Sistema para el control de temperatura de una incubadora de huevos de gallina

A closed-loop PID controller tuning method is presented, as well as a control mechanism that functions as an egg incubator controller to control the temperature. The method’s performance is compared using digital simulation tests, and the PID controller gains are determined based on the system requirements. Finally, recommendations for using the tested method as well as arguments for why we reject other methods are provided.Se presenta un método de sintonización de controladores PID de lazo cerrado, un mecanismo de control que opera como regulador de una incubadora de huevos, el cual controla la temperatura. Mediante pruebas de simulación digital se compara el desempeño del método y se determinará las ganancias del controlador PID según los requerimientos del sistema. Finalmente, se ofrecen recomendaciones sobre la utilización del método probado y los argumentos por los cuales descartamos otros métodos

Flavonoids: Important Biocompounds in Food

Flavonoids are secondary metabolites in plants that show some desirable characteristics. These compounds can be grouped in different classes on the basis of their basic structure. It has been reported that flavonoids are important for human health because of their antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, and anti‐inflammatory activities and because they act as free radical scavengers as they are potential reducing agents that protect from oxidative damage, which are conferred by the content of hydroxyl groups. In recent years, flavonoids have been investigated based on their ability to reduce the incidence of many diseases, to inhibit cell damage, to repair DNA process and to reduce oxidative stress. Besides, flavonoids have been demonstrated to have cardioprotective effects, have potential to improve coronary vasodilatation and prevent LDLs from oxidizing and also showed potential neuroprotective effects. Moreover, flavonoids have been used in the food industry due to their ability to preserve foods, to provide colour and flavour and to make dietary supplements, among other important industrial applications

COVID-19 pandemic and mortality in nursing homes across USA and Europe up to October 2021

Purpose We compared the prevalence of COVID-19 and related mortality in nursing homes (NHs) in 14 countries until October 2021. We explored the relationship between COVID-19 mortality in NHs with the average size of NHs and with the COVID-19 deaths at a population level. Methods The total number of COVID-19 cases and COVID-19-related deaths in all NHs as well as the total number of NHs and NH beds were provided by representatives of 14 countries. The population level respective figures in each country were provided up to October 2021. Results There was a wide variation in prevalence of COVID-19 cases and deaths between countries. We observed a significant correlation between COVID-19 deaths in NHs and that of the total population and between the mean size of NHs and COVID-19 deaths. Conclusion Side-by-side comparisons between countries allow international sharing of good practice to better enable future pandemic preparedness.Peer reviewe

COVID-19 pandemic and mortality in nursing homes across USA and Europe up to October 2021

Purpose We compared the prevalence of COVID-19 and related mortality in nursing homes (NHs) in 14 countries until October 2021. We explored the relationship between COVID-19 mortality in NHs with the average size of NHs and with the COVID-19 deaths at a population level. Methods The total number of COVID-19 cases and COVID-19-related deaths in all NHs as well as the total number of NHs and NH beds were provided by representatives of 14 countries. The population level respective figures in each country were provided up to October 2021. Results There was a wide variation in prevalence of COVID-19 cases and deaths between countries. We observed a significant correlation between COVID-19 deaths in NHs and that of the total population and between the mean size of NHs and COVID-19 deaths. Conclusion Side-by-side comparisons between countries allow international sharing of good practice to better enable future pandemic preparedness.Peer reviewe

Priority skills for equity-focused, evidence-based cancer control in community-based organizations: A group concept mapping analysis with academics and practitioners

Abstract Introduction: Community-based organizations (CBOs) are important equity-promoting delivery channels for evidence-based interventions (EBIs). However, CBO practitioners often cannot access needed support to build EBI skills. Additionally, the capacity-building literature is hindered by inconsistent definitions, limited use of validated measures, and an emphasis on the perspectives of EBI developers versus implementers. To address these gaps, we explored commonalities and differences between CBO practitioners and academics in conceptualizing and prioritizing core EBI skills. Methods: We utilized Group Concept Mapping, a mixed-methods approach connecting qualitative data (e.g., regarding the range of critical EBI skills) and quantitative data (e.g., sorting and ranking data regarding unique skills) to create conceptual maps integrating perspectives from diverse participants. A total of 34 practitioners and 30 academics working with cancer inequities participated in the study. Results: Participants nominated 581 core skills for EBI use, and our team (including practitioners and academics) identified 98 unique skills from this list. Participants sorted them into conceptual groups, yielding five clusters: (1) using data and evaluation, (2) selecting and adapting EBIs, (3) connecting with community members, (4) building diverse and equitable partnerships, and (5) managing EBI implementation. The ordering of importance and presence of skill clusters were similar across groups. Overall, importance was rated higher than presence, suggesting capacity gaps. Conclusions: There are helpful commonalities between practitioners’ and academics’ views of core EBI skills in CBOs and apparent capacity gaps. However, underlying patterns suggest that differences between the groups’ perceptions warrant further exploration

Exploring Mental Health and Academic Outcomes of Children Receiving Non-manualized, Transdiagnostic, Task-Shifted Mental Health Care From Their Teachers in a Low-and-Middle Income Country

A majority of children worldwide who face mental health difficulties, especially in low-and-middle income countries, remain undiagnosed and untreated. This deficit roots in part from a lack of trained professionals qualified to provide care. Task-shifting the provision of treatment to teachers, individuals with consistent access to children, can reduce the care gap. The current study investigated whether the implementation of a pilot trial of Tealeaf-Mansik Swastha (Teachers Leading the Frontlines—Mental Health; “Tealeaf”) was associated with improvements in child mental health and academic outcomes. Tealeaf is a transdiagnostic, non-manualized, task-shifting intervention in which teachers identify students in need of mental health care and then provide task-shifted care for them using an emerging, novel therapy modality, “education as mental health therapy” (Ed-MH). Pre-post standardized quantitative measures focused on child mental health status and academics. The measures were completed by multiple raters and compared to determine whether changes occurred. Results indicated that primary teacher raters observed significant improvements in child mental health symptoms overall, while secondary teacher raters and caregivers noted improvement for certain diagnostic categories. Caregivers observed on average a decreased impact of their children's mental health symptoms on their children's lives. Academically, math scores significantly improved while reading trended toward significance. Preliminary evidence overall supports the viability of Tealeaf and Ed-MH for positively impacting child mental health and academics. Future directions include the implementation of a formalized, randomized-controlled trial to strengthen preliminary outcomes

Future research directions in pneumonia

Copyright © 2018 by the American Thoracic Society. Pneumonia is a complex pulmonary disease in need of new clinical approaches. Although triggered by a pathogen, pneumonia often results from dysregulations of host defense that likely precede infection. The coordinated activities of immune resistance and tissue resilience then dictate whether and how pneumonia progresses or resolves. Inadequate or inappropriate host responses lead to more severe outcomes such as acute respiratory distress syndrome and to organ dysfunction beyond the lungs and over extended time frames after pathogen clearance, some of which increase the risk for subsequent pneumonia. Improved understanding of such host responses will guide the development of novel approaches for preventing and curing pneumonia and for mitigating the subsequent pulmonary and extrapulmonary complications of pneumonia. The NHLBI assembled a working group of extramural investigators to prioritize avenues of host-directed pneumonia research that should yield novel approaches for interrupting the cycle of unhealthy decline caused by pneumonia. This report summarizes the working group’s specific recommendations in the areas of pneumonia susceptibility, host response, and consequences. Overarching goals include the development of more host-focused clinical approaches for preventing and treating pneumonia, the generation of predictive tools (for pneumonia occurrence, severity, and outcome), and the elucidation of mechanisms mediating immune resistance and tissue resilience in the lung. Specific areas of research are highlighted as especially promising for making advances against pneumonia

The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment

The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in operation since July 2014. This paper describes the second data release from this phase, and the fourteenth from SDSS overall (making this, Data Release Fourteen or DR14). This release makes public data taken by SDSS-IV in its first two years of operation (July 2014-2016). Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14 is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14 is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS); the first data from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2), including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data driven machine learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of the publicly available data from SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS website (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release, and provides links to data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020, and will be followed by SDSS-V.Comment: SDSS-IV collaboration alphabetical author data release paper. DR14 happened on 31st July 2017. 19 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by ApJS on 28th Nov 2017 (this is the "post-print" and "post-proofs" version; minor corrections only from v1, and most of errors found in proofs corrected