Analysis of pancreas histological images for glucose intolerance identificationusing ImageJ-preliminary results

The observation in microscopy of histological sections allows us to evaluate structural differences, in pancreatic cells, between rats with normal glucose tolerance and with glucose intolerance (pre-diabetic) situation. Nevertheless, this pre-diabetic condition implies subtle changes in islets of Langerhans structure. This and the normal variability among sampled cells makes difficult the task of identifying glucose intolerance (pre-diabetic situation) with a low level of error. This paper presents preliminary results in the processing of histological pancreas images with the goal of identifying pre-diabetic situation in Wistar rats. The immediate goal of this work is to evaluate the performance of a classifier based in a morphometric measurement of the histological images and to assess the potential for image based automatic processing and classification. A set of 90 images, were used (58 from rats with normal glucose tolerance, and 32 from pre-diabetic ones). These images were segmented manually using ImageJ. This segmentation and area measurements have been speedup by the application of ImageJ macros which were defined for this purpose. The ratio, between the area of -cells and the islets of Langerhans , was used has the indicator of the prediabetic situation. Considering this feature, a receiver operating characteristic analysis has been performed. True positive rate, vs. false positive rate shows the predicted performance of a binary classifier as its discrimination threshold is varied

Coupling production networks and regional assets in manufacturing clusters

Paradoxically, the ongoing process of globalisation goes hand in hand with a surge of interest in the ‘local’ sources of firm competitiveness. In this paper, we develop a frame of analysis that helps to understand ‘coupling’ of production networks and regional development. Our aim is to reflect on the ‘spatiality’ of different types of networks, and to study the dynamic coupling process between these networks and regional assets. We apply the framework to two case studies – shipbuilding in Turku and machine building in Porto. Our analysis points towards the relevance of regional assets facilitating this coupling process and in strengthening regions as magnets for global production networks, reinforcing the long term sustainability of different types of clusters

Evaluation of a distributed numerical simulation optimization approach applied to aquifer remediation

AbstractIn this paper we evaluate a distributed approach which uses numerical simulation and optimization techniques to automatically find remediation solutions to a hypothetical contaminated aquifer. The repeated execution of the numerical simulation model of the aquifer through the optimization cycles tends to be computationally expensive. To overcome this drawback, the numerical simulations are executed in parallel using a network of heterogeneous workstations. Performance metrics for heterogeneous environments are not trivial; a new way of calculating speedup and efficiency for Bag-of-Tasks (BoT) applications is proposed. The performance of the parallel approach is evaluated

VirtualECare: group support in collaborative networks organizations for digital homecare

Collaborative Work plays an important role in today’s organizations and normally in areas where decisions must be made. However, any decision that involves a collective or group of decision makers is, by itself, complex but is becoming normal in recent years. In this work we present the VirtualECare project (Figure 10), intelligent multi‐agent system able to monitor, interact and serve its customers, which are, normally, in need of care services. In the last years there has been a substantially increase in the number of people needed of intensive care, especially among the elderly, a phenomenon that is related to population ageing. However, this is not exclusive of the elderly, as diseases as obesity, diabetes, and blood pressure have been increasing among young adults. As a new reality, it has to be dealt by the health sector, and particularly by the public one. Thus, the importance of finding new and cost effective ways for health care delivery are of particular importance, especially when one want them not to be removed from their “habitat”. Following this line of thinking, the VirtualECare project will be presented, like similar ones that preceded it. Recently we have assisted to a growing interest in combining the advances in information society ‐ computing, telecommunications and presentation – in order to create Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS). Indeed, the new economy, along with increased competition in today’s complex business environments, takes the companies to seek complementarities in order to increase competitiveness and reduce risks. Under these scenarios, planning takes a major role in a company life. However, effective planning depends on the generation and analysis of ideas (innovative or not) and, as a result, the idea generation and management processes are crucial. Our objective is to apply the above presented GDSS to a new area. We believe that the use of GDSS in the healthcare arena will allow professionals to achieve better results in the analysis of one’s Electronically Clinical Profile (ECP). This achievement is vital, regarding the explosion of knowledge and skills, together with the need to use limited resources and get better results

Monte Carlo study of the critical temperature for the planar rotator model with nonmagnetic impurities

We performed Monte Carlo simulations to calculate the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) temperature $T_{BKT}$ for the two-dimensional planar rotator model in the presence of nonmagnetic impurity concentration $(\rho)$. As expected, our calculation shows that the BKT temperature decreases as the spin vacancies increase. There is a critical dilution $\rho_c \approx 0.3$ at which $T_{BKT} =0$. The effective interaction between a vortex-antivortex pair and a static nonmagnetic impurity is studied analytically. A simple phenomenological argument based on the pair-impurity interaction is proposed to justify the simulations.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, Revetex fil

On The Question Of The Energy Dependence Of Inelasticity

We discuss the question of the energy dependence of inelasticity in very-high-energy hadronic interactions. From existing extensive-air-shower data, a definite conclusion cannot yet be reached. However, Glauber model realistic calculations and recent results from Tevatron suggest a slow increase of the mean inelasticity with energy. © 1992.2791-2149152Amos, (1990) Phys. Lett. B, 243, p. 158Bellandi, Mundim, Dias de Deus, Covolan, J. Phys. C (1991) J. Phys. C, , to be publishedBurnett, (1990) Astrophys. J., 349, p. L25Allkofer, (1975) Introduction to cosmic radiation, , Verlag Karl Thiemig, MunichLiland, (1987) Proc. XXth Intern. Cosmic ray Conf., 6, p. 178. , IUPAP, (Moscow, USSR)Glauber, Mathiae, (1970) Nucl. Phys. B, 21, p. 135Hofstadter, Nuclear and Nucleon Scattering of High-Energy Electrons (1957) Annual Review of Nuclear Science, 7, p. 231Linsley, (1985) Proc. XIXth Intern. Cosmic ray Conf., 6, p. 1. , La Jolla, USA, and references therein for experimental dataHara, (1983) Phys. Rev. Lett., 50, p. 2058Hara, (1983) Proc. XVIIth Intern. Cosmic ray Conf., 11, p. 354. , Bangalore, IndiaBaltrusaitis, (1984) Phys. Rev. Lett., 52, p. 1380Bellandi, On the behaviour of inelasticity at very high energy (1991) Physics Letters B, 262, p. 102Brooke, Wolfendale, (1964) Proc. Phys. Soc., 83, p. 843Ashton, (1970) Acta Phys. Acad. Sci. Hung., 29, p. 25Vall, (1987) Sov. J. Nucl. Phys., 44, p. 806Wilk, (1991) Contrib. XXIInd Intern. Cosmic ray Conf., , Dublin, IrelandFowler, (1987) Phys. Rev. D, 35, p. 870Gaisser, (1989) Phys. Lett. B, 219, p. 375Gaisser, (1990) Proc. 21st Intern. Cosmic ray Conf., 8, p. 55. , AdelaideKopeliovich, (1989) Phys. Rev. D, 39, p. 769Azaryan, (1975) Sov. J. Nucl. Phys., 20, p. 213Slavatinskii, (1964) Sov. Phys. JETP, 19, p. 1452Basile, (1983) Nuovo Cimento, 73 A, p. 32

Pictorial scale of perceived water competence (PSPWC) testing manual

The Early Years Special Interest Group have completed a technical publication, ‘Pictorial Scale of Perceived Water Competence (PSPWC) Testing Manual’. This publication is the first to specifically focus and develop an assessment tool appropriate for young children aged 4 – 8 years old. It aims to address the following specific needs 1) to be accessible to this young age range, 2) to be suitable for children of different swimming levels, 3) cover all the aquatic fundamentals – water entry, breath control, buoyancy, balance, propulsion, immersion, water exit, gliding and vision. The idea to develop the PSPWC started during the Early Years Special Interest Group meeting at Laramie 2016 AIESEP, which then developed into a larger group of experts in order to develop and present the assessment tool. A four year process of critical analysis, preliminary face-validity, face-validity and content validity were completed in the development of each version of the PSPWC until the final testing manual was completed. Within the testing manual all aquatic skills and test items are represented through visual methodologies of drawings by a professional illustrator. In order to engage young children’s interests and to keep their attention to facilitate their understanding and to obtain more meaningful responses. The testing manual includes 3 level progressions for each situation, skill or test item, level 1 = “not able to do the skill”; level 2 = “skill in progress” and level 3 = “able to do the skill. The 3 level progression was developed as the expert group considered it more appropriate to have a process orientated scale showing a child’s developmental progression. The PSPWC can be applied for use in children (measurement of their own perceived water competence), in parents (measurements of their perception of children’s water competence) and/or in teachers (measurement of their perception of pupils’ / students’ water competence. The testing manual is accessible to all through open access publication