Croissance du patudo (Thunnus obesus) de l'Océan Atlantique intertropical oriental

The growth of big eye tuna (Thunnus obesus) in the Eastern Tropical Atlantic Ocean was studied using Petersen's method, by the analysis of the length frequency data of the F.I.S. (French-Ivorian-Senegalese) surface tuna fleet from 1969 to 1977. The results are in agreement with a previous study by Champagnat and Pianet (1973) and with observations made in the Pacific Ocean

Benchmarking network propagation methods for disease gene identification

In-silico identification of potential target genes for disease is an essential aspect of drug target discovery. Recent studies suggest that successful targets can be found through by leveraging genetic, genomic and protein interaction information. Here, we systematically tested the ability of 12 varied algorithms, based on network propagation, to identify genes that have been targeted by any drug, on gene-disease data from 22 common non-cancerous diseases in OpenTargets. We considered two biological networks, six performance metrics and compared two types of input gene-disease association scores. The impact of the design factors in performance was quantified through additive explanatory models. Standard cross-validation led to over-optimistic performance estimates due to the presence of protein complexes. In order to obtain realistic estimates, we introduced two novel protein complex-aware cross-validation schemes. When seeding biological networks with known drug targets, machine learning and diffusion-based methods found around 2-4 true targets within the top 20 suggestions. Seeding the networks with genes associated to disease by genetics decreased performance below 1 true hit on average. The use of a larger network, although noisier, improved overall performance. We conclude that diffusion-based prioritisers and machine learning applied to diffusion-based features are suited for drug discovery in practice and improve over simpler neighbour-voting methods. We also demonstrate the large impact of choosing an adequate validation strategy and the definition of seed disease genesPeer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Service-based network dimensioning for 5G networks assisted by real data

The fifth-generation (5G) of cellular communications is expected to be deployed in the next years to support a wide range of services with different demands of peak data rates, latency and quality of experience (QoE). In this work, we propose a novel approach for radio network dimensioning (RND), named as Heuristic RND (HRND), which uses real open data in the network dimensioning process. This procedure, named as NetDataDrilling, provides the dimensioning target area by means of network data selection and visualization from the existing infrastructure. Moreover, the proposed NetDimensioning heuristic considers the necessary parameters of numerology and bandwidth parts (BWP) supported by New Radio (NR) to provide a balanced network design mediating among the requirements of coverage, capacity, QoE and cost. The proposed HRND is based on the novel quality of experience (QoE) parameter ζ by probabilistically characterizing the 5G radio resource control (rrc) states to ensure the availability of peak data rates for the MNO's required percentage of the time. The simulation results show the fulfilment of QoE and load balancing parameters with significant cost savings compared to the conventional RND methodology.This work was supported by the Spanish National Project TERESA-ADA (MINECO/AEI/R, UE), under Grant TEC2017-90093-C3-2-R

Achievable throughput with Block Diagonalization on OFDM indoor demonstrator

The proceeding at: 21st European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO 2013), took place 2013, September 09-13, in Marrakech, Septiembre 2013.Block Diagonalization (BD) is a linear precoding transmission technique able to achieve full multiplexing gain in multiple antenna systems. In this work we present a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) implementation based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) made up of a transmitter with 4 antennas and 2 users equipped with 2 antennas each one, which allows us to evaluate the performance of BD in indoor scenarios. First, the theoretic achievable rates are obtained for the measured channel in an offline evaluation. After that, the bit error rate performance is evaluated regarding the system sum throughput. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that BD performance is validated using a multiuser MIMO testbed.This work has been partially funded by research projects COMONSENS (CSD2008-000 1 0), and GRE3N (TEC20 11-29006-C03-02).Publicad

Some reflections on the Late Prehistory of the Montemuro region and its surroundings (central-northern Portugal): Metal artefacts and their context

Neste artigo oferecemos uma revisão exaustiva da metalurgia do Calcolítico e Idade do Bronze da serra do Montemuro e áreas geográficas imediatas, identificáveis com o interflúvio Douro/Paiva e os planaltos centrais. O repertório de materiais conhecidos ascende a 13 objectos, que estudamos prestando especial atenção aos seus problemas de identificação, contextualização e composição química. Apresentamos novas análises de um machado de alvado e fazemos a revisão da informação analítica disponível para outros três artefactos. Os diferentes metais e ligas empregadas explicam-se, em parte, pelas diferenças cronológicas entre as peças, mas também por razões de carácter cultural. Na área de estudo documentam-se machados de alvado em ligas binárias e ternárias, tratando-se de uma zona transicional ou de fronteira entre as situadas a norte (machados de alvado com ligas ternárias) e a sul (ligas binárias). Os achados de dois moldes metálicos, um deles na área limítrofe, apontam também para a produção local de diferentes tipos de machados no Bronze Final. Visando uma futura contextualização crono-cultural das comunidades, procede-se à tentativa de integração e comparação dos elementos arqueológicos, procurando o seu enquadramento na Pré e Proto-história regionalThis article provides a thorough review of the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age metallurgy from the Montemuro range and its adjacent area, located between the Rivers Douro and Paiva and on the central high plateau. The known repertoire is made up of 13 artefacts, which are studied here paying particular attention to the problems of their identification, contextualization and chemical composition. We present new analyses of a socketed axe and we review the analytical results available for another three objects. The several metals and alloys can be explained, to some extent, by the chronological differences between the artefacts, as well as to cultural factors. Socketed axes with both binary and ternary alloys are detected in the study area, which is considered a transitional or border zone between those located to the north (socketed axes with leaded alloys) and those to the south (socketed axes with binary alloys). The finds of two metallic moulds, one of them in the adjacent area, points to the local production of several types of axes during the Late Bronze Age. Aiming at a future chrono-cultural contextualization of these communities, we attempt to integrate the archaeological information into a wider framework, that of the regional late prehistor

Cognitive Blind Interference Alignment for Macro-Femto Cellular Networks

The proceeding at: 2014 IEEE Global Communications Conference took place 8-12 December 2014 in Austin, TX, USA.A cognitive Blind Interference Alignment scheme is devised for use in macro-femto cellular networks. The proposed scheme does not require any channel state information at the transmitter or data sharing among the Macro Base Station and the Femto Access Points. It achieves transmission to femto cell users without affecting the rates of the Macro users. This is achieved by appropriately combining the supersymbols of the Macro Base Stations and the Femto Access Points. It is shown that in some scenarios the use of this scheme results to considerable rates for Femto users.This work has been partially funded by research projects COMONSENS (CSD2008-00010) and GRE3N (TEC2011-29006-C03-02). This research work was partly carried out at the ESAT Laboratory of KU Leuven in the frame of the Belgian Programme on Interuniversity Attractive Poles Programme initiated by the Belgian Science Policy Office: IUAP P7/23 ‘Belgian network on stochastic modeling analysis design and optimization of communication systems’ (BESTCOM) 2012-2017.Publicad

Control architecture of the ATLAS 2020 lower-limb active orthosis

This paper outlines the control details implemented in the wearable gait exoskeleton ATLAS 2020 for improving the therapy of SMA children. This paper discusses the control challenges of a gait-training wearable exoskeleton for SMA children. Such device would also increase these children's quality of life, achieving a reduction of disability and increased functional independence.Peer reviewe

Unsupervised clustering for 5G network planning assisted by real data

The fifth-generation (5G) of networks is being deployed to provide a wide range of new services and to manage the accelerated traffic load of the existing networks. In the present-day networks, data has become more noteworthy than ever to infer about the traffic load and existing network infrastructure to minimize the cost of new 5G deployments. Identifying the region of highest traffic density in megabyte (MB) per km2 has an important implication in minimizing the cost per bit for the mobile network operators (MNOs). In this study, we propose a base station (BS) clustering framework based on unsupervised learning to identify the target area known as the highest traffic cluster (HTC) for 5G deployments. We propose a novel approach assisted by real data to determine the appropriate number of clusters k and to identify the HTC. The algorithm, named as NetClustering, determines the HTC and appropriate value of k by fulfilling MNO's requirements on the highest traffic density MB/km2 and the target deployment area in km2. To compare the appropriate value of k and other performance parameters, we use the Elbow heuristic as a benchmark. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm fulfills the MNO's requirements on the target deployment area in km2 and highest traffic density MB/km2 with significant cost savings and achieves higher network utilization compared to the Elbow heuristic. In brief, the proposed algorithm provides a more meaningful interpretation of the underlying data in the context of clustering performed for network planningThis work was supported by the Spanish National Project IRENE-EARTH (PID2020-115323RB-C33/AEI/10.13039/501100011033

Mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in rheumatoid arthritis

Review[Abstract] Control of excessive mitochondrial oxidative stress could provide new targets for both preventive and therapeutic interventions in the treatment of chronic inflammation or any pathology that develops under an inflammatory scenario, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Increasing evidence has demonstrated the role of mitochondrial alterations in autoimmune diseases mainly due to the interplay between metabolism and innate immunity, but also in the modulation of inflammatory response of resident cells, such as synoviocytes. Thus, mitochondrial dysfunction derived from several danger signals could activate tricarboxylic acid (TCA) disruption, thereby favoring a vicious cycle of oxidative/mitochondrial stress. Mitochondrial dysfunction can act through modulating innate immunity via redox-sensitive inflammatory pathways or direct activation of the inflammasome. Besides, mitochondria also have a central role in regulating cell death, which is deeply altered in RA. Additionally, multiple evidence suggests that pathological processes in RA can be shaped by epigenetic mechanisms and that in turn, mitochondria are involved in epigenetic regulation. Finally, we will discuss about the involvement of some dietary components in the onset and progression of RA.Instituto de Salud Carlos III; PI17/00404Instituto de Salud Carlos III; PI18/01803Instituto de Salud Carlos III; PI19/01206Instituto de Salud Carlos III; PI20/00793Instituto de Salud Carlos III; PI21/01969Instituto de Salud Carlos III; RICORS RD21/0002/0009Xunta de Galicia; IN607A2017/11Xunta de Galicia; IN607D2020/1

White Paper for Research Beyond 5G

The documents considers both research in the scope of evolutions of the 5G systems (for the period around 2025) and some alternative/longer term views (with later outcomes, or leading to substantial different design choices). This document reflects on four main system areas: fundamental theory and technology, radio and spectrum management; system design; and alternative concepts. The result of this exercise can be broken in two different strands: one focused in the evolution of technologies that are already ongoing development for 5G systems, but that will remain research areas in the future (with “more challenging” requirements and specifications); the other, highlighting technologies that are not really considered for deployment today, or that will be essential for addressing problems that are currently non-existing, but will become apparent when 5G systems begin their widespread deployment