A novel framework to improve motion planning of robotic systems through semantic knowledge-based reasoning

The need to improve motion planning techniques for manipulator robots, and new effective strategies to manipulate different objects to perform more complex tasks, is crucial for various real-world applications where robots cooperate with humans. This paper proposes a novel framework that aims to improve the motion planning of a robotic agent (a manipulator robot) through semantic knowledge-based reasoning. The Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL) was used to infer new knowledge based on the known environment and the robotic system. Ontological knowledge, e.g., semantic maps, were generated through a deep neural network, trained to detect and classify objects in the environment where the robotic agent performs. Manipulation constraints were deduced, and the environment corresponding to the agent’s manipulation workspace was created so the planner could interpret it to generate a collision-free path. For reasoning with the ontology, different SPARQL queries were used. The proposed framework was implemented and validated in a real experimental setup, using the planning framework ROSPlan to perform the planning tasks. The proposed framework proved to be a promising strategy to improve motion planning of robotics systems, showing the benefits of artificial intelligence, for knowledge representation and reasoning in robotics.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Spirulina does not decrease muscle damage nor oxdidative stress in cycling athletes with adequate nutritional status

The objective of this study was to assess the effect of Spirulina maxima on oxidative stress and muscle damage in cycling athletes subjected to high volume and intensity of training. Eighteen male athletes were randomly divided into an experimental group (n=11) with age 27.8±3.5 and placebo (n=7) with age 34.3±2.3 in a double-blind fashion. They carried out a protocol of Spirulina dietary supplementation (7.5 g/day) of placebo for four weeks and maintained their trainings during this period. A nutritional anamnesis was performed and blood tests were done to determine pre and post levels of creatine kinase (CK), lactic dehydrogenase (LHD), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA). The supplemented and placebo groups performed the same volume training, has adequate macronutrients and antioxidant vitamins ingestion before study, as well as initial CK, LDH, SOD and MDA levels. Supplementation did not promote a significant alteration in CK levels on supplemented group (158.4±16.3 for 140.0±16.6 U/l, p>0.05), LDH (420±13.2 for 394.9±27.9 UI/l, p>0.05), MDA (2.8±0.2 for 2.9±0.4 nmol/ml, p>0.05), nor an increase in the SOD (7.3±0.6 for 7.0±0.6 U/mg Hb, p>0.05). We conclude that administration of Spirulina does not interfere in the magnitude of muscle damage nor in antioxidant status of cycling athletes that practice intense training

Computational intelligence applied to discriminate bee pollen quality and botanical origin

The aim of this work was to develop computational intelligence models based on neural networks (NN), fuzzy models (FM), and support vector machines (SVM) to predict physicochemical composition of bee pollen mixture given their botanical origin. To obtain the predominant plant genus of pollen (was the output variable), based on physicochemical composition (were the input variables of the predictive model), prediction models were learned from data. For the inverse case study, input/output variables were swapped. The probabilistic NN prediction model obtained 98.4% of correct classification of the predominant plant genus of pollen. To obtain the secondary and tertiary plant genus of pollen, the results present a lower accuracy. To predict the physicochemical characteristic of a mixture of bee pollen, given their botanical origin, fuzzy models proven the best results with small prediction errors, and variability lower than 10%.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Epidemiological status of bovine brucellosis in the Federal District, Brazil

Realizou-se um estudo para caracterizar a situação epidemiológica da brucelose bovina no Distrito Federal (DF). No total foram amostrados 2.019 animais, provenientes de 278 propriedades. Em cada propriedade visitada aplicou-se um questionário epidemiológico para verificar o tipo de exploração e as práticas de criação e sanitárias que poderiam estar associadas ao risco de infecção pela doença. O protocolo utilizado foi o da triagem com o teste do antígeno acidificado tamponado e a confirmação dos positivos com o teste do 2-mercaptoetanol. O rebanho foi considerado positivo quando pelo menos um animal foi reagente às duas provas sorológicas. A prevalência no DF foi de 2,5% [1,0-5,1%] para propriedades e de 0,16% [0,04-0,28%] para animais. Em razão dos resultados encontrados, que permitem pensar em estratégias de erradicação, recomenda-se que o DF intensifique o diagnóstico de brucelose, tanto na forma de testes sorológicos sistemáticos como pela introdução de mecanismos de detecção rápida em laticínios, em ambos os casos a fim de aumentar o número de propriedades certificadas como livres da doença e melhorar a sensibilidade do sistema de vigilância ativa.A study to characterize the epidemiological status of brucellosis was carried out in the Federal District of Brazil. A total of 2,019 serum samples from 278 herds were collected. In each herd, it was applied an epidemiological questionnaire focused on herd traits as well as husbandry and sanitary practices that could be associated with the risk of infection. The serum samples were screened for antibodies against Brucella spp. by the Rose-Bengal Test (RBT), and all positive sera were re-tested by the 2-mercaptoethanol test (2-ME). The herd was considered positive if at least one animal was positive on both RBT and 2-ME tests. Herd prevalence was estimated as 2.5% [1.0-5.1%] whereas animal prevalence was 0.16% [0.04-0.28%]. Given these results, that may warrant the implementation of eradication strategies, there is a case for intensifying the serological testing in the Federal District, coupled with the introduction of rapid detection methods by the dairy industries, with a view to increasing the number of accredited free herds and improving the sensitivity of the surveillance system..FAPESPCNPqSEAP-DFMAPA Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abasteciment

Screening polymeric ionic liquids for chromatography-based purification of bacteriophage M13

M13 bacteriophage is a key instrument in phage display applications, as well as a possible antibacterial therapeutic agent due to its highly restrictive bacterial pathogenesis, and other applications. The traditional phage purification process is usually achieved by gradient ultracentrifugation or a combination of precipitation, centrifugation and microfiltration. These approaches easily lead to long process times, high operational costs, phage aggregation and consequent product loss (approximately 60%). This work is thus focused on an alternative potential large-scale process to achieve high yield and purity while minimizing the operational costs. Electrostatic-based separation processes are also common biomolecules purification techniques. Although anion exchange chromatography has been used before to purify several viral particles, this technique has been poorly reported for the purification of M13 phage. In a recent work, our group has demonstrated the use of a predominant anion exchange process, where a polymeric ionic liquid (PIL) was used as an alternative separation matrix for M13 bacteriophage. In this work, a variety of system parameters was studied, including chemical structure of the cation and the anion, the crosslinker nature and its concentration, either in batch adsorption/elution or chromatographic operation mode. The PIL-based chromatographic operation mode revealed to be a suitable separation process for M13 from directly filtered E. coli supernatant, reaching over 70% M13 recovery and 4.6 purification factor in a single step. To our knowledge, this is the first time that PILs have been reported as separation agents for bioproducts from complex mixtures.publishe

High Instantaneous Inhibitory Potential of Bictegravir and the New Spiro-β-Lactam BSS-730A for HIV-2 Isolates from RAL-Naïve and RAL-Failing Patients

Funding Information: This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal, Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN)–Portugal Collaborative Research Network in Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa (project 332821690). CQC is supported by FCT through projects UIDB/00313/2020 and UIDP/QUI/00313/2020, co-funded by COMPETE2020-UE. iMed.ULisboa, Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal, is supported by FCT through projects UIDB/04138/2020 and UIDP/04138/2020. Inês Bártolo is supported by FCT through Norma Transitória–DL57/2016/CP1376/CT0012. Ana Rita Diniz (SFRH/BD/89140/2012), Francisco Martin (SFRH/BD/87488/2012), Inês Moranguinho (SFRH/BD/131062/2017), and Américo Alves (SFRH/BD/128910/2017) were supported by Ph.D. grants from FCT, Portugal. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.Integrase inhibitors (INIs) are an important class of drugs for treating HIV-2 infection, given the limited number of drugs active against this virus. While the clinical efficacy of raltegravir and dolutegravir is well established, the clinical efficacy of bictegravir for treating HIV-2 infected patients has not been determined. Little information is available regarding the activity of bictegravir against HIV-2 isolates from patients failing raltegravir-based therapy. In this study, we examined the phenotypic and matched genotypic susceptibility of HIV-2 primary isolates from raltegravir-naïve and raltegravir-failing patients to raltegravir, dolutegravir, and bictegravir, and to the new spiro-β-lactam BSS-730A. The instantaneous inhibitory potential (IIP) was calculated to help predict the clinical activity of bictegravir and BSS-730A. Isolates from raltegravir-naïve patients were highly sensitive to all INIs and BSS-730A. Combined integrase mutations E92A and Q148K conferred high-level resistance to raltegravir, and E92Q and T97A conferred resistance to raltegravir and dolutegravir. The antiviral activity of bictegravir and BSS-730A was not affected by these mutations. BSS-730A displayed strong antiviral synergism with raltegravir. Mean IIP values at Cmax were similar for all INIs and were not significantly affected by resistance mutations. IIP values were significantly higher for BSS-730A than for INIs. The high IIP values of bictegravir and BSS-730A for raltegravir-naïve and raltegravir-resistant HIV-2 isolates highlight their potential value for treating HIV-2 infection. Overall, the results are consistent with the high clinical efficacy of raltegravir and dolutegravir for HIV-2 infection and suggest a promising clinical profile for bictegravir and BSS-730A.publishersversionpublishe

Modeling of Photoionized Plasmas

In this paper I review the motivation and current status of modeling of plasmas exposed to strong radiation fields, as it applies to the study of cosmic X-ray sources. This includes some of the astrophysical issues which can be addressed, the ingredients for the models, the current computational tools, the limitations imposed by currently available atomic data, and the validity of some of the standard assumptions. I will also discuss ideas for the future: challenges associated with future missions, opportunities presented by improved computers, and goals for atomic data collection.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, to appear in the proceedings of Xray2010, Utrecht, the Netherlands, March 15-17 201

The braid groups of the projective plane and the Fadell-Neuwirth short exact sequence

International audienceWe study the pure braid groups $P_n(RP^2)$ of the real projective plane $RP^2$, and in particular the possible splitting of the Fadell-Neuwirth short exact sequence $1 \to P_m(RP^2 \ {x_1,...,x_n} \to P_{n+m}(RP^2) \stackrel{p_{\ast}}{\to} P_n(RP^2) \to 1$, where $n\geq 2$ and $m\geq 1$, and $p_{\ast}$ is the homomorphism which corresponds geometrically to forgetting the last $m$ strings. This problem is equivalent to that of the existence of a section for the associated fibration $p: F_{n+m}(RP^2) \to F_n(RP^2)$ of configuration spaces. Van Buskirk proved in 1966 that $p$ and $p_{\ast}$ admit a section if $n=2$ and $m=1$. Our main result in this paper is to prove that there is no section if $n\geq 3$. As a corollary, it follows that $n=2$ and $m=1$ are the only values for which a section exists. As part of the proof, we derive a presentation of $P_n(RP^2)$: this appears to be the first time that such a presentation has been given in the literature

AVALIAÇÃO CLÍNICA E CITOLÓGICA DO TRATO RESPIRATÓRIO DE CAVALOS DA RAÇA QUARTO DE MILHA, APÓS O EXERCÍCIO

The aim of this study was to evaluate the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cytology following exercise from twelve Quarter Horse breed animals from Curitiba City and surroundings. After infusion of 100 ml of physiologic solution with endoscopy and silicon catheter, an average of 30 mL of BAL was recovery per horse, analized and submited to cytocentrifugation. Cytocentrifuge slides were obtained and stained by Giemsa, Papanicolaou and Perls Prussian Blue. None of the horses presented epistaxis or any other abnormality on the clinical examination, nor pulmonary bleeding by endoscopy. The erythrocyte and leukocyte in BAL counts were with in the normal range of literature, as well as the leukocyte differential, with a mean proportion of 62.3±13.7% and 34.1±14.8% for macrophages and lymphocytes, respectivelly. However, the presence of hemosiderophages in different percentages, suggested that part of the animals were under subclinical pulmonary hemorrhage, not clinically detected. Based on the present study, we concluded that the evaluation of cellular populations with the use of cytocentrifuge and special stains can provide to the clinician important additional information on functional status of respiratory tract, particularly hemorrhage.O objetivo do presente estudo foi avaliar a citologia do lavado broncoalveolar (BAL) após o exercício de doze cavalos da raça Quarto de Milha, provenientes de Curitiba e Região Metropolitana. Após a infusão de 100 ml de solução fisiológica com auxílio de endoscopia e cateter de silicone, foram recuperados acondicionados em torno de 30 mL de BAL por cavalo, analisados e submetidos à centrifugação. Lâminas de citocentrífuga foram obtidas e coradas pelas técnicas de Giemsa, Papanicolaou e Azul da Prússia. Nenhum dos cavalos apresentou epistaxe ou outra anormalidade ao exame clínico, nem sangramento pulmonar à endoscopia. A contagem de hemácias e leucócitos no BAL esteve dentro dos valores de referência encontrados na literatura, assim como os diferenciais leucocitários, com a proporção média de 62,3±13,7% e 34,1±14,8% para macrófagos e linfócitos, respectivamente. No entanto, a presença de hemossiderófagos em diferentes percentuais, sugere que parte destes animais estejam sob hemorragia pulmonar incipiente, não detectada clinicamente. Concluiu-se, baseado no presente trabalho, que a avaliação das populações celulares com o uso da citocentrífuga em associação a colorações especiais pode fornecer ao clínico importantes informações adicionais acerca do status funcional do trato respiratório, em particular hemorragias subclínicas