Application to quantify fetal lung branching on rat explants

Recently, regulating mechanisms of branching morphogenesis of fetal lung rat explants have been an essential tool for molecular research. The development of accurate and reliable segmentation techniques may be essential to improve research outcomes. This work presents an image processing method to measure the perimeter and area of lung branches on fetal rat explants. The algorithm starts by reducing the noise corrupting the image with a pre-processing stage. The outcome is input to a watershed operation that automatically segments the image into primitive regions. Then, an image pixel is selected within the lung explant epithelial, allowing a region growing between neighbouring watershed regions. This growing process is controlled by a statistical distribution of each region. When compared with manual segmentation, the results show the same tendency for lung development. High similarities were harder to obtain in the last two days of culture, due to the increased number of peripheral airway buds and complexity of lung architecture. However, using semiautomatic measurements, the standard deviation was lower and the results between independent researchers were more coherent

The estimation of the return on firms’ investments – as to ISO 9001

The aim of this paper was to estimate the return on investment in QMS (quality management systems) certification undertaken in Portuguese firms, according to the ISO 9000 series. A total of 426 certified Portuguese firms were surveyed. The response rate was 61.03 percent. The different payback periods were validated through statistical analysis and the relationship between expected and perceived payback periods was discussed. This study suggests that a firm’s sector of activity, size and degree of internationalization are related to the length of the investment in QMS certification recovery period. Furthermore, our findings suggest, that the time taken to obtain the certification is not directly related to the economic component of the certification. The majority of Portuguese firms (58.9%) took up to three years to recoup their investment and 35.5% of companies said they had not yet recovered the initial investment made. The recoup of investment was measured by the increase in the number of customers and consequent volume of deliveries, improved profitability and productivity of the company, improvement of competitive position and performance (cost savings), reduction in the number of external complaints and internal defects/scrap, achievement of some important clientele, among others. We compared our work to similar studies undertaken in other countries. This paper provides a contribution to the research related to the return on investment for costs related to the certification QMS according to ISO 9000. This paper provides a valuable contribution to the field and is one of the first studies to undertake this type of analysis in Portugal.

Application to quantify fetal lung branching on rat explant

Recently, regulating mechanisms of branching morphogenesis of fetal lung rat explants have been an essential tool for molecular research. The development of accurate and reliable segmentation techniques may be essential to improve research outcomes. This work presents an image processing method to measure the perimeter and area of lung branches on fetal rat explants. The algorithm starts by reducing the noise corrupting the image with a pre-processing stage. The outcome is input to a watershed operation that automatically segments the image into primitive regions. Then, an image pixel is selected within the lung explant epithelial, allowing a region growing between neighbouring watershed regions. This growing process is controlled by a statistical distribution of each region. When compared with manual segmentation, the results show the same tendency for lung development. High similarities were harder to obtain in the last two days of culture, due to the increased number of peripheral airway buds and complexity of lung architecture. However, using semiautomatic measurements, the standard deviation was lower and the results between independent researchers were more coherent.

Balanced scorecard no setor público: contributo do consultor de gestão

This article intends to understand the motivations, benefits and difficulties inherent to Balanced Scorecard (BSC) adoption in the public sector from the perspective of the professionals who implement it - the management consultants. We chose a qualitative research based on semi-structured interviews with management consultants belonging to consulting companies operating in Portugal, with experience in the implementation of the BSC in the public and private sector. The results allowed concluding that the use of management consultants is advantageous on the BSC adoption. To overcome the difficulties in construction and continuity of the BSC in the public sector, the consultants presented some facilitating conditions that can contribute to the increased efficacy in the adoption and continuation of BSC.

Balanced Scorecard no setor público: perspetiva do consultor de gestão

This article intends to understand the motivations, benefits and difficulties inherent to Balanced Scorecard (BSC) adoption in the public sector from the perspective of the professionals who implement it - the management consultants. We chose a qualitative research based on semi-structured interviews with management consultants belonging to consulting companies operating in Portugal, with experience in the implementation of the BSC in the public and private sector. The results allowed concluding that the use of management consultants is advantageous on the BSC adoption. To overcome the difficulties in construction and continuity of the BSC in the public sector, the consultants presented some facilitating conditions that can contribute to the increased efficacy in the adoption and continuation of BSC.