Introduction Successful rehabilitation of the growing number of older citizens receiving healthcare services can lead to preservation of functional independence and improvement in quality of life. Adequate intake of dietary protein and physical training are key factors in counteracting the age-related decline in strength performance and physical function. However, during rehabilitation, many older people/persons have insufficient protein intake, and difficulties in performing exercise training with sufficient intensity and volume. The primary aim of this trial is to investigate if individualised physical exercise training programmes combined with increased protein intake (IPET+P) can improve measures on all International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health levels, such as strength, gait speed and health-related quality of life, when compared with care as usual in municipality-based rehabilitation alone (usual care, UC) or care as usual in combination with increased protein intake (UC+P). Further, the trial investigates whether UC+P will potentiate more significant improvements in outcome measures than UC. Methods and analysis The trial is a three-armed multicentre, block-randomised controlled trial consisting of a 12-week intervention period with a 1-year follow-up. Citizens above 65 years referred to rehabilitation in the municipality without restricting comorbidities are eligible. Participants are randomised to either a UC group, a UC group with protein supplementation receiving 27.5 g protein/day (UC+P), or an IPET+P supplementation of 27.5 g protein/day. The Short Musculoskeletal Function Assessment questionnaire is the primary outcome. Ethics and dissemination Approvals from The Ethics Committee in Region Zealand, Denmark (SJ-758), and the General Data Protection Regulation at the University of Southern Denmark, Odense (10.330) have been obtained. Trial registration number NCT04091308

Low power wide area networks support the success of long range Internet of things applications such as agriculture, security, smart cities and homes. This enormous popularity, however, breeds new challenging problems as the wireless spectrum gets saturated which increases the probability of collisions and performance degradation. To this end, smart spectrum decisions are needed and will be supported by wireless technology recognition to allow the networks to dynamically adapt to the ever changing environment where fair co-existence with other wireless technologies becomes essential. In contrast to existing research that assesses technology recognition using machine learning on powerful graphics processing units, this work aims to propose a deep learning solution using convolutional neural networks, cheap software defined radios and efficient embedded platforms such as NVIDIA’s Jetson Nano. More specifically, this paper presents low complexity near-real time multi-band sub-GHz technology recognition and supports a wide variety of technologies using multiple settings. Results show accuracies around 99%, which are comparable with state of the art solutions, while the classification time on a NVIDIA Jetson Nano remains small and offers real-time execution. These results will enable smart spectrum management without the need of expensive and high power consuming hardware.

Artificial intelligence ( ai ) is bringing radical change to our lives. Foster-ing trust in this technology requires the technology to be transparent, and one route to transparency is to make the decisions that are reached by ai s explainable to the humans that interact with them. This paper lays out an exploratory approach to developing explainability and trust, describing the specific technologies that we are adopting, the social and organizational context in which we are working, and some of the challenges that we are addressing

The presence of rich scattering in indoor and urban radio propagation scenarios may cause a high arrival density of multipath components (MPCs). Often the MPCs arrive in clusters at the receiver, where MPCs within one cluster have similar angles and delays. The MPCs arriving within a single cluster are typically unresolvable in the delay domain. In this paper, we analyze the effects of unresolved MPCs on the bias of the delay estimation with a multiband subspace fitting algorithm. We treat the unresolved MPCs as a model error that results in perturbed subspace estimation. Starting from the first-order approximation of the perturbations, we derive the bias of the delay estimate of the line-of-sight (LOS) component. We show that it depends on the power and relative delay of the unresolved MPCs in the first cluster compared to the LOS component. Numerical experiments are included to show that the derived expression for the bias well describes the effects of unresolved MPCs on the delay estimation.

Water sources have become unsafe for human consumption, but also for use in agriculture for irrigation or for the food industry. The deteriorating water quality has led to a shortage of drinking water supply. The aim of this study was to examine the possibility of using agricultural waste, specifically corn residues, (corn cob and silk) as a bioadsorbent to remove Ni and Cd ions from water. Experimental results have shown that corn residues (corn cob and corn silk) have a certain potential for use as bioadsorbents. The possibility of application was tested for corn cob and corn silk (corn cob 3.5g and corn silk 1.5g) for metal concentrations of  20, 40, 100 mg/L for corn cob, and 40 mg/L and 100 mg/L for corn silk. The tests were performed at pH 3 and 6 at a contact time to reach equilibrium of 3.5 hours. Adsorption parameters were determined using the Freundlich isotherm. The morphology of biosorbents before and after the adsorption process was monitored to observe differences in the structure of the biosorbents used. The results showed that in the case of Cd2 + ions, with an initial concentration of 100 mg/L the highest removal efficiency was achieved for all samples used, while in the case of Ni2+ ions the highest removal efficiency was achieved at an initial concentration of 40 mg/L for all samples, while the corn silk based of the maize (Zea mays L.) sample proved to be the best for the removal of these ions where the influence of pH has a great influence on the removal efficiency as well as the physico-chemical properties of the metal. Morphological analysis of samples before and after the adsorption process showed significant differences in the structure of the biosorbents used, which lead to the conclusion that sorption is associated with chemical changes on the surface of the biosorbent. The calculated values ​​of the parameters used in the Freundlich isotherm indicated the existence of high-energy sorption centers in the bisorbent of corn cob and corn silk hybrids maize, and that the adsorption was more pronounced at lower pH values. The corn cob-based  of the maize (Zea mays L.) biosorbent used has been shown to be a heterogeneous surface biosorbent with moderate sorption intensity to Ni and Cd ions, and good sorption intensity to Ni and Cd ions in corn silk-based biosorbent.

A wearable electromagnetic belt system for the detection of hepatic steatosis (lipid accumulation within the major liver cells, hepatocytes), is proposed. To satisfy the requirements of the belt system, an array of body matched antennas is designed. The belt, which goes around the lower chest and over the liver, requires compact, wideband, unidirectional antennas that operate at low microwave frequencies. To avoid using conventional bulky reflector structures, the designed antenna utilizes the loop-dipole combination concept. To enhance electromagnetic wave penetration, the antenna is designed to match the human body. Thus, thanks to the high dielectric loading from the human body, the dipole element of the antenna is easily miniaturized. Since the same principle does not apply on the loop structure, meandered arc-shapes are employed to increase the effective electrical length of the loop. The final antenna design has a measured wide operating bandwidth of 0.58-1.6 GHz with a compact size of $0.096\times 0.048 \times 0.048\lambda ^{3}$ . The proposed structure is effective in irradiating the torso, where the signal can reach center of the liver at a depth of 90 mm, with 64% of the peak radiated power. An electromagnetic belt is built using twelve elements of the designed antennas. The belt is then tested on a 3D printed torso phantom that includes models of the lungs and liver. Due to close dielectric properties of the other tissues inside the torso, these are represented using an average tissue mimicking mixture with permittivity of 46. Measured data are analyzed using multivariate energy statistics method. A peak measured dissimilarity of 15.1% between steatotic and healthy liver is attained. These initial tests and obtained results indicate the potential of the proposed system as a method to diagnose hepatic steatosis.

BACKGROUND Multiple sclerosis (MS) as chronic neurodegenerative disease significantly impact patients' quality of life (QoL). QoL instruments can be generic (EQ-5D, SF-36) and disease-specific like MSQoL-54. Use of disease-specific instruments is preferred since it captures broader symptoms related to MS than generic instruments. Mental health is impacted by MS and different psychiatric conditions significantly impact QoL. We have conducted prospective non-interventional study among MS patients. Aim was to measure and compare MS patients QoL by generic and disease-specific instrument at baseline and after one year and to identify potential correlation between these two types of measurements and to assess mental health scores among MS patients in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) and other countries. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Study included 62 patients diagnosed with MS and treated at Neurology clinic in Sarajevo from April 2016 to May 2017. Study was approved by Ethical Committee. QoL has been measured by EQ-5D and MSQoL-54. Measurement has been performed at baseline and after 12 months. RESULTS Average utility score measured by EQ-5D at the baseline and end of the study were 0.688 and 0.639 respectively with no significant difference (p=0.850). EQ-5D utility and MSQoL-54 score showed high correlation at baseline; rho=0.873 p=0.0001 for physical health and rho=0.711 p=0.0001 for mental health. At the end of the study no significant correlations have been found (p>0.05). High negative correlation found between EDSS and scores measured by EQ-5D and MSQoL-54; at baseline (rho=-0.744 p=0.0001) and at the end of the study (rho=-0.832 p=0.0001). Similar MS impact and loss of QoL found in B&H and other countries. CONCLUSIONS Both instruments can be used in measuring QoL but disease-specific are preferred since they capture broader symptoms impacting MS patient QoL. Using QoL instruments could drive clinician decision and patient-centric care as well as reimbursement and policy decision by recording treatment outcomes.

It is unclear to what extent the 2019 European Society of Cardiology (ESC), 2018 American College of Cardiology/ American Heart Association (ACC/AHA), 2016 US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), and 2016 Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) guidelines differ in assigning levels of evidence and classes of recommendations (LOE/class) to lipid-lowering treatment recommendations in primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD). To compare LOE/class from four commonly used guidelines at population level. A total of 7262 participants, aged 45–75 years of age and without history of CVD, from the prospective population-based Rotterdam Study were included. Per guideline, proportions of the population recommended statin therapy by LOE/class, sensitivity and specificity, and numbers needed to treat at 10 years (NNT10y) were calculated. Mean age was 61.1 (SD 6.9) years, and 58.2% were women. ESC, ACC/AHA, USPSTF and CCS strongly recommended statin use for a respective 33.8%, 48.1%, and 40.2% and 73.0% of the eligible population based on high-quality evidence, while in an additional 55.3%, 7.1%, 8.4% and 9.2% of participants statins use could or should be considered based on varying LOE/class. The sensitivity for treatment recommendations supported with strong, high quality evidence was 61.6% for ESC (“IA”), 74.6% for ACC/AHA (“IA or IB”), 69.4% for USPSTF (“USPSTF-B”) and 92.5% for CCS (“strong”). Specificity was highest for the ACC/AHA at 46.8% and lowest for ESC at 11.4%. Estimated NNT10y for those with the strongest LOE/class were comparable across all guidelines, ranging from 18 to 26 for moderate-intensity statin use, and 11 to 16 for high-intensity statin use. NNT10y reflective of recommendations supported with moderate strength of LOE/class varied substantially among guidelines for both moderate-intensity and high-intensity statin use, ranging from 33 for ESC and USPSTF to 91 for CCS. Assigned LOE/class varied greatly among four clinical practice guidelines for primary prevention of CVD. Efforts for harmonized and comparable evidence grading system for clinical practice guidelines in primary prevention of CVD may reduce ambiguity, and reinforce updated evidence-based recommendations for appropriate treatment of populations for whom clear evidence for benefit of statin use is available. Type of funding source: None

Gate-tunable spin-dependent properties could be induced in graphene at room temperature through the magnetic proximity effect by placing it in contact with a metallic ferromagnet. Because strong chemical bonding with the metallic substrate makes gating ineffective, an intervening passivation layer is needed. Previously considered passivation layers result in a large shift of the Dirac point away from the Fermi level, so that unrealistically large gate fields are required to tune the spin polarization in graphene (Gr). We show that a monolayer of Au or Pt used as the passivation layer between Co and graphene brings the Dirac point closer to the Fermi level. In the $\text{Co}/\text{Pt}/\text{Gr}$ system the proximity-induced spin polarization in graphene and its gate control are strongly enhanced by the presence of a surface band near the Fermi level. Furthermore, the shift of the Dirac point could be eliminated entirely by selecting submonolayer coverage in the passivation layer. Our findings open a path towards experimental realization of an optimized two-dimensional system with gate-tunable spin-dependent properties.

The role of autonomous cooperative vehicles will undoubtedly be important in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) to increase both the safety and the overall efficiency of a high traffic network system. An autonomous platooning provides one promising strategy for decreasing total fuel consumption of a fleet of vehicles and potential risk of accidents, especially during long-distance transportation. In this work, we provide a proof-of-concept for a simulation framework in which it is possible to simulate platoon and other multi-vehicle systems using realistic vehicle models within different traffic scenarios, which is based on ROS, Gazebo and SUMO. The framework enables an easy-to-use perception and control modules of the autonomous driving stack for a realistic vehicle models, while preserving a convenient setup of different high traffic platooning scenarios. Consequently, it provides a platooning design step for conducting reliable development analyses and a platform for comparisons of different platooning strategies. We illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed platooning framework through three typical scenarios using a distributed model predictive control scheme with a platoon consisted of Toyota Prius car models.

Abstract Development of critical systems nowadays is hardly achievable without reuse of previous knowledge. Design patterns have an important role in the design of such systems as they define and document common solutions to recurring design problems. However, critical systems such as those that are safety or security related, often require specific assurances that the system is adequate to operate in a given environment. Just as with any other reused knowledge in such systems, the reuse via application of design patterns needs to be assured every time. In this paper, we present a methodology for assuring the application of design patterns in critical domains. In particular, we enrich the design patterns template to support their further assurance. We define the aspects that should be tackled during the assurance of a design pattern application. We use the information specified in the design pattern template to guide the automated instantiation of the argumentation for each design pattern application in the system. We provide tool-support for our methodology in the context of the AMASS tool-platform and evaluate it in an automotive case study.