A Capability and Skill Model for Heterogeneous Autonomous Robots

Teams of heterogeneous autonomous robots become increasingly important due to their facilitation of various complex tasks. For such heterogeneous robots, there is currently no consistent way of describing the functions that each robot provides. In the field of manufacturing, capability modeling is considered a promising approach to semantically model functions provided by different machines. This contribution investigates how to apply and extend capability models from manufacturing to the field of autonomous robots and presents an approach for such a capability model

Modeling and Executing Production Processes with Capabilities and Skills using Ontologies and BPMN

Current challenges of the manufacturing industry require modular and changeable manufacturing systems that can be adapted to variable conditions with little effort. At the same time, production recipes typically represent important company know-how that should not be directly tied to changing plant configurations. Thus, there is a need to model general production recipes independent of specific plant layouts. For execution of such a recipe however, a binding to then available production resources needs to be made. In this contribution, select a suitable modeling language to model and execute such recipes. Furthermore, we present an approach to solve the issue of recipe modeling and execution in modular plants using semantically modeled capabilities and skills as well as BPMN. We make use of BPMN to model \emph{capability processes}, i.e. production processes referencing abstract descriptions of resource functions. These capability processes are not bound to a certain plant layout, as there can be multiple resources fulfilling the same capability. For execution, every capability in a capability process is replaced by a skill realizing it, effectively creating a \emph{skill process} consisting of various skill invocations. The presented solution is capable of orchestrating and executing complex processes that integrate production steps with typical IT functionalities such as error handling, user interactions and notifications. Benefits of the approach are demonstrated using a flexible manufacturing system.Comment: To be submitted to ETFA 202

Histologia hepática na co-infecção do vírus da hepatite C (VHC) e vírus da hepatite G (VHG)

As little is known about liver histology in the co-infection of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis G virus (HGV), HGV RNA was investigated in 46 blood donors with hepatitis C, 22 of them with liver biopsy: co-infection HCV / HGV (n = 6) and HCV isolated infection (n = 16). Besides staging and grading of inflammation at portal, peri-portal and lobular areas (Brazilian Consensus), the fibrosis progression index was also calculated. All patients had no symptoms or signs of liver disease and prevalence of HGV / HCV co-infection was 15.2%. Most patients had mild liver disease and fibrosis progression index, calculated only in patients with known duration of infection, was 0.110 for co-infection and 0.130 for isolated HCV infection, characterizing these patients as "slow fibrosers". No statistical differences could be found between the groups, although a lesser degree of inflammation was always present in co-infection. In conclusion co-infection HCV / HGV does not induce a more aggressive liver disease, supporting the hypothesis that HGV is not pathogenic.As escassas informações sobre histologia hepática na co-infecção do vírus da Hepatite C (VHC) e vírus da Hepatite G (VHG) nos levou a investigar o RNA-VHG em 46 doadores de sangue com hepatite C, dos quais 22 com biópsia hepática: co-infecção VHC / VHG (n = 6) e infecção isolada do VHC (n = 16). Além de estadiamento e gradação da atividade inflamatória nas áreas portal, peri-portal e lobular, segundo o Consenso Brasileiro, calculamos também o índice de progressão da fibrose. Os pacientes estudados não apresentavam sintomas ou sinais físicos de doença hepática. A prevalência da co-infecção VHC / VHG foi de 15,2%. A maior parte dos pacientes apresentava-se com lesão hepática discreta e o índice de progressão da fibrose, calculado apenas nos pacientes com duração conhecida da infecção, foi de 0,110 para os co-infectados e de 0,130 para aqueles com infecção isolada pelo VHC, caracterizando esses pacientes como "fibrosantes lentos". Não foram encontradas diferenças estatísticas entre os grupos, apesar de menor grau de inflamação em todas as áreas analisadas, nos casos de co-infecção. Em conclusão, a co-infecção VHC / VHG não induz o surgimento de lesão hepática mais grave, favorecendo a hipótese de que o VHG não é patogênico

COMPETITION AND POWER IN RURAL MARKETS: A CASE STUDY FROM ANDHRA PRADESH

Summary In a study of two villages in Andhra Pradesh, done in 1986/87, there were clear linkages between credit transactions and sales of crops. Producers from powerful classes were able to control the timing of sales of their crop, and hence obtain better prices; by contrast, petty commodity producers sold their groundnut crop soon after harvest, often to their moneylender. The latter obtained relatively low prices for their output. In one village, personal clientelization of borrowers ‘tied’ them to a particular merchant in a long?term relationship involving interlinked transactions. In a more developed village nearby, with more competition, personalized clientage was less common. In both villages, small producers were forced, through a process of subtle manipulation, to sell groundnut at disadvantageous prices. Meanwhile, paddy (rice) was grown on a small scale by farmers, but they were not forced to sell that crop; instead they used it for home consumption. The article suggests ways of improving future research on power within such markets. Resumé La concurrence et le pouvoir dans les marchés ruraux: imeétude de cas dans l'Andhra Pradesh Dans une étude de deux villages lancée en 1986–1987 dans l'Andhra Pradesh, l'on a nettement constaté des rapports entre les transactions à crédit et les ventes en produits agricoles. Les producteurs issus des classes puissantes ont été capables de contrôler l'échéance de la vente de leurs produits et ainsi, ont été capables d'obtenir des prix plus avantageux; les producteurs de produits de faible importance, par contre, ont vendu leur réserve d'arachide très peu de temps après sa récolte et le plus souvent, l'acheteur était aussi leur prêteur. Ce dernier jouissait de prix relativement modestes à l'achat de leur production. Dans un des villages, la clientilisation personnelle des emprunteurs les liait à tel ou tel négociant dans un rapport commercial de longue durée, qui comprenait aussi des transactions alliées. Dans un village proche mais plus développé, où la concurrence était plus accrue, la personalisation de la clientèle se faisait plus rare. Dans l'un et l'autre des villages le producteurs étaient forcés, par un processus de manipulation discrète, à vendre leurs arachides à des prix défavorables. Dans l'entretemps les agriculteurs continuaient leurs cultivation du riz sur une petite échelle, or ils n'étaient pas forcés à vendre leur riz, qu'ils conservaient pour leur propre consommation. L'article propose des moyens d'améliorer, à l'avenir, la recherche au sein de tels marchés. Resumen Competencia y poder en mercados rurales: estudio de un caso de Andhra Pradesh En un estudio de dos pueblos de Andhra Pradesh, realizado en 1986/87, había conexiones claras entre las transacciones crediticias y las ventas de cosechas. Los productores de las clases poderosas podían determinar el momento de 1a venta de su producción, y por lo tanto obtener mejores precios; en contraste, los pequeños productores vendían sus producción de cacahuete inmediatamente después de 1a cosecha, generalmente al prestamista. Este obtenía precios relativamente bajos. En uno de los pueblos, los prestatarios terminaron ‘atados’ a un prestamista particular en una relación a largo plazo que incluía transaccionees interconectadas. En un pueblo cercano más desarrollado, los productores se vieron forzados a través de un proceso de sutil manipulación, a vender el cacahuete a precios desventajosos. Mientras tanto, el arroz era cultivado solo en pequeña escala, pero los productores no fueron forzados a venderlo, conservándolo en cambio para consumo propio. El artículo sugiere formas de mejorar investigaciones futuras sobre el poder dentro de 1a situación descripta

Development of an international standard set of outcome measures for patients with atrial fibrillation: a report of the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) atrial fibrillation working group.

AIMS: As health systems around the world increasingly look to measure and improve the value of care that they provide to patients, being able to measure the outcomes that matter most to patients is vital. To support the shift towards value-based health care in atrial fibrillation (AF), the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) assembled an international Working Group (WG) of 30 volunteers, including health professionals and patient representatives to develop a standardized minimum set of outcomes for benchmarking care delivery in clinical settings. METHODS AND RESULTS: Using an online-modified Delphi process, outcomes important to patients and health professionals were selected and categorized into (i) long-term consequences of disease outcomes, (ii) complications of treatment outcomes, and (iii) patient-reported outcomes. The WG identified demographic and clinical variables for use as case-mix risk adjusters. These included baseline demographics, comorbidities, cognitive function, date of diagnosis, disease duration, medications prescribed and AF procedures, as well as smoking, body mass index (BMI), alcohol intake, and physical activity. Where appropriate, and for ease of implementation, standardization of outcomes and case-mix variables was achieved using ICD codes. The standard set underwent an open review process in which over 80% of patients surveyed agreed with the outcomes captured by the standard set. CONCLUSION: Implementation of these consensus recommendations could help institutions to monitor, compare and improve the quality and delivery of chronic AF care. Their consistent definition and collection, using ICD codes where applicable, could also broaden the implementation of more patient-centric clinical outcomes research in AF

Assimilation of healthy and indulgent impressions from labelling influences fullness but not intake or sensory experience

Background: Recent evidence suggests that products believed to be healthy may be over-consumed relative to believed indulgent or highly caloric products. The extent to which these effects relate to expectations from labelling, oral experience or assimilation of expectations is unclear. Over two experiments, we tested the hypotheses that healthy and indulgent information could be assimilated by oral experience of beverages and influence sensory evaluation, expected satiety, satiation and subsequent appetite. Additionally, we explored how expectation-experience congruency influenced these factors. Results: Results supported some assimilation of healthiness and indulgent ratings—study 1 showed that indulgent ratings enhanced by the indulgent label persisted post-tasting, and this resulted in increased fullness ratings. In study 2, congruency of healthy labels and oral experience promoted enhanced healthiness ratings. These healthiness and indulgent beliefs did not influence sensory analysis or intake—these were dictated by the products themselves. Healthy labels, but not experience, were associated with decreased expected satiety. Conclusions: Overall labels generated expectations, and some assimilation where there were congruencies between expectation and experience, but oral experience tended to override initial expectations to determine ultimate sensory evaluations and intake. Familiarity with the sensory properties of the test beverages may have resulted in the use of prior knowledge, rather than the label information, to guide evaluations and behaviour

f(R)f(R) gravity theories in the Palatini Formalism constrained from strong lensing

$f(R)$ gravity, capable of driving the late-time acceleration of the universe, is emerging as a promising alternative to dark energy. Various $f(R)$ gravity models have been intensively tested against probes of the expansion history, including type Ia supernovae (SNIa), the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO). In this paper we propose to use the statistical lens sample from Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Lens Search Data Release 3 (SQLS DR3) to constrain $f(R)$ gravity models. This sample can probe the expansion history up to $z\sim2.2$, higher than what probed by current SNIa and BAO data. We adopt a typical parameterization of the form $f(R)=R-\alpha H^2_0(-\frac{R}{H^2_0})^\beta$ with $\alpha$ and $\beta$ constants. For $\beta=0$ ($\Lambda$CDM), we obtain the best-fit value of the parameter $\alpha=-4.193$, for which the 95% confidence interval that is [-4.633, -3.754]. This best-fit value of $\alpha$ corresponds to the matter density parameter $\Omega_{m0}=0.301$, consistent with constraints from other probes. Allowing $\beta$ to be free, the best-fit parameters are $(\alpha, \beta)=(-3.777, 0.06195)$. Consequently, we give $\Omega_{m0}=0.285$ and the deceleration parameter $q_0=-0.544$. At the 95% confidence level, $\alpha$ and $\beta$ are constrained to [-4.67, -2.89] and [-0.078, 0.202] respectively. Clearly, given the currently limited sample size, we can only constrain $\beta$ within the accuracy of $\Delta\beta\sim 0.1$ and thus can not distinguish between $\Lambda$CDM and $f(R)$ gravity with high significance, and actually, the former lies in the 68% confidence contour. We expect that the extension of the SQLS DR3 lens sample to the SDSS DR5 and SDSS-II will make constraints on the model more stringent.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Índice de sustentabilidade ambiental do uso da água: Estudo de caso do Projeto Sertão de Pernambuco ISA-PSP.

A pesquisa divulga com este trabalho a construção do Índice de Sustentabilidade Ambiental do Uso da Água para o Gerenciamento do Projeto do Sertão de Pernambuco (ISA PSP), com a finalidade de preencher a lacuna de conhecimento básico existente, em âmbito regional. O ISA_PSP é o método que permite integrar três dimensões da análise ambiental ecológico, econômico e social a partir de dados coletados a campo e de estatísticas de fontes secundárias. Participaram do processo 830 famílias, representando 181 localidades existentes em 19 municípios avaliados: Afrânio, Araripina, Bodocó, Cedro, Dormentes, Exú, Granito, Ipubi, Lagoa Grande, Moreilândia, Ouricuri, Parnamirim, Petrolina, Salgueiro, Santa Cruz, Santa Filomena, Serrita e Trindade, no Estado de Pernambuco e o município de Casa Nova, no Estado da Bahia. Não há restrição quanto aos recursos edafoambientais, uma vez que foi estimada a existência de um potencial para áreas irrigáveis ao redor de 876,2 mil hectares, dos quais 300 mil hectares podem ser efetivamente irrigados