Engineering Pervasive Service Ecosystems: The SAPERE approach

Emerging pervasive computing services will typically involve a large number of devices and service components cooperating together in an open and dynamic environment. This calls for suitable models and infrastructures promoting spontaneous, situated, and self-adaptive interactions between components. SAPERE (Self-Aware Pervasive Service Ecosystems) is a general coordination framework aimed at facilitating the decentralized and situated execution of self-organizing and self-adaptive pervasive computing services. SAPERE adopts a nature-inspired approach, in which pervasive services are modeled and deployed as autonomous individuals in an ecosystem of other services and devices, all of which interact in accord to a limited set of coordination laws, or eco-laws. In this article, we present the overall rationale underlying SAPERE and its reference architecture. We introduce the eco-laws--based coordination model and show how it can be used to express and easily enforce general-purpose self-organizing coordination patterns. The middleware infrastructure supporting the SAPERE model is presented and evaluated, and the overall advantages of SAPERE are discussed in the context of exemplary use cases

Children’s representations of the COVID-19 lockdown and pandemic through drawings

The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures to face it have placed children and their caregivers in front of many challenges that could represent sources of stress. This work aims to explore the point of view of children through drawing, as a spontaneous means of expression, relating it to parents’ perceptions of children’s difficulties, strengths, and mentalization skills. The sample consists of 18 children (mean age = 8.22, SD = 1.79). Parents were asked to complete: a socio-demographic questionnaire with information on the impact of COVID-19 on the family, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, and the Everyday Mindreading Scale. Children were asked to draw three moments: “Before” the pandemic, “During” the lockdown, and “After,” when the COVID-19 will be passed. The drawings were coded by constructing a content and expressive analysis grid, adapting coding systems found in the literature. Data were collected at the beginning of the summer of 2020, just after the first lockdown period (from March to May 2020 in Italy). The results of the present work are in line with previous studies that reported experiences of wellbeing and tranquility of children in time spent at home with family during the pandemic. From the drawings emerges that children feel sufficiently able to master the situation, as reflected by including themselves in drawings and providing many details of the house in “During” drawings. The literature also reports a feeling of sadness/loneliness caused by the lack of friends, an element that we also find in the tendency to represent friends significantly more in the drawings concerning the future. Some contents of drawings (inclusion of friends, relatives, and parents) appeared associated with emotional, interpersonal, and mentalizing abilities of children, as perceived by parents. Exploring children’s representations of a stressful event like the pandemic through drawings allows to focus both on their difficulties and on their resources, with useful implications for the educational support

Multi-Modal Data Collection for Measuring Health, Behavior, and Living Environment of Large-Scale Participant Cohorts: Conceptual Framework and Findings from Deployments

As mobile technologies become ever more sensor-rich, portable, and ubiquitous, data captured by smart devices are lending rich insights into users' daily lives with unprecedented comprehensiveness, unobtrusiveness, and ecological validity. A number of human-subject studies have been conducted in the past decade to examine the use of mobile sensing to uncover individual behavioral patterns and health outcomes. While understanding health and behavior is the focus for most of these studies, we find that minimal attention has been placed on measuring personal environments, especially together with other human-centric data modalities. Moreover, the participant cohort size in most existing studies falls well below a few hundred, leaving questions open about the reliability of findings on the relations between mobile sensing signals and human outcomes. To address these limitations, we developed a home environment sensor kit for continuous indoor air quality tracking and deployed it in conjunction with established mobile sensing and experience sampling techniques in a cohort study of up to 1584 student participants per data type for 3 weeks at a major research university in the United States. In this paper, we begin by proposing a conceptual framework that systematically organizes human-centric data modalities by their temporal coverage and spatial freedom. Then we report our study design and procedure, technologies and methods deployed, descriptive statistics of the collected data, and results from our extensive exploratory analyses. Our novel data, conceptual development, and analytical findings provide important guidance for data collection and hypothesis generation in future human-centric sensing studies.This work was supported by Whole Communities—Whole Health, a research grand challenge at the University of Texas at Austin, and National Science Foundation Award SES-1758835.Office of the VP for Researc

Analysis of cadence/heart rate (RPM/HR) versus power output (PO) during incremental test in cyclists

Studies on cycling cadence have been mainly focussed on the optimisation of cycling efficiency [1-3]. In order to obtain new insight into physiological indicators of performance, the present study aimed to evaluate the relationship between freely chosen cadence (FCC), heart rate (HR) and power output (PO) profiles in members of professional and non professional cycling teams during an incremental test (10W 30 sec). Heterogeneous group of 25 male cyclists performed a maximal incremental test on SRM powermeter (SRM Training Systems, Jülich, Germany) and FCC/HR vs PO was measured. In all subjects the FCC/HR vs PO obtained showed a linear phase followed by a curvilinear phase starting at comparable FCC/HR value in all subjects (0,62 ± 0,06 SD; ES: 0,01, IC95%: 0,60 - 0,65, IC99%: 0.59 - 0.65). Whether the observed deflection point corresponds to anaerobic threshold deserves future investigation

Bolničke infekcije urinarnog traktaposlije kateterizacije pacijenata u Općoj bolnici Dubrovnik Nosocomial infections of the urinary tract after catheterization of patients at the General Hospital Dubrovnik

Uvod: Kateterizacijamokraćnog sustava u početku je izvođena uporabom šupljihdrvenih cjevčica i palminog lišća. Danas se urinarni kateteri izrađuju od fleksibilnih lako sterilizirajućih materijala.Bolničke infekcije vodeći su uzrok morbiditeta i mortaliteta kod bolesnika u bolničkom režimu liječenja. Usporedo s razvojem materijala za izradu urinarnih katetera povećavala se i njihova uporaba, ali i incidencija infekcija mokraćnog sustava. Bilježenje, analiza i upotreba podataka o infekcijama važan su dio planiranja mjera kojima možemo utjecati na prevenciju, ali i na što učinkovitije liječenje već nastalih infekcija, i to posebice zbog potrebe kontinuiranog smanjenja direktnih i indirektnih troškova liječenja. Metode: Retrospektivno deskriptivno istraživanje. Istraživanje je provedeno u Općoj bolnici Dubrovnik u vremenu od 2011. do 2015. godine. Uključni su kriteriji bili, i to: ukupan broj bolesnika te onih kod kojih je učinjena kateterizacija mokraćnog mjehura; pacijenti s mikrobiološkom analizom verificiranim postojanje infekcija urotrakta, podatci o broju dana bolničkog liječenja, bolnički odjel, u razmatranje je uvršteno pet bolničkih odjela, verificirano postojanje antibiograma pretrage urina. U istraživanom razdoblju iznalazi se da je bolnički liječeno 10615 bolesnika, a uključne kriterije zadovoljavaju 204 bolesnika. Rezultati: Ukupni broj infekcija uzrokovan kateterizacijom mokraćnog sustava iznosio je 1,9%, s najvećom incidencijom u starosnoj dobi većoj od 65 godina [77,45%]. U odnosu na incidenciju, uzročnici infekcije mokračnog sustava bili su, i to: Pseudomonas (22,05%), Klebsiella (19,11%), Enterococcus (15,58%), Escherichia (15,58%) Enterobacter (8,33%). U odnosu na spol, značajno je niža pojavnost kod ženske populacije[54,42%], u odnosu na do danas publicirane rezultate. Značajno je niska pojavnost infekcija uzrokovanih zlatnim stafilokokom [1;0,49%]. Zastupljenost po spolovima u znatnoj je mjeri odstupala od očekivanih rezultata. Literaturni navodi usmjeravaju na očekivanje značajno višeg postotka žena sa IMS-u povezanim s kateterizacijom, u rasponu od 75–80%, ovisno o izvoru. U muškoj populaciji infekcija mokraćnog sutava zabilježena je u obimu od 45,58%. Zaključak: Prevalencija verificiranih infekcija mokraćnog sustava koje su uzrokovane kateterizacijom ne razlikuje se značajno od do danas publiciranih rezultata učinjenih studija. Međutim, iznalazi se značajno veća incidencija infekcije mokraćnog sustava u bolesnika muške populacije u odnosu na publicirane rezultate sličnih studija. Stoga se iznalazi potreba za dodatnom analizom pojavnosti infekcija mokraćnog trakta uzrokovanih kateterizacijom, u kojoj bi trebalo usporediti prevalenciju infekcije u odnosu na pojavnost po svakom pojedinom bolničkom odjelu i to u ovisnosti o sveukupnom broju hospitaliziranih pacijenata i verificiranih dijagnoza. Visoka incidencija infekcije kod bolesnika muške po-pulacije nije kompatibilna s dosad publiciranim rezultatima, te navedeno može biti značajan čimbenik u daljnjoj evaluaciji točnosti podataka informatičkog sustava Opće bolnice Dubrovnik i za provođenje budućih istraživanja

Intertidal Mediterranean coralline algae habitat is expecting a shift towards a reduced growth and a simplified associated fauna under climate change

Coralline algae represent the most important bioconstructors in the Mediterranean Sea and are currently impaired by the effects of climate change (CC), particularly by global warming and ocean acidification (OA). We studied the effects of these two drivers on Ellisolandia elongate, an intertidal coralline algae that is known to host a rich biodiversity of associated fauna. We cultured turfs of E. elongate in experimental conditions of increased temperature and OA (using the values of the IPCC scenario RCP- 8.5 expected for 2100: actual mean temperature +3 degrees C and pH = 7.78), and estimated alteration of algal linear growth and community structure, focusing especially on peracarid crustaceans and annelids. Our findings revealed a decrease in linear growth, yet with no significant changes on structural integrity, and a simplification of associated community, in particular for peracarids. Our study contributes to understand community-level response to CC drivers, highlighting the vulnerability of the fauna associated to an important Mediterranean marine habitat

Psychological treatments and psychotherapies in the neurorehabilitation of pain. Evidences and recommendations from the italian consensus conference on pain in neurorehabilitation

BACKGROUND: It is increasingly recognized that treating pain is crucial for effective care within neurological rehabilitation in the setting of the neurological rehabilitation. The Italian Consensus Conference on Pain in Neurorehabilitation was constituted with the purpose identifying best practices for us in this context. Along with drug therapies and physical interventions, psychological treatments have been proven to be some of the most valuable tools that can be used within a multidisciplinary approach for fostering a reduction in pain intensity. However, there is a need to elucidate what forms of psychotherapy could be effectively matched with the specific pathologies that are typically addressed by neurorehabilitation teams. OBJECTIVES: To extensively assess the available evidence which supports the use of psychological therapies for pain reduction in neurological diseases. METHODS: A systematic review of the studies evaluating the effect of psychotherapies on pain intensity in neurological disorders was performed through an electronic search using PUBMED, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Based on the level of evidence of the included studies, recommendations were outlined separately for the different conditions. RESULTS: The literature search yielded 2352 results and the final database included 400 articles. The overall strength of the recommendations was medium/low. The different forms of psychological interventions, including Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, cognitive or behavioral techniques, Mindfulness, hypnosis, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Brief Interpersonal Therapy, virtual reality interventions, various forms of biofeedback and mirror therapy were found to be effective for pain reduction in pathologies such as musculoskeletal pain, fibromyalgia, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, Central Post-Stroke pain, Phantom Limb Pain, pain secondary to Spinal Cord Injury, multiple sclerosis and other debilitating syndromes, diabetic neuropathy, Medically Unexplained Symptoms, migraine and headache. CONCLUSIONS: Psychological interventions and psychotherapies are safe and effective treatments that can be used within an integrated approach for patients undergoing neurological rehabilitation for pain. The different interventions can be specifically selected depending on the disease being treated. A table of evidence and recommendations from the Italian Consensus Conference on Pain in Neurorehabilitation is also provided in the final part of the pape

Impact of safety-related dose reductions or discontinuations on sustained virologic response in HCV-infected patients: Results from the GUARD-C Cohort

BACKGROUND: Despite the introduction of direct-acting antiviral agents for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, peginterferon alfa/ribavirin remains relevant in many resource-constrained settings. The non-randomized GUARD-C cohort investigated baseline predictors of safety-related dose reductions or discontinuations (sr-RD) and their impact on sustained virologic response (SVR) in patients receiving peginterferon alfa/ribavirin in routine practice. METHODS: A total of 3181 HCV-mono-infected treatment-naive patients were assigned to 24 or 48 weeks of peginterferon alfa/ribavirin by their physician. Patients were categorized by time-to-first sr-RD (Week 4/12). Detailed analyses of the impact of sr-RD on SVR24 (HCV RNA <50 IU/mL) were conducted in 951 Caucasian, noncirrhotic genotype (G)1 patients assigned to peginterferon alfa-2a/ribavirin for 48 weeks. The probability of SVR24 was identified by a baseline scoring system (range: 0-9 points) on which scores of 5 to 9 and <5 represent high and low probability of SVR24, respectively. RESULTS: SVR24 rates were 46.1% (754/1634), 77.1% (279/362), 68.0% (514/756), and 51.3% (203/396), respectively, in G1, 2, 3, and 4 patients. Overall, 16.9% and 21.8% patients experienced 651 sr-RD for peginterferon alfa and ribavirin, respectively. Among Caucasian noncirrhotic G1 patients: female sex, lower body mass index, pre-existing cardiovascular/pulmonary disease, and low hematological indices were prognostic factors of sr-RD; SVR24 was lower in patients with 651 vs. no sr-RD by Week 4 (37.9% vs. 54.4%; P = 0.0046) and Week 12 (41.7% vs. 55.3%; P = 0.0016); sr-RD by Week 4/12 significantly reduced SVR24 in patients with scores <5 but not 655. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, sr-RD to peginterferon alfa-2a/ribavirin significantly impacts on SVR24 rates in treatment-naive G1 noncirrhotic Caucasian patients. Baseline characteristics can help select patients with a high probability of SVR24 and a low probability of sr-RD with peginterferon alfa-2a/ribavirin