ZONING DESIGN FOR HAND­WRITTEN NUMERAL RECOGNITION

Microsoft, Motorola, Siemens, Hitachi, IAPR, NICI, IUF In the field of Optical Character Recognition (OCR), zoning is used to extract topological information from patterns. In this paper zoning is considered as the result of an optimisation problem and a new technique is presented for automatic zoning. More precisely, local analysis of feature distribution based on Shannon's entropy estimation is performed to determine "core" zones of patterns. An iterative region­growing procedure is applied on the "core" zones to determine the final zoning

Narrative-based computational modelling of the Gp130/JAK/STAT signalling pathway.

BACKGROUND: Appropriately formulated quantitative computational models can support researchers in understanding the dynamic behaviour of biological pathways and support hypothesis formulation and selection by "in silico" experimentation. An obstacle to widespread adoption of this approach is the requirement to formulate a biological pathway as machine executable computer code. We have recently proposed a novel, biologically intuitive, narrative-style modelling language for biologists to formulate the pathway which is then automatically translated into an executable format and is, thus, usable for analysis via existing simulation techniques. RESULTS: Here we use a high-level narrative language in designing a computational model of the gp130/JAK/STAT signalling pathway and show that the model reproduces the dynamic behaviour of the pathway derived by biological observation. We then "experiment" on the model by simulation and sensitivity analysis to define those parameters which dominate the dynamic behaviour of the pathway. The model predicts that nuclear compartmentalisation and phosphorylation status of STAT are key determinants of the pathway and that alternative mechanisms of signal attenuation exert their influence on different timescales. CONCLUSION: The described narrative model of the gp130/JAK/STAT pathway represents an interesting case study showing how, by using this approach, researchers can model biological systems without explicitly dealing with formal notations and mathematical expressions (typically used for biochemical modelling), nevertheless being able to obtain simulation and analysis results. We present the model and the sensitivity analysis results we have obtained, that allow us to identify the parameters which are most sensitive to perturbations. The results, which are shown to be in agreement with existing mathematical models of the gp130/JAK/STAT pathway, serve us as a form of validation of the model and of the approach itself

Women and the Scottish Clerks' Association: from contempt to collegiality

First paragraph: This paper will trace the evolution of the attitudes expressed by the Scottish Clerks' Association (SCA) towards women in clerical work in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. For women trying to establish careers in office work it was necessary to be accepted as colleagues by men in organisations like the SCA. But, as Sylvia Walby noted, explanations of the increasing presence of women in clerical work in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century have emphasised the role of employers as the main actors in the feminisation of clerical work, while the resistance (or acceptance) by male clerks has been given less attention. The evolution of the SCA's attitudes illustrates such resistance and then the growth of a kind of acceptance of women clerks in the early twentieth century; but this acceptance was within the context of male clerks' attempts to restructure their occupational group in order to preserve the better jobs for themselves

Resilience and Quality of Life in Mood Disorders and Diabetes: Correlations with Personality Traits, Coping and Self-esteem

Introduction The topic of resilience is obtaining a growing interest in psychiatric research. Resilience refers to positive adaptation or ability to maintain or regain mental health despite experiencing adversity. It is a dynamic, context- and time-specific process, and may vary across all life domains. Pathways to resilience are multiple and reciprocally interacting, and include biological, psychological, social and dispositional attributes. These factors play an important role both in psychiatric and somatic chronic disorders. Aims Our aim is to evaluate and compare resilience in mood disorder patients and diabetic ones. We also mean to investigate personality features, coping abilities, self-esteem and quality of life, and their possible correlation with resilience in these two populations. Methods Mood disorder and diabetic patients will be recruited at the Psychiatry Institute (SC Psichiatria) and Endocrinology Ward (SC Endocrinologia), respectively. Socio-demographic data will be gathered and patients will be asked to fill the following self-administered scales: Resilience Scale for Adult (RSA), Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory \u2013 Brief (Brief Cope), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), Paykel List Of Stressful Events, Temperamental and Character Inventory (TCI), Short Form 36 (SF-36). Results/Conclusions Data collection is ongoing. We expect that the findings from this research may allow to develop strategies to support patients with chronic diseases, both as far as outcome and subjective well-being are concerned, according to the World Health Organization definition of 'mental\u201d and 'physical\u201d health

Power Scheduling Method for Grid Integration of a PV-BESS CHB Inverter With SOC Balancing Capability

The paper deals with a single-phase photovoltaic (PV) inverter based on the Cascaded H-Bridge (CHB) topology for Low Voltage (LV) grid. A distributed architecture of PV sources integrated with battery energy storage systems (BESS) is proposed with the particularity of avoiding the use of dc-dc converters. A method of compensating for the short-term daily variability of PV energy is also presented. The control implements power scheduling to ensure that constant active power is fed into the grid at every predetermined time interval (e.g., every quarter of an hour). Furthermore, a dedicated hybrid modulation scheme based on a sorting algorithm for balancing the state of charge (SOC) of the single cells is proposed. Numerical investigations are carried out on a 19-level CHB inverter implemented in a PLECS®(i.e., the simulation platform for power electronic systems from Plexim) environment to validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed control strategy