Praktiska effekter av begreppsförvirring för en databas konceptuella design : En fallstudie om databas- och begreppsmodellering

Company X develops a laboratory information system (LIS) called System Y. The informationsystem has a two-tier database architecture consisting of a production database and a historicaldatabase. A database constitutes the backbone of a IS, which makes the design of the databasevery important. A poorly designed database can cause major problems within an organization.The two databases in System Y are poorly modeled, particularly the historical database. Thecause of the poor modeling was unclear concepts. The unclear concepts have remained in thedatabase and in the company organization and caused a general confusion of concepts. The splitdatabase architecture itself has evolved into a bottleneck and is the cause of many problemsduring the development of System Y.Company X investigates the possibility of integrating the historical database with the productiondatabase. The goal of our thesis is to conduct a consequence analysis of such integration andwhat the effects would be on System Y, and to create a new design for the integrated database.We will also examine and describe the practical effects of confusion of concepts for a databaseconceptual design.To achieve the goal of the thesis, five different method steps have been performed: a preliminarystudy of the organization, a change analysis, a consequence analysis and an investigation of theconceptual design of the database. These method steps have helped identify changes necessaryfor the organization, a new design proposal for an integrated database, the impact of theproposed design and a number of effects of confusion for the database.

Atuação do enfermeiro na rede básica de saúde frente a gestante com infecção do trato urinário

The Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) in pregnancy is important as a consequence of the high incidence during the gestation. It is the third most common clinical complication in pregnancy affecting 10-12% of women whether prevalence is increasing in the first trimester of pregnancy, it may also contribute to maternal and infant mortality. Due the relevance for the results of obstetric and neonatal complications from UTI, these complications must be prevented, because it can lead to health hazards to pregnant women and newborns, producing a direct effect on morbidity and perinatal mortality. On this basis, it was defined as objectives of this research the identification of the profile of nurses from the Family Health Strategy (FHS) in the East and West Health Districts from the city of Natal / RN before the women with UTI and to verify the nurse performance during prenatal consultations. This is an exploratory study with a quantitative approach using a sample of 40 nurses active workers during this survey, it was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte Protocol n0 232/10 P-CEP/UFRN and opinion n0 080/2011. The tool for data collection was a structured interview. The data collected were organized into an electronic database application Microsoft ® Excel 2007, exported and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0, and coded, tabulated and presented through tables and charts into their respective percentage distributions, using the descriptive and inferential statistical analysis, chi-square test and significance level of 5% (distribution in relative and absolute frequencies) in the independent variables. Therefore, it was observed from these results that the longer action of nurses in the FHS from the East and Weast health districts of the city of Natal/RN contributed to the development of a greater number of activities to control the incidence of UTI in women who are attended in the prenatal care service, proven by significance in statistics

Pixel intensity and fractal analyses: detecting osteoporosis in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women by using digital panoramic images

Objective. Pixel intensity values (PI) and fractal dimensions (FD) were compared in selected mandibular regions on digital panoramic images of normal, osteopenic, and osteoporotic perimenopausal and postmenopausal women to evaluate their relative efficacies in detecting osteoporotic-associated bone density changes.Study design. Standardized mandibular angle, body, and canine/premolar (C/PM) regions on 54 charge-coupied device (CCD) digital panoramic images of normal and potentially osteoporotic postmenopausal women were analyzed for PI and FD. Lumbar spine and femoral neck dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry QXA) on each patient served as the reference standard examination. Pearson correlation coefficients and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed.Results. There was significant correlation among PI measurements (P < 0.01), and no significant correlation between FD. C/PM had significantly lower PI than control C/PM (P = 0.049).Conclusions. Osteoporotic changes in mandibular C/PM cancellous bone were detected in our study population on CCD digital panoramic images by using a robust image analysis paradigm. Future automated application of such image analysis could enable widespread, cost effective screening for osteoporosis in dental settings.

An extended query-the-user tool for expert systems

An extended version of HIER, a query-the-user facility for expert systems is presented. HIER was developed to run over Prolog programs, and has been incorporated to systems that support the design of large and complex applications. The framework of the extended version is described,; as well as the major features of the implementation. An example is included to illustrate the use of the tool, involving the design of a specific database application.

Caracterização morfológica da corrosão por pite da liga AL2024 em soluções contendo cloretos e molibdatos

A very new method application for digital image processing and analysis to classify shape and evaluate size and morphology parameters of pit corrosion is used in this paper. This method seems to be very effective to analysis surfaces with low or high degree of pitting formation. Pits formed on 2024 alloy surface by chloride and by chloride + molibdate anions have similar mean area, are found to be widther than deeper and exhibit predominantly conical or near-conical and irregular geometries.

Sistema de Informação Geográfica e a contaminação por agrotóxicos no meio ambiente da cana-de-açúcar na bacia hidrográfica do Rio Pardo - SP/MG

Pós-graduação em Geografia - IGCE

Análise de formas planas em imagens digitais: uma nova abordagem baseada na Transformada de Hough

Pós-graduação em Ciência da Computação - IBILCE

HTS and HTSn: New shape descriptors based on Hough transform statistics

With the widespread proliferation of computers, many human activities entail the use of automatic image analysis. The basic features used for image analysis include color, texture, and shape. In this paper, we propose a new shape description method, called Hough Transform Statistics (HTS), which uses statistics from the Hough space to characterize the shape of objects or regions in digital images. A modified version of this method, called Hough Transform Statistics neighborhood (HTSn), is also presented. Experiments carried out on three popular public image databases showed that the HTS and HTSn descriptors are robust, since they presented precision-recall results much better than several other well-known shape description methods. When compared to Beam Angle Statistics (BAS) method, a shape description method that inspired their development, both the HTS and the HTSn methods presented inferior results regarding the precision-recall criterion, but superior results in the processing time and multiscale separability criteria. The linear complexity of the HTS and the HTSn algorithms, in contrast to BAS, make them more appropriate for shape analysis in high-resolution image retrieval tasks when very large databases are used, which are very common nowadays. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ridge-based fingerprint matching using hough transform

Despite the efficacy of minutia-based fingerprint matching techniques for good-quality images captured by optical sensors, minutia-based techniques do not often perform so well on poor-quality images or fingerprint images captured by small solid-state sensors. Solid-state fingerprint sensors are being increasingly deployed in a wide range of applications for user authentication purposes. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new fingerprint-matching techniques that utilize other features to deal with fingerprint images captured by solid-state sensors. This paper presents a new fingerprint matching technique based on fingerprint ridge features. This technique was assessed on the MSU-VERIDICOM database, which consists of fingerprint impressions obtained from 160 users (4 impressions per finger) using a solid-state sensor. The combination of ridge-based matching scores computed by the proposed ridge-based technique with minutia-based matching scores leads to a reduction of the false non-match rate by approximately 1.7% at a false match rate of 0.1%. © 2005 IEEE.

Class-specific metrics for multidimensional data projection applied to CBIR

Content-based image retrieval is still a challenging issue due to the inherent complexity of images and choice of the most discriminant descriptors. Recent developments in the field have introduced multidimensional projections to burst accuracy in the retrieval process, but many issues such as introduction of pattern recognition tasks and deeper user intervention to assist the process of choosing the most discriminant features still remain unaddressed. In this paper, we present a novel framework to CBIR that combines pattern recognition tasks, class-specific metrics, and multidimensional projection to devise an effective and interactive image retrieval system. User interaction plays an essential role in the computation of the final multidimensional projection from which image retrieval will be attained. Results have shown that the proposed approach outperforms existing methods, turning out to be a very attractive alternative for managing image data sets.

PRoSPer: perceptual similarity queries in medical CBIR systems through user profiles

In this paper, we present a novel approach to perform similarity queries over medical images, maintaining the semantics of a given query posted by the user. Content-based image retrieval systems relying on relevance feedback techniques usually request the users to label relevant/irrelevant images. Thus, we present a highly effective strategy to survey user profiles, taking advantage of such labeling to implicitly gather the user perceptual similarity. The profiles maintain the settings desired for each user, allowing tuning of the similarity assessment, which encompasses the dynamic change of the distance function employed through an interactive process. Experiments on medical images show that the method is effective and can improve the decision making process during analysis.

Calibrating a CGE model with NTBs that Incorporates Standard Models of Modern Trade Theory

We propose a way to incorporate NTBs for the four workhorse models of the modern trade literature in computable general equilibrium models (CGEs). CGE models feature intermediate linkages and thus allow us to study global value chains (GVCs). We show that the Ethier-Krugman monopolistic competition model, the Melitz firm heterogeneity model and the Eaton and Kortum model can be defined as an Armington model with generalized marginal costs, generalized trade costs and a demand externality. As already known in the literature in both the Ethier-Krugman model and the Melitz model generalized marginal costs are a function of the amount of factor input bundles. In the Melitz model generalized marginal costs are also a function of the price of the factor input bundles. Lower factor prices raise the number of firms that can enter the market profitably (extensive margin), reducing generalized marginal costs of a representative firm. For the same reason the Melitz model features a demand externality: in a larger market more firms can enter. We implement the different models in a CGE setting with multiple sectors, intermediate linkages, non-homothetic preferences and detailed data on trade costs. We find the largest welfare effects from trade cost reductions in the Melitz model. We also employ the Melitz model to mimic changes in Non tariff Barriers (NTBs) with a fixed cost-character by analysing the effect of changes in fixed trade costs. While we work here with a model calibrated to the GTAP database, the methods developed can also be applied to CGE models based on the WIOD database.

Description and analysis of variation in dairy product and concomitant nutrient purchases between Hispanic and non -Hispanic households using a panel of shoppers' purchase records

The purpose of this research was development of a method of estimating nutrient availability in populations as approximated by supermarket purchase records. Demographic information describing 12,516 panel households was obtained from a marketing and advertising program operated by H. E. Butt Grocery Company of San Antonio, Texas. A non-probability sample of 2,161 households meeting expenditure criteria was selected and all purchases of dairy products for this sample of households were organized into a database constructed to facilitate the retrieval, aggregation, and analysis of dairy product purchases and their nutrient contents. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) no difference would be found between Hispanic and non-Hispanic purchases of dairy product categories during the study period and (2) no difference would be found between Hispanic and non-Hispanic purchases of nutrients contained in those dairy products during the thirteen-week study period.^ Food purchase records were used to estimate nutrient exposure on a weekly, per capita basis for Hispanic and non-Hispanic households by linking some 40,000 dairy purchase Universal Product code (UPC) numbers with food composition values contained in USDA Handbook 8-1. Results of this study suggest Hispanic sample households consistently purchased fewer dairy products than did non-Hispanic sample households and consequently had fewer nutrients available from dairy purchases. While weekly expenditures for dairy products among the sample households remained relatively constant during the study period, shifts in the types of dairy products purchased were observed. The effect of ethnicity on dairy product and nutrient purchases was significant over the thirteen-week period. A database consisting of customer, household, and purchase information can be developed to successfully associate food item UPC numbers with a standard reference of food composition to estimate nutrient availability in a population over extended periods of time. ^

Downscaling of global solar irradiation in R

A methodology for downscaling solar irradiation from satellite-derived databases is described using R software. Different packages such as raster, parallel, solaR, gstat, sp and rasterVis are considered in this study for improving solar resource estimation in areas with complex topography, in which downscaling is a very useful tool for reducing inherent deviations in satellite-derived irradiation databases, which lack of high global spatial resolution. A topographical analysis of horizon blocking and sky-view is developed with a digital elevation model to determine what fraction of hourly solar irradiation reaches the Earth's surface. Eventually, kriging with external drift is applied for a better estimation of solar irradiation throughout the region analyzed. This methodology has been implemented as an example within the region of La Rioja in northern Spain, and the mean absolute error found is a striking 25.5% lower than with the original database.