Abstraction-Based Output-Feedback Control with State-Based Specifications

We consider abstraction-based design of output-feedback controllers for non-linear dynamical systems against specifications over state-based predicates in linear-time temporal logic (LTL). In this context, our contribution is two-fold: (I) we generalize feedback-refinement relations for abstraction-based output-feedback control to systems with arbitrary predicate and observation maps, and (II) we introduce a new algorithm for the synthesis of abstract output-feedback controllers w.r.t. LTL specifications over unobservable state-based predicates. Our abstraction-based output-feedback controller synthesis algorithm consists of two steps. First, we compute a finite state abstraction of the original system using existing techniques. This process typically leads to an abstract system with non-deterministic predicate and observation maps which are not necessarily related to each other. Second, we introduce an algorithm to compute an output-feedback controller for such abstract systems. Our algorithm is inspired by reactive synthesis under partial observation and utilizes bounded synthesis

Multi-objective fuzzy rule-based prediction and uncertainty quantification of aircraft taxi time

The ever growing air traffic demand and highly connected air transportation networks put considerable pressure for the sector to optimise air traffic management (ATM) related performances and develop robust ATM systems. Recent efforts made in accurate aircraft taxi time prediction have shown significant advancement in generating more efficient taxi routes and schedules, benefiting other key airside operations, such as runway sequencing and gate assignment. However, little study has been devoted to quantification of uncertainty associated with taxiing aircraft. Routes and schedules generated based on deterministic and accurate taxi time prediction for an aircraft may not be resilient under uncertainties due to factors such as varying weather conditions, operational scenarios and pilot behaviours, impairing system-wide performance as taxi delays can propagate throughout the network. Therefore, the primary aim of this paper is to utilise multi-objective fuzzy rule-based systems to better quantify such uncertainties based on historic aircraft taxiing data. Preliminary results reveals that the proposed approach can capture uncertainty in a more informative way, and hence represents a promising tool to further develop robust taxi planning to reduce delays due to uncertain taxi times

Impacto de la estabilidad en el rendimiento de los clubes de fútbol de la Copa del Golfo Pérsico

The objective of this study was to determine the impact of stability/instability on the performance of Persian Gulf Pro League football clubs. All the clubs that had participated in more than 3 seasons of the last 17 seasons (2001-2019) of the Persian Gulf Pro League were analyzed in this study (n=26). The performance of each team (improvement or worsening in ranking) and their stability were analyzed year after year in the period 2001-2019. The stability was divided in four components: CEO, head coach, players and club. The statistical analysis was performed with the software SPSS. Stability significantly (p<0.05) increased performance and instability significantly (p<0.05) decreased performance of the clubs in the four components studied: CEO, head coach, players and club. Therefore, it is expected that the results of this study encourage Iranian football clubs to increase their stability.El objetivo de este estudio fue determinar el impacto de la estabilidad/inestabilidad en el rendimiento de los clubes de fútbol de la Copa del Golfo Pérsico. Todos los clubes que habían participado en más de 3 temporadas de las últimas 17 temporadas (2001-2019) de la Copa del Golfo Pérsico fueron analizados en este estudio (n=26). El rendimiento de cada equipo (mejora o empeoramiento en el ranking) y su estabilidad se analizaron año tras año en el período 2001-2019. La estabilidad se dividió en cuatro componentes: director, entrenador, jugadores y club. El análisis estadístico se realizó con el software SPSS. La estabilidad aumentó significativamente (p<0.05) el rendimiento y la inestabilidad disminuyó significativamente (p<0.05) el rendimiento de los clubes en los cuatro componentes estudiados: director, entrenador, jugadores y club. Por lo tanto, se espera que los resultados de este estudio animen a los clubes de fútbol iraníes a aumentar su estabilidad

Immunosenescence and its hallmarks: How to oppose aging strategically? A review of potential options for therapeutic intervention

Aging is accompanied by remodeling of the immune system. With time, this leads to a decline in immune efficacy, resulting in increased vulnerability to infectious diseases, diminished responses to vaccination, and a susceptibility to age-related inflammatory diseases. An age-associated immune alteration, extensively reported in previous studies, is the reduction in the number of peripheral blood naive cells, with a relative increase in the frequency of memory cells. These two alterations, together with inflamm-aging, are considered the hallmarks of immunosenescence. Because aging is a plastic process, it is influenced by both nutritional and pharmacological interventions. Therefore, the role of nutrition and of immunomodulation in immunosenescence is discussed, due to the multifactorial influence on these hallmarks. The close connection between nutrition, intake of bioactive nutrients and supplements, immune function, and inflammation demonstrate the key role of dietary strategies as regulators of immune response and inflammatory status, hence as possible modulators of the rate of immunosenescence. In addition, potential options for therapeutic intervention are clarified. In particular, the use of interleukin-7 as growth factor for naive T cells, the function of checkpoint inhibitors in improving T cell responses during aging and, the potential of drugs that inhibit mitogen-activated protein kinases and their interaction with nutrient signaling pathways are discussed. Finally, it is suggested that the inclusion of appropriate combinations of toll-like receptor agonists may enhance the efficacy of vaccination in older adults

Perceptual snoring as a basis for a psychoacoustical modeling and clinical patient profiling

Purpose The perceptual burden and social nuisance for mainly the co-sleeper can affect the relationship between snorer and bedpartner. Mandibular advancement devices (MAD) are commonly recommended to treat sleep-related breathing such as snoring or sleep apnea. There is no consensus about the definition of snoring particularly with MAD, which is essential for assessing the effectiveness of treatment. We aimed to stablish a notion of perceptual snoring with MAD in place. Methods Sound samples, each 30 min long, were recorded during in-home, overnight, automatic mandibular repositioning titration studies in a population of 29 patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) from a clinical trial carried out to validate the MATRx plus. Three unspecialized and calibrated raters identified sound events and classified them as noise, snore, or breathing as well as providing scores for classification certainty and annoyance. Data were analyzed with respect to expiration-inspiration, duration, annoyance, and classification certainty. Results A Fleiss' kappa (>0.80) and correlation duration of events (>0.90) between raters were observed. Prevalence of all breath sounds: snore 55.6% (N = 6398), breathing sounds 31.7% (N = 3652), and noise 9.3% (N = 1072). Inspiration occurs in 88.3% of events, 96.8% contained at least on expiration phase. Snore and breath events had similar duration, respectively 2.58s (sd 1.43) and 2.41s (sd 1.22). Annoyance is lowest for breathing events (8.00 sd 0.98) and highest for snore events (4.90 sd 1.92) on a VAS from zero to ten. Conclusion Perceptual sound events can be a basis for analysis in a psychosocial context. Perceived snoring occurs during both expiration as well as inspiration. Substantial amount of snoring remains despite repositioning of the mandible aimed at the reduction of AHI-ODI

Analysis of T and NK cell subsets in Sicilian population from young to supercentenarian: the role of age and gender

Ageing dramatically affects number and function of both innate and adaptive arms of immune system, particularly T cell subsets, contributing to reduced vaccination efficacy, decreased resistance to infections and increased prevalence of cancer in the older people. In the present paper, we analysed the age-related changes in the absolute number of lymphocytes in 214 Sicilian subjects, and in the percentages of T and NK cells in a sub-cohort of donors. We compared these results with the immunophenotype of the oldest living Italian supercentenarian (111 years old). The results were also sorted by gender. The correlation between number/percentage of cells and age in all individuals and, separately, in males and females, was examined using a simple linear regression analysis. We did not record the increase in the rate of inversion of the CD4/CD8 ratio frequently reported as associated with ageing in literature. Our observation was the direct consequence of a flat average trend of CD4+ and CD8+ T cell percentages in ageing donors, even when gender differences were included. Our results also suggest that CD4+ and CD8+ subsets are not affected equally by age comparing females with males, and we speculated that gender may affect the response to CMV infection. The supercentenarian showed a unique immunophenotypic signature as regards the relative percentages of her T cell subsets, with CD4+ and CD8+ T cell percentages and CD4+ na\uefve T cell values in line with those recorded for the octogenarian subjects. This suggests that the supercentenarian has a na\uefve "younger" T cell profile comparable to that of a >80 year old female

Effect of two major health reforms on health care cost and utilization in Fars Province of Iran: Family physician program and health transformation plan

Background: Family physician program (FPP) and health transformation plan (HTP) are two major reforms that have been implemented in Iran's health system in recent. The present study was aimed at evaluating the impact of these two reforms on the level of service utilization and cost of health care services. Methods: This longitudinal study was conducted on people insured by social security organization in Fars province during 2009-2016. The data on the utilization of services and costs of general practitioner visits, specialist visits, medications, imaging, laboratory tests, and hospitalization were collected. Interrupted time series analysis was used to analyze the effect of the two mentioned reforms. Results: FPP resulted in a significant reduction in the number of specialist visits, imaging, and laboratory tests in the short term, and in the number of radiology services, laboratory tests, and hospitalization in the long term. In contrast, HTP significantly increased the utilization of radiology services and laboratory tests both in the short term and long term. Concerning the costs, FPP resulted in a reduction in costs in short and long term except general practitioners' and specialist visit, and medication in long term. However, HTP resulted in an increase in health care costs in both of the studied time periods. Conclusions: FPP has been successful in rationalizing the utilization of services. On the other hand, HTP has improved people's access to services by increasing the utilization; but it has increased health care costs. Therefore, policymakers must adopt an agenda to revise and re-design the plan. © 2020 The Author(s)

Smart Built Environment Including Smart Home, Smart Building and Smart City: Definitions and Applied Technologies

Technology, particularly over the past decades, has affected the cities and their components, such as building sectors. Consequently, smart building that has currently utilized various technologies which is incorporated into buildings is the core of the present chapter. It provides a comprehensive overview on smart cities, smart buildings and smart home to address what systems and technologies have been incorporated so far. The aim is to review the smart concepts in built environment with the main focus on smart cities, smart buildings, and smart homes. State-of-the-art and current practices in smart buildings were also reviewed to enlighten a set of directions for future studies. The Chapter is primarily focuses on 51 articles in smart buildings/homes, as per collected from various datasets. It represents a summary of systems utilized and incorporared into smart buildings and homes over the past decade (2010–2020). Additional to different features of smart buildings and homes, is the discussion around various fields and system performances currently utilized in smart buildings/homes. Limitations and future trends and directions is also discussed. In total, such building/home systems were categorized into 6 groups, including: security systems, healthcare systems, energy management systems, building/home management systems, automation systems, and activity/movement recognition systems. Furthermore, there are a number of surveys which investigated the user’s acceptance and adoption of the new smart systems in homes and buildings, as presented and summarized thereafter in Tables. The present Chapter is a contribution to a better understanding of the functions and performances of such buildings/homes for further implementation and enhancement so that varying demands of smart citizens are fulfilled and eventually contribute to the development of smart cities

Adult-type granulosa cell tumor of the ovary : a FOXL2-centric disease

Adult-type granulosa cell tumors (aGCTs) account for 90% of malignant ovarian sex cord-stromal tumors and 2-5% of all ovarian cancers. These tumors are usually diagnosed at an early stage and are treated with surgery. However, one-third of patients relapse between 4 and 8 years after initial diagnosis, and there are currently no effective treatments other than surgery for these relapsed patients. As the majority of aGCTs (>95%) harbor a somatic mutation in FOXL2 (c.C402G; p.C134W), the aim of this study was to identify genetic mutations besides FOXL2 C402G in aGCTs that could explain the clinical diversity of this disease. Whole-genome sequencing of 10 aGCTs and their matched normal blood was performed to identify somatic mutations. From this analysis, a custom amplicon-based panel was designed to sequence 39 genes of interest in a validation cohort of 83 aGCTs collected internationally. KMT2D inactivating mutations were present in 10 of 93 aGCTs (10.8%), and the frequency of these mutations was similar between primary and recurrent aGCTs. Inactivating mutations, including a splice site mutation in candidate tumor suppressor WNK2 and nonsense mutations in PIK3R1 and NLRC5, were identified at a low frequency in our cohort. Missense mutations were identified in cell cycle-related genes TP53, CDKN2D, and CDK1. From these data, we conclude that aGCTs are comparatively a homogeneous group of tumors that arise from a limited set of genetic events and are characterized by the FOXL2 C402G mutation. Secondary mutations occur in a subset of patients but do not explain the diverse clinical behavior of this disease. As the FOXL2 C402G mutation remains the main driver of this disease, progress in the development of therapeutics for aGCT would likely come from understanding the functional consequences of the FOXL2 C402G mutation.Peer reviewe