Is the EU Budget Able to Support the Sustainable Development under the Global Crisis?

The present global crisis changes the expectations connected to the economic trend across the EU. Many Member States see the EU budget as an instrument able to support their individual economic recovery. This paper analyses the viability of the EU budget to do this. The approach is a critical one. The paper is divided into three parts: first of them analyses the financial framework during 2007-2013 and its weaknesses connected to lack of flexibility, lack of focus on European priorities, severe delays and input over performance.A distinct part of the analysis is focused on the EU budget 2011 as the first budget voted under the Lisbon Treaty. Even that the EU budget 2011 draft was built based on an expenditures increase of 6.2%, the real final increase was only 2.9%.At least, the paper analyses the EU budget 2012 draft which will achieve 132.7 billion Euros (4.9% greater than in 2011) and will be focused on the supporting of the European economy and the EU citizens.The main conclusion of the paper is that the EU budget is far away of being an instrument against the present global crisis. The contradictions between the Member States can be found in the EU budget structure and financial allocation.The analysis in this paper is supported by European Council, European Commission and Eurostat official documents and database, by pertinent statistical tables and diagrams

NB-IoT battery depletion via malicious interference

Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) is a popular Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology for large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) applications. The NB-IoT protocol is designed to conserve energy, so battery powered devices can have a lifetime of several years. However, the protocol design does not assume malicious interference. As we show in this paper jamming can be used to deplete the battery of NB-IoT devices reducing the lifetime from many years to several month. These attacks can be carried out without preventing data delivery entirely and are therefore hard to detect. We consider jamming focused on the initial unprotected downstream communication after a node wakes from sleep. We show that the most efficient interference can be constructed by exploiting the capture effect; the attacker can replace a subframe within the transmission from the base station to the device

Battery depletion attacks on NB-IoT devices using interference

Narrowband-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) is a relatively new Low PowerWide Area Network (LPWAN) technology used to implement large-scale IoT applications. The economic viability of most applications depends on a long battery life of deployed devices (~10 years). In this paper, we document two interference attacks on the NB-IoT communication link that lead to a battery depletion in devices. These attacks can be carried out without disruption of data delivery and are therefore hard to detect. We describe a Matlab based simulation environment that can be used to investigate interference on NB-IoT communication, and we then use this environment to study the two attacks. For example, we show that battery lifetime can be reduced from 17 years to as low as four months

Diffusion Models in Vision: A Survey

Denoising diffusion models represent a recent emerging topic in computer vision, demonstrating remarkable results in the area of generative modeling. A diffusion model is a deep generative model that is based on two stages, a forward diffusion stage and a reverse diffusion stage. In the forward diffusion stage, the input data is gradually perturbed over several steps by adding Gaussian noise. In the reverse stage, a model is tasked at recovering the original input data by learning to gradually reverse the diffusion process, step by step. Diffusion models are widely appreciated for the quality and diversity of the generated samples, despite their known computational burdens, i.e. low speeds due to the high number of steps involved during sampling. In this survey, we provide a comprehensive review of articles on denoising diffusion models applied in vision, comprising both theoretical and practical contributions in the field. First, we identify and present three generic diffusion modeling frameworks, which are based on denoising diffusion probabilistic models, noise conditioned score networks, and stochastic differential equations. We further discuss the relations between diffusion models and other deep generative models, including variational auto-encoders, generative adversarial networks, energy-based models, autoregressive models and normalizing flows. Then, we introduce a multi-perspective categorization of diffusion models applied in computer vision. Finally, we illustrate the current limitations of diffusion models and envision some interesting directions for future research.Comment: Accepted in IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence. 25 pages, 3 figure

Neuroendocrine tumours of the ampulla of Vater: clinico-pathological features, surgical approach and assessment of prognosis

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Neuroendocrine tumours occur very rarely in the ampulla of Vater and their clinical behaviour is unknown. The aim of this study is to assess the clinico-pathological features, surgical approach and prognosis of these patients. METHODS: Six patients with neuroendocrine tumours of the ampulla of Vater treated with curative intent surgery at a single centre were retrospectively analysed. A univariate analysis of potential prognostic factors was also performed (data provided from the present study and literature review). RESULTS: Pancreaticoduodenectomy was curative in all the patients. Overall and disease-free survival rates were significantly better for G1/G2 tumours (p = 0.006 and p = 0.004, respectively). Although frequent, lymph node metastases did not influenced both overall (p = 0.760) and disease-free survival rates (p = 0.745). No significant differences of survival were observed in patients with ENETS stage I/II disease, as compared to ENETS stage III disease (p = 0.169 and p = 0.137, respectively). No differences were observed according to UICC staging system (p = 0.073 and p = 0.177, respectively). Tumours that are less than 2 cm or limited to the ampulla appear to have a better prognosis. CONCLUSION: The WHO 2010 classification appear to accurately predict patient prognosis, while the ENETS or UICC staging systems have a limited value (especially in regard to lymph node metastases). Radical surgery (i.e. pancreaticoduodenectomy with lymphadenectomy) should be the standard approach in most patients with NET of the ampulla of Vater because this procedure removes all the potential tumour-bearing tissue

When myocardial infarction is choosing young victims

We present the case of a 31-year-old patient, without cardiovascular risk factors, without significant pathological or family history of cardiovascular disease, who was diagnosed with severe coronary artery disease, left main bifurcation localization, which required surgical coronary revascularization. The angiographic and intraoperative aspect excluded the most common causes of non-atherosclerotic causes of coronary lesions. Vasculitis was another possible etiology but was also excluded based on the normal clinical examination, negative inflammation markers, lack of diffuse vascular impairment, TPHA and negative VDRL. Prolonged mental stress can lead to accelerated progression of atherosclerosis by inducing endothelial dysfunction, our patient describing a “burnout syndrome” in the last few months. The particularity of the presented case is the severe coronary artery disease in a young patient without discovering the main etiology of the advanced atherosclerotic process

Spontaneous resolution and the role of endoscopic surgery in the treatment of primary obstructive megaureter: a review of the literature

The megaureter accounts for almost a quarter of all urinary tract dilations diagnosed in utero and is the second leading cause of hydronephrosis in newborns, following pyeloureteral junction obstruction. The current standard treatment for progressive or persistent, symptomatic primary obstructive megaureter is ureteral anti-reflux reimplantation, which can be associated with ureteral remodeling or plication. Due to the associated morbidity, postoperative recovery challenges, and the complications that may arise from the open surgical approach, there has been a natural inclination towards validating new minimally invasive techniques. This study reviews the literature, extracting data from three major international databases, from 1998 to 2022. Out of 1172 initially identified articles, only 52 were deemed eligible, analyzing 1764 patients and 1981 renal units. Results show that 65% of cases required surgical intervention, with minimally invasive techniques constituting 56% of these procedures. High-pressure endoscopic balloon dilation was the preferred endourologic technique. The degree of ureterohydronephrosis is considered one of the factors indicating the need for surgery. There is an inverse relationship between the diameter of the ureter and the likelihood of spontaneous resolution. Conditions such as renal hypoplasia, renal dysplasia, or ectopic ureteral insertion strongly indicate a poor prognosis. Endoscopic surgical techniques for treating primary obstructive megaureter can be definitive, firstline treatment options. In selected cases, they might be at least as effective and safe as the open approach, but with advantages like quicker recovery, fewer complications, shorter hospital stays, and reduced costs