Analysis domain model for shared virtual environments

The field of shared virtual environments, which also encompasses online games and social 3D environments, has a system landscape consisting of multiple solutions that share great functional overlap. However, there is little system interoperability between the different solutions. A shared virtual environment has an associated problem domain that is highly complex raising difficult challenges to the development process, starting with the architectural design of the underlying system. This paper has two main contributions. The first contribution is a broad domain analysis of shared virtual environments, which enables developers to have a better understanding of the whole rather than the part(s). The second contribution is a reference domain model for discussing and describing solutions - the Analysis Domain Model

High Performing Hospital Enterprise Architecture: Insights from a Multi-method Exploratory Case

The US healthcare system is a critical infrastructure grappling with as much as 16% of the GDP in its expenditures and unsatisfactory outcomes, and undergoing considerable public scrutiny. High ranking officials have both singled out the US healthcare system as the most expensive and among the least effective in the developed world. Hospitals hoping to find “The Toyota Way” so as to rid themselves of waste through lean and six sigma improvement initiatives, have mostly focused in applying tools at a process level, rather than adopting an enterprise perspective and understanding the full breadth of their socio-technical complexity. This paper adopts a systems thinking approach in describing a leading Boston hospital’s enterprise architecture through a multi-method exploratory case. The initial exploratory question proposed by hospital senior leadership was “How to speed patient flow in the Emergency Department?”, however as results became available, the scope was expanded to include the whole hospital enterprise. Both qualitative and quantitative data evidence were collected through a variety of methods, namely observation, archival records, documentation, and interviews. Analysis includes techniques consistent with the grounded theory approach, as well as more traditional quantitative data analysis. Hospital enterprise performance is hypothesized to be related to hospital enterprise architecture, and an alternative hospital enterprise architecture is proposed as well as future work

ER Stress and Iron Homeostasis: A New Frontier for the UPR

The C282Y mutation of HFE accounts for the majority of cases of the iron overload disease Hereditary Hemochromatosis (HH). The conformational changes introduced by this mutation impair the HFE association with β2-microglobulin (β2m) and the cell surface expression of the protein: with two major consequences. From a functional perspective, the ability of HFE to bind to transferrin receptors 1 and 2 is lost in the C282Y mutant, thus affecting hepcidin regulation. Also due to the faulty assembly with β2m, HFE-C282Y molecules remain in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) as aggregates that undergo proteasomal degradation and activate an Unfolded Protein Response (UPR). UPR activation, regardless of the ER stress stimuli, was shown to reshape the expression profile of iron-related genes and to decrease MHC-I cell surface expression. The possibility of a HFE-C282Y-mediated interplay between the UPR and iron homeostasis influencing disease progression and the clinical heterogeneity among C282Y carriers is discussed. The responsiveness of the ER chaperone calreticulin to both ER and iron-induced oxidative stresses, and its correlation with HH patients' phenotype, reinforce the interest of dissecting the UPR signaling/iron metabolism crosstalk and points to the potential clinical value of use of pharmacological chaperones in HFE-HH

TZ- VirtIO: Enabling Standardized Inter-Partition Communication in a Trustzone-Assisted Hypervisor

Virtualization technology allows the coexistence and execution of multiple operating systems on top of the same hardware platform. In the embedded systems domain, virtualization has been focused on the isolation of critical requirements like real-time, security and safety from non-critical characteristics. The strict confinement of guest partitions typically provided by virtualization does not suit the modular and inter-cooperative nature of embedded systems. The need for inter-partition communication has been addressed by multiple virtualization solutions, either to enable guest-level device para-virtualization or to ensure increased flexibility regarding cooperative partitions. However, the majority of existing approaches follow an ad hoc approach with limited to none applicability outside their solution's scope. This paper presents TZ-VirtIO, an asynchronous standardized inter-partition communication (IPC) mechanism on top of a TrustZone-assisted dual-OS hypervisor (LTZVisor). The implemented IPC uses the standard VirtIO transport layer. The experiments conducted on a physical platform show a scalable, high-bandwidth and low-overhead solution for both single-core and multi-core architectures.FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (UID/CEC/00319/2013

Proteinúria ainda é útil para triagem e diagnóstico de nefropatia diabética sintomática

OBJECTIVE: To assess the performance of urinary total protein measurements intimed 24-h urine collection and in a diurnal random urine specimen for the screeningand diagnosis of overt diabetic nephropathy.PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 167 diabetic patients (20 type 1 and 147 type2 diabetic patients; 78 women and 89 men), aged 20-84 years, collected 217 timed24-h urine specimens. Albumin was measured by immunoturbidimetry, total proteinby the sulfosalicylic acid technique, and creatinine by Jaffé’s method. According tothe timed 24-h urinary albumin excretion rate, samples were divided into three groups:normoalbuminuric (urinary albumin excretion rate < 20 mg/min; n = 84),microalbuminuric (urinary albumin excretion rate 20-200 mg/min; n = 78), andmacroalbuminuric (urinary albumin excretion rate > 200 mg/min; n = 55). Eight-sixpatients also collected 105 random urine specimens (normoalbuminuric, n = 47;microalbuminuric, n = 37; macroalbuminuric, n = 21), and urinary protein concentrationand urinary protein-to-creatinine ratio were measured. The receiver operatingcharacteristics curve approach was used to analyze the performance of the diagnostictests.RESULTS: Spearman’s coefficient of correlation of 24-h urinary albumin excretionrate versus 24-h urinary protein was 0.95 ( P < 0.001), and of 24-h urinary albuminexcretion rate versus urinary protein concentration and urinary protein-to-creatinineratio were 0.77 and 0.72, respectively (P < 0.001). The calculated areas (±SEM)under the receiver operating characteristics curve for the diagnosis of overt diabeticnephropathy were 0.9987 ± 0.001 for 24-h urinary protein, 0.9926 ± 0.006 for urinaryprotein concentration, and 0.9751 ± 0.014 for urinary protein-to-creatinine ratio. Inthe receiver operating characteristics curves, the first points with 100% sensivitywere 541 mg (95.7% specificity) for 24-h urinary protein, 431 mg/l (92.9% specificity)for urinary protein concentration, and 0.2 (76.2% specificity) for urinary protein-tocreatinine ratio.CONCLUSIONS: Measurements of proteinuria presented almost perfect accuracyfor the screening and diagnosis of overt diabetic nephropathy. Protein measurementin spot urine is a reliable and simple method for the screening and diagnosis of overtdiabetic nephropathy.OBJETIVO: Avaliar a utilização de medições de proteína urinária total em coletasurinárias de 24 horas e em amostras diurnas coletadas aleatoriamente para triageme diagnóstico de nefropatia diabética sintomática. PACIENTES E MÉTODOS: Foram coletadas 217 amostras de urina a cada 24 h deum total de 167 pacientes diabéticos (20 pacientes com diabetes tipo 1 e 147 comdiabetes tipo 2; 78 mulheres e 89 homens), com idade entre 20 e 84 anos. A albuminafoi medida por imunoturbidimetria, a proteína urinário total foi medida pela técnicado ácido sulfosalicílico e a creatinina, pelo método de Jaffe. As amostras foramdivididas em três grupos de acordo com a taxa de 24 h de excreção urinária dealbumina: normoalbuminúricos (taxa de excreção urinária de albumina < 20 mg/min;n=84), microalbuminúricos (taxa de excreção urinária de albumina 20-200 mg/min;n=78), e macroalbuminúricos (taxa de excreção urinária de albumina > 200 mg/min;n=55). Foram coletadas ainda 105 amostras aleatórias de urina de 86 pacientes(normoalbuminúricos, n=47; microalbuminúricos, n=37; macroalbuminúricos, n=21),das quais a concentração urinária de proteina e a relação proteína/creatinina urináriaforam obtidas. O método da curva de características operacionais do receptor foiutilizado para analisar o desempenho dos testes diagnósticos.RESULTADOS: O coeficiente de correlação de Spearman para a comparação entrea taxa de 24 h de excreção urinária de albumina e a proteina urinária de 24 h foi 0,95(P < 0,001). O mesmo coeficiente, para a comparação da taxa de 24 h de excreçãourinária de albumina com a concentração urinária de proteina, assim como com arelação proteína/creatinina urinária foi 0,77 e 0,72, respectivamente (P < 0,001). Asáreas calculadas (+ erro padrão) abaixo da curva de características operacionais doreceptor para o diagnóstico de nefropatia diabética sintomática foram: 0,9987 + 0,001para a proteina urinária de 24 h; 0,9926 + 0,006 para concentração urinária deproteína; e 0,9751 + 0,014 para a relação proteina/creatinina urinária. Nas curvasde características operacionais do receptor os primeiros pontos com 100% desensitividade foram: 541mg (95,7% de especificidade) para proteína urinária de 24h, 431 mg/l (92,9% de especificidade) para concentração urinária, e 0,2 (76,2% deespecificidade) para a relação proteína/creatinina urinária.CONCLUSÕES: As medidas de proteinuria foram extremamente eficazes na triageme no diagnóstico de nefropatia diabética sintomática. A medição de proteína urináriaé um método confiável e simples para a triagem e diagnóstico de nefropatia diabéticasintomátic

Avaliação de leguminosas para adubação verde e rotação com a cultura da mandioca (Manihot esculenta Crantz).

Procurou-se determinar a viabilidade do cultivo da mandioca em fileiras duplas consorciadas com leguminosas e seu efeito sobre alguns parametros do solo. O experimento foi conduzido no campo experimental da UEPAE Porto Velho, no municipio de Machadinho-RO. Utilizou-se a cultivar de mandioca 'Cacau', em um ciclo de cultivo com manivas de 20cm, plantadas juntamente com leguminosas no inicio do periodo chuvoso. O melhor resultado foi obtido na consorciacao com 'Stylosanthes capitata' que proporcionou um rendimento de 8,11 e 11,5 t/ha de raiz no primeiro e segundo ano respectivamente. Os tratamentos com Desmodium ovalifolium, Desmodium intortum e Centrosema macrocarpum, promoveram 100% de cobertura no solo, impedindo o estabelecimento de ervas invasora.bitstream/item/81636/1/FOL-3711-0001.pd

Aplicação de métodos geofísicos em Arqueologia: desenvolvimento de metodologias eficazes de prospecção geofísica aplicadas a diferentes ambientes arqueológicos

The use of geophysical methods applied to Archaeology, in the exploration of buried structures in the sub-surface, is an imperative need in the previous steps to excavations or archaeological surveys, playing an important role in the delimitation of archaeological sites, making it more effective protective actions archaeological heritage. With regard to planning an archaeological exploration, geophysical methods significantly reduce the runtime and operating costs, guiding with acceptable accuracy for local archaeologist digging and what to look for. The development of efficient methods in geophysical exploration, applied to different archaeological environments usually requires the crossing of different geophysical techniques. The methodologies for the application of geophysical surveys shall concern either in the steps of the data acquisition either in the steps of the obtained data processing and in the result representation. This work presents the results for two techniques, georadar and magnetometry, in different archaeological locations, showing the differences between the different archaeological sites, whose features are different