Deep learning approach to describe and classify fungi microscopic images

Preliminary diagnosis of fungal infections can rely on microscopic examination. However, in many cases, it does not allow unambiguous identification of the species by microbiologist due to their visual similarity. Therefore, it is usually necessary to use additional biochemical tests. That involves additional costs and extends the identification process up to 10 days. Such a delay in the implementation of targeted therapy may be grave in consequence as the mortality rate for immunosuppressed patients is high. In this paper, we apply a machine learning approach based on deep neural networks and Fisher Vector (advanced bag-of-words method) to classify microscopic images of various fungi species. Our approach has the potential to make the last stage of biochemical identification redundant, shortening the identification process by 2-3 days, and reducing the cost of the diagnosis

Candida albicans biofilm formation on peptide functionalized polydimethylsiloxane

In order to prevent biofilm formation by Candida albicans, several cationic peptides were covalently bound to polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The salivary peptide histatin 5 and two synthetic variants (Dhvar 4 and Dhvar 5) were used to prepare peptide functionalized PDMS using 4-azido-2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-benzoic acid (AFB) as an interlinkage molecule. In addition, polylysine-, polyarginine-, and polyhistidine-PDMS surfaces were prepared. Dhvar 4 functionalized PDMS yielded the highest reduction of the number of C. albicans biofilm cells in the Modified Robbins Device. Amino acid analysis demonstrated that the amount of peptide immobilized on the modified disks was in the nanomole range. Poly-d-lysine PDMS, in particular the homopeptides with low molecular weight (2500 and 9600) showed the highest activity against C. albicans biofilms, with reductions of 93% and 91%, respectively. The results indicate that the reductions are peptide dependent

Design and fabrication of a low cost implantable bladder pressure monitor

In the frame of the Flemish Community funded project Bioflex we developed and fabricated an implant for short term (< 7 days) bladder pressure monitoring, and diagnosis of incontinence. This implant is soft and flexible to prevent damaging the bladder's inner wall. It contains a standard flexible electronic circuit connected to a battery, which are embedded in surface treated silicone to enhance the biocompatibility and prevent salt deposition. This article describes the fabrication of the pill and the results of preliminary cytotoxicity tests. The electronic design and its tests, implantation and the result of the in-vivo experimentation will be presented in other articles

A Nondestructive Distributed Sensor System for Imaging in Industrial Tomography

The proposed solution is based on the construction of a cyber-physical system for acquiring, processing, and reconstructing the image of measurement data. Industrial tomography enables observation of physical and chemical phenomena without the need of internal penetration. Process tomography gives the possibility to analyze processes taking place inside the facility without disturbing the production, analysis, and detection of obstacles, defects, and various anomalies. The presented measuring system has a specially designed measuring structure (including electrodes, thanks to which it is an innovative solution in the field, particularly effective in analysis). Knowledge of the characteristics of each tomographic technique allows to choose the appropriate method of image reconstruction. The inverse problem is the process of identifying optimization or synthesis, wherein the objective is to determine the parameters describing the data field

PROJEKTOWANIE SYSTEMÓW ANALIZY DANYCH DO AUTOMATYZACJI PROCESÓW BIZNESOWYCH

The paper deals with the design of data analysis systems for business process automation. The main goal of the project is to develop an&nbsp;innovative system for analyzing multisource data, business data mining processes, and as a result the creation and sharing of new improved procedures and solutions.Artykuł dotyczy projektowania systemów analizy danych do automatyzacji procesów biznesowych. Głównym celem projektu jest opracowanie innowacyjnego systemu do analizy danych wieloźródłowych, procesów eksploracji danych biznesowych, a co za tym idzie tworzenie i udostępnianie nowych ulepszonych procedur i rozwiązań

ANALIZA OBRAZÓW MEDYCZNYCH I STEREOSKOPOWYCH W SYSTEMIE E-MEDICUS

In this work, there were implemented methods to analyze and segmentation medical images by using different kind of algorithms. The solution shows the architecture of the system collecting and analyzing data. There was tried to develop an algorithm for level set method applied to piecewise constant image segmentation. These algorithms are needed to identify arbitrary number of phases for the segmentation problem. With the use of modern algorithms, it can obtain a quicker diagnosis and automatically marking areas of the interest region in medical images.W pracy zaimplementowano metody analizy i segmentacji obrazów medycznych przy użyciu różnych algorytmów. Rozwiązanie pokazuje architekturę systemu zbierającego i analizującego dane. Podjęto próbę opracowania algorytmu dla metody zbiorów poziomicowych stosowanej do fragmentarycznej, stałej segmentacji obrazu. Metody te są potrzebne do identyfikacji dowolnej liczby faz dla problemu segmentacji. Dzięki zastosowaniu nowoczesnych algorytmów można uzyskać szybszą diagnozę i automatyczne oznaczanie obszarów w regionach zainteresowania w obrazach medycznych

ALGORYTMY TOPOLOGICZNE DO ROZWIĄZYWANIA ZAGADNIENIA ODWROTNEGO W TOMOGRAFII ELEKTRYCZNEJ

In this paper, there were investigated topological algorithms to solve the inverse problem in electrical tomography. The level set method, material derivative, shape derivative and topological derivative are based on shape and topology optimization approach to electrical impedance tomography problems with piecewise constant conductivities. The cost of the numerical algorithm is enough good, because the shape is captured on a fixed grid. The proposed solution is initialized by using topological sensitivity analysis. Shape derivative and material derivative (or topological derivative) have been incorporated with level set methods to investigate shape optimization problems.W artykule przedstawiono algorytmy topologiczne do rozwiązania problemu odwrotnego w tomografii elektrycznej. Metoda zbiorów poziomicowych, pochodna materialna, pochodna kształtu i pochodna topologiczna zostały oparte na topologii optymalizacji kształtu do rozwiązania odwrotnego w elektrycznej tomografii impedancyjnej. Koszt algorytmu numerycznego jest wystarczająco dobry, ponieważ kształt jest osadzony na stałej siatce. Proponowany algorytm inicjowano za pomocą topologicznej analizy wrażliwościowej. Pochodna kształtu, pochodna materialna (lub pochodna topologiczna) zostały połączone z metodą zbiorów poziomicowych do badania problemów optymalizacji kształtu

The Impact of Industrial Revolution 4.0 and the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Corporate Marketing

Theoretical background: The transformation of marketing that has been taking place for the last 150 years involves the gradual change of its concept, strategy and operational activity models to meet the manifested challenges and the future development trends. The main factors that determine the evolutionary change in corporate marketing include the development of production technique and technology, organization and management processes, and the monetization of goods and services. Another factor includes changes in the environment of enterprises, primarily related to the processes of globalization and to the behaviour, tastes and preferences of consumers. Paradoxically, having affected almost the entire globalized world, the COVID-19 pandemic has become the catalyst for the processes of marketing transformation. The impact of these factors on marketing was the basis for distinguishing four stages in its development, i.e. Marketing 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0. This classification is parallel to the one related to industrial revolutions described as Industrial Revolution 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0.Purpose of the article: The identification of the main factors of the corporate marketing transformation and the assessment of their impact and effects on the changing ideas, tools and forms increasingly based on digitization and artificial intelligence.Research methods: the Author was motivated to undertake the research in question by the lack of systematic and comprehensive studies capturing the impact on marketing of the effects of industrial revolutions and the deriving changes in the corporate environment and the preferences and tastes of consumers, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. The Author used the previous research findings included in various studies (periodical, thematic and online) and conducted their critical analysis and synthesis, and supplemented those with his own reflections. The result of the above was the formulation of a thesis about a close relationship between the development of the techniques and technology of manufacturing, changes in the macro environment of entities as well as the needs and tastes of consumers , and the COVID-19 pandemic and the evolution of marketing. Main conclusions: Over the last 150 years there have been revolutionary changes in the corporate marketing. The main drivers of change included four industrial revolutions, the transformation of the corporate environment as well as of consumer needs and preferences, and the COVID-19 pandemic. They resulted in the gradual development of marketing from the stage defined as Marketing 1.0 through 2.0, 3.0 to 4.0. This last stage is taking place today and is characterized by a plethora of innovative forms. It has been subject to further transformations together with the progress in the implementation of inventions related to the Industrial Revolution 4.0.Theoretical justification: The transformation of marketing that has been taking place for the last one hundred and fifty years involves the gradual change of its concept, strategy and operational activity models to meet the manifested challenges and the future development trends. The main factors that determine the evolutionary change in corporate marketing include the development of production technique and technology, organization and management processes, and the monetization of goods and services. Another factor includes changes in the environment of enterprises, primarily related to the processes of globalization and to the behaviour, tastes and preferences of consumers. Paradoxically, having affected almost the entire globalized world, the Covid-19 Pandemic has become the catalyst for the processes of marketing transformation. The impact of these factors on marketing was the basis for distinguishing four stages in its development, i.e. Marketing 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0. This classification is parallel to the one related to industrial revolutions described as Industrial Revolution 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0. Purpose of the article: The identification of the main factors of the corporate marketing transformation and the assessment of their impact and effects on the changing ideas, tools and forms increasingly based on digitization and artificial intelligence. Research methods: the Author was motivated to undertake the research in question by the lack of systematic and comprehensive studies capturing the impact on marketing of the effects of industrial revolutions and the deriving changes in the corporate environment and the preferences and tastes of consumers, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. The Author used the previous research findings included in various studies (periodical, thematic and online) and conducted their critical analysis and synthesis, and supplemented those with his own reflections. The result of the above was the formulation of a thesis about a close relationship between the development of the techniques and technology of manufacturing, changes in the macro environment of entities as well as the needs and tastes of consumers , and the COVID-19 pandemic and the evolution of marketing. From the stage of focusing on product management, defined as marketing 1.0, it moved stage 2.0 based on the use of innovative information and communication technologies and focusing on consumers, and then to marketing 3.0 that took into account the cultural, social, spiritual and ecological aspects of consumer behaviour, and finally to marketing 4.0. The last stage of marketing utilises the base of the previous ones while focusing more intensely on building lasting ties with consumers, their participation in the creation of personalized products, multi-channel communication with them, strategy diversification and the greatest possible use of digital tools and artificial intelligence. Main conclusions: Over the last 150 years there have been revolutionary changes in the corporate marketing. The main drivers of change included four industrial revolutions, the transformation of the corporate environment as well as of consumer needs and preferences, and the COVID-19 pandemic. They resulted in the gradual development of marketing from the stage defined as Marketing 1.0 through 2.0, 3.0 to 4.0. This last stage is taking place today and is characterized by a plethora of innovative forms. It has been subject to further transformations together with the progress in the implementation of inventions related to the Industrial Revolution 4.0. Its increasing digitization results in the deepening of the relationship between producers achieving their income and consumers whose needs are better satisfied. Marketing 4.0 utilises the inventions of the Industrial Revolution 3.0 and 4.0 in order to obtain the best possible communication with consumers and at the same time seeks to achieve universal acceptance by adhering to ecological and social standards. Advances in digitization of marketing have been accelerated by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.                In technical and technological terms, the transformation of marketing means the gradual development of its digitization and the application of artificial intelligence. From the social perspective, however, it is a shift from focusing on the product to positioning the consumer, a community member sensitive to the dangers of globalization and having both physical and spiritual needs, in the centre of its attention

ZBIORY POZIOMICOWE I ALGORYTMY INTELIGENCJI OBLICZENIOWEJ DO ANALIZY OBRAZÓW MEDYCZNYCH W SYSTEMIE E-MEDICUS

In this work, there were implemented methods to analyze and segmentation medical images by using topological, statistical algorithms and artificial intelligence techniques. The solution shows the architecture of the system collecting and analyzing data. There was tried to develop an algorithm for level set method (LSM) applied to piecewise constant image segmentation. These algorithms are needed to identify arbitrary number of phases for the segmentation problem. The image segmentation refers to the process of partitioning a digital image into multiple regions. There is typically used to locate objects and boundaries in images. There was also shown an algorithm for analyzing medical images using a neural network MLP.W artykule zostały zaimplementowane metody do analizy i segmentacji obrazów medycznych przy użyciu algorytmów topologicznych, statystycznych i technik sztucznej inteligencji. Rozwiązanie przedstawia architekturę systemu do gromadzenia i analizy danych. Opracowano algorytmy oparte na metodzie zbiorów poziomicowych (MZP) jako odcinkowo stałą segmentację obrazu. Algorytmy te są potrzebne do identyfikacji dowolnej liczby faz dla problemu segmentacji, która odnosi się do procesu dzielenia cyfrowego obrazu w różnych regionach. Metoda używana jest zwykle do lokalizacji obiektów i brzegów w obrazach. W pracy przedstawiono również algorytm do analizy obrazów medycznych z wykorzystaniem sieci neuronowej MLP