Green Symbiotic Cloud Communications: Virtualized Transport Layer and Cognitive Decision Function

The evolution of the concept of cloud communications has posed a growing emphasis on virtual and abstract environments for the flow of information, structuring it in similitude to a natural cloud. The Green Symbiotic Cloud Communications (GSCC) paradigm created on this concept facilitates the use of multiple communication mediums concomitantly creating a first of its kind communication cloud. This paper specifically corroborates a virtualized transport layer and network ports and an abstracted Internet protocol scheme in defining the GSCC architecture. We further address the issue of formulating a cognitive decision function based on utility theory, which allows users with GSCC enabled devices to intelligently distribute its bandwidth requirement amongst the available communication mediums. Considering the multiple criteria associated with different networks we formulate an optimization problem to find the solution for this resource allocation problem for single user. We further address the multi-user scenario and formulate and solve the multi-objective optimization problem using goal attainment technique. Results in single and multiple user scenarios, demonstrate that by utilizing multiple mediums as per GSCC paradigm coupled with our proposed decision function improves the functionality of the communication cloud. The proposed architecture is dynamic and evolving, embedding greenness by efficiently utilizing the available resources as and when required. The multiple virtual links equate a linearly increasing relationship with the throughput achieved. Experimental results for both real time and static data through the proposed schematic are documented. The augmented paradigm enhances the quality of service, linearly increases throughput and increases the overall security in communications

Mikrosfere ropinirol hidroklorida za polagano oslobađanje: Utjecaj procesnih parametara

An emulsion solvent evaporation method was employed to prepare microspheres of ropinirole hydrochloride, a highly water soluble drug, by using ethylcellulose and PEG with the help of 32 full factorial design. The microspheres were made by incorporating the drug in a polar organic solvent, which was emulsified using liquid paraffin as an external oil phase. Effects of various process parameters such as viscosity of the external phase, selection of the internal phase, surfactant selection and selection of stirring speed were studied. Microspheres were evaluated for product yield, encapsulation efficiency and particle size. Various drug/ethylcellulose ratios and PEG concentrations were assayed. In vitro dissolution profiles showed that ethylcellulose microspheres were able to control release of the drug for a period of 12 h.Mikrosfere ropinirol hidroklorida, ljekovite tvari vrlo dobro topljive u vodi, pripravljene su metodom isparavanja otapala, koristeći etilcelulozu i PEG te 32 potpuno faktorijalno dizajniranje. Mikrosfere su pripravljene na sljedeći način: otopina ljekovite tvari u polarnom organskom otapalu emulgirana je s tekućim parafinom kao vanjskom uljnom fazom. Ispitivan je utjecaj različitih procesnih parametara poput viskoznosti vanjske faze, vrste interne faze i površinski aktivne tvari te brzine miješanja. Za pripravljene mikrosfere određeno je iskorištenje, učinkovitost inkapsuliranja i veličina čestica. Isprobavani su različiti odnosi ljekovite tvari i etilceluloze te koncentracija PEG-a. In vitro pokusi su pokazali da je oslobađanje ljekovite tvari kontrolirano tijekom 12 h

Knowledge and use of emergency contraception among women in the Western Cape province of South Africa: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Emergency contraception (EC) is widely available free of charge at public sector clinics in South Africa. At the same time, rates of teenage and unintended pregnancy in South Africa remain high, and there are few data on knowledge of EC in the general population in South Africa, as in other resource-limited settings. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional, interviewer-administered survey among 831 sexually active women at 26 randomly selected public sector clinics in the Western Cape province. RESULTS: Overall, 30% of the women had ever heard of EC when asked directly, after the method was described to them. Only 15% mentioned EC by name or description spontaneously. Knowledge of EC was independently associated with higher education, being married, and living in an urban setting. Four percent of women had ever used EC. DISCUSSION: These data suggest that knowledge of EC in this setting is more common among women of higher socioeconomic status living in urban areas. For EC to play a role in decreasing unintended pregnancy in South Africa, specific interventions are necessary to increase knowledge of the method, where to get it, and the appropriate time interval for its use before the need for EC arises. Future health promotion campaigns should target rural and low socioeconomic status communities

Biomaterials Approaches to Combating Oral Biofilms and Dental Disease

Background: Possibilities for biomaterials to impact the dental caries epidemic are reviewed with emphasis placed on novel delivery biomaterials and new therapeutic targets

International longitudinal registry of patients with atrial fibrillation and treated with rivaroxaban: RIVaroxaban Evaluation in Real life setting (RIVER)

Background Real-world data on non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (NOACs) are essential in determining whether evidence from randomised controlled clinical trials translate into meaningful clinical benefits for patients in everyday practice. RIVER (RIVaroxaban Evaluation in Real life setting) is an ongoing international, prospective registry of patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) and at least one investigator-determined risk factor for stroke who received rivaroxaban as an initial treatment for the prevention of thromboembolic stroke. The aim of this paper is to describe the design of the RIVER registry and baseline characteristics of patients with newly diagnosed NVAF who received rivaroxaban as an initial treatment. Methods and results Between January 2014 and June 2017, RIVER investigators recruited 5072 patients at 309 centres in 17 countries. The aim was to enroll consecutive patients at sites where rivaroxaban was already routinely prescribed for stroke prevention. Each patient is being followed up prospectively for a minimum of 2-years. The registry will capture data on the rate and nature of all thromboembolic events (stroke / systemic embolism), bleeding complications, all-cause mortality and other major cardiovascular events as they occur. Data quality is assured through a combination of remote electronic monitoring and onsite monitoring (including source data verification in 10% of cases). Patients were mostly enrolled by cardiologists (n = 3776, 74.6%), by internal medicine specialists 14.2% (n = 718) and by primary care/general practice physicians 8.2% (n = 417). The mean (SD) age of the population was 69.5 (11.0) years, 44.3% were women. Mean (SD) CHADS2 score was 1.9 (1.2) and CHA2DS2-VASc scores was 3.2 (1.6). Almost all patients (98.5%) were prescribed with once daily dose of rivaroxaban, most commonly 20 mg (76.5%) and 15 mg (20.0%) as their initial treatment; 17.9% of patients received concomitant antiplatelet therapy. Most patients enrolled in RIVER met the recommended threshold for AC therapy (86.6% for 2012 ESC Guidelines, and 79.8% of patients according to 2016 ESC Guidelines). Conclusions The RIVER prospective registry will expand our knowledge of how rivaroxaban is prescribed in everyday practice and whether evidence from clinical trials can be translated to the broader cross-section of patients in the real world

Enabling Broadband Services Using TVWS Technologies in India

This thesis considers the problem of utilizing available TV White Space (TVWS) in the TV UHF band (470-698 MHz) for offering broadband wireless access to both urban and rural population in India. Doordarshan (DD) claims to currently use this band for analog TV terrestrial transmission and is starting to use it for Digital TV terrestrial transmission (DTT). However, DD has only 1415 analog transmit- ters throughout the country and only a few digital transmitters. The 200-plus MHz band is barely used in most parts of the country. DD's ultimate require- ments are for use of 6 channels of 8 MHz each (48MHz) for Digital TV broadcast in each location. In each of the 8 MHz band, DTT can have 10 or more channels, implying that DD is planning 60-plus DTT channels. Nevertheless, considering DDs requirements of 48 MHz at each location, close to 100 MHz spectrum may be available in the TVWS band for secondary usage at most locations

Decision Making in Green Symbiotic Cloud Communications

The Green Symbiotic Cloud Communications (GSCC) paradigm created on the concept of cloud communications facilitates the use of multiple communication mediums concomitantly. In this paper, we address the issue of formulating a cognitive decision function based on utility theory, which allows users with GSCC enabled devices to intelligently distribute its bandwidth requirement amongst the available communication mediums. The green and symbiotic approach entails the simultaneous use of multiple communication interfaces, enabling efficient resource utilization. The judiciously designed architecture allows multiple users to access multiple mediums concomitantly, for both uplink and downlink, via virtualized communication ports and Internet Protocol schematic. Design postulates for technological systems of future are proposed and GSCC is evolved using these concepts

GSCC Universal Modem: Unifying Communications

Unification of varied signal transmission through a cloud structure of communications is one of the major postulates of the GSCC paradigm. Unification yields new possibilities in architecture evolution wherein a single access point can manage communication demands of multiple standards. In this chapter, the authors propose a novel access point (modem design), which allows for one modem to control all types of Communication Mediums (LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi, etc.) effectively delineating a universal communication modem (UCM). Three innovative modules are proposed, which when amalgamated together, result in UCM. Firstly, when different types of signals are sent and received on different mediums, the receiver needs intelligent channel estimation for coupling and decoupling these signals. An intelligent blind channel estimation scheme is proposed for achieving this. Secondly, the received signals of different or the same mediums need to be classified and routed to the appropriate devices. To accomplish, this we propose a novel Optimized Coulomb Energy Neural Network (OCENN) for classification of incoming signals. Finally, an innovative Internet Protocol (IP) based addressing schematic is proposed, which allows bidirectional communications

Replicating the geographical cloud: Provisioning omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence

This paper discusses the current state-of-art and proposes a novel evolution of cloud computing and communications. New attributes, introduced continuously, have additively improved and evolved cloud computing to what it is today. Grid computing, data-centers and High Performance Computing (HPC) are critically reviewed and fall-outs are analyzed to corroborate new solutions. We propound a futuristic paradigm, founded on symbiosis and utility-oriented ideas, and propose a new architecture/framework for systems of the future. The authors have also made an attempt to address the question of what is to transcend cloud computing and current networking paradigms. Several applications are discussed qualitatively and rudimentary approaches are discussed. Principal theoretic feasibility of one of the proposed hypothesis of cloud communications is established. In this proposed scenario we obtain a linear increase in communication capacity, with minimal energy requirement

Wireless information and safety system for mines

107-117This study presents a wireless information and safety system for mines developed by CIMFR, Dhanbad. System consists of hardware devices and application software. Hardware module is ZigBee-compliant active radio frequency identification (RFID) devices/ transceivers, which can be programmed to act as end device (tag), router or coordinator that enables them to form an IEEE 802.15.4-based mesh network. It uses a unified wireless mesh-networking infrastructure to locate, trace and manage mobile assets and people as well as monitor different environmental conditions using sensors. Another core module is wireless sensor network (WSN) software, which is developed for tracking of underground miners and moveable equipment by wireless sensor networking in mines. Software is especially designed for tracking of miners and vehicles, route tracking in opencast mines, preventing fatal accidents and vehicle collisions, environmental monitoring, observing miners’ unsafe practice, sending alert message, and preparing computerized miners’ duty hour