Asynchronous Multi-Robot Patrolling against Intrusions in Arbitrary Topologies

Use of game theoretical models to derive randomized mobile robot patrolling strategies has recently received a growing attention. We focus on the problem of patrolling environments with arbitrary topologies using multiple robots. We address two important issues cur rently open in the literature. We determine the smallest number of robots needed to patrol a given environment and we compute the optimal patrolling strategies along several coordination dimensions. Finally, we experimentally evaluate the proposed techniques

Extracellular Vesicles as Natural, Safe and Efficient Drug Delivery Systems

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are particles naturally released from cells, delimited by a lipid bilayer, carrying functionally active biological molecules. In addition to their physiological role in cellular communication, the interest of the scientific community has recently turned to the use of EVs as vehicles for delivering therapeutic molecules. Several attempts are being made to ameliorate drug encapsulation and targeting, but these efforts are thwarted if the starting material does not meet stringent quality criteria. Here, we take a step back to the sources and isolation procedures that could guarantee significant improvements in the purification of EVs to be used as drug carriers, highlighting the advantages and shortcomings of each approac

Effect of ageing and ischemia on enzymatic activities linked to Krebs' cycle, electron transfer chain, glutamate and aminoacids metabolism of free and intrasynaptic mitochondria of cerebral cortex

The effect of ageing and the relationships between the catalytic properties of enzymes linked to Krebs' cycle, electron transfer chain, glutamate and aminoacid metabolism of cerebral cortex, a functional area very sensitive to both age and ischemia, were studied on mitochondria of adult and aged rats, after complete ischemia of 15 minutes duration. The maximum rate (V (max)) of the following enzyme activities: citrate synthase, malate dehydrogenase, succinate dehydrogenase for Krebs' cycle; NADH-cytochrome c reductase as total (integrated activity of Complex I-III), rotenone sensitive (Complex I) and cytochrome oxidase (Complex IV) for electron transfer chain; glutamate dehydrogenase, glutamate-oxaloacetate- and glutamate-pyruvate transaminases for glutamate metabolism were assayed in non-synaptic, perikaryal mitochondria and in two populations of intra-synaptic mitochondria, i.e., the light and heavy mitochondrial fraction. The results indicate that in normal, steady-state cerebral cortex, the value of the same enzyme activity markedly differs according (a) to the different populations of mitochondria, i.e., non-synaptic or intra-synaptic light and heavy, (b) and respect to ageing. After 15 min of complete ischemia, the enzyme activities of mitochondria located near the nucleus (perikaryal mitochondria) and in synaptic structures (intra-synaptic mitochondria) of the cerebral tissue were substantially modified by ischemia. Non-synaptic mitochondria seem to be more affected by ischemia in adult and particularly in aged animals than the intra-synaptic light and heavy mitochondria. The observed modifications in enzyme activities reflect the metabolic state of the tissue at each specific experimental condition, as shown by comparative evaluation with respect to the content of energy-linked metabolites and substrates. The derangements in enzyme activities due to ischemia is greater in aged than in adult animals and especially the non-synaptic and the intra-synaptic light mitochondria seems to be more affected in aged animals. These data allow the hypothesis that the observed modifications of catalytic activities in non-synaptic and intra-synaptic mitochondrial enzyme systems linked to energy metabolism, amino acids and glutamate metabolism are primary responsible for the physiopathological responses of cerebral tissue to complete cerebral ischemia for 15 min duration during agein

Nuevas normas de auditoría en Argentina

En términos generales, la resolución técnica 37 (2013) tiene como finalidad modificar las normas profesionales de auditoría vigentes en la Argentina, fundamentalmente para incluir nuevos servicios ya contemplados en las normas internacionales de aseguramiento y servicios relacionados, adoptadas ahora por la FACPCE, y adecuar las normas de antigua data, hasta el momento existentes. La justificación del tema está dada por la gran importancia en materia de auditoría que implican los cambios introducidos por las nuevas resoluciones, ya que cambiarán no sólo las normas, sino también los tipos de informes y los servicios brindados, no así la metodología para la ejecución de las labores y procedimientos de auditoría, adoptando nuevas situaciones ya contemplados por las normas internacionales. Además el objetivo primordial de este trabajo es que sirva de base para el estudio de la materia tanto para los nuevos alumnos como así también para aquellos que estudiaron el campo de la auditoría a través de la normativa anterior, como así también cualquier otro interesado, pudiendo visualizar y sobretodo comparar fácilmente las modificaciones de fondo entre una y otra.Fil: Di Leo, Alessandro Franco. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas.Fil: Sibecas, Nicolás Eduardo. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas.Fil: Victorio Marino, Federico José. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas.Fil: Villa Chiartano, Federico Nicolás. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas

Uso de convertidores boost en sistemas de seguimiento del punto de máxima potencia de sistemas fotovoltaicos autónomos.

Este trabajo muestra el funcionamiento de un sistema de seguimiento del punto de máxima potencia para sistemas fotovoltaicos autónomos. El seguimiento se implementó para un conjunto de dos paneles fotovoltaicos de 80Wp conectados en paralelo, acoplados a un sistema de baterías de 24V por medio de un convertidor Boost. La utilización en el trabajo de un convertidor de alta frecuencia, se debe a que el mismo puede modificar el punto de trabajo del conjunto de paneles fotovoltaicos en función de una señal modulada de entrada. Las características de este convertidor permiten la determinación de la curva I-V del conjunto de Paneles y su implementación con una lógica de control adecuada, permite la búsqueda del punto de máxima potencia. Para la estrategia de búsqueda se optó por la implementación del algoritmo “Perturbar y Observar” (P&O), utilizándose en el desarrollo final un microcontrolador PIC de 32 bits. El armado de un banco de monitoreo del sistema, permite mostrar las características de estos convertidores.Fil: Farfán, Roberto Federico. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Cietífico Tecnológico - CONICET -Salta. Instituto de Investigaciones en Energía No Convencional; Argentina;Fil: Cadena, Carlos Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Cietífico Tecnológico - CONICET -Salta. Instituto de Investigaciones en Energía No Convencional; Argentina;Fil: Villa Saravia, Luis Tadeo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Cietífico Tecnológico - CONICET - Salta. Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Quimica (i); Argentina

Libertad de expresión : estado de la cuestión en Ecuador y Venezuela

En el marco del debate sobre la nueva ley de medios audiovisuales en la República Argentina es pertinente hacer una reseña sobre cuál es la situación de la libertad de expresión en algunos países Latinoamericanos. Para llevar a cabo esta tarea se ha optado por describir el escenario en Venezuela y Ecuador

Adenoma Pleomorfo de Glándula Lagrimal: presentación de un caso clínico

Los tumores de la glándula lagrimal son raros. Se presenta el caso clínico de un paciente masculino de 69 años de edad que consulta por un tumor (Adenoma Pleomorfo) en la región orbitaria derecha, de un año de evolución. Se realizó la escisión quirúrgica del mismo y la recuperación del paciente fue muy satisfactoria, sin recidivas tras un año de seguimiento. Se realiza también una revisión de las características clínicas, radiográficas e histopatológicas de estos tumores.Lacrimal gland tumors are rare. We present a case of a 69 year old male patient with a one year history of an orbital tumor (Pleomorphic Adenoma ). The tumor was surgically enucleated and patient recovery was very satisfactory, with no signs of recurrence after one year of follow-up. A review of the clinical symptoms, radiologic features, treatment and histopathology of this kind of tumors is also made

Flowshop with additional resources during setups: Mathematical models and a GRASP algorithm

[EN] Machine scheduling problems arise in many production processes, and are something that needs to be consider when optimizing the supply chain. Among them, flowshop scheduling problems happen when a number of jobs have to be sequentially processed by a number of machines. This paper addressees, for the first time, the Permutation Flowshop Scheduling problem with additional Resources during Setups (PFSR-S). In this problem, in addition to the standard permutation flowshop constraints, each machine requires a setup between the processing of two consecutive jobs. A number of additional and scarce resources, e.g. operators, are needed to carry out each setup. Two Mixed Integer Linear Programming formulations and an exact algorithm are proposed to solve the PFSR-S. Due to its complexity, these approaches can only solve instances of small size to optimality. Therefore, a GRASP metaheuristic is also proposed which provides solutions for much larger instances. All the methods designed for the PFSR-S in this paper are computationally tested over a benchmark of instances adapted from the literature. The results obtained show that the GRASP metaheuristic finds good quality solutions in short computational times.Juan C. Yepes-Borrero acknowledges financial support by Colfuturo under program Credito-Beca grant number 201503877 and from ElInstituto Colombiano de Credito Educativo y Estudios Tecnicos en el Exterior - ICETEX under program Pasaporte a la ciencia - Doctor-ado, Foco-reto pais 4.2.3, grant number 3568118. This research hasbeen partially supported by the Agencia Estatal de Investigacion (AEI)and the European Regional Development's fund (ERDF): PID2020-114594GB-C21; Regional Government of Andalusia: projects FEDER-US-1256951, AT 21_00032, and P18-FR-1422; Fundacion BBVA: project Netmeet Data (Ayudas Fundacion BBVA a equipos de investigacioncientifica 2019). The authors are partially supported by Agencia Valenciana de la Innovacion (AVI) under the project ireves (innovacionen vehiculos de emergencia sanitaria): una herramienta inteligente dedecision'' (No. INNACC/2021/26) partially financed with FEDER funds(interested readers can visit http://ireves.upv.es), and by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under the project OPRES-RealisticOptimization in Problems in Public Health'' (No. PID2021-124975OB-I00), partially financed with FEDER funds. Part of the authors aresupported by the Faculty of Business Administration and Managementat Universitat Politecnica de ValenciaYepes-Borrero, JC.; Perea, F.; Villa Juliá, MF.; Vallada Regalado, E. (2023). Flowshop with additional resources during setups: Mathematical models and a GRASP algorithm. Computers & Operations Research. 154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cor.2023.10619215

Mutational Activation of ras Genes is Absent in Pediatric Osteosarcoma

Activation of ras oncogenes is found in human cancers; overall it is observed in 15% of all neoplasms. The purpose of this study was to assess the extent of involvement of ras oncogenes in osteosarcoma. Tumor samples from a series of 49 pediatric patients diagnosed with osteosarcoma and treated at our institution were evaluated. Paraffin-embedded tumor samples from diagnostic biopsies, from tumor en bloc resection tissue after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and samples from metastases were examined in search of point mutations in H, K, and N-ras genes at codons 12 and 61 by means of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), slot-blotting, and radioactive labeled specific DNA probes. A total of 92 archival samples were studied. No point mutations activating these genes were found. These findings suggest that the activation by point mutations at codons 12 and 61 of the H, K, and N-ras genes does not play a role in the pathogenesis of human osteosarcoma. Since no point mutations in codons 12 and 61 were detected, it was not possible to establish any correlation between the ras genes and clinical or histologic finding

Sfide etiche nell'assistenza agli anziani in contesto acuto e residenziale: una revisione di scopo

Introduction: The discontinuity between the high ideals of nursing education and real-world practice is a major cause of frustration, moral distress and burnout among the youngest, and pushes up to half nurses to change career within two years. These conditions are accentuated in the care of elderly patients with multiple chronic needs. Method: A multidisciplinary team of nurses and philosophers investigated the chronic determinants of ethical issues in aged care nursing, building on insightful experiences from different institu­tional settings, in order to provide evidence for contextualized and patient-oriented professio­nal support. A scoping review protocol was employed at this purpose. Results: Most of the environmental and organizational deteminants of chronical ethical issues are out­side the control of nurses, and most of the relational ones follow as a result in both settings. Many of the them have been confirmed and further aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Discussion: Although there are not universal solutions to the issues described, still it is possible to distin­guish which determinants fall within the control of nurses, to help them prevent or manage their occurrence; and what are beyond, to help them avoid self-blame and transfer constructive information to those who can intervene. Conclusion: Education can help exercise critical thinking and communicate properly. However, once maximized team cooperation, orga­nizational efficiency, and individual soft skills, diminishing room for improvement will be available at increasing human and financial costs. Improving the condition of nurses is an urgent political responsibility and requires a broader socio-cultural change. Keywords: burnout, COVID-19, elderly, moral distress, workplace health promotion.Introduzione: La frattura fra educazione infermieristica e realtà lavorativa quotidiana rappresenta una frequente causa di frustrazione ed esaurimento psicofisico, che spinge fino a metà degli infermieri a ritirarsi entro due anni dal conseguimento del titolo. Tali condizioni sono accentuate nell’assistenza alla persona anziana affetta da bisogni cronici e complessi. Metodo: Un gruppo multidisciplinare di infermieri e filosofi ha studiato i determinanti ambientali, organizzativi e relazionali alla base dei problemi etici che emergono con maggior frequenza nell’assistenza alla persona anziana, sia nelle strutture per acuti, sia nelle strutture di ricovero a lungo termine, alla ricerca di evidenze utili a migliorare le condizioni dei professionisti. A tal proposito è stata una condotta una revisione di scopo. Risultati: La maggior parte dei problemi ambientali e organizzativi risultano essere al di fuori del controllo dei singoli infermieri, e la maggior parte dei problemi relazionali ne rappresentano la conseguenza. Molti di questi problemi sono stati confermati e aggravati dalla pandemia di COVID-19. Discussione: Sebbene non vi siano soluzioni trasversali a tutti i contesti, resta possibile distinguere quali problemi rientrino nel dominio di azione degli infermieri, per aiutarli a prevenirne o gestirne l’occorrenza; e quali invece vadano oltre, onde evitare sentimenti di autoaccusa, e trasferire informazioni utili a coloro che invece possono di volta in volta intervenire. Conclusioni: La formazione può allenare il pensiero critico e la comunicazione fra operatori, pazienti e familiari. Una volta raggiunti i massimi livelli possibili di cooperazione ed efficienza, tuttavia, margini di miglioramento sempre più ridotti saranno acquisiti a costi umani ed economici sempre maggiori. Il miglioramento delle condizioni degli infermieri dipende sempre sempre più da investimenti allocativi e culturali urgenti. Keywords: anziani, COVID-19, esaurimento psicofisico, politiche allocative, salute sul luogo di lavoro