Control of wheeled mobile robot in restricted environment

This paper presents a simulation and practical control system for wheeled mobile robot in restricted environment. A wheeled mobile robot with 3 wheels is fabricated and controlled by proportional derivative active force control (PD-AFC) to move in a pre-planned restricted environment to maintain the tracking errors at zero level. A control system with two loops, outer by PD controller and inner loop by Active Force Control, are designed to control the wheeled mobile robot. Fuzzy logic controller is implemented in the Active force Control to estimate the inertia matrix that will be used to calculate the actual torque applied on the wheeled mobile robot. The mobile robot is tested in two different trajectories, namely are circular and straight path. The actual path and desired path are compared

Holiday Destination Choice Behavior Analysis Based on AFC Data of Urban Rail Transit

For urban rail transit, the spatial distribution of passenger flow in holiday usually differs from weekdays. Holiday destination choice behavior analysis is the key to analyze passengers’ destination choice preference and then obtain the OD (origin-destination) distribution of passenger flow. This paper aims to propose a holiday destination choice model based on AFC (automatic fare collection) data of urban rail transit system, which is highly expected to provide theoretic support to holiday travel demand analysis for urban rail transit. First, based on Guangzhou Metro AFC data collected on New Year’s day, the characteristics of holiday destination choice behavior for urban rail transit passengers is analyzed. Second, holiday destination choice models based on MNL (Multinomial Logit) structure are established for each New Year’s days respectively, which takes into account some novel explanatory variables (such as attractiveness of destination). Then, the proposed models are calibrated with AFC data from Guangzhou Metro using WESML (weighted exogenous sample maximum likelihood) estimation and compared with the base models in which attractiveness of destination is not considered. The results show that the ρ2 values are improved by 0.060, 0.045, and 0.040 for January 1, January 2, and January 3, respectively, with the consideration of destination attractiveness

Connexin 43 recruits E-cadherin expression and inhibits the malignant behaviour of lung cancer cells.

The interaction of connexin 43 and E-cadherin may play an important role in carcinogenesis and malignant behaviour of tumours. In this study, we examined the relationship between connexin 43 and E-cadherin in human non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC). Expression levels of connexin 43 and E-cadherin were examined in 107 NSCLC specimens by immunohistochemistry. The connexin 43 gene was transfected into lung cancer LH7 cells. The protein localizations and levels of connexin 43 and E-cadherin were detected using immunofluorescence staining and western blot. Cell cycle and proliferation of lung cancer cells were examined using flow cytometry and MTT. We found that reduced expression of both connexin 43 and E-cadherin significantly correlated to poor differentiation, advanced TNM stage, and lymph note metastasis of NSCLCs. Connexin 43 and E-cadherin expression significantly correlated with each other. Over-expression of connexin 43 significantly induced E-cadherin expression. Moreover, connexin 43-transfected LH7 cells showed significantly decreased cell proliferation. The percentage of cells in G1 phase increased, while the number of cells in S and G2 phases significantly decreased. We concluded that concurrent reduction of connexin 43 and E-cadherin may contribute to the development of lung cancer. Connexin 43 may induce E-cadherin expression and inhibit cell proliferation and progression of lung cancer

Epididymis rhabdomyoma: A case report and literature review

Genital rhabdomyoma is very rare tumor that usually occurs in the vulvar of young women. Epididymis rhabdomyoma in a young man is extremely uncommon and has rarely been reported. Here, we report a case of epididymis rhabdomyoma of a 17-year-old man and review the literatures. VIRTUAL SLIDE: The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/117762822469279

Excess Imidacloprid Exposure Causes the Heart Tube Malformation of Chick Embryos

As a neonicotinoid pesticide, imidacloprid is widely used to control sucking insects on agricultural planting and fleas on domestic animals. However, the extent to which imidacloprid exposure has an influence on cardiogensis in early embryogenesis is still poorly understood. In vertebrates, the heart is the first organ to be formed. In this study to address whether or not imidacloprid exposure affects early heart development, the early chick embryo has been used as an experimental model because of the accessibility of chick embryo at its early developmental stage. The results demonstrate that exposure of the early chick embryo to imidacloprid caused malformation of heart tube. Furthermore，the data reveal that down-regulation of GATA4, Nkx2.5 and BMP4 and up-regulation of Wnt3a led to aberrant cardiomyocyte differentiation. In addition, imidacloprid exposure interfered with basement membrane (BM) breakdown, E-cadherin/Laminin expression and mesoderm formation during the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in gastrula chick embryos. Finally, the DiI-labeled cell migration trajectory indicated that imidacloprid restricted the cell migration of cardiac progenitors to primary heart field in gastrula chick embryos. A similar observation was also obtained from the cell migration assay of scratch wounds in vitro. Additionally, imidacloprid exposure negatively affected the cytoskeleton structure and expression of corresponding adhesion molecules. Taken together, these results reveal that the improper EMT, cardiac progenitor migration and differentiation are responsible for imidacloprid exposure-induced malformation of heart tube during chick embryo development

Phytochemical and genetic analyses of ancient cannabis from Central Asia

The Yanghai Tombs near Turpan, Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region, China have recently been excavated to reveal the 2700-year-old grave of a Caucasoid shaman whose accoutrements included a large cache of cannabis, superbly preserved by climatic and burial conditions. A multidisciplinary international team demonstrated through botanical examination, phytochemical investigation, and genetic deoxyribonucleic acid analysis by polymerase chain reaction that this material contained tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive component of cannabis, its oxidative degradation product, cannabinol, other metabolites, and its synthetic enzyme, tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase, as well as a novel genetic variant with two single nucleotide polymorphisms. The cannabis was presumably employed by this culture as a medicinal or psychoactive agent, or an aid to divination. To our knowledge, these investigations provide the oldest documentation of cannabis as a pharmacologically active agent, and contribute to the medical and archaeological record of this pre-Silk Road culture

2017 HRS/EHRA/ECAS/APHRS/SOLAECE expert consensus statement on catheter and surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation: executive summary.

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