BIMS: Biomedical Information Management System

This final year project presents the design principles and prototype implementation of BIMS (Biomedical Information Management System), a flexible software system which provides an infrastructure to manage all information required by biomedical research projects.The BIMS project was initiated with the motivation to solve several limitations in medical data acquisition of some research projects, in which Universitat Pompeu Fabra takes part. These limitations,based on the lack of control mechanisms to constraint information submitted by clinicians, impact on the data quality, decreasing it.BIMS can easily be adapted to manage information of a wide variety of clinical studies, not being limited to a given clinical specialty. The software can manage both, textual information, like clinical data (measurements, demographics, diagnostics, etc ...), as well as several kinds of medical images (magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, etc ...). Moreover, BIMS provides a web - based graphical user interface and is designed to be deployed in a distributed andmultiuser environment. It is built on top of open source software products and frameworks.Specifically, BIMS has been used to represent all clinical data being currently used within the CardioLab platform (an ongoing project managed by Universitat Pompeu Fabra), demonstratingthat it is a solid software system, which could fulfill requirements of a real production environment.

Similarities and convergence in G-7 cycles

This paper examines the properties of G-7 cycles using a multicountry Bayesian panelVAR model with time variations, unit specific dynamics and cross country interdependences.We demonstrate the presence of a significant world cycle and show that country specificindicators play a much smaller role. We detect differences across business cycle phasesbut, apart from an increase in synchronicity in the late 1990s, find little evidence of major structural changes. We also find no evidence of the existence of an Euro area specific cycle or of its emergence in the 1990s.

On the accuracy of Latin American trade statistics: A nonparametric test for 1925

This paper proposes a nonparametric test in order to establish the level of accuracy of theforeign trade statistics of 17 Latin American countries when contrasted with the trade statistics of the main partners in 1925. The Wilcoxon Matched-Pairs Ranks test is used to determine whether the differences between the data registered by exporters and importers are meaningful, and if so, whether the differences are systematic in any direction. The paper tests for the reliability of the data registered for two homogeneous products, petroleum and coal, both in volume and value. The conclusion of the several exercises performed is that we cannot accept the existence of statistically significant differences between the data provided by the exporters and the registered by the importing countries in most cases. The qualitative historiography of Latin American describes its foreign trade statistics as mostly unusable. Our quantitative results contest this view.

Sistema d'adquisició de temperatures de 2 canals via R.F.

Poder mesurar i enregistrar diferents tipus de magnituds com pressió, força, temperatura etc. s’ha convertit en una necessitat per moltes aplicacions actuals. Aquestes magnituds poden tenir procedències molt diverses, tals com l’entorn, o poden ser generades per sistemes mecànics, elèctrics, etc. Per tal de poder adquirir aquestes magnituds, s’utilitzen els sistemes d’adquisició de dades. Aquests sistemes, prenen mostres analògiques del món real, i les transformen en dades digitals que poden ser manipulades per un sistema electrònic. Pràcticament qualsevol magnitud es pot mesurar utilitzant el sensor adient. Una magnitud molt utilitzada en sistemes d’adquisició de dades, és la temperatura. Els sistemes d’adquisició de temperatures estan molt generalitzats, i podem trobar-los com a sistemes, on l’objectiu és mostrar les dades adquirides, o podem trobar-los formant part de sistemes de control, aportant uns inputs necessaris per el seu correcte funcionament, garantir-ne l’estabilitat, seguretat etc. Aquest projecte, promogut per l’empresa Elausa, s’encarregarà d’adquirir, el senyal d’entrada de 2 Termoparells. Aquests mesuraran temperatures de circuits electrònics, que es trobaran dintre la càmera climàtica de Elausa, sotmesos a diferents condicions de temperatura, per tal de rebre l’homologació del circuit. El sistema haurà de poder mostrar les dades adquirides en temps real, i emmagatzemar-les en un PC que estarà ubicat en una oficina, situada a uns 30 m de distància de la sala on es farà el test. El sistema constarà d’un circuit electrònic que adquirirà, i condicionarà el senyal de sortida dels termoparells, per adaptar-lo a la tensió d’entrada d’un convertidor analògic digital, del microcontrolador integrat en aquesta placa. Seguidament aquesta informació, s’enviarà a través d’un mòdul transmissor de radiofreqüència, cap al PC on es visualitzaran les dades adquirides. Els objectius plantejats són els següents: - Dissenyar el circuit electrònic d’adquisició i condicionament del senyal. - Dissenyar, fabricar i muntar el circuit imprès de la placa d’adquisició. - Realitzar el programa de control del microcontrolador. - Realitzar el programa per presentar i desar les dades en un PC. - El sistema ha d’adquirir 2 temperatures, a través de Termoparells amb un rang d’entrada de -40ºC a +240ºC - S’ha de transmetre les dades via R.F. Els resultats del projecte han estat satisfactoris i s’han complert els objectius plantejats.

Multiresolution-based image fusion with additive wavelet decomposition

The standard data fusion methods may not be satisfactory to merge a high-resolution panchromatic image and a low-resolution multispectral image because they can distort the spectral characteristics of the multispectral data. The authors developed a technique, based on multiresolution wavelet decomposition, for the merging and data fusion of such images. The method presented consists of adding the wavelet coefficients of the high-resolution image to the multispectral (low-resolution) data. They have studied several possibilities concluding that the method which produces the best results consists in adding the high order coefficients of the wavelet transform of the panchromatic image to the intensity component (defined as L=(R+G+B)/3) of the multispectral image. The method is, thus, an improvement on standard intensity-hue-saturation (IHS or LHS) mergers. They used the ¿a trous¿ algorithm which allows the use of a dyadic wavelet to merge nondyadic data in a simple and efficient scheme. They used the method to merge SPOT and LANDSATTM images. The technique presented is clearly better than the IHS and LHS mergers in preserving both spectral and spatial information.

In situ fast ellipsometric analysis of repetitive surface phenomena

We present an ellipsometric technique and ellipsometric analysis of repetitive phenomena, based on the experimental arrangement of conventional phase modulated ellipsometers (PME) c onceived to study fast surface phenomena in repetitive processes such as periodic and triggered experiments. Phase modulated ellipsometry is a highly sensitive surface characterization technique that is widely used in the real-time study of several processes such as thin film deposition and etching. However, fast transient phenomena cannot be analyzed with this technique because precision requirements limit the data acquisition rate to about 25 Hz. The presented new ellipsometric method allows the study of fast transient phenomena in repetitive processes with a time resolution that is mainly limited by the data acquisition system. As an example, we apply this new method to the study of surface changes during plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of amorphous silicon in a modulated radio frequency discharge of SiH4. This study has revealed the evolution of the optical parameters of the film on the millisecond scale during the plasma on and off periods. The presented ellipsometric method extends the capabilities of PME arrangements and permits the analysis of fast surface phenomena that conventional PME cannot achieve.

Flow cytometry in the analysis of cellular populations

Flow cytometry has become a valuable tool in cell biology. By analyzing large number of cells individually using light-scatter and fluorescence measurements, this technique reveals both cellular characteristics and the levels of cellular components. Flow cytometry has been developed to rapidly enumerate cells and to distinguish among different cell stages and structures using multiple staining. In addition to high-speed multiparametric data acquisition, analysis and cell sorting, which allow other characteristics of individual cells to be studied, have increased the interest of researchers in this technique. This chapter gives an overview of the principles of flow cytometry and examples of the application ofthe technique.

Discriminating crop, weeds and soil surface with a terrestrial LIDAR sensor

In this study, the evaluation of the accuracy and performance of a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensor for vegetation using distance and reflection measurements aiming to detect and discriminate maize plants and weeds from soil surface was done. The study continues a previous work carried out in a maize field in Spain with a LIDAR sensor using exclusively one index, the height profile. The current system uses a combination of the two mentioned indexes. The experiment was carried out in a maize field at growth stage 12–14, at 16 different locations selected to represent the widest possible density of three weeds: Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) P.Beauv., Lamium purpureum L., Galium aparine L.and Veronica persica Poir.. A terrestrial LIDAR sensor was mounted on a tripod pointing to the inter-row area, with its horizontal axis and the field of view pointing vertically downwards to the ground, scanning a vertical plane with the potential presence of vegetation. Immediately after the LIDAR data acquisition (distances and reflection measurements), actual heights of plants were estimated using an appropriate methodology. For that purpose, digital images were taken of each sampled area. Data showed a high correlation between LIDAR measured height and actual plant heights (R2 = 0.75). Binary logistic regression between weed presence/absence and the sensor readings (LIDAR height and reflection values) was used to validate the accuracy of the sensor. This permitted the discrimination of vegetation from the ground with an accuracy of up to 95%. In addition, a Canonical Discrimination Analysis (CDA) was able to discriminate mostly between soil and vegetation and, to a far lesser extent, between crop and weeds. The studied methodology arises as a good system for weed detection, which in combination with other principles, such as vision-based technologies, could improve the efficiency and accuracy of herbicide spraying.

The Impact of a Character Posture Model on the Communication of Affect in an Immersive Virtual Environment

This paper presents the quantitative and qualitative findings from an experiment designed to evaluate a developing model of affective postures for full-body virtual characters in immersive virtual environments (IVEs). Forty-nine participants were each requested to explore a virtual environment by asking two virtual characters for instructions. The participants used a CAVE-like system to explore the environment. Participant responses and their impression of the virtual characters were evaluated through a wide variety of both quantitative and qualitative methods. Combining a controlled experimental approach with various data-collection methods provided a number of advantages such as providing a reason to the quantitative results. The quantitative results indicate that posture plays an important role in the communication of affect by virtual characters. The qualitative findings indicated that participants attribute a variety of psychological states to the behavioral cues displayed by virtual characters. In addition, participants tended to interpret the social context portrayed by the virtual characters in a holistic manner. This suggests that one aspect of the virtual scene colors the perception of the whole social context portrayed by the virtual characters. We conclude by discussing the importance of designing holistically congruent virtual characters especially in immersive settings.

The Coordinated Radio and Infrared Survey for High-mass Star Formation. II. Source Catalog

The CORNISH project is the highest resolution radio continuum survey of the Galactic plane to date. It is the 5 GHz radio continuum part of a series of multi-wavelength surveys that focus on the northern GLIMPSE region (10° < l < 65°), observed by the Spitzer satellite in the mid-infrared. Observations with the Very Large Array in B and BnA configurations have yielded a 1.''5 resolution Stokes I map with a root mean square noise level better than 0.4 mJy beam 1. Here we describe the data-processing methods and data characteristics, and present a new, uniform catalog of compact radio emission. This includes an implementation of automatic deconvolution that provides much more reliable imaging than standard CLEANing. A rigorous investigation of the noise characteristics and reliability of source detection has been carried out. We show that the survey is optimized to detect emission on size scales up to 14'' and for unresolved sources the catalog is more than 90% complete at a flux density of 3.9 mJy. We have detected 3062 sources above a 7σ detection limit and present their ensemble properties. The catalog is highly reliable away from regions containing poorly sampled extended emission, which comprise less than 2% of the survey area. Imaging problems have been mitigated by down-weighting the shortest spacings and potential artifacts flagged via a rigorous manual inspection with reference to the Spitzer infrared data. We present images of the most common source types found: H II regions, planetary nebulae, and radio galaxies. The CORNISH data and catalog are available online at http://cornish.leeds.ac.uk.

Disseny i implementació d'un programari d'adquisició de dades de la producció d'una línia automàtica de palets

This thesis presents a software that allows data acquisition production process, in this case, an automatic pallet nailing line. The recording of these data will enable them to make a track and analyze them later, either with the analytical tools of the application or by the transfer of such data to an Excel sheet or database. The programming language has been developed made by Ladder for the application in the PLC that controls the line of nailing. Control pages for the HMI application that monitors the process. Finally, the Visual Basic language for the production department computer application. To extract production variables from the process, the developed software communicates with the network formed by the PLC and the HMI terminal which stores and control the process using the Modbus TCP/IP protocol.

Sistema d'adquisició de temperatures de 2 canals via R.F.

Poder mesurar i enregistrar diferents tipus de magnituds com pressió, força, temperatura etc. s’ha convertit en una necessitat per moltes aplicacions actuals. Aquestes magnituds poden tenir procedències molt diverses, tals com l’entorn, o poden ser generades per sistemes mecànics, elèctrics, etc. Per tal de poder adquirir aquestes magnituds, s’utilitzen els sistemes d’adquisició de dades. Aquests sistemes, prenen mostres analògiques del món real, i les transformen en dades digitals que poden ser manipulades per un sistema electrònic. Pràcticament qualsevol magnitud es pot mesurar utilitzant el sensor adient. Una magnitud molt utilitzada en sistemes d’adquisició de dades, és la temperatura. Els sistemes d’adquisició de temperatures estan molt generalitzats, i podem trobar-los com a sistemes, on l’objectiu és mostrar les dades adquirides, o podem trobar-los formant part de sistemes de control, aportant uns inputs necessaris per el seu correcte funcionament, garantir-ne l’estabilitat, seguretat etc. Aquest projecte, promogut per l’empresa Elausa, s’encarregarà d’adquirir, el senyal d’entrada de 2 Termoparells. Aquests mesuraran temperatures de circuits electrònics, que es trobaran dintre la càmera climàtica de Elausa, sotmesos a diferents condicions de temperatura, per tal de rebre l’homologació del circuit. El sistema haurà de poder mostrar les dades adquirides en temps real, i emmagatzemar-les en un PC que estarà ubicat en una oficina, situada a uns 30 m de distància de la sala on es farà el test. El sistema constarà d’un circuit electrònic que adquirirà, i condicionarà el senyal de sortida dels termoparells, per adaptar-lo a la tensió d’entrada d’un convertidor analògic digital, del microcontrolador integrat en aquesta placa. Seguidament aquesta informació, s’enviarà a través d’un mòdul transmissor de radiofreqüència, cap al PC on es visualitzaran les dades adquirides. Els objectius plantejats són els següents: - Dissenyar el circuit electrònic d’adquisició i condicionament del senyal. - Dissenyar, fabricar i muntar el circuit imprès de la placa d’adquisició. - Realitzar el programa de control del microcontrolador. - Realitzar el programa per presentar i desar les dades en un PC. - El sistema ha d’adquirir 2 temperatures, a través de Termoparells amb un rang d’entrada de -40ºC a +240ºC - S’ha de transmetre les dades via R.F. Els resultats del projecte han estat satisfactoris i s’han complert els objectius plantejats.