Embedded Multi-Core systems for Mixed Criticality applications in dynamic and changeable real-time environments

EMC2 finds solutions for dynamic adaptability in open systems. It provides handling of mixed criticality multicore applications in r eal-time conditions, withscalability and utmost flexibility, full-scale deployment and management of integrated tool chains, through the entire lifecycle.

The Endocannabinoid System as Pharmacological Target Derived from Its CNS Role in Energy Homeostasis and Reward. Applications in Eating Disorders and Addiction

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) has been implicated in many physiological functions, including the regulation of appetite, food intake and energy balance, a crucial involvement in brain reward systems and a role in psychophysiological homeostasis (anxiety and stress responses). We first introduce this important regulatory system and chronicle what is known concerning the signal transduction pathways activated upon the binding of endogenous cannabinoid ligands to the Gi/0-coupled CB1 cannabinoid receptor, as well as its interactions with other hormones and neuromodulators which can modify endocannabinoid signaling in the brain. Anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) are severe and disabling psychiatric disorders, characterized by profound eating and weight alterations and body image disturbances. Since endocannabinoids modulate eating behavior, it is plausible that endocannabinoid genes may contribute to the biological vulnerability to these diseases. We present and discuss data suggesting an impaired endocannabinoid signaling in these eating disorders, including association of endocannabinoid components gene polymorphisms and altered CB1-receptor expression in AN and BN. Then we discuss recent findings that may provide new avenues for the identification of therapeutic strategies based on the endocannabinod system. In relation with its implications as a reward-related system, the endocannabinoid system is not only a target for cannabis but it also shows interactions with other drugs of abuse. On the other hand, there may be also a possibility to point to the ECS as a potential target for treatment of drug-abuse and addiction. Within this framework we will focus on enzymatic machinery involved in endocannabinoid inactivation (notably fatty acid amide hydrolase or FAAH) as a particularly interesting potential target. Since a deregulated endocannabinoid system may be also related to depression, anxiety and pain symptomatology accompanying drug-withdrawal states, this is an area of relevance to also explore adjuvant treatments for improving these adverse emotional reactions.

Sample size and statistical power in the hierarchical analysis of variance: applications in morphometry of the nervous system.

Analysis of variance is commonly used in morphometry in order to ascertain differences in parameters between several populations. Failure to detect significant differences between populations (type II error) may be due to suboptimal sampling and lead to erroneous conclusions; the concept of statistical power allows one to avoid such failures by means of an adequate sampling. Several examples are given in the morphometry of the nervous system, showing the use of the power of a hierarchical analysis of variance test for the choice of appropriate sample and subsample sizes. In the first case chosen, neuronal densities in the human visual cortex, we find the number of observations to be of little effect. For dendritic spine densities in the visual cortex of mice and humans, the effect is somewhat larger. A substantial effect is shown in our last example, dendritic segmental lengths in monkey lateral geniculate nucleus. It is in the nature of the hierarchical model that sample size is always more important than subsample size. The relative weight to be attributed to subsample size thus depends on the relative magnitude of the between observations variance compared to the between individuals variance.

European Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (EuroCMR) registry--multi national results from 57 centers in 15 countries.

BACKGROUND: The EuroCMR registry sought to evaluate indications, image quality, safety and impact on patient management of clinical routine CMR in a multi-national European setting. Furthermore, interim analysis of the specific protocols should underscore the prognostic potential of CMR. METHODS: Multi-center registry with consecutive enrolment of patients in 57 centers in 15 countries. More than 27000 consecutive patients were enrolled. RESULTS: The most important indications were risk stratification in suspected CAD/Ischemia (34.2%), workup of myocarditis/cardiomyopathies (32.2%), as well as assessment of viability (14.6%). Image quality was diagnostic in more than 98% of cases. Severe complications occurred in 0.026%, always associated with stress testing. No patient died during or due to CMR. In 61.8% CMR findings impacted on patient management. Importantly, in nearly 8.7% the final diagnosis based on CMR was different to the diagnosis before CMR, leading to a complete change in management. Interim analysis of suspected CAD and risk stratification in HCM specific protocols revealed a low rate of adverse events for suspected CAD patients with normal stress CMR (1.0% per year), and for HCM patients without LGE (2.7% per year). CONCLUSION: The most important indications in Europe are risk stratification in suspected CAD/Ischemia, work-up of myocarditis and cardiomyopathies, as well as assessment of viability. CMR imaging is a safe procedure, has diagnostic image quality in more than 98% of cases, and its results have strong impact on patient management. Interim analyses of the specific protocols underscore the prognostic value of clinical routine CMR in CAD and HCM.

Application of European accounting standards to the public healthcare sector: a comparative study on the application of the European System of Accounts ESA-95 to healthcare centres in the United Kingdom, France and Germany

This report aims to analyse how European accounting standards (European System of Accounts ESA-95) are interpreted and applied to the public healthcare sector, from the standpoint of comparative law. Specifically, the study focuses on the application of ESA-95 to healthcare centres in the United Kingdom, France and Germany, with the aim of reaching useful conclusions for the Public Companies and Consortia (EPIC, for their initials in Catalan) in the Catalan Public Healthcare System.

Targeted therapy against multi-resistant bacteria in leukemic and hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients: guidelines of the 4th European Conference on Infections in Leukemia (ECIL-4, 2011).

The detection of multi-resistant bacterial pathogens, particularly those to carbapenemases, in leukemic and stem cell transplant patients forces the use of old or non-conventional agents as the only remaining treatment options. These include colistin/polymyxin B, tigecycline, fosfomycin and various anti-gram-positive agents. Data on the use of these agents in leukemic patients are scanty, with only linezolid subjected to formal trials. The Expert Group of the 4(th) European Conference on Infections in Leukemia has developed guidelines for their use in these patient populations. Targeted therapy should be based on (i) in vitro susceptibility data, (ii) knowledge of the best treatment option against the particular species or phenotype of bacteria, (iii) pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic data, and (iv) careful assessment of the risk-benefit balance. For infections due to resistant Gram-negative bacteria, these agents should be preferably used in combination with other agents that remain active in vitro, because of suboptimal efficacy (e.g., tigecycline) and the risk of emergent resistance (e.g., fosfomycin). The paucity of new antibacterial drugs in the near future should lead us to limit the use of these drugs to situations where no alternative exists.

Carbon sources for Power-to-Gas applications in the Finnish energy system

This thesis is done as a part of the NEOCARBON project. The aim of NEOCARBON project is to study a fully renewable energy system utilizing Power-to-Gas or Power-to-Liquid technology for energy storage. Power-to-Gas consists of two main operations: Hydrogen production via electrolysis and methane production via methanation. Methanation requires carbon dioxide and hydrogen as a raw material. This thesis studies the potential carbon dioxide sources within Finland. The different sources are ranked using the cost and energy penalty of the carbon capture, carbon biogenity and compatibility with Power-to-Gas. It can be concluded that in Finland there exists enough CO2 point sources to provide national PtG system with sufficient amounts of carbon. Pulp and paper industry is single largest producer of biogenic CO2 in Finland. It is possible to obtain single unit capable of grid balancing operations and energy transformations via Power-to-Gas and Gas-to-Power by coupling biogas plants with biomethanation and CHP units.

A Beacon based Localization System for Autonomous Mobile Robots and its Applications in Traffic and Transport Control

ACCURATE sensing of vehicle position and attitude is still a very challenging problem in many mobile robot applications. The mobile robot vehicle applications must have some means of estimating where they are and in which direction they are heading. Many existing indoor positioning systems are limited in workspace and robustness because they require clear lines-of-sight or do not provide absolute, driftfree measurements.The research work presented in this dissertation provides a new approach to position and attitude sensing system designed specifically to meet the challenges of operation in a realistic, cluttered indoor environment, such as that of an office building, hospital, industrial or warehouse. This is accomplished by an innovative assembly of infrared LED source that restricts the spreading of the light intensity distribution confined to a sheet of light and is encoded with localization and traffic information. This Digital Infrared Sheet of Light Beacon (DISLiB) developed for mobile robot is a high resolution absolute localization system which is simple, fast, accurate and robust, without much of computational burden or significant processing. Most of the available beacon's performance in corridors and narrow passages are not satisfactory, whereas the performance of DISLiB is very encouraging in such situations. This research overcomes most of the inherent limitations of existing systems.The work further examines the odometric localization errors caused by over count readings of an optical encoder based odometric system in a mobile robot due to wheel-slippage and terrain irregularities. A simple and efficient method is investigated and realized using an FPGA for reducing the errors. The detection and correction is based on redundant encoder measurements. The method suggested relies on the fact that the wheel slippage or terrain irregularities cause more count readings from the encoder than what corresponds to the actual distance travelled by the vehicle.The application of encoded Digital Infrared Sheet of Light Beacon (DISLiB) system can be extended to intelligent control of the public transportation system. The system is capable of receiving traffic status input through a GSM (Global System Mobile) modem. The vehicles have infrared receivers and processors capable of decoding the information, and generating the audio and video messages to assist the driver. The thesis further examines the usefulness of the technique to assist the movement of differently-able (blind) persons in indoor or outdoor premises of his residence.The work addressed in this thesis suggests a new way forward in the development of autonomous robotics and guidance systems. However, this work can be easily extended to many other challenging domains, as well.

Development of solar air heaters & thermal energy storage system for drying applications in food processing industries

In the present work, the author has designed and developed all types of solar air heaters called porous and nonporous collectors. The developed solar air heaters were subjected to different air mass flow rates in order to standardize the flow per unit area of the collector. Much attention was given to investigate the performance of the solar air heaters fitted with baffles. The output obtained from the experiments on pilot models, helped the installation of solar air heating system for industrial drying applications also. Apart from these, various types of solar dryers, for small and medium scale drying applications, were also built up. The feasibility of ‘latent heat thermal energy storage system’ based on Phase Change Material was also undertaken. The application of solar greenhouse for drying industrial effluent was analyzed in the present study and a solar greenhouse was developed. The effectiveness of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in the field of solar air heaters was also analyzed. The thesis is divided into eight chapters.

Suboptimal system recovery from communication loss in a multi-robot localization scenario using EKF algorithms

This paper describes a multi-robot localization scenario where, for a period of time, the robot team loses communication with one of the robots due to system error. In this novel approach, extended Kalman filter (EKF) algorithms utilize relative measurements to localize the robots in space. These measurements are used to reliably compensate "dead-com" periods were no information can be exchanged between the members of the robot group.

Synchronization of the unified chaotic system and application in secure communication

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Multi-wavelength holography in Bi12TiO20 crystals: Applications in refractometry

We present a recent development in holography with multimode, large free-spectral range (FSR) diode lasers in photorefractive sillenite crystals. A novel refractometry method based on this type of holographic recording in Bi12TiO20 (BTO) crystals is proposed. The holographic image of a prism-shaped transparent sample appears covered of interference fringes, and as the sample is properly translated, the fringes run along the holographic image. An expression providing the refractive index of the medium as a function of the sample displacement and the correspondent number of running fringes was derived. The refractive indexes of optical (BK7) glass, ethanol, hexan, cumene and aqueous solution of NaCl with different concentrations were measured in order to test the method. The obtained results are in good agreement with the ones reported in literature or measured by us using a commercial Abbe refractometre. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.