Open Systems in Classical Mechanics

Span categories provide a framework for formalizing mathematical models of open systems in classical mechanics. The categories appearing in classical mechanics do not have pullbacks, which requires the use of generalized span categories. We introduce categories \LagSy and \HamSy that respectively provide a categorical framework for the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian descriptions of open classical mechanical systems. The morphisms of \LagSy and \HamSy correspond to such open systems, and composition of morphisms models the construction of systems from subsystems. The Legendre transformation gives a functor from \LagSy to \HamSy that translates from the Lagrangian to the Hamiltonian perspective.Comment: 31 page

Efficient Scopeformer: Towards Scalable and Rich Feature Extraction for Intracranial Hemorrhage Detection

The quality and richness of feature maps extracted by convolution neural networks (CNNs) and vision Transformers (ViTs) directly relate to the robust model performance. In medical computer vision, these information-rich features are crucial for detecting rare cases within large datasets. This work presents the "Scopeformer," a novel multi-CNN-ViT model for intracranial hemorrhage classification in computed tomography (CT) images. The Scopeformer architecture is scalable and modular, which allows utilizing various CNN architectures as the backbone with diversified output features and pre-training strategies. We propose effective feature projection methods to reduce redundancies among CNN-generated features and to control the input size of ViTs. Extensive experiments with various Scopeformer models show that the model performance is proportional to the number of convolutional blocks employed in the feature extractor. Using multiple strategies, including diversifying the pre-training paradigms for CNNs, different pre-training datasets, and style transfer techniques, we demonstrate an overall improvement in the model performance at various computational budgets. Later, we propose smaller compute-efficient Scopeformer versions with three different types of input and output ViT configurations. Efficient Scopeformers use four different pre-trained CNN architectures as feature extractors to increase feature richness. Our best Efficient Scopeformer model achieved an accuracy of 96.94\% and a weighted logarithmic loss of 0.083 with an eight times reduction in the number of trainable parameters compared to the base Scopeformer. Another version of the Efficient Scopeformer model further reduced the parameter space by almost 17 times with negligible performance reduction. Hybrid CNNs and ViTs might provide the desired feature richness for developing accurate medical computer vision model

Refugees Hosting Other refugees: Endurance and Maintenance of Care in Ouzaii (Lebanon)

This article examines the socio-spatial mechanisms that emerge when refugees host other refugees. It argues that there is an underlying social infrastructure of care that impacts the refugees’ choice of destinations and modes of survival. When refugees host other refugees from close networks of relatives and neighbours, they create their own spatial clusters. In the process, the social infrastructure of care offers one mode of security to vulnerable refugees. Care as a concept and an approach is related to ideas of endurance and maintenance. It facilitates multiple dimensions, from space, to affection and to the everyday. It is able to reconfigure a life possible, life-enduring and a life meaningful in an urban setting. We focus on Ouzaii in Beirut, Lebanon. Ouzaii has been a destination for multiple displaced groups over different periods of time. Ouzaii currently hosts an approximate 10,000 Syrian refugees. They chose Ouzaii as their destination after they were helped by existing refugees who offered shelter and access to jobs. The resultant socio-spatial practices, flourishing businesses and leisurely facilities are evidence of successful social networks that form an infrastructure of care. They also play a role in the reconstitution of Ouzaii itself. We conclude with reflections on how urban informality may offer refugees an alternative right to the city while allowing them to escape the gaze of the humanitarian-aid apparatus that can signify their vulnerability by reducing them to only being aid recipients. Instead, they form protective socio-spatial networks that have proved to be powerful in sustaining their livelihoods, guarding them from possible social discrimination or political threats

EPRL Sliding Mode Flight Controller with Model-based Switching Manifold of a Quad-Rotor UAV

Presentación realizada en el marco Proyecto PINV18-765: Vehículos aéreos no tripulados en aplicaciones para la agricultura de precisión para el monitoreo de cultivos agrícolas. Cuyo objetivo general fue: el Estudio, investigación, análisis y validación experimental de, por un lado, avanzadas estrategias de control de vuelo de vehículos no tripulados (UAV) y, por otro, de algoritmos de procesamiento de imágenes obtenidas por el UAV, orientada al análisis de cultivos agrícolas enfocado al desarrollo del sector agropecuario.CONACYT - Consejo Nacional de Ciencias y TecnologíaPROCIENCI

Olefin Metathesis by Group VI (Mo, W) Metal Compounds

Olefin metathesis is an important reaction not only in petroleum chemistry but also in fine chemistry. Professors Grubbs, Schrock, and Chauvin obtained the Nobel Prize in 2005 for the development of this reaction (determination of the mechanism and synthesis of homogeneous catalysts). This reaction can be described as the redistribution of carbon chains of olefins via a breaking of their C═C double bonds. It is catalyzed by metal carbenes and the catalytic cycle passes through a metallacyclobutane. The purpose of this chapter is to give an overview of catalysts based on tungsten or molybdenum active for this reaction. Numerous tungsten and molybdenum organometallic complexes displaying a carbene functionality were synthesized. Some of them are highly active in olefin metathesis. Industrially, tungsten oxide on silica is used as a precursor of the propene production by olefin metathesis of but-2-ene and ethylene. However, the active sites are not well known but they can be modeled by grafting, via surface organometallic chemistry, perhydrocarbyl complexes of molybdenum or tungsten on oxide surfaces. After a review of the complexes used in homogeneous catalysis, a review of the industrial catalysts and their models will be given

Luminal leptin inhibits L-glutamine transport in rat small intestine: involvement of ASCT2 and B0AT1.

L-glutamine is the primary metabolic fuel for enterocytes. Glutamine from the diet is transported into the absorptive cells by two sodium-dependent neutral amino acid transporters present at the apical membrane: ASCT2/SLC1A5 and B(0)AT1/SLC6A19. We have demonstrated that leptin is secreted into the stomach lumen after a meal and modulates the transport of sugars after binding to its receptors located at the brush border of the enterocytes. The present study was designed to address the effect of luminal leptin on Na(+)-dependent glutamine (Gln) transport in rat intestine and identify the transporters involved. We found that 0.2 nM leptin inhibited uptake of Gln and phenylalanine (Phe) (substrate of B(0)AT1) using everted intestinal rings. In Ussing chambers, 10 mM Gln absorption followed as Na(+)-induced short-circuit current was inhibited by leptin in a dose-dependent manner (maximum inhibition at 10 nM; I(C50) = approximately 0.1 nM). Phe absorption was also decreased by leptin. Western blot analysis after 3-min incubation of the intestinal loops with 10 mM Gln, showed marked increase of ASCT2 and B(0)AT1 protein in the brush-border membrane that was reduced by rapid preincubation of the intestinal lumen with 1 nM leptin. Similarly, the increase in ASCT2 and B(0)AT1 gene expression induced by 60-min incubation of the intestine with 10 mM Gln was strongly reduced after a short preincubation period with leptin. Altogether these data demonstrate that, in rat, leptin controls the active Gln entry through reduction of both B(0)AT1 and ASCT2 proteins traffic to the apical plasma membrane and modulation of their gene expression

Leptin regulates sugar and amino acids transport in the human intestinal cell line Caco-2

Aim: Studies in rodents have shown that leptin controls sugars and glutamine entry in the enterocytes by regulating membrane transporters. Here, we have examined the effect of leptin on sugar and amino acids absorption in the human model of intestinal cells Caco-2 and investigated the transporters involved. Methods: Substrate uptake experiments were performed in Caco-2 cells, grown on plates, in the presence and the absence of leptin and the expression of the different transporters in brush border membrane vesicles was analysed by Western blot. Results: Leptin inhibited 0.1 mM α-methyl-D-glucoside uptake after 5 or 30 min treatment, and decreased SGLT1 protein abundance in the apical membrane. Uptake of 20 µM glutamine and 0.1 mM phenylalanine was also inhibited by leptin, indicating sensitivity to the hormone of the Na+-dependent neutral amino acid transporters ASCT2 and B0AT1. This inhibition was accompanied by a reduction of the transporters expression at the brush-border membrane. Leptin also inhibited 1 mM proline and β-alanine uptake in Na+ medium at pH 6, conditions for optimal activity of the H+-dependent neutral amino acid transporter PAT1. In this case, abundance of PAT1 in the brush-border membrane after leptin treatment was not modified. Interestingly, leptin inhibitory effect on β-alanine uptake was reversed by the PKA inhibitor H-89 suggesting involvement of PKA pathway in leptin´s regulation of PAT1 activity. Conclusion: These data show in human intestinal cells that leptin can rapidly control the activity of physiologically relevant transporters for rich-energy molecules, i.e D-glucose (SGLT1) and amino acids (ASCT2, B0AT1 and PAT1)

Use of Hemagglutinin Stem Probes Demonstrate Prevalence of Broadly Reactive Group 1 Influenza Antibodies in Human Sera.

A better understanding of the seroprevalence and specificity of influenza HA stem-directed broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) in the human population could significantly inform influenza vaccine design efforts. Here, we utilized probes comprising headless, HA stabilized stem (SS) to determine the prevalence, binding and neutralization breadth of antibodies directed to HA stem-epitope in a cross-sectional analysis of the general population. Five group-1 HA SS probes, representing five subtypes, were chosen for this analyses. Eighty-four percent of samples analyzed had specific reactivity to at least one probe, with approximately 60% of the samples reactive to H1 probes, and up to 45% reactive to each of the non-circulating subtypes. Thirty percent of analyzed sera had cross-reactivity to at least four of five probes and this reactivity could be blocked by competing with F10 bNAb. Binding cross-reactivity in sera samples significantly correlated with frequency of H1H5 cross-reactive B cells. Interestingly, only 33% of the cross-reactive sera neutralized both H1N1 and H5N1 pseudoviruses. Cross-reactive and neutralizing antibodies were more prevalent in individuals >50 years of age. Our data demonstrate the need to use multiple HA-stem probes to assess for broadly reactive antibodies. Further, a universal vaccine could be designed to boost pre-existing B-cells expressing stem-directed bNAbs

Comparison of proximal remote sensing devices of vegetable crops to determine the role of grafting in plant resistance to meloidogyne incognita

Proximal remote sensing devices are novel tools that enable the study of plant health status through the measurement of specific characteristics, including the color or spectrum of light reflected or transmitted by the leaves or the canopy. The aim of this study is to compare the RGB and multispectral data collected during five years (2016–2020) of four fruiting vegetables (melon, tomato, eggplant, and peppers) with trial treatments of non-grafted and grafted onto resistant rootstocks cultivated in a Meloidogyne incognita (a root-knot nematode) infested soil in a greenhouse. The proximal remote sensing of plant health status data collected was divided into three levels. Firstly, leaf level pigments were measured using two different handheld sensors (SPAD and Dualex). Secondly, canopy vigor and biomass were assessed using vegetation indices derived from RGB images and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) measured with a portable spectroradiometer (Greenseeker). Third, we assessed plant level water stress, as a consequence of the root damage by nematodes, using stomatal conductance measured with a porometer and indirectly using plant temperature with an infrared thermometer, and also the stable carbon isotope composition of leaf dry matter.. It was found that the interaction between treatments and crops (ANOVA) was statistically different for only four of seventeen parameters: flavonoid (p < 0.05), NBI (p < 0.05), NDVI (p < 0.05) and the RGB CSI (Crop Senescence Index) (p < 0.05). Concerning the effect of treatments across all crops, differences existed only in two parameters, which were flavonoid (p < 0.05) and CSI (p < 0.001). Grafted plants contained fewer flavonoids (x¯ = 1.37) and showed lower CSI (x¯ = 11.65) than non-grafted plants (x¯ = 1.98 and x¯ = 17.28, respectively, p < 0.05 and p < 0.05) when combining all five years and four crops. We conclude that the grafted plants were less stressed and more protected against nematode attack. Leaf flavonoids content and the CSI index were robust indicators of root-knot nematode impacts across multiple crop typesY.H. acknowledges the support of the Tunisian government from the Ministery of Higher Education and Scientific Research. J.L.A. acknowledges support from the Institucio Catalana d'Investigacio i Estudis Avancats (ICREA) Academia, Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain. S.C.K. is supported by the Ramon y Cajal RYC-2019-027818-I research fellowship from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, Spain. Thanks are also given to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) for funding the project AGL2013-49040-C2-1-R and to the Ministry of Science and Innovation from the Spanish Government for funding the AGL2017-89785-R, and to the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) AGL2017-89785-R, and for providing the FPI grant PRE2018-084265 to AMF. This research was also supported by the COST Action CA17134 SENSECO (Optical synergies for spatiotemporal sensing of scalable ecophysiological traits) funded by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology, www.cost.eu accessed on 29 April 2022)