Providing femto access points (FAPs) with computational capabilities will allow (either total or partial) off-loading of highly demanding applications from smartphones to the so-called femto-cloud. ...Such off-loading promises to be beneficial in terms of battery savings at the mobile terminal (MT) and/or in latency reduction in the execution of applications. However, for this promise to become a reality, the energy and/or the time required for the communication process must be compensated by the energy and/or the time savings that result from the remote computation at the FAPs. For this problem, we provide in this paper a framework for the joint optimization of the radio and computational resource usage exploiting the tradeoff between energy consumption and latency. Multiple antennas are assumed to be available at the MT and the serving FAP. As a result of the optimization, the optimal communication strategy (e.g., transmission power, rate, and precoder) is obtained, as well as the optimal distribution of the computational load between the handset and the serving FAP. This paper also establishes the conditions under which total or no off-loading is optimal, determines which is the minimum affordable latency in the execution of the application, and analyzes, as a particular case, the minimization of the total consumed energy without latency constraints.
•We propose a new optimization problem for scheduling flexible resources to meet distribution system operator requests.•We included loads, generators and batteries as flexibility resources.•The ...optimization problem minimizes the SESP operation cost.•We perform a case study to validate the work presented.•We perform a test in the laboratory platform.
The increasing penetration of distributed energy resources in the distribution grid is producing an ever-heightening interest in the use of the flexibility on offer by said distributed resources as an enhancement for the distribution grid operator. This paper proposes an optimization problem which enables satisfaction of distribution system operator requests on flexibility. This is a decision-making problem for a new aggregator type called Smart Energy Service Provider (SESP) to schedule flexible energy resources. This aggregator operates a local electricity market with high penetration of distributed energy resources. The optimization operation problem of SESP is formulated as an MILP problem and its performance has been tested by means of the simulation of test cases in a local market. The novel problem has also been validated in a microgrid laboratory with emulated loads and generation units. The performed tests produced positive results and proved the effectiveness of the proposed solution.
Despite growing evidence that bariatric/metabolic surgery powerfully improves type 2 diabetes (T2D), existing diabetes treatment algorithms do not include surgical options.
The 2nd Diabetes Surgery ...Summit (DSS-II), an international consensus conference, was convened in collaboration with leading diabetes organizations to develop global guidelines to inform clinicians and policymakers about benefits and limitations of metabolic surgery for T2D.
A multidisciplinary group of 48 international clinicians/scholars (75% nonsurgeons), including representatives of leading diabetes organizations, participated in DSS-II. After evidence appraisal (MEDLINE 1 January 2005-30 September 2015), three rounds of Delphi-like questionnaires were used to measure consensus for 32 data-based conclusions. These drafts were presented at the combined DSS-II and 3rd World Congress on Interventional Therapies for Type 2 Diabetes (London, U.K., 28-30 September 2015), where they were open to public comment by other professionals and amended face-to-face by the Expert Committee.
Given its role in metabolic regulation, the gastrointestinal tract constitutes a meaningful target to manage T2D. Numerous randomized clinical trials, albeit mostly short/midterm, demonstrate that metabolic surgery achieves excellent glycemic control and reduces cardiovascular risk factors. On the basis of such evidence, metabolic surgery should be recommended to treat T2D in patients with class III obesity (BMI ≥40 kg/m(2)) and in those with class II obesity (BMI 35.0-39.9 kg/m(2)) when hyperglycemia is inadequately controlled by lifestyle and optimal medical therapy. Surgery should also be considered for patients with T2D and BMI 30.0-34.9 kg/m(2) if hyperglycemia is inadequately controlled despite optimal treatment with either oral or injectable medications. These BMI thresholds should be reduced by 2.5 kg/m(2) for Asian patients.
Although additional studies are needed to further demonstrate long-term benefits, there is sufficient clinical and mechanistic evidence to support inclusion of metabolic surgery among antidiabetes interventions for people with T2D and obesity. To date, the DSS-II guidelines have been formally endorsed by 45 worldwide medical and scientific societies. Health care regulators should introduce appropriate reimbursement policies.
To identify the rates and the predictors of long-term remission and the recurrence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGBP) or sleeve gastrectomy (SG).
The durability ...of the improvement of T2DM after bariatric surgery is not well characterized.
One hundred fifty-three subjects with T2DM (RYGBP: n = 98; SG: n = 55) were evaluated for remission and recurrence of the disease throughout 35.4 ± 13.5 months' follow-up. The type of surgery, demographic, anthropometric, and biochemical parameters were ascertained as predictors of T2DM outcomes. Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) responses after a standard mixed liquid meal were compared between patients presenting with T2DM remission after RYGBP or SG.
75.2% of subjects presented with remission of T2DM lasting at least 12 months. However, in 12.1% of subjects, T2DM recurred. Regression analysis showed a longer duration of T2DM (P = 0.006), a higher presurgical glycated hemoglobin level (P = 0.019), insulin treatment at baseline (P = 0.001), and a lower excess weight loss at last follow-up visit (P < 0.001) as independent predictors for the lack of T2DM remission. Insulin use before surgery (P = 0.005), an older age (P = 0.05), and weight regain after remission (P = 0.021) predicted recurrence of the disease. Long-term remission of T2DM after SG or RYGBP was associated with a comparably enlarged GLP-1 response to a standard mixed liquid meal challenge.
Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and SG are associated with comparable remission rates of T2DM. However, insufficient weight loss or weight regain in those with a more advanced disease may hamper the benefits of these surgical techniques on T2DM.
This study aimed to analyse the trajectories and mortality of multimorbidity patterns in patients aged 65 to 99 years in Catalonia (Spain). Five year (2012-2016) data of 916,619 participants from a ...primary care, population-based electronic health record database (Information System for Research in Primary Care, SIDIAP) were included in this retrospective cohort study. Individual longitudinal trajectories were modelled with a Hidden Markov Model across multimorbidity patterns. We computed the mortality hazard using Cox regression models to estimate survival in multimorbidity patterns. Ten multimorbidity patterns were originally identified and two more states (death and drop-outs) were subsequently added. At baseline, the most frequent cluster was the Non-Specific Pattern (42%), and the least frequent the Multisystem Pattern (1.6%). Most participants stayed in the same cluster over the 5 year follow-up period, from 92.1% in the Nervous, Musculoskeletal pattern to 59.2% in the Cardio-Circulatory and Renal pattern. The highest mortality rates were observed for patterns that included cardio-circulatory diseases: Cardio-Circulatory and Renal (37.1%); Nervous, Digestive and Circulatory (31.8%); and Cardio-Circulatory, Mental, Respiratory and Genitourinary (28.8%). This study demonstrates the feasibility of characterizing multimorbidity patterns along time. Multimorbidity trajectories were generally stable, although changes in specific multimorbidity patterns were observed. The Hidden Markov Model is useful for modelling transitions across multimorbidity patterns and mortality risk. Our findings suggest that health interventions targeting specific multimorbidity patterns may reduce mortality in patients with multimorbidity.
Optical microscopy techniques for plant inspection benefit from the fact that at least one of the multiple properties of light (intensity, phase, wavelength, polarization) may be modified by vegetal ...tissues. Paradoxically, polarimetric microscopy although being a mature technique in biophotonics, is not so commonly used in botany. Importantly, only specific polarimetric observables, as birefringence or dichroism, have some presence in botany studies, and other relevant metrics, as those based on depolarization, are underused. We present a versatile method, based on a representative selection of polarimetric observables, to obtain and to analyse images of plants which bring significant information about their structure and/or the spatial organization of their constituents (cells, organelles, among other structures). We provide a thorough analysis of polarimetric microscopy images of sections of plant leaves which are compared with those obtained by other commonly used microscopy techniques in plant biology. Our results show the interest of polarimetric microscopy for plant inspection, as it is non-destructive technique, highly competitive in economical and time consumption, and providing advantages compared to standard non-polarizing techniques.
A new species of the genus Prionotropis Fieber, 1853 is described from Catalonia (Northeast of the Iberian Peninsula). Prionotropis xausi n. sp. was collected in a steppic calcareous grassland with ...low shrubs and scattered rocks, dominated by Buxus, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, Thymus and Poa species. P. xausi n. sp. is characterized by the pronotum in dorsal view narrow and in lateral view with the principal transverse sulcus between prozona and metazona clearly incised. Females squamipterous with the tegmina extending at most to the end of second abdominal segment. Males sub-brachypterous with the tegmina reaching the 5th abdominal tergite and the epiproct visible. Inside hind femora at the base to the middle part and inside hind tibia red. Phallic complex with the epiphallus more long than wide with short posterior edge and the penis valves long. This new species is compared to the similar species P. rhodanica Uvarov, 1923 , P. azami Uvarov, 1923 and P. hystrix (Germar, 1817) and to the species presents in Catalonia P. flexuosa (Serville, 1838) and P. ancosae Olmo-Vidal, 2017. P. xausi is the species of the genus Prionotropis with the smallest males.
Fire is a major agent involved in landscape transformation and an indirect cause of changes in species composition. Responses to fire may vary greatly depending on life histories and functional ...traits of species. We have examined the taxonomic and functional responses to fire of eight taxonomic animal groups displaying a gradient of dietary and mobility patterns: Gastropoda, Heteroptera, Formicidae, Coleoptera, Araneae, Orthoptera, Reptilia and Aves. The fieldwork was conducted in a Mediterranean protected area on 3 sites (one unburnt and two burnt with different postfire management practices) with five replicates per site. We collected information from 4606 specimens from 274 animal species. Similarity in species composition and abundance between areas was measured by the Bray-Curtis index and ANOSIM, and comparisons between animal and plant responses by Mantel tests. We analyze whether groups with the highest percentage of omnivorous species, these species being more generalist in their dietary habits, show weak responses to fire (i.e. more similarity between burnt and unburnt areas), and independent responses to changes in vegetation. We also explore how mobility, i.e. dispersal ability, influences responses to fire. Our results demonstrate that differences in species composition and abundance between burnt and unburnt areas differed among groups. We found a tendency towards presenting lower differences between areas for groups with higher percentages of omnivorous species. Moreover, taxa with a higher percentage of omnivorous species had significantly more independent responses of changes in vegetation. High- (e.g. Aves) and low-mobility (e.g. Gastropoda) groups had the strongest responses to fire (higher R scores of the ANOSIM); however, we failed to find a significant general pattern with all the groups according to their mobility. Our results partially support the idea that functional traits underlie the response of organisms to environmental changes caused by fire.
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