TOWARDS A DATA MODEL FOR PLM APPLICATION IN BIO-MEDICAL IMAGING

International audienceBio-Medical Imaging (BMI) is currently confronted to data issues similar to those of the manufacturing industry twenty years ago. In particular, the need for data sharing and reuse has never been so strong to foster major discoveries in neuroimaging. Some data management systems have been developed to meet the requirements of BMI large-scale research studies. However, many efforts to integrate the data provenance along a research study, from the specifications to the published results, are to be done. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems are designed to comply with manufacturing industry expectations of providing the right information at the right time and in the right context. Consequently PLM systems are proposed to be relevant for the management of BMI data. From a need analysis led with the GIN research group, the BMI-LM data model is designed: it is PLM-oriented, generic (enabling the management of many types of data such as imaging, clinical, psychology or genetics), flexible (enabling users’ customisation) and it covers the whole stages of a BMI study from specifications to publication. The test implementation of the BMI-LM model into a PLM system is detailed. The preliminary feed-back of the GIN researchers is discussed in this paper: the BMI-LM data model and the PLM concepts are relevant to manage BMI data, but PLM systems interfaces are unsuitable for BMI researchers

National eHealth system – platform for preventive, predictive and personalized diabetes care

National eHealth System, covering all citizens and all healthcare levels in Republic of Macedonia, was introduced in July 2013, has been internationally recognized System for successful reduction of waiting times and instrumental in the management of national healthcare resources. For the first time, National Diabetes Committee, formed in February 2015 according to the Law on healthcare and being overall responsible for the diabetes care in the country, was able to derive exact figures on the national diabetes prevalence from the System, instead of extrapolations used before, serving as a basis for development of strategies for prediction and prevention of diabetic complications, as well as for personalized diabetes care. Number of diabetes cases identified through the National eHealth System in June 2015 was 84,568 (4.02 % of total population), 36,119 males (3.42 % of total male population) and 48,449 females (4.61% of total female population). Age stratified diabetes prevalence was as follows: less than 20 years – 549 cases (0.11 % of respective population), 20-39 years – 3,202 (0.49 %), 40-59 years – 26,561 (4.58 %), 60-79 years – 48,470 (14.57 %), 80 years or more – 5,786 (12.96 %). Addition of parameters for metabolic control and diabetic complications in the System is under way, further facilitating the modeling of diabetes treatment, metabolic control and the outcomes. Inclusion of pre-diabetes patients (IGT and IFG) is also planned, thus providing opportunity to also focus healthcare activities for prevention of progression into overt type 2 diabetes

A comparison of processing techniques for producing prototype injection moulding inserts.

This project involves the investigation of processing techniques for producing low-cost moulding inserts used in the particulate injection moulding (PIM) process. Prototype moulds were made from both additive and subtractive processes as well as a combination of the two. The general motivation for this was to reduce the entry cost of users when considering PIM. PIM cavity inserts were first made by conventional machining from a polymer block using the pocket NC desktop mill. PIM cavity inserts were also made by fused filament deposition modelling using the Tiertime UP plus 3D printer. The injection moulding trials manifested in surface finish and part removal defects. The feedstock was a titanium metal blend which is brittle in comparison to commodity polymers. That in combination with the mesoscale features, small cross-sections and complex geometries were considered the main problems. For both processing methods, fixes were identified and made to test the theory. These consisted of a blended approach that saw a combination of both the additive and subtractive processes being used. The parts produced from the three processing methods are investigated and their respective merits and issues are discussed

Reducing risk in pre-production investigations through undergraduate engineering projects.

This poster is the culmination of final year Bachelor of Engineering Technology (B.Eng.Tech) student projects in 2017 and 2018. The B.Eng.Tech is a level seven qualification that aligns with the Sydney accord for a three-year engineering degree and hence is internationally benchmarked. The enabling mechanism of these projects is the industry connectivity that creates real-world projects and highlights the benefits of the investigation of process at the technologist level. The methodologies we use are basic and transparent, with enough depth of technical knowledge to ensure the industry partners gain from the collaboration process. The process we use minimizes the disconnect between the student and the industry supervisor while maintaining the academic freedom of the student and the commercial sensitivities of the supervisor. The general motivation for this approach is the reduction of the entry cost of the industry to enable consideration of new technologies and thereby reducing risk to core business and shareholder profits. The poster presents several images and interpretive dialogue to explain the positive and negative aspects of the student process

The NASA SBIR product catalog

The purpose of this catalog is to assist small business firms in making the community aware of products emerging from their efforts in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. It contains descriptions of some products that have advanced into Phase 3 and others that are identified as prospective products. Both lists of products in this catalog are based on information supplied by NASA SBIR contractors in responding to an invitation to be represented in this document. Generally, all products suggested by the small firms were included in order to meet the goals of information exchange for SBIR results. Of the 444 SBIR contractors NASA queried, 137 provided information on 219 products. The catalog presents the product information in the technology areas listed in the table of contents. Within each area, the products are listed in alphabetical order by product name and are given identifying numbers. Also included is an alphabetical listing of the companies that have products described. This listing cross-references the product list and provides information on the business activity of each firm. In addition, there are three indexes: one a list of firms by states, one that lists the products according to NASA Centers that managed the SBIR projects, and one that lists the products by the relevant Technical Topics utilized in NASA's annual program solicitation under which each SBIR project was selected

Gestion et visualisation de données hétérogènes multidimensionnelles : application PLM à la neuroimagerie

Neuroimaging domain is confronted with issues in analyzing and reusing the growing amount of heterogeneous data produced. Data provenance is complex – multi-subjects, multi-methods, multi-temporalities – and the data are only partially stored, restricting multimodal and longitudinal studies. Especially, functional brain connectivity is studied to understand how areas of the brain work together. Raw and derived imaging data must be properly managed according to several dimensions, such as acquisition time, time between two acquisitions or subjects and their characteristics. The objective of the thesis is to allow exploration of complex relationships between heterogeneous data, which is resolved in two parts : (1) how to manage data and provenance, (2) how to visualize structures of multidimensional data. The contribution follow a logical sequence of three propositions which are presented after a research survey in heterogeneous data management and graph visualization.The BMI-LM (Bio-Medical Imaging – Lifecycle Management) data model organizes the management of neuroimaging data according to the phases of a study and takes into account the scalability of research thanks to specific classes associated to generic objects. The application of this model into a PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) system shows that concepts developed twenty years ago for manufacturing industry can be reused to manage neuroimaging data. GMDs (Dynamic Multidimensional Graphs) are introduced to represent complex dynamic relationships of data, as well as JGEX (Json Graph EXchange) format that was created to store and exchange GMDs between software applications. OCL (Overview Constraint Layout) method allows interactive and visual exploration of GMDs. It is based on user’s mental map preservation and alternating of complete and reduced views of data. OCL method is applied to the study of functional brain connectivity at rest of 231 subjects that are represented by a GMD – the areas of the brain are the nodes and connectivity measures the edges – according to age, gender and laterality : GMDs are computed through processing workflow on MRI acquisitions into the PLM system. Results show two main benefits of using OCL method : (1) identification of global trends on one or many dimensions, and (2) highlights of local changes between GMD states.La neuroimagerie est confrontée à des difficultés pour analyser et réutiliser la masse croissante de données hétérogènes qu’elle produit. La provenance des données est complexe – multi-sujets, multi-analyses, multi-temporalités – et ces données ne sont stockées que partiellement, limitant les possibilités d’études multimodales et longitudinales. En particulier, la connectivité fonctionnelle cérébrale est analysée pour comprendre comment les différentes zones du cerveau travaillent ensemble. Il est nécessaire de gérer les données acquises et traitées suivant plusieurs dimensions, telles que le temps d’acquisition, le temps entre les acquisitions ou encore les sujets et leurs caractéristiques. Cette thèse a pour objectif de permettre l’exploration de relations complexes entre données hétérogènes, ce qui se décline selon deux axes : (1) comment gérer les données et leur provenance, (2) comment visualiser les structures de données multidimensionnelles. L’apport de nos travaux s’articule autour de trois propositions qui sont présentées à l’issue d’un état de l’art sur les domaines de la gestion de données hétérogènes et de la visualisation de graphes.Le modèle de données BMI-LM (Bio-Medical Imaging – Lifecycle Management) structure la gestion des données de neuroimagerie en fonction des étapes d’une étude et prend en compte le caractère évolutif de la recherche grâce à l’association de classes spécifiques à des objets génériques. L’implémentation de ce modèle au sein d’un système PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) montre que les concepts développés depuis vingt ans par l’industrie manufacturière peuvent être réutilisés pour la gestion des données en neuroimagerie. Les GMD (Graphes MultidimensionnelsDynamiques) sont introduits pour représenter des relations complexes entre données qui évoluent suivant plusieurs dimensions, et le format JGEX (Json Graph EXchange) a été créé pour permettre le stockage et l’échange de GMD entre applications. La méthode OCL (Overview Constraint Layout) permet l’exploration visuelle et interactive de GMD. Elle repose sur la préservation partielle de la carte mentale de l’utilisateur et l’alternance de vues complètes et réduites des données. La méthode OCL est appliquée à l’étude de la connectivité fonctionnelle cérébrale au repos de 231 sujets représentées sous forme de GMD – les zones du cerveau sont représentées par les noeuds et les mesures de connectivité par les arêtes – en fonction de l’âge, du genre et de la latéralité : les GMD sont obtenus par l’application de chaînes de traitement sur des acquisitions IRM dans le système PLM. Les résultats montrent deux intérêts principaux à l’utilisation de la méthode OCL : (1) l’identification des tendances globales sur une ou plusieurs dimensions et (2) la mise en exergue des changements locaux entre états du GMD

Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED11):Book of Abstracts

The ICED series of conferences is the Design Society's "flagship" event. ICED11 took place on August 15-18, 2011, at the campus of the Danish Technical University in Lyngby/Copenhagen, Denmark. The Proceedings of the conference are published in 10 individual volumes, arranged according to topics. All volumes of the Proceedings may be purchased individually through Amazon and other on-line booksellers. For members of the Design Society, all papers are available on this website. The Programme and Abstract Book is publically available for download

Thesis of returnee entrepreneurs in a high-tech cluster: Zhongguancun Science Park in China

This thesis focuses on returnee entrepreneurs in a large industrial cluster, Zhongguancun Science Park in Beijing, based on a combined quantitative and qualitative method. Using a hand-collected dataset of returnee entrepreneur-owned 353 SMEs (small and medium enterprises) and local entrepreneur-owned 358 SMEs from Zhongguancun Science Park, the author empirically investigates the role of returnee-firms in technology transfer and knowledge spillovers. The findings suggest returnee entrepreneurs play a significant role in technology transfer and act as a new channel for international knowledge spillovers. It also examines the relationship between the characteristics of returnees and their firms’ performance in comparison with non-returnee firms. The results also show that returnee-firms have gained competitive advantage in high-tech industries and perform better than non-returnee firms. Based on eight case studies, the author also compares and contrasts differences and similarities in term of internationalisation process of these two types of firms. It is found that returnee entrepreneurs are the early adopters of internationalisation due to their international background and international networks. [Continues.