Multimedia data mining for automatic diabetic retinopathy screening

International audience— This paper presents TeleOphta, an automatic sys-tem for screening diabetic retinopathy in teleophthalmology networks. Its goal is to reduce the burden on ophthalmologists by automatically detecting non referable examination records, i.e. examination records presenting no image quality problems and no pathological signs related to diabetic retinopathy or any other retinal pathology. TeleOphta is an attempt to put into practice years of algorithmic developments from our groups. It combines image quality metrics, specific lesion detectors and a generic pathological pattern miner to process the visual content of eye fundus photographs. This visual information is further combined with contextual data in order to compute an abnormality risk for each examination record. The TeleOphta system was trained and tested on a large dataset of 25,702 examination records from the OPHDIAT screening network in Paris. It was able to automatically detect 68% of the non referable examination records while achieving the same sensitivity as a second ophthalmologist. This suggests that it could safely reduce the burden on ophthalmologists by 56%

Darwin -— an experimental astronomy mission to search for extrasolar planets

As a response to ESA call for mission concepts for its Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 plan, we propose a mission called Darwin. Its primary goal is the study of terrestrial extrasolar planets and the search for life on them. In this paper, we describe different characteristics of the instrument

FATORES EXPLICATIVOS DA EVIDENCIAÇÃO DOS BENEFÍCIOS AOS EMPREGADOS EM EMPRESAS BRASILEIRAS LISTADAS NO IBRX 100 DA BM&FBOVESPA

A informação contábil desempenha papel importante na redução da assimetria de informação entre os diversos atores do mercado. Uma das novas exigências advindas do processo de convergência às normas contábeis internacionais é a divulgação dos benefícios a empregados, que pode constituir em informação relevante sobre o passivo da organização, principalmente para as entidades que mantém planos de benefícios a seus empregados. Este estudo teve o objetivo de identificar os fatores que explicam o nível de evidenciação do CPC 33 (benefícios aos empregados) das empresas brasileiras listadas no IBRx 100 da BM&FBovespa. Neste sentido, a amostra do estudo foi formada por 76 empresas. Como prováveis fatores explicativos extraídos da literatura, foram testados o tamanho, retorno sobre o ativo, endividamento, rentabilidade, existência do comitê de auditoria e de membros externos no conselho de administração. Para tratamento dos dados utilizou-se da regressão linear múltipla. Os resultados apontam que o tamanho, a rentabilidade e a existência de membros externos no conselho de administração ajudam a explicar o nível de evidenciação dos benefícios a empregados. Conclui-se que ainda há um longo caminho a ser percorrido pelas empresas no que se refere a divulgação dos benefícios aos empregados, uma vez que o índice de divulgação encontrado no presente estudo foi relativamente baixo

ESTRATÉGIAS ORGANIZACIONAIS E O DESEMPENHO ECONÔMICO-FINANCEIRO DAS EMPRESAS CINQUENTENÁRIAS BRASILEIRAS

O objetivo foi analisar a influência das estratégias organizacionais, de acordo com as tipologias estratégicas de Miles e Snow (1978), no desempenho econômico-financeiro de empresas cinquentenárias brasileiras. Identificou-se 114 empresas cinquentenárias listadas na BM&FBOVESPA. Para análise dos dados aplicou-se a análise multivariada e o Teste de Tukey. Os resultados demonstraram que a maioria das empresas cinquentenárias foram identificadas como prospectoras seguidas das analisadoras. Também verificou-se que existe diferença no desempenho econômico-financeiro das empresas em relação as estratégicas organizacionais. As estratégias organizacionais apresentam relação significante com o indicador de desempenho Retorno sobre o Patrimônio Líquido (ROE), onde a média é significativamente diferente entre a estratégia prospectora e estratégia defensiva. A contribuição foi identificar as estratégias organizacionais, como a influência no desempenho de empresas que permanecem no mercado. Os resultados podem oferecer explicações sobre a discrição das empresas alcançar a longevidade em um mercado competitivo e dinâmico

The fate of the 2√3 × 2√3R(30°) silicene phase on Ag(111)

Silicon atoms deposited on Ag(111) produce various single layer silicene sheets with different buckling patterns and periodicities. Low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy reveals that one of the silicene sheets, the hypothetical √7 × √7 silicene structure, on 2√3 × 2√3 Ag(111), is inherently highly defective and displays no long-range order. Moreover, Auger and photoelectron spectroscopy measurements reveal its sudden death, to end, in a dynamic fating process at ∼300 °C. This result clarifies the real nature of the 2√3 × 2√3R(30°) silicene phase and thus helps to understand the diversity of the silicene sheets grown on Ag(111)

Fetal Hemoglobin is Associated with Peripheral Oxygen Saturation in Sickle Cell Disease in Tanzania.

Fetal hemoglobin (HbF) and peripheral hemoglobin oxygen saturation (SpO2) both predict clinical severity in sickle cell disease (SCD), while reticulocytosis is associated with vasculopathy, but there are few data on mechanisms. HbF, SpO2 and routine clinical and laboratory measures were available in a Tanzanian cohort of 1175 SCD individuals aged≥5years and the association with SpO2 (as response variable transformed to a Poisson distribution) was assessed by negative binomial model with age and sex as covariates. Increase in HbF was associated with increased SpO2 (rate ratio, RR=1.19; 95% confidence intervals [CI] 1.04, 1.37 per natural log unit of HbF; p=0.0004). In univariable analysis, SpO2 was inversely associated with age, reticulocyte count, and log (total bilirubin) and directly with pulse, SBP, hemoglobin, and log(HbF). In multivariable regression log(HbF) (RR 1.191; 95%CI 1.04, 1.37; p=0.013), pulse (RR 1.01; 95%CI 1.00, 1.01; p=0.026), SBP (RR 1.008; 95%CI 1.00, 1.02; p=0.014), and hemoglobin (1.120; 95%CI 1.05, 1.19; p=0.001) were positively and independently associated with SpO2 while reticulocyte count (RR 0.985; 95%CI 0.97, 0.99; p=0.019) was independently inversely associated with SpO2. In SCD, improving SpO2, in part through cardiovascular compensation and associated with reduced reticulocytosis, may be a mechanism by which HbF reduces disease severity

THEORETICAL BASIS, HYPOTHESIS AND CONSTRUCT IN ACCOUNTING STUDIES

The present study aims at contributing to the understanding of distinct concepts about theoretical basis, hypothesis and construct by presenting, discussing, explaining and exemplifying the meanings of such concepts, their conceptual definitions, operational definitions and constructs in studies carried out in the Accounting area. Theory plays a relevant role in developing scientific knowledge since it represents the highest level of science epistemology. Hypotheses are a powerful tool for advancing knowledge since they can be tested. However, to be able to empirically explore a theoretical concept, one needs to translate the concept statement into a relation with the real world, based on variables, and on observable and measurable phenomena, in other words, one needs to elaborate a construct and operationalize it. Therefore, it is possible that the ones who are interested in the findings of a specific study share the same understandings about the concepts, definitions, possible constructs and variables included in the study, thus, comprehending findings, conclusions and limitations of the study in a similar manner. The present study contributes to the area by highlighting the intention of correct understanding and usage of these essential categories of the scientific and professional discourse, according to the theoretical background.