Physics and society : the medical physics profession and its contribution to healthcare

Physicists have been actively involved in the development of healthcare for over a hundred years. However the medical physics profession as an organized profession is relatively young and less familiar than the other healthcare professions. Even among university and pre-university mainstream physics educators little is known about the precise responsibilities of the role. We describe and discuss the function of the profession based on a review of the literature and a document analysis of the policy statements of the European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics. We hope that in this way physics educators would be in a better position to encourage more young physicists to grasp the opportunities offered by this highly challenging and rapidly expanding profession.peer-reviewe

Multicell Power Supplies for Improved Energy Efficiency in the Information and Communications Technology Infrastructures

The rapid growth of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector requires additional infrastructure, such as more micro-datacenters and telecom stations, to support the higher internet speeds and low latency requirements of 5G networks. The increased power requirements of the new ICT technologies necessitate the proposal of new power supplies, in an attempt to support the increase in energy demand and running costs. This work provides an in-depth theoretical analysis on the losses of the individual stages of commercially available PSU and proposes a new multicell PSU, the buck PFC converter, which offers a higher overall efficiency at varying load levels. The theoretical results are verified using simulation results, via a PSIM Thermal Module, and using experimental data. The results indicate that multicell structures can improve the overall PSU efficiency by 1.2% at 50% rated power and more than 2.1% at full power. Finally, taking into consideration the economic implications of this study, it is shown that the proposed multicell structure may increase the PSU costs by 10.78%, but the payback period is in the order of just 3.3 years

GameUp: Exergames for mobility – a project to keep elderly active

A big challenge for Europe is the demographic shift towards an aging population. Resources in the health care sector are limited, so it is important that the seniors of tomorrow will be able to stay healthy and manage themselves as long as possible, preferably also with a good quality of life. Physical activity is very important both for mobility and for the general well-being, but it can be hard to find motivation to exercise alone at home. Also in rehabilitation there is a need for a more engaging approach than a sheet of paper describing exercises that should be performed. In the GameUp project we developed fun and motivational exergames particularly targeting elderly in a user centred approach. Physiotherapists ensured that the movements and exercises were good for flexibility, leg strength and balance. In addition to seven Kinect games, a walking app and a professional portal were developed. The Kinect games can be played in several levels, and those who are at risk of falling are able to play while seated. The professional portal ensures that the results of the project also can be used as a tool in rehabilitation. Test results from 20 elderly aged 65-95 as well as clinical trials of adherence to the exercises are encouraging, and the international and multidisciplinary team behind the project is now looking for ways to commercialize the project outcomes

DICOM for EIT

With EIT starting to be used in routine clinical practice [1], it important that the clinically relevant information is portable between hospital data management systems. DICOM formats are widely used clinically and cover many imaging modalities, though not specifically EIT. We describe how existing DICOM specifications, can be repurposed as an interim solution, and basis from which a consensus EIT DICOM ‘Supplement’ (an extension to the standard) can be writte

XIV Mediterranean Conference on Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing

This volume presents the proceedings of Medicon 2016, held in Paphos, Cyprus. Medicon 2016 is the XIV in the series of regional meetings of the International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE) in the Mediterranean. The goal of Medicon 2016 is to provide updated information on the state of the art on Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing under the main theme “Systems Medicine for the Delivery of Better Healthcare Services”. Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing cover complementary disciplines that hold great promise for the advancement of research and development in complex medical and biological systems. Research and development in these areas are impacting the science and technology by advancing fundamental concepts in translational medicine, by helping us understand human physiology and function at multiple levels, by improving tools and techniques for the detection, prevention and treatment of disease. Medicon 2016 provides a common platform for the cross fertilization of ideas, and to help shape knowledge and scientific achievements by bridging complementary disciplines into an interactive and attractive forum under the special theme of the conference that is Systems Medicine for the Delivery of Better Healthcare Services. The programme consists of some 290 invited and submitted papers on new developments around the Conference theme, presented in 3 plenary sessions, 29 parallel scientific sessions and 12 special sessions

Turning weakness into strength - A feasibility analysis and comparison of datacenter deployment in hot and cold climates

Datacenters are major components of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) responsible for storing, processing and transmitting enormous amounts of data every second. The significance and importance of datacenters in the world economy can be identified from studies which report that in 2023, datacenter infrastructures consumed a total of 4 % of global electricity and contributed 3–5% of global carbon emissions, whereas between the years of 2017–2021, datacenters added $2.1 trillion to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP). A big portion of energy supplied in datacenters is consumed by the required cooling systems hence companies do not favor developments in hot climate countries. However, due to environmental and climate change concerns along with the steep increase of energy production costs in recent years made the industry look for alternatives. This work includes an in-depth feasibility and comparative study of datacenter construction and operation in hot and cold European countries and addresses the environmental impact of photovoltaics integration in the electrical supply system. The study considers cost parameters (land, operating expenses, photovoltaic system, etc.), the net present cost and levelized cost of energy which are different for each European country under investigation. Furthermore, for every country under consideration, the PV generation was simulated using the PVsyst software which includes multiple meteorological databases, whereas the feasibility analysis was simulated using the HOMER Pro software which integrates components, resources and economic calculations. An elaborate analysis of the results knocks down the common belief that datacenters have lower operational and running expenses in cold climates because of lower cooling requirements. On the contrary, this study shows that hot climates with high solar radiation levels may favor the operation of datacenters by providing 45 % higher green energy and 35 % lower CO2 emissions, whereas the cooling cost is only 5 % higher. In addition, the break-even period for the photovoltaic system in Southern European countries with hot climates is 3–4 times faster