Dynamical systems are no strangers in wireless communications. Our story will necessarily involve chaos, but not in the terms in which secure chaotic communications have introduced it: we will look for the chaos, complexity, and dynamics that already exist in everyday wireless communications.

An increasing number of emerging applications, e.g., internet of things, vehicular communications, augmented reality, and the growing complexity due to the interoperability requirements of these systems, lead to the need to change the tools used for the modeling and analysis of those networks. Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) as a bottom-up modeling approach considers a network of autonomous agents interacting with each other, and therefore represents an ideal framework to comprehend the interactions of heterogeneous nodes in a complex environment. Here, we investigate the suitability of ABM to model the communication aspects of a road traffic management system, as an example of an Internet of Things (IoT) network. We model, analyze and compare various Medium Access Control (MAC) layer protocols for two different scenarios, namely uncoordinated and coordinated. Besides, we model the scheduling mechanisms for the coordinated scenario as a high level MAC protocol by using three different approaches: Centralized Decision Maker, DESYNC and decentralized learning MAC (L-MAC). The results clearly show the importance of coordination between multiple decision makers in order to improve the accuracy of information and spectrum utilization of the system.

We present a novel way of considering in-network computing (INC), using ideas from statistical mechanics. We model the execution of a distributed computation with graphs called functional topologies, which allows us to provide a formal definition for degeneracy and redundancy in the context of INC. Degeneracy for INC is defined as the structural multiplicity of possible options available within the network to perform the same function with a given macroscopic property (e.g., delay). Two degenerate structures can partially overlap. Redundancy, on the other hand, does not allow overlapping between the functional graphs. We present an efficient algorithm to determine all these multiple options and compute both degeneracy and redundancy. Our results show that by exploiting the set of possible degenerate alternatives, we can significantly improve the successful computation rate of a symmetric function, while still being able to satisfy requirements such as delay or energy consumption.

This article focuses on the former war refugees, who (partly) returned to their homeland Bosnia and Herzegovina and became significant investors in their local communities. We are particularly interested in their experiences with manoeuvring between different countries and institutional environments, as these refugee entrepreneurs are running their businesses simultaneously in developed European economies (Switzerland and Sweden) and in their home country. Although the two companies run by the former refugees described in the article are located in the areas that remain divided along the ethnic lines caused by the war (Srebrenica and Banja Luka), we find that the post-war returnees’ businesses are ethnically tolerant and inclusive, sending a powerful message to the formal institutions, which often act in the opposite way.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to determine (a) the ability of serial high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T measurements to rule out acute myocardial infarction and (b) the ability of a single high baseline high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T measurement to rule in acute myocardial infarction in patients presenting to the emergency department with acute chest pain. Methods and results: Embase, Medline, Cochrane, Web of Science and Google scholar were searched for prospective cohort studies that evaluated parameters of diagnostic accuracy of serial high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T to rule out acute myocardial infarction and a single baseline high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T value>50 ng/l to rule in acute myocardial infarction. The search yielded 21 studies for the systematic review, of which 14 were included in the meta-analysis, with a total of 11,929 patients and an overall prevalence of acute myocardial infarction of 13.0%. For rule-out, six studies presented the sensitivity of serial measurements <14 ng/l. This cut-off classified 60.1% of patients as rule-out and the summary sensitivity was 96.7% (95% confidence interval: 92.3–99.3). Three studies presented the sensitivity of a one-hour algorithm with a baseline high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T value<12 ng/l and delta 1 hour <3 ng/l. This algorithm classified 60.2% of patients as rule-out and the summary sensitivity was 98.9% (96.4–100). For rule-in, six studies reported the specificity of baseline high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T value>50 ng/l. The summary specificity was 94.6% (91.5–97.1). Conclusion: Serial high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T measurement strategies to rule out acute myocardial infarction perform well, and a single baseline high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T value>50 ng/l to rule in acute myocardial infarction has a high specificity.

Fistulas between the gastrointestinal tract and bony structures of the pelvis are an extremely rare complication resulting from hip arthroplasty, whether primary or revisional. Only 15 cases were described in the English language literature containing this association. The predisposing factors described are Crohn’s disease, acute diverticulitis, use of corticosteroids and radiotherapy for malignant disease in the pelvis. In addition, it is related to the high morbidity and mortality rate due to late diagnosis, a fact that leads the patient to sepsis. We will describe a case of a male patient, without the risk factors described above, that developed a fistula between the sigmoid colon and the acetabulum after the second revision surgery of hip prosthesis. The patient had a good evolution due to early diagnosis and intervention.

Effective ventilation in general hospital wards is important for controlling the transmission of airborne infectious agents that may cause respiratory diseases. This study investigates the potential of protected occupied zone ventilation (POV) to reduce the risk of cross-infection in hospital isolation wards. Two life-size breathing thermal manikins were used to simulate an infected patient lying in a bed and a sitting, receiving health care worker. N2O was used as a tracer gas to simulate the droplet nuclei exhaled by patients. The contaminant exposure index ε e x p was used to assess the risk of cross-infection for different configurations of the supply velocity, the patient’s lying position and the exhaust openings. The contaminant exposure index ( ε e x p ) shows that the ventilation strategy is effective, but this is also highly dependent on the supply velocity and the location of the exhaust relative to the patient’s breathing zone. The patient’s posterior position does not affect the personal exposure of the receiving patient. Compared to traditional ventilation systems, the POV system can reduce the risk of cross-infection in hospital isolation rooms. The full potential of a POV system can be achieved in an isolation ward where movement between the infected and protected zones is restricted or prohibited.

Abstract Background: Serbs mainly live in the territory of the recently re-established state of Serbia. However, the turbulent history in the Balkan Peninsula has led to settlement of Serbs not only within present day Serbia, but also in different parts of neighbouring countries. Aim: To define polymorphisms of 23 Y-chromosomal short tandem repeat (STR) loci in a modern Serbian population from the central part of the Balkan Peninsula. Subjects and methods: The reference sample consisted of 303 men declared as Serbs over three generations. Localities of the collected materials include the territories of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro. DNA samples were typed using the PowerPlex®Y23 amplification kit. Results: The highest locus diversity was observed for DYS385 and DYS481. In this study the most abundant haplogroups were I2a, E1b1b, R1a and I1. The largest genetic distances between the Serbs and other close Southern Slavs were for the Macedonians and Slovenians. Conclusion: This study is the first one to define STR polymorphism of Serbian people not only from Serbia but also from other parts of the Balkan Peninsula. The presented genetic data may be useful in further examinations of the genesis and genetic structuring of the present-day Serbian gene pool.

ABSTRACT Objective/Background: About 15% of grievers experience complicated grief. We determined cross-sectional and longitudinal relations of grief and complicated grief with sleep duration and quality in the general population of elderly adults. Participants: We included 5,421 men and women from the prospective population-based Rotterdam Study. Methods: The Inventory of Complicated Grief was used to define grief and complicated grief. We assessed sleep with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Results: After 6 years, 3,511 (80% of survivors) underwent the follow-up interview. Complicated grief was cross-sectionally associated with shorter sleep duration and lower sleep quality. These associations were explained by the presence of depressive symptoms. The prospective analyses showed that sleep duration and sleep quality did not decline further during follow-up of persons who experienced grief or complicated grief. Conclusion: In community-dwelling, middle-aged and older adults, persons with normal and complicated grief had both a shorter sleep duration and a lower sleep quality, mainly explained by depressive symptoms. However, prospective analyses showed that sleep quality and sleep duration do not decline further in persons with normal grief and complicated grief.

NEXTA is a new workshop on test automation that provides a meeting point for academic researchers and industry practitioners. While test automation already is an established practice in industry, the concept needs to evolve to go beyond its current state to support the ever faster release cycles of tomorrow's software engineering. NEXTA implications for research and practice will include test case generation, automated test result analysis, test suite assessment and maintenance, and infrastructure for the future of test automation. The rst instance of NEXTA was co-located with the 11th IEEE Conference on Software Testing, Veri cation and Validation (ICST 2018) in Vasteras, Sweden on April 9, 2018. NEXTA 2018 o ered an interactive setting with a keynote and paper presentations, stimulated by two novel awards to incentivize interaction and dissemination: a Best Questions Award and a Most Viral Tweet Award. The workshop attracted 15 paper submissions and about 50 participants. Based on the positive feedback, we plan to organize the workshop again next year.