Characterization of vertical electric fields and associated voltages induced on a overhead power line from close artificially initiated lightning

Measurements were characterized of simultaneous vertical electric fields and voltages induced at both ends of a 448 m overhead power line by artificially initiated lightning return strokes. The lightning discharges struck ground about 20 m from one end of the line. The measured line voltages could be grouped into two categories: those in which multiple, similarly shaped, evenly spaced pulses were observed, which are called oscillatory; and those dominated by a principal pulse with subsidiary oscillations of much smaller amplitude, which are called impulsive. Voltage amplitudes range from tens of kilovolts for oscillatory voltages to hundreds of kilovolts for impulsive voltages

Estudio de los efectos, causas y consecuencias a nivel intrahospitalario de la infección pulmonar de bajo riesgo

[Resumen] Las principales guías de práctica clínica del manejo de la neumonía adquirida en la comunidad (NAC) recomiendan que las neumonías que presentan bajo riesgo de mortalidad, en base a las escalas pronósticas de valoración de gravedad, sean manejadas ambulatoriamente. Esto contrasta con múltiples trabajos que describen un porcentaje significativo de ingreso hospitalario. El objetivo de esta tesis doctoral ha sido doble y centrado en las NAC hospitalizadas grado 1 y 2 según el Pneumonio Severity Index (PSI). El primero fue analizar si un equipo focalizado en el manejo de este tipo de NAC se traduce en beneficios clínicos. Se observó que, comparado con un manejo convencional, un equipo de facultativos focalizado en el manejo de estos pacientes se asociaba de manera significativa a una menor estancia hospitalaria, duración de la antibioterapia intravenosa y días totales de tratamiento. Posteriormente se realizó mediante un diseño prospectivo y multicéntrico, un análisis de las causas de ingreso hospitalario en 15S pacientes. Se determinó que los pacientes que son ingresados presentan un número amplio y variado de razones, habitualmente 2 o más, por parte de los médicos responsables de la decisión. Podemos concluir que a la hora de decidir el ingreso hospitalario en las NAC de bajo riesgo de mortalidad influyen múltiples variables no recogidas en las escalas de gravedad y que forman parte del juicio clínico del médico responsable y que si estas NAC una vez que ingresan son manejadas por un equipo focalizado en su tratamiento, se asociará a beneficios en términos de menor estancia hospitalaria y consumo de recursos.[Resumo] As principais guías de práctica clínica do manexo da pneumonía adquirida na comunidade recomendan que as pneumonías que presentan baixo risco de mortlidade, en base ás escalas pronósticas de valoración da gravidade, sexan tratadas ambulatoriamente. Isto contrasta con múltiples traballos que describen un ha porcentaxe significativa de ingreso hospitalario. O obxectivo desta tesis doctoral foi dobre e centrado nas NAC grado 1 e 2 según o Pneumonia Severity Index (PSI). O primeiro foi analizar si un equipo focalizado no manexo deste tipo de NAC tradúcese en beneficios clínicos. Observo use que, comparado cun manexo convencional, un equipo de facultativos focalizado no trata mento destes pacientes asociábase de xeito significativo a un ha menor estanza hospitalaria, duración da antibioterapia intravenosa e días totais Posteriormente realizouse mediante un deseño prospectivo e multicéntrico, unha análise das causas de ingreso hospitalario en 155 doentes. Determinouse que aqueles que son ingresados presentan un número amplo e variado de razóns, habitualmente 2 ou máis, por parte médicos responsables da decisión. Podemos concluír que á hora de decidir o ingreso hospitalario nas NAC de baixo risco de mortalidade inflúen múltiples variables non recollidas nas escalas de gravidade e que forman parte do xuízo clínico do médico responsable do ingreso e que se estas NAC unha vez que ingresan son manexadas por un equipo focalizado no seu tratamento, se asociará a beneficios en termos de menor estanza hospitalaria e consumo de recursos.[Abstract] Clinical practice guideline for the management of community acquired pneumonia (CAP) recommend that those who are at low risk of death , based on the prognostic severity rating scales, to be managed as outpatients . This contrasts with many papers reporting a significant percentage of hospital admission. The aim of this thesis has been doble and focused on hospital admitted CAP grade 1 and 2,according to the Pneumonia Severity Index ( PSI). At first we analyzed if a team focuses on the management of this type of CAP results in clinical benefits. It was observed that , compared with conventional management, a team of doctors focused on the management of these patients is significantly associated with a shorter hospital stay , duration of intravenous antibiotic therapy and total days. Later we developed a second study using a prospective and multicenter design, an analysis of the causes of hospital admission in 155 patients. It was determined that according to physicians who decided the admission, patients who are admitted have a large and varied number of reasons, usually 2 or more. We can conclude that when deciding hospitalization in low risk CAP, multiple variables not included in the severity scales that are part of the clinical judgment that influence the admission decission and if these CAP once they are admitted, are handled by a team focused on theirr treatment will be associated with benefits in terms of shorter hospital stay and resource consumption

GesEPOC 2021 and GOLD 2021: perfect is the enemy of good

Carta científic

Comprehensive analysis of clinical data for COVID-19 outcome estimation with machine learning models

Funding for open access charge: Universidade da Coruña/CISUG.[Abstract]: COVID-19 is a global threat for the healthcare systems due to the rapid spread of the pathogen that causes it. In such situation, the clinicians must take important decisions, in an environment where medical resources can be insufficient. In this task, the computer-aided diagnosis systems can be very useful not only in the task of supporting the clinical decisions but also to perform relevant analyses, allowing them to understand better the disease and the factors that can identify the high risk patients. For those purposes, in this work, we use several machine learning algorithms to estimate the outcome of COVID-19 patients given their clinical information. Particularly, we perform 2 different studies: the first one estimates whether the patient is at low or at high risk of death whereas the second estimates if the patient needs hospitalization or not. The results of the analyses of this work show the most relevant features for each studied scenario, as well as the classification performance of the considered machine learning models. In particular, the XGBoost algorithm is able to estimate the need for hospitalization of a patient with an AUC-ROC of 0.8415± 0.0217 while it can also estimate the risk of death with an AUC-ROC of 0.7992±0.0104. Results have demonstrated the great potential of the proposal to determine those patients that need a greater amount of medical resources for being at a higher risk. This provides the healthcare services with a tool to better manage their resources.Xunta de Galicia; ED481A 2021/196Xunta de Galicia; ED431C 2020/24Xunta de Galicia; IN845D 2020/38Xunta de Galicia; ED431G 2019/01This research was funded by ISCIII, Government of Spain, DTS18/00136 research project; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación y Universidades, Government of Spain, RTI2018-095894-B-I00 research project; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Government of Spain through the research project with reference PID2019-108435RB-I00; CCEU, Xunta de Galicia through the predoctoral grant contract ref. ED481A 2021/196; and Grupos de Referencia Competitiva, grant ref. ED431C 2020/24; Axencia Galega de Innovación (GAIN), Xunta de Galicia, grant ref. IN845D 2020/38; CITIC, Centro de Investigación de Galicia ref. ED431G 2019/01, receives financial support from CCEU, Xunta de Galicia , through the ERDF (80%) and Secretaría Xeral de Universidades (20%). Funding for open access charge: Universidade da Coruña/CISUG

A New Virtual Reality Interface for Underwater Intervention Missions

Ponencia presentada en IFAC-PapersOnLine, Volume 53, Issue 2, 2020, Pages 14600-14607Nowadays, most underwater intervention missions are developed through the well-known work-class ROVs (Remote Operated Vehicles), equipped with teleoperated arms under human supervision. Thus, despite the appearance on the market of the first prototypes of the so-called I-AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles for Intervention), the most mature technology associated with ROVs continues to be trusted. In order to fill the gap between ROVs and incipient I-AUVs technology, new research is under progress in our laboratory. In particular, new HRI (Human Robot Interaction) capabilities are being tested inside a three-year Spanish coordinated project focused on cooperative underwater intervention missions. In this work new results are presented concerning a new user interface which includes immersion capabilities through Virtual Reality (VR) technology. It is worth noting that a new HRI module has been demonstrated, through a pilot study, in which the users had to solve some specific tasks, with minimum guidance and instructions, following simple Problem Based Learning (PBL) scheme. Finally, it is noticeable that, although this is only a work in progress, the obtained results are promising concerning friendly and intuitive characteristics of the developed HRI module. Thus, some critical aspects, like complexity fall, training time and cognitive fatigue of the ROV pilot, seem more affordable now

Preliminary Work on a Virtual Reality Interface for the Guidance of Underwater Robots

The need for intervention in underwater environments has increased in recent years but there is still a long way to go before AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicleswill be able to cope with really challenging missions. Nowadays, the solution adopted is mainly based on remote operated vehicle (ROV) technology. These ROVs are controlled from support vessels by using unnecessarily complex human–robot interfaces (HRI). Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the complexity of these systems to make them easier to use and to reduce the stress on the operator. In this paper, and as part of the TWIN roBOTs for the cooperative underwater intervention missions (TWINBOT) project, we present an HRI (Human-Robot Interface) module which includes virtual reality (VR) technology. In fact, this contribution is an improvement on a preliminary study in this field also carried out, by our laboratory. Hence, having made a concerted effort to improve usability, the HRI system designed for robot control tasks presented in this paper is substantially easier to use. In summary, reliability and feasibility of this HRI module have been demonstrated thanks to the usability tests, which include a very complete pilot study, and guarantee much more friendly and intuitive properties in the final HRI-developed module presented here

Fluid flow in a Porous Scaffold for Microtia by Lattice Boltzmann Method

The birth deformity of ear, known as microtia, varies from a minimal deformed ear to the absence of auricular tissue or anotia. This malformation has been treated by reconstructing the external ear, mainly by autogenous rib cartilage in auricular repair. The fabrication of the ear framework is a prolonged reconstructive procedure and depends of the surgeon’s skill. In order to avoid these inconveniences and reduce surgery time, it was proposed in a previous work to use implants made with biocompatible materials. One of these is a scaffold made by fused deposition modeling using PLA based in the three-dimensional geometry of the ear cartilage. The aim of this work is to evaluate the feasibility of this scaffold to perform cell culture in a perfusion biorreactor by estimating the flow transport characteristics in porous media using a scaffold with the porous geometry of the human auricular cartilage for microtia. Flow and heat transfer through the scaffold were simulated by the lattice Boltzmann method, and permeability and shear stress distribution were obtained at different Reynolds numbers. The permeability values of the scaffold achieved are in the order of magnitude of scaffolds used for cell culture. Linear dependencies between maximum shear stress and Reynolds number, and between maximum shear stress and permeability were obtained. The values of shear stress achieved correspond to high percentage of cell viability. The scaffolds for microtia treatment with the proposed filling pattern select is appropriate for cell culture in a perfusion bioreactor with characteristics similar to those described herein

Pabellón polideportivo cubierto en Cuéllar/ Segovia/España

The present work pretends to show out criteria and elements adopted to carry out a pavilion with a capacity of 1.000 spectators, in Cuellar, with three basic aims: security, functionalism and low cost.El presente trabajo pretende mostrar los criterios y adoptados para llevar a cabo el proyecto y ejecución de un pabellón cubierto para 1.000 espectadores, en Cuéllar, con tres objetivos básicos: seguridad, funcionalidad y economía