Automatic quality assessment in structural brain magnetic resonance imaging

MRI has evolved into an important diagnostic technique in medical imaging. However, reliability of the derived diagnosis can be degraded by artifacts, which challenge both radiologists and automatic computer-aided diagnosis. This work proposes a fully-automatic method for measuring image quality of three-dimensional (3D) structural MRI. Quality measures are derived by analyzing the air background of magnitude images and are capable of detecting image degradation from several sources, including bulk motion, residual magnetization from incomplete spoiling, blurring, and ghosting. The method has been validated on 749 3D T(1)-weighted 1.5T and 3T head scans acquired at 36 Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) study sites operating with various software and hardware combinations. Results are compared against qualitative grades assigned by the ADNI quality control center (taken as the reference standard). The derived quality indices are independent of the MRI system used and agree with the reference standard quality ratings with high sensitivity and specificity (>85%). The proposed procedures for quality assessment could be of great value for both research and routine clinical imaging. It could greatly improve workflow through its ability to rule out the need for a repeat scan while the patient is still in the magnet bore.

Image quality assessment in digital mammography: part II. NPWE as a validated alternative for contrast detail analysis.

Assessment of image quality for digital x-ray mammography systems used in European screening programs relies mainly on contrast-detail CDMAM phantom scoring and requires the acquisition and analysis of many images in order to reduce variability in threshold detectability. Part II of this study proposes an alternative method based on the detectability index (d') calculated for a non-prewhitened model observer with an eye filter (NPWE). The detectability index was calculated from the normalized noise power spectrum and image contrast, both measured from an image of a 5 cm poly(methyl methacrylate) phantom containing a 0.2 mm thick aluminium square, and the pre-sampling modulation transfer function. This was performed as a function of air kerma at the detector for 11 different digital mammography systems. These calculated d' values were compared against threshold gold thickness (T) results measured with the CDMAM test object and against derived theoretical relationships. A simple relationship was found between T and d', as a function of detector air kerma; a linear relationship was found between d' and contrast-to-noise ratio. The values of threshold thickness used to specify acceptable performance in the European Guidelines for 0.10 and 0.25 mm diameter discs were equivalent to threshold calculated detectability indices of 1.05 and 6.30, respectively. The NPWE method is a validated alternative to CDMAM scoring for use in the image quality specification, quality control and optimization of digital x-ray systems for screening mammography.

Students competences in Business Administration subjects

The evaluation of the competences acquired by the students in the context of a university education system is needed to enable professors to develop teaching-learning processes tailored to students" needs. The main goal of this paper is to analyze in depth the profile of the acquired competences of the bachelor students in Business Administration subjects. In that sense, this paper explains an experience in assessing bachelor student"s competences by applying an ICT-based digital platform designed for the selfassessment of personal and social competences. In particular, we apply an evaluation tool which was specifically designed for self-evaluating the project managers" generic and specific competences. The authors of this research have previous experience in implementing this evaluation tool in the subjects of Business Administration, Operations Management and Strategic Management taught in the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Barcelona. In this paper, the results show that there exist significant differences in the self-evaluation of competences depending on the respondent gender. This kind of tools benefits the three parties involved: students, university managers and organizations, and should be applied along the Bachelor as a transversal project and adapt the programs to achieve graduate students with higher levels of social and personal competences, as demanded by the labour market.

Référentiel de pratiques professionnelles: soins et surveillance des accès veineux centraux de l'adulte pour la nutrition parentérale [Formative assessment in clinical nutrition: Care management of parenteral nutrition central venous access]

Les voies veineuses centrales (VVC) sont essentielles pour l'administration de la nutrition parentérale. Le risque de complications est dépendant de la qualité des soins apportés à la VVC qui influence de ce fait la qualité de vie des patients et le coût des soins. Beaucoup de complications des VVC, infectieuses ou non, peuvent être prévenues par l'existence de protocoles de soins appropriés et standardisés. L'information sur les soins des VVC et les éventuelles complications est essentielle pour le dépistage et le traitement précoce de ces complications ; elle doit faire l'objet de protocoles partagés entre les patients et les soignants. Cet article décrit une évaluation des pratiques professionnelles sous la forme d'un audit clinique destiné à améliorer la qualité de soins des patients en nutrition parentérale porteurs de VVC. Central venous access devices (CVAD) are essential for the administration of parenteral nutrition. The quality of the care of CVAD influences the risk of complications and so the quality of life of the patients and the costs of care. Numerous infectious or non-infectious complications of CVAD can be prevented by appropriate, standardized protocols of care. Information about the care of CVAD and complications is essential for the early recognition and treatment of complications and should be shared between patients and caregivers. This article describes an audit for CAVD care that can be used to improve quality of care in a professional practice evaluation program.

Assessment in CLIL

The aim of this talk is to explore assessment in higher education and support for learners during their academic education. It investigates the assessment methods that provide success for universities and learners. Universities which implement CLIL should assess learners who would like to attend a programme in English without taking account of their English language qualifications. This assessment should be done in writing, listening and comprehension, speaking and reading and comprehension. In the literature, formative and summative assessments are considered. Formative assessment is ongoing, 'more complex as its intention is to be directly diagnostics with a view to immediately impacting on learner's next steps' (Coyle et al, 2010). Summative assessment occurs at the end of the term or course. McKay, 2006 divides assessment into three phases: design, operationalization and administration phase. If these three phases can't be embedded in the classroom as they are, they can be introduced as a set of questions; why?, how? and what?

Patients' Needs for Care in Public Mental Health: Unity and Diversity of Self-Assessed Needs for Care.

PURPOSE: Needs assessment is recognized to be a key element of mental health care. Patients tend to present heterogeneous profiles of needs. However, there is no consensus in previous research about how patients' needs are organized. This study investigates both general and specific dimensions of patients' needs for care. METHODS: Patients' needs were assessed with ELADEB, an 18-domain self-report scale. The use of a self-assessment scale represents a unique way of obtaining patients' perceptions. A patient-centered psychiatric practice facilitates empowerment as it is based on the patients' personal motivations, needs, and wants. Four seventy-one patients' profiles were analyzed through exploratory factor analysis. RESULTS: A four-factor bifactor model, including one general factor and three specific factors of needs, was most adequate. Specific factors were (a) "finances" and "administrative tasks"; (b) "transports," "public places," "self-care," "housework," and "food"; and (c) "family," "children," "intimate relationships," and "friendship." CONCLUSION: As revealed by the general factor, patients expressing urgent needs in some domains are also more susceptible to report urgent needs in several other domains. This general factor relates to high versus low utilizers of public mental healthcare. Patients also present specific needs in life domains, which are organized in three dimensions: management, functional disabilities, and familial and interpersonal relationships. These dimensions relate to the different types of existing social support described in the literature.

Towards a Network Government? A critical analysis of current assessment methods for e-Government

Contemporary public administrations have become increasingly more complex, having to cordinate actions with emerging actors in the public and the private spheres. In this scenario the modern ICTs have begun to be seen as an ideal vehicle to resolve some of the problems of public administration. We argue that there is a clear need to explore the extent to which public administrations are undergoing a process of transformation towards a netowork government linked to the systematic incorporation of ICTs in their basic activities. Through critically analysing a selection of e-government evaluation reports, we conclude that research should be carried out if we are to build a solid government assessment framework based on network-like organisation characteristics.

e-Justice in Spain

Technology has had a prevalent impact on nearly all social domains, one being the judicial system. Advancements such as computer-generated demonstrations and electronic filing can enhance presentations and give a clearer, well-organized case.E-Justice: Using Information Communication Technologies in the Court System presents the most relevant experiences and best practices concerning the use and impact of ICTs in the courtroom. This groundbreaking title draws upon the leading academic and practicing perspectives from around the globe to provide academics and professionals throughout the legal system with the most comprehensive overview of present developments in e-justice.

Financial performance of segments in the intelligent home network

The goal of this study is to examine the intelligent home business network in order to determine which part of the network has the best financial abilities to produce new business models and products/services by using financial statement analysis. A group of 377 studied limited companies is divided into four examined segments based on their offering in producing intelligent homes. The segments are customer service providers, system integrators, subsystem suppliers and component suppliers. Eight different key figures are calculated from each of the companies to get a comprehensive view of their financial performances, after which each of the segments is studied statistically to determine the performances of the whole segments. The actual performance differences between the segments are calculated by using the multi-criteria decision analysis method in which the performances of the key figures are graded and each key figure is weighted according to its importance for the goal of the study. The results of this analysis showed that subsystem suppliers have the best financial performance. Second best are system integrators, third are customer service providers and fourth component suppliers. None of the segments were strikingly poor, but even component suppliers were rather reasonable in their performance; so, it can be said that no part of the intelligent home business network has remarkably inadequate financial abilities to develop new business models and products/services.

Exploring Customer-Oriented Service Offerings in Public Health: Developing Integrated Health Care Services for Rural Areas

Väestön ikääntyminen pakottaa yhteiskunnan ja julkisen terveydenhuollon muutoksiin. Jotta ikääntyvien ihmisten kotona asuminen voidaan mahdollistaa, palvelujärjestelmän pitää mukautua muuttuvaan tilanteeseen. Tämän diplomityön tarkoituksena on tunnistaa asiakaslähtöisiä lähellä asiakasta tarjottavia palvelukokonaisuuksia. Tutkimuksen teoreettinen viitekehys muodostuu asiakasarvon luomisesta ja palvelutarjoamista. Tarkasteluryhmänä on Etelä-Karjalan alueen 60–90-vuotiaat ja käytetty aineisto on kerätty vastaajilta postitse lähetetyllä kyselyllä. Tutkimus on eksploratiivinen ja tulosten tulkinnassa on hyödynnetty määrällisen tutkimuksen ja verkostoanalyysin menetelmiä. Työn keskeisimmät tulokset ovat tunnistetut asiakassegmentit ja heidän tarpeidensa pohjalta muodostetut palvelupaketit. Tulokset indikoivat asiakkaiden tarpeita ja tuloksia on analysoitu myös tuottajan näkökulmasta. Empiiristen tulosten lisäksi teoriaviitekehystä on kehitetty eteenpäin, jotta palvelukeskeiset teoriat voidaan ymmärtää yritysten näkökulman lisäksi asiakkaan näkökulmasta.

Petri Net approach for modelling system integration in intelligent buildings

In this paper, a Petri Net approach is introduced for modelling and simulation of control strategies in Intelligent Building. In this context, it is claimed that integration with other building systems can be achieved in a more systematic way considering a mechatronic approach (i.e. multidisciplinary concepts applied to the development of systems). The case study is the Ambulatory Building of Medical School Hospital of University of São Paulo. Particularly, the developed methodology is applied to the elevator system and to the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) system. It is shown that using this approach, the control systems could be integrated, improving performance.

Legitimacy Building in Public Disclosures on Strategic Energy Investments

Renewable energy investments play a key role in energy transition. While studies have suggested that social acceptance may form a barrier for renewable energy investments, the ways in which companies perceive and attempt to gain the acceptance have received little attention. This study aims to fill the gap by exploring how large electric utilities justify their strategic investments in their press releases and how do the justifications differ between renewable and non-renewable energy investments. The study bases on legitimacy theory and aims at contributing to the research on legitimation in institutional change. As its research method, the study employs an inductive mixed method content analysis. The study has two parts: a qualitative content analysis that explores and identifies the themes and legitimation strategies of the press releases and a quantitative computer-aided analysis that compares renewable and non-renewable energy investments. The sample of the study consists of 396 press releases representing the strategic energy investments of 34 electric utilities from the list of the world’s 250 largest and financially most successful energy companies. The data is collected from the period of 2010–2014. The study reveals that most important justifications for strategic energy investments are fit with the strategy and environmental and social benefits. Justifications address especially the expectations of market. Investments into non-renewable energy are justified more and they use more arguments addressing the proprieties and performance of power plants whereas renewable energy investments are legitimized by references to past actions and commonly accepted morals and norms. The findings support the notion that validity-addressing and propriety-addressing legitimation strategies are used differently in stable and unstable institutional settings.

Partnership, politics and public administration: a case study of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources

Efforts to reform the public sector reflect the social, political and economic environment within which government must function. The recent demands by the public for more consensual decision-making, as well as more efficient, effective and responsive public service, have resulted in a number of reform initiatives, including an emphasis on partnership development. The purpose of this thesis is to examine partnership arrangements within the public sector. Specifically, the thesis will assess the value of partnerships and their impact on government by examining six partnership arrangements involving the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR). The OMNR, having recently been awarded the 1992 Institute of Public Administration of Canada Award for Innovative Management, on the theme of partnership development, is being lauded as an example for other government agencies considering similar alliances. The thesis begins by introducing the concept and practice of partnership within the public sector in general and the OMNR specifically. Descriptive analysis of six OMNR partnerships is provided and a number of criteria are used to determine the success of each of these arrangements. Special attention is paid to the political implications of partnerships and to those attributes which appear to contribute to the successful establishment and iii maintenance of partnership arrangements. The conclusion is drawn that partnerships provide the government with an opportunity to address public demands for greater involvement in decision-making while accommodating government's limited financial resources. However, few truly collaborative partnerships exist within the public sector. There are also significant political implications associated with partnerships which must be dealt with both at the political and bureaucratic levels of government. Lastly, it is argued that while partnerships within the OMNR are experiencing some difficulties, they constitute a genuine attempt to broaden the base of decision-making and to incorporate the concerns of stakeholders into resource management.

A needs assessment of public health professionals: supporting the implementation of Ontario 2010 revised elementary health and physical education curriculum

Based on the Comprehensive School Health framework, Ontario's Foundations for a Healthy School (2009) outlines an integrated approach to school health promotion. In this approach the school, community and partners (including public health) are fully engaged With a common goal of youth health. With the recent introductions of the Ontario Public Health Standards (2009) and the revised elementary health and physical education curriculum (2010), the timing for a greater integration of public health with schools is ideal. A needs assessment was conducted to identify the perceived support required by public health professionals to implement the mandates of both policy documents in Ontario. Data was collected for the needs assessment through facilitated discussions at a provincial roundtable event, regional focus groups and individual interviews with public health professionals representing Ontario's 36 public health units. Findings suggest that public health professionals perceive that they require increased resources, greater communication, a clear vision of public health and a suitable understanding of the professional cultures in which they are surrounded in order to effectively support schools. This study expands upon these four categories and the corresponding seventeen themes that were uncovered during the research process.