Atg proteins can be used as a specific marker for an autophagic process. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular autophagy assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Scientific_fig_Extractor

This project provides an automatic image data extractor that can extract curve graphs, line graphs, and histograms to accelerate data collection in the field of materials science.</p

A Multiobjective Integer Linear Programming Model for the Cross-Track Line Planning Problem in the Chinese High-Speed Railway Network

In China, cross-track high-speed trains (CTHSTs) play an important role in railway passenger transportation, with an increasing number of cross-track passengers sourced from the expansion of high-speed railway (HSR) network. The CTHST generally has long travel times, so running CTHSTs is not beneficial for train rescheduling work and plan&#8217;s periodicity in the periodic operation context. Thus, the main challenge in cross-track line planning is looking for a symmetry point between passenger transportation and disadvantages of running CTHSTs, which are two conflicting aspects. In this study, we developed a multiobjective integer programming model to produce a balanced cross-track line plan by combining individual-track high-speed trains (ITHSTs) into CTHSTs, which is a discrete optimization problem. This strikes a balance among four goals: the periodicity of the line plan, CTHST quantity, CTHST mileage, and CTHST stops in the context of periodic operation, while satisfying the constraints of passenger demand and the number of available ITHSTs. Numerical experiments are conducted based on a real-world network and optimal solutions were quickly obtained. We analyzed impacts of each goal and parameter on the result and influencing factors of computation. Comparisons with existing methods and real-life plans were also presented to show improvements made by proposed model

Two-Stage Optimization Model for Two-Side Daily Reserve Capacity of a Power System Considering Demand Response and Wind Power Consumption

Today, wind power is becoming an important energy source for the future development of electric energy due to its clean and environmentally friendly characteristics. However, due to the uncertainty of incoming wind, the utilization efficiency of wind energy is extremely low, which means the problem of wind curtailment becomes more and more serious. To solve the issue of wind power large-scale consumption, a two-stage stochastic optimization model is established in this paper. Different from other research frameworks, a novel two-side reserve capacity mechanism, which simultaneously takes into account supply side and demand side, is designed to ensure the stable consumption of wind power in the real-time market stage. Specifically, the reserve capacity of thermal power units is considered on the supply side, and the demand response is introduced as the reserve capacity on the demand side. At the same time, the compensation mechanism of reserve capacity is introduced to encourage generation companies (GENCOs) to actively participate in the power balance process of the real-time market. In terms of solution method, compared with the traditional k-means clustering method, this paper uses the K-means classification based on numerical weather prediction (K-means-NWP) scenario clustering method to better describe the fluctuation of wind power output. Finally, an example simulation is conducted to analyze the influence of reserve capacity compensation mechanism and system parameters on wind power consumption results. The results demonstrate that with the introduction of reserve capacity compensation mechanism, the wind curtailment quantity of the power system has a significant reduction. Besides, the income of GENCOs is gradually increasing, which motivates their enthusiasm to provide reserve capacity. Furthermore, the reserve capacity mechanism designed in this paper promotes the consumption of wind power and the sustainable development of renewable energy

Recent Advances and Outlook in Single-Cavity Dual Comb Lasers

Dual-comb spectroscopy as an emerging tool for spectral analysis has been investigated in a wide range of applications, including absorption spectroscopy, light detection and ranging, and nonlinear spectral imaging. Two mutually coherent combs facilitate high-precision, high-resolution, and broadband spectroscopy. Recently, dual combs generated from a single cavity have become compelling options for dual-comb spectroscopy, enabling huge simplification to measuring systems. Here, we review the progress of single-cavity dual comb lasers in recent years and summarize the distinctive advantages of single-cavity dual combs. First, the principles of optical frequency comb and dual-comb spectroscopy are introduced in time and frequency domains. Then, the implementation techniques and typical applications of single-cavity dual comb lasers are discussed, including directional multiplexing, wavelength multiplexing, polarization multiplexing, and space multiplexing. Finally, an outlook on the development of single-cavity dual combs is presented