La Recerca en bioenginyeria cardíaca i pulmonar a l'Institut de Cibernètica

En aquesta ponència presentem els treballs de recerca duts a terme els darrers anys a l'Institut de Cibernètica en el camp de la bioenginyeria. Cal destacar la simulació en computador híbrid del sistema càrdio-vascular, l'anàlisi i caracterització de pròtesis valvulars cardíaques i el processament automàtic de l'electrocardiograma del feix de His, dins l'àrea de la bioenginyeria cardíaca. La recerca en bioenginyeria pulmonar ha estat centrada en el disseny d'equips que col•laboren en 1'exploració funcional pulmonar.This paper presents the bioengineering research carried out at the Institut de Cibernètica the last years. We can remark the cardiovascular system simulation by hybrid computer, the prosthetic cardiac valves characterization, the His bundle electrogram on-line processing and different devices developed to explore the pulmonary function

Study for the numerical resolution of conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy to be applied to the aerodynamics of airfoil-shaped bodies

A set of benchmark problems concerning laminar and incompressible flows are solved by means of self-developed software written in C++ language and based in the Finite Volume Method. This problems include the Smith-Hutton problem, the Lid Driven Cavity and the Differentially Heated Cavity, as well as an approach to turbulence phenomenon with Burgers' equation (in this case spectral methods are to be used). Developed codes are verified through comparisons with benchmark solutions and through the analysis of the order of accuracy of the obtained results. A specific case of study on external flow analysis is done, including the resolution of a confined flow past a square cylinder aiming to solve flows over more complex geometries such as airfoil-shaped bodies. Finally, recommendations on how to extend this study to turbulent and compressible flows are presente

Validity of the Polar V800 monitor for measuring heart rate variability in mountain running route conditions

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to test, in mountain running route conditions, the accuracy of the Polar V800 monitor as a suitable device for monitoring the heart rate variability (HRV) of runners. METHOD: Eighteen healthy subjects ran a route that included a range of running slopes such as those encountered in trail and ultra-trail races. The comparative study of a V800 and a Holter SEER 12 ECG Recorder included the analysis of RR time series and short-term HRV analysis. A correction algorithm was designed to obtain the corrected Polar RR intervals. Six 5-min segments related to different running slopes were considered for each subject. RESULTS: The correlation between corrected V800 RR intervals and Holter RR intervals was very high (r = 0.99, p  0.05) and were well correlated (r ≥ 0.96, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Narrow limits of agreement, high correlations and small effect size suggest that the Polar V800 is a valid tool for the analysis of heart rate variability in athletes while running high endurance events such as marathon, trail, and ultra-trail races. KEYWORDS: HRV; Open field running conditions; Polar V800 heart rate monitor; Validatio

Detrended fluctuation analysis of heart rate by means of symbolic series

Detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) has been shown to be a useful tool for diagnosis of patients with cardiac diseases. The scaling exponents obtained with DFA are an indicator of power-law correlations in signal fluctuation, independently of signal amplitude and external trends. In this work, an approach based on DFA was proposed for analyzing heart rate variability (HRV) by means of RR series. The proposal consisted on transforming consecutive RR increments to symbols, according to an adapted symbolic-quantization. Three scaling exponents were calculated, αHF, αLF and αVLF, which correspond to the well known VLF, LF and HF frequency bands in the power spectral of the HRV. This DFA approach better characterized high and low risk of cardiac mortality in ischemic cardiomyiopathy patients than DFA applied to RR time series or RR increment series.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Using XDAQ in Application Scenarios of the CMS Experiment

XDAQ is a generic data acquisition software environment that emerged from a rich set of of use-cases encountered in the CMS experiment. They cover not the deployment for multiple sub-detectors and the operation of different processing and networking equipment as well as a distributed collaboration of users with different needs. The use of the software in various application scenarios demonstrated the viability of the approach. We discuss two applications, the tracker local DAQ system for front-end commissioning and the muon chamber validation system. The description is completed by a brief overview of XDAQ.Comment: Conference CHEP 2003 (Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics, La Jolla, CA

The CMS Event Builder

The data acquisition system of the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider will employ an event builder which will combine data from about 500 data sources into full events at an aggregate throughput of 100 GByte/s. Several architectures and switch technologies have been evaluated for the DAQ Technical Design Report by measurements with test benches and by simulation. This paper describes studies of an EVB test-bench based on 64 PCs acting as data sources and data consumers and employing both Gigabit Ethernet and Myrinet technologies as the interconnect. In the case of Ethernet, protocols based on Layer-2 frames and on TCP/IP are evaluated. Results from ongoing studies, including measurements on throughput and scaling are presented. The architecture of the baseline CMS event builder will be outlined. The event builder is organised into two stages with intelligent buffers in between. The first stage contains 64 switches performing a first level of data concentration by building super-fragments from fragments of 8 data sources. The second stage combines the 64 super-fragments into full events. This architecture allows installation of the second stage of the event builder in steps, with the overall throughput scaling linearly with the number of switches in the second stage. Possible implementations of the components of the event builder are discussed and the expected performance of the full event builder is outlined.Comment: Conference CHEP0

The 2 Tbps "Data to Surface" System of the CMS Data Acquisition

The Data Acquisition system of the CMS experiment, at the CERN LHC collider, is designed to build 1~MB events at a sustained rate of 100 kHz and to provide sufficient computing power to filter the events by a factor of 1000. The Data to Surface (D2S) system is the first layer of the Data Acquisition interfacing the underground subdetector readout electronics to the surface Event Builder. It collects the 100~GB/s input data from a large number of front-end cards (650) , implements a first stage event building by combining multiple sources into lar ger-size data fragments, and transports them to the surface for the full event building. The Data to Surface system can operate at the maximum rate of 2 Tbps. This paper describes the layout, reconfigurability and production validation of the D2S system which is to be installed by December 2005

Transverse Beam Envelope Measurements and the Limitations of the 3-Screen Emittance Method for Space-Charge Dominated Beams

In its normal mode of operation the Argonne Wakefield Accelerator Facility uses a high charge (10-100 nC), short pulse (3-5 psec) drive bunch to excite high-gradient accelerating fields in various slow-wave structures. To generate this bunch, we designed a 1.5 cell, L-band, rf photocathode gun with an emittance compensating solenoid to give optimal performance at high-charge; it has recently completed commissioning. More recently, we have begun to investigate the possibility of using this gun in a high-brightness, low-charge operating mode, with charge equal to approximately 1 nC, for high-precision measurements of wakefields. Two related measurements are reported on in this paper: (1) measurements of the transverse beam envelope are compared to predictions from the beam dynamics code PARMELA; and (2) investigations into the use of a modified 3-screen emittance measurement method that uses a beam envelope model that includes both space-charge and emittance effects. Both measurements were made for the 1 nC, 8 MeV beam in the drift region directly following the rf photocathode gun.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figure

Effects of Coleus Forskohlii Supplementation on Body Composition and Hematological Profiles in Mildly Overweight Women

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Purpose</p> <p>This study investigated the effects of <it>Coleus Forskohlii </it>(CF) on body composition, and determined the safety and efficacy of supplementation.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In a double blind and randomized manner, 23 females supplemented their diet with ForsLean™ (250 mg of 10% CF extract, (n = 7) or a placebo [P] (n = 12) two times per day for 12-wks. Body composition (DEXA), body weight, and psychometric instruments were obtained at 0, 4, 8 & 12 weeks of supplementation. Fasting blood samples and dietary records (4-d) were obtained at 0 and 12-wks. Side effects were recorded on a weekly basis. Data were analyzed by repeated measures ANOVA and are presented as mean changes from baseline for the CF and placebo groups, respectively.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>No significant differences were observed in caloric or macronutrient intake. CF tended to mitigate gains in body mass (-0.7 ± 1.8, 1.0 ± 2.5 kg, p = 0.10) and scanned mass (-0.2 ± 1.3, 1.7 ± 2.9 kg, p = 0.08) with no significant differences in fat mass (-0.2 ± 0.7, 1.1 ± 2.3 kg, p = 0.16), fat free mass (-0.1 ± 1.3, 0.6 ± 1.2 kg, p = 0.21), or body fat (-0.2 ± 1.0, 0.4 ± 1.4%, p = 0.40). Subjects in the CF group tended to report less fatigue (p = 0.07), hunger (p = 0.02), and fullness (p = 0.04). No clinically significant interactions were seen in metabolic markers, blood lipids, muscle and liver enzymes, electrolytes, red cells, white cells, hormones (insulin, TSH, T3, and T4), heart rate, blood pressure, or weekly reports of side effects.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Results suggest that CF does not appear to promote weight loss but may help mitigate weight gain in overweight females with apparently no clinically significant side effects.</p

Run Control and Monitor System for the CMS Experiment

The Run Control and Monitor System (RCMS) of the CMS experiment is the set of hardware and software components responsible for controlling and monitoring the experiment during data-taking. It provides users with a "virtual counting room", enabling them to operate the experiment and to monitor detector status and data quality from any point in the world. This paper describes the architecture of the RCMS with particular emphasis on its scalability through a distributed collection of nodes arranged in a tree-based hierarchy. The current implementation of the architecture in a prototype RCMS used in test beam setups, detector validations and DAQ demonstrators is documented. A discussion of the key technologies used, including Web Services, and the results of tests performed with a 128-node system are presented.Comment: Talk from the 2003 Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics (CHEP03), La Jolla, Ca, USA, March 2003, 8 pages, PSN THGT00