Analysis of machine learning techniques applied to sensory detection of vehicles in intelligent crosswalks

Improving road safety through artificial intelligence-based systems is now crucial turning smart cities into a reality. Under this highly relevant and extensive heading, an approach is proposed to improve vehicle detection in smart crosswalks using machine learning models. Contrarily to classic fuzzy classifiers, machine learning models do not require the readjustment of labels that depend on the location of the system and the road conditions. Several machine learning models were trained and tested using real traffic data taken from urban scenarios in both Portugal and Spain. These include random forest, time-series forecasting, multi-layer perceptron, support vector machine, and logistic regression models. A deep reinforcement learning agent, based on a state-of-the-art double-deep recurrent Q-network, is also designed and compared with the machine learning models just mentioned. Results show that the machine learning models can efficiently replace the classic fuzzy classifier.Ministry of Economy and Knowledge of the Andalusian Government, Spain 5947info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Innovative Research Approaches to Cope with Water Security in Africa

To achieve a water\u2010secure world, water management should be approached from a multidimensional and integrative perspective, addressing the water\u2010related issues of health, household supply, economics, the environment, and resilience to water\u2010related and climate change hazards. Although water security has significantly improved since 2000 in Africa, there are still vast inequalities in access to water suitable in terms of quantity and quality, especially in rural areas. To achieve water\u2010related sustainable development of African economies, a broad scope of innovative technological and management solutions is required, involving governments, research institutions, private sector parties, and civil society. This special series, composed of 8 papers, illustrates a selection of the most relevant results achieved by the 7 research projects selected and financed by the European Union under 2 dedicated Horizon 2020 calls in 2015: Water\u20105b\u20102015 \u201cA coordination platform\u201d and Water\u20105c\u20102015 \u201cDevelopment of water supply and sanitation technology, systems and tools, and/or methodologies.\u201d The innovations presented in this special series include both technological advancements and w'ater management approaches, given that the development of water\u2010related technologies in developing countries needs to be integrated into water management strategies and economic instruments. This special series aims to help policy makers take informed decisions on how to implement innovative approaches to increase water security in African countries

Single‐Molecule Approach to DNA Minor‐Groove Association Dynamics

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Bordello, J. , Sánchez, M. I., Vázquez, M. E., Mascareñas, J. L., Al‐Soufi, W. and Novo, M. (2012), Single‐Molecule Approach to DNA Minor‐Groove Association Dynamics. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 51: 7541-7544, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201201099. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived VersionsGetting in the groove: Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy reveals that the dynamics of the association process of the bisbenzamidine minor‐groove binder BBA‐OG (blue with green star, see scheme) to dsDNA is not controlled by diffusion, but by the insertion of the binder into the groove at the specific site (red), as shown by the rate constants for each step of the binding eventMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación. Grant Numbers: CTQ2010‐21369, SAF2007‐61015, SAF2010‐20822‐C02, CTQ2009‐14431/BQU, CSD2007‐00006 Xunta de Galicia. Grant Numbers: INCITE09262304PR, INCITE09E2R209064ES, IN845B‐2010/094, INCITE09 209 084PR, GRC2010/12, PGIDIT08CSA‐047209PRS

Aiguafreda: Eine interkulturelle Erfahrungsreise von Oberstufenschüler*innen als Türöffner zur Neugestaltung der Gesellschaft

Im Januar 2019 fand im Rahmen des Vereins ZUsammenKUNFT eine Exkursion des Oberstufen-Kollegs Bielefeld (OS) mit zwölf Kollegiat*innen nach Aiguafreda nahe Barcelona statt. Es waren Jugendliche, die aus den unterschiedlichsten Gründen als Fremde, als Nicht-Zugehörige der Dominanzgesellschaft gesehen wurden. Durch den räumlichen Abstand und die Lektüre eines Simmel-Textes sollte anhand zentraler Begriffe Simmels eine Analyse erfolgen, um die Lebenswirklichkeit der Kollegiat*innen zu reflektieren und Kategorien von Zugehörigkeit und Ausgrenzung zu erkennen. Der Transfer der Theorie ergab sich durch das Zelebrieren des yezidischen Batizmi-Festes. Eine Kollegiatin, die der yezidischen Religion angehört, wollte als Ersatz der großen Familienfeier ein kleines Ritual veranstalten. Alle anderen Gruppenmitglieder– unabhängig von Religion und Herkunftsland – ließen sich komplett auf die Vorbereitungen und die Feier ein. In Folge dessen waren wirklich alle damit beschäftigt, nach Deryas Anweisungen alles vorzubereiten und das Fest zu feiern. Es gab neue Regeln und Prinzipien – eine neue Normalität, die nun reflektiert werden konnte, da sich Relationen und Positionen innerhalb der Gruppe verändert hatten. Mithilfe von Begriffspaaren aus Simmels Text wurde dann die Position des Fremden auf bestimmte Aspekte des Festes projiziert und damit schriftlich reflektiert. Das Zelebrieren des Batzimi-Festes wurde mithilfe der Achtung der Tradition, aber auch des individuellen Blickwinkels zu etwas Neuem, das Verbindung herstellte, nicht Trennung in religiöse Zugehörigkeiten. Die Möglichkeit, das soziale Umfeld zu verändern und die Neugestaltung gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhänge führten zur Selbstermächtigung und Selbstwirksamkeitserfahrung der jungen Menschen. An excursion of the Oberstufen-Kolleg Bielefeld (OS) to Aiguafreda near Barcelona took place in January 2019 as part of the association ZUsammenKUNFT, where twelve fellow students participated. It was a group of young people the members of whom, for various reasons, were seen as strangers, as non-associated. The spacial distance and reading a text written by Simmel should result in an analysis based on central terms of Simmel in order to reflect the reality of life of the fellow students and to recognize categories of belonging and exclusion. The transfer of the theory resulted from the celebration of the Yezidic festival. A fellow student, Derya, who belongs to the Yezidic religion, wanted to hold a small ritual to replace the big family celebration. All other group members, regardless of religion and country of origin, were fully involved in the preparations and the celebration. As a result, everyone was really busy preparing everything and celebrating the festival according to Derya’s instructions. There were new rules and principles, a new normality that could now be reflected on, as relationships and positions within the group had changed. With the help of pairs of terms from Simmel’s text, the position of the stranger was then projected onto certain aspects of the festival and thus reflected in writing. The celebration of the Batzimi festival turned into something new with the help of respect for tradition, but also for the individual point of view, which did create a connection between religious affiliations. The possibility to change the social environment and the redesign of social contexts led to self-empowerment and self-efficiacy experiences of the young people

Errors in chromosome segregation during oogenesis and early embryogenesis

Errors in chromosome segregation occurring during human oogenesis and early embryogenesis are very common. Meiotic chromosome development during oogenesis is subdivided into three distinct phases. The crucial events, including meiotic chromosome pairing and recombination, take place from around 11 weeks until birth. Oogenesis is then arrested until ovulation, when the first meiotic division takes place, with the second meiotic division not completed until after fertilization. It is generally accepted that most aneuploid fetal conditions, such as trisomy 21 Down syndrome, are due to maternal chromosome segregation errors. The underlying reasons are not yet fully understood. It is also clear that superimposed on the maternal meiotic chromosome segregation errors, there are a large number of mitotic errors taking place post-zygotically during the first few cell divisions in the embryo. In this chapter, we summarise current knowledge of errors in chromosome segregation during oogenesis and early embryogenesis, with special reference to the clinical implications for successful assisted reproduction

Old and new immunophenotypic markers in multiple myeloma for discrimination of responding and relapsing patients: The importance of "normal" residual plasma cell analysis

Background Multiple myeloma is an incurable disease characterized by proliferation of clonal malignant plasma cells (CPCs), which can be immunophenotypically distinguished from polyclonal plasma cells (PPCs) by multiparameter flow cytometry (MFC). The utility of PPCs analysis in detecting prognostic and predictive information is still a matter of debate. Methods: we tested the ability of 11 MFC markers in detecting differences in the immunophenotype of CPCs and PPCs among patients in various disease stages; we verified if these markers could be associated with disease stage/response to therapy despite the role of clinical parameters. Results: significant changes in the expression of markers occurred both in CPCs and PPCs. CD58 on PPCs of responding patients was downregulated compared with PPC of relapsing group. Fraction of CD200 expressing PCs was lower in control subjects than in PPCs from MGUS and myeloma groups. CD11a levels of expression on both CPCs and PPCs showed an upregulation in newly diagnosed and relapsing patients versus PCs of controls; CD20 was less expressed on control PCs than on MGUS CPCs and PPCs. CD49d revealed to be advantageous in discrimination of PPCs from CPCs. In our multiple regression model, CD19 and CD49d on CPCs, and CD45, CD58 and CD56 on PPCs maintained their association with groups of patients independently of other prognostic variables. Conclusions: we provide a feasible start point to put in order ranges of expression on PPCs in healthy and myeloma subjects; we propose a new approach based on PPC analysis to monitor the stages of the disease

The efficacy of chemotherapy is limited by intratumoral senescent cells expressing PD-L2

Chemotherapy often generates intratumoral senescent cancer cells that strongly modify the tumor microenvironment, favoring immunosuppression and tumor growth. We discovered, through an unbiased proteomics screen, that the immune checkpoint inhibitor programmed cell death 1 ligand 2 (PD-L2) is highly upregulated upon induction of senescence in different types of cancer cells. PD-L2 is not required for cells to undergo senescence, but it is critical for senescent cells to evade the immune system and persist intratumorally. Indeed, after chemotherapy, PD-L2-deficient senescent cancer cells are rapidly eliminated and tumors do not produce the senescence-associated chemokines CXCL1 and CXCL2. Accordingly, PD-L2-deficient pancreatic tumors fail to recruit myeloid-derived suppressor cells and undergo regression driven by CD8 T cells after chemotherapy. Finally, antibody-mediated blockade of PD-L2 strongly synergizes with chemotherapy causing remission of mammary tumors in mice. The combination of chemotherapy with anti-PD-L2 provides a therapeutic strategy that exploits vulnerabilities arising from therapy-induced senescence. © 2024, The Author(s)

Cognitive Performance and Heart Rate Variability: The Influence of Fitness Level

In the present study, we investigated the relation between cognitive performance and heart rate variability as a function of fitness level. We measured the effect of three cognitive tasks (the psychomotor vigilance task, a temporal orienting task, and a duration discrimination task) on the heart rate variability of two groups of participants: a high-fit group and a low-fit group. Two major novel findings emerged from this study. First, the lowest values of heart rate variability were found during performance of the duration discrimination task, compared to the other two tasks. Second, the results showed a decrement in heart rate variability as a function of the time on task, although only in the low-fit group. Moreover, the high-fit group showed overall faster reaction times than the low-fit group in the psychomotor vigilance task, while there were not significant differences in performance between the two groups of participants in the other two cognitive tasks. In sum, our results highlighted the influence of cognitive processing on heart rate variability. Importantly, both behavioral and physiological results suggested that the main benefit obtained as a result of fitness level appeared to be associated with processes involving sustained attention.This research was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Cultura with a predoctoral grant (FPU-AP2010-3630) to the first author, Spanish grants SEJ2007-63645 from the Junta de Andalucía to Daniel Sanabria, Mikel Zabala and Esther Morales, and the CSD2008-00048 CONSOLIDER INGENIO (Dirección General de Investigación) to Daniel Sanabria

A Comprehensive Approach to WSN-Based ITS Applications: A Survey

In order to perform sensing tasks, most current Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) rely on expensive sensors, which offer only limited functionality. A more recent trend consists of using Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) for such purpose, which reduces the required investment and enables the development of new collaborative and intelligent applications that further contribute to improve both driving safety and traffic efficiency. This paper surveys the application of WSNs to such ITS scenarios, tackling the main issues that may arise when developing these systems. The paper is divided into sections which address different matters including vehicle detection and classification as well as the selection of appropriate communication protocols, network architecture, topology and some important design parameters. In addition, in line with the multiplicity of different technologies that take part in ITS, it does not consider WSNs just as stand-alone systems, but also as key components of heterogeneous systems cooperating along with other technologies employed in vehicular scenarios