Thoracoabdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair: Current Endovascular Perspectives

Thoracoabdominal aneurysms account for roughly 3% of identified aneurysms annually in the United States. Advancements in endovascular techniques and devices have broadened their application to these complex surgical problems. This paper will focus on the current state of endovascular thoracoabdominal aneurysm repair, including specific considerations in patient selection, operative planning, and perioperative complications. Both total endovascular and hybrid options will be considered

A recommender system for process discovery

Over the last decade, several algorithms for process discovery and process conformance have been proposed. Still, it is well-accepted that there is no dominant algorithm in any of these two disciplines, and then it is often difficult to apply them successfully. Most of these algorithms need a close-to expert knowledge in order to be applied satisfactorily. In this paper, we present a recommender system that uses portfolio-based algorithm selection strategies to face the following problems: to find the best discovery algorithm for the data at hand, and to allow bridging the gap between general users and process mining algorithms. Experiments performed with the developed tool witness the usefulness of the approach for a variety of instances.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author’s final draft

Low temperature CO oxidation

Catalytic low-temperature abatement of carbon monoxide becomes essential in environmental pollution control. CO Oxidation, CO Preferential Oxidation (PROX) and Water Gas Shift (WGS) reaction are the conventional technologies used to remove carbon monoxide at low temperature. Perovskite-type oxides have been extensively studied in the last years as catalysts for these reactions due to their high activity and catalytic stability. This chapter describes the state-of-the-art of using perovskite-based catalysts of general formula ABO3 in these reactions. Key factors such as the type and nature of A and B ions or the formation of oxygen vacancies or interstitials by doping are discussed in the light of the reaction mechanism in each casePeer reviewe

Detección De Perfiles De Rendimiento Académico En La Universidad Nacional Del Este De Paraguay

La universidad enfrenta actualmente el desafío de mejorar su proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje. Entre las variables que debe atender se encuentra el perfil de rendimiento académico de sus estudiantes. Estudios sobre este tema muestran que hay diversas formas de evaluar esta variable, que pueden variar según el contexto regional y la realidad social. Ante este problema, en este trabajo se propuso la detección temprana de perfiles de alumnos de la Universidad Nacional del Este, mediante técnicas de minería de datos. Se aplicaron las técnicas denominadas “agrupamiento” (clustering) y “árboles de decisión” (decision trees) sobre datos consolidados de 1801 alumnos. Estos datos fueron cargados en un almacén de datos. Se observó que las variables: “grado educacional de los padres” y “actitud hacia el estudio”; son algunas de las que más inciden en el rendimiento académico de los alumnos. Además, se aporta información que puede asistir a la toma de decisión. The university currently faces the challenge of improving its teaching-learning process. Among the variables it must address is the academic performance profile of its students. Studies on this topic show that there are various ways to evaluate this variable, which can vary according to the regional context and social reality. In view of this problem, this work proposes the early detection of student profiles at the Universidad Nacional del Este, through data mining techniques. Techniques “clustering” and “decision trees” were applied on consolidated data of 1801 students. These data were loaded in a data warehouse. It was observed that variables: “parents' educational grade” and “attitude towards study”; are some of the ones that more affect the academic performance of the students. In addition, information is provided that can assist in decision making

Gold Functionalized Supported Ionic Liquids Catalyst for CO Oxidation.

The present study tries to give an insight to the combination of the homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic properties in a new class of materials. Well dispersed gold nanoparticles on an ionic liquid layer supported on a mineral carrier have been prepared. This work is concentrated on the characterizations and understanding of the interactions between all the components of the catalytic system. The application of the materials in the reaction of oxidation of carbon monoxide shows rather unexpected results¿a good catalytic activity completely independent of the temperature.L. Bobadilla acknowledges Junta de Andalucía (Project PDG-TEP01965). S. Ivanova and A. Penkova acknowledge MEC for their contracts Ramon y Cajal and Juan de la Cierva.Peer Reviewe

Operando DRIFTS-MS Study of WGS and rWGS Reaction on Biochar-Based Pt Catalysts: The Promotional Effect of Na

Biochar-based Pt catalysts, unpromoted and Na-promoted, were prepared by an incipient wetness impregnation method and characterised by Inductively coupled plasma mass spoectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis, X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption and transmission, and scanning electron microscopy. It was demonstrated that a sodium promoter modifies the acid-base properties of the support, altering the Pt-support interaction. An operando Diffuse reflectance infrared fourier transform spectroscopy-mass spectrometry (DRIFTS-MS) study was performed to gain insights into the reaction pathways and the mechanism of the Water-Gass-Shift (WGS) and the Reverse Water-Gass-Shift (rWGS) reactions. It was demonstrated that the addition of Na enhances the catalytic performance due to the changes induced by the alkali in the electronic structure of the Pt active sites. This effect favours the activation of H2O molecules during the WGS reaction and the dissociation of CO2 during the rWGS reaction, although it may also favour the consecutive CO methanation pathway.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad ENE2013-47880-C3-2-R, ENE2017-82451-C3-3R, BES-2014-06824

Detección de perfiles de rendimiento académico en la Universidad Nacional del Este de Paraguay

El problema de la deserción temprana en las Universidades se ve agravado cada día más por diferentes causas. La situación académica de pobre rendimiento se ve afectada por múltiples factores que conforman un escenario complejo de análisis. En general no existe un solo aspecto que determine el fracaso de los alumnos, por el contrario, es la interacción de varias circunstancias la que provoca el abandono de las carreras universitarias. Claramente, la situación socio-económica es clave a la hora del análisis y no puede dejarse de lado cuando se intenta estudiar el fenómeno de la deserción. Es importante, por tanto, estudiar y determinar cuáles son las variables que inciden en el rendimiento académico a fin de poder establecer estrategias de acción pedagógicas que permitan mejorar dicho rendimiento. Claramente, la interacción de dichas variables es un problema complejo de abordar con técnicas de análisis tradicionales. Por esto se propone realizar un análisis de los datos utilizando herramientas computacionales y algoritmos adecuados para tal fin. Este proyecto tiene como propósito intentar establecer los perfiles de rendimiento académico de los alumnos de la Universidad Nacional del Este (UNE) de Ciudad del Este – Paraguay a fin de poder describir la situación de deserción e intentar explicar las causas que motivan el abandono de las carreras que se dictan allí. Para ello, se utiliza- rán técnicas de minería sobre los datos académi- cos y socio-económicos de los alumnos, aplicando algoritmos de búsqueda de conocimiento en grandes volúmenes de información. Entre esos algoritmos de Minería de Datos (del inglés Data Mining o DM) se destaca la utilización de redes neuronales, algoritmos genéticos, predicción dinámica, agentes inteligentes, clustering, reglas de asociación, árboles de decisión, análisis de correlación, análisis semántico, análisis de regresión, entre otros. Si bien el proyecto se llevará a cabo analizando carreras de la UNE, ha sido desarrollado en el ámbito de la Red de Cooperación Interuniversitaria en TICs del Mercosur (ReCITic) integrada por la Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, Facultad Regional Resistencia (UTN-FRRe, Resistencia, Chaco, Argentina), la Universidad Gastón Dachary (UGD, Posadas, Misiones, Argentina), la Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná (UNIOESTE, Foz do Iguaҫú, Brasil) y la Universidad Nacional del Este (UNE, Ciudad del Este, Paraguay). En el proyecto trabajarán docentes investigadores de las mencionadas universidades, lo que lo hace de carácter interdisciplinario e internacional.Eje: Tecnología Informática Aplicada en Educación.Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Agrupaciones subnacionales y regalías

En Colombia durante varios años se ha mantenido un fascinante debatesobre las regalías, por lo que ellas significan para las finanzas de los entessubnacionales, por su impacto en lo social y su significado en materia tributariapara las empresas, entre otros. El objeto de este ensayo es matizar estadiscusión y contribuir con una nueva visión sobre el problema, considerandofactores como el marco normativo que las rige, el cual permite una ejecuciónmuy volátil de los recursos de las regalías en el ámbito subnacional.Con base en el peso de las regalías en las finanzas subnacionales y devariables socioeconómicas de cada una de ellas se realiza un conjunto deagrupamientos a partir de una metodología multivariante. Los agrupamientosse analizan con el objeto de asignarles un calificativo que los distinga.externalidades y efectos redistributivos, ingresos subnacionales,relaciones intergubernamentales, leyes de propiedad, tamaño ydistribución espacial de la actividad económica regional.

To dd, or not to dd: Recent developments and comparisons of regularization schemes

We give an introduction to several regularization schemes that deal with ultraviolet and infrared singularities appearing in higher-order computations in quantum field theories. Comparing the computation of simple quantities in the various schemes, we point out similarities and differences between them.Comment: 61 pages, 12 figures; version sent to EPJC, references update

Effects of dietary NEXT ENHANCE®150 on growth performance and expression of immune and intestinal integrity related genes in gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata L.)

Gilthead sea bream juveniles were fed different doses (0, 50, 100, 200, 300ppm) of NEXT ENHANCE®150 (NE) for 9 weeks. Feed gain ratio (FGR) was improved by a 10% with all the doses, but feed intake decreased in a dose dependent manner. The optimum inclusion level to achieve maximum growth was set at 100ppm. The hepatosomatic index did not vary and only at the highest dose, viscerosomatic and splenosomatic indexes were significantly decreased. No significant changes were found in haematological parameters, plasma biochemistry, total antioxidant capacity and respiratory burst. In a second trial, NE was given at 100ppm alone (D1) or in combination with the prebiotic PREVIDA® (0.5%) (PRE) (D2) for 17 weeks. There were no differences in the growth rates, and FGR was equally improved for D1 and D2. No significant changes in haematology and plasma antioxidant capacity were detected. The histological examination of the liver and the intestine showed no outstanding differences in the liver, but the number of mucosal foldings appeared to be higher in D1 and D2 vs CTRL diet and the density of enterocytes and goblet cells also appeared higher, particularly in the anterior intestine. A 87-gene PCR-array was constructed based on our transcriptomic database (www.nutrigroup-iats.org/seabreamdb) and applied to samples of anterior (AI) and posterior (PI) intestine. It included 54 new gene sequences and other sequences as markers of cell differentiation and proliferation, intestinal architecture and permeability, enterocyte mass and epithelial damage, interleukins and cytokines, pattern recognition receptors (PRR), and mitochondrial function and biogenesis. More than half of the studied genes had significantly different expression between AI and PI segments. The functional significance of this differential tissue expression is discussed. The experimental diets induced significant changes in the expression of 26 genes. The intensity of these changes and the number of genes that were significantly regulated were higher at PI than at AI. At PI, both diets invoked a clear down-regulation of genes involved in cell differentiation and proliferation, some involved in cell to cell communication, cytokines and several PRR. By contrast, up-regulation was mostly found for genes related to enterocyte mass, cell epithelial damage and mitochondrial activity at AI. The changes were of the same order for D1 and D2, except for fatty acid-binding proteins 2 and 6 and the PRR fucolectin, which were higher in D2 and D1 fed fish, respectively. Thus, NE alone or in combination with PRE seems to induce an anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative transcriptomic profile with probable improvement in the absorptive capacity of the intestine that would explain the improved FGR. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.This work has been carried out with financial support from the Commission of the European Communities, specific RTD programme of Framework Programme 7, (FP7/2007-2013) under grant projects ARRAINA (KBBE-2011-288925) and AQUAEXCEL (262336) under TNA project 0019/02/04/14 to ANDROMEDA. It does not necessarily reflect the EU views and in no way anticipates the Commission's future policy in this area. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Additional funding has been received by Spanish MINECO project no. AGL2013-48560 and Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEOII/2014/085 and ISIC/2012/003).Peer Reviewe