Geometric contrast feature for automatic visual counting of honey bee brood capped cells

Assessment of honey bee colony strength by measuring adults or brood is often required for ecological studies. The brood has typically been estimated through a subjective mode (Lieberfelder method), although it can also be objectively determined by counting (manually or automatically) the brood cells (capped or uncapped) from digital images. The manual counting of capped cells is highly prone to errors and a time-consuming and tedious task. An automatic way to accomplish that task allows reducing those drawbacks. The main challenge for developing an automatic method is, however, the presence of intraclass color variation; it is not possible to make a reliable detection based just on the pixel color presented by the capped cells. While several researchers are using the Hough transform to solve that problem, at certain light, noise, and surface conditions the automatic detection fails. After carefully observing capped cell regions of several combs, we identified a set of geometrical relations that could be used to build a consistent contrast feature. That feature is the key to detect the capped cells with a high accuracy in our work. A functional optimizer is performing a searching on the image looking for the locations that maximize the contrast on that feature. Our experimental results are showing a good detection rate (over 96%), despite the wide intraclass color variation. This research is funded through the 2013-2014 BiodivERsA/FACCE-JPI Joint call for research proposals, with the national funders FCT (Portugal), CNRS (France), and MEC (Spain).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Geometric contrast feature for automatic visual counting of honey bee brood capped cells

Assessment of honey bee colony strength by measuring adults or brood is often required for ecological studies. The brood has typically been estimated through a subjective mode (Lieberfelder method), although it can also be objectively determined by counting (manually or automatically) the brood cells (capped or uncapped) from digital images. The manual counting of capped cells is highly prone to errors and a time-consuming and tedious task. An automatic way to accomplish that task allows reducing those drawbacks. The main challenge for developing an automatic method is, however, the presence of intraclass color variation; it is not possible to make a reliable detection based just on the pixel color presented by the capped cells. While several researchers are using the Hough transform to solve that problem, at certain light, noise, and surface conditions the automatic detection fails. After carefully observing capped cell regions of several combs, we identified a set of geometrical relations that could be used to build a consistent contrast feature. That feature is the key to detect the capped cells with a high accuracy in our work. A functional optimizer is performing a searching on the image looking for the locations that maximize the contrast on that feature. Our experimental results are showing a good detection rate (over 96%), despite the wide intraclass color variation. This research is funded through the 2013-2014 BiodivERsA/FACCE-JPI Joint call for research proposals, with the national funders FCT (Portugal), CNRS (France), and MEC (Spain).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

High dietary protein, n − 3/n − 6 ratio and β-carotene enhances Paracentrotus lividus (Lamarck, 1816) larval development

Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), Grant/Award Number: LA/P/0069/2020, UIDB/04292/2020 and UIDP/04292/2020; Operational Programme MAR2020, Grant/Award Number: 16-02-01-FMP-0004; Scientific Employment Stimulus Programmes, Grant/Award Number: CEECINST/00051/2018; European Regional Development Fund, Grant/Award Number: Centro-01-0145-FEDER-000018.The nutritional characteristics of microalgae affect the growth, survival and fatty acid composition of sea urchin larvae. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of nutritive characteristics of single microalgal diets in Paracentrotus lividus (Lamarck, 1816) larval development, growth, and condition. Larvae of P. lividus were fed with three monospecific microalgal diets, Rhodomonas sp. (Rho), Dunaliella tertiolecta (Duna) and the diatom Chaetoceros calcitrans (Chae), and their development and growth were analysed until competence. Additionally, the fatty acid (FA) profile of larvae was analysed at competence and compared with the FA profile of the correspondent diet. The three groups of larvae attained competence simultaneously with differences in growth performance. The larvae fed with Chae attained the largest stomach and the shortest post-oral arm. The larvae were able to accumulate long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), such as docosahexaenoic (DHA, C22:6n − 3), eicosapentaenoic (EPA, C20:5n − 3) and arachidonic (ARA, C20:4n − 6) acids, either by assimilation and retention of dietary FA or by the synthesis from α-linolenic acid (ALA, C18:3n − 3) and linoleic acid (LA, C18:2n − 6). Furthermore, the low DHA/EPA ratio and high EPA/ARA and n − 3/n − 6 ratios of Rho and Chae and the high levels of the β-carotene present in Chae improved larval growth and development. In conclusion, the results indicated that of the three microalgal diets tested, C. calcitrans provided important nutritional characteristics, especially in terms of FA composition and carotenoids, improving P. lividus larval growth and condition.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

G-Sense: a graphical interface for SENSE simulator

“Copyright © [2009] IEEE. Reprinted from First International Conference on Advances in System Simulation.ISBN:978-1-4244-4863-0. This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to [email protected]. By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it.”Wireless sensor networks greatly benefit from simulation before deployment, since some of these networks may contain thousands of nodes. The new challenges compared to traditional computer networks led to several approaches for network simulation, namely SENSE – Sensor Network Emulator and Simulator. However this approach presents a limited user interface, namely based on text, forcing users to have knowledge on C++ programming language. This paper presents a tool, called G-Sense, that greatly improves SENSE user friendliness, with graphical input of simulation parameters, save and load simulation features, and simulation results management with plot view. This new tool uses SENSE simulation engine in a transparent way, so the user may be focused on the simulation itself, not in the underlying simulation tool. We present G-Sense architecture, usability and extensive experiments for its validation. We believe that this tool will contribute for SENSE adoption for wireless sensor network simulation, clearly improving on its ease of use

Phylogeography of 27,000 SARS-CoV-2 genomes: Europe as the major source of the COVID-19 pandemic

Supplementary Material available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/8/11/1678/s1The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 emerged from a zoonotic transmission in China towards the end of 2019, rapidly leading to a global pandemic on a scale not seen for a century. In order to cast fresh light on the spread of the virus and on the effectiveness of the containment measures adopted globally, we used 26,869 SARS-CoV-2 genomes to build a phylogeny with 20,247 mutation events and adopted a phylogeographic approach. We confirmed that the phylogeny pinpoints China as the origin of the pandemic with major founders worldwide, mainly during January 2020. However, a single specific East Asian founder underwent massive radiation in Europe and became the main actor of the subsequent spread worldwide during March 2020. This lineage accounts for the great majority of cases detected globally and even spread back to the source in East Asia. Despite an East Asian source, therefore, the global pandemic was mainly fueled by its expansion across and out of Europe. It seems likely that travel bans established throughout the world in the second half of March helped to decrease the number of intercontinental exchanges, particularly from mainland China, but were less effective between Europe and North America where exchanges in both directions are visible up to April, long after bans were imposed.This work was supported by strategic project ICVS/3B’s (UID/Multi/50025), financed by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia/MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC) to Teresa Rito. Martin B. Richards and Maria Pala received support from a Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship program. This work was partially supported by project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER000009) by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Program (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and by “Contrato-Programa” UIDB/04050/2020 funded by Portuguese national funds through the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia to Pedro A. Soares

Certification of Portuguese companies as an inducer of profitability: A panel data approach

With the globalization and internationalization of markets, companies need to be more competitive and offer high-quality guarantees to consumers, suppliers, banking institutions, and shareholders. Thus, the objective of this paper is to measure the impacts that these guarantees, analyzed through quality management, environmental management, and management of occupational health and safety standards, will have on the return on assets (ROA) of companies classified by sector of activity, considering each of the certifications individually and as a whole. The panel data approach methodology was used for 10 years in Portuguese- certified companies between 2010 and 2019. The Chow test, the Breusch-Pagan, and the Hausman test were applied to identify a more feasible model between the pooled OLS and the random or fixed effects model. Furthermore, the cluster-robust standard errors model was applied. The results show the existence of synergies when adopting more than one certification to improve firm performance. Moreover, the single certification estimate by sector results are significant and can be positive drivers of profitability, but only for companies in the manufacturing industries related to natural resources. However, they trigger negative results in the accommodation, catering, and information and communication sectors.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Patterning of polymer nanofiber meshes by electrospinning for biomedical applications

The end-product of the electrospinning process is typically a randomly aligned fiber mesh or membrane. This is a result of the electric field generated between the drop of polymer solution at the needle and the collector. The developed electric field causes the stretching of the fibers and their random deposition. By judicious selection of the collector architecture, it is thus possible to develop other morphologies on the nanofiber meshes. The aim of this work is to prepare fiber meshes using various patterned collectors with specific dimensions and designs and to evaluate how those patterns can affect the properties of the meshes relevant to biomedical applications. This study aims at verifying whether it is possible to control the architecture of the fiber meshes by tailoring the geometry of the collector. Three different metallic collector topographies are used to test this hypothesis. Electrospun nonwoven patterned meshes of polyethylene oxide (PEO) and poly(ε-capro-lactone) (PCL) were successfully prepared. Those fiber meshes were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Both mechanical properties of the meshes and cell contacting experiments were performed to test the effect of the produced patterns over the properties of the meshes relevant for biomedical applications. The present study will evaluate cell adhesion sensitivity to the patterns generated and the effect of those patterns on the tensile properties of the fiber meshes

Ionic-liquid-based approaches to improve biopharmaceuticals downstream processing and formulation

The emergence of biopharmaceuticals, including proteins, nucleic acids, peptides, and vaccines, revolutionized the medical field, contributing to significant advances in the prophylaxis and treatment of chronic and life-threatening diseases. However, biopharmaceuticals manufacturing involves a set of complex upstream and downstream processes, which considerably impact their cost. In particular, despite the efforts made in the last decades to improve the existing technologies, downstream processing still accounts for more than 80% of the total biopharmaceutical production cost. On the other hand, the formulation of biological products must ensure they maintain their therapeutic performance and long-term stability, while preserving their physical and chemical structure. Ionicliquid (IL)-based approaches arose as a promise alternative, showing the potential to be used in downstream processing to provide increased purity and recovery yield, as well as excipients for the development of stable biopharmaceutical formulations. This manuscript reviews the most important progress achieved in both fields. The work developed is critically discussed and complemented with a SWOT analysis.publishe

Experts perceptions of risk and decision making in domestic violence cases in courts

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio