Recurring problems in the application of a new software process improvement model have to do with... more Recurring problems in the application of a new software process improvement model have to do with the lack of knowledge about how it works, its dissemination and the tools available, making it difficult to acquire the model and then understand it. Nowadays, e-learning systems could help Very Small Software Entities (VSEs), to get to know and understand software models and their peculiarities. To address this issue, this paper focuses on the development of a tool based on e-learning standards; it is called the HEPALE! Project.This project is composed of three steps. First, the creation of a deployment package set, in line with ISO/IEC PDTR 29110-5-1 Software Engineering-Lifecycle Profiles for VSEs, for implementing software process improvement models, as well for making them easier to use. Secondly, the creation of a repository that supports changes in the deployment packages, based on e-learning standards and tools, to create, represent, interact with and manipulate learning objects and e-learning. Finally, the last part aims to spread the software development models COMPETISOFT and ISO/IEC 29110-5-1, the application of technologies that make use of e-learning. All this is done to aid VSEs in bringing best practices into their software production.
... GRAVIMETRIC DETEFMINATION OF PALLADIUM KEY WORDS: gravimetry, palladium, analysis JM Cano Pav... more ... GRAVIMETRIC DETEFMINATION OF PALLADIUM KEY WORDS: gravimetry, palladium, analysis JM Cano Pavdn and F. Pino Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of %iences, ... until 50 ml. This solution do not produce an observable reaction with p -nitro - 4 ...
La investigación en Ingeniería de Software es un área relativamente nueva. Recientemente se han c... more La investigación en Ingeniería de Software es un área relativamente nueva. Recientemente se han comenzado a usar métodos empíricos para soportar las diferentes etapas del proceso de desarrollo software. Este es el caso de grupos focales (Focus Group), un método validado con suficiencia en áreas relacionadas como ciencias sociales, de la salud, psicología, administrativas, entre otras. El presente artículo propone un proceso debidamente estructurado para la aplicación de focus group en Ingeniería de Software como técnica de evaluación de resultados y lo aplica a un caso específico de investigación en el proceso de modelado de estudiante en Sistemas Adaptativos de Aprendizaje (Adaptive Learning Systems – ALS). Los resultados obtenidos demuestran los beneficios y desafíos en la utilización del método de grupos focales en el estudio de caso propuesto.
Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) has become an important noninvasive imaging te... more Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) has become an important noninvasive imaging technique in small-animal research. Due to the high resolution required in small-animal SPECT systems, the spatially variant system response needs to be included in the reconstruction algorithm. Accurate modeling of the system response should result in a major improvement in the quality of reconstructed images. The aim of this study was to quantitatively assess the impact that an accurate modeling of spatially variant collimator/detector response has on image-quality parameters, using a low magnification SPECT system equipped with a pinhole collimator and a small gamma camera. Three methods were used to model the point spread function (PSF). For the first, only the geometrical pinhole aperture was included in the PSF. For the second, the septal penetration through the pinhole collimator was added. In the third method, the measured intrinsic detector response was incorporated. Tomographic s...
It is well-known that in pinhole SPECT (single-photon-emission computed tomography), iterative re... more It is well-known that in pinhole SPECT (single-photon-emission computed tomography), iterative reconstruction methods including accurate estimations of the system response matrix can lead to submillimeter spatial resolution. There are two different methods for obtaining the system response matrix: those that model the system analytically using an approach including an experimental characterization of the detector response, and those that make use of Monte Carlo simulations. Methods based on analytical approaches are faster and handle the statistical noise better than those based on Monte Carlo simulations, but they require tedious experimental measurements of the detector response. One suggested approach for avoiding an experimental characterization, circumventing the problem of statistical noise introduced by Monte Carlo simulations, is to perform an analytical computation of the system response matrix combined with a Monte Carlo characterization of the detector response. Our findings showed that this approach can achieve high spatial resolution similar to that obtained when the system response matrix computation includes an experimental characterization. Furthermore, we have shown that using simulated detector responses has the advantage of yielding a precise estimate of the shift between the point of entry of the photon beam into the detector and the point of interaction inside the detector. Considering this, it was possible to slightly improve the spatial resolution in the edge of the field of view.
A tool for the MC simulation of pinhole SPECT cameras that includes the main calibration paramete... more A tool for the MC simulation of pinhole SPECT cameras that includes the main calibration parameters has been developed and validated.
This chapter presents Agile SPI, a framework in which the main goal is to motivate small and medi... more This chapter presents Agile SPI, a framework in which the main goal is to motivate small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) towards improving and certifying their software development processes. This framework was born in the SIMEP-SW project where a software process improvement model for supporting process improvement in the Colombian software industry context was built. We present Agile SPI, its origin, development, principles, architecture, main components, and the initial experiences.
SPECT studies with (123)I-ioflupane facilitate the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD). The... more SPECT studies with (123)I-ioflupane facilitate the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD). The effect on quantification of image degradations has been extensively evaluated in human studies but their impact on studies of experimental PD models is still unclear. The aim of this work was to assess the effect of compensating for the degrading phenomena on the quantification of small animal SPECT studies using (123)I-ioflupane. This assessment enabled us to evaluate the feasibility of quantitatively detecting small pathological changes using different reconstruction methods and levels of compensation for the image degrading phenomena. Monte Carlo simulated studies of a rat phantom were reconstructed and quantified. Compensations for point spread function (PSF), scattering, attenuation and partial volume effect were progressively included in the quantification protocol. A linear relationship was found between calculated and simulated specific uptake ratio (SUR) in all cases. In order ...
Recurring problems in the application of a new software process improvement model have to do with... more Recurring problems in the application of a new software process improvement model have to do with the lack of knowledge about how it works, its dissemination and the tools available, making it difficult to acquire the model and then understand it. Nowadays, e-learning systems could help Very Small Software Entities (VSEs), to get to know and understand software models and their peculiarities. To address this issue, this paper focuses on the development of a tool based on e-learning standards; it is called the HEPALE! Project.This project is composed of three steps. First, the creation of a deployment package set, in line with ISO/IEC PDTR 29110-5-1 Software Engineering-Lifecycle Profiles for VSEs, for implementing software process improvement models, as well for making them easier to use. Secondly, the creation of a repository that supports changes in the deployment packages, based on e-learning standards and tools, to create, represent, interact with and manipulate learning objects and e-learning. Finally, the last part aims to spread the software development models COMPETISOFT and ISO/IEC 29110-5-1, the application of technologies that make use of e-learning. All this is done to aid VSEs in bringing best practices into their software production.
... GRAVIMETRIC DETEFMINATION OF PALLADIUM KEY WORDS: gravimetry, palladium, analysis JM Cano Pav... more ... GRAVIMETRIC DETEFMINATION OF PALLADIUM KEY WORDS: gravimetry, palladium, analysis JM Cano Pavdn and F. Pino Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of %iences, ... until 50 ml. This solution do not produce an observable reaction with p -nitro - 4 ...
La investigación en Ingeniería de Software es un área relativamente nueva. Recientemente se han c... more La investigación en Ingeniería de Software es un área relativamente nueva. Recientemente se han comenzado a usar métodos empíricos para soportar las diferentes etapas del proceso de desarrollo software. Este es el caso de grupos focales (Focus Group), un método validado con suficiencia en áreas relacionadas como ciencias sociales, de la salud, psicología, administrativas, entre otras. El presente artículo propone un proceso debidamente estructurado para la aplicación de focus group en Ingeniería de Software como técnica de evaluación de resultados y lo aplica a un caso específico de investigación en el proceso de modelado de estudiante en Sistemas Adaptativos de Aprendizaje (Adaptive Learning Systems – ALS). Los resultados obtenidos demuestran los beneficios y desafíos en la utilización del método de grupos focales en el estudio de caso propuesto.
Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) has become an important noninvasive imaging te... more Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) has become an important noninvasive imaging technique in small-animal research. Due to the high resolution required in small-animal SPECT systems, the spatially variant system response needs to be included in the reconstruction algorithm. Accurate modeling of the system response should result in a major improvement in the quality of reconstructed images. The aim of this study was to quantitatively assess the impact that an accurate modeling of spatially variant collimator/detector response has on image-quality parameters, using a low magnification SPECT system equipped with a pinhole collimator and a small gamma camera. Three methods were used to model the point spread function (PSF). For the first, only the geometrical pinhole aperture was included in the PSF. For the second, the septal penetration through the pinhole collimator was added. In the third method, the measured intrinsic detector response was incorporated. Tomographic s...
It is well-known that in pinhole SPECT (single-photon-emission computed tomography), iterative re... more It is well-known that in pinhole SPECT (single-photon-emission computed tomography), iterative reconstruction methods including accurate estimations of the system response matrix can lead to submillimeter spatial resolution. There are two different methods for obtaining the system response matrix: those that model the system analytically using an approach including an experimental characterization of the detector response, and those that make use of Monte Carlo simulations. Methods based on analytical approaches are faster and handle the statistical noise better than those based on Monte Carlo simulations, but they require tedious experimental measurements of the detector response. One suggested approach for avoiding an experimental characterization, circumventing the problem of statistical noise introduced by Monte Carlo simulations, is to perform an analytical computation of the system response matrix combined with a Monte Carlo characterization of the detector response. Our findings showed that this approach can achieve high spatial resolution similar to that obtained when the system response matrix computation includes an experimental characterization. Furthermore, we have shown that using simulated detector responses has the advantage of yielding a precise estimate of the shift between the point of entry of the photon beam into the detector and the point of interaction inside the detector. Considering this, it was possible to slightly improve the spatial resolution in the edge of the field of view.
A tool for the MC simulation of pinhole SPECT cameras that includes the main calibration paramete... more A tool for the MC simulation of pinhole SPECT cameras that includes the main calibration parameters has been developed and validated.
This chapter presents Agile SPI, a framework in which the main goal is to motivate small and medi... more This chapter presents Agile SPI, a framework in which the main goal is to motivate small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) towards improving and certifying their software development processes. This framework was born in the SIMEP-SW project where a software process improvement model for supporting process improvement in the Colombian software industry context was built. We present Agile SPI, its origin, development, principles, architecture, main components, and the initial experiences.
SPECT studies with (123)I-ioflupane facilitate the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD). The... more SPECT studies with (123)I-ioflupane facilitate the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD). The effect on quantification of image degradations has been extensively evaluated in human studies but their impact on studies of experimental PD models is still unclear. The aim of this work was to assess the effect of compensating for the degrading phenomena on the quantification of small animal SPECT studies using (123)I-ioflupane. This assessment enabled us to evaluate the feasibility of quantitatively detecting small pathological changes using different reconstruction methods and levels of compensation for the image degrading phenomena. Monte Carlo simulated studies of a rat phantom were reconstructed and quantified. Compensations for point spread function (PSF), scattering, attenuation and partial volume effect were progressively included in the quantification protocol. A linear relationship was found between calculated and simulated specific uptake ratio (SUR) in all cases. In order ...
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