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Abstract Many experimental and computational efforts have sought to understand DNA origami folding, but the time and length scales of this process pose significant challenges. Here, we present a mesoscopic model that uses a switchable force field to capture the behavior of single- and double-stranded DNA motifs and transitions between them, allowing us to simulate the folding of DNA origami up to several kilobases in size. Brownian dynamics simulations of small structures reveal a hierarchical folding process involving zipping into a partially folded precursor followed by crystallization into the final structure. We elucidate the effects of various design choices on folding order and kinetics. Larger structures are found to exhibit heterogeneous staple incorporation kinetics and frequent trapping in metastable states, as opposed to more accessible structures which exhibit first-order kinetics and virtually defect-free folding. This model opens an avenue to better understand and design DNA nanostructures for improved yield and folding performance.

This study investigates the thermochemical decomposition and gasification performance of biochars produced from blends of waste lignocellulosic biomass and waste insulation electrical cables at varying temperatures. Characterization tests revealed changes, particularly in ash content (27.5 %–34 %) and elemental composition, with nitrogen content increasing notably in biochar samples compared to the original feedstock. Van Krevelen diagrams demonstrated a reduction in O/C and H/C ratios with increasing production temperature, resembling fossil fuels more closely. The thermogravimetric and the derived thermogravimetric profiles illustrated distinct degradation stages influenced by heating rates and production temperature. Macro-TGA tests provided insights into biomass residue behavior under gasification conditions, indicating higher reaction rates at elevated temperatures. Syngas analysis highlighted the impact of temperature and equivalence ratio on syngas composition, with higher temperatures favoring hydrogen-rich gas production. The observed trends in cold gas efficiency (42.61 %–50.40 %) and carbon conversion efficiency (45.83 %–50.40 %) underscore the significance of temperature control in maximizing gasification performance. Biochars produced at higher temperatures demonstrated superior gasification performance, suggesting potential for optimizing biochar production processes to enhance energy recovery and waste valorization.

Summary: Despite extensive global research into genetic predisposition for severe COVID-19, knowledge on the role of rare host genetic variants and their relation to other risk factors remains limited. Here, 52 genes with prior etiological evidence were sequenced in 1,772 severe COVID-19 cases and 5,347 population-based controls from Spain/Italy. Rare deleterious TLR7 variants were present in 2.4% of young (

Abstract Mechanical characterization of dynamic DNA nanodevices is essential to facilitate their use in applications like molecular diagnostics, force sensing, and nanorobotics that rely on device reconfiguration and interactions with other materials. A common approach to evaluate the mechanical properties of dynamic DNA nanodevices is by quantifying conformational distributions, where the magnitude of fluctuations correlates to the stiffness. This is generally carried out through manual measurement from experimental images, which is a tedious process and a critical bottleneck in the characterization pipeline. While many tools support the analysis of static molecular structures, there is a need for tools to facilitate the rapid characterization of dynamic DNA devices that undergo large conformational fluctuations. Here, we develop a data processing pipeline based on Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) to address this problem. The YOLOv5 and Resnet50 network architecture were used for the two key subtasks: particle detection and pose (i.e. conformation) estimation. We demonstrate effective network performance (F1 score 0.85 in particle detection) and good agreement with experimental distributions with limited user input and small training sets (~ 5 to 10 images). We also demonstrate this pipeline can be applied to multiple nanodevices, providing a robust approach for the rapid characterization of dynamic DNA devices.

The production of Lupinus seeds for food and feed is increasing worldwide, which results in large amounts of post-harvest biomass residues, considered of low value and left in the field to be burned or incorporated in the soil. To valorize these agricultural wastes, this work aimed to assess their potential as an alternative feed for ruminants. Thus, the production yield, nutritive value, and alkaloid content of straws and pod shells from three native European Lupinus species, L. albus ‘Estoril’ (white), L. angustifolius ‘Tango’ (narrow-leafed), and L. luteus ‘Cardiga’ (yellow), cultivated in two locations, were evaluated. The dry matter (DM) yield of straws and pod shells were the highest for L. albus ‘Estoril’ (4.10 t ha−1) and the lowest for L. angustifolius ‘Tango’ (1.78 t ha−1), suggesting a poor adaptation of narrow-leafed lupin to the particularly dry and warm agronomic year. Despite species-specific differences, lupin biomass residues presented higher crude protein (53.0–68.9 g kg−1 DM) and lignin (103–111 g kg−1 DM) content than cereal straws usually used in ruminant feeding, thus resulting in higher metabolizable energy (6.43–6.58 MJ kg−1 DM) content. In vitro digestibility was similar among lupin species (47.7–50.6%) and higher in pod shells (53.7%) than in straws (44.6%). Lupinus albus ‘Estoril’ and L. luteus ‘Cardiga’ presented considerable amounts of alkaloids in straws (23.9 and 119 mg kg−1 DM) and pod shells (20.5 and 298 mg kg−1 DM), while no alkaloids were detected in L. angustifolius ‘Tango’ biomass residues. Considering the combined production of straw and pod shells per lupin species, it is anticipated that lupin biomass residues produced per ha can fulfill 85% of the energy and nearly 50% of protein requirements of a flock of 4 to 9 dry and mid-pregnancy sheep with 50 kg body weight for one year. No negative effects on small (ovine) and large (bovine) ruminant species due to alkaloids are expected, even if biomass residues are consumed at up to 85% DM intake. The large production yield along with its nutritive value unveils the potential of lupin biomass residues valorization as alternative fodder for ruminants, promoting sustainability under a circular economy approach.

This paper is concerned with the economic generation dispatch problem. It is a well-known fact that practical aspects of power plant equipment, as well as the objectives to be met, may result in a nonconvex, nondifferentiable model that poses difficulties to conventional mathematical programming methods. This paper proposes the use of metaheuristic Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization to overcome such difficulties. This metaheuristic is well known for requiring a few parameters and, most importantly, it does not require the tuning of problem-dependent parameters. The algorithm proposed in this work is parameter-free; that is, the few parameters required by the Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization method are set automatically based on the power system’s data. In addition, the handling of constraints, such as generators’ prohibited zones and the generator-load-loss power balance, is performed in a very efficient way. Simulation results are shown for power systems containing 3 to 40 generation units, and the results provided by the proposed method are shown and discussed based on comparisons with other metaheuristics and a mathematical programming technique.

Introduccción. En algunos subtipos de migraña se ha demostrado la existencia de hiperexcitabilidad corLas mutaciones heterocigotas del gen que codifica la isocitrato deshidrogenasa (IDH) ocurren con relativa frecuencia en los gliomas; sin embargo, su relevancia durante el desarrollo tumoral es desconocida. Estas alteraciones provocan una pérdida en la afinidad de la enzima por el sustrato, inhibiendo la actividad de la isoforma silvestre de la IDH1 a través de la formación de heterodímeros inactivos. La expresión forzada de la mutación IDH1/2 en cultivos celulares reduce la formación del producto de la enzima, el ?-ketoglutarato (?-KG), e incrementa los niveles del factor inducido por la hipoxia tipo 1 (HIF-1?, un elemento de transcripción que facilita el crecimiento tumoral en presencia de bajas concentraciones de oxígeno, hallazgo regulado en parte por el ?-KG. La expresión del HIF-1? suele ser mayor entre los gliomas portadores de la mutación IDH, en los que la vía de señalización del HIF está implicada en su progresión. Varios grupos independientes han demostrado el papel que tienen las mutaciones del gen IDH1/2 como marcador pronóstico, especialmente para los pacientes con gliomas de bajo grado y con glioblastomas secundarios que presentan un patrón oligodendroglial. Este conocimiento proporciona una clara oportunidad para mejorar las estrategias diagnósticas y terapéuticas para los pacientes con gliomas, que en la actualidad no se encuentran dirigidas contra alteraciones moleculares específicas. Este artículo presenta una revisión detallada del papel de las mutaciones del gen IDH en la progresión y el mantenimiento de los gliomas, y explora algunas opciones terapéuticas dirigidas contra este entorno.

Los síndromes linfoproliferativos postrasplante (PTLD, por sus siglas en inglés) constituyen una complicación relativamente frecuente entre los receptores de trasplante de órgano sólido o de médula ósea. Representan un amplio espectro de lesiones, que oscilan desde los cambios histológicos tempranos producidos por la infección del virus de Epstein-Barr hasta las neoplasias de alto grado con respuestas variables a las intervenciones terapéuticas. El compromiso del sistema nervioso central (SNC) se ha descrito hasta en 22% de los casos, 12% de ellos en forma primaria, asociados a un peor pronóstico; en general el abordaje diagnóstico y terapéutico no está estandarizado, en parte, debido a la limitación fisiológica que implica la barrera hematoencefálica. El tratamiento tiene opciones limitadas; se acepta el uso de metotrexate a altas dosis o de rituximab intravenoso o intratecal. A continuación, se presenta el caso de un hombre de 76 años, receptor de un trasplante hepático por hemocromatosis, quien a los 6 años postrasplante consulta por alteración de la marcha. Tras documentar una lesión intra-axial, la biopsia por estereotaxia documenta un PTLD tardío, primario con lesión única en SNC. Después de la reducción inicial de la inmunosupresión, el tratamiento con rituximab y metotrexate intravenosos a altas dosis durante cinco ciclos, se logró respuesta parcial en este paciente, con toxicidad renal leve.

The agricultural industry and regulatory organizations define strategies and build tools and products for plant protection against pests. To identify different plants and their related pests and avoid inconsistencies between such organizations, an agreed and shared classification is necessary. In this regard, the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO) has been working on defining and maintaining a harmonized coding system (EPPO codes). EPPO codes are an easy way of referring to a specific organism by means of short 5 or 6 letter codes instead of long scientific names or ambiguous common names. EPPO codes are freely available in different formats through the EPPO Global Database platform and are implemented as a worldwide standard and used among scientists and experts in both industry and regulatory organizations. One of the large companies that adopted such codes is BASF, which uses them mainly in research and development to build their crop protection and seeds products. However, extracting the information is limited by fixed API calls or files that require additional processing steps. Facing these issues makes it difficult to use the available information flexibly, infer new data connections, or enrich it with external data sources. To overcome such limitations, BASF has developed an internal EPPO ontology to represent the list of codes provided by the EPPO Global Database as well as the regulatory categorization and relationship among them. This paper presents the development process of this ontology along with its enrichment process, which allows the reuse of relevant information available in an external knowledge source such as the NCBI Taxon. In addition, this paper describes the use and adoption of the EPPO ontology within the BASF's Agricultural Solutions division and the lessons learned during this work.

The digitization of information and technological advancements have enabled us to gather vast amounts of data from various domains, including but not limited to medicine, commerce, and mining. Machine learning techniques use this information to improve decision-making, but they have a big problem: they are very sensitive to data variation, so it is necessary to clean them to remove irrelevant and redundant information. This removal of information is known as the Feature Selection Problem. This work presents the Pendulum Search Algorithm applied to solve the Feature Selection Problem. As the Pendulum Search Algorithm is a metaheuristic designed for continuous optimization problems, a binarization process is performed using the Two-Step Technique. Preliminary results indicate that our proposal obtains competitive results when compared to other metaheuristics extracted from the literature, solving well-known benchmarks.

Abstract The study of the $$\mathbf{4}$$ 4 -tachyon off-shell string scattering amplitude $$ A_4 (s, t, u) $$ A 4 ( s , t , u ) , based on Witten’s open string field theory, reveals the existence of poles in the s-channel and associated to a continuum of complex “spins” J. The latter J belong to the Regge trajectories in the t, u channels which are defined by $$ - J (t) = - 1 - { 1\over 2 } t = \beta (t)= { 1\over 2 } + i \lambda $$ - J ( t ) = - 1 - 1 2 t = β ( t ) = 1 2 + i λ ; $$ - J (u) = - 1 - { 1\over 2 } u = \gamma (u) = { 1\over 2 } - i \lambda $$ - J ( u ) = - 1 - 1 2 u = γ ( u ) = 1 2 - i λ , with $$ \lambda = real$$ λ = r e a l . These values of $$ \beta ( t ), \gamma (u) $$ β ( t ) , γ ( u ) given by $${ 1\over 2 } \pm i \lambda $$ 1 2 ± i λ , respectively, coincide precisely with the location of the critical line of nontrivial Riemann zeta zeros $$ \zeta (z_n = { 1\over 2 } \pm i \lambda _n) = 0$$ ζ ( z n = 1 2 ± i λ n ) = 0 . It is argued that despite assigning angular momentum (spin) values J to the off-shell mass values of the external off-shell tachyons along their Regge trajectories is not physically meaningful, their net zero-spin value $$ J ( k_1 ) + J (k_2) = J ( k_3 ) + J ( k_4 ) = 0$$ J ( k 1 ) + J ( k 2 ) = J ( k 3 ) + J ( k 4 ) = 0 is physically meaningful because the on-shell tachyon exchanged in the s-channel has a physically well defined zero-spin. We proceed to prove that if there were nontrivial zeta zeros (violating the Riemann Hypothesis) outside the critical line $$ Real~ z = 1/2 $$ R e a l z = 1 / 2 (but inside the critical strip) these putative zeros $$ don't$$ d o n ′ t correspond to any poles of the $$\mathbf{4}$$ 4 -tachyon off-shell string scattering amplitude $$ A_4 (s, t, u) $$ A 4 ( s , t , u ) . We finalize with some concluding remarks on the zeros of sinh(z) given by $$ z = 0 + i 2 \pi n$$ z = 0 + i 2 π n , continuous spins, non-commutative geometry and other relevant topics.

Se estudiaron 30 pacientes con reacciones alérgicas a J3 - Lactámicos claramente demostrados por las manifestaciones clínicas. El objetivo de este trabajo fue determinar la importancia del núcleo (3 -Lactúmico y las cadenas laterales en la inducción de IgE específica para BPO, Ax y Anip por medio de las pruebas cutáneas y el RA ST para estos determinantes. Este grupo se dividió previamente por historia clínica en: 1 - Acelerados (n: 19); 2 - Inmediatos (n:11). Las pruebas del Prick se realizaron con BPO-PL, Ax-PL, Amp-PL, MDM de BR MDM de Ax y MDM de Amp. Presentando en el grupo acelerado: 2 (-1-) a 13P0,4(+) Ax/Amp, 13(+) a todos los reactivos (BPO- Ax - Amp - MDM BP/Ax/Amp). Los pacientes con reacción inmediata: ¡Ocasos (+) a MDM -BPy l(-1-) MDM -Amp. Estos pacientes fueron estudiados con la técnica del RAST para BPO - PL, Ax-PL, Amp PL y PL. Se consideró como línea de corte positiva al nivel ~ a 1524 cpm, tomado tic la curva estandar de Pharniacia Los pacientes con reacción acelerada presentaron en 13/19 casos RAST (+) a BPO- PL, 1/19 (+) BPO- Ax/PL, 3 /19(4) Ax-PL. 1/19 (4-) Am/PL y 1 negativo para todos los reactivos estudiados. Los pacientes con reación inmediata (n: II) en todos los casos lueron negativos para todos los reactivos estudiados. El grupo control (1):20) presentó en 1/20 casos positividad por Prick a Ax- PL y 19 casos negatividad total a todos los reactivos. Los RAST a todos los reactivos fueron negativos en todos los individuos estudiados. Estos resultados indican que la bencilpenicilina (BPO) es el más importante determinante y las cadenas laterales (Ax y Amp) son otros determinantes antigéntcos en -los (3-Lactúmicos, siendo cada uno tIc ellos inductores de un tipo de IgL específica y que raramente aparece una respuesta ¡gE a dos determinantes diferentes en un mismo sujeto. Las pruebas cutáneas son el método de elección para el estudio de alergia a penicilina ya que con el método in vitro se cubre un espectro menor (le reactivos que los que producen reacción acelerada (MDM).

The combustion instability and ash agglomeration in a wood pellet boiler were investigated in this study. The tests were conducted using the Taguchi method of orthogonal array L27(133). Several parameters are applied, including grate area (GA), primary to secondary air split ratio (SR), excess air (EA), and fuel power (P). Pine wood pellets were used, and the boiler’s nominal load was 20 kW. The results show that instability during combustion occurs since the fuel bed rises as the accumulation of the unburned wood pellets on the grate causes a slow combustion rate and pressure drop, which creates noise and disturbances. A good combination of the parameters applied to TN9 and TN20 can be useful in obtaining stable combustion. In addition, the ash agglomerations were influenced by the duration of the combustion and the temperature of the fuel bed. The largest size of the ash agglomeration was referred to as test number-TN26 (P: 16 kW, EA: 110%, SR: 30/70, and GA: 115 mm × 75 mm), which is 59 mm, and the duration time is 14,400 s (≈4 h).

Since December 2019, the world has been mired in an infectious pandemic that has displaced other health priorities for 21st century populations. Concerned about this situation, Latin American experts on cancer decided to evaluate the impact of the pandemic on cancer control in the region. The analysis was based on information obtained from public sources and scientific publications and included the characteristics of the health care and cancer control prior to the pandemic, the COVID-19 pandemic and measures implemented by the governments of the region, and the regional impact of the pandemic on cancer control together with the costs of cancer care and possible impact of the pandemic on cancer expense. We compared 2019 and 2020 data corresponding to the period March 16-June 30 and found a significant reduction in the number of first-time visits to oncology services (variable depending on the country between –28% and –38%) and a corresponding reduction in pathology (between –6% and –50%), cancer surgery (between –28% and –70%), and chemotherapy (between –2% and –54%). Furthermore, a significant reduction in cancer screening tests was found (PAP smear test studies: between –46% and –100%, mammography: between –32% and –100%, and fecal occult blood test: –73%). If this situation becomes a trend, the health and economic impact will be compounded in the postpandemic period, with an overload of demand on health services to ensure diagnostic tests and consequent treatments. On the basis of this information, a set of prevention and mitigation measures to be immediately implemented and also actions to progressively strengthen health systems are proposed.

Juan Manuel Maqueira y Sebastián Bruque México, Alfaomega, 2012 208 páginas

Objectives Hospital-acquired pressure injuries (PIs) are a source of morbidity and mortality, and many are potentially preventable.Design This study prospectively evaluated the prevalence and the associated factors of PIs in adult critical care patients admitted to intensive care units (ICU) in the UK.Setting This service evaluation was part of a larger, international, single-day point prevalence study of PIs in adult ICU patients. Training was provided to healthcare givers using an electronic platform to ensure standardised recognition and staging of PIs across all sites.Participants The characteristics of the ICUs were recorded before the survey; deidentified patient data were collected using a case report form and uploaded onto a secure online platform.Primary and secondary outcome measures Factors associated with ICU-acquired PIs in the UK were analysed descriptively and using mixed multiple logistic regression analysis.Results Data from 1312 adult patients admitted to 94 UK ICUs were collected. The proportion of individuals with at least one PI was 16% (211 out of 1312 patients), of whom 8.8% (n=115/1312) acquired one or more PIs in the ICU and 7.3% (n=96/1312) prior to ICU admission. The total number of PIs was 311, of which 148 (47.6%) were acquired in the ICU. The location of majority of these PIs was the sacral area, followed by the heels. Braden score and prior length of ICU stay were associated with PI development.Conclusions The prevalence and the stage of severity of PIs were generally low in adult critically ill patients admitted to participating UK ICUs during the study period. However, PIs are a problem in an important minority of patients. Lower Braden score and longer length of ICU stay were associated with the development of injuries; most ICUs assess risk using tools which do not account for this.Trial registration number NCT03270345.

The combustion of wood pellets in a fixed bed combustor of a 20 kW capacity domestic pellet boiler was tested according to several factors including Power, Excess Air (EA), Primary/Secondary air Split Ratio (SR) and Grate Area (GA). The Taguchi method was applied to program the experimental design. Several parameters were measured, including gas emissions (CO), fuel bed temperature (measured at 4 different heights), and efficiency. The experimental results show that the lower CO emission and the higher efficiency were obtained at medium thermal loads and the highest temperature on the fuel bed was obtained at about ¼ of its height (15 mm). The results obtained from the analysis of variance (ANOVA) show that the SR and the Power are the most important factors contributing to the CO reduction and also increase the fuel bed temperature.

BackgroundPatients with cancer undergoing cytotoxic chemotherapy face an elevated risk of developing serious infection as a consequence of their treatment, which lowers their white blood cell count and, more specifically, their absolute neutrophil count. This condition is known as neutropenia. Neutropenia accompanied by a fever is referred to as febrile neutropenia, a common side effect of chemotherapy with a high mortality rate. The timely detection of severe neutropenia (

Starting with a different action and following a different procedure than the construction of strings with dynamical tensions described by Guendelman [1], a variational procedure of our action leads to a coupled nonlinear system of D+4 partial differential equations for the D string coordinates Xμ and the quartet of scalar fields φ1,φ2,ϕ,T, including the dilaton ϕ(σ) and the tension T(σ) field. Trivial solutions to this system of complicated equations lead to a constant tension and to the standard string equations of motion. One of the most relevant features of our findings is that the Weyl invariance of the traditional Polyakov string is traded for the invariance under area-preserving diffeomorphisms. The final section is devoted to the physics of maximal proper forces (acceleration), minimal length within the context of Born's Reciprocal Relativity theory [6] and to the Rindler world sheet description of accelerated open and closed strings from a very different approach and perspective than the one undertaken by [7].

Las malas condiciones nutricionales en muchas localidades mayas de Yucatán, México, persisten, a pesar de que se han implementado diversos programas. El objetivo fue comparar los efectos de una intervención nutricional basada en la comunidad con enfoque intercultural (INBC) y una intervención nutricional convencional (INC), sobre el índice de masa corporal (IMC) y la dieta en mujeres de localidades mayas de Yucatán. Fueron incluidas mujeres adultas con IMC ≥ 25kg/m2 de dos pequeñas localidades rurales mayas vecinas. Ambas intervenciones fueron de tres meses y con 11 sesiones, siguiendo la normatividad vigente; en la INBC fue utilizada la herramienta intercultural, denominada Plato del Bien Comer Maya, además se incluyeron en la INBC estrategias diseñadas con base en información obtenida en una fase previa de estudio cualitativo con entrevistas. El grupo con la INBC (n = 7), en comparación con el grupo con la INC (n = 9), tuvo una mayor disminución de IMC (-0,58 ± 0,70 kg/m2 y +0,27 ± 0,64 kg/m2; p = 0,042), de la circunferencia de cintura (-2,15 ± 2,60 cm y -0,50 ± 0,75 cm; p = 0,042) y del consumo de grasas (-53,23 ± 21,92 gramos y -7,34 ± 25,77 gramos; p = 0,004), así como mayor incremento en las frecuencias semanales de consumo de algunos alimentos locales como nance (p = 0,012), tamarindo (p = 0,001) y chile (p = 0,004), la INBC fue la única que presentó una disminución significativa en el consumo diario de calorías (basal: 2.067 ± 91 kcal/día, a los tres meses: 1.474 ± 31 kcal/día; p = 0,018), hubo en ambos grupos disminuciones en el consumo de alimentos ultraprocesados, pero sin diferencias comparando los grupos; el grupo con la INBC obtuvo mejores resultados que el grupo con la INC.

Due to the energy crisis that some countries are facing nowadays, the gasification process appears to be a good alternative to produce some energy from solid materials. Increasingly, gasification involves using wastes as a solid fuel, making the process green and reusing some materials that otherwise could end up in a landfill. However, the process of finding the best gasification parameters of a sample can be very expensive and time-consuming. In this sense, a refuse-derived fuel (RDF) char produced from an original RDF under 30 min at 400 °C was tested on a small-scale reactor using macro thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), as presented in this paper. The goal was to study and evaluate the devolatilization and residual carbon rate of the sample under several conditions and, at the same time, quantify and analyze the released gas. In the first round of tests, 5, 10, and 20 g of samples were tested at 750 °C with an excess of air coefficient (λ) = 0 and 0.2. It was possible to conclude that the lower the mass, the higher the devolatilization rate. The λ only had an influence on the devolatilization rate with a 20 g sample. Regarding the gas, CO, CO2, and H2 had no variation in the sample mass in contrast to CH4, which increased with the increase in the sample mass. The second round of tests was performed with samples of 10 g of mass at temperatures of 700, 800, and 900 °C and λ values of 0.15, 0.2, and 0.25. The tests indicated that the temperature influenced the devolatilization rate but not the residual carbon combustion rate. Regarding the gas composition, CH4, CO2, and CO followed the same trend, decreasing the concentration with the increase in temperature; in contrast, H2 increased in concentration with an increase in temperature. The heating value of the gas followed the same behavior as CH4.

After a brief introduction of Born’s reciprocal relativity theory is presented, we review the construction of the deformed quaplectic group that is given by the semi-direct product of U(1,3) with the deformed (noncommutative) Weyl–Heisenberg group corresponding to noncommutative fiber coordinates and momenta [Xa,Xb]≠0; [Pa,Pb]≠0. This construction leads to more general algebras given by a two-parameter family of deformations of the quaplectic algebra, and to further algebraic extensions involving antisymmetric tensor coordinates and momenta of higher ranks [Xa1a2⋯an,Xb1b2⋯bn]≠0; [Pa1a2⋯an,Pb1b2⋯bn]≠0. We continue by examining algebraic extensions of the Yang algebra in extended noncommutative phase spaces and compare them with the above extensions of the deformed quaplectic algebra. A solution is found for the exact analytical mapping of the noncommuting xμ,pμ operator variables (associated to an 8D curved phase space) to the canonical YA,ΠA operator variables of a flat 12D phase space. We explore the geometrical implications of this mapping which provides, in the classical limit, the embedding functions YA(x,p),ΠA(x,p) of an 8D curved phase space into a flat 12D phase space background. The latter embedding functions determine the functional forms of the base spacetime metric gμν(x,p), the fiber metric of the vertical space hab(x,p), and the nonlinear connection Naμ(x,p) associated with the 8D cotangent space of the 4D spacetime. Consequently, we find a direct link between noncommutative curved phase spaces in lower dimensions and commutative flat phase spaces in higher dimensions.

Road freight transport is one of the sectors with the highest greenhouse gas emissions and fuel consumption in the logistics industry. In recent years, due to the increase in carbon dioxide emissions, several companies have considered reducing them in their daily logistics operations by means of better routing management. Green vehicle routing problems (GVRPs) constitute a growing problem direction within the interplay of vehicle routing problems and environmental sustainability that aims to provide effective routes while considering environmental concerns. These NP-hard problems are one of the most studied ones in green logistics, and due to their difficulty, there are many different heuristic and hybrid techniques to solve them under the need of having high-quality solutions within reasonable computational time. Given the role and importance of these methods, this review aims at providing a comprehensive overview of them while reviewing their defining strategies and components. In addition, we analyze characteristics and problem components related to how emissions are being considered. Lastly, we map and analyze the benchmarks proposed so far for the different GVRP variants considering emissions.

In context of COVID-19 pandemic, there has been different presentations of the infection. The relationship of testicular pain with COVID-19 has not been extensively studied. We present a 31 years old male, with SARS-COV-2 infection, repeatedly consulting for intermittent bilateral testicular pain. Two months later he reported acute loss sensibility and pain in extremities, being diagnosed with axonal fine fiber polyneuropathy. Although the presence of SARS-COV-2 in testis remains controversial, there is a potential orchiepididymitis risk due to viral binding to ACE2 receptor in testicle, and also could induce systemic vasculitis as another possible cause of orchitis.

Esta investigación propone un modelo de implementación de soluciones de software libre para el análisis de datos de la organización. Este proceso de análisis se realiza sobre plataforma Linux lo cual garantiza el uso de estándares abiertos, por lo tanto, ofrece un nivel alto de integración independientemente de los fabricantes o proveedores de tecnología. El aporte principal de esta investigación es ofrecer el modelo que guie el proceso de implementación desde el sistema operativo hasta el sistema de análisis de datos y la creación de los reportes claves que los tomadores de decisiones de la organización necesitan. Se realiza un proceso de evaluación técnico y económico para comparar funcionalidades que la organización requiere y determinar que el modelo propuesto es una alternativa viable a los sistemas propietarios que dominan el mercado.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) in plasma can affect pathogenesis of parasites, but details remain unclear. Here, Toda et al. characterize plasma-derived EVs from Plasmodium vivax patients and show that PvEVs are preferentially taken up by human spleen fibroblasts, facilitating parasite cytoadherence.

Abstract The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Prevention and Control Board is an independent multidisciplinary board of international experts that disseminates relevant information on HPV to a broad array of stakeholders and provides guidance on strategic, technical and policy issues in the implementation of HPV control programs. In response to drastic drop of vaccine coverage following the adverse event crisis in Carmen del Bolivar, Colombia, the HPV Prevention and Control Board in collaboration with the Colombian National Cancer Institute and Colombian League Against Cancer convened a meeting in Bogota, Columbia (November 2018). The goal of the meeting was to bring together national and international group of experts to report the disease burden, epidemiology and surveillance of HPV and HPV-related cancers, to discuss the successes and especially the challenges of HPV vaccination and screening in Colombia, as well as the lessons learnt from neighbouring countries. The meeting provided a platform to confer various stakeholder’s perspectives, including the role of the Colombian healthcare system and to catalyse various parts of the public health community in Colombia into effective action. The conclusion of the meeting included following suggestions to strengthen HPV prevention and control: 1) Re-introducing school-based vaccine programs, 2) Integrating primary and secondary prevention programs, 3) Developing an innovative crisis communication plan targeting healthcare workers, teachers and general population, 4) Building trust through efficient and timely communication, 5) Building strong relationship with media to ensure a stable vaccination campaign support, and 6) Promoting empathy among healthcare professionals towards patients to build trust and communicate effectively.

The need to make good use of resources has allowed metaheuristics to become a tool to achieve this goal. There are a number of complex problems to solve, among which is the Set-Covering Problem, which is a representation of a type of combinatorial optimization problem, which has been applied to several real industrial problems. We use a binary version of the optimization algorithm based on teaching and learning to solve the problem, incorporating various binarization schemes, in order to solve the binary problem. In this paper, several binarization techniques are implemented in the teaching/learning based optimization algorithm, which presents only the minimum parameters to be configured such as the population and number of iterations to be evaluated. The performance of metaheuristic was evaluated through 65 benchmark instances. The results obtained are promising compared to those found in the literature.

Abstract With nearly ten million babies conceived globally, using assisted reproductive technologies, fundamental questions remain; e.g., How do the sperm and egg DNA unite? Does ICSI have consequences that IVF does not? Here, pronuclear and mitotic events in nonhuman primate zygotes leading to the establishment of polarity are investigated by multidimensional time-lapse video microscopy and immunocytochemistry. Multiplane videos after ICSI show atypical sperm head displacement beneath the oocyte cortex and eccentric para-tangential pronuclear alignment compared to IVF zygotes. Neither fertilization procedure generates incorporation cones. At first interphase, apposed pronuclei align obliquely to the animal-vegetal axis after ICSI, with asymmetric furrows assembling from the male pronucleus. Furrows form within 30° of the animal pole, but typically, not through the ICSI injection site. Membrane flow drives polar bodies and the ICSI site into the furrow. Mitotic spindle imaging suggests para-tangential pronuclear orientation, which initiates random spindle axes and minimal spindle:cortex interactions. Parthenogenetic pronuclei drift centripetally and assemble astral spindles lacking cortical interactions, leading to random furrows through the animal pole. Conversely, androgenotes display cortex-only pronuclear interactions mimicking ICSI. First cleavage axis determination in primates involves dynamic cortex-microtubule interactions among male pronuclei, centrosomal microtubules, and the animal pole, but not the ICSI site.

For years, extensive research has been in the binarization of continuous metaheuristics for solving binary-domain combinatorial problems. This paper is a continuation of a previous review and seeks to draw a comprehensive picture of the various ways to binarize this type of metaheuristics; the study uses a standard systematic review consisting of the analysis of 512 publications from 2017 to January 2022 (5 years). The work will provide a theoretical foundation for novice researchers tackling combinatorial optimization using metaheuristic algorithms and for expert researchers analyzing the binarization mechanism’s impact on the metaheuristic algorithms’ performance. Structuring this information allows for improving the results of metaheuristics and broadening the spectrum of binary problems to be solved. We can conclude from this study that there is no single general technique capable of efficient binarization; instead, there are multiple forms with different performances.

Telegram, an Industry 4.0 style communication service, is one of the world’s most widespread communication platforms. The availability of channels and bots has opened as a broadcast channel for any media outlet. We asked the following questions: Do media outlets from Spain use Telegram channels? Which media outlets? Are they verified? What is their volume of subscribers? Can this information be used to rank media outlets? We identified many media channels and data were collected from each one. We present the results in a ranking. Forty-two media based in Spain have Telegram channels, 26 of which are ranked in the directory. Less than half of these channels are verified by the platform, and only three are linked to their website. This lack of verification could lead to the proliferation of fake channels. The article ends with a series of recommendations for channel managers to make it easier for the end user to identify and verify each media outlet.

El pseudomixoma peritoneal es una enfermedad infrecuente caracterizada por ascitis mucinosa acompañada de implantes tumorales peritoneales y sobre el epiplón. La etiología de esta entidad es desconocida y, según la histología, se divide en dos grandes grupos: la adenomucinosis y la carcinomatosis mucinosa peritoneal. Tradicionalmente, el tratamiento quirúrgico recomendado es la citorreducción parcial que se repite regularmente para controlar los síntomas hasta que no se encuentre ningún beneficio adicional. A pesar de la controversia, en la actualidad, la evidencia favorece la realización de la peritonectomía radical más quimioterapia intraperitoneal hipertérmica, seguidas de quimioterapia intraperitoneal posoperatoria temprana (en los 7 días siguientes al procedimiento). A continuación se presentan los dos primeros casos tratados con esta técnica en Colombia y se revisa detalladamente la información publicada al respecto.

The Colo-Colo (Leopardus colocola) has a wide geographical distribution in South America. We document different types of habitats like forestal plantations, vineyard, hydrophilic, and deciduous forest, coastal desert, and Andean Steppe that it uses in Central Chile through trail cameras and direct observations. In this study, this cat was registered both in natural and heavily modified environments. More information is needed to understand if this felid’s records in intervened areas are mostly associated with movements between patches of native vegetation or regular use.

Scarce records of Pampas cats exist in the extreme south of Chile (Patagonia). Through camera traps, we captured the first confirmed record of L. colocola in northern Patagonia of Chile. Besides, records of its marking behavior through feces and urine were captured and discussed to understand this poorly known wild cat.

Nature–inspired computing is a promising field of artificial intelligence. This area is mainly devoted to designing computational models based on natural phenomena to address complex problems. Nature provides a rich source of inspiration for designing smart procedures capable of becoming powerful algorithms. Many of these procedures have been successfully developed to treat optimization problems, with impressive results. Nonetheless, for these algorithms to reach their maximum performance, a proper balance between the intensification and the diversification phases is required. The intensification generates a local solution around the best solution by exploiting a promising region. Diversification is responsible for finding new solutions when the main procedure is trapped in a local region. This procedure is usually carryout by non-deterministic fundamentals that do not necessarily provide the expected results. Here, we encounter the stagnation problem, which describes a scenario where the search for the optimum solution stalls before discovering a globally optimal solution. In this work, we propose an efficient technique for detecting and leaving local optimum regions based on Shannon entropy. This component can measure the uncertainty level of the observations taken from random variables. We employ this principle on three well–known population–based bio–inspired optimization algorithms: particle swarm optimization, bat optimization, and black hole algorithm. The proposal’s performance is evidenced by solving twenty of the most challenging instances of the multidimensional knapsack problem. Computational results show that the proposed exploration approach is a legitimate alternative to manage the diversification of solutions since the improved techniques can generate a better distribution of the optimal values found. The best results are with the bat method, where in all instances, the enhanced solver with the Shannon exploration strategy works better than its native version. For the other two bio-inspired algorithms, the proposal operates significantly better in over 70% of instances.

Population-based approaches have given us new search strategies and ideas in order to solve optimization problems. Usually, these methods are based on the performance carried out by a finite number of agents, which by the interaction between them they evolve and work all over the search space. Also, it is well-known that the correct employment of parameter values in this kind of method can positively impact their performance and behavior. In this context, the present work focuses on the design of a hybrid architecture which smartly balances the population size on run-time. In order to smartly balance and control the population size, a modular approach, named Linear Modular Population Balancer (LMPB), is proposed. The main ideas behind the designed architecture include the solving strategy behind a population-based metaheuristic, the influence of learning components based on multiple statistical modeling methods which transform the dynamic data generated into knowledge, and the possibilities to tackle both discrete and continuous optimization problems. In this regard, three modules are proposed for LMPB, which concern tasks such as the management of the population-based algorithm, parameter setting, probabilities, learning methods, and selection mechanism for the population size to employ. In order to test the viability and effectiveness of our proposed approach, we solve a set of well-known benchmark functions and the multidimensional knapsack problem (MKP). Additionally, we illustrate promising solving results, compare them against state-of-the-art methods which have proved to be good options for solving optimization problems, and give solid arguments for future work in the necessity to keep evolving this type of proposed architecture.

Catalytic upgrading of vapors from pyrolysis of triglycerides materials is a promising approach to achieve better conversions of hydrocarbons and production of liquid biofuels. Catalytic cracking often shows incomplete conversion due to distillation of initial reaction products and the addition of a second catalytic reactor, whereas pyrolytic vapors are made in contact to a solid catalyst was applied to improve the physical-chemical properties and quality of bio-oil. This work investigated the effect of catalyst content and reaction time by catalytic upgrading from pyrolysis vapors of residual fat at 450 °C and 1.0 atmosphere, on the yields of reaction products, physicochemical properties (density, kinematic viscosity, refractive index, and acid value), and chemical composition of organic liquid products (OLP), over a catalyst fixed bed reactor, in semi pilot scale. Pellets of red mud chemically activated with 1.0 M HCl were used as catalysts. The thermal catalytic cracking of residual fat show OLP yields from 54.4 to 84.88 (wt.%), aqueous phase yields between 2.21 and 2.80 (wt.%), solid phase yields (coke) between 1.30 and 8.60 (wt.%), and gas yields from 11.61 to 34.22 (wt.%). The yields of OLP increases with catalyst content while those of aqueous, gaseous and solid phase decreases. For all experiments, the density, kinematic viscosity, and acid value of OLP decreases with reaction time. The GC-MS of liquid reaction products identified the presence of hydrocarbons and oxygenates. In addition, the hydrocarbon content in OLP increases with reaction time, while those of oxygenates decrease, reaching concentrations of hydrocarbons up to 95.35% (area.). The best results for the physicochemical properties and the maximum hydrocarbon content in OLP were obtained at 450 °C and 1.0 atmosphere, using a catalyst fixed bed reactor, with 5.0% (wt.) red mud pellets activated with 1.0 M HCl as catalyst.

Después de la cosecha del fruto chirimoya, los árboles liberan enormes cantidades de hojas, las cuales son quemadas por los agricultores. Este trabajo muestra que las hojas pueden ser usadas para nuestro beneficio como antioxidante. Se determinaron los compuestos fenólicos (CF) y la actividad antioxidante (AA) de los extractos de la hoja seca de Annona cherimola Mill en etanol al 70% v/v, agua a 80 °C, y agua subcrítica (AS) a 110, 120 y 130 °C, siguiendo un diseño factorial con el programa Minitab. Los CF se cuantificaron con la metodología de Folin Ciocalteu y la AA con el 2,2-difenil-1-picrilhidrazilo (DPPH) y con el poder antioxidante reductor del hierro (FRAP). Los resultados indicaron que el tipo de solvente y el tiempo de extracción presentaron un efecto significativo en el contenido de CF y AA de los extractos. Se concluyó que el extracto de hoja de chirimoya es un potencial antioxidante. El extracto de AS a 130 °C presentó el mayor contenido de CF (5,6 g EAG/100 g de hoja seca) y el extracto etanólico presentó mayor AA (0,86 mg equivalente trolox/mg extracto seco; IC50=0,020 mg de extracto seco/mL de extracto de hoja seca y FRAP de 1710,14 μmol equivalente trolox /g de hoja seca) y los extractos obtenidos con AS a menor temperatura presentaron mayores valores de AA.

We propose the notion of a classical/quantum duality in the gravitational case (it can be extended to other interactions). By this one means exchanging Bohm's quantum potential for the classical potential VQ↔V in the stationary quantum Hamilton–Jacobi equation (QHJE) so that VQ+V=−V0 (ground state energy). Despite that the corresponding Schrödinger equations, and their solutions differ, their associated quantum Hamilton–Jacobi equation, and ground state energy remains the same. This is how the classical/quantum duality is implemented. In this scenario Bohm's quantum potential (which coincides with the attractive Newtonian potential) is now correlated to a classical repulsive gravitational potential (plus a constant). These results suggest that there might be a quantum origin to the classical repulsive gravitational behavior (of the accelerated expansion) of the universe which is based on this notion of classical/quantum duality. We hope that the notion of classical/quantum duality raised in this work in connection to the QHJE may cast further light into the deep interplay between gravity and quantum mechanics. Keywords: Bohm's potential, Quantum mechanics, (Repulsive) gravity

The manufacturing Cell Design Problem (MCDP) is a classical optimization problem that finds application in lines of manufacture. The problem consist in distributing machines in cells, where the parts processed by each machine travels in the production process in such a way that productivity is improved. To solve the MCDP we employ a novel metaheuristic, which is inspired by actions, attitudes, and conducts that people normally have in life, named Human behavior-based optimization (HBBO). An individual try to evolve in life by trying his best in order to be a better human being with a brilliant future, successful at life, and be an example for others. We couple the HBBO with Autonomous Search (AS), which allows the modification of internal components of our approach when exposed to changing external forces and opportunities. We compare our HBBO-AS with the classic HBBO and an implementation using IRace, which is a software package that allows us to automatize the configuration of an algorithm through automatic configuration procedures. Additionally, in order to test the competitiveness of our results, we compare with other algorithms proved to perform well solving the MCDP. We illustrate experimental results, where the proposed approach is able to obtain interesting performance and robustness in the 125 well-known instances of the MCDP.

In the world of optimization, especially concerning metaheuristics, solving complex problems represented by applying big data and constraint instances can be difficult. This is mainly due to the difficulty of implementing efficient solutions that can solve complex optimization problems in adequate time, which do exist in different industries. Big data has demonstrated its efficiency in solving different concerns in information management. In this paper, an approach based on multiprocessing is proposed wherein clusterization and parallelism are used together to improve the search process of metaheuristics when solving large instances of complex optimization problems, incorporating collaborative elements that enhance the quality of the solution. The proposal deals with machine learning algorithms to improve the segmentation of the search space. Particularly, two different clustering methods belonging to automatic learning techniques, are implemented on bio-inspired algorithms to smartly initialize their solution population, and then organize the resolution from the beginning of the search. The results show that this approach is competitive with other techniques in solving a large set of cases of a well-known NP-hard problem without incorporating too much additional complexity into the metaheuristic algorithms.

Understanding the challenges of implementing blockchain solutions is an important step toward scaling and adopting the technology. This paper analyses the adoption of blockchain technology in the management of academic certificates. In this use case, we identify certification providers that have adopted a permissionless approach and consortiums of academic institutions that are in the process of building permissioned networks. We explore the challenges faced by both approaches and obtain information from competing projects to provide a preliminary approach for cost-benefit analysis that could potentially be applied for similar blockchain projects. For the management of academic certificates, we find that beyond the cost of implementing the technology there are additional elements of critical importance for adoption. For example, if blockchain-enabled certificates will replace notarized documents, how do they complement other forms of digital credentials, the ease of integration to existing administrative records within institutions and if they are a viable first step toward a more comprehensive, efficient and reliable systems to share information among institutions.

Purpose: Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer (HBOC) syndrome is responsible for ~5–10% of all diagnosed breast and ovarian cancers. Breast cancer is the most common malignancy and the leading cause of cancer-related mortality among women in Latin America (LA). The main objective of this study was to develop a comprehensive understanding of the genomic epidemiology of HBOC throughout the establishment of The Latin American consortium for HBOC-LACAM, consisting of specialists from 5 countries in LA and the description of the genomic results from the first phase of the study.Methods: We have recruited 403 individuals that fulfilled the criteria for HBOC from 11 health institutions of Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru. A pilot cohort of 222 individuals was analyzed by NGS gene panels. One hundred forty-three genes were selected on the basis of their putative role in susceptibility to different hereditary cancers. Libraries were sequenced in MiSeq (Illumina, Inc.) and PGM (Ion Torrent-Thermo Fisher Scientific) platforms.Results: The overall prevalence of pathogenic variants was 17% (38/222); the distribution spanned 14 genes and varied by country. The highest relative prevalence of pathogenic variants was found in patients from Argentina (25%, 14/57), followed by Mexico (18%, 12/68), Guatemala (16%, 3/19), and Colombia (13%, 10/78). Pathogenic variants were found in BRCA1 (20%) and BRCA2 (29%) genes. Pathogenic variants were found in other 12 genes, including high and moderate risk genes such as MSH2, MSH6, MUTYH, and PALB2. Additional pathogenic variants were found in HBOC unrelated genes such as DCLRE1C, WRN, PDE11A, and PDGFB.Conclusion: In this first phase of the project, we recruited 403 individuals and evaluated the germline genetic alterations in an initial cohort of 222 patients among 4 countries. Our data show for the first time in LA the distribution of pathogenic variants in a broad set of cancer susceptibility genes in HBOC. Even though we used extended gene panels, there was still a high proportion of patients without any detectable pathogenic variant, which emphasizes the larger, unexplored genetic nature of the disease in these populations.

Within the category of project scheduling problems, there is a specific problem within the software industry referred to as the software project scheduling problem. The problem consists in the correct allocation of employees to the different tasks that make up a software project, bearing in mind time and cost restraints. To achieve this goal, the present work first uses metaheuristic intelligent water drops illustrating; this is a recent stochastic swarm-based method increasingly used for solving optimization problems. Finally, the results and comparisons with experiments performed with other techniques are presented, demonstrating the solidity of the approach presented.

Las especies nativas Myroxylon balsamum (bálsamo), Tabebuia crhysantha (guayacán) y Tabebuia billbergii (madero negro), son especies forestales endémicas del bosque seco de la costa del Ecuador y Perú. Los objetivos de la investigación fueron: i) desarrollar un protocolo para establecer, multiplicar plantas micropropagadas en condiciones in vitro para el establecimiento de cultivos de especies nativas amenazadas en la zona sur de Manabí y ii) definir los medios de cultivos y protocolos de desinfección más adecuados para la reproducción in vitro de las especies nativas amenazadas, empleando para el establecimiento diferentes concentraciones de Povidyn®, NaClO + Tween + HgCl2 y tiempos de exposición. De acuerdo con los resultados en la fase de establecimiento in vitro de explantes de M. balsamum, T. crhysantha y T. billbergii, se demostró que la aplicación de Povidyn® por 20 minutos + 15% NaClO + 2 gotas Tween por 5 minutos + 0,5% HgCl2 por 5 minutos, permitió reducir significativamente la contaminación de los explantes por microorganismos, alcanzando un 90%, 87% y 88% de explantes vivos respectivamente, libres de contaminación por hongos y bacterias a los 30 días de evaluación. En la fase de multiplicación in vitro, el medio MS suplementado con 2 mg.l-1 BAP + 1 mg.l-1 ANA, permitió generar el 80%, 82% y 87 de brotes sanos de M. balsamum, T. crhysantha y T. billbergii respectivamente. El enraizamiento de brotes de las 3 especies en dosis combinadas de BAP/AIB y BAP/ANA, no presentó efecto alguno. La producción in vitro de material vegetal seleccionado de M. balsamum, T. crhysantha y T. billbergii, confirma la utilidad de la micropropagación respecto del uso de técnicas convencionales.

Currently, industry is undergoing an exponential increase in binary-based combinatorial problems. In this regard, metaheuristics have been a common trend in the field in order to design approaches to successfully solve them. Thus, a well-known strategy includes the employment of continuous swarm-based algorithms transformed to perform in binary environments. In this work, we propose a hybrid approach that contains discrete smartly adapted population-based strategies to efficiently tackle binary-based problems. The proposed approach employs a reinforcement learning technique, known as SARSA (State–Action–Reward–State–Action), in order to utilize knowledge based on the run time. In order to test the viability and competitiveness of our proposal, we compare discrete state-of-the-art algorithms smartly assisted by SARSA. Finally, we illustrate interesting results where the proposed hybrid outperforms other approaches, thus, providing a novel option to tackle these types of problems in industry.

One of the central issues that must be resolved for a metaheuristic optimization process to work well is the dilemma of the balance between exploration and exploitation. The metaheuristics (MH) that achieved this balance can be called balanced MH, where a Q-Learning (QL) integration framework was proposed for the selection of metaheuristic operators conducive to this balance, particularly the selection of binarization schemes when a continuous metaheuristic solves binary combinatorial problems. In this work the use of this framework is extended to other recent metaheuristics, demonstrating that the integration of QL in the selection of operators improves the exploration-exploitation balance. Specifically, the Whale Optimization Algorithm and the Sine-Cosine Algorithm are tested by solving the Set Covering Problem, showing statistical improvements in this balance and in the quality of the solutions.

The idea of hybrid approaches have become a powerful strategy for tackling several complex optimisation problems. In this regard, the present work is concerned with contributing with a novel optimisation framework, named learning-based linear balancer (LB2). A regression model is designed, with the objective to predict better movements for the approach and improve the performance. The main idea is to balance the intensification and diversification performed by the hybrid model in an online-fashion. In this paper, we employ movement operators of a spotted hyena optimiser, a modern algorithm which has proved to yield good results in the literature. In order to test the performance of our hybrid approach, we solve 15 benchmark functions, composed of unimodal, multimodal, and mutimodal functions with fixed dimension. Additionally, regarding the competitiveness, we carry out a comparison against state-of-the-art algorithms, and the sequential parameter optimisation procedure, which is part of multiple successful tuning methods proposed in the literature. Finally, we compare against the traditional implementation of a spotted hyena optimiser and a neural network approach, the respective statistical analysis is carried out. We illustrate experimental results, where we obtain interesting performance and robustness, which allows us to conclude that our hybrid approach is a competitive alternative in the optimisation field.

While computational thinking arises as an essential skill worldwide, formal primary and secondary education in Latin America rarely incorporates mechanisms to develop it in their curricula. The extent to which students in the region acquire computational thinking skills remains largely unknown. To start addressing this void, this article presents findings from a cross sectional study that characterizes the computational thinking abilities of incoming students at a Chilean university with a strong emphasis on STEM disciplines. Based on more than 500 responses, this study provides evidence of significant inequalities in computational thinking across gender, type of school (private or no), and prior programming knowledge. The discussion offers insights into how these disparities relate to contextual factors of the country, such as a highly socio-economically segregated educational system, public policies focused mainly on technology access, and heavy reliance on voluntary initiatives, to develop computational thinking. The findings can enlighten upcoming research endeavors and formulate strategies to create a more equitable field for students entering STEM degrees in nations facing similar circumstances.

Bio-inspired computing is an engaging area of artificial intelligence which studies how natural phenomena provide a rich source of inspiration in the design of smart procedures able to become powerful algorithms. Many of these procedures have been successfully used in classification, prediction, and optimization problems. Swarm intelligence methods are a kind of bio-inspired algorithm that have been shown to be impressive optimization solvers for a long time. However, for these algorithms to reach their maximum performance, the proper setting of the initial parameters by an expert user is required. This task is extremely comprehensive and it must be done in a previous phase of the search process. Different online methods have been developed to support swarm intelligence techniques, however, this issue remains an open challenge. In this paper, we propose a hybrid approach that allows adjusting the parameters based on a state deducted by the swarm intelligence algorithm. The state deduction is determined by the classification of a chain of observations using the hidden Markov model. The results show that our proposal exhibits good performance compared to the original version.