Implementation of basic QoS mechanisms on videoconferencing network model

Ovo istraživanje je posljedica višegodišnjeg korištenja videokonferencijske veze te pojave raznih problema koji prate istu. Kašnjenje slike i zvuka, pucanje veze, prekid slike ili zvuka samo su neki od razloga zbog kojih je nastao ovaj rad. U ovom radu pokušava se primjenom mehanizama kvalitete usluge na modelu CARNet-ove mreže poboljšati kvaliteta videokonferencijske veze. Na osnovu dobivenih rezultata simulacije videokonferencijske veze prikazani su grafovi ispuštanja paketa, kašnjenja te ostalih parametara bitnih za videokonferencijsku vezu.This research is the outcome of multiannual use of videoconferencing services and the emersion of various problems that come with videoconferencing applications. Video and audio delay, dropped connection, missing audio or video, are just some of the reasons for creating this paper. In this article quality of videoconferencing link in CARNet network is improved by implementing various QoS mechanisms. The obtained results of the videoconferencing simulation are represented in graphs which display dropped packets, delay and other videoconferencing parameters

Data Visualization Classification Using Simple Convolutional Neural Network Model

Data visualization is developed from the need to display a vast quantity of information more transparently. Data visualization often incorporates important information that is not listed anywhere in the document and enables the reader to discover significant data and save it in longer-term memory. On the other hand, Internet search engines have difficulty processing data visualization and connecting visualization and the request submitted by the user. With the use of data visualization, all blind individuals and individuals with impaired vision are left out. This article utilizes machine learning to classify data visualizations into 10 classes. Tested model is trained four times on the dataset which is preprocessed through four stages. Achieved accuracy of 89 % is comparable to other methods’ results. It is showed that image processing can impact results, i.e. increasing or decreasing level of details in image impacts on average classification accuracy significantly

Coded images sensitivity on the errors in the communication channel transmission

Ovo istraživanje pokušava analizirati posljedice gubitka paketa u prijenosu komunikacijskim kanalom u vidu pogrešaka na slici. Greške se simuliraju korištenjem tri najčešća tipa grešaka u komunikacijskom kanalu uz korištenje dva tipa entropijskog kodiranja. Na dobivenim, oštećenim, slikama provodi se objektivna analiza slike te se rezultati prikazuju u tabličnom obliku.This research attempts to analyze the effects of packet loss in the transmission through communication channel in the form of picture quality degradation. Errors are simulated using the three most common types of errors in the communication channel with the use of two types of entropy coders. On obtained, damaged pictures an objective image analysis is performed and the results are presented in tabular form

Q-learning by the nth step state and multi-agent negotiation in unknown environment

U ovom radu je predstavljen novi postupak Q-učenja kod kojega agent odluku o sljedećoj akciji donosi na osnovu korisnosti nekog budućeg stanja, a ne na osnovu trenutno optimalne akcije. Implementirana je komunikacija agenata u okolini koji si međusobno javljaju svoje buduće akcije što doprinosi kvalitetnijem odabiru akcija pojedinog agenta. Nova metoda nazvana je Q-učenje prema stanju n-tog koraka i dogovaranjem više agenata. Uspoređeni su rezultati testiranja ovdje predstavljenog algoritma s osnovnim QL algoritmom što je i grafički prikazano te su navedene prednosti novog algoritma. Postignuto je prosječno smanjenje od 40 % sudara tijekom postupka učenja.This work will show a new procedure of Q-learning in which the agent’s decision, regarding the next step, is not based on the optimal action at that moment but on the usefulness of a future state. A near agent communication has been implemented so that the agents signal each other their future actions which contribute to a better choice of actions for each of the agents. The new method is named Q-learning by the nth step and multi-agent negotiation. The results of the testing of this algorithm are compared with the basic QL algorithm which is also graphically demonstrated and the advantages of the new algorithm are listed too. An average of 40 % collision decrease is obtained during learning procedure

Holografsko kodiranje akcija i interakcija procesa

Digital holographic transformations. Holographic surface. Objects, actions and events on the holographic surface. Coding of the actions. Process state follow-up: short- and long-term memory. HOLA – holographic analytical machine. Data flow in the holographic machine. Process state interactions.Digitalne holografske pretvorbe. Holografska površina. Objekti, akcije i događaji na holografskoj površini. Kodiranje akcija. Slijeđenje procesnog stanja: kratkotrajna i dugotrajna memorija. HOLA – holografski analitički stroj. Tok podataka u holografskom stroju. Međudjelovanja procesnih stanja

Mapping 123 million neonatal, infant and child deaths between 2000 and 2017

Since 2000, many countries have achieved considerable success in improving child survival, but localized progress remains unclear. To inform efforts towards United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3.2—to end preventable child deaths by 2030—we need consistently estimated data at the subnational level regarding child mortality rates and trends. Here we quantified, for the period 2000–2017, the subnational variation in mortality rates and number of deaths of neonates, infants and children under 5 years of age within 99 low- and middle-income countries using a geostatistical survival model. We estimated that 32% of children under 5 in these countries lived in districts that had attained rates of 25 or fewer child deaths per 1,000 live births by 2017, and that 58% of child deaths between 2000 and 2017 in these countries could have been averted in the absence of geographical inequality. This study enables the identification of high-mortality clusters, patterns of progress and geographical inequalities to inform appropriate investments and implementations that will help to improve the health of all populations

Unapređenje prakse i upotrebe tehnologija za unapređenje adherence

Medication non-adherence is recognized as a global problem associated with financial burden for patients and healthcare funds. At the European level, different Medication Adherence Technologies (MATech) are in use. The European Network to Advance Best practices and technoLogy on medication adherencE (ENABLE, COST Action 19132) was launched to: 1) identify current practices for Medication Adherence (MA) support by healthcare professionals; 2) create a structure for the repository of existing MATech that could be used by different stakeholders; and to 3) prepare guidance for sustainable implementation of MATech across European healthcare settings. ENABLE gathered different healthcare professionals and academics from 39 countries, to achieve the set of goals during a four-year period. Several cross-European studies were conducted employing stakeholder consultation (Delphi) and survey methods, including analysis of current practices for assessing and supporting MA in routine care, as well as barriers and facilitators to managing MA, work on medication management during COVID pandemic, reimbursement pathways of adherence interventions and protocols to identify the best practices and technologies. The MATech repository was designed by ENABLE members, and consultation of different stakeholders is currently in progress. The repository structure includes information about the MATech product and provider, goals and content related to managing MA, and information about the scientific evaluation and implementation. A cross-European expert survey identified a limited number of MA enhancing interventions that are currently subject to reimbursement. ENABLE identified the need for collaboration, infrastructure, and reimbursement to enhance the uptake of MATech in daily practice.Neadherenca pacijenata prema terapiji prepoznata je kao globalni problem udružen sa finansijskim opterećenjem pojedinaca i zdravstvenih sistema. Na nivou Evrope koriste se različite tehnologije za unapređenje adherence (Medication Adherence Technologies - MATech). Evropska mreža za razvoj najboljih praksi i tehnologija za unapređenje adherence (ENABLE, COST Action 19132) pokrenuta je sa ciljem da se: 1) identifikuju trenutne prakse unapređenja adherence (medication adhrerence – MA) od strane zdravstvenih profesionalaca; 2) kreira struktura repozitorijuma postojećih MATech koju mogu da koriste različiti stejkholderi; 3) da se pripreme vodiči za održivu implementaciju MATech širom Evrope. ENABLE okuplja zdravstvene profesionalce različitih profesija iz 39 zemalja kako bi se postigli ciljevi tokom četvorogodišnjeg perioda. Nekoliko studija u više zemalja Evrope pokrenuto je kako bi se izvršilo ispitivanje 1) stavova različitih stejkholdera delfi metodom i upitnicima, uključujući analizu trenutnih praksi u vezi analize i podrške MA u rutinskoj praksi, kao i barijere i facilitatore koji utiču na MA, 2) menadžment lekovima tokom COVID pandemije, 3) načine refundacije intervencija u vezi sa MA i 4) protokola koji identifikuju nabolje prakse i tehnologije. Kreirana je struktura MATech repozitorijuma, dok je usaglašavanje sa različitim stejkholderima u toku. Struktura repozitorijuma zasniva se na informacijama o MATech, ciljevima i sadržajima u vezi MA, i informacijama o naučnim procenama i implementaciji MATech. Na području Evrope istraživanje je identifikovalo ograničeni broj intervencija za unapređenje MA koje podležu refundaciji. ENABLE ukazuje na potrebu za kolaboracijom, razvojem infrastrukture i politike refundacije kako bi se unapredila upotreba MATech u rutinskoj praksi.VIII Kongres farmaceuta Srbije sa međunarodnim učešćem, 12-15.10.2022. Beogra

Prevalence and attributable health burden of chronic respiratory diseases, 1990–2017: A systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2017

© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license Background: Previous attempts to characterise the burden of chronic respiratory diseases have focused only on specific disease conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or asthma. In this study, we aimed to characterise the burden of chronic respiratory diseases globally, providing a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis on geographical and time trends from 1990 to 2017. Methods: Using data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017, we estimated the prevalence, morbidity, and mortality attributable to chronic respiratory diseases through an analysis of deaths, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and years of life lost (YLL) by GBD super-region, from 1990 to 2017, stratified by age and sex. Specific diseases analysed included asthma, COPD, interstitial lung disease and pulmonary sarcoidosis, pneumoconiosis, and other chronic respiratory diseases. We also assessed the contribution of risk factors (smoking, second-hand smoke, ambient particulate matter and ozone pollution, household air pollution from solid fuels, and occupational risks) to chronic respiratory disease-attributable DALYs. Findings: In 2017, 544·9 million people (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 506·9–584·8) worldwide had a chronic respiratory disease, representing an increase of 39·8% compared with 1990. Chronic respiratory disease prevalence showed wide variability across GBD super-regions, with the highest prevalence among both males and females in high-income regions, and the lowest prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. The age-sex-specific prevalence of each chronic respiratory disease in 2017 was also highly variable geographically. Chronic respiratory diseases were the third leading cause of death in 2017 (7·0% [95% UI 6·8–7·2] of all deaths), behind cardiovascular diseases and neoplasms. Deaths due to chronic respiratory diseases numbered 3 914 196 (95% UI 3 790 578–4 044 819) in 2017, an increase of 18·0% since 1990, while total DALYs increased by 13·3%. However, when accounting for ageing and population growth, declines were observed in age-standardised prevalence (14·3% decrease), age-standardised death rates (42·6%), and age-standardised DALY rates (38·2%). In males and females, most chronic respiratory disease-attributable deaths and DALYs were due to COPD. In regional analyses, mortality rates from chronic respiratory diseases were greatest in south Asia and lowest in sub-Saharan Africa, also across both sexes. Notably, although absolute prevalence was lower in south Asia than in most other super-regions, YLLs due to chronic respiratory diseases across the subcontinent were the highest in the world. Death rates due to interstitial lung disease and pulmonary sarcoidosis were greater than those due to pneumoconiosis in all super-regions. Smoking was the leading risk factor for chronic respiratory disease-related disability across all regions for men. Among women, household air pollution from solid fuels was the predominant risk factor for chronic respiratory diseases in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, while ambient particulate matter represented the leading risk factor in southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania, and in the Middle East and north Africa super-region. Interpretation: Our study shows that chronic respiratory diseases remain a leading cause of death and disability worldwide, with growth in absolute numbers but sharp declines in several age-standardised estimators since 1990. Premature mortality from chronic respiratory diseases seems to be highest in regions with less-resourced health systems on a per-capita basis. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Global, regional, and national under-5 mortality, adult mortality, age-specific mortality, and life expectancy, 1970–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

BACKGROUND: Detailed assessments of mortality patterns, particularly age-specific mortality, represent a crucial input that enables health systems to target interventions to specific populations. Understanding how all-cause mortality has changed with respect to development status can identify exemplars for best practice. To accomplish this, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) estimated age-specific and sex-specific all-cause mortality between 1970 and 2016 for 195 countries and territories and at the subnational level for the five countries with a population greater than 200 million in 2016. METHODS: We have evaluated how well civil registration systems captured deaths using a set of demographic methods called death distribution methods for adults and from consideration of survey and census data for children younger than 5 years. We generated an overall assessment of completeness of registration of deaths by dividing registered deaths in each location-year by our estimate of all-age deaths generated from our overall estimation process. For 163 locations, including subnational units in countries with a population greater than 200 million with complete vital registration (VR) systems, our estimates were largely driven by the observed data, with corrections for small fluctuations in numbers and estimation for recent years where there were lags in data reporting (lags were variable by location, generally between 1 year and 6 years). For other locations, we took advantage of different data sources available to measure under-5 mortality rates (U5MR) using complete birth histories, summary birth histories, and incomplete VR with adjustments; we measured adult mortality rate (the probability of death in individuals aged 15-60 years) using adjusted incomplete VR, sibling histories, and household death recall. We used the U5MR and adult mortality rate, together with crude death rate due to HIV in the GBD model life table system, to estimate age-specific and sex-specific death rates for each location-year. Using various international databases, we identified fatal discontinuities, which we defined as increases in the death rate of more than one death per million, resulting from conflict and terrorism, natural disasters, major transport or technological accidents, and a subset of epidemic infectious diseases; these were added to estimates in the relevant years. In 47 countries with an identified peak adult prevalence for HIV/AIDS of more than 0·5% and where VR systems were less than 65% complete, we informed our estimates of age-sex-specific mortality using the Estimation and Projection Package (EPP)-Spectrum model fitted to national HIV/AIDS prevalence surveys and antenatal clinic serosurveillance systems. We estimated stillbirths, early neonatal, late neonatal, and childhood mortality using both survey and VR data in spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression models. We estimated abridged life tables for all location-years using age-specific death rates. We grouped locations into development quintiles based on the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and analysed mortality trends by quintile. Using spline regression, we estimated the expected mortality rate for each age-sex group as a function of SDI. We identified countries with higher life expectancy than expected by comparing observed life expectancy to anticipated life expectancy on the basis of development status alone. FINDINGS: Completeness in the registration of deaths increased from 28% in 1970 to a peak of 45% in 2013; completeness was lower after 2013 because of lags in reporting. Total deaths in children younger than 5 years decreased from 1970 to 2016, and slower decreases occurred at ages 5-24 years. By contrast, numbers of adult deaths increased in each 5-year age bracket above the age of 25 years. The distribution of annualised rates of change in age-specific mortality rate differed over the period 2000 to 2016 compared with earlier decades: increasing annualised rates of change were less frequent, although rising annualised rates of change still occurred in some locations, particularly for adolescent and younger adult age groups. Rates of stillbirths and under-5 mortality both decreased globally from 1970. Evidence for global convergence of death rates was mixed; although the absolute difference between age-standardised death rates narrowed between countries at the lowest and highest levels of SDI, the ratio of these death rates-a measure of relative inequality-increased slightly. There was a strong shift between 1970 and 2016 toward higher life expectancy, most noticeably at higher levels of SDI. Among countries with populations greater than 1 million in 2016, life expectancy at birth was highest for women in Japan, at 86·9 years (95% UI 86·7-87·2), and for men in Singapore, at 81·3 years (78·8-83·7) in 2016. Male life expectancy was generally lower than female life expectancy between 1970 and 2016, an

Measuring performance on the Healthcare Access and Quality Index for 195 countries and territories and selected subnational locations: A systematic analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. Background A key component of achieving universal health coverage is ensuring that all populations have access to quality health care. Examining where gains have occurred or progress has faltered across and within countries is crucial to guiding decisions and strategies for future improvement. We used the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) to assess personal health-care access and quality with the Healthcare Access and Quality (HAQ) Index for 195 countries and territories, as well as subnational locations in seven countries, from 1990 to 2016. Methods Drawing from established methods and updated estimates from GBD 2016, we used 32 causes from which death should not occur in the presence of effective care to approximate personal health-care access and quality by location and over time. To better isolate potential effects of personal health-care access and quality from underlying risk factor patterns, we risk-standardised cause-specific deaths due to non-cancers by location-year, replacing the local joint exposure of environmental and behavioural risks with the global level of exposure. Supported by the expansion of cancer registry data in GBD 2016, we used mortality-to-incidence ratios for cancers instead of risk-standardised death rates to provide a stronger signal of the effects of personal health care and access on cancer survival. We transformed each cause to a scale of 0-100, with 0 as the first percentile (worst) observed between 1990 and 2016, and 100 as the 99th percentile (best); we set these thresholds at the country level, and then applied them to subnational locations. We applied a principal components analysis to construct the HAQ Index using all scaled cause values, providing an overall score of 0-100 of personal health-care access and quality by location over time. We then compared HAQ Index levels and trends by quintiles on the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a summary measure of overall development. As derived from the broader GBD study and other data sources, we examined relationships between national HAQ Index scores and potential correlates of performance, such as total health spending per capita. Findings In 2016, HAQ Index performance spanned from a high of 97·1 (95% UI 95·8-98·1) in Iceland, followed by 96·6 (94·9-97·9) in Norway and 96·1 (94·5-97·3) in the Netherlands, to values as low as 18·6 (13·1-24·4) in the Central African Republic, 19·0 (14·3-23·7) in Somalia, and 23·4 (20·2-26·8) in Guinea-Bissau. The pace of progress achieved between 1990 and 2016 varied, with markedly faster improvements occurring between 2000 and 2016 for many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and southeast Asia, whereas several countries in Latin America and elsewhere saw progress stagnate after experiencing considerable advances in the HAQ Index between 1990 and 2000. Striking subnational disparities emerged in personal health-care access and quality, with China and India having particularly large gaps between locations with the highest and lowest scores in 2016. In China, performance ranged from 91·5 (89·1-93·6) in Beijing to 48·0 (43·4-53·2) in Tibet (a 43·5-point difference), while India saw a 30·8-point disparity, from 64·8 (59·6-68·8) in Goa to 34·0 (30·3-38·1) in Assam. Japan recorded the smallest range in subnational HAQ performance in 2016 (a 4·8-point difference), whereas differences between subnational locations with the highest and lowest HAQ Index values were more than two times as high for the USA and three times as high for England. State-level gaps in the HAQ Index in Mexico somewhat narrowed from 1990 to 2016 (from a 20·9-point to 17·0-point difference), whereas in Brazil, disparities slightly increased across states during this time (a 17·2-point to 20·4-point difference). Performance on the HAQ Index showed strong linkages to overall development, with high and high-middle SDI countries generally having higher scores and faster gains for non-communicable diseases. Nonetheless, countries across the development spectrum saw substantial gains in some key health service areas from 2000 to 2016, most notably vaccine-preventable diseases. Overall, national performance on the HAQ Index was positively associated with higher levels of total health spending per capita, as well as health systems inputs, but these relationships were quite heterogeneous, particularly among low-to-middle SDI countries. Interpretation GBD 2016 provides a more detailed understanding of past success and current challenges in improving personal health-care access and quality worldwide. Despite substantial gains since 2000, many low-SDI and middle- SDI countries face considerable challenges unless heightened policy action and investments focus on advancing access to and quality of health care across key health services, especially non-communicable diseases. Stagnating or minimal improvements experienced by several low-middle to high-middle SDI countries could reflect the complexities of re-orienting both primary and secondary health-care services beyond the more limited foci of the Millennium Development Goals. Alongside initiatives to strengthen public health programmes, the pursuit of universal health coverage hinges upon improving both access and quality worldwide, and thus requires adopting a more comprehensive view - and subsequent provision - of quality health care for all populations