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Malignant melanoma is a very aggressive tumour with the ability to metastasize at an early stage. Therefore, early detection is of great importance. Multiphoton tomography is a new non-invasive examination method in the clinical diagnosis of skin alterations that can be used for such early diagnosis. In this paper, a method for automated evaluation of multiphoton images of the skin is presented. The following features at the cellular and subcellular level were extracted to differentiate between malignant melanomas, lesions, and healthy skin: cell symmetry, cell distance, cell density, cell and nucleus contrast, nucleus cell ratio, and homogeneity of cytoplasm. The extracted features formed the basis for the subsequent classification. Two feature sets were used. The first feature set included all the above-mentioned features, while the second feature set included the significantly different features between the three classes resulting from a multivariate analysis of variance. The classification was performed by a Support Vector Machine, the k-Nearest Neighbour algorithm, and Ensemble Learning. The best classification results were obtained with the Support Vector Machine using the first feature set with an accuracy of 52 % and 79.6 % for malignant melanoma and healthy skin, respectively. Despite the small number of subjects investigated our results indicate that the proposed automatic method can differentiate malignant melanoma, lesions, and healthy skin. For future clinical application, an extended study with more multiphoton images is needed.

Abstract We propose a novel automatic segmentation algorithm that separates the components of human skin cells from the rest of the tissue in fluorescence data of three-dimensional scans using non-invasive multiphoton tomography. The algorithm encompasses a multi-stage merging on preprocessed superpixel images to ensure independence from a single empirical global threshold. This leads to a high robustness of the segmentation considering the depth-dependent data characteristics, which include variable contrasts and cell sizes. The subsequent classification of cell cytoplasm and nuclei are based on a cell model described by a set of four features. Two novel features, a relationship between outer cell and inner nucleus (OCIN) and a stability index, were derived. The OCIN feature describes the topology of the model, while the stability index indicates segment quality in the multi-stage merging process. These two new features, combined with the local gradient magnitude and compactness, are used for the model-based fuzzy evaluation of the cell segments. We exemplify our approach on an image stack with 200 × 200 × 100 μm3, including the skin layers of the stratum spinosum and the stratum basale of a healthy volunteer. Our image processing pipeline contributes to the fully automated classification of human skin cells in multiphoton data and provides a basis for the detection of skin cancer using non-invasive optical biopsy.

The influence of hydrogen as an agent to accelerate the thermal recovery of cold-worked palladium has been investigated. The techniques used to characterize the effects of hydrogen on the thermal recovery of palladium were hydrogen solubility and mechanical property measurements. Results show that the presence of modest amounts of hydrogen during annealing of cold-worked palladium does enhance the degree of thermal recovery, with a direct correlation between the amount of hydrogen during annealing and the degree of recovery. The results indicate that the damage resulting from cold-working palladium can be more effectively and efficiently reversed by suitable heat treatments in the presence of appropriate amounts of hydrogen, as compared to heat treatment in vacuum. The somewhat novel technique of using changes in the hydrogen solubility of palladium as an indicator of thermal recovery has been validated and complements the more traditional technique of mechanical property measurements.

Czasopismo naukowe stanowi od połowy XVII wieku najważniejsze medium komunikacji w społeczności uczonych. Spełnia ono również wiele innych funkcji, takich jak selekcja jakościowa, archiwizacja i przynoszenie uznania autorom. Konieczność istnienia czasopisma dla rozwoju nauki była kwestionowana, również z pozycji antropologii kulturowej. Część z jego funkcji można już obecnie zastąpić innymi rozwiązaniami, pojawiającymi się wraz z rozwojem technologii informacyjnych i komunikacyjnych. Różne propozycje stworzenia nowej formuły czasopisma nie zapewniają właściwego spełniania jego wszystkich dotychczasowych funkcji. Szczególnie ważna i ciekawa wydaje się możliwość spojrzenia na procedury nauki związane z publikowaniem w czasopismach jako na rytuał, który utrwala poczucie tożsamości i integrację części społeczności uczonych związanej z określonym obszarem badawczym i szkołą metodologiczną.

During the archival study of the rich legacy of Prof. Józef Kostrzewski carried out by the author, a ready-to-be-published manuscript by Kazimierz Gelinek (1946) in Polish and English was found. It describes his archaeological activities 1940-45 as a prisoner at Mauthausen-Gusen, one of the most severe German Nazi concentration camps. Gelinek, a geographer and pre-war grammar school teacher with extensive archaeological field and museum practice in the Płock region, was ordered by the camp commanders first to form the excavation brigade of prisoners in order to examine several sites in the vicinity of the camp (the archaeologically rich region of Upper Danube valley), then to organize a small archaeological museum in one of the camp barracks and finally – to prepare a monograph of the excavated area that was handed to Heinrich Himmler, chief of the SS and Gestapo and an enthusiastic amateur of archaeology, during his visit

This note contains a supplement to the publication of the manuscript "My Father's Letters" by Maria Kostrzewska- Orlewicz, Prof. Józef Kostrzewski's daughter (Prinke 2009). It presents some results of further archival research

An interesting relation on the last years of Prof. Józef Kostrzewski - a prominent Polish archaeologist, co-founder of the Poznań University and explorer of the famous Early Iron Age fortified settlement at Biskupin - has been discovered recently at the Archives of Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznań Branch. Its author - Professor's only daugther Maria Kostrzewska-Orlewicz, plentifully quotes her father's correspondence from 1953-1969

The ARENA project gave the Archaeological Museum in Poznań an opportunity to work on the preservation and dissemination of archives of international significance in the museum's care. In addition to carrying out preservation work on digital archives two specific resources were presented: The Image collection from Biskupin; The publication of the excavation report from Kowalewko This activity allowed the team from Poznań to contribute in particular to the role of digitisation in the preservation process, and to demonstrate the value of on-line publication of an important work that is only narrowly available in print form.

The emanation of radionuclides has been highlighted as a known source of uncertainty in the estimation of radionuclide source signatures from underground nuclear tests and other nuclear activities, particularly in the case of activation products. A system was developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to quantify the emanation of argon from two powders and five rock types ranging in particle size from powder to small rocks. Samples were neutron irradiated and the percent emanation of 37Ar was measured to range between 0.3 and 25%. Measurements were also made of the 39Ar emanation for four of these materials and was found to be consistently lower than that of 37Ar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on four extant letters the famous Polish alchemist Michael Sendivogius wrote to Emperor Rudolf II and his first chamberlain Hans Popp between 1597 and 1602, this paper adds to a growing body of revisionist scholarship on alchemy in Rudolfine Prague. Unlike most of his many rivals - including luminaries such as John Dee and Michael Maier - who hoped for the Emperor's patronage in vain, Sendivogius officially became a courtier at the imperial court in 1594. As such he was in the privileged position of having access to the Emperor and his close advisors. The surviving correspondence shows how the Pole successfully balanced his alchemical promises against Rudolf's expectations for a number of years. The fact that even Sendivogius found it difficult to translate imperial patronage into ready money suggests that Emperor Rudolf II was considerably more circumspect and less gullible than the widespread cliché suggests. Fully contextualised by all available sources on Sendivogius' early career, the four letters emerge as important documents regarding the Polish adept and alchemical patronage in Rudolfine Prague. They also shed new light on the circumstances which led to the writing and publication of Sendivogius' famous treatise De lapide philosophorum (Novum lumen chymicum). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]