Computer aided detection system for micro calcifications in digital mammograms

Breast cancer continues to be a significant public health problem in the world. Early detection is the key for improving breast cancer prognosis. Mammogram breast X-ray is considered the most reliable method in early detection of breast cancer. However, it is difficult for radiologists to provide both accurate and uniform evaluation for the enormous mammograms generated in widespread screening. Micro calcification clusters (MCCs) and masses are the two most important signs for the breast cancer, and their automated detection is very valuable for early breast cancer diagnosis. The main objective is to discuss the computer-aided detection system that has been proposed to assist the radiologists in detecting the specific abnormalities and improving the diagnostic accuracy in making the diagnostic decisions by applying techniques splits into three-steps procedure beginning with enhancement by using Histogram equalization (HE) and Morphological Enhancement, followed by segmentation based on Otsu's threshold the region of interest for the identification of micro calcifications and mass lesions, and at last classification stage, which classify between normal and micro calcifications ‘patterns and then classify between benign and malignant micro calcifications. In classification stage; three methods were used, the voting K-Nearest Neighbor classifier (K-NN) with prediction accuracy of 73%, Support Vector Machine classifier (SVM) with prediction accuracy of 83%, and Artificial Neural Network classifier (ANN) with prediction accuracy of 77%.     

Evaluation of hydraulic excavator Human–Machine Interface concepts using NASA TLX

This study evaluated newly proposed Human–Machine Interface (HMI) design concepts for improving the ergonomics of hydraulic excavators. The design concepts were based on an augmented interaction technique which involved the use of heads-up display (HUD) and coordinated control as HMI elements. Two alternative HMI designs were elaborated in order to separately evaluate the ergonomic impacts of the head-up display and the coordinated control by comparing them to the standard HMI design. The effectiveness of these three HMI designs in terms of the reduction of the operators' mental and physical workload were assessed by conducting experiments utilizing human subjects, ages 23–35 years. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Task Load Index (NASA TLX) method was used for collecting subjective workload scores based on a weighted average of ratings of six factors: Mental Demand, Physical Demand, Temporal Demand, Own Performance, Effort, and Frustration Level. The results showed that the type of HMI design affects different aspects of the operator's workload. Indeed, it showed how the proposed augmented interaction is an effective solution for reducing the ergonomic gaps in terms of mental workload, and to a lesser extent the physical workload, subjected by the standard HMI design.     

A multi-echelon production–inventory system with supply disruption

The article investigates an integrated multi-layer supply chain model consisting of supplier, manufacturer and retailer while supply disruption, machine breakdown, safety stock, maintenance breakdown occur simultaneously. At beginning of the production, manufacturer keeps some raw materials in stock received from second supplier at high price, as safety stock due to supply disruption of first supplier. Corrective maintenance is done immediately to restore its normal stage when machine breakdown occurs. Stock out situations at manufacturer and retailer are considered due to disruption of production for machine breakdown. The integrated expected costs of the chain in centralized (collaborating) and decentralized (Stakelberg approach) system are compared. A numerical example and its sensitivity analysis are provided to test feasibility of the model.     

Automatic classification and prediction models for early Parkinson’s disease diagnosis from SPECT imaging

Early and accurate diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is important for early management, proper prognostication and for initiating neuroprotective therapies once they become available. Recent neuroimaging techniques such as dopaminergic imaging using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with ¹²³I-Ioflupane (DaTSCAN) have shown to detect even early stages of the disease. In this paper, we use the striatal binding ratio (SBR) values that are calculated from the ¹²³I-Ioflupane SPECT scans (as obtained from the Parkinson’s progression markers initiative (PPMI) database) for developing automatic classification and prediction/prognostic models for early PD. We used support vector machine (SVM) and logistic regression in the model building process. We observe that the SVM classifier with RBF kernel produced a high accuracy of more than 96% in classifying subjects into early PD and healthy normal; and the logistic model for estimating the risk of PD also produced high degree of fitting with statistical significance indicating its usefulness in PD risk estimation. Hence, we infer that such models have the potential to aid the clinicians in the PD diagnostic process.     

基于海量搜索历史数据的用户兴趣模型

针对互联网搜索引擎环境中,基于海量搜索历史数据分析用户兴趣的问题,提出一种改进的用户兴趣模型。该模型根据用户搜索的历史数据,结合向量空间模型（ VSM ）和TF-IDF算法,递归地回溯出用户兴趣权重列表。为解决用户兴趣变化和时间性能的问题,该模型引入时间遗忘机制进行动态更新,并在Hadoop分布式系统架构下利用MapReduce分布式编程模型进行实现。实验结果表明,改进的用户兴趣模型的查准率和召回率都能达到50',具有较好的可行性和可用性。     

Use of renewables for the production of chemicals: Glycerol oxidation over carbon supported gold catalysts

As a renewable feedstock and due to its high functionality glycerol is an attractive reactant for the production of a large number of valuable compounds. We report on an environmentally friendly alternative to produce chemicals from the glycerol oxidation, which are currently produced either by stoichiometric oxidation processes or by enzymatic routes. We investigate the heterogeneously catalyzed liquid-phase oxidation of glycerol with carbon supported gold catalysts. The prepared nanosized gold catalysts are highly active, so that the reaction could be performed under atmospheric pressure. The influence of the preparation method of the catalysts has been investigated. Moreover, the support effect on the catalytic process has been studied and discussed in terms of pore structure of the investigated carbon materials. The promotor effect of platinum on Au/C catalysts was examined and it could be shown that the presence of Pt increases not only the catalyst activity but also the selectivity. By promoting the gold catalysts with platinum the selectivity to dihydroxyacetone could be increased from 26% (Au/C) to 36% (Au–Pt/C).     

TiO_2－Al_2O_3复合载体在石油化工催化剂中的应用

介绍了ＴｉＯ_２－Ａｌ_２Ｏ_３复合载体的制备方法及其物化性能。以此载体研制出的ＢＹ型裂解汽油加氢催化剂各项性能指标均符合标准值的要求；并在工业使用中取得了较好的效果。     

极限训练机在矿山开采最大下沉值估算中的应用

矿山开采过程中采空区地表往往会发生形变,研究其最大下沉值对安全生产具有重要意义,现有的开采最大下沉估算方法还有提升的空间。基于岩移数据决策与极限训练机(Extreme learning machine,ELM)算法,提出了一种估计最大下沉的新方法。该方法将采厚、倾角、平均采深、走向长度、倾向长度和覆岩岩性确定为最大下沉值影响因素;应用以Sigmoid方程为核函数、隐含层神经元个数为114的ELM模型对最大下沉值进行了估算。通过案例分析,ELM模型得到了优于传统算法如CHAID、Boosted Tree、ANN、BPNN和SVM的RMSE、MAE、MAPE、最大残差及秩相关系数,故认为该模型是一种有效的矿山开采最大下沉估算方法。