Lessons Learned to Improve the UX Practices in Agile Projects Involving Data Science and Process Automation

Context: User-Centered Design and Agile methodologies focus on human issues. Nevertheless, agile methodologies focus on contact with contracting customers and generating value for them. Usually, the communication between end users and the agile team is mediated by customers. However, they do not know the problems end users face in their routines. Hence, UX issues are typically identified only after the implementation, during user testing and validation. Objective: Aiming to improve the understanding and definition of the problem in agile projects, this research investigates the practices and difficulties experienced by agile teams during the development of data science and process automation projects. Also, we analyze the benefits and the teams' perceptions regarding user participation in these projects. Method: We collected data from four agile teams in an academia-industry collaboration focusing on delivering data science and process automation solutions. Therefore, we applied a carefully designed questionnaire answered by developers, scrum masters, and UX designers. In total, 18 subjects answered the questionnaire. Results: From the results, we identify practices used by the teams to define and understand the problem and to represent the solution. The practices most often used are prototypes and meetings with stakeholders. Another practice that helped the team to understand the problem was using Lean Inceptions. Also, our results present some specific issues regarding data science projects. Conclusion: We observed that end-user participation can be critical to understanding and defining the problem. They help to define elements of the domain and barriers in the implementation. We identified a need for approaches that facilitate user-team communication in data science projects and the need for more detailed requirements representations to support data science solutions

Are Taxonomic Distinctness measures compliant to other ecological indicators in assessing ecological status?

Assessing the ecological status, a concept implemented in the European Water Framework Directive [EC, 2000. Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council 2000/60/EC establishing a framework for community action in the field of water policy PE-CONS 3639/1/00, p. 72], requires the application of methods capable of distinguishing different levels of ecological quality. The Average Taxonomic Distinctness has been used as tool in this context, and we tested the robustness of Taxonomic Distinctness measures applying it in different scenarios (estuarine eutrophication, organic pollution, and re-colonisation after physical disturbance), analysing simultaneously its compliance to other types of ecological indicators. Results show that, in most of the case studies, only Total Taxonomic Distinctness was relatively satisfactory in discriminating between disturbed situations. Other Taxonomic Distinctness measures have not proved to be more sensitive than other ecological indicators (Shannon-Wiener, Margalef, and Eco-Exergy indices). Therefore, this approach does not seem to be particularly helpful in assessing systems' ecological status with regard to the WFD implementation.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V6N-4KHK1M9-3/1/e54484859b25163a57c5780ac3bf46c

Tunneling effects on impurity spectral function in coupled asymmetric quantum wires

The impurity spectral function is studied in coupled double quantum wires at finite temperatures. Simple anisotropy in the confinement direction of the wires leads to finite non-diagonal elements of the impurity spectral function matrix. These non-diagonal elements are responsible for tunneling effects and result in pronounced extra peak in the impurity spectral function up to temperatures as high as 20 K.Comment: Accepted in Phys. Rev.

Imported African histoplasmosis by Histoplasma capsulatum var. duboisii in an HIV-2 infected patient

Objectives: African histoplasmosis caused by the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum var. duboisii, is a rare endemic mycosis occuring in western and central regions of sub-Saharian Africa. For unknown reasons, although HIV infection and H. capsulatum var. duboisii coexist in Africa, this coinfection remains rare. In Europe, diagnosed cases of African histoplasmosis are all imported. We describe a case of African histoplasmosis on a Portuguese war veteran co-infected with HIV-2 who fought in Guiné-Bissau in 1963-65 and Angola in 1972. Methods: We report a case of a 76-year-old man, diagnosed with HIV-2 infection in the previous year (under combined antiretroviral therapy) presenting an ulcerated skin lesion on the right tight (image 1), just above the knee. He was diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis the year before and was finishing one year treatment. The solitary skin lesion begun as a small non-pruriginous eritematous papule, evolving in 6 month to a painless 3-4cm ulcer with raised borders surrounded by a hiperpigmented halo. There were no adenopathies or bone lesions. Respiratory samples and blood cultures were systematically negative for Histoplasma capsulatum. He was treated with IV liposomal Amphotericin-B for one month, followed by oral itraconazol (now on the first month), with a favourable clinical outcome. Results: Histopathology of skin biopsy revealed a superficial ulceration with underlying granulomatous infiltrate with many giant cells, where numerous round mononucleated yeasts measuring 7-8µm were evident and highlighted with PAS and Grocott stain (image 2, left side). Skin biopsy was observed on a wet mount with KOH and revealed numerous round yeasts that were also seen on Gram stain, measuring 7-8µm. Culture of skin biopsy on two Sabouraud dextrose agar (with and without cicloheximide) showed growth of a filamentous fungus compatible with Histoplasma capsulatum (image 2, right side), with large thick-walled spherical macroconidia with finger-like projections (tuberculate conidia) that arise from short conidiophores, and small oval microconidia arising on short stalks from undifferentiated hyphae. Reversion to the yeast fase has not been succeed yet. Identification was further confirmed by sequencing of genomic DNA fragments using the universal fungal primers ITS1 and ITS4. The sequences obtained were compared with sequences deposited in the GenBank and the result was: Histoplasma capsulatum var. duboisii (99% homology). Conclusion: With banalization of business or leisure trips, endemic mycosis are becoming frequently diagnosed in countries outside their natural geographic endemic areas and only a high index of suspicion makes the diagnosis possible. Apart from trips, nowadays in Portugal 4% of the resident population is immigrant, mostly from Brasil (25.5%) but also from Angola and Guiné-Bissau (9.2%), being the former an endemic country of American histoplasmosis and the later of both American and African histoplasmosis. We consider histoplasmosis a probable underdiagnosed disease that should be suspected mainly in immunodeficient HIV positive individuals with a past history of travel or residence in an endemic area

Síndrome do blue rubber bleb nevus: relato de caso

The case of a patient with blue rubber bleb nevus syndrome who is infected by acquired immunodeficiency syndrome virus due to multiple blood transfusions is presented. This case shows that although it is a rare systemic disorder, blue rubber bleb nevus syndrome has to be considered in the differential diagnosis of chronic anemia or gastrointestinal bleeding. Patients should be investigated by endoscopy, which is the most reliable method for detecting these lesions. The patient underwent gastroscopy and enteroscopy via enterotomy with identification of all lesions. Minimal resection of the larger lesions and string-purse suture of the smaller ones involving all the layers of the intestine were performed. The string-purse suture of the lesions detected by enteroscopy proved to be an effective technique for handling these lesions, avoiding extensive intestinal resection and stopping the bleeding. Effective management of these patients demands aggressive treatment and should be initiated as soon as possible to avoid risks involved in blood transfusions, as occurred in this case.É descrito um caso da síndrome do blue rubber bleb nevus associada a infecção pelo vírus da imunodeficiência adquirida em conseqüência de múltiplas transfusões de sangue. Este caso demonstra que, embora rara, esta síndrome deva ser considerada no diagnóstico diferencial da anemia crônica ou sangramento gastrointestinal. O melhor método diagnóstico é a endoscopia. A doente foi operada e submetida a esofagogastroduodenoscopia e endoscopia através de enterotomia com identificação de todas as lesões que foram tratadas, as maiores, por ressecção mínima e as demais por sutura em bolsa ao redor do nevo interessando toda a parede intestinal. A sutura em bolsa das lesões detectadas por enteroscopia demonstrou ser uma técnica efetiva no tratamento destas lesões, evitando assim ressecções intestinais extensas e parando o sangramento. O manuseio destes doentes demanda tratamento agressivo e deve ser iniciado precocemente para evitar riscos associados a transfusões sangüíneas como ocorreu neste caso

Ant genera identification using an ensemble of convolutional neural networks

Works requiring taxonomic knowledge face several challenges, such as arduous identification of many taxa and an insufficient number of taxonomists to identify a great deal of collected organisms. Machine learning tools, particularly convolutional neural networks (CNNs), are then welcome to automatically generate high-performance classifiers from available data. Supported by the image datasets available at the largest online database on ant biology, the AntWeb (www.antweb.org), we propose here an ensemble of CNNs to identify ant genera directly from the head, profile and dorsal perspectives of ant images. Transfer learning is also considered to improve the individual performance of the CNN classifiers. The performance achieved by the classifiers is diverse enough to promote a reduction in the overall classification error when they are combined in an ensemble, achieving an accuracy rate of over 80% on top-1 classification and an accuracy of over 90% on top-3 classification131CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQCOORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPESFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESP141308/2014-1; 131488/2015-5; 311751/2013-0; 309115/2014-023038.002884/2013-382014/13533-

Physical activity promotion tools in the Portuguese primary health care : an implementation research

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Background: This paper aims to discuss how physical activity (PA) brief assessment, brief counseling, and self-monitoring tools were designed and implemented in the Portuguese National Health Service (NHS), and to report on their current use by health professionals and citizens. Methods: Three digital tools to facilitate PA promotion in primary health care (PHC) were developed: 1) a PA brief assessment tool was incorporated in the electronic health record platform “SClínico Cuidados de Saúde Primários“; 2) a brief counseling tool was developed in the software “PEM—Prescrição Eletrónica Médica” (electronic medical prescription); and 3) a “Physical Activity Card” was incorporated in an official NHS smartphone app called “MySNS Carteira”. Results: From September 2017 to June 2019, 119,386 Portuguese patients had their PA assessed in PHC. Between December 2017 and June 2019, a total of 7957 patients received brief intervention for PA by a medical doctor. Regarding the app “MySNS Carteira”, 93,320 users activated the “Physical Activity Card”, between February 2018 and December 2018. Conclusions: These tools represent key actions to promote PA among Portuguese citizens using PHC as a priority setting. Further initiatives will follow, including proper assessment of their clinical impact and training programs for health care professionals on PA promotion.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Recovery and partitioning of fibrinolytic protease from Bacillus sp. UFPEDA 485 by aqueous two-phase systems

Fibrinolytic proteases produced by Bacillus sp. has attracted interest in the pharmaceutical industry as a promising alternative in thrombolytic therapy due to their effectiveness in degrading fibrin, its production requiring the development of an efficient recovery process. Aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) have been recognized as an efficient and economical process for recovering enzymes. To optimize the recovery of fibrinolytic protease from the fermentation broth of Bacillus sp. UFPEDA 485, a 23 full factorial design was used to evaluate the influence of the three independent variables PEG molar mass (MPEG), PEG concentration (CPEG) and sodium sulfate concentration (CNa2SO4) on the partition coefficient (K), purification factor (PF) and yield recovery (Y) of fibrinolytic protease in PEG/Na2SO4 aqueous two-phase system. For all ATPS studied, enzymes partitioned to the top phase and the highest extraction was obtained for MPEG 6000 g.mol-1, CPEG 24 % (w/w) and CNa2SO4 11.6 % (w/w) with K = 5.03; PF = 3.30; Y = 91.40% and Fibrinolytic activity in the top phase 821 U.mL-1. Findings reported here show that ATPS composed of PEG/Na2SO4 is a valuable strategy for the extraction of fibrinolytic protease and can be considered a promising method for the extraction of enzymes in industrial scale

A fuzzy method for the usability evaluation of nuclear medical equipment

To avoid errors when handling nuclear medical equipment, it is important to develop products with a high degree of usability. This can be achieved by performing usability evaluations in the product development process to detect and mitigate potential usability problems. Usability evaluation focuses on how well users can learn and use a product to achieve their goals. Thus, the usability evaluation has become recognized as a valuable complement to the established approaches to design good user interfaces, to reduce incidents and accidents as well the time required to learn how to use the equipment. To gather information about usability, practitioners use a variety of methods that gather feedback from users about an existing interface or plans related to a new interface. A wide range of usability evaluation methods have been proposed, but few methods focus on developing an objective and practical evaluation method for usability. Moreover, the usability evaluations are based on human judgments and most methods cannot fully solve the subjectivity of these evaluations. In order to remedy this deficiency, the purpose of this work is to adopt a Fuzzy Set Theory (FST) approach to establish a method for the usability evaluation of nuclear medical equipment based on usability heuristics for user interface design and international standards for ergonomics of human-system interaction. To exemplify the method we performed a usability evaluating of the Digital Spectrometer ESP 13004 by testing it with representative users. The results showed that the method is a proactive tool to provide a basis for checking usability of medical device interfaces

The extravasation of contrast as a predictor of cerebral hemorrhagic contusion expansion, poor neurological outcome and mortality after traumatic brain injury: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The active extravasation of contrast on CT angiography (CTA) in primary intracerebral hemorrhages (ICH) is recognized as a predictive factor for ICH expansion, unfavorable outcomes and mortality. However, few studies have been conducted on the setting of traumatic brain injury (TBI). PURPOSE: To perform a literature systematic review and meta-analysis of the association of contrast extravasation on cerebral hemorrhagic contusion expansion, neurological outcomes and mortality. DATA SOURCES: The PubMed, Cochrane Library, Medline, Scielo, VHL and IBECS databases up to September 21, 2019, were searched for eligible studies. STUDY SELECTION: A total of 505 individual titles and abstracts were identified and screened. A total of 36 were selected for full text analysis, out of which 4 fulfilled all inclusion and exclusion criteria. DATA ANALYSIS: All 4 studies yielded point estimates suggestive of higher risk for hematoma expansion with contrast extravasation and the summary RR was 5.75 (95%CI 2.74-10.47, p<0.001). Contrast extravasation was also associated with worse neurological outcomes (RR 3.25, 95%CI 2.24-4.73, p<0.001) and higher mortality (RR 2.77, 95%CI 1.03-7.47, p = 0.04). DATA SYNTHESIS: This study is a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis revealed the extravasation of contrast is a useful imaging sign to predict hematoma expansion, worse neurological outcomes and higher mortality. LIMITATIONS: Only four articles were selected. CONCLUSIONS: The extravasation of contrast in the setting of TBI is a useful imaging sign to predict hematoma expansion, worse neurological outcomes and higher mortality