What Automated Planning Can Do for Business Process Management

Business Process Management (BPM) is a central element of today organizations. Despite over the years its main focus has been the support of processes in highly controlled domains, nowadays many domains of interest to the BPM community are characterized by ever-changing requirements, unpredictable environments and increasing amounts of data that influence the execution of process instances. Under such dynamic conditions, BPM systems must increase their level of automation to provide the reactivity and flexibility necessary for process management. On the other hand, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) community has concentrated its efforts on investigating dynamic domains that involve active control of computational entities and physical devices (e.g., robots, software agents, etc.). In this context, Automated Planning, which is one of the oldest areas in AI, is conceived as a model-based approach to synthesize autonomous behaviours in automated way from a model. In this paper, we discuss how automated planning techniques can be leveraged to enable new levels of automation and support for business processing, and we show some concrete examples of their successful application to the different stages of the BPM life cycle

Complex Polysaccharide-Based Nanocomposites for Oral Insulin Delivery

Polyelectrolyte nanocomposites rarely reach a stable state and aggregation often occurs. Here, we report the synthesis of nanocomposites for the oral delivery of insulin composed of alginate, dextran sulfate, poly-(ethylene glycol) 4000, poloxamer 188, chitosan, and bovine serum albumin. The nanocomposites were obtained by Ca2+-induced gelation of alginate followed by an electrostatic-interaction process among the polyelectrolytes. Chitosan seemed to be essential for the final size of the nanocomposites and there was an optimal content that led to the synthesis of nanocomposites of 400–600 nm hydrodynamic size. The enhanced stability of the synthesized nanocomposites was assessed with LUMiSizer after synthesis. Nanocomposite stability over time and under variations of ionic strength and pH were assessed with dynamic light scattering. The rounded shapes of nanocomposites were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. After loading with insulin, analysis by HPLC revealed complete drug release under physiologically simulated conditions

Arrest in ciliated cell expansion on the bronchial lining of adult rats caused by chronic exposure to industrial noise

Workers chronically exposed to high-intensity/low-frequency noise at textile plants show increased frequency of respiratory infections. This phenomenon prompted the herein investigation on the cytology of the bronchial epithelium of Wistar rats submitted to textile noise. Workplace noise from a cotton-mill room of a textile factory was recorded and reproduced in a sound-insulated animal room. The Wistar rats were submitted to a weekly schedule of noise treatment that was similar to that of the textile workers (8 h/day, 5 days/week). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to compare the fine morphology of the inner surface of the bronchi in noise-exposed and control rats. SEM quantitative cytology revealed that exposure to noise for 5-7 months caused inhibition in the natural expansion of the area occupied by ciliated cells on the bronchial epithelium as adult rats grow older. This difference between noise-exposed and age-matched control rats was statistically significant (P<0.05) and documents that the cytology of the rat bronchial epithelium is mildly altered by noise exposure. The decrease in the area of bronchial cilia may impair the mucociliar clearance of the respiratory airways and, thus, increase vulnerability to respiratory infection

Timed inhibition of CDC7 increases CRISPR-Cas9 mediated templated repair.

Repair of double strand DNA breaks (DSBs) can result in gene disruption or gene modification via homology directed repair (HDR) from donor DNA. Altering cellular responses to DSBs may rebalance editing outcomes towards HDR and away from other repair outcomes. Here, we utilize a pooled CRISPR screen to define host cell involvement in HDR between a Cas9 DSB and a plasmid double stranded donor DNA (dsDonor). We find that the Fanconi Anemia (FA) pathway is required for dsDonor HDR and that other genes act to repress HDR. Small molecule inhibition of one of these repressors, CDC7, by XL413 and other inhibitors increases the efficiency of HDR by up to 3.5 fold in many contexts, including primary T cells. XL413 stimulates HDR during a reversible slowing of S-phase that is unexplored for Cas9-induced HDR. We anticipate that XL413 and other such rationally developed inhibitors will be useful tools for gene modification

Parâmetros genéticos, dissimilaridade e desempenho per se em acessos de abóbora

A abóbora tem grande importância na alimentação humana e animal, principalmente para a agricultura familiar. O banco de germoplasma de hortaliças da Universidade Federal de Viçosa (BGH-UFV) possui coleção de acessos de abóbora com ampla variabilidade genética. Toda esta variabilidade genética é de grande importância para o melhoramento genético. Porém, pouco se sabe sobre o verdadeiro potencial do BGH-UFV, pois há poucos estudos com informações desses acessos. Objetivou-se obter informações sobre os parâmetros genéticos, dissimilaridade e desempenho per se de acessos de abóbora do BGH-UFV. Foram avaliados 11 descritores morfoagronômicos em 55 acessos e três cultivares comerciais. Foram estimados parâmetros genéticos, ganho esperado com a seleção, correlações fenotípicas, genotípicas e ambientais. Para o estudo de dissimilaridade, foi realizado o teste Tocher e dispersão gráfica das duas primeiras variáveis canônicas. Houve variabilidade genética entre os acessos, com predominância dos efeitos genéticos sobre os ambientais. É esperado maior ganho de seleção para a massa por fruto, aspecto fitossanitário e localização do nó da primeira flor masculina. As cultivares comerciais Butternut e Tetsukabuto se destacaram em função da menor massa por fruto e maior precocidade de florescimento, porém tiveram os piores resultados quanto ao aspecto fitossanitário. Há estimativas negativas de correlação entre o aspecto fitossanitário com o hábito de crescimento, comprimento e taxa de crescimento da rama principal, indicando que plantas compactas podem ter maiores problemas fitossanitários. O cruzamento do acesso BGH-7003 ou da cultivar Butternut com os acessos BGH-1946 ou BGH-7765 podem gerar progênies com potencial para o melhoramento genético.Pumpkin is very important in human and animal food, especially concerning family farms. The germplasm bank of vegetables of Universidade Federal de Viçosa (Federal University of Viçosa, UFV-BGH), Brazil, has several pumpkin accessions with wide genetic variability. All this genetic variability is of great importance for plant breeding. However, little is known about the true potential of BGH-UFV, because there are few scientific papers published with information on these accessions. The objective was to obtain information on genetic parameters, dissimilarity and performance of BGH-UFV pumpkin accessions. We evaluated 11 morphological descriptors of 55 accessions and three cultivars. The genetic parameters, expected gain with selection, phenotypic, genotypic and environmental correlations were estimated. For the dissimilarity study, the Tocher test was carried out and graphic dispersion of the canonical variables was evaluated. There was genetic variability among accessions, with a predominance of genetic effects over the environment. Higher gain selection for mass per fruit, plant appearance and location of the first male flower node are expected. The commercial cultivars Butternut and Tetsukabuto have excelled due to the lower mass per fruit and precocity of flowering, but they had the worst results in terms of phytosanitary aspect. There are negative correlation estimates between the phytosanitary aspect and growth habit, length and growth rate of the main stem, indicating that compact plants may have greater phytossanitary problems. Crossing accession BGH-7003 or cultivar Butternut with accessions BGH-1946 or BGH-7765 can generate progenies with potential for breeding

Dynamics of early establishment of SARS-CoV-2 VOC Omicron lineages in Minas Gerais, Brazil

Brazil is one of the nations most affected by Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The introduction and establishment of new virus variants can be related to an increase in cases and fatalities. The emergence of Omicron, the most modified SARS-CoV-2 variant, caused alarm for the public health of Brazil. In this study, we examined the effects of the Omicron introduction in Minas Gerais (MG), the second-most populous state of Brazil. A total of 430 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) samples from November 2021 to June 2022 from Belo Horizonte (BH) city were sequenced. These newly sequenced genomes comprise 72% of all previously available SARS-CoV-2 genomes for the city. Evolutionary analysis of novel viral genomes reveals that a great diversity of Omicron sublineages have circulated in BH, a pattern in-keeping with observations across Brazil more generally. Bayesian phylogeographic reconstructions indicate that this diversity is a product of a large number of international and national importations. As observed previously, São Paulo state is shown as a significant hub for viral spread throughout the country, contributing to around 70% of all viral Omicron introductions detected in MG

Underlying Factors Associated with Anemia in Amazonian Children: A Population-Based, Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Although iron deficiency is considered to be the main cause of anemia in children worldwide, other contributors to childhood anemia remain little studied in developing countries. We estimated the relative contributions of different factors to anemia in a population-based, cross-sectional survey. Methodology: We obtained venous blood samples from 1111 children aged 6 months to 10 years living in the frontier town of Acrelandia, northwest Brazil, to estimate the prevalence of anemia and iron deficiency by measuring hemoglobin, erythrocyte indices, ferritin, soluble transferrin receptor, and C-reactive protein concentrations. Children were simultaneously screened for vitamin A, vitamin B-12, and folate deficiencies; intestinal parasite infections; glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency; and sickle cell trait carriage. Multiple Poisson regression and adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) were used to describe associations between anemia and the independent variables. Principal Findings: The prevalence of anemia, iron deficiency, and iron-deficiency anemia were 13.6%, 45.4%, and 10.3%, respectively. Children whose families were in the highest income quartile, compared with the lowest, had a lower risk of anemia (aPR, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.37-0.98). Child age (&lt;24 months, 2.90; 2.01-4.20) and maternal parity (&gt;2 pregnancies, 2.01; 1.40-2.87) were positively associated with anemia. Other associated correlates were iron deficiency (2.1; 1.4-3.0), vitamin B-12 (1.4; 1.0-2.2), and folate (2.0; 1.3-3.1) deficiencies, and C-reactive protein concentrations (&gt;5 mg/L, 1.5; 1.1-2.2). Conclusions: Addressing morbidities and multiple nutritional deficiencies in children and mothers and improving the purchasing power of poorer families are potentially important interventions to reduce the burden of anemia.Sao Paulo State Research Agency [FAPESP 07/53042-1]Sao Paulo State Research AgencyNational Research Agency of BrazilNational Research Agency of Brazil [CNPq 470573/2007-4