Robust nonlinear trajectory controllers for a single-rotor UAV with particle swarm optimization tuning

This paper presents the utilization of robust nonlinear control schemes for a single-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (SR-UAV) mathematical model. The nonlinear dynamics of the vehicle are modeled according to the translational and rotational motions. The general structure is based on a translation controller connected in cascade with a P-PI attitude controller. Three different control approaches (classical PID, Super Twisting, and Adaptive Sliding Mode) are compared for the translation control. The parameters of such controllers are hard to tune by using a trial-and-error procedure, so we use an automated tuning procedure based on the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) method. The controllers were simulated in scenarios with wind gust disturbances, and a performance comparison was made between the different controllers with and without optimized gains. The results show a significant improvement in the performance of the PSO-tuned controllers.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Early peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma regulated genes involved in expansion of pancreatic beta cell mass.

BACKGROUND: The progression towards type 2 diabetes depends on the allostatic response of pancreatic beta cells to synthesise and secrete enough insulin to compensate for insulin resistance. The endocrine pancreas is a plastic tissue able to expand or regress in response to the requirements imposed by physiological and pathophysiological states associated to insulin resistance such as pregnancy, obesity or ageing, but the mechanisms mediating beta cell mass expansion in these scenarios are not well defined. We have recently shown that ob/ob mice with genetic ablation of PPARγ2, a mouse model known as the POKO mouse failed to expand its beta cell mass. This phenotype contrasted with the appropriate expansion of the beta cell mass observed in their obese littermate ob/ob mice. Thus, comparison of these models islets particularly at early ages could provide some new insights on early PPARγ dependent transcriptional responses involved in the process of beta cell mass expansion RESULTS: Here we have investigated PPARγ dependent transcriptional responses occurring during the early stages of beta cell adaptation to insulin resistance in wild type, ob/ob, PPARγ2 KO and POKO mice. We have identified genes known to regulate both the rate of proliferation and the survival signals of beta cells. Moreover we have also identified new pathways induced in ob/ob islets that remained unchanged in POKO islets, suggesting an important role for PPARγ in maintenance/activation of mechanisms essential for the continued function of the beta cell. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that the expansion of beta cell mass observed in ob/ob islets is associated with the activation of an immune response that fails to occur in POKO islets. We have also indentified other PPARγ dependent differentially regulated pathways including cholesterol biosynthesis, apoptosis through TGF-β signaling and decreased oxidative phosphorylation.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Estimation of Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) mean length in sea cages by acoustical means

[EN] This paper proposes an indirect method to estimate Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) biomass in cages using acoustic techniques. Two Simrad EK60 echosounders working at 120 and 200 kHz and a stereo camera were used to obtain target strength (TS) to fork length (FL) relationships for both operating frequencies. The equipment was placed at the bottom of a floating cage, facing towards the surface to record the ventral aspect of fish. The acoustic and optical recordings were automatically analysed and the combination of acoustic and optical results provided unequivocal TS-FL assignments. Good relationships between TS and FL were obtained for both frequencies even without discriminating data from different fish tilts and without using beam directivity compensation. Stronger correlations were obtained for compensated TS at 200 kHz when reduced tuna swimming tilt was considered. TS measurements were compared to MFS numerical predictions for a Bluefin swimbladder model, with the simulation results showing good agreement with experimental measurements. The results allow the mean tuna length to be predicted in growing or fattening cages from acoustic data raising the possibility of improving production management and of providing a useful tool for catch control estimations made by international organisations (like ICCAT) and government bodies. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).This work was supported by funding from the ACUSTUNA pro-ject ref. CTM2015-70446-R (MINECO/ERDF, EU). The authors are grateful for the support provided by Grup Balfego for their collab-oration and implication in installing and maintaining of the exper-imental setup in their tuna cages at l'Ametlla de Mar and for providing an ABFT specimen for x-ray imaging.Puig Pons, V.; Muñoz-Benavent, P.; Pérez Arjona, I.; Ladino-Velásquez, A.; Llorens-Escrich, S.; Andreu García, G.; Valiente González, JM.... (2022). Estimation of Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) mean length in sea cages by acoustical means. Applied Acoustics. 197:1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apacoust.2022.10896011319

Insulin secretion in patients with latent autoimmune diabetes (LADA) : Half way between type 1 and type 2 diabetes: Action LADA 9

Background: The study of endogenous insulin secretion may provide relevant insight into the comparison of the natural history of adult onset latent autoimmune diabetes (LADA) with types 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study was to compare the results of the C-peptide response to mixed-meal stimulation in LADA patients with different disease durations and subjects with type 2 and adult-onset type 1 diabetes. Methods: Stimulated C-peptide secretion was assessed using the mixed-meal tolerance test in patients with LADA (n=32), type 1 diabetes mellitus (n=33) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (n = 30). All patients were 30 to 70 years old at disease onset. The duration of diabetes in all groups ranged from 6 months to 10 years. The recruitment strategy was predefined to include at least 10 subjects in the following 3 disease onset categories for each group: 6 to 18 months, 19 months to 5 years and 5 to 10 years. Results: At all time-points of the mixed-meal tolerance test, patients with LADA had a lower stimulated C-peptide response than the type 2 diabetes group and a higher response than the type 1 diabetes group. The same results were found when the peak or area under the C-peptide curve was measured. When the results were stratified by time since disease onset, a similar pattern of residual insulin secretory capacity was observed. Conclusions: The present study shows that the magnitude of stimulated insulin secretion in LADA is intermediate between that of type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus

Arquitecturas multiprocesador en HPC: software, métricas y aplicaciones

Caracterizar las arquitecturas multiprocesador distribuidas enfocadas especialmente a cluster y cloud computing, con énfasis en las que utilizan procesadores de múltiples núcleos (multicores, GPUs y Xeon Phi), con el objetivo de modelizarlas, estudiar su escalabilidad, analizar y predecir performance de aplicaciones paralelas, estudiar el consumo energético y su impacto en la perfomance así como desarrollar esquemas para detección y tolerancia a fallas en las mismas.\nProfundizar el estudio de arquitecturas basadas en GPUs y su comparación con clusters de multicores, así como el empleo combinado de GPUs y multicores en computadoras de alta perfomance.\nIniciar investigación experimental con arquitecturas paralelas basadas en FPGAs. En particular estudiar perfomance en Clusters “híbridos”.\nAnalizar y desarrollar software de base para clusters, tratando de optimizar el rendimiento.\nInvestigar arquitecturas multicore asimétricas, desarrollar algoritmos de planificación en el software de sistema operativo para permitir la optimización del rendimiento y consumo energético en aplicaciones de propósito general.\nEstudiar clases de aplicaciones inteligentes en tiempo real, en particular el trabajo colaborativo de robots conectados a un cloud.\nEs de hacer notar que este proyecto se coordina con otros proyectos en curso en el III-LIDI, relacionados con Algoritmos Paralelos, Sistemas Distribuidos y Sistemas de Tiempo Real.Eje: Procesamiento Distribuido y Paralel

La literatura árabe contemporánea y su relación con la literatura europea: ejemplos prácticos de autores y obras para su aplicación en el aula

Depto. de Lingüística, Estudios Árabes, Hebreos y de Asia OrientalFac. de FilologíaFALSEsubmitte

Eliminación de peces introducidos como medida de restauración de lagos de alta montaña

E. Carrillo, J. Ninot, T. Buchaca and M. Ventura. Blanes, LIFE+ LIMNOPIRINEUS Technical OfficeEntre los objetivos del proyecto LIFE+ LimnoPirineus (2014-2019) figuraban la restauración ecológica de ocho lagos pirenaicos y la recuperación o mejora de las poblaciones de diversas especies de interés comunitario de estos lagos, mediante la erradicación o el control intensivo de peces introducidos de hasta cuatro especies. En la mayor parte de lagos el objetivo operativo ha sido la erradicación, mientras que tan solo en uno de ellos el objetivo pasaba simplemente por llevar a cabo un control intensivo hasta alcanzar al menos una reducción del 75 % de la población inicial. A finales de 2019, estos objetivos se han alcanzado completamente para cinco de los lagos de actuación, mientras que en los otros tres lagos están cerca de alcanzarse, cosa que sucederá probablemente antes de finales de 2020. Se han puesto a punto métodos de extracción de peces basados en la combinación de hasta tres técnicas de captura principales: redes, trampas y pesca eléctrica. Se demuestra que la erradicación de los peces es factible en muchos lagos de alta montaña con una inversión suficiente en medios materiales y humanos, y con una adecuada planificación de las operaciones. Cuando no es factible la erradicación, el control intensivo mediante un esfuerzo sostenible en el tiempo es también una alternativa que cabe considerar a medio plazo.Peer reviewe

Insulin secretion in patients with latent autoimmune diabetes (LADA): half way between type 1 and type 2 diabetes: action LADA 9

Background: The study of endogenous insulin secretion may provide relevant insight into the comparison of the natural history of adult onset latent autoimmune diabetes (LADA) with types 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study was to compare the results of the C-peptide response to mixed-meal stimulation in LADA patients with different disease durations and subjects with type 2 and adult-onset type 1 diabetes. Methods: Stimulated C-peptide secretion was assessed using the mixed-meal tolerance test in patients with LADA (n = 32), type 1 diabetes mellitus (n = 33) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (n = 30). All patients were 30 to 70 years old at disease onset. The duration of diabetes in all groups ranged from 6 months to 10 years. The recruitment strategy was predefined to include at least 10 subjects in the following 3 disease onset categories for each group: 6 to 18 months, 19 months to 5 years and 5 to 10 years. Results: At all time-points of the mixed-meal tolerance test, patients with LADA had a lower stimulated C-peptide response than the type 2 diabetes group and a higher response than the type 1 diabetes group. The same results were found when the peak or area under the C-peptide curve was measured. When the results were stratified by time since disease onset, a similar pattern of residual insulin secretory capacity was observed. Conclusions: The present study shows that the magnitude of stimulated insulin secretion in LADA is intermediate between that of type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus

Roles of a conserved proline in the internal fusion peptide of Ebola glycoprotein

The structural determinants underlying the functionality of viral internal fusion peptides (IFPs) are not well understood. We have compared EBOwt (GAAIGLAWIPY- FGPAAE), representing the IFP of the Ebola fusion protein GP, and EBOmut (GAAIGLAWIPYFGRAAE) derived from a non-functional mutant with conserved Pro537 substituted by Arg. P537R substitution did not abrogate peptide-membrane association, but interfered with the ability to induce bilayer destabilization. Structural determinations suggest that Pro537 is required to preserve a membrane-perturbing local conformation in apolar environments