Robust architecture for distributed intelligence in an IP-based mobile wide-area surveillance system

Modern IP-based wide-area surveillance systems often build on networks of multi-modal, intelligent and mobile sensor units. Detection of complex events is performed on intelligent sensors and fusing input in the sensor units or centralized control room components. The domain of surveillance and public safety creates requirement for robustness and fault-tolerance. This article will present an automated intelligence architecture for mobile surveillance, which provides capabilities for combining on-board event detection in sensor units, centralized decision making on the server side, and automated exploitation of mobile surveillance unit positioning data. This architecture must be very reliable to provide services in the face of challenges such as natural disasters and fire, potentially damaging the infrastructure of the surveillance system. To increase its reliability and robustness, we study the introduction of a self-healing system into the architecture and examine the combined system’s operation in three case studies.     

Comparison of microbial communities in marinated and unmarinated broiler meat by metagenomics

Most raw poultry sold in Finland at the retail level is mixed with marinades containing oil, sugar, spices and acetic acid and packaged under modified atmosphere. Premature spoilage of marinated poultry preparations has been observed and associated with high levels of Leuconostoc spp. in meat. In this study we investigated whether marination of broiler fillet strips increased the proportion of Leuconostoc spp. in the microbial communities. To obtain a comprehensive view of the microbiota, we sequenced total DNA and 16S rRNA gene amplicons from the microbial communities. The lactic acid bacterial communities were characterized also by identification of colonies. The results showed that marinade increased the proportions of the spoilage-associated Leuconostoc gasicomitatum in the communities as well as the proportions of Leuconostoc gelidum and Lactobacillus spp. The proportions of Carnobacterium, Vagococcus, Brochothrix thrermosphacta, Clostridium, Enterobacteriaceae and Vibrio were diminished in marinated meat. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene amplicons resulted in 312 and 284 operational taxonomical units (dissimilarity 0.03) in unmarinated and marinated meat, respectively, indicating that the meat communities were more diverse than hitherto shown. Metagenomic analysis revealed a number of bacterial taxa that have not been associated with late shelf-life meat before, including Vagococcus and Vibrio that belonged to the predominating part of the microbial community in unmarinated meat. According to the functional analysis of the metagenomes, the communities in both marinated and unmarinated poultry were characterized by high proportions (15.6% or 17.9%) of genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism.     

Electric fields in the source region: the depolarization dyadic for a cubic cavity

Contents A closed-form expression for the depolarization dyadic is given for a cubic volume. With this dyadic, the singularity associated with the electromagnetic field calculation within the source region can be avoided. For the cubic volume, the dyadic depends on the position of the field point, unlike in the case of ellipsoidal volumes. The behaviour of the dyadic along the cube axes and diagonals is illustrated graphically.

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Elektrische Felder im Quellgebiet: Der Depolarisationstensor für einen kubischen Hohlraum

Übersicht Der Depolarisationstensor eines kubischen Volumens wird in geschlossener Form ausgedrückt. Mit diesem Tensor kann die Singularität vermieden werden, die bei der Berechnung des elektromagnetischen Feldes im Quellgebiet vorkommt. Anders als im Falle eines elliptischen Volumens ist der Tensor für einen kubischen Hohlraum von der Position innerhalb des Volumens abhängig. Das Verhalten des Tensors entlang der Achsen und entlang der Diagonalen des Würfels ist in graphischer Form dargestellt.

     

A clinical description of the IMPROVE data library

IMPROVE (IMPROVing control of patient status in critical carE) was a concerted action project of the Biomed-1 programme of the European Union. Its main goal was to develop methods of biosignal processing and interpretation in order to detect disorders of oxygen delivery to vital tissues early enough for effective treatment to improve patient outcome. As the first step, a prospective survey of the incidence of potentially dangerous disorders of oxygen delivery was carried out in the intensive-care units (ICUs) of three of the participating hospitals. The four most common and significant types of disorders were defined (hypovolaemia, cardiac failure, high blood-flow state and oxygen-content-related problems) and their incidence measured and compared among the three sites. In the second phase, a data library (DL) was obtained from episodes of 24 hours of intensive observation in patients at risk of developing one of the four most frequent disorders observed in the first survey. This data collection was performed in the Department of Intensive Care, Kuopio University Hospital, Finland. The objective of the IMPROVE project was that the DL should include data from 60 patient days, that it should include evidence of the evolution and resolution of the disorders, and that it should be unique in as much as the physiological data trends would be put in clear clinical context by a comprehensive process of clinical annotation. This annotation was seen as the key to making the DL suitable for biosignal processing and interpretation tasks, and to facilitate the development of diagnostic trend analysis tools     

Change trajectories and key biotopes—Assessing landscape dynamics and sustainability

This paper presents a methodological synthesis of two congruent approaches into a common landscape change trajectory analysis and the assessment of landscape dynamics and sustainability. The emphasis of the analysis is on the retrospective relationship between the past and the present-day landscape patterns and associated key biotopes. The example key biotopes, oak woodlands and grasslands, represent valuable habitats in the hemiboreal landscapes of Finland and Sweden. The paper presents a conceptual stepwise approach for change trajectory analysis utilising multiple spatio-temporal data and techniques available in image processing and geographical information systems (GIS) including the following steps: (I) specification of spatio-temporal data and their representation of target objects, (II) the choice of direct or indirect change trajectory analysis, (III) hierarchical structuring of landscape information, (IV) compilation of landscape information into a GIS database, and (V) identification of paths for landscape change trajectory analysis. In this case study, we have focused on three interlinked trajectory analysis approaches, and their role in the assessment of landscape sustainability from a potential biodiversity perspective. We conclude that proposed landscape change trajectory analysis can improve the assessment of the key biotopes as well as present-day landscape characteristics, in maintaining biodiversity and related ecological values by providing information on landscape stability, continuity, change processes and boundary dynamics. This approach can be useful in the assessment of natural capital, but requires data-specific and context sensitive data processing and analysis solutions. The results should be interpreted as an approximation and generalisation of the spatio-temporal complexity of landscape reality and therefore be used in conjunction with additional habitat function measures.     

Release of ibuprofen from poly(ε‐caprolactone‐co‐D,L‐lactide) and simulation of the release

A study was made of the effects of the initial ibuprofen load and of the specimen shape on the release of ibuprofen from poly(ε‐caprolactone‐co‐D,L ‐lactide). The mol ratio of the comonomers in the copolymer was 96/4 (caprolactone to lactide) and the experiments were conducted at 37°C in vitro. The results showed that release of ibuprofen is fast and that the rate and profile of the release vary with both the initial load of ibuprofen and the shape of the specimen. The rate of ibuprofen release increases with the initial load and with the surface area‐to‐volume ratio of the specimen, obeying Fickian diffusion. The experimental findings were compared with the results of a mathematical simulation model based on the finite‐difference method. Diffusion parameters needed for the simulation were determined from a separately conducted set of experiments using various methods. For the most part, the results of the simulations and the experiments were in good agreement. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 88: 1279–1288, 2003     

Monitoring the autonomic nervous system in the ICU throughcardiovascular variability signals

Studies the usefulness of cardiovascular variability parameters for monitoring intensive-care unit (ICU) patients, and discusses assessing ICU patient status using spectral analysis parameters. Both short-term and long-term spectral parameters were employed for the assessment of patient status in the ICU. Short-term parameters were sensitive to the airway suction (AWS) and may also be employed to monitor the response to different therapeutic interventions. Long-term parameters showed significantly increased α-slope values in nonsurviving patients. This result suggests that the α-slope value on 24-hour RR spectra obtained from the ECG signal may be a relevant prognostic index