Open-access operating algorithms for commercial videokeratographer and improvement of corneal sampling

We present an algorithm to process images of reflected Placido rings captured by a commercial videokeratoscope. Raw data are obtained with no Cartesian-to-polar-coordinate conversion, thus avoiding interpolation and associated numerical artifacts. The method provides a characteristic equation for the device and is able to process around 6 times more corneal data than the commercial software. Our proposal allows complete control over the whole process from the capture of corneal images until the computation of curvature radii.

Indicators of obesity and the educational attainment of the Czech female population

The aim of this paper was to evaluate the relationship between selected indicators of obesity and the highest completed level of education in the adult female population of the Czech republic. As basic indicators of obesity, these following parameters were selected and measured via the bioimpedance method on the device InBody 720: BMI, WHR (waist-to-hip ratio), % body fat, % skeletal muscle mass, fitness score. The educational attainment of the tested women was inquired by a questionnaire. Based on the responses, we subsequently divided our sample into four categories according to the level of education: primary education, secondary education-apprenticeship, secondary education-graduate diploma, and university. The research was realized within the project CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0044. The measurements on the device InBody 720 and the accompanying survey were conducted between 2011-2013 in different regions of the Czech Republic. The sample consisted of 754 women divided into 3 age groups (18-39, 40-59, 60+ years). Based on the results (p<0.05), we can say that average values of the indicators obesity (BMI: 22.76, 24.88, 26.49 kg/m2, WHR: 0.85, 0.88, 0.90 and % body fat: 25.76, 30.23, 34.62%) increase with the increasing age of examined women. The average values of the fitness score (75.53, 73.86, 70.04 points) and % skeletal muscle mass (40.78, 38.15, 33.95%) decrease with increasing age. With regard to the educational attainment, women with secondary education-apprenticeship achieved the worst results. In contrast, the values in university educated women were the best in most indicators of obesity.

Indicators of success in the dietary management of overweight and obesity: weight, body fat loss and quality

Concepts: %WL: Percentage of weight loss; %FL: Percentage of fat loss. Objective: evaluate which unit of measurement for weight loss could determine the success or failure of dietary treatment for overweight and obesity. Method: 4,625 consultations carried out on 616 patients in the southeast of Spain from 2006 to 2012. All of the patients were over 25 years of age and suffered from overweight or obesity. The consultations were carried out every fortnight, using the Mediterranean or low-calorie diet. The patients were divided into four groups according to their %WL and %FL. Results: most of the sample consisted of: women; participants between 25-45 years of age; attended consultations for over a month and a half; obese. 80% of the patients obtained a %FL ≥ 5% (15.5 ± 12.8). The groups with a higher %FL obtained significant differences in weight loss (22.6 vs 11.2%, p = 0.000). The multinomial analysis shows significant differences between the groups with the highest %FL and the lowest %WL and %FL: sex (p = 0.006 vs p = 0.005), BMI (p = 0.010 vs p = 0.003) and attendance (p = 0.000 vs p = 0.000). Conclusion: the patients who lost < 5% of fat had higher initial parameters (percentage of weight and fat); most of the sample lost ≥ 5% of fat. This means that the method of personalised dietary treatment results in a high fat loss; fat is an indicator of the quality loss obtained. Recommendations: use the measurement of fat as a complementary unit of measurement to weight loss; establish a limit of 5% to evaluate such loss; and increase this type of research in any method of weight loss.

The effect of electricity tariffs over the operating costs of the Spanish wastewater treatments plants

Given the complex structure of electricity tariffs and their steady growth in Spanish, we've studied its effect over the operating costs of the wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), concluding that in the last three years the revisions of electricity rates have meant increases in electricity costs of 64.5% in the rate 3.1.A and 79.1% in the rate 6.1. This has caused the cost of electricity, which was the most important, has increased from a 44% of total operating costs in the year 2009, to more than a 56% in the year 2012.

A three-stage DEA model to evaluate learning-teaching technical efficiency: Key performance indicators and contextual variables

This study evaluates the technical efficiency of the learning-teaching process in higher education using a three-stage procedure that offers advances in comparison to previous studies and improves the quality of the results. First, it utilizes a multiple stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with contextual variables. Second, the levels of super efficiency are calculated in order to prioritize the efficiency units. And finally, through sensitivity analysis, the contribution of each key performance indicator (KPI) is established with respect to the efficiency levels without omission of variables. The analytical data was collected from a survey completed by 633 tourism students during the 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14 academic course years. The results suggest that level of satisfaction with the course, diversity of materials and satisfaction with the teacher were the most important factors affecting teaching performance. Furthermore, the effect of the contextual variables was found to be significant.

Patient safety in the operating room and documentary quality related to infection and hospitalization

Objective: To describe the documentary quality of two records related to patient safety in the operating room and to identify differences between information related to infection and hospitalization. Methods: Comparative study based on two cross sections, conducted with 3,033 patients who had been hospitalized for more than 24 hours in an Orthopedics and Traumatology Center. Sociodemographic and clinical data, as well as information provided in forms were compared. Postoperative infection was identified as an adverse event. Results: There was a significant correlation between hospitalization days and the total number of diagnoses collected (Pearson=0.328; p<0.001). When diagnoses and infections were grouped together, a significant value was found between closed fractures and infection (p=0.001). Conclusion: Differences in the degree of completion were observed between the two records. There were no differences between adverse events.

Structural evolution of the Lesser Himalayan fold-thrust belt of west central Nepal

The Lesser Himalayan fold-thrust belt on the south flank of the Jajarkot klippe in west central Nepal was mapped in detail between the Main Central thrust in the north and the Main Boundary thrust in the south. South of the Jajarkot klippe, the fold-thrust belt involves sandstone, shale and carbonate rocks that are unmetamorphosed in the foreland and increase in metamorphic grade with higher structural position to sub-greenschist facies towards the hinterland. The exposed stratigraphy is correlative with the Proterozoic Ranimata, Sangram, Galyang, Syangia Formations and Lakharpata Group of Western Nepal and overlain by the Paleozoic Tansen and Kali Gandaki Groups. Based on field mapping and cross-section construction, three distinct thrust sheets were identified separated by top-to-the-south thrust faults. From the foreland (south) to the hinterland (north), the first thrust sheet in the immediate hanging wall of the Main Boundary thrust defines an open syncline. The second thrust sheet contains a very broad synformal duplex, which is structurally stacked against the third thrust sheet containing a homoclinal panel of the oldest exposed Proterozoic stratigraphy. Outcrop scale folds throughout the study area are predominantly south vergent, open, and asymmetric reflecting the larger regional scale folding style, which corroborate the top-to-the-south deformation style seen in the faults of the region. Field techniques were complemented with microstructural and quartz crystallographic c-axis preferred orientation analyses using a petrographic microscope and a fabric analyzer, respectively. Microstructural analysis identified abundant strain-induced recrystallization textures and occasional occurrences of top-to-the-south shear-sense indicators primarily in the hinterland rocks in the immediate footwall of the Main Central Thrust. Top-to-the-south shearing is also supported by quartz crystallographic c-axis preferred orientations. Quartz recrystallization textures indicate an increase in deformation temperature towards the Main Central thrust. A line balance estimate indicates that approximately 15 km of crustal shortening was accommodated by folding and faulting in the fold-thrust belt south of the Jajarkot klippe. Additionally, estimations of shortening velocity suggest that the shortening velocity operating in this section of the fold-thrust belt between 23 to 14 Ma was slower than what is currently observed as a result of the ongoing deformation of the Sub-Himalayan fold-thrust belt.

Avaliação do desempenho do sistema de mini-geração fotovoltaico na Faculdade de Ciências

Tese de mestrado integrado, Engenharia da Energia e do Ambiente, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2016