Breast Mass Segmentation Using a Semi-automatic Procedure Based on Fuzzy C-means Clustering

Mammography is the primary modality that helped in the early detection and diagnosis of women breast diseases. Further, the process of extracting the masses in mammogram represents a challenging task facing the radiologists, due to problems such as fuzzy or speculated borders, low contrast and the presence of intensity inhomogeneities. Aims to help the radiologists in the diagnosis of breast cancer, many approaches have been conducted to automatically segment the masses in mammograms. Towards this aim, in this paper, we present a new approach for extraction of tumors from region-of-interest (ROI) using the algorithm of Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) setting two clusters for semi-automated segmentation. The proposed method meant to select as input data the set of pixels that enable to get the meaningful information required to segment the masses with high accuracy. This could be accomplished through eliminating unnecessary pixels, which influence on this process through separating it outside of the input data using an optimal threshold given by monitoring the change of clusters rate during the process of threshold decrementing. The proposed methodology has successfully segmented the masses, with an average sensitivity of 82.02% and specificity of 98.23%

La gouvernance des aires marines protégées : leçons ouest-africaines

International audienceOn looking at the stakes involved in the marine protected areas (MPA), such as they are expressed on the international scene which places governance at the center of the debate, the gaps revealed by a bibliographic review justifies a research effort on an analysis framework of the governance for MPAS. The establishment of this framework is supported on one hand by the conceptual achievements of risk governance, and on the other by the application of these conceptual achievements to environmental governance, and endly by the declension of this governance in terms of political economy and political science. The West African MPAs have appeared to be a privileged application of this analysis framework, in reference to a certain exemplarité. The analysis of their modes of governance has revealed contradictions which refer to the environment of public policy. The analysis of this has highlighted the disproportionate role of international pressure groups, the too sectoral and technical aspect of the fisheries management measures, the incompletion of decentralization, and the fragmentation of the State and civil society. Faced with these deadlocks, the reinforcement of the connection between the levels of power and decision is essential, as well as the re-qualifying of the role of the State as mediator and arbitrator. The lessons learned from the analysis of the governance of the West African marine protected areas enable the proposition of some directives for the modes of governance, including the better targeting of objectives, the legal organization of the rights of access and the delegation of power, the specific financing of governance measures, and the precise cost and profit assessment.Au regard des enjeux des aires marines protégées (AMP) tels qu'exprimés dans les arènes internationales qui placent la gouvernance au centre des débats, les lacunes révélées par la littérature justifiaient un effort de recherche sur un cadre d'analyse adapté aux AMP. La construction de ce cadre s'est appuyée d'une part sur les acquis conceptuels de la gouvernance des activités à risque, d'autre part sur l'application de ces acquis à la gouvernance environnementale, enfin sur la déclinaison de cette gouvernance en terme d'économie politique et de science politique. Les AMP ouest-africaines sont apparues comme un champ d'application privilégié de ce cadre d'analyse en référence à une certaine exemplarité. L'analyse de leur mode de gouvernance a révélé des contradictions qui renvoient à l'environnement des politiques publiques dont l'analyse a mis en lumière les impasses : le rôle démesuré des groupes de pression internationaux, l'aspect trop sectoriel et technique des mesures d'aménagement des pêches, l'inachèvement de la décentralisation, la fragmentation de l'État et de la société civile. Face à ces impasses s'impose la nécessaire articulation des échelles de pouvoir et de décision ainsi que la requalification du rôle de l'État comme médiateur et arbitre. Les leçons de l'analyse de la gouvernance des aires marines protégées ouest-africaines permettent de proposer quelques directives pour des modes de gouvernance : un meilleur ciblage des objectifs, une organisation juridique des droits d'accès et des délégations de pouvoirs, un financement spécifique des mesures de gouvernance, une évaluation précise des coûts et des bénéfices Mots clefs : gouvernance, aires marines protégées, société civile, État, institutions, politique publique, décentralisation, science politique, économie politique, sociologie politique, Afrique de l'Ouest

La gouvernance des aires marines protégées : leçons ouest-africaines

On looking at the stakes involved in the marine protected areas (MPA), such as they are expressed on the international scene which places governance at the center of the debate, the gaps revealed by a bibliographic review justifies a research effort on an analysis framework of the governance for MPAS.   The establishment of this framework is supported on one hand by the conceptual achievements of risk governance, and on the other by the application of these conceptual achievements to environmental governance, and endly by the declension of this governance in terms of political economy and political science.   The West African MPAs have appeared to be a privileged application of this analysis framework, in reference to a certain exemplarité. The analysis of their modes of governance has revealed contradictions which refer to the environment of public policy. The analysis of this has highlighted the disproportionate role of international pressure groups, the too sectoral and technical aspect of the fisheries management measures, the incompletion of decentralization, and the fragmentation of the State and civil society. Faced with these deadlocks, the reinforcement of the connection between the  levels of power and decision is essential, as well as the re-qualifying of the role of the State as mediator and arbitrator.  The lessons learned from the analysis of the governance of the West African marine protected areas enable the proposition of some directives for the modes of governance, including the better targeting of objectives, the legal organization of the rights of access and the delegation of power, the specific financing of governance measures, and the precise cost and profit assessment

Les aires marines protégées d’Afrique de l’Ouest

L’expression détaillée des recommandations du Sommet mondial pour le développement durable, qui s’est tenu à Johannesburg en 2002 et de celles du Congrès mondial sur les parcs de Durban en 2003 souligne l’indispensable association de toutes les parties prenantes aux différentes étapes de la constitution et de la mise en œuvre d’une aire protégée, particulièrement dans le cas des aires protégées gérées principalement à des fins d’utilisation durable des écosystèmes naturels (catégorie VI de l’UICN) ; elles appellent à la reconnaissance et au respect de la propriété coutumière, des droits d’usage et d’accès des populations locales. L’importance de la gouvernance est ainsi explicitement reconnue. L’objectif de la mise en œuvre d’une bonne de gouvernance des aires marines protégées conciliant préservation des ressources et développement socio-économique est particulièrement difficile à atteindre dans les pays les moins avancés dans un contexte caractérisé par la complexité des organisations sociales et institutionnelles ainsi que par des taux de croissance de la population parmi les plus élevés du monde. De ce point de vue, les aires marines et côtières ouest-africaines apparaissent comme un cas d’école. Les recherches entreprises ont mis en exergue les principales contraintes qui pèsent sur les aires marines et côtières protégées ouest-africaines et ont permis de caractériser les modes de gouvernance. Leur comparaison a mis en lumière des problèmes transversaux et quelques impasses. Au regard de celles-ci, la nécessité d’une reconfiguration de la gouvernance des aires marines protégées et des politiques publiques s’impose. Cette reconfiguration est amenée à transformer le fonctionnement de ces espaces protégés en adaptant les statuts juridiques et institutionnels et, concomitamment, les moyens d’action par la réhabilitation de l’administration publique, l’affermissement des processus de décentralisation, la reconnaissance et la garantie de droits d’usage territoriaux, le développement d’un écotourisme communautaire ou cogéré, planifié et intégré aux politiques de développement touristique des pays. C’est une coopération scientifique entre chercheurs du Nord et du Sud, entre chercheurs d’organismes de recherche publics et enseignants-chercheurs universitaires qui a rendu possible ce travail. Grâce à un dialogue interdisciplinaire, ce livre ouvre des perspectives méthodologiques et contribue à une réflexion sur la gouvernance des aires marines protégées et plus généralement sur la gouvernance environnementale dans les pays en développement.The detailed wording of the recommendations of the World Summit for Sustainable Developement, held in Johannesburg in 2002 and these of the World Parks Congress, held in Durban in 2003, underlined the necessary coherence of conservation and development policies at each stage of the setting-up and implementation of a protected area, in particular regarding the marine protected areas managed mainly for the sustainable use of natural ecosystems (category VI of IUCN) ; these recommendations call to respect the customary property, the access and use rights of local populations. The importance of governance systems is more than ever recognized. The objective of the implementation of a marine protected area governance system reconciling conservation and socio-economic development is particularly difficult to reach in developing countries in a context characterized by the complexity of social and institutional organizations as well as by an extraordinary increase of their populations.From this point of view, the West African marine and coastal areas are very representative. This research highlighted the main constraints hanging over the governance of West African marine and coastal protected areas and permitted to characterize the different governance systems; a comparative approach pointed out a broad range of weaknesses and some dead-ends. To mitigate these weaknesses, the reconfiguration of marine protected areas governance and public policies sound necessary. This reconfiguration would transform the management systems of these protected areas by adapting the legal and institutional statutes and, concomitantly, the means of action by the rehabilitation of the public administration, the strengthening of decentralization process, the recognition and protection of territorial use rights, the development of ecotourism community-based, planned and co-directed, integrated into national development policies. A scientific cooperation between researchers of developed and developing countries made possible this work. Thanks to an interdisciplinary dialogue, the work opens up methodological prospects and contributes to a reflection on the governance of marine protected areas as well as on the environmental governance in developing countries