Novel heuristics for cell radius determination in WCDMA systems and their application to strategic planning studies

We propose and compare three novel heuristics for the calculation of the optimal cell radius in mobile networks based on Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) technology. The proposed heuristics solve the problem of the load assignment and cellular radius calculation. We have tested our approaches with experiments in multiservices scenarios showing that the proposed heuristics maximize the cell radius, providing the optimum load factor assignment. The main application of these algorithms is strategic planning studies, where an estimation of the number of Nodes B of the mobile operator, at a national level, is required for economic analysis. In this case due to the large number of different scenarios considered (cities, towns, and open areas) other methods than simulation need to be considered. As far as we know, there is no other similar method in the literature and therefore these heuristics may represent a novelty in strategic network planning studies. The proposed heuristics are implemented in a strategic planning software tool and an example of their application for a case in Spain is presented. The proposed heuristics are used for telecommunications regulatory studies in several countries

Efecto del forraje y la adición de taninos condensados sobre la composición en ácidos grasos de la leche y de la carne de corderos lechales

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Determination of tocopherol and carotenoid contents in ST muscle of suckling lambs using fresh or lyophilised muscle: poster

A percentage of lamb consumers demand meat from grass-fed animals, however, they want guarantees of the animal’s diet. Carotenoids can be used to trace forage-feeding but the analysis is expensive. Lyophilisation might reduce the time and quantities of reactives used in carotenoids and tocopherols analyses.The authors gratefully acknowledge the staff of the CITA Research Centre for technical support. Research funded by INIA-ERDF (RZP 2012-02, RTA 2012-00080)Publishe

Thermal dependence of the current in TiN/Ti/HfO2/W memristors at different intermediate conduction states

Producción CientíficaThe dependence of the current in TiN/Ti/HfO2/W devices on the temperature is investigated in the range from 78 K to 340 K. Resistive switching cycles at 78 K are conducted to explore the thermal dependence in filament configurations with different intermediate resistance states. The less conductive states show an increase of the current as the temperature rises, while the fully formed filament displays a metallic-like behavior. A comprehensive model, based on the Stanford Model including a series resistance, is proposed and successfully validated by experimental data. The interplay between the ohmic and non-linear components in the model for different filament states is analyzed, emphasizing the dominance of the non-linear component (and its corresponding thermal dependence) in partially formed filaments and the prevalence of the ohmic component in the fully formed filament, which shows a decreasing current as the temperature rises. A complete compact model for simulation of circuits including the thermal dependence of these devices is developed.PID2022-139586NB-C42, PID2022- 139586NB-C43, PID2022-139586NB-C44 funded by MICIU/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and FEDER, UE. IMB authors thank the CSIC funding through project 20225AT012 and the Generalitat de Catalunya- AGAUR for project 2021 SGR 00497. M.B.G. acknowledges the grant RYC2020-030150-I funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ESF Investing in your future

Trend di ospedalizzazione nell’asma dell’adulto: effetto di età e genere

Background: Hospital admissions due to asthma are a reliable source of information on the morbidity of the disease which, after the increase observed in the last quarter of the last century, shows a declining trend in the last few years. The aim of this study was to look at hospital admission trends due to asthma in our community and analyze some of its associated factors. Methods: Retrospective analysis of all hospital admissions involving adults aged 15 years and older with asthma as the primary or secondary diagnosis (if the first diagnosis was respiratory failure or respiratory infection) in Public Health Service hospitals in the Galician region of Spain between the years 1995-2009 (total 24,766 admissions). Results: The majority of patients admitted were female (71%), over 60 years of age (64%), and admission occurred predominantly in the winter months. The hospitalization rate due to asthma tripled over the period studied, this being mainly accounted for by women aged over 60 years. Mean hospital stay was 9.2 days, longer in older patients or those admitted over the weekend. Conclusions: A significant increase in hospital admissions due to asthma over the last few years has been observed in our community, mainly involving older women. The mean stay seems long, increasing with patients' age and admission over the weekend.Razionale: I ricoveri ospedalieri dovuti ad asma sono una fonte d’informazione attendibile sulla morbilità della patologia che, dopo un incremento osservato nell’ultimo quarto del secolo scorso, è in fase di declino negli ultimi anni. Scopo di questo studio era descrivere i trend di ospedalizzazione per asma nella nostra comunità ed analizzare alcuni dei fattori associati. Metodi: Analisi retrospettiva di tutte le ospedalizzazioni di adulti dai 15 anni in su per asma come diagnosi primaria, o come diagnosi secondaria in caso la prima diagnosi fosse insufficienza respiratoria o un’infezione respiratoria, in ospedali pubblici della regione Galizia della Spagna tra gli anni 1995 e 2009 (totale dei ricoveri: 24.766). Risultati: La maggioranza dei pazienti ricoverati erano femmine (71%), di età superiore a 60 anni (64%) e la maggior parte degli accessi avveniva nella stagione invernale. Il tasso di ospedalizzazione per asma è triplicato nel periodo studiato, soprattutto per le donne di età superiore a 60 anni. La durata media del ricovero era di 9,2 giorni, più prolungata nei pazienti più anziani ed in coloro che erano ricoverati nel fine settimana. Conclusioni: Un significativo incremento delle ospedalizzazioni per asma negli ultimi anni è stato osservato nella nostra comunità, soprattutto a carico delle donne più anziane. La durata media del ricovero appare lunga ed aumenta con l’età del paziente e nei ricoveri del fine settimana.S

Study of TiN/Ti/HfO2/W resistive switching devices: characterization and modeling of the set and reset transitions using an external capacitor discharge

Producción CientíficaIn this work, we have studied the control of set and the reset transitions in TiN/Ti/HfO2/W resistive switching devices using a new approach based on the injection of a limited amount of charge through the use of a capacitor discharge. Instead of applying conventional voltage or current signals, the capacitor discharge through the devices is able to perform both transitions. An accumulative process is observed if we apply consecutive discharges, and, when increasing the capacitor voltage in each discharge, the transitions between both resistance states are completed. In addition, it has been shown that faster transitions require larger capacitor voltages. Further, the electrical results were used to tune the dynamic memdiode model, which was employed to simulate set and reset processes driven by the capacitor discharges. The model successfully reproduced the measured memristor response to the capacitor discharge.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades y programa FEDER (proyectos TEC2017-84321-C4-1-R, TEC2017-84321-C4-2-R, TEC2017-84321-C4-3-R y TEC2017-84321-C4-4-R

Prehospital point-of-care lactate increases the prognostic accuracy of national early warning score 2 for early risk stratification of mortality: results of a multicenter, observational study

The objective of this study was to assess whether the use of prehospital lactate (pLA) can increase the prognostic accuracy of the National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS2) to detect the risk of death within 48 h. A prospective, multicenter study in adults treated consecutively by the emergency medical services (EMS) included six advanced life support (ALS) services and five hospitals. Patients were assigned to one of four groups according to their risk of mortality (low, low-medium, medium, and high), as determined by the NEWS2 score. For each group, the validity of pLA in our cohort was assessed by the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. In this study, 3081 participants with a median age of 69 years (Interquartile range (IQR): 54–81) were included. The two-day mortality was 4.4% (137 cases). The scale derived from the implementation of the pLA improved the capacity of the NEWS2 to discriminate low risk of mortality, with an AUC of 0.910 (95% CI: 0.87–0.94; p < 0.001). The risk stratification provided by the NEWS2 can be improved by incorporating pLA measurement to more accurately predict the risk of mortality in patients with low risk.Fil: Martín Rodríguez, Francisco. Universidad de Valladolid; España. Emergency Medical Services; EspañaFil: López Izquierdo, Raul. Hospital Universitario Rio Hortega; EspañaFil: Delgado Benito, Juan F.. Emergency Medical Services; EspañaFil: Sanz García, Ancor. Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. Hospital Universitario de la Princesa; EspañaFil: Pozo Vegas, Carlos del. Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valladolid; EspañaFil: Castro Villamor, Miguel Ángel. Universidad de Valladolid; EspañaFil: Martín Conty, José Luis. Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha; EspañaFil: Ortega, Guillermo José. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. Hospital Universitario de la Princesa; Españ

Association between blood eosinophil count with asthma hospital readmissions

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published in European Journal of Internal Medicine on 2018, available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejim.2018.02.034Introduction: The presence of eosinophils in asthma inflammation is a relevant factor in the pathophysiology of the disease, however the relationship between the blood eosinophil count (BEC) with asthma severity and prognosis is still under debate. The aim of this work is to analyze the relationship between the BEC levels and hospital readmissions in patients with asthma. Material and methods: A review was retrospectively carried out on all admissions of patients over 18 years old due to exacerbation of asthma occurring in our hospital between the years 2000 and 2010. The personal characteristics and the asthma personal history of each patient were recorded. The BEC was determined from the first blood sample taken from the patient after their arrival at the hospital. Hospital early, late and frequent readmissions were analyzed using 4 cut-off points; less than 150 eosinophils/μL vs ≥150/μL, less than 200 vs 200 /μL, less than 300 vs ≥300/μL, and less than 400 vs ≥400/μL. Results: We have included 1316 patients, 70% of whom are women, as well as a mean age of 60 years, and a mean FEV1 of 73.5% of the reference value. The mean eosinophil blood count was 201.7 cells/μL. A BEC ≥300 cells/μL showed a reduction of risk of late readmission of 42%, a BEC ≥400 cells/μL showed a reduction in late readmission risk of 41% and decrease in frequent late readmission of 63%. Conclusions: Our study appears to support that an elevated BEC is associated with a lower incidence of asthma hospital readmissions.S

Assessment of pavement deflection under vehicle loads using a 3D-DIC system in the field

This study aims to introduce the use of 3D-digital image correlation (DIC) to the in situ testing of pavements and to support the development of techniques for a rapid evaluation of the conservation status of existing roads. Little research was found on this topic. The passage of a car wheel on an asphalt pavement was adopted as a case study. The DIC measurements were compared to those gathered by contact sensors. From a qualitative point of view, the DIC measurements captured the realistic shape of a deflection basin. From a quantitative point of view, the deflection values provided by the DIC system had a mean error of 0.015 mm and a standard deviation of 0.011 mm. At the moment of highest load, these errors had a mean value and standard deviation of − 0.016 mm and 0.021 mm, respectively. Thus, to improve the accuracy of the system, we propose modifying the camera support, speckle pattern, and control of natural lightWe thank Extraco S.A. for allowing us to perform the test on their company facilities. This work was supported by the Strategic Researcher Cluster BioReDes funded by the Xunta de Galicia (Regional Government of Galicia) under project ref. ED431E 2018/09 and by the Xunta de Galicia under the grant “Financial aid for the consolidation and structure of competitive units of investigation in the universities of the University Galician System (2020-22)” under project ref. ED341B 2016/30. This work was also made possible due to the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI), since Dr. Bastos was contracted in the frame of the postdoctoral grant Juan de la Cierva – Formación (FJC2019-039743-I/AEI/10.13039/501100011033)S