A Requirements-based Framework for the Analysis of Socio-technical System Behaviour

Requirements Engineering's theoretical and practical developments typically look forward to the future (i.e. a system to be built). Under certain conditions, however, they can also be used for the analysis of problems related to actual systems in operation. Building on the Jackson/Zave reference model [2] for requirements and specifications, this paper presents a framework useful for the prevention, analysis and communication of designer and operator errors and, importantly, their subtle interactions, so typical in complex socio-technical systems

Agreeing to Disagree with Multiple Priors

We present an extension of Aumann's Agreement Theorem to the case of multiple priors. If agents update all their priors, then, for the Agreement Theorem to hold, it is sufficient to assume that they have closed, connected and intersecting sets of priors. On the other hand, if agents select the priors to be updated according to the maximum likelihood criterion, then, under these same assumptions, agents may still agree to disagree. For the Agreement Theorem to hold, it is also necessary to assume that the maximum likelihood priors are commonly known and not disjoint. To show that these hypotheses are necessary, we give several examples in which agents agree to disagree.Agreeing to disagree, multiple priors, Aumann's Agreement Theorem

A differential game approach to urban drainage systems control

© 20xx IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.Urban drainage systems (UDSs) are complex large-scale systems that carry stormwater and wastewater throughout urban areas. During heavy rain scenarios, UDSs are not able to handle the amount of extra water that enters the network and flooding occurs. Usually, this might happen because the network is not being used efficiently, i.e., some structures remain underused while many others are overused. This paper proposes a control methology based on differential game theory that aims to efficiently use the existing network elements in order to minimize overflows and properly manage the water resource. The proposed controller is tested on a typical UDS and is compared with a centralized MPC achieving similar results in terms of flooding minimization and network usage, but only using local information on distributed controllers.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Human mitochondrial degradosome prevents harmful mitochondrial R loops and mitochondrial genome instability

R loops are nucleic acid structures comprising an DNA-RNA hybrid and a displaced single-stranded DNA. These structures may occur transiently during transcription, playing essential biological functions. However, persistent R loops may become pathological as they are important drivers of genome instability and have been associated with human diseases. The mitochondrial degradosome is a functionally conserved complex from bacteria to human mitochondria. It is composed of the ATP-dependent RNA and DNA helicase SUV3 and the PNPase ribonuclease, playing a central role in mitochondrial RNA surveillance and degradation. Here we describe a new role for the mitochondrial degradosome in preventing the accumulation of pathological R loops in the mitochondrial DNA, in addition to preventing dsRNA accumulation. Our data indicate that, similar to the molecular mechanisms acting in the nucleus, RNA surveillance mechanisms in the mitochondria are crucial to maintain its genome integrity by counteracting pathological R-loop accumulation.European Research Council ERC2014 AdG669898 TARLOOPMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad BFU2013-42918-P, BFU2016-75058-

Solving SAT in linear time with a neural-like membrane system

We present in this paper a neural-like membrane system solving the SAT problem in linear time. These neural Psystems are nets of cells working with multisets. Each cell has a finite state memory, processes multisets of symbol-impulses, and can send impulses (?excitations?) to the neighboring cells. The maximal mode of rules application and the replicative mode of communication between cells are at the core of the eficiency of these systems

Self-assembly of triblock copolymers in aqueous solution

Indexación: ScieloThe aggregation of PE4VP-b-PS-b-PE4VP block copolymers was studied in aqueous solution. Triblock copolymers P4VP-b-PS-b-P4VP were synthesized by sequential anionic polymerization of poly(styrene) and poly(4-vinylpirydine) using sodium naphthalene as a bifunctional initiator. Subsequently, the 4-vinylpyridine units were quaternized with ethyl bromide to obtain cationic PE4VP-b-PS-b-PE4VP block copolymers. Both star and crew-cut micelles were formed. The concentrations at which micelles are formed cmc were determined, by steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence probing methods, as a function of quatemization degree. The results indicate that cmc of crew-cut micelles increases with increasing charge density of the PE4VP blocks. For star micelles there is not a clear dependency of cmc with the percentage of quatemization. The lifetime of pyrene fluorescence and the ratio I1/I3 were determined at concentrations of copolymers well above the cmc, and the results show that the location of pyrene into the micelle changes with the charge density of the micelle corona. The micropolarity sensed by pyrene decreases with increasing quatemization degree. The presence of aggregates was confirmed by transmission electronic microscopy.http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0717-97072008000200013&lng=es&nrm=is

Fuzzy Decision-Support System for Safeguarding Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage

In the current world economic situation, the maintenance of built heritage has been limited due to a lack of funds and accurate tools for proper management and implementation of these actions. However, in specific local areas, the maintenance and conservation of historical and cultural heritage have become an investment opportunity. In this sense, in this study, a new tool is proposed, for the estimation of the functional service life of heritage buildings in a local region (city of Seville, South Spain). This tool is developed in Art-Risk research project and consists of a free software to evaluate decisions in regional policies, planning and management of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, considering physical, environmental, economic and social resources. This tool provides a ranking of priority of intervention among case studies belonging to a particular urban context. This information is particularly relevant for the stakeholders responsible for the management of maintenance plans in built heritage

Analysis of the organizational structure of the mobile communications business in project management

Se realiza una revisión del estado de las comunicaciones móviles en Colombia desde el punto de vista sectorial. Al mismo tiempo se revisan las estructuras organizacionales fundamentales, y metodologías de gestión de proyectos dentro del sector de las telecomunicaciones. Se recoge información relacionada con las estructuras organizacionales de los operadores de telecomunicaciones móviles en el país, y después de validar el crecimiento que han tenido los mismos en el país durante el año 2013, se decide realizar la validación de las metodologías y estructuras utilizadas a interior de la compañía Colombia Móvil (Tigo) para realizar la gestión de proyectos de telecomunicacionesA review of the status of mobile communications in Colombia is made from a sectorial point of view. In the other hand, the basic organizational structures, methodologies and project management within the telecommunications industry are reviewed. Information related to the organizational structures of mobile telecommunications operators in the country were collected, and then validate the growth they have had them in the country in 2013, it was decided to validate the methodologies and internal structures used to company Colombia Movil (Tigo) for managing telecommunications project

Infrastructure (Resilience-oriented) Modelling Language: I®M - A proposal for modelling infrastructures and their connections

The modelling of critical infrastructures (CIs) is an important issue that needs to be properly addressed, for several reasons. It is a basic support for making decisions about operation and risk reduction. It might help in understanding high-level states at the system-of-systems layer, which are not ready evident to the organisations that manage the lower level technical systems. Moreover, it is also indispensable for setting a common reference between operator and authorities, for agreeing on the incident scenarios that might affect those infrastructures. So far, critical infrastructures have been modelled ad-hoc, on the basis of knowledge and practice derived from less complex systems. As there is no theoretical framework, most of these efforts proceed without clear guides and goals and using informally defined schemas based mostly on boxes and arrows. Different CIs (electricity grid, telecommunications networks, emergency support, etc) have been modelled using particular schemas that were not directly translatable from one CI to another. If there is a desire to build a science of CIs it is because there are some observable commonalities that different CIs share. Up until now, however, those commonalities were not adequately compiled or categorized, so building models of CIs that are rooted on such commonalities was not possible. This report explores the issue of which elements underlie every CI and how those elements can be used to develop a modelling language that will enable CI modelling and, subsequently, analysis of CI interactions, with a special focus on resilience.JRC.DG.G.6-Security technology assessmen

Efecto de la activación adrenérgica insular en la neofobia gustatoria

Tesis (Magíster en Biotecnología)Este proyecto ha sido financiado por el Proyecto Fondecyt nº 1130724.La respuesta frente al estrés corresponde a la capacidad de un organismo de responder frente a un estímulo estresante y volver a su homeostasis. Esta respuesta es iniciada por la respuesta autonómica, mediada principalmente por actividad adrenérgica, la cual es modulada por catecolaminas, entre las cuales se destacan la norepinefrina (NE) a nivel de sistema nervioso central, y epinefrina (EPI) a nivel periférico. Se conoce una serie de áreas del cerebro asociadas a la respuesta al estrés, incluyendo la amígdala extendida, locus coeruleus, hipocampo, corteza prefrontal, entre varias. Una de las áreas del cerebro que ha sido propuesta muy recientemente como mediadora de la respuesta fisiológica frente al estrés es la corteza insular. Esta área recibe información emocional, visceral y gustatoria, y aún se desconoce por qué su actividad se ve alterada en trastornos de ansiedad. Es posible estudiar el rol de la ínsula en ansiedad usando conductas asociadas a gustos que sean sensibles al estrés y ansiedad, como la neofobia gustatoria. La neofobia gustatoria se describe como el miedo a un gusto nuevo, y es exacerbada en ambientes de estrés (hiponeofagia), siendo una medición de comportamiento tipo ansioso en animales. Este trabajo tuvo como objetivo evaluar si la actividad adrenérgica en la corteza insular media el aumento en neofobia gustatoria inducido por la presentación de un gusto nuevo en un ambiente de alta exaltación. La hipótesis que sustenta este trabajo es que la actividad adrenérgica en la corteza insular aumenta la neofobia gustatoria y modula el incremento de neofobia inducida por un ambiente de alta exaltación. Para probar la hipótesis se usó una combinación de microinyecciones de NE y propranolol intra insular y de inyecciones subcutáneas de EPI y propranolol, antes de la presentación del gusto en contextos con alta y baja exaltación. Los resultados obtenidos apoyan la hipótesis. Nuestros resultados proponen que la actividad adrenérgica periférica media la respuesta de neofobia gustatoria en ambientes de alta exaltación, efecto que es modulado por actividad adrenérgica en la corteza insular.The stress response is the ability of an organism to respond to a stressor and return to homeostasis. The first body's response to stress is the autonomic response, primarily mediated by adrenergic activity, which is modulated by catecholamines, among which norepinephrine is the predominant in the central nervous system, and epinephrine peripherally. Studies show that a dysregulation in the levels of these hormones may lead to psychiatric disorders including anxiety disorders. Among several brain areas involved in stress response, including the extended amygdala, locus coeruleus, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, the insular cortex has been recently associated with physiological responses to stress. This area receives emotional, visceral and gustatory information, but it is still unknown why its activity is altered in anxiety disorders. It is possible to study the role of the insula in anxiety using behaviors associated with tastes which are sensitive to stress and anxiety, such as gustatory neophobia. The gustatory neophobia is the reluctance or fear to try a new taste, and is exacerbated in arousing contexts (also known as hyponeophagia), being a widely used to measure anxiety in animals. This study aimed to evaluate to which extent the adrenergic activity in the medial insular cortex increases gustatory neofobia induced by arousing novel contexts. The hypothesis behind this study is that adrenergic activity in the insular cortex increases taste neophobia and modulates the increment in neophobia induced by an arousing context. To test this hypothesis we used a combination of intrainsular microinjections of norepinephrine and propranolol and peripheral injections of epinephrine and propranolol before presentation of a novel taste in contexts of high and low arousal. Our results support the hypothesis and suggest that peripheral adrenergic activity mediates arousal induced increases in neophobia, effect that is mediated by adrenergifc activity in the insular cortex