Eurostar E3000 Satellite On-Board Software Development of a product line towards multiple system needs

International audienceThe present paper describes how the on-board software for the telecommunication satellites family Eurostar E3000 contributes to the successful story of the product line. It encompasses a synthetic description of the platform and the on-board software functions and major requirements to support the different options and variants, how this generic software was efficiently developed and verified, how each instantiation for each new satellite program could benefit from the overall industrialization process

Management of hyperkalemia in the acutely ill patient.

PURPOSE:To review the mechanisms of action, expected efficacy and side effects of strategies to control hyperkalemia in acutely ill patients. METHODS:We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE for relevant papers published in English between Jan 1, 1938, and July 1, 2018, in accordance with the PRISMA Statement using the following terms: "hyperkalemia," "intensive care," "acute kidney injury," "acute kidney failure," "hyperkalemia treatment," "renal replacement therapy," "dialysis," "sodium bicarbonate," "emergency," "acute." Reports from within the past 10 years were selected preferentially, together with highly relevant older publications. RESULTS:Hyperkalemia is a potentially life-threatening electrolyte abnormality and may cause cardiac electrophysiological disturbances in the acutely ill patient. Frequently used therapies for hyperkalemia may, however, also be associated with morbidity. Therapeutics may include the simultaneous administration of insulin and glucose (associated with frequent dysglycemic complications), β-2 agonists (associated with potential cardiac ischemia and arrhythmias), hypertonic sodium bicarbonate infusion in the acidotic patient (representing a large hypertonic sodium load) and renal replacement therapy (effective but invasive). Potassium-lowering drugs can cause rapid decrease in serum potassium level leading to cardiac hyperexcitability and rhythm disorders. CONCLUSIONS:Treatment of hyperkalemia should not only focus on the ability of specific therapies to lower serum potassium level but also on their potential side effects. Tailoring treatment to the patient condition and situation may limit the risks

Toward model-based engineering for space embedded systems and software

International audienceEmbedded systems development suffers from difficulties to reach cost, delay and safety requirements. The continuous increase of system complexity requires a corresponding increase in the capability of design fault-free systems. Model-based engineering aims to make complexity management easier with the construction of a virtual representation of systems enabling early prediction of behaviour and performance. In this context, Space industry has specific needs to deal with remote systems that can not be maintained on ground. In such systems, fault management includes complex detection, localisation and recovery automatic procedures that can not be performed without confidence on safety. In this way, only simulation and formal proofs can support the validation of all the possible configurations. Thus, formal description of both functional and non-functional properties with temporal logic formulae is expected to analyse and to early predict system characteristics at execution. This paper is based on various studies and experiences that are carried out in space domain on the support provided by model-based engineering in terms of: • support to needs capture and requirements analysis, • support to design, • support to early verification and validation, • down to automatic generation of code

Factors influencing interprofessional practices of physiotherapists working in private settings with people with low back pain: a qualitative study

Purpose: Collaboration and interprofessional practices are highly valued in health systems everywhere, partly based on the rationale that they improve outcomes of care for people with complex health problems, such as low back pain. Research in the area of low back pain also supports the involvement of different health professionals in the interventions for people who present this condition. The aim of this studywas to identify factors influencing the interprofessional practices of physiotherapists working in private settings with people with low back pain. Relevance: Physiotherapists, like other health professionals, are encouraged to engage in interprofessional practices in their dailywork. However, to date, very little is known of their interprofessional practices, especially in private settings. Understanding physiotherapists' interprofessional practices and their influencing factors will notably advance knowledge relating to the organisation of physiotherapy services for people with low back pain. Participants: Participants in this study were 13 physiotherapists including 10 women and 3 men, having between 3 and 22 years of professional experience, and working in one of 10 regions of the Province of Quebec (Canada). In order to obtain maximal variation in the perspectives, participants were selected using a recruitment matrix including three criteria: duration of professional experience, work location, and physical proximity with other professionals. Methods: Thiswas a descriptive qualitative study using faceto- face semi-structured interviews as the main method of data collection. An interview guide was developed based on an evidence-derived frame of reference. Each interview lasted between 55 and 95 minutes and was transcribed verbatim. Analysis: Qualitative analyses took the form of content analysis, encompassing data coding and general thematic regrouping. NVivo version 8 was used to assist data organisation and analysis. Results: Multiple factors influencing the interprofessional practices of physiotherapists were identified. The main factors include the consulting person's health condition, the extent of knowledge on health professionals' roles and fields of practice, the proximity and availability of professional resources, as well as daily work schedules. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the influence of multiple factors on physiotherapists' interprofessional practices, including professional practice and organisational issues. However, further research on the interprofessional practices of physiotherapists is still required. Research priorities targeting the views of other health professionals, as well as those of services users, would enhance our comprehension of interprofessional practices of physiotherapists. Implications: This study provides new insights that improve our understanding of the interprofessional practices of physiotherapists working in private settings with people with low back pain, more specifically on the factors influencing these practices. Based on our findings, implementing changes such as improving current and future health professionals' knowledge of the fields and roles of other health professionals through training may contribute to positively influencing interprofessional practices. Keywords: Interprofessional practices; Private practice; Low back pain Funding acknowledgements: This research was supported in part by a B.E. Schnurr Memorial Fund Research Grant administered by the Physiotherapy Foundation of Canada, as well as from a clinical research partnership in physiotherapy between the Quebec Rehabilitation Research Network (REPAR) and the Ordre professionnel de la physiothérapie du Québec (OPPQ). KP received doctoral-level scholarships from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST). CE Dionne is a FRSQ senior Research Scholar. Ethics approval: This project was approved by the ethics research committee of the Institut de réadaptation en déficience physique de Québec

Towards a neural hierarchy of time scales for motor control

Animals show remarkable rich motion skills which are still far from realizable with robots. Inspired by the neural circuits which generate rhythmic motion patterns in the spinal cord of all vertebrates, one main research direction points towards the use of central pattern generators in robots. On of the key advantages of this, is that the dimensionality of the control problem is reduced. In this work we investigate this further by introducing a multi-timescale control hierarchy with at its core a hierarchy of recurrent neural networks. By means of some robot experiments, we demonstrate that this hierarchy can embed any rhythmic motor signal by imitation learning. Furthermore, the proposed hierarchy allows the tracking of several high level motion properties (e.g.: amplitude and offset), which are usually observed at a slower rate than the generated motion. Although these experiments are preliminary, the results are promising and have the potential to open the door for rich motor skills and advanced control

Physiotherapy practice in the private sector: organizational characteristics and models.

BACKGROUND: Even if a large proportion of physiotherapists work in the private sector worldwide, very little is known of the organizations within which they practice. Such knowledge is important to help understand contexts of practice and how they influence the quality of services and patient outcomes. The purpose of this study was to: 1) describe characteristics of organizations where physiotherapists practice in the private sector, and 2) explore the existence of a taxonomy of organizational models. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional quantitative survey of 236 randomly-selected physiotherapists. Participants completed a purpose-designed questionnaire online or by telephone, covering organizational vision, resources, structures and practices. Organizational characteristics were analyzed descriptively, while organizational models were identified by multiple correspondence analyses. RESULTS: Most organizations were for-profit (93.2%), located in urban areas (91.5%), and within buildings containing multiple businesses/organizations (76.7%). The majority included multiple providers (89.8%) from diverse professions, mainly physiotherapy assistants (68.7%), massage therapists (67.3%) and osteopaths (50.2%). Four organizational models were identified: 1) solo practice, 2) middle-scale multiprovider, 3) large-scale multiprovider and 4) mixed. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study provide a detailed description of the organizations where physiotherapists practice, and highlight the importance of human resources in differentiating organizational models. Further research examining the influences of these organizational characteristics and models on outcomes such as physiotherapists' professional practices and patient outcomes are needed