Government capabilities as drivers of performance: path to prosperity.

The purpose of this study is to test the relationship between specific capabilities of Cyprus' government and performance and the impact of performance on Cypriots' prosperity. Via the resource-based view model (RBV), it was hypothesized that each capability (i.e.

Predicting the risk of exacerbation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease using home telehealth measurement data.

Background: The use of telehealth technologies to remotely monitor patients suffering chronic diseases may enable preemptive treatment of worsening health conditions before a significant deterioration in the subject's health status occurs, requiring hospital admission.

Objective: The objective of this study was to develop and validate a classification algorithm for the early identification of patients, with a background of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), who appear to be at high risk of an imminent exacerbation event. The algorithm attempts to predict the patient's condition one day in advance, based on a comparison of their current physiological measurements against the distribution of their measurements over the previous month.

On the impact of polarization-dependent gain/loss for optical multicast sessions.

This work focuses on the design and engineering of metropolitan area optical networks for multicast session provisioning. Specifically, the impact of polarization-dependent gain/loss of optical components in coordination with other physical layer impairments is investigated for the first time for several optical multicast algorithms and switch designs. Performance results indicate that the conventional probabilistic handling of PDG/PDL is not practical in this case, requiring a more refined and computationally efficient interaction between physical and control layers.

Optimization of gain bandwidth and gain ripple of a hybrid Raman/parametric amplifier for access network applications.

We describe the mathematical model and present simulation results for the optimization of a hybrid Raman/optical parametric amplifier (HROPA), exhibiting a bandwidth of 170 nm and low ripple that covers the top half of the wavelength plan (e.g., 1441 to 1611 nm) of next generation coarse wavelength division multiplexed passive optical network systems.

Pilot study of remote telemonitoring in COPD.

Background: Remote in-home monitoring (RM) of symptoms and physiological variables may allow early detection and treatment of exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It is unclear whether RM improves patient outcomes or healthcare resource utilization. This study determined whether RM is feasible in patients with COPD and if RM reduces hospital admissions or length of stay (LOS) or improves health-related quality of life (HRQOL).