Setting DVFS using reinforcement learning for power management in multicores

Trabajo de Fin de Grado en Doble grado Ingeniería Informática y Matemáticas, Facultad de Informática UCM, Departamento de Arquitectura de Ordenadores y Automática, Curso 2020-21. Con URL: https://github.com/pherna06/server-consumption-resultsEl trabajo plantea el uso de técnicas de aprendizaje reforzado para controlar el consumo energético del procesador mediante la modificación de las frecuencias de ejecución. Partiendo de métodos de aprendizaje cuya efectividad ya ha sido demostrada, estos se han aplicado al problema consiguiendo resultados satisfactorios. Se han entrenado agentes en entornos con distintas propiedades que han aprendido a aplicar las subidas o bajadas de frecuencia apropiadas que hacen converger al sistema al límite energético elegido. Además, se ha probado el mantenimiento de la funcionalidad de los agentes aplicados a distintas cargas de trabajo.This work proposes the use of Reinforcement Language techniques to take control of the energetic consumption of a processor through changes in its execution frequencies. On the basis of learning methods whose effectivity has already been proved, these have been used on the problem achieving successful results. Agents have been trained over environments with different configurations and they have learned to apply the suitable frequency raises or drops to make the system converge towards the chosen energetic limit. Besides, the functionality of these agents has been shown to be conserved, even when applied to different workloads.Depto. de Arquitectura de Computadores y AutomáticaFac. de InformáticaTRUEunpu

Barriers and facilitators of shared decision-making in prostate cancer screening in primary care: A systematic review

Objective: To identify barriers and facilitators of the implementation of shared decision-making (SDM) on PSA testing in primary care. Design: Systematic review of articles. Data sources: PubMed, Scopus, Embase and Web of Science. Eligibility criteria: Original studies published in English or Spanish that assessed the barriers to and facilitators of SDM before PSA testing in primary care were included. No time restrictions were applied. Data extraction and synthesis: Two review authors screened the titles, abstracts and full texts for inclusion, and assessed the quality of the included studies. A thematic synthesis of the results were performed and developed a framework. Quality assessment of the studies was based on three checklists: STROBE for quantitative cross-sectional studies, GUIDED for intervention studies and SRQR for qualitative studies. Results: The search returned 431 articles, of which we included 13: five cross-sectional studies, two intervention studies, five qualitative studies and one mixed methods study. The identified barriers included lack of time (healthcare professionals), lack of knowledge (healthcare professionals and patients), and preestablished beliefs (patients). The identified facilitators included decision-making training for professionals, education for patients and healthcare professionals, and dissemination of information. Conclusions: SDM implementation in primary care seems to be a recent field. Many of the barriers identified are modifiable, and the facilitators can be leveraged to strengthen the implementation of SDM.Article funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain, code PI20/01334, Principal Investigator Dr. Blanca Lumbreras, co-financed with FEDER funds from the European Union “A way of doing Europe”

Decreased and Heterogeneous Neutralizing Antibody Responses Against RBD of SARS-CoV-2 Variants After mRNA Vaccination.

The rapid spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerging variants raises concerns about their capacity to evade immune protection provided by natural infection or vaccination. The receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the viral spike protein is the major target of neutralizing antibodies, and viral variants accumulate mutations in this region. In this study, we determined the antibody neutralization capacity against the RBD of SARS-CoV-2 variants Alpha (B.1.1.7), Gamma (P.1), Epsilon (B.1.427), Kappa (B.1.617.1), and Delta (B.1.617.2) in a cohort of healthcare workers naturally infected or receiving COVID-19 mRNA vaccines from Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech. We show that the five RBD variants displayed an augmented binding to ACE2 compared to the original Wuhan strain. The most significant increase was observed in variants Epsilon and Delta, containing mutation L452R. Using a flow cytometry cell-based assay, we found that SARS-CoV-2-infected subjects presented low levels of RBD-specific neutralizing antibodies against all variants analyzed, except Alpha. However, the neutralizing activity incremented considerably after a subsequent mRNA-vaccine dose, to levels significantly higher than those in naïve individuals receiving two vaccine doses. Importantly, we observed partially impaired neutralizing responses against most variants in fully vaccinated individuals. Variants Gamma and Kappa encompassing RBD E484K/Q mutations presented the highest neutralizing resistance. Furthermore, a wide heterogeneity in the magnitude of RBD-specific neutralizing responses against all tested SARS-CoV-2 variants following both mRNA vaccines was detected. Altogether, our findings provide important knowledge regarding SARS-CoV-2 vaccine-induced immunity, and should be very useful to guide future vaccination regimens and personalized vaccine approaches

Experience about positive development program through outdoor activities

Las actividades físicas en el medio natural son un contexto privilegiado para contribuir al desarro-llo positivo de los adolescentes. El objetivo de la comunicación es presentar una experiencia en la que se ha diseñado, aplicado y evaluado un programa de desarrollo positivo en adolescentes, basado en el modelo de responsabilidad de Helli-son y en la pedagogía de la aventura, para pro-mover el desarrollo de competencias relativas al desarrollo personal y social, así como competen-cias profesionales, propias del alumnado que cursa el ciclo formativo de conducción de activi-dades físico-deportivas en el medio natural.Outdoor physical activities are an excellent context for fostering students’ positive development. This paper presents an activity that desinged, implemented and evaluate a positive development program for teenagers based on Hellison’s model of responsibility and adventure pedagogy to work personal and social competences, with students training to lead ourdoor physical and sporting activitie

Super‐Heroes: values education

Los Superheroes es un juego de rol en vivo que introduce a los participantes en un mundo imaginario, con la finalidad de contribuir en su proceso de humanización, mediante a la adopción de una opinión crítica sobre el papel de los ciudadanos ante los problemas mundiales. Los retos cooperativos, los juegos de ingenio o los juegos de habilidad, son algunos de las actividades que se aplican durante el desarrollo del juego.Super-heroes is live role playing game drives players into an imaginary world with the aim of contribute to their process of humanization, through the setting of critical opinion in global problmes in the role of citizens. Cooperative challenges or skill games are some of the activities that players have to overcome along the game

Factors associated with false negative and false positive results of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and the impact on patient health

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is the main tool for early detection, risk stratification and monitoring of prostate cancer (PCa). However, there are controversies about the use of PSA as a population screening test because of the high potential for overdiagnosis and overtreatment associated. The net benefit of screening is unclear and according to the available recommendations, it should be offered to well-informed men with an adequate health status and a life-expectancy of at least 10 years or to men at elevated risk of having PCa. In addition, the factors that influence test results are unclear, as is impact of false positive or negative results on patient health. Our objective is to assess the clinical and analytical factors associated with the presence of false positive and false negative results and the diagnostic/therapeutic process followed by these patients. Methods and analysis: A prospective observational cohort study will be carried out. We will include a cohort of patients with a positive PSA result (1.081 patients) and a sample of patients with negative results (572 patients); both will be followed for 2 years by reviewing medical records to assess the variables associated with these results, as well as characteristics of patient management after a positive PSA value. We will include those patients with a PSA determination from 2 hospitals in the Valencian Community. Patients who have been previously diagnosed with prostate cancer or who are being followed for previous high PSA values will be excluded. Discussion: The study will estimate the frequency of false positive and false negative PSA results in routine clinical practice, and allow us to quantify the potential harm cause

An Ex Vivo Model in Human Femoral Heads for Histopathological Study and Resonance Frequency Analysis of Dental Implant Primary Stability

Objective. This study was designed to explore relationships of resonance frequency analysis (RFA)—assessed implant stability (ISQ values) with bone morphometric parameters and bone quality in an ex vivo model of dental implants placed in human femoral heads and to evaluate the usefulness of this model for dental implant studies. Material and Methods. This ex vivo study included femoral heads from 17 patients undergoing surgery for femoral neck fracture due to osteoporosis (OP) ( ) or for total prosthesis joint replacement due to severe hip osteoarthrosis (OA) ( ). Sixty  mm Dentsply Astra implants were placed, followed by RFA. CD44 immunohistochemical analysis for osteocytes was also carried out. Results. As expected, the analysis yielded significant effects of femoral head type (OA versus OA) ( ), but not of the implants ( ) or of the interaction of the two factors ( ). Bonferroni post hoc comparisons showed a lower mean ISQ for implants in decalcified ( ) heads than in fresh ( ) or fixated ( ) heads (both ). The ISQ score (fresh) was significantly higher for those in OA ( ) versus OP ( ) heads. However, mixed linear analysis showed no significant association between ISQ scores and morphologic or histomorphometric results ( in all cases), and no significant differences in ISQ values were found as a function of the length or area of the cortical layer (both ). Conclusion. Although RFA-determined ISQ values are not correlated with morphometric parameters, they can discriminate bone quality (OP versus OA). This ex vivo model is useful for dental implant studies.This investigation was partially supported by Research Group no. CTS-138 (Junta de Andalucía, Spain)

PROSHADE Protocol: Designing and Evaluating a Decision Aid for Promoting Shared Decision Making in Opportunistic Screening for Prostate Cancer: A Mix-Method Study

Background: Opportunistic prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening may reduce prostate cancer mortality risk but is associated with false positive results, biopsy complications and overdiagnosis. Although different organisations have emphasised the importance of shared decision making (SDM) to assist men in deciding whether to undergo prostate cancer screening, recent evaluations show that the available decision aids fail to facilitate SDM, mainly because they do not consider the patients’ perspective in their design. We aim to systematically develop and test a patient decision aid to promote SDM in prostate cancer screening, following the Knowledge to Action framework. Methods: (1) Feasibility study: a quantitative survey evaluating the population and clinician (urologists and general practitioners) knowledge of the benefits and risks derived from PSA determination and the awareness of the available recommendations. Focus groups to explore the challenges patients and clinicians face when discussing prostate cancer screening, the relevance of a decision aid and how best to integrate it into practice. (2) Patient decision aid development: Based on this data, an evidence-based multicomponent SDM patient decision aid will be developed. (3) User-testing: an assessment of the prototype of the initial patient decision aid through a user-testing design based on mix-methods (questionnaire and semi-structured review). The decision aid will be refined through several iterative cycles of feedback and redesign. (4) Validation: an evaluation of the patient decision aid through a cluster-randomised controlled trial. Discussion: The designed patient decision aid will provide balanced information on screening benefits and risks and should help patients to consider their personal preferences and to take a more active role in decision making. Conclusions: The well-designed patient decision aid (PDA) will provide balanced information on screening benefits and risks and help patients consider their personal preferences.Article funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain (Group 26 of the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Epidemiología y Salud Pública, CIBERESP). Research funded by the research project of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, code PI20/01334, Principal Investigator Dr. Blanca Lumbreras Lacarra, co-financed with FEDER funds from the European Union “A way of doing Europe”

Simulación del comportamiento del subsistema de potencia del satélite Lian-He bajo unos parámetros de misión típicos = Simulation of the Lian-Hé satellite power subsystem under typical LEO mission requirements

En el proceso de diseño de sistemas espaciales, el subsistema de generación y distribución de potencia resulta crítico. Para percibirlo basta con pensar en la dependencia energética de gran parte de los demás subsistemas. En el presente informe se describirá en detalle el modelizado del sistema de generación y distribución de potencia del satélite Lian-He. También se realizarán análisis para comprobar durabilidad de la batería durante la misión, así como la robustez del diseño en caso de fallo de algún panel solar. El presente trabajo es parte del contenido docente de la asignatura de Generación y Gestión de Potencia Eléctrica correspondiente al Máster Universitario en Sistemas Espaciales (MUSE), impartido en el curso 2016-2017. Los tutores de este trabajo han sido los profesores Elena Roibás-Millán, Javier Cubas y Santiago Pindado. The proper design of the power subsystem in a space mission is a critical factor, as the correct performance of all the other subsystems of a satellite depend on the power generation and distribution. In the present work, the power subsystem of Lian-Hé satellite (generation, storage and distribution), is thoroughly described and analyzed for a typical LEO misión requeriments. Besides, a failure analysis of key parts of the subsystem such as oneot two solar panels, or half of the battery strings has been included in the work. This work was carried out as part of the subject Power Subsystems of the Master in Space Systems(MUSE)of Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. The supervisors of this work were professors elena Roibás-Millán, Javier Cubas and Santiago Pindado