Cardiac cell modelling: Observations from the heart of the cardiac physiome project

In this manuscript we review the state of cardiac cell modelling in the context of international initiatives such as the IUPS Physiome and Virtual Physiological Human Projects, which aim to integrate computational models across scales and physics. In particular we focus on the relationship between experimental data and model parameterisation across a range of model types and cellular physiological systems. Finally, in the context of parameter identification and model reuse within the Cardiac Physiome, we suggest some future priority areas for this field

DWT/PCA face recognition using automatic coefficient selection

In PCA-based face recognition, there is often a trade-off between selecting the most relevant parts of a face image for recognition and not discarding information which may be useful. The work presented in this paper proposes a method to automatically determine the most discriminative coefficients in a DWT/PCA-based face recognition system, based on their inter-class and intra-class standard deviations. In addition, the eigenfaces used for recognition are generally chosen based on the value of their associated eigenvalues. However, the variance indicated by the eigenvalues may be due to factors such as variation in illumination levels between training set faces, rather than differences that are useful for identification. The work presented proposes a method to automatically determine the most discriminative eigenfaces, based on the inter-class and intra-class standard deviations of the training set eigenface weight vectors. The results obtained using the AT&T database show an improvement over existing DWT/PCA coefficient selection techniques

Hubungan gaya pembelajaran dengan pencapaian akademik pelajar aliran vokasional

Analisis keputusan Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 2011 menunjukkan penurunan pencapaian bagi Sekolah Menengah Vokasional. Oleh itu, kajian ini dilaksanakan bertujuan untuk mengkaji hubungan di antara gaya pembelajaran dengan pencapaian akademik pelajar. Kajian ini juga ingin mengenalpasti gaya pembelajaran paling dominan yang diamalkan oleh pelajar serta melihat perbezaan gaya pembelajaran dengan jantina pelajar. Seramai 131 orang Pelajar Tingkatan Empat Kursus Vokasional Di Sekolah Menengah Vokasional Segamat di Johor telah terlibat dalam kajian ini. Soal selidik Index of Learning Style (ILS) yang dibangunkan oleh Felder dan Silverman (1991) yang mengandungi 44 soalan telah digunakan untukh menjalankan kajian ini. Gaya pembelajaran pelajar dapat dilihat melalui empat dimensi gaya pembelajaran yang terdiri dari dua sub-skala yang bertentangan iaitu dimensi pelajar Aktif dan Reflektif, dimensi pelajar Konkrit dan Intuitif, dimensi pelajar Verbal dan Visual, serta dimensi pelajar Tersusun dan Global. Data yang diperolehi dianalisis dengan menggunakan perisian Statistical Package for Social Science for WINDOW release 20.0 (SPSS.20.0). Ujian Korelasi Pearson digunakan untuk menganalisis data dalam mengkaji hubungan gaya pembelajaran dengan pencapaian akademik pelajar. Nilai pekali p yang diperolehi di antara gaya pembelajaran dengan pencapaian pelajar adalah (p=0.1 hingga 0.4). Ini menunjukkan tidak terdapat hubungan yang signifikan di antara dua pembolehubah tersebut. Kajian ini juga mendapati bahawa gaya pembelajaran yang menjadi amalan pelajar ialah gaya pembelajaran Tersusun. Hasil kajian juga mendapati bahawa tidak terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan di antara gaya pembelajaran dengan jantina pelajar

The Life-Cycle Income Analysis Model (LIAM): a study of a flexible dynamic microsimulation modelling computing framework

This paper describes a flexible computing framework designed to create a dynamic microsimulation model, the Life-cycle Income Analysis Model (LIAM). The principle computing characteristics include the degree of modularisation, parameterisation, generalisation and robustness. The paper describes the decisions taken with regard to type of dynamic model used. The LIAM framework has been used to create a number of different microsimulation models, including an Irish dynamic cohort model, a spatial dynamic microsimulation model for Ireland, an indirect tax and consumption model for EU15 as part of EUROMOD and a prototype EU dynamic population microsimulation model for 5 EU countries. Particular consideration is given to issues of parameterisation, alignment and computational efficiency.flexible; modular; dynamic; alignment; parameterisation; computational efficiency

Governing equations of tissue modelling and remodelling: A unified generalised description of surface and bulk balance

Several biological tissues undergo changes in their geometry and in their bulk material properties by modelling and remodelling processes. Modelling synthesises tissue in some regions and removes tissue in others. Remodelling overwrites old tissue material properties with newly formed, immature tissue properties. As a result, tissues are made up of different "patches", i.e., adjacent tissue regions of different ages and different material properties, within evolving boundaries. In this paper, generalised equations governing the spatio-temporal evolution of such tissues are developed within the continuum model. These equations take into account nonconservative, discontinuous surface mass balance due to creation and destruction of material at moving interfaces, and bulk balance due to tissue maturation. These equations make it possible to model patchy tissue states and their evolution without explicitly maintaining a record of when/where resorption and formation processes occurred. The time evolution of spatially averaged tissue properties is derived systematically by integration. These spatially-averaged equations cannot be written in closed form as they retain traces that tissue destruction is localised at tissue boundaries. The formalism developed in this paper is applied to bone tissues, which exhibit strong material heterogeneities due to their slow mineralisation and remodelling processes. Evolution equations are proposed in particular for osteocyte density and bone mineral density. Effective average equations for bone mineral density (BMD) and tissue mineral density (TMD) are derived using a mean-field approximation. The error made by this approximation when remodelling patchy tissue is investigated. The specific time signatures of BMD or TMD during remodelling events may provide a way to detect these events occurring at lower, unseen spatial resolutions from microCT scans.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures. V2: minor stylistic changes, more detailed derivation of Eqs (30)-(31), additional comments on implication of BMD and TMD signatures for microCT scan