A Persistent Simulation Environment for Autonomous Systems

The age of Autonomous Unmanned Aircraft Systems (AUAS) is creating new challenges for the accreditation and certification requiring new standards, policies and procedures that sanction whether a UAS is safe to fly. Establishing a basis for certification of autonomous systems via research into trust and trustworthiness is the focus of Autonomy Teaming and TRAjectories for Complex Trusted Operational Reliability (ATTRACTOR), a new NASA Convergent Aeronautics Solution (CAS) project. Simulation Environments to test and evaluate AUAS decision making may be a low-cost solution to help certify that various AUAS systems are trustworthy enough to be allowed to fly in current general and commercial aviation airspace. NASA is working to build a peer-to-peer persistent simulation (P3 Sim) environment. The P3 Sim will be a Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) environment were AUAS avatars can interact with a complex dynamic environment and each other. The focus of the effort is to provide AUAS researchers a low-cost intuitive testing environment that will aid training for and assessment of decisions made by autonomous systems such as AUAS. This presentation focuses on the design approach and challenges faced in development of the P3 Sim Environment is support of investigating trustworthiness of autonomous systems

The Virtual Real

Digital technologies have led to the transformation of different types of information into binary form. This transformation changes the way one perceives materiality, space, and its relationship to information. On one level. cyberspace creates a condition in which communication, travel, and education occur at a fast and efficient rate. On another level, cyberspace allows one to exist within a different condition, another world created by simulation and virtual reality. However, one cannot engage these virtual worlds without the existence of physical space. Aside from being an essential element for human existence, physical space evokes human contact, which must occur to maintain one\u27s mental activity and emotional well being. For these reasons, physical space and cyberspace must begin to inform one another and establish a state of coexistence

Overexpression of the Insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) is associated with malignancy in familial pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas

CONTEXT: Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (pheo/pgl) are neuroendocrine tumours derived from chromaffin cells. Although mostly benign, up to 26% of pheo/pgl will undergo malignant transformation. Reliable histological signs to differentiate benign pheo/pgl from malignant tumours are currently lacking. Increased IGF-1R expression has been shown during progression to metastatic phenotypes of several types of cancer. OBJECTIVE: To analyse the distribution and expression of the IGF-1R in pheo/pgl of different genetic origin and degree of malignancy. MEASUREMENTS: We studied the expression of the IGF-1R protein by immunohistochemistry, in 40 primary tumours from patients with pheo/pgl from different genetic aetiology (11 of 29 metastatic/nonmetastatic diseases). RESULTS: We found a strong association between increased expression of IGF-1R and malignant behaviour regardless of the age at diagnosis and the genetic aetiology. IGF-1R labelling was mostly weak in primary tumours from patients with nonmetastatic pheo/pgl. Conversely, intense IGF-1R labelling was predominant in cases of pheo/pgl with confirmed metastatic disease. The risk of metastases was 11·7 times higher if tumour IGF-1R labelling was intense independently of age at diagnosis. The probability of remaining free of metastases was higher in patients with pheo/pgl scored weak for IGF-1R at 60 months and more than twofold higher at 120 months of follow-up than in patients with intense IGF-1R labelling in their primary tumours. CONCLUSIONS: Our results strongly suggest that IGF-1R is associated with malignancy in familial pheo/pgl and that IGF-1R expression in the primary tumour might be a useful tool to detect those patients harbouring pheo/pgl who have an increased risk of metastasis.Fil: Fernández, María Celia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones Endocrinológicas; ArgentinaFil: Martin, Ayelen. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones Endocrinológicas; ArgentinaFil: Venara, Marcela Cristina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones Endocrinológicas; ArgentinaFil: Calcagno, María Lujan. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; ArgentinaFil: Sanso, Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones Endocrinológicas; ArgentinaFil: Quintana, Silvina. Instituto de Análisis Farestaie; ArgentinaFil: Chemes, Hector Edgardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones Endocrinológicas; ArgentinaFil: Barontini, Marta Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones Endocrinológicas; ArgentinaFil: Pennisi, Patricia Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones Endocrinológicas; Argentin

Monoglanduläres versus polyglanduläres Autoimmunsyndrom – Demographische und serologische Daten

VI, 63, xv Seiten, Diagramm