Improved outcomes for hepatic trauma in England and Wales over a decade of trauma and hepatobiliary surgery centralisation

Background: Over the last decade trauma services have undergone a reconfiguration in England and Wales. The objective is to describe the epidemiology, management and outcomes for liver trauma over this period and examine factors predicting survival. Methods: Patients sustaining hepatic trauma were identified using the Trauma Audit and Research Network database. Demographics, management and outcomes were assessed between January 2005 and December 2014 and analysed over five, 2-year study periods. Independent predictor variables for the outcome of liver trauma were analysed using multiple logistic regression. Results: 4368 Patients sustained hepatic trauma (with known outcome) between January 2005 and December 2014. Median age was 34 years (interquartile range 23–49). 81% were due to blunt and 19% to penetrating trauma. Road traffic collisions were the main mechanism of injury (58.2%). 241 patients (5.5%) underwent liver-specific surgery. The overall 30-day mortality rate was 16.4%. Improvements were seen in early consultant input, frequency and timing of computed tomography (CT) scanning, use of tranexamic acid and 30-day mortality over the five time periods. Being treated in a unit with an on-site HPB service increased the odds of survival (odds ratio 3.5, 95% confidence intervals 2.7–4.5). Conclusions: Our study has shown that being treated in a unit with an on-site HPB service increased the odds of survival. Further evaluation of the benefits of trauma and HPB surgery centralisation is warranted

Using of Sound-Based Communication in the Process of Malware Distribution without Connectivity to Network Services

Nowadays, in today’s society based on a wide range of the technical and computing devices, it opens wide scope for misusing vulnerabilities of managing software, for destructive or enriching purposes. Daily are developed and deployed increasingly sophisticated malicious software, enabling the controlling of contested system or misusing sensitive information that infected system stores. One of the yet unexplored areas represent non-standard forms of communication used by such software, without access to network services, which could in the future represent a real threat to certain conditions. This article describes the design and subsequent implementation of a special type of malicious software that communications components are based on IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and in case of unavailability of the network connection takes into account the possibility of communicating infected computer systems by generating sound waves. It examines the various branches of behavior, based on ongoing conditions, its weaknesses, and finally points out the most important indicators of the effectiveness of its activities. The second part of the article is devoted to experimental methods of communication using sound waves with frequencies outside the audible range. The last part of the article presents the results of a questionnaire, which clearly point to the widespread use of equipment needed to run the branches of the virus, which is closely associated with the generation of signals with the help of sound waves, and thus point to the threat of the possible use of similarly based viruses in real operation. In conclusion, it is pointed out to the fact that a similar type of malware is fully usable under certain conditions, and it can be fully deployed in real environment

Converter with Synchronous Rectifiers for Electroplating

This paper presents the requirements for resources for electroplating processes, principles of the synchronous rectifier and its control. It describes simulation and experimental verification of the synchronous rectifier, compares the efficiency of switching power supply using a synchronous rectifier and a diode rectifier, where body diode of MOSFET transistor is used for rectification. Finally the paper brings thermal images of synchronous rectifier transistors

ΔRLE: Lossless data compression algorithm using delta transformation and optimized bit-level run-length encoding

Lossless data compression algorithms can use statistical redundancy to represent data using a fewer number of bits in comparison to the original uncompressed data. Run-Length Encoding (RLE) is one of the simplest lossless compression algorithms in terms of understanding its principles and software implementation, as well as in terms of temporal and spatial complexity. If this principle is applied to individual bits of original uncompressed data without respecting the byte boundaries, this approach is referred to as bit-level Run-Length Encoding. Lightweight algorithm for lossless data compression proposed in this paper optimizes bit-level RLE data compression, uses special encoding of repeating data blocks, and, if necessary, combines it with delta data transformation or representation of data in its original form intending to increase compression efficiency compared to a conventional bit-level RLE approach. The advantage of the algorithm proposed in this paper is in its low time and memory consumption which are basic features of RLE, along with the simultaneous increase of compression ratio, compared to the classical bit-level RLE approach