Modeling of Distributed Ledger Deployment View

The Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) is a peer-to-peer model of sharing data among collaborating parties in a decentralized manner. An example of DLT is a blockchain where data form blocks in an append-only chain. Software architecture description usually comprises multiple views. The paper concentrates on the Deployment view of the DLT solution within the 1+5 architectural views model. The authors have proposed Unified Modeling Language (UML) extensibility mechanisms to describe the needed additional semantic notation to model deployment details. The paper covers both the network and node levels. The proposed stereotypes and tagged values have enriched the UML Deployment diagram. We have gathered those modeling elements in dedicated UML Profile for Distributed Ledger Deployment. We have applied the profile to model the Deployment view of a renewable energy management system that uses the R3Cordaframework. The system records information about inbound and outbound energy to/from a renewable energy grid

Relationships between body weight and percentage body fat in the body and the development of osteopenia and osteoporosis

Obesity nowadays is a significant problem in developing countries and developed ones. Both the percentage of adipose tissue in the body and the proportion of muscle tissue affect the condition of the skeletal system. The common origin of adipose tissue and muscle tissue shows that overweight and obesity are not indifferent to the metabolism of bone tissue. Both malnutrition and obesity can lead to unfavorable health effects, contributing to the development of bone disorders and the occurrence of osteopenia, osteopenia with sarcoidosis, osteoporosis or osteoarthritis. Increased percentage of adipose tissue and/or muscle tissue during menopause may have an osteoprotective effect and thus prevent or relieve the effects of menopause in women or andropause in men. Research aimed at measuring the content of adipose tissue as a supplement to other diagnostic tests may contribute to the early detection and even prevention of osteoporosis. Key words: BMI, obesity, osteoporosis, osteopeni

A comparative analysis of the effectiveness of treatment of acne with oral isotretinoin therapy

Wstęp: Trądzik pospolity to przewlekła choroba zapalna mieszków łojowo-włosowych wywołana między innymi zmianami hormonalnymi, w tym nadmierną stymulacją androgenową. W postaciach o średnim lub ciężkim nasileniu stosuje się leczenie miejscowe i ogólne. Podstawą leczenia ogólnego są antybiotyki oraz stereoizomer kwasu all-trans-retinowego (tretinoiny) — izotretinoina. Cel pracy: Celem badania było przeprowadzenie obiektywnej analizy porównawczej skuteczności leczenia preparatami izotretinoiny w porównaniu z innymi lekami systemowymi stosowanymi w trądziku pospolitym, a także ocena działań niepożądanych izotretinoiny w populacji łódzkich chorych na trądzik. Materiał i metody: Badanie retrospektywne zostało przeprowadzone metodą ankietową: objęło 132 osoby (90 kobiet i 42 mężczyzn, średnia wieku 25,9 roku) leczące się na trądzik w przyszpitalnej poradni Kliniki Dermatologii i Wenerologii Uniwersytetu Medycznego w Łodzi w latach 2000–2014. Wyniki: Średnia wieku rozpoznania choroby to 15,7 roku. Dodatni wywiad rodzinny w kierunku trądziku zgłosiło 36,3% ankietowanych. Preparaty izotretinoiny stosowało 63,6% respondentów. Poprawę odnotowało 95% z nich. Średni czas od rozpoczęcia leczenia do zauważenia poprawy to 2 miesiące. Nawrót wystąpił u 33% chorych, średnio po 3 miesiącach od zaprzestania przyjmowania leku. U 85% osób wystąpiły działania niepożądane. Ponad 91% respondentów było zadowolonych z zastosowanej terapii. Z pacjentów nieprzyjmujących izotretinoiny 58% stosowało limecyklinę (poprawę zauważyło 71%). Klindamycynę stosowało 17% pacjentów, azytromycynę — 6%: w obu przypadkach poprawę zgłosiło 66% chorych. Lekarze poinformowali o konieczności stosowania antykoncepcji 74% kobiet. Wnioski: Izotretinoina jest skutecznym lekiem w leczeniu trądziku zwykłego. Pomimo wielu działań niepożądanych pacjenci są zadowoleni z jej działania.Introduction: Acne is a chronic inflammatory disease induced by hormonal changes — excessive androgen stimulation. Currently local and systemic treatment is used in average and severe form of juvenile acne. The basis of the systemic therapy are antibiotics and stereoisomer of all-trans-retinoic acid — isotretinoine. Aim of the study: The aim of the study was to compare the effectiveness of isotretinoin therapy with other acne treatment regimens and the analysis of the side effects of isotretinoin in acne patients from Lodz. Material and methods: The study was carried out through a questionnaire in a group of 132 acne patients (90 women and 42 men, with mean age 25,9 years) from the outpatient clinic of Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Lodz treated between 2000–2014. Results: The average age at first diagnosis among respondents was 15,7 years. A positive family history of the occurrence of juvenile acne was reported by 36.3% of the respondents, 63.6% of patients used isotretinoin. The improvement after using this drug was noted among 95% of people The average time to notice the improvement was 2 months from the start of application. Juvenile acne recurred after the discontinuation of isotretinoin in 33% of cases. The average time to recurrence was 3 months. The occurrence of at least one side effect was noticed by 85% of patients. More than 91% of patients were satisfied with isotretinoin treatment effects. Among the patients who did not used isotretinoin, 58% used lymecycline (71% noted improvement); 17% of patients used clindamycine, while azithromycin — 6%: in both cases improvement was reported by 66% of patients; 74% of women were informed about necessity of taking oral contraceptives. Conclusions: Isotretinoin is an effective drug used in acne treatment. Despite many side effects, patients were satisfied with the treatment

3D PET image reconstruction based on Maximum Likelihood Estimation Method (MLEM) algorithm

Positron emission tomographs (PET) do not measure an image directly. Instead, they measure at the boundary of the field-of-view (FOV) of PET tomograph a sinogram that consists of measurements of the sums of all the counts along the lines connecting two detectors. As there is a multitude of detectors build-in typical PET tomograph structure, there are many possible detector pairs that pertain to the measurement. The problem is how to turn this measurement into an image (this is called imaging). Decisive improvement in PET image quality was reached with the introduction of iterative reconstruction techniques. This stage was reached already twenty years ago (with the advent of new powerful computing processors). However, three dimensional (3D) imaging remains still a challenge. The purpose of the image reconstruction algorithm is to process this imperfect count data for a large number (many millions) of lines-of-responce (LOR) and millions of detected photons to produce an image showing the distribution of the labeled molecules in space.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure

Plastic scintillators for positron emission tomography obtained by the bulk polymerization method

This paper describes three methods regarding the production of plastic scintillators. One method appears to be suitable for the manufacturing of plastic scintillator, revealing properties which fulfill the requirements of novel positron emission tomography scanners based on plastic scintillators. The key parameters of the manufacturing process are determined and discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Application of the compress sensing theory for improvement of the TOF resolution in a novel J-PET instrument

Nowadays, in positron emission tomography (PET) systems, a time of fl ight (TOF) information is used to improve the image reconstruction process. In TOF-PET, fast detectors are able to measure the difference in the arrival time of the two gamma rays, with the precision enabling to shorten signifi cantly a range along the line-of-response (LOR) where the annihilation occurred. In the new concept, called J-PET scanner, gamma rays are detected in plastic scintillators. In a single strip of J-PET system, time values are obtained by probing signals in the amplitude domain. Owing to compressive sensing (CS) theory, information about the shape and amplitude of the signals is recovered. In this paper, we demonstrate that based on the acquired signals parameters, a better signal normalization may be provided in order to improve the TOF resolution. The procedure was tested using large sample of data registered by a dedicated detection setup enabling sampling of signals with 50-ps intervals. Experimental setup provided irradiation of a chosen position in the plastic scintillator strip with annihilation gamma quanta

Multiple scattering and accidental coincidences in the J-PET detector simulated using GATE package

Novel Positron Emission Tomography system, based on plastic scintillators, is developed by the J-PET collaboration. In order to optimize geometrical configuration of built device, advanced computer simulations are performed. Detailed study is presented of background given by accidental coincidences and multiple scattering of gamma quanta

A novel method based solely on field programmable gate array (FPGA) units enabling measurement of time and charge of analog signals in positron emission tomography (PET)

Abstract: This article presents an application of a novel technique for precise measurements of time and charge based solely on a field programmable gate array (FPGA) device for positron emission tomography (PET). The described approach simplifies electronic circuits, reduces the power consumption, lowers costs, merges front-end electronics with digital electronics, and also makes more compact final design. Furthermore, it allows to measure time when analog signals cross a reference voltage at different threshold levels with a very high precision of ~15 ps (rms) and thus enables sampling of signals in a voltage domain

Determination of pollutant emission of electric vehicle in real traffic conditions in Poland

Alternative drives have an increasing share in the global, European and Polish market. The city authorities support primarily the development of electromobility. Progress in these issues is also noticeable in Poland. The increasing number of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) requires increasing energy costs of the country. Therefore, it is necessary to increase energy production. This work estimates how large this energy surplus should be. For this purpose, it was necessary to determine the average energy consumption of an electric vehicle in real traffic conditions, and then to calculate the average energy demand for a selected number of vehicles. Obtained results were related to pollutant emission considered in the well-to-wheel perspective (including generation of electricity). In the article, the authors also referred to the minimum number of charging stations for electric vehicles on the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) in Poland. This is a necessary condition on which depends the use of BEV vehicles not only on the territory of cities, but also throughout the country

Influence of IQT on research in ICT

This paper is written by a group of Ph.D. students pursuing their work in different areas of ICT, outside the direct area of Information Quantum Technologies IQT. An ambitious task was undertaken to research, by each co-author, a potential practical influence of the current IQT development on their current work. The research of co-authors span the following areas of ICT: CMOS for IQT, QEC, quantum time series forecasting, IQT in biomedicine. The intention of the authors is to show how quickly the quantum techniques can penetrate in the nearest future other, i.e. their own, areas of ICT