A quality of service assessment technique for large-scale management of multimedia flows

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-75869-3_15Proceedings of 10th IFIP/IEEE International Conference on Management of Multimedia and Mobile Networks and Services, MMNS 2007, San José, USA, October 31 - November 2, 2007This paper presents the concept and preliminary experiments of a system for assessing on the Quality of Service of multimedia flows. The goal is to devise a mechanism that allows a service provider to take action whenever poor quality of service is detected in the delivery of multimedia flows. Such procedure is fully automatic since it is based on a goodness-of-fit test between source and destination packet interarrival histograms. If the null hypothesis of the test is accepted the flow is marked as in good standing, otherwise it is marked as anomalous and the network management system should take action in response. The proposed technique is analyzed in terms of hardware complexity and bandwidth consumption. The results show this technique is feasible and easily deployable at a minimum hardware and bandwidth expense.The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid to this work, under project e-Magerit (S-0505/TIC/000251)

Satellite and ground atmospheric particulate matter detection over Tucuman city, Argentina, space-time distribution, climatic and seasonal variability

The analysis of atmospheric particles (aerosols) is of special interest due to their potential effects on human health and other applications. In this paper the climatic and seasonal effects on aerosols have been characterized in Tucumán city (26°50’ S, 65° 13’ W,450 masl),Argentina, for the 2006–2013 period. The atmospheric aerosols in Tucumán city result from both stationary and mobile sources such as: industrial activity of sugar cane and alcohol distilleries, paper industry, biomass burning (mainly sugarcane waste crop and grasslands), household waste burning and transport emissions. The peak of industrial activity is seasonal, coincident with the austral winter (July-August-September), when accumulation of particles in the lower atmosphere occurs. In this region, there are no studies like the present one that evaluate, using “in situ” equipment, the temporal variation of aerosols and its causes, by applying modern analytical techniques. A continuous volumetric and isokinetic sampler of Hirst type (Burkard), was used for atmospheric particle sampling, in weekly records between 2006 and 2013. The particle concentration (number of particles per cubic meter) showed an increasing trend in the studied period. The monthly variation of: the particle concentration; the aerosol optical thickness at a wavelength of 550 nm (AOD550) obtained from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors onboard Aqua (NASA) satellite, and the AOD from different aerosol tracers (black and organic carbon, sea salt, sulfates, dust) obtained from the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA-2), were also analyzed. The temporal variation in particle concentration was explained mostly by wind direction, while the corresponding variation for AOD550(MODIS) was explained by temperature and seasonality (as by-product of climatic variation and anthropogenic particle emission sources). The variation in the AOD550(MERRA-2) data series were explained by temperature, humidity, precipitation, and seasonality, with less effect of wind speed and direction. Particle concentration, AOD550(MODIS), and AOD550(MERRA-2) were highly variable. The cross-correlation between AOD550(MODIS) and AOD550(MERRA-2) time series was significantly positive at lag zero. Other contribution was the determination of the space-time distribution of aerosols on a monthly basis considering AOD550 MODIS (3 km × 3 km) data. The present study suggests that these variables are affected by temperature and wind dynamics driven by seasonal and high-order autoregressive non-linear processes.Fil: García, María E.. Laboratorio de Palinología; ArgentinaFil: Della Ceca, Lara Sofia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Micheletti, Maria Isabel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Piacentini, Ruben Dario Narciso. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Ordano, Mariano Andrés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico - Tucumán. Unidad Ejecutora Lillo; ArgentinaFil: Reyes, Nora J. F.. Fundación Miguel Lillo; ArgentinaFil: Buedo, Sebastián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico - Tucumán. Unidad Ejecutora Lillo; ArgentinaFil: González, Juan A.. Fundación Miguel Lillo; Argentin

Sustainable management of varieties of sugarcane in Cuba

The frequency of the appearence of atypical dry and rainy seaso ns periods in the last years, has put up with the establishment of a new conception for the evalu ation and management of sugarcane varieties, with a view to framing correctly the harvesting stage and its p ossible lengthening in certain places. Under those new premises 48 experiments in blocks totally at random were de signed and established in four contrasting regions of the country. The behavior of three representative va rieties of sugarcane of three different maturity periods (early, middle and late), harvested during the whole ye ar, with ages between 9 and 24 months, in the variable t cane/ha,% pol in cane and t pol/ha was studied. The results corroborated the approach of maturity of the studied genotypes, the counties of Camagüey and Matanzas re ached the highest values in the pol percentage in cane at the beginnig of the harvesting period, while Holguín achieves them in the period from April - July. The results of the Factorial Analysis, showed that the best results in the cultivars were reached in Camagüey, followed by Holguín with ages among 13 - 16, 17 - 20 and 21 - 2 4 months fundamentally in the periods (February - March, April - May, June - August and September - O ctober), the environmental effect was the one that bigger contributed to the total phenotypic variatio

Neuroblastoma in Spain : Linking the national clinical database and epidemiological registries - A study by the Joint Action on Rare Cancers

Altres ajuts: Ministerio de Sanidad; Universitat de València; Sociedad Española de Oncología Pediátrica; Fundación de Oncología Infantil Enriqueta Villavecchia.Purpose: Linkage between clinical databases and population-based cancer registries may serve to evaluate European Reference Networks' (ERNs) activity, by monitoring the proportion of patients benefiting from these and their impact on survival at a population level. To test this, a study targeting neuroblastoma (Nb) was conducted in Spain by the European Joint Action on Rare Cancers. Material and methods: Subjects: Nb cases, incident 1999-2017, aged < 15 years. Linkage included: Spanish Neuroblastoma Clinical Database (NbCDB) (1217 cases); Spanish Registry of Childhood Tumours (RETI) (1514 cases); and 10 regional population-based registries (RPBCRs) which cover 33% of the childhood population (332 cases). Linkage was semiautomatic. We estimated completeness, incidence, contribution, deficit, and 5-year survival in the databases and specific subsets. Results: National completeness estimates for RETI and NbCDB were 91% and 72% respectively, using the Spanish RPBCRs on International Incidence of Childhood Cancer (https://iicc.iarc.fr/) as reference. RPBCRs' specific contribution was 1.6%. Linkage required manual crossover in 54% of the semiautomatic matches. Five-year survival was 74% (0-14 years) and 90% (0-18 months). Conclusions: All three databases were incomplete as regards Spain as a whole and should therefore be combined to achieve full childhood cancer registration. A unique personal patient identifier could facilitate such linkage. Most children have access to Nb clinical trials. Consolidated interconnections between the national registry and clinical registries (including ERNs and paediatric oncology clinical groups) should be established to evaluate outcomes

Citrus juices technology

Citrus fruits are widely grown throughout the world and contain various bioactive compounds with antioxidant activities including vitamin C, carotenoids, and phenolic compounds. These components are very important for human health and provide protection against harmful free radicals. Citrus fruits are mostly consumed as fresh fruits or fruit juices. To obtain high quality and safe citrus juice, certain critical points (oil extraction from peel, juice extraction, pulp removing, pasteurization, evaporation, and aseptic filling) need to be taken into consideration during citrus juice processing. Firstly, oil extraction from the peel is a necessary step to limit the level of peel oil components in the juice. Secondly, selected juice extraction techniques and process conditions are very important for the yield and total quality of the juice. Thirdly, the pulp removal is an important step to remove most of pectinmethylesterase (PME) and its heat resistance isoenzymes. Further inactivation of remaining PME enzymes and pathogenic or spoilage microorganisms is also obtained with the pasteurization step. Finally, equipment used for the juice production and the concentration conditions have various effects on the sensory properties of the citrus juices. As a result, minimal processing would be applied to citrus juices if the processing steps detailed above are optimized. Obtaining clarified citrus juices from the citruses which have lower carotenoid content including lemon and lime juice is a new trend these days. It is needed to be focused on enzymation (depectinization), clarification assistance agents, and filtration conditions during the clarified juices production. Citrus peel (flavedo) and layer of albedo are the main byproducts of the citrus juice industry. Citrus peel oil is obtained from flavedo layer which has a significant commercial value. Recently, promising nonthermal food preservation technologies were developed including pulsed electric fields (PEF), high pressure processing (HPP), and ultrasonication process (US). These technologies are highly appreciated for their ability to extend the shelf life of food products without the application of heat, thus also preserving the quality attributes such as sensory quality and nutritional value, as well as controlling the microbiological safety of food products. © 2014, Springer Science+Business Media New York