Search results for: moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer

Authors: Hardi Alunaza, Mauidhotu Rofiq

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This research is attempted to describe the role of KontraS as track-6 on multi track diplomacy for conflict resolution in Myanmar in 2015. The researcher took the specific interest on multi track diplomacy and transnational advocacy concepts to analyze the phenomena. Furthermore, this essay is using the descriptive method with a qualitative approach. The data collection technique is literature study consisting of books, journals, and including data from the reliable website in supporting the explanation of this research. The result of this research is divided into two important points in explaining the role of KontraS in cases of human rights crisis in Myanmar. First, KontraS as human rights NGO in Indonesia was able to advocate against human rights violence that occurred in other countries by encouraging Indonesian Government to take part in the resolution of human rights issues affecting the Rohingya people in Burma. Also, KontraS take advantages of transnational advocacy networks as a form of politics and accountabilities responsibility of Non-Governmental Organization against human rights crisis in other countries.

Keywords: conflict resolution, human rights crisis, multi track diplomacy, transnational advocacy

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Authors: Ching-Yuan Chen, Lung-Kwang Pan

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Objective: Back pain is a major health problem costing billions of health budgets annually in Taiwan. Thousands of back pain surgeries are performed annually with up to 40% of patients complaining of back pain at time of post-surgery causing failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS), although diagnosis in these patients may be complex. The aim of study is to assess the feasibility of using bone SPECT-CT imaging to localize the active lesions causing persistent, recurrent or new backache after spine surgery. Materials and Methods: Bone SPECT-CT imaging was performed after the intravenous injection of 20 mCi of 99mTc-MDP for all the patients with diagnosis of FBSS. Patients were evaluated using status of subjectively pain relief, functional improvement and degree of satisfaction by reviewing the medical records and questionnaires in a 2 more years’ follow-up. Results: We enrolled a total of 16 patients were surveyed in our hospital from Jan. 2015 to Dec. 2016. Four people on SPEC/CT imaging ensured significant lesions were undergone a revised surgery (surgical treatment group). The mean visual analogue scale (VAS) decreased 5.3 points and mean Oswestry disability index (ODI) improved 38 points in the surgical group. The remaining 12 on SPECT/CT imaging were diagnosed as no significant lesions then received drug treatment (medical treatment group). The mean VAS only decreased 2 .1 point and mean ODI improved 12.6 points in the medical treatment group. In the posttherapeutic evaluation, the pain of the surgical treatment group showed a satisfactory improvement. In the medical treatment group, 10 of the 12 were also satisfied with the symptom relief while the other 2 did not improve significantly. Conclusions: Findings on SPECT-CT imaging appears to be easily explained the patients' pain. We recommended that SPECT/CT imaging was a feasible and useful clinical tool to improve diagnostic confidence or specificity when evaluating patients with FBSS.

Keywords: failed back surgery syndrome, oswestry disability index, SPECT-CT imaging, 99mTc-MDP, visual analogue scale

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Authors: Kênio Angelo Dantas Freitas Estrela

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Traditionally meaning holism is a theory that is related to the meaning attributed to words and their relationships to other words in a language. This theory can be more specifically defined as a defense of the mutual interdependence of all items of linguistic knowledge, so that, for example, to understand the meaning of a given expression, it is necessary to understand a large sector of the language in question or, even the complete language. The aim of this paper is to present a moderate version of meaning holism, which argues that, among other things, meaning holism does not imply the thesis of instability - if there is the change of belief about an object, there is a change of meaning - and, in this way, it is possible to attribute meanings to objects admitting changes of opinions and then beliefs. It will be shown how this version of holism gives an account of the main criticisms made of meaning holism in the last decades and also show how this theory can justify linguistic phenomena (like vagueness and polysemy) that are often treated as problems of language. Finally, it will also be argued that these linguistic phenomena are intrinsic to languages and that the moderate version of meaning holism can justify the occurrence of these phenomena.

Keywords: linguistics, meaning holism, philosophy of language, semantics

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Authors: Nordin Mamat, Abdul Rahim Razalli, Loy Chee Luen, Abdul Talib Hashim

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This study was designed to investigate preschool environment in multi-ethnic preschool in Malaysia. The objectives are to identify the quality of work environment in multi-ethnic preschools; to investigate the practices of teachers’ role and responsibility; and to identify the quality of human resources. The study involved 2004 respondents who are the staff of multi-ethnic preschool from the government agency who provide preschool service. This study was conducted using a mixed method in which questionnaires and interviews were used to obtain data from respondents. The findings were analysed using mean and used Likert scale to determine the three-stage level such as the high, moderate and low. Findings indicated that the work environment at a moderate level, but the facilities provided insufficient to carry out educational activities with children. The result based on ranking of duties and responsibilities of teachers in multi-ethnic preschool shows the teachers practice daily record of children's development is very little, that only 65 persons are recording the child's development. The poor ratio of teachers and child in multi-ethnic preschool is between 25 to 35 children per class which means the children need a lot of attention. Meanwhile, the work environment is moderate with a mean score of 3.65 and overall mean score for level of staff career development 3.66 also moderate. The findings indicate the facilities provided in their workplace and staff career development requires improvements. Overall, the level of work environment is moderate, and it needs an improvement in term of facilities.

Keywords: environment, human resources, multi-ethnic preschool, quality teacher

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Authors: Jianghao Hu, Hongyu Wang

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The effective and efficient human pose estimation algorithm is an important task for real-time human pose estimation on mobile devices. This paper proposes a light-weight human key points detection algorithm, Light-Weight Network for Real-Time Pose Estimation (LWPE). LWPE uses light-weight backbone network and depthwise separable convolutions to reduce parameters and lower latency. LWPE uses the feature pyramid network (FPN) to fuse the high-resolution, semantically weak features with the low-resolution, semantically strong features. In the meantime, with multi-scale prediction, the predicted result by the low-resolution feature map is stacked to the adjacent higher-resolution feature map to intermediately monitor the network and continuously refine the results. At the last step, the key point coordinates predicted in the highest-resolution are used as the final output of the network. For the key-points that are difficult to predict, LWPE adopts the online hard key points mining strategy to focus on the key points that hard predicting. The proposed algorithm achieves excellent performance in the single-person dataset selected in the AI (artificial intelligence) challenge dataset. The algorithm maintains high-precision performance even though the model only contains 3.9M parameters, and it can run at 225 frames per second (FPS) on the generic graphics processing unit (GPU).

Keywords: depthwise separable convolutions, feature pyramid network, human pose estimation, light-weight backbone

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Authors: Peter J. Riley

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Medical Imaging students must understand the roles of Photo-electric Absorption (PE) and Compton Scatter (CS) interactions in patients to enable optimal X-ray imaging in clinical practice. A simulator has been developed that shows relative interaction probabilities, color bars for patient dose from PE, % penetration to the detector, and obscuring CS as Peak Kilovoltage (kVp) changes. Additionally, an anthropomorphic chest X-ray image shows the relative tissue contrasts and overlying CS-fog at that kVp, which determine the detectability of a lesion in the image. A series of interactive exercises with MCQs evaluate the student's understanding; the simulation has improved student perception of the need to acquire "sufficient" rather than maximal contrast to enable patient dose reduction at higher kVp.

Keywords: patient dose optimization, radiological physics, simulation, tissue contrast

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Authors: Hussain Sajid, Jung-Hun Shin, Kum-Won Cho

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Image super-resolution is the most common computer vision problem with many important applications. Generative adversarial networks (GANs) have promoted remarkable advances in single-image super-resolution (SR) by recovering photo-realistic images. However, high memory requirements of GAN-based SR (mainly generators) lead to performance degradation and increased energy consumption, making it difficult to implement it onto resource-constricted devices. To relieve such a problem, In this paper, we introduce an optimized and highly efficient architecture for SR-GAN (generator) model by utilizing model compression techniques such as Knowledge Distillation and pruning, which work together to reduce the storage requirement of the model also increase in their performance. Our method begins with distilling the knowledge from a large pre-trained model to a lightweight model using different loss functions. Then, iterative weight pruning is applied to the distilled model to remove less significant weights based on their magnitude, resulting in a sparser network. Knowledge Distillation reduces the model size by 40%; pruning then reduces it further by 18%. To accelerate the learning process, we employ the Horovod framework for distributed training on a cluster of 2 nodes, each with 8 GPUs, resulting in improved training performance and faster convergence. Experimental results on various benchmarks demonstrate that the proposed compressed model significantly outperforms state-of-the-art methods in terms of peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), structural similarity index measure (SSIM), and image quality for x4 super-resolution tasks.

Keywords: single-image super-resolution, generative adversarial networks, knowledge distillation, pruning

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Authors: Jitendra Pratap, Daphne Prybyszcuk, Luke Elliott, Arnold Ng

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Introduction: Coronary CT angiography is a non-invasive imaging technique for the assessment of coronary artery disease and has high sensitivity and negative predictive value. However, the correlation between the degree of CT coronary stenosis and the significance of hemodynamic obstruction is poor. The assessment of myocardial perfusion has mostly been undertaken by Nuclear Medicine (SPECT), but it is now possible to perform stress myocardial CT perfusion (CTP) scans quickly and effectively using CT scanners with high temporal resolution. Myocardial CTP is in many ways similar to neuro perfusion imaging technique, where radiopaque iodinated contrast is injected intravenously, transits the pulmonary and cardiac structures, and then perfuses through the coronary arteries into the myocardium. On the Siemens Force CT scanner, a myocardial perfusion scan is performed using a dynamic axial acquisition, where the scanner shuffles in and out every 1-3 seconds (heart rate dependent) to be able to cover the heart in the z plane. This is usually performed over 38 seconds. Report: A CT myocardial perfusion scan can be utilised to complement the findings of a CT Coronary Angiogram. Implementing a CT Myocardial Perfusion study as part of a routine CT Coronary Angiogram procedure provides a ‘One Stop Shop’ for diagnosis of coronary artery disease. This case study demonstrates that although the CT Coronary Angiogram was within normal limits, the perfusion scan provided additional, clinically significant information in regards to the haemodynamics within the myocardium of a patient with Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardio Myopathy (HOCM). This negated the need for further diagnostics studies such as cardiac ECHO or Nuclear Medicine Stress tests. Conclusion: CT coronary angiography with adenosine stress myocardial CTP was utilised in this case to specifically exclude coronary artery disease in conjunction with accessing perfusion within the hypertrophic myocardium. Adenosine stress myocardial CTP demonstrated the reduced myocardial blood flow within the hypertrophic myocardium, but the coronary arteries did not show any obstructive disease. A CT coronary angiogram scan protocol that incorporates myocardial perfusion can provide diagnostic information on the haemodynamic significance of any coronary artery stenosis and has the potential to be a “One Stop Shop” for cardiac imaging.

Keywords: CT, cardiac, myocardium, perfusion

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Authors: Hsiang-Chun Lai, Hsien-Yin Liao, Yi-Wen Lin

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Migraine is a primary headache disorder which presented as recurrent and moderate to severe headaches and affects nearly fifteen percent of people’s daily life. In East Asia, acupuncture is a common treatment for migraine prevention. Acupuncture can modulate migraine through both peripheral and central mechanism and decrease the allodynia process. Molecular pathway suggests that acupuncture relief migraine by regulating neurotransmitters/neuromodulators. This process was also proven by neural imaging. Acupuncture decrease the headache frequency and intensity compared to routine care. We also review the most common chosen acupoints to treat migraine and its treatment protocol. As a result, we suggested that acupuncture can serve as an option to migraine treatment and prevention. However, more studies are needed to establish the mechanism and therapeutic roles of acupuncture in treating migraine.

Keywords: acupuncture, allodynia, headache, migraine

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Authors: Anjani Kumar Tiwari, Neelam Kumari, Anil Mishra

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The family of phosphodiesterases (PDEs) plays a critical role in control of the level, localization, and duration of intracellular 3’-5’-cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and 3’-5’-cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) signals by specifically hydrolyzing these cyclic nucleotides. As the involvement of cyclic nucleotide second messengers in cell signaling and homeostasis is established, the regulation of these pathways in the brain by various PDE isoforms is an area of considerable interest, as they are involved in nearly all brain functions and in the etiology of neuropsychiatric diseases. The PDE10A isoform, isolated from different species and characterized regarding structure and function, has received much attention in recent years, particularly in the context of schizophrenia and Huntington’s disease, which are both related to a role of PDE10A in the regulation of striatal dopaminergic neurotransmission. Quinazoline analogue 1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-6,7-dimethoxyquinazoline, was evaluated as specific PET marker for phosphodiesterase (PDE) 10A. Here, we report the radiosynthesis of [11C]2 and the in vitro and in vivo evaluation of [11C]2 as a potential positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracer for imaging PDE10A in the central nervous system (CNS). The radiosynthesis of [11C]2 was achieved by O-methylation of the corresponding des-methyl precursor with [11C]methyl iodide. [11C]2 was obtained with ∼50% radiochemical yield. PET imaging studies in rat brain displayed initial specific uptake with very rapid clearance of [11C]2 from brain. Though [11C]2 is not an ideal radioligand for clinical imaging of PDE10A in the CNS. Modified analogue of quinazoline having a higher potency for inhibiting PDE10A and improved pharmacokinetic properties will be necessary for imaging this enzyme with PET.

Keywords: PDE10A, PET, radiotracer, quinazoline

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Authors: Nihad Karim Chowdhury, Mohammad Sanaullah Chowdhury, Muhammed Jamshed Alam Patwary, Rubel Biswas

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In content-based 3D shape retrieval system, achieving high search performance has become an important research problem. A challenging aspect of this problem is to find an effective shape descriptor which can discriminate similar shapes adequately. To address this problem, we propose a new shape descriptor for 3D shape models by combining multi-resolution with multi-block center-symmetric local binary pattern operator. Given an arbitrary 3D shape, we first apply pose normalization, and generate a set of multi-viewed 2D rendered images. Second, we apply Gaussian multi-resolution filter to generate several levels of images from each of 2D rendered image. Then, overlapped sub-images are computed for each image level of a multi-resolution image. Our unique multi-block CS-LBP comes next. It allows the center to be composed of m-by-n rectangular pixels, instead of a single pixel. This process is repeated for all the 2D rendered images, derived from both ‘depth-buffer’ and ‘silhouette’ rendering. Finally, we concatenate all the features vectors into one dimensional histogram as our proposed 3D shape descriptor. Through several experiments, we demonstrate that our proposed 3D shape descriptor outperform the previous methods by using a benchmark dataset.

Keywords: 3D shape retrieval, 3D shape descriptor, CS-LBP, overlapped sub-images

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Authors: Chiung-Yun Chang, Po-Chou Chen, Jiun-Shiang Tzeng, Ka-Wai Mac, Chia-Chi Hsiao, Jo-Chi Jao

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This study aimed to measure R2* relaxation rates in the liver of New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits. R2* relaxation rate has been widely used in various hepatic diseases for iron overload by quantifying iron contents in liver. R2* relaxation rate is defined as the reciprocal of T2* relaxation time and mainly depends on the composition of tissue. Different tissues would have different R2* relaxation rates. The signal intensity decay in Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may be characterized by R2* relaxation rates. In this study, a 1.5T GE Signa HDxt whole body MR scanner equipped with an 8-channel high resolution knee coil was used to observe R2* values in NZW rabbit’s liver and muscle. Eight healthy NZW rabbits weighted 2 ~ 2.5 kg were recruited. After anesthesia using Zoletil 50 and Rompun 2% mixture, the abdomen of rabbit was landmarked at the center of knee coil to perform 3-plane localizer scan using fast spoiled gradient echo (FSPGR) pulse sequence. Afterward, multi-planar fast gradient echo (MFGR) scans were performed with 8 various echo times (TEs) (2/4/6/8/10/12/14/16 ms) to acquire images for R2* calculations. Regions of interest (ROIs) at liver and muscle were measured using Advantage workstation. Finally, the R2* was obtained by a linear regression of ln(SI) on TE. The results showed that the longer the echo time, the smaller the signal intensity. The R2* values of liver and muscle were 44.8  10.9 s-1 and 37.4  9.5 s-1, respectively. It implies that the iron concentration of liver is higher than that of muscle. In conclusion, R2* is correlated with iron contents in tissue. The correlations between R2* and iron content in NZW rabbit might be valuable for further exploration.

Keywords: liver, magnetic resonance imaging, muscle, R2* relaxation rate

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Authors: Khadija Bouzaachane, El Mahdi El Guarmah

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The classification of low-resolution satellite images has been a worthwhile and fertile field that attracts plenty of researchers due to its importance in monitoring geographical areas. It could be used for several purposes such as disaster management, military surveillance, agricultural monitoring. The main objective of this work is to classify efficiently and accurately low-resolution satellite images by using novel technics of deep learning and reinforcement learning. The images include roads, residential areas, industrial areas, rivers, sea lakes, and vegetation. To achieve that goal, we carried out experiments on the sentinel-2 images considering both high accuracy and efficiency classification. Our proposed model achieved a 91% accuracy on the testing dataset besides a good classification for land cover. Focus on the parameter precision; we have obtained 93% for the river, 92% for residential, 97% for residential, 96% for the forest, 87% for annual crop, 84% for herbaceous vegetation, 85% for pasture, 78% highway and 100% for Sea Lake.

Keywords: classification, deep learning, reinforcement learning, satellite imagery

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Authors: Kriti Singh, Saurabh Tripathi, Pankaj Chaudhary, Abid Ali Ansari, Seema Nigam

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Introduction: The introduction of android and iOS has changed our lives dramatically over the past few years. The new generation is more dependent on their mobile phones for carrying out their daily pursuits. Smartphones have revolutionized our lives. The cutdown in rates of mobile network services has been affecting us drastically. A new type of dependence is seen among the people for Smartphones. A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the state of addiction among the group of medical students, along with its association with sleep hygiene and anxiety. Material and Method: Study included 50 individuals in the age group of 18-35 years. Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Version, Sleep Hygiene Index, and Perceived Stress Scales were used conducting the study. Results: Mean age of 22 years (12%). The majority of subjects were 20-year olds (15 out of 50), the majority were males with few females. Mean Smartphone addiction score 39 (very severe), Mean Sleep Hygiene Index score 26.76 (moderate maladaptive hygiene and Mean Perceived Stress score of 19.92 (moderate stress). Conclusion: In majority students were found to have a very severe Smartphone Addiction with moderate sleep hygiene and a moderate level of perceived stress. The Smartphone was being used was for surfing social media applications.

Keywords: addiction perceived stress, sleep hygiene index, smartphone

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Authors: L. Raczynski, P. Moskal, P. Kowalski, W. Wislicki, T. Bednarski, P. Bialas, E. Czerwinski, A. Gajos, L. Kaplon, A. Kochanowski, G. Korcyl, J. Kowal, T. Kozik, W. Krzemien, E. Kubicz, Sz. Niedzwiecki, M. Palka, Z. Rudy, O. Rundel, P. Salabura, N.G. Sharma, M. Silarski, A. Slomski, J. Smyrski, A. Strzelecki, A. Wieczorek, M. Zielinski, N. Zon

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The J-PET scanner, which allows for single bed imaging of the whole human body, is currently under development at the Jagiellonian University. The J-PET detector improves the TOF resolution due to the use of fast plastic scintillators. Since registration of the waveform of signals with duration times of few nanoseconds is not feasible, a novel front-end electronics allowing for sampling in a voltage domain at four thresholds was developed. To take fully advantage of these fast signals a novel scheme of recovery of the waveform of the signal, based on ideas from the Tikhonov regularization (TR) and Compressive Sensing methods, is presented. The prior distribution of sparse representation is evaluated based on the linear transformation of the training set of waveform of the signals by using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) decomposition. Beside the advantage of including the additional information from training signals, a further benefit of the TR approach is that the problem of signal recovery has an optimal solution which can be determined explicitly. Moreover, from the Bayes theory the properties of regularized solution, especially its covariance matrix, may be easily derived. This step is crucial to introduce and prove the formula for calculations of the signal recovery error. It has been proven that an average recovery error is approximately inversely proportional to the number of samples at voltage levels. The method is tested using signals registered by means of the single detection module of the J-PET detector built out from the 30 cm long BC-420 plastic scintillator strip. It is demonstrated that the experimental and theoretical functions describing the recovery errors in the J-PET scenario are largely consistent. The specificity and limitations of the signal recovery method in this application are discussed. It is shown that the PCA basis offers high level of information compression and an accurate recovery with just eight samples, from four voltage levels, for each signal waveform. Moreover, it is demonstrated that using the recovered waveform of the signals, instead of samples at four voltage levels alone, improves the spatial resolution of the hit position reconstruction. The experiment shows that spatial resolution evaluated based on information from four voltage levels, without a recovery of the waveform of the signal, is equal to 1.05 cm. After the application of an information from four voltage levels to the recovery of the signal waveform, the spatial resolution is improved to 0.94 cm. Moreover, the obtained result is only slightly worse than the one evaluated using the original raw-signal. The spatial resolution calculated under these conditions is equal to 0.93 cm. It is very important information since, limiting the number of threshold levels in the electronic devices to four, leads to significant reduction of the overall cost of the scanner. The developed recovery scheme is general and may be incorporated in any other investigation where a prior knowledge about the signals of interest may be utilized.

Keywords: plastic scintillators, positron emission tomography, statistical analysis, tikhonov regularization

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Authors: Jun Wang, Tingcun Wei

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The digital pulse width modulator (DPWM) is the crucial building block for digitally-controlled DC-DC switching converter, which converts the digital duty ratio signal into its analog counterpart to control the power MOSFET transistors on or off. With the increase of switching frequency of digitally-controlled DC-DC converter, the DPWM with higher time resolution is required. In this paper, a 15-bits DPWM with three-level hybrid structure is presented; the first level is composed of a7-bits counter and a comparator, the second one is a 5-bits delay line, and the third one is a 3-bits digital dither. The presented DPWM is designed and implemented using the PLL megafunction of FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), and the required frequency of clock signal is 128 times of switching frequency. The simulation results show that, for the switching frequency of 2 MHz, a DPWM which has the time resolution of 15 ps is achieved using a maximum clock frequency of 256MHz. The designed DPWM in this paper is especially useful for high-frequency digitally-controlled DC-DC switching converters.

Keywords: DPWM, digitally-controlled DC-DC switching converter, FPGA, PLL megafunction, time resolution

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Authors: Safwat E. Musa, Nuha E. Mohamed, Nuha A. Bagi

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In this study, several crossplots of the P-impedance with the lithology logs (gamma ray, neutron porosity, deep resistivity, water saturation and Vp/Vs curves) were made in three available wells, which were drilled in central part of the Blue Nile basin in depths varies from 1460 m to 1600 m. These crossplots were successful to discriminate between sand and shale when using P-Impedance values, and between the wet sand and the pay sand when using both P-impedance and Vp/Vs together. Also, some impedance sections were converted to porosity sections using linear formula to characterize the reservoir in terms of porosity. The used crossplots were created on log resolution, while the seismic resolution can identify only the reservoir, unless a 3D seismic angle stacks were available; then it would be easier to identify the pay sand with great confidence; through high resolution seismic inversion and geostatistical approach when using P-impedance and Vp/Vs volumes.

Keywords: basin, Blue Nile, inversion, seismic

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Authors: S. Zhuiykov, Zh. Hai, H. Xu, C. Xue

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Unique and distinctive properties could be obtained on such two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor as tungsten trioxide (WO₃) when the reduction from multi-layer to one fundamental layer thickness takes place. This transition without damaging single-layer on a large spatial resolution remained elusive until the atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique was utilized. Here we report the ALD-enabled atomic-layer-precision development of a single layer WO₃ with thickness of 0.77±0.07 nm on a large spatial resolution by using (^tBuN)₂W(NMe₂)₂ as tungsten precursor and H₂O as oxygen precursor, without affecting the underlying SiO₂/Si substrate. Versatility of ALD is in tuning recipe in order to achieve the complete WO₃ with desired number of WO₃ layers including monolayer. Governed by self-limiting surface reactions, the ALD-enabled approach is versatile, scalable and applicable for a broader range of 2D semiconductors and various device applications.

Keywords: Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD), tungsten oxide, WO₃, two-dimensional semiconductors, single fundamental layer

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Authors: Guoqiang Yu, Mehrana Mohtasebi, Jinghong Sun, Thomas Pittman

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Malignant glioma (MG) is the most common type of primary malignant brain tumor. Surgical resection of MG remains the cornerstone of therapy, and the extent of resection correlates with patient survival. A limiting factor for resection, however, is the difficulty in differentiating the tumor from normal tissue during surgery. Fluorescence imaging is an emerging technique for real-time intraoperative visualization of MGs and their boundaries. However, most clinical-grade neurosurgical operative microscopes with fluorescence imaging ability are hampered by low adoption rates due to high cost, limited portability, limited operation flexibility, and lack of skilled professionals with technical knowledge. To overcome the limitations, we innovatively integrated miniaturized light sources, flippable filters, and a recording camera to the surgical eye loupes to generate a wearable fluorescence eye loupe (FLoupe) device for intraoperative imaging of fluorescent MGs. Two FLoupe prototypes were constructed for imaging of Fluorescein and 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA), respectively. The wearable FLoupe devices were tested on tumor-simulating phantoms and patients with MGs. Comparable results were observed against the standard neurosurgical operative microscope (PENTERO® 900) with fluorescence kits. The affordable and wearable FLoupe devices enable visualization of both color and fluorescence images with the same quality as the large and expensive stationary operative microscopes. The wearable FLoupe device allows for a greater range of movement, less obstruction, and faster/easier operation. Thus, it reduces surgery time and is more easily adapted to the surgical environment than unwieldy neurosurgical operative microscopes.

Keywords: fluorescence guided surgery, malignant glioma, neurosurgical operative microscope, wearable fluorescence imaging device

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Authors: Nidhi Chadha, A. K. Tiwari, Marilyn D. Milton, Anil K. Mishra

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Translocator protein (18 kDa) TSPO is highly expressed during microglia activation in neuroinflammation. Although a number of PET ligands have been developed for the visualization of activated microglia, one of the advantageous approaches is to develop potential optical imaging (OI) probe. Our study involves computational screening, synthesis and evaluation of TSPO ligand through various imaging modalities namely PET/SPECT/Optical. The initial computational screening involves pharmacophore modeling from the library designing having oxo-benzooxazol-3-yl-N-phenyl-acetamide groups and synthesis for visualization of efficacy of these compounds as multimodal imaging probes. Structure modeling of monomer, Ala147Thr mutated, parallel and anti-parallel TSPO dimers was performed and docking analysis was performed for distinct binding sites. Computational analysis showed pattern of variable binding profile of known diagnostic ligands and NBMP via interactions with conserved residues along with TSPO’s natural polymorphism of Ala147→Thr, which showed alteration in the binding affinity due to considerable changes in tertiary structure. Preliminary in vitro binding studies shows binding affinity in the range of 1-5 nm and selectivity was also certified by blocking studies. In summary, this skeleton was found to be potential probe for TSPO imaging due to ease in synthesis, appropriate lipophilicity and reach to specific region of brain.

Keywords: TSPO, molecular modeling, imaging, docking

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Authors: Dan Ohev Zion, Alon Cohen

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In recent years, the presence of short-range millimeter-wave radar in civil application has increased significantly. Autonomous driving, security, 3D imaging and high data rate communication systems are a few examples. The next challenge is the integration inside small form-factor devices, such as smartphones (e.g. gesture recognition). The main challenge is implementation of a truly low-power, low-complexity high-resolution radar. The most popular approach is the Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar, with an analog multiplication front-end. In this paper, we present an approach for adaptive estimation and correction of impairments of such front-end, specifically implemented using the Six-Port Device (SPD) as the multiplier element. The proposed algorithm was simulated and implemented on a 60 GHz radar lab prototype.

Keywords: radar, FMCW Radar, IQ mismatch, six port

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Authors: Abhishek Sharma, Amit Gupta, Manish Singhal

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Background: The management of patients with penetrating neck injuries in the prehospital setting and in the emergency department has evolved with regard to the use of multidetector computed tomographic (MDCT) imaging. Hence, there is a shift in the management of neck injuries from mandatory exploration in certain anatomic areas to more conservative approach using imaging and so-called “no zone approach”. Objective: To study the no zone approach in the management of penetrating neck injury using routine imaging in all stable patients. Methods: 137 patients with penetrating neck injury attending emergency department of level 1 trauma centre at AIIMS between 2008–2014 were retrospectively analysed. All hemodynamically stable patients were evaluated using CT scanning. Results: Stab injury is most common (55.91%) mode of pni in civilian population followed by gunshot(18.33%). The majority of patients could be managed with imaging and close observation. 39 patients (28.46%) required operative intervention. The most common indication for operative intervention was vascular followed by airway injury manifesting as hemodynamic destabilisation.There was no statistical difference between the zonal distribution of injuries in patients managed conservatively and those taken to OR. Conclusions: Study shows that patients with penetrating neck trauma who are haemodynamically stable and exhibit no “hard signs” of vascular injury or airway injury may be evaluated initially by MDCT imaging even when platysma violation is present. “No Zone” policy may be superior to traditional zone wise management.

Keywords: penetrating neck injury, zone approach, CT scanning, multidetector computed tomographic (MDCT)

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Authors: Jeff Dickie

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This research paper combined grounded coding and research questions with the objective to investigate conflict resolution in the classroom. The students’ answers concerning teaching were coded according to phrasal meanings which revealed concepts. These concept codes then became input data into theoretical frameworks. The investigation indicated two conflicts: whether the information was valid and whether to make the study effort which was discussed as perceptions of teacher’s competence in helping to learn. The relevant factors in helping to learn were predominately emotional. These factors were important in the negotiation process to develop relationships. Information validity seemed to be the motivator to begin and participate effectively with the learning process. In effect, confidence in the learning negotiation process with the focus towards relationship building with the subject matter seemed to be the motivator to make the study effort.

Keywords: coding, confidence, competence, conflict resolution, risk, trust, relationship building

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Authors: Mohammad Bakhshi, Firas Al Janabi

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High resolution rain data are very important to fulfill the input of hydrological models. Among models of high-resolution rainfall data generation, the temporal disaggregation was chosen for this study. The paper attempts to generate three different rainfall resolutions (4-hourly, hourly and 10-minutes) from daily for around 20-year record period. The process was done by DiMoN tool which is based on random cascade model and method of fragment. Differences between observed and simulated rain dataset are evaluated with variety of statistical and empirical methods: Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (K-S), usual statistics, and Exceedance probability. The tool worked well at preserving the daily rainfall values in wet days, however, the generated data are cumulated in a shorter time period and made stronger storms. It is demonstrated that the difference between generated and observed cumulative distribution function curve of 4-hourly datasets is passed the K-S test criteria while in hourly and 10-minutes datasets the P-value should be employed to prove that their differences were reasonable. The results are encouraging considering the overestimation of generated high-resolution rainfall data.

Keywords: DiMoN Tool, disaggregation, exceedance probability, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, rainfall

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Authors: K. Tunde Olagunju, C. Scott Allen, Freek Van Der Meer

Abstract:

Identification of hydrocarbon oil in remote sensing images is often the first step in monitoring oil during spill events. Most remote sensing methods adopt techniques for hydrocarbon identification to achieve detection in order to model an appropriate cleanup program. Identification on optical sensors does not only allow for detection but also for characterization and quantification. Until recently, in optical remote sensing, quantification and characterization are only potentially possible using high-resolution laboratory and airborne imaging spectrometers (hyperspectral data). Unlike multispectral, hyperspectral data are not freely available, as this data category is mainly obtained via airborne survey at present. In this research, two (2) operational high-resolution multispectral satellites (WorldView-3 and Sentinel-2) are theoretically assessed for their suitability for hydrocarbon characterization, using the hydrocarbon spectral slope model (HYSS). This method utilized the two most persistent hydrocarbon diagnostic/absorption features at 1.73 µm and 2.30 µm for hydrocarbon mapping on multispectral data. In this research, spectra measurement of seven (7) different hydrocarbon oils (crude and refined oil) taken on ten (10) different substrates with the use of laboratory ASD Fieldspec were convolved to Sentinel-2 and WorldView-3 resolution, using their full width half maximum (FWHM) parameter. The resulting hydrocarbon slope values obtained from the studied samples enable clear qualitative discrimination of most hydrocarbons, despite the presence of different background substrates, particularly on WorldView-3. Due to close conformity of central wavelengths and narrow bandwidths to key hydrocarbon bands used in HYSS, the statistical significance for qualitative analysis on WorldView-3 sensors for all studied hydrocarbon oil returned with 95% confidence level (P-value ˂ 0.01), except for Diesel. Using multifactor analysis of variance (MANOVA), the discriminating power of HYSS is statistically significant for most hydrocarbon-substrate combinations on Sentinel-2 and WorldView-3 FWHM, revealing the potential of these two operational multispectral sensors as rapid response tools for hydrocarbon mapping. One notable exception is highly transmissive hydrocarbons on Sentinel-2 data due to the non-conformity of spectral bands with key hydrocarbon absorptions and the relatively coarse bandwidth (> 100 nm).

Keywords: hydrocarbon, oil spill, remote sensing, hyperspectral, multispectral, hydrocarbon-substrate combination, Sentinel-2, WorldView-3

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Authors: Ibrahim Ercan, Mustafa Arikan

Abstract:

In recent years, alternative dispute resolution methods have attracted the attention of many country’s legislators. Instead of solving the disputes by litigation, putting the end to a dispute by parties themselves is more important for the preservation of social peace. Therefore, alternative dispute resolution methods (ADR) have been discussed more intensively in Turkey as well as the whole world. After these discussions, Mediation Act was adopted on 07.06.2012 and entered into force on 21.06.2013. According to the Mediation Act, it is only possible to mediate issues arising from the private law. Also, it is not compulsory to go to mediation in Turkish law, it is optional. Therefore, the parties are completely free to choose mediation method in dispute resolution. Mediators need to be a lawyer with experience in five years. Therefore, it is not possible to be a mediator who is not lawyers. Beyond five years of experience, getting education and success in exams about especially body language and psychology is also very important to be a mediator. If the parties compromise as a result of mediation, a document is issued. This document will also have the ability to exercising availability under certain circumstances. Thus, the parties will not need to apply to the court again. On the contrary, they will find the opportunity to execute this document, so they can regain their debts. However, the Mediation Act has entered into force in a period of nearly two years of history; it is possible to say that the interest in mediation is not at the expected level. Therefore, making mediation mandatory for some disputes has been discussed recently. At this point, once the mediation becomes mandatory and good results follows it, this institution will be able to find a serious interest in Turkey. Otherwise, if the results will not be satisfying, the mediation method will be removed.

Keywords: alternative dispute resolution methods, mediation act, mediation, mediator, mediation in Turkey

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Authors: Chul Park, Youngseok Kim, Sangsik Choi

Abstract:

This study developed an electric jig for underwater structure inspection in order to solve the problem of the application of side scan sonar to underwater inspection, and analyzed correlations of empirical data in order to enhance sonar data resolution. For the application of tow-typed sonar to underwater structure inspection, an electric jig was developed. In fact, it was difficult to inspect a cross-section at the time of inspection with tow-typed equipment. With the development of the electric jig for underwater structure inspection, it was possible to shorten an inspection time over 20%, compared to conventional tow-typed side scan sonar, and to inspect a proper cross-section through accurate angle control. The indoor test conducted to enhance sonar data resolution proved that a water depth, the distance from an underwater structure, and a filming angle influenced a resolution and data quality. Based on the data accumulated through field experience, multiple regression analysis was conducted on correlations between three variables. As a result, the relational equation of sonar operation according to a water depth was drawn.

Keywords: underwater structure, SONAR, safety inspection, resolution

Procedia PDF Downloads 236

Authors: Dechen Tshering Vogel, Johannes T. Heverhagen, Bernard Kiss, Spyridon Arampatzis

Abstract:

In addition to computed tomography (CT), contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are being increasingly used for imaging of renal lesions. The aim of this prospective study was to compare the classification of complex cystic renal lesions using the Bosniak classification with CEUS and MRI to CT. Forty-eight patients with 65 cystic renal lesions were included in this study. All participants signed written informed consent. The agreement between the Bosniak classifications of complex renal lesions ( ≥ BII-F) on CEUS and MRI were compared to that of CT and were tested using Cohen’s Kappa. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values (PPV/NPV) and the accuracy of CEUS and MRI compared to CT in the detection of complex renal lesions were calculated. Twenty-nine (45%) out of 65 cystic renal lesions were classified as complex using CT. The agreement between CEUS and CT in the classification of complex cysts was fair (agreement 50.8%, Kappa 0.31), and was excellent between MRI and CT (agreement 93.9%, Kappa 0.88). Compared to CT, MRI had a sensitivity of 96.6%, specificity of 91.7%, a PPV of 54.7%, and an NPV of 54.7% with an accuracy of 63.1%. The corresponding values for CEUS were sensitivity 100.0%, specificity 33.3%, PPV 90.3%, and NPV 97.1% with an accuracy 93.8%. The classification of complex renal cysts based on MRI and CT scans correlated well, and MRI can be used instead of CT for this purpose. CEUS can exclude complex lesions, but due to higher sensitivity, cystic lesions tend to be upgraded. However, it is useful for initial imaging, for follow up of lesions and in those patients with contraindications to CT and MRI.

Keywords: Bosniak classification, computed tomography, contrast enhanced ultrasound, cystic renal lesions, magnetic resonance imaging

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Authors: Madhurima Poddar, Vinay Sharma, Shaikh M. Mobin, Rajneesh Misra

Abstract:

Three 1,8-naphthalimide (NPI) substituted 4,4-difluoroboradiaza-s-indacene (BODIPY) dyads were synthesized via Pd-catalyzed Sonogashira cross-coupling reaction of ethynyl substituted NPI with the meso-, β- and α-halogenated BODIPYs, respectively. The photophysical and electrochemical data reveals considerable electronic communication between the BODIPY and NPI moieties. The electronic absorption spectrum reveals that the substitution of NPI at α position of BODIPY exhibit better electronic communication between the NPI and the BODIPY units. The electronic structures of all the dyads exhibit planar geometries which are in a good correlation with the structures obtained from single crystal X-ray diffraction. The crystal structures of the dyads exhibit interesting supramolecular interactions. The dyads show good cytocompatibility with the potential of multicolor live-cell imaging; making them excellent candidates for biological applications. The work provides an important strategy of screening the substitution pattern at different position of BODIPYs which will be useful for the design of BODIPY based organic molecules for various optoelectronic applications as well as bio-imaging.

Keywords: bio-imaging studies, cross-coupling, cyclic voltammetry, density functional calculations, fluorescence spectra, single crystal XRD, UV/Vis spectroscopy

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Authors: Chander Shekhar Kohli

Abstract:

In the field of international relations, countries have been experiencing distinct nature of conflicts. But, in the case of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for a long time, the members have witnessed conflicts, small and large. These conflicts, as a result, have given catastrophic outcomes, such as killings and destroying properties. For the resolution of such conflicts, nonetheless, efforts likewise have been made, simultaneously, in terms of establishing peace and security. In this background, the ASEAN presents a significant example as before it had faced several wars, like Vietnam War, Cambodia conflicts, and so on. This research paper, therefore, strives to examine the ASEAN as a case with the help of both primary and secondary sources. It likewise will be dealt with how changing norms and identity building facilitate the ASEAN countries to deal with their conflicts both internal and external. This paper also will discuss how internal developments within countries affect conflict resolution process as each member of ASEAN is guided by its national interest. It is then argued that conflict resolution in the ASEAN is moving from its existing power-based solution to norms and identity-based solution as member countries have become more dependent on other countries. The research, therefore, is concluded by saying that the conflicts could only be resolved through building norms and common identities, which of course are recognized crucial mechanisms among the ASEAN countries with some exceptions.

Keywords: ASEAN, conflict resolution, norms and identities, peace and security

Procedia PDF Downloads 188