Purpose
The aim of this paper is to identify the business barriers that influence cost of implementing unmanned aerial system (UAS) and its suitability for a decentralised system. UAS, or drone, ...plays a role of data provider to architectural, engineering and construction professionals within a decentralised system. However, the expectations in the execution and test of the effectiveness of the UAS is often not met. The reasons for these fails are not well elaborated in the literature. Hence, the study investigates the barriers and cost analysis of UAS that can be used for a decentralised case, in which the UAS data are useful for multiple stakeholders, and provide illustration of the interactions within this approach.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is part of a longitudinal project by using a qualitative method of interviewing 24 participants involved in the process of application of drones in the country of the Dominican Republic. The open-ended semi-structured interviews were composed for questions regarding the application of UAS, barriers and business implications. The data gathered were transcribed and used thematic analysis for its interpretation. Later, conclusions of the barriers of UAS implementation in the organisation were analysed and a cost model was developed to identify a viable scenario.
Findings
The paper provides empirical insights about the barriers and economic considerations faced in the implementation process of UAS. In this research, 16 barriers in the implementation process at the management level, 8 types of cases of business relationships and 13 business models were identified. Furthermore, recommendations were made about being the accountability of the dimensions and recurrent visits to the projects handled by the portfolio of the organisations.
Research limitations/implications
Blockchain system is supported by UAS data and its tests require skills and resources that were outside of the scope of the main research intend regarding UAS implementation in construction. Furthermore, as these technologies are still under development, the assessment of the decentralised system, smart contract and swarm technology was addressed conceptually and further research are encouraged in this field.
Practical implications
The paper includes barriers to consider before implementation, business implications, project examples and cost structure developed. Furthermore, the findings are fit theoretically into the context of a decentralised system. It was understood and contemplated that monitoring in open and outdoor spaces is the suitable approach for UAS implementations for decentralised system. The trend of decentralised autonomous organisations for transparency and efficiency of human tasks provides the foundations of human–robot interactions as well as the role of tokenisation of assets into the cyberspace. Therefore, the paper brings managers and technicians the implications for the future-proofing the implementation of UAS.
Originality/value
This paper provides an overview of the implications of cost and the suitable scenarios for return of investment in the UAS implementation in the current stage of the technology development. In addition, the paper makes reference to decentralised systems, smart contracts and swarm technology as options in which reality capture technologies are essential for construction projects.
The work carried out in this paper consists of the classification of the physiological signal generated by eye movement called Electrooculography (EOG). The human eye performs simultaneous movements, ...when focusing on an object, generating a potential change in origin between the retinal epithelium and the cornea and modeling the eyeball as a dipole with a positive and negative hemisphere. Supervised learning algorithms were implemented to classify five eye movements; left, right, down, up and blink. Wavelet Transform was used to obtain information in the frequency domain characterizing the EOG signal with a bandwidth of 0.5 to 50 Hz; training results were obtained with the implementation of K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) 69.4%, a Support Vector Machine (SVM) of 76.9% and Decision Tree (DT) 60.5%, checking the accuracy through the Jaccard index and other metrics such as the confusion matrix and ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) curve. As a result, the best classifier for this application was the SVM with Jaccard Index.
People with severe disabilities require assistance to perform their routine activities; a Human-Machine Interface (HMI) will allow them to activate devices that respond according to their needs. In ...this work, an HMI based on electrooculography (EOG) is presented, the instrumentation is placed on portable glasses that have the task of acquiring both horizontal and vertical EOG signals. The registration of each eye movement is identified by a class and categorized using the one hot encoding technique to test precision and sensitivity of different machine learning classification algorithms capable of identifying new data from the eye registration; the algorithm allows to discriminate blinks in order not to disturb the acquisition of the eyeball position commands. The implementation of the classifier consists of the control of a three-wheeled omnidirectional robot to validate the response of the interface. This work proposes the classification of signals in real time and the customization of the interface, minimizing the user's learning curve. Preliminary results showed that it is possible to generate trajectories to control an omnidirectional robot to implement in the future assistance system to control position through gaze orientation.
A case of orbital cryptococcosis Afkhamnejad, Elahhe Rebecca; Turner, Catherine; Reynoso, David
American journal of ophthalmology case reports,
06/2023, Letnik:
30
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
This report describes a case of
found in an unlikely location, the orbit, in an apparently immunocompetent host.
A coordinated, multi-disciplinary approach between the ophthalmology, neurosurgery, ...pathology, and infectious disease departments was integral to saving both vision and life.
This is the first case of primary orbital cryptococcosis described in the medical literature, to the authors' knowledge. The case draws attention to the possibility that
can indeed invade the orbit and should be considered part of the differential diagnosis for patients presenting with orbital masses of uncertain etiology.
People with HIV are at for metabolic syndrome (MetS) and fatty liver disease, but the role of Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is poorly understood. MetS and fatty liver disease been associated with ...changes in adiponectin, soluble ST2 (sST2), chitinase 3-like 1 (Chi3L1), hyaluronic acid (HA), tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1), lysyl oxidase-like-2 (LOXL2) and transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) concentrations in HIV-uninfected populations. Protease (PI) and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI) may contribute to these comorbidities, but the effects of switching from PI- or NNRTI to raltegravir (RAL) on these biomarkers is unknown.
Cryopreserved plasma was obtained from a completed, prospective trial of HIV-infected women with central adiposity on NNRTI- or PI-based ART during which they were randomized to remain on their current ART or switch to a RAL based regimen. Biomarker concentrations were quantified using ELISA and Multiplex assays at baseline and 24 weeks after randomization. Wilcoxon-signed rank test evaluated within-group changes, Spearman and linear regression models evaluated correlations between biomarkers and clinical covariates.
Participants had a median age of 43 years, CD4+ T lymphocyte count 558 cells/mm3 and BMI 32 kg/m2; 35% met criteria for MetS. At baseline, higher adiponectin levels correlated with higher Chi3L1 levels (r = 0.42, p = 0.02), as did declines after 24 weeks (r = 0.40, p = 0.03). Changes in sST2 correlated with changes in Chi3L1 (r = 0.43, p = 0.02) and adiponectin (r = 0.40, p = 0.03). Adiponectin and Chi3L1 levels decreased significantly in women switched to RAL vs continue PI/NNRTI.
In women with HIV and central obesity, the hepatic steatosis/fibrosis marker Chi3L1 and adiponectin decrease in conjunction with sST2 decreases following switch to RAL. Whether switching from NNRTI/PI-based regimens to RAL can improve hepatic steatosis and dysmetabolism requires further study.
Clinicaltrials.gov NCT00656175.
Although gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) harboring activating KIT or platelet-derived growth factor receptor A (PDGFRA) mutations respond to treatment with targeted KIT/PDGFRA inhibitors such ...as imatinib mesylate, these treatments are rarely curative. Most often, a sizeable tumor cell subpopulation survives and remains quiescent for years, eventually resulting in acquired resistance and treatment failure. Here, we report that imatinib induces autophagy as a survival pathway in quiescent GIST cells. Inhibiting autophagy, using RNAi-mediated silencing of autophagy regulators (ATGs) or antimalarial lysosomotrophic agents, promotes the death of GIST cells both in vitro and in vivo. Thus, combining imatinib with autophagy inhibition represents a potentially valuable strategy to promote GIST cytotoxicity and to diminish both cellular quiescence and acquired resistance in GIST patients.
ObjectiveSARS-CoV-2 has caused a pandemic claiming more than 4 million lives worldwide. Overwhelming COVID-19 respiratory failure placed tremendous demands on healthcare systems increasing the death ...toll. Cost-effective prognostic tools to characterise the likelihood of patients with COVID-19 to progress to severe hypoxemic respiratory failure are still needed.DesignWe conducted a retrospective cohort study to develop a model using demographic and clinical data collected in the first 12 hours of admission to explore associations with severe hypoxemic respiratory failure in unvaccinated and hospitalised patients with COVID-19.SettingUniversity-based healthcare system including six hospitals located in the Galveston, Brazoria and Harris counties of Texas.ParticipantsAdult patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and admitted to one of six hospitals between 19 March and 30 June 2020.Primary outcomeThe primary outcome was defined as reaching a WHO ordinal scale between 6 and 9 at any time during admission, which corresponded to severe hypoxemic respiratory failure requiring high-flow oxygen supplementation or mechanical ventilation.ResultsWe included 329 participants in the model cohort and 62 (18.8%) met the primary outcome. Our multivariable regression model found that lactate dehydrogenase (OR 2.36), Quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score (OR 2.26) and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (OR 1.15) were significant predictors of severe disease. The final model showed an area under the curve of 0.84. The sensitivity analysis and point of influence analysis did not reveal inconsistencies.ConclusionsOur study suggests that a combination of accessible demographic and clinical information collected on admission may predict the progression to severe COVID-19 among adult patients with mild and moderate disease. This model requires external validation prior to its use.
The world population is expected to grow to around 9 billion by 2050. The growing need for foods with high protein levels makes aquaculture one of the fastest-growing food industries in the world. ...Some challenges of fishing production are related to obsolete aquaculture techniques, overexploitation of marine species, and lack of water quality control. This research systematically analyzes aquaculture technologies, such as sensors, artificial intelligence (AI), and image processing. Through the systematic PRISMA process, 753 investigations published from 2012 to 2023 were analyzed based on a search in Scopus and Web of Science. It revealed a significant 70.5% increase in the number of articles published compared to the previous year, indicating a growing interest in this field. The results indicate that current aquaculture technologies are water monitoring sensors, AI methodologies such as K-means, and contour segmentation for computer vision. Also, it is reported that K means technologies offer an efficiency from 95% to 98%. These methods allow decisions based on data patterns and aquaculture insights. Improving aquaculture methodologies will allow adequate management of economic and environmental resources to promote fishing and satisfy nutritional needs.
Numerous papers report the efficiency of the automatic interpretation capabilities of commercial algorithms. Unfortunately, these algorithms are proprietary, and academia has no means of directly ...contributing to these results. In fact, nothing at the same stage of development exists in academia. Despite the extensive research in ECG signal processing, from signal conditioning to expert systems, a cohesive single application for clinical use is not ready yet. This is due to a serious lack of coordination in the academic efforts, which involve not only algorithms for signal processing, but also the signal acquisition equipment itself. For instance, the different sampling rates and the different noise levels frequently found in the available signal databases can cause severe incompatibility problems when the integration of different algorithms is desired. Therefore, this work aims to solve this incompatibility problem by providing the academic community with a diagnostic-grade electrocardiograph. The intention is to create a new standardized ECG signals database in order to address the automatic interpretation problem and create an electrocardiography system that can fully assist clinical practitioners, as the proprietary systems do. Achieving this objective is expected through an open and coordinated collaboration platform for which a webpage has already been created.
Immune responses to sandfly saliva have been shown to protect animals against Leishmania infection. Yet very little is known about the molecular characteristics of salivary proteins from different ...sandflies, particularly from vectors transmitting visceral leishmaniasis, the fatal form of the disease. Further knowledge of the repertoire of these salivary proteins will give us insights into the molecular evolution of these proteins and will help us select relevant antigens for the development of a vector based anti-Leishmania vaccine.
Two salivary gland cDNA libraries from female sandflies Phlebotomus argentipes and P. perniciosus were constructed, sequenced and proteomic analysis of the salivary proteins was performed. The majority of the sequenced transcripts from the two cDNA libraries coded for secreted proteins. In this analysis we identified transcripts coding for protein families not previously described in sandflies. A comparative sandfly salivary transcriptome analysis was performed by using these two cDNA libraries and two other sandfly salivary gland cDNA libraries from P. ariasi and Lutzomyia longipalpis, also vectors of visceral leishmaniasis. Full-length secreted proteins from each sandfly library were compared using a stand-alone version of BLAST, creating formatted protein databases of each sandfly library. Related groups of proteins from each sandfly species were combined into defined families of proteins. With this comparison, we identified families of salivary proteins common among all of the sandflies studied, proteins to be genus specific and proteins that appear to be species specific. The common proteins included apyrase, yellow-related protein, antigen-5, PpSP15 and PpSP32-related protein, a 33-kDa protein, D7-related protein, a 39- and a 16.1- kDa protein and an endonuclease-like protein. Some of these families contained multiple members, including PPSP15-like, yellow proteins and D7-related proteins suggesting gene expansion in these proteins.
This comprehensive analysis allows us the identification of genus- specific proteins, species-specific proteins and, more importantly, proteins common among these different sandflies. These results give us insights into the repertoire of salivary proteins that are potential candidates for a vector-based vaccine.
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