El Proyecto de la Teoría. Contribución al estudio y precisión de la teoría del proyecto arquitectónico.

¿Qué es la Teoría del Proyecto? ¿Cómo opera? Y ¿Para qué es necesaria en el ejercicio arquitectónico? Son las preguntas que quisiera responder este estudio. El uso disperso y poco riguroso con que aparece en el discurso contemporáneo esta noción le confieren un velo de imprecisiones que imposibilita profundizar en sus contenidos y alcances. Frente a la inexistencia de una investigación argumental, comparativa y sistemática previa, se analizan y contrastan los contenidos de diez de los más importantes autores en la segunda mitad del siglo XX, concentrándose en la posibilidad de arribar a criterios que ayuden a comprender su potencial. La aparente paradoja de originar conocimiento en un objeto aún no producido, cuya generación es a la vez su práctica y aprendizaje, es donde pueden encontrarse una serie de principios que lograrían establecerse como hipótesis o criterios atemporales transportables. Estrategias arquitectónicas que interesan al hacer, alcanzables por un proceso que posee en la elaboración práctica, crítica, poética y teórica sus instantes continuos

Photometric LiDAR and RGB-D Bundle Adjustment

The joint optimization of the sensor trajectory and 3D map is a crucial characteristic of Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) systems. To achieve this, the gold standard is Bundle Adjustment (BA). Modern 3D LiDARs now retain higher resolutions that enable the creation of point cloud images resembling those taken by conventional cameras. Nevertheless, the typical effective global refinement techniques employed for RGB-D sensors are not widely applied to LiDARs. This paper presents a novel BA photometric strategy that accounts for both RGB-D and LiDAR in the same way. Our work can be used on top of any SLAM/GNSS estimate to improve and refine the initial trajectory. We conducted different experiments using these two depth sensors on public benchmarks. Our results show that our system performs on par or better compared to other state-of-the-art ad-hoc SLAM/BA strategies, free from data association and without making assumptions about the environment. In addition, we present the benefit of jointly using RGB-D and LiDAR within our unified method. We finally release an open-source CUDA/C++ implementation.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure

Enhancing LiDAR performance: Robust De-skewing Exclusively Relying on Range Measurements

Most commercially available Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)s measure the distances along a 2D section of the environment by sequentially sampling the free range along directions centered at the sensor's origin. When the sensor moves during the acquisition, the measured ranges are affected by a phenomenon known as "skewing", which appears as a distortion in the acquired scan. Skewing potentially affects all systems that rely on LiDAR data, however, it could be compensated if the position of the sensor were known each time a single range is measured. Most methods to de-skew a LiDAR are based on external sensors such as IMU or wheel odometry, to estimate these intermediate LiDAR positions. In this paper, we present a method that relies exclusively on range measurements to effectively estimate the robot velocities which are then used for de-skewing. Our approach is suitable for low-frequency LiDAR where the skewing is more evident. It can be seamlessly integrated into existing pipelines, enhancing their performance at a negligible computational cost.Comment: 6 pages , 5 figure

Ca2^2Lib: Simple and Accurate LiDAR-RGB Calibration using Small Common Markers

In many fields of robotics, knowing the relative position and orientation between two sensors is a mandatory precondition to operate with multiple sensing modalities. In this context, the pair LiDAR-RGB cameras offer complementary features: LiDARs yield sparse high quality range measurements, while RGB cameras provide a dense color measurement of the environment. Existing techniques often rely either on complex calibration targets that are expensive to obtain, or extracted virtual correspondences that can hinder the estimate's accuracy. In this paper we address the problem of LiDAR-RGB calibration using typical calibration patterns (i.e. A3 chessboard) with minimal human intervention. Our approach exploits the planarity of the target to find correspondences between the sensors measurements, leading to features that are robust to LiDAR noise. Moreover, we estimate a solution by solving a joint non-linear optimization problem. We validated our approach by carrying on quantitative and comparative experiments with other state-of-the-art approaches. Our results show that our simple schema performs on par or better than other approches using complex calibration targets. Finally, we release an open-source C++ implementation at \url{https://github.com/srrg-sapienza/ca2lib}Comment: 7 pages, 10 figure

Serosurvey of schmallenberg virus infection in sheep in Abruzzo, Italy : short report

Infection with Schmallenberg virus (SBV) causes congenital musculoskeletal and vertebral malformations as well as neurological failures in fetuses of several ruminant species. In this study 1038 sheep samples from 10 flocks in the provinces of Chieti, Teramo and Pescara in Italy have been tested for antibodies against SBV by ELISA test. The purpose of the study was to ascertain the extent of SBV infections in sheep in Italy. The results of the ELISA test identified at least one positive animal in 9 of the 10 sheep flocks tested, and a mean within-flock prevalence of 8.57%. Furthermore, large variability of positive animals between flocks was observed (0 and 42.5%). These results demonstrate that SBV was endemic in this region and there could be is a risk of novel SBV infections in the following lambing season, raising serious concerns about its so rapid and pervasive spread

Pan-European early switch/early discharge opportunities exist for hospitalised patients with methicillin-resistant <em>Staphylococcus</em> <em>aureus</em> complicated skin and soft-tissue infections

AbstractThe objective of this study was to document pan-European real-world treatment patterns and healthcare resource use and estimate opportunities for early switch (ES) from intravenous (IV) to oral antibiotics and early discharge (ED) in hospitalized patients with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) complicated skin and soft tissue infections (cSSTIs). This retrospective observational medical chart review study enrolled 342 physicians across 12 European countries who collected data from 1542 patients with documented MRSA cSSTI who were hospitalized (July 2010 to June 2011) and discharged alive (by July 2011). Data included clinical characteristics and outcomes, hospital length of stay (LOS), MRSA-targeted IV and oral antibiotic use, and ES and ED eligibility according to literature-based and expert-validated criteria. The most frequent initial MRSA-active antibiotics were vancomycin (50.2%), linezolid (15.1%), clindamycin (10.8%), and teicoplanin (10.4%). Patients discharged with MRSA-active antibiotics (n = 480) were most frequently prescribed linezolid (42.1%) and clindamycin (19.8%). IV treatment duration (9.3 ± 6.5 vs. 14.6 ± 9.9 days; p <0.001) and hospital LOS (19.1 ± 12.9 vs. 21.0 ± 18.2 days; p 0.162) tended to be shorter for patients switched from IV to oral treatment than for patients who received IV treatment only. Of the patients, 33.6% met ES criteria and could have discontinued IV treatment 6.0 ± 5.5 days earlier, and 37.9% met ED criteria and could have been discharged 6.2 ± 8.2 days earlier. More than one-third of European patients hospitalized for MRSA cSSTI could be eligible for ES and ED, resulting in substantial reductions in IV days and bed-days, with potential savings of €2000 per ED-eligible patient

SANAA, Rolex Learning Center

En el curso 2012-2013 el Laboratorio de Crítica centró su atención en el Rolex Learning Center de l´Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne en Suiza, obra de indudable interés del estudio japonés SANAA que constituye en sí misma un auténtico experimento y, consecuentemente, un objeto de observación apropiado para el estudio dentro del Laboratorio. En octubre de 2012 se realizó un viaje para visitar el edificio y, posteriormente, se realizaron por parte de los alumnos, ejercicios críticos y experimentos de los que en esta publicación aparece una muestra representativa. También se recogen en este libro, publicado gracias al apoyo de la ETSAM dentro de su colección de Texto Académicos, algunas aportaciones externas como el escrito y los dibujos del arquitecto Javier Aguilera, así como otros textos de antiguos alumnos del Laboratorio como Rosa Ballester, Berta González Salinero o Daniel Sacristán que, además han contribuido decisivamente en la edición. Se incluye, asimismo, un artículo de Eider Holgado, alumna de doctorado que está realizando su tesis, dentro del G.I. ARKRIT

Hyperimmune anti-HBs plasma as alternative to commercial immunoglobulins for prevention of HBV recurrence after liver transplantation

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B immune globulins (HBIG) in combination with nucleos(t)ide analogues (NA) are effectively used for the prevention of hepatitis B virus (HBV) recurrence after liver transplantation (LT). However, associated treatment costs for HBIG are exceedingly high. METHODS: Fresh frozen plasma obtained from blood donors with high anti-HBs levels (hyperimmune plasma, HIP) containing at least 4,500 IU anti-HBs was used as alternative treatment for HBV recurrence prophylaxis post-LT. RESULTS: Twenty-one HBV-related LT recipients received HIP starting at transplantation, followed by long-term combination treatment with NA. Mean follow-up time was 4.5 years (range 0.5-12.6) and each patient received on average 8.2 HIP per year (range 5.8-11.4). Anti-HBs terminal elimination kinetic after HIP administration was 20.6 days (range 13.8-30.9), which is comparable to values reported for commercial HBIG products. All 21 patients remained free of HBV recurrence during follow-up and no transfusion-transmitted infection or other serious complication was observed. Seven patients developed reversible mild transfusion reactions. The cost for one HIP unit was USD 140; average yearly HBIG treatment cost was USD 1,148 per patient, as compared to USD 25,000-100,000 for treatment with commercial HBIG. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that the use of HIP may be a useful and economical approach for the prevention of HBV recurrence post-LT if used in combination with NA. Additional prospective controlled studies in larger populations are needed to confirm these results