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Abstract This article presents a reachability‐based receding horizon control (RHC) method for addressing persistent monitoring problems with count requirements. An agent is assigned to monitor multiple targets in a given environment to minimize the average uncertainty metric of all targets, while ensuring the monitoring count requirements of specific targets within predetermined time windows. To account for the spatial and temporal constraints in the monitoring requirements, a persistence predicate within the signal temporal logic (STL) specifications is introduced, which incorporates cumulative target state signals to effectively describe the monitoring count constraints. Considering the complexities arising from global time domain information requirements in STL constraints validation, an STL formula segmentation method based on completion progress is proposed. Subsequently, a reachability‐based controller for the agent is developed by solving a short‐term RHC problem while ensuring the satisfaction of the STL formulae. Simulation results are provided to illustrate the performance of proposed method.

Abstract Mechanical ventilation is an important life-saving therapy for general anesthesia and critically ill patients, but ventilation itself may be accompanied with lung injury. Ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI) exacerbates pre-existing lung disease, leading to poor clinical outcomes. Especially for patients undergoing cardiothoracic surgery and receiving one-lung ventilation (OLV), optimizing the parameters of OLV is closely related to their prognosis. It is not clear what is the best strategy to minimize VILI through adjusting ventilation parameters, including tidal volume, positive end expiratory pressure and driving pressure, etc. Different parameters, in combination, are responsible for VILI. Protective ventilation strategies, aiming to reduce postoperative pulmonary complications, have been discussed in many clinical studies and different opinions have been raised. This review addresses the pathogenesis of VILI and focus on the OLV management and better protective OLV strategies during thoracic surgery.

Abstract Background Banxia Xiexin decoction (BXD) can control irinotecan (CPT‐11)‐caused delayed diarrhea, but the corresponding mechanism remains undefined. Aims This paper aimed to uncover the mechanism of BXD in regulating CPT‐11‐caused delayed diarrhea. Materials & Methods Sprague‐Dawley (SD) rats were assigned into the control, model, BXD low‐dose (BXD‐L, 5 g/kg), BXD medium‐dose (BXD‐M, 10 g/kg), BXD high‐dose (BXD‐H, 15 g/kg), 5‐aminosalicylic acid (5‐ASA, 10 mL/kg), and BXD‐M + 5‐ASA groups. Rats were injected intraperitoneally with 150 mg/kg CPT‐11 at Day 4 and Day 5 to induce delayed diarrhea, and later treated with various doses (low, medium, and high) of BXD and 5‐ASA for 9 days, except for rats in control group. The body weight of rats was measured. The rat colon tissue injury, inflammatory cytokine levels, and the activation of toll‐like receptor 4/nuclear factor‐κB (TLR4/NF‐κB) signaling pathway were detected. Results BXD (5, 10, or 15 g/kg) or 5‐ASA (10 mL/kg) alleviated body weight loss and colon tissue injury, decreased levels of inflammatory cytokines, and inactivated TLR4/NF‐κB signaling pathway in CPT‐11‐induced model rats. BXD at 10 g/kg (the optimal concentration) could better treat CPT‐11‐induced intestinal dysfunction, as evidenced by the resulting approximately 50% reduction on injury score of model rats. Moreover, BXD‐M (10 g/kg) synergistic with 5‐ASA (10 mL/kg) further strengthened the inhibition on rat body weight loss, colon tissue injury, inflammatory cytokine levels, and TLR4/NF‐κB signaling pathway. Conclusion To sum up, BXD has a protective effect against CPT‐11‐induced intestinal dysfunction by inhibiting inflammation through inactivation TLR4/NF‐κB signaling pathway. In particular, the combined use of BXD and 5‐ASA holds great promise for treating CPT‐11‐induced delayed diarrhea.

In order to achieve batch production, we propose a simple and fast method to prepare leather-finished plywood. In this study, ethylene–vinyl acetate was selected as the intermediate layer to prepare EVA/polyurethane (PU) leather composites. ESEM, tensile property test and compressive property test were used to characterize the microstructure and physical-mechanical properties of the composites. The response surface method (RSM) was also used to explore the relationship between hot pressing temperature, hot pressing pressure and hot pressing time. The significance of the factors and the interactions between the two factors were determined by ANOVA, with the most significant effect being that of the temperature. The theoretical optimal hot pressing process conditions were calculated by the regression equation as a temperature of 124.4 °C, a time of 200 s and a pressure of 1.3 MPa. The surface bond strength of the test specimen measured under this condition was 1.89 MPa, it has good finishing properties and the impregnation peel strength and surface bond strength met the requirements of GB/T 15104-2021.

Aiming at the problem of dynamic reconfiguration of distribution network with distributed generation (DG), a dynamic distribution networks reconfiguration scheme considering the time-varying property of DG and distribution network load was proposed.Firstly, according to the comprehensive similarity between different periods based on both load characteristics and optimal network structure, an improved hierarchical clustering method was used to divide the reconstruction interval into segments.On this basis, the genetic learning adaptive particle swarm optimization algorithm was proposed to realize the dynamic reconstruction with minimum network loss.To tackle the shortcomings such as the lack of speed dynamic adjustment strategy and ease to fall into local optimum in basic particle swarm optimization algorithm, a genetic learning scheme based on the optimal position of individual particles was proposed to enhance diversity and improve global search ability.Adaptive inertia weight and acceleration coefficients were introduced to meet the optimization requirements of different periods.Finally, a simulation was carried out through the IEEE 33-bus distribution system as an example to verify the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method.

Abstract In this paper, the control problem of multi‐robot systems under temporal logic tasks with limited time and logic constraints is studied, where each robot is required to reach the specified region in a given time and avoid collision all the time. Since the cooperative collision avoidance task of one robot depends on other robots' behaviors, the satisfaction of all the tasks may be conflicting. In this work, a distributed model predictive control (DMPC) strategy is proposed for conflicting temporal logic tasks. First, signal temporal logic (STL) is adopted to formally describe the temporal logic tasks. Based on robust semantics of STL formulas, a reference trajectory for the satisfaction degree of the task is designed to determine the short‐term task in the optimization horizon. In the DMPC optimization problem, the compatibility constraints are introduced to redesign the collision avoidance constraints, such that the collision avoidance tasks can be fulfilled using neighbouring robots' predicted information of the last time instant. Then, the terminal constraint is designed by the short‐term motion task which enforces each robot to move towards the goal region within the specified time interval. For conflicting tasks, a slack parameter is introduced in the terminal set to relax the motion task of each robot. The recursive feasibility of the DMPC algorithm is guaranteed, and the relaxed temporal logic tasks are fulfilled. In the proposed method, the discrete events including limited time and logic requirements are incorporated into the DMPC optimization problem, such that the motion task can be satisfied as much as possible and safety requirements are fulfilled. The effectiveness of the algorithm is illustrated by simulation and experiment results.

Abstract Background Novel Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is closely associated with cytokines storms. The Chinese medicinal herb Artemisia annua L. (A. annua) has been traditionally used to control many inflammatory diseases, such as malaria and rheumatoid arthritis. We performed network analysis and employed molecular docking and network analysis to elucidate active components or targets and the underlying mechanisms of A. annua for the treatment of COVID-19. Methods Active components of A. annua were identified through the TCMSP database according to their oral bioavailability (OB) and drug-likeness (DL). Moreover, target genes associated with COVID-19 were mined from GeneCards, OMIM, and TTD. A compound-target (C-T) network was constructed to predict the relationship of active components with the targets. A Compound-disease-target (C-D-T) network has been built to reveal the direct therapeutic target for COVID-19. Molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation studies (MD), and MM-GBSA binding free energy calculations were used to the closest molecules and targets between A. annua and COVID-19. Results In our network, GO, and KEGG analysis indicated that A. annua acted in response to COVID-19 by regulating inflammatory response, proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. The molecular docking results manifested excellent results to verify the binding capacity between the hub components and hub targets in COVID-19. MD and MM-GBSA data showed quercetin to be the more effective candidate against the virus by target MAPK1, and kaempferol to be the other more effective candidate against the virus by target TP53. We identified A. annua’s potentially active compounds and targets associated with them that act against COVID-19. Conclusions These findings suggest that A. annua may prevent and inhibit the inflammatory processes related to COVID-19.

In process industries, neural networks are popular models for quality prediction due to their superiorities on dealing with nonlinearity and high dimensionality of process data. However, small sample size of online data will result in epistemic uncertainty of prediction model, so neural networks with fixed parameters are prone to overfitting and provide over-confident predictions with poor robustness. To this end, we propose a Pior-Assistant Random Bayesian Neural Network (PA-RBNN). First, the Random Vector Functional Link Neural Network (RVFLNN) with Bayes backpropagation (RBNN) is introduced to the last layer of the off-lined deep neural network model. The prior mean values and variances of parameters are determined by the closed-form solution from RVFLNN. Then, the semi-supervised form of PA-RBNN is further developed by introducing manifold regularization to RVFLNN to obtain the semi-supervised prior means and variances of parameters. In this way, the proposed prior provides a reasonable range before learning the parameter posterior, and both the labeled and unlabeled data are utilized to obtain the prior. The proposed method is verified by the benchmarked industrial process data. The experimental results show that the assistant prior has an optimistic effect on guiding the training process towards the basins of attraction of minima with less computation cost, and improves the generalization of prediction model.

The WHO recommends Artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACTs) as the first-line treatment for malaria. This meta-analysis aims to analyze the effects of artemisinin and its derivatives as well as non-artemisinin drugs on the gametophytes in the host during the treatment of falciparum malaria. Fourteen studies were included in this analysis, and the artemisinin combination drugs involved were: artemether-lumefantrine (AL), artemisinin (AST), artemether-benflumetol (AB), dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine + trimethoprim + primaquine (CV8), amodiaquine + sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (ASP), pyronaridine-phosphate + dihydroartemisinin (PP-DHA), dihydroartemisinin (DHA), and mefloquine + artesunate (MA), with 1702 patients. The control intervention measures involved the following: sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP), mefloquine (MQ), atovaquone-proguanil (AT-PG), chloroquine + sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (C-SP), quinine (Q), pyronaridine-phosphate (PP), pyronaridine (PN), and mefloquine + primaquine (MP), with 833 patients. The effect of ACTs was more obvious (OR = 0.37, 95%CI: 0.22–0.62, p < 0.05). In the control group of second malaria attacks, the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant (RD = 1.16, 95%CI: 0.81–1.66, p < 0.05); there was no significant difference in treatment failure during follow-up (RD = -0.01, 95%CI: 0.04–0.03, p < 0.05). There were also very few serious adverse events in both groups. ACTs showed good therapeutic effects in preventing gametocythemia but did not control the recrudescence rate and overall cure, which indicated the effectiveness of the combination of antimalarial drugs. Further research is required to explore which compatibility method is most conducive to the development of clinical malaria control.

SET domain-containing 2 (SETD2) is a methyltransferase that can catalyze the di- and tri-methylation of lysine 36 on histone H3 (H3K36me2/me3). SETD2 frequently mediates H3K36me3 modification to regulate both oocyte maturation and preimplantation embryonic development in mice. However, the specific substrate and function of SETD2 in porcine early embryonic development are still unclear. In this study, SETD2 preferentially catalyzed H3K36me3 to regulate porcine early embryonic development. SETD2 mRNA is dynamically expressed during early embryonic development. Functional studies using an RNA interference (RNAi) approach revealed that the expression levels of SETD2 mRNA were effectively knocked down by siRNA microinjection. Immunofluorescence analysis indicated that SETD2 knockdown (KD) did not affect H3K36me2 modification but significantly reduced H3K36me3 levels, suggesting a preferential H3K36me3 recognition of SETD2 in porcine embryos. Furthermore, SETD2 KD significantly reduced blastocyst rate and disrupted allocation between inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm (TE) lineage. The expression levels of key genes important for specification of the first two lineages apparently decreased in SETD2 KD blastocysts. SETD2 KD markedly increased the apoptotic percentage of cells within embryos and altered the expression of pro- and anti-apoptotic genes. Therefore, our data indicate that SETD2 is essential for porcine early embryonic development.

This paper presents a multi‐time hierarchical stochastic predictive control (MHSPC) scheme for an island microgrid, in which electric vehicles (EVs) can be used as mobile energy storages to improve power balance and realise load‐frequency control (LFC) with micro‐turbines (MTs). At the upper layer, a stochastic model predictive control is proposed to handle the EVs uncertainties on a long time scale, while optimising controllable power adjustment of MTs, the charge/discharge energy of the battery electric storage (BES) unit and guaranteeing EVs to be fully charged at the expected plug‐out time. At the lower layer, the coordination between EVs and MTs for LFC is achieved by a standard MPC framework on a short time scale. In this way, the power balance is met, and the frequency fluctuation is inhibited. Finally, simulation results are presented to illustrate the satisfactory operation of the island microgrid.

Objective: The purpose of this meta-analysis of longitudinal studies is to determine the safety and efficacy of artesunate combined with other forms of adjunctive therapies for severe malaria.Methods: Following the PRISMA guidelines, we searched multiple databases with the search terms “artesunate” and “adjunctive therapy” and “severe malaria” in July 2020. If the search showed a randomized controlled trial, the study was included in this meta-analysis. The random-effects model was used to calculate the combined incidence rate and relative risk or risk difference.Results: This meta-analysis included nine longitudinal studies with 724 participants. We found that the mortality rates in the artesunate monotherapy group and the artesunate + adjuvant therapy group are similar (RD = −0.02, 95% confidence interval: −0.06–0.02). The incidence of adverse reactions in the artesunate monotherapy group and the artesunate + adjuvant therapy group was also similar.Conclusion: No significant differences in safety and efficacy were observed between the artesunate monotherapy group and the artesunate + adjuvant therapy group. Higher quality and rigorously designed randomized controlled studies are needed to validate our findings.

ObjectiveThe World Health Organization recommends artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria to improve the therapeutic efficacy and limit the choice of drug-resistant parasites. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the comparative efficacy and safety of artemisinin-piperaquine (AP) in the treatment of uncomplicated malaria relative to other commonly used ACTs.MethodsAs per the PRISMA guidelines, the EMBASE, MEDLINE, the Google Scholar Library, and Cochrane library databases were systematically searched from inception until July 2020 with the following terms: “artemisinin-piperaquine” or “AP.” Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included. The competing interventions included dihydroartemisinin–piperaquine (DHA-PPQ), artemether–lumefantrine (AL, Coartem), artesunate-melfloquine (ASAM) and artesunate-amodiaquine (ASAQ, Artekin). Single-arm clinical trial on AP was also assessed. The reported outcomes, including the overall response, cure rate, fever and parasite clearance time, hematology, biochemistry, electrocardiogram (ECG), adverse events, recurrence rate, and sensitivity analyses, were systematically investigated. All data were analyzed using the Review Manager 5.3.ResultsA total of seven studies were reviewed, including five RCTs and two single-arm studies. A pooled analysis of 5 RCTs (n = 772) revealed a comparable efficacy on polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-confirmed cure rate between AP and competing interventions in treating uncomplicated malaria. As for the fever and parasite clearance time, due to the lack of complete data in some studies, only 3 studies’ data could be used. The patients showed good tolerance to all drugs, and some side-effects (such as headache, anoxia, vomiting, nausea, and dizziness) were reported for every group, but they were self-limited and showed no significant difference.ConclusionsAP appeared to show similar efficacy and safety, with a simpler mode of administration and easier compliance when compared with other ACTs used in the treatment of uncomplicated malaria. Considering that the potential evolution of drug resistance is of a great concern, additional RCTs with high-quality and more rigorous design are warranted to substantiate the efficacy and safety in different populations and epidemiological regions.

The aim of this study was to perform an updated meta-analysis to quantitatively investigate the association between G20210A polymorphism of Prothrombin gene and the risk of retinal vein occlusion (RVO), based on the available publications with inconsistent results. We utilized the Stata software to perform the heterogeneity test, association test, Begg's and Egger's tests, and sensitivity analysis. We searched three on-line databases (PubMed, Embase, and WOS) and obtained a total of 422 articles. Based on our selection criteria, 24 case-control studies were finally enrolled in this overall meta-analysis; a subgroup analysis by the factors ethnicity, control source, and RVO type was done. Through the association test of overall meta-analysis, we did not observe a significant difference between RVO cases and controls under the A vs G (allele) (z=1.49, P=0.137), A vs G (carrier) (z=1.42, P =0.155), GA vs GG (z=1.50, P=0.135), and GA+AA vs GG (z=1.50, P=0.135). Furthermore, we observed similar negative results in the association test of subgroup analysis (all P>0.05). Heterogeneity, Begg's, and Egger's tests excluded the presence of high heterogeneity and publication bias. Statistically stable results were observed in the sensitivity analyses. Based on integrated analysis of the current evidence, Prothrombin gene G20210A polymorphism is likely unrelated to the risk of RVO.

This paper proposes a strategy of event-triggered distributed predictive control (DPC) for large-scale systems with dynamic couplings. The event-triggering condition which only involves local information of the subsystems has been derived based on the input to state stability theory. In the propose scheme, all subsystems optimize with decoupled cost functions and constraints only when the event-triggering conditions are satisfied. The dynamic couplings as well as disturbance can be handled through a robustness constraint in the local optimization. In addition, a dual-mode control scheme is adopted to further save computation resources. Several sufficient conditions are developed to ensure the recursive feasibility and close-loop stability of event-triggered DPC. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed approach is illustrated via four-tuck systems.

Purpose. To describe clinical features and to analyze visual outcome of ocular trauma in Cangzhou in 2012–2015, China. Methods. A retrospective study of ocular trauma cases admitted to Cangzhou Central Hospital from January 2012 till December 2015 was performed. Results. This study included a total of 507 eyes from 478 patients. Four hundred (83.7%) patients were male, with a male-to-female ratio of 5.1 : 1. Mean age was 43.6±18.3 years (5–95 years). The largest age group was 45–59 years old, followed by 30–44 years old, presenting two peaks of the age distribution and accounting for 28.5% and 27.2%, respectively. The most frequent type of injuries was work-related (194, 40.6%) followed by home-related (123, 25.7%). Initial visual acuity (VA) correlated with final VA (Spearman’s test, r=0.703, p=0.001). The Ocular Trauma Score also correlated with the final VA significantly (Spearman’s test, r=0.802, p=0.001). Conclusions. Susceptible population of eye injuries were middle- and young-aged working groups, and the proportion of males was higher. The leading two types of ocular trauma were work-related and home-related. Initial VA was a significant predictor of the final VA and the OTS possibly had predictive value in the final VA.

This paper considers the problem of event-triggered decentralized model predictive control (MPC) for constrained large-scale linear systems subject to additive bounded disturbances. The constraint tightening method is utilized to formulate the MPC optimization problem. The local predictive control law for each subsystem is determined aperiodically by relevant triggering rule which allows a considerable reduction of the computational load. And then, the robust feasibility and closed-loop stability are proved and it is shown that every subsystem state will be driven into a robust invariant set. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed approach is illustrated via numerical simulations.

This paper investigates the problem of event-triggered networked predictive control for systems with data loss. An event-triggered networked predictive control system is proposed. Based on predictive control model, a data loss compensation strategy is presented and an extended event-triggered transmission mechanism is developed. The closed-loop event-triggered predictive control system is described as a switched system and sufficient closed-loop stability conditions related to event-triggered mechanism are established. Under the event-triggered networked predictive control scheme, the consumption of the communication resources is reduced. Finally, an example is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.