Performance analysis of real-time and general-purpose operating systems for path planning of the multi-robot systems

In general, modern operating systems can be divided into two essential parts, real-time operating systems (RTOS) and general-purpose operating systems (GPOS). The main difference between GPOS and RTOS is the system istime-critical or not. It means that; in GPOS, a high-priority thread cannot preempt a kernel call. But, in RTOS, a low-priority task is preempted by a high-priority task if necessary, even if it’s executing a kernel call. Most Linux distributions can be used as both GPOS and RTOS with kernel modifications. In this study, two Linux distributions, Ubuntu and Pardus, were analyzed and their performances were compared both as GPOS and RTOS for path planning of the multi-robot systems. Robot groups with different numbers of members were used to perform the path tracking tasks using both Ubuntu and Pardus as GPOS and RTOS. In this way, both the performance of two different Linux distributions in robotic applications were observed and compared in two forms, GPOS, and RTOS.

Response Times Reconstructor Based on Mathematical Expectation Quotient for a High Priority Task over RT-Linux

Every computer task generates response times depending on the computer hardware and software. The response times of tasks executed in real-time operating systems such as RT-Linux can vary as their instances evolve even though they always execute the same algorithm. This variation decreases as the priority of the tasks increases; however, the minimum and maximum response times are still present in the same task, and this complicates its monitoring, decreasing its level of predictability in case of contingency or overload, as well as making resource sizing difficult. Therefore, the need arises to propose a model capable of reconstructing the dynamics of response times for the instances of a task with high priority in order to analyze their offline behavior under specific working conditions. For this purpose, we develop the necessary theory to build the response time reconstruction model. Then, to test the proposed model, we set up a workbench consisting of a single board computer, PREEMPT_RT, and a high priority task generated by the execution of a matrix inversion algorithm. This work demonstrates the application of the theory in an experimental process, presenting a way to model and reconstruct the dynamics of response times by a high-priority task on RT-Linux.

The demographic reasons of new period of fertility decline in the northern regions of Russia.

At the last time the North is a one of important vector of country’s economy strategic development. A rich mineral resource and fuel and energy bases give the reason for development and implementation of the new investment projects. Successful economic developing of territories needs in human resources, however a number of northern regions of the country have persistent problems in demographic sphere: low level of birth-rate and migration outflow. Here are Republic of Karelia, Komi Republic, Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Magadan, Sakhalin and Kamchatka regions and in 2018–2019 the Chukotka Autonomous Region also can be included. In the last years in these regions, as in the whole in Russia, the deterioration of the birth-rate situation began. Therefore, the purpose of the research is to identify demographic reasons of birth-rate reduction in the Russian northern regions. The index method was used. It helped to find what value at the dynamics of total birth-rate coefficient belongs to changes in the proportion of women aged 15–49 years old in a population, in the age birth-rate coefficient, and also in the age structure of a female reproductive group. According to research it was found a favorable effect in 2014–2016 on the preservation of the positive dynamic of the total birth-rate coefficient in the conditions of negative influence of factors of demographic structure exactly for a reason of increasing of the real fertility. It was detected, that in 2017–2019, a negative effect on the dynamic of the total birth-rate coefficient has implemented significant decrease in birth-rate itself and not only structural factors. The revealed beginning of the reduction of age- specific birth rates confirms the importance of prolongation of family and demographic policy in the field of improving the economic situation of families with children, increasing the status of parenthood in society. The high-priority task in the conditions of factors increasing, that complicate to preserve economic stability in the country, is to provide a decent level and quality of life, an accessibility of the most important living benefits — comfortable housing and jobs with salary, that can qualitatively satisfy a wide range of needs of families with children.

Functional visualization in diseases of the joints: current status and prospects (clinical lecture)

Background. Diseases of the musculoskeletal system (MSS), in particular diseases of joints, are a leading factor for reducing the work ability of the population all around the world. The early diagnosis and treatment for them is a high priority task for clinical medicine. Modern nuclear medicine methods can significantly increase the possibilities in differential diagnostics, optimize treatment and improve the prognosis of diseases of the musculoskeletal system (MOP). Purpose – to study and generalize the world experience of application of modern methods of osteoscintigraphy (OSG) for diagnostics of joints diseases, to define possibilities and prospects of various scintigraphic acquisitions for investigation patients with MSS pathology. Materials and methods. Full-text publications in the databases Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, PubMed (mostly 2015–2021), international standard guidelines for the diagnosis of MSS pathology and monographs for radionuclide examination methods and hybrid imaging technologies in oncology, orthopedics and traumatology. Results. We received the main approaches for radiological diagnostics of pathological changes in joints and the abilities of osteoscintigraphy. We defined the main principles and analyzed the possibilities and advantages of different nuclear medicine protocols: conventional planar examination of the whole body, 3-phase OSG, single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and combined technology with X-ray computed tomography (SPECT/CT). Indications for the use of OSG in various pathological changes of ORA have been determined. We considered different patterns of radiation imaging according to the pathogenesis of various pathological processes – systemic arthritis, diseases of the joints of the spine, upper and lower extremities. The possibilities of different radiological methods for diagnosing and application of different modes of OSG depending on the pathogenesis and localization of lesions were analyzed and compared. Conclusions. Performing 3-phase OSG and tomographic modes (SPECT, SPECT/CT) significantly increases the efficiency of the method for the diagnostics, determination of process activity, staging and prevalence of joint pathology, as well as for monitoring the treatment results. The method detects active metabolic processes at an early stage in the vascular, soft tissue and bone phases and determines the condition of the joints of the whole body without additional radiation exposure.

BioCAT: PSSM-based algorithm to search biosynthetic gene clusters producing nonribosomal peptides with known structure

Motivation: Nonribosomal peptides (NRPs) are a class of secondary metabolites synthesized by multimodular enzymes named nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) and mainly produced by bacteria and fungi. It has been shown that NRPs have a huge structural and functional diversity including antimicrobial activity, therefore, they are of increasing interest for modern biotechnology. Methods such as NMR and LC-MS/MS allow to determine NRP structure precisely, but it is often not a trivial task to find natural producers of them. Today, searches are usually performed manually, mostly with tools such as antiSMASH or Prism. However, there are cases when potential producers should be found among hundreds of strains, for instance, when analyzing metagenomes data. Thus, the development of automated approaches is a high-priority task for further NRP research. Results: We developed BioCAT, a two-side approach to find biosynthesys gene clusters (BGCs) which may produce a given NRP when the structure of interesting NRP has already been found. Formally, the BioCAT unites the antiSMASH software and the rBAN retrosynthesis tool but some improvements were added to both gene cluster and NRP chemical structure analyses. The main feature of the method is PSSM usage to store specificities of NRPS modules, which has increased the alignment quality in comparison with more strict approaches developed earlier. An ensemble model was implemented to calculate the final alignment score. We tested the method on a manually curated NRP producers database and compared it with a competing tool called GARLIC. Finally, we showed the method applicability on a several external examples.

MEASUREMENT OF INTEGRAL CROSS SECTIONS OF SELECTED DOSIMETRY REACTIONS IN LR-0 REACTOR

The cross section is a fundamental quantity which affects the accuracy of Monte Carlo simulations widely used in nuclear applications. A new dosimetry library IRDFF-II that contains cross section evaluations that include full uncertainty quantification is being developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency and expected to be released in January 2020; a preliminary version IRDFF-1.05 was released in 2014 and is being tested in this work. Validation of the cross-section evaluations proposed for this library is a high priority task. The validation can be realized using integral cross sections measured in standard and/or reference neutron benchmark fields. Integral quantities feature significantly lower uncertainties than differential nuclear data. If the neutron spectrum where the cross section is measured is well characterized, then the Spectrum Averaged Cross Section can be used for validating of existing evaluations.

The Prospects of genetic resources of horse using in Ukraine

The high-priority task in international and national agricultural programsis to preserve the genetic resources of livestock and develop some ways to use them effectively, because there is a tendency in the world where we can see the reduction of the breed composition of domesticated animal species. Today, horse farms are unprofitable, do not have the funds for expanded reproduction, and accordingly the population of valuable breeds of horses is reduced, the general gene pool is impoverished. The aim of the study was to analyze and highlight the current state of horse breeding in Ukraine, the characteristics of domestic breeds of breeding horses, which are the basis for breeding work, and forecasting their importance in the breed process. To analyze the state of development of horse breeding in Ukraine, the State Register of subjects of breeding in animal husbandry for 2005-2018 and the data of long-term research in the field of horse breeding in Ukraine were used. There were used the methods of system generalization, graphic, analytical and comparative-statistical. The analysis of the state development of horse breeding in Ukraine has been carried out. It was also proved that in the conditions of a long crisis for the last 14 years pedigree horse breeding in Ukraine has undergone a significant decrease in the number of livestock, narrowing of the breed structure and change of ownership. At the beginning of 2019 in Ukraine, according to the State Register of Breeding Entities in Animal Husbandry, there are 38 breeding entities: 18 stud farms, 20 breeding breeders. The largest number of breeding horses is concentrated in the eastern regions of Ukraine: Luhansk, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhia. It is established that the leaders in the number of factory breeds of horses are the Ukrainian horse, Orel trotter and purebred horse. During the period from 2005 to 2019, the horse breeding industry in Ukraine suffered significant losses, and the number of breeding horses decreased more than twice. However, over the last year in Poltava, Kyiv, Khmelnytsky regions there have been tendencies to increase the number of breeding horses. Some breeds of horses can be used both in the breeding process and for custom of crossbreeding for sports. Key words: breed, horse farm, breeding breeder, livestock, stallion, mare, foal yield.

Mechanisms of Antiviral Activity of Cistus Salviifolius Extract Against Human Respiratory Viruses

Influenza and ARVIs are the most common forms of infectious respiratory diseases in humans. In this regard, the search and development of means for the prevention and treatment of viral infections is a high priority task. The aim of this study was to assess the mechanisms of the antiviral activity of sage-leaved rock-rose extract (Cistus salviifolius) against the causative agents of influenza and ARVIs in humans. In the course of the study, it was shown that C.salviifolius extract inhibits reproduction of influenza viruses A(H1N1), A (H1N1)pdm09, A(H3N2), A(H5N2), A(H7N9) and influenza B virus. The extract showed maximum virus-inhibiting activity at the early stages of the viral cycle (0–2 hours after infection). C.salviifolius extract significantly reduced the hemagglutinating activity of the virus, and at the same time did not affect the fusogenic properties of viral hemagglutinin. Transmission electron microscopy was used to demonstrate that the cistus extract prevents the absorption of influenza virions on the surface of cells in culture. The inhibitory activity of the extract against other human respiratory viruses, parainfluenza virus and adenovirus, was also shown. The protective activity of C.salviifolius extract was demonstrated when applied intranasally during the experiments on a model of influenza pneumonia in mice. The degree of this activity was in inverse proportion to the time window between the application of the extract and the infection of the animals. The virus, pre-incubated with C.salviifolius extract, did not cause death in the animals. The data obtained indicate that C.salviifolius extract serves as an effective and broad-range means of preventing respiratory viral infections in humans.

Therapeutic Drug Monitoring, CYP2C9 Genotyping and Phenotyping in the Treatment of Diabetes with Glibenclamide Products

Rational use of glybenclamide products in the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes remains a high-priority task. The paper offers a summary of the main groups of glibenclamide drugs and describes pharmacogenetics of glybenclamide. Glibenclamide is metabolized by the enzyme cytochrome P450 2C9 (CYP2C9). Individuals with genetically determined low CYP2C9 activity are at an increased risk of hypoglycaemia. Carriers of CYP2C9*3 and CYP2C9*2 alleles tend to have higher concentrations of glybenclamide in blood and increased insulin secretion. Pharmacogenetic testing of patients and drug concentration monitoring using HPLC-MS can help reduce the risk of hypoglycemia during glibenclamide treatment. Based on literature review the authors selected the method characterised by a simple sample preparation procedure, short analysis time, and a wide analytical range for the substances being determined. This method can be useful both for bioequivalence studies and evaluation of glibenclamide products interchangeability. Glibenclamide pharmacokinetics is characterised by high interindividual variability. This may lead to both an increased risk of hypoglycemia and drug inefficacy, therefore, when prescribing glibenclamide, a physician should carefully control the efficacy and safety of drug therapy.

Contrasting the skills and biases of deterministic predictions for the two types of El Niño

<p>The tropical Pacific has experienced a new type of El Niño, which has occurred particularly frequently during the last decade and is referred to as the central Pacific (CP) El Niño. Various coupled models with different degrees of complexities have been used to make real-time El Niño predictions, but large uncertainties still exist in the forecasts. It is still not yet known how much of the uncertainty is specifically related to the new CP type of El Niño and how much is common to both this type and the conventional Eastern Pacific (EP) type of El Niño. In this study, the deterministic performance of an El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) ensemble prediction system (EPS) is examined for these two types of El Niño. Ensemble hindcasts are performed for the nine EP El Niño events and twelve CP El Niño events that have occurred since 1950. The results show that (1) the skill scores for the EP events are significantly better than those for the CP events at all lead times; (2) the systematic forecast biases come mostly from the prediction of the CP events; and (3) the systematic error is characterized by an overly warm eastern Pacific during the spring season, indicating a stronger spring prediction barrier for the CP El Niño. Further improvements of coupled atmosphere-ocean models in CP El Niño prediction should be recognized as a major challenge and high-priority task for the climate prediction community.</p>