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Open Radio Access Network (RAN) is an important architecture design shift for 5G and next generation telecommunications networks. With open RAN, mobile network operators would be able to mix and match multi-vendor RAN solutions as long as the solutions comply with open standards. O-RAN Alliance is the global leader in standardizing the open RAN architecture, where RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) is positioned centrally as the brain of a RAN to manage and optimize the RAN operations. Open-source projects play a key role in accelerating the adoption of open RAN architecture, especially the use of RIC. However, the fast pace of development and the lack of documentation in open-source projects create steep learning curve for beginners. In this paper, we first provide an overview of widely used open-source RIC projects and discuss their pros and cons. We then share our first-hand experience to use RIC in our campus 5G network that consists of commercial-grade RAN solutions. In particular, we developed a suite of three RAN control applications (i.e., energy efficiency, interference management, and predictive maintenance) on an open-source RIC, and we deploy and evaluate them on a commercial-grade 5G network in a university campus. For these RIC applications, we design and evaluate different ML models based on real-world data collected from our 5G network, which we publish together with this paper. Our experimental results show that AI-based RIC applications can achieve more than 90% of accuracy in inferring the situation of the RAN for each given task. Our energy-saving RIC application can reduce 65% of energy consumption of the RAN over a simulated period of one year. Our project also validates the feasibility to interfacing an open-source RIC with existing commercial-grade 5G solutions.

A contemporary world order is based on an increasingly complex system of interstate relations, which implies the need to thoroughly consider the international context, even when analyzing bilateral interactions. From this point of view, the concept of a ‘strategic triangle’, developed during the Cold War and applied primarily to analyze the dynamics of relationships between the USSR, the USA and the PRC, appears to have significant epistemological potential. In current conditions, it is of particular interest to use this concept to study the logic of relations in the ‘Russia–India–China’ (RIC) triangle. This research pursues two interrelated goals. On the one hand, it is aimed at identifying specific features of this new ‘strategic triangle’, its inner structure and logic of interactions between its participants. On the other hand, it assesses the applicability of the theoretical models developed during the Cold War to the relations within the framework of the RIC strategic triangle. The author examines the history, general dynamics and contemporary features of interaction within each pair of bilateral relations in this ‘triangle’. The research has confirmed the hypothesis that the relations between Russia, India, and China, indeed, form a specific subsystem of international relations, which can be described as a ‘strategic triangle’. At the same time, unlike the Sino-American-Soviet ‘strategic triangle’, it is the logic of cooperation, rather than rivalry, which generally prevails within the framework of the RIC.However, the RIC ‘triangle’ can also be described as an inherently inconsistent system. While China and Russia maintain close strategic cooperation in almost all areas, in the case of India and Russia, economic cooperation does not match the achieved level of political contacts, and Sino-Indian relations, despite the generally positive dynamics during the recent years, remain at a low level. All this points to the need to develop a new theoretical and methodological framework for analyzing trilateral relations between Russia, India and China as a special subsystem of the contemporary world politics, one that will be free from Cold War stereotypes.

India and Russia share a vision of a multipolar world, which is reflected in their cooperation within international organizations and fora such as the United Nations, Russia-India-China (RIC), BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). India has shown greater enthusiasm towards RIC and BRICS than SCO due to its non-founder status and concerns over the group's creation to further China's regional agenda. The expansion of BRICS and a potential free trade agreement pose challenges to India-Russia relations and require more bilateral engagement. Russia should realistically assess the benefits of endorsing China's Belt and Road Initiative while also considering the potential of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) to access West Asian and South Asian markets and mitigate the impact of Western sanctions on the Russian economy. India and Russia must collaborate to build regional consensus on the INSTC through RIC, BRICS, and SCO platforms. Despite Russia's growing proximity to China, Moscow has not compromised its support for New Delhi on issues such as Kashmir, terrorism, membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), and the United Nations Security Council. In contrast, China continues to question and oppose India on these matters. Similarly, India has maintained friendly ties with Russia and has not succumbed to Western pressure. Cooperation between India and Russia in international organizations has further strengthened their bilateral ties, and they must continue to work together to maintain a multipolar Eurasia, as neither can achieve this goal alone.

Modern mobile networks exhibit a complex heterogeneous structure. To enhance the Quality of Service (QoS) in these networks, intelligent control mechanisms should be implemented. These functions are based on the processing of large amounts of data and feature extraction. One such feature is information about user mobility. However, directly determining user mobility remains challenging. To address this issue, this study proposes an approach based on multi-linear data processing. The user mobility is proposed to determine, using the multi-linear data, about the changing of the Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise-Ratio (SINR). SINR varies individually for each user over time, relative to the network’s base stations. It is natural to represent these data as a tensor. A tensor-based preprocessing step employing Canonical Polyadic Decomposition (CPD) is proposed to extract user mobility information and reduce the data volume. In the next step, using the DBSCAN algorithm, users are clustered according to their mobility patterns. Subsequently, users are clustered based on their mobility patterns using the DBSCAN algorithm. The proposed approach is evaluated utilizing data from Network Simulator 3 (NS-3), which simulates a portion of the mobile network. The results of processing these data using the proposed method demonstrate superior performance in determining user mobility.

Background: Initiating newly diagnosed people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) onto antiretroviral treatment (ART) and retaining patients on treatment are vital to South Africa’s ART programme. In 2020, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its accompanying containment (lockdown) measures presented unprecedented challenges to achieving these objectives. Aim: This study describes the impact of COVID-19 and related restrictions on district-level numbers of newly diagnosed people living with HIV and defaulting ART patients. Setting: Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM) in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Methods: Mixed-methods approach: Monthly aggregated electronic patient data (newly initiated and restarted on ART) from 113 public healthcare (PHC) facilities were analysed (December 2019 to November 2020) across varying levels of COVID-19 lockdown regulation periods; telephonic in-depth interviews at 10 rural BCMM PHC facilities were conducted with facility staff, community health workers (CHWs) and intervention personnel. Results: The number of newly initiated ART patients decreased dramatically compared with pre-COVID-19 levels. The overall number of restarted ART patients increased in response to fears of co-infection with COVID-19. Facility-level communications and community outreach promoting HIV testing and treatment were disrupted. Novel approaches to providing services to ART patients were developed. Conclusion: Programmes for identifying undiagnosed people living with HIV and services aimed at retaining ART patients in care were profoundly impacted by COVID-19. The value of CHWs was highlighted, as were communication innovations. Contribution: This study describes the impact of COVID-19 and related regulations on HIV testing, ART initiation and adherence to treatment in a District of the Eastern Cape of South Africa.

IntroductionThe Italian Radical Cystectomy Registry (RIC) is an observational prospective study aiming to understand clinical variables and patient characteristics associated with short- and long-term outcomes among bladder cancer (BC) patients undergoing radical cystectomy (RC). Moreover, it compares the effectiveness of three RC techniques - open, robotic, and laparoscopic.MethodsFrom 2017 to 2020, 1400 patients were enrolled at one of the 28 centers across Italy. Patient characteristics, as well as preoperative, postoperative, and follow-up (3, 6, 12, and 24 months) clinical variables and outcomes were collected.ResultsPreoperatively, it was found that patients undergoing robotic procedures were younger (p

RAS GTPases are highly conserved proteins involved in the regulation of mitogenic signaling. We have previously described a novel Cullin 3 RING E3 ubiquitin ligase complex formed by the substrate adaptor protein LZTR1 that binds, ubiquitinates, and promotes proteasomal degradation of the RAS GTPase RIT1. In addition, others have described that this complex is also responsible for the ubiquitination of classical RAS GTPases. Here, we have analyzed the phenotypes of Lztr1 loss-of-function mutants in both fruit flies and mice and have demonstrated a biochemical preference for their RIT1 orthologs. Moreover, we show that Lztr1 is haplosufficient in mice and that embryonic lethality of the homozygous null allele can be rescued by deletion of Rit1. Overall, our results indicate that, in model organisms, RIT1 orthologs are the preferred substrates of LZTR1.

En este artículo se presenta el modelo conceptual de la norma Records in Contexts (RiC-CM) y la ontología de esta norma (RiC-O), propuestos por el Consejo Internacional de Archivos para el dominio archivístico. Ambas propuestas se despliegan y analizan, y se complementan con algunos comentarios de referentes del área, con el objetivo contribuir a la comprensión de la estructura y al fundamento de RiC y proporcionar un insumo para su evaluación y las dificultades de su implantación práctica. La integración de los archivos digitales con dominios cercanos, como las bibliotecas, galerías y museos, así como objetos de otros dominios con los que tradicionalmente no se relacionaban, incorpora la perspectiva multidimensional y es una oportunidad para desarrollar el ámbito archivístico. Las tecnologías de la web semántica, ontologías, datos enlazados, RDF, SPARQL son un actor infraestructural para construir esa integración y dar cuenta de un cambio en el mundo archivístico insertándolo en la web. La implementación de esta propuesta es un avance hacia la integración, pero plantea desafíos por resolver.

Aim: To assess the efficacy of remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) in patients with ischemic stroke within 9 h of onset, that are not candidates for recanalization therapies.Sample Size Estimates: A sample size of 80 patients (40 in each arm) should yield 80% power to detect a 20% difference in early neurological improvement at 72 h at p = 0.05, two sided.Methods and Design: TRICS-9 is a phase II, multicenter, controlled, block randomized, open-label, interventional clinical trial. Patients recruited in Italian academic hospitals will be randomized 1:1 to either RIC plus standard medical therapy or standard medical therapy alone. After randomization, RIC will be applied manually by four alternating cycles of inflation/deflation 5 min each, using a blood pressure cuff around the non-paretic arm.Study Outcomes: The primary efficacy outcome is early neurological improvement, defined as the percent change in the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) at 72 h in each arm. Secondary outcomes include early neurologic improvement at 24 and 48 h, disability at 3 months, rate of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage, feasibility (proportion of patients completing RIC), tolerability after RIC and at 72 h, blood levels of HIF-1α, and HSP27 at 24 h and 72 h.Discussion/Conclusion: RIC in combination with recanalization therapies appears to add no clinical benefit to patients, but whether it is beneficial to those that are not candidates for recanalization therapies is still to be demonstrated. TRICS-9 has been developed to elucidate this issue.Clinical Trial Registration:ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT04400981.

Background: Previous work has evaluated the effect of remote ischaemic conditioning (RIC) in a number of clinical conditions (e.g. cardiac surgery and acute kidney injury), but only one analysis has examined blood pressure (BP) changes. While individual studies have reported the effects of acute bouts and repeated RIC exposure on resting BP, efficacy is equivocal. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of acute and repeat RIC on BP. Methods: A systematic search was performed using PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library of Controlled Trials up until October 31, 2020. Additionally, manual searches of reference lists were performed. Studies that compared BP responses after exposing participants to either an acute bout or repeated cycles of RIC with a minimum one-week intervention period were considered. Results: Eighteen studies were included in this systematic review, ten examined acute effects while eight investigated repeat effects of RIC. Mean differences (MD) for outcome measures from acute RIC studies were: systolic BP 0.18 mmHg (95%CI -0.95, 1.31; p = 0.76), diastolic BP -0.43 mmHg (95%CI -2.36, 1.50; p = 0.66), MAP -1.73 mmHg (95%CI -3.11, −0.34; p = 0.01) and HR -1.15 bpm (95%CI -2.92, 0.62; p = 0.20). Only MAP was significantly reduced. Repeat RIC exposure showed non-significant change in systolic BP -3.23 mmHg (95%CI -6.57, 0.11; p = 0.06) and HR -0.16 bpm (95%CI -7.08, 6.77; p = 0.96) while diastolic BP -2.94 mmHg (95%CI -4.08, −1.79; p

The potential modifiable factors for remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) in reducing contrast-associated acute kidney injury (CA-AKI) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) have not been investigated. The aim of this meta-regression was to address these issues.We searched Pubmed, Embase and the Cochrane Library database for published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with registration number CRD42020155532. Nine RCTs comprising of 1540 subjects were included in our meta-analysis. Compared with control group, RIC was associated with reduced incidence of CA-AKI [(9 studies, 1540 subjects, relative risk (RR) 0.51, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.35 to 0.76, p = 0.000, I2 = 52%, p for heterogeneity 0.04)] and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) (5 studies, 1078 subjects, RR 0.52, 95% CI 0.38 to 0.73, p = 0.000, I2 = 9%, p for heterogeneity 0.36) for AMI. In addition, both meta-regression and subgroup analyses have shown that RIC was more effective in the hypertensive patients in reducing CA-AKI for AMI (regression coefficient = –0.05, p = 0.021; for subgroup with more hypertensive patients: RR 0.36, 95% CI 0.25 to 0.52 vs the one with less hypertensive patients: RR 0.72, 95% CI (0.40 to 1.30, p for subgroup difference 0.008). Subsequent trial sequential analysis confirmed the effect of RIC in both CA-AKI and MACE. RIC is an effective strategy in reducing CA-AKI and MACE in patients with AMI, especially for patients with hypertension.

A análise da fragilidade e da dicotomia de uma nova coalizão da governança mundial, denominada BRICS, identifica três principais fatores de divergência no seu âmbito - a diferença identitária e as distinções de interesses comuns dos dois subgrupos - o IBSA e os RICs; focos de conflitos latentes entre a China e a Índia e a diferença entre a China e os restantes; o contraste entre os interesses nacionais e comunitários, como uma eventual linha divisória na coalizão, se e quando os objetivos comuns do grupo forem alcançados. A estratégia de ser optada pelo Brasil neste contexto ambíguo e incerto apresenta a complexidade de decisão e das táticas diplomáticas no âmbito dos BRICS com vistas a um surgimento das tendências de divisão e de interesses conflitantes.

A análise da fragilidade e da dicotomia de uma nova coalizão da governança mundial, denominada BRICS, identifica três principais fatores de divergência no seu âmbito - a diferença identitária e as distinções de interesses comuns dos dois subgrupos - o IBSA e os RICs; focos de conflitos latentes entre a China e a Índia e a diferença entre a China e os restantes; o contraste entre os interesses nacionais e comunitários, como uma eventual linha divisória na coalizão, se e quando os objetivos comuns do grupo forem alcançados. A estratégia de ser optada pelo Brasil neste contexto ambíguo e incerto apresenta a complexidade de decisão e das táticas diplomáticas no âmbito dos BRICS com vistas a um surgimento das tendências de divisão e de interesses conflitantes.

This paper describes the sensitivity of both the orbital frame domain selection and the gravity model on the performance of on-board real-time orbit determination. Practical error sources, which affect the navigation solution of spaceborne global positioning system (GPS) receivers, are analyzed first. Then, a reasonable orbital frame (radial, in-track, cross-track (RIC)) is proposed to clearly represent the characteristics of the error in order to improve the performance of the orbit determination (OD) logic. In addition, the sensitivity of the gravity model affecting the orbit determination logic is analyzed by comparison with the precise orbit ephemeris (POE) of the Challenging Minisatellite Payload (CHAMP) satellite, and it is confirmed that the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) Gravity Model 03 (GGM03) outperforms the Earth Gravity Model 1996 (EGM96). The effects of both proposed orbit frames and the gravity model on the orbit determination logic are verified using a GPS simulator and observation data from the CHAMP satellite. Moreover, the practical performance of on-board real-time orbit determination logic is verified by updating the software of the spaceborne GPS receiver, GPS-12, on DubaiSat-2 operating at low Earth orbit (LEO). The results show that the position accuracy of on-board real-time orbit determination logic in GPS-12 is improved by 59%, from 12.6 m (1 σ) to 5.1 m (1 σ), after applying the proposed methods. The velocity accuracy is also improved by 57%, from 13.7 mm/s (1 σ) to 5.9 mm/s (1 σ).