Urinary Tract Infections in Neuro-Patients

The majority of neurological diseases may have an impact on lower urinary tract function. High intravesical pressure, post-void residual and incontinence are the main consequences of this dysfunction. All the mentioned conditions are inductive factors for urinary tract infections (UTIs). In addition, the potential complications of neurogenic urinary disorders (reflux, stone formation, incomplete emptying of the bladder), and the methods of urine drainage (intermittent or indwelling catheters, urinary diversion) contribute even more to UTIs. In neuro-patients, all UTIs are considered as complicated ones and there is a different microbiology as compared to the general population. In this chapter, inductive factors for UTIs in neuro-patients will be analyzed and the potential solutions will be exposed. There is a special mention in asymptomatic bacteriuria, which is correlated to neurogenic urinary dysfunction and it is clinically total different from UTI. Asymptomatic bacteriuria should not be treated as the treatment has a negative final outcome for the patient

Προσομοίωση Εκκένωσης Πλήθους, Επιβατηγού - Οχηματαγωγού Πλοίου, στο Περιβάλλον Unity3D

Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο--Μεταπτυχιακή Εργασία. Διεπιστημονικό-Διατμηματικό Πρόγραμμα Μεταπτυχιακών Σπουδών (Δ.Π.Μ.Σ.) “Ναυτική και Θαλάσσια Τεχνολογία και Επιστήμη

Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS) and Sexual Function and Dysfunction

In recent years, the coexistence of sexual dysfunction (SD) and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) has become a popular topic for researchers. Numerous clinical epidemiologic studies have been planned for this reason and have evaluated the relationship between these seemingly irrelevant urological conditions. The connection between SD and LUTS has already been acknowledged, and common pathophysiological pathways have been recognized. In this chapter was attempted to evaluate the impact on patient’s quality of life (QoL), common pathophysiological pathways and therapy aspects of this condition. SD and LUTS are common problems among the general population and affect a great percentage of urological patients. It is a subject that affects the community in social, financial, and psychological terms. In this case, research for new treatment options has been triggered as phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors established their role as the widely approved combination therapy

Design and Development of the Virtual Museum of Informatics and Telecommunications as an Immersive Virtual Living Lab

Το Μουσείο Πληροφορικής και Τηλεπικοινωνιών (MΠ&T), που ιδρύθηκε το φθινόπωρο του 2019, είναι η πιο πρόσφατη προσθήκη στα μουσεία του Εθνικού και Καποδιστριακού Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών. Μια ομάδα μουσειολόγων και αρχιτεκτόνων έχει εκπονήσει τη μουσειολογική και αρχιτεκτονική μελέτη για την αναδιαμόρφωση του σημερινού χώρου του Μουσείου. Τα σχέδια βασίζονται σε μια σύγχρονη προσέγγιση που έχει ως στόχο να διαμορφώσουν το ΜΠ&Τ σε έναν μόνιμο εκθεσιακό χώρο με σκοπό την προβολή της ιστορίας της πληροφορικής και των τηλεπικοινωνιών μαζί με την έννοια της «υπολογιστικής σκέψης» στο κοινό και ταυτόχρονα σε «ζωντανό εργαστήριο» για την ανάδειξη και υποστήριξη της εκπαιδευτικής διαδικασίας και της επιστημονικής έρευνας. Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία παρουσιάζει το σχεδιασμό και την ανάπτυξη μιας εμβυθιστικής διαδραστικής εικονικής έκδοσης του MΠ&T, βασισμένης στην ιδέα της εικονικής ανακατασκευής του φυσικού χώρου του Μουσείου όπως προβλέπεται να γίνει στο μέλλον. Το εικονικό MΠ&T φιλοδοξεί να εξελιχθεί σε εργαλείο που συμπληρώνει και επαυξάνει την επίσκεψη στο πραγματικό μουσείο προσθέτοντας ένα υψηλό επίπεδο εμβύθισης καθώς και μια ποικιλία αλληλεπιδράσεων που δεν θα ήταν δυνατές στον πραγματικό κόσμο, αξιοποιώντας έτσι τα βασικά χαρακτηριστικά της Εικονικής Πραγματικότητας. Για την κατασκευή του εικονικού MΠ&T, δημιουργήθηκε ένα ακριβές τρισδιάστατο μοντέλο του νέου Μουσείου με βάση τα αρχιτεκτονικά σχέδια. Στη συνέχεια, προστέθηκαν πολλαπλές αλληλεπιδράσεις για την ενίσχυση της εικονικής εμπειρίας μέσω παιχνιδιών και δραστηριοτήτων που σχετίζονται με την Πληροφορική και τις Τηλεπικοινωνίες. Επιπλέον, για να υποστηρίξει τον ρόλο του φυσικού Μουσείου ως «ζωντανού εργαστηρίου», η εικονική του απόδοση έχει σχεδιαστεί με αρθρωτό τρόπο που επιτρέπει την ανάπτυξη συμπληρωματικών σκηνών που μπορεί να χρησιμεύσουν ως πειράματα ή ερευνητικά έργα. Τρεις τέτοιες σκηνές έχουν κατασκευαστεί για να δείξουν το επίπεδο εμβύθισης, ή «παρουσίας», που μπορεί να προκαλέσει το εικονικό περιβάλλον. Περιγράφονται λεπτομερώς σε αυτή τη διπλωματική ως παραδείγματα για μελλοντικούς προγραμματιστές που μπορεί να θέλουν να δημιουργήσουν συναφείς διαδραστικές ή/και πολυαισθητηριακές εμπειρίες. Το εικονικό MΠ&T αξιολογήθηκε σε μια διερευνητική μελέτη με 16 συμμετέχοντες από διαφορετικές ηλικιακές ομάδες και υπόβαθρα. Κάθε συμμετέχων βίωσε το εικονικό περιβάλλον χρησιμοποιώντας μια φορητή συσκευή VR, το Oculus Quest 2, και στη συνέχεια ακολούθησε συζήτηση για την εμπειρία με τη μορφή ημι-δομημένης συνέντευξης που διεξήγαγε ο ερευνητής. Τα ευρήματα αποκάλυψαν τα δυνητικά οφέλη και τις εκπαιδευτικές δυνατότητες του εικονικού μουσείου και των υποστηρικτικών του περιβαλλόντων (mini-games). Ωστόσο, τόνισαν επίσης τα πεδία βελτίωσης, κυρίως όσον αφορά τη χρηστικότητα καθώς και τη βελτίωση της διαδραστικότητας και των αντιληπτών δυνατοτήτων αλληλεπίδρασης. Η προσέγγιση «ανοικτού κελύφους» που υιοθετήθηκε στο σχεδιασμό και την υλοποίηση του εικονικού MΠ&T επιτρέπει στους μελλοντικούς σχεδιαστές και προγραμματιστές να εφαρμόσουν αυτές τις βελτιώσεις και να εξελίξουν το εικονικό μουσείο σε ένα δυναμικό πειραματικό εργαστήριο που θα συμπληρώνει το πραγματικό Μουσείο.The Museum of Informatics and Telecommunications (MI&T), founded in the fall of 2019, is the most recent addition to the cohort of museums of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. A team of museologists and architects have created plans for renovating and remodeling the Museum’s current space. The plans are based on museological concepts aiming to mold it into a permanent exhibition area with the purpose of showcasing the history of informatics and telecommunications along with the concept of ‘computational thinking’ to the public, and at the same time acting as a ‘living lab’ for scientific research in multiple disciplines and at various (high school, pre- or post-graduate) levels. This thesis presents the design and development of an immersive interactive virtual version of the MI&T, based on the notion of virtually reconstructing the physical Museum space as it is envisioned to become in the future. The virtual MI&T aspires to evolve as a tool that complements and augments the museum visit by adding a high level of immersion as well as a variety of interactions that would not be possible in the real world, thus leveraging the core attributes of Virtual Reality (VR) technology. To construct the virtual MI&T, an accurate 3D model of the new Museum was created based on the architectural designs. Then, multiple interactions were added to enhance the virtual experience through gamified processes and activities related to informatics and telecommunications. Moreover, to support the physical Museum’s role as a ‘living lab’, its virtual rendition is designed in a modular way that allows the development of supplemental scenes that may serve as experiments or research projects. Three such scenes have been constructed to demonstrate the level of immersion, or ‘presence’, that the virtual environment is able to evoke. They are described in detail in this thesis as examples for future developers that may want to create immersive, interactive, multisensory experiences. The virtual MI&T was evaluated in an exploratory study with 16 participants from different age groups and backgrounds. Each participant experienced the virtual environment using a mid-tier portable VR headset, the Oculus Quest 2, and then discussed their experience in a semi-structured interview conducted by the researcher. The findings revealed the engagement and educational potential of the virtual museum and its supporting environments (mini-games). However, they also highlighted the areas for improvement, primarily in terms of usability as well as in the enhancement of interactivity and interaction affordances. The ‘open shell’ approach adopted in the design and implementation of the virtual MI&T allows for future designers and developers to follow-up on these improvements and evolve the virtual museum into a dynamic experimental lab that will complement the real Museum

Play it Again: Evolved Audio Effects and Synthesizer Programming

Automatic programming of sound synthesizers and audio devices to match a given, desired sound is examined and a Genetic Algorithm (GA) that functions independent of specific synthesis techniques is proposed. Most work in this area has focused on one synthesis model or synthesizer, designing the GA and tuning the operator parameters to obtain optimal results. The scope of such inquiries has been limited by available computing power, however current software (Ableton Live, herein) and commercially available hardware is shown to quickly find accurate solutions, promising a practical application for music creators. Both software synthesizers and audio effects processors are examined, showing a wide range of performance times (from seconds to hours) and solution accuracy, based on particularities of the target devices. Random oscillators, phase synchronizing, and filters over empty frequency ranges are identified as primary challenges for GA based optimization

Embodied Evolution in Collective Robotics: A Review

This paper provides an overview of evolutionary robotics techniques applied to on-line distributed evolution for robot collectives -- namely, embodied evolution. It provides a definition of embodied evolution as well as a thorough description of the underlying concepts and mechanisms. The paper also presents a comprehensive summary of research published in the field since its inception (1999-2017), providing various perspectives to identify the major trends. In particular, we identify a shift from considering embodied evolution as a parallel search method within small robot collectives (fewer than 10 robots) to embodied evolution as an on-line distributed learning method for designing collective behaviours in swarm-like collectives. The paper concludes with a discussion of applications and open questions, providing a milestone for past and an inspiration for future research.Comment: 23 pages, 1 figure, 1 tabl

Performance Assessment of Recursive Probability Matching for Adaptive Operator Selection in Differential Evolution

Probability Matching is one of the most successful methods for adaptive operator selection (AOS), that is, online parameter control, in evolutionary algorithms. In this paper, we propose a variant of Probability Matching, called Recursive Probability Matching (RecPM-AOS), that estimates reward based on progress in past generations and estimates quality based on expected quality of possible selection of operators in the past. We apply RecPM-AOS to the online selection of mutation strategies in differential evolution (DE) on the bbob benchmark functions. The new method is compared with two AOS methods, namely, PM-AdapSS, which utilises probability matching with relative fitness improvement, and F-AUC, which combines the concept of area under the curve with a multi-arm bandit algorithm. Experimental results show that the new tuned RecPM-AOS method is the most effective at identifying the best mutation strategy to be used by DE in solving most functions in bbob among the AOS methods

A hybrid breakout local search and reinforcement learning approach to the vertex separator problem

The Vertex Separator Problem (VSP) is an NP-hard problem which arises from several important domains and applications. In this paper, we present an improved Breakout Local Search for VSP (named BLS-RLE). The distinguishing feature of BLS-RLE is a new parameter control mechanism that draws upon ideas from reinforcement learning theory for an interdependent decision on the number and on the type of perturbation moves. The mechanism complies with the principle “intensification first, minimal diversification only if needed”, and uses a dedicated sampling strategy for a rapid convergence towards a limited set of parameter values that appear to be the most convenient for the given state of search. Extensive experimental evaluations and statistical comparisons on a wide range of benchmark instances show significant improvement in performance of the proposed algorithm over the existing BLS algorithm for VSP. Indeed, out of the 422 tested instances, BLS-RLE was able to attain the best-known solution in 93.8% of the cases, which is around 20% higher compared to the existing BLS. In addition, we provide detailed analyses to evaluate the importance of the key elements of the proposed method and to justify the degree of diversification introduced during perturbation