Spectrograms of baleen whale records synthesized from Autoenconder architectures: CAE, VAE and CAE-LSTM

In this paper, different architectures of simple convolutional networks are analyzed to generate synthetic spectrograms corresponding to baleen whales. Simplicity in these models plays an important role in the implementations of these type of networks on embedded systems. In addition, the scarcity of available data requires the generation of efficient models. With this aim in mind, simple Autoencoder architectures with a low number of as- sociated parameters are presented and trained in this paper. Then, adequate metrics are obtained and the corresponding comparison among the architecture alternatives is made. The obtained results show that the more straightforward architecture is, in turn, the most convenient. Finally, from these models, synthetic spectrograms are generated from few data samples are generated, employing a low complexity architecture and assuming a normal distribution of the latent space vectors from the training data

Input and output total currents characterization in BCM and CCM Interleaved Power Converters Under Inductance Mismatch

This paper presents a complete characterization of input and output currents in interleaved power converters with inductance mismatch, operating in Boundary Conduction Mode (BCM) and Continuous Conduction Mode (CCM). The proposal allows to compute these currents in several interleaved converter topologies for the entire range of operating points, considering any number of phases and any inductance ratio. Input and output currents are recovered from the values obtained when adding the phase currents in the instants where the slopes change; values that are thus defined as key points. This methodology is based on the coincidences that exist between the instants of the phase current key points and those of total currents. By using the computed key points, ripple amplitude, rms value and harmonic content of input and output total currents for the entire range of operating points can be easily obtained. Simulations are conducted on a 5-phase boost converter and a 5-phase buck converter under different conditions in order to validate the proposal expressions. Experimental tests on a 5- phase buck converter are presented under different operation conditions to verify that the proposed method can be applied in real situation.Fil: Cervellini, María Paula. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas en Electrónica. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas en Electrónica; ArgentinaFil: Carnaghi, Marco. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas en Electrónica. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas en Electrónica; ArgentinaFil: Antoszczuk, Pablo Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas en Electrónica. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas en Electrónica; ArgentinaFil: Garcia Retegui, Rogelio Adrian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas en Electrónica. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas en Electrónica; ArgentinaFil: Funes, Marcos Alan. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas en Electrónica. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas en Electrónica; Argentin

Don’t worry, be active: how to facilitate the detection of errors in immersive virtual environments

The current research aims to study the link between the type of vision experienced in a collaborative immersive virtual environment (active vs. multiple passive), the type of error one looks for during a cooperative multi-user exploration of a design project (affordance vs. perceptual violations), and the type of setting in which multi-user perform (field in Experiment 1 vs. laboratory in Experiment 2). The relevance of this link is backed by the lack of conclusive evidence on an active vs. passive vision advantage in cooperative search tasks within software based on immersive virtual reality (IVR). Using a yoking paradigm based on the mixed usage of simultaneous active and multiple passive viewings, we found that the likelihood of error detection in a complex 3D environment was characterized by an active vs. multi-passive viewing advantage depending on: (1) the degree of knowledge dependence of the type of error the passive/active observers were looking for (low for perceptual violations, vs. high for affordance violations), as the advantage tended to manifest itself irrespectively from the setting for affordance, but not for perceptual violations; and (2) the degree of social desirability possibly induced by the setting in which the task was performed, as the advantage occurred irrespectively from the type of error in the laboratory (Experiment 2) but not in the field (Experiment 1) setting. Results are relevant to future development of cooperative software based on IVR used for supporting the design review. A multi-user design review experience in which designers, engineers and end-users all cooperate actively within the IVR wearing their own head mounted display, seems more suitable for the detection of relevant errors than standard systems characterized by a mixed usage of active and passive viewing

Parameterization of indicators for interleaved converters design in photovoltaic applications

The design of power converters for photovoltaic systems is a challenging issue to be addressed. This challenge lies on the need of considering efficiency, thermal and volume requirements at the same time; with the added drawback that these indicators have different behaviors depending on the operation conduction mode and also have opposing effects according to the switching frequency. The complexity increases when interleaved converters are selected, since the relationship among indicators is also affected by the number of phases. Many attempts have beenmade in the literature to address this issue; however, they have all reached partial strategies, focusing on some of the indicators and without taking into consideration the interactions amongthem. In this sense, this work proposes a mechanism to obtain indicators of total efficiency, thermal dissipation in inductors and semiconductors, as well as the volume of magnetic devicesand sinks, as a function of switching frequency and number of phases, for continuous and discontinuous conduction modes. This information is crucial to study the interaction among theperformance indicators, and to determine the most suitable values for the mentioned parameters. In order to show the proposal contribution, the parameters for an interleaved converter thatconnects a photovoltaic array with a direct current bus of 450V are obtained.Fil: Cervellini, María Paula. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas en Electrónica. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas en Electrónica; ArgentinaFil: Carnaghi, Marco. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas en Electrónica. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas en Electrónica; ArgentinaFil: Antoszczuk, Pablo Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas en Electrónica. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas en Electrónica; ArgentinaFil: Garcia Retegui, Rogelio Adrian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas en Electrónica. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas en Electrónica; ArgentinaFil: Funes, Marcos Alan. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas en Electrónica. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas en Electrónica; Argentin

Management of patients with early-stage colon cancer: guidelines of the Italian Medical Oncology Association

About 75% of colorectal cancers are diagnosed as early stage, in which radical surgery is achievable. In the last decade, in Italy, the overall incidence of colorectal cancer has remained stable, while mortality gradually decreased, which is attributable to early diagnosis and improved medical, surgical and locoregional treatments. The Italian Medical Oncology Association formulated guidelines to manage early-stage colon cancer, including screening, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up, which we herein present

Consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on admissions to general hospital psychiatric wards in Italy: Reduced psychiatric hospitalizations and increased suicidality

Aims: The present investigation aimed at evaluating differences in psychiatric hospitalizations in Italy during and after the lockdown due to the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), compared to the same periods in 2018 and 2019. Methods: We obtained and analyzed anonymized data on psychiatric admissions (n = 4550) from 12 general hospital psychiatric wards (GHPWs) in different Italian regions (catchment area = 3.71 millions of inhabitants). Using a mixed-effects Poisson regression model, we compared admission characteristics across three periods: (a) March 1-June 30, 2018 and 2019; (b) March 1-April 30, 2020 (i.e., lockdown); and (c) May 1-June 30, 2020 (i.e., post-lockdown). Results: During the COVID-19 lockdown, there was a 41% reduction (IRR = 0.59; p 65 years) was observed in the lockdown (40%; IRR = 0.60; 95% CI: 0.44-0.82) and post-lockdown (28%; IRR = 0.72; 95% CI: 0.54-0.96) periods. Long-stay admissions (>14 days) increased (63%; IRR = 1.63; 95% CI: 1.32-2.02) during the lockdown and decreased by 39% thereafter (IRR = 0.61; 95% CI: 0.49-0.75). A significant 35% increase in patients reporting suicidal ideation was observed in the post-lockdown period, compared to the rate observed in the 2018 and 2019 control period (IRR = 1.35; 95% CI: 1.01-1.79). Conclusion: The COVID-19 lockdown was associated with changes in the number of psychiatric admissions, particularly for older patients and long-stay hospitalizations. Increased admission of patients reporting suicidal ideation in the post-lockdown period merits special attention. Further studies are required to gain insight into the observed phenomena

Everolimus as first line therapy for pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours: current knowledge and future perspectives

PURPOSE: Everolimus has been shown to be effective for advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (pNETs), but its positioning in the therapeutic algorithm for pNETs is matter of debate. METHODS: With the aim to shed light on this point, we performed an up-to-date critical review taking into account the results of both retrospective and prospective published studies, and the recommendations of international guidelines. In addition, we performed an extensive search on the Clinical Trial Registries databases worldwide, to gather information on the ongoing clinical trials related to this specific topic. RESULTS: We identified eight retrospective published studies, two prospective published studies, and five registered clinical trials. Moreover, we analyzed the content of four widespread international guidelines. CONCLUSIONS: Our critical review confirms the lack of high-quality data to recommend everolimus as the first line therapy for pNETs. The ongoing clinical trials reported in this review will hopefully help clinicians, in the near future, to better evaluate the role of everolimus as the first line therapy for pNETs. However, at the moment, there is already enough evidence to recommend everolimus as the first line therapy for patients with symptomatic malignant unresectable insulin-secreting pNETs, to control the endocrine syndrome regardless of tumour growth