Development of a Cost-Efficient Video Acquisition System for Medical Applications Using a Dual-Core Cortex-M Microcontroller

Video acquisition systems, consisting of video capture, encoding, transmission and display, are widely used in medical applications. However, current systems present challenges such as higher costs, power consumption, and reduced availability. Therefore, this paper proposes a video acquisition system using a dual-core Cortex-M microcontroller. Tests showed the system is suitable for video acquisition, processing, and display. The storage component presented limitations, by only achieving the correct saving of 32.36 % of the acquired video. Finally, it is shown that a Dual-Core Cortex-M microcontroller could be used for low-cost medical applications that do not require high quality video storage.ITESO, A. C

On the design of an ECOC-compliant genetic algorithm

Genetic Algorithms (GA) have been previously applied to Error-Correcting Output Codes (ECOC) in state-of-the-art works in order to find a suitable coding matrix. Nevertheless, none of the presented techniques directly take into account the properties of the ECOC matrix. As a result the considered search space is unnecessarily large. In this paper, a novel Genetic strategy to optimize the ECOC coding step is presented. This novel strategy redefines the usual crossover and mutation operators in order to take into account the theoretical properties of the ECOC framework. Thus, it reduces the search space and lets the algorithm to converge faster. In addition, a novel operator that is able to enlarge the code in a smart way is introduced. The novel methodology is tested on several UCI datasets and four challenging computer vision problems. Furthermore, the analysis of the results done in terms of performance, code length and number of Support Vectors shows that the optimization process is able to find very efficient codes, in terms of the trade-off between classification performance and the number of classifiers. Finally, classification performance per dichotomizer results shows that the novel proposal is able to obtain similar or even better results while defining a more compact number of dichotomies and SVs compared to state-of-the-art approaches

NMR spectroscopy and antioxidant activity of flavanones and flavones isolated from Chromolaena tacotana (Klatt) R.M. King & H. Rob.

Chromolaena tacotana is considered as a source of flavonoids. Here we examined the content and antioxidant properties of flavones and flavanones from the leaves of the plant. Four flavonoids, including (Cta) 5, 4' dihydroxy-7-methoxy flavanone, (Ctb) 3,5,3'-trihydroxy-7,4'-dimethoxyflavone; (Ctc), 3,4'-dihydroxy -5,7-dimethoxyflavanone; and (Ctd) 4'-hydroxy-5,7-dimethoxyflavanone, were isolated from leaves extracts, were identified by their NMR spectroscopic data, and then free radical scavenging activities of the flavonoids were assessed against DPPH. The antioxidant activity for the flavanone Ctb was the highest even compared to that of quercetin, with IC50 of 6.27 μg/mL and 8.67 μg/mL respectively. The flavanones Cta, Ctc and Ctd presented a lowest activity against free radicals as expected according to their molecular substituents and the position within the structure. Data obtained from this study support the ethnomedicinal use of the leaves of C. tacotana for an antioxidant purpose

Diseño de una aula eco-educativa de integración sensorial para el desarrollo social y de lenguaje de niños y niñas de educación inicial

Proponer el diseño de un aula eco-educativa de integración sensorial para el desarrollo social y de lenguaje de niños y niñas de educación inicial.Dados los resultados concluyentes de investigaciones realizadas en Latinoamérica, mismas que evidencian, las dificultades en el ámbito social y de lenguaje de los estudiantes que estarían relacionadas a la falta de integración sensorial. Se propone el diseño de un aula eco-educativa de integración sensorial para el desarrollo social y de lenguaje de niños y niñas de educación inicial. Por medio de la investigación cualitativa y haciendo uso de la metodología bibliográfica se pudo recopilar información; de libros, revistas especializadas en la temática, tesis de grado, información de la web y otros documentos. La investigación tuvo tres fases; la primera se desarrolló sobre la base de teorías fundamentadas, en la segunda fase, se relaciona e integra por medio de la técnica de triangulación de información los hallazgos, que da paso a la tercera fase, propuesta, que plantea el diseño de un aula eco-educativa de integración sensorial por medio del uso de recursos naturales y pedagógicos en actividades que pueden ser usadas por los docentes en su aula de clase, mediante el diseño del aula eco educativa de integración sensorial se determinó la factibilidad de crear actividades de integración sensorial fusionadas con actividades académicas, que involucren recursos naturales y tecnológicos como herramientas para el desarrollo social y de lenguaje, afianzadas en experiencias, y propias interpretaciones, favoreciendo el desarrollo integral del estudiante.Maestrí

Estudio de factibilidad económica para la producción y comercialización de la Microalga Spirulina Sp. En el Caribe Colombiano

El presente estudio se realizó con el fin de estimar la factibilidad de implementar un desarrollo productivo consiste en el cultivo y comercialización de la microalga Spirulina sp, se evalúan las diferentes alternativas para su cultivo y comercialización. Para determinar la viabilidad se desarrollaron las respectivas etapas planteadas para la preparación y formulación de proyectos, como son el estudio técnico, de mercado, financiero, organizacional y legal. Adicional a ello, se incorporaron los aspectos como el plan estratégico, plan de puesta en marcha y de contingencia que se señalan en las metodologías para la elaboración de planes de negocios. Cada una de las etapas del estudio realizado, se ejecutaron paso a paso, según las recomendaciones que dictan las normas técnicas. Los resultados obtenidos, son fruto de la rigurosidad de los datos recolectados con base en la literatura, cálculos técnicos y de mercado. Todos los resultados obtenidos demuestran la viabilidad económica para el desarrollo del cultivo de la Spirulina sp. Las investigaciones sobre el mercado objetivo sustentan su comercialización en cada una de sus posibilidades

El análisis textual como herramienta en la traducción del francés al inglés del primer capítulo "Salcedo nous attend" del libro "Femmes en chemin avec le peuple des andes" de Jacqueline Louvigné y Marie Therese Grimault

“Femmes en Chemin avec le Peuple des Andes” es un libro de Jacqueline Louvigné y Marie Thérèse Grimault, dos monjas seglares de la comunidad de St. Charles de Mechun-Sur-Yèvre de Francia, donde narran en francés sus vidas durante los 28 años que vivieron en Ecuador. El libro dividido en siete capítulos narra las anécdotas y experiencias de estas dos monjas cuando vivieron junto a las comunidades campesinas del pueblo de Salcedo, en Paján, en Puebloviejo y con los Montubios, y todas las vivencias en la capital (Quito)..

PaST-NoC: A Packet-Switched Superconducting Temporal NoC

Temporal computing promises to mitigate the stringent area constraints and clock distribution overheads of traditional superconducting digital computing. To design a scalable, area- and power-efficient superconducting network on chip (NoC), we propose packet-switched superconducting temporal NoC (PaST-NoC). PaST-NoC operates its control path in the temporal domain using race logic (RL), combined with bufferless deflection flow control to minimize area. Packets encode their destination using RL and carry a collection of data pulses that the receiver can interpret as pulse trains, RL, serialized binary, or other formats. We demonstrate how to scale up PaST-NoC to arbitrary topologies based on 2x2 routers and 4x4 butterflies as building blocks. As we show, if data pulses are interpreted using RL, PaST-NoC outperforms state-of-the-art superconducting binary NoCs in throughput per area by as much as 5x for long packets.Comment: 14 pages, 18 figures, 2 tables. In press in IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivit

AlignMiner: a Web-based tool for detection of divergent regions in multiple sequence alignments of conserved sequences

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Multiple sequence alignments are used to study gene or protein function, phylogenetic relations, genome evolution hypotheses and even gene polymorphisms. Virtually without exception, all available tools focus on conserved segments or residues. Small divergent regions, however, are biologically important for specific quantitative polymerase chain reaction, genotyping, molecular markers and preparation of specific antibodies, and yet have received little attention. As a consequence, they must be selected empirically by the researcher. AlignMiner has been developed to fill this gap in bioinformatic analyses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>AlignMiner is a Web-based application for detection of conserved and divergent regions in alignments of conserved sequences, focusing particularly on divergence. It accepts alignments (protein or nucleic acid) obtained using any of a variety of algorithms, which does not appear to have a significant impact on the final results. AlignMiner uses different scoring methods for assessing conserved/divergent regions, <monospace>Entropy</monospace> being the method that provides the highest number of regions with the greatest length, and <monospace>Weighted</monospace> being the most restrictive. Conserved/divergent regions can be generated either with respect to the consensus sequence or to one master sequence. The resulting data are presented in a graphical interface developed in AJAX, which provides remarkable user interaction capabilities. Users do not need to wait until execution is complete and can.even inspect their results on a different computer. Data can be downloaded onto a user disk, in standard formats. <it>In silico </it>and experimental proof-of-concept cases have shown that AlignMiner can be successfully used to designing specific polymerase chain reaction primers as well as potential epitopes for antibodies. Primer design is assisted by a module that deploys several oligonucleotide parameters for designing primers "on the fly".</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>AlignMiner can be used to reliably detect divergent regions via several scoring methods that provide different levels of selectivity. Its predictions have been verified by experimental means. Hence, it is expected that its usage will save researchers' time and ensure an objective selection of the best-possible divergent region when closely related sequences are analysed. AlignMiner is freely available at <url>http://www.scbi.uma.es/alignminer</url>.</p

Formic Acid Ionization and Fragmentation by Multiphoton Absorption

Multiphoton absorption is an intensity dependent nonlinear effect related to the excitation of virtual intermediate states. In the present work, multiphoton ionization and dissociation of the formic acid molecule (HCOOH) by the interaction with photons from 532 Nd: YAG laser at different intensities are discussed, using different carrier gases. The induced fragmentation-ionization patterns show up to 17 fragments and dissociation channels are proposed. Some evidence of small clusters formation and conformational memory from the ratio of the detected products, CO+ and CO2+, on the light of the available results, it is possible to conclude that they arise from trans and cis formic acid. Our results are compared with those obtained in other laboratories under different experimental conditions, some of them show only partial agreement and differences are discussed. Following the Keldysh description it is possible, from our experimental parameters, characterize our results, in the multiphoton absorption regime