| 1. |
- Sjöberg, Mats, 1965-, et al.
(author)
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Infliximab or cyclosporine as rescue therapy in hospitalized patients with steroid-refractory ulcerative colitis : a retrospective observational study
- 2012
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In: Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1078-0998 .- 1536-4844. ; 18:2, s. 212-218
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Cyclosporine (CsA) or infliximab (IFX) are used as rescue therapies in steroid-refractory, severe attacks of ulcerative colitis (UC). There are no data comparing the efficacy of these two alternatives. Methods: Outcome of rescue therapy was retrospectively studied in two cohorts of patients hospitalized due to steroid-refractory moderate to severe UC: 1) a Swedish-Danish cohort (n 49) treated with a single infusion of IFX; 2) an Austrian cohort (n 43) treated with intravenous CsA. After successful rescue therapy, maintenance immunomodulator treatment was given to 27/33 (82%) of IFX patients and to 31/40 (78%) of CsA patients. Endpoints were colectomy-free survival at 3 and 12 months. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression models were used to evaluate the association between treatment groups and colectomy. Results: At 15 days, colectomy-free survival in the IFX cohort was 36/49 (73%) versus 41/43 (95%) in the CsA cohort (P = 0.005), at 3 months 33/49 (67%) versus 40/43 (93%) (P = 0.002), and at 12 months 28/49 (57%) versus 33/43 (77%) (P = 0.034). After adjusting for potential confounding factors, Cox regression analysis yielded adjusted hazard ratios for risk of colectomy in IFX-treated patients of 11.2 (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.4-53.1, P = 0.002) at 3 months and of 3.0 (95% CI 1.1-8.2, P = 0.030) at 12 months in comparison with CsA-treated patients. There were no opportunistic infections or mortality. Conclusions: Colectomy frequencies were significantly lower after rescue therapy with CsA than with a single infusion of IFX both at 3 and 12 months' follow-up. The superiority of CsA was seen principally during the first 15 days.
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| 2. |
- Pozzer, Cesar, et al.
(author)
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Imprecise Computation as an Enabler for Complex and Time Critical HLA Simulation Networks
- 2014
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In: Proceedings of Simulation Interoperability Workshop. - 9781634393898 ; , s. 171-179
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A trend over the past years is that simulation systems for training are being connected in simulation networks, allowing the interaction of teams spread in distributed sites. By combining interconnected simulation systems the simulation complexity increases and may affect time-critical simulation tasks in a negative way. As a consequence, the training simulation objectives may not be met. The same problem may occur when performing, for example, mission rehearsal on site, since available computation resources are usually very limited in this scenario, or for a joint fires scenario, where the large and complex functional chain (including intelligence, C2, forward observer, pilots, etc.) may overload existing resources. In this work, the technique of imprecise computation in real-time systems (ICRS) to preserve time-critical simulation tasks is presented. The ICRS technique allows time-critical tasks to produce quicker solutions for approximate results and saves computational resources. This paper discusses the main advantages of theICRS technique by a review of the commonly used optimization concepts built upon imprecise computation field. Thepaper ends with presenting a work-in-progress: an architectural solution for aligning ICRS with the High Level Architecture (HLA), standardized as the IEEE 1516-series.
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| 3. |
- Amorim, Joni A., et al.
(author)
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Awareness and training : Identification of relevant security skills and competencies
- 2014
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In: Engineering Education in a Technology-Dependent World. - Guimarães : INTERTECH. - 9788565992282 - 9788566680287 ; , s. 37-
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In order to identify needed skills and competencies for privacy and security, we propose a systematic process that maps privacy and security threats to related controls that are required to prevent, detect or remove such threats. This work suggests how to apply the process, while discussing how games and simulations can be used both to develop the desired behavior and to monitor the current competency level.
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| 4. |
- Amorim, Joni A., et al.
(author)
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Privacy and Security in Cyberspace : Training Perspectives on the Personal Data Ecosystem
- 2013
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In: European Intelligence and Security Informatics Conference (EISIC), Proceedings CD. - : IEEE conference proceedings. - 9780769550626 ; , s. 139-142
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- There is a growing understanding that privacy is an essential component of security. In order to decrease the probability of having data breaches, the design of information systems, processes and architectures should incorporate considerations related to both privacy and security. This incorporation may benefit from the offering of appropriate training. In this way, this paper intends to discuss how to better offer training while considering new developments that involve both multimedia production and the “gamification” of training. The paper suggests the use in conjunction of two frameworks: the EduPMO Framework, useful for the management of large scale projects that may involve a consortium of organizations developing multimedia for the offering of training, and the Game Development Framework, useful for the identification of the main components of the serious game for training on privacy by design to be developed as part of the training offering.
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| 5. |
- Gustavsson, Per M., 1965-, et al.
(author)
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Operations Intent and Effects Model
- 2011
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In: The Journal of Defence Modeling and Simulation. - : Sage Publications. - 1548-5129 .- 1557-380X. ; 8:1, s. 37-59
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Military missions in the 21st century are characterized by combinations of traditional symmetric conventional warfare, irregular warfare, and operations other than war. The inherent uncertainty in an actual mission and the variety of potential organizations (e.g. multi-agency, non-governmental, private volunteer, international, international corporations) from several countries that support the mission makes collaboration and co-ordination a key capability for command and control. The ability to communicate and automatically process intent and effects is vital in order for a commander to cooperate with other organizations and agencies and lead subordinates in such a way that the overall mission is completed in the best possible way, including exploitation of fleeting opportunities, i.e. enable for self-synchronization amongst teams and allow for subordinate initiatives. However, intent and effects are often absent in the current and forthcoming digitalized information models, and if intent and effects are present it is likely to be found that the representations are made as free-text fields based on natural language. However, such messages are very difficult to disambiguate, particularly for automated machine systems. The overall objective for the Operations Intent and Effects Model is to support operational and simulated systems by a conceptual intent and effects model and a formalism that is human and machine interpretable.
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| 6. |
- Mellin, Jonas, et al.
(author)
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Using Imprecise Computation for Virtual and Constructive Simulations
- 2014
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In: Proceedings of the 2014 Winter Simulation Conference. - : IEEE Press. - 9781479974863 ; , s. 4043-4044
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this work, we raise three critical questions that must be investigated to ameliorate composability ofvirtual simulation models and to enable adoption of systematic and stringent real-time techniques toenable more scalable simulation models for virtual and constructive simulation. The real-time techniquesin question enable us to separate between policies and mechanisms and, thus, the simulation engine candecide dynamically how to run the simulation given the existing resources (e.g., processor) and the goalsof the simulation (e.g., sufficient fidelity in terms of timing and accuracy). The three critical questionsare: (i) how to design efficient and effective algorithms for making dynamic simulation model designdecisions during simulation; (ii) how to map simulation entities (e.g., agents) into (real-time) tasks; and(iii) how to enable a divide and conquer approach to validating simulation models.
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