Propuesta de mejora al proceso de ejecución de proyectos de investigación en una universidad privada peruana

El presente trabajo tiene por fin proponer mejoras al proceso de ejecución de proyectos de investigación desarrollados en una universidad privada y financiados por los programas de Innóvate Perú y Concytec, organismos del estado peruano encargados de promover la investigación, desarrollo e innovación en el país. Luego del análisis del proceso en mención, se determinó una serie de oportunidades de mejora al proceso de ejecución administrativa de los proyectos de investigación, y como resultado se propone la creación de una oficina de administración de proyectos y una serie de cambios organizacionales. Para el desarrollo de las propuestas de mejora en mención, se consideró como referencia la metodología de los siete pasos de la mejora continua

Vibrotactile captioning of musical effects in audio-visual media as an alternative for deaf and hard of hearing people: An EEG study

Standard captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing people cannot transmit the emotional information that music provides in support of the narrative in audio-visual media. We explore an alternative method using vibrotactile stimulation as a possible channel to transmit the emotional information contained in an audio-visual soundtrack and, thus, elicit a greater emotional reaction in hearing-impaired people. To achieve this objective, we applied two one-minute videos that were based on image sequences that were unassociated with dramatic action, maximizing the effect of the music and vibrotactile stimuli. While viewing the video, using EEG we recorded the brain activity of 9 female participants with normal hearing, and 7 female participants with very severe and profound hearing loss. The results show that the same brain areas are activated in participants with normal hearing watching the video with the soundtrack, and in participants with hearing loss watching the same video with a soft and rhythmic vibrotactile stimulation on the palm and fingertips, although in different hemispheres. These brain areas (auditory cortex, superior temporal cortex, medial frontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, superior temporal pole and insula) have been consistently reported as areas involved in the emotional perception of music. We conclude that vibrotactile stimuli can generate cortex activation while watching audio-visual media in a similar way to sound. Thus, a further in-depth study of the possibilities of these stimuli can contribute to an alternative subtitling channel for enriching the audiovisual experience of hearing-impaired people.This work was supported in part by the Comunidad de Madrid through the SINFOTON2-CM Research Program under Grant S2018/NMT-4326-SINFOTON2-CM

Enhanced Communications on Satellite-Based IoT Systems to Support Maritime Transportation Services

Maritime transport has become important due to its ability to internationally unite all continents. In turn, during the last two years, we have observed that the increase of consumer goods has resulted in global shipping deadlocks. In addition, the future goes through the role of ports and efficiency in maritime transport to decarbonize its impact on the environment. In order to improve the economy and people’s lives, in this work, we propose to enhance services offered in maritime logistics. To do this, a communications system is designed on the deck of ships to transmit data through a constellation of satellites using interconnected smart devices based on IoT. Among the services, we highlight the monitoring and tracking of refrigerated containers, the transmission of geolocation data from Global Positioning System (GPS), and security through the Automatic Identification System (AIS). This information will be used for a fleet of ships to make better decisions and help guarantee the status of the cargo and maritime safety on the routes. The system design, network dimensioning, and a communications protocol for decision-making will be presented

Generation of arbitrary complex quasi-non-diffracting optical patterns

Due to their unique ability to maintain an intensity distribution upon propagation, non-diffracting light fields are used extensively in various areas of science, including optical tweezers, nonlinear optics and quantum optics, in applications where complex transverse field distributions are required. However, the number and type of rigorously non-diffracting beams is severely limited because their symmetry is dictated by one of the coordinate system where the Helmholtz equation governing beam propagation is separable. Here, we demonstrate a powerful technique that allows the generation of a rich variety of quasi-non-diffracting optical beams featuring nearly arbitrary intensity distributions in the transverse plane. These can be readily engineered via modifications of the angular spectrum of the beam in order to meet the requirements of particular applications. Such beams are not rigorously non-diffracting but they maintain their shape over large distances, which may be tuned by varying the width of the angular spectrum. We report the generation of unique spiral patterns and patterns involving arbitrary combinations of truncated harmonic, Bessel, Mathieu, or parabolic beams occupying different spatial domains. Optical trapping experiments illustrate the opto-mechanical properties of such beams.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, to be published in Optics Expres

Data regarding active psychosis and functional outcome, among other clinical variables, during early phases of the illness in first-episode psychosis in the PAFIP 10-year follow-up program

This article describes data related to the research study entitled ?Duration of active psychosis during early phases of the illness and functional outcome: The PAFIP 10-year follow-up study.? [1]. We present data concerning the clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of a sample of drug-naïve patients with a first episode of non-affective psychosis. The dataset was obtained from a 3-year longitudinal intervention program as part of an ongoing 10-year epidemiological study. The tables and figure shown present the data from the analysis between the active psychosis (presence of positive psychotic symptoms), among other sociodemographic and clinical predictor variables, recorded during the 3-year longitudinal intervention program and the evaluation of the functional outcome (social functioning and functional recovery) present at the 10-year mark. The data explores how those early parameters could influence long-term outcome

Engineering nanoparticles with pure high-order multipole scattering

The ability to control scattering directionality of nanoparticles is in high demand for many nanophotonic applications. One of the challenges is to design nanoparticles producing pure high-order multipole scattering (e.g., octopole, hexadecapole), whose contribution is usually negligible compared to strong low-order multipole scattering (i.e., dipole or quadrupole). Here we present an intuitive way to design such nanoparticles by introducing a void inside them. We show that both shell and ring nanostructures allow regimes with nearly pure high-order multipole scattering. Experimentally measured scattering diagrams from properly designed silicon rings at near-infrared wavelengths (~ 800 nm) reproduce well scattering patterns of an electric octopole and magnetic hexadecapole. Our findings advance significantly inverse engineering of nanoparticles from given complex scattering characteristics, with possible applications in biosensing, optical metasurfaces, and quantum communications.Comment: Submitted to ACS Photonic

Expression and Functionality Study of 9 Toll-Like Receptors in 33 Drug-Naïve Non-Affective First Episode Psychosis Individuals: A 3-Month Study

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are a pivotal component of the innate immune system that seem to have a role in the pathogenesis of psychosis. The purpose of this work was to compare the expression and functionality of 9 TLRs in three peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) (monocytes, B cells, and T cells) between 33 drug-naïve first-episode psychosis (FEP) individuals and 26 healthy volunteers, at baseline and after 3-month of antipsychotic treatment. The expression of TLRs 1?9 were assessed by flow cytometry. For the assessment of the TLR functionality, cells collected in sodium heparin tubes were polyclonally stimulated for 18 h, with different agonists for human TLR1?9. The results of our study highlight the role that TLR5 and TLR8 might play in the pathophysiology of psychosis. We found a lower expression of these receptors in FEP individuals, regarding healthy volunteers at baseline and after 3-month of treatment on the three PBMCs subsets. Most TLRs showed a lower functionality (especially reduced intracellular levels of TNF-?) in patients than in healthy volunteers. These results, together with previous evidence, suggest that individuals with psychosis might show a pattern of TLR expression that differs from that of healthy volunteers, which could vary according to the intensity of immune/inflammatory respons

Detection of DENV-4 genotype I from mosquitoes collected in the city of Manaus, Brazil

Background\ud Dengue epidemics have been reported in Brazil since 1981. In Manaus, a large city in the Amazon region, dengue is endemic with all four-virus serotypes (DENV-1, -2, -3, and -4) simultaneously causing human disease. In 2008, during a surveillance of dengue virus in mosquitoes in the district of Tancredo Neves in Manaus, 260 mosquitoes of Aedes genus were captured, identified and grouped into pools of 10 mosquitoes.\ud \ud Findings\ud RNA extracts of mosquito pools were tested by a RT-Hemi-Nested-PCR for detection of flaviviruses. One amplicon of 222 bp, compatible with dengue virus serotype 4, was obtained from a pool of Aedes aegypti. The nucleotide sequence of the amplicon indicated that the mosquitoes were infected with DENV-4 of genotype I. This virus of Asian origin has been described in Manaus in 2008 infecting acute febrile illness patients.\ud \ud Conclusion\ud This is the first report of dengue virus serotype 4 genotype I infecting Aedes aegypti in the Americas.This work was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq

Elimusertib has anti-tumor activity in preclinical patient-derived pediatric solid tumor models

The small molecule inhibitor of ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related protein (ATR), elimusertib, is currently being tested clinically in various cancer entities in adults and children. Its preclinical anti-tumor activity in pediatric malignancies, however, is largely unknown. We here assessed the preclinical activity of elimusertib in 38 cell lines and 32 patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models derived from common pediatric solid tumor entities. Detailed in vitro and in vivo molecular characterization of the treated models enabled the evaluation of response biomarkers. Pronounced objective response rates were observed for elimusertib monotherapy in PDX, when treated with a regimen currently used in clinical trials. Strikingly, elimusertib showed stronger anti-tumor effects than some standard of care chemotherapies, particularly in alveolar rhabdomysarcoma PDX. Thus, elimusertib has strong preclinical anti-tumor activity in pediatric solid tumor models, which may translate to clinically meaningful responses in patients