Signal Temporal Logic Task Decomposition via Convex Optimization

In this paper we focus on the problem of decomposing a global Signal Temporal Logic formula (STL) assigned to a multi-agent system to local STL tasks when the team of agents is a-priori decomposed to disjoint sub-teams. The predicate functions associated to the local tasks are parameterized as hypercubes depending on the states of the agents in a given sub-team. The parameters of the functions are, then, found as part of the solution of a convex program that aims implicitly at maximizing the volume of the zero level-set of the corresponding predicate function. Two alternative definitions of the local STL tasks are proposed and the satisfaction of the global STL formula is proven when the conjunction of the local STL tasks is satisfied.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Urinary tract infection due to beta-lactams-resistant Staphylococcus warneri: A case report

Staphylococcus warneri, similarly to other coagulase-negatine Staphylococcus (CoNS), is a commensal of the skin, mucous membranes, nasal cavities and mouth of humans, found in 50% of the population. This species usually represents less than 1% of the total staphylococcal skin population. S. warneri can potentially cause severe infections usually in immunocompromised individuals, even more in combination with the presence of indwelling devices and/or implants. The key treatment for such infections is the removal of the device. Sometimes, even in the absence of a foreign body, Staphylococcus warneri may be implicated as the causative agent of an infection in immunocompetent patients. We report here a case of chronic urinary tract infection in adult healthy patient caused by S.warneri, its clinical significance and resistant to commonly used beta-lactams

Laparoscopic Reversal of Tubal Sterilization; A Retrospective Study Over 135 Cases

Objectives: To evaluate the pregnancy and delivery rates of laparoscopic tubal reanastomosis.Study Design: From 2003 to 2013, 135 laparoscopic tubal reversals were performed according to the four stitch technique. The parameters studied, included positive pregnancy test, miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, termination of pregnancy, term delivery, post-operative time to conception, post-operative hysterosalpingography, and spermogram.Results: From the 135 patients operated, 93 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The age of patients varied from 27 to 47 years old. All ages combined, positive β-HCG blood sample rate was 75.3% (95% CI: 65.0–83.4%) and term delivery 52.7% (95%CI: 42.1–3.0%). The age-adjusted pregnancy and delivery rates were as follows: 27–35 y.o. (n = 23) 95.7% (95%CI: 76.0–99.8%) and 73.9% (95%CI: 51.3–88.9%),36–39 y.o. (n = 40) 77.5% (95%CI: 61.1–88.6%) and 47.5% (95%CI: 31.8–63.7%),40–42 y.o. (n = 19) 68.4% (95%CI: 43.5–86.4%) and 52.6% (95%CI: 29.5–74.8%),43–47 y.o. (n = 11) 36.4% (95%CI: 12.4–68.4%) and 27.3% (95%CI: 7.3–60.7%).Conclusions: In our series the pregnancy and delivery rates after laparoscopic reversal of tubal sterilization is estimated at 75.3 and 52.7%, respectively. For women with tubal sterilization and no other infertility factors, reanastomosis can restore anterior natural fertility related to age. Laparoscopic reversal should be proposed systematically to patients and performed by well-trained laparoscopists, avoiding potentially the inconvenient and adverse outcomes of an IVF treatment. Although, it may seem a more cost-effective technique compared to robotically assisted reversal, a prospective randomized trial could answer this question

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

Meeting abstrac

Control of Dynamical Systems subject to Spatio-Temporal Constraints

Over the last decades, autonomous robots have been considered in a variety of applications such  as persistent monitoring, package delivery and cooperative transportation. These applications often require the satisfaction of a set of complex tasks that need to be possibly performed in a timely manner. For example, in search and rescue missions, UAVs are expected to cover a set of regions within predetermined time intervals in order to increase the probability of identifying the victims of an accident. Spatio-temporal tasks of this form can be easily expressed in Signal Temporal Logic (STL), a predicate language that allow us to formally introduce time-constrained tasks such as visit area A between 0 and 5 min or robot 1 should move in a formation with robot 2 until robot 1 reaches region B between 5 and 20 sec. Existing approaches in control under spatio-temporal tasks encode the STL constraints using mixed-integer expressions. In the majority of these works, receding horizon schemes are designed and long planning horizons are considered that depend on the temporal constraints of the STL tasks. As a result, the complexity of these problems may increase with the number of the tasks or the length of the time interval within which a STL task needs to be satisfied. Other approaches, consider a limited STL fragment and propose computationally efficient feedback controllers that ensure the satisfaction of the STL task with a minimum, desired robustness. Nevertheless, these approaches do not consider actuation limitations that are always present in real-world systems and thus, yield controllers of arbitrarily large magnitude.  In this thesis, we consider the control problem under spatio-temporal constraints for systems that are subject to actuation limitations. In the first part, receding horizon control schemes (RHS) are proposed that ensure the satisfaction or minimal violation of a given set of STL tasks. Contrary to existing approaches, the planning horizon of the RHS scheme can be chosen independent of the STL task and hence, arbitrarily small, given the initial feasibility of the problem. Combining the advantages of the RHS and feedback strategies, we encode the STL tasks using control barrier functions that are designed either online or offline and design controllers that aim at maximizing the robustness of the STL task. The recursive feasibility property of the framework is established and a lower bound on the violation of the STL formula is derived. In the next part, we consider a multi-agent system that is subject to a STL task whose satisfaction may involve a large number of agents in the team. Then, the goal is to decompose the global task into local ones the satisfaction of each one of which  depends only on a given sub-team of agents. The proposed decomposition method enables the design of decentralized controllers under local STL tasks avoiding unnecessary communication among agents.  In the last part of the thesis, the coordination problem of multiple platoons is considered and related tasks such as splitting, merging and distance maintenance are expressed as Signal Temporal Logic tasks. Then, feedback control techniques are employed ensuring the satisfaction the STL formula, or alternatively minimal violation in presence of actuation limitations. De senaste ̊artiondena har autonoma robotar sett en rad nya användningsområden, såsom ̈overvakning, paketleverans och kooperativ transport. Dessa innebär ofta att en samling komplexa uppgifter måste lösas på kort tid. Inom Search and Rescue (SAR), till exempel, krävs att drönare hinner genomsöka vissa geografiska regioner inom givna tidsintervall. Detta för att ̈oka chansen att identifierade drabbade vid en olycka. Den här typen av uppgift i tid och rum (spatio-temporal) kan enkelt uttryckas med hjälp av Signal Temporal Logic (STL). STL ̈är ett språk som tillåter oss att på ett formellt sätt formulera tidsbegränsade uppgifter, såsom besök område A mellan o och 5 minuter, eller robot 1 ska röra sig i formationtillsammans med robot 2 till dess att robot 1 når område B mellan 5 och 20 sekunder. Nuvarande lösningar till styrproblem av spatio-temporal-typen kodar STL-begränsningar med hjälp av mixed-integer-uttryck. Majoriteten av lösningarna involverar receding-horizon-metoder med långa tidshorisonter som beror av tidsbegränsningarna i STL-uppgifterna. Detta leder till att problemens komplexitet ̈ökar med antalet deluppgifter inom och tiden för STL-uppgifterna. Andra lösningar bygger på restriktiva STL-fragment och beräkningsmässigt effektiva ̊aterkopplingsregulatorer som garanterar STL-begränsningarna med minimal önskad robusthet. Dessvärre tar dessa sällan hänsyn till fysiska begräsningar hos regulatorn och ger ofta godtyckligt stora styrsignaler. I den här licentiatuppsatsen behandlar vi styrproblem med begräsningar i rum och tid, samt den ovan nämnda typen av fysiska regulatorbegränsningar. I den första delen presenterar vi receding-horizon-metoder (RHS) som uppfyller kraven i STL-uppgifter, eller minimalt bryter mot dessa. Till skillnad från tidigare lösningar så kan tidshorisonten i våra RHS-metoder väljas oberoende av STL-uppgifterna och därmed göras godtyckligt kort, så länge ursprungsproblemet ̈ar lösbart. Genom att formulera STL-uppgifterna som control barrier funktioner kan vi kombinera fördelarna hos RHS och ̊återkoppling. Vi härleder en rekursiv lösbarhetsegenskap och en undre gräns på ̈overträdelsen av STL-kraven. I den andra delen behandlar vi multi-agent-system med uppgifter i tid och rum som berör många agenter. Målet är att bryta ner den globala uppgiften i fler men enklare lokala uppgifter som var och en bara involverar en given delmängd av agenterna. Vår nedbrytning till ̊åter oss att konstruera decentraliserade regulatorer som löser lokala STL-uppgifter, och kan i och med det markant minska kommunikationskostnaderna i j̈ämförelse med centraliserad styrning. I den sista delen av uppsatsen behandlar vi samordning av flera grupper. Vi uttrycker uppgifter såsom delning, sammanslagning och avståndshållning med hjälp av STL, och utnyttjar sedan ̊aterkoppling för att uppfylla eller minimalt bryta mot kraven.QC 20220311</p

Safety and Efficacy of systemic psoriasis treatment under Real life conditions of a special outpatient clinic of psoriasis

Patienten mit mittelschwerer bis schwerer Psoriasis benötigen häufig eine systemische Langzeittherapie. Klinische Studien zu einzelnen Therapien liefern zwar wichtige Langzeit- und Wirksamkeitsdaten, aber sie spiegeln nur sehr bedingt die Patienten wider, die man in der Praxis täglich sieht. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die Untersuchung dieser Parameter unter ''Real life'' Bedingungen, insbesondere im Hinblick auf den Vergleich von Biologika mit konventionellen Therapien und Kombinationstherapien. Methodik: Untersucht wurden 200 erwachsene Patienten mit einer mittelschweren bis schweren Psoriasis unter systemischer Therapie, die konsekutivaus unserer Spezialsprechstunde rekrutiert wurden. 77 Patienten wiesen zusätzlich eine Gelenkbeteiligung auf. Die verschiedenen Therapien wurden dokumentiert und Wirksamkeit, Therapieadhärenz, unerwünschte Wirkungen und Wirkverluste näher untersucht. Die Daten wurden in Excel-Tabellen und Graphiken dokumentiert. Zur Erstellung von statistischen Signifikanzen wurde der Chi-Quadrat-Test eingesetzt. Ergebnisse: Die 200 Patienten befanden sich über einen Zeitraum von 6 Jahren bei uns in Behandlung, 113 Patienten haben klassische Systemtherapien und 153 Patienten haben Biologika erhalten. Die mittlere Behandlungsdauer betrug 60,3 Monate. Unter Biologika zeigten sich weniger unerwünschte Wirkungen oder Therapieverluste, die Abbruchrate lag mit 40,5% deutlich niedriger als unter den konventionellen Therapien (76,9%). Der Grund für einen Therapieabbruch war am häufigsten ein Wirkverlust, sowohl unter den Biologika (28,1%) als auch unter den konventionellen Therapien (41,6%). Ein Therapieabbruch aufgrund unerwünschter Wirkungen erfolgte bei konventionellen Therapien in 35,3% der Fälle, bei Biologika nur in 12,4%. Jedoch kam es unter einer Therapie mit Biologika signifikant häufiger zu Infektionen als bei den klassischen Systemtherapien. Ein Anstieg der Leberwerte war am häufigsten unter den klassischen Systemtherapien zu beobachten. Insgesamt weisen Biologika eine längere ''Drug Survival''-Zeit auf als die klassischen Systemtherapien, am längsten Ustekinumab mit einer ''Drug Survival''-Zeit von 41,3 Monaten. Nachfolgend wurden die Kombinationstherapien (n=98) untersucht. Am häufigsten erfolgte die Kombination eines Biologikums mit MTX (n=72/98). Die Kombinationen mit MTX wurden häufiger (55,6%) abgebrochen als eine Biologika-Monotherapie (ca. 40%), allerdings führte die Kombination von Adalimumab mit MTX zur Reduktion des primären Nichtansprechens, sodass ggf. eine Kombination von Adalimumab mit MTX sinnvoll erscheint. Die Häufigkeit der Abbruchgründe der Kombinationstherapien aufgrund unerwünschter Wirkungen und Therapieverlusten waren ähnlich hoch (ca. 30%). Schlussfolgerung: Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass in der untersuchten Kohorte die Therapie mit Biologika mit geringeren unerwünschten Wirkungen oder Wirkverlusten, weniger Therapieabbrüchen und längeren Therapiedauern assoziiert waren im Vergleich zu den klassischen Systemtherapien. Die vorliegende Arbeit bietet Einblick in die tatsächliche Anwendungsroutine im klinischen Alltag und kann durch Charakterisierung epidemiologischer Zusammenhänge dazu beitragen eine individuelle Therapieentscheidung im klinischen Alltag zu unterstützen.Patients with moderate to severe psoriasis often need a long-term systemic treatment. Clinical studies show long-term safety and efficacy data, but they reflect only limitedly the patients in everyday praxis. The aim of this study was to investigate these parameters under ''Real life'' conditions, especially with regard to Biologics in comparison to traditional systemic therapies. Methods: We recruited consecutively 200 patients with moderate to severe psoriasis or psoriasis in special localizations from our special outpatient clinic for psoriasis. 77 patients suffered additionally from psoriatic arthritis. We investigated the different therapies, efficacy, therapy adherence, side effects and loss of efficacy. The data have been documented in excel tables and graphics. To evaluate significant differences between the parameters the chi square test was used. Results: These 200 patients were treated during a period of 6 years. In this cohort 113 patients received a traditional systemic treatment and 153 patients biologics. The mean observation time was 60,3 months. The data evaluation showed that Biologics led to less side effects or loss of efficacy. The discontinuation rate of biologic therapies (40,5%) was much lower than of traditional systemic treatments (76,9%). As well in the biologics-group (28,1%) as in the traditional-group (41,6%) the most common reason for treatment discontinuation was loss of efficacy. Treatment discontinuation because of side effects was shown by only 12,4% of patients treated with biologics compared to 35,3% under traditional treatments. However, infections were more often documented during therapy with biologics than with traditional treatments. Hepatotoxicity was increased under traditional treatment. Altogether biologics showed a longer ''Drug-Survival'' time than traditional treatments, especially Ustekinumab (41,3 months). Next combination-therapies (n=98) were evaluated. Most frequently used was a combination of biologics with MTX (n=72/98). The combinations with MTX led more frequently to discontinuation (55,6%) compared to the biologics-monotherapy (appx. 40%), however the combination of Adalimumab with MTX led to a reduction of primary non-response, so that this combination might be useful. The frequency of the reasons for discontinuation of the combination-therapies because of side effects and loss of efficacy were similar (appx. 30%). Conclusion: In summary, it can be stated that, in this cohort the treatment with biologics is associated with lower rates of side effects or loss of efficacy, lower discontinuation rates and longer ''Drug-Survival'' than the traditional systemic treatments. This study offers insight in the routine of the clinical every day. Through the characterization of epidemiological connections, it can contribute to support an individual therapy decision in everyday life

Control of Dynamical Systems subject to Spatio-Temporal Constraints

Over the last decades, autonomous robots have been considered in a variety of applications such  as persistent monitoring, package delivery and cooperative transportation. These applications often require the satisfaction of a set of complex tasks that need to be possibly performed in a timely manner. For example, in search and rescue missions, UAVs are expected to cover a set of regions within predetermined time intervals in order to increase the probability of identifying the victims of an accident. Spatio-temporal tasks of this form can be easily expressed in Signal Temporal Logic (STL), a predicate language that allow us to formally introduce time-constrained tasks such as visit area A between 0 and 5 min or robot 1 should move in a formation with robot 2 until robot 1 reaches region B between 5 and 20 sec. Existing approaches in control under spatio-temporal tasks encode the STL constraints using mixed-integer expressions. In the majority of these works, receding horizon schemes are designed and long planning horizons are considered that depend on the temporal constraints of the STL tasks. As a result, the complexity of these problems may increase with the number of the tasks or the length of the time interval within which a STL task needs to be satisfied. Other approaches, consider a limited STL fragment and propose computationally efficient feedback controllers that ensure the satisfaction of the STL task with a minimum, desired robustness. Nevertheless, these approaches do not consider actuation limitations that are always present in real-world systems and thus, yield controllers of arbitrarily large magnitude.  In this thesis, we consider the control problem under spatio-temporal constraints for systems that are subject to actuation limitations. In the first part, receding horizon control schemes (RHS) are proposed that ensure the satisfaction or minimal violation of a given set of STL tasks. Contrary to existing approaches, the planning horizon of the RHS scheme can be chosen independent of the STL task and hence, arbitrarily small, given the initial feasibility of the problem. Combining the advantages of the RHS and feedback strategies, we encode the STL tasks using control barrier functions that are designed either online or offline and design controllers that aim at maximizing the robustness of the STL task. The recursive feasibility property of the framework is established and a lower bound on the violation of the STL formula is derived. In the next part, we consider a multi-agent system that is subject to a STL task whose satisfaction may involve a large number of agents in the team. Then, the goal is to decompose the global task into local ones the satisfaction of each one of which  depends only on a given sub-team of agents. The proposed decomposition method enables the design of decentralized controllers under local STL tasks avoiding unnecessary communication among agents.  In the last part of the thesis, the coordination problem of multiple platoons is considered and related tasks such as splitting, merging and distance maintenance are expressed as Signal Temporal Logic tasks. Then, feedback control techniques are employed ensuring the satisfaction the STL formula, or alternatively minimal violation in presence of actuation limitations. De senaste ̊artiondena har autonoma robotar sett en rad nya användningsområden, såsom ̈overvakning, paketleverans och kooperativ transport. Dessa innebär ofta att en samling komplexa uppgifter måste lösas på kort tid. Inom Search and Rescue (SAR), till exempel, krävs att drönare hinner genomsöka vissa geografiska regioner inom givna tidsintervall. Detta för att ̈oka chansen att identifierade drabbade vid en olycka. Den här typen av uppgift i tid och rum (spatio-temporal) kan enkelt uttryckas med hjälp av Signal Temporal Logic (STL). STL ̈är ett språk som tillåter oss att på ett formellt sätt formulera tidsbegränsade uppgifter, såsom besök område A mellan o och 5 minuter, eller robot 1 ska röra sig i formationtillsammans med robot 2 till dess att robot 1 når område B mellan 5 och 20 sekunder. Nuvarande lösningar till styrproblem av spatio-temporal-typen kodar STL-begränsningar med hjälp av mixed-integer-uttryck. Majoriteten av lösningarna involverar receding-horizon-metoder med långa tidshorisonter som beror av tidsbegränsningarna i STL-uppgifterna. Detta leder till att problemens komplexitet ̈ökar med antalet deluppgifter inom och tiden för STL-uppgifterna. Andra lösningar bygger på restriktiva STL-fragment och beräkningsmässigt effektiva ̊aterkopplingsregulatorer som garanterar STL-begränsningarna med minimal önskad robusthet. Dessvärre tar dessa sällan hänsyn till fysiska begräsningar hos regulatorn och ger ofta godtyckligt stora styrsignaler. I den här licentiatuppsatsen behandlar vi styrproblem med begräsningar i rum och tid, samt den ovan nämnda typen av fysiska regulatorbegränsningar. I den första delen presenterar vi receding-horizon-metoder (RHS) som uppfyller kraven i STL-uppgifter, eller minimalt bryter mot dessa. Till skillnad från tidigare lösningar så kan tidshorisonten i våra RHS-metoder väljas oberoende av STL-uppgifterna och därmed göras godtyckligt kort, så länge ursprungsproblemet ̈ar lösbart. Genom att formulera STL-uppgifterna som control barrier funktioner kan vi kombinera fördelarna hos RHS och ̊återkoppling. Vi härleder en rekursiv lösbarhetsegenskap och en undre gräns på ̈overträdelsen av STL-kraven. I den andra delen behandlar vi multi-agent-system med uppgifter i tid och rum som berör många agenter. Målet är att bryta ner den globala uppgiften i fler men enklare lokala uppgifter som var och en bara involverar en given delmängd av agenterna. Vår nedbrytning till ̊åter oss att konstruera decentraliserade regulatorer som löser lokala STL-uppgifter, och kan i och med det markant minska kommunikationskostnaderna i j̈ämförelse med centraliserad styrning. I den sista delen av uppsatsen behandlar vi samordning av flera grupper. Vi uttrycker uppgifter såsom delning, sammanslagning och avståndshållning med hjälp av STL, och utnyttjar sedan ̊aterkoppling för att uppfylla eller minimalt bryta mot kraven.QC 20220311</p

Holistic Interventions and Self-compassion, the Case of “Natural Compassion” - an EU-funded training course for 33 youth workers

Objective: This study evaluated the impact of the Natural Compassion program, an EU-funded training course, incorporating nature-based learning aimed at enhancing self-compassion among youth workers—a group routinely facing significant emotional challenges in their professional roles. Methods: The program's effectiveness was measured using a pre, and post-intervention design, with follow-up assessments (2 months later) to track the sustainability of outcomes, with a sample of 33 youth workers. The program consisted of an 8-day immersive training focused on self-compassion, mindfulness, and nature connection. Self-compassion was measured using the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) at baseline, immediately after the program (post-test), and two months later (follow-up). Results: Statistically significant increases in self-compassion scores were observed both immediately after the program (19.81%) and at follow-up (25.24%) compared to baseline. The intervention led to significant increases in positive self-compassion constructs (self-kindness, mindfulness, common humanity) and decreases in negative constructs such as self-judgment, isolation, and over-identification. Notably, improvements persisted and even strengthened at follow-up, indicating the long-lasting impact of the program. Additionally, the study found no significant differences in outcomes based on demographic variables, suggesting the program's broad applicability. Conclusion: Findings suggest that the Natural Compassion program is successful in fostering self-compassion thus enhancing well-being among youth workers. The group delivery format of the intervention, which emphasized shared experiences in nature, may have contributed to a diminished sense of isolation and an enhanced sense of common humanity. Results point to the potential of integrating such interventions into youth work training and practice, with implications for policy and future research focused on community and mutual support mechanisms within emotionally demanding professions Further research with larger samples and longer follow-up periods is needed to confirm these initial findings and explore potential mechanisms of change

Multi-Robot Path Planning for Persistent Coverage Tasks with Performance Guarantees

Recent advances on the design of autonomous mobile agents have motivated the use of the latter in persistent surveillance tasks with applications in agriculture, information gathering and search and rescue missions. In these tasks the goal is to design agents’ paths so as every point in the area of interest is covered more than once. In literature the persistent surveillance problem has been addressed under two different frameworks: 1) the visitation frequency of a finite set of points (discrete spaces) and 2) the amount of coverage offered by the agents over the area of interest. In the first category agents aim at visiting a finite set of points in the area so as the time elapsed since a point was last visited is minimized over the set. Here, the environment is considered static and no information on the coverage condition of the points is available. In the second category the environment is characterized by a property that changes over time, called coverage level and the goal is to design agents’ paths so as the coverage level is maintained at a desired level over the area. In this approach the error between the actual and desired coverage level of the area is bounded. However, locally no information is available on the frequency at which each point gets covered. The novelty of this thesis lies in the integration of the aforementioned solution approaches so as complete coverage information is provided for a finite set of points. Here, the goal is to design the agents’ paths so as the coverage level of each point is bounded from below by a desired level. The paths are planned over a finite optimization horizon and found as a solution to a Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP). Two formulations of the problem are proposed and their efficiency is validated in simulation. The recursive feasibility of the centralized problem is also guaranteed when a set of time-varying terminal constraints is introduced to the problem. These constraints force agents to move along a pre-defined set of closed paths designed in a way that the coverage level boundness constraint is always satisfied. A two-step method is proposed for their design that relies on the solution of a Linear Program (LP) when a set of closed paths violating the objective is given, found as a solution to a modified version of the proposed MILP at step 1. Finally, two distributed formulations of the problem are introduced in which agents solve in parallel a local path planning problem. The difference on these methods lies in the accuracy of the information available to the agents for planning. Despite this difference simulation tests show a difference of only 1.5% in the coverage level performance when various sized teams of agents are employed for the task.Mechanical Engineering | Systems and Contro