A robot swarm assisting a human fire-fighter

Emergencies in industrial warehouses are a major concern for fire-fighters. The large dimensions, together with the development of dense smoke that drastically reduces visibility, represent major challenges. The GUARDIANS robot swarm is designed to assist fire-fighters in searching a large warehouse. In this paper we discuss the technology developed for a swarm of robots assisting fire-fighters. We explain the swarming algorithms that provide the functionality by which the robots react to and follow humans while no communication is required. Next we discuss the wireless communication system, which is a so-called mobile ad-hoc network. The communication network provides also the means to locate the robots and humans. Thus, the robot swarm is able to provide guidance information to the humans. Together with the fire-fighters we explored how the robot swarm should feed information back to the human fire-fighter. We have designed and experimented with interfaces for presenting swarm-based information to human beings

Mitomycin C application in resistant caustic esophageal stricture

Background/purpose Caustic esophageal strictures still represent a catastrophic problem in children of our country. Management protocol is usually started by regular esophageal dilatation in which multiple sessions may be needed until the resolution of dysphagia; however, in many cases endoscopic dilatation fails and therefore esophageal replacement is eventually required. Our aim is to assess the role of mitomycin C application in the management of caustic esophageal stricture refractory to regular endoscopic dilatation.Patients and methods Patients with resistant caustic esophageal stricture were subjected to topical mitomycin C application on stricture site after endoscopic dilatation. Patients were followed up clinically using validated dysphagia score to assess the improvement of dysphagia, radiologically by contrast esophagogram and endoscopically to confirm resolution of the stricture. Results were analyzed and compared with results of a control group managed at the institution by a regular dilatation protocol.Results During the period January 2008 to June 2010, 12 patients with resistant caustic esophageal stricture were followed at our unit of whom six had a short esophageal stricture (< 3 cm) and six had a long stricture ( >3 cm). Topical mitomycin C application resulted in clinical and radiological resolution of dysphagia and strictures in 83% and 66% respectively, compared with 44 (eight out of 18 patients with short stricture) and 25% (two out of eight patients with long stricture) in the control group.Conclusion Mitomycin C application can markedly improve the outcome of patients with caustic esophageal stricture, reducing the number of required sessions for endoscopic dilatation. However, double-blinded randomized controlled trial is needed to prove its effectiveness.Keywords: caustic esophageal stricture, esophageal dilatation, mitomycin

Maxillofacial trauma patient: coping with the difficult airway

Establishing a secure airway in a trauma patient is one of the primary essentials of treatment. Any flaw in airway management may lead to grave morbidity and mortality. Maxillofacial trauma presents a complex problem with regard to the patient's airway. By definition, the injury compromises the patient's airway and it is, therefore, must be protected. In most cases, the patient undergoes surgery for maxillofacial trauma or for other, more severe, life-threatening injuries, and securing the airway is the first step in the introduction of general anaesthesia. In such patients, we anticipate difficult endotracheal intubation and, often, also difficult mask ventilation. In addition, the patient is usually regarded as having a "full stomach" and has not been cleared of a C-spine injury, which may complicate airway management furthermore. The time available to accomplish the task is short and the patient's condition may deteriorate rapidly. Both decision-making and performance are impaired in such circumstances. In this review, we discuss the complexity of the situation and present a treatment approach

Utilization of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ongoing outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 [SARS-CoV-2, or coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)] was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. Worldwide, more than 65 million people have been infected with this SARS-CoV-2 virus, and over 1.5 million people have died due to the viral illness. Although a tremendous amount of medical progress has been made since its inception, there continues to be ongoing research regarding the pathophysiology, treatments, and vaccines. While a vast majority of those infected develop only mild to moderate symptoms, about 5% of people have severe forms of infection resulting in respiratory failure, myocarditis, septic shock, or multi-organ failure. Despite maximal cardiopulmonary support and invasive mechanical ventilation, mortality remains high. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) remains a valid treatment option when maximal conventional strategies fail. Utilization of ECMO in the pandemic is challenging from both resource allocation and ethical standpoints. This article reviews the rationale behind its use, current status of utilization, and future considerations for ECMO in critically ill COVID-19 patients

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Human hand posture detection and recognition is a challenging problem in computer vision. We introduce an algorithm that is capable to recognize hand posture in a sophisticated background. The system combines two algorithms to achieve better detection rate for hand. Recently Viola et al. in have introduced a rapid object detection scheme; we use this approach to detect the hand posture in the first set of consecutive frames. The chromatic color distribution of skin can be found within this cluster. As the shape of hand posture keep changing in the subsequent frames, the skin regions updated dynamically. The classification of hand posture makes use of static feature for locating and counting hand fingers. Kalman Filter is used to track the face and hand blobs based on their position. In the experiments, we have tested our system in various environments, and results showed effectiveness of the approach

A Challenging Combination: Anomalous Left Anterior Descending Coronary Artery, Myocardial Bridging, and Endothelial Dysfunction

50 years old female patient with a medical history of hypertension presented to the clinic with chest pain, palpitations, and dyspnea on exertion of 2 years duration. Extensive workup in search of the culprit etiology of her chest pain revealed a challenging combination of an anomalous left anterior descending artery with myocardial bridging and endothelial dysfunction. She was treated medically with long acting nitrates, L-arginine and calcium channel blockers, and remains asymptomatic after 12 months of follow up

A Novel Deep Learning-Based Multilevel Parallel Attention Neural (MPAN) Model for Multidomain Arabic Sentiment Analysis

Over the past few years, much work has been done to develop machine learning models that perform Arabic sentiment analysis (ASA) tasks at various levels and in different domains. However, most of this work has been based on shallow machine learning, with little attention given to deep learning approaches. Furthermore, the deep learning models used for ASA have been based on noncontextualized embedding schemes that negatively impact model performances. This article proposes a novel deep learning-based multilevel parallel attention neural (MPAN) model that uses a simple positioning binary embedding scheme (PBES) to simultaneously compute contextualized embeddings at the character, word, and sentence levels. The MPAN model then computes multilevel attention vectors and concatenates them at the output level to produce competitive accuracies. Specifically, the MPAN model produces state-of-the-art results that outperform all established ASA baselines using 34 publicly available ASA datasets. The proposed model is further shown to produce new state-of-the-art accuracies for two multidomain collections: 95.61% for a binary classification collection and 94.25% for a tertiary classification collection. Finally, the performance of the MPAN model is further validated using the public IMDB movie review dataset, on which it produces an accuracy of 96.13%, placing it in second position on the global IMDB leaderboard

Prevalence of Intestinal Protozoa among Saudi Patients with Chronic Renal Failure: A Case-Control Study

It has been hypothesized that chronic renal failure (CRF) predisposes patients to infection with intestinal protozoa. We tested this hypothesis with a matched case-control study to determine the prevalence of these protozoa and their diarrhea associated symptoms among 50 patients with CRF (cases) from Taif, western Saudi Arabia. Fifty diarrheal patients without CRF were recruited in the study as controls. Participants were interviewed by a structured questionnaire and stool samples were collected. Samples were thoroughly examined with microscopy and three coproantigens detection kits. Enteric protozoa were detected in 21 cases and 14 controls. Blastocystis spp. were the most predominant parasite (16% in cases versus 8% in controls), followed by Giardia duodenalis (10% in cases versus 12% in controls) and Cryptosporidium spp. (10% in cases versus 6% in controls). Cyclospora cayetanensis was identified in two cases, while Entamoeba histolytica was described in one case and one control. Intestinal parasitism was positively associated with the male gender, urban residence, and travel history. Clinical symptoms of nausea/vomiting and abdominal pain were significantly varied between the parasitized cases and controls (P value ≤ 0.05). Given the results, we recommend screening all diarrheal feces for intestinal protozoa in the study's population, particularly those with CRF

BIOPROCESIRANJE PRIRODNE FOSFATNE RUDE BAKTERIJOM STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS

Phosphate ores are in high demand around the world because they are the primary raw materials used in the manufacturing of phosphatic fertilizers and other chemicals. Since the grade of the ore is gradually declining, it is becoming economically viable to mine and beneficiate numerous lower-grade deposits, and a significant number of precious minerals are discarded due to the inadequacy of new technological advances. Thus, biological processes are becoming more appealing in mineral processing due to their lower operating costs and potential applications to beneficiate low-grade complex ores through the interaction of bacteria and mineral surfaces, resulting in surface modification and mineral separation via bio-flotation. Staphylococcus aureus was supplied by the mineral bioprocessing lab, CMRDI. Bacterial adhesion measurements revealed a higher affinity for apatite than quartz. A binary mixture containing 12.5% P2O5 and 42.5% SiO2 yielded a concentrate containing 20.15% P2O5 and 33.5% SiO2. Using the bio-flotation process with Staphylococcus aureus and the optimal conditions on natural phosphate ore, a concentrate with 30.25% P2O5 was obtained from a feed containing 21.89% P2O5.Diljem svijeta velika je potražnja za fosfatnom rudom s obzirom na to da je riječ o primarnoj sirovini koja se koristi u proizvodnji fosfatnih gnojiva i drugih kemikalija. Budući da se koncentracija rude postupno smanjuje, ekonomski je sve isplativije eksploatirati i oplemenjivati brojna ležišta niže koncentracije s obzirom na to da se znatne količine korisne mineralne sirovine nedovoljno iskorištavaju zbog neadekvatnosti novih tehnologija. Stoga biološki procesi postaju sve zanimljiviji u oplemenjivanju SiO2 mineralnih sirovina zbog nižih operativnih troškova i potencijalne primjene za obogaćivanje kompleksnih ruda niskoga stupnja koncentracije, i to interakcijom bakterija i površine minerala, što rezultira površinskom modifikacijom i odvajanjem minerala putem bioflotacije. Bakteriju Staphylococcus aureus isporučio je laboratorij za bioprocesiranje minerala, CMRDI. Mjerenja bakterijske adhezije pokazala su veći afinitet za apatit nego za kvarc. Binarna smjesa koja je sadržavala 12,5 % P2O5 i 42,5 % SiO2 dala je koncentrat koji je sadržavao 20,15 % P2O5 i 33,5 % SiO2. Postupkom bioflotacije bakterijom Staphylococcus aureus pri optimalnim uvjetima na prirodnoj fosfatnoj rudi dobiven je koncentrat s 30,25 % P2O5 iz sirovine koja je sadržavala 21,89 % P2O5