A bot spooler architecture to integrate virtual worlds with e-learning management systems for corporate training

Joining efforts of academic and corporate teams, we developed an integration architecture - MULTIS - that enables corporate e-learning managers to use a Learning Management System (LMS) for management of educational activities in virtual worlds. This architecture was then implemented for the Formare LMS. In this paper we present this architecture and concretizations of its implementation for the Second Life Grid/OpenSimulator virtual world platforms. Current systems are focused on activities managed by individual trainers, rather than groups of trainers and large numbers of trainees: they focus on providing the LMS with information about educational activities taking place in a virtual world and/or being able to access within the virtual world some of the information stored in the LMS, and disregard the streamlining of activity setup and data collection in multi-trainer contexts, among other administrative issues. This architecture aims to overcome the limitations of existing systems for organizational management of corporate e-learning activities.Portugal Telecom Inovação (atualmente, Altice Labs

Integrating virtual worlds with learning management systems : the MULTIS approach

Trabalho apresentado em 2016 no 15th International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing and Communications and 2016 8th International Symposium on Cyberspace and Security - IUCC-CSS,Granada, Spain, 2016.Learning Management Systems (LMS) provide minimal support for educational use of virtual worlds. Integration efforts assume the educators are inside the virtual world, providing hooks to services in the external LMS, to setup and manage virtual world activities. We present the inverse approach, enabling educators to setup and manage virtual world activities using the traditional LMS Web interface as an integral part of the overall educational activities of a course. In our approach, the LMS enables the teacher/trainer to setup, control, track, and store virtual world activities and its elements. It is the result of a joint effort by academic and corporate teams, implemented in the Formare LMS for OpenSimulator and Second Life Grid virtual world platforms. We explain how the Multis architecture can be used for integration, with concrete cases, an approach that can be implemented in other LMS and virtual world platforms, to overcome the limitations of existing systems for organizational management of e-learning activities.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Integration scenarios of virtual worlds in learning management systems using the MULTIS approach

This work further clarifies how the MULTIS architecture can be used for integration of virtual worlds in learning management system (LMS) for organizational management of e-learning activities, as an extension to a previous work published in the proceedings of VEAI 2016. Current LMSs provide minimal support for educational use in an organizational context, and other integration efforts assume that educators are inside the virtual world, accessing the LMS as an external service. Our approach enables educators to set up and manage virtual world activities from within the traditional LMS Web interface as an integral part of the overall educational activities of a course. The MULTIS architecture foresees several alternative communication channels between LMS and virtual worlds, including the spooling of automated clients or “bots” and the flexibility to inject code if necessary and possible. In this work, we detail the application of this architecture and its approach in several sample scenarios, based on previous analysis of integration requirements. It is the result of a joint effort by academic and corporate teams, implemented and tested in the Formare LMS for OpenSimulator and Second Life Grid virtual world platforms.Partly funded by Altice Labs (MULTIS II project) and by Project "TEC4Growth - Pervasive Intelligence, Enhancers and Proofs of Concept with Industrial Impact/NORTE-01-0145-FEDER- 000020", in the North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, and through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

O papel da Cirurgia Plástica no tratamento de feridas complexas – Infecção de esternotomia por KPC: relato de caso

Introduction. One of the main goals of the Plastic Surgery Academic League is to demystify the speciality among medical students, showing that its acting field goes beyond the patient’s aesthetics. The reconstructive surgery is one of the main pillars in Plastic Surgery and aims to re-establish functionality and aesthetics. Reconstructive surgery is often applied to the treatment of complex wounds, contributing significantly in decreasing the patient’s morbimortality and improving its standard of living. The thorax is a danger zone when it becomes infected and a sternotomy infection can evolve quickly to a devastating mediastinitis. Case Report: 60-year-old man, with arterial hypertension, former smoker and former alcoholic was submitted to elective coronary artery bypass graft in 2015, and during the 14th post-op evolved with surgical wound hyperemia; wide antiobiotic therapy was initiated, with no clinical improvement. As part of the hospital protocol, the Plastic Surgery team was called to evaluate the patient and then indicated surgical approach, which was done with wide debridement and negative pressure wound therapy. A sternal fragment culture identified colistine resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, a bacteria that requires very complex treatment. After three surgical approaches, with two changes of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) and wide antibiotic therapy, the patient had a favourable outcome. Discussion and Conclusion. The treatment of infected surgical wounds goes beyond wide antibiotic therapy; surgical approach with wide debridement is mandatory, but even the debridement alone is not enough and closing an infected wound can have disastrous consequences. NPWT allowed a great revolution in complex wounds treatment, because it creates a sufficiently dry environment which hampers bacteria growth and enhances local healing as a whole. Treating complex wounds is a great example of action in Plastic Surgery field that goes beyond aesthetical concern – it has a wide role in decreasing mortality and morbidity for the patients.Introdução. Um dos grandes objetivos da Liga Acadêmica de Cirurgia Plástica é a desmistificação da especialidade junto aos acadêmicos, mostrando que a atuação da mesma vai muito além da estética do paciente. A cirurgia reconstrutora procura a restauração da funcionalidade além da estética e, quando envolve o tratamento de feridas complexas, contribui significativamente para a diminuição da morbimortalidade dos pacientes e melhora da qualidade de vida dos mesmos O tórax é local de risco e a infecção de uma esternotomia pode ter evolução rápida e devastadora para mediastinite. Apresentação do caso. Homem de 60 anos, hipertenso, ex tabagista e ex etilista submetido a revascularização miocárdica completa eletiva em 2015, evoluiu em 14ºPO com hiperemia de cicatriz de esternotomia, submetido a ampla antibioticoterapia sem melhora. Foi avaliado pela Cirurgia Plástica conforme protocolo do hospital e indicada abordagem cirúrgica pela mesma, com desbridamento amplo e instalação de terapia por pressão negativa; a cultura do fragmento esternal identificou KPC multirresistente, bactéria de difícil tratamento. Após 3 abordagens cirúrgicas, com 2 trocas de terapia por pressão negativa (TPPN) e extensa antibioticoterapia, a evolução do paciente foi favorável. Discussão e Conclusão. O tratamento de feridas operatórias infectadas vai além da ampla antibioticoterapia, é necessária a abordagem da ferida com desbridamento, porém o por si só não é o suficiente e o fechamento de uma ferida infectada tem consequências desastrosas. A TPPN permitiu uma grande revolução no tratamento de feridas, pois cria um ambiente suficientemente seco que dificulta a proliferação bacteriana e favorece a cicatrização local como um todo. A abordagem de feridas pela Cirurgia Plástica é um grande exemplo de área de atuação que vai além da preocupação estética – tem-se uma importante diminuição de mortalidade e morbidade para os pacientes

The photochemical mediated ring contraction of 4H-1,2,6-thiadiazines to afford 1,2,5-thiadiazol-3(2H)-one 1-oxides

E.B. and C.G.T. are grateful to Heriot-Watt University and the EPSRC CRITICAT Centre for Doctoral Training (E.B. Ph.D. Studentship: EP/L016419/1, C.G.T Ph.D. Studentship: EP/LO14419/1) for funding and training. C.G.T. is grateful to the Heriot-Watt Annual Fund for financial support. P.A.K. and A.S.K. thank the University of Cyprus for the Internal Grant “Thiadiazine-Based Organic Photovoltaics”, and the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation (Grant Nos. ΣΤΡΑΤΗΙΙ/0308/06, NEKYP/0308/02 ΥΓΕΙΑ/0506/19, and ΕΝΙΣΧ/0308/83). M.J.P. thanks the EPSRC for funding (Grant Nos. EP/T021675 and EP/V006746), and the Leverhulme Trust (Grant No. PG-2020-208). S.A.M. thanks the EPSRC for funding (Grant No. EP/T019867/1).1,2,6-Thiadiazines treated with visible light and 3O2 under ambient conditions are converted into difficult-to-access 1,2,5-thiadiazole 1-oxides (35 examples, yields of 39–100%). Experimental and theoretical studies reveal that 1,2,6-thiadiazines act as triplet photosensitizers that produce 1O2 and then undergo a chemoselective [3 + 2] cycloaddition to give an endoperoxide that ring contracts with selective carbon atom excision and complete atom economy. The reaction was optimized under both batch and continuous-flow conditions and is also efficient in green solvents.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

LOVTRAP: an optogenetic system for photoinduced protein dissociation

Here we introduce LOVTRAP, an optogenetic approach for reversible, light-induced protein dissociation. LOVTRAP is based on protein A fragments that bind to the LOV domain only in the dark, with tunable kinetics and a >150-fold change in Kd. By reversibly sequestering proteins at mitochondria, we precisely modulated the proteins’ access to the cell edge, demonstrating a naturally occurring 3 mHz cell edge oscillation driven by interactions of Vav2, Rac1 and PI3K

Search for supersymmetry in events with b-quark jets and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for physics beyond the standard model based on events with large missing transverse energy, at least three jets, and at least one, two, or three b-quark jets. The study is performed using a sample of proton-proton collision data collected at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC in 2011. The integrated luminosity of the sample is 4.98 inverse femtobarns. The observed number of events is found to be consistent with the standard model expectation, which is evaluated using control samples in the data. The results are used to constrain cross sections for the production of supersymmetric particles decaying to b-quark-enriched final states in the context of simplified model spectra.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review

Identification of heavy-flavour jets with the CMS detector in pp collisions at 13 TeV

Many measurements and searches for physics beyond the standard model at the LHC rely on the efficient identification of heavy-flavour jets, i.e. jets originating from bottom or charm quarks. In this paper, the discriminating variables and the algorithms used for heavy-flavour jet identification during the first years of operation of the CMS experiment in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, are presented. Heavy-flavour jet identification algorithms have been improved compared to those used previously at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. For jets with transverse momenta in the range expected in simulated $\mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}$ events, these new developments result in an efficiency of 68% for the correct identification of a b jet for a probability of 1% of misidentifying a light-flavour jet. The improvement in relative efficiency at this misidentification probability is about 15%, compared to previous CMS algorithms. In addition, for the first time algorithms have been developed to identify jets containing two b hadrons in Lorentz-boosted event topologies, as well as to tag c jets. The large data sample recorded in 2016 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV has also allowed the development of new methods to measure the efficiency and misidentification probability of heavy-flavour jet identification algorithms. The heavy-flavour jet identification efficiency is measured with a precision of a few per cent at moderate jet transverse momenta (between 30 and 300 GeV) and about 5% at the highest jet transverse momenta (between 500 and 1000 GeV)

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Impacts of the Tropical Pacific/Indian Oceans on the Seasonal Cycle of the West African Monsoon

The current consensus is that drought has developed in the Sahel during the second half of the twentieth century as a result of remote effects of oceanic anomalies amplified by local land–atmosphere interactions. This paper focuses on the impacts of oceanic anomalies upon West African climate and specifically aims to identify those from SST anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Oceans during spring and summer seasons, when they were significant. Idealized sensitivity experiments are performed with four atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). The prescribed SST patterns used in the AGCMs are based on the leading mode of covariability between SST anomalies over the Pacific/Indian Oceans and summer rainfall over West Africa. The results show that such oceanic anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Ocean lead to a northward shift of an anomalous dry belt from the Gulf of Guinea to the Sahel as the season advances. In the Sahel, the magnitude of rainfall anomalies is comparable to that obtained by other authors using SST anomalies confined to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. The mechanism connecting the Pacific/Indian SST anomalies with West African rainfall has a strong seasonal cycle. In spring (May and June), anomalous subsidence develops over both the Maritime Continent and the equatorial Atlantic in response to the enhanced equatorial heating. Precipitation increases over continental West Africa in association with stronger zonal convergence of moisture. In addition, precipitation decreases over the Gulf of Guinea. During the monsoon peak (July and August), the SST anomalies move westward over the equatorial Pacific and the two regions where subsidence occurred earlier in the seasons merge over West Africa. The monsoon weakens and rainfall decreases over the Sahel, especially in August.Peer reviewe