Lung nodules detection using semantic segmentation and classification with optimal features

Neural Computing and Applications - Lung cancer is a deadly disease if not diagnosed in its early stages. However, early detection of lung cancer is a challenging task due to the shape and size of...     

Hydrodynamics and liquid phase axial mixing in orifice pipe reactor

Two phase flow in a horizontal pipe, with orifice plates placed at regular intervals as obstructions, was studied for the effect of phase velocities on flow patterns, fractional phase hold-ups, pressure drop and liquid phase axial dispersion. Radioactive technetium-99m (as an aqueous solution of sodium pertechnatate) was used as tracer. A pulse injection technique with two point measurements was employed. Three different orifice diameters were used (8 mm, 16 mm, and 20 mm) in a pipe diameter of 32 mm. The orifice spacing was 500 mm in all cases. Superficial gas (air) velocity was varied over a range from 0.02 m/s to 1.0 m/s and superficial liquid (water) velocity from 0.03 m/s to 0.85 m/s. Different flow patterns under different flow conditions were identified and a generalised flow map is presented. Variations in hold-ups and pressure drop with flow patterns have been explained. Rational correlations have been developed for fractional phase hold-ups and pressure drop. A preliminary comparison of two phase gas-liquid flow in a horizontal pipe with orifice obstructions (to be called orifice pipe reactor), as a gas-liquid contacting device, is made with a conventional bubble column reactor. Recommendations have been made for future work.     

Formalizing a hierarchical file system

An abstract file system is defined here as a partial function from (absolute) paths to data. Such a file system determines the set of valid paths. It allows the file system to be read and written at a valid path, and it allows the system to be modified by the Unix operations for creation, removal, and moving of files and directories. We present abstract definitions (axioms) for these operations. This specification is refined towards a pointer implementation. The challenge is to have a natural abstraction function from the implementation to the specification, to define operations on the concrete store that behave exactly in the same way as the corresponding functions on the abstract store, and to prove these facts. To mitigate the problems attached to partial functions, we do this in two steps: first a refinement towards a pointer implementation with total functions, followed by one that allows partial functions. These two refinements are proved correct by means of a number of invariants. Indeed, the insights gained consist, on the one hand, of the invariants of the pointer implementation that are needed for the refinement functions, and on the other hand of the precise enabling conditions of the operations on the different levels of abstraction. Each of the three specification levels is enriched with a permission system for reading, writing, or executing, and the refinement relations between these permission systems are explored. Files and directories are distinguished from the outset, but this rarely affects our part of the specifications. All results have been verified with the proof assistant PVS, in particular, that the invariants are preserved by the operations, and that, where the invariants hold, the operations commute with the refinement functions.     

An improved strategy for skin lesion detection and classification using uniform segmentation and feature selection based approach

Melanoma is the deadliest type of skin cancer with highest mortality rate. However, the annihilation in early stage implies a high survival rate therefore, it demands early diagnosis. The accustomed diagnosis methods are costly and cumbersome due to the involvement of experienced experts as well as the requirements for highly equipped environment. The recent advancements in computerized solutions for these diagnoses are highly promising with improved accuracy and efficiency. In this article, we proposed a method for the classification of melanoma and benign skin lesions. Our approach integrates preprocessing, lesion segmentation, features extraction, features selection, and classification. Preprocessing is executed in the context of hair removal by DullRazor, whereas lesion texture and color information are utilized to enhance the lesion contrast. In lesion segmentation, a hybrid technique has been implemented and results are fused using additive law of probability. Serial based method is applied subsequently that extracts and fuses the traits such as color, texture, and HOG (shape). The fused features are selected afterwards by implementing a novel Boltzman Entropy method. Finally, the selected features are classified by Support Vector Machine. The proposed method is evaluated on publically available data set PH2. Our approach has provided promising results of sensitivity 97.7%, specificity 96.7%, accuracy 97.5%, and F‐score 97.5%, which are significantly better than the results of existing methods available on the same data set. The proposed method detects and classifies melanoma significantly good as compared to existing methods.     

Automatic domain modeling for human–robot interaction

Intelligent Service Robotics - This paper introduces an approach to automatic domain modeling for human–robot interaction. The proposed approach is symbolic and intended for semantically...     

Simultaneous Determination of Alpha-Tocopherol and Alpha-Tocopheryl Acetate in Dairy Products,Plant Milks and Health Supplements by Using SPE and HPLC Method

A solid phase extraction technique for sample cleanup and extraction of α-tocopherol and α-tocopheryl acetate is described and applied to their simultaneous HPLC analysis in dairy products, plant-based milks, infant formulas, and pharmaceutical colostrum. The proposed method includes sample pretreatment by using ethanol, followed by solid-phase extraction of the organic supernatant on C18 cartridges. The identification and quantification were done by reversed-phase HPLC with fluorescence detection (ex 295 nm, em 330 nm) for tocopherol and with UV detector set at 220 nm for tocopheryl acetate. The mobile phase consisted of 100% acetonitrile. The linear ranges were from 0.02–0.40 μg/mL (dairy products) and 0.50–5.00 μg/mL (plant milks, infant formulas, powdered products) for α-tocopherol and those of α-tocopheryl acetate were from 0.20–2.00 μg/mL (dairy products) and 1.00–10.0 μg/mL (plant milks, infant formulas, powdered products). The LOD and LOQ of α-tocopherol were 0.1 and 0.4 μg/mL, while those of the α-tocopheryl acetate were 2.0 μg/mL for LOD and 6.0 μg/mL for LOQ. The method gave extraction recoveries from 73–94% with RSDs values being 5–10%. This method is simple, SPE procedure is fast and HPLC analysis time is less than 10 min. The total time of performing analysis per sample is less than 1 h. The important advantage of the proposed method is the capability of determining and reporting α-tocopherol and α-tocopheryl acetate separately. Moreover, the developed method is suitable for fast screening of the synthetic form of vitamin E in dairy products, plant-based milks, infant formulas, and pharmaceutical colostrum.     

Rheological properties of aqueous alumina suspensions

The aim of the present work was to investigate rheological behaviour of alumina suspensions, considering different amounts of polyvinyl alcohol (PVAL) as a binder. Three different aqueous suspensions were prepared, containing 60, 70 and 80 wt.% of alumina powder. Spinel was added as a sintering agent and Darvan 821‐A as a dispersant, in an amount of 0.08 and 0.4 wt.% of dry powder weight, respectively. The alumina suspensions flow curves were recorded and fitted satisfactorily to the power law, Herschel‐Bulkley and Bingham models. Obtained results indicate that apparent viscosity of alumina suspensions increases with increasing Al₂O₃ and polyvinyl alcohol amount.     

SEPARATION OF MACERALS FROM SUBBITUMINOUS COALS AND THEIR RESPONSE TO LIQUEFACTION

ABSTRACT

Separation of macerals from three Alberta subbituminous coals was investigated using float-and-sink method with dense liquids followed by the density gradient technique proposed by Dyrkacz and co-workers at Argonne National Laboratory, U.S.A. Resolutions of 90 percent or greater purity were obtained in some fractions in quantities sufficient to study their response to liquefaction. The ease of liquefaction of macerals isolated from subbituminous coals was, in descending order, liptinite, vitrinite, inertinite. Liquefaction of inertinite occurred at somewhat higher temperatures compared to that of vitrinite macerals which initiated between 350^° and 400^°C.

Analysis of the chemical makeup of macerals from a subbituminous coal indicated that liptinite was relatively rich in hydrogen, whereas vitrinite and inertinite were relatively rich in oxygen and carbon respectively. The average densities were 1.285, 1.345 and 1.458 g/cc for liptinite, vitrinite, and inertinite respectively. X-ray diffraction and NMR spectra of the three macerals were also investigated which will be the subject of a future detailed report.     

Macrocycles 25. Cyclic poly(ether sulfone)s derived from 4-tert-butylcatechol

Poly(ether sulfone)s were prepared by polycondensation of silylated 4-tert-butylcatechol and 4,4′-difluorodiphenylsulfone in N-methylpyrrolidone. The feed ratio and the reaction time were varied to study the influence of stoichiometry and conversion on molecular weight and extent of cyclization. Molecular weights and molecular weight distributions (MWD)s were characterized by SEC measurements calibrated with polystyrene. Light scattering confirmed that calibration with polystyrene gives reasonable results and revealed a tendency towards a bimodal MWD for the samples rich in cycles. The MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry indicated that the extent of cyclization increased with higher conversion and with optimization of the stoichiometry. This interpretation was confirmed by ¹H NMR endgroup analyses. For the samples with the highest molar masses only mass peaks of cycles were found, which were detectable up to 20 000 Da before and up to 27 000 Da after fractionation. Via the pseudo-high dilution method low molar mass poly(ether sulfone) containing more than 95 mol% of cycles were prepared, and even these low molar mass samples had broad MWDs. DSC measurements indicated that the glass transition temperatures depend on the structure of the endgroups and increase with higher fractions of cycles.     

Kinetic separation of cobalt from zirconium by cation exchange process

Zirconium-tin alloys are used as pressure tubes in Indian pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs). Used pressure tubes contain neutron activation products of the constituent elements. ⁶⁰Co is one of the long-lived radioisotopes of concern, for both radioactive waste management and recycling of pressure tubes. This article describes a facile cation exchange separation of Co(II) from Zr(IV) in HCl medium. Co(II) could be preferentially sorbed on the gel resin by utilizing its faster kinetics. Higher flow rates and shallow resin bed were the key steps, which prevented the loading of Zr(IV) on the resin phase.