PLAN-IT: Scheduling assistant for solar system exploration

A frame-based expert scheduling system shell, PLAN-IT, is developed for spacecraft scheduling in the Request Integration Phase, using the Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby (CRAF) mission as a development base. Basic, structured, and expert scheduling techniques are reviewed. Data elements such as activity representation and resource conflict representation are discussed. Resource constraints include minimum and maximum separation times between activities, percentage of time pointed at specific targets, and separation time between targeted intervals of a given activity. The different scheduling technique categories and the rationale for their selection are also considered

Compartment-dependent activities of Wnt3a/β-catenin signaling during vertebrate axial extension

Extension of the vertebrate body results from the concerted activity of many signals in the posterior embryonic end. Among them, Wnt3a has been shown to play relevant roles in the regulation of axial progenitor activity, mesoderm formation and somitogenesis. However, its impact on axial growth remains to be fully understood. Using a transgenic approach in the mouse, we found that the effect of Wnt3a signaling varies depending on the target tissue. High levels of Wnt3a in the epiblast prevented formation of neural tissues, but did not impair axial progenitors from producing different mesodermal lineages. These mesodermal tissues maintained a remarkable degree of organization, even within a severely malformed embryo. However, from the cells that failed to take a neural fate, only those that left the epithelial layer of the epiblast activated a mesodermal program. The remaining tissue accumulated as a folded epithelium that kept some epiblast-like characteristics. Together with previously published observations, our results suggest a dose-dependent role for Wnt3a in regulating the balance between renewal and selection of differentiation fates of axial progenitors in the epiblast. In the paraxial mesoderm, appropriate regulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling was required not only for somitogenesis, but also for providing proper anterior-posterior polarity to the somites. Both processes seem to rely on mechanisms with different requirements for feedback modulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling, once segmentation occurred in the presence of high levels of Wnt3a in the presomitic mesoderm, but not after permanent expression of a constitutively active form of β-catenin. Together, our findings suggest that Wnt3a/β-catenin signaling plays sequential roles during posterior extension, which are strongly dependent on the target tissue. This provides an additional example of how much the functional output of signaling systems depends on the competence of the responding cells.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia: (PTDC/BIA-BCM/110638/2009, PTDC/SAU-BID/110640/2009, SFRH/BD/33562/2008, SFRH/BD/51876/2012)

Hotel occupation management: Staybridge Hotel case

This article discusses the hotel management, more specifically in the administration of the occupation. The aim of this paper is to analyze the hotel guest occupation, at this time of crisis, and how the tools and strategy can help in this phase. The region chosen was the capital of São Paulo. The methodology applied on this study was based on fundamental concepts of hospitality and its vision in Brazil, to support this theme a case study of the Hotel Staybridge was highlighted. The study about the tools used in the hotel industry and it’s contributions for the management of this sector, especially Revenue Management. Finally, it was made also a connection between the tools and the strategy applied by the hotel related to guest occupation management. The results show that the economic factors have direct impact on the occupancy related to guest occupation, so the management by use of the Revenue Management technique is not successful alone; It only works with the other presented tools and strategies practices

Colliding Theories and Power Differentials: A Cautionary Tale of Conducting Action Research While Student Teaching

Accounts of student teachers engaging in action research are abundant. Few of those accounts, however, provide insights into the challenges that this context might pose for an action researcher. Using narrative research methods, this study shares the story of one pre-service elementary education teacher who, with the permission of her supervising teacher and student teaching partner, made plans to teach a New Literacies Studies unit during her fourth grade student teaching placement and engage in action research in order to reflect on teaching and learning during that unit. Ultimately, philosophical tensions underpinning the student teacher and supervising’s understandings of literacy and literacy instruction, as well as power differentials that often define the student teacher/supervising teacher relationship, undermined the student teacher’s role as action researcher. Implications for student teachers engaging in action research and their university mentors are discussed

Fluoroquinolone Efficacy against Tuberculosis Is Driven by Penetration into Lesions and Activity against Resident Bacterial Populations.

Fluoroquinolones represent the pillar of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) treatment, with moxifloxacin, levofloxacin, or gatifloxacin being prescribed to MDR-TB patients. Recently, several clinical trials of "universal" drug regimens, aiming to treat drug-susceptible and drug-resistant TB, have included a fluoroquinolone. In the absence of clinical data comparing their side-by-side efficacies in controlled MDR-TB trials, a pharmacological rationale is needed to guide the selection of the most efficacious fluoroquinolone. The present studies were designed to test the hypothesis that fluoroquinolone concentrations (pharmacokinetics) and activity (pharmacodynamics) at the site of infection are better predictors of efficacy than the plasma concentrations and potency measured in standard growth inhibition assays and are better suited to determinations of whether one of the fluoroquinolones outperforms the others in rabbits with active TB. We first measured the penetration of these fluoroquinolones in lung lesion compartments, and their potency against bacterial populations that reside in each compartment, to compute lesion-centric pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) parameters. PK modeling methods were used to quantify drug penetration from plasma to tissues at human-equivalent doses. On the basis of these metrics, moxifloxacin emerged with a clear advantage, whereas plasma-based PK/PD favored levofloxacin (the ranges of the plasma AUC/MIC ratio [i.e., the area under the concentration-time curve over 24 h in the steady state divided by the MIC] are 46 to 86 for moxifloxacin and 74 to 258 for levofloxacin). A comparative efficacy trial in the rabbit model of active TB demonstrated the superiority of moxifloxacin in reducing bacterial burden at the lesion level and in sterilizing cellular and necrotic lesions. Collectively, these results show that PK/PD data obtained at the site of infection represent an adequate predictor of drug efficacy against TB and constitute the baseline required to explore synergies, antagonism, and drug-drug interactions in fluoroquinolone-containing regimens

El control interno y la productividad operacional de las medianas empresas comerciales del Cantón Milagro, 2015

The current investigation is to analyze the incident control in the operational productivity of the small sized businesses in Milagro, with knowledge that many of these businesses operate in an empirical manner and take care with tools and strategies that are indispensable in order to get favorable results. One of these indispensable strategies is to get better at applying the correct internal controls in all of the business operations. To develop the same, we use investigation techniques, like interviews and polls, we realized a study about the actual situation is that in different organizations had their own internal controls. The analysis results made us realize, that the internal control influences a large portion of the correct development of the operations or processes in an organization, nevertheless knowing of the importance of a good internal control, very few consider the process, the causes that they determined, among others, lacking the knowledge of economic recourses, ect. This investigation pretends to support and contribute to a better oriented small business, in which with the implementation or strengthening the internal controls helps the obtain profitable benefits