Compliance with the surgical safety checklist in Switzerland: an observational multicenter study based on self-reported data.

BACKGROUND Since publication of the surgical safety checklist by the WHO in 2009, it has been introduced in many hospitals. However, frequency and quality of surgical safety checklist use is often low probably limiting the effectiveness of the checklist in preventing patient harm. The focus of this study was to examine the current state of compliance with the surgical safety checklist in Switzerland and to evaluate how the data relates to international comparative data. METHODS Between November 2020 and March 2021 twelve hospitals with 15 sites collected for at least 200 surgical interventions each whether the three sections of the surgical safety checklist (Sign In, Team Time Out, Sign Out) have been applied. This data collection was part of a large quality improvement project focusing on measuring and improving compliance with the surgical safety checklist via peer observation and feedback. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data; chi-square tests were used to compare sub-samples. RESULTS The hospitals collected valid compliance data for 8622 surgical interventions. Mean compliance rate was 91% when distinguishing between the two categories applied (including partially applied) and not applied. In line with previous research, Sign In (93%) and Team Time Out (94%) sections have been applied more frequently than Sign Out (86%). All three surgical safety checklist sections have been applied in 79% of the surgical interventions, no sections in 1%. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study indicate that the overall application of the surgical safety checklist in Switzerland can be considered high, although the completeness, especially of the Sign Out section, could be improved. At present, it seems difficult to compare compliance rates from different studies as measurement methods and definitions of compliance vary widely. A systematization and homogenization of the methodology within, but also beyond, national borders is desirable for the future

Location and mechanism of the Little Skull Mountain earthquake as constrained by satellite radar interferometry and seismic waveform modeling

We use interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) and broadband seismic waveform data to estimate source parameters of the 29 June 1992, M_s 5.4 Little Skull Mountain (LSM) earthquake. This event occurred within a geodetic network designed to measure the strain rate across the region around Yucca Mountain. The LSM earthquake complicates interpretation of the existing GPS and trilateration data, as the earthquake magnitude is sufficiently small that seismic data do not tightly constrain the epicenter but large enough to potentially affect the geodetic observations. We model the InSAR data using a finite dislocation in a layered elastic space. We also invert regional seismic waveforms both alone and jointly with the InSAR data. Because of limitations in the existing data set, InSAR data alone cannot determine the area of the fault plane independent of magnitude of slip nor the location of the fault plane independent of the earthquake mechanism. Our seismic waveform data tightly constrain the mechanism of the earthquake but not the location. Together, the two complementary data types can be used to determine the mechanism and location but cannot distinguish between the two potential conjugate fault planes. Our preferred model has a moment of ∼3.2 × 10^(17) N m (M_w 5.6) and predicts a line length change between the Wahomie and Mile geodetic benchmarks of ∼5 mm

Correlation of Atrial Natriuretic Peptide and Cyclic Guanosine Monophosphate Plasma Concentrations in Patients with Heart Disorders During Rest and Exercise

Peer Reviewe

Conditional Adversarial Camera Model Anonymization

The model of camera that was used to capture a particular photographic image (model attribution) is typically inferred from high-frequency model-specific artifacts present within the image. Model anonymization is the process of transforming these artifacts such that the apparent capture model is changed. We propose a conditional adversarial approach for learning such transformations. In contrast to previous works, we cast model anonymization as the process of transforming both high and low spatial frequency information. We augment the objective with the loss from a pre-trained dual-stream model attribution classifier, which constrains the generative network to transform the full range of artifacts. Quantitative comparisons demonstrate the efficacy of our framework in a restrictive non-interactive black-box setting.Comment: ECCV 2020 - Advances in Image Manipulation workshop (AIM 2020

A novel semi-fragile forensic watermarking scheme for remote sensing images

Peer-reviewedA semi-fragile watermarking scheme for multiple band images is presented. We propose to embed a mark into remote sensing images applying a tree structured vector quantization approach to the pixel signatures, instead of processing each band separately. The signature of themmultispectral or hyperspectral image is used to embed the mark in it order to detect any significant modification of the original image. The image is segmented into threedimensional blocks and a tree structured vector quantizer is built for each block. These trees are manipulated using an iterative algorithm until the resulting block satisfies a required criterion which establishes the embedded mark. The method is shown to be able to preserve the mark under lossy compression (above a given threshold) but, at the same time, it detects possibly forged blocks and their position in the whole image.Se presenta un esquema de marcas de agua semi-frágiles para múltiples imágenes de banda. Proponemos incorporar una marca en imágenes de detección remota, aplicando un enfoque de cuantización del vector de árbol estructurado con las definiciones de píxel, en lugar de procesar cada banda por separado. La firma de la imagen hiperespectral se utiliza para insertar la marca en el mismo orden para detectar cualquier modificación significativa de la imagen original. La imagen es segmentada en bloques tridimensionales y un cuantificador de vector de estructura de árbol se construye para cada bloque. Estos árboles son manipulados utilizando un algoritmo iteractivo hasta que el bloque resultante satisface un criterio necesario que establece la marca incrustada. El método se muestra para poder preservar la marca bajo compresión con pérdida (por encima de un umbral establecido) pero, al mismo tiempo, detecta posiblemente bloques forjados y su posición en la imagen entera.Es presenta un esquema de marques d'aigua semi-fràgils per a múltiples imatges de banda. Proposem incorporar una marca en imatges de detecció remota, aplicant un enfocament de quantització del vector d'arbre estructurat amb les definicions de píxel, en lloc de processar cada banda per separat. La signatura de la imatge hiperespectral s'utilitza per inserir la marca en el mateix ordre per detectar qualsevol modificació significativa de la imatge original. La imatge és segmentada en blocs tridimensionals i un quantificador de vector d'estructura d'arbre es construeix per a cada bloc. Aquests arbres són manipulats utilitzant un algoritme iteractiu fins que el bloc resultant satisfà un criteri necessari que estableix la marca incrustada. El mètode es mostra per poder preservar la marca sota compressió amb pèrdua (per sobre d'un llindar establert) però, al mateix temps, detecta possiblement blocs forjats i la seva posició en la imatge sencera

Detection and localization of double compression in MP3 audio tracks

In this work, by exploiting the traces left by double compression in the statistics of quantized modified discrete cosine transform coefficients, a single measure has been derived that allows to decide whether an MP3 file is singly or doubly compressed and, in the last case, to devise also the bit-rate of the first compression. Moreover, the proposed method as well as two state-of-the-art methods have been applied to analyze short temporal windows of the track, allowing the localization of possible tampered portions in the MP3 file under analysis. Experiments confirm the good performance of the proposed scheme and demonstrate that current detection methods are useful for tampering localization, thus offering a new tool for the forensic analysis of MP3 audio tracks

Digital image watermarking: its formal model, fundamental properties and possible attacks

While formal definitions and security proofs are well established in some fields like cryptography and steganography, they are not as evident in digital watermarking research. A systematic development of watermarking schemes is desirable, but at present their development is usually informal, ad hoc, and omits the complete realization of application scenarios. This practice not only hinders the choice and use of a suitable scheme for a watermarking application, but also leads to debate about the state-of-the-art for different watermarking applications. With a view to the systematic development of watermarking schemes, we present a formal generic model for digital image watermarking. Considering possible inputs, outputs, and component functions, the initial construction of a basic watermarking model is developed further to incorporate the use of keys. On the basis of our proposed model, fundamental watermarking properties are defined and their importance exemplified for different image applications. We also define a set of possible attacks using our model showing different winning scenarios depending on the adversary capabilities. It is envisaged that with a proper consideration of watermarking properties and adversary actions in different image applications, use of the proposed model would allow a unified treatment of all practically meaningful variants of watermarking schemes

Detecting Manipulations in Video

This chapter presents the techniques researched and developed within InVID for the forensic analysis of videos, and the detection and localization of forgeries within User-Generated Videos (UGVs). Following an overview of state-of-the-art video tampering detection techniques, we observed that the bulk of current research is mainly dedicated to frame-based tampering analysis or encoding-based inconsistency characterization. We built upon this existing research, by designing forensics filters aimed to highlight any traces left behind by video tampering, with a focus on identifying disruptions in the temporal aspects of a video. As for many other data analysis domains, deep neural networks show very promising results in tampering detection as well. Thus, following the development of a number of analysis filters aimed to help human users in highlighting inconsistencies in video content, we proceeded to develop a deep learning approach aimed to analyze the outputs of these forensics filters and automatically detect tampered videos. In this chapter, we present our survey of the state of the art with respect to its relevance to the goals of InVID, the forensics filters we developed and their potential role in localizing video forgeries, as well as our deep learning approach for automatic tampering detection. We present experimental results on benchmark and real-world data, and analyze the results. We observe that the proposed method yields promising results compared to the state of the art, especially with respect to the algorithm’s ability to generalize to unknown data taken from the real world. We conclude with the research directions that our work in InVID has opened for the future

Fertilidade e prolificidade de ovinos criados em diferentes sistemas de produção na região Norte do Ceará.

Resumo: Na região semi-árida do Nordeste brasileiro, a exploração de ovinos deslanados é efetuada para produção de carne e pele, porém o desempenho reprodutivo é baixo, principalmente pelas práticas de manejo deficientes, aliadas às limitações de ordem nutricional impostas pelas condições climáticas no semi-árido nordestino. Objetivou-se produzir informações que permitam subsidiar a tomada de decisão para criação de ovinos no Estado do Ceará. Foram estimados no presente trabalho indicadores zootécnicos relacionados com reprodução de ovinos de três Fazendas criados em diferentes sistemas de produção. As características reprodutivas estudadas foram: fertilidade (o número de ovelhas paridas por matrizes expostas), prolificidade (o número de crias por matriz por parto). A fertilidade e prolificidade média das três Fazendas foram iguais a 82,10 e 1,28, respectivamente. A fertilidade para as Fazendas foram iguais a 74,71 (Fazenda 1), 89,56 (Fazenda 2) e 82,04 (Fazenda 3) e prolificidade de 1,14 (Fazenda 1), 1,27 (Fazenda 2) e 1,45 (Fazenda 3). O sistema de produção foi fator determinante para fertilidade e prolificidade. [Fertility and prolificacy of sheep created in different production systems in the North Region of Ceara]. Abstract: In semi-arid northeast region of Brazil, the sheep exploitation is for production of meat and skin, but the reproductive performance is low, mainly by poor management practices, combined with nutritional limitations of order imposed by weather conditions in the northeast semi-arid. The aimed of this study was to produce information to make decision about how breeding system should be used in the North region of Ceara State. Zootechnical index of sheep production of three herds breeded in different production systems was studied. The reproductive traits were the number of sheep calved by matrices exposed (fertility), the number of lamb per ewe per calving (litter size/prolificacy) and the interval between births. The mean fertility and prolificacy for the three herds were equal to 82.10 and 1.28. The average fertility for the herds 1, 2 and 3 respectively was equal to 74.71, 89.56 and 82.04 and the average of prolificacy was the same order of 1.14, 1.27 and 1.45. The production system was determining factor for fertility and prolificacy

Validation of a Mass Spectrometry Method To Quantify Oak Ellagitannins in Wine Samples

[EN] Detection and individual quantification of oak wood ellagitannins in oak barrel aged red wine samples are difficult mainly due to their low levels and the similarity between their structures. In this work, a quantification method using mass spectrometry has been developed and validated to quantify wine ellagitannins after sample fractionation with a previously reported method. The use of an internal standard is a requirement to correct mass signal variability. (−)-Gallocatechin, among the different tested compounds, was the only one that proved to be a suitable internal standard making possible the accurate and individual quantification of the main oak wood ellagitannins. The developed methodology has been used to detect and quantify these ellagitannins in different Spanish commercial wines, proving its usefulness