398 research outputs found
Augmented In-Band Telemetry to the User Equipment for beyond 5G Converged Packet-Optical Networks
Traffic monitoring through in-band telemetry is extended up to the User Equipment (UE), providing accurate e2e latency measurement. The UE becomes aware of its experienced service performance, enabling autonomous operations for faster automatic source-based Edge-Cloud steering
Challenges and Requirements for Introducing Impairment-awareness into the Management and Control Planes of ASON/GMPLS WDM Networks
The absence of electrical regenerators in transparent WDM networks significantly contributes to reduce the overall network cost. In transparent WDM networks, a proper resource allocation requires that the presence of physical impairments in Routing and Wavelength Assignment (RWA) and lightpath provisioning be taken into account. In this article a centralized, a hybrid centralized-distributed and two distributed approaches that integrate information about most relevant physical impairments in RWA and
lightpath provisioning are presented and assessed. Both centralized and hybrid approaches perform a centralized path computation at the management-plane level, utilizing physical
impairment information, while the lightpath provisioning is done by the management plane or the control plane, respectively. The distributed approaches fall entirely within the scope of the
ASON/GMPLS control plane. For these two approaches, we provide functional requirements, architectural functional blocks, and protocol extensions for implementing either an impairment-aware real-time RWA, or a lighpath provisioning based on impairment-aware signaling
Lattice strain accommodation and absence of pre-transition phases in NiMnIn
The stoichiometric NiMnIn Heusler alloy transforms from
a stable ferromagnetic austenitic ground state to an incommensurate modulated
martensitic ground state with a progressive replacement of In with Mn without
any pre-transition phases. The absence of pre-transition phases like strain
glass in NiMnIn alloys is explained to be the ability
of the ferromagnetic cubic structure to accommodate the lattice strain caused
by atomic size differences of In and Mn atoms. Beyond the critical value of
= 8.75, the alloys undergo martensitic transformation despite the formation of
ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic clusters and the appearance of a super spin
glass state.Comment: Appearing in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matte
Usefulness of an Intrapartum Ultrasound Simulator (IUSimâ„¢) for Midwife Training: Results from an RCT
Introduction: We conducted a randomized study to determine whether a training session on a dedicated simulator (IUSim™) would facilitate the midwives in learning the technique of transperineal intrapartum ultrasound. Methods: Following a 30-min multimedia presentation including images and videos on how to obtain and measure the angle of progression (AoP) and the head-perineum distance (HPD), 6 midwives with no prior experience in intrapartum ultrasound were randomly split into 2 groups: 3 of them were assigned to the "training group"and 3 to the "control group."The midwives belonging to the former group were taught to measure the 2 sonographic parameters during a 3-h practical session conducted on IUSim™ under the supervision of an expert obstetrician. In the following 3 months, all the 6 midwives were asked to independently perform transperineal ultrasound during their clinical practice and to measure on the acquired images either the AoP or the HPD. The sonographic images were examined in blind by the teaching obstetrician who assigned a 0-3 score to the image quality (IQS) and to the measurement quality (MQS). Results: A total of 48 ultrasound images (24 patients) from 5 midwives were acquired and included in the study analysis. A midwife of the "training group"declined participation after the practical session. Independently from the randomization group, the image quality score (IQS + MQS) was significantly higher for the HPD compared with the AoP (2.5 ± 0.66 vs. 1.79 ± 1.14; p = 0.01). In the training group, the MQS of either AoP (2.66 ± 0.5 vs.1.46 ± 1.45. p = 0.038) and the HPD (2.9 ± 0.33 vs. 1.87 ± 0.83 p = 0.002) was significantly higher in comparison with the control group, while the IQS of both measurements was comparable between the 2 groups (1.91 ± 1.24 vs. 2.25 ± 0.865; p = 0.28). Conclusion: The use of a dedicated simulator may facilitate the midwives in learning how to measure the AoP and the HPD on transperineal ultrasound images
Direct comparison of B-Type Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) and amino-terminal proBNP in a large population of patients with chronic and symptomatic heart failure: the Valsartan Heart Failure (Val-HeFT) data
Background: The B-type or brain natriuretic peptides
(BNP) and the amino-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide
(NT-proBNP) are good markers of prognosis and
diagnosis in chronic heart failure (HF). It is unclear,
however, whether differences in their biological characteristics
modify their clinical correlates and prognostic
performance in HF. This work aimed to provide a direct
comparison of the prognostic value of BNP and NTproBNP
in patients with chronic and stable HF.
Methods: We measured BNP and NT-proBNP at baseline
in 3916 patients enrolled in the Valsartan Heart
Failure Trial. To identify the variables associated with
both peptides, we conducted simple and multivariable
linear regression analyses. We used Cox multivariable
regression models to evaluate the independent prognostic
value for all-cause mortality, mortality and morbidity,
and hospitalization for HF. Prognostic performance
was assessed by pairwise comparisons of the area under
the curve of receiver-operator characteristic curves.
Results: NT-proBNP and BNP had similar relationships
with age, left ventrical ejection fraction, and internal
diameter and creatinine clearance. Either peptide
ranked as the first independent predictor of outcome
after adjustment for major confounding clinical characteristics.
ROC curves were almost superimposable for
all-cause mortality (area under the curve (SE): BNP
0.665 (0.011) vs NT-proBNP 0.679 (0.011); P 0.0734), but
NT-proBNP was superior to BNP for predicting mortality
and morbidity (P 0.032) or hospitalization for HF
(P 0.0143). Overall sensitivity and specificity ranged
from 0.590 to 0.696.
Conclusions: The natriuretic peptides BNP and NTproBNP
showed subtle differences in their relation to
clinical characteristics and prognostic performance in a
large population of patients with chronic and stable HF.
They were the most powerful independent markers of
outcome in HF
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