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Artificial intelligence (AI)‐based diagnostic algorithms have achieved ambitious aims through automated image pattern recognition. For neurological disorders, this includes neurodegeneration and inflammation. Scalable imaging technology for big data in neurology is optical coherence tomography (OCT). We highlight that OCT changes observed in the retina, as a window to the brain, are small, requiring rigorous quality control pipelines. There are existing tools for this purpose. Firstly, there are human‐led validated consensus quality control criteria (OSCAR‐IB) for OCT. Secondly, these criteria are embedded into OCT reporting guidelines (APOSTEL). The use of the described annotation of failed OCT scans advances machine learning. This is illustrated through the present review of the advantages and disadvantages of AI‐based applications to OCT data. The neurological conditions reviewed here for the use of big data include Alzheimer disease, stroke, multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson disease, and epilepsy. It is noted that while big data is relevant for AI, ownership is complex. For this reason, we also reached out to involve representatives from patient organizations and the public domain in addition to clinical and research centers. The evidence reviewed can be grouped in a five‐point expansion of the OSCAR‐IB criteria to embrace AI (OSCAR‐AI). The review concludes by specific recommendations on how this can be achieved practically and in compliance with existing guidelines.

TOPIC: To estimate the prevalence of nonrefractive visual impairment and blindness in European persons 55 years of age and older. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Few visual impairment and blindness prevalence estimates are available for the European population. In addition, many of the data collected in European population-based studies currently are unpublished and have not been included in previous estimates. METHODS: Fourteen European population-based studies participating in the European Eye Epidemiology Consortium (n = 70 723) were included. Each study provided nonrefractive visual impairment and blindness prevalence estimates stratified by age (10-year strata) and gender. Nonrefractive visual impairment and blindness were defined as best-corrected visual acuity worse than 20/60 and 20/400 in the better eye, respectively. Using random effects meta-analysis, prevalence rates were estimated according to age, gender, geographical area, and period (1991-2006 and 2007-2012). Because no data were available for Central and Eastern Europe, population projections for numbers of affected people were estimated using Eurostat population estimates for European high-income countries in 2000 and 2010. RESULTS: The age-standardized prevalence of nonrefractive visual impairment in people 55 years of age or older decreased from 2.22% (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.34-3.10) from 1991 through 2006 to 0.92% (95% CI, 0.42-1.42) from 2007 through 2012. It strongly increased with age in both periods (up to 15.69% and 4.39% in participants 85 years of age or older from 1991 through 2006 and from 2007 through 2012, respectively). Age-standardized prevalence of visual impairment tended to be higher in women than men from 1991 through 2006 (2.67% vs. 1.88%), but not from 2007 through 2012 (0.87% vs. 0.88%). No differences were observed between northern, western, and southern regions of Europe. The projected numbers of affected older inhabitants in European high-income countries decreased from 2.5 million affected individuals in 2000 to 1.2 million in 2010. Of those, 584 000 were blind in 2000, in comparison with 170 000 who were blind in 2010. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the increase in the European older population, our study indicated that the number of visually impaired people has decreased in European high-income countries in the last 20 years. This may be the result of major improvements in eye care and prevention, the decreasing prevalence of eye diseases, or both.

Purpose Genetic and epidemiologic studies have shown that lipid genes and high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) are implicated in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). We studied circulating lipid levels in relationship to AMD in a large European dataset. Design Pooled analysis of cross-sectional data. Participants Individuals (N = 30 953) aged 50 years or older participating in the European Eye Epidemiology (E3) consortium and 1530 individuals from the Rotterdam Study with lipid subfraction data. Methods AMD features were graded on fundus photographs using the Rotterdam classification. Routine blood lipid measurements, genetics, medication, and potential confounders were extracted from the E3 database. In a subgroup of the Rotterdam Study, lipid subfractions were identified by the Nightingale biomarker platform. Random-intercepts mixed-effects models incorporating confounders and study site as a random effect were used to estimate associations. Main Outcome Measures AMD features and stage; lipid measurements. Results HDL was associated with an increased risk of AMD (odds ratio [OR], 1.21 per 1-mmol/l increase; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.14–1.29), whereas triglycerides were associated with a decreased risk (OR, 0.94 per 1-mmol/l increase; 95% CI, 0.91–0.97). Both were associated with drusen size. Higher HDL raised the odds of larger drusen, whereas higher triglycerides decreases the odds. LDL cholesterol reached statistical significance only in the association with early AMD (P = 0.045). Regarding lipid subfractions, the concentration of extra-large HDL particles showed the most prominent association with AMD (OR, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.10–1.40). The cholesteryl ester transfer protein risk variant (rs17231506) for AMD was in line with increased HDL levels (P = 7.7 × 10–7), but lipase C risk variants (rs2043085, rs2070895) were associated in an opposite way (P = 1.0 × 10–6 and P = 1.6 × 10–4). Conclusions Our study suggested that HDL cholesterol is associated with increased risk of AMD and that triglycerides are negatively associated. Both show the strongest association with early AMD and drusen. Extra-large HDL subfractions seem to be drivers in the relationship with AMD, and variants in lipid genes play a more ambiguous role in this association. Whether systemic lipids directly influence AMD or represent lipid metabolism in the retina remains to be answered.

Systematic land cadastre is still an expensive and time-consuming endeavour in Mozambique. Government adopted the approach of systematic land cadastre, launching the "Terra Segura" Programme, to cover 4 thousand communities and 5 million rural parcels, out of an estimated total universe of circa 12 million parcels and plots. The initial exercises to attend this massive registration utilized traditional methods of land tenure regularization, resulting in being either too expensive or time-consuming initiatives, with serious problems of data quality. New approaches were designed and tested to create an effective sustainable cadastre, proposing an holistic approach to register the land. However, because strong evidence must be presented with regards to this holistic approach, there is a need to scale up the tests. The end goal of this scaling up exercise is to learn and disseminate lessons in local capacity development and improve the methodology and tools of the Terra Segura programme. Key Words

During 2012-2014, SNV did four country reviews of legal arrangements for urban sanitation and hygiene (Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Indonesia). Based on this experience, this document was developed to provide guidance on how to undertake a legal scan for urban sanitation. Over time, the ultimate objective of this work and related activities is that WASH professionals will be able to undertake a high-level assessment of legal arrangements for urban sanitation in order to both: 1. use the frameworks and tools offered by legal and policy arrangements to improve urban sanitation and hygiene outcomes; and 2. advocate for improvements in legal, policy and institutional arrangements to facilitate sustainable sanitation and hygiene outcomes for all.

Purpose. This paper aims to review the morphological and functional characteristics of patients affected by familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP), with greater focus on type I and its progression after liver transplantation. We also analyse therapeutic options for the ophthalmic manifestations. Methods. The literature from 2002 through 2015 was reviewed, with a total of 45 articles studied, using the key terms related to amyloidosis and its therapeutic approaches. Information was collated, evaluated, critically assessed, and then summarised in its present form. Pathophysiology and Treatment. FAP results from mutation of the transthyretin gene, with Val30Met being the most frequent substitution. The symptoms are those typical of a sensorimotor autonomic neuropathy and can be halted with liver transplantation. Nowadays there are new medical therapies that delay the progression of the systemic neuropathy. However, there are still no options to avoid ocular disease. Conclusion. The main ocular manifestations in patients with FAP type I are amyloid deposition in the vitreous, dry eye, and secondary glaucoma. Despite liver transplantation, eye synthesis of amyloid persists and is associated with progressive ocular manifestations, which require continued ophthalmologic follow-up. New therapeutic strategies are therefore needed, particularly to target the ocular synthesis of the abnormal protein.

Partnership with the private sector is emerging as a new pathway to address poverty. This is the result of recognition that external support through aid is small relative to other sources of finance and the scale of development challenge at hand. This concept is well recognised and was raised in the Australian Government’s Independent Review of Aid Effectiveness, noting the need to harness the power of business and innovation (see Callan 2012). Other organisations have recently emerged which hold this as their core focus, for example Business for Millennium Development. In addition, evolving notions of social enterprise and entrepreneurship are blurring the boundaries between private sector and civil society, and opening up new possibilities for cooperation and partnership as exemplified by the water, sanitation and hygiene sector (WASH).

Over the past decade, driven by a confluence of interrelated factors such as drought, subsidies, and sustainability interests, Australia has seen significant developments in water recycling. However, we have seldom looked back at these investments to see how differently things panned out from what had been initially planned or anticipated, and how the real costs, benefits and risks were balanced and distributed across different stakeholders. Learning from these experiences is essential if effective recycled water investments are to be mad in the future. The Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF), at the University of Technology Sydney has recently completed a two-year national collaborative research project for the Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence aimed at filling this knowledge gap, and enabling the sector to build better business cases.

Enterprise in WASH is a joint research project led by the Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) at the University of Technology, Sydney, which investigates the role of private and social enterprises in the delivery of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services for the poor. In particular, the research aims to support civil society organisations (CSOs) engaged at the interface of public sector, private and social enterprise, and civil society.

Recycled water has increasingly been considered as a means to deal with water supply-demand imbalances, treated wastewater disposal and stormwater management. It contributes to the sustainability of urban water systems and the regeneration of the urban landscape. However, recycled water schemes are not mainstream, and are often confronted with numerous challenges. By considering the contextual and project related risks associated with a diverse selection of recycling projects in Australia, a range of business related risks have become apparent. There is now evidence that shifts in both the contextual landscape and the objectives of the various players involved can occur over the life of a project, resulting in risk and uncertainty often not foreseen. Many guidelines on recycling have been produced which focus mainly on technical risk. Drawing on the experiences of a diverse selection of case studies in Australia, this paper contemplates the additional risks and uncertainties, often not initially considered at the inception of a recycling scheme. This paper presents an overview and discussion of six key issues to consider when planning a recycling scheme.

Submitted by Rodrigo Martins Cruz (rodrigo.cruz@ufvjm.edu.br) on 2015-01-07T10:46:05Z No. of bitstreams: 2 leonidas_soares_murta-junior.pdf: 3383554 bytes, checksum: 710b5a08cef75b6338efb0b57b9f6258 (MD5) license_rdf: 23898 bytes, checksum: e363e809996cf46ada20da1accfcd9c7 (MD5) Approved for entry into archive by Rodrigo Martins Cruz (rodrigo.cruz@ufvjm.edu.br) on 2015-01-07T10:46:32Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 leonidas_soares_murta-junior.pdf: 3383554 bytes, checksum: 710b5a08cef75b6338efb0b57b9f6258 (MD5) license_rdf: 23898 bytes, checksum: e363e809996cf46ada20da1accfcd9c7 (MD5) Approved for entry into archive by Rodrigo Martins Cruz (rodrigo.cruz@ufvjm.edu.br) on 2015-01-07T10:46:50Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 leonidas_soares_murta-junior.pdf: 3383554 bytes, checksum: 710b5a08cef75b6338efb0b57b9f6258 (MD5) license_rdf: 23898 bytes, checksum: e363e809996cf46ada20da1accfcd9c7 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2015-01-07T10:46:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 leonidas_soares_murta-junior.pdf: 3383554 bytes, checksum: 710b5a08cef75b6338efb0b57b9f6258 (MD5) license_rdf: 23898 bytes, checksum: e363e809996cf46ada20da1accfcd9c7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior (CAPES) O objetivo deste trabalho foi testar procedimentos para determinar o volume individual de ?rvores, consistindo em m?todos alternativos ao processo de cubagem. No cap?tulo 1, foi testado o m?todo da similaridade de perfis combinado com diferentes medidas de similaridade, modelos de taper, m?todos de estima??o de par?metros representativos de estratos sem equa??o e diferentes m?todos de gera??o de equa??o volum?trica. Os dados utilizados foram de 3.620 ?rvores abatidas e cubadas, divididas 62 estratos. Foram medidas as vari?veis DAP, altura total, e os di?metros ao longo do fuste nas posi??es de 0,00; 0,50; 1,00; 1,50 e 2,00 m, e a partir deste, as se??es foram medidas de 2,0 em 2,0 m, at? a altura total. O modelo volum?trico de Schumacher e Hall foi ajustado por estrato. Os modelos de taper utilizados foram o de Kozak, de Garcia, de Ormerod e o Polin?mio de Quinto Grau. As dist?ncias testadas foram a Dist?ncia Euclidiana, Dist?ncia Euclidiana M?dia, Dist?ncia Euclidiana Ponderada e Dist?ncia Euclidiana Quadr?tica. Foram testados 2 m?todos de estima??o dos par?metros dos modelos de afilamento (3 ?rvores; e os par?metros da ?rvore mais pr?xima ao di?metro m?dio) e 3 m?todos de determina??o da equa??o volum?trica (equa??o do estrato mais similar, equa??o das 30 ?rvores mais similares e equa??o gerada com o n?mero de ?rvores referentes a 5 ?rvores por classe de di?metro do estrato sem equa??o definida), que combinados configuraram os 5 procedimentos testados. As estat?sticas utilizadas para verificar a qualidade das estimativas foram bias, raiz quadrada do erro m?dio, correla??o e an?lise gr?fica de res?duos. A valida??o foi realizada com dados independentes para 4 estratos. Os resultados indicaram que n?o houve diferen?a entre as medidas de similaridade utilizadas. Os melhores modelos foram o Polin?mio de Quinto Grau e o de Kozak, sendo o segundo mais indicado devido a sua facilidade de ajuste. O m?todo de gera??o da equa??o baseada nas 30 ?rvores mais similares proporcionou as melhores estimativas volum?tricas. No cap?tulo 2, foi utilizado redes neurais artificiais (RNA) para estimar o volume individual de ?rvores. Os dados foram os mesmos utilizados no cap?tulo 1. As vari?veis de entrada utilizadas foram: entrada 1 (DAP, altura total, di?metros a 0,00; 0,50; 1,00; 1,50 e 2,00 metros de altura); entrada 2 (adi??o do volume at? 2 metros); entrada 3 (adi??o do grau de esbeltez) e entrada 4 (adi??o da vari?vel categ?rica representando a forma do fuste at? 2 metros de altura). Foram retidas as 5 melhores redes por conjunto de vari?veis de entrada. Os dados foram divididos em 60% para treinamento, 20% para teste e 20% para generaliza??o. Para avaliar as estimativas foram utilizadas as estat?sticas bias, raiz quadrada do erro m?dio, correla??o e an?lise gr?fica dos res?duos. A melhor metodologia para gerar as redes foi aplicada a dados independentes para se avaliar a qualidade das estimativas de volume. As redes que proporcionaram as melhores estimativas foram as geradas pelo conjunto de vari?veis de entrada 2 (DAP, altura total, di?metros a 0,00; 0,50; 1,00; 1,50; 2,00 metros de altura e volume at? 2 metros). Disserta??o (Mestrado) ? Programa de P?s-Gradua??o em Ci?ncia Florestal, Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri, 2013. ABSTRACT The objective of this work was to test procedures to determine the volume of individual trees, consisting of alternative methods to process of scaling. In the Chapter 1, was tested the profiles similarity method combined with different measures of similarity, taper models, parameter estimation methods representative of groups without equation and different generation methods of volumetric equations. The data used were 3.620 felled and cubed trees, divided in 62 groups. The variables measured were DBH, total height, and diameters along the stem in positions 0.00; 0.50; 1.00; 1.50 e 2.00 meters, and to this, the sections were measured from 2.0 to 2.0 meters, up to the total height. The volumetric model of Schumacher and Hall was adjusted by group. Taper models used were Kozak model, Garcia model, Ormerod model and The Fiftieth Degree Polynomial. The distances tested were Euclidean Distance, Mean Euclidean Distance, Weighted Euclidean Distance, and Quadratic Euclidean Distance. Two parameter estimation methods from to taper models were tested (3 trees; and the parameters of the tree nearest to the mean diameter) and three generation methods of volumetric equations (equation similar group, equation of 30 most similar trees and equation generated from the number of trees respect to 5 trees per diameter class for group without defined equation), the combination of them, results in five procedures tested. The statistics used to check the quality of the estimates were bias, root mean square error, correlation coefficient and graphic residual analysis. The validation was performed using independent data for 4 groups. The results indicated that there was no difference between the similarity measures used. The best models were the Fifth Degree Polynomial and Kozak, being the second most indicated due to its ease of adjust. The generation method of the equation based on the 30 most similar trees provided the best volumetric estimates. In the Chapter 2, was used artificial neural networks to estimate the volume of individual trees. The data were the same as used in Chapter 1. The input variables were used: input 1 (DBH, total height, diameters at 0.00; 0.50; 1.00; 1.50 e 2.00 meters); input 2 (addition volume of up to 2 meters); input 3 (addition of slenderness degree) and input 4 (addition of categorical variable representing the form of the stem up to 2 meters). The 5 best networks by set of input variables were retained. The data were divided into 60% for training, 20% for testing and 20% for generalization of the network. To evaluate the estimates were used the statistical bias, root mean square error, correlation coefficient and graphic residual analysis. The best method for generating neural network was applied to independent data to evaluate the quality of the volume estimates. The neural networks provided the best estimates were generated by the set of input variables 2 (DBH, total height, diameter at 0.00, 0.50, 1.00, 1.50, 2.00 meters in height and volume to 2 meters).

Small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) comprise 96 per cent of all private businesses in Australia. The SME sector is the economys largest employer and the largest contributor to GDP. Moreover, SMEs play a significant role within socio-economic systems: they provide employment, goods and services and tax revenue for communities. Climate change may result in adverse business outcomes including business interruptions, increased investment and insurance costs, and declines in financial indicators such as measures of value, return and growth. After natural disasters, SMEs face greater short-term losses than larger enterprises, and may have lower adaptive capacity for various reasons. This study examines the underlying factors and processes shaping adaptive capacity of Australian SMEs to climate change and associated sea level rise. Specifically, the research asks the following questions: 1) How have SMEs considered and integrated adaptation into business planning? 2) What are the key underlying processes that constrain and influence the adaptive capacities of SMEs? and 3) What types of support are required to promote SME business continuity under a changing climate? The study adopts theories from Political Ecology and draws on literature on vulnerability and hazards to understand the processes that mediate the adaptive capacity of SMEs. The empirical research involved an online survey targeting SMEs, attending business engagement events hosted by chambers of commerce, 30 semi-structured interviews with secondary stakeholders, five case studies involving SMEs and secondary stakeholders, and finally a stakeholder workshop which brought together participants from both groups

Mathematical models to describe drug concentration profiles of topically administered drug in the anterior chamber aqueous humor have been proposed by several authors. The aim of this paper is to present a mathematical model to predict the drug concentration in the anterior chamber when a therapeutical contact lens with the drug is entrapped in nanoparticles is used.