Community standards for open cell migration data

Cell migration research has become a high-content field. However, the quantitative information encapsulated in these complex and high-dimensional datasets is not fully exploited owing to the diversity of experimental protocols and non-standardized output formats. In addition, typically the datasets are not open for reuse. Making the data open and Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) will enable meta-analysis, data integration, and data mining. Standardized data formats and controlled vocabularies are essential for building a suitable infrastructure for that purpose but are not available in the cell migration domain. We here present standardization efforts by the Cell Migration Standardisation Organisation (CMSO), an open community-driven organization to facilitate the development of standards for cell migration data. This work will foster the development of improved algorithms and tools and enable secondary analysis of public datasets, ultimately unlocking new knowledge of the complex biological process of cell migration

An Organoid for Woven Bone

Bone formation (osteogenesis) is a complex process in which cellular differentiation and the generation of a mineralized organic matrix are synchronized to produce a hybrid hierarchical architecture. To study the mechanisms of osteogenesis in health and disease, there is a great need for functional model systems that capture in parallel, both cellular and matrix formation processes. Stem cell‐based organoids are promising as functional, self‐organizing 3D in vitro models for studying the physiology and pathology of various tissues. However, for human bone, no such functional model system is yet available. This study reports the in vitro differentiation of human bone marrow stromal cells into a functional 3D self‐organizing co‐culture of osteoblasts and osteocytes, creating an organoid for early stage bone (woven bone) formation. It demonstrates the formation of an organoid where osteocytes are embedded within the collagen matrix that is produced by the osteoblasts and mineralized under biological control. Alike in in vivo osteocytes, the embedded osteocytes show network formation and communication via expression of sclerostin. The current system forms the most complete 3D living in vitro model system to investigate osteogenesis, both in physiological and pathological situations, as well as under the influence of external triggers (mechanical stimulation, drug administration)

An overview and comparison of voting methods for pattern recognition

In pattern recognition, there is a growing use of multiple classifier combinations with the goal to increase recognition performance. In many cases, plurality voting is a part of the combination process. In this article, we discuss and test several well known voting methods from politics and economics on classifier combination in order to see if an alternative to the simple plurality vote exists. We found that, assuming a number of prerequisites, better methods are available, that are comparatively simple and fast.

Variants of the Borda count method for combining ranked classifier hypotheses

The Borda count is a simple yet effective method of combining rankings. In pattern recognition, classifiers are often able to return a ranked set of results. Several experiments have been conducted to test the ability of the Borda count and two variant methods to combine these ranked classifier results. By using artificial data, domain-specific results were avoided. The results show the strength of the Borda count when many errors occur in the results, but also show its weakness in case of a limited number of large ranking errors

The wanda measurement tool for forensic document examination

This paper introduces the WANDA Measurement tool (WAM) for forensic document examination. The WAM is an essential component of WANDA, a workbench that supports the user in the complete task flow of processing documents, measuring characteristic features in handwritten documents, and writer search. By using technologies like plug-ins. XML, and client/server modularity, a system was created that is easy to maintain. portable, and highly adaptable. Within WANDA, the WAM is the tool for interactively measuring handwriting features. The WAM was developed based on recommendations from a comparison study between two forensic writer identification systems, Script and FISH. It incorporates nine measurements identical to those of FISH, and a new allograph measurement that is discussed in this paper. Furthermore, its intuitive new user-interface reduces the steep learning curve and streamlines the working process. A comparison of features previously measured by forensic experts using FISH, with measurements obtained through WANDA, assessed the precision of the WAM. It has shown that the small deviations yielded fall well within the possible imprecision caused by scanning or preprocessing operations, and far below the standard deviation of FISH measurements. Finally, results from usability tests with expert and novice users show that the WAM is easy to use