Learning agility and adaptive legged locomotion via curricular hindsight reinforcement learning.

Agile and adaptive maneuvers such as fall recovery, high-speed turning, and sprinting in the wild are challenging for legged systems. We propose a Curricular Hindsight Reinforcement Learning (CHRL) that learns an end-to-end tracking controller that achieves powerful agility and adaptation for the legged robot. The two key components are (i) a novel automatic curriculum strategy on task difficulty and (ii) a Hindsight Experience Replay strategy adapted to legged locomotion tasks.

Molecular mechanisms underlying sodium percarbonate treatment suppress the recovery and growth of Pseudanabaena sp. in early spring.

Increasing frequency and intensity of cyanobacterial blooms in water sources is a growing global issue. Algicides are usually implemented in summer or autumn when blooms break out, however, the blooms will form again when algicide's concentration declines to a certain extent. Preventing the recovery and growth of cyanobacteria in early spring may be conducive to abatement of the blooms in summer or autumn.

Exposure biomarker profiles of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons based on a rat model using a versatile analytical framework.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are an important group of organic toxic pollutants. Parent PAHs (pPAHs) are mainly metabolized into mono-hydroxylated PAHs (OH-PAHs) after entering the human body. Until now, it is still an urgent need to select appropriate exposure biomarkers for PAHs and analyze them at the trace level.

Advances and challenges in the technologies for cyanobacterial cells removal in drinking water treatment.

Harmful cyanobacteria in reservoirs pose a serious threat to drinking water safety due to the intracellular metabolites, such as toxins and unpleasant tastes & odours. Effective removal of harmful cyanobacteria with little to no cell damage is very important to ensure the safety of drinking water. This review first introduced development history of cyanobacterial removal technologies in drinking water treatment.

Bibliometric study and visualization of cellular senescence associated with osteoarthritis from 2009 to 2023.

Background: Osteoarthritis is a common degenerative joint disease that is highly prevalent in the elderly population. Along with the occurrence of sports injuries, osteoarthritis is gradually showing a younger trend. Osteoarthritis has many causative factors, and its pathogenesis is currently unknown.

Dynamic Fall Recovery Control for Legged Robots via Reinforcement Learning.

Falling is inevitable for legged robots when deployed in unstructured and unpredictable real-world scenarios, such as uneven terrain in the wild. Therefore, to recover dynamically from a fall without unintended termination of locomotion, the robot must possess the complex motor skills required for recovery maneuvers. However, this is exceptionally challenging for existing methods, since it involves multiple unspecified internal and external contacts.

Advances in high-pressure laser floating zone growth: The Laser Optical Kristallmacher II (LOKII).

The optical floating zone crystal growth technique is a well-established method for obtaining large, high-purity single crystals. While the floating zone method has been constantly evolving for over six decades, the development of high-pressure (up to 1000 bar) growth systems has only recently been realized via the combination of laser-based heating sources with an all-metal chamber. While our inaugural high-pressure laser floating zone furnace design demonstrated the successful growth of new volatile and metastable phases, the furnace design faces several limitations with imaging quality, heating profile control, and chamber cooling power.

[Distribution Characteristics and Environmental Driving Factors of Cyanobacteria Community in Impounded Lakes and Reservoirs in Shandong on the East Route of South-to-North Water Diversion Project].

To investigate the distribution characteristics of the cyanobacteria community and the driving factors in impounded lakes and reservoirs in Shandong on the east route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, monthly samples of phytoplankton and the aquatic environment from Nansi Lake, Dongping Lake, Datun Reservoir, Donghu Reservoir, and Shuangwangcheng Reservoir were collected from May to November during 2010 to 2019. A total of 44 planktonic cyanobacteria taxa were identified with 23 filamentous cyanobacteria taxa. , and were the dominant harmful cyanobacteria species, with a high detection frequency and abundance in all lakes and reservoirs.

Shift of phytoplankton assemblages in a temperate lake located on the eastern route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project.

There remains no consensus on the effects of changes in the environment factors under the action of water diversions on phytoplankton communities. Herein the changing rules applying to phytoplankton communities subject to water diversion were unveiled based on long-term (2011-2021) time-series observations on Luoma Lake, located on the eastern route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. We found that nitrogen decreased and then increased, while phosphorus increased after operation of the water transfer project.

Realistic Actor-Critic: A framework for balance between value overestimation and underestimation.

Introduction: The value approximation bias is known to lead to suboptimal policies or catastrophic overestimation bias accumulation that prevent the agent from making the right decisions between exploration and exploitation. Algorithms have been proposed to mitigate the above contradiction. However, we still lack an understanding of how the value bias impact performance and a method for efficient exploration while keeping stable updates.

Thorium and fetal neural tube defects: an epidemiological evidence from large case-control study.

Background: Thorium is ubiquitous in the environment and its relationship with birth defects is still under discussion. This study aimed to investigate the associations of maternal exposure to thorium with risk of neural tube defects (NTDs) by using a case-control study, as well as the relationship between thorium exposure and the indoor air pollution from coal combustion.

Methods: This study was conducted in 11 local healthcare hospitals during 2003-2007 in Shanxi and Hebei provinces, China.

Associations of maternal exposure to 41 metals/metalloids during early pregnancy with the risk of spontaneous preterm birth: Does oxidative stress or DNA methylation play a crucial role?

Background: Few studies have explored the effects of multiple types of metals/metalloids on spontaneous preterm birth (SPB). A nested case-control study was conducted in Shanxi Province to investigate the associations between maternal exposure to 41 metals/metalloids during early pregnancy and the risk of SPB, and to clarify the underlying mechanisms of oxidative stress and DNA methylation.

Methods: A total of 74 controls with full-term delivery and 74 cases with SPB were included in the nested case-control study.

Effects of Rare Earth Elements on Blood Pressure and Their Exposure Biomarkers: Evidence from Animal Experiments.

Solid fuel combustion is an important source of the release of rare earth elements () into the ambient environment, resulting in potential adverse effects on human cardiovascular health. Our study aimed to identify reliable exposure biomarkers of REE intake and their potential role in blood pressure change. A total of 24 rats were administered with 14 REE chlorides at four doses (six rats per group).

Associations between blood heavy metal(loid)s and serum heme oxygenase-1 in pregnant women: Do their distribution patterns matter?

The relationship between heavy metal(loid)s exposure and oxidative stress damage is a matter of research interest. Our study aimed to investigate the distribution patterns of the nine heavy metal(loid)s in blood of pregnant women, including four toxic heavy metal(loid)s [arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg)] and five typical heavy metal(loid)s [manganese (Mn), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and selenium (Se)] in blood. Blood samples of 348 women were collected and their concentrations in the serum (sr) and blood cells (bc) were measured, as well as serum heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) (an oxidative stress marker).

Using sodium percarbonate to suppress vertically distributed filamentous cyanobacteria while maintaining the stability of microeukaryotic communities in drinking water reservoirs.

The increasing frequency and intensity of blooms of toxin- and taste & odour-producing filamentous cyanobacteria in water sources is a growing global issue. Compared to the common spherical Microcystis genus, the removal of filamentous cyanobacteria is more difficult in drinking water treatment plants; hence, abatement and control of the occurrence and proliferation of harmful filamentous cyanobacteria within drinking water sources is important for water supply. In this study, the solid sodium percarbonate (SPC), NaCO·1.

Fe activating sodium percarbonate (SPC) to enhance removal of Microcystis aeruginosa and microcystins with pre-oxidation and in situ coagulation.

The frequent occurrence of cyanobacterial blooms has become a concern for drinking water safety. Common pre-oxidation, which was widely considered to enhance the followed coagulation, can cause the rupture of algae cell, leading to the undesirable release of intracellular organic matter. In this study, the Fe activating sodium percarbonate (SPC/Fe) process for pre-oxidation and in situ coagulation was proved to effectively remove Microcystis aeruginosa without damaging cell integrity at optimal combined doses of SPC (0.

Environmental titanium exposure and reproductive health: Risk of low birth weight associated with maternal titanium exposure from a nested case-control study in northern China.

Titanium (Ti) is commonly used in additives in the form of titanium dioxide (TiO). However, our understanding of the effect of Ti on reproductive health remains limited. This nested case-control study, performed in a Ti mining exposure field, investigated the association between maternal blood Ti concentration and the risk of low birth weight (LBW), as well as the potential biological mechanism.

No obviously adverse pregnancy complications and outcomes of the recovered pregnant women from COVID-19.

The effects of SARS-COV-2 infection on the pregnant women and their fetus growth have attracted worldwide concern. Our case study aimed to investigate the neonatal clinical outcomes of the recovered pregnant women from COVID-19 in China, expecting to provide the clinical references of urgent need for other countries. Our study recruited a total of 12 recovered pregnant women from COVID-19 prior to pregnancy termination.

Does Low Maternal Exposure to Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Elevate the Risk of Spontaneous Preterm Birth? A Nested Case-Control Study in China.

Previous animal and human studies suggest potential links between maternal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and adverse birth outcomes. As spontaneous preterm birth (SPB) represents a major cause of infant mortality and precursor to future morbidity, we conducted a prospective nested case-control study in Shanxi Province, China to investigate the association between prenatal PFAS exposure and SPB risk, as well as the associations with biomarkers of oxidative stress and systemic inflammation. Among 4229 women enrolled during 2009-2013, 144 SPB cases and 375 controls were included in this study.

Maternal serum level of manganese, single nucleotide polymorphisms, and risk of spontaneous preterm birth: A nested case-control study in China.

Manganese (Mn) is an essential trace element, but an excess or accumulation can be toxic. Until now, few studies have examined the effects of maternal Mn level on the risk of spontaneous preterm birth (SPB). The aims of this study were to examine the association between maternal Mn level and the risk of SPB at the early stage of pregnancy, and investigate whether this association was modified by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT).

Associations of AHR, CYP1A1, EPHX1, and GSTP1 genetic polymorphisms with small-for-gestational-age infants.

Objective: To investigate the influences of aryl hydrocarbon (AHR), cytochrome P450 (CYP1A1), epoxide hydrolase 1 (EPHX1), and glutathione S-transferase P1 (GSTP1) genetic polymorphisms on small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants.

Methods: This nested case-control study (126 cases and 381 controls) was based on a prospective cohort study in Shanxi Province, China. We collected the general information of subjects using questionnaire and identified their single nucleotide polymorphisms by the MassARRAY genotyping platform.

Recommended acceptable levels of maternal serum typical toxic metals from the perspective of spontaneous preterm birth in Shanxi Province, China.

Preterm birth is an important issue of public reproductive health worldwide. The effects of the toxic metals on the likelihood of spontaneous preterm birth (SPB) are still under discussion. Our study aimed to investigate the association between maternal exposure to the five typical toxic metals or metalloid (i.