Tackling Uncertainty for the Development of Efficient Decision Support System in Air Traffic Management

International audienceAirport capacity has become a constraint in the air transportation networks, due to the growth of air traffic demand and the lack of resources able to accommodate this demand. This paper presents the algorithmic implementations of a decision support system for making a more efficient use of the airspace and ground capacity. The system would be able to provide support for air traffic controllers in handling large amount of flights while reducing to a minimum the potential conflicts. In this framework, airspace together with ground airport operations are considered. Conflicts are defined as separation minima violation between aircraft for what concerns airspace and runways, and as capacity overloads for taxiway network and terminals. The methodology proposed in this work consists of an iterative approach that couples optimization and simulation to find solutions that are resilient to perturbations due to the uncertainty present in different phases of the arrival and departure process. An optimization model was employed to find a (sub)optimal solution while a discrete event-based simulation model evaluated the objective function. By coupling simulation with optimization, we generate more robust solutions resilient to variability in the operations, this is supported by a case study of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport

Associations Between the Big Five Personality Traits and a Medical School Admission Interview

INTRODUCTION: Personality has became popular in medical student's selection. However, few research exists about the association between the big five personality traits and the existent medical school selection tools. Our aim was to study which personality traits were selected by a medical school admission interview. MATERIAL AND METHODS: One hundred ninety four graduate applicants that had applied to the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto through the graduate entry approach, after ranked on previous achievement, were interviewed between the academic years of 2011 and 2013. From these, 181 (93.3%) answered to the NEO Five-Factor Inventory that assesses high order personality traits of openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. Admission interview corresponded to the second phase of the seriation process. Every applicant was interviewed and scored by three interviewers on seven dimensions asesssed by Lickert scale (1-10). Interview score was the sum of the dimensions. Linear mixed effects model and respective regression coefficients were used to estimate the association between personality traits from each interviewer's score. Final models were adjusted for gender, interviewers and previous achievement. RESULTS: Openness to experience (Beta = 0.18: CI 95%: 0.05; 0.30) had the strongest association with interview score followed by the interaction effect between the extraversion and conscientiousness traits (Beta = 0.14; CI 95%: 0.02; 0.25). Also, applicants scored higher when their gender was opposite to the interviewers. DISCUSSION: Previous achievement and interview score had no association. CONCLUSION: Our admission interview selected different personality traits when compared to other selection tools. Medical schools should be aware of the implications of the adopted selection tools on the admitted medical student's personality because it can help providing beneficial interventions

An update on the biodiversity, occurrence, and distribution of the Family Longidoridae In Portugal

The genera Xiphinema, Longidorus, and Paralongidorus (Nematoda: Longidoridae) are ectoparasitic nematodes considered to be important economical pests because of their activity as vectors of important plant nepovirus, with some species included in the list of quarantine organisms in many European countries. Knowledge of the biodiversity and occurrence of nematode group species is a prerequisite for the establishment of sound management strategies and control measures. According to data collected from databases and published literature, an update on the distribution and occurrence of Paralongidorus spp., Longidorus spp., and Xiphinema spp. from Portugal (including the Madeira and Azores archipelagos) is herein proposed. To date a total of 55 species (15 Longidorus, 1 Paralongidorus, and 39 Xiphinema) has been recorded from the Portuguese territories; 55 species in Continental Portugal, while 8 and 9 species in the archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira respectively. The biodiversity of species in Portugal is probably one of the highest in the world, though it appears to be higher in “dagger” (Xiphinema) than in “needle” (Longidorus, and Paralongidorus) nematodes

Cluster number counts dependence on dark energy inhomogeneities and coupling to dark matter

Cluster number counts can be used to test dark energy models. We investigate dark energy candidates which are coupled to dark matter. We analyze the cluster number counts dependence on the amount of dark matter coupled to dark energy. Further more, we study how dark energy inhomogeneities affect cluster abundances. It is shown that increasing the coupling reduces significantly the cluster number counts, and that dark energy inhomogeneities increases cluster abundances. Wiggles in cluster number counts are shown to be a specific signature of coupled dark energy models. Future observations will possibly detect such oscillations and discriminate among the different dark energy models.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures. Further extensions on section on discriminating models with future surveys. Accepted for publication in Mon. Not. Roy. Astro. So

THE TEACHING OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TO DEAF STUDENTS IN REMOTE EDUCATION: CHALLENGES AND INCLUSION

Undergraduate final work entitled THE TEACHING OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TO DEAF STUDENTS IN REMOTE EDUCATION: challenges and inclusion, is the result of undergraduate research linked to the English Language Course at the Universidade Federal do Pará. The research aimed to investigate the challenges faced by English language teachers in teaching deaf students during remote education, describing what institutional support EL teachers had during the pandemic, the research methodology involved bibliographic research bringing as theoretical segments the Declaration of Salamanca (1994), the Lei da Libras (2002), Skliar (1998), Santos (2020), Spasiani (2018), Tavares and Oliveira (2022), and others, and field research, of the case study type with an approach qualitative, having EL teachers as research subject, from BBS and Leandro Lobão schools, in Bragança-Pará, to collect data an online questionnaire was used. The results showed that the lack of institutional support to assist and train teachers to teach these students in the pandemic were the main challenges encountered.

Suppression of the multiplicity fluctuations in particle correlations

Multiplicity fluctuations play a crucial role in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. In this work, we explore how the multiplicity fluctuations can be effectively suppressed in the measurement of particle correlations. In particular, through proper normalization, particle correlations can be evaluated in a manner irrelevant to multiplicity. When the multiplicity fluctuations are adequately extracted, Monte Carlo simulations show that the remaining correlations possess distinct features buried in the otherwise overwhelming fluctuations. Moreover, we argue that such a normalization scheme naturally agrees with the multi-particle correlator, which can be evaluated using the Q-vectors. The implications of the present study in the data analysis are also addressed.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure

Quinupristin/dalfopristin in Staphylococcus aureus endophthalmitis: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>The intravitreal injection of antibiotics remains the mainstay of therapy for postoperative endophthalmitis. Bacterial resistance, however, is still a pitfall in achieving an adequate response to treatment. Quinupristin/dalfopristin might be a feasible therapeutic option in these cases.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 55-year-old Hispanic man had endophthalmitis secondary to <it>Staphylococcus aureus </it>in his right eye and was treated with intravitreal 0.4 mg/0.1 ml quinupristin/dalfopristin injection. Inflammation and pain remission were observed at four days after injection. The final best-corrected visual acuity was 20/40.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although vancomycin remains the first-line intravitreal antibiotic therapy against infectious endophthalmitis caused by Gram-positive bacteria, quinupristin/dalfopristin exhibits similar efficacy and is theoretically more active against vancomycin-resistant strains, with no apparent retinal toxicity.</p

Cosmology and Astrophysical Constraints of Gauss-Bonnet Dark Energy

Cosmological consequences of a string-motivated dark energy scenario featuring a scalar field coupled to the Gauss-Bonnet invariant are investigated. We study the evolution of the universe in such a model, identifying its key properties. The evolution of the homogeneous background and cosmological perturbations, both at large and small scales, are calculated. The impact of the coupling on galaxy distributions and the cosmic microwave background is examined. We find the coupling provides a mechanism to viably onset the late acceleration, to alleviate the coincidence problem, and furthermore to effectively cross the phantom divide at the present while avoiding a Big Rip in the future. We show the model could explain the present cosmological observations, and discuss how various astrophysical and cosmological data, from the Solar system, supernovae Ia, cosmic microwave background radiation and large scale structure constrain it.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. References added. Accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.