Study and design of an interface for remote audio processing

This project focused on the study and design of an interface for remote audio processing, with the objective of acquiring by filtering, biasing, and amplifying an analog signal before digitizing it by means of two MCP3208 ADCs to achieve a 24-bit resolution signal. The resulting digital signal was then transmitted to a Raspberry Pi using SPI protocol, where it was processed by a Flask server that could be accessed from both local and remote networks. The design of the PCB was a critical component of the project, as it had to accommodate various components and ensure accurate signal acquisition and transmission. The PCB design was created using KiCad software, which allowed for the precise placement and routing of all components. A major challenge in the design of the interface was to ensure that the analog signal was not distorted during acquisition and amplification. This was achieved through careful selection of amplifier components and using high-pass and low-pass filters to remove any unwanted noise. Once the analog signal was acquired and digitized, the resulting digital signal was transmitted to the Raspberry Pi using SPI protocol. The Raspberry Pi acted as the host for a Flask server, which could be accessed from local and remote networks using a web browser. The Flask server allowed for the processing of the digital signal and provided a user interface for controlling the gain and filtering parameters of the analog signal. This enabled the user to adjust the signal parameters to suit their specific requirements, making the interface highly flexible and adaptable to a variety of audio processing applications. The final interface was capable of remote audio processing, making it highly useful in scenarios where the audio signal needed to be acquired and processed in a location separate from the user. For example, it could be used in a recording studio, where the audio signal from the microphone could be remotely processed using the interface. The gain and filtering parameters could be adjusted in real-time, allowing the sound engineer to fine-tune the audio signal to produce the desired recording. In conclusion, the project demonstrated the feasibility and potential benefits of using a remote audio processing system for various applications. The design of the PCB, selection of components, and use of the Flask server enabled the creation of an interface that was highly flexible, accurate, and adaptable to a variety of audio processing requirements. Overall, the project represents a significant step forward in the field of remote audio processing, with the potential to benefit many different applications in the future

Table_3_A Polygenic Risk Score Based on a Cardioembolic Stroke Multitrait Analysis Improves a Clinical Prediction Model for This Stroke Subtype.DOCX

[Background] Occult atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the major causes of embolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS). Knowing the underlying etiology of an ESUS will reduce stroke recurrence and/or unnecessary use of anticoagulants. Understanding cardioembolic strokes (CES), whose main cause is AF, will provide tools to select patients who would benefit from anticoagulants among those with ESUS or AF. We aimed to discover novel loci associated with CES and create a polygenetic risk score (PRS) for a more efficient CES risk stratification.[Methods] Multitrait analysis of GWAS (MTAG) was performed with MEGASTROKE-CES cohort (n = 362,661) and AF cohort (n = 1,030,836). We considered significant variants and replicated those variants with MTAG p-value < 5 × 10−8 influencing both traits (GWAS-pairwise) with a p-value < 0.05 in the original GWAS and in an independent cohort (n = 9,105). The PRS was created with PRSice-2 and evaluated in the independent cohort.[Results] We found and replicated eleven loci associated with CES. Eight were novel loci. Seven of them had been previously associated with AF, namely, CAV1, ESR2, GORAB, IGF1R, NEURL1, WIPF1, and ZEB2. KIAA1755 locus had never been associated with CES/AF, leading its index variant to a missense change (R1045W). The PRS generated has been significantly associated with CES improving discrimination and patient reclassification of a model with age, sex, and hypertension.[Conclusion] The loci found significantly associated with CES in the MTAG, together with the creation of a PRS that improves the predictive clinical models of CES, might help guide future clinical trials of anticoagulant therapy in patients with ESUS or AF.Peer reviewe

Treatment with tocilizumab or corticosteroids for COVID-19 patients with hyperinflammatory state: a multicentre cohort study (SAM-COVID-19)

Objectives: The objective of this study was to estimate the association between tocilizumab or corticosteroids and the risk of intubation or death in patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) with a hyperinflammatory state according to clinical and laboratory parameters. Methods: A cohort study was performed in 60 Spanish hospitals including 778 patients with COVID-19 and clinical and laboratory data indicative of a hyperinflammatory state. Treatment was mainly with tocilizumab, an intermediate-high dose of corticosteroids (IHDC), a pulse dose of corticosteroids (PDC), combination therapy, or no treatment. Primary outcome was intubation or death; follow-up was 21 days. Propensity score-adjusted estimations using Cox regression (logistic regression if needed) were calculated. Propensity scores were used as confounders, matching variables and for the inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTWs). Results: In all, 88, 117, 78 and 151 patients treated with tocilizumab, IHDC, PDC, and combination therapy, respectively, were compared with 344 untreated patients. The primary endpoint occurred in 10 (11.4%), 27 (23.1%), 12 (15.4%), 40 (25.6%) and 69 (21.1%), respectively. The IPTW-based hazard ratios (odds ratio for combination therapy) for the primary endpoint were 0.32 (95%CI 0.22-0.47; p < 0.001) for tocilizumab, 0.82 (0.71-1.30; p 0.82) for IHDC, 0.61 (0.43-0.86; p 0.006) for PDC, and 1.17 (0.86-1.58; p 0.30) for combination therapy. Other applications of the propensity score provided similar results, but were not significant for PDC. Tocilizumab was also associated with lower hazard of death alone in IPTW analysis (0.07; 0.02-0.17; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Tocilizumab might be useful in COVID-19 patients with a hyperinflammatory state and should be prioritized for randomized trials in this situatio

Efecto de los antimaláricos sobre los diferentes dominios del índice de daño SLICC en pacientes de la cohorte GLADEL

Objetivos: estimar el efecto de los antimaláricos (AM) sobre los diferentes dominios del índice de daño SLICC (SDI). Métodos: se estudiaron pacientes con diagnóstico clínico reciente (≤2 años) de lupus eritematoso sistémico (LES) de la cohorte GLADEL

Use of Radial Basis Functions and Rough Sets for Evolutionary Multi-Objective Optimization

Abstract — This paper presents a new multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA) which adopts a radial basis function (RBF) approach in order to reduce the number of fitness function evaluations performed to reach the Pareto front. The specific method adopted is derived from a comparative study conducted among several RBFs. In all cases, the NSGA-II (which is an approach representative of the state-of-the-art in the area) is adopted as our search engine with which the RBFs are hybridized. The resulting algorithm can produce very reasonable approximations of the true Pareto front with a very low number of evaluations, but is not able to spread solutions in an appropriate manner. This led us to introduce a second stage to the algorithm in which it is hybridized with rough sets theory in order to improve the spread of solutions. Rough sets, in this case, act as a local search approach which is able to generate solutions in the neighborhood of the few nondominated solutions previously generated. We show that our proposed hybrid approach only requires 2,000 fitness function evaluations in order to solve test problems with up to 30 decision variables. This is a very low value when compared with today’s standards reported in the specialized literature. I

Red ACONMAT: Trabajo colaborativo entre docentes de asignaturas de dos ramas de la construcción: materialidad y acondicionamiento

En la red ACONMAT se desarrolla una línea de trabajo colaborativo entre las asignaturas de Acondicionamiento y Materiales de los grados de Arquitectura impartidas desde el Departamento de Construcciones Arquitectónicas de la Universidad de Alicante. El objetivo que plantea la red liga de forma más completa estas dos asignaturas, que tratan temas por separado en la formación de los estudiantes y compartiendo numerosos elementos comunes. La metodología docente que se ha probado en ambas asignaturas se enmarca dentro del Aprendizaje Basado en Proyectos (ABP). Para preparar la puesta en marcha de este método se han realizado reuniones de los docentes con el fin de elaborar propuestas comunes que coordinen y unifiquen las prácticas de ambas asignaturas. Para validar la propuesta se establecieron los indicadores que debían ser valorados por los estudiantes, estos indicadores permiten medir el grado de progreso hacia los objetivos del proyecto. Posteriormente, se han diseñado y elaborado encuestas para obtener los datos de estos indicadores y, por último, se ha realizado el análisis estadístico de los datos. Los resultados obtenidos del estudio ponen de manifiesto el avance que supone la propuesta innovación docente del proyecto ACONMAT (red ICE 2017-2018 número 4270)

Induction of Morphological and Electrophysiological Changes in Hamster Cornea after In Vitro Interaction with Trophozoites of Acanthamoeba spp.

Acanthamoeba castellani and Acanthamoeba polyphaga are free-living amebae that cause keratitis and granulomatous encephalitis in humans. We have analyzed the early morphological and electrophysiological changes occurring during the in vitro interaction of cultured amebae with intact or physically damaged corneas obtained from hamsters. Both species of Acanthamoeba produced similar cytopathic changes, as seen by light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. After adhesion to the epithelial surface, trophozoites formed clumps and migrated toward the cell borders, causing the separation of adjacent cells at 1 h of coculture. At later stages (2 to 4 h), some amebae were found under desquamating epithelial cells whereas others were seen associated with damaged cells or forming amebostome-like structures to ingest detached epithelial cells. Control corneas incubated in culture medium conditioned with amebae showed a cytoplasmic vacuolization and blurring of the epithelial-stromal junction. The early stages of corneal epithelial damage caused by amebae were also analyzed by measuring the transepithelial resistance changes in corneas mounted in Ussing chambers. Both species of Acanthamoeba caused a rapid decrease in electrical resistance. The present observations demonstrate that under in vitro conditions, Acanthamoeba trophozoites rapidly cause significant damage to the corneal epithelium. Furthermore, in our experimental model, previous physical damage to the corneas was not a prerequisite for the development of amebic corneal ulcerations

Red ACONMAT: Trabajo colaborativo entre docentes de asignaturas de dos ramas de la construcción: materialidad y acondicionamiento

En la red ACONMAT se desarrolla una línea de trabajo colaborativo entre las asignaturas de Acondicionamiento y Materiales de los grados de Arquitectura impartidas desde el Departamento de Construcciones Arquitectónicas de la Universidad de Alicante. El objetivo que plantea la red liga de forma más completa estas dos asignaturas, que tratan temas por separado en la formación de los estudiantes y compartiendo numerosos elementos comunes. La metodología docente que se ha probado en ambas asignaturas se enmarca dentro del Aprendizaje Basado en Proyectos (ABP). Para preparar la puesta en marcha de este método se han realizado reuniones de los docentes con el fin de elaborar propuestas comunes que coordinen y unifiquen las prácticas de ambas asignaturas. Para validar la propuesta se establecieron los indicadores que debían ser valorados por los estudiantes, estos indicadores permiten medir el grado de progreso hacia los objetivos del proyecto. Posteriormente, se han diseñado y elaborado encuestas para obtener los datos de estos indicadores y, por último, se ha realizado el análisis estadístico de los datos. Los resultados obtenidos del estudio ponen de manifiesto el avance que supone la propuesta innovación docente del proyecto ACONMAT (red ICE 2017-2018 número 4270)

Reconsidering the Use of Population Health Surveys for Monitoring of Mental Health

Monitoring of the mental health status of the population and assessment of its determinants are 2 of the most relevant pillars of public mental health, and data from population health surveys could be instrumental to support them. Although these surveys could be an important and suitable resource for these purposes, due to different limitations and challenges, they are often relegated to the background behind other data sources, such as electronic health records. These limitations and challenges include those related to measurement properties and cross-cultural validity of the tools used for the assessment of mental disorders, their degree of representativeness, and possible difficulties in the linkage with other data sources. Successfully addressing these limitations could significantly increase the potential of health surveys in the monitoring of mental disorders and ultimately maximize the impact of the relevant policies to reduce their burden at the population level. The widespread use of data from population health surveys, ideally linked to electronic health records data, would enhance the quality of the information available for research, public mental health decision-making, and ultimately addressing the growing burden of mental disorders

Reseñas de Libros

<div>Aragüés, Juan Manuel, Líneas de fuga. Filosofía contra la sociedad idota. Madrid, Fundación de Investigaciones Marxistas, 2002, 172 pp.</div><div><br /></div><div>Páginas 183-184</div><div><br /></div><div>Alejandro Estrella González</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Arroyo Martín, José Víctor, La Banca en España en el período de entreguerras, 1920-1935. Un modelo de modernización y crecimiento. Bilbao, Archivo Histórico BBVA, 2003, 303 pp.</div><div><br /></div><div>Páginas 184-186</div><div><br /></div><div>José Víctor Arroyo Martín</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Buriano Castro, Ana (ed.), Tras la Memoria. El Asilo Diplomático en Tiempos de la Operación Cóndor. México D.F., Instituto Mora, Instituto de Cultura de la Ciudad de México, 2000, 291 pp.</div><div><br /></div><div>Páginas 186-188</div><div><br /></div><div>Jesús Fernández García</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Cuenca Toribio, José Manuel, Conversaciones con Alfonso Armada: el 23F. Madrid, Actas, 2001, 254 pp.</div><div><br /></div><div>Páginas 188-190</div><div><br /></div><div>David Molina Rabadán</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Hijano del Río, Manuel; Ruiz Romero, Manuel, Documentos para la historia de la autonomía andaluza (1882-1982). Málaga, Sarriá, 2001, 650 pp.</div><div><br /></div><div>Páginas 190-192</div><div><br /></div><div>Carlos Alberto Chernichero Díaz</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Irujo, José María, La lista negra. Los espías nazis protegidos por Franco y la Iglesia. Madrid, Aguilar, 2003, 2ª ed., 254 pp.</div><div><br /></div><div>Páginas 192-194</div><div><br /></div><div>Julio Pérez Serrano</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Nye, Joseph S., La paradoja del poder norteamericano. Madrid, Taurus, 2003, 303 pp.</div><div><br /></div><div>Páginas 195-196</div><div><br /></div><div>Marcela Iglesias Onofrio</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Popovich, Pavel (ed.), Orbits of peace and progress. Moscú, Mir Publishers, 1988, 304 pp.</div><div><br /></div><div>Páginas 196-199</div><div><br /></div><div>Rafael Gómez Sánchez</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Rodríguez Jiménez, José Luis, Los esclavos españoles de Hitler. Barcelona, Planeta, 2002, 321 pp.</div><div><br /></div><div>Páginas 199-201</div><div><br /></div><div>Gonzalo Ruiz Bidón</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Rufin, Jean-Christophe, Globalia. Paris, Editions Gallimard, 2003, 495 pp.</div><div><br /></div><div>Páginas 201-203</div><div><br /></div><div>Jean Marie Izquierdo</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Santacreu Soler, José Miguel; García Andreu, Mariano, La transició democràtica al País Valencià. Simat de la Valldigna, La Xara Edicions, 2002, 158 pp.</div><div><br /></div><div>Páginas 203-204</div><div><br /></div><div>Helena Ruiz Conde</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Stiglitz, Joseph E., El malestar en la globalización. Madrid, Suma de Letras, 2003, 471 pp.</div><div><br /></div><div>Páginas 205-206</div><div><br /></div><div>Alfonso Galindo Lucas</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Torres Villanueva, Eugenio (ed.), Los 100 Empresarios Españoles del siglo XX. Madrid, Lid Editorial Empresarial, 2000, 659 pp.</div><div><br /></div><div>Páginas 206-209</div><div><br /></div><div>Jesús Romero González</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Wulff Alonso, Fernando; Álvarez Martí-Aguilar, Manuel (eds.), Antigüedad y franquismo (1936-1975). Málaga, CEDMA, 2003, 309 pp.</div><div><br /></div><div>Páginas 209-211</div><div><br /></div><div>Alejandro Román Antequera</div