A 6-year clinical assessment of electronic facial thermography

The authors briefly report their experience regarding the opportunities offered by the use of current ultrasound methods in carotid surgery. They describe: a system for the quantification of athcromasic plaque used to monitor non-operated patients over time; ultrasound methods used to analyse the carotid wall to establish whether it can be utilised as an index of vascular aggression in hypertension, diabetes and atherosclerosis; the use of transcranial Doppler; criteria for the definition of high risk plaque; the applications of eco-color Doppler. The paper also illustrates a new pathology identified by the authors, defined as primary intimal fibrous hyperplasia, and the evolution of the carotid wall after endarterectomy. The structural characteristics of primary hyperplasia can only be shown using ultrasound given that arteriography cannot distinguish it from atheromatic stenosis. After endarterectomy the carotid wall is subject to hematic and hemodynamic stimuli which determine the type of evolution of the wall itself. The authors therefore examine the myointimal reaction, myointimal hyperplasia, early restenosis and late restenosis as different facets of the same phenomenon.     

Learning automata-based solutions to the nonlinear fractional knapsack problem with applications to optimal resource allocation.

This paper considers the nonlinear fractional knapsack problem and demonstrates how its solution can be effectively applied to two resource allocation problems dealing with the World Wide Web. The novel solution involves a "team" of deterministic learning automata (LA). The first real-life problem relates to resource allocation in web monitoring so as to "optimize" information discovery when the polling capacity is constrained. The disadvantages of the currently reported solutions are explained in this paper. The second problem concerns allocating limited sampling resources in a "real-time" manner with the purpose of estimating multiple binomial proportions. This is the scenario encountered when the user has to evaluate multiple web sites by accessing a limited number of web pages, and the proportions of interest are the fraction of each web site that is successfully validated by an HTML validator. Using the general LA paradigm to tackle both of the real-life problems, the proposed scheme improves a current solution in an online manner through a series of informed guesses that move toward the optimal solution. At the heart of the scheme, a team of deterministic LA performs a controlled random walk on a discretized solution space. Comprehensive experimental results demonstrate that the discretization resolution determines the precision of the scheme, and that for a given precision, the current solution (to both problems) is consistently improved until a nearly optimal solution is found--even for switching environments. Thus, the scheme, while being novel to the entire field of LA, also efficiently handles a class of resource allocation problems previously not addressed in the literature.     

Oil spill detection by satellite remote sensing

This paper presents the state of the art for oil spill detection in the world oceans. We discuss different satellite sensors and oil spill detectability under varying conditions. In particular, we concentrate on the use of manual and automatic approaches to discriminate between oil slicks and look-alikes based on pattern recognition. We conclude with a discussion of suggestions for further research with respect to oil spill detection systems.     

Nonparametric 1-D temperature restoration in lossy media using Tikhonov regularization on sparse radiometry data

Microwave thermometry has the potential to characterize thermal gradients in lossy materials down to a few centimeters depth. The problem of retrieving temperature profiles from sets of brightness temperatures is studied using Galerkin expansion of one-dimensional (1-D) temperature profiles combined with Tikhonov regularization and predefined boundary conditions. From a priori knowledge of the temperature field shape, smooth Chebyshev polynomials are used as basis functions in the series expansion. The proposed estimator does not require iterative calculations that are normally performed using conventional numerical methods for signal parameter estimation and is, thus, very fast. Noise effects versus bandwidth limitations (smoothness of solutions) are studied in terms of four performance indexes defined in the text. In general, statistical spread of the temperature estimator increases with increasing number of Chebyshev polynomials. Systematic deviation from true values (bias) decreases as the number of Chebyshev polynomials increases. Results show that smooth temperature profiles can be reproduced using 6-7 Chebyshev polynomials. With additional constraints such as boundary conditions and maxima localization, a three-frequency-band radiometric scan is sufficient to produce acceptable results in regions with low thermal gradients. As the spatial variability of the 1-D temperature profile increases, more radiometric bands (5-6) are required to provide nonbiased estimates.     

Oil Spill Detection in Radarsat and Envisat SAR Images

We present algorithms for automatic detection of oil spills in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. The algorithms consist of three main parts, namely: 1) detection of dark spots; 2) feature extraction from the dark spot candidates; and 3) classification of dark spots as oil spills or look-alikes. The algorithms have been trained on a large number of Radarsat and Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) images. The performance of the algorithm is compared to manual and semiautomatic approaches in a benchmark study using 59 Radarsat and Envisat images. The algorithms can be considered to be a good alternative to manual inspection when large ocean areas are to be inspected     

Does the aging of tenured academic staff affect the research performance of universities?

This paper examines the common contentions that the collective aging of tenured academic staff has negative effects on research performance of universities due to (a) negative effects of aging in itself, and (b) to a lack of newcomers who could revitalise the research. Data on academic staff and research at Norwegian universities over two decades have been used to examine these contentions. While older staff published less than their younger colleagues two decades ago, no differences in productivity are found today. Furthermore, during this period, a large increase in the number of post-doctoral fellows and PhD students has taken place, compensating for the aging of tenured staff.     

Dose Imaging Detectors for Radiotherapy Based on Gas Electron Multipliers

New techniques in charged particle therapy and widespread use of modern dynamic beam delivery systems demand new beam monitoring devices as well as accurate 2D dosimetry systems to verify the delivered dose distribution. We are developing dose imaging detectors based on gas electron multipliers (GEM) with the goal of improving dose measurement linearity, position and timing resolution, and to ultimately allow pre-treatment verification of dose distributions and dose delivery monitoring employing scanning beam technology. A prototype 10×10 cm(2) double-GEM detector has been tested in the 205 MeV proton beam using electronic and optical readout modes. Preliminary results with electronic cross-strip readout demonstrate fast response and single-pixel (4 mm) position resolution. In optical readout mode, the line spread function of the detector was found to have σ=0.7 mm. In both readout modes, the detector response was linear up to dose rates of 50 Gy/min, with adequate representation of the Bragg peak in depth-dose profile measurements.     

Strength and conflicting valence in the measurement of food attitudes and preferences

There is a trend in current attitude research to move away from a simple uni-dimensional view of attitude, towards examining a more multivariate concept of attitude. An extensive array of attitudinal properties or dimensions has been provided, defined and categorised as ‘attitude strength’. Attitude strength has only recently been adapted as a conceptual framework for research in marketing and consumer studies. Our objective in this paper is to introduce some of the attitude strength concepts and literature in order to improve the measure and understanding of research dealing with measurement of food preferences, perceived food quality and satisfaction with food products, food suppliers, etc. The paper takes a particular focus upon problems in comprehending the middlemost choice or neutrality when measuring attitude items along a traditional bipolar semantic differential or a bipolar hedonic preference scale. Through several propositions, we have outlined how future research should note that both attitude ambivalence (mixed feelings) and non-attitude (lack of confidence in evaluation) could be threats to comprehending the middlemost response alternative on a questionnaire as neutral when measuring food attitudes or preferences in the traditional way. Our approach should also deal with some of the shortcomings of analysing attitude–behaviour consistency when modelling food consumption behaviour.     

Acrylamide in potato crisp—the effect of raw material and processing

Reducing sugars and free amino acids were analysed in slices from three potato cultivars before and after blanching (0-3 min). The potato crisps were deep fried at 185 °C for different times (3-8.5 min), and analysed for the concentration of acrylamide (AA) and moisture. Potato cultivar and the temperature during processing were important parameters for AA formation in potato crisps. The amount increased with an increase in the processing time. Blanching before deep-frying reduced the concentration of free asparagine and reducing sugar in the raw material. We found no effect of blanching as pretreatment on the concentration of AA in the potato crisps. Any relationship was not detected between the levels of asparagine in the different cultivars, before and after blanching, and the formation of AA in the crisp products. However, it was shown that the content of reducing sugars determined the level of AA after frying.