On the Exploration of FPGAs and High-Level Synthesis Capabilities on Multi-Gigabit-per-Second Networks

Tesis doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Escuela Politécnica Superior, Departamento de Tecnología Electrónica y de las Comunicaciones. Fecha de lectura: 24-01-2020Traffic on computer networks has faced an exponential grown in recent years. Both links and communication equipment had to adapt in order to provide a minimum quality of service required for current needs. However, in recent years, a few factors have prevented commercial off-the-shelf hardware from being able to keep pace with this growth rate, consequently, some software tools are struggling to fulfill their tasks, especially at speeds higher than 10 Gbit/s. For this reason, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) have arisen as an alternative to address the most demanding tasks without the need to design an application specific integrated circuit, this is in part to their flexibility and programmability in the field. Needless to say, developing for FPGAs is well-known to be complex. Therefore, in this thesis we tackle the use of FPGAs and High-Level Synthesis (HLS) languages in the context of computer networks. We focus on the use of FPGA both in computer network monitoring application and reliable data transmission at very high-speed. On the other hand, we intend to shed light on the use of high level synthesis languages and boost FPGA applicability in the context of computer networks so as to reduce development time and design complexity. In the first part of the thesis, devoted to computer network monitoring. We take advantage of the FPGA determinism in order to implement active monitoring probes, which consist on sending a train of packets which is later used to obtain network parameters. In this case, the determinism is key to reduce the uncertainty of the measurements. The results of our experiments show that the FPGA implementations are much more accurate and more precise than the software counterpart. At the same time, the FPGA implementation is scalable in terms of network speed — 1, 10 and 100 Gbit/s. In the context of passive monitoring, we leverage the FPGA architecture to implement algorithms able to thin cyphered traffic as well as removing duplicate packets. These two algorithms straightforward in principle, but very useful to help traditional network analysis tools to cope with their task at higher network speeds. On one hand, processing cyphered traffic bring little benefits, on the other hand, processing duplicate traffic impacts negatively in the performance of the software tools. In the second part of the thesis, devoted to the TCP/IP stack. We explore the current limitations of reliable data transmission using standard software at very high-speed. Nowadays, the network is becoming an important bottleneck to fulfill current needs, in particular in data centers. What is more, in recent years the deployment of 100 Gbit/s network links has started. Consequently, there has been an increase scrutiny of how networking functionality is deployed, furthermore, a wide range of approaches are currently being explored to increase the efficiency of networks and tailor its functionality to the actual needs of the application at hand. FPGAs arise as the perfect alternative to deal with this problem. For this reason, in this thesis we develop Limago an FPGA-based open-source implementation of a TCP/IP stack operating at 100 Gbit/s for Xilinx’s FPGAs. Limago not only provides an unprecedented throughput, but also, provides a tiny latency when compared to the software implementations, at least fifteen times. Limago is a key contribution in some of the hottest topic at the moment, for instance, network-attached FPGA and in-network data processing

CA 15-3 prognostic biomarker in SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia.

The severity of lung involvement is the main prognostic factor in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Carbohydrate antigen 15-3 (CA 15-3), a marker of lung damage and fibrosis, could help predict the prognosis of SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia. This was a retrospective and observational study. CA 15-3 was analyzed in the blood samples of patients consecutively admitted for SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia and whose blood samples were available in the biobank. Other prognostic markers were also measured (interleukin 6 [IL6], C-reactive protein [CRP], D-dimer, troponin T, and NT-ProBNP). The occurrence of in-hospital complications was registered, including death, the need for medical intensive care, and oxygen therapy at discharge. In this study, 539 patients were recruited (54.9% men, mean age: 59.6 ± 16.4 years). At admission, the mean concentrations of CA 15-3 was 20.5 ± 15.8 U/mL, and the concentration was correlated with male sex, older age, and other severity markers of coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) (IL6, CRP, D-dimer, troponine T, and NT-ProBNP). CA 15-3 levels were higher in patients who died (n = 56, 10.4%) (35.33 ± 30.45 vs. 18.8 ± 12.11, p < 0.001), who required intensive medical support (n = 78, 14.4%; 31.17 ± 27.83 vs. 18.68 ± 11.83; p < 0.001), and who were discharged with supplemental oxygen (n = 64, 13.3%; 22.65 ± 14.41 vs. 18.2 ± 11.7; p = 0.011). Elevated CA 15-3 levels (above 34.5 U/mL) were a strong predictor of a complicated in-hospital course, in terms of a higher risk of death (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3.74, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.22-11.9, p = 0.022) and need for intensive care (adjusted OR 4.56, 95% CI: 1.37-15.8) after adjusting for all other risk factors. The degree of lung damage and fibrosis evaluated in terms of CA 15-3 concentrations may allow early identification of the increased risk of complications in patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia.S

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

Modeling and assessing connectivity services performance in a sandbox domain

©2020 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes,creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.The automation of Network Services (NS) consisting of virtual functions connected through a multilayer packet-over-optical network requires predictable Quality of Service (QoS) performance, measured in terms of throughput and latency, to allow making proactive decisions. QoS is typically guaranteed by overprovisioning capacity dedicated to the NS, which increases costs for customers and network operators, especially when the traffic generated by the users and/or the virtual functions highly varies over the time. This article presents the PILOT methodology for modeling the performance of connectivity services during commissioning testing in terms of throughput and latency. Benefits are double: first, an accurate per-connection model allows operators to better operate their networks and reduce the need for overprovisioning; and second, customers can tune their applications to the performance characteristics of the connectivity. PILOT runs in a sandbox domain and constructs a scenario where an efficient traffic flow simulation environment, based on the CURSA-SQ model, is used to generate large amounts of data for Machine Learning (ML) model training and validation. The simulation scenario is tuned using real measurements of the connection (including throughput and latency) obtained from a set of active probes in the operator network. PILOT has been experimentally validated on a distributed testbed connecting UPC and Telefónica premises.This work was partially supported by the EC through the METRO-HAUL (G.A. nº 761727) project, from the Spanish MINECO/FEDER TWINS (TEC2017-90097-R) and TRÁFICA (TEC2015-69417-C2-1-R) projects and from the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

"Nací el 21 en primavera..." Voci dalla poesia spagnola contemporanea III (collana "La rosa inalcanzable", 5)

Antologia poetica relativa al "Terzo Incontro Internazionale di Primavera con la Poesia Spagnola Contemporanea" svoltosi a Bari il 21 marzo 2012 all'interno del progetto "Nací el 21 en primavera...". I poeti intervenuti per l'occasione e qui antologizzati sono: Agustín Calvo Galán, Raúl Díaz Rosales, Álvaro García, Aurora Luque, José María Micó, Carlos Marzal, Francisco Ruiz Noguera. Fa parte della collana "La rosa inalcanzable" dedicata alla poesia spagnola e ispanoamericana diretta da P. Laskari

Los derechos de participación como elemento de integración de los inmigrantes

Este informe pretende ofrecer un análisis de la relación entre las diferentes formas de participación social y política de las personas inmigrantes y el proceso de integración en las sociedades de acogida. La integración política de los extranjeros está estrechamente relacionada con los actuales debates sobre la ciudadanía y la inmigración, y se ha convertido en una cuestión emergente en el debate público de la mayoría de los países europeos. Se propone, primero, una redefinición normativa de la comprensión tradicional del vínculo entre la ciudadanía y la nacionalidad. Los tres capítulos centrales abordan la experiencia reciente de España como país de inmigración. Se analizan, por un lado, los rasgos principales de la respuesta jurídica y política a este fenómeno en España, y, por otro, las diversas áreas en las que las personas inmigrantes participan en la vida pública. Tras esto, se muestra la asimetría de los regímenes internos de reconocimiento de los derechos políticos de los no nacionales mediante la comparación del estado de la cuestión en distintos países europeos. Por último, se analiza la respuesta regional de la Unión Europea al fenómeno migratorio y la política canadiense de ciudadanía e inmigración. El análisis conjunto de todas estas cuestiones sugiere la oportunidad de poner en marcha algunas reformas legales e institucionales en España con el fin de cimentar una democracia inclusiva. Provider_Name: Fundacion BBVA / BBVA Foundation

Debate on the state of the nation What is coming for Colombia in 2021?

Los colombianos hemos vivido en 2020 una de las experiencias más difíciles de nuestras vidas por cuenta de la pandemia del Covid19. Este año terminará con una contracción de la economía aproximada al 8%, más de 5 millones de empleos perdidos, la pobreza ampliando sus linderos en los hogares y una conflictividad social de alta tensión. Pero los colombianos queremos tener una mejor aproximación sobre lo que vendrá en 2021. Tenemos la esperanza de un 2021 con más oportunidades y corresponde al gobierno, a las autoridades, a los líderes, a los empresarios, generar confianza sobre lo que viene. Con este propósito la Universidad del Rosario, EL TIEMPO Casa Editorial y la Fundación Konrad Adenauer, realizaron e pasado jueves 3 de diciembre de 2020 una jornada de reflexión sobre el Estado de la Nación y lo que vendrá para los colombianos en 2021. A continuación, puede ver el evento completo, que se divide en: - Ponencia: Jóvenes y academia en 2021 (Minuto 0:27:40) / Cheyne-García, Alejandro (Rector de la Universidad del Rosario). - Panel: Una mirada de la sociedad (Minuto 0:45:55) / Tania Rosas (Emprendedora Social), Ana Karina García (Presidenta Fundación Juntos se Puede), Laura Serna (Estudiante Jurisprudencia de la Universidad del Rosario); Calos Andrés Charry (Director de la Maestría en estudios sociales de la universidad del Rosario). - Entrevista: Gobierno (Minuto 1:31:40) / Ivan Duque Márquez (Presidente de la Republica de Colombia), Roberto Pombo (Director de la casa editorial el Tiempo) - Cifras Colombia 2020-2021 (Minuto 2:22:40) / Cesar caballero (gerente general de cifras y conceptos). - Conversatorio: La responsabilidad del sector privado (2:44:28) / Adriana Guillen (Presidenta ASOCAJAS), Nayib Neme (Presidente Grupo a), Mario Hernández (Empresario), Ignacio Gaitán (Presidente INNpulsa), Alejando Cheyne Garcia (rector de la Universidad del Rosario). - Panel: Desarrollo regional (Minuto 3:35:42) / Elsa Noguera (Gobernadora del Atlántico), Aníbal Gaviria (gobernador de Antioquia), Felipe Harman (Alcalde de Villavicencio), Jairo Yañez (Alcalde de Cucuta), Edulfo peña (Director del centro nacional de dialogo de la Universidad del Rosario). - Panel: El gobierno - Ministro (4:29:47): Alicia Arango Olmos (Ministra del interior), María Victoria Angulo (Ministra de educación); Angela María Orozco (Ministra de transporte); Wilson Ruiz Orejuela (Ministro de Justicia); Saul Pineda (Viceministro de desarrollo empresarial); Andres Mompotes (Subdirector El Tiempo)Colombians have lived in 2020 one of the most difficult experiences of our lives due to the Covid19 pandemic. This year will end with a contraction of the economy of approximately 8%, more than 5 million jobs lost, poverty widening its boundaries in homes and a high tension social conflict. But Colombians want to have a better approximation of what will come in 2021. We hope for a 2021 with more opportunities and it is up to the government, the authorities, the leaders, the businessmen, to generate confidence about what is coming. For this purpose, the Universidad del Rosario, EL TIEMPO Casa Editorial and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, held on Thursday, December 3, 2020, a day of reflection on the State of the Nation and what will come for Colombians in 2021. Next, You can see the complete event, which is divided into: - Lecture: Youth and academy in 2021 (Minute 0:27:40) / Cheyne-García, Alejandro (Rector of the Universidad del Rosario). - Panel: A view of society (Minute 0:45:55) / Tania Rosas (Social Entrepreneur), Ana Karina García (President of the Together We Can Foundation), Laura Serna (Law Student of the Universidad del Rosario); Calos Andrés Charry (Director of the Master in Social Studies at the Universidad del Rosario). - Interview: Government (Minute 1:31:40) / Ivan Duque Márquez (President of the Republic of Colombia), Roberto Pombo (Director of the publishing house El Tiempo) - Figures Colombia 2020-2021 (Minute 2:22:40) / Cesar caballero (general manager of figures and concepts). - Discussion: The responsibility of the private sector (2:44:28) / Adriana Guillen (President ASOCAJAS), Nayib Neme (President Group a), Mario Hernández (Businessman), Ignacio Gaitán (President INNpulsa), Alejando Cheyne Garcia (rector of the University of Rosario). - Panel: Regional Development (Minute 3:35:42) / Elsa Noguera (Governor of the Atlantic), Aníbal Gaviria (Governor of Antioquia), Felipe Harman (Mayor of Villavicencio), Jairo Yañez (Mayor of Cucuta), Edulfo Peña (Director from the National Dialogue Center of the Universidad del Rosario). - Panel: The government - Minister (4:29:47): Alicia Arango Olmos (Minister of the Interior), María Victoria Angulo (Minister of Education); Angela María Orozco (Minister of Transport); Wilson Ruiz Orejuela (Minister of Justice); Saul Pineda (Vice Minister of Business Development); Andres Mompotes (Deputy Director El Tiempo