Proposal of a methodology for implementing a service-oriented architecture in distributed manufacturing systems

As envisioned by Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS), Next Generation Manufacturing Systems (NGMS) will satisfy the needs of an increasingly fast-paced and demanding market by dynamically integrating systems from inside and outside the manufacturing firm itself into a so-called extended enterprise. However, organizing these systems to ensure the maximum flexibility and interoperability with those from other organizations is difficult. Additionally, a defect in the system would have a great impact: it would affect not only its owner, but also its partners. For these reasons, we argue that a service-oriented architecture (SOA) would be a good candidate. It should be designed following a methodology where services play a central role, instead of being an implementation detail. In order for the architecture to be reliable enough as a whole, the methodology will need to help find errors before they arise in a production environment. In this paper we propose using SOA-specific testing techniques, compare some of the existing methodologies and outline several extensions upon one of them to integrate testing techniques

Artificial intelligence with big data analytics-based brain intracranial hemorrhage e-diagnosis using CT images

Due to the fast development of medical imaging technologies, medical image analysis has entered the period of big data for proper disease diagnosis. At the same time, intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) becomes a serious disease which affects the injury of blood vessels in the brain regions. This paper presents an artificial intelligence and big data analytics-based ICH e-diagnosis (AIBDA-ICH) model using CT images. The presented model utilizes IoMT devices for data acquisition process. The presented AIBDA-ICH model involves graph cut-based segmentation model for identifying the affected regions in the CT images. To manage big data, Hadoop Ecosystem and its elements are mainly used. In addition, capsule network (CapsNet) model is applied as a feature extractor to derive a useful set of feature vectors. Finally, the presented AIBDA-ICH model makes use of the fuzzy deep neural network (FDNN) model to carry out classification process. For validating the superior performance of the AIBDA-ICH method, an extensive set of simulations were performed and the outcomes are examined under diverse aspects. The experimental values pointed out the improved e-diagnostic performance of the AIBDA-ICH model over the other compared methods with the precision and accuracy of 94.96% and 98.59%, respectively

An enzymatic biomimetic system : enhancement of catalytic efficiency with new polymeric chiral ionic Liquids synthesised by controlled radical polymerisation

Correction to the affiliations. Mistake made by original Journal.Peer reviewe

Inactivation of the DNA-repair gene MGMT and the clinical response of gliomas to alkylating agents

Background: the DNA-repair enzyme O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) inhibits the killing of tumor cells by alkylating agents. MGMT activity is controlled by a promoter; methylation of the promoter silences the gene in cancer, and the cells no longer produce MGMT. We examined gliomas to determine whether methylation of the MGMT promoter is related to the responsiveness of the tumor to alkylating agents. Methods: we analyzed the MGMT promoter in tumor DNA by a methylation-specific polymerase-chain-reaction assay. The gliomas were obtained from patients who had been treated with carmustine (1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea, or BCNU). The molecular data were correlated with the clinical outcome. Results: the MGMT promoter was methylated in gliomas from 19 of 47 patients (40 percent). This finding was associated with regression of the tumor and prolonged overall and disease-free survival. It was an independent and stronger prognostic factor than age, stage, tumor grade, or performance status. Conclusions: methylation of the MGMT promoter in gliomas is a useful predictor of the responsiveness of the tumors to alkylating agents

Use of Native Grassland in Small-Scale Dairy Systems in the Highlands of Central Mexico. A Case Study

Small-scale dairy systems in Mexico comprise 78% of specialized dairy farms and provide 37% of national production. They are small farms with herds 3-35 cows plus replacements, and rely on family labour (Posadas-Domínguez et al., 2014). In the highlands, many farms have native grasslands, grazed during the rainy season, and supplemented with other feeds as maize straw, maize grain and maize ears. Native grasslands have not been studied in this context. This is a case study on the use of native grassland in a small-scale dairy farm. The objective was to determine how native grasslands are integrated in feeding milking dairy cows, and the feeding costs involved

Structural and dielectric properties of Cobaltacarborane Composite Polybenzimidazole Membranes as solid polymer electrolytes at high temperature

[EN] The conductivity of a series of composite membranes, based on polybenzimidazole (PBI) containing the metallacarborane salt M[Co(C2B9H11)(2)], M[COSANE] and tetraphenylborate, M[B(C6H5)(4)], M[TPB] both anions having the same number of atoms and the same negative charge, has been investigated. Different cations (M = H+, Li+ and Na+) have been studied and the composite membranes have been characterized by water uptake, swelling ratios, ATR FT-IR, thermogravimetric analysis and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy to explore the dielectric response and ion dynamics in composite membranes. Our results show that conductivity increases with increasing temperature and it is higher for H+ than for Li+ and Na+ for all temperatures under study. The mobility of Li+ is greater in [COSANE](-) than in [TPB](-) composite PBI@membranes while for Na+ it is the opposite. The temperature dependence of the conductivity of the composite was followed by a typical Arrhenius behaviour with two different regions: (1) between 20 and 100 degrees C, and (2) between 100 and 150 degrees C. Using the analysis of electrode polarization (EP) based on the Thrukhan theory we have calculated the ionic diffusion coefficients and the density of carriers. From the double logarithmic plot of the imaginary part of the conductivity (sigma '') versus frequency in the entire range of temperatures studied we have determined for each sample at each temperature, the frequency values of the onset (f(ON)) and full development of electrode polarization (f(MAX)), respectively, which permit us to calculate static permittivity.We gratefully acknowledge Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) for financial support by the ENE/2015-69203-R project and CTQ2016-75150-R project, and Generalitat de Catalunya (2014/SGR/149). I. Fuentes is enrolled in the PhD program of the UAB. The authors acknowledge Dr Oscar Sahuquillo for technical assistance in TGA.Fuentes, I.; Andrio Balado, A.; Garcia Bernabe, A.; Escorihuela Fuentes, J.; Viñas, C.; Teixidor, F.; Compañ Moreno, V. (2018). Structural and dielectric properties of Cobaltacarborane Composite Polybenzimidazole Membranes as solid polymer electrolytes at high temperature. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. 20(15):10173-10185. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8cp00372fS10173101852015I. E. A. Statistics, IEA, Paris, France, 2016Li, W., Dahn, J. R., & Wainwright, D. S. (1994). Rechargeable Lithium Batteries with Aqueous Electrolytes. Science, 264(5162), 1115-1118. doi:10.1126/science.264.5162.1115Lee, H., Yanilmaz, M., Toprakci, O., Fu, K., & Zhang, X. (2014). A review of recent developments in membrane separators for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. Energy Environ. Sci., 7(12), 3857-3886. doi:10.1039/c4ee01432dAnothumakkool, B., Torris A. 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Three-dimensional quantitative evaluation method of nonrigid registration algorithms for adaptive radiotherapy

Purpose: Current radiotherapy is progressing to the concept of adaptive radiotherapy, which implies the adaptation of planning along the treatment course. Nonrigid registration is an essential image processing tool for adaptive radiotherapy and image guided radiotherapy, and the three-dimensional (3D) nature of the current radiotherapy techniques requires a 3D quantification of the registration error that existing evaluation methods do not cover appropriately. The authors present a method for 3D evaluation of nonrigid registration algorithms’ performance, based on organ delineations, capable of working with near-spherical volumes even in the presence of concavities. Methods: The evaluation method is composed by a volume shape description stage, developed using a new ad hoc volume reconstruction algorithm proposed by the authors, and an error quantification stage. The evaluation method is applied to the organ delineations of prostate and seminal vesicles, obtained by an automatic segmentation method over images of prostate cancer patients treated with intensity modulated radiation therapy. Results: The volume reconstruction algorithm proposed has been shown to accurately model complex 3D surfaces by the definition of clusters of control points. The quantification method, inspired by the Haussdorf–Chebysev distance, provides a measure of the largest registration error per control direction, defining a valid metric for concave-convex volumes. Summarizing, the proposed evaluation methodology presents accurate results with a high spatial resolution in a negligible computation time in comparison with the nonrigid registration time. Conclusions: Experimental results show that the metric selected for quantifying the registration error is of utmost importance in a quantitative evaluation based on measuring distances between volumes. The accuracy of the volume reconstruction algorithm is not so relevant as long as the reconstruction is tight enough on the actual volume of the organ. The new evaluation method provides a smooth and accurate volume reconstruction for both the reference and the registered organ, and a complete 3D description of nonrigid registration algorithms’ performance, resulting in a useful tool for study and comparison of registration algorithms for adaptive radiotherapy

Treatment of subclinical hypothyroidism does not affect bone mass as determined by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, peripheral quantitative computed tomography and quantitative bone ultrasound in Spanish women.

INTRODUCTION: The results of studies examining the influence of subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) and levothyroxine (L-T4) replacement therapy on bone have generated considerable interest but also controversy. The present research aims to evaluate the effects of L-T4 treatment on different skeletal sites in women. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A group of 45 premenopausal (mean age: 43.62 ±6.65 years) and 180 postmenopausal (mean age: 59.51 ±7.90 years) women with SCH who were undergoing L-T4 replacement therapy for at least 6 months were compared to 58 pre- and 180 postmenopausal women with SCH (untreated) matched for age. The mean doses of L-T4 were 90.88 ±42.59 µg/day in the premenopausal women and 86.35 ±34.11 µg/day in the postmenopausal women. Bone measurements were obtained using quantitative bone ultrasound (QUS) for the phalanx, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) for the lumbar spine and hip, and peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) for the non-dominant distal forearm. RESULTS: No differences were observed between patients and untreated controls in these bone measurements except in the bone mineral density (BMD) of the spine (p = 0.0214) in postmenopausal women, which was greater in treated women than in untreated controls. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that adequate metabolic control through replacement treatment with L-T4 in pre- and postmenopausal women does not affect bone mass

Designing normative open virtual enterprises

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Enterprise Information Systems on 23/03/2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/17517575.2015.1036927.[EN] There is an increasing interest on developing virtual enterprises in order to deal with the globalisation of the economy, the rapid growth of information technologies and the increase of competitiveness. In this paper we deal with the development of normative open virtual enterprises (NOVEs). They are systems with a global objective that are composed of a set of heterogeneous entities and enterprises that exchange services following a specific normative context. In order to analyse and design systems of this kind the multi-agent paradigm seems suitable because it offers a specific solution for supporting the social and contractual relationships between enterprises and for formalising their business processes. This paper presents how the Regulated Open Multiagent systems (ROMAS) methodology, an agent-oriented software methodology, can be used to analyse and design NOVEs. ROMAS offers a complete development process that allows identifying and formalising of the structure of NOVEs, their normative context and the interactions among their members. The use of ROMAS is exemplified by means of a case study that represents an automotive supply chain.This work was partially supported by the projects [PROMETEOII/2013/019], [TIN2012-36586-C03-01], [FP7-29493], [TIN2011-27652-C03-00] and [CSD2007-00022], and the CASES project within the 7th European Community Framework Programme [grant agreement number 294931].Garcia Marques, ME.; Giret Boggino, AS.; Botti Navarro, VJ. (2016). Designing normative open virtual enterprises. Enterprise Information Systems. 10(3):303-324. https://doi.org/10.1080/17517575.2015.1036927S303324103Cardoso, H. L., Urbano, J., Brandão, P., Rocha, A. P., & Oliveira, E. (2012). 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