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The development of machines explores the development of a manufacturing system. This perspective offers challenges adjacent to the materials, the product that wants to be manufactured, the technical considerations that must be covered during implementation and the manner of delivering the products to the user. This article addresses the design and development of machines, on the one hand the redesign of a multifunctional platform, and on the other hand a 3D food printer. The second is emphasised, since its main objective is to help the food problems that exist today. The design phases, aspects considered for its implementation such as food safety, the choice of the substrate, the functionality of the food, transportation and the pre- and post-processes required. In this manner, the selection and innovation of materials constitutes a primary source of innovation and research in the integral development of a 3D food printer. The main source of value of these both cases lie in customisation. The experiences of a multidisciplinary research team in the development processes are compiled and the design and creation process are shown, in order to contribute to deal with design and development to tackle fundamental problems of society.

ABSTRACTThis study presents the development of an event-driven hybrid control for position and force tracking applied on a mobile robotic manipulator for metal recycling tasks. The suggested controller operates in a sequenced strategy starting from a fixed spot, moving the mobile device towards a targeted zone ([Formula: see text]) from where the i-th piece-to-be-recycled is attainable (considering the arm manipulation). Once the event of entering the zone is completed, the mobile robot is fixed at a position, and the end-effector of the robotic arm is enforced towards the piece-to-be-recycled. When the end-effector touches the piece in a given spot ([Formula: see text]), the hybrid control changes to the force tracking intending to carry the piece towards the spot ([Formula: see text]) where it ill be processed. Each piece location is identified based on a vision-based system that applies deep learning tools using convolutional neural networks. A multi-physics numerical simulation illustrated the application of the developed controller in a realistic scenario, showing all the elements of the event-driven operation. To validate the suggested controller, the comparison with a robust control that works on a wide range of carrying mass confirms the operational improvement of the event-driven hybrid position and force design.

Vehicle safety relies on the capacity of vehicle systems to decrease the likelihood of biomechanical injuries to both vehicle occupants and pedestrians. This can take the form of active or passive measures applied to the materials and their geometry in the event of an impact. Nevertheless, due to the nonlinear behaviour of materials and deformation, a distinct collapse process emerges that requires analysis; this analysis can be virtual or through experimental tests. While observed performance can be ascertained through experimental designs, executing such a design for every parameter combination can be time-consuming and costly. This study employs a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) to predict the energy absorbed and crushing force of thin-walled aluminium 6063 T5 tubes subject to different collapse triggers and heat treatments. The LSTM model is constructed using experimental data derived from experiments that consider trigger shape, area, trigger position, furnace duration, cooling temperature, and heat treatment soaking method. The LSTM model achieved a Root Mean Square Error (RSME) of 0.56 and 0.0025 for crushing force and energy absorption, respectively. LSTM proves to be a valuable tool for predicting results in nonlinear analysis, particularly in the context of crush behaviour. Also, a comparison of the LSTM and finite element analysis (FEA) predictive performance is presented.

In this research, the decomposition of toxic organics from pulp and paper mill effluent by the sequential application of ozonation and biodegradation was studied. Ozonation, as a pre-treatment, was executed to transform the initial pollutants into less toxic compounds (such as organic acids of low molecular weights). Biodegradation was executed during three days with acclimated microorganisms that were able to complete the decomposition of the initial organic mixture (raw wastewater) and to achieve a higher degree of mineralization (85–90%). Experiments were performed under three different conditions: (a) only ozonation of the initial contaminants, (b) only biodegradation of residual water without previous treatment by ozone and (c) ozonation followed by biodegradation performed by acclimated microorganisms. In the case of 72 h of biodegradation, the mineralization efficiency reached 85% and 89% after 30 and 60 min of ozonation, respectively. The no significant difference in this parameter coincided with the calculated generalized microorganisms’ consortia specific growing rate μmax that was reduced from 2.08 × 10−3 h−1 to 6.05 × 10−4 h−1 when the ozonation time was longer. The identification of the organics composition by gas chromatography with mass detector (GC-MS) before and after treatments confirmed that the proposed combined process served as a more efficient alternative to secondary and tertiary treatments (mineralization degree between 60 and 80% in average) of the paper industry wastewater.

The molecular explanation about why some pancreatic cancer (PaCa) patients die early and others die later is poorly understood. This study aimed to discover potential novel markers and drug targets that could be useful to stratify and extend expected survival in prospective early-death patients. We deployed a deep learning algorithm and analyzed the gene copy number, gene expression, and protein expression data of death versus alive PaCa patients from the GDC cohort. The genes with higher relative amplification (copy number >4 times in the dead compared with the alive group) were EWSR1, FLT3, GPC3, HIF1A, HLF, and MEN1. The most highly up-regulated genes (>8.5-fold change) in the death group were RPL30, RPL37, RPS28P7, RPS11, Metazoa_SRP, CAPNS1, FN1, H3−3B, LCN2, and OAZ1. None of their corresponding proteins were up or down-regulated in the death group. The mRNA of the RPS28P7 pseudogene could act as ceRNA sponging the miRNA that was originally directed to the parental gene RPS28. We propose RPS28P7 mRNA as the most druggable target that can be modulated with small molecules or the RNA technology approach. These markers could be added as criteria to patient stratification in future PaCa drug trials, but further validation in the target populations is encouraged.

Functional electrical stimulation (FES) has been proven to be a reliable rehabilitation technique that increases muscle strength, reduces spasms, and enhances neuroplasticity in the long term. However, the available electrical stimulation systems on the market produce stimulation signals with no personalized voltage–current amplitudes, which could lead to muscle fatigue or incomplete enforced therapeutic motion. This work proposes an FES system aided by machine learning strategies that could adjust the stimulating signal based on electromyography (EMG) information. The regulation of the stimulated signal according to the patient’s therapeutic requirements is proposed. The EMG signals were classified using Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and a least-squares boosting ensemble model with an accuracy of 91.87% and 84.7%, respectively, when a set of 1200 signals from six different patients were used. The classification outcomes were used as input to a second regression machine learning algorithm that produced the adjusted electrostimulation signal required by the user according to their own electrophysiological conditions. The output of the second network served as input to a digitally processed electrostimulator that generated the necessary signal to be injected into the extremity to be treated. The results were evaluated in both simulated and robotized human hand scenarios. These evaluations demonstrated a two percent error when replicating the required movement enforced by the collected EMG information.

The human gut is home to a complex array of microorganisms interacting with the host and each other, forming a community known as the microbiome. This community has been linked to human health and disease, but understanding the underlying interactions is still challenging for researchers. Standard studies typically use high-throughput sequencing to analyze microbiome distribution in patient samples. Recent advancements in meta-omic data analysis have enabled computational modeling strategies to integrate this information into an in silico model. However, there is a need for improved parameter fitting and data integration features in microbial community modeling. This study proposes a novel alternative strategy utilizing state-of-the-art dynamic flux balance analysis (dFBA) to provide a simple protocol enabling accurate replication of abundance data composition through dynamic parameter estimation and integration of metagenomic data. We used a recurrent optimization algorithm to replicate community distributions from three different sources: mock, in vitro, and clinical microbiome. Our results show an accuracy of 98% and 96% when using in vitro and clinical bacterial abundance distributions, respectively. The proposed modeling scheme allowed us to observe the evolution of metabolites. It could provide a deeper understanding of metabolic interactions while taking advantage of the high contextualization features of GEM schemes to fit the study case. The proposed modeling scheme could improve the approach in cases where external factors determine specific bacterial distributions, such as drug intake.

The usage of socially assistive robots for autism therapies has increased in recent years. This novel therapeutic tool allows the specialist to keep track of the improvement in socially assistive tasks for autistic children, who hypothetically prefer object-based over human interactions. These kinds of tools also allow the collection of new information to early diagnose neurodevelopment disabilities. This work presents the integration of an output feedback adaptive controller for trajectory tracking and energetic autonomy of a mobile socially assistive robot for autism spectrum disorder under an event-driven control scheme. The proposed implementation integrates facial expression and emotion recognition algorithms to detect the emotions and identities of users (providing robustness to the algorithm since it automatically generates the missing input parameters, which allows it to complete the recognition) to detonate a set of adequate trajectories. The algorithmic implementation for the proposed socially assistive robot is presented and implemented in the Linux-based Robot Operating System. It is considered that the optimization of energetic consumption of the proposal is the main contribution of this work, as it will allow therapists to extend and adapt sessions with autistic children. The experiment that validates the energetic optimization of the proposed integration of an event-driven control scheme is presented.

Abstract Morels are gourmet wild edible mushrooms that can grow on several substrates with significant growth rate variations. Such variations have hindered the development of a standardized culture media to promote morel’s sustainable production. The aim of this study is developing a novel culture media that takes advantage of coconut water as a complementary component of culture media. Coconut water has been extensively used as a growth-promoting component for plant tissue cultures; however, its application as component of fungi cultivation medium has not been fully developed. This study confirms that coconut water can be efficiently used as culture media component for morels using a kinetic characterization. Morchella sp. kinetic growth is evaluated in different cultures: agar, malt extract agar (MEA), lactose, coconut water (15%) and combinations of them. Kinetic growth parameters (lag phase, λ and maximum specific growth rate, µmax) are estimated using primary modeling methods. Among the selected models, the best fit is achieved using Baranyi’s model. A significant increase from 15.8% to 43.4% of the µmax values was observed when culture media (agar, lactose, MEA) is supplemented with coconut water. The largest values of µmax are obtained in MEA-coconut cultures (21.13 ± 0.43–22.57 ± 0.35). Micro-sclerotia and late sclerotia are observed in all cultures containing coconut water justifying the development of a feasible and cost-effective way of culturing morels. The results demonstrate that coconut water can be used for formulation of standard media for morel cultivation leading to a cheap alternative to produce dense mycelium and promote sclerotia formation.

The application of machine learning (ML) techniques stands as a reliable method for aiding in the diagnosis of complex diseases. Recent studies have related the composition of the gut microbiota to the presence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but until now, the results have been mostly contradictory. This work proposes using machine learning to study the gut microbiome composition and its role in the early diagnosis of ASD. We applied support vector machines (SVMs), artificial neural networks (ANNs), and random forest (RF) algorithms to classify subjects as neurotypical (NT) or having ASD, using published data on gut microbiome composition. Naive Bayes, k-nearest neighbors, ensemble learning, logistic regression, linear regression, and decision trees were also trained and validated; however, the ones presented showed the best performance and interpretability. All the ML methods were developed using the SAS Viya software platform. The microbiome’s composition was determined using 16S rRNA sequencing technology. The application of ML yielded a classification accuracy as high as 90%, with a sensitivity of 96.97% and specificity reaching 85.29%. In the case of the ANN model, no errors occurred when classifying NT subjects from the first dataset, indicating a significant classification outcome compared to traditional tests and data-based approaches. This approach was repeated with two datasets, one from the USA and the other from China, resulting in similar findings. The main predictors in the obtained models differ between the analyzed datasets. The most important predictors identified from the analyzed datasets are Bacteroides, Lachnospira, Anaerobutyricum, and Ruminococcus torques. Notably, among the predictors in each model, there is the presence of bacteria that are usually considered insignificant in the microbiome’s composition due to their low relative abundance. This outcome reinforces the conventional understanding of the microbiome’s influence on ASD development, where an imbalance in the composition of the microbiota can lead to disrupted host–microbiota homeostasis. Considering that several previous studies focused on the most abundant genera and neglected smaller (and frequently not statistically significant) microbial communities, the impact of such communities has been poorly analyzed. The ML-based models suggest that more research should focus on these less abundant microbes. A novel hypothesis explains the contradictory results in this field and advocates for more in-depth research to be conducted on variables that may not exhibit statistical significance. The obtained results seem to contribute to an explanation of the contradictory findings regarding ASD and its relation with gut microbiota composition. While some research correlates higher ratios of Bacillota/Bacteroidota, others find the opposite. These discrepancies are closely linked to the minority organisms in the microbiome’s composition, which may differ between populations but share similar metabolic functions. Therefore, the ratios of Bacillota/Bacteroidota regarding ASD may not be determinants in the manifestation of ASD.

Grid-connected converters are an important class of power electronic systems. Many power and energy applications require grid-connected converters. To control grid-connected converters, precise information of the grid voltage frequency and phase are required. Gradient estimators can be very useful in this regard. They are suitable to estimate the frequency and phase of the grid voltage signal. Various gradient estimators are already available in the literature e.g. regression-based techniques. However, most of them are designed by using the instantaneous estimation error as the cost-function. This amplifies the effect of noise in the estimated parameters. To overcome this issue, an integral cost-function is considered in this paper. The integral cost-function tries to minimize the estimation error over the integration window leading to reduce the effect of noise in the estimated frequency and phase. Moreover, the cost-function uses tunable forgetting factor to give more importance to recent data. The proposed gradient estimator assumes the grid frequency to be constant. However, in practice the frequency is variable with known nominal value. To overcome this problem, a frequency estimation block is coupled with the gradient estimator. The frequency estimation block uses the idea of phase-based frequency estimation. Comparative numerical simulation and experimental studies are performed to demonstrate the suitability of the proposed technique over three other advanced techniques from the literature.

This research focuses on designing a min–max robust control based on a neural dynamic programming approach using a class of continuous differential neural networks (DNNs). The proposed controller solves the robust optimization of a proposed cost function that depends on the trajectories of a system with an uncertain mathematical model satisfying a class of non-linear perturbed systems. The dynamic programming min–max formulation enables robust control concerning bounded modelling uncertainties and disturbances. The Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equation’s value function, approximated by a DNN, permits to estimate the closed-loop formulation of the controller. The controller design is based on an estimated state trajectory with the worst possible uncertainties/perturbations that provide the degree of robustness using the proposed controller. The class of learning laws for the time-varying weights in the DNN is produced by studying the HJB partial differential equation. The controller uses the solution of the obtained learning laws and a time-varying Riccati equation. A recurrent algorithm based on the Kiefer–Wolfowitz method leads to adjusting the initial conditions for the weights to satisfy the final condition of the given cost function. The robust control suggested in this work is evaluated using a numerical example confirming the optimizing solution based on the DNN approximate for Bellman’s value function.

Virtual reality has been widely used in various industries, such as entertainment, communication, and healthcare, to mention a few. In the health industry, in combination with the brain–computer interfaces (BCIs), virtual reality could produce rehabilitation measures that may contribute novel strategies such as remote rehabilitation or telerehabilitation. The design and development of BCIs integrate different processes, including biosignals acquisition and processing, feature extraction and selection, classification of signals, and application of the technology to patients under rehabilitation treatments. This manuscript presents a literature review of the papers focused on the implementation of BCI and assistive technologies for remote rehabilitation based on virtual reality implementation. The purpose of this comprehensive review is to identify those studies that take advantage of virtual reality in combination with a biomedical technology to improve the performances of diverse rehabilitation processes. Various revisited studies provided a complete system for remote rehabilitation. These findings could lead to applying these models in diverse rehabilitation tasks.

Mixed cultures represent better alternatives to ferment organic waste and dark fermentation products in anerobic conditions because the microbial associations contribute to electron transfer mechanisms and combine metabolic possibilities. The understanding of the microbial interactions in natural and synthetic consortia and the strategies to improve the performance of the processes by bioaugmentation provide insight into the physiology and ecology of the mixed cultures used for biotechnological purposes. Here, synthetic microbial communities were built from three hydrogen (bioH2) and poly-hydroxy-alkanoates (PHA) producers, Clostridium pasteurianum, Rhodopseudomonas palustris and Syntrophomonas wolfei, and a photoheterotrophic mixed consortium C4, and their performance was evaluated during photofermentation. Higher hydrogen volumetric production rates (H2VPR) were determined with the consortia (28–40 mL/Lh) as compared with individual strains (20–27 mL/Lh). The designed consortia reached the highest bioH2 and PHA productions of 44.3 mmol and 50.46% and produced both metabolites simultaneously using dark fermentation effluents composed of a mixture of lactic, butyric, acetic, and propionic acids. When the mixed culture C4 was bioaugmented with S. wolfei, the bioH2 and PHA production reached 32 mmol and 50%, respectively. Overall, the consumption of organic acids was above 50%, which accounted up to 55% of total chemical oxygen demand (COD) removed. Increased bioH2 was observed in the condition when S. wolfei was added as the bioaugmentation agent, reaching up to 562 mL of H2 produced per gram of COD. The enhanced production of bioH2 and PHA can be explained by the metabolic interaction between the three selected strains, which likely include thermodynamic equilibrium, the assimilation of organic acids via beta-oxidation, and the production of bioH2 using a proton driving force derived from reduced menaquinone or via electron bifurcation.

The aim of this study is to develop an adaptive automatic control method for solving the trajectory tracking problem for a biped robotic device (BRD) and taking into account that each articulation is mobilized by a linear actuator. Each extremity of the BRD has three articulations with a linear actuator enforcing the controlled motion for each articulation. The control problem considers the task of tracking reference trajectories that define a regular gait cycle. The suggested adaptive control form has state-dependent gains that drive the tracking error into an invariant and attractive ellipsoidal with a center at the origin; meanwhile, the articulation restrictions are satisfied permanently. The stability analysis based on a controlled Lyapunov function depending on the tracking error leads to the explicit design of the state-dependent adaptive gains. Taking into account the forward complete setting of the proposed BRD, an output feedback formulation of the given adaptive controller is also developed using a finite-time and robust convergent differentiator based on the super-twisting algorithm. A virtual dynamic representation of the BRD is used to test the proposed controller using a distributed implementation of the adaptive controller. Numerical simulations corroborate the convergence of the tracking error, while all the articulation restrictions are satisfied using the adaptive gains. With the purpose of characterizing the proposed controller, a sub-optimal tuned regular state feedback controller is used as a comparative approach for validating the suggested design. Among the compared controllers, the analysis of the convergence of the mean square error of the tracking error motivates the application of the designed adaptive variant.

The current study presents an adaptive control approach to solve the tracking trajectory problem for a robotic manipulator that uses a gripper based on bimorph piezoelectric actuators. The development of an adaptive gain state feedback form that considers the state restrictions is proposed using a novel class of barrier Lyapunov function that drives the effective control of joints and piezoelectric actuators. The proposed method allows for the inclusion of complex combinations of state restrictions in the Lyapunov function, yielding the construction of differential forms for the gains in the controller that can handle the evolution of trajectories of the robotic arm inside the restricted region. The proposed control design successfully tracks reference trajectories for both joints of the robotic arm as well as the motion of the piezoelectric device during several operative scenarios. A comprehensive experimental study evaluates the effect of introducing state-dependent gain considering state restrictions of the ellipsoidal type. The comparison of the mean square error confirms the contributions of the developed control action, showing better tracking quality for less control power with the same evaluation, which is a desirable characteristic in the controlled motion of micromanipulators. The proposed controller solves the tracking trajectory problem for the micromanipulation system, satisfies the motion restrictions, and allows better tracking performance to be enforced. Furthermore, comparison of the obtained trajectories seems to validate the proposed controller’s contribution concerning a feedback form with fixed gains.

Dynamic motion simulators cannot provide the same stimulation of sensory systems as real motion. Hence, only a subset of human senses should be targeted. For simulators providing vestibular stimulus, an automatic bodily function of vestibular–ocular reflex (VOR) can objectively measure how accurate motion simulation is. This requires a model of ocular response to enforced accelerations, an attempt to create which is shown in this paper. The proposed model corresponds to a single-layer spiking differential neural network with its activation functions are based on the dynamic Izhikevich model of neuron dynamics. An experiment is proposed to collect training data corresponding to controlled accelerated motions that produce VOR, measured using an eye-tracking system. The effectiveness of the proposed identification is demonstrated by comparing its performance with a traditional sigmoidal identifier. The proposed model based on dynamic representations of activation functions produces a more accurate approximation of foveal motion as the estimation of mean square error confirms.

This study presents the design of a hybrid active disturbance rejection controller (H-ADRC) which regulates the gait cycle of a worm bio-inspired robotic device (WBRD). The WBRD is designed as a full actuated six rigid link robotic manipulator. The controller considers the state restrictions in the device articulations; this means the maximum and minimum angular ranges, to avoid any possible damage to the structure. The controller uses an active compensation method to estimate the unknown dynamics of the WBRD by means of an extended state observer. The sequence of movements for the gait cycle of a WBRD is represented as a class of hybrid system by alternative reference frameworks placed at the first and the last link. The stability analysis employs a class of Hybrid Barrier Lyapunov Function to ensure the fulfillment of the angular restrictions in the robotic device. The proposed controller is evaluated using a numerical simulation system based on the virtual version of the WBRD. Moreover, experimental results confirmed that the H-ADRC may endorse the realization of the proposed gait cycle despite the presence of perturbations and modeling uncertainties. The H-ADRC is compared against a proportional derivative (PD) controller and a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller. The H-ADRC shows a superior performance as a consequence of the estimation provided by the homogeneous extended state observer.

A set of distributed robust finite-time state observers was developed and tested to estimate the main biochemical substances in interconnected metabolic networks with complex structure. The finite-time estimator was designed by composing several supertwisting based step-by-step state observers. This segmented structure was proposed accordingly to the partition of metabolic network obtained as a result of applying the observability analysis of the model used to represent metabolic networks. The observer was developed under the assumption that a sufficient and small number of intracellular compounds can be obtained by some feasible analytic techniques. These techniques are enlisted to demonstrate the feasibility of designing the proposed observer. A set of numerical simulations was proposed to test the observer design over the hydrogen producing metabolic behavior of Escherichia coli. The numerical evaluations showed the superior performance of the observer (on recovering immeasurable state values) over classical approaches (high gain). The variations of internal metabolites inserted in the hydrogen productive metabolic networks were collected from databases. This information supplied to the observer served to validate its ability to recover the time evolution of nonmeasurable metabolites.