Latin American Workshop Research Articles

Guest Editorial. Interdisciplinary Approaches for Human Cognition: Expanding Perspectives on the Mind

The quest to decipher the intricate workings of the human brain continues to captivate scientists and researchers worldwide. In this endeavor, the Latin American Workshop on Computational Neuroscience (LAWCN) plays a pivotal role by fostering a vibrant community committed to understanding the intersection of neuroscience, computational approaches, and cutting-edge technological innovations. LAWCN was born in 2012 at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) where it later formally became a biannual event in 2017. Since its beginning, its objective has been to support collaborative learning and knowledge sharing through events hosted in unique Brazilian cities such as Porto Alegre (2017), São João del-Rei (2019), and São Luís de Maranhão (2021).

Antiretroviral therapy use in selected countries in Latin America during 2013–2017: results from the Latin American Workshop in HIV Study Group

To document antiretroviral use in Latin America during the last decade. We collected indicators from 79 HIV health care centres in 14 Latin American Spanish-speaking countries for 2013-2017. Indicators were analysed by age, sex and other characteristics and weighted by the estimated people under care (PUC) population in each country. We gathered information on 116 299 PUC. One-third belonged to centres reporting a shortage of at least one antiretroviral therapy (ART) drug for >30 days during 2017. At end 2017, 95.1% of PUC were receiving ART. During 2013-2017, 45 329 people living with HIV were admitted to 39 centres. ART initiated during the first year after admission increased from 76.7% in 2013 to 83.8% in 2017. In 35 centres across the study period, 71.7% of PUC started ART with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and lamivudine, and zidovudine use decreased. The third most common ART drug, EFV, reached 64.8%. Raltegravir and other alternatives increased annually to almost 10% of total use in 2017. Initial ART in Latin America is not based on the most recent scientific evidence and recommendations; use of drugs with higher efficacy and safety profiles and guarantee of ART availability continues to be a public health challenge.

An Ontology-based Approach to Describe Collaborative Work by Reusing and Enriching Data From an Institutional Repository

Besides tutoring and consultancies, the development of academic and scientific documents in universities evidenced collaborative work. This paper presents an ontology-based approach to describe different modes of collaboration by reusing and enriching data from an institutional repository, from a collection of posters. The approach uses an application ontology that makes explicit the relationships among authors and posters. The paper presents a list of competency questions that are answered in natural language and by the ontology terminology. The proposed approach is of value as this offers machine-readable data to support further analysis and inference mechanisms. This paper represents a reviewed version of the described for the CEUR proceedings for the “Twelfth Latin American Workshop on New Methods of Reasoning 2019 Logic / Languages, Algorithms, New Methods of Reasoning (LANMR 2019)”.

Progress on the small modular stellarator SCR-1: new diagnostics and heating scenarios

This work presents updates in the diagnostics systems, magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) calculations and simulations of microwave heating scenarios of the small modular Stellarator of Costa Rica 1 (SCR-1). Similarly, the design of a flexible bolometer and magnetic diagnostics (a set of Mirnov coils, Rogowski coils and two diamagnetic loops) are introduced. Furthermore, new MHD equilibrium calculations for the plasma of the SCR-1 device were performed using the VMEC code including the poloidal cross-section of the magnetic flux surfaces at different toroidal positions, profiles of the rotational transform, magnetic well, magnetic shear and total magnetic field norm. Charged particle orbits in vacuum magnetic field were computed by the magnetic field solver BS-SOLCTRA (Vargas et al. In 27th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (FEC 2018), 2018. IAEA). A visualization framework was implemented using Paraview (Solano-Piedra et al. In 23rd IAEA Technical Meeting on the Research Using Small Fusion Devices (23rd TM RUSFD), 2017) and compared with magnetic mapping results (Coto-Vílchez et al. In 16th Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics (LAWPP), 2017, pp. 43–46). Additionally, simulations of microwave heating scenarios were performed by the IPF-FDMC full-wave code. These simulations calculate the conversion of the ordinary waves to extraordinary waves and allow us to identify the location where the conversion takes place. Finally, the microwave heating scenarios for the $330^{\circ }$ toroidal position are presented. The microwave heating scenarios showed that the O–X–B mode conversion is around 12–14 %. It was possible to identify the spatial zone where the conversion takes place (upper hybrid frequency).

Is cannabidiol a drug acting on unconventional targets to control drug-resistant epilepsy?

Cannabis has been considered as a therapeutic strategy to control intractable epilepsy. Several cannabis components, especially cannabidiol (CBD), induce antiseizure effects. However, additional information is necessary to identify the types of epilepsies that can be controlled by these components and the mechanisms involved in these effects. This review presents a summary of the discussion carried out during the 2nd Latin American Workshop on Neurobiology of Epilepsy entitled “Cannabinoid and epilepsy: myths and realities.” This event was carried out during the 10th Latin American Epilepsy Congress in San José de Costa Rica (September 28, 2018). The review focuses to discuss the use of CBD as a new therapeutic strategy to control drug‐resistant epilepsy. It also indicates the necessity to consider the evaluation of unconventional targets such as P‐glycoprotein, to explain the effects of CBD in drug‐resistant epilepsy.

Even-power of Cycles With Many Vertices are Type 1 Total Colorable

A power of cycle graph Cnk is the graph obtained from the chordless cycle Cn by adding an edge between any pair of vertices of distance at most k. Power of cycle graphs have been extensively studied in the literature, in particular with respect to coloring problems, and both vertex-coloring and edge-coloring problems have been solved in the class. The total-coloring problem, however, is still open for power of cycle graphs. A graph G is Type 1 if can be totally colored with Δ(G) + 1 colors and is Type 2 if can not be colored with Δ(G)+1 and can be colored with Δ(G)+2, with Δ(G) representing the maximum degree of a vertex in G. Although recent works from Campos and de Mello [C.N. Campos and C.P. de Mello. A Result on the Total Colouring of Powers of Cycles. Discrete Applied Mathematics, 155, (2007), 585–597.] and from Almeida et al. [S.M. Almeida, J.T. Belotti, M.M. Omai, and J.F.H. Brim. The Total Coloring of the 3rd and 4th Powers of Cycles. Presented at VI Latin American Workshop on Cliques in Graphs (2014).] point partial results for specific values of n and k, the total-coloring problem is far from being solved in the class. One remarkable conjecture from Campos and de Mello [C.N. Campos and C.P. de Mello. A Result on the Total Colouring of Powers of Cycles. Discrete Applied Mathematics, 155, (2007), 585–597.] states that Cnk, with 2 ≤ k < ⌊n/2⌋, is Type 2, if and only if n is odd and n < 3(k + 1). In particular, the conjecture would imply that, for each k ≥ 2, the number of Type 2 graphs is finite and every power of cycle graph Cnk with n ≥ 3(k + 1) would be Type 1. We address Campos and de Mello conjecture for power of cycle graphs and we prove a weaker version of the conjecture for even-power of cycle graphs: every Cnk with even k ≥ 2 and n ≥ 4k2 + 2k is Type 1. Our proof is actually stronger and shows that, for each even k < ⌊n/2⌋, the number of Type 2 power of cycle graphs Cnk is at most 2k2− k. Our results, therefore, constitute a strong evidence in favor of Campos and de Mello conjecture for power of cycle graphs.

Meeting Reviews

The 5th Latin American FUE Workshop, attended by more than 200 physicians, was held in the beautiful city of Buenos Aires. The Latin American workshop has been pivotal in advancing the field of FUE in the past few years, with many novel techniques and devices originating from some of the greatest

Selection of inocula conditioning methodologies for the anaerobic digestion of food waste

Food waste (FW) has a high potential for use in biological processes such as anaerobic digestion (AD), especially due to its high content of biodegradable organic matter. To inoculate the reactors, sludge is usually used. The sludge should ideally have good sedimentation and specific methanogenic activity (SMA), which is typical for granular sludge. However, in a Latin American context, the most available and accessible sludges are flocculants with low sedimentation and SMA. Applying technological surveillance between 1975 and 2017, using multicriteria analysis techniques such as analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and consulting with international and national experts, we observed that there were few studies, compared to published studies on the substrates that focused on improving inoculum quality through conditioning to improve its characteristics and maximize methane production. The inoculum-conditioning methodologies identified were grouped into five categories, being the main strategy the addition of nutrients followed by anaerobic digestion with an easily degradable substrate. However, extension of technological surveillance is recommended by incorporating the results published from significant events in the field of anaerobic digestion, such as the Latin American Workshop and Symposium on Anaerobic Digestion and the World Congress on Anaerobic Digestion.

Special Issue on Selected Papers of the 16th Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics (LAWPP 2017)

The 16th version of the Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics (LAWPP 2017) took place at the main campus of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico, on September 4, 2017—September 8, 2017, organized by the Sociedad Mexicana de Fisica Division of Plasma Physics. This was the third time LAWPP was held in Mexico, following those in 1992 and 2005. The main mission of this series of meetings is to promote plasma physics in the region, providing a proper forum, as well as collaborations between scientists within Latin America, and broadly across the world. However, while it is a regional event in nature, it fulfilled its objective of bringing in an important international undertone. Furthermore, a wide range of topics were covered, in the fields of space and astrophysical plasmas, controlled nuclear fusion, laser-produced plasmas, dense magnetized plasmas, and industrial and environmental applications of plasmas.

Announcement on a Special Issue on Selected Papers of the 16th Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics

Announcement on a Special Issue on Selected Papers of the 16th Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics

Announcement on a special issue on selected papers of the 16th Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics

Announcement on a special issue on selected papers of the 16th Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics

Announcement on a Special Issue on Selected Papers of the 16th Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics

Announcement on a Special Issue on Selected Papers of the 16th Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics

Announcement on a Special Issue on Selected Papers of the 16th Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics

Announcement on a Special Issue on Selected Papers of the 16th Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics

Selected Peer-Reviewed Articles from the 14th IEEE Latin-American Test Workshop, Cordoba, Argentina, April 3–5, 2013

Selected Peer-Reviewed Articles from the 14th IEEE Latin-American Test Workshop, Cordoba, Argentina, April 3–5, 2013

Proceedings First Latin American Workshop on Formal Methods

Proceedings First Latin American Workshop on Formal Methods

X-LAW3M 2013 Publication Chair Preface

This issue presents a selection of papers from the Tenth (X) Latin American Workshop on Magnetism, Magnetic Materials, and their Applications, which was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during the week April 8-12, 2013.

Preface to the CIbSE/ESELAW 2012 Special Issue

This special issue of the CLEI Electronic Journal consists of extended and revised versions of articles presented at the XV Ibero-American Conference on Software Engineering (CIbSE 2012) and the IX Experimental Software Engineering Latin American Workshop (ESELAW 2012), which took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in April 2012.

12th "IEEE Latin-American Test Workshop" Porto de Galinhas, Brazil, 27–30 March 2011

12th "IEEE Latin-American Test Workshop" Porto de Galinhas, Brazil, 27–30 March 2011

Membership notes

In this issue, we have a report from our Chapter in Uruguay. A very important event was organized locally with many results. From May 9th-10th, the Teacher in Service Program (TISP) from IEEE, a Latin-American workshop, was held in the Montevideo Sheraton Hotel. This event was declared by the Ministry of Education as of National Interest and was supported by the "Consejo de Enseñanza Secundaria" (Secondary School Council), the "Universidad del Trabajo del Uruguay" (Technology University of Uruguay) and the local IEEE Section.

Guest Editorial: Workshops by the Logic and Computation Mexican Group

The Logic and Computation Mexican Group(GMLogyC) with the support of different Mexican universities and institutions has organized different workshops since 2004. The most relevant workshop that is periodically organized by the group is called Latin American Workshop on Non-Monotonic Reasoning (LANMR). The objective of LANMR workshops is to bring together active researchers from different academic institutions who share a common interest in formal areas of Computer Science such as logic, formal languages, algorithms, and non-monotonic reasoning. Particular topics of interest are: knowledge representation, belief revision, reasoning about actions, planning, logic programming, causality, and other related topics. In Latin America there are several research groups interested in these topics. The number of papers and workshops submitted to different Latin American congresses related with non-monotonic reasoning such as IBERAMIA, ENC and MICAI provides evidence of such interest. So, LANMR workshops have been designed to promote cooperation among practioners and researchers across disciplines who are interested in theory and practical implementations of non-monotonic reasoning (NMR). The aim of LANMR workshops are: