Optimal scheduling and fair servicepolicy for STDMA in underwater networks with acoustic communications

In this work, a multi-hop string network with a single sink node is analyzed. A periodic optimal scheduling for TDMA operation that considers the characteristic long propagation delay of the underwater acoustic channel is presented. This planning of transmissions is obtained with the help of a new geometrical method based on a 2D lattice in the space-time domain. In order to evaluate the performance of this optimal scheduling, two service policies have been compared: FIFO and Round-Robin. Simulation results, including achievable throughput, packet delay, and queue length, are shown. The network fairness has also been quantified with the Gini index

Energy-Efficient Packet Forwarding Scheme Based on Fuzzy Decision-Making in Underwater Sensor Networks

Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs) are subjected to a multitude of real-life challenges. Maintaining adequate power consumption is one of the critical ones, for obvious reasons. This includes proper energy consumption due to nodes close to and far from the sink node (gateway), which affect the overall energy efficiency of the system. These wireless sensors gather and route the data to the onshore base station through the gateway at the sea surface. However, finding an optimum and efficient path from the source node to the gateway is a challenging task. The common reasons for the loss of energy in existing routing protocols for underwater are (1) a node shut down due to battery drainage, (2) packet loss or packet collision which causes re-transmission and hence affects the performance of the system, and (3) inappropriate selection of sensor node for forwarding data. To address these issues, an energy efficient packet forwarding scheme using fuzzy logic is proposed in this work. The proposed protocol uses three metrics: number of hops to reach the gateway node, number of neighbors (in the transmission range of a node) and the distance (or its equivalent received signal strength indicator, RSSI) in a 3D UWSN architecture. In addition, the performance of the system is also tested with adaptive and non-adaptive transmission ranges and scalable number of nodes to see the impact on energy consumption and number of hops. Simulation results show that the proposed protocol performs better than other existing techniques or in terms of parameters used in this scheme

A Novel Machine Learning Based Two-Way Communication System for Deaf and Mute

first_pagesettingsOrder Article Reprints Open AccessArticle A Novel Machine Learning Based Two-Way Communication System for Deaf and Mute by Muhammad Imran Saleem 1,2,*ORCID,Atif Siddiqui 3ORCID,Shaheena Noor 4ORCID,Miguel-Angel Luque-Nieto 1,2ORCID andPablo Otero 1,2ORCID 1 Telecommunications Engineering School, University of Malaga, 29010 Malaga, Spain 2 Institute of Oceanic Engineering Research, University of Malaga, 29010 Malaga, Spain 3 Airbus Defence and Space, UK 4 Department of Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi 75300, Pakistan * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(1), 453; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13010453 Received: 12 November 2022 / Revised: 22 December 2022 / Accepted: 26 December 2022 / Published: 29 December 2022 Download Browse Figures Versions Notes Abstract Deaf and mute people are an integral part of society, and it is particularly important to provide them with a platform to be able to communicate without the need for any training or learning. These people rely on sign language, but for effective communication, it is expected that others can understand sign language. Learning sign language is a challenge for those with no impairment. Another challenge is to have a system in which hand gestures of different languages are supported. In this manuscript, a system is presented that provides communication between deaf and mute (DnM) and non-deaf and mute (NDnM). The hand gestures of DnM people are acquired and processed using deep learning, and multiple language support is achieved using supervised machine learning. The NDnM people are provided with an audio interface where the hand gestures are converted into speech and generated through the sound card interface of the computer. Speech from NDnM people is acquired using microphone input and converted into text. The system is easy to use and low cost. (...)This research has been partially funded by Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain

Optimal Fair Scheduling in S-TDMA Sensor Networks for Monitoring River Plumes

Underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) are a promising technology to provide oceanographers with environmental data in real time. Suitable network topologies to monitor estuaries are formed by strings coming together to a sink node. This network may be understood as an oriented graph. A number of MAC techniques can be used in UWSNs, but Spatial-TDMA is preferred for fixed networks. In this paper, a scheduling procedure to obtain the optimal fair frame is presented, under ideal conditions of synchronization and transmission errors. The main objective is to find the theoretical maximum throughput by overlapping the transmissions of the nodes while keeping a balanced received data rate from each sensor, regardless of its location in the network. The procedure searches for all cliques of the compatibility matrix of the network graph and solves a Multiple-Vector Bin Packing (MVBP) problem. This work addresses the optimization problem and provides analytical and numerical results for both the minimum frame length and the maximum achievable throughput

Self-Organizing and Scalable Routing Protocol (SOSRP) for Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks

Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks (UASN) have two important limitations: a very aggressive (marine) environment, and the use of acoustic signals. This means that the techniques for terrestrial wireless sensor networks (WSN) are not applicable. This paper proposes a routing protocol called “Self-Organizing and Scalable Routing Protocol” (SOSRP) which is decentralized and based on tables residing in each node. A combination of the hop value to the collector node and the distance is used as a criterion to create routes leading to the sink node. The expected functions of the protocol include self-organization of the routes, tolerance to failures and detection of isolated nodes. Through the implementation of SOSRP in Matlab and a model of propagation and energy being appropriate for marine environment, performance results are obtained in different scenarios (varying both nodes and transmission range) that include parameters such as end-to-end packet delay, consumption of energy or length of the created routes (with and without failure). The results obtained show a stable, reliable and suitable operation for the deployment and operation of nodes in UASN networks

CIBERER: Spanish national network for research on rare diseases: A highly productive collaborative initiative

13 páginas,1 figura, 3 tablas, 1 apéndice. Se extraen los autores pertenecientes a The CIBERER network que trabajan en Centros del CSIC del Appendix ACIBER (Center for Biomedical Network Research; Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red) is a public national consortium created in 2006 under the umbrella of the Spanish National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). This innovative research structure comprises 11 different specific areas dedicated to the main public health priorities in the National Health System. CIBERER, the thematic area of CIBER focused on rare diseases (RDs) currently consists of 75 research groups belonging to universities, research centers, and hospitals of the entire country. CIBERER's mission is to be a center prioritizing and favoring collaboration and cooperation between biomedical and clinical research groups, with special emphasis on the aspects of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cellular research of RDs. This research is the basis for providing new tools for the diagnosis and therapy of low-prevalence diseases, in line with the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) objectives, thus favoring translational research between the scientific environment of the laboratory and the clinical setting of health centers. In this article, we intend to review CIBERER's 15-year journey and summarize the main results obtained in terms of internationalization, scientific production, contributions toward the discovery of new therapies and novel genes associated to diseases, cooperation with patients' associations and many other topics related to RD research.This study has been funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) and Spanish Ministry of Science and InnovationPeer reviewe

CIBERER : Spanish national network for research on rare diseases: A highly productive collaborative initiative

Altres ajuts: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.CIBER (Center for Biomedical Network Research; Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red) is a public national consortium created in 2006 under the umbrella of the Spanish National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). This innovative research structure comprises 11 different specific areas dedicated to the main public health priorities in the National Health System. CIBERER, the thematic area of CIBER focused on rare diseases (RDs) currently consists of 75 research groups belonging to universities, research centers, and hospitals of the entire country. CIBERER's mission is to be a center prioritizing and favoring collaboration and cooperation between biomedical and clinical research groups, with special emphasis on the aspects of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cellular research of RDs. This research is the basis for providing new tools for the diagnosis and therapy of low-prevalence diseases, in line with the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) objectives, thus favoring translational research between the scientific environment of the laboratory and the clinical setting of health centers. In this article, we intend to review CIBERER's 15-year journey and summarize the main results obtained in terms of internationalization, scientific production, contributions toward the discovery of new therapies and novel genes associated to diseases, cooperation with patients' associations and many other topics related to RD research

Effects of hospital facilities on patient outcomes after cancer surgery: an international, prospective, observational study

Background Early death after cancer surgery is higher in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with in high-income countries, yet the impact of facility characteristics on early postoperative outcomes is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the association between hospital infrastructure, resource availability, and processes on early outcomes after cancer surgery worldwide.Methods A multimethods analysis was performed as part of the GlobalSurg 3 study-a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study of patients who had surgery for breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer. The primary outcomes were 30-day mortality and 30-day major complication rates. Potentially beneficial hospital facilities were identified by variable selection to select those associated with 30-day mortality. Adjusted outcomes were determined using generalised estimating equations to account for patient characteristics and country-income group, with population stratification by hospital.Findings Between April 1, 2018, and April 23, 2019, facility-level data were collected for 9685 patients across 238 hospitals in 66 countries (91 hospitals in 20 high-income countries; 57 hospitals in 19 upper-middle-income countries; and 90 hospitals in 27 low-income to lower-middle-income countries). The availability of five hospital facilities was inversely associated with mortality: ultrasound, CT scanner, critical care unit, opioid analgesia, and oncologist. After adjustment for case-mix and country income group, hospitals with three or fewer of these facilities (62 hospitals, 1294 patients) had higher mortality compared with those with four or five (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3.85 [95% CI 2.58-5.75]; p<0.0001), with excess mortality predominantly explained by a limited capacity to rescue following the development of major complications (63.0% vs 82.7%; OR 0.35 [0.23-0.53]; p<0.0001). Across LMICs, improvements in hospital facilities would prevent one to three deaths for every 100 patients undergoing surgery for cancer.Interpretation Hospitals with higher levels of infrastructure and resources have better outcomes after cancer surgery, independent of country income. Without urgent strengthening of hospital infrastructure and resources, the reductions in cancer-associated mortality associated with improved access will not be realised

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Correction to: Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake