A graph based approach to trace models composition

International audienceA model driven engineering process involves different and heterogeneous models that represent various perspectives of the system under development. The model composition operation allows combining those sub-models into an integrated view, but remains a tedious activity. For that, traceability information must be maintained to comprehend the composition effects and better manage the operation itself. Against this context, the current paper describes a framework for model composition traceability. We consider the traces generation concern as a crosscutting concern where the weaving mechanism is performed using graph transformations. A composition specification case study is presented to illustrate our contribution

Cholecystitis in Situs Inversus with Dextrocardia

Background: Surgical problem known as Acute Cholecystitis is very common nowadays; however it may cause trouble in diagnosing when person has situs inversus, (i.e.) viscera situated on the opposite side of the body. Our case report discusses the history and physical exam findings, images of radiograph, diagnosis, and how we dealt with cholecystitis in situs inversus with dextrocardia.Case Presentation: An eighty-six yrs. old male having pain in the upper left hypochondrium region, presented in emergency department. He was later diagnosed to have acute cholecystitis (inflammation of the gallbladder) with cholelithiasis (presence of gallstones in gallbladder) in situs inversus totalis. Patient underwent elective open cholecystectomy within 24 h. Patient recovered well and was discharged on fourth postoperative day.Conclusion: Acute cholecystitis in Situs Inversus with Dextrocardia is very rare congenital anomaly and requires great expertise in the field of surgery to operate on these patients because of the reverse anatomy of the organs

Transformasi Lontar Babad Lombok Menuju Digitalisasi Berbasis Natural Gradient Flexible (NGF)

Suku Sasak, yang tinggal di pulau Lombok Nusa Tenggara Barat, memiliki tradisi penulisan di daun lontar (Borassus Flabellifer) kering, salah satunya adalah naskah Lontar Babad Lombok. Naskah Lontar Babad Lombok seiring berlalunya waktu, menjadi rapuh dan mudah patah sehingga memerlukan perawatan. Keadaan ini mendorongnya perlu dilakukan digitalisasi naskah lontar babad lombok sebagai bentuk pelestarian sehingga para generasi Milenial, khususnya di Lombok, dapat menikmati lontar babad lombok. Digitalisasi citra tersebut tantangan utama adalah tepi kabur teks dan perbedaan minimum antara teks dan bagian non-tekssebagai akibat dari proses perawatan. Oleh karena itu, dibutuhkan proses peningkatan kualitas citra hasil digitalisasi agar tulisan dapat lebih jelas terbaca. Salah satu metode yang terbukti mampu untuk memisahkan teks dari latar belakang yang sangat berkorelasi adalah Natural Gradient Flexibel (NGF) berbasiskan Independent Component Analysis (ICA), NGF-ICA. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk melakukan peningkatan kualitas citra digitalisasi sebelum diumpankan pada database dan sistem informasi yang telah dibangun. Kualitas citra yang telah ditingkatkan diukur menggunakan metode MSE dan PSNR untuk tingkat kemiripannya, dan metode Entropi dan SSIM untuk informasi dan perspektif visual. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa penerapan algoritma NGF-ICA dapat memberikan citra keluaran dengan kualitas yang tinggi dengan nilai rata-rata MSE, PSNR, SSIM dan peningkatan Entropi sebesar 708, 19.95 db, 0.87 dan 0.45, secara berturut-turut. AbstractSasak tribe, who lives on Lombok Island, West Nusa Tenggara, has been writing manuscripts on dry palm leaves (Borassus Flabellifer) as a tradition, one of the manuscripts is Lontar Babad Lombok. As time pass by, the manuscript becomes brittle and breaks easily, therefore maintenances are required. this situation force the need to digitalize the manuscript as an act of preservation, hence the millennial generation, especially on Lombok Island, can enjoy the manuscript. the main challenge is the blurry edge of the text and the slight difference between the text and non-text part caused by the treatment process. Hence, it is needed to enhance the quality of the digitalize image to make the manuscript can be more clearly read. One of the proven methods that able to separate text from highly correlated backgrounds is Natural Gradient Flexibel (NGF) based on Independent Component Analysis (ICA), NGF-ICA. The aim of this study is to improve the quality of the digitized images before they fed into the database and information system that has been built. The enhanced image quality was measured, MSE and PSNR methods were used to measure the similarity level, and the Entropy and SSIM method were used to measure the information and visual perspective. The results show that the application of the NGF-ICA algorithm can generate high-quality output images with average values of MSE, PSNR, SSIM, and increasing Entropy by 708, 19.95 dB, 0.87, and 0.45, respectively

Vehicle-to-Grid Integration for Enhancement of Grid: A Distributed Resource Allocation Approach

In the future grids, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions Electric Vehicles (EVs) seems to be an important means of transportation. One of the major disadvantages of the future grid is the demand-supply mismatch which can be mitigated by incorporating the EVs into the grid. The paper introduces the concept of the Distributed Resource Allocation (DRA) approach for incorporating a large number of Plug-in EV (PEVs) with the power grid utilizing the concept of achieving output consensus. The charging/discharging time of all the participating PEVs are separated with respect to time slots and are considered as strategies. The major aim of the paper is to obtain a favorable charging strategy for each grid-connected PEVs in such a way that it satisfies both grid objectives in terms of load profile smoothening and minimizing of load shifting as well as economic and social interests of vehicle owners i.e. a fair share of the rate of charging for all connected PEVs. The three-fold contribution of the paper in smoothening of load profile, load shifting minimization, and fair charging rate is validated using a representative case study. The results confirm improvement in load profile and also highlight a fair deal in the charging rate for each PEV

Calcium levels and metabolic disturbance in renal disease patients receiving hemodialysis: a cross sectional study highlighting its association in dialysis patients

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the disturbances in Calcium and other mineral levels in patients on hemodialysis at Tabba Kidney Institute, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.Methods: A cross sectional observational study through convenient sampling technique was conducted from January 2017 to August 2017 at Tabba Kidney Institute, Karachi after obtaining ethical approval. 255 patients, all above 18 years of age and on hemodialysis were included in the study. Multi-organ failure patients on dialysis, other systemic diseased patients on hemodialysis were excluded. Demographic variables, mineral levels, symptoms and supplementations were recorded. SPSS version 20.0 was used for data analysis.Results: A total of 255 patients on hemodialysis were selected and divided into groups depending upon median years of hemodialysis below and above 5 years of hemodialysis. Median and IQR of calcium were 8.8 and 8.2-9.1 mg/dl for below 5 years, 8.6 and 8.1-9.1 mg/dl for above 5 years (P value=0.44). Median and IQR of phosphate were 4.9 and 3.9-5.7 mg/dl for below 5 years and 4.6 and 3.7-5.5 mg/dl for above 5 years (P value=0.21). Median and IQR of parathyroid hormone were 393 and 212-699 pg/ml for below 5 years and 329 and 128-657 pg/ml for above 5 years. (P value=0.13) Median and IQR of albumin were 4.0 and 3.6-4.2 mg/dl for below 5 years and 4.0 and 3.8-4.3 for above 5 years (P value=0.30). Total of 18 (10.9%) had para thyroidectomy.Conclusions: Present study showed that significant difference in mineral levels did not exist in patients on hemodialysis as regards to the duration of dialysis. However clinical features had a tendency to decrease as duration of dialysis increased to above 5 years. Para thyroidectomy and itching were two main significant findings in this study

Renal bone disease in patients on hemodialysis: an observational study focusing on the variation of calcium metabolism

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the disturbances in the levels of mineral in the body due to hemodialysis at different levels of parathormone levels and to assess its association with the calcium levels.Methods: Study was a cross sectional for the period of 6 months taking ethical approval. Total 255 cases were registered in this study after taking their informed consent. The cases were divided into three groups according to PTH level. Group 1 has 87 subjects with PTH level <250, group 2 has 102 subjects with PTH level 250-650 and group 3 has 66 cases with PTH level >650. The cases were taking hemodialysis for greater than 6 months and have the ages more than 18 years were included in this study. The demographic data includes age, sex dialysis related data like duration of hemodialysis, levels of calcium, phosphorus, albumin, PTH, ALP were observed.Results: Hemodialysis duration were recorded in respective three groups as 7.28±5.71, 6.26±5.56 and 6.15±4.30 days respectively  (P=0.319). Calcium was found in group 1, 8.70±0.81, in group 2, 8.39±0.89 and in group 3, 8.76±0.82 (P=0.01). PTH level in three respective group were recorded to be 123.46±74.15, 418.47±115.49 and 1314.67±1188.63 (P <0.001).Conclusions: Present study showed that significant difference was found in mineral levels in patients on hemodialysis with PTH level as well as with alkaline phosphatase level. Nevertheless, no significant difference was found with duration of dialysis and with parameter of albumin

Smoking and blood pressure levels in hypertensive patients: evaluating the role of gender, age and hypertension duration

Background: Hypertension is estimated to affect about 40% of adults above 25 years of age globally. While many of the risk factors of hypertension are well known, such is not the case with smoking. Pertinent published literature is heterogeneous, with a dearth of relevant local data. Objectives was to study the relationship between smoking and blood pressure levels in hypertensive patients and to assess the effects of gender, age and hypertension duration on such a relationship.Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on a total of 298 conveniently sampled patients, aged 18 or above, from the medical outpatient department of a secondary care hospital of Karachi. The relevant data were collected by means of a structured questionnaire whereas the blood pressure level was checked using sphygmomanometer with stethoscope. Mann Whitney U test was used for inferential analysis whereas the significance level was set at 0.05.Results: Overall, both the systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels were significantly associated with smoking history (p<0.05 for both) where they were found to be higher in smokers than in non-smokers. Furthermore, after gender, age and hypertension duration based stratifications; both the systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels were still significantly associated with smoking history in patients who were male, were ≥35 years old and had <5 years hypertension duration (p<0.05 for both) where they were again found to be higher in smokers than in non-smokers.Conclusions: The study results showed a significant association of positive smoking history with higher mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels, though after stratifying for gender, age and hypertension duration, this relationship persisted only in patients who were male, were ≥35 years old and had <5 years hypertension duration

Alignment of viewpoint heterogeneous design models: Emergency Department Case Study

International audienceGenerally, various models can be used to describe a given application domain on different aspects and thus give rise to several views. To have a complete view of the application domain, heterogeneous models need to be unified, which is a hard task to do. To tackle this problem, we have proposed a method to relate partial models without combining them in a single model. In our approach, partial models are organized as a network of models through a virtual global model called M1C (Model of correspondences between models) which conforms to a ubiquitous language based on a Meta-Model of Correspondences (MMC). This paper presents an application of our method to an “Emergency Department” case study. It has been performed as a collaborative process involving model designers and a supervisor. The focus is put on the building of the M1C model from 3 partial models

Reporting Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Men on Active Surveillance for Prostate Cancer : The PRECISE Recommendations-A Report of a European School of Oncology Task Force

Background: Published data on prostate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) during follow-up of men on active surveillance are lacking. Current guidelines for prostate MRI reporting concentrate on prostate cancer (PCa) detection and staging. A standardised approach to prostate MRI reporting for active surveillance will facilitate the robust collection of evidence in this newly developing area. Objective: To develop preliminary recommendations for reporting of individual MRI studies in men on active surveillance and for researchers reporting the outcomes of cohorts of men having MRI on active surveillance. Design, setting, and participants: The RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method was used. Experts in urology, radiology, and radiation oncology developed a set of 394 statements relevant to prostate MRI reporting in men on active surveillance for PCa. Each statement was scored for agreement on a 9-point scale by each panellist prior to a panel meeting. Each statement was discussed and rescored at the meeting. Outcome measurements and statistical analysis: Measures of agreement and consensus were calculated for each statement. The most important statements, derived from both group discussion and scores of agreement and consensus, were used to create the Prostate Cancer Radiological Estimation of Change in Sequential Evaluation (PRECISE) checklist and case report form. Results and limitations: Key recommendations include reporting the index lesion size using absolute values at baseline and at each subsequent MRI. Radiologists should assess the likelihood of true change over time (ie, change in size or change in lesion characteristics on one or more sequences) on a 1-5 scale. A checklist of items for reporting a cohort of men on active surveillance was developed. These items were developed based on expert consensus in many areas in which data are lacking, and they are expected to develop and change as evidence is accrued. Conclusions: The PRECISE recommendations are designed to facilitate the development of a robust evidence database for documenting changes in prostateMRI findings over time ofmen on active surveillance. If used, they will facilitate data collection to distinguish-measurement error and natural variability in MRI appearances from true radiologic progression. Patient summary: Few published reports are available on how to use and interpret magnetic resonance imaging for men on active surveillance for prostate cancer. The PRECISE panel recommends that data should be collected in a standardised manner so that natural variation in the appearance and measurement of cancer over time can be distinguished from changes indicating significant tumour progression. (C) 2016 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe