Effect of changing data collection parameters on statistical motor unit number estimates

The effect of number of samples and selection of data for analysis on the calculation of surface motor unit potential (SMUP) size in the statistical method of motor unit number estimates (MUNE) was determined in 10 normal subjects and 10 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We recorded 500 sequential compound muscle action potentials (CMAPs) at three different stable stimulus intensities (10–50% of maximal CMAP). Estimated mean SMUP sizes were calculated using Poisson statistical assumptions from the variance of 500 sequential CMAP obtained at each stimulus intensity. The results with the 500 data points were compared with smaller subsets from the same data set. The results using a range of 50–80% of the 500 data points were compared with the full 500. The effect of restricting analysis to data between 5–20% of the CMAP and to standard deviation limits was also assessed. No differences in mean SMUP size were found with stimulus intensity or use of different ranges of data. Consistency was improved with a greater sample number. Data within 5% of CMAP size gave both increased consistency and reduced mean SMUP size in many subjects, but excluded valid responses present at that stimulus intensity. These changes were more prominent in ALS patients in whom the presence of isolated SMUP responses was a striking difference from normal subjects. Noise, spurious data, and large SMUP limited the Poisson assumptions. When these factors are considered, consistent statistical MUNE can be calculated from a continuous sequence of data points. A 2 to 2.5 SD or 10% window are reasonable methods of limiting data for analysis. Muscle Nerve 27: 320–331, 2003

Decompositions of complete graphs into theta graphs with fewer than ten edges

A theta graph is a graph consisting of three pairwise internally disjoint paths with common end points. Methods for decomposing the complete graph K-nu into theta graphs with fewer than ten edges are given.

Basis set convergence in Hartree-Fock calculations of some diatomic molecules containing first and second-row atoms

Investiga-se a convergência de conjuntos de bases em direção ao limite numérico da energia Hartree-Fock (HF) total para as seqüências hierárquicas dos conjuntos de bases XZP e ccpVXZ. Para as duas hierarquias, melhoramentos significativos são obtidos com cada incremento em X. Para estimar o limite do conjunto de base completo, uma forma exponencial foi usada. Entre as várias aproximações consideradas aqui, uma extrapolação exponencial de três parâmetros aplicada aos resultados TZP, QZP e 5ZP deu os limites do conjunto de bases mais precisos. Em adição, energias HF dos orbitais moleculares ocupados mais altos de algumas moléculas diatômicas foram calculadas com o conjunto 5ZP e comparadas com as correspondentes obtidas com o conjunto cc-pV5Z e com um método numérico HF.

O papel da cidade de Viçosa-MG na rede urbana : a especialização funcional de uma cidade média mineira

Rede é o nome dado para se referenciar qualquer forma que seja composta por linhas interligadas por pontos, sendo assim essa denominação é utilizada para participar de nomes e conceitos em diversas área do conhecimento. Na geografia isso não ocorre de forma diferente. As redes geográficas são a denominação dada as ligações feitas no espaço articuladas por pontos, notadamente são usadas para se fazer referência a redes materiais, mas podem ser mais imateriais ou abstratas a depender do objeto de pesquisa e do adjetivo adotado. A noção de redes urbanas nasceu vinculada aos objetos materiais, entretanto com a evolução da técnica passou a abranger objetos cada vez mais virtuais. As redes urbanas são compostas pelo conjunto de cidades, cada qual com sua centralidade representadas por pontos ou nós na rede, e pelas ligações entre elas, rodovias, hidrovias, infovias etc. As cidades que compõem a rede, por mais semelhanças que possam ter entre si, tem diferentes tipos e graus de centralidade, de poder de atração de pessoas, de recursos; sendo uma região de influência singular, que muda de tempos em tempos, face a evolução do território onde se insere. Tanto as centralidades quanto as redes de urbanas estão em constante mudança, necessitando sempre de atualização tornando o estudo das redes e das centralidades uma questão sempre nova; em especial quando considerado um território tão vasto e complexo como o brasileiro. Neste trabalho relatamos os resultados do estudo das especificidades da centralidade da cidade de Viçosa, que está localizada no interior do estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil. Este estudo fez uso de dados numéricos, fotográficos e cartográficos coletados em diversos momentos da evolução do município e da região onde este se insere, que revelaram as mudanças de qualidade e de intensidade na centralidade dessa cidade, hoje tipificada como média ou intermediária, inserida na rede urbana mineira. No período compreendido entre os anos de 1850 e 1930, Viçosa passou de uma inexpressiva localidade rural, a importante centro de produção de café, galgando ganhos políticos nesse período. Seguiu-se um período de menor pujança, por cerca de setenta anos, para depois, na virada do século XX para XXI, ressurgi como uma localidade especializada em oferecer serviços, notadamente vinculados ao ensino superior e à produção de ciência e tecnologia. Essa nova centralidade, ao contrário do que muitas vezes ocorre, não foi fruto nem de um recurso natural inerente ao território e nem, tão pouco, pela atuação de grandes grupos capitalistas. Foi galgado principalmente pela atuação do Estado que construiu ali as bases de uma especialização funcional, através da implantação de uma universidade pública.

Fatores intervenientes na implementação de ações estratégicas para a promoção do selo de indicação geográfica das panelas de barro de goiabeiras

Visando a proteção da propriedade industrial advinda de uma região demarcada, surgiu a Indicação Geográfica (IG). O registro da IG é conferido aos produtos ou serviços característicos de seu local de origem, apresentando qualidades únicas em função dos recursos naturais. Além disso, a IG é responsável por distinguir estes produtos em relação aos disponíveis no mercado. Neste contexto, entidades como Sebrae, MAPA e INPI, têm promovido ações estratégicas com o objetivo de apoiar a proteção do saber fazer e consequentemente, os produtos tradicionais das regiões. Tais entidades são responsáveis por promover a sustentabilidade do processo juntos aos produtores, assim como disseminar o selo para os consumidores. Assim, iniciativas como esta precisam ser apoiadas a fim de entregar resultados significativos para o desenvolvimento das regiões e seus respectivos produtos com o selo de IG. O Plano de Apoio à Gestão da Indicação Geográfica desenvolvido pelo Sebrae/ES tem três pilares: melhoria do processo de produção, promoção do produto e a sustentabilidade do processo. A presente pesquisa, baseando-se nas teorias sobre estratégia e implementação de estratégias, analisa os fatores intervenientes que contribuem para o sucesso da implementação do Plano de Apoio à Gestão da indicação geográfica das Panelas de Barro de Goiabeiras, bairro do município de Vitória, capital do Espírito Santo. A pesquisa é um estudo de caso de natureza qualitativa, exploratória e descritiva ex-post-facto. Os dados foram coletados nos documentos (plano de ação do Sebrae/ES, Livro dos Saberes e relatórios desenvolvidos por consultores especializados) e por meio de entrevistas com seis agentes de políticas públicas e cinco paneleiras, envolvidos na elaboração e implementação do plano de ação. Para a análise dos dados, adotou-se a metodologia de análise de conteúdo com index definido a posteriori. Do Plano de Apoio à Gestão da IG das Paneleiras de Goiabeiras, foram agrupadas três ações estratégicas buscando identificar em que medida os fatores intervenientes afetaram a implementação de cada ação estudada: Ação1: fortalecimento dos aspectos culturais do produto, Ação 2: fortalecimento dos aspectos sociais do produto e Ação 3: fortalecimento dos aspectos econômicos associados à diferenciação por IG. Os resultados mostraram que na Ação 1 o fator interveniente liderança superou as expectativas na implementação das estratégias. Já os aspectos políticos, o acompanhamento de resultados e a estrutura organizacional desenvolveram as ações conforme o planejado, enquanto os fatores intervenientes cultura e clareza nas estratégias apresentaram oportunidades de melhorias. Na Ação 2 somente os fatores intervenientes recursos, cultura e clareza nas estratégias apresentaram-se de acordo com o proposto, enquanto a liderança e a estrutura organizacional mostraram-se como pontos de oportunidades de melhoria. Por fim, na Ação 3 nenhum fator interveniente foi destaque como uma oportunidade de melhoria. A estrutura organizacional e os aspectos políticos apresentaram-se de acordo, enquanto os recursos e a liderança superaram as expectativas.

Automatic segmentation and 3D feature extraction of protein aggregates in Caenorhabditis Elegans

In the last years, it has become increasingly clear that neurodegenerative diseases involve protein aggregation, a process often used as disease progression readout and to develop therapeutic strategies. This work presents an image processing tool to automatic segment, classify and quantify these aggregates and the whole 3D body of the nematode Caenorhabditis Elegans. A total of 150 data set images, containing different slices, were captured with a confocal microscope from animals of distinct genetic conditions. Because of the animals’ transparency, most of the slices pixels appeared dark, hampering their body volume direct reconstruction. Therefore, for each data set, all slices were stacked in one single 2D image in order to determine a volume approximation. The gradient of this image was input to an anisotropic diffusion algorithm that uses the Tukey’s biweight as edge-stopping function. The image histogram median of this outcome was used to dynamically determine a thresholding level, which allows the determination of a smoothed exterior contour of the worm and the medial axis of the worm body from thinning its skeleton. Based on this exterior contour diameter and the medial animal axis, random 3D points were then calculated to produce a volume mesh approximation. The protein aggregations were subsequently segmented based on an iso-value and blended with the resulting volume mesh. The results obtained were consistent with qualitative observations in literature, allowing non-biased, reliable and high throughput protein aggregates quantification. This may lead to a significant improvement on neurodegenerative diseases treatment planning and interventions prevention

Automatic modeling of pectus excavatum corrective prosthesis using artificial neural networks

Pectus excavatum is the most common deformity of the thorax. Pre-operative diagnosis usually includes Computed Tomography (CT) to successfully employ a thoracic prosthesis for anterior chest wall remodeling. Aiming at the elimination of radiation exposure, this paper presents a novel methodology for the replacement of CT by a 3D laser scanner (radiation-free) for prosthesis modeling. The complete elimination of CT is based on an accurate determination of ribs position and prosthesis placement region through skin surface points. The developed solution resorts to a normalized and combined outcome of an artificial neural network (ANN) set. Each ANN model was trained with data vectors from 165 male patients and using soft tissue thicknesses (STT) comprising information from the skin and rib cage (automatically determined by image processing algorithms). Tests revealed that ribs position for prosthesis placement and modeling can be estimated with an average error of 5.0 ± 3.6 mm. One also showed that the ANN performance can be improved by introducing a manually determined initial STT value in the ANN normalization procedure (average error of 2.82 ± 0.76 mm). Such error range is well below current prosthesis manual modeling (approximately 11 mm), which can provide a valuable and radiation-free procedure for prosthesis personalization.

Automatic modeling of pectus excavatum corrective prosthesis using artificial neural networks

Pectus excavatum is the most common deformity of the thorax. Pre-operative diagnosis usually includes Computed Tomography (CT) to successfully employ a thoracic prosthesis for anterior chest wall remodeling. Aiming at the elimination of radiation exposure, this paper presents a novel methodology for the replacement of CT by a 3D laser scanner (radiation-free) for prosthesis modeling. The complete elimination of CT is based on an accurate determination of ribs position and prosthesis placement region through skin surface points. The developed solution resorts to a normalized and combined outcome of an artificial neural network (ANN) set. Each ANN model was trained with data vectors from 165 male patients and using soft tissue thicknesses (STT) comprising information from the skin and rib cage (automatically determined by image processing algorithms). Tests revealed that ribs position for prosthesis placement and modeling can be estimated with an average error of 5.0 ± 3.6 mm. One also showed that the ANN performance can be improved by introducing a manually determined initial STT value in the ANN normalization procedure (average error of 2.82 ± 0.76 mm). Such error range is well below current prosthesis manual modeling (approximately 11 mm), which can provide a valuable and radiation-free procedure for prosthesis personalization.

Appraisal of urban rehabilitation literature and projects, including a glossary of terms and a preliminary set of indicators characterising LUDA

LUDA is a research project of Key Action 4 "City of Tomorrow & Cultural Heritage" of the programme "Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development" within the Fifth Framework Programme of the European Commission

The condensation and ordering of models of empty liquids

We consider a simple model consisting of particles with four bonding sites ("patches"), two of type A and two of type B, on the square lattice, and investigate its global phase behavior by simulations and theory. We set the interaction between B patches to zero and calculate the phase diagram as the ratio between the AB and the AA interactions, epsilon(AB)*, varies. In line with previous work, on three-dimensional off-lattice models, we show that the liquid-vapor phase diagram exhibits a re-entrant or "pinched" shape for the same range of epsilon(AB)*, suggesting that the ratio of the energy scales - and the corresponding empty fluid regime - is independent of the dimensionality of the system and of the lattice structure. In addition, the model exhibits an order-disorder transition that is ferromagnetic in the re-entrant regime. The use of low-dimensional lattice models allows the simulation of sufficiently large systems to establish the nature of the liquid-vapor critical points and to describe the structure of the liquid phase in the empty fluid regime, where the size of the "voids" increases as the temperature decreases. We have found that the liquid-vapor critical point is in the 2D Ising universality class, with a scaling region that decreases rapidly as the temperature decreases. The results of simulations and theoretical analysis suggest that the line of order-disorder transitions intersects the condensation line at a multi-critical point at zero temperature and density, for patchy particle models with a re-entrant, empty fluid, regime. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3657406]

Evaluation of alcohol outlet density and its relation with violence

OBJECTIVES: The current study set out to investigate alcohol availability in a densely populated, residential area of suburban São Paulo associated with high levels of social deprivation and violence. Gun-related deaths and a heavy concentration of alcohol outlets are notable features of the area surveyed. Given the strong evidence for a link between alcohol availability and a number of alcohol-related problems, including violent crime, measures designed to reduce accessibility have become a favored choice for alcohol prevention programs in recent years. METHODS: The interviewers were 24 residents of the area who were trained for the study. It was selected an area of nineteen streets, covering a total distance of 3.7 km. A profile of each alcohol outlet available on the area was recorded. RESULTS: One hundred and seven alcohol outlets were recorded. The number of other properties in the same area was counted at 1,202. Two measures of outlet density may thus be calculated: the number of outlets per kilometer of roadway (29 outlets/km); and the proportion of all properties that sold alcohol (1 in 12). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study is compared with others which are mainly from developed countries and shown that the area studied have the highest density of alcohol outlet density ever recorded in the medical literature. The implication of this data related to the violence of the region is discussed. By generating a profile of alcohol sales and selling points, it was hoped to gain a better understanding of alcohol access issues within the sample area. Future alcohol prevention policy would be well served by such knowledge.

Direct multisearch for multiobjective optimization

In practical applications of optimization it is common to have several conflicting objective functions to optimize. Frequently, these functions are subject to noise or can be of black-box type, preventing the use of derivative-based techniques. We propose a novel multiobjective derivative-free methodology, calling it direct multisearch (DMS), which does not aggregate any of the objective functions. Our framework is inspired by the search/poll paradigm of direct-search methods of directional type and uses the concept of Pareto dominance to maintain a list of nondominated points (from which the new iterates or poll centers are chosen). The aim of our method is to generate as many points in the Pareto front as possible from the polling procedure itself, while keeping the whole framework general enough to accommodate other disseminating strategies, in particular, when using the (here also) optional search step. DMS generalizes to multiobjective optimization (MOO) all direct-search methods of directional type. We prove under the common assumptions used in direct search for single objective optimization that at least one limit point of the sequence of iterates generated by DMS lies in (a stationary form of) the Pareto front. However, extensive computational experience has shown that our methodology has an impressive capability of generating the whole Pareto front, even without using a search step. Two by-products of this paper are (i) the development of a collection of test problems for MOO and (ii) the extension of performance and data profiles to MOO, allowing a comparison of several solvers on a large set of test problems, in terms of their efficiency and robustness to determine Pareto fronts.