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Background: The objective of the study is to assess the performance of the Food Safety Management System (FSMS) among powdered beverage manufacturers using Food Safety Management System Diagnostic Tools (FSMS-DI) and Microbial Assessment Scheme (MAS). Methods: FSMS-DI was used to evaluate the context factors, core control and core assurance activities of five powdered beverage manufacturers with different types of FSMS certification. Manufacturer A is not certified with any FSMS, while manufacturers B, C, D and E are complied with MeSTI, GMP, HACCP and ISO 22000, respectively. For MAS, samples were collected from the selected critical sampling locations of two manufacturers who complied FSMS with the least (manufacturer B) and the most stringent (manufacturer E) requirements. The samples consisted of two different types of powdered beverage products were analysed for total plate count (TPC), Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, yeast and mould count (YMC). Results: The food safety (FS) output of powdered beverages for manufacturer E was better (overall score of 3) than manufacturer B (overall score of 2–3). Manufacturer E was able to achieve their FS objectives. The FSMS activities of manufacturer C, D and E were better (overall score of 2–3) than manufacturer A and B (overall score of 1–2). Conclusion: The study demonstrated that FSMS-DI and MAS can be used to differentiate the FSMS performance of powdered beverage manufacturers with different types of FSMS certification. Higher scores of FSMS activities obtained by the manufacturer who complied with stringent FSMS certifications contributed to better microbiological safety performance of powdered beverages.

Angiotensin‐converting enzyme‐2 (ACE2) and Mas receptor are the major components of the ACE2/Ang 1‐7/Mas axis and have been shown to play a protective role in hypertension and hypertensive nephropathy individually. However, the effects of dual deficiency of ACE2 and Mas (ACE2/Mas) on Ang II‐induced hypertensive nephropathy remain unexplored, which was investigated in this study in a mouse model of hypertension induced in either ACE2 knockout (KO) or Mas KO mice and in double ACE2/Mas KO mice by subcutaneously chronic infusion of Ang II. Compared with wild‐type (WT) animals, mice lacking either ACE2 or Mas significantly increased blood pressure over 7‐28 days following a chronic Ang II infusion (P

International audience; Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), which include Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, are multifactorial diseases that involve in particular a modification of the gut microbiota, known as dysbiosis. The initial sets of metataxonomic and metagenomic data first made it possible to approximate the microbiota profile in IBD. In addition, today the new ‘omics’ techniques have enabled us to draw up a functional and integrative map of the microbiota. The key concern in IBD is to develop biomarkers that allow us to assess the activity of the disease and predict the complications and progression, while also guiding the therapeutic care so as to develop personalized medicine. In this review, we present all of the latest discoveries on the microbiota provided by “omics” and we outline the benefits of these techniques in developing new diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic tools.

Background Rice is one of the few cereals consumed as a whole grain, and therefore the appearance of the final milled product, both before and after cooking, strongly influences the consumer’s perception of product quality. Matching consumer preference for rice grain quality is a key component of rice variety development programs, as the quality drives demand, which in turn drives variety adoption, market price, and profitability. The quality of cooked rice is normally evaluated indirectly, through measurement of key elements driving quality as well as more directly by sensory evaluation, but remains a complex trait conditioned by the genetic complexity of factors driving quality, changes wrought by environment, and the complexity of consumer preferences. Result In this study, we evaluated 17 traits, including the taste value obtained by glossiness of cooked rice (TV), to explain rice eating quality by statistical methods and identified QTLs associated with TV. To explain the correlation among traits, exploratory factor analysis was performed for 2 years. The overall eating quality (OE) was correlated with TV and protein content loading at the same factor (PA1) in 2017, and there was a relationship between the OE (PA1) and the TV (PA2) in 2018 (PA1:PA2, r = 0.3). In QTL analysis using 174 RILs, three QTLs for TV derived from Wandoaengmi6 were detected on chromosomes 4, 6, and 9. The QTL qTV9 delimited within Id9007180 and 9,851,330 on chromosome 9 was detected in both years, explaining approximately 17% of the variation, on average. Through the use of fine mapping, qTV9 was delimited to an approximately 34-Kbp segment flanked by the DNA markers CTV9_9 and CTV9_13, and nine ORFs were listed in the target region as candidate genes associated with TV. In the evaluation of qTV9’s effect on OE, the lines with qTV9 showed a significant increase in correlation coefficiency compared to the negative lines. These data will apply to functional analysis on the glossiness and the MAS breeding program to improve the eating quality of japonica as a donor line. Conclusion In this paper we report a number of QTL associated with changes in glossiness of cooked rice, and these may have utility in the development of MAS in breeding programs with a specific focus on cooked grain quality.

Telerehabilitation in older adults is most needed in the patient environments, rather than in formal ambulatories or hospitals. Supporting such practices brings significant advantages to patients, their family, formal and informal caregivers, clinicians, and researchers. This paper presents a focus group with experts in physiotherapy and telerehabilitation, debating on the requirements, current techniques and technologies developed to facilitate and enhance the effectiveness of telerehabilitation, and the still open challenges. Particular emphasis is given to (i) the body-parts requiring the most rehabilitation, (ii) the typical environments, initial causes, and general conditions, (iii) the values and parameters to be observed, (iv) common errors and limitations of current practices and technological solutions, and (v) the envisioned and desired technological support. Consequently, it has been performed a systematic review of the state of the art, investigating what types of systems and support currently cope with telerehabilitation practices and possible matches with the outcomes of the focus group. Technological solutions based on video analysis, wearable devices, robotic support, distributed sensing, and gamified telerehabilitation are examined. Particular emphasis is given to solutions implementing agent-based approaches, analyzing and discussing strength, limitations, and future challenges. By doing so, it has been possible to relate functional requirements expressed by professional physiotherapists and researchers, with the need for extending multi-agent systems (MAS) peculiarities at the sensing level in wearable solutions establishing new research challenges. In particular, to be employed in safety-critical cyber-physical scenarios with user-sensor and sensor-sensor interactions, MAS are requested to handle timing constraints, scarcity of resources and new communication means, crucial to providing real-time feedback and coaching. Therefore, MAS pillars such as the negotiation protocol and the agent's internal scheduler have been investigated, proposing solutions to achieve the aforementioned real-time compliance.

MAS, which is currently grouped under secondary or acquired haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (sHLH), is a rare and fatal disorder that results from excess activation of T-cells and macrophages. Though the pathogenesis of MAS is poorly understood, various proinflammatory cytokines like interleukins (IL-1, IL-6), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF α), interferons are thought to play significant roles. MAS is associated with various clinical features such as non-remitting fever, bleeding, cytopenias, splenomegaly, hepatic dysfunctions, increased levels of triglyceride, ferritin and decreased levels of albumin and fibrinogen. Early diagnosis and interventions are crucial to reduce mortality risk but diagnosis is not often easy due to persistence of wide range of features that overlap with other rheumatic diseases, most commonly sJIA (systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis). Corticosteroids and cyclosporins are commonly used for MAS treatment. Intravenous immunoglobulins, biologic agents like IL-1 blockers (anakinra, canakinumab), IL-6 blockers (tocilizumab) are also frequently used. Moreover there is still the need of genetic and immunohistological study in order to understand the exact mechanism of the syndrome development and establishment of novel therapies with lesser toxicities.

Native angiotensin-(1-7) exerts many therapeutic effects. However, it is rapidly degraded by ACE and other peptidases. This drawback is largely eliminated for lanthionine-stabilized angiotensin-(1-7), termed cAng-(1-7), which is fully resistant to ACE and has strongly increased resistance to other peptidases. Goal of the present study was to test whether cAng-(1-7) has therapeutic activity in diabetes mouse models: in a multiple low dose streptozotocin-induced model of type I diabetes and / or in a db/db model of type II diabetes. In the type I diabetes model cAng-(1-7) caused in an increase in the insulin level of 133% in week 4 (p

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is associated with elevated cytokine levels, and hypercytokinemia is more pronounced in fatal cases. This type of hyperinflammatory state is reminiscent of 2 rheumatologic disorders known as macrophage activation syndrome and hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, which are characterized by macrophage and T-cell activation. An evaluation of 2 cohorts of patients with EVD revealed that a marker of macrophage activation (sCD163) but not T-cell activation (sCD25) was associated with severe and fatal EVD. Furthermore, substantial immunoreactivity of host tissues to a CD163-specific antibody, predominantly in areas of extensive immunostaining for Ebola virus antigens, was observed in fatal cases. These data suggest that host macrophage activation contributes to EVD pathogenesis and that directed antiinflammatory therapies could be beneficial in the treatment of EVD.

Multi-agent systems and especially unmanned vehicles, are a crucial part of the solution to a lot of real world problems, making essential the improvement of task allocation techniques. In this review, we present the main techniques used for task allocation algorithms, categorising them based on the techniques used, focusing mainly on recent works. We also analyse these methods, focusing mainly on their complexity, optimality and scalability. We also refer to common communication schemes used in task allocation methods, as well as to the role of uncertainty in task allocation. Finally, we compare them based on the above criteria, trying to find gaps in the literature and to propose the most promising ones.

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a rare inborn error of immunity (IEI), characterized by a deficient phagocyte killing due to the inability of NADPH oxidase to produce reactive oxygen species in the phagosome. Patients with CGD suffer from severe and recurrent infections and chronic inflammatory disorders. Onset of CGD has been rarely reported in neonates and only as single case reports or small case series. We report here the cases of three newborns from two different kindreds, presenting with novel infectious and inflammatory phenotypes associated with CGD. A girl with CYBA deficiency presented with necrotizing pneumonia, requiring a prolonged antibiotic treatment and resulting in fibrotic pulmonary changes. From the second kindred, the first of two brothers developed a fatal Burkholderia multivorans sepsis and died at 24 days of life. His younger brother had a diagnosis of CYBB deficiency and presented with Macrophage Activation Syndrome/Hemophagocytic Lympho-Histiocytosis (MAS/HLH) without any infection, that could be controlled with steroids. We further report the findings of a review of the literature and show that the spectrum of microorganisms causing infections in neonates with CGD is similar to that of older patients, but the clinical manifestations are more diverse, especially those related to the inflammatory syndromes. Our findings extend the spectrum of the clinical presentation of CGD to include unusual neonatal phenotypes. The recognition of the very early, potentially life-threatening manifestations of CGD is crucial for a prompt diagnosis, improvement of survival and reduction of the risk of long-term sequelae.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has rapidly spread across the world since its first emergence in China in late 2019. It is a major public health concern with no effective treatct 3ments. The immunopathology of SARS-CoV-2 is associated with an excessive inflammatory response. Macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) is also associated with the severity of the disease in SARS-CoV-2-infected patients. Neopterin is a macrophage activation marker produced by monocytes and macrophages upon activation by interferon-gamma (IFN-γ). Neopterin is a well-established marker in a variety of diseases, and recent evidence indicates that it could be helpful in early prediction of the severity of COVID-19 disease and serve as a prognostic marker. Here, we outline the role of macrophage activation syndrome in the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 and suggest that neopterin could be used as a biomarker for progression of COVID-19.

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text., Objectives CARE Dose 4D modulates mAs through several mechanisms according to patient size and shape, whilst maintaining user-defined reference image quality on Siemens Symbia single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)-computed tomography (CT) systems. A 20 kg child reference was used in child protocols prior to software version VB10 and a 75 kg adult thereafter. Quality reference mAs conversion factors are estimated for delivering equivalent mAs to children between two comparable SPECT-CT systems using adult and child references for topogram-based patient-size-related dose level adaptations. Methods A child phantom was scanned using child protocols on a Siemens Symbia T16 (child reference) and a Siemens Symbia Intevo Bold (adult reference). On each system, scans of the thorax, abdomen and pelvis were acquired with arms up and down, at 80 and 110 kVp. Quality reference mAs settings of 10–50 were used on the Symbia T16 and 40–200 on the Symbia Intevo Bold. These data were used to propose quality reference mAs (adult/child reference) conversion factors according to scan range, arm position and tube voltage. Results Quality reference mAs for child protocols using the adult reference should multiply the child quality reference mAs by the following factors, to give comparable delivered mAs: arms up 80 kV: 3.8 (thorax), 3.8 (abdomen), 4.3 (pelvis); arms up at 110 kV: 3.8 (thorax), 4.1 (abdomen), 4.6 (pelvis); arms down at 80 kV: 4.0 (thorax), 3.7 (abdomen), 3.9 (pelvis); arms down at 110 kV: 4.3 (thorax), 4.0 (abdomen), 4.2 (pelvis). Conclusion Conversion factors for child to adult dose modulation references are proposed, allowing comparable delivered mAs to a child. Video abstract: http://links.lww.com/NMC/A178

The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental study was to analyze whether the education of radiology personnel mandated by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) affects the quality of care delivered to radiology patients. One area of radiology quality of care was focused on the findings presented in this study: radiation dosage. Three groups of study participants were used. The participants were chosen and divided into groups based on their radiology background, non-radiology medical background, or lack of medical background. All study participants were required to complete an assessment asking participants what radiation dosage and shields they would use for a standard set of radiographic examinations. A training video was shown to those participants with no radiology background prior to the assessment. The data provided by each group was compared to determine similarities and variances between the groups and ANOVA calculations were completed. Differences were found between the assessments completed by members of all three groups. The results support the perception that ARRT-mandated education does affect radiation dosage chosen in the care of radiology patients.

Graphical abstract, COVID-19 is a medical emergency, with 20 % of patients presenting with severe clinical manifestations. From the pathogenetic point of view, COVID-19 mimics two other well-known diseases characterized by cytokine storm and hyper-activation of the immune response, with consequent organ damage: acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) and macrophage activation syndrome (MAS). Hematologists are confident with these situations requiring a prompt therapeutic approach for switching off the uncontrolled cytokine release; here, we discuss pros and cons of drugs that are already employed in hematology in the light of their possible application in COVID-19. The most promising drugs might be: Ruxolitinib, a JAK1/2 inhibitor, with a rapid and powerful anti-cytokine effect, tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), with their good anti-inflammatory properties, and perhaps the anti-Cd26 antibody Begelomab. We also present immunological data from gene expression experiments where TKIs resulted effective anti-inflammatory and pro-immune drugs. A possible combined treatment algorithm for COVID-19 is here proposed.

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a life-threatening condition caused by overproduction of inflammatory cytokines and overactivation of macrophages that can progress to multiorgan dysfunction and failure. Although there are guidelines that attempt to recognize the condition in its early stage, diagnosis can be very challenging due to heterogeneous presentations of HLH. Symptoms and clinical findings include fever, neurologic complaints, respiratory issues, liver dysfunction, cytopenias, amongst others most of which are not specific to HLH. In addition, response to treatment can be highly variable, necessitating an individualized treatment plan based on the presentation. We present a case of a 21-year-old female with a history of biopsy-proven inflammatory myositis on azathioprine and prednisone who presented with fever, hypotension, and pancytopenia. Additional imaging studies showed multiorgan involvement, including pneumonia, pyelonephritis, and splenomegaly. A bone marrow biopsy of her iliac crest showed hemophagocytosis and the infectious workup confirmed cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, which led to the diagnosis of CMV-induced HLH. She was treated initially with anakinra for macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) in addition to dexamethasone and ganciclovir. Unfortunately, she did not respond to anakinra and was subsequently switched to etoposide with dexamethasone and valganciclovir, which subsequently helped our patient to recover clinically. Our case highlights the challenging nature of HLH and the importance of early detection and a personalized treatment plan in achieving optimal outcomes in patients with HLH.

Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) suffer from a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease that results from the body's immune system targeting healthy tissues which causes damage to various organ systems. Patients with lupus are still in need of effective therapies to treat this complex, multi-system disease. Because polymorphisms in ACE are associated with the activity of SLE and lupus nephritis and based on well-documented renal-protective effects of Renin Angiotensin System (RAS)-modifying therapies, ACE-I are now widely used in patients with SLE with significant efficacy. Our research explores alternate ways of modifying the RAS as a potential for systemic therapeutic benefit in the MRL-lpr mouse model of SLE. These therapeutics include; angiotensin (1-7) [A(1-7)], Nor-Leu-3 Angiotensin (1-7) (NorLeu), Losartan (ARB), and Lisinopril (ACE-I). Daily systemic treatment with all of these RAS-modifying therapies significantly reduced the onset and intensity in rash formation and swelling of the paw. Further, histology showed a corresponding decrease in hyperkeratosis and acanthosis in skin sections. Important immunological parameters such as decreased circulating anti-dsDNA antibodies, lymph node size, and T cell activation were observed. As expected, the development of glomerular pathologies was also attenuated by RAS-modifying therapy. Improved number and health of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), as well as reduction in oxidative stress and inflammation may be contributing to the reduction in SLE pathologies. Several studies have already characterized the protective role of ACE-I and ARBs in mouse models of SLE, here we focus on the protective arm of RAS. A(1-7) in particular demonstrates several protective effects that go beyond those seen with ACE-Is and ARBs; an important finding considering that ACE-Is and ARBs are teratogenic and can cause hypotension in this population. These results offer a foundation for further pharmaceutical development of RAS-modifying therapies, that target the protective arm, as novel SLE therapeutics that do not rely on suppressing the immune system.

International audience; Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) has emerged as a dominant architecture for interoperability between applications, by using a weak-coupled model based on the flexibility provided by Web Services, which has led to a wide range of applications, what is known as cloud computing. On the other hand, Multi-Agent System (MAS) is widely used in the industry, because it provides an appropriate solution to complex problems, in a proactive and intelligent way. Specifically, Intelligent Environments (Smart City, Smart Classroom, Cyber Physical System, and Smart Factory, among others) obtain great benefits by using both architectures, because MAS endows intelligence to the environment, while SOA enables users to interact with cloud services, which improve the capabilities of the devices deployed in the environment. Additionally, the fog computing paradigm extends the cloud computing paradigm to be closer to the things that produce and act on the intelligent environment, allowing to deal with issues like mobility, real time, low latency, geo-localization, among other aspects. In this sense, in this article we present a middleware, which not only is capable of allowing MAS and SOA to communicate in a bidirectional and transparent way, but also, it uses the fog computing paradigm autonomously, according to the context and to the system load factor. Additionally, we analyze the performance of the incorporation of the fog-computing paradigm in our middleware and compare it with other works.

Resumen SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) ha emergido como una arquitectura dominante para la interoperabilidad entre aplicaciones, por medio de un modelo de acoplamiento débil basado en la flexibilidad que proveen los servicios web, esto ha dado lugar a una amplia gama de aplicaciones, en lo que se conoce hoy en día como computación en la nube. Por otro lado, los MAS (Multiagent System, por sus siglas en inglés) son usados ampliamente en la industria, ya que brindan soluciones apropiadas a problemas complejos, de forma proactiva e inteligente. En particular, los Ambientes Inteligentes (AmI) educativos se benefician de estás dos arquitecturas, ya que por un lado los MAS dotan al AmI de inteligencia, mientras que SOA permite a los usuarios interactuar con servicios académicos en la nube. El propósito de este artículo es proponer una arquitectura de integración bidireccional SOA-MAS para AmI educativos. La solución propuesta aprovecha las ventajas de ambas tecnologías (SOA-MAS), y resuelve problemas de integración planteados en investigaciones previas. Abstract Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) has emerged as the dominant architecture for interoperability between applications, by using a weak-coupled model, based on the flexibility provided by Web Services, which has led to a wide range of applications, in what is known as cloud computing. On the other hand, Multiagent System (MAS) is widely used in the industry, because it provides an appropriate solution to complex problems in a proactive and intelligent way. Specifically, the Educational Smart Environments (AmI) obtain great benefits by using both architectures, because MAS endows intelligence to the environment, while SOA enables users to interact with academic services in the cloud. The purpose of this article is to propose an architecture for bidirectional integration SOA-MAS to be used on educational AmI. The proposed solution allows taking advantages of both architectures, and solves integration problems raised in previous researches.

Microgrids are defined as an interconnection of several renewable energy sources in order to provide the load power demand at any time. Due to the intermittence of renewable energy sources, storage systems are necessary, and they are generally used as a backup system. Indeed, to manage the power flows along the entire microgrid, an energy management strategy (EMS) is necessary. This paper describes a microgrid energy management system, which is composed of solar panels and wind turbines as renewable sources, Li-ion batteries, electrical grids as backup sources, and AC/DC loads. The proposed EMS is based on the maximum extraction of energy from the renewable sources, by making them operate under Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) mode, both of those MPPT algorithms are implemented with a multi-agent system (MAS). In addition, management of the stored energy is performed through the optimal control of battery charging and discharging using artificial neural network controllers (ANNCs). The main objective of this system is to maintain the power balance in the microgrid and to provide a configurable and a flexible control for the different scenarios of all kinds of variations. All the system’s components were modeled in MATLAB/Simulink, the MAS system was developed using Java Agent Development Framework (JADE), and Multi-Agent Control using Simulink with Jade extension (MACSIMJX) was used to insure the communication between Simulink and JADE.

Natural killer (NK) cells are innate immune lymphocytes with potent cytolytic and immune-regulatory activities. NK cells are well-known for their ability to kill infected and malignant cells in a fast and non-specific way without prior sensitization. For this purpose, NK cells are equipped with a set of cytotoxic molecules such as perforin and apoptosis-inducing proteins. NK cells also have the capacity to produce large amounts of cytokines and chemokines that synergize with their cytotoxic function and that ensure interaction with other immune cells. A less known feature of NK cells is their capacity to kill non-infected autologous cells, such as immature dendritic cells and activated T cells and monocytes. Via the release of large amounts of TNF-α and IFN-γ, NK cells may contribute to disease pathology. Conversely they may exert a regulatory role through secretion of immuno-regulatory cytokines such as GM-CSF, IL-13, and IL-10. Thus, NK cells may be important target and effector cells in the pathogenesis of autoinflammatory diseases, in particular in those disorders associated with a cytokine storm or in conditions where immune cells are highly activated. Key examples of such diseases are systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA) and its well-associated complication, macrophage activation syndrome (MAS). sJIA is a chronic childhood immune disorder of unknown etiology, characterized by arthritis and systemic inflammation, including a daily spiking fever and evanescent rash. MAS is a potentially fatal complication of autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases, and most prevalently associated with sJIA. MAS is considered as a subtype of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), a systemic hyperinflammatory disorder characterized by defective cytotoxic pathways of cytotoxic T and NK cells. In this review, we describe the established features of NK cells and provide the results of a literature survey on the reported NK cell abnormalities in monogenic and multifactorial autoinflammatory disorders. Finally, we discuss the role of NK cells in the pathogenesis of sJIA and MAS. ispartof: FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY vol:10 ispartof: location:Switzerland status: published

This paper presents a hardware testbed for testing the building energy management system (BEMS) based-on the multi agent system (MAS). The objective of BEMS is to maximize user comfort while minimizing the energy extracted from the grid. The proposed system implements a multi-objective optimization technique using a genetic algorithm (GA) and the fuzzy logic controller (FLC) to control the room temperature and illumination setpoints. The agents are implemented on the low cost embedded systems equipped with the WiFi communication for communicating between the agents. The photovoltaic (PV)-battery system, the air conditioning system, the lighting system, and the electrical loads are modeled and simulated on the embedded hardware. The popular communication protocols such as Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) and Modbus TCP/IP are adopted for integrating the proposed MAS with the existing infrastructures and devices. The experimental results show that the sampling time of the proposed system is 16.50 s. Therefore it is suitable for implementing the BEMS in a real-time where the data are updated in an hourly or minutely basis. Further, the proposed optimization technique shows better results in optimizing the comfort index and the energy extracted from the grid compared to the existing methods.

This work aimed to develop and validate individual SNP molecular markers previously identified in a genetic association study of resistance to Meloidogyne incognita in soybean using a microarray panel. The markers identified in the array were converted in single TaqMan® markers. The single markers were used to create an SNP genotyping protocol and establish a marker-assisted selection (MAS) routine associated with resistance to M. incognita in soybean. Out of the eight TaqMan® assays tested, three were validated for use in MAS. The MAS protocol developed in this study uses sequential selection. Initially, molecular markers are used to identify susceptible plants; subsequently, the phenotypic evaluation of plants expressing resistance genotype for the markers is carried out, resulting in the accurate identification of resistant plants. The accuracy of this approach for MAS sequential for M. incognita varied from 94 to 96%.

Precise alignment of the sample’s spinning axis is vital for many magic angle spinning solid state NMR experiments. Spherical rotors are a new paradigm for magic angle spinning NMR, having been demonstrated to spin stably with little risk of rotor crash, but like cylindrical rotors, they have previously only utilized a mechanical adjustment method to set the sample’s rotation axis to the magic angle. Here we show that by using a second gas aperture within the stator, a spherical rotor’s axis of rotation may be precisely pitched about the magic angle without mechanical adjustment or motion of the stator. The 2H MAS sideband lineshape of the carboxylic acid deuteron resonance in d4-malonic acid is used as a measure of the rotor’s absolute deviation above or below the magic angle by comparing the experimental data to simulated lineshapes. We observe a linear, monotonic relationship between the angle adjustment gas flow rate and the rotor’s pitch angle, which is also accompanied by an increase in spinning rate. Precise and in operando control of the spinning axis angle is expected to have considerable advantages to future implementation of MAS within narrow-bore magnets, and for variable angle spinning (VAS) and dynamic angle spinning (DAS) experiments., Journal of Magnetic Resonance, 6–7, ISSN:1090-7807

The intermittent nature of renewable energies sources makes their control difficult. One of the solutions to overcome this handicap is to promote hybridization (multi-source system). To ensure continuity of service, a storage system must be coupled to the system. To do so, artificial intelligence based models are developed to respond optimally to the dilemma of energy supply and demand. These models allow the management of the energy flow between the sources (photovoltaic, wind, battery, super capacitor, and generator) and the variable loads by controlling electronic switches according to the availability of the sources. The artificial intelligence algorithm used in this study is multi agent system (MAS). The simulation results and validation tests shows the effectivenes of the proposed approach.

Cultivating resistant varieties of potato is the most effective and environmentally safe method of protecting against pests and diseases that affect potato crops. Therefore, potato breeding is focused on developing more resistant varieties so that the use of plant health products can be reduced during the cultivation cycle. Resistance to late blight, viruses and nematodes is the most important agricultural requirement. The use of molecular markers allows for the effective selection of resistant genotypes at early stages of breeding. However, the impact of early selection for resistance on the agronomic value of the final selected clones is a cause of concern for breeders. This study investigates the relationship between the presence of the combined resistance genes H1, Ry-fsto and Rpi-phu1, which confer resistance to nematodes, potato virus Y and late blight, respectively, and certain agricultural traits. The agronomic performance of most clones with and without the identified resistance genes was similar in terms of tuber yield, tuber size, tuber shape regularity, eye depth and tuber defect intensity. Some combinations with Ry-fsto may produce higher yields but may also be associated with more tuber defects. No negative relationships were observed between the combined resistance genes H1 + Ry-fsto + Rpi-phu1 and potato quality.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the accuracy of automatic matching in cone‐beam computed tomography (CBCT) images relative to the reduction of total tube current–exposure time product (mAs) for the X‐ray imaging (XI) system. The CBCT images were acquired with the Catphan 504 phantom various total mAs ratios such as 1.00, 0.83, 0.67, 0.57, and 0.50. For studying the automatic matching accuracy, the phantom images were acquired with a six‐dimensional shifting table. The image quality and correction of automatic matching were compared. With a decreasing total mAs ratio, the noise of the images increased and the low‐contrast resolution decreased, while the accuracy of the automatic matching did not change. Therefore, this study shows that a change of the total mAs while acquiring CBCT images has no effect on the automatic matching of Catphan 504 phantom in XI system. PACS number(s): 87.57.C‐, 87.57.Q‐

A newly developed agent- based framework for modelling, simulation and evaluation of resource management in self- sustainable human settlements is presented, along with the ability of the framework to prolong the self- sustainability of the observed human settlement system in the simulation environment. In this study the focus is on the analysis of a conducted water management simulation based on observations of an existing eco-village in Croatia, in the context of producing, storing and consuming water as a resource. The conducted research shows that the developed framework was able to prolong the self- sustainability of localized water production, storage and consumption dynamics when managing the water allocation with the use of self- sustainability mechanisms, in comparison to water management without using such mechanisms, under the same initial conditions. The work is placed within the context of sustainable development, Internet of Things, as well as Environmental Internet of Things areas of research, analyzing the ambiguous relationship between the terms sustainable development and self- sustainability.

This study provides evidence for the first time for APDS-1 presenting as MAS/HLH, with evident clinical implications in patient's management and prognosis.

Due to its ability to grow in different agroecological conditions and its moderate drought tolerance, sunflower may become the oil crop of preference in the future, especially in the light of global environmental changes. In the field conditions, sunflower crop is often simultaneously challenged by different biotic and abiotic stresses, and understanding the shared mechanisms contributing to two or more stresses occurring individually or simultaneously is important to improve crop productivity under foreseeable complex stress situations. Exploitation of the available plant genetic resources in combination with the use of modern molecular tools for genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and application of genomic selection (GS) could lead to considerable improvements in sunflower, especially with regard to different stresses and better adaptation to the climate change. In this chapter we present a review of climate-smart (CS) traits and respective genetic resources and tools for their introduction into the cultivated sunflower, thus making it the oil crop resilient to the extreme climatic conditions and well-known and emerging pests and diseases. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019.

Background: Macrophage Activation Syndrome (MAS) is a severe, life-threatening, complication of rheumatic diseases in childhood, particularly of systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (sJIA), occurring in approximately 25% of the patients with sJIA. A score that identifies sJIA patients who are at high risk to develop MAS would be useful in clinical practice. Objectives: To evaluate whether routine laboratory parameters at disease onset may predict the development of MAS in patients with active sJIA. To define a risk score of MAS for sJIA patients using these parameters. Methods: Laboratory parameters of disease activity and severity (WBC, N, PLT, Hb, ferritin, AST, ALT, gGT, LDH, TGL, fibrinogen, D-dimer and CRP), were retrospectively evaluated in 86 sJIA patients referred to our Division of Rheumatology from 1998 to 2017 with at least one year of follow-up. Laboratory parameters were evaluated during active sJIA, without MAS, at time of hospitalization (T1) and before treatment for sJIA was started (T2). Patients were divided in two groups: group 1 (patients without history of MAS), group 2 (patients with at least one MAS episode during disease course). To calculate a MAS risk score, laboratory parameters, collected at T2, with a statistical significant difference between the two groups of patients were selected. Results: Thirty-three patients, who fulfilled the 2016 classification criteria for MAS [1] at time of sampling, were excluded from the analysis. Therefore, we analysed laboratory parameters of 53 patients with sJIA, 33 of whom without history of MAS (group 1) and 20 who developed at least one episode of MAS during disease course (group 2). Levels of ferritin, AST, LDH, gGT and TGL, collected at T2, were statistically significant higher in patients with a history of MAS compared to those without a history of MAS. For each of these parameters an arbitrary cut-off was defined. In order to define the final score an arbitrary rate was attributed to each parameter. Sensitivity (Se), specificity (Sp), positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated to define the best scoring system. The scoring system with the best sensitivity was chosen (Table 1). A MAS risk score >3 identified 19 out of 20 sJIA patients with a history of MAS and 4 out of 33 sJIA patients without history of MAS. In order to validate the MAS risk score on a different population, we applied it on 53 patients from other paediatric Rheumatologic centres. Thirty-seven of these patients without history of MAS while 16 with at least one episode of MAS. Sensitivity and specificity were 0.750 and 0.784 respectively. Conclusion: In conclusion we developed a MAS risk score based on routine laboratory parameters that are available worldwide, that can help clinicians to identify patients at higher risk to develop MAS. A validation on a larger population is necessary. References: [1] Ravelli A et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2016 Mar;75(3):481-9. Disclosure of Interests: Simone Carbogno: None declared, Denise Pires Marafon: None declared, Giulia Marucci: None declared, Manuela Pardeo: None declared, Antonella Insalaco: None declared, Virginia Messia: None declared, Emanuela Sacco: None declared, Ferhat Demir: None declared, Betul Sozeri: None declared, Alenka Gagro: None declared, Nastasia Kifer: None declared, Marija Jelusic: None declared, Francesca Minoia: None declared, Mikhail Kostik: None declared, Olga Vougiouka: None declared, Fabrizio De Benedetti Grant/research support from: Abbvie, SOBI, Novimmune, Roche, Novartis, Sanofi, Pfizer, Claudia Bracaglia: None declared

Radiographers are responsible for administering radiation doses according to the principle of As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA), to optimize the use of CT parameters to produce good image quality by minimizing radiation doses. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of mAs parameters on image quality and radiation dose received by pediatric CT head examination patients. The research method to perform image processing results of examination using radiant viewer and analysis of value Contrast to noise ratio (CNR) as a parameter of image quality and CTDIvol to determine the estimated radiation dose, then an analysis is performed to determine whether there is an influence of mAs on the CNR and CTDIvol values. The mean value of kV 116 ± 8.28, the mean value of parameter mAs 161.5 ± 63.46, the mean SNR parameter value is 7.5 ± 0.8, the mean return value of CNR parameter was 0.318 ± 0.291, the mean value of the CTDIvol parameter is 18.68 mGy ± 4.55 mGy, the average value of DLP parameters was 408.7 mGy x cm ± 105.2 mGy x cm, the mean value of parameter DLP is 441.2 mGy x cm ± 155.2 mGy x cm. With linear regression analysis of test results between mAs to CNR is R2 = 0.045. then to the results of linear regression between mAs against CTDI is R2 = 0704, the estimated radiation dose limit for the average value of CTDIvol 18.68 mGy and the average value of DLP 408.7 mGy x cm, this means the protocol CT scan of the head of the pediatric use is still within safe limits by Diagnostic Reference Level of BAPETEN in 2018 to pediatric head CT examination

Highlights • There haven’t been few cases of pituitary calcified associated wit McCune Albright syndrome. • Pituitary calcification is quite rare by itself. • Unlike this is a benign disease, its behavior is very aggressive and this highlights the need of a multidisciplinary team. • It is mandatory to rule out a whole work up when McCune Albright syndrome is suspected to stratify risks and survival., Background McCune-Albright’s syndrome (MAS) is a rare disorder that is characterized by café-au-lait macules, fibrous dysplasia of the skull and endocrinopathies like excessive secretion of growth hormone by a hyper-functional pituitary adenoma (PA). Case We describe the case of a 43-year-old male with history of Gigantism in 1990 secondary to a GH-secreting pituitary macroadenoma that was treated via microscopic transsphenoidal surgery at that time. He was reported as asymptomatic for 26 years until he developed headache and right temporal hemianopia with left amaurosis. Also ptosis and proptosis was found caused by a re-growth of the tumor on the follow up MRI. A second surgical procedure was performed via a dorsolateral craniotomy. Gross total resection was also achieved with a Neuropathology report of a pituitary adenoma tissue accompanied by extended dystrophic calcification and bone formation. Conclusion This is a rare case of MAS. Gigantism within the context of a pituitary calcification raises special diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. The cause of the excessive secretion of GH in MAS is not well understood concluding that it seems to be a different etiology of patients with Acromegaly and Gigantism in non-MAS patients.

International audience; 4,15-Diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS) is a mycotoxin primarily produced by Fusarium fungi and occurring predominantly in cereal grains. As requested by the European Commission, the EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) assessed the risk of DAS to human and animal health related to its presence in food and feed. Very limited information was available on toxicity and on toxicokinetics in experimental and farm animals. Due to the limitations in the available data set, human acute and chronic health-based guidance values (HBGV) were established based on data obtained in clinical trials of DAS as an anticancer agent (anguidine) after intravenous administration to cancer patients. The CONTAM Panel considered these data as informative for the hazard characterisation of DAS after oral exposure. The main adverse effects after acute and repeated exposure were emesis, with a no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) of 32 lg DAS/kg body weight (bw), and haematotoxicity, with a NOAEL of 65 lg DAS/kg bw, respectively. An acute reference dose (ARfD) of 3.2 lg DAS/kg bw and a tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 0.65 lg DAS/kg bw were established. Based on over 15,000 occurrence data, the highest acute and chronic dietary exposures were estimated to be 0.8 and 0.49 lg DAS/kg bw per day, respectively, and were not of health concern for humans. The limited information for poultry, pigs and dogs indicated a low risk for these animals at the estimated DAS exposure levels under current feeding practices, with the possible exception of fattening chicken. Assuming similar or lower sensitivity than for poultry, the risk was considered overall low for other farm and companion animal species for which no toxicity data were available. In consideration of the similarities of several trichothecenes and the likelihood of co-exposure via food and feed, it could be appropriate to perform a cumulative risk assessment for this group of substances.

During the last years, gamification has been used to engage students in more attractive educational activities in different Computer Science subjects at the university level, thereby improving their motivation and learning outcomes. This work continues a research that initially proposed a gamified design for the course “Distributed Artificial Intelligence”, an optional undergraduate course of the Computer Engineering degree. Specifically, we focused on reinforcing subjects related to Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) by means of fun hands-on activities to experiment theoretical concepts in practice. A first iteration of the design was deployed during two consecutive academic years, with good results in terms of students’ perceived learning, engagement and commitment during the class. Nevertheless, a posterior analysis of the design showed that the proposed mechanics did not consider some types of players - such as disruptors -, and some of the learning profiles - such as theoretical and reflexive -. Then, we proposed a card-based game to redesign the learning experience, using a LEarner-centered GAmification Design Framework (LEGA) that aligns both educational and gamification approaches. This paper focuses on this second iteration of the design, which has been deployed and evaluated during the last semester. The obtained results show that students liked the card game, were engaged and motivated during the gamified class, as well as they perceived an increased learning in the subject.

Performance optimization has become a necessity for the survival of enterprises as emerging technologies continue to impact them. To achieve this goal, decision making, a complex process which depends on big data and human issues, must be effective. As enterprises are being subjected to a multi-faceted pressure, they must ensure the optimization of their performance. This article investigates an intelligent decision support system (IDSS) based on multi agent systems (MAS). Our contribution consists in developing an intelligent model with an IDSS MAS approach that can detect and evaluate changes in both the external environment and the enterprise itself. This model is an adequate management tool for optimal and sustainable performance and offers real-time analytical, prospecting and optimization methods.

To determine the effectivity of bacteriophages in controlling the mass mortality of striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) due to infections caused by Aeromonas spp. in Vietnamese fish farms, bacteriophages against pathogenic Aeromonas hydrophila were isolated. A. hydrophila-phage 2 and A. hydrophila-phage 5 were successfully isolated from water samples from the Saigon River of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. These phages, belonging to the Myoviridae family, were found to have broad activity spectra, even against the tested multiple-antibiotic-resistant Aeromonas isolates. The latent periods and burst size of phage 2 were 10 min and 213 PFU per infected host cell, respectively. The bacteriophages proved to be effective in inhibiting the growth of the Aeromonas spp. under laboratory conditions. Phage treatments applied to the pathogenic strains during infestation of catfish resulted in a significant improvement in the survival rates of the tested fishes, with up to 100% survival with MOI 100, compared to 18.3% survival observed in control experiments. These findings illustrate the potential for using phages as an effective bio-treatment method to control Motile Aeromonas Septicemia (MAS) in fish farms. This study provides further evidence towards the use of bacteriophages to effectively control disease in aquaculture operations.

Objective: To analyze standardized uptake values (SUVs) using three different tube current intensities for attenuation correction on 18FNaF PET/CT scans. Materials and Methods: A total of 254 18F-NaF PET/CT studies were analyzed using 10, 20 and 30 mAs. The SUVs were calculated in volumes of interest (VOIs) drawn on three skeletal regions, namely, right proximal humeral diaphysis (RH), right proximal femoral diaphysis (RF), and first lumbar vertebra (LV1) in a total of 712 VOIs. The analyses covered 675 regions classified as normal (236 RH, 232 RF, and 207 LV1). Results: Mean SUV for each skeletal region was 3.8, 5.4 and 14.4 for RH, RF, and LV1, respectively. As the studies were grouped according to mAs value, the mean SUV values were 3.8, 3.9 and 3.7 for 10, 20 and 30 mAs, respectively, in the RH region; 5.4, 5.5 and 5.4 for 10, 20 and 30 mAs, respectively, in the RF region; 13.8, 14.9 and 14.5 for 10, 20 and 30 mAs, respectively, in the LV1 region. Conclusion: The three tube current values yielded similar results for SUV calculation.

Made available in DSpace on 2018-12-11T17:17:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2018-01-18 Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) Tambaqui, Colossoma macropomum, is the main native fish species produced in Brazil, and is an important species for genetic improvement in aquaculture. In addition, breeding studies on this species can be optimized with the use of molecular markers associated with productive phenotypes. The objective of the present study was to test the performance of growth traits and resistance to the bacteria, Aeromonas hydrophila, in association with microsatellite markers in C. macropomum. In this study, three full-sib families were subjected to bacterial challenge and morphometric growth assessments. Tambaqui families subjected to the bacterial challenge differed significantly in death time and mortality rate. There was, however, no association between resistance to bacteria and microsatellite markers. In relation to growth traits, we observed a marker/phenotype association in two microsatellites. The marker in the 6b isoform x5 gene (TNCRC6b) was associated with length, whereas an anonymous marker was associated with height. The present study highlighted the evaluation of molecular markers associated with growth traits, and can serve as the basis for future marker-assisted selection (MAS) of tambaqui. Aquaculture Center of Unesp São Paulo State University (Unesp) School of Sciences São Paulo State University (Unesp) Aquaculture Center of Unesp São Paulo State University (Unesp) School of Sciences São Paulo State University (Unesp) CNPq: 130629/2015-4 FAPESP: 2014/03772-7 CNPq: 305916/2015-7 CNPq: 446779/2014-8

Blockchain technologies are rapidly gaining attention in the multi-agent systems (MAS) community to face critical issues such as trust, secured communications, and data consistency. In particular, the notion of smart contract can be exploited to deploy trustworthy computations automatically executed by the network in a consistent way. MAS coordination - modelling and engineering of agents interaction in a MAS - thus represents an appealing application field for smart contracts, potentially enabling fully-decentralised, trustworthy coordination. Along this line, we focus on the Ethereum blockchain technology, map it onto LINDA tuple-based coordination model, and discuss two proof-of-concept implementations of LINDA on Ethereum. We hence demonstrate conceptual and technical feasibility of blockchain-based coordination in MAS, while emphasising issues of applying the blockchain beyond accountability and identity management.

With the development of molecular marker technology in the 1980s, the fate of plant breeding has changed. Different types of molecular markers have been developed and advancement in sequencing technologies has geared crop improvement. To explore the knowledge about molecular markers, several reviews have been published in the last three decades; however, all these reviews were meant for researchers with advanced knowledge of molecular genetics. This review is intended to be a synopsis of recent developments in molecular markers and their applications in plant breeding and is devoted to early researchers with a little or no knowledge of molecular markers. The progress made in molecular plant breeding, genetics, genomic selection and genome editing has contributed to a more comprehensive understanding of molecular markers and provided deeper insights into the diversity available for crops and greatly complemented breeding stratagems. Genotyping-by-sequencing and association mapping based on next-generation sequencing technologies have facilitated the identification of novel genetic markers for complex and unstructured populations. Altogether, the history, the types of markers, their application in plant sciences and breeding, and some recent advancements in genomic selection and genome editing are discussed.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated., Depression remains a debilitating condition with an uncertain aetiology. Recently, attention has been given to the renin–angiotensin system. In the central nervous system, angiotensin II may be important in multiple pathways related to neurodevelopment and regulation of the stress response. Studies of drugs targeting the renin–angiotensin system have yielded promising results. Here, we review the potential beneficial effects of angiotensin blockers in depression and their mechanisms of action. Drugs blocking the angiotensin system have efficacy in several animal models of depression. While no randomised clinical trials were found, case reports and observational studies showed that angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers had positive effects on depression, whereas other antihypertensive agents did not. Drugs targeting the renin–angiotensin system act on inflammatory pathways implicated in depression. Both preclinical and clinical data suggest that these drugs possess antidepressant properties. In light of these results, angiotensin system-blocking agents offer new horizons in mood disorder treatment., BSF is supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from Deakin University,Australia. CAK is supported by a postdoctoral scholarship from the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES; Brazil). AFC is supported by a research fellowship award from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq; Brazil). MB is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Senior Principal Research Fellowship (grant number 1059660). The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of McGovern Medical School (USA) funds the Translational Psychiatry Program. The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). Laboratory of Neurosciences (Brazil) is a National Institute for Molecular Medicine centre, and a member of the Center of Excellence in Applied Neurosciences of Santa Catarina. Its research is supported by grants from CNPq (JQ), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa e Inovação do Estado de Santa Catarina (JQ); Instituto Cérebro e Mente (JQ) and Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense (JQ). JQis a 1A CNPq Research Fellow. MB is supported by an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellowship (GNT1059660).

International audience; This paper addesses the problem of formation control in multi-agent systems (MAS) and adopts an event-triggered strategy to reduce the number of communications between agents. For that purpose, to evaluate its control input, each agent maintains estimators of the states of the other agents. Communication is triggered when the discrepancy between the actual state of an agent and its estimate reaches some threshold. The impact of additive state perturbations is studied. A condition for the convergence of the MAS to a stable formation is studied. Simulations show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA) and its most significant complication, macrophage activation syndrome (MAS), have traditionally been treated with steroids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications. However, the introduction of biologic medications that inhibit specific cytokines, such interleukins 1 and 6, has changed the treatment paradigm for sJIA patients. In this review, we discuss the therapies currently used in the treatment of sJIA as well as novel targets and approaches under consideration, including mesenchymal stromal cell therapy and JAK inhibitors. We also discuss targeting cytokines that have been implicated in MAS, such as interferon gamma and interleukin 18.

Acute pancreatitis is caused by alcohol, gall stone disease, drugs, trauma, infections, and metabolic causes such as hypercalcemia and hyperlipidemia. Hypercalcemia-induced acute pancreatitis has been well documented but only rarely occurs due to over-the-counter calcium carbonate. In this article, we present a case of over-the-counter calcium carbonate–induced acute pancreatitis.

Plant genetic resources (PGR) are the basis of food security, and are an important component of agrobiodiversity and national heritage. They include a diverse range of plant material including landraces, modern cultivars, crop wild relatives and other wild species. Genetic diversity existing in the PGR collections can provide farmers, plant breeders and researchers with possibilities to develop new and more productive crops, preferably resistant to various pests and diseases and adapted to changing environments. PGR activities include collection, conservation, evaluation and characterisation of germplasm and use in breeding and research, which are interdependent components and should be performed jointly in order to ensure efficient and sustainable PGR conservation. An important and critical phase for all PGR activities is evaluation and characterisation, since this will determine the success of germplasm acquisition, maintenance and utilisation efforts. Knowledge about the amount, extent and distribution of genetic variation is the key for developing effective maintenance and management strategies of PGR. It is particularly important for fruit crop genetic resources, which are usually preserved in field collections with safety duplications for each accession. Maintaining duplicated germplasm increases the costs related to the preservation and decrease of collection value (Frankel and Soule, 1981; Trajkovski and Hjalmarsson, 2007). The level of germplasm characterisation can influence the effective use of PGR in breeding, since breeders are usually looking for well-evaluated plant material containing desirable agricultural traits (e.g. disease resistance, winterhardiness, specific tree or fruit traits etc.).

Most modern manufacturing systems rely on constantly seeking new solutions to better fulfil their manufacturing objectives. As reported in today’s manufacturing literature, dynamic service reconfiguration is one solution that permits to endorse continuous service reconfiguration, flexibility and evolvable systems. In spite of the current research efforts, real reconfiguration solutions are still lacking automated tools that support dynamic and runtime reconfigurations by discovering new adaptation needs and opportunities and, thus, explore possible actions leading to new system configurations. To overcome these issues, it is essential to provide solutions that answer to the “when” and “what” to reconfigure questions. Most of the service changes triggers rely on reactive events, where decisions come from a centralized decision-maker and are performed manually. Based on these facts a service-oriented multi-agent systems architecture is described aiming at actively promoting service reconfiguration (e.g., improvement of the service’s properties and/or update the services’ catalogue) to cope with the unexpected and unpredictable condition changes. This paper describes the processes that decide which service reconfiguration should be applied to each circumstance. The developed prototype for a flexible manufacturing system case study allowed verifying the feasibility of the proposed dynamic service reconfiguration solution in different scenarios. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The 4th International Conference on Emerging Ubiquitous Systems and Pervasive Networks (EUSPN-2013) and the 3rd International Conference on Current and Future Trends of Information and Communication Technologies in Healthcare (ICTH); International audience; The multi-agent systems (MAS) paradigm provides an interesting alternative for the design of ambient intelligence (AmI) systems. However, the verification of the resulting MAS and their constituent agents still requires a suitable model that meets AmI systems requirements. The HoA model presented in this paper, aims at representing the mental evolution of a BDI agent, in order to be handled in further verification approaches. This model captures the reasoning of a BDI agent and its plan, whose expression is defined from AgLOTOS, an original agent algebraic language dedicated to AmI features and capabilities.

This paper defines the problems and tasks of maintenance and repair of road-building equipment (DST). An approach that provides decision support (PDS) in the management of maintenance and repair of roads and vehicles based on the adapted and modernized method RCM2 is proposed. The structure of the system of organization of repairs and maintenance in the road sector with the use of ontologies and multi-agent systems is defined. A model of planning system maintenance and repair on the basis of agents as a multi-agent system, composition and structure of intelligent agents is developed. For scheduling maintenance and repair problems, it is proposed to use the method of Case Based Reasoning on ontologies. The results of the development and implementation of integrated software modules and organizational system Maintenance and DST is described.

International audience; Nowadays, manufactured products offer more and more personalization. This paradigm is in acceleration due to the emergence of mass customization proposed by industry 4.0. To cope with this demand, industry must design suitable products and adhere to a strict specification. Tools and process were proposed to manage product design, validation and manufacturing such as Set-Based Concurrent Engineering (SBCE). Project Manager in charge of this critical step is helped by metrics and indicators. However, visual aid, dynamic and adatative solution, capable to reply in real-time to a major project evolution does not exist. The aim of this paper is to present an approach for SBCE alternatives selection, based on the application of reactive multiagents systems. Multi-agents systems are an efficient approach for problem solving and decision making in dynamic context. The proposal is evaluated in simulation on drone design optimization.

Over the past half century, the use of nitrogen (N) fertilizers has markedly increased crop yields, but with considerable negative effects on the environment and human health. Consequently, there has been a strong push to reduce the amount of N fertilizer used by maximizing the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of crops. One approach would be to use classical genetics to improve the NUE of a crop plant. This involves both conventional breeding and quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping in combination with marker-assisted selection (MAS) to track key regions of the chromosome that segregate for NUE. To achieve this goal, one of initial steps is to characterize the NUE-associated genes, then use the profiles of specific genes to combine plant physiology and genetics to improve plant performance. In this study, on the basis of genetic homology and expression analysis, candidate barley genes from a variety of families that exhibited potential roles in enhancing NUE were identified and mapped. We then performed an analysis of QTLs associated with NUE in field trials and further analyzed their map-location data to narrow the search for these candidate genes. These results provide a novel insight on the identification of NUE-related genes and for the future prospects, will lead to a more thorough understanding of physiological significances of the diverse gene families that may be associated with NUE in barley