Gleason grading, a risk stratification method for prostate cancer, is subjective and dependent on experience and expertise of the reporting pathologist. Deep Learning (DL) systems have shown promise in enhancing the objectivity and efficiency of Gleason grading. However, DL networks exhibit domain shift and reduced performance on Whole Slide Images (WSI) from a source other than training data. We propose a DL approach for segmenting and grading epithelial tissue using a novel training methodology that learns domain agnostic features. In this retrospective study, we analyzed WSI from three cohorts of prostate cancer patients. 3741 core needle biopsies (CNBs) received from two centers were used for training. The κquad (quadratic-weighted kappa) and AUC were measured for grade group comparison and core-level detection accuracy, respectively. Accuracy of 89.4% and κquad of 0.92 on the internal test set of 425 CNB WSI and accuracy of 85.3% and κquad of 0.96 on an external set of 1201 images, was observed. The system showed an accuracy of 83.1% and κquad of 0.93 on 1303 WSI from the third institution (blind evaluation). Our DL system, used as an assistive tool for CNB review, can potentially improve the consistency and accuracy of grading, resulting in better patient outcomes.

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Purpose – The fundamental rule for sustenance in the business world for organizations is to explore new ways to discover themselves and to realign the business strategies with the changing environment, apply new management concepts and adopt new technologies so as to have a faster response to the changing business situation. With more than 600 million user base of mobile phones in India, it may be useful for the Indian companies to set up an enterprise mobility strategy akin to their information technology strategy and take maximum advantage of this mobile wave. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses methodology adopted to bring in and manage change in its process of procurement in a big organization “Marico,” one of the largest players in the Indian FMCG sector. A detailed process which “Marico” adopted to bring change in procurement process and its supply chain was studied with the help of long interviews and available secondary data. Findings – Heindl mode (2008) on the steps on continuous innovation are what Marico followed though process started in Marico much earlier. The case emphasizes how innovation models can be followed even to bring change in big corporate houses. Practical implications – Marico did formulate an enterprise mobility strategy as an innovation in its procurement process can pave the way and learning for other FMCG companies to benchmark its strategies against the one adopted by “Marico” the company of the study to find out the gaps exiting and therefore, the scope for improvement. Originality/value – “Maricio” is a unique example of continuous innovation and change in procurement from rural India which revolutionized the industry and bought bigger revenue and less hassles for the company.

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Abstract-This paper discusses the issue of Productisation of service, i.e. development of systemic, scalable and replicable service offerings, as implemented by a multinational Consulting organization, engaged in the business of outsourcing and consulting solutions, from their office in India. The literature is quite rich with discussions and debates related to products and services individually, but there seems to be an important deficiency in terms of 'integration' between product design and service elements for supporting new service-product system. In today's flat world the geographic boundaries are getting diminished when firms are expanding seamlessly across the globe. This seamless expansion of the electronic data processing market makes use of the outsourcing as one of its main way to expand into various geographies. Data Sanitization is one of the most sought after service offering made by a consulting firm to protect the sensitive client data from any misuse. The paper attempts to document the process followed by a firm to productize its data sanitization service offering. This documentation will not only help in integration of product and service parameters, but also will be extremely helpful for the organizations worldwide offering service as business.