| 1. |
- Chen, Sijie, et al.
(author)
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Inverse Estimation of Soil Hydraulic Parameters in a Landslide Deposit Based on a DE-MC Approach
- 2022
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In: Water. - : MDPI AG. - 2073-4441. ; 14:22
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Extreme rainfall is a common triggering factor of landslide disasters, for infiltration and pore water pressure propagation can reduce suction stress and shear strength at the slip surface. The subsurface hydrological model is an essential component in the early-warning system of rainfall-triggered landslides, whereas soil moisture and pore water pressure simulated by the Darcy–Richards equation could be significantly affected by uncertainties in soil hydraulic parameters. This study conducted an inverse analysis of in situ measured soil moisture in an earthquake-induced landslide deposit, and the soil hydraulic parameters were optimized with the Differential Evolution Markov chain Monte Carlo method (DE-MC). The DE-MC approach was initially validated with a synthetic numerical experiment to demonstrate its effectiveness in finding the true soil hydraulic parameters. Besides, the soil water characteristic curve (SWCC) and hydraulic conductivity function (HCF) described with optimized soil hydraulic parameter sets had similar shapes despite the fact that soil hydraulic parameters may be different. Such equifinality phenomenon in inversely estimated soil hydraulic parameters, however, did not affect the performance of simulated soil moisture dynamics in the synthetic numerical experiment. The application of DE-MC to a real case study of a landslide deposit also indicated satisfying model performance in terms of accurate match between the in situ measured soil moisture content and ensemble of simulations. In conclusion, based on the satisfying performance of simulated soil moisture and the posterior probability density function (PDF) of parameter sets, the DE-MC approach can significantly reduce uncertainties in specified prior soil hydraulic parameters. This study suggested the integration of the DE-MC approach with the Darcy–Richards equation for an accurate quantification of unsaturated soil hydrology, which can be an essential modeling strategy to support the early-warning of rainfall-triggered landslides.
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| 2. |
- Qiao, Yingjin, et al.
(author)
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MC1R is dispensable for the proteinuria reducing and glomerular protective effect of melanocortin therapy
- 2016
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In: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Melanocortin therapy by using adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) or non-steroidogenic melanocortin peptides attenuates proteinuria and glomerular injury in experimental glomerular diseases and induces remission of nephrotic syndrome in patients with diverse glomerulopathies, even those resistant to steroids. The underlying mechanism remains elusive, but the role of melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) has been implicated and was examined here. Four patients with congenital red hair color and nephrotic syndrome caused by idiopathic membranous nephropathy or focal segmental glomerulosclerosis were confirmed by gene sequencing to bear dominant-negative MC1R mutations. Despite prior corticosteroid resistance, all patients responded to ACTH monotherapy and ultimately achieved clinical remission, inferring a steroidogenic-independent and MC1R-dispensable anti-proteinuric effect of melanocortin signaling. In confirmatory animal studies, the protective effect of [Nle4, D-Phe7 ]-α-melanocyte stimulating hormone (NDP-MSH), a potent non-steroidogenic pan-melanocortin receptor agonist, on the lipopolysaccharide elicited podocytopathy was completely preserved in MC1R-null mice, marked by reduced albuminuria and diminished histologic signs of podocyte injury. Moreover, in complementary in vitro studies, NDP-MSH attenuated the lipopolysaccharide elicited apoptosis, hypermotility and impairment of filtration barrier function equally in primary podocytes derived from MC1R-null and wild-type mice. Collectively, our findings suggest that melanocortin therapy confers a proteinuria reducing and podoprotective effect in proteinuric glomerulopathies via MC1R-independent mechanisms.
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| 3. |
- Yi, Shuming, et al.
(author)
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Safety-aware human-centric collaborative assembly
- 2024
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In: Advanced Engineering Informatics. - : Elsevier BV. - 1474-0346 .- 1873-5320. ; 60
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Manufacturing systems envisioned for factories of the future will promote human-centricity for close collaboration in a shared working environment towards better overall productivity within the context of Industry 5.0. Robust and accurate recognition and prediction of human intentions are crucial to reliable and safe collaborative operations between humans and robots. For this purpose, this paper proposed a safety-aware human-centric collaborative assembly approach driven by function blocks, human action recognition for intention detection, and collision avoidance for safe robot control. Within the context, a deep learning-based recognition system is developed for high-accuracy human intention recognition and prediction, and an assembly feature-based approach driven by function blocks is presented for assembly execution and control. Thus, assembly features and human behaviours during assembly are formulated to support safe assembly actions. Skeleton-based human behaviours are defined as control inputs to an adaptive safety-aware scheme. The scheme includes collaborative and parallel mode-based pre-warning and obstacle avoidance approaches for a human-centric collaborative assembly system. The former is to monitor and regulate robot control modes when working in parallel with humans, and the latter uses a position-based approach to control robot actions by adaptively adjusting obstacle avoidance trajectories in a dynamic collaborative environment. The findings of this paper reveal the effectiveness of the developed system, as experimentally validated through an engine-assembly case study.
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