Bottom-up cost modelling for bitstream services in broadband access networks

This contribution provides a definition of Bitstream Access Services and shows its importance inside the European Regulation. For this purpose a traffic model for the bitstream services is developed and a network structure for the corresponding broadband access network is determined. Additionally the contribution provides a model for a cost optimal Network planning and dimensioning and indicates a corresponding tool implementation. The cost model to be applied is exposed and applied to a network example. Additionally some problems arising for QoS differentiation in providing bitstream access services are shown and a first approach is indicated

Use of IBASPM atlas-based automatic segmentation toolbox in pathological brains: effect of template selection

Proceeding of: 2008 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record (NSS '08), Dresden, Germany, 19-25 Oct. 2008IBASPM software is an atlas-based method for automatic segmentation of brain structures, available as a freeware toolbox for the SPM package. To test the influence of the atlas when segmenting normal and pathologic brains, manual segmentation of the caudate nucleus head was compared to automatic segmentations using four different atlases: the default MNI AAL atlas; a customized atlas created from a combined sample of patients (n=20) and controls (n=18); and a customized atlas obtained separately for each group. Maximum average ratio of overlapping voxels (dice overlap) between manual and automatic segmentation was 71 o~ for controls and 52% for patients. In both groups, overlap ratios were better when using the customized atlases, instead of the standard MNI AAL atlas. Accuracy of the method was biased between left and right hemispheres, and also between groups, individual variability being higher in patients than in controls. Volumetric measurements using the customized atlases were also more accurate than using the MNI AAL atlas. Volume data were closer to manual segmentation values than dice overlap ratio (average differences ranging from 22.7°~ for MNI AAL atlas to 10.1 for customized atlas of patients and controls combined). Results suggests a low overaU performance of IBASPM as an automatic segmentation method for the head of the caudate nucleus. Because of the biases observed, the use of this method for analyzing caudate nucleus in patients presenting anatomical abnormalities should be cautiously carried out.This work is partially funded by the following projects: CD-TEAM Project, CENIT Program (Spanish Ministerio de Industria)~ FIS PI052271 (Spanish Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo)~ and Fundación Mutua Madrilen

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

PET/CT alignment for small animal scanners based on capillary detection

Proceeding of: 2008 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record (NSS '08), Dresden, Germany, 19-25 Oct. 2008Small animal PETICT devices provide anatomical and molecular imaging at the same time, enabling the joint visualization and analysis of both modalities. An accurate PET/CT alignment is required to correctly interpret these studies. A proper calibration procedure is essential for small animal imaging, since resolution is much higher than in human devices. This work presents an alignment phantom and a method that enable a reliable and replicable measurement of the geometrical relationship between PET and CT modules. The phantom can be built with laboratory materials, and is used to estimate the rigid spatial transformation that aligns both modalities. consists of three glass capillaries located in noncoplanar triangular geometry and filled with FDG, so they are easily identified in both modalities. The method is based on automatic line detection and localization of the corresponding points between the lines on both modalities, which allows calculating the rigid alignment parameters. Different geometric configurations of the phantom (i.e. different angles and distances between capillaries) were tested to assess the repeatability of the calculations. To measure the alignment precision achieved, we attached two additional sodium point sources to the phantom, which were neglected in the registration process. Our results show that the accuracy of the alignment estimation, measured as average misalignment of the Na sources, is below half the PET resolution. The alternative settings for the phantom layout did not affect this result, indicating the low dependency of the alignment calculated with the actual phantom layout. Our approach allows measuring the PETICT transformation parameters using an in-house built phantom and with low computational effort and high accuracy, demonstrating that the proposed phantom is suitable for alignment calibration of dual modality systems on a real environment.This work is partially funded by the CD-TEAM Project, CENIT Program, Spanish Ministerio de Industria, and with grants from the Ministerio de Educaci6n y Ciencia, projects TEC2007-64731 and TEC2008-06715-C02-0

Postdigital Narrative Collection (2022)

Presentamos el corpus de narrativa actual en alemán, catalán, español, francés, inglés y neerlandés, que ha sido utilizado para el estudio de características postdigitales en el marco del Proyecto de Investigación "REC-LIT. Reciclajes culturales: transliteraturas en la era postdigital" (2018-2022). Es una compilación abierta a la incorporación de obras aún no localizadas o que emerjan en la actualidad. No pretende ser, por tanto, exhaustivo, pero sí incorporar ejemplos de lo que llamamos narrativa postdigital, porque se compromete en su forma y/o contenido con la expresión de la condición postdigital en la que estamos inmersos, incluyendo también obras en las que solo algunos fragmentos o aspectos se corresponden con esta definición. Entendemos por postdigital una condición que surge ‘después de’ la ruptura que supuso la revolución digital en la década de los 90 y en torno a la primera década del siglo XXI, debido a la expansión masiva de varias tecnologías digitales. Esta condición postdigital actual está caracterizada por una presencia cotidiana de lo digital y de la computerización, por su ubicuidad (integrada en el entorno y en los sujetos), así como por la conectividad permanente y las nuevas continuidades analógico-digitales. [Véanse: Glosario (https://www.ucm.es/rec-lit_observatorio_postdigital/conceptos-clave-glosario-y-cuadernos-del-ahora) y Cuadernos del ahora: Postdigital (https://eprints.ucm.es/id/eprint/61054/)]. Por ello, los criterios de selección de las obras han seguido varias coordenadas y formas de acotación: 1) lingüística: en función de las lenguas en que trabajamos los miembros del proyecto, con la limitación que ello supone para alcanzar una escala global. 2) temporal: desde aproximadamente 2003-2006, esto es, a partir de la conectividad permanente y de la incorporación integrada y cotidiana de lo digital (por la plataformización, la masificación de redes sociales y el smartphone), con especial atención a la última década. Nos preguntamos qué no podría haber sido narrado, o no así, antes de esas fechas. De forma aislada, algunas obras de esta condición surgieron "avant la lettre" y, por ello, las hemos incluido a pesar de ser de fecha anterior. Notemos también que, en diferentes espacios, lenguas y literaturas, el proceso hacia la condición postdigital se ha llevado a cabo en momentos distintos en función de la permeabilidad tecnológica, por lo que las fechas no siempre coindicen. 3) temática, representacional y estética: obras en las que, de forma explícita o implícita, hay una presencia (o ausencia sospechosa) de tecnología y de prácticas postdigitales, sea en el contenido y su configuración, en aspectos formales o en la dimensión estética. Así buscamos huellas postdigitales en los marcos cognitivos e imaginarios que se emplean, en la concepción del espacio, de la memoria, del tiempo o del sujeto que subyacen, así como su función en la composición escénica y en la construcción narrativa. Interesan en particular aquellas que plantean una reflexión sobre lo postdigital y sus consecuencias o incluso una reflexividad tecnológica explícita. 4) calidad literaria: son obras que ofrecen respuestas a la pregunta de cómo se está narrando lo postdigital, independientemente de un posible juicio de valor literario. 5) genérica: son obras literarias (entendida la literariedad en sentido laxo) con un componente narrativo que puede ser híbrido y mezclarse con lírica o cómic. Así pues, hemos indagado en manifestaciones que, por su recepción, pudieran estarse adaptando a prácticas generalizadas en el medio postdigital dentro de la literatura infantil y juvenil, los posibles "bestsellers", las obras premiadas, las publicaciones de autores jóvenes, las obras de autores abiertamente comprometidos con la contemporaneidad tecnológica y también en el campo de la literatura electrónica para verificar si, dada su continua experimentación con las posibilidades tecnológicas, se tematizan particularmente las marcas postdigitales. Las obras de este corpus han servido, pues, de base para el estudio (cualitativo y cuantitativo) de marcas postdigitales en la narrativa contemporánea y para la configuración de una taxonomía de características postdigitales. [Véase la web del Observatorio en REC-LIT: https://www.ucm.es/rec-lit_observatorio_postdigital/]. Este estudio ha sido elaborado en el marco del Proyecto de Investigación "REC-LIT. Reciclajes culturales: transliteraturas en la era postdigital" (Referencia RTI2018-094607-B-I00) (MCI/AEI/FEDER, UE).Depto. de Didáctica de las Lenguas, Artes y Educación FísicaDepto. de Estudios Ingleses: Lingüística y LiteraturaDepto. de Estudios Románicos, Franceses, Italianos y TraducciónDepto. de Filología Alemana y Filología EslavaFac. de EducaciónFac. de FilologíaMinisterio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MICIU)unpu

Reduction of cardiac imaging tests during the COVID-19 pandemic: The case of Italy. Findings from the IAEA Non-invasive Cardiology Protocol Survey on COVID-19 (INCAPS COVID)

Background: In early 2020, COVID-19 massively hit Italy, earlier and harder than any other European country. This caused a series of strict containment measures, aimed at blocking the spread of the pandemic. Healthcare delivery was also affected when resources were diverted towards care of COVID-19 patients, including intensive care wards. Aim of the study: The aim is assessing the impact of COVID-19 on cardiac imaging in Italy, compare to the Rest of Europe (RoE) and the World (RoW). Methods: A global survey was conducted in May–June 2020 worldwide, through a questionnaire distributed online. The survey covered three periods: March and April 2020, and March 2019. Data from 52 Italian centres, a subset of the 909 participating centres from 108 countries, were analyzed. Results: In Italy, volumes decreased by 67% in March 2020, compared to March 2019, as opposed to a significantly lower decrease (p &lt; 0.001) in RoE and RoW (41% and 40%, respectively). A further decrease from March 2020 to April 2020 summed up to 76% for the North, 77% for the Centre and 86% for the South. When compared to the RoE and RoW, this further decrease from March 2020 to April 2020 in Italy was significantly less (p = 0.005), most likely reflecting the earlier effects of the containment measures in Italy, taken earlier than anywhere else in the West. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic massively hit Italy and caused a disruption of healthcare services, including cardiac imaging studies. This raises concern about the medium- and long-term consequences for the high number of patients who were denied timely diagnoses and the subsequent lifesaving therapies and procedures

International Impact of COVID-19 on the Diagnosis of Heart Disease

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has adversely affected diagnosis and treatment of noncommunicable diseases. Its effects on delivery of diagnostic care for cardiovascular disease, which remains the leading cause of death worldwide, have not been quantified. Objectives: The study sought to assess COVID-19's impact on global cardiovascular diagnostic procedural volumes and safety practices. Methods: The International Atomic Energy Agency conducted a worldwide survey assessing alterations in cardiovascular procedure volumes and safety practices resulting from COVID-19. Noninvasive and invasive cardiac testing volumes were obtained from participating sites for March and April 2020 and compared with those from March 2019. Availability of personal protective equipment and pandemic-related testing practice changes were ascertained. Results: Surveys were submitted from 909 inpatient and outpatient centers performing cardiac diagnostic procedures, in 108 countries. Procedure volumes decreased 42% from March 2019 to March 2020, and 64% from March 2019 to April 2020. Transthoracic echocardiography decreased by 59%, transesophageal echocardiography 76%, and stress tests 78%, which varied between stress modalities. Coronary angiography (invasive or computed tomography) decreased 55% (p &lt; 0.001 for each procedure). In multivariable regression, significantly greater reduction in procedures occurred for centers in countries with lower gross domestic product. Location in a low-income and lower–middle-income country was associated with an additional 22% reduction in cardiac procedures and less availability of personal protective equipment and telehealth. Conclusions: COVID-19 was associated with a significant and abrupt reduction in cardiovascular diagnostic testing across the globe, especially affecting the world's economically challenged. Further study of cardiovascular outcomes and COVID-19–related changes in care delivery is warranted

Impact of COVID-19 on Diagnostic Cardiac Procedural Volume in Oceania: The IAEA Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocol Survey on COVID-19 (INCAPS COVID)

Objectives: The INCAPS COVID Oceania study aimed to assess the impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on cardiac procedure volume provided in the Oceania region. Methods: A retrospective survey was performed comparing procedure volumes within March 2019 (pre-COVID-19) with April 2020 (during first wave of COVID-19 pandemic). Sixty-three (63) health care facilities within Oceania that perform cardiac diagnostic procedures were surveyed, including a mixture of metropolitan and regional, hospital and outpatient, public and private sites, and 846 facilities outside of Oceania. The percentage change in procedure volume was measured between March 2019 and April 2020, compared by test type and by facility. Results: In Oceania, the total cardiac diagnostic procedure volume was reduced by 52.2% from March 2019 to April 2020, compared to a reduction of 75.9% seen in the rest of the world (p&lt;0.001). Within Oceania sites, this reduction varied significantly between procedure types, but not between types of health care facility. All procedure types (other than stress cardiac magnetic resonance [CMR] and positron emission tomography [PET]) saw significant reductions in volume over this time period (p&lt;0.001). In Oceania, transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) decreased by 51.6%, transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE) by 74.0%, and stress tests by 65% overall, which was more pronounced for stress electrocardiograph (ECG) (81.8%) and stress echocardiography (76.7%) compared to stress single-photon emission computerised tomography (SPECT) (44.3%). Invasive coronary angiography decreased by 36.7% in Oceania. Conclusion: A significant reduction in cardiac diagnostic procedure volume was seen across all facility types in Oceania and was likely a function of recommendations from cardiac societies and directives from government to minimise spread of COVID-19 amongst patients and staff. Longer term evaluation is important to assess for negative patient outcomes which may relate to deferral of usual models of care within cardiology