Automatic Performance Status Evaluation and Physical Activity Recognition in Cancer Patients for Medical Diagnosis Assistance

Sobresaliente (10)The evaluation of cancer patients’ recovery is still under a big grade of subjectivity from the physicians’ diagnoses. Different systems have been successfully implemented for general physical activity evaluation, nonetheless there is still a big leap of improvement into Performance Status (PS) evaluation with ECOG and Karnofsky’s Performance Status (KPS) scores. In this project an automatic system for patients’ biomonitoring based on Android technology with smartphones and wearables has been designed. As a result, objective data is provided for the oncologists’ diagnoses along with new algorithms for physical activity and PS assessment, having the latter applied to ECOG and KPS no precedent known. Furthermore, the basics for prospective implementation of gamification has been designed for boosting patients’ motivation in their recovery.La evaluación de la recuperación de pacientes con cáncer está caracterizada por un alto grado de subjetividad en los diagnósticos del personal médico. Se han implementado con éxito diferentes sistemas para la evaluación de la actividad fı́sica, sin embargo, aún existe un amplio margen de evolución dentro de la medida de la capacidad funcional con las escalas ECOG y de Karnofsky. En este proyecto se ha diseñado un sistema automático para la biomonitorización de pacientes basado en tecnologı́a Android con smartphones y wearables. Con esto se provee a los oncólogos de datos objetivos para sus diagnósticos junto con nuevos algoritmos para la evaluación de la actividad fı́sica y la capacidad funcional, estos últimos aplicados a ECOG y la escala de Karnofsky sin precedente alguno. Además, se han sentado las bases y el diseño de una futura implementación de gamificación para favorecer la motivación del paciente en su recuperación.Beca Iniciación a la Investigación de la Universidad de GranadaDepartamento de Arquitectura y Tecnología de Computadores, Universidad de Granad

Assessment of downy mildew in grapevine using computer vision and fuzzy logic. Development and validation of a new method

Downy mildew is a major disease of grapevine. Conventional methods for assessing crop diseases are time-consuming and require trained personnel. This work aimed to develop and validate a new method to automatically estimate the severity of downy mildew in grapevine leaves using fuzzy logic and computer vision techniques. Leaf discs of two grapevine varieties were inoculated with Plasmopara viticola and subsequently, RGB images were acquired under indoor conditions. Computer vision techniques were applied for leaf disc location in Petri dishes, image pre-processing and segmentation of pre-processed disc images to separate the pixels representing downy mildew sporulation from the rest of the leaf. Fuzzy logic was applied to improve the segmentation of disc images, rating pixels with a degree of infection according to the intensity of sporulation. To validate the new method, the downy mildew severity was visually evaluated by eleven experts and averaged score was used as the reference value. A coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.87 and a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 7.61 % was observed between the downy mildew severity obtained by the new method and the visual assessment values. Classification of the severity of the infection into three levels was also attempted, achieving an accuracy of 86 % and an F1 score of 0.78. These results indicate that computer vision and fuzzy logic can be used to automatically estimate the severity of downy mildew in grapevine leaves. A new method has been developed and validated to assess the severity of downy mildew in grapevine. The new method can be adapted to assess the severity of other diseases and crops in agriculture.European Commission 828940Spanish Government PID2020-119478GB-I00Universidad de La Rioja 1150/2020 Gobierno de La Rioj

Análisis de Consumo Energético en Algoritmos Genéticos Paralelos

Calificación: Sobresaliente (9.8)En este Trabajo de Fin de Máster se estudia el consumo energético de algoritmos genéticos aplicado la selección de caracterı́sticas multiobjetivo en problemas BCI o Brain Computer Interface por sus siglas en inglés. Razones económicas, de impacto medioambiental y de gestión de recursos han puesto en el punto de mira el consumo energético de la ejecución de programas desde máquinas de altas prestaciones hasta dispositivos móviles como smartphones. El consumo energético del algoritmo estudiado se ha caracterizado como caja negra, haciendo la metodologı́a que modela el algoritmo, y que es desarrollada a lo largo de toda la memoria, fácilmente portable y exclusivamente dependiente de parámetros de configuración de la evolución de la población. Del análisis de los datos se concluye que la evaluación de los individuos es la parte más importante del algoritmo genético estudiado, y que la repartición de esta carga entre el máximo número de núcleos es beneficiosa para la eficiencia. Además, el modelo lineal construido consigue, tras un análisis de anomalı́as y clustering con k-medias, ajustarse al test de validación con un 1.1925 % de error

Accounting History Research: Traditional and New Accounting History Perspectives

There is an ongoing debate in accounting history around the ways in which historical material should be gathered, interpreted, analysed and written. Lying at the heart of this debate is the perennial concern with 'objective/interpretive' modes of investigation. The mainstream orthodoxy of accounting history embraces the 'objective' view of history, whereas the alternative approach promotes interpretive and critical stances. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the achievements of NAH. This is attempted here by contrasting NAH with TAH along four dimensions: what counts as accounting; origins versus genealogies; roles of accounting; and sources of historical material. Under each of these dimensions, we show the differences between the two approaches and comment on the extent to which NAH may contribute to the study of accounting history. We argue that, although TAH and NAH approaches exhibit fundamental differences, both contribute significantly to the field, and indeed to the sharpening of each other's research agenda.Existe un debate en historia de la contabilidad acerca de las distintas formas cómo los materiales históricos deben ser recopilados, interpretados, analizados y, finalmente, sobre la forma cómo los mismos deben ser redactados. En cierta manera, el centro de este debate descansa en torno a la eternal polémica acerca de la "objetividad/subjetividad" de la investigación histórica. Así, mientras que la corriente más ortodoxa sostiene la idea de una interpretación objetiva de la historia, el enfoque alternativo defiende una interpretación de carácter crítico. En este artículo, nosotros pretendemos hacer una valoración del debate entre los enfoques tradicional y de nueva historia de la contabilidad. En concreto, pretendemos contrastar la aproximación tradicional y de nueva historia de la contabilidad en torno a cuatro dimensiones: qué es lo que cuenta como contabilidad, el debate entre orígenes y genealogías, los distintos papeles y roles que se atribuyen a la contabilidad, y las fuentes de historia de la contabilidad. En este artículo examinamos las diferencias entre la historia tradicional de la contabilidad y la nueva historia en torno a cada una de estas dimensiones, concluyendo que a pesar de las posiciones tan diversas que sostienen, las dos aproximaciones han contribuido sustancialmente a elevar el rigor investigador en historia de la contabilidad, así como a fortalecer el programa de investigación en esta disciplina

mHealth system (ATOPE+) to support exercise prescription in breast cancer survivors: a reliability and validity, cross‑sectional observational study (ATOPE study)

Physical exercise is known to be beneficial for breast cancer survivors (BCS). However, avoiding nonfunctional overreaching is crucial in this population, as they are in physiological dysregulation. These factors could decrease their exercise capacity or facilitate nonfunctional overreaching, which can increase their risk of additional morbidities and even all-cause mortality. The focus of this study is to evaluate the reliability and validity of the ATOPE+ mHealth system to estimate autonomic balance and specific wellness parameters associated with BCS’ perceived load, thereby informing nonlinear prescriptions in individualized physical exercise programs for BCS.Twenty-two BCS were included in the reliability and validity analysis. Measures were taken for four days, including morning autonomic balance by heart rate variability, self-reported perception of recovery from exercise, sleep satisfaction, emotional distress and fatigue after exertion. Measures were taken utilizing the ATOPE+ mHealth system application. The results of these measures were compared with criterion instruments to assess validity.The reliability results indicated that the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) showed an excellent correlation for recovery (0.93; 95% CI 0.85–0.96) and distress (0.94, 95% CI 0.89–0.97) as well as good correlation for the natural logarithm of the mean square root differences of the standard deviation (LnRMSSD) (0.87; 95% CI 0.74–0.94). Sleep satisfaction also showed an excellent correlation with a weighted kappa of 0.83. The validity results showed no significant differences, except for fatigue. ATOPE+ is reliable and valid for remotely assessing autonomic balance, perception of recovery, sleep satisfaction and emotional distress in BCS; however, it is not for fatigue. This highlights that ATOPE+ could be an easy and efficient system used to assess readiness in BCS, and could help to improve their health by supporting the prescription of optimal and safe physical exercise. Trial registration NCT03787966 ClinicalTrials.gov, December 2019 [ATOPE project]. https:// clini caltr ials. gov/ ct2/ show/ NCT03 787966.Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Plan Estatal de I + D + I 2013– 2016)Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria del Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI18/01840)Fondos Estructurales de la Unión Europea (FEDER)European Social fund the Carlos III Health Institute (FI19/00230)Spanish Ministry of Education Cultura y Deporte (FPU17/00939, FPU16/04201, FPU18/0357)ERDF, SOMM17/6107/UG

Theremin DIY con Arduino UNO

El objetivo que se persigue con este artículo es mostrar cómo mediante un trabajo de una asignatura propuesto por un alumno (autor principal del artículo) se puede asimilar el concepto de computación física, que es de suma relevancia en los estudios de Grado en Ingeniería Electrónica Industrial de la Universidad de Granada. Concretamente el proyecto implementa en una placa de Arduino UNO un Theremin. Mediante un sensor ultrasonidos HC-SR04 de bajo coste se obtiene la distancia del Theremin a la mano, y a partir de ésta se calcula una nota a emitir dentro de las escalas musicales disponibles en el diseño. La etapa de sonido analogica está conformada por con un amplificador de sonido de baja potencia PAM8403 y un altavoz de 4 Ω. Por último, el control del Theremin está facilitado por un LCD de 16x2 caracteres, conectado vía I2C, y tres pulsadores.The main objective of this paper is to expose how some valuable concepts related to physical computation, which are very valuable in the Bachellor’s Dregree of Industrial Electronic Engineering, can be tackled through a project proposed by a student (the main author of the paper). This work consists of a Theremin implemented in an Arduino UNO board. A low-cost ultrasonic sensor HC-SR04 measures the distance to the controlling hand, calculating then a single note to emit within the available scales in the design. The analogic sound stage is conformed by a low-power sound amplifier PAM8403 and a 4 Ω speaker. Finally, the Theremin’s control is provided by a 16x2 LCD, connected via I2C, and three buttons.Universidad de Granada: Departamento de Arquitectura y Tecnología de Computadores; Vicerrectorado para la Garantía de la Calidad

La asignatura “Internet de las Cosas” en el master DATCOM de la UGR

En este artículo se presenta tanto la motivación como la metodología docente de la asignatura Internet de las Cosas, una optativa que se imparte en la ETSIIT de Granada dentro del módulo de “Sistemas de Aplicaciones Específicas” de la especialidad en Ingeniería de Computadores y Redes del Master de Ciencia de Datos e Ingeniería de Computadores (DATCOM) de la Universidad de Granada. Se pretende con ello justificar la inclusión de esta asignatura en el master DATCOM y su vinculación con el resto de asignaturas impartidas en dichos estudios de posgrado. Concretamente, en este trabajo se muestra que hay detrás del concepto de Internet de las Cosas y por qué precisamente ahora se ha convertido en una verdadera revolución, también cómo se ha organizado la asignatura para lograr los objetivos propuestos en la guía docente, así como la metodología y herramientas que se van a utilizar, y finalmente se indican las principales conclusiones del trabajo.This paper shows the motivation and teaching methodology of the elective course 'Internet of Things', which is imparted in the ETSIIT of Granada within the Specific Application Systems module of the Computer and Network Engineering specialty of the Master in Data Science and Computer Engineering (DATCOM) of the University of Granada. It is intended to justify the inclusion of this subject in the master DATCOM and its linkage with the rest of subjects taught in these postgraduate studies. Specifically, this paper shows what is actually behind the Internet of Things concept and why it has now become a real revolution. It also shows how the course has been organized to achieve the objectives proposed in the teaching guide, as well as the methodology and tools to be used. Finally, the main conclusions of this work are presented.Universidad de Granada: Departamento de Arquitectura y Tecnología de Computadores; Vicerrectorado para la Garantía de la Calidad

ATOPE+: An mHealth System to Support Personalized Therapeutic Exercise Interventions in Patients With Cancer

The authors express their gratitude to the patients and experts for their participation in the evaluation of ATOPEC. They also express their gratitude to the anonymous reviewers for the instructive criticism of an earlier version of this article.The introduction of mobile technologies in therapeutic exercise interventions has permitted the collection of fine-grained objective quantified information about patients' health. However, exercise interventions generally fail to leverage these data when personalizing the exercise needs of patients individually. Interventions that include technology-driven personalization strategies typically rely on the use of expensive laboratory equipment with expert supervision, or in the self-management of patients to meet the prescribed exercise levels by an activity tracker. These methods often do not perform better than non technology-driven methods, therefore more sophisticated strategies are required to improve the personalization process. In this paper we present ATOPE+, an mHealth system to support personalized exercise interventions in patients with cancer based on workload-recovery ratio estimation. ATOPE+ enables the remote assessment of workload-recovery ratio to provide optimal exercise dosage by means of a knowledge-based system and by combining physiological data from heterogeneous data sources in a multilevel architecture. The results show that ATOPE+ is a system ready to be used in the context of a clinical trial after being tested with patients with breast cancer and conducting an usability evaluation by clinical experts.Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities (MICINN) PGC2018-098813-B-C31 RTI2018-101674-B-I00Health Research Funds of the Carlos III Health Institute PI18/01840German Research Foundation (DFG) FPU16/04201 FPU17/0093

Autonomic management of a building's multi-HVAC system start-up

Most studies about the control, automation, optimization and supervision of building HVAC systems concentrate on the steady-state regime, i.e., when the equipment is already working at its setpoints. The originality of the current work consists of proposing the optimization of building multi-HVAC systems from start-up until they reach the setpoint, making the transition to steady state-based strategies smooth. The proposed approach works on the transient regime of multi-HVAC systems optimizing contradictory objectives, such as the desired comfort and energy costs, based on the "Autonomic Cycle of Data Analysis Tasks" concept. In this case, the autonomic cycle is composed of two data analysis tasks: one for determining if the system is going towards the defined operational setpoint, and if that is not the case, another task for reconfiguring the operational mode of the multi-HVAC system to redirect it. The first task uses machine learning techniques to build detection and prediction models, and the second task defines a reconfiguration model using multiobjective evolutionary algorithms. This proposal is proven in a real case study that characterizes a particular multi-HVAC system and its operational setpoints. The performance obtained from the experiments in diverse situations is impressive since there is a high level of conformity for the multi-HVAC system to reach the setpoint and deliver the operation to the steady-state smoothly, avoiding overshooting and other non-desirable transitional effects.European CommissionJunta de Comunidades de Castilla-La ManchaMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovació

Impact of high hydrostatic pressure and pasteurization on the structure and the extractability of bioactive compounds of persimmon "Rojo Brillante"

[EN] Rojo Brillante is an astringent oriental persimmon variety with high levels of bioactive compounds such as soluble tannins, carotenoids, phenolic acids, and dietary fiber. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) and pasteurization on the structure of the fruit and on the extractability of certain bioactive compounds. The microstructure was studied using light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and low temperature scanning electron microscopy, and certain physicochemical properties (carotenoid and total soluble tannin content, antioxidant activity, fiber content, color, and texture properties) were measured. The structural changes induced by HHP caused a rise in solute circulation in the tissues that could be responsible for the increased carotenoid level and the unchanged antioxidant activity in comparison with the untreated persimmon. In contrast, the changes that took place during pasteurization lowered the tannin content and antioxidant activity. Consequently, HHP treatment could improve the extraction of potentially bioactive compoundsxsts from persimmons. A high nutritional value ingredient to be used when formulating new functional foods could be obtained using HHP.The authors wish to acknowledge the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for the financial support (project AGL2011-30064-C02-02) and to the Univ. Politecnica de Valencia (UPV) for the FPI grant given to Maria Hernandez Carrion. The authors also thank to the "Agrupacion Nacional de Exportacion de Cooperativas Citricolas" (ANECOOP) for the supply of the samples and Gina Hardinge for assistance with the English language manuscript.Hernández Carrión, M.; Vázquez Gutiérrez, JL.; Hernando Hernando, MI.; Quiles Chuliá, MD. (2014). Impact of high hydrostatic pressure and pasteurization on the structure and the extractability of bioactive compounds of persimmon "Rojo Brillante". Journal of Food Science. 79(1):1-7. https://doi.org/10.1111/1750-3841.12321S1779