Improving fECG signal acquisition in the evaluation of fetal well-being

The ability to monitor fetal heart rate is vital during late pregnancy and labor in order to evaluate fetal well-being. Current monitoring practice is essentially based on external cardiotocography and, less frequently, during labor, invasive fetal scalp electrocardiography. Many current and envisaged applications could benefi t from simpler devices using a 3-lead ECG confi guration. We are designing a maternity support belt with an embedded wireless 3-lead ECG sensor, and have investigated the infl uence of the ground electrode position on signal quality. Data from over 100 pregnant women was collected with the ground electrode placed in 3 locations in order to determine optimum electrode placement and belt form factor.

MODELO PARA DEFINI����O DOS REQUISITOS NO DESENVOLVIMENTO DE PRODUTOS WEARABLES DE PROTEC����O F��SICA E ASSIST��NCIA ACTIVA

Os requisitos do produto s��o as principais caracter��sticas do desenvolvimento do produto. O objectivo deste estudo foi definir um modelo prescritivo para definir os requisitos e necessidades no desenvolvimento de wearables de protec����o f��sica e assist��ncia activa voltadas para os seniores em risco de cair. Foram analisados de m��todos para a identifica����o de requisitos e necessidades dos quatro autores de refer��ncia (Bonsiepe, 1992;. Page et al 2001, Ulrich e Eppinger, 2000; Zenios et al., 2010)., A defini����o de categorias para identificar as diferentes etapas e tarefas em defini����o dos requisitos por parte dos autores, finalmente, um brainstorming por um grupo de especialistas em desenvolvimento de produtos e wearables, com cada especialista a organizar o informa����es de acordo com sua forma����o e experi��ncia, permitindo a defini����o de um modelo prescritivo. Apresentamos um modelo prescritivo para definir os requisitos e necessidades no desenvolvimento de produtos de wearables focados na popula����o s��nior. O modelo �� classificado pelo seu ��mbito de aplica����o, designa����o, requisitos de classifica����o, as categorias de necessidades, recolha de dados e aplica����o do modelo. As altera����es f��sicas e cognitivas inerentes ao envelhecimento pode tamb��m alterar a forma como os idosos interagem com os produtos port��teis e, portanto, novos tipos de requisitos devem ser observados em todos os momentos, na defini����o de requisitos de produto de protec����o f��sica e assist��ncia activa focada neste tipo de popula����o. Esses tipos podem ser: padr��es de conforto e ergonomia, os requisitos de protec����o, e requisitos de monitoriza����o.

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

Automated image analysis of lung branching morphogenesis from microscopic images of fetal rat explants

Background: Regulating mechanisms of branching morphogenesis of fetal lung rat explants have been an essential tool for molecular research. This work presents a new methodology to accurately quantify the epithelial, outer contour and peripheral airway buds of lung explants during cellular development from microscopic images. Methods: The outer contour was defined using an adaptive and multi-scale threshold algorithm whose level was automatically calculated based on an entropy maximization criterion. The inner lung epithelial was defined by a clustering procedure that groups small image regions according to the minimum description length principle and local statistical properties. Finally, the number of peripheral buds were counted as the skeleton branched ends from a skeletonized image of the lung inner epithelial. Results: The time for lung branching morphometric analysis was reduced in 98% in contrast to the manual method. Best results were obtained in the first two days of cellular development, with lesser standard deviations. Non-significant differences were found between the automatic and manual results in all culture days. Conclusions: The proposed method introduces a series of advantages related to its intuitive use and accuracy, making the technique suitable to images with different lightning characteristics and allowing a reliable comparison between different researchers.

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.

Uma Metodologia para o Desenvolvimento de Aplica����es L��dico-Educativas

Ap��s uma contextualiza����o dos jogos para crian��as, enquanto ferramenta l��dico-educativa, este artigo apresenta uma abordagem para o desenvolvimento de jogos educativos utilizando redes de Petri coloridas (colored petri nets - CPN) conectadas a um servidor de aplica����es 3D. No final do artigo �� feita uma an��lise dos resultados obtidos, evidenciando a interatividade entre o utilizador e os conte��dos do jogo.

Determinantes da adop����o e desenvolvimento do Sistema de Contabilidade de Custos nos munic��pios Portugueses

The present study envisages to analyse and perceive change within the Portuguese local governments��� accounting information system. This change has occurred in recent years due to the development of the Cost Accounting System (CAS). Are there divergences between those that adopted and those that did not the CAS? As of today, to what extent is the CAS implemented? What factors do determine the level of development of the CAS amongst Portuguese local governments? This study has analysed several factors like the current legal framework, the local governments��� size, the financial independence and the level of political competitiveness. The empirical analysis focus upon the results as obtained by means of questionnaire which was applied to all the Portuguese Local Government (308). Although one may consider that its development is rather shallow, evidence unfolds that about 48% of the respondents have already adopted the CAS. It highlights that the pressure exerted by the current legal framework, namely the POCAL (Plano Oficial de Contabilidade das Autarquias Locais ��� Local Government Accounting Official Plan), the NLFL (Nova Lei das Finan��as Locais ��� Local Finances New Law) and the RGTAL (Regime Geral de Taxas das Autarquias Locais ��� Local Government General Regime of Taxes), justifies that most of the local governments has adopted the new system of control and accounting information in recent years.The importance of information stemming from the CAS, thus bettering and refining the decision making process, is consistent with the positive evolution of this system, in the short-run. The institutions��� size as well as the level of financial independence and political competitiveness may also be pondered as most significant variables within this empirical analysis.

DESENVOLVIMENTO DE UM CLASSIFICADOR PARA AN��LISE BIOM��TRICA DE UM COLETE INSTRUMENTADO PARA REEDUCA����O POSTURAL

Ao longo dos tempos tem existido um avan��o, nas empresas, dirigido �� preocupa����o com o bemestar dos trabalhadores, adotando por isso medidas preventivas. A forma����o especializada em Medicina do Trabalho �� indispens��vel para o exerc��cio de atividades de preven����o dos riscos profissionais e de promo����o da sa��de. A postura corporal pode ser definida como a posi����o e a orienta����o global do corpo e membros relativamente uns aos outros. Qualquer desvio na forma da coluna vertebral pode gerar solicita����es funcionais prejudiciais que ocasionam um aumento de fadiga no trabalhador e leva ao longo do tempo a les��es graves. Cada vez mais surgem doen��as profissionais provocadas pela ado����o de m��s posturas, na realiza����o de tarefas di��rias dos trabalhadores. A boa postura corporal �� uma tarefa espec��fica que representa uma intera����o complexa entre a fun����o biomec��nica e neuromuscular. No presente plano de disserta����o foram estudados diferentes classificadores tendo como objetivo classificar boas e m��s posturas corporais de trabalhadores em contexto de trabalho. Assim foram estudados diferentes classificadores de machine learnig, redes neuronais artificiais, support vector machine, ��rvores de decis��o, an��lise discriminante, regress��o log��stica, treebagger e na��ve bayes. Para treino de classificadores foi realizada a aquisi����o tridimensional da postura da espinha a 100 pessoas, passando por uma parametriza����o e treino de diferentes classificadores para a determina����o autom��tica do tipo de postura corporal. O classificador que obteve melhor desempenho foi o Treebagger com uma classifica����o para True Positive de 93,3% e True Negative de 96,2%.