THE SMART CITY INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT & MONITORING

The smart city infrastructure is the introductory step for establishing the overall smart city framework and architecture. Very few smart cities are recently established across the world. Some examples are: Dubai, Malta, Kochi (India), Singapore. The scope of these cities is mainly limited to construct a technology park converting the industrial real estate to state of the art information technology using the evolution in the telecom and IP networks including insignificant asset management automation system. The development background is to create an operational platform that would manage the power consumption and operational resources in order to reduce the overall running operational cost. This paper will debate the smart infrastructure development framework and the surveying positional accuracy of locating the assets as a base of the smart city development architecture integrated with all the facilities and systems related to the smart city framework. The paper will discuss also the main advantages of the proposed architecture including the quantifiable and non quantifiable benefits.Smart Infrastructure, GIS, Smart City, Geopsatial application, Infrastructure Development, Infrastructure Monitoring.

Mobile laser scanning, for monitoring polythylene city infrastructure network.

This research discusses a more efficient geospatial monitoring technique for city infrastructure networks. It will concentrate on polyethylene city infrastructure materials, where power, water and communication networks are covered or protected by polyethylene materials. A technical comparison is conducted between current and proposed geospatial monitoring techniques in order to develop an overall performance evaluation. The mobile laser scanning technology achieved the best performance evaluation, where detailed data analysis and collection, mobile laser missions, modeling and interpretation, and system geometrical corrections for location and orientation have also been conducted. Prior to conducting the performance evaluation, the research investigates mobile laser behavior and recognition capabilities with respect to Polyethylene City infrastructure materials. After analyzing the mobile laser pulses behavior, and its correlations with the mission ground speed and exposed scanned surface, it is concluded that the mobile laser pulses response is constant for the Polyethylene City infrastructure materials. The concluded mobile laser pulses constant is utilized to develop a mathematical model for re-planning the mobile laser scanning missions to obtain the best model for monitoring the Polyethylene City infrastructure networks

Pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma: A review on molecular profiling of patient tumors

Pancreatic carcinomas with acinar differentiation are rare, accounting for 1%-2% of adult pancreatic tumors; they include pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma (PACC), pancreatoblastoma, and carcinomas of mixed differentiation. Patients with PACC have a prognosis better than pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas but worse than pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. Reports of overall survival range from 18 to 47 mo. A literature review on PACCs included comprehensive genomic profiling and whole exome sequencing on a series of more than 70 patients as well as other diagnostic studies including immunohistochemistry. Surgical resection of PACC is the preferred treatment for localized and resectable tumors. The efficacy of adjuvant treatment is unclear. Metastatic PACCs are generally not curable and treated with systemic chemotherapy. They are moderately responsive to chemotherapy with different regimens showing various degrees of response in case reports/series. Most of these regimens were developed to treat patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas or colorectal adenocarcinomas. Review of PACC’s molecular profiling showed a number of gene alterations such as: SMAD4, BRAF, BRCA2, TP53, RB1, MEN1, JAK-1, BRCA-1, BRCA-2, and DNA mismatch repair abnormalities. PACCs had multiple somatic mutations with some targetable with available drugs. Therefore, molecular profiling of PACC should be an option for patients with refractory PACC

Utilization of the dynamic laser scanning technology for monitoring, locating and classification of the city trees.

One of the significant issues related to the city trees is the transmission overhead cables damages caused by the trees growth that would sometime generate power disconnections. Currently the city progress monitoring technologies have three major challenges. Firstly, the spatial resolution of the collected data is critical factor in all monitoring technologies that would reflect the utilization of the extracted data and physical consistency with the ground features. Secondly, the temporal resolution where in all progress monitoring or change detection technologies the duration and time coverage is a basic for validating extracted features. Finally, the human resources and the operational capital is also primary cost when monitoring city trees is needed on a regular basis. Therefore, the research is intended to verify the feasibility of allocating the trees that overheads the electrical cables especially where the transmission overhead cables passing the forests. The area of interest is extended along the highways where most of the overhead cables are placed. The research is utilizing the dynamic laser scanning system for progress monitoring and spatially locating the well recognized and accessed city trees

Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis in the Medical ICU: A Single-Institution Cohort Study on Acute Liver Failure and Mortality

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis is a life-threatening hyperinflammatory disorder that is associated with high morbidity and mortality in the ICU. It has also been associated with acute liver failure. Design: Retrospective observational study. Setting: Tertiary-care medical ICU. Patients: Thirty-one patients critically ill with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. Interventions: None. Measurements and main results: We performed a comprehensive review of critically ill hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis patients admitted to a tertiary-care medical ICU from January 2012 to December 2018. Most patients presented with constitutional symptoms and elevated liver enzymes and thrombocytopenia were common upon hospital admission. ICU admission laboratory and clinical variables were used to calculate Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II, hemophagocytic syndrome diagnostic score, and model for end-stage liver disease. Mean age of the cohort was 48.1 years, and 45% were male. The mortality rate was 65% at 28 days and 77% at 1 year. About 28-day survivors were younger, had lower mean Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score (16.5 vs 23.0; p = 0.004), and higher mean hemophagocytic syndrome diagnostic score (249.1 vs 226.0; p = 0.032) compared with nonsurvivors. Survivors were less likely to receive mechanical ventilation, renal replacement therapy, or vasopressor support and were more likely to receive chemotherapy for hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. In this ICU cohort, 29% were diagnosed with acute liver failure, of whom only 22% developed acute liver failure early during their hospital stay. Acute liver failure was associated with a higher model for end-stage liver disease score upon hospital admission. Available histology in those that developed acute liver failure showed massive hepatic necrosis, or histiocytic or lymphocytic infiltrates. Conclusions: Patients admitted to the ICU with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis have a high mortality. Those who survived had lower Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation scores, had higher hemophagocytic syndrome diagnostic scores, are more likely to receive hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis specific chemotherapy, and are less likely to have organ failure. Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis can be associated with acute liver failure especially when model for end-stage liver disease score is elevated upon admission.Supported, in part, through T32HL091816 to Indiana University (Dr. Al Nasrallah). Dr. Sears receives research support to the institution through the American Cancer Society (128511-MRSG-15-163-01-DMC), National Institutes of Health, and Veterans Affairs Health Services, and is on the Scientific and Medical Advisory Boards for Biodesix and bioAffinity Technologies. The remaining authors have disclosed that they do not have any potential conflicts of interest

Mobile laser scanning to spatially update the city infrastructure networks.

This research discusses a more efficient geospatial monitoring technique for city infrastructure networks. It will concentrate on polyethylene city infrastructure materials, where power, water and communication networks are covered or protected by polyethylene materials. A technical comparison is conducted between current and proposed geospatial monitoring techniques in order to develop an overall performance evaluation. The mobile laser scanning technology achieved the best performance evaluation, where detailed data analysis and collection, mobile laser missions, modeling and interpretation, and system geometrical corrections for location and orientation have also been conducted. Prior to conducting the performance evaluation, the research investigates mobile laser behavior and recognition capabilities with respect to Polyethylene City infrastructure materials. After analyzing the mobile laser pulses behavior, and its correlations with the mission ground speed and exposed scanned surface, it is concluded that the mobile laser pulses response is constant for the Polyethylene City infrastructure materials. The concluded mobile laser pulses constant is utilized to develop a mathematical model for re-planning the mobile laser scanning missions to obtain the best model for monitoring the Polyethylene City infrastructure networks

Acceptance and commitment therapy for fatigue interference in advanced gastrointestinal cancer and caregiver burden: protocol of a pilot randomized controlled trial

Background: Fatigue interference with activities, mood, and cognition is one of the most prevalent and bothersome concerns of advanced gastrointestinal (GI) cancer patients. As fatigue interferes with patient functioning, family caregivers often report feeling burdened by increasing responsibilities. Evidence-based interventions jointly addressing cancer patient fatigue interference and caregiver burden are lacking. In pilot studies, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) has shown promise for addressing symptom-related suffering in cancer patients. The current pilot trial seeks to test a novel, dyadic ACT intervention for both advanced GI cancer patients with moderate-to-severe fatigue interference and their family caregivers with significant caregiving burden or distress. Methods: A minimum of 40 patient-caregiver dyads will be randomly assigned to either the ACT intervention or an education/support control condition. Dyads in both conditions attend six weekly 50-min telephone sessions. Outcomes are assessed at baseline as well as 2 weeks and 3 months post-intervention. We will evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of ACT for improving patient fatigue interference and caregiver burden. Secondary outcomes include patient sleep interference and patient and caregiver engagement in daily activities, psychological flexibility, and quality of life. We will also explore the effects of ACT on patient and caregiver physical and mental health service use. Discussion: Findings will inform a large-scale trial of intervention efficacy. Results will also lay the groundwork for further novel applications of ACT to symptom interference with functioning and caregiver burden in advanced cancer