Delineation of ECT images using global constraints and dynamic programming

A model-based delineation algorithm is presented. It is a flexible model fitting algorithm, approaching contour detection as an optimization problem. An objective function is introduced, which depends not only on local contour features, but also on a global shape constraint. The latter is implemented as the similarity to the instance of a parametric shape model. The algorithm optimizes both the contour points and the parameters of the model. As a result, both global and local characteristics of the contour are determined as a compromise between photometric data and prior knowledge. The method was applied to myocardial perfusion SPECT images, to delineate the entire left ventricle (endocardium and epicardium), including possible regions of reduced perfusion. By adapting the balance between the image data and the shape model, images with different characteristics can be processed, including Thallium-201 and MIBI scans.     

湿铬革防霉剂

现在有一种新的趋势,是直接出口湿铬革。除此以外,有些制革厂,有意地把湿铬革储藏起来,接到订货以后再开始做。这样,制革厂遇到了新的问题,就是如何防止这种在储藏过程中的湿铬革生长真菌或霉菌,或两者都有,特别在热天和潮湿季节里,这种要求尤为迫切,需要找到适宜于在初步加工过程中能引入的防霉剂。这里介绍的就是这种在试验室和工厂里进行试验的有关研究报     

轮胎力学进展

回顾和分析当前轮胎科学与工艺技术的进展。对鉴定轮胎耐久性、胎面磨耗、噪声、能耗、振动及牵引和操纵性能的计算及试验技术的发展进行讨论。列举了应用新发展的技术分析轮胎的上述关键特性和促进优化轮胎设计的实例。     

Al_xGa_(0.52-x)In_(0.48)P/GaAs异质结双极晶体管高温特性的计算分析

建立了适用于缓变 Alx Ga0 .5 2 -x In0 .48P/Ga As HBT的解析模型。考虑了 Al组分 x的变化对 HBT温度特性的影响。分析结果表明 ,在实用的电流范围 (Jc在 1 0 3 A/cm2 左右 )内 ,Alx Ga0 .5 2 -xIn0 .48P/Ga As HBT随着 x的增大 ,其电流增益的稳定性也上升 ,当 x=0 .3时工作温度可超过 70 0K。文章还分析了高温时 HBT电流增益下降的原因     

Transmission power requirements for novel ZigBee implants in the gastrointestinal tract

In this paper, a novel multinode wireless monitoring platform, based on ZigBee communication standard, is presented and tested in vivo. The transmission power levels needed to establish a reliable connection from the different gastrointestinal districts are reported and compared with safety levels from international guidelines. These findings can be useful to evaluate the effectiveness of a commercial and standardized approach to implantable and miniaturized monitoring of physiological parameters.     

Cortical patch basis model for spatially extended neural activity

A new source model for representing spatially distributed neural activity is presented. The signal of interest is modeled as originating from a patch of cortex and is represented using a set of basis functions. Each cortical patch has its own set of bases, which allows representation of arbitrary source activity within the patch. This is in contrast to previously proposed cortical patch models which assume a specific distribution of activity within the patch. We present a procedure for designing bases that minimize the normalized mean squared representation error, averaged over different activity distributions within the patch. Extension of existing algorithms to the basis function framework is straightforward and is illustrated using linearly constrained minimum variance (LCMV) spatial filtering and maximum-likelihood signal estimation/generalized likelihood ratio test (ML/GLRT). The number of bases chosen for each patch determines a tradeoff between representation accuracy and the ability to differentiate between distinct patches. We propose choosing the minimum number of bases that satisfy a constraint on the normalized mean squared representation accuracy. A mismatch analysis for LCMV and ML/GLRT is presented to show that this is an appropriate strategy for choosing the number of bases. The effectiveness of the patch basis model is demonstrated using real and simulated evoked response data. We show that significant changes in performance occur as the number of basis functions varies, and that very good results are obtained by allowing modest representation error.     

Applications of static and dynamic iterated rippled noise to evaluate pitch encoding in the human auditory brainstem

This paper presents a new application of the dynamic iterated rippled noise (IRN) algorithm by generating dynamic pitch contours representative of those that occur in natural speech in the context of EEG and the frequency following response (FFR). Besides IRN steady state and linear rising stimuli, curvilinear rising stimuli were modeled after pitch contours of natural productions of Mandarin Tone 2. Electrophysiological data on pitch representation at the level of the brainstem, as reflected in FFR, were evaluated for all stimuli, static or dynamic. Autocorrelation peaks were observed corresponding to the fundamental period (tau) as well as spectral bands at the fundamental and its harmonics for both a low and a high iteration step. At the higher iteration step, both spectral and temporal FFR representations were more robust, indicating that both acoustic properties may be utilized for pitch extraction at the level of the brainstem. By applying curvilinear IRN stimuli to elicit FFRs, we can evaluate the effects of temporal degradation on 1) the neural representation of linguistically-relevant pitch features in a target population (e.g., cochlear implant) and 2) the efficacy of signal processing schemes in conventional hearing aids and cochlear implants to recover these features.     

A comprehensive approach to the analysis of contrast enhanced cardiac MR images

Current magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology allows the determination of patient-individual coronary tree structure, detection of infarctions, and assessment of myocardial perfusion. Joint inspection of these three aspects yields valuable information for therapy planning, e.g., through classification of myocardium into healthy tissue, regions showing a reversible hypoperfusion, and infarction with additional information on the corresponding supplying artery. Standard imaging protocols normally provide image data with different orientations, resolutions and coverages for each of the three aspects, which makes a direct comparison of analysis results difficult. The purpose of this work is to develop methods for the alignment and combined analysis of these images. The proposed approach is applied to 21 datasets of healthy and diseased patients from the clinical routine. The evaluation shows that, despite limitations due to typical MRI artifacts, combined inspection is feasible and can yield clinically useful information.     

Estimation of lung's air volume and its variations throughout respiratory CT image sequences

A respiratory image-sequence-segmentation technique is introduced based on a novel image-sequence analysis. The proposed technique is capable of segmenting the lung's air and its soft tissues followed by estimating the lung's air volume and its variations throughout the image sequence. Accurate estimation of these two parameters is very important in many applications related to lung disease diagnosis and treatment systems (e.g., brachytherapy), where the parameters are either the variables of interest themselves or are dependent/independent variables. The concept of the proposed technique involves using the image sequence's combined histogram to obtain a reasonable initial guess for the lung's air segmentation thresholds. This is followed by an optimization process to find the optimum threshold values that best satisfy the lung's air mass conservation and tissue incompressibility principles. These threshold values are consequently applied to estimate the lung's air volume and its variations throughout respiratory Computed Tomography (CT) image sequences. Ex vivo experiments were conducted on porcine left lungs in order to demonstrate the performance of the proposed technique. The proposed method was initially validated using a breath-hold CT image sequence with known air volumes inside the lung, where results show that the proposed technique outperforms single-histogram-based methods. This was followed by demonstrating the proposed technique's application in a 4-D-CT respiratory sequence, where the air volume inside the lung was unknown. Consistency of the obtained results in the latter experiment with tissue near incompressibility principle was validated. The results indicate a very good ability of the proposed method for estimating the lung's air volume and its variations in a respiratory image sequence.     

莱索托高原调水工程

莱索托调水工程总投资２０亿美元。从莱索托河引水，向北调入南非的一些河流，最终引入现有的瓦尔河水库。莱索托高原水利局负责境内调水工程的管理，一期调水工程的平均流量为１８ｍ３／ｓ。