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In large aircrafts the cabling is very complex and often causes reliability problems. This is specially true for modern In-flight Entertainment (IFE) systems, where every passenger can select a preferred movie, play computer games or be able to communicate with other travellers. Due to EMC problems, wireless communication systems (WiFi etc.) didn't succeed in solving these problems. In this paper an innovative communication system is proposed which perfectly supplements an aircraft IFE system. The key innovation of this system is to use structures that are essential parts of the airframe for data transfer, such as seat rails. Those rails consist of rectangular shapes and could easily be modified to fulfill the function of waveguides for microwaves. A waveguide as part of the seat rail would provide enormous benefits for aircrafts, such as a large bandwidth and consequently high data rates, no problems with EMC, unlimited flexibility of seat configuration, mechanical robustness with associated increase of reliability and a few additional advantages related to aircrafts such as reduction of weight and costs.
In this paper we suggest to combine the areas of media streaming services, mobile devices, and manufacturing processes to support monitoring, controlling and supervising production processes in order to achieve high levels of efficiency and environmentally friendly production. It contains a comprehensive and detailed explanation of the proposed E-Learning streaming framework, especially the adaption of streaming services to mobile environments. The key components of our approach are 1) an XML-based streaming service specification language, 2) adaption of multimedia E-Learning services to mobile environments, and 3) a media delivery platform for searching, registration, and creation of streaming services for mobile devices.
In previous work we [1] and other authors (e.g. [2]) have shown that agent-based systems are successful in optimizing delivery plans of single logistics companies and are meanwhile successfully productive in industry. In this paper we show that agent-based systems are particularly useful to also optimize transport across logistics companies. In intercompany optimization, privacy is of major importance between the otherwise competing companies. Some data has to be treated strictly private like the cost model or the constraint model. Other data like order information has to be shared. However, typically the amount of orders released to other companies has also to be limited. We show that our agent-based approach can be easily fine tuned to trade off privacy against the benefit of cooperation.
The concept of m-learning which differs from other forms of e-learning covers a wide range of possibilities opened up by the convergence of new mobile technologies, wireless communication structure and distance learning development. This process of converging has launched some new goals to support m-learning where heterogeneity of devices, their operating systems (Linux, Windows, Symbian, Android etc) and supported markup languages (WML, XHTML etc), adaptive content, preferences or characteristics of user have become some of the major problems to be solved. To facilitate the learning process even more and to establish literally anytime anywhere learning, learning material/content should be available to the user always even if the user is in offline. Multiple devices used by the same user should also be synchronized among themselves and with server to provide updated learning content and to give a freedom to the user to choose any device as per his/her convenience. In this paper software architecture has been proposed to solve these problems and has been implemented by using a multidimensional flashcard learning system which synchronizes among all the devices that are being used by the user.
Introduction: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) with biventricular (BV) pacing is an established therapy for heart failure (HF) patients with ventricular desynchronization and reduced left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction. The aim of this study was to evaluate electrical ventricular desynchronization with transthoracic and transesophageal signal averaging electrocardiography in HF, to better select patients for CRT.
Methods: 13 HF patients (age 68 ± 10 years; 2 females, 11 males) with New York Heart Association (NYHA) class 2.8 ± 0.5, 28.6 ± 12.6 % LV ejection fraction and 155 ± 24 ms QRS duration (QRSD) were analysed with transthoracic and transesophageal electrocardiogram recording and novel National Intruments LabView 2009 signal averaging software. Esophageal TO Osypka catheter was perorally applied to the esophagus and placed in the position of maximum LV de-flection. The 0.05-Hz high-pass filtered surface electrocardiogram and the 10-Hz high-pass filtered bipolar transesophageal electrocardiogram were recorded with Bard EP-System and 1000-Hz sampling rate.
Results: Transesophageal LV electrogram recording was possible in all HF patients (n=13). Transesophageal interventricular conduction delay (IVCD) was 51 ± 19 ms and measured between the earliest onset of QRS in the 12-channel surface electrocardiogram and the onset of the LV deflection in the transesophageal electrocardiogram. Transesophageal intra-left ventricular delay (LVCD) was 90 ± 16 ms and measured between the onset and offset of the LV deflection in the transesophageal electrocardiogram. QRSD to transesophageal IVCD ratio was 3.43 ± 1.31 ms, QRSD to transesophageal LVCD ratio was 1.75 ± 0.28 ms and QRSD was evaluated between onset and offset of QRS signal in the 12-channel surface electrocardiogram.
Conclusion: Determination of IVCD, LVCD, QRSD-to-IVCD-ratio and QRSD-to-LVCD-ratio by transesophageal LV electrogram recording with LabView 2009 signal averaging technique may be useful parameters of ventricular desynchronisation to improve patient selection for CRT.
Introduction: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) with biventricular (BV) pacing is an established therapy for heart failure (HF) patients with ventricular desynchronisation and reduced left ventricular (LV) function. The aim of this study was to evaluate preejection period (PEP) and left ventricular ejection time (LVET) with transthoracic signal averaging impedance and electrocardiography in HF patients with and without BV pacing.
Methods: 10 HF patients (age 68.9 ± 8 years; 2 females, 9 males) with New York Heart Association (NYHA) class 2,9 ± 0.5, 30.9 ± 10.5 % LV ejection fraction and 159.4 ± 22.9 ms QRS duration were analysed with transthoracic impedance and electrocardiography (Cardioscreen Medis, Ilmenau, Germany) and novel National Intruments LabView 2009 signal averaging software. One day after BV pacing device implantation, AV and VV delays were optimized by transthoracic impedance cardiography and stroke volume (SV) and cardiac output (CO) were gained by Cardioscreen.
Results: Transthoracic impedance and electrocardiography AV and VV delay opimization was possible in all HF patients with BV pacing devices (n= 10). PEP was 154 ± 24ms without BV pacing and measured between onset of QRS in the surface electrocardiogram and onset of ventricular deflection in the impedance cardiogram. LVET was 342 ± 65ms without BV pacing and measured between onset and offset of ventricular deflection in the impedance cardiogram. The use of optimal AV and VV delay BV pacing resulted in improvement of SV from 64.1 ± 26.5 ml to 94.1 ± 33.96 ml (P < 0.05) and CO from 4.05 ± 1.36 l/min to 6.44 ± 1.56 l/min (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: PEP and LVET may be useful parameters of ventricular Desynchronisation. AV and VV delay optimized BV pacing improve SV and CO. Impedance and electrocardiography with LabView 2009 signal averaging may be a simple and useful technique to optimize CRT.
Digital libraries are providing an increasing amount of data, which is normally structured in a classical way by documents and described by metadata as keywords. The data, even in scientific systems such as digital libraries and virtual research environments, will contain a great amount of noise or information unnecessary for our personal interests. Although there has been a lot of progress in the field of information retrieval, search techniques and other content finding methods, there is still much to be done in the field of information retrieval based on user behavior. This paper presents an approach deployed in the Humboldt Digital Library (HDL) to facilitate the retrieval of relevant information to the users of the system, making recommendations of paragraphs based on their profile and the behavior of other users who share similar profiles. The Humboldt digital library represents an innovative system of open access to the legacy of Alexander von Humboldt in a digital form on the Internet (www.avhumboldt.net). It contributes to the key question, how to present interconnected data in a proper form using information technologies.
Introduction: To simplify AV delay (AVD) optimization in cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), we reported that the hemodynamically optimal AVD for VDD and DDD mode CRT pacing can be approximated by individually measuring implant-related interatrial conduction intervals (IACT) in oesophageal electrogram (LAE) and adding about 50ms. The programmer-based St Jude QuickOpt algorithm is utilizing this finding. By automatically measuring IACT in VDD operation, it predicts the sensed AVD by adding either 30ms or 60ms. Paced AVD is strictly 50ms longer than sensed AVD. As consequence of those variations, several studies identified distinct inaccuracies of QuickOpt. Therefore, we aimed to seek for better approaches to automate AVD optimization.
Methods: In a study of 35 heart failure patients (27m, 8f, age: 67±8y) with Insync III Marquis CRT-D systems we recorded telemetric electrograms between left ventricular electrode and superior vena cava shock coil (LVtip/SVC = LVCE) simultaneously with LAE. By LVCE we measured intervals As-Pe in VDD and Ap-Pe in DDD operation between right atrial sense-event (As) or atrial stimulus (Ap), resp., and end of the atrial activity (Pe). As-Pe and Ap-Pe were compared with As-LA an Ap-LA in LAE, respectively.
Results: End of the left atrial activity in LVCE could clearly be recognized in 35/35 patients in VDD and 29/35 patients in DDD operation. We found mean intervals As-LA of 40.2±24.5ms and Ap-LA of 124.3±20.6ms. As-Pe was 94.8±24.1ms and Ap-Pe was 181.1±17.8ms. Analyzing the sums of As-LA + 50ms with duration of As-Pe and Ap-LA + 50ms with duration of Ap-Pe, the differences were 4.7±9.2ms and 4.2±8.6ms, resp., only. Thus, hemodynamically optimal timing of the ventricular stimulus can be triggered by automatically detecting Pe in LVCE.
Conclusion: Based on minimal deviations between LAE and LVCE approach, we proposed companies to utilize the LVCE in order to automate individual AVD optimization in CRT pacing.
In recent years, light-weight cryptography has received a lot of attention. Many primitives suitable for resource-restricted hardware platforms have been proposed. In this paper, we present a cryptanalysis of the new stream cipher A2U2 presented at IEEE RFID 2011 [9] that has a key length of 56 bit. We start by disproving and then repairing an extremely efficient attack presented by Chai et al. [8], showing that A2U2 can be broken in less than a second in the chosen-plaintext case. We then turn our attention to the more challenging known-plaintext case and propose a number of attacks. A guess-and-determine approach combined with algebraic cryptanalysis yields an attack that requires about 249 internal guesses. We also show how to determine the 5-bit counter key and how to reconstruct the 56-bit key in about 238 steps if the attacker can freely choose the IV. Furthermore, we investigate the possibility of exploiting the knowledge of a “noisy keystream” by solving a Max-PoSSo problem. We conclude that the cipher needs to be repaired and point out a number of simple measures that would prevent the above attacks.
The efficient support of Hardwae-In-theLoop (HIL) in the design process of hardwaresoftware-co-designed systems is an ongoing challenge. This paper presents a network-based integration of hardware elements into the softwarebased image processing tool „ADTF“, based on a high-performance Gigabit Ethernet MAC and a highly-efficient TCP/IP-stack. The MAC has been designed in VHDL. It was verified in a SystemCsimulation environment and tested on several Altera FPGAs.
Introduction: Cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) with atrioventricular (AV) and interventricular (VV) optimized biventricular pacing (BV) is an established therapy for heart failure (HF) patients. The aim of the study was to compare AV and VV delay optimization with cardiac output (CO), cardiac index (CI), contractility index (IC) and acceleration index (ACI) impedance cardiographic (ICG) methods in CRT.
Methods: 15 HF patients (age 66 ± 10 years; 2 females, 13 males) in New York Heart Association (NYHA) class 3.1 ± 0.4, left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction 21.3 ± 7.8 % and QRS duration 176.1 ± 31.7 ms underwent AV and VV delay optimization with CO, CI, IC and ACI (Cardioscreen ®, Medis GmbH, Ilmenau, Germany) at different AV and VV delay BV pacing settings versus right ventricular (RV) pacing one day after implantation of a CRT device.
Results: Optimal AV delay after atrial sensing was 108.6 ± 20.3 ms (n=14) and optimal AV delay after atrial pacing 190 ± 14.1 ms (n=2) with AV delay range from 80 ms to 200 ms. Optimal VV delay was -12.3 ± 25.9 ms left ventricular before RV pacing. RV versus BV pacing mode resulted in improvement of CO from 3.4 ± 1.2 l/min to 4.4 ± 1.4 l/min (p<0.001), CI from 1.8 ± 0.64 l/min/m² to 2.4 ± 0.78 l/min/m² (p<0.001), IC from 0.028 ± 0.011 1/s to 0.036 ± 0.013 1/s (p<0.001) and ACI from 0.667 ± 0.227 1/s² to 0.834 ± 0.282 1/s² (p<0.002). During 34 ± 26 month BV pacing, the NYHA class improved from 3.1 ± 0.4 to 2.1 ± 0.4 (p<0.001).
Conclusion: AV and VV delay optimized BV pacing acutely improve hemodynamic parameters of transthoracic ICG and their NYHA class during long-term follow-up. ICG may be a simple and useful technique to optimize AV and VV delay in CRT.
Electrical velocimetry to optimize VV delay in biventricular VVIR and DDD pacing for heart failure
(2011)
Introduction: VV delay (VVD) is the only parameter to hemodynamically optimize cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Electrical velocimetry (EV) has been established to monitor thoracic electrical conductivity and to calculate hemodynamic surrogate parameters. We compared the response of this method to hemodynamic parameter changes between CRT patients with sinus rhythm (SR) and patients with AF.
Methods: VVD was individualized in 17 CRT patients in SR (12m, 5f, 67.0±7.2yrs.) after echo AV delay optimization and in 11 CRT patients in AF (10m, 1f, 69.8±9.6yrs.) using the Aesculon Cardiovascular Monitor (Osypka Medical, Berlin, Germany). Serial 30s EV recordings were accomplished, decreasing the VVD stepwise by 10ms from +60ms to -60ms between right and left ventricular stimulus. Optimal VVD was determined by the maximum of at least two of the three averaged parameters stroke volume (SV), cardiac output (CO) and cardiac index (CI). The response of SV, CO and CI was tested comparing their values in optimal VVD and suboptimal VVD. Suboptimal VVD was defined by optimal VVD±20ms.
Results: In all 28 patients in SR and AF, EV recordings resulted in optimal VVD. Between suboptimal and optimal mean VVD of 18.6±30.8ms between left and right ventricular stimulus, SV increased by 7.2±6.8%, CO by 7.8±7.2% and CI by 10.0±13.3% (all p<0.02). In the SR group with VVD of 18.8± 29.6ms, SV increased by 4.6±2.9%, CO by 5.0±2.9% and CI by 4.9±2.9% (all p<0.02). In the AF group with VVD of 18.2±4.0ms, SV increased by 10.4±8.9%, CO by 11.3±9.5% and CI by 16.4±18.2% (all p<0.02). Significant differences were not found between optimal VVD in SR and AF patients.
Conclusion: EV is a feasible serial method to individualize VVD in DDD and VVIR pacing for heart failure. Its response to hemodynamic changes demonstrates the value of EV for VVD fine-tuning.
The German Weather Service (DWD) releases a heat warning, when the weather forecast provides a warm, humid, sunny, and windless weather condition during the next days. The heat stress is calculated by the so called Klima-Michel model. If the apparent air temperature exceeds ca. 32°C / 38°C, there is a strong / extreme heat stress. The smallest forecast area is each administrative district. As people (and especially the vulnerable population) stay most of the time indoors, the heat health warning system was extended by the prediction of heat stress in typical rooms. Therewith it is feasible to forecast the heat stress using a combination of the outdoor and indoor heat stress. The prediction for the indoor heat stress is based on the same weather forecast like the Heat Health Warning Systems (HHWS).and calculates the heat stress by the PMV-model (predicted mean vote). Based on a sophisticated data analysis and simulation study, realistic but summer-critical living situations were defined and implemented in the building simulation program ESP-r. As the simulation runs especially for extreme weather conditions, a simplified building model cannot be used. Standardized input/output routines and an adaptive handover of start values provide for short run times for each forecast area. Good building designs and urban planning provide effective measures to reduce heat stress in cities. However, we have to also pay attention to the present building stock under climate change and a higher heat-wave risk. The extended German HHWS provide information for the emergency services to support the social assistants during heat waves.
Surface and interface acoustic waves are two-dimensionally guided waves, as their displacement field is plane-wave like regarding its dependence on the spatial coordinates parallel to the guiding plane, while it decays exponentially along the axis normal to that plane. When propagating at the planar surface or interface of homogeneous media, they are non-dispersive. Another type of non-dispersive acoustic waves which is, however, one-dimensionally guided, has displacement fields localized near the apex of a wedge made of an elastic material. In this short review, their propagation properties are described as well as theoretical and experimental methods which have been used for their analysis. Experimental findings are discussed in comparison with corresponding theoretical work and potential applications of this fascinating type of acoustic waves are presented.
Introduction: Cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) with atrioventricular (AV) and interventricular (VV) optimized biventricular pacing (BV) is an established therapy for heart failure (HF) patients with electrical interventricular conduction delay (IVCD). The aim of the study was to compare AV and VV delay optimization with cardiac output (CO) and acceleration index (ACI) impedance cardiographic (ICG) methods.
Methods: HF patients with IVCD 86.8 ± 33 ms (n=15, age 66 ± 10 years; 2 females, 13 males), New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class 3.1 ± 0.4, left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction 21.3 ± 7.8 % and QRS duration 176.1 ± 31.7 ms underwent AV and VV delay optimization with CO and ACI methods (Cardioscreen, Medis GmbH, Ilmenau, Germany). After evaluation of optimal AV delay, we evaluated optimal VV delay during simultaneous LV and right ventricular (RV) pacing (LV=RV), LV before RV pacing (LV-RV) and RV before LV pacing (RV-LV).
Results: Optimal VV delay was -12.3 ± 25.9 ms LV-RV pacing with VV delay range from -80 ms LV-RV pacing to +20 ms RV-LV pacing and RV=LV pacing. Optimal AV delay after atrial sensing was 108.6 ± 20.3 ms (n=14) and optimal AV delay after atrial pacing 190 ± 14.1 ms (n=2) with AV delay range from 80 ms to 200 ms. RV versus BV pacing mode resulted in improvement of CO from 3.4 ± 1.2 l/min to 4.4 ± 1.4 l/min (p<0.001) and ACI from 0.667 ± 0.227 1/s² to 0.834 ± 0.282 1/s² (p<0.002). During 34 ± 26 month BV pacing, the NYHA class improved from 3.1 ± 0.4 to 2.1 ± 0.4 (p<0.001).
Conclusion: AV and VV delay optimized BV pacing acutely improve ICG CO and ACI and their NYHA class during long-term follow-up. ICG may be a simple and useful technique to optimize AV and VV delay in CRT.
In-vivo and in-vitro comparison of implant-based CRT optimization - What provide new algorithms?
(2011)
Introduction: In cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), individual AV delay (AVD) optimization can effectively increase hemodynamics and reduce non-responder rate. Accurate, automatic and easily comprehensible algorithms for the follow-up are desirable. QuickOpt is the first attempt of a semi-automatic intracardiac electrogram (IEGM) based AVD algorithm. We aimed to compare its accuracy and usefulness by in-vitro and in-vivo studies.
Methods: Using the programmable ARSI-4 four-chamber heart rhythm and IEGM simulator (HKP, Germany), the QuickOpt feature of an Epic HF system (St. Jude, USA) was tested in-vitro by simulated atrial IEGM amplitudes between 0.3 and 3.5mV during both, manual and automatic atrial sensing between 0.2 and 1.0mV. Subsequently, in 21 heart failure patients with implanted biventricular defibrillators, QuickOpt was performed in-vivo. Results of the algorithm for VDD and DDD stimulation were compared with echo AV delay optimization.
Results: In-vitro simulations demonstrated a QuickOpt measuring accuracy of ± 8ms. Depending on atrial IEGM amplitude, the algorithm proposed optimal AVD between 90 and 150ms for VDD and between 140 and 200ms for DDD operation, respectively. In-vivo, QuickOpt difference between individual AVD in DDD and VDD mode was either 50ms (20pts) or 40ms (1pt). QuickOpt and echo AVD differed by 41 ± 25ms (7 – 90ms) in VDD and by 18 ± 24ms (17-50ms) in DDD operation. Individual echo AVD difference between both modes was 73 ± 20ms (30-100ms).
Conclusion: The study demonstrates the value of in-vitro studies. It predicted QuickOpt deficiencies regarding IEGM amplitude dependent AVD proposals constrained to fixed individual differences between DDD and VDD mode. Consequently, in-vivo, the algorithm provided AVD of predominantly longer duration than echo in both modes. Accepting echo individualization as gold standard, QuickOpt should not be used alone to optimize AVD in CRT patients.
A simple model is introduced that describes the interaction of surface acoustic waves (SAWs) with a 2D periodic array of objects on the surface that give rise to internal resonances. Such objects may be high-aspect ratio structures like micro-pillars fabricated of a material different from that of the substrate. The model allows for an approximate determination of the band structure for the acoustic modes in such systems. Results are presented for the dependence on structural parameters of a total bandgap in the non-radiative regime of a semi-infinite substrate, and it is shown how the frequency and radiation damping of vibrational modes can be determined that are associated with defects in the periodic 2D array.