This paper proposes a coordinated control design method, with which the autonomous vehicle is able to perform ethical maneuvers. The starting point of the provided method is a thorough analysis on ...the ethical concepts for autonomous vehicle control design methods. Using the results of the analysis, an own concept is provided based on some principles of Protestant ethics. The concept focuses on improving trust in vehicle control through clear rules and predictable vehicle motion, and it is in line with the state-of-the-art ethical vehicle control methods. Moreover, an optimal Model Predictive Control (MPC) design method is formed, in which the provided ethical concept is incorporated. The outputs of the optimal control are steering angle and velocity profile, with which the ethical maneuvering can be achieved. The contribution of the paper is a coordinated control design method, which is able to involve ethical principles. Moreover, the application of Protestant ethics in this context is also a novel achievement in the paper. The effectiveness of the method through different simulation scenarios is illustrated.
The intake of carcinogenic and chemopreventive compounds are important nutritional factors related to the development of malignant tumorous diseases. Repetitive long interspersed element-1 (LINE-1) ...DNA methylation pattern plays a key role in both carcinogenesis and chemoprevention. In our present in vivo animal model, we examined LINE-1 DNA methylation pattern as potential biomarker in the liver, spleen and kidney of mice consuming green tea (Camellia sinensis) extract (catechins 80%), a chinese bayberry (Morella rubra) extract (myricetin 80%), a flavonoid extract (with added resveratrol) and coffee (Coffee arabica) extract. In the organs examined, carcinogen 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA)-induced hypomethylation was prevented by all test materials except chinese bayberry extract in the kidneys. Moreover, the flavonoid extract caused significant hypermethylation in the liver compared to untreated controls and to other test materials. The tested chemopreventive substances have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory properties and regulate molecular biological signaling pathways. They increase glutathione levels, induce antioxidant enzymes, which decrease free radical damage caused by DMBA, and ultimately, they are able to increase the activity of DNA methyltransferase enzymes. Furthermore, flavonoids in the liver may inhibit the procarcinogen to carcinogen activation of DMBA through the inhibition of CYP1A1 enzyme. At the same time, paradoxically, myricetin can act as a prooxidant as a result of free radical damage, which can explain that it did not prevent hypomethylation in the kidneys. Our results demonstrated that LINE-1 DNA methylation pattern is a useful potential biomarker for detecting and monitoring carcinogenic and chemopreventive effects of dietary compounds.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In the modern minimally invasive era, diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopic interventions are one of the most emerging fields. For the new operational techniques, it is a major aim to develop ...reliable instruments, such as suturing devices for flexible endoscopes. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of a safe and reproducible suturing technique with an endoluminal suturing device.
The evaluation of the technique was performed in twenty explanted special prepared porcine stomachs. Three different techniques were compared, single stitches, figure-of-eight, or Z-pattern and running sutures in terms of suturing time and bursting pressure. After verification of the reliability of the method, a 3 cm long full thickness incision on the stomach was closed with the endoscopic suturing device in four surviving animals.
In our ex vivo studies, we have shown that the figure of 8 or Z- technique is the most optimal for stomach closure without considerable time-cost, thus this technique was chosen as the standard method for the in vivo study. The endoscopic stomach wall suturing was successful in all four cases, the postoperative period was uneventful and ended on the tenth postoperative day with autopsy.
With the applied suturing device, the endoscopic suturing of the stomach is safe and reproducible, thus a human application may also be justified.
A vast range of sensors gather data about our environment, industries and homes. The great profit hidden in this data can only be exploited if it is integrated with relevant services for analysis and ...usage. A core concept of the Internet of Things targets this business opportunity through various applications. The virtualized and software-controlled 5G networks are expected to achieve the scale and dynamicity of communication networks required by Internet of Things (IoT). As the computation and communication infrastructure rapidly evolves, the corresponding substrate models of service placement algorithms lag behind, failing to appropriately describe resource abstraction and dynamic features. Our paper provides an extension to existing IoT service placement algorithms to enable them to keep up with the latest infrastructure evolution, while maintaining their existing attributes, such as end-to-end delay constraints and the cost minimization objective. We complement our recent work on 5G service placement algorithms by theoretical foundation for resource abstraction, elasticity and delay constraint. We propose efficient solutions for the problems of aggregating computation resource capacities and behavior prediction of dynamic Kubernetes infrastructure in a delay-constrained service embedding framework. Our results are supported by mathematical theorems whose proofs are presented in detail.
The elevated expression of claudins (CLDN) and E‐cadherin (CDH‐1) was found to correlate with poor prognostic features. Our aim was to perform a comprehensive analysis to assess their potential to ...predict prognosis in breast cancer. The expression of CLDN‐1, ‐3–5, ‐7, ‐8, ‐10, ‐15, ‐18, and E‐cadherin at the mRNA level was evaluated in correlation with survival in datasets containing expression measurements of 1809 breast cancer patients. The breast cancer tissues of 197 patients were evaluated with tissue microarray technique and immunohistochemical method for CLDN‐1–5, ‐7, and E‐cadherin protein expression. An additional validation set of 387 patients was used to test the accuracy of the resulting prognostic score. Based on the bioinformatic screening of publicly‐available datasets, the metagene of CLDN‐3, ‐4, ‐7, and E‐cadherin was shown to have the most powerful predictive power in the survival analyses. An immunohistochemical protein profile consisting of CLDN‐2, ‐4, and E‐cadherin was able to predict outcome in the most effective manner in the training set. Combining the overlapping members of the above two methods resulted in the claudin‐4 and E‐cadherin score (CURIO), which was able to accurately predict relapse‐free survival in the validation cohort (P = 0.029). The multivariate analysis, including clinicopathological variables and the CURIO, showed that the latter kept its predictive power (P = 0.040). Furthermore, the CURIO was able to further refine prognosis, separating good versus poor prognosis subgroups in luminal A, luminal B, and triple‐negative breast cancer intrinsic subtypes. In breast cancer, the CURIO provides additional prognostic information besides the routinely utilized diagnostic approaches and factors. (Cancer Sci 2011; 102: 2248–2254)
Through the automation of road vehicles, several smart actuators have been developed, with which various automated and autonomous functionalities can be performed ...
Objectives
With only limited information available on dimensional changes after jaw cyst surgery, postoperative cyst shrinkage remains largely unpredictable. We aimed to propose a model for ...volumetric shrinkage based on time elapsed since cyst surgery.
Material and methods
We used data from patients that underwent cyst enucleation or decompression between 2007 and 2017 and had at least three computed tomography (CT) scans per patient. We fitted one simple exponential decay model
V
(
t
) =
V
0
·
e
−
ɑt
and one model with a patient-specific decay rate
V
k
(
t
) =
V
0
·
e
−
βt
+
γkt
.
Results
Based on 108 CT scans from 36 patients (median age at surgery: 45.5 years, IQR: 32.3–55.3, 44% female), our simple exponential decay model is
V
(
t
) =
V
0
· e
−0.0035
t
where
V
(
t
) is the residual cyst volume after time
t
elapsed since surgery,
V
0
is the initial cyst volume, and
e
is the base of the natural logarithm. Considering a patient-specific decay rate, the model is
V
k
(
t
) =
V
0
· e
−0.0049
t
+
γkt
where
γ
k
is normally distributed, with expectation 0 and standard deviation 0.0041.
Conclusions
Using an exponential regression model, we were able to reliably estimate volumetric shrinkage after jaw cyst surgery. The patient-specific decay rate substantially improved the fit of the model, whereas adding specific covariates as interaction effects to model the decay rate did not provide any significant improvement.
Clinical relevance
Estimating postoperative cyst shrinkage is relevant for both treatment planning of jaw cyst surgery as well as evaluating the clinical success of the surgical approach.
Neurotropic herpesviruses can establish lifelong infection in humans and contribute to severe diseases including encephalitis and neurodegeneration. However, the mechanisms through which the brain’s ...immune system recognizes and controls viral infections propagating across synaptically linked neuronal circuits have remained unclear. Using a well-established model of alphaherpesvirus infection that reaches the brain exclusively via retrograde transsynaptic spread from the periphery, and in vivo two-photon imaging combined with high resolution microscopy, we show that microglia are recruited to and isolate infected neurons within hours. Selective elimination of microglia results in a marked increase in the spread of infection and egress of viral particles into the brain parenchyma, which are associated with diverse neurological symptoms. Microglia recruitment and clearance of infected cells require cell-autonomous P2Y12 signalling in microglia, triggered by nucleotides released from affected neurons. In turn, we identify microglia as key contributors to monocyte recruitment into the inflamed brain, which process is largely independent of P2Y12. P2Y12-positive microglia are also recruited to infected neurons in the human brain during viral encephalitis and both microglial responses and leukocyte numbers correlate with the severity of infection. Thus, our data identify a key role for microglial P2Y12 in defence against neurotropic viruses, whilst P2Y12-independent actions of microglia may contribute to neuroinflammation by facilitating monocyte recruitment to the sites of infection.
The paper proposes a novel learning-based coordination strategy for lateral control systems of automated vehicles. The motivation of the research is to improve the performance level of the ...coordinated system compared to the conventional model-based reconfigurable solutions. During vehicle maneuvers, the coordinated control system provides torque vectoring and front-wheel steering angle in order to guarantee the various lateral dynamical performances. The performance specifications are guaranteed on two levels, i.e., primary performances are guaranteed by Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) controllers, while secondary performances (e.g., economy and comfort) are maintained by a reinforcement-learning-based (RL) controller. The coordination of the control systems is carried out by a supervisor. The effectiveness of the proposed coordinated control system is illustrated through high velocity vehicle maneuvers.
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