QoS metrics-in-the-loop for endowing runtime self-adaptation to robotic software architectures

Multimedia Tools and Applications - The design of robots capable of operating autonomously in changing and unstructured environments, requires using complex software architectures in which,...     

The minimum dosage of praziquantel in the treatment of Taenia saginata, 1986-1993

Patients who have a unicornuate uterus with a noncommunicating rudimentary horn that contains an endometrial cavity are at risk for endometriosis and obstetric complications. As in this case, resection of the rudimentary horn can be performed laparoscopically without increased risk to the patient and with some potential benefit.     

Value-added service providers for mobile education: empirical challenges and analytics

More people have access to Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS, a.k.a. mobile picture messaging) than to the Internet, but mobile education markets have yet to adopt MMS as a content delivery mechanism. This paper investigates the role of carrier interoperability as an enabler of MMS in mobile multimedia distance learning. Using instructor reuse of content and learner access to content as feasibility criteria, we empirically evaluate the performance, user adoption, and commercial market of MMS-based mobile education. This study deployed a value-added service that broadcasts videos via MMS to cell phones, and conducted a 9-month public education campaign with weekly broadcasts on breast cancer. We selected a video format and markup language that is compatible with domestic carriers and cell phones, and supports existing educational material. To contrast behaviors between participants with and without access to the Internet, we offered participants the same content via MMS, email and the Web. 277 participants enrolled in the campaign; 120 opted to receive the videos via mobile messaging, and 157 had Internet access and opted to receive videos via email or the Web. Campaign analytics reveal that all participants without Internet access successfully received the MMS video broadcasts, and significantly, one-third of participants with Internet access opted to receive the videos via MMS as well. We conclude with a discussion of why participants with Internet access may have chosen MMS over Internet-based alternatives. We also estimate the size of the market for MMS-based mobile education, and distinguish it from the person-to-person messaging market. This research is beneficial to educators targeting diverse demographics and education disparities, and to mobile commerce economists evaluating emerging markets.     

Compile and Run-Time Support for the Parallelization of Sparse Matrix Updating Algorithms

This work presents a survey of the capabilities that the sparse computation offers for improving performance when parallelized, either automatically or through a data-parallel compiler. The characterization of a sparse code gets more complicated as code length increases: Access patterns change from loop to loop, thus making necessary to redefine the parallelization strategy. While dense computation solely offers the possibility of redistributing data structures, several other factors influence the performance of a code excerpt in the sparse field, like source data representation on file, compressed data storage in memory, the creation of new nonzeroes at run-time (fill-in) or the number of processors available. We analize the alternatives that arise from each issue, providing a guideline for the underlying compilation work and illustrating our techniques with examples on the Cray T3E.     

Deletion mapping of two potential chromosome 14 tumor suppressor gene loci in ovarian carcinoma

Previous allelotyping studies of epithelial ovarian carcinoma suggest that loss of heterozygosity on chromosome 14q may be a common genetic alteration in this tumor type. The purpose of this study was to determine a precise frequency of chromosome 14q allelic loss in ovarian carcinomas and to define a minimal region(s) of deletion. Seventy-six ovarian carcinomas representative of the complete spectrum of grade, stage, and histological subtype were selected for PCR-based deletion mapping analysis using 15 highly polymorphic microsatellite markers spanning the length of this chromosome arm. Loss of heterozygosity was observed in 49% of the tumors studied, placing 14q among the most frequently affected chromosomal regions in ovarian cancer. Deletions were observed in all tumor grades and stages and in all histological subtypes except tumors of low malignant potential. Deletion of the entire chromosome arm was rare; the majority of tumors displayed partial losses, providing an informative basis for detailed deletion mapping. Two distinct minimal regions of deletion were delineated. One region was defined by markers D14S80 and D14S75 at 14q12-13, and the other region was defined by markers D14S65 and D14S267 at 14q32. These data implicate the involvement of two tumor suppressor genes on chromosome 14q in a substantial fraction of ovarian carcinomas.     

A curvature-based multiresolution automatic karyotyping system

This paper presents a method to segment, characterise and pair a set of chromosomes in a cell of an eukaryotic organism. This method yields several new features: (i) chromosomes are captured at non-uniform resolution to minimise the problem instance; (ii) segmentation is adaptively conducted by means of a hierarchical structure in a fast way; (iii) the curvature of each chromosome is studied at high resolution by means of attentive steps; (iv) a very short and uncorrelated feature vector is extracted from curvature by analysing its spectral components; and (v) a multistage benchmark classifier is used to pair chromosomes according to shape and banding. The method has been tested with publicly available databases. Results were successfully compared to manual karyotypes. Received: 26 June 2000 / Accepted: 4 December 2001 Published online: 3 June 2003 Correspondence to: Cristina Urdiales García (e-mail: cris@dte.uma.es, Tel.: +34-952-132757, Fax: +34-952-131447)     

Validating CSCW strategies and applications for rapid product development in the investment casting process

The aim of this study is to apply and validate a general-purpose working methodology, derived from the analysis of processes which come from two different domains (the field of medicine and the preservation of cultural heritage), in the investment casting process. CSCW methods and tools have proven to be the best ‘gluing tool’ to bond the different activities, and thus heavily exploited during the customization of the general-purpose working methodology. This paper describes a case study performed in an industrial sector and related to the investment casting application field. It was chosen to test methodology and to demonstrate its wide applicability. The case study involved the realization of a centrifugal pump impeller, where the application of this CSCW-based methodology has delivered important results such as the reduction of product development time and the drastic reduction of production costs.