Scientific exploitation of PAZ products in coastal surveillance and monitoring tasks

Revista oficial de la Asociación Española de Teledetección[EN] PAZ mission appears due to the need of a Spanish SAR satellite able to provide radar image products for security and defense, civil and scientific users. INTA is responsible for the technical direction of the Ground Segment, as well as the development of the Calibration and Validation Centre and the scientific exploitation. The ‘Demonstrator of Maritime SAR Applications’ is proposed as an answer to detection tasks in maritime synthetic aperture radar imagery, which are not completely solved yet. DeMSAR has been developed in the framework of a contract between the Spanish National Institute for Aerospace Technology (INTA) and the University of Alcalá. It is intended to be used as a demonstrator of the capabilities of the airborne SAR prototypes of INTA as well as for PAZ, the Spanish SAR satellite. With two operation modes, an automatic ship detector and a toolboxes mode, DeMSAR offers the user a high flexibility in SAR data processing tasks such as speckle filtering, coastline detection, land mask estimation and ship detection and characterization.[ES] La misión PAZ surge ante la necesidad de un satélite SAR español que pueda proporcionar productos imagen radar para usuarios de seguridad y defensa, civiles y científicos. INTA es el responsable de la dirección técnica del Segmento Terreno, así como del desarrollo y operación del Centro de Calibración y Validación y de la Explotación Científica. Dentro de este ámbito de explotación, se desarrolla un demostrador de aplicaciones SAR marítimas (DeMSAR) como herramienta robusta capaz de llevar a cabo tareas de detección sobre la superficie marina, empleando las imágenes adquiridas por radares de apertura sintética. Se desarrolla bajo un marco de colaboración entre el INTA y la Universidad de Alcalá con el fin de convertirse en un demostrador de las capacidades de los sistemas aerotransportados de INTA y, en el futuro, para procesar los datos adquiridos por el sensor PAZ. Con capacidad de operar en modo automático de detección de barcos o mediante librerías de procesado SAR, DeMSAR ofrece una gran versatilidad al usuario en tareas de procesado tales como filtrado de ruido speckle, detección de líneas de costa, estimación de máscaras de tierra y detección y caracterización de barcos.Jarabo, M.; González, M.; De La Mata, D.; Martín De Nicolás, J.; Del Rey, N.; Bárcena, J.; Peláez, V. (2014). Explotación científica de productos PAZ en tareas de vigilancia y monitorización costera. Revista de Teledetección. (41):97-109. doi:10.4995/raet.2014.2287.SWORD9710941Comaniciu, D., & Meer, P. (2002). Mean shift: a robust approach toward feature space analysis. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 24(5), 603-619. doi:10.1109/34.1000236Duda, R. O. & Hart, P. E., 1973. Pattern classification and scene analysis. Wiley.Mallat, S., 2008. A wavelet tour of signal processing. 3rd Edition. Academic Press

Distributed physical sensors network for the protection of critical infrastractures against physical attacks

The SCOUT project is based on the use of multiple innovative and low impact technologies for the protection of space control ground stations and the satellite links against physical and cyber-attacks, and for intelligent reconfiguration of the ground station network (including the ground node of the satellite link) in the case that one or more nodes fail. The SCOUT sub-system devoted to physical attacks protection, SENSNET, is presented. It is designed as a network of sensor networks that combines DAB and DVB-T based passive radar, noise radar, Ku-band radar, infrared cameras, and RFID technologies. The problem of data link architecture is addressed and the proposed solution described

Distributed physical sensors network for the protection of critical infrastractures against physical attacks

The SCOUT project is based on the use of multiple innovative and low impact technologies for the protection of space control ground stations and the satellite links against physical and cyber-attacks, and for intelligent reconfiguration of the ground station network (including the ground node of the satellite link) in the case that one or more nodes fail. The SCOUT sub-system devoted to physical attacks protection, SENSNET, is presented. It is designed as a network of sensor networks that combines DAB and DVB-T based passive radar, noise radar, Ku-band radar, infrared cameras, and RFID technologies. The problem of data link architecture is addressed and the proposed solution described

Mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19

The genetic make-up of an individual contributes to the susceptibility and response to viral infection. Although environmental, clinical and social factors have a role in the chance of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and the severity of COVID-191,2, host genetics may also be important. Identifying host-specific genetic factors may reveal biological mechanisms of therapeutic relevance and clarify causal relationships of modifiable environmental risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection and outcomes. We formed a global network of researchers to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity. Here we describe the results of three genome-wide association meta-analyses that consist of up to 49,562 patients with COVID-19 from 46 studies across 19 countries. We report 13 genome-wide significant loci that are associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection or severe manifestations of COVID-19. Several of these loci correspond to previously documented associations to lung or autoimmune and inflammatory diseases3–7. They also represent potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection. Mendelian randomization analyses support a causal role for smoking and body-mass index for severe COVID-19 although not for type II diabetes. The identification of novel host genetic factors associated with COVID-19 was made possible by the community of human genetics researchers coming together to prioritize the sharing of data, results, resources and analytical frameworks. This working model of international collaboration underscores what is possible for future genetic discoveries in emerging pandemics, or indeed for any complex human disease

Effects of pre-operative isolation on postoperative pulmonary complications after elective surgery: an international prospective cohort study an international prospective cohort study

We aimed to determine the impact of pre-operative isolation on postoperative pulmonary complications after elective surgery during the global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We performed an international prospective cohort study including patients undergoing elective surgery in October 2020. Isolation was defined as the period before surgery during which patients did not leave their house or receive visitors from outside their household. The primary outcome was postoperative pulmonary complications, adjusted in multivariable models for measured confounders. Pre-defined sub-group analyses were performed for the primary outcome. A total of 96,454 patients from 114 countries were included and overall, 26,948 (27.9%) patients isolated before surgery. Postoperative pulmonary complications were recorded in 1947 (2.0%) patients of which 227 (11.7%) were associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Patients who isolated pre-operatively were older, had more respiratory comorbidities and were more commonly from areas of high SARS-CoV-2 incidence and high-income countries. Although the overall rates of postoperative pulmonary complications were similar in those that isolated and those that did not (2.1% vs 2.0%, respectively), isolation was associated with higher rates of postoperative pulmonary complications after adjustment (adjusted OR 1.20, 95%CI 1.05–1.36, p = 0.005). Sensitivity analyses revealed no further differences when patients were categorised by: pre-operative testing; use of COVID-19-free pathways; or community SARS-CoV-2 prevalence. The rate of postoperative pulmonary complications increased with periods of isolation longer than 3 days, with an OR (95%CI) at 4–7 days or ≥ 8 days of 1.25 (1.04–1.48), p = 0.015 and 1.31 (1.11–1.55), p = 0.001, respectively. Isolation before elective surgery might be associated with a small but clinically important increased risk of postoperative pulmonary complications. Longer periods of isolation showed no reduction in the risk of postoperative pulmonary complications. These findings have significant implications for global provision of elective surgical care. We aimed to determine the impact of pre-operative isolation on postoperative pulmonary complications after elective surgery during the global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We performed an international prospective cohort study including patients undergoing elective surgery in October 2020. Isolation was defined as the period before surgery during which patients did not leave their house or receive visitors from outside their household. The primary outcome was postoperative pulmonary complications, adjusted in multivariable models for measured confounders. Pre-defined sub-group analyses were performed for the primary outcome. A total of 96,454 patients from 114 countries were included and overall, 26,948 (27.9%) patients isolated before surgery. Postoperative pulmonary complications were recorded in 1947 (2.0%) patients of which 227 (11.7%) were associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Patients who isolated pre-operatively were older, had more respiratory comorbidities and were more commonly from areas of high SARS-CoV-2 incidence and high-income countries. Although the overall rates of postoperative pulmonary complications were similar in those that isolated and those that did not (2.1% vs 2.0%, respectively), isolation was associated with higher rates of postoperative pulmonary complications after adjustment (adjusted OR 1.20, 95%CI 1.05–1.36, p = 0.005). Sensitivity analyses revealed no further differences when patients were categorised by: pre-operative testing; use of COVID-19-free pathways; or community SARS-CoV-2 prevalence. The rate of postoperative pulmonary complications increased with periods of isolation longer than 3 days, with an OR (95%CI) at 4–7 days or ≥ 8 days of 1.25 (1.04–1.48), p = 0.015 and 1.31 (1.11–1.55), p = 0.001, respectively. Isolation before elective surgery might be associated with a small but clinically important increased risk of postoperative pulmonary complications. Longer periods of isolation showed no reduction in the risk of postoperative pulmonary complications. These findings have significant implications for global provision of elective surgical care