Desarrollo de un sistema de seguimiento de usuarios con iPhone para visualizarlos en un modelo 3D

El objetivo de este proyecto es desarrollar un sistema de seguimiento de usuarios con un iPhone y un modelo 3D del campus de la Technical University of Denmark. El usuario podrá activar el seguimiento tras abrir una aplicación en el iPhone siempre y cuando se encuentre en alguna de las áreas donde haya un modelo 3D disponible. Los usuarios que hayan activado el seguimiento serán mostrados en estos modelos 3D en forma de avatares. Los modelos 3D junto con los avatares pueden ser visualizados usando cualquier navegador de escritorio en la página web realsite.dk. Los sensores GPS de los Smartphones no son normalmente muy precisos. Para desarrollar buenos algoritmos en el sistema de seguimiento requerido, la precisión de este sensor tiene que ser analizada. Por esta razón el proyecto empieza con un extenso estudio de la precisión de los sistemas de localización en el iPhone y de los parámetros que pueden configurarse. Se estudian tanto posiciones fijas como en movimiento. Este estudio revela que el error medio en posiciones estáticas es en torno a 8 metros y bastante mayor para las posiciones en movimiento. Sin embargo es muy rápido determinando la primera posición lo cual lo hace en menos de 10 segundos en la mayoría de los casos. Utilizando los resultados de este estudio, se han diseñado varios filtros para eliminar las posiciones menos precisas. Además, también se ha desarrollado una técnica que permite detectar cuando el usuario entra dentro de un edificio sin usar ninguna información adicional más que la que los servicios de localización ofrecen. Las dos partes mas importantes de este sistema han sido desarrolladas en su totalidad en este proyecto fin de carrera. Estas son una aplicación para el sistema operativo móvil iOS y un algoritmo para representar a los avatares de los usuarios en los modelos 3D. La aplicación recoge las posiciones de los usuarios, utilizando el GPS del dispositivo, las filtra, las guarda y las manda a un servidor de internet donde son almacenadas en una base de datos. También permite visualizar las sesiones anteriores en las que el seguimiento ha sido activado y tomar una foto que será utilizada en el avatar del usuario. La representación de los avatares en el modelo no se puede llevar a cabo con las posiciones que el dispositivo iOS obtiene ya que no son suficientemente precisas. Por lo que se diseñó un algoritmo que genera a partir de las posiciones GPS recibidas una ruta realista, factible y libre de obstáculos en el modelo. Un detalle importante por ejemplo, es que hace que los avatares utilicen escaleras y puertas de edificios cuando se detecta que han cambiado de altitud o entrado a un edificio respectivamente

Prerequisites for Successful Fiscal Reform: Some Preliminary Results

Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management, Winter 1998.Refereed Journal ArticleThis paper examines whether any relationship exists between success or failure of policy reform on the one hand, and various political/economic conditions in place at the time of reform on the other. Nineteen countries were scored using three financial variables to measure the degree of success or failure of the reform. The independent variables were country scores for ten different economic and political conditions. The independent variables were used to try and predict a priori which of the nineteen countries would succeed and which would fail. Eighteen of the nineteen countries were correctly placed into their respective success group. However only three of the ten conditions appeared important in predicting success: a visionary leader, a crisis, and a comprehensive program. Other writers have suggested different sets of predicting variables

Perturbed CD8+ T cell TIGIT/CD226/PVR axis despite early initiation of antiretroviral treatment in HIV infected individuals.

HIV-specific CD8+ T cells demonstrate an exhausted phenotype associated with increased expression of inhibitory receptors, decreased functional capacity, and a skewed transcriptional profile, which are only partially restored by antiretroviral treatment (ART). Expression levels of the inhibitory receptor, T cell immunoglobulin and ITIM domain (TIGIT), the co-stimulatory receptor CD226 and their ligand PVR are altered in viral infections and cancer. However, the extent to which the TIGIT/CD226/PVR-axis is affected by HIV-infection has not been characterized. Here, we report that TIGIT expression increased over time despite early initiation of ART. HIV-specific CD8+ T cells were almost exclusively TIGIT+, had an inverse expression of the transcription factors T-bet and Eomes and co-expressed PD-1, CD160 and 2B4. HIV-specific TIGIThi cells were negatively correlated with polyfunctionality and displayed a diminished expression of CD226. Furthermore, expression of PVR was increased on CD4+ T cells, especially T follicular helper (Tfh) cells, in HIV-infected lymph nodes. These results depict a skewing of the TIGIT/CD226 axis from CD226 co-stimulation towards TIGIT-mediated inhibition of CD8+ T cells, despite early ART. These findings highlight the importance of the TIGIT/CD226/PVR axis as an immune checkpoint barrier that could hinder future "cure" strategies requiring potent HIV-specific CD8+ T cells

Arterial Compliance in Multiple Sclerosis: A Pilot Study

A reduction in arterial compliance in patients with autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus has been previously reported. It is caused by the effect that systemic inflammation has on the cardiovascular system. Multiple sclerosis (MS), an immune-mediated disease that exclusively affects the central nervous system (CNS), has a significant inflammatory component that is limited to that compartment. The potential effects of its inflammatory mediators in the cardiovascular system are largely unknown. Purpose: To examine large (C1) and small arterial compliance (C2) in patients with MS and compare them with healthy age-matched controls. To also determine whether any differences in C1 and C2 indices between participants diagnosed with relapsing remitting MS (RR-MS), secondary progressive MS (SP-MS), and controls exist. Methods: A total of 26 men and women between the ages of 18 and 64 diagnosed with MS and 25 healthy controls volunteered for this study. Arterial compliance was measured by using pulse contour analysis (PCA), which records and analyzes the blood pressure waveform data from the Arterial Pulse Wave Sensors. Results: Significant differences in C1 and C2 were found between young RR-MS and healthy young controls (P .05) were seen for C1 or C2 values between older RR-MS, SP-MS, and healthy controls. Conclusion: Arterial compliance is significantly compromised in young individuals with MS, compared with age-matched controls, but not for older individuals, suggesting a systemic effect of an inflammatory process that predominantly affects the CNS.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

JNK1 Deficient Insulin-Producing Cells Are Protected against Interleukin-1 beta-Induced Apoptosis Associated with Abrogated Myc Expression

The relative contributions of the JNK subtypes in inflammatory β-cell failure and apoptosis are unclear. The JNK protein family consists of JNK1, JNK2, and JNK3 subtypes, encompassing many different isoforms. INS-1 cells express JNK1α1, JNK1α2, JNK1β1, JNK1β2, JNK2α1, JNK2α2, JNK3α1, and JNK3α2 mRNA isoform transcripts translating into 46 and 54 kDa isoform JNK proteins. Utilizing Lentiviral mediated expression of shRNAs against JNK1, JNK2, or JNK3 in insulin-producing INS-1 cells, we investigated the role of individual JNK subtypes in IL-1β-induced β-cell apoptosis. JNK1 knockdown prevented IL-1β-induced INS-1 cell apoptosis associated with decreased 46 kDa isoform JNK protein phosphorylation and attenuated Myc expression. Transient knockdown of Myc also prevented IL-1β-induced apoptosis as well as caspase 3 cleavage. JNK2 shRNA potentiated IL-1β-induced apoptosis and caspase 3 cleavage, whereas JNK3 shRNA did not affect IL-1β-induced β-cell death compared to nonsense shRNA expressing INS-1 cells. In conclusion, JNK1 mediates INS-1 cell death associated with increased Myc expression. These findings underline the importance of differentiated targeting of JNK subtypes in the development of inflammatory β-cell failure and destruction

Clinical trialist perspectives on the ethics of adaptive clinical trials: a mixed-methods analysis

Abstract Background In an adaptive clinical trial (ACT), key trial characteristics may be altered during the course of the trial according to predefined rules in response to information that accumulates within the trial itself. In addition to having distinguishing scientific features, adaptive trials also may involve ethical considerations that differ from more traditional randomized trials. Better understanding of clinical trial experts’ views about the ethical aspects of adaptive designs could assist those planning ACTs. Our aim was to elucidate the opinions of clinical trial experts regarding their beliefs about ethical aspects of ACTs. Methods We used a convergent, mixed-methods design employing a 22-item ACTs beliefs survey with visual analog scales and open-ended questions and mini-focus groups. We developed a coding scheme to conduct thematic searches of textual data, depicted responses to visual analog scales on box-plot diagrams, and integrated findings thematically. Fifty-three clinical trial experts from four constituent groups participated: academic biostatisticians (n = 5); consultant biostatisticians (n = 6); academic clinicians (n = 22); and other stakeholders including patient advocacy, National Institutes of Health, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration representatives (n = 20). Results The respondents recognized potential ethical benefits of ACTs, including a higher probability of receiving an effective intervention for participants, optimizing resource utilization, and accelerating treatment discovery. Ethical challenges voiced include developing procedures so trial participants can make informed decisions about taking part in ACTs and plausible, though unlikely risks of research personnel altering enrollment patterns. Conclusions Clinical trial experts recognize ethical advantages but also pose potential ethical challenges of ACTs. The four constituencies differ in their weighing of ACT ethical considerations based on their professional vantage points. These data suggest further discussion about the ethics of ACTs is needed to facilitate ACT planning, design and conduct, and ultimately better allow planners to weigh ethical implications of competing trial designs.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111302/1/12910_2015_Article_22.pd

Cognitive behavioural coaching: And notes on its foundation in cognitive behavioural therapy

Even though Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is one of the most evident therapeutic approaches, there are a lack of studies outlining the differences between cognitive behavioural therapy and cognitive behavioural coaching, differences that are fundamental to understand the different levels of involvement in the process. The aim of this paper is therefore to outline the distinction between cognitive behavioural therapy and cognitive behavioural coaching. The theory behind cognitive behavioural coaching will be further detailed and an in depth explanation of the theory will follow. Next, we will describe how cognitive behavioural coaching is practiced and commonly used models is presented. Finally, we will discuss the cognitive behavioural approach in a coaching context, built around 13 statements, thereby trying to distinguish boundaries, distinctions and similarities between a cognitive behavioural approach and coaching