Holistic System Design for Distributed National eHealth Services

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Identification of Risk Factors Associated with Obesity and Overweight - A Machine Learning Overview

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Statistical Explorations and Univariate Timeseries Analysis on COVID-19 Datasets to Understand the Trend of Disease Spreading and Death

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Efficient Autonomous Navigation for Planetary Rovers with Limited Resources

Rovers operating on Mars are in need of more and more autonomous features to ful ll their challenging mission requirements. However, the inherent constraints of space systems make the implementation of complex algorithms an expensive and difficult task. In this paper we propose a control architecture for autonomous navigation. Efficient implementations of autonomous features are built on top of the current ExoMars navigation method, enhancing the safety and traversing capabilities of the rover. These features allow the rover to detect and avoid hazards and perform long traverses by following a roughly safe path planned by operators on ground. The control architecture implementing the proposed navigation mode has been tested during a field test campaign on a planetary analogue terrain. The experiments evaluated the proposed approach, autonomously completing two long traverses while avoiding hazards. The approach only relies on the optical Localization Cameras stereobench, a sensor that is found in all rovers launched so far, and potentially allows for computationally inexpensive long-range autonomous navigation in terrains of medium difficulty

Remote service usage through SIP with multimedia access as a use case

The IP Multimedia Subsystem is under deployment, as an IP-based service control and access infrastructure, but how it interconnects with residential appliances is currently unclear. With IMS access for the residential appliances they can be used as both service consumers and service providers. In this paper we present a protocol which allows residential services to be remotely invoked, through the IMS, and consumed in a different network, along with a prototype implementation and early results. With our protocol services of two distinct service protocol systems can cooperate

Digital interventions on healthy lifestyle management: Systematic review

Background: Digital interventions have tremendous potential to improve well-being and health care conveyance by improving adequacy, proficiency, availability, and personalization. They have gained acknowledgment in interventions for the management of a healthy lifestyle. Therefore, we are reviewing existing conceptual frameworks, digital intervention approaches, and associated methods to identify the impact of digital intervention on adopting a healthier lifestyle. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the impact of digital interventions on weight management in maintaining a healthy lifestyle (eg, regular physical activity, healthy habits, and proper dietary patterns). Methods: We conducted a systematic literature review to search the scientific databases (Nature, SpringerLink, Elsevier, IEEE Xplore, and PubMed) that included digital interventions on healthy lifestyle, focusing on preventing obesity and being overweight as a prime objective. Peer-reviewed articles published between 2015 and 2020 were included. We used the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines and a framework for an evidence-based systematic review. Furthermore, we improved the review process by adopting the Rayyan tool and the Scale for the Assessment of Narrative Review Articles. Results: Our initial searches identified 780 potential studies through electronic and manual searches; however, 107 articles in the final stage were cited following the specified inclusion and exclusion criteria. The identified methods for a successful digital intervention to promote a healthy lifestyle are self-monitoring, self-motivation, goal setting, personalized feedback, participant engagement, psychological empowerment, persuasion, digital literacy, efficacy, and credibility. In this study, we identified existing conceptual frameworks for digital interventions, different approaches to provide digital interventions, associated methods, and execution challenges and their impact on the promotion of healthy lifestyle management. Conclusions: This systematic literature review selected intervention principles (rules), theories, design features, ways to determine efficient interventions, and weaknesses in healthy lifestyle management from established digital intervention approaches. The results help us understand how digital interventions influence lifestyle management and overcome the existing shortcomings. It serves as a basis for further research with a focus on designing, developing, testing, and evaluating the generation of personalized lifestyle recommendations as a part of digital health interventions.publishedVersio

SFTSDH: Applying Spring Security Framework with TSD-Based OAuth2 to Protect Microservice Architecture APIs

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) combines medical devices and applications that use network technologies to connect healthcare information systems (HIS). IoMT is reforming the medical industry by adopting information and communication technologies (ICTs). Identity verification, secure collection, and exchange of medical data are essential in health applications. In this study, we implemented a hybrid security solution to secure the collection and management of personal health data using Spring Framework (SF), Services for Sensitive Data (TSD) as a service platform, and Hyper-Text-Transfer-Protocol (HTTP (H)) security methods. The adopted solution (SFTSDH = SF + TSD + H) instigated the following security features: identity brokering, OAuth2, multifactor authentication, and access control to protect the Microservices Architecture Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), following the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Moreover, we extended the adopted security solution to develop a digital infrastructure to facilitate the research and innovation work in the electronic health (eHealth) section, focusing on solution validation with theoretical evaluation and experimental testing. We used a web engineering security methodology to achieve and explain the adopted security solution. As a case study, we designed and implemented electronic coaching (eCoaching) prototype system and deployed the same in the developed infrastructure to securely record and share personal health data. Furthermore, we compared the test results with related studies qualitatively for the efficient evaluation of the implemented security solution. The SFTSDH implementation and configuration in the prototype system have effectively secured the eCoach APIs from an attack in all the considered scenarios. The eCoach prototype with the SFTSDH solution effectively sustained a load of (≈) 1000 concurrent users in the developed digital health infrastructure. In addition, we performed a qualitative comparison among the following security solutions: SF security, third-party security, and SFTSDH, where SFTSDH showed a promising outcome.publishedVersio

Competing ParA suctures space bacterial plasmids equally over the nucleoid

Low copy number plasmids in bacteria require segregation for stable inheritance through cell division. This is often achieved by a parABC locus, comprising an ATPase ParA, DNA-binding protein ParB and a parC region, encoding ParB-binding sites. These minimal components space plasmids equally over the nucleoid, yet the underlying mechanism is not understood. Here we investigate a model where ParA-ATP can dynamically associate to the nucleoid and is hydrolyzed by plasmid-associated ParB, thereby creating nucleoid-bound, self-organizing ParA concentration gradients. We show mathematically that differences between competing ParA concentrations on either side of a plasmid can specify regular plasmid positioning. Such positioning can be achieved regardless of the exact mechanism of plasmid movement, including plasmid diffusion with ParA-mediated immobilization or directed plasmid motion induced by ParB/parC-stimulated ParA structure disassembly. However, we find experimentally that parABC from Escherichia coli plasmid pB171 increases plasmid mobility, inconsistent with diffusion/immobilization. Instead our observations favor directed plasmid motion. Our model predicts less oscillatory ParA dynamics than previously believed, a prediction we verify experimentally. We also show that ParA localization and plasmid positioning depend on the underlying nucleoid morphology, indicating that the chromosomal architecture constrains ParA structure formation. Our directed motion model unifies previously contradictory models for plasmid segregation and provides a robust mechanistic basis for self-organized plasmid spacing that may be widely applicable

Sea-ice drag as a function of deformation and ice cover: Effects on simulated sea ice and ocean circulation in the Arctic

Many state-of-the-art coupled sea ice-ocean models use atmospheric and oceanic drag coefficients that are at best a function of the atmospheric stability but otherwise constant in time and space. Constant drag coefficients might lead to an incorrect representation of the ice-air and ice-ocean momentum exchange, since observations of turbulent fluxes imply high variability of drag coefficients. We compare three model runs, two with constant drag coefficients and one with drag coefficients varying as function of sea-ice characteristics. The computed drag coefficients range between 0.88 ×10−3 and 4.68 ×10−3 for the atmosphere, and between 1.28 ×10−3 and 13.68 ×10−3 for the ocean. They fall in the range of observed drag coefficients and illustrate the interplay of ice deformation and ice concentration in different seasons and regions. The introduction of variable drag coefficients improves the realism of the model simulation. In addition, using the average values of the variable drag coefficients improves simulations with constant drag coefficients. When drag coefficients depend on sea-ice characteristics, the average sea-ice drift speed in the Arctic basin increases from 6.22 cm s−1 to 6.64 cm s−1. This leads to a reduction of ice thickness in the entire Arctic and particularly in the Lincoln Sea with a mean value decreasing from 7.86 m to 6.62 m. Variable drag coefficients lead also to a deeper mixed layer in summer and to changes in surface salinity. Surface temperatures in the ocean are also affected by variable drag coefficients with differences of up to 0.06 °C in the East Siberian Sea. Small effects are visible in the ocean interio

Human Coaching Methodologies for Automatic Electronic Coaching (eCoaching) as Behavioral Interventions with Information and Communication Technology: Systematic Review

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