Subcellular localisation of proteins in fluorescent microscope images using a random forest

This paper presents a system that employs random forests to formulate a method for subcellular localisation of proteins. A random forest is an ensemble learner that grows classification trees. Each tree produces a classification decision, and an integrated output is calculated. The system classifies the protein-localisation patterns within fluorescent microscope images. 2D images of HeLa cells that include all major classes of subcellular structures, and the associated feature set are used. The performance of the developed system is compared against that of the support vector machine and decision tree approaches. Three experiments are performed to study the influence of the training and test set size on the performance of the examined methods. The calculated classification errors and execution times are presented and discussed. The lowest classification error (2.9%) has been produced by the developed system.

Mineral law and the doctrine of rights : a microscope of magnification?

The doctrine of rights has become part of private law jurisprudence. In this article the application of the doctrine in two decisions dealing with surface support in mineral law is examined. It is argued that the decision of Kriegler J in Elektrisiteitsvoorsieningskommissie v Fourie, namely, that the right to surface support is an entitlement, is more correct than Anglo Operations Ltd v Sandhurst Estates (Pty) Ltd in which it was decided that the right to surface support is a competence. It is submitted that depending on the legal location of the entitlement in the relationship between owner and miner of land one may simply refer to either an owner's entitlement to surface support or a miner's entitlement to undertake opencast-cast mining.

Addition of a polarising microscope to the Weissenberg Rheogoniometer

This article describes modifications to a sophisticated commercial rheometer, the Weissenberg Rheogoniometer, to allow a sample in the cone and plate or parallel‐plate geometries to be observed with a high‐quality polarizing microscope. The addition of the microscope does not interfere with the measuring system in any way, so that samples can be observed in the course of rheological experiments.

Doctors under the microscope: the birth of medical audit

In 1989 a UK government White Paper introduced medical audit as a comprehensive and statutory system of assessment and improvement in quality of care in hospitals. A considerable body of research has described the evolution of medical audit in terms of a struggle between doctors and National Health Service managers over control of quality assurance. In this paper we examine the emergence of medical audit from 1910 to the early 1950s, with a particular focus on the pioneering work of the American surgeons Codman, MacEachern and Ponton. It is contended that medical professionals initially created medical audit in order to articulate a suitable methodology for assessing individual and organisational performance. Rather than a means of protecting the medical profession from public scrutiny, medical auditing was conceived and operationalised as a managerial tool for fostering the active engagement of senior hospital managers and discharging public accountability. These early debates reveal how accounting was implicated in the development of a system for monitoring and improving the work of medical professionals, advancing the quality of hospital care, and was advocated in ways, which included rather than excluded managers.