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.     

Casting properties of ASTM A128 Gr. E1 steel modified with Mn-alloying and titanium ladle treatment

This work aims to produce a high manganese steel with more refined austenite grains and better wear resistance without sacrificing the toughness and tensile properties by Mn alloying and Ti ladle treatment in comparision to ASTM A128 Gr. E1 steel (1.0C-13Mn) that is mostly used in the mining industry. The 1.0C-17Mn-xTi alloys (x=0, 0.05 and 0.1, in wt.%) were prepared. A relationship was established between the microstructures and mechanical properties of the as-cast and solution annealed alloys. Increasing Ti content increases the stable Ti(CN) phase on and beside the grain boundaries and decreases up to 37% the austenite grain size of the as-cast alloy with 0.10wt.% Ti. Correspondingly, after solution annealed, optimized titanium content (0.05wt.%) results in significant improvements in wear resistance, hardness, elongation, yield and tensile strengths by 44%, 31%, 30%, 8% and 12%, respectively, except 9% decrease in impact toughness compared to ASTM A 128 Gr. E1 steel without modification. These results show that 1.0C-17Mn-0.05Ti alloy can be used for parts exposed to high load wear and applied in conditions where relatively high tensile properties with sufficent ductility is needed.

     

Immobilization Horseradish Peroxidase onto UiO-66-NH2 for Biodegradation of Organic Dyes

Enzymes are extensively used as catalyst in several fields of production such as chemistry, and pharmaceuticals owing to their selectivity, efficiency and environmentally friendliness. However, their applications are often hindered due to their insufficient stability and difficulties in re-use. As a member of porous crystalline materials, metal organic frameworks are a promising enzyme carrier due to their multi-functional pore surfaces and robustness in variety of harsh conditions. In this study, the horseradish peroxidase (HRP) enzyme was immobilized onto UiO-66-NH₂ (Universitetet i Oslo) by a facile incubation method at the room temperature to improve the stability and reusability of enzyme. The prepared HRP@UiO-66-NH₂ bio-composite was characterized by using FT-IR, XRD and SEM. The crystal structure of MOF was well-preserved after enzyme immobilization. A colorimetric assay for enzyme activity after released from UiO-66-NH₂ has been employed based on the catalytic oxidation of phenol coupled with 4-aminoantipyrine. The robustness and activity of immobilized enzyme after released from UiO-66-NH₂ were investigated by biodegradation of methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB) with several parameters such as pH, temperature, the dosage of H₂O₂ and the dye concentration with comparison to its free form. The optimum condition for dye degradation was obtained at basic conditions. The immobilized enzyme maintained its activity at elevated temperature while free enzyme lost its activity at the same conditions, attributed to the armoring effect of UiO-66-NH₂. According to the results of studied various parameters, MO and MB were biodegraded to 60% and 45%, respectively, within 60 min with the optimum conditions at pH 9 and 50 °C at a H₂O₂ dosage of 3%. The superior pH tolerance and stability suggest potential of UiO-66-NH₂ immobilized peroxidase enzyme in industrial applications.

     

Optical gain in 1.3-μm electrically driven dilute nitride VCSOAs

We report the observation of room-temperature optical gain at 1.3 μm in electrically driven dilute nitride vertical cavity semiconductor optical amplifiers. The gain is calculated with respect to injected power for samples with and without a confinement aperture. At lower injected powers, a gain of almost 10 dB is observed in both samples. At injection powers over 5 nW, the gain is observed to decrease. For nearly all investigated power levels, the sample with confinement aperture gives slightly higher gain.     

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.     

Effects of composition, texture and diagenesis on porosity, permeability and oil recovery in a sandstone reservoir

Relationship among depositional texture, composition, diagenesis, porosity, permeability, initial water saturations and residual oil saturations have been investigated in a set of sandstone samples from a North American oil reservor. Pointcount, compositional and textural data obtained from thin sections were used.Grain size, sorting and mineralogy are closely interrelated. As grain size increases, sorting decreases and the proportion of readily soluble detrial grains increases.The type and extent of diagenetic alteration is related to grain size. Silica cement as overgrowths is more common in finer-grained sandstones with abundant monocrystalline quartz, whereas carbonate cement is more common in coarsergrained sandstones. Carbonate dissolution is extensive in some intervals in the reservoir.Sandstone samples were subdivided into tow subgroups in which relationshiops among grain size, porosity and permeability are significantly different: Sandstones with less than 13% porosity are strongly influenced by carbonate cement which controls porosity and permeability, independently of variations of grain size and sorting. Sandstones having porosity greater than 13% have undergone extensive carbonate dissolution, and coarse-grained sandstones have more secondary porosity than the finer-grained due to dissolution of unstable constituents. Both porosity and permeability are positively correlated with grain size in these samples.Initial (connate) water saturation increases with grain size because of the strong correlation between increasing grain size and polycrystalline grains which have intra-grain microporosity. Increasing heterogeneity with increasing grain size is thought to contribute to higher residual oil saturations in coarser-grained, more poorly sorted sandstones. A decrease in oil recovery efficiency with increasing grain size and permeability may be predicted for other sandstone reservoir rocks deposited in similar types of environments.     

The Effect of Using Different Y<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> Layers on the Activation Energy and Irreversibility Line of MPMG YBCO Bulk at 1050 °C Growth Temperature

In this study, three kinds of YBCO samples which are named Y1, Y2 and Y3 were fabricated by a melt–powder–melt–growth (MPMG) method. The Y1 sample was placed into a platinum (Pt) crucible without Y₂O₃, the Y2 sample was located on a Al₂O₃ crucible with a freely poured Y₂O₃ powder and the Y3 sample was located on a Al₂O₃ crucible with a 1-mm-thick buffer layer of Y₂O₃. YBCO samples were investigated by magnetoresistivity (ρ–T) measurements in dc magnetic fields (parallel to the c-axis) up to 5 T. The effect of the Y₂O₃ layer on the activation energy and irreversible flux of the samples was studied. The activation energies (U) were determined using the Arrhenius activation energy law from ρ–T. The power law relationship for U with H^?α was investigated. α was calculated to find out which defects were dominant in the samples. Irreversibility fields (H_irr) and upper critical fields (H_c2) were obtained using 10 and 90% criteria of the normal-state resistivity value from ρ–T curves. Irreversibility lines (ILs) were estimated from the equation H_irr ～ (1 ? T_irr(H)/T_irr(0))ⁿ. The fitting results to giant flux creep and vortex glass models were discussed.     

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.     

Polystyrene Attached Pt(IV)�CAzomethine, Synthesis and Immobilization of Glucose Oxidase Enzyme

Modified polystyrene with Pt(IV)–azomethine (APS–Sch–Pt) was synthesized by means of condensation and demonstrated to be a promising enzyme support by studying the enzymatic properties of glucose oxidase enzyme (GOx) immobilized on it. The characteristics of the immobilized glucose oxidase (APS–Sch–Pt–GOx) enzyme showed two optimum pH values that were pH = 4.0 and pH = 7. The insertion of stable Pt(IV)–azomethine spacers between the polystyrene backbone and the immobilized GOx, (APS–Sch–Pt–GOx), increases the enzymes’ activity and improves their affinity towards the substrate even at pH = 4. The influence of temperature, reusability and storage capacity on the free and immobilized glucose oxidase enzyme was investigated. The storage stability of the immobilized glucose oxidase was shown to be eleven months in dry conditions at +4 °C.     

A new low band gap electrochromic polymer containing 2,5-bis-dithienyl-1H-pyrrole and 2,1,3-benzoselenadiazole moiety with high contrast ratio

A new low band gap electrochromic polymer containing of 3-(2,5-di-2-thienyl-1H-pyrrol-1-yl)-9-ethyl-9H-carbazole (SNSC) and 2,1,3-benzoselenadiazole (BSe) moiety has been reported. Structural identification of initial compounds and product were carried out by using FT-IR and ¹H NMR spectroscopy results. The resulting polymer, poly(SNSC-BSe), was completely soluble in various common organic solvents and its weight-average molecular weight (M_w) were 9420 (PDI: 1.22). According to AFM results, the RMS (root mean surface) roughness of poly-(SNSC-BSe) was found to be 48.6 nm. Besides, the thermogravimetric analysis presented that the poly(SNSC-BSe) is moderately stable against to thermal effect with the initial degradation temperature at 182 °C. The lowest energy transition band maxima of poly(SNSC-BSe) was 498 nm in thin film and the optical band gap calculated from the onset wavelength of the optical absorption was 1.77 eV. On the other hand, the electrochemical band gap calculated from oxidation and reduction onset values was 1.60 eV, respectively. Finally, the electrochromic performance of the polymer film represents a high contrast ratio in the NIR region (51%), fast response time of about 1 s, high coloration efficiency (274 cm² C⁻¹) and retained its performance by 94.6% even after 1000 cycles.