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Polarization anisotropy of luminescent properties of europium (III) ions in low-symmetry C2 sites is studied using monoclinic (sp. gr. C2/c) tungstate crystal KY(WO4)2. The 5D0 → 7FJ (where J = 0...6) transitions are characterized for the principal light polarizations. Polarization selection rules for the magnetic dipole 5D0 → 7F1 transition are presented. The stimulated-emission cross-sections for Eu3+ ions relevant for laser operation are determined.

With the increasing use of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for computer vision and other artificial intelligence tasks, the need arises to interpret their predictions. In this work, we tackle the problem of explaining CNN misclassification of images. We propose to construct adversarial examples that allow identifying the regions of the input images that had the largest impact on the CNN wrong predictions. More specifically, for each image that was incorrectly classified by the CNN, we implemented an inverted adversarial attack consisting on modifying the input image as little as possible so that it becomes correctly classified. The changes made to the image to fix classification errors explain the causes of misclassification and allow adjusting the model and the data set to obtain more accurate models. We present two methods, of which the first one employs the gradients from the CNN itself to create the adversarial examples and is meant for model developers. However, end users only have access to the CNN model as a black box. Our second method is intended for end users and employs a surrogate model to estimate the gradients of the original CNN model, which are then used to create the adversarial examples. In our experiments, the first method achieved 99.67% success rate at finding the misclassification explanations and needed on average 1.96 queries per misclassified image to build the corresponding adversarial example. The second method achieved 73.08% success rate at finding the explanations with 8.73 queries per image on average.

© 2020 IOP Publishing Ltd. In this work, we report novel methods to produce SERS encoded nanoparticles (SEPs). Either as single nanoparticles (NPs) or as more complex core-satellites structures. Single NPs are produced in an easy and fast one-pot approach which, are further use as building blocks to produce the core-satellite SEPs. The presented protocols are very versatile allowing the NPs SERS codification with an extensive variety of Raman codes. Moreover, this protocol can be applied to different NPs materials and shapes. Furthermore, the core-satellite SEPs are designed to exhibit minimal interparticle distances (

© Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd. Transparent glass-ceramics of magnesium aluminum silicate system based on nanosized MgAl2O4 spinel crystals nucleated by TiO2 and doped with Fe2O3 were developed. Their structure and spectroscopic properties were studied. The glass-ceramics are important as reference samples in development of saturable absorbers in the short-wave infrared spectral range (2-3 μm).

© 2020 IOP Publishing Ltd. In this work, we report novel methods to produce SERS encoded nanoparticles (SEPs). Either as single nanoparticles (NPs) or as more complex core-satellites structures. Single NPs are produced in an easy and fast one-pot approach which, are further use as building blocks to produce the core-satellite SEPs. The presented protocols are very versatile allowing the NPs SERS codification with an extensive variety of Raman codes. Moreover, this protocol can be applied to different NPs materials and shapes. Furthermore, the core-satellite SEPs are designed to exhibit minimal interparticle distances (

© Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd. Transparent glass-ceramics of magnesium aluminum silicate system based on nanosized MgAl2O4 spinel crystals nucleated by TiO2 and doped with Fe2O3 were developed. Their structure and spectroscopic properties were studied. The glass-ceramics are important as reference samples in development of saturable absorbers in the short-wave infrared spectral range (2-3 μm).

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019. In hospital intensive care units (ICU), patients are under continuous evaluation. One of the purposes of this evaluation is to determine the expected number of days to discharge. This value is important to manage ICUs. Some studies show that health care professionals are good at predicting short-term discharge times, but not as good at long-term predictions. Machine learning methods can achieve 1.79-day average prediction error. We performed a study on 3,787 patient-days in the ICU of the Hospital Joan XXIII (Spain) to obtain a data-driven model to predict the discharge time of ICU patients, in a daily basis. Our model, which is based on random forest technology, obtained an error of 1.34 days. We studied the progression of the model as more data are available and predicted that the number of instances required to reduce the error below one day is 4,745. When we trained the model with all the available data, we obtained a mean error of less than half a day with a coefficient of determination (R2) above 97% in their predictions on either ICU survivors and not survivors. Similar results were obtained differentiating by patients’ gender and age, confirming our approach as a good means to achieve optimal performance when more data will be available.

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019. In hospital intensive care units (ICU), patients are under continuous evaluation. One of the purposes of this evaluation is to determine the expected number of days to discharge. This value is important to manage ICUs. Some studies show that health care professionals are good at predicting short-term discharge times, but not as good at long-term predictions. Machine learning methods can achieve 1.79-day average prediction error. We performed a study on 3,787 patient-days in the ICU of the Hospital Joan XXIII (Spain) to obtain a data-driven model to predict the discharge time of ICU patients, in a daily basis. Our model, which is based on random forest technology, obtained an error of 1.34 days. We studied the progression of the model as more data are available and predicted that the number of instances required to reduce the error below one day is 4,745. When we trained the model with all the available data, we obtained a mean error of less than half a day with a coefficient of determination (R2) above 97% in their predictions on either ICU survivors and not survivors. Similar results were obtained differentiating by patients’ gender and age, confirming our approach as a good means to achieve optimal performance when more data will be available.

BACKGROUND: Self-injurious behaviour (SIB) is a prevalent form of challenging behaviour in people with intellectual developmental disorders (IDD). Existing research has yielded conflicting findings concerning the major risk factors involved, and in addition, SIB shows multiple topographies and presentations. Although presence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and severity of intellectual disability (ID) are known risk factors for SIB, there are no studies comparing SIB topographies by severity degrees of ID and ASD. The purpose of the present paper has been to identify risk factors and topographies for SIB in a representative, stratified and randomised sample of adults with IDD. METHOD: This study was conducted on the basis of data collected by the POMONA-ESP project, in a sample of 833 adults with IDD. Data concerning demographic and health information, ASD symptoms, psychopathology and ID, have been analysed to determine the presence of risk factors for SIB among participants and to explore the occurrence and topographies of SIB across different severity levels of ID and ASD symptoms. RESULTS: Self-injurious behaviour prevalence in the sample was 16.2%. Younger age, oral pain, greater severity of ID, presence of dual diagnosis, psychiatric medication intake and higher scores on Childhood Autism Rating Scale were risk factors for SIB among participants, whereas number of areas with functioning limitations, place of residence, diagnosis of epilepsy and sex were not. SIB was more frequent in participants with ASD symptoms regardless of its severity level, and they displayed a higher number of different topographies of SIB. People with profound ID without co-morbid ASD symptoms showed similar results concerning SIB prevalence and topographies. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge on risk factors and topographies of SIB might play a vital role in the development of prevention strategies and management of SIB in people with IDD. The mere presence of ASD symptoms, regardless of its severity level, can be a crucial factor to be taken into account in assessing SIB. Accordingly, the presence of SIB in people with ID, especially when presented with a varied number of topographies, might provide guidance on ASD differential diagnosis.

© 2018 SPIE. The recent advances in the development of Holmium monoclinic double tungstate thin-disk lasers are reviewed. The thin-disk is based on a 250-μm-thick 3 at. % Ho:KY(WO4)2active layer grown on a (010)-oriented KY(WO4)2substrate. When pumped by a Tm-fiber laser at 1960 nm with a single-bounce pump geometry, the continuous-wave Ho:KY(WO4)2thin-disk laser generates an output power of 1.01 W at 2057 nm corresponding to a slope efficiency η of 60% and a laser threshold of only 0.15 W. The thin-disk laser is passively Q-switched with a GaSb-based quantum-well semiconductor saturable absorber mirror. In this regime, it generates an average output power of 0.551 W at ∼2056 nm with η = 44%. The best pulse characteristics are 4.1 μJ/201 ns at a repetition rate of 135 kHz. The laser performance, beam quality and thermo-optic aberrations of such lasers are strongly affected by the Ho3+doping concentration. For the 3 at.% Ho3+-doped thin-disk, the thermal lens is negative (the sensitivity factors for the two principal meridional planes are-1.7 and-0.6 m-1/W) and astigmatic. The Ho:KY(WO4)2epitaxial structures are promising as active elements in mode-locked thin-disk lasers at ∼2060 nm.

Applied technologies to health systems have been noticed as a required tool to reduce the reappearance rate of certain illnesses, to identify groups of risk or to involve the patient in the care of his own health. Taking in consideration the fact that in the North Santander Department the occurrence of the outbreak of illnesses transmitted by the vector Aedes aegypti shows intense increase since its re-emergency in 2014, with the presence of several manifestations, one of the most likely solutions to prevent the illness, is the epidemiologic surveillance alongside the strategic prevention/control of the vector. In this context, this project was developed with the purpose of characterize patients by the building of a knowledge database for digital health that allows to create an architecture to integrate, analyze and structure the historical data according to the detected cases, in order to collect the information from the direct field, store it and process it, to present reports and knowledge models with the right indicators that allow to look out often the symptoms and to control the increase of such epidemies.

© 2018 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd Background: Self-injurious behaviour (SIB) is a prevalent form of challenging behaviour in people with intellectual developmental disorders (IDD). Existing research has yielded conflicting findings concerning the major risk factors involved, and in addition, SIB shows multiple topographies and presentations. Although presence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and severity of intellectual disability (ID) are known risk factors for SIB, there are no studies comparing SIB topographies by severity degrees of ID and ASD. The purpose of the present paper has been to identify risk factors and topographies for SIB in a representative, stratified and randomised sample of adults with IDD. Method: This study was conducted on the basis of data collected by the POMONA-ESP project, in a sample of 833 adults with IDD. Data concerning demographic and health information, ASD symptoms, psychopathology and ID, have been analysed to determine the presence of risk factors for SIB among participants and to explore the occurrence and topographies of SIB across different severity levels of ID and ASD symptoms. Results: Self-injurious behaviour prevalence in the sample was 16.2%. Younger age, oral pain, greater severity of ID, presence of dual diagnosis, psychiatric medication intake and higher scores on Childhood Autism Rating Scale were risk factors for SIB among participants, whereas number of areas with functioning limitations, place of residence, diagnosis of epilepsy and sex were not. SIB was more frequent in participants with ASD symptoms regardless of its severity level, and they displayed a higher number of different topographies of SIB. People

© 2018 SPIE. A buried depressed-index channel waveguide with a circular cladding and a core diameter of 40 ?m is fabricated in a bulk monoclinic 3 at.% Tm:KLu(WO 4 ) 2 crystal by femtosecond direct laser writing. In the continuous-wave regime, the Tm waveguide laser generates ?210 mW at 1849.6 nm with a slope efficiency ? of 40.8%. Passively Q-switched operation is achieved by inserting transmission-type 2D saturable absorbers (SAs) based on few-layer graphene and MoS 2 . Using the graphene-SA, a maximum average output power of ?25 mW is generated at 1844.8 nm. The pulse characteristics (duration/energy) are 88 ns/18 nJ at a repetition rate of 1.39 MHz.

Applied technologies to health systems have been noticed as a required tool to reduce the reappearance rate of certain illnesses, to identify groups of risk or to involve the patient in the care of his own health. Taking in consideration the fact that in the North Santander Department the occurrence of the outbreak of illnesses transmitted by the vector Aedes aegypti shows intense increase since its re-emergency in 2014, with the presence of several manifestations, one of the most likely solutions to prevent the illness, is the epidemiologic surveillance alongside the strategic prevention/ control of the vector. In this context, this project was developed with the purpose of characterize patients by the building of a knowledge database for digital health that allows to create an architecture to integrate, analyze and structure the historical data according to the detected cases, in order to collect the information from the direct field, store it and process it, to present reports and knowledge models with the right indicators that allow to look out often the symptoms and to control the increase of such epidemies.

© 2018 SPIE. High-resolution thermal sensing and bioimaging at the cellular level and in animal models is interesting for both early diagnosis and controlled treatment via photothermal conversion of several diseases. Despite excellent in vitro results have been obtained with visible emitting luminescent nanothermometers, their application for in vivo studies is very limited due to the reduced penetration depth of visible light in biological tissues. This can be overcome if materials with emitting in the so-called biological windows (650-1350 nm) are used. Despite all this work, the number of studies exploring the possibilities of longer emission wavelengths in luminescence thermometry are scarce. This includes those lying in the so called short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) that extends from 1.35 to 2.3 μm. SWIR light transmits more effectively (up to three times) through specific biological tissues (oxygenated blood and melanin-containing tumors), achieving higher penetrations depths. Due to the reduced tissue absorbance and scattering within this region. Here, we analyze the possibilities for temperature sensing purposes of emissions in the SWIR region generated by Er3+, Tm3+and Ho3+ions in KLu(WO4)2nanoparticles. The thermometric responses of these particles are compared with those shown by other Ln3+-doped nanoparticles of the same family of materials operating in the other biological windows, and demonstrate the potentiality of SWIR emitting nanoparticles for temperature measurements in biological tissues. The results indicate that SWIR emitting nanoparticles are good candidates for luminescent thermometry in biomedical applications.

© 2018 SPIE. Tetragonal calcium rare-earth aluminates, CaLnAlO 4 , are attractive laser host crystals. The emission of Nd 3+ ions at 1.3-1.4 ?m due to the 4 F 3/2 ? 4 I 13/2 transition is of interest for medicine, fiber optics, and light conversion. We report on compact Nd:CaLnAlO 4 lasers using a plane-plane cavity. With an a-cut 0.8 at.% Nd:CaYAlO 4 crystal diode-pumped at 802 nm, a maximum continuous-wave output power of 365 mW was achieved at 1.365 & 1.390 ?m corresponding to the ?-polarization. The 4 F 3/2 ? 4 I 13/2 laser performance of the Nd:CaLnAlO 4 crystals was compared to that from a monoclinic Nd:KGd(WO 4 ) 2 . At the 4 F 3/2 ? 4 I 11/2 transition (1.08 ?m), a Nd:CaYAlO 4 micro-laser generated multi-watt output ( > 4 W) with a slope efficiency of 39%.

© 2018 SPIE. We report on the first application of a topological insulator based on antimony telluride (Sb 2 Te 3 ) as a saturable absorber (SA) in a bulk microchip laser. The transmission-type SA consisted of a thin film of Sb 2 Te 3 (thickness: 3 nm) deposited on a glass substrate by pulsed magnetron sputtering. The saturable absorption of the Sb 2 Te 3 film was confirmed for ns-long pulses. The microchip laser was based on a Tm:GdVO 4 crystal diode-pumped at ?802 nm. In the continuous-wave regime, this laser generated 3.54 W at 1905-1921 nm with a slope efficiency ? of 37%. The Q-switched laser generated a maximum average output power of 0.70 W at 1913 nm. The pulse energy and duration were 3.5 ?J and 223 ns, respectively, at a repetition rate of 200 kHz. The Sb 2 Te 3 SAs are promising for passively Q-switched waveguide lasers at ?2 ?m.

© 2018 SPIE. We report on the first application of a topological insulator based on antimony telluride (Sb 2 Te 3 ) as a saturable absorber (SA) in a bulk microchip laser. The transmission-type SA consisted of a thin film of Sb 2 Te 3 (thickness: 3 nm) deposited on a glass substrate by pulsed magnetron sputtering. The saturable absorption of the Sb 2 Te 3 film was confirmed for ns-long pulses. The microchip laser was based on a Tm:GdVO 4 crystal diode-pumped at ?802 nm. In the continuous-wave regime, this laser generated 3.54 W at 1905-1921 nm with a slope efficiency ? of 37%. The Q-switched laser generated a maximum average output power of 0.70 W at 1913 nm. The pulse energy and duration were 3.5 ?J and 223 ns, respectively, at a repetition rate of 200 kHz. The Sb 2 Te 3 SAs are promising for passively Q-switched waveguide lasers at ?2 ?m.

© 2018 SPIE. The recent advances in the development of Holmium monoclinic double tungstate thin-disk lasers are reviewed. The thin-disk is based on a 250-μm-thick 3 at. % Ho:KY(WO4)2active layer grown on a (010)-oriented KY(WO4)2substrate. When pumped by a Tm-fiber laser at 1960 nm with a single-bounce pump geometry, the continuous-wave Ho:KY(WO4)2thin-disk laser generates an output power of 1.01 W at 2057 nm corresponding to a slope efficiency η of 60% and a laser threshold of only 0.15 W. The thin-disk laser is passively Q-switched with a GaSb-based quantum-well semiconductor saturable absorber mirror. In this regime, it generates an average output power of 0.551 W at ∼2056 nm with η = 44%. The best pulse characteristics are 4.1 μJ/201 ns at a repetition rate of 135 kHz. The laser performance, beam quality and thermo-optic aberrations of such lasers are strongly affected by the Ho3+doping concentration. For the 3 at.% Ho3+-doped thin-disk, the thermal lens is negative (the sensitivity factors for the two principal meridional planes are-1.7 and-0.6 m-1/W) and astigmatic. The Ho:KY(WO4)2epitaxial structures are promising as active elements in mode-locked thin-disk lasers at ∼2060 nm.

© 2018 SPIE. A buried depressed-index channel waveguide with a circular cladding and a core diameter of 40 ?m is fabricated in a bulk monoclinic 3 at.% Tm:KLu(WO 4 ) 2 crystal by femtosecond direct laser writing. In the continuous-wave regime, the Tm waveguide laser generates ?210 mW at 1849.6 nm with a slope efficiency ? of 40.8%. Passively Q-switched operation is achieved by inserting transmission-type 2D saturable absorbers (SAs) based on few-layer graphene and MoS 2 . Using the graphene-SA, a maximum average output power of ?25 mW is generated at 1844.8 nm. The pulse characteristics (duration/energy) are 88 ns/18 nJ at a repetition rate of 1.39 MHz.

© 2018 SPIE. Tetragonal calcium rare-earth aluminates, CaLnAlO 4 , are attractive laser host crystals. The emission of Nd 3+ ions at 1.3-1.4 ?m due to the 4 F 3/2 ? 4 I 13/2 transition is of interest for medicine, fiber optics, and light conversion. We report on compact Nd:CaLnAlO 4 lasers using a plane-plane cavity. With an a-cut 0.8 at.% Nd:CaYAlO 4 crystal diode-pumped at 802 nm, a maximum continuous-wave output power of 365 mW was achieved at 1.365 & 1.390 ?m corresponding to the ?-polarization. The 4 F 3/2 ? 4 I 13/2 laser performance of the Nd:CaLnAlO 4 crystals was compared to that from a monoclinic Nd:KGd(WO 4 ) 2 . At the 4 F 3/2 ? 4 I 11/2 transition (1.08 ?m), a Nd:CaYAlO 4 micro-laser generated multi-watt output ( > 4 W) with a slope efficiency of 39%.

© 2018 SPIE. High-resolution thermal sensing and bioimaging at the cellular level and in animal models is interesting for both early diagnosis and controlled treatment via photothermal conversion of several diseases. Despite excellent in vitro results have been obtained with visible emitting luminescent nanothermometers, their application for in vivo studies is very limited due to the reduced penetration depth of visible light in biological tissues. This can be overcome if materials with emitting in the so-called biological windows (650-1350 nm) are used. Despite all this work, the number of studies exploring the possibilities of longer emission wavelengths in luminescence thermometry are scarce. This includes those lying in the so called short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) that extends from 1.35 to 2.3 μm. SWIR light transmits more effectively (up to three times) through specific biological tissues (oxygenated blood and melanin-containing tumors), achieving higher penetrations depths. Due to the reduced tissue absorbance and scattering within this region. Here, we analyze the possibilities for temperature sensing purposes of emissions in the SWIR region generated by Er3+, Tm3+and Ho3+ions in KLu(WO4)2nanoparticles. The thermometric responses of these particles are compared with those shown by other Ln3+-doped nanoparticles of the same family of materials operating in the other biological windows, and demonstrate the potentiality of SWIR emitting nanoparticles for temperature measurements in biological tissues. The results indicate that SWIR emitting nanoparticles are good candidates for luminescent thermometry in biomedical applications.

To assess the intake of water and all other beverages in children, adolescents and adults.Three thousand six hundred eleven children (8 ± 2 years), 8,109 adolescents (13 ± 2 years) and 16,276 adults (40 ± 14 years) (47% men) were recruited in 15 cross-sectional surveys (liquid intake across 7 days, Liq.In7 study) and completed a 7-day fluid-specific record to assess total fluid intake (TFI), where TFI was defined as the sum of drinking water and other type of beverages.The median TFI was 1.2, 1.2 and 1.8 liters/day in children, adolescents and adults respectively, with important differences observed between countries. Only 39% of children, 25% of adolescents and 51% of adults met the European Food Safety Authority adequate intake (AI) recommendations of water from fluids. In the surveys of Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Turkey, Iran, Indonesia and China, water was the major contributor (47-78%) to TFI. In the adult surveys of UK, Poland, Japan and Argentina, hot beverages were the highest contributor to TFI. The fluid intake of children and adolescents in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay was characterized by a contribution of juices and sweet beverages that was as important as the contribution of water to TFI.Given that a relatively high proportion of subjects, especially children and adolescents, failed to meet the recommended AI of water from fluids and that water intake was not the highest contributor to TFI in all countries, undertaking actions to increase water intake are warranted.© 2016 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.

© Springer International Publishing AG 2016. Underwater sensor networks are an important field of research. Several applications require the use of this kind of networks like tsunami or oil spill alerts. The underwater medium is very harsh and only acoustic signals can be used for the transmission of information. The use of this kind of networks is still in a developing state far from reaching standard consensus on basic aspects like carrier frequency or modulation techniques. The use of these networks for real-time applications has not been analyzed previously. In this paper we present two solutions for the scheduling of real-time messages and we provide a time constraint analysis of the performance of the network.

© Springer International Publishing AG 2016. Underwater sensor networks are an important field of research. Several applications require the use of this kind of networks like tsunami or oil spill alerts. The underwater medium is very harsh and only acoustic signals can be used for the transmission of information. The use of this kind of networks is still in a developing state far from reaching standard consensus on basic aspects like carrier frequency or modulation techniques. The use of these networks for real-time applications has not been analyzed previously. In this paper we present two solutions for the scheduling of real-time messages and we provide a time constraint analysis of the performance of the network.

To assess the intake of water and all other beverages in children, adolescents and adults.Three thousand six hundred eleven children (8 ± 2 years), 8,109 adolescents (13 ± 2 years) and 16,276 adults (40 ± 14 years) (47% men) were recruited in 15 cross-sectional surveys (liquid intake across 7 days, Liq.In7 study) and completed a 7-day fluid-specific record to assess total fluid intake (TFI), where TFI was defined as the sum of drinking water and other type of beverages.The median TFI was 1.2, 1.2 and 1.8 liters/day in children, adolescents and adults respectively, with important differences observed between countries. Only 39% of children, 25% of adolescents and 51% of adults met the European Food Safety Authority adequate intake (AI) recommendations of water from fluids. In the surveys of Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Turkey, Iran, Indonesia and China, water was the major contributor (47-78%) to TFI. In the adult surveys of UK, Poland, Japan and Argentina, hot beverages were the highest contributor to TFI. The fluid intake of children and adolescents in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay was characterized by a contribution of juices and sweet beverages that was as important as the contribution of water to TFI.Given that a relatively high proportion of subjects, especially children and adolescents, failed to meet the recommended AI of water from fluids and that water intake was not the highest contributor to TFI in all countries, undertaking actions to increase water intake are warranted.© 2016 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.

Reliable data at population level are essential to firmly establish links between fluid intake, hydration and health, investigate dose-response relationships and develop meaningful public health strategies or reference intake values. However, limited research exists regarding the most appropriate methodology for assessing beverage or total fluid intake (TFI). To date, methodologies have been developed to assess food and nutrient intake without due consideration of water or fluid intake behavior. A recent crossover study showed that a 24-hour food recall significantly underestimated mean TFI by 382 ml (95% CI 299-465) compared with a fluid specific 7-day record. The authors postulated that this average difference was mainly the result of missed drinking acts between meals a 24-hour recall was used. Using a 7-day record administered in paper form or on-line has also been shown to lead to a significantly different mean TFI of 129 ml. Therefore, the choice of methodology might result in measurement errors that limit between-survey or between-country comparisons. Such errors may contribute to variations in estimates of TFI that cannot be explained by differences in climate, physical activity or cultural habits. A recent survey confirmed the variation in methodologies used in European national dietary surveys. Since these surveys form the basis for setting adequate intakes for total water intake, measurement error between surveys should be limited, highlighting the need for the development of a consistent methodology that is validated for water and TFI estimation.© 2016 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.

Reliable data at population level are essential to firmly establish links between fluid intake, hydration and health, investigate dose-response relationships and develop meaningful public health strategies or reference intake values. However, limited research exists regarding the most appropriate methodology for assessing beverage or total fluid intake (TFI). To date, methodologies have been developed to assess food and nutrient intake without due consideration of water or fluid intake behavior. A recent crossover study showed that a 24-hour food recall significantly underestimated mean TFI by 382 ml (95% CI 299-465) compared with a fluid specific 7-day record. The authors postulated that this average difference was mainly the result of missed drinking acts between meals a 24-hour recall was used. Using a 7-day record administered in paper form or on-line has also been shown to lead to a significantly different mean TFI of 129 ml. Therefore, the choice of methodology might result in measurement errors that limit between-survey or between-country comparisons. Such errors may contribute to variations in estimates of TFI that cannot be explained by differences in climate, physical activity or cultural habits. A recent survey confirmed the variation in methodologies used in European national dietary surveys. Since these surveys form the basis for setting adequate intakes for total water intake, measurement error between surveys should be limited, highlighting the need for the development of a consistent methodology that is validated for water and TFI estimation.© 2016 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.

This investigation has studied the characterization of the thermomechanical behaviour of a TiNiCu shape memory alloy with different heat treatments. This characterization has been done by analyzing martensitic transformation at constant stress tests. The martensitic transformation was analyzed by measuring electrical resistance and strain. The results showed that orientation is reached at different stress levels during each heat treatment; low stress thermomechanical cycling does not affect transformation temperatures and thermomechanical cycling at upper stress levels produces different changes of behaviour depending on the stress level and/or heat treatment. © (2013) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.

The brightness constancy assumption has widely been used in variational optical flow approaches as their basic foundation. Unfortunately, this assumption does not hold when illumination changes or for objects that move into a part of the scene with different brightness conditions. This paper proposes a variation of the L1-norm dual total variational (TV-L1) optical flow model with a new illumination-robust data term defined from the histogram of oriented gradients computed from two consecutive frames. In addition, a weighted non-local term is utilized for denoising the resulting flow field. Experiments with complex textured images belonging to different scenarios show results comparable to state-of-the-art optical flow models, although being significantly more robust to illumination changes.

This investigation has studied the characterization of the thermomechanical behaviour of a TiNiCu shape memory alloy with different heat treatments. This characterization has been done by analyzing martensitic transformation at constant stress tests. The martensitic transformation was analyzed by measuring electrical resistance and strain. The results showed that orientation is reached at different stress levels during each heat treatment; low stress thermomechanical cycling does not affect transformation temperatures and thermomechanical cycling at upper stress levels produces different changes of behaviour depending on the stress level and/or heat treatment. © (2013) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.

In this paper PCM is added to three types of stabilized rammed. Mechanical and thermal characterization is carried out. To do so, the compressive strength is optimized and the final compositions obtained are used to formulate the materials which will be thermally characterized. The optimization process is done with a design of experiments (DoE) and a variance analysis (ANOVA). Finally, LCA is used to evaluate the environmental impact during the manufacturing phase, due to the addition of stabilizers and PCM in the rammed earth. © 2012 The Authors.

The sizes of certain types of lipoprotein particles have been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. However, there is currently no gold standard technique for the determination of this parameter. Here, we propose an analytical procedure to measure lipoprotein particles sizes using diffusion-ordered nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (DOSY). The method was tested on six lipoprotein fractions, VLDL, IDL, LDL1, LDL2, HDL2, and HDL3, which were obtained by sequential ultracentrifugation from four patients. We performed a pulsed-field gradient experiment on each fraction to obtain a mean diffusion coefficient, and then determined the apparent hydrodynamic radius using the Stokes–Einstein equation. To validate the hydrodynamic radii obtained, the particle size distribution of these lipoprotein fractions was also measured using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The standard errors of duplicate measurements of diffusion coefficient ranged from 0.5% to 1.3%, confirming the repeatability of the technique. The coefficient of determination between the hydrodynamic radii and the TEM-derived mean particle size was r2 = 0.96, and the agreement between the two techniques was 85%. Thus, DOSY experiments have proved to be accurate and reliable for estimating lipoprotein particle sizes.

The sizes of certain types of lipoprotein particles have been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. However, there is currently no gold standard technique for the determination of this parameter. Here, we propose an analytical procedure to measure lipoprotein particles sizes using diffusion-ordered nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (DOSY). The method was tested on six lipoprotein fractions, VLDL, IDL, LDL1, LDL2, HDL2, and HDL3, which were obtained by sequential ultracentrifugation from four patients. We performed a pulsed-field gradient experiment on each fraction to obtain a mean diffusion coefficient, and then determined the apparent hydrodynamic radius using the Stokes–Einstein equation. To validate the hydrodynamic radii obtained, the particle size distribution of these lipoprotein fractions was also measured using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The standard errors of duplicate measurements of diffusion coefficient ranged from 0.5% to 1.3%, confirming the repeatability of the technique. The coefficient of determination between the hydrodynamic radii and the TEM-derived mean particle size was r2 = 0.96, and the agreement between the two techniques was 85%. Thus, DOSY experiments have proved to be accurate and reliable for estimating lipoprotein particle sizes.

To confirm the efficacy of a risk-adapted treatment approach for patients with clinical stage I seminoma. The aim was to reduce both the risk of relapse and the proportion of patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy while maintaining a high cure rate.From 2004 to 2008, 227 patients were included after orchiectomy in a multicenter study. Eighty-four patients (37%) presented no local risk factors, 44 patients (19%) had tumors larger than 4 cm, 25 patients (11%) had rete testis involvement, and 74 patients (33%) had both criteria. Only the latter group received two courses of adjuvant carboplatin, whereas the rest were managed by surveillance.After a median follow-up time of 34 months, 16 relapses (7%) have been documented (15 [9.8%] among patients on surveillance and one [1.4%] among those treated with carboplatin). All relapses occurred in retroperitoneal lymph nodes, except for one case in pelvic nodes. Median node size was 25 mm, and median time to recurrence was 14 months. All patients were rendered disease-free with chemotherapy. The actuarial 3-year disease-free survival rate was 88.1% (95% CI, 82.3% to 93.9%) for patients on surveillance and 98.0% (95% CI, 94.0% to 100%) for those treated with adjuvant chemotherapy. Overall 3-year survival was 100%.With the limitations of the short follow-up duration, we confirm that a risk-adapted approach is effective for stage I seminoma. Adjuvant carboplatin seems adequate treatment for patients with 2 risk criteria, as is active surveillance for those with 0 to one risk factors. More reliable predictive factors are needed to improve the applicability of this model.

In this study we compare sensor responses to H2in air using two types of sensing materials: SnO2bulk doped with TiO2and mechanical mixtures of SnO2and TiO2. The materials were analyzed in the broad range of working temperatures and H2concentrations. Thermal stability of SnO2bulk doped with TiO2was studied by in-situ XRD at 700°C. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

This paper presents an adaptation of the tensor voting framework for color image denoising, while preserving edges. Tensors are used in order to encode the CIELAB color channels, the uniformity and the edginess of image pixels. A specific voting process is proposed in order to propagate color from a pixel to its neighbors by considering the distance between pixels, the perceptual color difference (by using an optimized version of CIEDE2000), a uniformity measurement and the likelihood of the pixels being impulse noise. The original colors are corrected with those encoded by the tensors obtained after the voting process. Peak to noise ratios and visual inspection show that the proposed methodology has a better performance than state-of-the-art techniques.