Visual victim detection and quadrotor-swarm coordination control in search and rescue environment

We propose a distributed victim-detection algorithm through visual information on quadrotors using convolutional neuronal networks (CNN) in a search and rescue environment. Describing the navigation algorithm, which allows quadrotors to avoid collisions. Secondly, when one quadrotor detects a possible victim, it causes its closest neighbors to disconnect from the main swarm and form a new sub-swarm around the victim, which validates the victim’s status. Thus, a formation control that permits to acquire information is performed based on the well-known rendezvous consensus algorithm. Finally, images are processed using CNN identifying potential victims in the area. Given the uncertainty of the victim detection measurement among quadrotors’ cameras in the image processing, estimation consensus (EC) and max-estimation consensus (M-EC) algorithms are proposed focusing on agreeing over the victim detection estimation. We illustrate that M-EC delivers better results than EC in scenarios with poor visibility and uncertainty produced by fire and smoke. The algorithm proves that distributed fashion can obtain a more accurate result in decision-making on whether or not there is a victim, showing robustness under uncertainties and wrong measurements in comparison when a single quadrotor performs the mission. The well-functioning of the algorithm is evaluated by carrying out a simulation using V-Rep

Quantitative structure-activity relationship to elucidate human CYP2A6 inhibition by organosulfur compounds

CYP2A6 is a human enzyme responsible for the metabolic elimination of nicotine, and it is also involved in the activation of procarcinogenic nitrosamines, especially those present in tobacco smoke. Several investigations have reported that reducing this enzyme activity may contribute to anti-smoking therapy as well as reducing the risk of promutagens in the body. For these reasons, several authors investigate selective inhibitors molecules toward this enzyme. The aim of this study was to evaluate the interactions between a set of organosulfur compounds and the CYP2A6 enzyme by a quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) analysis. The present work provides a better understanding of the mechanisms involved, with the final goal of providing information for the future design of CYP2A6 inhibitors based on dietary compounds. The reported activity data were modeled by means of multiple regression analysis (MLR) and partial least-squares (PLS) techniques. The results indicate that hydrophobic and steric factors govern the union, while electronic factors are strongly involved in the case of monosulfides.Fil: Ramirez, Daniela Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Biología Agrícola de Mendoza. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Instituto de Biología Agrícola de Mendoza; ArgentinaFil: Marchevsky, Eduardo Jorge. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Química, Bioquímica y Farmacia; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Luco, Juan Maria. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Química, Bioquímica y Farmacia; ArgentinaFil: Camargo, Alejandra Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Biología Agrícola de Mendoza. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Instituto de Biología Agrícola de Mendoza; Argentin

Analysis of the generation, disposition and environmental effects of used tires of passenger vehicles in two localities of Barranquilla

Introduction: There is a problem in the city of Barranquilla regarding in the treatment of the solid waste product of the generation of used tires, along with its disposition and subsequent environmental effects. As of December of 2018, date on which this project is being carried on; there is no official system regulating the generation and proper disposal of used tires. Although there are laws that oversee this issue, mandated by the National Constitution, and preliminary projects that formulate systems for the proper collection and disposal of waste tires [1], most of them made in the capital city of Bogota, they are not properly reinforced or implemented to date, and most regulations only refer to the overall effects of the improper disposal of waste on the environment. Objective: analyze the current status of the generation, disposition and environmental effects of used tires in the city, focusing in the Riomar and Northern Historic Centre, as the field data on which the analysis is based on was collected there, due most concentration of establishments. This paper explores existing alternatives and processes for handling the disposed used tires enabling the use of the materials and compounds within its structure for efficient uses of this resource while diminishing its impact on the environment. Method: The analysis is going to identify the current factors that influence the generation of used tires and expand upon it with a forecast for the generation of used tires in the next 5 years, covering the year interval from 2019 to 2023. Following the forecast, will foreground the existing methods for the handling of the disposed tires, along with the environmental effects generated by the improper disposal of this type of waste. Results: There is a growing positive relationship in the historical data regarding the relation of registered vehicles and the year. In the same way, the survey shows that the highest concentration of the sample discards the tires used in garbage dumps. Conclusion: According to the results of the forecast and the surveys, the importance of controlling the disposal of used tires is highlighted, therefore it is established that the best practice to reduce or eliminate the used tires is co-processing for cement kilns and mechanical crushing by its zero emissions factorIntroducción: Existe un problema en la ciudad de Barranquilla que involucra el tratamiento de los residuos sólidos que son producto de la generación de llantas usadas, junto con su disposición y los efectos ambientales. Hasta diciembre de 2018, fecha en que se desarrolló este proyecto, no hay ningún sistema oficial que se encargue de la regulación de la generación y adecuada disposición de las llantas usadas. Aunque hay leyes que cubren esta problemática y existen estudios preliminares que plantean sistemas para la adecuada colección y disposición de llantas usadas [1], la mayoría de estos no son apropiadamente reforzados o implementados a la fecha, y gran parte de las regulaciones solamente se refieren a los efectos generales de la disposición inadecuada de desechos en el ambiente. Objetivo: Analizar el estado actual de la generación, la disposición y los efectos medioambientales que causan las llantas usadas en la cuidad, enfocándose en las localidades de Riomar y Norte Centro Histórico de la cuidad, ya que allí fueron recolectados los datos debido a la mayor concentración de establecimientos. Este artículo explora las diferentes alternativas y procesos que se usan para el manejo y disposición de las llantas usadas, permitiendo el uso de los materiales y compuestos de su estructura para el aprovechamiento eficiente de este recurso, mientras se disminuyen los efectos nocivos para el medio ambiente. Metodología: El análisis identificará los factores actuales que influencian la generación de llantas usadas, y lo ampliará con un pronóstico de la generación de llantas usadas en los siguientes 5 años, cubriendo el periodo de tiempo desde el 2019 al 2023. Siguiente a la predicción, se destacarán los métodos existentes para el manejo de llantas usadas, junto con los efectos medioambientales que son causados por la disposición inadecuada de este tipo de desecho. Resultados: Se evidencia una relación positiva creciente en los datos históricos respecto a la relación de vehículos registrados y el año. De la misma forma, la encuesta muestra que la mayor concentración de la muestra desecha las llantas usadas en basureros. Conclusión: De acuerdo con los resultados del pronóstico y las encuestas, se resalta la importancia de controlar la disposición de llantas usadas, por ello se establece que la mejor práctica para reducir o eliminar las llantas usadas es el coprocesamiento para hornos cementeros y trituración mecánica por su factor cero emisiones

Classification of Leukocytes Using Meta-Learning and Color Constancy Methods

In the human healthcare area, leukocytes are very important blood cells for the diagnosis of different pathologies, like leukemia. Recent technology and image-processing methods have contributed to the image classification of leukocytes. Especially, machine learning paradigms have been used for the classification of leukocyte images. However, reported models do not leverage the knowledge produced by the classification of leukocytes to solve similar tasks. For example, the knowledge can be reused to classify images collected with different types of microscopes and image-processing techniques. Therefore, we propose a meta-learning methodology for the classification of leukocyte images using different color constancy methods involving previous knowledge. Our methodology is trained with a specific task at the meta-level, and the knowledge produced is used to solve a different task at the base-level. For the meta-level, we implemented meta-models based on Xception, and for the base-level, we used support vector machine classifiers. Besides, we analyzed the Shades of Gray color constancy method commonly used in skin lesion diagnosis and now implemented for leukocyte images. Our methodology, at the meta-level, achieved 89.28% for precision, 95.65% for sensitivity, 91.78% for F1-score, and 94.40% for accuracy. These scores are competitive regarding the reported state-of-the-art models, especially the sensitivity which is very important for imbalanced datasets, and our meta-model outperforms previous works by +2.25%. Additionally, for the basophil images that were acquired from a chronic myeloid leukemia-positive sample, our meta-model obtained 100% for sensitivity. Moreover, we present an algorithm that generates a new conditioned output at the base-level obtaining highly competitive scores of 91.56% for sensitivity and F1 scores, 95.61% for precision, and 96.47% for accuracy. The findings indicate that our proposed meta-learning methodology can be applied to other medical image classification tasks and achieve high performances by reusing knowledge and reducing the training time for new similar tasks

Interannual changes in zooplankton echo subtropical and high latitude climate effects in the southern East China Sea

Climate variability plays a central role in the dynamics of marine pelagic ecosystems shaping the structure and abundance changes of plankton communities, thereby affecting energy pathways and biogeochemical fluxes in the ocean. Here we have investigated complex interactions driven a climate-hydrology-plankton system in the southern East China Sea over the period 2000 to 2012. In particular, we aimed at quantifying the influence of climate phenomena playing out in tropical (El Nino 3.4) and middle-high latitudes (East Asia Winter Monsoon, EAWM, and Pacific Decadal Oscillation, PDO) on pelagic copepods. We found that the EAWM and El Nino 3.4 showed a non-stationary and non-linear relationship with local temperature variability. In the two cases, the strength of the relationship, as indexed by the wavelet coherence analysis, decreased along with the positive phase of the PDO. Likewise, the influence of EAWM and El Nino3.4 on copepods exhibited a non-stationary link that changed along with the PDO state. Indeed, copepods and EAWM were closely related during the positive phase, while the link copepods–El Nino 3.4 was stronger during the negative phase. Our results pointed out cascading effects from climate to plankton driven by the positive phase of the PDO through its effect on temperature conditions, and likely through a larger southward transport of nutrient-rich water masses to northern Taiwan and the Taiwan Strait. We suggest a chain of mechanisms whereby the PDO shapes interannual dynamics of pelagic copepods and highlight that these results have implications for integrative management measures, as pelagic copepods plays a prominent role in food web dynamics and for harvested fish in the East China Sea. © 2018 Molinero et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Versatilidad del Colgajo libre anterolateral de muslo (ALT) de perforantes

Se muestra la versatilidad del colgajo libre anterolateral de musk de perforantes a través de la experiencia de su utilización para cubrimiento de defectos complejos en 16 pacientes tratados exitosamente en el Hospital Universitario San Ignacio y en el Hospital Militar Central en el periodo de junio 2007 a mayo 2008. Se revisa breventente la anatomía quirúrgica del colgajo anterolateral de muslo, sus aplicaciones, y se expone la estadística de su empleo. Se concluye que el colgajo anterolateral de muslo muestra una anatomía constante, con vasos de un calibre de alrededor de 3 mm, presentando un colgajo relativantente delgado, favorable para cubrimientos donde se requiere que el colgajo no sea demasiado voluminoso, pero con un area apta para defectos grandes. Además, el sitio donante permite, ser camuflado y no causa limitaciones funcionales, lo cual lo hace un colgajo muy versátil.46-50The versatility of anterolateral thigh free flap is exposed through the experience of its use for reconstruction of complex defects in 16 patients. treated in the Hospital Universitario San Ignacio and the Hospital Militar Central in Bogota, during the period from June 2007 to May 2008. The surgical anatomy of the anterolateral perforator thigh flap. its applications and statistics of its reconstructive use are reviewed. It's concluded that the anterolateral thigh flap displays a constant anatomy, with vessels of about 3mm caliber, presenting a relatively thin flap, very favorable for zones that require that the flap is not too voluminous but with an apt area for large defects. In addition, the donor site allows to be camouflaged and doesn't cause functional limitations, snaking this flap very versatile

Protocolo exitoso de separación quirúrgica de gemelos isquiopagus

Se presenta el caso de separación quirúrgica exitosa de pacientes gemelos isquiopagus en el Hospital Universitario San Ignacio. Se conformó un grupo interdisciplinario dividido en dos equipos con igual número de especialistas integrando a Cirugía Pediátrica, Cirugía Plástica, Urología, Anestesia, Cuidados Intensivos, Pediatría, Psiquiatría y Ortopedia. Se planeó cuidadosamente un proceso prequirúrgico durante 4 meses para llevar exitosamente a cirugía a estos pacientes de 18 meses de edad. La cirugía se completó después del manejo inicial con expansores tisulares para generar tejido adicional de cubrimiento. La separación tomó en total 14 horas y se requirió de un colgajo libre de dorsal ancho para cierre de pared abdominal en uno de los pacientes. Se presenta la preparación completa, planeamiento, secuencia quirúrgica, seguimiento y resultado.Artículo de investigación1-13A case of successful surgical separation of ischiopagus conjoined twins at the Hospital Universitario San Ignacio is presented. An interdisciplinary group was conformed, divided into two teams with equal number of specialists integrating Pediatric Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Urology, Anaesthesia, Intensive Care, Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Orthopedics. The process was carefully planned preoperatively 4 months prior to surgery. The surgery was completed after initial treatment with tissue expansion, to generate additional options of coverage. The separation surgery took a total of 14 hours, and required an additional free latissimus dorsi flap for closure of the abdominal wall in one of the twins. The complete preparation, planning, surgical sequence, monitoring and outcome is presented

Interannual changes in zooplankton echo subtropical and high latitude climate effects in the southern East China Sea

Climate variability plays a central role in the dynamics of marine pelagic ecosystems shaping the structure and abundance changes of plankton communities, thereby affecting energy pathways and biogeochemical fluxes in the ocean. Here we have investigated complex interactions driven a climate-hydrology-plankton system in the southern East China Sea over the period 2000 to 2012. In particular, we aimed at quantifying the influence of climate phenomena playing out in tropical (El Nino 3.4) and middle-high latitudes (East Asia Winter Monsoon, EAWM, and Pacific Decadal Oscillation, PDO) on pelagic copepods. We found that the EAWM and El Nino 3.4 showed a non-stationary and non-linear relationship with local temperature variability. In the two cases, the strength of the relationship, as indexed by the wavelet coherence analysis, decreased along with the positive phase of the PDO. Likewise, the influence of EAWM and El Nino3.4 on copepods exhibited a non-stationary link that changed along with the PDO state. Indeed, copepods and EAWM were closely related during the positive phase, while the link copepods–El Nino 3.4 was stronger during the negative phase. Our results pointed out cascading effects from climate to plankton driven by the positive phase of the PDO through its effect on temperature conditions, and likely through a larger southward transport of nutrient-rich water masses to northern Taiwan and the Taiwan Strait. We suggest a chain of mechanisms whereby the PDO shapes interannual dynamics of pelagic copepods and highlight that these results have implications for integrative management measures, as pelagic copepods plays a prominent role in food web dynamics and for harvested fish in the East China Sea.Fil: Molinero, Juan Carlos. Geomar-Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel; Alemania. Université Montpellier II; FranciaFil: Tseng, Li-Chun. National Taiwan Ocena University; ChinaFil: López Abbate, María Celeste. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía; ArgentinaFil: Ramirez-Romero, Eduardo. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas. Instituto Mediterraneo de Estudios Avanzados; EspañaFil: Hwang, Jiang-Shiou. National Taiwan Ocena University; Chin

A web platform for collaborative semi-automatic OCR Post-processing

Digital Humanities researchers often make use of software that helps them in the task of finding non-trivial relationships among characters in historical text. Usually, the source texts that contain such information come from OCR acquired volumes, carrying high amounts of errors within them. This work explains the development of a web platform for the task of OCR post-processing and ground-truth generation. This platform employs machine learning to predict the correct texts accurately from OCR noisy strings. The method used for this task involves transformers for character-based denoising language models. An active learning workflow is proposed, as the users can feed their corrections to the platform, generating new annotated data for re-training the underlying machine learning correction models.Fil: Mechaca, Ana Lidia. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Departamento de Informática; ArgentinaFil: Marmanillo, Walter Gabriel. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Departamento de Informática; ArgentinaFil: Xamena, Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Humanidades. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Departamento de Informática; ArgentinaFil: Ramirez Orta, Juan. Dalhousie University Halifax; CanadáFil: Maguitman, Ana Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Ciencias e Ingeniería de la Computación. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Ciencias e Ingeniería de la Computación. Instituto de Ciencias e Ingeniería de la Computación; ArgentinaFil: Milios, Evangelos E.. Dalhousie University Halifax; Canadá50º Jornada Argentina de Informática; Simposio Argentino de Ciencia de Datos y Grandes DatosCiudad Autónoma de Buenos AiresArgentinaSociedad Argentina de Investigación OperativaInstituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuari