Control performance monitoring of state-dependent nonlinear processes

This paper presents a novel approach to monitor control performance of nonlinear processes that can be described as state-dependent models (SDMs). A discrete Kalman filter (KF) is established to estimate the SDM parameters. A covariance control formulation is introduced to split the system closed-loop variance/covariance into two terms, one term to account for the minimum expected quadratic loss bound (equivalent to the minimum variance performance bound but in state space formulation), and another to account for performance deviations from the minimum variance bound. Simulation studies have been conducted on several nonlinear process systems including a cold rolling mill model with roll eccentricity and a steel making system with real time oxyfuel slab reheating furnace control data. The case study results demonstrate the computational eficiency of the proposed strategy in real time monitoring and control of systems with fast, nonlinear and time-varying dynamics

System identification and nonlinear model predictive control with collision avoidance applied in Hexacopters UAVs

Accurate trajectory tracking is a critical property of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) due to system nonlinearities, under-actuated properties and constraints. Specifically, the use of unmanned rotorcrafts with accuracy trajectory tracking controllers in dynamic environments has the potential to improve the fields of environment monitoring, safety, search and rescue, border surveillance, geology and mining, agriculture industry, and traffic control. Monitoring operations in dynamic environments produce significant complications with respect to accuracy and obstacles in the surrounding environment and, in many cases, it is difficult to perform even with state-of-the-art controllers. This work presents a nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) with collision avoidance for hexacopters’ trajectory tracking in dynamic environments, as well as shows a comparative study between the accuracies of the Euler–Lagrange formulation and the dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) models in order to find the precise representation of the system dynamics. The proposed controller includes limits on the maneuverability velocities, system dynamics, obstacles and the tracking error in the optimization control problem (OCP). In order to show the good performance of this control proposal, computational simulations and real experiments were carried out using a six rotary-wind unmanned aerial vehicle (hexacopter—DJI MATRICE 600). The experimental results prove the good performance of the predictive scheme and its ability to regenerate the optimal control policy. Simulation results expand the proposed controller in simulating highly dynamic environments that showing the scalability of the controller

Visual Servoing NMPC Applied to UAVs for Photovoltaic Array Inspection

The photovoltaic (PV) industry is seeing a significant shift toward large-scale solar plants, where traditional inspection methods have proven to be time-consuming and costly. Currently, the predominant approach to PV inspection using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is based on photogrammetry. However, the photogrammetry approach presents limitations, such as an increased amount of useless data during flights, potential issues related to image resolution, and the detection process during high-altitude flights. In this work, we develop a visual servoing control system applied to a UAV with dynamic compensation using a nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) capable of accurately tracking the middle of the underlying PV array at different frontal velocities and height constraints, ensuring the acquisition of detailed images during low-altitude flights. The visual servoing controller is based on the extraction of features using RGB-D images and the Kalman filter to estimate the edges of the PV arrays. Furthermore, this work demonstrates the proposal in both simulated and real-world environments using the commercial aerial vehicle (DJI Matrice 100), with the purpose of showcasing the results of the architecture. Our approach is available for the scientific community in: https://github.com/EPVelasco/VisualServoing_NMPCComment: This paper is under review at the journal "IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters

Associations between mental and physical conditions in children and adolescents: An umbrella review

We mapped the evidence on the type and strength of associations between a broad range of mental and physical conditions in children and adolescents, by carrying out an umbrella review, i.e., a quantitative synthesis of previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses. We also assessed to which extent the links between mental and physical conditions vary across disorders or, by contrast, are transdiagnostic. Based on a pre-established protocol, we retained 45 systematic reviews/meta-analyses, encompassing around 12.5 million of participants. In analyses limited to the most rigorous estimates, we found evidence for the following associations: ADHD-asthma, ADHD-obesity, and depression-asthma. A transdiagnostic association was confirmed between asthma and anxiety/ASD/depression/bipolar disorder, between obesity and ADHD/ASD/depression, and between dermatitis and ASD/ADHD. We conclude that obesity and allergic conditions are likely to be associated with mental disorders in children and adolescents. Our results can help clinicians explore potential links between mental and physical conditions in children/adolescent and provide a road map for future studies aimed at shading light on the underlying factors

Anales de Edafología y Agrobiología Tomo 34 Número 3-4

Estudio de la materia orgánica del ranker atlántico. I. Caracterización general, por P. Rodríguez Seoane, T. Carballas y F. Guitián Ojea.-- Movimiento y distribución de sales solubles en suelos calizos, por F. G. Fernández, M. Caro y A. Cerda.-- The availability of added and native phosphorus to barley grown in sorne Egyptian soils .containing different levels of calciurn carbonate, by M. H. Nafady.-- The measurernent of soil pH in calciurn chloride solutions, by M. H. Nafady.- Nuevas aportaciones al conocimiento del género Mnema (nernatoda) y su distribución en los suelos españoles, por María Arias.-- Estudios bioquímicos y fisiológicos en aceituna. III. Variaciones en el crecimiento de hojas y frutos, por J. P. Donaire, A. J. Sánchez-Raya, J. López Corge y L. Recalde.-- Importancia de la rnicorrización espontánea en ensayos de nutrición vegetal en suelos deficientes en fósforo, por R. Azcón y J. M. Barea.-- Andosoles canarios. J. Características generales de estos suelos, por E. Fernández Caldas y M. L. Tejedor Salguero.-- Andosoles canarios. II. Intergrados andosol-tierra parda oligotrófica. Características morfológicas y quírnkas, por M. L. Tejedor Salguero y E. Fernández Caldas.-- Andosoles canarios. lll. Jntergrados andosol-tierra parda otigotrófica. Catacterísticas físicas, por E. Fernández Caldas y M. L. Tejedor Salguero.-- Andosoles canario;. IV. In ter grados andosol-tierra parda ohgotrófica. Características mineralógicas. Interpretación y clasificación, por C. Rodríguez Pascual, P. Quantin, M. L. Tejedor Salguero y E. Fernández Caldas.-- Estudios recapitualtivos.-- La vid una revisión de las condiciones del cultivo, por C. González O. y M. Lachica.—Notas científicas.-- Nota sobre la determinación del carbono orgánico en suelos, por J. F. Gallardo.—Notas.-- Ampliación de la Comisión Permanente de la Junta de Gobierno del Patronato Alonso de Herrera.-- Nombramiento de Secretario del Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada de Tenerife.-- Nombramientos en el Instituto de Alimentación v Productividad Animal.-- Cambio de representantes del Patronato Alonso de Herrera en la Comisión Asesora de la Investigación Científica y Técnica.-- Convenio con ASPA.-- Dimisión del Director del Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura de Murcia.-- Nombramientos de representantes en los C. R. l. D. A. S.-- Designación de Jurados para Premios del C. S. l. C.-- Informes del Secretario Adjunto del C. S. I. C. sobre reuniones en Europa.-- Convenio entre la Estación Experimental del Zaidín y la Universidad de Nápoles.-- Donación de terrenos a la Diputación de Badajoz.-- Seminario Oleícola Internacional.-- Congreso de la Unión Fitopatológica Mediterránea.-- Situaciones de personal.-- Reunión de la Comisión de Protección Vegetal.-- Día Forestal Mundial.-- Congresos y reuniones internacionales y viajes.-- Premio Agrícola Aedos.-- BibliografíaPeer reviewed2019-08.- CopyBook.- Libnova.- Biblioteca ICA

Anales de Edafología y Agrobiología Tomo 32 Número 9-10

Aportaciones para un mejor conocimiento de los suelos desarrollados sobre materiales calizos consolidados, por J. L. Moreno Alvarez y T. Badorrey Peracho.-- Estudio biológico y químico de Erica umbellata L., por M. Consolación Salas, Antonio Ballester y Ernesto Vieitez.--Contenido en metales de la nitrito reductasa del alga Chlorella, por J. Cárdenas, F. D. Pineda, F. F. de la Rosa, J. L. Barea y J. Rivas.-- Andosuelos de la provincia de Gerona. I. Estudio de sustancias minerales amorfas, por J. Rodríguez Sanchidrián y F Monturiol Rodríguez.-- Minerales de la arcilla en suelos de la provincia de Granada, por J. L. Martín Vivaldi, E. Galán Huertos y F. López Aguayo.-- Influence of foliar application of macro-nutrient on the plant growth and rnultiplication of viruses. I. Foliar application of nitrogen nutrient to tomato and its effect on host growth and potato virus X multiplication, by Rajendra Singh and Tej Pratap Mall.-- Heterodera Schachtii Schmidt, 1871 (Nematoda: Heteroderidae) en los suelos de las Islas Canarias, por A. Bello y Mª. D. Romero.-- Utiliización de una nueva fórmula de cálculo para la evaporación de Piché en regiones húmedas de España, por Jesús Seco, Angela Calvo y José Garmendía.-- Contribución al estudio de la técnica de Walkley y Black para la determinación de carbono orgánico de suelos, por Luisa Prat Pérez y Benito Sánchez.-- Estudio de la dinámica del crecimiento del limón en el sureste español, por O. Carpena, F. Romojaro, C. Alearaz y S. Llorente.-- Efecto de la aplicación de acetileno y ácido 2-cloroetilfosfónico sobre la fructificación y cosecha del olivo, por A. J. Sánchez-Raya, J. P. Donaire y L. Recalde.—Notas científicas.-- Estudio de fosfatasa ácida en plantas de A tropa belladona L. recogidas en otoño, por M. R. Felipe Antón y N. Velázquez Sánchez.—Notas.-- Nombramiento de Presidente del C. S. I. C.-- Constitución de la nueva Junta de Gobierno del Patronato Alonso de Herrera.-- Nombramiento de Consejeros de Número.-- Nombramiento de Consejeros Adjuntos.-- Designación del Comité Nacional de la Unión Internacional de Investigaciones sobre el Cuaternario.-- Rector de la Universidad de La Laguna.-- Distinción al Pro f. Zorita.-- European Grassland Federation (5th General Meeting).-- Reuniones nacionales.-- 1ª Reunión Nacional del Grupo de Trabajo del Cuaternario.-- Laboratorio de Micromorfología de Suelos.-- Próximo Congreso de Micromorfología.-- Reunión en La Mayora.-- BibliografíaPeer reviewed2019-08.- CopyBook.- Libnova.- Biblioteca ICA

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

Regeneración ósea en un caso de odontodisplasia regional en zona anterior mandibular

Históricamente una de las patologías más frecuentes en los servicios de cirugía oral y maxilofacial son las inclusiones dentarias. Los principales factores etiológicos de la inclusión dentaria se da por: la falta de espacio, mal posición dentaria, presencia de dientes supernumerarios, presencia de tumores o quistes y displasias dentarias. Una de las displasias dentales poco comunes encontradas es la Odontodisplasia Regional. La Odontodisplasia Regional es una patología infrecuente que perjudica la formación estructural de los dientes afectados, la misma que con mayor frecuencia se presenta en la parte anterior izquierda de la maxila, siendo los dientes permanentes los más afectados y con menor frecuencia en la región mandibular. En el presente caso se reporta la exodoncia quirúrgica de dicha patología y la colocación de injerto en defecto óseo resultante, en busca de la formación de nuevo tejido óseo mediante procesos biológicos (osteogénesis, osteoconducción y osteoinducción) mediante la migración de células pluripotenciales y osteogénicas para permitir la formación de tejido óseo con características similares a las existentes en la zona mandibular y conservación tridimensional de hueso alveolar para una posterior rehabilitación

Three-Dimensional Unified Motion Control of a Robotic Standing Wheelchair for Rehabilitation Purposes

Technological advances in recent years have shown interest in the development of robots in the medical field. The integration of robotic systems in areas of assistance and rehabilitation improves the user’s quality of life. In this context, this article presents a proposal for the unified control of a robotic standing wheelchair. Considering primary and secondary tasks as control objectives, the system performs tasks autonomously and the change of position and orientation can be performed at any time. The development of the control scheme was divided in two parts: (i) kinematic controller to solve the desired motion problem; and (ii) dynamic compensation of the standing wheelchair–human system. The design of the two controllers considers the theory of linear algebra, proposing a low computational cost and an asymptotically stable algorithm, without disturbances. The stability and robustness analysis of the system is performed by analyzing the evolution of the control errors in each sampling period. Finally, real experiments of the performance of the developed controller are performed using a built and instrumented standing wheelchair