An incremental neural network for tissue segmentation in ultrasound images

This paper presents an incremental neural network (INeN) for the segmentation of tissues in ultrasound images. The performances of the INeN and the Kohonen network are investigated for ultrasound image segmentation. The elements of the feature vectors are individually formed by using discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and discrete cosine transform (DCT). The training set formed from blocks of 4x4 pixels (regions of interest, ROIs) on five different tissues designated by an expert is used for the training of the Kohonen network. The training set of the INeN is formed from randomly selected ROIs of 4x4 pixels in the image. Performances of both 2D-DFT and 2D-DCT are comparatively examined for the segmentation of ultrasound images.     

Interkulturalität und informatische Gestaltung – Eine interdisziplinäre Annäherung

Zusammenfassung   Dieser Beitrag behandelt - aus einer interdisziplin?ren Perspektive - die Bedeutung der Interkulturalit?t für die Gestaltung in und mit der Informatik im Zeitalter zunehmender Globalisierung. In diesem Zusammenhang wird, um die Rolle der Kultur in der Kommunikation zu verstehen, auf linguistisch-empirische Untersuchungen zur schriftlichen Kommunikation eingegangen und ihre Brauchbarkeit für die Gestaltung hinterfragt. Anschlie?end wird der Frage nach M?glichkeiten und Grenzen des interkulturellen Verstehens und Dialoges in der Philosophie nachgegangen, um daraus Rechtfertigungen für die interkulturelle Orientierung in der Informatik zu erarbeiten. Schlie?lich werden aktuelle informatische Entwicklungen in interkulturellen Kontexten diskutiert. Eingegangen in überarbeiteter Form am 30.04.1998     

Prevention of lens damage associated with cigarette smoke exposure in rats by alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) treatment

PURPOSE: To evaluate the possible protective effect and mechanism of alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) treatment on lens degeneration associated with in vivo exposure to cigarette smoke and to further clarify the role of iron in cigarette smoke-generated lens damage. METHODS: Twenty-eight male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four equal groups. Rats in groups 3 and 4 were exposed to cigarette smoke for 1 hour each day over 90 consecutive days, and rats in groups 1 and 2 were treated in similar fashion but only exposed to room air. Additionally, vitamin E was given to the rats in groups 2 and 4 via intramuscular route. At the end of the study, both eyes of all the animals were enucleated; one eye was prepared for histopathologic examination, and the fellow eye was used for the measurement of iron and calcium levels. RESULTS: Significantly higher iron and calcium levels were observed in the lenses of group 3 rats than in other groups. Similar comparisons performed between groups 1 and 2, groups 1 and 4, and groups 2 and 4 did not show any significant difference. Distinct histopathologic changes in the anterior lens epithelium, such as hyperplasia, hypertrophy, epithelial multilayering, and the presence of epithelial cells over posterior lens capsule, observed in group 3 rats were not present in other groups. CONCLUSIONS: Cataractogenesis after cigarette smoke exposure was associated with an accumulation of iron and calcium in the rat lens, and vitamin E supplementation protected such accumulations and cataractogenesis.     

PCR assay for the identification of animal species in cooked sausages

A species-specific PCR assay was developed for the detection of low levels of pork, horse and donkey meat in cooked sausages. Oligonucleotid primers were designed for amplification of species-specific mitochondrial DNA sequences of each species and detected the presence of 0.01 ng of template DNA in water. When applying the assay to DNA extracts from sausages samples that were prepared from binary meat mixtures, it was possible to detect each species when spiked in any other species at the 0.1% level. In conclusion, it can be suggested that this assay can be used to determine mislabelled and/or fraudulent species substitution in comminuted meat products.     

Multicomponent cleaning verification of stainless steel surfaces for the removal of dairy residues using infrared microspectroscopy

The application of infrared microspectroscopy (IRMS) technology, combined with multivariate analysis, was evaluated to develop sensitive and robust methods to assess cleanability of stainless steel surfaces for the removal of dairy food residues. UHT milk samples (skim, 1%, 2%, and whole) were analyzed for total nitrogen (Kjeldahl) and fat (Babcock) contents. The coupons were manually soiled with serially diluted milk samples resulting in soils ranging from 0.1 to 428.1 μg/cm(2) for protein and 0.1 to 374.17 μg/cm(2) for fat, and then autoclaved to simulate a heated equipment surface. Reflectance spectra were collected from stainless steel coupons by using IRMS, and multivariate analysis was used to develop calibration models based on cross-validated partial least squares regression (PLSR). Statistical analysis for the prediction of protein and fat showed a standard error of cross-validation (SECV) of 0.5 and 0.4 μg/cm(2) for prediction of protein and fat, respectively, and correlation coefficients (rVal) > 0.99. To improve the sensitivity, swabbing and concentration steps were used prior to IRMS analysis obtaining SECV of 0.04 and 0.01 μg/cm(2) for the prediction of protein and fat, respectively, and rVal > 0.99. The PLSR models accurately predicted the levels of protein and fat on autoclaved stainless steel coupons soiled with milk. A simple, reliable, and robust protocol based on IRMS and multivariate analysis was developed for multicomponent characterization of stainless steel surfaces that can contribute to more efficient cleaning verification with regard to contamination on surfaces of processing equipment. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: We report the application of Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy (FTIR) for the validation of CIP cleaning efficiency that would provide a basis for better understanding of the mechanisms involved in the removal of physical soil and food residues from different types of equipment surfaces commonly utilized in the biotech, pharmaceutical, and food industries. Reliable calibration models were generated that showed the ability to predict the amounts of dairy soils on the surface of stainless steel coupons. Including a swabbing step of the coupons before infrared spectral acquisition provided improved sensitivity and reproducibility for multicomponent cleaning verification. Results from this research project would allow designing experiments to rapidly evaluate different materials and finishes, the effects of process variables, the influence of food components, and the development of reliable and robust cleaning validation protocols to ensure the safety and quality of the product.     

Effects of liquid smoke on quality characteristics of Turkish standard smoked beef tongue

The purpose of this research was to determine some quality characteristics of beef tongues processed with liquid and vaporous (traditional) smoke. The tongues were divided into two groups; traditional (vaporous) smoking and liquid smoke application groups, and the processed tongues were vacuum packaged and monitored for quality during 30 days of storage at 4±1?°C. All the smoked tongue samples were subjected to chemical, microbiological and organoleptic analysis at 0, 5, 10, 15 and 30 days of storage. The results indicated that despite some favorable results attributed to traditional smoking, liquid smoke application of beef tongue is also possible without causing any major acceptability problems in terms of quality.     

Photovoltaic system assessment for a school building

The installation of photovoltaic panels (PVs) on the roof of residential and commercial buildings is getting widespread as these areas stand normally idle and can be used for another purpose without losing an inhabited space. Considering the solar potential of Turkey, a significant amount of electricity generation is possible using current PV technology. For this reason, a two-story detached school building located in ?zmir, Turkey was taken into consideration and monthly as well as annual coverage ratio of an on-grid PV system for its entire energy requirement (including heating, cooling and lighting) was investigated. The PVs were installed on the south face of the school building roof. A heat pump, with a typical coefficient of performance (COP) value of 2.5, was used for supplying required cooling and heating. The heating, cooling and lighting loads were determined on a monthly basis. The average monthly electrical energy generation of the mounted PVs was calculated using a written code in Energy Equation Solver (EES) software. As a result, the monthly as well as yearly electrical energy demand coverage ratio values for the school using the installed PVs were revealed. Since the school building has a large south faced roof, the installation of PVs is very suitable to meet the cumulative electrical energy need of the heat pump and the lighting load. For Case 1, 180 PVs, which supply the entire yearly demand (with a 110% coverage ratio), were taken into consideration, while for Case 2, 265 PVs, which cover 75% of the roof area, were evaluated. The results showed that between November and March, PV electrical energy generation is not sufficient to meet all energy need of the school for both cases. However, significant coverage ratio values were observed for the rest of the year. In a yearly basis, the PV generation exceeded the building demand by 62% for the Case 2. This conclusion points out that the school can meet its yearly electricity need with the considered PV system and can even have an additional financial profit by selling its surplus PV electricity to the grid. Economic and environmental payback time values as well as simple payback time value were also computed for both investigated cases. The results pointed out a simple payback time of 7.9 years for Case 1 and 7.6 years for Case 2. Energy payback time was determined as 5 years for both systems. The greenhouse gas payback time of 2.7 years and 5.9 years was encountered for coal based and natural gas based calculations.     

Growth of CdS thin films and nanowires for flexible photoelectrochemical cells

In this study, cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanocrystal thin films and nanowires have been deposited onto mechanically flexible substrates via dc-electrodeposition, which is a very suitable technique for large area manufacturing. For the first time with this study, flexible CdS nanocrystal thin films were integrated into photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells and their performances were compared with CdS nanowires. It has been demonstrated that PEC performance of both nanocrystal thin films and nanowires were a strong function of production conditions such as deposition time and voltage. The maximum power conversion efficiency of the CdS nanocrystal thin films obtained in this study was 0.3%. On the other hand, higher efficiencies (about 1.4%) were observed for the CdS nanowires. UV-vis analysis confirmed that both transmittance and band gap energies of the CdS nanowires were lower than that of CdS nanocrystal thin films. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that both nanocrystal thin films and nanowires have a preferred orientation at 26° (2θ), which can be attributed to the CdS (0 0 2) structure.     

Trading off between makespan and customer responsiveness in flow shop sequencing

There is a vast literature on the problem of how to sequence products in a blocking flow shop so as to minimise makespan. It is often the case, however, that problem instances have multiple optima, and that within the set of optimal (or near optimal) solutions, other characteristics of importance vary substantially. Thus, the solution found by an approach that solely minimises makespan may be inferior to alternate solutions that have comparable makespan but superior value with regard to other criteria. In this paper, we demonstrate this by considering makespan and customer responsiveness, the potential that a sequence has for modification so as to incorporate customer order changes after production has begun. We consider the relationship between these two metrics and present computational results to show how different approaches to making trade-offs between them can change the solution characteristics substantially.