Virtual reality and process mining applied to operator training in complex assembly tasks

One of the proposals of Industry 4.0 is the integration of machines and operators through network connections and information management. One of the challenges that can be addressed following this approach is the management of knowledge in the industry or, in other words, the transmission of knowledge from the expert operators to the new ones. This work has been developed a system that combines Virtual Reality and Process Mining to allow this knowledge transmission in the particular case of assembly tasks. Virtual Reality allows to create work environments that reproduce the real ones and interact with them without detracting resources of other processes or facing the risks of working with real systems. Process Mining allows to acquire the knowledge of experts, store it in models and then transmit it to novices. The developed system has been tested by means of several examples of assemblies with Lego

Multi-Robot Interfaces and Operator Situational Awareness: Study of the Impact of Immersion and Prediction

Multi-robot missions are a challenge for operators in terms of workload and situational awareness. These operators have to receive data from the robots, extract information, understand the situation properly, make decisions, generate the adequate commands, and send them to the robots. The consequences of excessive workload and lack of awareness can vary from inefficiencies to accidents. This work focuses on the study of future operator interfaces of multi-robot systems, taking into account relevant issues such as multimodal interactions, immersive devices, predictive capabilities and adaptive displays. Specifically, four interfaces have been designed and developed: a conventional, a predictive conventional, a virtual reality and a predictive virtual reality interface. The four interfaces have been validated by the performance of twenty-four operators that supervised eight multi-robot missions of fire surveillance and extinguishing. The results of the workload and situational awareness tests show that virtual reality improves the situational awareness without increasing the workload of operators, whereas the effects of predictive components are not significant and depend on their implementation

Proyecto PRIC: Protección Robotizada de Infraestructuras Críticas

Esta comunicación resume los trabajos realizados por el Grupo de Robótica y Cibernética (RobCib) del Centro de Automática y Robótica (CAR), formado por UPM y CSIC, en el contexto del proyecto PRIC (Protección Robotizada de Infraestructuras Críticas). Este proyecto tiene como objetivo el desarrollo de sistemas robóticos capaces de vigilar las infraestructuras críticas, detectando las potenciales amenazas e interviniendo cuando sea necesario. Algunos de estos trabajos están encaminados a la detección de anomalías visuales y acústicas, la detección, predicción e interceptación de intrusos, el desarrollo de un robot de pequeño tamaño y un manipulador híper-redundante para intervenir en áreas de difícil acceso, el diseño de una interfaz para misiones multi-robot y la adaptación de herramientas comunes en el mundo de la robótica a los escenarios multi-robot

El Castru (Vigaña, Balmonte de Miranda, Asturias): un pequeño poblado fortificado de las montañas occidentales cantábricas durante la Edad del Hierro

p. 211-237Este artículo presenta los datos arqueológicos recuperados en las excavaciones del poblado castreño de El Castru, en Vigaña (Balmonte de Miranda, Asturias) realizadas en 2012 y 2013. Dicho yacimiento constituye un buen ejemplo de los pequeños castros de la Edad del Hierro en las montañas del área occidental cantábrica. Por ello, el análisis de las informaciones obtenidas y su contextualización a escala regional ofrecen interesantes aportaciones al debate sobre las formas de poblamiento y subsistencia adoptadas por las comunidades del I milenio a.C. en el Noroeste ibérico.S

In Vitro Antifungal Activity of Ibrexafungerp (SCY-078) Against Contemporary Blood Isolates From Medically Relevant Species of Candida: A European Study

BackgroundIbrexafungerp (SCY-078) is the newest oral and intravenous antifungal drug with broad activity, currently undergoing clinical trials for invasive candidiasis. ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to assess the in vitro activity of ibrexafungerp and comparators against a collection of 434 European blood isolates of Candida. MethodsIbrexafungerp, caspofungin, fluconazole, and micafungin minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were collected from 12 European laboratories for 434 blood isolates, including 163 Candida albicans, 108 Candida parapsilosis, 60 Candida glabrata, 40 Candida tropicalis, 29 Candida krusei, 20 Candida orthopsilosis, 6 Candida guilliermondii, 2 Candida famata, 2 Candida lusitaniae, and 1 isolate each of Candida bracarensis, Candida catenulata, Candida dubliniensis, and Candida kefyr. MICs were determined by the EUCAST broth microdilution method, and isolates were classified according to recommended clinical breakpoints and epidemiological cutoffs. Additionally, 22 Candida auris from different clinical specimens were evaluated. ResultsIbrexafungerp MICs ranged from 0.016 to >= 8 mg/L. The lowest ibrexafungerp MICs were observed for C. albicans (geometric MIC 0.062 mg/L, MIC range 0.016-0.5 mg/L) and the highest ibrexafungerp MICs were observed for C. tropicalis (geometric MIC 0.517 mg/L, MIC range 0.06->= 8 mg/L). Modal MICs/MIC(50)s (mg/L) against Candida spp. were 0.125/0.06 for C. albicans, 0.5/0.5 for C. parapsilosis, 0.25/0.25 for C. glabrata, 0.5/0.5 for C. tropicalis, 1/1 for C. krusei, 4/2 for C. orthopsilosis, and 0.5/0.5 for C. auris. Ibrexafungerp showed activity against fluconazole- and echinocandin-resistant isolates. If adopting wild-type upper limits, a non-wild-type phenotype for ibrexafungerp was only observed for 16/434 (3.7%) isolates: 11 (4.6%) C. parapsilosis, 4 (5%) C. glabrata, and 1 (2.5%) C. tropicalis. ConclusionIbrexafungerp showed a potent in vitro activity against Candida.This study received funding from SCYNEXIS. The funder was not involved in the study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data, the writing of the article, or the decision to submit it for publication. CM-A is a recipient of a grant from Fundació n ONCE (Oportunidad al Talento). EE, AG, NJ, CM-A, and GQ have received grant support from Consejerı́a de Educación, Universidades e Investigación del Gobierno Vasco (GIC15 IT-990-16), Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria del Gobierno de España (FIS PI11/00203), and UPV/EHU (UFI 11/25). All authors declare no other competing interests

Performance of Screening Strategies for Latent Tuberculosis Infection in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Results from the ENEIDA Registry of GETECCU

(1) Aims: Patients receiving antitumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapy are at risk of developing tuberculosis (TB), usually due to the reactivation of a latent TB infection (LTBI). LTBI screening and treatment decreases the risk of TB. This study evaluated the diagnostic performance of different LTBI screening strategies in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). (2) Methods: Patients in the Spanish ENEIDA registry with IBD screened for LTBI between January 2003 and January 2018 were included. The diagnostic yield of different strategies (dual screening with tuberculin skin test [TST] and interferon-gamma-release assay [IGRA], two-step TST, and early screening performed at least 12 months before starting biological treatment) was analyzed. (3) Results: Out of 7594 screened patients, 1445 (19%; 95% CI 18-20%) had LTBI. Immunomodulator (IMM) treatment at screening decreased the probability of detecting LTBI (20% vs. 17%, p = 0.001). Regarding screening strategies, LTBI was more frequently diagnosed by dual screening than by a single screening strategy (IGRA, OR 0.60; 95% CI 0.50-0.73, p < 0.001; TST, OR 0.76; 95% CI 0.66-0.88, p < 0.001). Two-step TST increased the diagnostic yield of a single TST by 24%. More cases of LTBI were diagnosed by early screening than by routine screening before starting anti-TNF agents (21% [95% CI 20-22%] vs. 14% [95% CI 13-16%], p < 0.001). The highest diagnostic performance for LTBI (29%) was obtained by combining early and TST/IGRA dual screening strategies in patients without IMM. (4): Conclusions: Both early screening and TST/IGRA dual screening strategies significantly increased diagnostic performance for LTBI in patients with IBD, with optimal performance achieved when they are used together in the absence of IMM

Derecho y tecnologías avanzadas

¿Están reñidos el Derecho y las Administraciones Públicas con las tecno- logías más avanzadas de la información y la comunicación? La respuesta negativa a esta pregunta fue la conclusión de las aportaciones de los participantes en las IV Jornadas sobre Derecho y Tecnología y en el XIV Encuentro Ibero-Latino-Americano sobre Gobierno Electrónico e Inclusión Digital, celebrados en Zaragoza los días 18 y 19 de junio de 2012. Cada uno, desde su perspectiva y campo de actividad, trató de aportar pruebas de cómo las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación más avanzadas aportan soluciones en el campo del Derecho y las Admi- nistraciones Públicas. Estas aportaciones están recogidas en este libro, agrupadas en tres blo- ques diferentes. En el primero, bajo el título Tecnologías avanzadas y Derecho se encuen- tran los trabajos aportados sobre el uso de tecnologías avanzadas en actividades relacionadas con el Derecho y la Administración de Justicia, con casos concretos de Brasil y España, o de tipo general, aplicable en cualquier país. En el segundo, el título Administración electrónica: acceso de los ciudadanos a los servicios públicos reúne experiencias concretas llevadas a cabo en España, Unión Europea y Brasil. Por último, y no menos importante, el título Aprendizaje y tecnologías recoge propuestas para fomentar el uso de las nuevas tecnologías en la docencia, tanto en Derecho como en otros campos de la docencia universitaria

Budesonide orodispersible tablets maintain remission in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial of patients with eosinophilic esophagitis

Background & Aims: Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic inflammatory disorder. Swallowed topical-acting corticosteroids are effective in bringing active EoE into remission. However, it is not clear whether these drugs are effective for long-term maintenance of remission. Methods: We performed a double-blind trial to compare the efficacy and safety of 2 dosages of a budesonide orodispersible tablet (BOT) vs placebo in maintaining remission of EoE. Maintenance of remission was defined as absence of clinical and histologic relapse and no premature withdrawal for any reason. Two hundred and four adults with EoE in clinical and histologic remission, from 29 European study sites, were randomly assigned to groups given BOT 0.5 mg twice daily (n = 68), BOT 1.0 mg twice daily (n = 68), or placebo twice daily (n = 68) for up to 48 weeks. Results: At end of treatment, 73.5% of patients receiving BOT 0.5 mg twice daily and 75% receiving BOT 1.0 mg twice daily were in persistent remission compared with 4.4% of patients in the placebo group (P < .001 for both comparisons of BOT with placebo). Median time to relapse in the placebo group was 87 days. The frequency of adverse events was similar in the BOT and placebo groups. Morning serum levels of cortisol were in the normal range at baseline and did not significantly change during treatment. Four patients receiving BOT developed asymptomatic, low serum levels of cortisol. Clinically manifested candidiasis was suspected in 16.2% of patients in the BOT 0.5 mg group and in 11.8% of patients in the BOT 1.0 mg group; all infections resolved with treatment. Conclusions: In a phase 3 trial, up to 48 weeks of treatment with BOT (0.5 mg or 1.0 mg twice daily) was superior to placebo in maintaining remission of EoE. Both dosages were equally effective and well tolerated. EudraCT number; 2014-001485-99; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02434029

Application of immersive technologies and natural language to hyper-redundant robot teleoperation

This work presents an analysis of immersive realities and natural language applied to the teleoperation of hyper-redundant robots. Such devices have a large number of degrees of freedom, so they often exhibit complex configurations frustrating their spatial understanding. This work aims to contrast two hypotheses; first, if immersive interfaces enhance the telepresence and efficiency against conventional ones; and second, if natural language reduces workload and improves performance against other conventional tools. A total of 2 interfaces and 6 interaction tools have been tested by 50 people. As a result, immersive interfaces were more efficient, improved situational awareness and visual feedback, and were chosen by 94% of participants against conventional ones. On the other hand, participants performed better using natural language than conventional tools despite having less previous experience with the first ones. Additionally, according to 52% of the population, the preferred interaction tool was a mixed strategy that combined voice recognition and hand gestures. Therefore, it is concluded that immersive realities and natural language should play a very important role in the near future of hyper-redundant robots and their teleoperation

Design of a Hyper-Redundant Robot and Teleoperation Using Mixed Reality for Inspection Tasks

Hyper-redundant robots are highly articulated devices that present numerous technical challenges such as their design, control or remote operation. However, they offer superior kinematic skills than traditional robots for multiple applications. This work proposes an original and custom-made design for a discrete and hyper-redundant manipulator. It is comprised of 7 sections actuated by cables and 14 degrees of freedom. It has been optimized to be very robust, accurate and capable of moving payloads with high dexterity. Furthermore, it has been efficiently controlled from the actuators to high-level strategies based on the management of its shape. However, these highly articulated systems often exhibit complex shapes that frustrate their spatial understanding. Immersive technologies emerge as a good solution to remotely and safely teleoperate the presented robot for an inspection task in a hazardous environment. Experimental results validate the proposed robot design and control strategies. As a result, it is concluded that hyper-redundant robots and immersive technologies should play an important role in the near future of automated and remote applications.This research was funded by RoboCity2030-DIH-CM, Madrid Robotics Digital Innovation Hub, S2018/NMT-4331, and by the project VJIDOCUPM18JCG from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.Peer reviewe