Disseny i construcció d'un equip de pràctiques de laboratori en remot basat en Arduino

Resum: Desenvolupament d'un equip basat en la plataforma Arduino per a la realització de la pràctica de coagulació/floculació en remot. ÍNDEX: Resum INTRODUCCIÓ A. OBJECTIUS B. PRÀCTICA TRADICIONAL DE COAGULACIÓ C. CANVI DE LA PRÀCTICA PRESENCIAL A LA PRÀCTICA A DISTÀNCIA D. ARDUINO D1. Què és Arduino? D2. Com funciona Arduino? E. MATERIALS I MÈTODES E1. Elements E1.1. Proves funcionament bomba peristàltica E1.2. Proves funcionament motor DC E1.3. Proves funcionament sensor de terbolesa E1.4. Disseny i construcció pala d’agitació E.2 Codi previ F. DESENVOLUPAMENT DE L'EQUIP F1. Disseny F2. Construcció F3. Proves F3. Estudi dels resultats G. CONTROL A DISTÀNCIA G1. Què és Blink? G2. Com funciona Blink? G3. Codi definitiu H. MANUAL DE PRÀCTIQUES I. MILLORES DE L'EQUIP I1.EQUIP DEFINITIU I2.PROVES DEFINITIVES I3.ESTUDI DELS RESULTATS J.RESULTATS I DISCUSSIÓ CONCLUSIONS BIBLIOGRAFIADes de fa ja un temps, a l’Escola de Camins de la UPC, es realitza una pràctica de laboratori adre- çada als estudiants basada en el tractament de les aigües residuals. Amb l’objectiu d’adaptar-se a un món en constant canvi i a les diferents necessitats dels estudiants, es pren la decisió de crear una forma diferent d’executar aquesta pràctica, passant de ser presencial a poder ser realitzada en remot. En aquesta memòria s’aborda el procés de canvi necessari per a fer realitat aquesta transforma- ció, incloent l’avaluació dels requisits, el disseny i la construcció d’una plataforma basada en Arduino, així com l’estudi dels resultats i les conclusions extretesDesde hace algún tiempo, en la Escuela de Caminos de la UPC, se realiza una práctica de la- boratorio dirigida a los estudiantes basada en el tratamiento de las aguas residuales. Con el objetivo de adaptarse a un mundo en constante cambio y a las diferentes necesidades de los estudiantes, se toma la decisión de crear una forma diferente de realizar esta práctica, pasando de ser presencial a poder ser realizada de forma remota. En esta memoria se aborda el proceso de cambio necesario para hacer realidad esta transforma- ción, incluyendo la evaluación de los requisitos, el diseño y la construcción de una plataforma basada en Arduino, así como el estudio de los resultados y las conclusiones extraídasFor some time now, at the School of Civil Engineering of the UPC, a laboratory lecture aimed at students has been conducted based on wastewater treatment. With the goal of adapting to a constantly changing world and the different needs of the students, the decision is made to create a different way of carrying out this practice, transitioning from being in-person to being able to be performed remotely. This report addresses the necessary process of change to make this transformation a reality, including the evaluation of requirements, the design and construction of an Arduino-based platform, as well as the study of results and the drawn conclusio

Enhancing the broadcasted TV consumption experience with broadband omnidirectional video content

[EN] The current wide range of heterogeneous consumption devices and delivery technologies, offers the opportunity to provide related contents in order to enhance and enrich the TV consumption experience. This paper describes a solution to handle the delivery and synchronous consumption of traditional broadcast TV content and related broadband omnidirectional video content. The solution is intended to support both hybrid (broadcast/broadband) delivery technologies and has been designed to be compatible with the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) standard. In particular, some specifications of HbbTV, such as the use of global timestamps or discovery mechanisms, have been adopted. However, additional functionalities have been designed to achieve accurate synchronization and to support the playout of omnidirectional video content in current consumption devices. In order to prove that commercial hybrid environments could be immediately enhanced with this type of content, the proposed solution has been included in a testbed, and objectively and subjectively evaluated. Regarding the omnidirectional video content, the two most common types of projections are supported: equirectangular and cube map. The results of the objective assessment show that the playout of broadband delivered omnidirectional video content in companion devices can be accurately synchronized with the playout on TV of traditional broadcast 2D content. The results of the subjective assessment show the high interest of users in this type of new enriched and immersive experience that contributes to enhance their Quality of Experience (QoE) and engagement.This work was supported by the Generalitat Valenciana, Investigacion Competitiva Proyectos, through the Research and Development Program Grants for Research Groups to be Consolidated, under Grant AICO/2017/059 and Grant AICO/2017Marfil-Reguero, D.; Boronat, F.; López, J.; Vidal Meló, A. (2019). Enhancing the broadcasted TV consumption experience with broadband omnidirectional video content. IEEE Access. 7:171864-171883. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2956084S171864171883

Antibody repertoire in paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration and small cell lung cancer

The goal of this study is to determine whether patients with paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (PCD) and small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) have a specific repertoire of antibodies, if SOX1 antibodies (SOX1-ab) can predict the presence of SCLC, and if antibodies to cell surface antigens occur in this syndrome. Antibody analysis was done using immunohistochemistry on rat brain, immunoblot with recombinant antigens, screening of cDNA expression libraries, and immunolabeling of live neurons in 39 patients with PCD and SCLC. VGCC-ab were measured by RIA, and SOX1-ab, Hu-ab, and ZIC4-ab by immunoblot. Lambert-Eaton myastenic syndrome (LEMS) was present in 10 of 23 patients with electrophysiological studies. At least one antibody was detected in 72% of patients. The individual frequencies were: 49% SOX1-ab, 44% VGCC-ab, 31% Hu-ab, and 13% ZIC4-ab. SOX1-ab occurred in 76% of patients with VGCC-ab and 27% of those without VGCC-ab (p = 0.0036). SOX1-ab were not found in 39 patients with sporadic late-onset cerebellar ataxia, 23 with cerebellar ataxia and glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies, and 73 with PCD and cancer types other than SCLC (31 without onconeural antibodies, 25 with Yo-ab , 17 with Tr-ab). Five patients (13%) had antibodies against unknown neuronal cell surface antigens but none of them improved with immunotherapy. One serum immunoreacted against the axon initial segment of neurons and another serum against ELKS1, a protein highly expressed in the cerebellum that interacts with the beta4-subunit of the VGCC. In conclusion, 72% of patients with PCD and SCLC had one or more antibodies that indicate the presence of this tumor. In these patients, VGCC-ab and SOX1-ab occur tightly associated. SOX1-ab are predictors of SCLC in ataxia patients with a specificity of 100% and sensitivity of 49%. Unlike limbic encephalitis with SCLC, antibodies to cell surface antigens other than VGCC-ab, are infrequent and do not predict response to treatment

Design and assessment of a scalable and customizable low-cost tiled display system

© 2021 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permissíon from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertisíng or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.[EN] In this paper, a scalable hardware and software architecture for low-cost tiled display systems (a.k.a. videowalls), customizable through a dynamic web-based management and configuration service is presented and evaluated both objectively and subjectively. It has been designed for both stored and live broadcast/broadband content, in mosaic or warp distributions. The videowalls can be dynamically configured via web in different ways: the displays can create a single screen of a larger size, or they can be configured in a customized way in order to playout different media contents in different display combinations. As display renderers, low-cost devices are proposed as the main hardware element to obtain affordable videowall systems. As a proof of concept, two prototypes have been implemented, including an accurate synchronization mechanism. To evidence the good performance of the prototypes and configuration service, Both objective and subjective evaluations have been conducted regarding synchronization accuracy and usability of the configuration service, obtaining satisfactory results.This work has been funded by the Generalitat Valenciana, through the R&D Program "Grants for research groups to be consolidated, AICO/2017" under Project AICO/2017/059.Marfil, D.; Boronat, F.; González-Salinas, J.; Vidal Meló, A. (2021). Design and assessment of a scalable and customizable low-cost tiled display system. IEEE Latin America Transactions. 19(5):708-716. https://doi.org/10.1109/TLA.2021.9448284S70871619

Synchronization Mechanisms for Multi-User and Multi-Device Hybrid Broadcast and Broadband Distributed Scenarios

(c) 2017 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works.[EN] Traditionally, co-located TV content consumption has been a social habit (e.g., family members in the living room watching TV). It cannot be always possible to enjoy these shared experiences in the current global society, in which relatives or friends might live apart. In this context, the emergence of new technologies together with the advent of social media and conferencing services brings the possibility of recreating them when users are geographically distributed. When remote users are involved in a networked shared TV consumption experience (Social TV), inter-destination media synchronization (IDMS) is a key requirement to provide them with a satisfactory experience. Moreover, enriching the broadcasted TV content with alternative (or complementary) broadband content is gaining momentum. When several co-located consumption devices are involved in the TV viewing experience, inter-device synchronization (IDES) mechanisms are also needed to allow successful multi-screen experiences. This paper presents a combined synchronization mechanism (including both IDMS and IDES solutions) for distributed scenarios involving remote users and hybrid (broadcast and broadband) contents, to be consumed in one or several devices. The mechanism provides multi- and cross-technology support and achieves accurate synchronization levels even when different versions or formats of the media contents are being played out. It has been integrated into a hybrid broadcast broadband TV standard-based platform, and the achieved synchronization accuracy and the performance of the solution for the Social TV use case have been evaluated, obtaining satisfactory and promising results.This work supported by the Generalitat Valenciana, Investigacion Competitiva Proyectos, through the R&D Program "Grants for research groups to be consolidated, AICO/2017,'' under Project AICO/2017/059.Marfil-Reguero, D.; Boronat, F.; Sapena Piera, A.; Vidal Meló, A. (2019). Synchronization Mechanisms for Multi-User and Multi-Device Hybrid Broadcast and Broadband Distributed Scenarios. IEEE Access. 7:605-624. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2885580S605624

Immunological parameters as biomarkers of response to MicroCrystalline Tyrosine-adjuvanted mite immunotherapy

Despite the effectiveness of allergen immunotherapy (AIT), some patients are unresponsive for reasons still unknown; yet validated response biomarkers remain unavailable. To analyze immunological parameters as biomarkers to monitor and predict clinical response to a MicroCrystalline Tyrosine-adjuvanted house dust mite (HDM) AIT in patients with allergic rhinitis (AR). Observational, prospective, multicenter study including adult patients (aged 18-65 years) with AR, with and without asthma, sensitized to the HDM Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (DP) and prescribed Acarovac Plus® DP 100% in the routine practice. Serum concentrations of total IgE, specific IgE, specific IgG4, IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, IL-13, and IFN-γ were compared between baseline and 12 months after AIT. The relationship between patients' baseline immunological profiles and classification as low, high, and non-responders and between their sensitization profile to DP allergens and effectiveness were analyzed. Of 141 patients recruited, 118 (mean [SD] age of 33.6 [9.5] years) were evaluable. One year after treatment, Der p 1-specific IgE, DP-specific IgG4, and IL-10 increased by a mean (SD) of 3.4 (13.6) kU/L (p = 0.016), 0.43 (0.55) mg/L (p < 0.0001), and 1.35 (7.56) pg/mL (p = 0.033), respectively. Non-responders showed increased baseline levels of IL-13 compared to high responders (p = 0.037). Changes in effectiveness variables between baseline and after AIT were similar regardless of the sensitization profile. Non-responsive patients to AIT showed increased baseline IL-13 concentrations, suggesting its value as prognostic biomarker. DP-specific AIT increased Der p 1-specific IgE, DP-specific IgG4, and IL-10 concentrations in patients with AR. All patients benefited from treatment regardless of their sensitization profile to major DP allergens

Immunomodulatory role of probiotics in early life

Podeu consultar el llibre complet a: http://hdl.handle.net/2445/12071

Formulation of Sustained Release Hydrophilic Matrix Tablets of Tolcapone with the Application of Sedem Diagram: Influence of Tolcapone's Particle Size on Sustained Release

Hydrophilic matrix tablets are a type of sustained release dosage form characterized by distributing a drug in a matrix that is usually polymeric. Tolcapone is a drug that inhibits the enzyme catechol-O-methyl transferase. In recent years, it has been shown that tolcapone is a potent inhibitor of the amyloid aggregation process of the transthyretin protein, and acts by stabilizing the structure of the protein, reducing the progression of familial amyloid polyneuropathy. The main objective of this study was to obtain a sustained release tablet of tolcapone for oral administration with a preferred dosage regimen of 1 administration every 12 or 24 h and manufactured, preferably, by direct compression. The SeDeM Diagram method has been used for the formulation development of hydrophilic matrix tablets. Given the characteristics of tolcapone, the excipient selected for the formation of the polymeric matrix was a high viscosity hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (Methocel® K100M CR). A decrease in the particle size of tolcapone resulted in a slower dissolution release of the formulation when the concentration of the polymer Methocel® K100M CR was below 29%. These surprising and novel results have given rise to patent number WO/2018/019997

Association of Maternal Microbiota and Diet in Cord Blood Cytokine and Immunoglobulin Profiles

Mothers confer natural passive immunization to their infants through the transplacental pathway during the gestation period. The objective of the present study was to establish at birth the maternal and cord plasma concentration and relationship of immunoglobulins (Igs), cytokines (CKs), and adipokines. In addition, the impact of the maternal microbiota and diet was explored. The plasma profile of these components was different between mothers and babies, with the levels of many CKs, IgM, IgG2a, IgE, IgA, and leptin significantly higher in mothers than in the cord sample. Moreover, the total Igs, all IgG subtypes, IgE, and the Th1/Th2 ratio positively correlated in the mother-infant pair. Maternal dietary components such as monounsaturated fatty acids-polyunsaturated fatty acids and fiber were positively associated with some immune factors such as IgA in cord samples. The microbiota composition clustering also influenced the plasma profile of some factors (i.e., many CKs, some Ig, and adiponectin). In conclusion, we have established the concentration of these immunomodulatory factors in the maternal-neonatal pair at birth, some positive associations, and the influence of maternal diet and the microbiota composition, suggesting that the immune status during pregnancy, in terms of CKs and Igs levels, can influence the immune status of the infant at birth. Keywords: breast milk; cord blood; cytokine; diet; enterotype; immunoglobulin; microbiota