GEN4MAST: A Tool for the Evaluation of Real-Time Techniques Using a Supercomputer

REACTION 2014. 3rd International Workshop on Real-time and Distributed Computing in Emerging Applications. Rome, Italy. December 2nd, 2014.The constant development of new approaches in real-time systems makes it necessary to create tools or methods to perform their evaluations in an efficient way. It is not uncommon for these evaluations to be constrained by the processing power of current personal computers. Thus, it is still a challenging issue to know whether a specific technique could perform better than another one, or the improvement remains invariable in all circumstances. In this paper we present the GEN4MAST tool, which can take advantage of the performance of a supercomputer to execute longer evaluations that wouldn’t be possible in a common computer. GEN4MAST is built around the widely used MAST tool, automating the whole process of distributed systems generation, execution of the requested analysis or optimization techniques, and the processing of the results. GEN4MAST integrates several generation methods to create realistic workloads. We show that the different methods can have a great impact on the results of distributed systems.This work has been funded in part by the Spanish Government and FEDER funds under grant number TIN2011-28567-C03-02 (HI-PARTES)

Interpretación de dos algoritmos EDF on-line para la optimización de sistemas distribuidos de tiempo real

RESUMEN: Los planificadores EDF (Earliest Deadline First) on-line calculan los plazos de planificación en tiempo de ejecución y se utilizan habitualmente en sistemas de tiempo real laxo. En este trabajo se propone una interpretación de dos de estos algoritmos de planificación, EQS (Equal Slack) y EQF (Equal Flexibility), para su adaptación a sistemas distribuidos de tiempo real estricto en los que la asignación de parámetros de planificación se realiza off-line, es decir, antes de la ejecución del sistema. La adaptación propuesta permite asignar plazos de planificación en sistemas planificados por EDF, pero también permite asignar prioridades en sistemas planificados por prioridades fijas. Los resultados obtenidos en la evaluación de los algoritmos propuestos los colocan como los más adecuados para planificar sistemas en los que los plazos son superiores a los periodos, circunstancia que suele ser habitual en los sistemas distribuidos, y secuencias largas de tareas y mensajes en respuesta a los eventos.ABSTRACT: Online EDF (Earliest Deadline First) schedulers calculate scheduling deadlines at run time and are commonly used in soft real-time systems. In this work, an interpretation of two of these scheduling algorithms, EQS (Equal Slack) and EQF (Equal Flexibility), is proposed for their adaptation to hard real-time distributed systems in which the assignment of scheduling parameters is performed off- line, that is, before the execution of the system. The proposed adaptation enables assigning scheduling deadlines in systems scheduled by EDF, but also allows assigning priorities in systems scheduled by fixed priorities. The results obtained in the evaluation of the proposed algorithms make them as the most suitable for scheduling systems in which deadlines are higher than periods, a circumstance that is usual in distributed systems, and long sequences of tasks and messages in response to the events.Este trabajo ha sido financiado en parte por el Gobierno de España en el proyecto TIN2014- 56158-C4-2-P (M2C2)

La Caridad/Solidaridad y su tratamiento informativo en la provincia sevillana: Utrera

Se ahonda en la idea de que no solamente son las Hermandades quienes realizan actos de Caridad y Solidaridad, sino que desde empresas y entidades privadas también se organizan eventos en este sentido. Hay que destacar que desde “Uvitel”, además de estar continuamente difundiendo estos eventos, como personas comprometidas con el entorno, en varias ocasiones se han sumado a estas causas, como destacar el organizar una “Cabalgata Solidaria” que consistió en implicar a empresas y diferentes colectivos para recaudar alimentos que luego se llevó a las Hermanas de la Cruz, de Utrera, una Congregación religiosa que realiza una labor altruista y desinteresada en favor de las familias más necesitadas, para que fueran ellas quienes repartieran todo lo recaudado

Using GPUs in real-time applications:a review of techniques for analyzing and optimizing the timing parameters

La conducción autónoma despierta un interés cada vez mayor en la industria, no solo en el sector de la automoción, sino también en el transporte de personas o mercancías por carretera o ferrocarril y en entornos de fabricación más controlados. Los sistemas ciber-físicos que se están proponiendo para este tipo de aplicaciones requieren de una gran capacidad de cómputo (arquitecturas hardware con varios núcleos, GPUs, NPUs?) para poder atender y reaccionar a una múltiple y compleja cantidad de sensores (cámaras, radar, LiDAR, medida de distancia, etc.). Por otro lado, este tipo de sistemas debe atender a requisitos de seguridad funcional y también de tiempo real. Este último aspecto plantea retos en los que se está trabajando intensamente y en los que aún quedan muchas cuestiones por resolver. En este trabajo, se hace una revisión de la literatura más reciente del uso de arquitecturas heterogéneas con GPUs en aplicaciones de tiempo real. Estos trabajos proponen soluciones para la estimación de cotas de tiempos de ejecución y respuesta temporal, proponiendo diferentes estrategias de optimización destacando la mitigación de interferencia en la memoria.Autonomous driving is attracting an increasing attention in industry, not only in the automotive sector, but also in the transport of people or goods by road or railway and in more controlled manufacturing environments. The cyber-physical systems that are being proposed for this type of applications require a large computing capacity (hardware architectures with several cores, GPUs, NPUs...) to be able to attend and react to a multiple and complex amount of sensors (cameras, radar, LiDAR, measure of distance, etc.). On the other hand, this type of system must meet both safety and real-time requirements. This last aspect poses challenges on which intensive work is being done and on which there are still many open issues. In this work, a review of the most recent literatura on the use of heterogeneous architectures with GPUs in real-time applications is made. These works mainly propose some solutions to the estimation of bounds to the execution times and response times, and consider different optimization strategies emphasising memory interference mitigation.Este trabajo ha sido parcialmente financiado por MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033/ FEDER "Una manera de hacer Europa" a través de las subvenciones PID2021-124502OB-C42 y PID2021-124502OB-C44 (PRESECREL)

Clinical and Ecological Impact of an Educational Program to Optimize Antibiotic Treatments in Nursing Homes (PROA-SENIOR): A Cluster, Randomized, Controlled Trial and Interrupted Time-Series Analysis

[Background] Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) are recommended in nursing homes (NHs), although data are limited. We aimed to determine the clinical and ecological impact of an ASP for NHs.[Methods] We performed a cluster, randomized, controlled trial and a before–after study with interrupted time-series analyses in 14 NHs for 30 consecutive months from July 2018 to December 2020 in Andalusia, Spain. Seven facilities implemented an ASP with a bundle of 5 educational measures (general ASP) and 7 added 1-to-1 educational interviews (experimental ASP). The primary outcome was the overall use of antimicrobials, calculated monthly as defined daily doses (DDD) per 1000 resident days (DRD).[Results] The total mean antimicrobial consumption decreased by 31.2% (−16.72 DRD; P = .045) with respect to the preintervention period; the overall use of quinolones and amoxicillin–clavulanic acid dropped by 52.2% (P = .001) and 42.5% (P = .006), respectively; and the overall prevalence of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) decreased from 24.7% to 17.4% (P = .012). During the intervention period, 12.5 educational interviews per doctor were performed in the experimental ASP group; no differences were found in the total mean antimicrobial use between groups (−14.62 DRD; P = .25). Two unexpected coronavirus disease 2019 waves affected the centers increasing the overall mean use of antimicrobials by 40% (51.56 DRD; P < .0001).[Conclusions] This study suggests that an ASP for NHs appears to be associated with a decrease in total consumption of antimicrobials and prevalence of MDROs. This trial did not find benefits associated with educational interviews, probably due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.[Clinical Trials Registration] NCT03543605.Peer reviewe

COVID-19 Severity and Survival over Time in Patients with Hematologic Malignancies: A Population-Based Registry Study

Mortality rates for COVID-19 have declined over time in the general population, but data in patients with hematologic malignancies are contradictory. We identified independent prognostic factors for COVID-19 severity and survival in unvaccinated patients with hematologic malignancies, compared mortality rates over time and versus non-cancer inpatients, and investigated post COVID-19 condition. Data were analyzed from 1166 consecutive, eligible patients with hematologic malignancies from the population-based HEMATO-MADRID registry, Spain, with COVID-19 prior to vaccination roll-out, stratified into early (February–June 2020; n = 769 (66%)) and later (July 2020–February 2021; n = 397 (34%)) cohorts. Propensity-score matched non-cancer patients were identified from the SEMI-COVID registry. A lower proportion of patients were hospitalized in the later waves (54.2%) compared to the earlier (88.6%), OR 0.15, 95%CI 0.11–0.20. The proportion of hospitalized patients admitted to the ICU was higher in the later cohort (103/215, 47.9%) compared with the early cohort (170/681, 25.0%, 2.77; 2.01–3.82). The reduced 30-day mortality between early and later cohorts of non-cancer inpatients (29.6% vs. 12.6%, OR 0.34; 0.22–0.53) was not paralleled in inpatients with hematologic malignancies (32.3% vs. 34.8%, OR 1.12; 0.81–1.5). Among evaluable patients, 27.3% had post COVID-19 condition. These findings will help inform evidence-based preventive and therapeutic strategies for patients with hematologic malignancies and COVID-19 diagnosis.Depto. de MedicinaFac. de MedicinaTRUEFundación Madrileña de Hematología y HemoterapiaFundación Leucemia y LinfomaAsociación Madrileña de Hematología y Hemoterapiapu

Diagnóstico Territorial del Litoral de Cantabria. Volumen I: Informe.

Estudios de base para la redacción del Plan de Ordenación del Litoral (POL) de Cantabria.Este proyecto de investigación aplicada se ha realizado gracias al Convenio de Colaboración entre el Gobierno de Cantabria y la Universidad de Cantabria titulado “Diagnóstico Territorial del Litoral de Cantabria”

Treatment with tocilizumab or corticosteroids for COVID-19 patients with hyperinflammatory state: a multicentre cohort study (SAM-COVID-19)

Objectives: The objective of this study was to estimate the association between tocilizumab or corticosteroids and the risk of intubation or death in patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) with a hyperinflammatory state according to clinical and laboratory parameters. Methods: A cohort study was performed in 60 Spanish hospitals including 778 patients with COVID-19 and clinical and laboratory data indicative of a hyperinflammatory state. Treatment was mainly with tocilizumab, an intermediate-high dose of corticosteroids (IHDC), a pulse dose of corticosteroids (PDC), combination therapy, or no treatment. Primary outcome was intubation or death; follow-up was 21 days. Propensity score-adjusted estimations using Cox regression (logistic regression if needed) were calculated. Propensity scores were used as confounders, matching variables and for the inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTWs). Results: In all, 88, 117, 78 and 151 patients treated with tocilizumab, IHDC, PDC, and combination therapy, respectively, were compared with 344 untreated patients. The primary endpoint occurred in 10 (11.4%), 27 (23.1%), 12 (15.4%), 40 (25.6%) and 69 (21.1%), respectively. The IPTW-based hazard ratios (odds ratio for combination therapy) for the primary endpoint were 0.32 (95%CI 0.22-0.47; p < 0.001) for tocilizumab, 0.82 (0.71-1.30; p 0.82) for IHDC, 0.61 (0.43-0.86; p 0.006) for PDC, and 1.17 (0.86-1.58; p 0.30) for combination therapy. Other applications of the propensity score provided similar results, but were not significant for PDC. Tocilizumab was also associated with lower hazard of death alone in IPTW analysis (0.07; 0.02-0.17; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Tocilizumab might be useful in COVID-19 patients with a hyperinflammatory state and should be prioritized for randomized trials in this situatio

Oral saliva swab reverse transcription PCR for Covid-19 in the paediatric population

8Pág. Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal (CISA)To evaluate the performance of oral saliva swab (OSS) reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) compared with RT-PCR and antigen rapid diagnostic test (Ag-RDT) on nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) for SARS-CoV-2 in children.The study was funded by: Project PI20/00095, from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness) and cofounded by the European Regional Development Fund, by Infanta Sofia University Hospital and Henares University Hospital Foundation for Biomedical Research and Innovation (FIIB HUIS HHEN), and by SERMAS-Fundación para la Investigación Biomédica del Hospital 12 de Octubre. EC-C is supported by the Spanish Society of Paediatrics (Asociación Española de Pediatría); Grant COVID-19 EPICO-AEP 2020. JMM is funded by SERMAS-Fundación para la Investigación Biomédica del Hospital Infanta Sofía y del Henares and by Universidad Europea de Madrid, Spain. MdlS is funded by Grant Cantera de Investigación Santander, Fundación Universidad Europea de Madrid, Spain. ED is funded by the Juan de la Cierva–Incorporación granted by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. DB-G is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation—Instituto de Salud Carlos III and Fondos FEDER by ’Contratos para la intensificación de la actividad investigadora en el Sistema Nacional de Salud, 2020 (INT20/00086)’.Peer reviewe

La erupción volcánica de La Palma y el papel de la Agencia Estatal de Meteorología

Durante la erupción del volcán de Cumbre Vieja, en la isla de La Palma en 2021, la Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET), en calidad de Servicio Nacional y Autoridad Meteorológica del Estado, prestó diferentes servicios de apoyo al Comité Científico y al Comité Asesor del Plan de Emergencias Volcánicas de Canarias (PEVOLCA). Parte de sus actividades abarcaron la vigilancia y predicción meteorológica, la monitorización y predicción del transporte del penacho volcánico, y la valoración del impacto de las emisiones de gases y cenizas de la erupción volcánica en la calidad del aire en la isla de La Palma y en la región de Canarias.Peer reviewe