A significant number of old unreinforced load-bearing masonry (URM) buildings exist in many countries worldwide, but especially in Europe. In particular, Bosnia and Herzegovina has an important stock of masonry buildings constructed from the 1920s until the 1960s without application of any seismic code, due to their nonexistence at that time. With the 1963 Skopje earthquake, this class of buildings were shown to be rather vulnerable to seismic actions, which exhibited serious damage. This article assesses the seismic vulnerability of a typical multi-storey residential unreinforced load-bearing masonry building located in the heart of Sarajevo, which may be exposed to an earthquake of magnitude up to 6 by Richter’s scale. The buildings of this kind make up to 6% of the entire housing stock in the urban region of Sarajevo, while in Slovenia this percentage is much higher (around 30%). The analysis of a typical building located in Sarajevo revealed its drawbacks and the need for some kind of strengthening intervention to be implemented. Additionally, many structures of this type are overstressed by one to two additional floors (not the case of the analyzed structure) constructed from 1996 onwards. This was due to the massive population increase in the city center of Sarajevo and further increased the vulnerability of these buildings.

We demonstrate a distributed and a centralized 4G/5G compliant approach to minimize signaling and latency related to user mobility in cellular networks. This is crucial due to the densification of networks and the additional signaling introduced by the new 5G service-based architecture. By exploiting standardized protocols, our solutions dynamically reorganize the association between nodes in radio access network (RAN) and the core. We validated the proposed approaches using real user mobility datasets. Our results show that both our distributed and centralized solutions significantly reduce the signaling between core and RAN compared to the traditional approach based on geographical proximity. As a result, both approaches significantly reduce the average handover procedure processing time. Moreover, by relying on locally available information, the distributed approach can quickly adapt to changes in the user movement patterns as they happen.

To manage mobility, RAN nodes in both 4G and 5G are grouped into a hierarchy of geographical areas. We demonstrate a 4G/5G compliant Network Level Mobility Management Optimization solution based on User Equipment (UE) Mobility to minimize signaling (i.e., handover signaling, paging and tracking area updates) and handover latency by dynamically reconfiguring the association between nodes in the Radio Access Network (RAN) and nodes (e.g. Mobility Management Entity), functions (e.g. Access and Mobility Management Function) and Location Regions (e.g. Tracking Area, Registration Area, Tracking Area List) in the core network.

Summary Background HIV infection is characterized by progressive depletion of CD4+ T cells due to their reduced synthesis and increased destruction followed by marked activation and expansion of CD8+ T lymphocytes. CD4/CD8 ratio was traditionally described as a marker of immune system ageing in the general population, but it increasingly appears as a marker of different outcomes in the HIV-infected population. The main objective of this study is to examine the power of CD4/CD8 ratio in predicting the occurrence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in HIV-positive patients receiving cART therapy. Methods 80 HIV/AIDS subjects were included in a retrospective case-control study. Flow cytometry was used to determine the percentage of CD4+ and CD8+ cells in peripheral blood of these patients. The values of biochemical parameters (triglycerides, HDL, blood sugar, blood counts), immunological parameters (CD4/CD8, PCR), anthropometric measurements and type of cART therapy were evaluated in this study. Results After six months of cART therapy 19 (23.8%) subjects had all the elements necessary for making the diagnosis of MetS. Using multivariate analysis CD4/CD8 ratio was statistically significant (p < 0.05) and had the largest effect on development of MetS (Wald = 9.01; OR = 0.45), followed by cART (Wald = 7.87; OR = 0.10) and triglycerides (Wald = 5.27; OR = 1.7). On the other hand, body weight and waist circumference showed no statistically significant effect on the development of MetS after six months of cART, p > 0.05. Conclusions CD4/CD8 ratio proved to be a significant marker for prediction of metabolic syndrome in HIV/AIDS patients.

Objetivo: Conhecer as vivências de adolescentes acerca do autocuidado. Métodos: Estudo qualitativo, entrevistas semiestruturadas foram conduzidas com 14 adolescentes, entre 12 a 18 anos, cadastrados em laboratório de endocrinologia pediátrica na cidade de Fortaleza, CE. Resultados: Com base nos dados desvelados observamos os seguintes enfrentamentos: adesão ao autocuidado; dilemas de ser adolescente com diabetes e ações do profissional de saúde e da família para o autocuidado do adolescente. Conclusão: Esta pesquisa com adolescentes portadores de diabetes demonstrou a importância do autocuidado apoiado como uma ferramenta que poderá ser operacionalizada por profissionais e família, favorecendo a adesão ao tratamento.

Abstract Background Smoking rates in Serbian adults are among the highest in Europe. The objective of this study is to assess the prevalence of smoking and smoking-related behaviours of Belgrade University students depending on their sociodemographic characteristics and faculty group. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out among 2,608 Belgrade University students (59.6% female) in 2015. A self-administered questionnaire was applied to the opportunity sample to collect the data describing students’ smoking habits and attitudes across all 30 faculties of the university. Results 30.5% of students reported smoking: 26.4% of medical, and 31.1% of non-medical ones. Smoking rate among female students was 31.2% vs. 29.5% among males. Age (p=0.001), relationship (<0.001) and employment status (p=0.002) had statistically significant influence on smoking status, while the differences in smoking status between genders (p=0.141) and medical and non-medical group of students (p=0.066) were not statistically significant. The highest percentage of students started smoking during high school (66.2%). As the most common reason to start smoking, respondents cited peer influence (36.5%). 44.3% of students who smoked unsuccessfully tried to quit smoking. Conclusion To combat high smoking prevalence among a younger population, the formal education of students about the adverse impacts of smoking should be integrated in all active anti-smoking programs. Medical students, as future healthcare professionals, can play an important role in smoking rates reduction among both younger and general populations, if properly trained and educated about smoking prevention and cessation techniques.

For the purpose of making of a solid body of an electric guitar the acoustic- and mechanical properties of walnut- (Juglans regia L.) and ash wood (Fraxinus excelsior L.) were researched. The acoustic properties were determined in a flexural vibration response of laboratory conditioned wood elements of 430 × 186 × 42.8 mm used for making of a solid body of an electric guitar. The velocity of shear- and compression ultrasonic waves was additionally determined in parallel small oriented samples of 80 × 40 × 40 mm. The research confirmed better mechanical properties of ash wood, that is, the larger modulus of elasticity and shear modules in all anatomical directions and planes. The acoustic quality of ash wood was better only in the basic vibration mode. Walnut was, on the other hand, lighter and more homogenous and had lower acoustic- and mechanic anisotropy. Additionally, reduced damping of walnut at higher vibration modes is assumed to have a positive impact on the vibration response of future modelled and built solid bodies of electric guitars. When choosing walnut wood, better energy transfer is expected at a similar string playing frequency and a structure resonance of the electric guitar.

The aim of the investigation is to determine water resources available in the Bratunac municipality as an opportunity for irrigation in agriculture, one of the most important economic sectors in that municipality at the present time. The study area covers almost the whole Bratunac municipality and includes 20 of the total of 27 local communities. Research of the hydrogeological characteristics and the required quantities of water for irrigation in the studied local communities showed that in 10 local communities, irrigation can be provided using underground water withdrawn by means of excavated or drilled wells. Adequate water supply in many other local communities could be obtained from nearby surface water streams. In five local communities, the surface water from local rivers is not sufficient to ensure adequate water supply; therefore, an alternative solution consisting in the catchment of water from the Drina river has been proposed. The alternative solution for all local communities situated in the Glogovac river valley could consist in securing the required amounts of water from that water stream.

Interactive digital storytelling is becoming a popular choice for information presentation in many fields. Its application spans from the media industry and business information visualization, through digital cultural heritage, serious games, education, to contemporary theater and visual arts. The benefits of this form of multimedia presentation in education are generally recognized, and several studies which explore and support the opinion have been conducted. In addition to discussing the benefits, we wanted to address the challenges of introducing interactive digital storytelling and serious games in the classroom. The challenge of the inherent ambiguity of edutainment, due to opposing features of education and entertainment, is augmented with different viewpoints of multidisciplinary team members. We specifically address the opposing views on artistic liberty, at one side, and technical constraints and historical facts, on the other. In this paper, we present the first findings related to these questions and hope to initiate further discussions in this area.

BackgroundThis paper suggests a method to assess the extent to which ultra-short Heart Rate Variability (HRV) features (less than 5 min) can be considered as valid surrogates of short HRV features (nominally 5 min). Short term HRV analysis has been widely investigated for mental stress assessment, whereas the validity of ultra-short HRV features remains unclear. Therefore, this study proposes a method to explore the extent to which HRV excerpts can be shortened without losing their ability to automatically detect mental stress.MethodsECGs were acquired from 42 healthy subjects during a university examination and resting condition. 23 features were extracted from HRV excerpts of different lengths (i.e., 30 s, 1 min, 2 min, 3 min, and 5 min). Significant differences between rest and stress phases were investigated using non-parametric statistical tests at different time-scales. Features extracted from each ultra-short length were compared with the standard short HRV features, assumed as the benchmark, via Spearman’s rank correlation analysis and Bland-Altman plots during rest and stress phases. Using data-driven machine learning approaches, a model aiming to detect mental stress was trained, validated and tested using short HRV features, and assessed on the ultra-short HRV features.ResultsSix out of 23 ultra-short HRV features (MeanNN, StdNN, MeanHR, StdHR, HF, and SD2) displayed consistency across all of the excerpt lengths (i.e., from 5 to 1 min) and 3 out of those 6 ultra-short HRV features (MeanNN, StdHR, and HF) achieved good performance (accuracy above 88%) when employed in a well-dimensioned automatic classifier.ConclusionThis study concluded that 6 ultra-short HRV features are valid surrogates of short HRV features for mental stress investigation.