Visualising high-dimensional Pareto relationships in two-dimensional scatterplots

Copyright © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. The final publication is availablevia the DOI in this recordBook title: Evolutionary Multi-Criterion Optimization7th International Conference on Evolutionary Multi-Criterion Optimization (EMO 2013), Sheffield, UK, March 19-22, 2013The codebase for this paper is available at https://github.com/fieldsend/emo_2013_vizIn this paper two novel methods for projecting high dimensional data into two dimensions for visualisation are introduced, which aim to limit the loss of dominance and Pareto shell relationships between solutions to multi-objective optimisation problems. It has already been shown that, in general, it is impossible to completely preserve the dominance relationship when mapping from a higher to a lower dimension – however, approaches that attempt this projection with minimal loss of dominance information are useful for a number of reasons. (1) They may represent the data to the user of a multi-objective optimisation problem in an intuitive fashion, (2) they may help provide insights into the relationships between solutions which are not immediately apparent through other visualisation methods, and (3) they may offer a useful visual medium for interactive optimisation. We are concerned here with examining (1) and (2), and developing relatively rapid methods to achieve visualisations, rather than generating an entirely new search/optimisation problem which has to be solved to achieve the visualisation– which may prove infeasible in an interactive environment for real time use. Results are presented on randomly generated data, and the search population of an optimiser as it progresses. Structural insights into the evolution of a set-based optimiser that can be derived from this visualisation are also discussed

Injectable biomaterial induces regeneration of the intervertebral disc in a caprine loaded disc culture model

Back pain is the leading cause of disability with half of cases attributed to intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration, yet currently no therapies target this cause. We previously reported an ex vivo caprine loaded disc culture system (LDCS) that accurately represents the cellular phenotype and biomechanical environment of human IVD degeneration. Here, the efficacy of an injectable hydrogel system (LAPONITE® crosslinked pNIPAM-co-DMAc, (NPgel)) to halt or reverse the catabolic processes of IVD degeneration was investigated within the LDCS. Following enzymatic induction of degeneration using 1 mg mL−1 collagenase and 2 U mL−1 chondroitinase ABC within the LDCS for 7 days, IVDs were injected with NPgel alone or with encapsulated human bone marrow progenitor cells (BMPCs). Un-injected caprine discs served as degenerate controls. IVDs were cultured for a further 21 days within the LDCS. Tissues were then processed for histology and immunohistochemistry. No extrusion of NPgel was observed during culture. A significant decrease in histological grade of degeneration was seen in both IVDs injected with NPgel alone and NPgel seeded with BMPCs, compared to un-injected controls. Fissures within degenerate tissue were filled by NPgel and there was evidence of native cell migration into injected NPgel. The expression of healthy NP matrix markers (collagen type II and aggrecan) was increased, whereas the expression of catabolic proteins (MMP3, ADAMTS4, IL-1β and IL-8) was decreased in NPgel (±BMPCs) injected discs, compared to degenerate controls. This demonstrates that NPgel promotes new matrix production at the same time as halting the degenerative cascade within a physiologically relevant testing platform. This highlights the potential of NPgel as a future therapy for IVD degeneration

Potential of Notochordal Cells within Injectable Biomaterials to Promote Intervertebral Disc Regeneration

Low back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide and is strongly associated with degeneration of the intervertebral disc (IVD).During degeneration the nucleus pulposus (NP) in the core of the IVD, is affected by altered matrix synthesis, increased degradation, andcell loss. Strategies combining regenerative cell sources with injectable biomaterials could provide a therapeutic approach to treatingIVD-degeneration related back pain. The juvenile cells of the NP, known as notochordal cells (NC), could provide both anabolic andanti-catabolic responses for disc regeneration. However, their behaviour within biomaterial delivery systems has not been investigated.Here, porcine NCs were incorporated into three injectable hydrogels: Albugel (an albumin/hyaluronan hydrogel), NPgel (a L-pNIPAMco-DMAc hydrogel) and NPgel with decellularized NC-matrix powder (dNCM). The NCs and biomaterial constructs were cultured for upto 4 weeks under 5% oxygen (n = 3 biological repeats). The ability of biomaterials to maintain NC viability, phenotype and extracellularmatrix synthesis and deposition was investigated through histological, immunohisto chemical and glycosaminogly cans analysis. NCs survived in all three biomaterials after 4 weeks, whilst phenotype and cell clustering were maintained to a greater extent in NPgel and Albugel. Thus, these biomaterials could facilitate maintenance of the NC phenotype, support matrix deposition and be a basis for future IVD regeneration strategies

Tool for Positional Printing and Building Printed Reports

Import 26/06/2013Obsahem této bakalářské práce je vytvořit aplikaci, která bude schopna definovat vlastní šablony dokumentu, formátování a zarovnávání textu na základě předdefinovaných vstupních polí. V první, teoretické části jsme se zaměřili na problematiku obchodních tiskopisů nutných pro automatizaci, jako jsou podávání obchodních balíků, složenek, cenných psaní, dobírek a dalších. Další část teoretického rozboru popisuje uživatelské rozhraní a tvorbu formulářů v existující aplikaci. V neposlední řadě jsme provedli analýzu, návrh a implementaci samotné aplikace. Poslední část práce je věnována ukázce modelového příkladu, na kterém jsou ukázány dosažené výsledky.The target of this bachelor thesis is to create an application that will be able to define your own document templates, formatting and aligning text based on predefined input fields. In the first, theoretical part, we focused on the problem of business forms needed for automation such as use of business packages, bills, commercial writing, cash on delivery payments and more. The next part of theoretical analysis describes user interface and creation of forms in an existing application. Finally, we performed analysis, design and implementation of this application. The last part is devoted to demonstration model example in which the results are shown.460 - Katedra informatikyvýborn