Hard Decision Cooperative Spectrum Sensing Based on Estimating the Noise Uncertainty Factor

Spectrum Sensing (SS) is one of the most challenging issues in Cognitive Radio (CR) systems. Cooperative Spectrum Sensing (CSS) is proposed to enhance the detection reliability of a Primary User (PU) in fading environments. In this paper, we propose a hard decision based CSS algorithm using energy detection with taking into account the noise uncertainty effect. In the proposed algorithm, two dynamic thresholds are toggled based on predicting the current PU activity, which can be successfully expected using a simple successive averaging process with time. Also, their values are evaluated using an estimated value of the noise uncertainty factor. These dynamic thresholds are used to compensate the noise uncertainty effect and increase (decrease) the probability of detection (false alarm), respectively. Theoretical analysis is performed on the proposed algorithm to deduce its enhanced false alarm and detection probabilities compared to the conventional hard decision CSS. Moreover, simulation analysis is used to confirm the theoretical claims and prove the high performance of the proposed scheme compared to the conventional CSS using different fusion rules.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, IEEE International Conference on Computer Engineering and Systems (ICCES 2015). arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1505.0558

Nitrates for the Management of Acute Heart Failure Syndromes, A Systematic Review

© The Author(s) 2016Intravenous nitrates are widely used in the management of acute heart failure syndrome (AHFS) yet with lack of robust evidence to support their use. We therefore sought to analyze all randomized studies that evaluated the effects of nitrates on clinical outcomes in patients with AHFS. In total, 15 relevant trials comparing nitrates and alternative interventions in 1824 patients were identified. All but 3 were conducted before 1998. No trials demonstrated a beneficial effect on mortality, apart from 1 trial reporting a reduction in mortality, which was related to the time of treatment. Retrospective review suggests that there is a lack of data to draw any firm conclusions concerning the use of nitrates in patients with AHFS. More studies are needed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of these agents in the modern era of guideline-directed use of heart failure therapy.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Adjunctive therapies to reduce thrombotic events in patients with a history of myocardial infarction : role of vorapaxar

© 2015 Farag et al. This work is published by Dove Medical Press Limited, and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) LicenseAcute myocardial infarction (AMI) is generally attributed to coronary atherothrombotic disease. Platelet activation is essential for thrombus formation and is thus an important target for pharmacological intervention to prevent and treat AMI. Despite contemporary treatment with dual antiplatelet therapy, including acetylsalicylic acid and adenosine diphosphate receptor antagonists, patients with prior AMI remain at increased risk of future thrombotic events. This has stimulated the search for more potent antithrombotic agents. Among these is the oral protease-activated receptor-1 antagonist vorapaxar, which represents a new oral antiplatelet agent to reduce thrombotic risk in patients with atherothrombotic disease. The TRACER and the TRA 2°P-TIMI 50 trials concluded that vorapaxar in addition to standard therapy reduced ischemic adverse cardiac events. A remarkable benefit was observed in patients with stable atherosclerotic disease, particularly those with a previous history of AMI. Although favorable effects were seen in reduction of adverse cardiac events, this was associated with excess major and intracranial bleeding, particularly in patients at high risk of bleeding and those with a history of stroke or transient ischemic attack. Currently, the lack of a reliable individualized risk stratification tool to assess patients for thrombotic and bleeding tendencies in order to identify those who might gain most net clinical benefit has led to limited use of vorapaxar in clinical practice. Vorapaxar may find a niche as an adjunct to standard care in patients at high risk of thrombotic events and who are at low risk of bleeding.Peer reviewe

Design And Fabrication Of A Tropical Motorcycle Helmet

The present work is devoted to the design and evaluation of a new crashworthy motorcycle helmet taking into consideration the tropical climate of Malaysia. A multidiscipline literature review on the design problems of motorcycle helmet was carried out and current problems were formulated. Based on the literature review findings, a new shell and liner designs were then proposed to overcome or eliminate these problems. The shell design improvements consisted of developing hybrid natural fiber composite (NFC) shells which were fabricated and evaluated by the standard dynamic penetration test. The results of the new design were found to be satisfactory according to the related helmet standards. Three additional methods have been developed to assess the new shells performance in a more quantified manner. These tests are the helmet quasi-static penetration, the helmet rigidity, and the helmet crushing. All these tests were performed and the results confirmed the superior performance of the new natural fiber shell helmets as compared to the market dominant ABS shell helmets. Other factors also supported this design improvement such as cost, and the utilization of environmental friendly material. In the liner design improvement, the shell was kept to the current ABS shell and the EPP foam as a liner. A 3D finite element algorithm has been developed using LSDYNA- 3D software. Based on the simulation results, the helmet with EPP foam liner was found to be satisfactory according to the related helmet standards. A parametric study of the helmet design was performed using the Response Surface Methodology in the Design of Experiment (DOE) statistical method. From this parametric study, the foam thickness and the foam density were found to have more significant effect on the helmet energy absorption than the she]] effects. Design optimizations were also conducted and optimum design was obtained. Finally, thermal analysis for commercially available helmet without ventilation system and the new helmet design with ventilation system were made. from which it was found that helmet ventilation is essential to avoid possible health problems. A design chart for helmet with ventilation system to obtain the minimum cross sectional area required for ventilation nozzles has been developed. This chart is suitable for a wide span of amounts of heat generated from the motorcyclist head. The effect of adding the ventilation system to the helmet has been structurally investigated by the finite element simulation and found to positively improve the energy absorption performance of the helmet

A radiographic analysis of the anterior palate as a donor site for bone harvesting

Magister Scientiae Dentium - MSc(Dent)Autologous bone grafting in conjunction with dental implant therapy is a well-accepted procedure in oral and maxillofacial rehabilitation. A variety of intraoral donor sites, such as the mandibular symphysis, the mandibular ramus and the maxillary tuberosity have been used in oral and maxillofacial reconstruction. However these sites are associated with complications. In order to reduce these complications, the anterior palate has been proposed as a potential donor site. However, the scientific literature in this regard is sparse, and larger studies are required to investigate the clinical potential of this proposed site. Aim: To determine the volume and density of available bone in the anterior palate that may be used for bone harvesting using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) in a select South African population. Materials and methods: One hundred previously acquired CBCT scans taken at the Diagnostic and Radiology Department of Tygerberg Oral Health Centre were analyzed for the required data. These were all acquired from a single CBCT machine (Newtom VGI®, Verona, Italy). The study sample included 52 females and 48 males ranging from ages 20 years to 80 years. The CBCT scans were divided into 3 different age groups. The first age group was between the ages of 20 and 39 years, the second age group was from 40 to 59 years and the third age group was ≥ 60 years. The volume and density of the anterior palate of the different age groups were analyzed using specific criterion. CBCT specific software (Simplant Pro Crystal®) Dentsply implants, Mannheim, Germany was used to standardize the data collection. All data was stored in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (Microsoft Corporation, Washington, USA). Results: The mean volume of the anterior palate in this study was 2.11 ± 0.55 cm3, with a minimum volume of 1.04 cm3 and a maximum volume of 3.82 cm3. There was no significant difference in the volume and density of the anterior palate between different age groups and no significant difference in the volume between males and females (p value = 0.227). Conclusions: The anterior palate affords a considerable amount of bone volume which is similar or even more than other intraoral donor sites. The anterior palate is a potential donor site for bone harvesting and CBCT may be regarded as an ideal tool to analyze the amount of bone available for harvesting

Maintenance strategy selection as a multiple criteria decision making problem

Maintenance strategy selection (MSS) is one of the most critical decisions for safe and continuous operations. It is a key factor not only for reducing the maintenance cost, but also for achieving stable production rates without unplanned interruptions. There are different maintenance strategies implemented in the field and mentioned in the literature, each has both benefits and drawbacks for the production. Maintenance management have to make a decision of which strategy to follow. Such a decision need to be evaluated based on multiple criteria such as reliability, production loss, process safety, cost, environmental damage and others. The adoption of one maintenance strategy such as preventive maintenance for the whole plant can be seen as a proper solution to solve such a complex problem, but definitely not the most beneficial to the organization. Multiple criteria decision making process (MCDM) offers different approaches to help in solving such a complex problem. The use of analytical hierarchy process (AHP), one of MCDM approaches, in solving maintenance strategy selection problem at a natural gas processing plant is presented in this report. The plant is currently adopting timely based preventive maintenance strategy for all of the equipment. Six Different equipment were studied in order to evaluate five different maintenance strategies against three main criteria which are cost, equipment damage and applicability. AHP results showed that significant changes should be made to the current followed maintenance strategy, which would have a huge impact on the company’s resources and will generate cost savings in multiple areas as well as utilizing the company resources. AHP has proven to be an effective and flexible approach for solving complex decision making problems, as it helped the decision makers to simplify the problem into a hierarchy and prioritize the different criteria to reach an optimum solution for the proposed problem

Is there a role for oral triple therapy in patients with acute coronary syndromes without atrial fibrillation?

© 2018 Bentham Science PublishersBACKGROUND: Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients, despite treatment with dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT), have up to 10% risk of recurrent major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in the short term. METHODS: Here we review studies using more potent antithrombotic agent combinations to reduce this risk, namely triple therapy (TT) with the addition of an oral anticoagulant, PAR-1 antagonist, or cilostazol to DAPT (mainly aspirin and clopidogrel), and discuss the limitations of trials to date. RESULTS: Generally speaking, TT leads to an increase in bleeding. Vorapaxar showed a signal for reducing ischaemic events, but increased intracranial haemorrhage 3-fold in the subacute phase of ACS, although remains an option for secondary prevention beyond the immediate subacute phase, particularly if prasugrel or ticagrelor are not available. Non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (NOACs) all increased bleeding, with only modest reduction in MACE noted with low dose rivaroxaban. Rivaroxaban can be considered combined with aspirin and clopidogrel in ACS patients at high ischaemic and low bleeding risk, without prior stroke/TIA. The combination of P2Y12 inhibitor and NOAC, without aspirin, looks promising. DAPT may be replaced, not by TT, but by dual therapy comprising a NOAC with a P2Y12 inhibitor. CONCLUSION: More potent antithrombotic regimens increase bleeding and should only be considered on an individual basis, after careful risk stratification. Accurate risk stratification of ACS patients, for both ischaemic and bleeding risk, is essential to allow individualised treatment.Peer reviewe