Vibration-Based Structural Health Monitoring Using Piezoelectric Transducers and Parametric -SNE.

In this paper, we evaluate the performance of the so-called parametric -distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (P--SNE), comparing it to the performance of the -SNE, the non-parametric version. The methodology used in this study is introduced for the detection and classification of structural changes in the field of structural health monitoring. This method is based on the combination of principal component analysis (PCA) and P--SNE, and it is applied to an experimental case study of an aluminum plate with four piezoelectric transducers.

Damage Identification in Structural Health Monitoring: A Brief Review from its Implementation to the Use of Data-Driven Applications.

The damage identification process provides relevant information about the current state of a structure under inspection, and it can be approached from two different points of view. The first approach uses data-driven algorithms, which are usually associated with the collection of data using sensors. Data are subsequently processed and analyzed.

A Frequency-Based Approach for the Detection and Classification of Structural Changes Using -SNE †.

This work presents a structural health monitoring (SHM) approach for the detection and classification of structural changes. The proposed strategy is based on -distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (-SNE), a nonlinear procedure that is able to represent the local structure of high-dimensional data in a low-dimensional space. The steps of the detection and classification procedure are: (i) the data collected are scaled using mean-centered group scaling (MCGS); (ii) then principal component analysis (PCA) is applied to reduce the dimensionality of the data set; (iii) -SNE is applied to represent the scaled and reduced data as points in a plane defining as many clusters as different structural states; and (iv) the current structure to be diagnosed will be associated with a cluster or structural state based on three strategies: (a) the smallest point-centroid distance; (b) majority voting; and (c) the sum of the inverse distances.

Public Transport Strikes and Their Relationships With Air Pollution, Mortality, and Hospital Admissions.

There is limited suggestive evidence of relationships between public transport strikes and either increased air pollution or worse population health. In this study we aimed to assess whether public transport strikes were associated with increases in health events (overall, cardiovascular and respiratory mortality, and cardiovascular and respiratory hospitalizations). We also explored whether air pollution mediated those associations.

Effect of public transport strikes on air pollution levels in Barcelona (Spain).

Public transport strikes can lead to an increase of the number of private vehicle trips, which in turn can increase air pollution levels. We aimed to estimate the change in air pollution concentrations during public transport strikes in the city of Barcelona (Spain). Data on strikes of the metro, train or bus systems were collected from government records (2005-2016).

The association of air pollution and greenness with mortality and life expectancy in Spain: A small-area study.

Background: Air pollution exposure has been associated with an increase in mortality rates, but few studies have focused on life expectancy, and most studies had restricted spatial coverage. A limited body of evidence is also suggestive for a beneficial association between residential exposure to greenness and mortality, but the evidence for such an association with life expectancy is still very scarce.

Objective: To investigate the association of exposure to air pollution and greenness with mortality and life expectancy in Spain.

Air pollution and atherosclerosis: a cross-sectional analysis of four European cohort studies in the ESCAPE study.

Background: In four European cohorts, we investigated the cross-sectional association between long-term exposure to air pollution and intima-media thickness of the common carotid artery (CIMT), a preclinical marker of atherosclerosis.

Methods: Individually assigned levels of nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.

Short-term effects of particulate matter constituents on daily hospitalizations and mortality in five South-European cities: results from the MED-PARTICLES project.

Background: Few recent studies examined acute effects on health of individual chemical species in the particulate matter (PM) mixture, and most of them have been conducted in North America. Studies in Southern Europe are scarce. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between particulate matter constituents and daily hospital admissions and mortality in five cities in Southern Europe.

High blood pressure and long-term exposure to indoor noise and air pollution from road traffic.

Background: Traffic noise has been associated with prevalence of hypertension, but reports are inconsistent for blood pressure (BP). To ascertain noise effects and to disentangle them from those suspected to be from traffic-related air pollution, it may be essential to estimate people's noise exposure indoors in bedrooms.

Objectives: We analyzed associations between long-term exposure to indoor traffic noise in bedrooms and prevalent hypertension and systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) BP, considering long-term exposure to outdoor nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

Association of long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution with blood pressure and hypertension in an adult population-based cohort in Spain (the REGICOR study).

Background: Long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution may increase blood pressure (BP) and induce hypertension. However, evidence supporting these associations is limited, and they may be confounded by exposure to traffic noise and biased due to inappropriate control for use of BP-lowering medications.

Objectives: We evaluated the associations of long-term traffic-related air pollution with BP and prevalent hypertension, adjusting for transportation noise and assessing different methodologies to control for BP-lowering medications.

Measurement error in epidemiologic studies of air pollution based on land-use regression models.

Land-use regression (LUR) models are increasingly used to estimate air pollution exposure in epidemiologic studies. These models use air pollution measurements taken at a small set of locations and modeling based on geographical covariates for which data are available at all study participant locations. The process of LUR model development commonly includes a variable selection procedure.

Association between long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution and subclinical atherosclerosis: the REGICOR study.

Background: Epidemiological evidence of the effects of long-term exposure to air pollution on the chronic processes of atherogenesis is limited.

Objective: We investigated the association of long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution with subclinical atherosclerosis, measured by carotid intima media thickness (IMT) and ankle-brachial index (ABI).

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional analysis using data collected during the reexamination (2007-2010) of 2,780 participants in the REGICOR (Registre Gironí del Cor: the Gerona Heart Register) study, a population-based prospective cohort in Girona, Spain.

Carotid intima-media thickness in the Spanish population: reference ranges and association with cardiovascular risk factors.

Introduction And Objectives: Carotid intima-media thickness as measured with ultrasonography is an inexpensive and noninvasive predictor of cardiovascular events. The objectives of this study were to determine the population reference ranges of carotid intima-media thickness for individuals aged 35-84 years in Spain and to analyze the association of carotid intima-media thickness with cardiovascular risk factors (age, smoking, diabetes, pulse pressure, lipid profile, and body mass index).

Methods: Population-based cross-sectional study conducted in Gerona (Spain).