Detecção de fechamento de loop utilizando sequências em uma estratégia hierárquica de três níveis

Ao longo dos anos foi possível acompanhar a evolução das mais diversas aplicações robóticas. Robôs são utilizados em cirurgias e em linhas de montagem por conta de sua precisão e eficiência em trabalhos minuciosos e por vezes repetitivos. Quanto a robôs móveis, estes também podem ser aplicados em operações de busca e resgate, transporte, exploração subaquática, entre outras. Tais atribuições são possibilitadas se o robô for capaz de navegar autonomamente em ambientes desconhecidos. Para tanto, é importante que o robô tenha a capacidade de compreender a estrutura do ambiente em que está. Nesse sentido, foram desenvolvidos métodos de SLAM (Localização e Mapeamento Simultâneos) que proveem ao robô a habilidade de construir o mapa do ambiente enquanto se movimenta por ele. Para construir um mapa corretamente é importante que o robô consiga detectar que está revisitando um local de forma a compreender a topologia do ambiente. Os métodos utilizados para detecção de revisita, também conhecido como o problema de detecção de loop, são dependentes do sensor que o robô está utilizando. Recentemente, a câmera tem sido adotada nessa atividade por ser um sensor barato ao mesmo tempo em que é rico em informações. Por outro lado, traz desafios para o problema de detecção de loop como por exemplo: como saber que está revisitando o mesmo local quando se está em uma estação diferente, ou em um momento diferente do dia ou ainda, saber que é o mesmo local ainda que capturado sob um ponto de vista diferente? Nossa proposta tem o objetivo de responder essas perguntas através de uma estrutura que tira proveito da sequência de informações já coletadas pelo robô, junto a um mapa hierárquico que tem o papel de reduzir o espaço de busca sem interferir na precisão da tarefa da detecção de loop. Nossa abordagem é avaliada através de testes que expõem nossa solução a diferentes configurações de datasets. Esses testes demonstraram que o nosso método é capaz de reconhecer revisitas em locais com alteração de iluminação, movimentação de pessoas e diferenças de ponto de vista e apresenta resultados expressivos se comparado a um dos métodos estado da arte em LCD.Over the years it has been possible to observe the evolution of various robotic applications. Robots are used in surgeries and assembly lines because of their accuracy and efficiency in repetitive work. In the category of mobile robots, they can also be applied in search and rescue operations, transportation, underwater exploration, among others. To perform their duties, they must be able to navigate autonomously in unknown environments. Therefore, the robot must have the ability to understand the structure of these environments. In this way, SLAM (Simultaneous Location and Mapping) methods provide the robot the ability to construct the environment map while moving around it. To build a map correctly it is important that the robot can detect that it is revisiting a location to understand the topology of the environment in which it is located. The methods used for revisit detection, also known as the loop closure detection (LCD) methods, are dependent on the sensor the robot is using. Recently, the camera has been adopted in this activity because it is a cheap sensor while rich in information. On the other hand, it brings challenges to the LCD problem, e.g: how to know that you are revisiting the same location when you are at a different season, or at a different time of day, or knowing that it is the same location but captured from a different point of view? Our proposal aims to answer these questions through a method that takes advantage of the sequence of information already collected by the robot along with a hierarchical map that has the role of reducing the search space without interfering with the accuracy of the loop closure detection task. Our approach is assessed through tests that exposes our solution to different dataset configurations. These tests have shown that our method is capable of recognizing revisits in places with changing lighting, moving people, and differences of viewpoint and yields significant results compared to one of the state-of-the-art LCD methods

Choice, competition and care : developments in English social care and the impacts on providers and older users of home care services

This article critically examines recent changes in markets for home (domiciliary) care services in England. During the 1990s, the introduction of competition between private (for-profit and charitable) organizations and local authority providers of long-term care services aimed to create a 'mixed economy' of supply. More recently, care markets have undergone further reforms through the introduction of direct payments and personal budgets. Underpinned by discourses of user choice, these mechanisms aim to offer older people increased control over the public resources for their care, thereby introducing further competitive pressures within local care markets. The article presents early evidence of these changes on: * The commissioning and contracting of home care services by local authorities and individual older people * The experiences and outcomes for individual older people using home care services. Drawing on evidence from two recent empirical studies, the article describes how the new emphasis on choice and competition is being operationalized within six local care markets. There are suggestions of small increases in user agency and in opportunities for older people to receive more personalized home care, in which the quality of care-giving relationships can also be optimized. However, the article also presents early evidence of increases in risk and costs associated with the expansion of competition and choice, both for organizations providing home care services and for individual older service users

Unsupervised discovery of Interpretable Visual Concepts

Providing interpretability of deep-learning models to non-experts, while fundamental for a responsible real-world usage, is challenging. Attribution maps from xAI techniques, such as Integrated Gradients, are a typical example of a visualization technique containing a high level of information, but with difficult interpretation. In this paper, we propose two methods, Maximum Activation Groups Extraction (MAGE) and Multiscale Interpretable Visualization (Ms-IV), to explain the model's decision, enhancing global interpretability. MAGE finds, for a given CNN, combinations of features which, globally, form a semantic meaning, that we call concepts. We group these similar feature patterns by clustering in ``concepts'', that we visualize through Ms-IV. This last method is inspired by Occlusion and Sensitivity analysis (incorporating causality), and uses a novel metric, called Class-aware Order Correlation (CaOC), to globally evaluate the most important image regions according to the model's decision space. We compare our approach to xAI methods such as LIME and Integrated Gradients. Experimental results evince the Ms-IV higher localization and faithfulness values. Finally, qualitative evaluation of combined MAGE and Ms-IV demonstrate humans' ability to agree, based on the visualization, on the decision of clusters' concepts; and, to detect, among a given set of networks, the existence of bias

MEDIATION IN BRAZIL: A WAY FOR THE SOLUTION OF PATIENT-MEDICAL CONFLICTS

The problem of excessive litigation in Brazil is a reality that compromises the management of the Judiciary. The lawsuits brought by patients against doctors, involving medical malpractice in the provision of health services, fit the reported procedural delay critic panorama. In order to verify the efficacy of an substitute method for the judicialization of the doctor-patient relationship, the research aims to analyze the feasibility of judicial or extrajudicial mediation as alternative medicine judicialization in Brazil. For this study, It was adopted a deductive and theoretical methodological, the analysis of legislation and documentation, as well as the bibliographic survey; the qualitative data presented were collected from documentary sources statistics. The investigation results confirm the mediation as a useful strategy for solution for the self-composition of conflicts involving patients and doctors, in order to preserve access to justice and the social pacification. Concludes that the judicial or extrajudicial mediation constitutes an environment that enables dialogue and interaction of the parties involved and effectiveness of civil procedure post-modern. The learning flows in future work, with the aim of studying the papers of the patient, the doctor and the mediator by optical the theory psychoanalytic

Periapical cyst repair after nonsurgical endodontic therapy : case report

This article presents the procedures that must be considered for periapical cyst repair after nonsurgical endodontic treatment. The case of a periapical cyst associated to the left maxillary lateral incisor is reported. Nonsurgical root canal therapy was performed and lesion healing was confirmed radiographically after 24 months. Differential diagnosis, endodontic infection control, apical foramen enlargement and filling of the cystic cavity with a calcium hydroxide paste were important procedures for case resolution

Gait, balance and functional independence level in stroke patients

Introduction: Most stroke patients present limited movement, which alters gait speed and balance. This study aimed to correlate balance and gait speed, and weight distribution and balance in post-stroke patients.Methods: In total, 36 participants were included. Data collection occurred as follows: filling out the assessment form; assessment with the Berg Balance Scale (BBS); assessment with the baropodometric platform; performing the 10 Meter Walk Test (10mWT) with accelerometer; measurements with the modified Rankin Scale (mRS); the Functional Ambulation Classification (FAC); and the Barthel Index (BI).Results: A negative correlation between FAC and mRS (r = −0.708; p < 0.05) and between BI and mRS (r = −0.716; p < 0.05) was found. The correlation between BI and FAC was positive (r = 0.591). There was a strong positive correlation between the 10mWT values and the BBS score (r = 0.708; p < 0.05). Moreover, a weak negative correlation was observed between BBS values and lower limb weight distribution (r = −0.378; p < 0.05).Conclusion: We found a correlation between the functional ambulation and the degree of independence.This study showed that the better the balance, the greater the gait speed, and the lower the difference on lower limbs weight distribution, the better the balance in post-stroke patients

Determination of amphotericin B in PLA-PEG blend nanoparticles by HPLC-PDA

Neste trabalho desenvolveu-se e validou-se um efetivo método por cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência (CLAE) em fase reversa com detecção por fotodiodos para a análise quantitativa de anfotericina B (AmB) em nanopartículas compostas por blendas de poli(ácido lático)-polietilenoglicol (PLA-PEG). Corridas cromatográficas foram realizadas sob coluna C18 de fase reversa com fase móvel consistindo de ácido acético 9% e acetonitrila (40:60, v/v), em eluição isocrática com fluxo de 1 mL/min. A AmB foi detectada no comprimento de onda de 408 nm. O processo de validação foi realizado considerando a seletividade, linearidade, precisão, exatidão, robustez, limite de detecção (LD) e limite de quantificação (LQ) do método. Uma faixa de concentração entre 1-20 µg/mL foi usada para obter a curva-padrão linear. Os valores de LD e LQ foram 55 e 18 ng/mL, respectivamente. A recuperação média da AmB a partir das amostras foi de 99,92% (desvio padrão relativo = 0,34%, n=9) e o método foi robusto, considerando alterações no fluxo da fase móvel (desvio padrão relativo máximo=4,82%). Os coeficientes de variação intra e inter dia foram inferiores a 0,59%. O método foi utilizado com sucesso para a determinação da eficiência de encapsulação da AmB em nanopartículas de PLA-PEG.In this work, we developed and validated an effective reversed-phase HPLC method with photodiode array (PDA) detection for the quantitative analysis of amphotericin B (AmB) in poly(lactide)-poly(ethylene glycol) (PLA-PEG) blend nanoparticles. Chromatographic runs were performed on a reverse phase C18 column using a mobile phase comprising a 9% acetic acid and acetonitrile mixture (40:60, v/v) under isocratic elution with a flow rate of 1 mL/min. AmB was detected at a wavelength of 408 nm. The validation process was performed considering the selectivity, linearity, precision, accuracy, robustness, limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) of the method. A concentration range of 1-20 µg/mL was used to construct a linear calibration curve. The LOQ and LOD were 55 and 18 ng/mL, respectively. The mean recovery of AmB from the samples was 99.92% (relative standard deviation (RSD) = 0.34%, n=9), and the method was robust for changes in the flow rate of the mobile phase (maximum RSD=4.82%). The intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation were less than 0.59%. The method was successfully used to determine the entrapment efficiency of AmB in PLA-PEG blend nanoparticles

Customer requirements for the continuous improvement of product-service system: a conceptual approach

Identifying customer requirements is a strategic element for consolidating product-service systems (PSSs) in the market. However, literature on empirical studies has devoted relatively little attention to this topic. The purpose of the present work is to identify PSS customer requirements by analyzing empirical studies. Toward this goal, we present here a structured systematic literature review. This study systematically reviews 269 articles published until 2015 in the PSS field. About 10% of the publications reviewed describe empirical studies that identify PSS-customer requirements. After analyzing the content of these articles, we identify 37 requirements clustered around three criteria: (i) type of PSS, (ii) type of business transaction, and (iii) customer requirements that relate to product, service, or general aspects of PSS. The empirical studies investigated in this literature review focused on the business-to-business context. This study support PSS provider meet customer requirements. Then, they will be more successful in offering the PSS