| 1. |
- Ademuyiwa, Adesoji O., et al.
(författare)
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Determinants of morbidity and mortality following emergency abdominal surgery in children in low-income and middle-income countries
- 2016
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Ingår i: BMJ Global Health. - : BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. - 2059-7908. ; 1:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Child health is a key priority on the global health agenda, yet the provision of essential and emergency surgery in children is patchy in resource-poor regions. This study was aimed to determine the mortality risk for emergency abdominal paediatric surgery in low-income countries globally.Methods: Multicentre, international, prospective, cohort study. Self-selected surgical units performing emergency abdominal surgery submitted prespecified data for consecutive children aged <16 years during a 2-week period between July and December 2014. The United Nation's Human Development Index (HDI) was used to stratify countries. The main outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality, analysed by multilevel logistic regression.Results: This study included 1409 patients from 253 centres in 43 countries; 282 children were under 2 years of age. Among them, 265 (18.8%) were from low-HDI, 450 (31.9%) from middle-HDI and 694 (49.3%) from high-HDI countries. The most common operations performed were appendectomy, small bowel resection, pyloromyotomy and correction of intussusception. After adjustment for patient and hospital risk factors, child mortality at 30 days was significantly higher in low-HDI (adjusted OR 7.14 (95% CI 2.52 to 20.23), p<0.001) and middle-HDI (4.42 (1.44 to 13.56), p=0.009) countries compared with high-HDI countries, translating to 40 excess deaths per 1000 procedures performed.Conclusions: Adjusted mortality in children following emergency abdominal surgery may be as high as 7 times greater in low-HDI and middle-HDI countries compared with high-HDI countries. Effective provision of emergency essential surgery should be a key priority for global child health agendas.
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| 2. |
- Abbafati, Cristiana, et al.
(författare)
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- 2020
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)
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| 3. |
- Micah, Angela E., et al.
(författare)
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Tracking development assistance for health and for COVID-19 : a review of development assistance, government, out-of-pocket, and other private spending on health for 204 countries and territories, 1990-2050
- 2021
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Ingår i: The Lancet. - : Elsevier. - 0140-6736 .- 1474-547X. ; 398:10308, s. 1317-1343
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background The rapid spread of COVID-19 renewed the focus on how health systems across the globe are financed, especially during public health emergencies. Development assistance is an important source of health financing in many low-income countries, yet little is known about how much of this funding was disbursed for COVID-19. We aimed to put development assistance for health for COVID-19 in the context of broader trends in global health financing, and to estimate total health spending from 1995 to 2050 and development assistance for COVID-19 in 2020. Methods We estimated domestic health spending and development assistance for health to generate total health-sector spending estimates for 204 countries and territories. We leveraged data from the WHO Global Health Expenditure Database to produce estimates of domestic health spending. To generate estimates for development assistance for health, we relied on project-level disbursement data from the major international development agencies' online databases and annual financial statements and reports for information on income sources. To adjust our estimates for 2020 to include disbursements related to COVID-19, we extracted project data on commitments and disbursements from a broader set of databases (because not all of the data sources used to estimate the historical series extend to 2020), including the UN Office of Humanitarian Assistance Financial Tracking Service and the International Aid Transparency Initiative. We reported all the historic and future spending estimates in inflation-adjusted 2020 US$, 2020 US$ per capita, purchasing-power parity-adjusted US$ per capita, and as a proportion of gross domestic product. We used various models to generate future health spending to 2050. Findings In 2019, health spending globally reached $8. 8 trillion (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 8.7-8.8) or $1132 (1119-1143) per person. Spending on health varied within and across income groups and geographical regions. Of this total, $40.4 billion (0.5%, 95% UI 0.5-0.5) was development assistance for health provided to low-income and middle-income countries, which made up 24.6% (UI 24.0-25.1) of total spending in low-income countries. We estimate that $54.8 billion in development assistance for health was disbursed in 2020. Of this, $13.7 billion was targeted toward the COVID-19 health response. $12.3 billion was newly committed and $1.4 billion was repurposed from existing health projects. $3.1 billion (22.4%) of the funds focused on country-level coordination and $2.4 billion (17.9%) was for supply chain and logistics. Only $714.4 million (7.7%) of COVID-19 development assistance for health went to Latin America, despite this region reporting 34.3% of total recorded COVID-19 deaths in low-income or middle-income countries in 2020. Spending on health is expected to rise to $1519 (1448-1591) per person in 2050, although spending across countries is expected to remain varied. Interpretation Global health spending is expected to continue to grow, but remain unequally distributed between countries. We estimate that development organisations substantially increased the amount of development assistance for health provided in 2020. Continued efforts are needed to raise sufficient resources to mitigate the pandemic for the most vulnerable, and to help curtail the pandemic for all. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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| 4. |
- Asif, Rizwan, et al.
(författare)
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Whole-body motion and footstep planning for humanoid robots with multi-heuristic search
- 2019
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Ingår i: Robotics and Autonomous Systems. - : ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV. - 0921-8890 .- 1872-793X. ; 116, s. 51-63
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, we present a motion planning framework for humanoid robots that combines whole-body motions as well as footsteps under a quasi-static flat ground plane assumption. Traditionally, these two have been treated as separate research domains. One of the major challenges behind whole body motion planning is the high DoF (Degrees of Freedom) nature of the problem, in addition to strict constraints on obstacle avoidance and stability. On the other hand footstep planning on its own is a comparatively simpler problem due to the low DoF search space, but coalescing it into a larger framework that includes whole-body motion planning adds further complexity in reaching a solution within a suitable time frame that satisfies all the constraints. In this work, we treat motion planning as a graph search problem, and employ Shared Multi-heuristic A* (SMHA*) to generate efficient, stable and collision-free motion plans given only the starting state of the robot and the desired end-effector pose.
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| 5. |
- Bhutto, Shahzeb, et al.
(författare)
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Effect of banana tree leaves ash as cementitious material on the durability of concrete against sulphate and acid attacks
- 2024
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Ingår i: Heliyon. - : Elsevier. - 2405-8440. ; 10:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The construction industry's rapid growth poses challenges tied to raw material depletion and increased greenhouse gas emissions. To address this, alternative materials like agricultural residues are gaining prominence due to their potential to reduce carbon emissions and waste generation. In this context this research optimizes the use of banana leaves ash as a partial cement substitution, focusing on durability, and identifying the ideal cement-to-ash ratio for sustainable concrete. For this purpose, concrete mixes were prepared with BLA replacing cement partially in different proportions i.e. (0 %, 5 %, 10 %, 15 %, & 20 %) and were analyzed for their physical, mechanical and Durability (Acid and Sulphate resistance) properties. Compressive strength, acid resistance and sulphate resistance testing continued for 90 days with the intervals of 7, 28 and 90 days. The results revealed that up to 10 % incorporation of BLA improved compressive strength by 10 %, while higher BLA proportions (up to 20 %) displayed superior performance in durability tests as compared to the conventional mix. The results reveal the potentials of banana leave ash to refine the concrete matrix by formation of addition C–S–H gel which leads towards a better performance specially in terms of durability aspect. Hence, banana leaf ash (BLA) is an efficient concrete ingredient, particularly up to 10 % of the mix. Beyond this threshold, it's still suitable for applications where extreme strength isn't the primary concern, because there may be a slight reduction in compressive strength.
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| 6. |
- Fazli Yeknami, Ali, et al.
(författare)
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Design of OTAs for ultra-low-power sigma-delta ADCs in medical applications
- 2010
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Ingår i: International Conference on Signals and Electronic Systems. - : IEEE. - 9781424453078 ; , s. 229-232
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- High-resolution sigma-delta ADCs are gaining significant interest in ultra-low-power medical applications, where accurate measurement of low-frequency and weak electrophysiological signals is required. Operational transconductance amplifiers (OTA) are the key analog component and the most power-hungry part of the sigma-delta (ΣA) modulators. This paper presents a study of OTAs for ultra-low-power operation, including design and a comparative analysis of four OTA architectures implemented in 65nm CMOS Technology. The requirements for OTA gain and GBW are driven in terms of ΣA ADC specifications. The OTAs' impact on modulator SNR has been investigated by simulation. The results show that a two-stage OTA with load compensation yields highest SNR and lowest power dissipation amongst the four OTAs in this study.
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| 7. |
- Fazli Yeknami, Ali, et al.
(författare)
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Low-Power DT ΔΣ Modulators Using SC Passive Filters in 65nm CMOS
- 2014
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Ingår i: IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems Part 1. - : IEEE. - 1549-8328 .- 1558-0806. ; 61:2, s. 358-370
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A comparative design study of ultra-low-power discrete-time ΔΣ modulators (ΔΣ Ms) suited for medical implant devices is presented. Aiming to reduce the analog power consumption, the objective is to investigate the effectiveness of the switched-capacitor passive Þlter. Two design variants of 2nd-order ΔΣ are analyzed and compared to a power-optimized standard active modulator ΔΣΜΑΑ. The first variant ΔΣΜΑP employs an active filer in the 1st stage and a passive filter in the less critical 2nd stage. The second variant (OTA-less ΔΣΜpp) makes use of passive Þlters in both stages. For practical verfication, all three modulators are implemented on a single chip in 65 nm CMOS technology. Designed for 500-Hz signal bandwidth, the ΔΣΜΑΑ, ΔΣΜΑP and ΔΣΜpp achieve 76 dB, 70 dB and 67 dB peak SNDR, while consuming 2.1 μW, 1.27 μW, and 0.92 μW, respectively, from a 0.9 V supply. Furthermore, the ΔΣΜpp can operate at a supply voltage reduced to 0.7 V, achieving a 65 dB SNDR at 430 nW power and 0.296 pJ/step.
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| 8. |
- Glodzik, Lidia, et al.
(författare)
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Alzheimer's disease markers, hypertension, and gray matter damage in normal elderly.
- 2012
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Ingår i: Neurobiology of aging. - : Elsevier BV. - 1558-1497 .- 0197-4580. ; 33:7, s. 1215-1227
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is not well known whether Alzheimer's disease (AD) cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers are associated with brain damage in cognitively normal elderly. The combined influence of CSF biomarkers and hypertension (HTN) on the gray matter (GM) is also not well described. One hundred fifteen cognitively healthy subjects (mean age 62.6 ± 9.5%, 62% women) received clinical assessment, a high resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and a lumbar puncture. The CSF levels of total tau (t-tau), hyperphosphorylated tau (p-tau(231)), amyloid beta (Aβ42/Aβ40), p-tau(231)/Aβ42, and t-tau/Aβ42 were dichotomized as "high" and "low" based on accepted cut off values. Statistical parametric mapping was used to examine MRI scans for regional GM density, studied as a function of the CSF markers, HTN, and combination of both. Global and medial temporal lobe (MTL) GM was also assessed. Voxel based morphometry revealed that higher t-tau was associated with lower GM density in the precunei. Subjects with higher p-tau(231) and p-tau(231)/Aβ42 had less GM in temporal lobes. Low Aβ42/Aβ40 was related to less GM in the thalami, caudate, and midbrain. Subjects with hypertension showed more GM atrophy in the cerebellum, occipital, and frontal regions. Simultaneous presence of elevated CSF AD biomarkers and HTN was associated with more GM atrophy than either marker individually, but no interaction effects were identified. In conclusion, in normal elderly CSF tau markers were associated predominantly with lower GM estimates in structures typically affected early in the AD process. In this presymptomatic stage when no cognitive impairment is present, AD biomarkers and HTN have additive effects on gray matter damage.
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| 9. |
- Hassan, Syed Fahad, et al.
(författare)
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Wireless Mediation for Multi-Hop Networks in Time Critical Industrial Applications
- 2018
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Ingår i: 2018 IEEE Globecom Workshops (GC Wkshps) - Proceedings. - : IEEE conference proceedings. - 9781538649206
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Industrial Internet-of-things (IIoT) networks have recently gained enormous attention because of the huge advantages they offer. A typical IIoT network consists of a large number of sensor and actuator devices distributed randomly in an industrial area to automate various processes, where a major goal is to collect data from all these devices and to process it centrally at an aggregator. However, for an efficient system operation, a proficient scheduling mechanism is required due to its direct association with performance parameters. Many existing techniques such as time division multiple access (TDMA), do not perform well in industrial environments due to their stringent timeliness requirements. In this paper, we propose a medium access control (MAC) layer protocol for node scheduling in a scenario where some devices may not be in one-hop range of the aggregator and thus renders a multi-hop mechanism inevitable. A discrete time Markov chain (DTMC) model is proposed to characterize the transmission of multi-tier nodes and the analytical expressions of throughput and latency are derived. It has been oberved that the delay scales linearly with the number of nodes which are away not in one-hop distance of the aggregator. Numerical simulations have been performed to validate the theoretical results.
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| 10. |
- Khan, Fahad Shahbaz, et al.
(författare)
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Evaluating the Impact of Color on Texture Recognition
- 2013
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Ingår i: Computer Analysis of Images and Patterns. - Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer Berlin/Heidelberg. - 9783642402609 - 9783642402616 ; , s. 154-162
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- State-of-the-art texture descriptors typically operate on grey scale images while ignoring color information. A common way to obtain a joint color-texture representation is to combine the two visual cues at the pixel level. However, such an approach provides sub-optimal results for texture categorisation task.In this paper we investigate how to optimally exploit color information for texture recognition. We evaluate a variety of color descriptors, popular in image classification, for texture categorisation. In addition we analyze different fusion approaches to combine color and texture cues. Experiments are conducted on the challenging scenes and 10 class texture datasets. Our experiments clearly suggest that in all cases color names provide the best performance. Late fusion is the best strategy to combine color and texture. By selecting the best color descriptor with optimal fusion strategy provides a gain of 5% to 8% compared to texture alone on scenes and texture datasets.
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