Model Predictive Control as a Function for Trajectory Control during High Dynamic Vehicle Maneuvers considering Actuator Constraints

Autonomous driving is a rapidly growing field and can bring significant transition in mobility and transportation. In order to cater a safe and reliable autonomous driving operation, all the systems concerning with perception, planning and control has to be highly efficient. MPC is a control technique used to control vehicle motion by controlling actuators based on vehicle model and its constraints. The uniqueness of MPC compared to other controllers is its ability to predict future states of the vehicle using the derived vehicle model. Due to the technological development & increase in computational capacity of processors and optimization algorithms MPC is adopted for real-time application in dynamic environments. This research focuses on using Model predictive Control (MPC) to control the trajectory of an autonomous vehicle controlling the vehicle actuators for high dynamic maneuvers. Vehicle Models considering kinematics and vehicle dynamics is developed. These models are used for MPC as prediction models and the performance of MPC is evaluated. MPC trajectory control is performed with the minimization of cost function and limiting constraints. MATLAB/Simulink is used for designing trajectory control system and interfaced with CarMaker for evaluating controller performance in a realistic simulation environment. Performance of MPC with kinematic and dynamic vehicle models for high dynamic maneuvers is evaluated with different speed profiles

Acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome in malaria

Malaria is an important treatable cause of acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in the tropics and in the returning traveller in the non-endemic areas. ARDS is an important complication in severe, complicated falciparum malaria and has been described in P. vivax and P. ovale malaria also. Malarial ALI/ARDS is more common in adults than in children. Pregnant women and non-immune individuals are more prone to develop this condition. Increased alveolar capillary permeability resulting in intravascular fluid loss into the lungs appears to be the key pathophysiologic mechanism. In malaria, ARDS can develop either at initial presentation or after initiation of treatment when the parasitaemia is falling and the patient is improving. Patients present with acute onset dysnoea that can rapidly progress to respiratory failure. The diagnosis of malaria is confirmed by slide microscopy supported by the use of rapid antigen tests. Patients with malarial ARDS should be managed in an intensive care unit. Careful attention must be paid to haemodynamic stabilisation and optimising fluid balance. Currently, specific treatment choices for malaria include parenteral artemisinins or intravenous quinine along with doxycycline. Respiratory failure requires endotracheal intubation and assisted mechanical ventilation. Co-existent bacterial sepsis is frequently present in patients with malarial ARDS eventhough an obvious focus may not be evident. Appropriate broad spectrum antibiotic therapy must be started when there is a clinical suspicion after procuring the microbiological specimens. ARDS in malaria is a disease with a high mortality. Early diagnosis, institution of specific antimalarial treatment and assisted ventilation can be life-saving

PET-based analysis of tumor glucose metabolism and tumor hypoxia before and during anti-neoplastic treatment

Tumor hypoxia is an important contributor to chemo-radiotherapy resistance. This has been demonstrated in several tumor types including non-small cell lung cancer and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Tumor hypoxia is a dynamic process, some parts of the tumor exhibit higher levels of hypoxia than others due to differences in blood flow as a result of constantly changing tumor microenvironment. Therefore, precise delivery of higher radiation doses per fraction to the specific hypoxic sub-volumes of tumor identified by FAZA-PET imaging may improve the therapeutic ratio by increasing local tumor control without inducing excess radiation induced side effects. Therefore, it is necessary to identify spatio-temporal dynamics of tumor hypoxia during treatment. In our study, FAZA-PET imaging is able to detect heterogeneous distribution of hypoxic sub-volumes out of homogeneous FDG background in a tumor. Most importantly we observed relatively stable tumor hypoxia at FAZA-week 2 of chemoradiotherapy. Hence, FAZA-PET might be developed into a tool for guiding adaptive radiotherapy treatment planning. However, additional studies are needed on the spatial-temporal dynamics of tumor hypoxia, to stratify patients who may benefit from hypoxia based radiotherapy treatment planning before implementation

Preclinical Applications of 3'-Deoxy-3'-[18F]Fluorothymidine in Oncology - A Systematic Review

The positron emission tomography (PET) tracer 3'-deoxy-3'-[18F]fluorothymidine ([18F]FLT) has been proposed to measure cell proliferation non-invasively in vivo. Hence, it should provide valuable information for response assessment to tumor therapies. To date, [18F]FLT uptake has found limited use as a response biomarker in clinical trials in part because a better understanding is needed of the determinants of [18F]FLT uptake and therapy-induced changes of its retention in the tumor. In this systematic review of preclinical [18F]FLT studies, comprising 174 reports, we identify the factors governing [18F]FLT uptake in tumors, among which thymidine kinase 1 plays a primary role. The majority of publications (83 %) report that decreased [18F]FLT uptake reflects the effects of anticancer therapies. 144 times [18F]FLT uptake was related to changes in proliferation as determined by ex vivo analyses. Of these approaches, 77 % describe a positive relation, implying a good concordance of tracer accumulation and tumor biology. These preclinical data indicate that [18F]FLT uptake holds promise as an imaging biomarker for response assessment in clinical studies. Understanding of the parameters which influence cellular [18F]FLT uptake and retention as well as the mechanism of changes induced by therapy is essential for successful implementation of this PET tracer. Hence, our systematic review provides the background for the use of [18F]FLT in future clinical studies

GR-306 Improving Wildfire Propagation Simulations Using Cellular Automata to Help Emergency Management

Discrete computational models known as cellular automata (CA) utilize discrete spatial cells, each existing in one of a set of possible states at any given moment. Transition rules specify how a given cell’s state evolves in subsequent time steps and is dependent on the states of the given cell’s neighborhood of surrounding cells. A cellular automaton model can also account for the influence of other external or physical factors on the evolution of a given cell’s state. These capabilities afforded by CA models make it an ideal tool to simulate the propagation of wildfires. One specific study carried out by Freire et al. [2019] sought to improve upon the benchmark concept by attempting to incorporating topographical, meteorological, and fuel loading factors into the transition rules of their probabilistic CA model. This project proposes two ways to improve the accuracy of their proposed CA to model wildfire propagation to reduce uncertainty intrinsic to a probabilistic approach. First, we attempt to incorporate fire weather indices that account for relevant meteorological, climatological, and fuel stress and flammability conditions that affect the ability of, and therefore the probability that, fuel within a cell can ignite within a given time step. Next, Freire et al. [2019] determined a constant burn rate to use for each time step based on empirical and probabilistic data that is specific to a certain fire they studied. The capability to account for burn rate for cells with varying fuel load factors will also be assessed in this paper. Ultimately, the purpose of these efforts is to increase the accuracy of fire propagation simulations using cellular automata models to assist emergency management and firefighters warn, evacuate, fight, and allocate resources to efficiently protect life and property

Validation of protein carbonyl measurement:a multi-centre study

Protein carbonyls are widely analysed as a measure of protein oxidation. Several different methods exist for their determination. A previous study had described orders of magnitude variance that existed when protein carbonyls were analysed in a single laboratory by ELISA using different commercial kits. We have further explored the potential causes of variance in carbonyl analysis in a ring study. A soluble protein fraction was prepared from rat liver and exposed to 0, 5 and 15 min of UV irradiation. Lyophilised preparations were distributed to six different laboratories that routinely undertook protein carbonyl analysis across Europe. ELISA and Western blotting techniques detected an increase in protein carbonyl formation between 0 and 5 min of UV irradiation irrespective of method used. After irradiation for 15 min, less oxidation was detected by half of the laboratories than after 5 min irradiation. Three of the four ELISA carbonyl results fell within 95% confidence intervals. Likely errors in calculating absolute carbonyl values may be attributed to differences in standardisation. Out of up to 88 proteins identified as containing carbonyl groups after tryptic cleavage of irradiated and control liver proteins, only seven were common in all three liver preparations. Lysine and arginine residues modified by carbonyls are likely to be resistant to tryptic proteolysis. Use of a cocktail of proteases may increase the recovery of oxidised peptides. In conclusion, standardisation is critical for carbonyl analysis and heavily oxidised proteins may not be effectively analysed by any existing technique

Myth: People Fully Recover From COVID-19

Con el transcurrir del tiempo se ha dejado entrever la posibilidad de que el pensamiento administrativo se ha alimentado sólo de la práctica del ejercicio de administrar en las organizaciones, cuya base se fundamenta en el hecho de una visión objetiva de la realidad que procura dar cuenta del comportamiento de los diferentes colaboradores en las mismas. Este artículo de reflexión pretende ofrecer al lector una mirada que va más allá de la mera observación de una realidad organizacional desde el punto de vista de las prácticas e invita a involucrarse en el tema del poder como un referente para encontrar explicación a la conducta de los colaboradores en las empresas y permite comparar lo que desde la administración se ha conocido como el ejercicio del poder en las organizaciones. El artículo, además de corresponder a una revisión teórica de los planteamientos realizados por diferentes autores reconocidos en este campo, propone, a partir de él, sugerir un tema de discusión entre lo que se entiende por poder y cómo la administración ha interpretado dicho concepto desde la óptica de su ejercicio en las organizaciones.(resumo en espanhol) Con el transcurrir del tiempo se ha dejado entrever la posibilidad de que el pensamiento administrativo se ha alimentado sólo de la práctica del ejercicio de administrar en las organizaciones, cuya base se fundamenta en el hecho de una visión objetiva de la realidad que procura dar cuenta del comportamiento de los diferentes colaboradores en las mismas. Este artículo de reflexión pretende ofrecer al lector una mirada que va más allá de la mera observación de una realidad organizacional desde el punto de vista de las prácticas e invita a involucrarse en el tema del poder como un referente para encontrar explicación a la conducta de los colaboradores en las empresas y permite comparar lo que desde la administración se ha conocido como el ejercicio del poder en las organizaciones. El artículo, además de corresponder a una revisión teórica de los planteamientos realizados por diferentes autores reconocidos en este campo, propone, a partir de él, sugerir un tema de discusión entre lo que se entiende por poder y cómo la administración ha interpretado dicho concepto desde la óptica de su ejercicio en las organizaciones.Across the time, it seems that most of the attention in management thinking has been in how to administrate the organizations, in which an objective view of the reality is needed in order to understand the behavior of the company collaborators. This article pretends to offer a new point of view in which not only the realities of the management in organizations are taken into account but the power is seen as a key factor that explains the behavior of these collaborators, what leads the introduction of the commonly known concepts of the exercise of the power in the organizations. This document makes a theoretical review of the expositions realized by different recognized authors in this field, at the same time that proposes the power and its interpretation from the exercise of the power in the organization as a subject of discussion and further study