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In this study, to investigate the influence of numerical surface forms on strategy execution in subtraction and addition, 25 college students were required to perform a mental arithmetic task. Behavioral and electroencephalography responses were recorded to explore the stages of strategy execution. Arithmetic problems were presented within 11-20 by Arabic, Chinese and English numerals, respectively. The results showed that, compared with Arabic and Chinese numerals, participants had longer RTs under the condition of English numerals. English numerals induced stronger N100, P200 and P300 amplitudes, and longer latency in P200 and P300 amplitudes than in other conditions. These findings indicated that numerical surface forms affected the execution of mental arithmetic strategies, with Chinese and English numerals being processed deeper in the brain. Especially, the English digital word form occupied more psychological resources, and it was activated more in the frontal area and the parietal area, which would obviously hinder the processing of arithmetic information.

13N-ammonia and 18F-flurpiridaz require longer delays between rest and stress studies to allow for decay, lowering clinical throughput. In this study, we investigated the impact of residual subtraction on MBF and MFR estimates, as well as its effects on diagnostic accuracy. We retrospectively analyzed 63 patients who underwent a dynamic ammonia rest/stress study and 231 patients from the flurpiridaz 301 trial. Residual subtraction was performed by subtracting the mean pre-injection activity in each sampled region from that region’s time activity curve. Corrected and uncorrected MBF and MFR were analyzed. Diagnostic accuracy was compared to quantitative coronary angiograms (QCA) for the flurpiridaz population. With delays between injections above 3 half-lives, and a doubled stress dose, residual activity did not meaningfully increase ammonia MBF (

Background The modified thrombolysis in cerebral infarction (mTICI) scale is a widely used and validated qualitative tool to evaluate angiographic intracerebral inflow following endovascular thrombectomy (EVT). We validated a machine-learning (ML) algorithm to grade digital subtraction angiograms (DSA) using the mTICI scale. Materials and methods We included angiograms of identified middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusions who underwent EVT. The complete DSA sequences were preprocessed and normalized. We created three convolutional neural networks to classify DSA into two outcomes, low- (mTICI 0,1,2a) and high-grade (mTICI 2b,2c,3). Results We included a total of 234 angiograms in this study. The area under the receiver operating characteristic was 0.863 (95% CI 0.816-0.909), 0.914 (95% CI 0.876-0.951), and 0.890 (95% CI 0.848-0.932) for the anteroposterior (AP), lateral (L), and combined models, respectively, when dichotomizing outcomes into low and high grade. The models' area under the precision-recall curve was 0.879 (95% CI 0.829-0.930), 0.906 (95% CI 0.844-0.968), and 0.887 (95% CI 0.834-0.941) for the AP, L, and combined models. Conclusion In complete cerebral DSA, our angiography-based ML strategy was able to predict mTICI scores following EVT rapidly and reliably for MCA occlusions.

In this paper, a color image encryption algorithm based on Fisher-Yates scrambling and DNA subsequence operation (elongation operation, truncation operation, deletion operation, insertion arithmetic) is proposed. Firstly, the three-dimensional color image is transformed into two-dimensional gray image, and the chaotic sequence generated by Chen system and Fisher-Yates scrambling method is used to scramble the plaintext images of R, G and B channels. Secondly, the three channel images of the scrambled plaintext image are transformed into three DNA sequence matrixes by using the DNA coding rules, and then the three DNA sequence matrixes are manipulated by using DNA subsequence operation and DNA addition, subtraction and XOR operation to destroy the scrambled plaintext information. Finally, the color encrypted image is obtained by using the DNA decoding rule. Experimental results and security analysis demonstrate that our encryption algorithm has good performance and may resist against various typical attacks.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the usefulness of temporal subtraction CT (TSCT) of temporal bone CT for the detection of postoperative recurrent/residual cholesteatoma of the middle ear. Methods Thirty-two consecutive patients with surgically proven postoperative recurrent/residual cholesteatoma and 14 consecutive patients without recurrent/residual lesion matched the selection criteria and were retrospectively evaluated. TSCT imaging was generated with the use of serial postoperative CT. Two experienced radiologists and two residents evaluated the presence of bone erosive change by comparison serial CT studies, and CT and TSCT. The detection rate of bone erosive change, sensitivity and specificity of the recurrence/residual lesions, and reading time for each reader were evaluated. Results TSCT + CT significantly improved the detection of bone erosive changes compared to CT-only evaluation (17.4–41.3% vs. 37.0–58.7%, p = 0.008–0.046). The mean sensitivity and specificity of TSCT + CT for experienced radiologists were 0.77 and 1.00, and 0.52 and 0.97 without TSCT. The mean sensitivity and specificity of TSCT + CT for residents were 0.64 and 1.00, and 0.41 and 1.00 without TSCT. Sensitivity showed an increase in all readers. The use of TSCT significantly reduced the reading time per case in all readers (p Conclusion TSCT improves the depiction of newly occurring progressive bone erosive changes, and detection sensitivity and reading time in postoperative recurrence/residual cholesteatoma of middle ear.

Previously, a joint ictal/inter-ictal SPECT reconstruction was proposed to reconstruct a differential image representing the change of brain SPECT image from an inter-ictal to an ictal study. The so-called joint method yielded better performance for epileptic foci localization than the conventional subtraction method. In this study, we evaluated the performance of different reconstruction settings of the joint reconstruction of ictal/inter-ictal SPECT data, which creates a differential image showing the difference between ictal and inter-ictal images, in lesion detection and localization in epilepsy imaging. Differential images reconstructed from phantom data using the joint and the subtraction methods were compared based on lesion detection performance (channelized Hotelling observer signal-to-noise ratio (SNRCHO) averaged across four lesion-to-background contrast levels) at the optimal iteration. The joint-initial method which was the joint method that was initialized by the subtraction method at optimal iteration was also used to reconstruct differential images. These three methods with respective optimal iteration and the subtraction method with four iterations were applied to epileptic patient datasets. A human observer lesion localization study was performed based on localization receiver operating characteristic (LROC) analysis. From the phantom study, at their respective optimal iteration, the joint method yielded an improvement in lesion detection performance over the subtraction method of 26%, which increased to 145% when using the joint-initial method. From the patient study, the joint-initial method yielded the highest area under the LROC curve as compared with those of the joint and the subtraction methods with optimal iteration and with 4 iterations (0.44 vs 0.41, 0.39 and 0.36, respectively). In lesion detection and localization, the joint method at optimal iteration outperformed the subtraction method at optimal iteration and at iteration typically used in clinical practice. Furthermore, initialization by the subtraction method improved the performance of the joint method.

The data quality of simultaneously acquired electroencephalography and functional magnetic resonance imaging (EEG-fMRI) can be strongly affected by motion. Recent work has shown that the quality of fMRI data can be improved by using a Moiré-Phase-Tracker (MPT)-camera system for prospective motion correction. The use of the head position acquired by the MPT-camera-system has also been shown to correct motion-induced voltages, ballistocardiogram (BCG) and gradient artefact residuals separately. In this work we show the concept of an integrated framework based on the general linear model to provide a unified motion informed model of in-MRI artefacts. This model (retrospective EEG motion educated gradient artefact suppression, REEG-MEGAS) is capable of correcting voltage-induced, BCG and gradient artefact residuals of EEG data acquired simultaneously with prospective motion corrected fMRI. In our results, we have verified that applying REEG-MEGAS correction to EEG data acquired during subject motion improves the data quality in terms of motion induced voltages and also GA residuals in comparison to standard Artefact Averaging Subtraction and Retrospective EEG Motion Artefact Suppression. Besides that, we provide preliminary evidence that although adding more regressors to a model may slightly affect the power of physiological signals such as the alpha-rhythm, its application may increase the overall quality of a dataset, particularly when strongly affected by motion. This was verified by analysing the EEG traces, power spectra density and the topographic distribution from two healthy subjects. We also have verified that the correction by REEG-MEGAS improves higher frequency artefact correction by decreasing the power of Gradient Artefact harmonics. Our method showed promising results for decreasing the power of artefacts for frequencies up to 250 Hz. Additionally, REEG-MEGAS is a hybrid framework that can be implemented for real time prospective motion correction of EEG and fMRI data. Among other EEG-fMRI applications, the approach described here may benefit applications such as EEG-fMRI neurofeedback and brain computer interface, which strongly rely on the prospective acquisition and application of motion artefact removal.

Purpose Tumor size and depth of invasion (DOI) are mandatory assessments for tumor classification in tongue cancer but are often non-assessable on CT due to dental artifacts. This study investigated whether subtraction iodine imaging (SII) would improve tumor delineation and measurability. Materials and methods Fifty-seven consecutive patients with tongue cancer, who underwent scanning with a 320-row area detector CT with contrast administration and were treated with surgical resection, were retrospectively evaluated. CT was reconstructed with single-energy projection-based metallic artifact reduction (sCT). SII was generated by subtracting the pre-contrast volume scans from the post-contrast volume scans using a high-resolution deformable registration algorithm. MRI scans were also evaluated for comparing the ability of measurements. Two radiologists visually graded the tumor delineation using a 5-point scale. Tumor size and DOI were measured wherever possible. The tumor delineation score was compared using the Wilcoxon signed-rank method. Spearman’s correlations between imaging and pathological measurements were calculated. Intraclass correlation coefficients of measurements between readers were estimated. Results The tumor delineation score was greater on sCT-plus-SII than on sCT alone (medians: 3 and 1, respectively; p Conclusions SII improves detectability and measurability of tumor size and DOI in patients with oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma, thus increasing the diagnostic potential. SII may also be beneficial for cases unevaluable on MRI due to artifacts or for patients with contraindications to MRI.

The cosine addition formula on a semigroup S is the functional equation $$g(xy) = g(x)g(y) - f(x)f(y)$$ for all $$x,y \in S$$ . We find its general solution for $$g,f \colon S \to \mathbb{C}$$ , using the recently found general solution of the sine addition formula $$f(xy) = f(x)g(y) + g(x)f(y)$$ on semigroups. A simpler proof of this latter result is also included, with some details added to the solution. We also solve the cosine subtraction formula $$g(x\sigma(y)) = g(x)g(y) + f(x)f(y)$$ on monoids, where $$\sigma$$ is an automorphic involution. The solutions of these functional equations are described mostly in terms of additive and multiplicative functions, but for some semigroups there exist points where f and/or g can take arbitrary values. The continuous solutions on topological semigroups are also found.

Objective To investigate the feasibility of subtraction coronary computed tomographic (CT) angiography (SubCCTA) to decline calcium artifacts and improve diagnostic accuracy in the presence of coronary calcification and analyze the factors that influence SubCCTA. Methods A total of 294 patients suspected of having coronary artery diseases underwent coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) and SubCCTA. Coronary stenoses were blindly evaluated by two experienced radiologists, which were compared with invasive coronary angiography (ICA). Multiple statistical indexes were adopted to analyze the value of SubCCTA for the diagnosis of calcium stenoses. Results The diagnosable rate of SubCCTA was 67.2% (n=197), and the non-diagnosable rate was 32.8% (n=97). Using SubCCTA, the false positive rate decreased from 56.5% to 17.4%, and the corresponding diagnostic accuracy was increased from 83.6% to 92.9%. Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that height (OR=1.029, 95% CI=1.001-1.058), weight (OR=1.025, 95% CI=1.004-1.046), left ventricular size (OR=1.018, 95% CI=1.007-1.030), cardiothoracic ratio (OR=39.917, 95% CI=1.244-1281.098), the average heart rate (OR=0.866, 95% CI=0.836-0.896) and heart rate range (OR=0.882, 95% CI=0.853-0.912) might be the factors influencing SubCCTA. Conclusion This study suggested that SubCCTA could help improve diagnostic accuracy in the presence of calcium plaques. Moreover, several factors were discovered for the first time to possibly influence SubCCTA, which will be helpful in improving the subtracted image quality.

A computer-generated moire profilometry based on flat image demodulation is proposed. A sinusoidal fringe pattern and its background light are modulated by two-frequency carrier fringes, respectively, to combine a composite grating. While this composite grating is projected onto the measured object, the composite deformed pattern can be captured by CCD camera. So the sinusoidal deformed pattern and its corresponding flat image can be demodulated from the composite deformed pattern. And the AC component of sinusoidal deformed pattern is calculated by the subtraction between the demodulated sinusoidal deformed pattern and the flat image. Compared with normal computer-generated moire profilometry, a more intact AC component can be obtained directly no matter how severe the frequency aliasing condition is. Meanwhile, the three-dimensional (3D) shape of object can be reconstructed only using this composite deformed pattern which shows the application in real-time measurement. Experimental results show the feasibility and validity of the proposed method.

Approximate computing stands out in systems in which the simplicity must be above the demand for high precision and processing speed. It is the case of DNA systems, especially those based on the DNA strand displacement technique, which is naturally in a complex and noise-filled environment. In this sense, proposals for approximate DNA circuits implemented with an analog approach promise future disease diagnosis applications, for example. In this paper, we adapted a multiplication gate presented in the literature in order to reduce the influence of leak reactions. For this, we insert drain species after some time at the beginning of the process. Next, we built a DNA analog circuit using the multiplication gate with the extended addition and subtraction gates, proposed earlier, to solve a simple expression. The results showed that our modification significantly reduced the effects of leaks and the implemented circuit has an adequate accuracy with an acceptable error when their inputs species present median concentrations.

A non classical and non Gaussian states become an essential need in quantum information processing theoretically and experimentally. In the present paper, the non classical and non Gaussian properties of superposed states exposure to photon addition and photon subtraction operations are described. The effect of adding and subtracting photons to multi-coherent state has a great interest in improving the features of the state. Furthermore, the photons added then subtracted multi-coherent states is more efficient than the opposite scenario.

During hot fire rocket engine testing, non-contacting measurements are superior to bonded gauges because they are immune to burning, shaking loose, or damage due to the harsh testing conditions. Additionally, when compared to instruments which register at single points, Digital Image Correlation (DIC) has the added benefit in that it collects full-field displacement and strain maps over the duration of the test. However, for certain materials and paints under some circumstances of temperature and camera sensitivity, portions of the speckle pattern which were darker at room temperature may emit more light compared to the initially lighter portions of the pattern, resulting in a high temperature pattern which is inverted in comparison with that at room temperature. To address this inversion, a post-processing method is introduced wherein an inverted image containing only emitted light is subtracted from an image containing both emitted and reflected light, thereby generating an un-inverted image. The artificial high temperature image is subsequently correlated against the room temperature image to obtain full-field strains. The subtraction technique is then validated using optical bandpass filters to prevent significant amounts of emitted light from reaching the camera sensor. The two methods are mapped onto common coordinates and shown to produce comparable results. The subtraction method sufficiently mitigates speckle pattern inversion, but its key drawback is that it only works when there is negligible displacement between the subtracted images (i.e. quasi-static loading). It is therefore preferable to eliminate inversion from reaching the camera in the first place by using optical bandpass filters.

Subtraction of elevation datasets (e.g. digital elevation models (DEMs) and non-continuous elevation points) acquired at different times is a useful method to monitor landform surface change. Due to heavy post-processing of these elevation datasets, multi-source errors are introduced into the resulting elevation data products. To improve the estimation of elevation change, co-registration of elevation datasets is a prerequisite. This paper presents an open-source automated GIS tool (arcPycor) for co-registering elevation datasets. arcPycor is coded in Python 2.7 and is run via ArcGIS for Desktop. The performances of arcPycor have been evaluated using a series of experiments. In benchmark tests, the resolved co-registration vectors of arcPycor are compared to the predefined shift vectors obtained by artificially misaligning the slave DEMs from the master elevation datasets. Results show that arcPycor is able to co-register DEMs with relative high accuracy and can well align slave DEMs to non-continuous elevation points, which indicates its robustness in co-registering of elevation datasets. arcPycor is also able to co-register multi-sourced DEMs of different resolutions in mountain areas.

In this paper, we present a way of describing variation in young children’s learning of elementary arithmetic within the number range 1–10. Our aim is to reveal what is to be learnt and how it might be learnt by means of discerning particular aspects of numbers. The Variation theory of learning informs the analysis of 2184 observations of 4- to 7-year-olds solving arithmetic tasks, placing the focus on what constitutes the ways of experiencing numbers that were observed among these children. The aspects found to be necessary to discern in order to develop powerful arithmetic skills were as follows: modes of number representations, ordinality, cardinality, and part-whole relation (the latter has four subcategories: differentiating parts and whole, decomposing numbers, commutativity, and inverse relationship between addition and subtraction). In the paper, we discuss particularly how the discernment of the aspects opens up for more powerful ways of perceiving numbers. Our way of describing arithmetic skills, in terms of discerned aspects of numbers, makes it possible to explain why children cannot use certain strategies and how they learn to solve tasks they could not previously solve, which has significant implications for the teaching of elementary arithmetic.

In the field of skeletal research, accurate and reliable segmentation methods are necessary for quantitative micro-CT analysis to assess bone quality. We propose a method of semi-automatic image segmentation of the midfoot, using the cuneiform bones as a model, based on thresholds set by phantom calibration that allows reproducible results in low cortical thickness bones. Manual and semi-automatic segmentation methods were compared in micro-CT scans of the medial and intermediate cuneiforms of 24 cadaveric specimens. The manual method used intensity thresholds, hole filling, and manual cleanup. The semi-automatic method utilized calibrated bone and soft tissue thresholds Boolean subtraction to cleanly identify edges before hole filling. Intra- and inter-rater reliability was tested for the semi-automatic method in all specimens. Mask volume and average bone mineral density (BMD) were measured for all masks, and the three-dimensional models were compared to the initial semi-automatic segmentation using an unsigned distance part comparison analysis. Segmentation methods were compared with paired t-tests with significance level 0.05, and reliability was analyzed by calculating intra-class correlation coefficients. There were statistically significant differences in mask volume and BMD between the manual and semi-automatic segmentation methods in both bones. The intra- and inter-reliability was excellent for mask volume and bone density in both bones. Part comparisons showed a higher maximum distance between surfaces for the manual segmentation than the repeat semi-automatic segmentations. We developed a semi-automatic micro-CT segmentation method based on calibrated thresholds. This method was designed specifically for use in bones with high rates of curvature and low cortical bone density, such as the cuneiforms, where traditional threshold-based segmentation is more challenging. Our method shows improvement over manual segmentation and was highly reliable, making it appropriate for use in quantitative micro-CT analysis.

Change detection is an important process in many video-based applications such as anomaly event detection and video surveillance. This paper proposes a foveated vision framework that simulates the human visual system for change detection. It contains two phases—first identifying regions with visual changes due to significant motion, and then, the extraction of detailed information of the change. In phase I, change proposals (CPs) and background are segregated by analyzing the intensity and motion features. In phase II, visual changes are estimated from the CPs by analyzing the photometric and textural features. Each phase of analysis has a unique pre-generated archetype. A probabilistic refinement scheme is used to rectify the labeling of background and change. In each phase of analysis, the result is used to update the archetype immediately. Some well-known and recently proposed background modeling/subtraction algorithms are selected for our comparative study. Experimentations are performed on various video datasets. In some videos, our method can achieve higher accuracy than some recently proposed methods by 30%. In the large-scale experimentation using all the testing videos, our method can achieve higher average accuracy than the second best method by more than 3%.

Intra-arterial chemotherapy (IAC) represents a mainstay of retinoblastoma treatment in children. Patients with retinoblastoma are uniquely at risk for secondary malignancies and are sensitive to the ionizing effects of radiation. To retrospectively review a single institution’s experience with IAC for retinoblastoma and the effect of variable intra-procedural imaging techniques on radiation exposure. Twenty-four consecutive patients, with a mean age of 30.8±16.3 months (range: 3.2–83.4 months), undergoing IAC for retinoblastoma between May 2014 and May 2020 (72 months) were included. No patients were excluded. The primary outcome was radiation exposure and secondary outcomes included technical success and procedural adverse events. Technical success was defined as catheterization of the ophthalmic or meningolacrimal artery and complete delivery of chemotherapy. Each procedure was retrospectively reviewed and categorized as one of five imaging protocol types. Protocol types were characterized by uniplanar versus multiplanar imaging and digital subtraction angiographic versus roadmap angiographic techniques. Radiation exposure, protocol utilization, the association of protocol and radiation exposure were assessed. During 96 consecutive interventions, 109 ocular treatments were performed. Thirteen of the 96 (15.5%) treatments were bilateral. Ocular technical success was 106 of 109 (97.2%). All three treatment failures were successfully repeated within a week. Mean fluoroscopy time was 6.4±6.2 min (range: 0.7–31.1 min). Mean air kerma was 36.2±52.2 mGy (range: 1.4–215.0 mGy). There were two major (1.8%) complications and four (3.7%) minor complications. Of the 96 procedures, 10 (10.4%), 9 (9.4%), 13 (13.5%), 28 (29.2%) and 36 (37.5%) were performed using protocol types A, B, C, D and E, respectively. For protocol type A, mean fluoroscopy time was 10.3±6.8 min (range: 3.0–25.4 min) and mean air kerma was 118.2±61.2 mGy (range: 24.5–167.3 mGy). For protocol type E, mean fluoroscopy time was 3.1±3.2 min (range: 0.7–15.1 min) and mean air kerma was 5.4±4.2 mGy (range: 1.4–19.5 mGy). Fluoroscopy time and air kerma decreased over time, corresponding to the reduced use of multiplanar imaging and digital subtraction angiography. In the first quartile (procedures 1–24), 8 (33.3%), 7 (29.2%), 2 (8.3%), 6 (25.0%) and 1 (4.2%) were performed using protocol types A, B, C, D and E, respectively. Mean fluoroscopy time was 10.5±8.2 min (range: 2.4–28.1 min) and mean air kerma was 84.2±71.6 mGy (range: 12.8–215.0 mGy). In the final quartile (procedures 73–96), 24 (100%) procedures were performed using protocol type E. Mean fluoroscopy time was 3.5±4.0 min (range: 0.7–15.1 min) and mean air kerma was 5.0±4.3 mGy (range: 1.4–18.0 mGy), representing 66.7% and 94.1% reductions from the first quartile, respectively. Technical success in the second half of the experience was 100%. Sequence elimination, consolidation from biplane imaging to lateral-only imaging, and replacing digital subtraction with roadmap angiography dramatically reduced radiation exposure during IAC for retinoblastoma without adversely affecting technical success or safety.

This study employed an alternating treatments design to compare the effects of two types of practice conditions on the subtraction fact fluency in a fifth-grade classroom. Eight, fifth-grade students participated in the study over a 5-week intervention period practicing addition and subtraction facts in a “fact families” condition (A + S) and only subtraction facts in the second condition (S only) delivered using a math app on an iPad®. Results showed seven out of eight students improved their overall subtraction fact fluency and surpassed expected growth rates. Performance was greater for the majority of students when facts were presented in the S only condition in comparison to facts presented in A + S condition. Despite making substantial gains, only four out of eight students were able to move from frustration level to instructional levels with the intervention. The discussion focuses on the procedural and conceptual knowledge of math instruction and the benefits and implications of using the iPad® to supplement math instruction.

To propose a complementary classification to the Schwab’s osteotomy classification that would regroup together under a common umbrella different published pedicle subtraction osteotomy (PSO) variations that are commonly used, to have a common language and complete the spine surgeon’s armamentarium when dealing with rigid spinal deformities. The 2 general types corresponding to the grades 3 and 4 of the Schwab classification were separated into 6 gradual subtypes (grades 3A, 3B, 3C, 4A, 4B, 4C). The classification is based on the amount of resected pedicle, the inclusion or not of the disc above, and the location of the axis of rotation. Based on the proposed classification, a reliability study was performed using 18 cases that were classified by 8 readers with expertise in the management of adult deformities with the use of osteotomies. Clinical cases were classified according to the 6 grades proposed in the classification. The intra-rater reliability for the classification was “almost perfect agreement” with a Fleiss kappa coefficient average of 0.92 (range 0.85–1.00). The inter-rater reliability was “almost perfect agreement” with a coefficient average of 0.90 for the 2 readings that were done at an interval of 2 weeks. The developed classification proved to be reliable and intuitive. It is an original way to display a catalog of different available PSO modifications including the original technique, in a logical and gradual order to help the surgeons in their decisions and show them that between a grade 2 osteotomy and a grade 5 osteotomy, many intermediate options are available. Further work with a treatment algorithm for clinical practice based on the current classification may be developed in the future.

A challenge for prospective teachers (PTs) is to determine what students know about a topic through asking appropriate questions and being thoughtful about the wording of these questions so as to capture and reframe students' spontaneous mathematical thinking and eventually unriddle the fuzzy boundary of students' complex thinking. This study examined four PTs' efforts to elicit kindergarteners' subtraction strategies and make conclusions about their subtraction understanding. Drawing on PTs' plans for interviewing kindergarteners on subtraction problems, interview transcripts, and reflection papers, the results suggest that PTs provided effective scaffolds, adding context to numerical problems or explaining mathematical terms and symbols as needed. However, they avoided asking problems with subtrahends greater than five, numbers above ten, and missing starts or missing subtrahends, limiting their ability to draw targeted conclusions about the students' strengths and needs. Using effective questions allowed one PT who posed a limited variety of problems to make stronger conclusions about her student's subtraction understanding, while asking a broader variety of problems helped another PT who used limited questions make conclusions about her student's subtraction understanding. Based on these results, mathematics teacher educators could leverage their PTs' strengths to either encourage multiple interviews, each targeting different problem types, or one interview with a broader variety of problem types. The results of this study further highlight the need for PTs to move beyond just asking students to explain their strategies and have them justify or represent their strategies as well.

Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) is a powerful technique for visualizing blood vessels from X-ray images. However, the subtraction images obtained with this technique suffer from artifacts caused by patient motion. To avoid these artifacts, a new method called "Virtual DSA" is proposed, which generates DSA images directly from a single live image without using a mask image. The proposed Virtual DSA method was developed using the U-Net deep learning architecture. In the proposed method, a virtual DSA image only containing the extracted blood vessels was generated by inputting a single live image into U-Net. To extract the blood vessels more accurately, U-Net operates on each small area via a patch-based process. In addition, a different network was used for each zone to use the local information. The evaluation of the live images of the head confirmed accurate blood vessel extraction without artifacts in the virtual DSA image generated with the proposed method. In this study, the NMSE, PSNR, and SSIM indices were 8.58%, 33.86 dB, and 0.829, respectively. These results indicate that the proposed method can visualize blood vessels without motion artifacts from a single live image.

The article critically engages with Giorgio Agamben’s reading of Rousseau in order to explore the affinities between the two authors’ subtractive approach to political subjectivation. In The Kingdom and the Glory. Agamben argues that Rousseau’s Social Contract reproduces, in a secularized manner, the providential paradigm of government, whose origins Agamben finds in early Christianity. This paradigm establishes a fictitious articulation between transcendent sovereignty and immanent government, presenting particular acts of government as emanating from general divine laws. We shall demonstrate that Rousseau was neither unaware of the problematic character of this paradigm nor did he venture to conceal its problems, but, on the contrary, he highlighted them throughout the Social Contract, whose key motif was the danger of the contamination of general will by particular acts, identities or interests. The same wariness of particularism characterizes Rousseau’s Reveries of the Solitary Walker, often read as entirely heterogeneous to the political project of the Social Contract. By reading these two works together as the affirmation of generic existence against all forms of particularism, we bring Rousseau’s analysis closer to Agamben’s own attempts to rethink politics as subtracted from all identity predicates and contained in the affirmation of ‘whatever being’. The elucidation of affinities between Rousseau and Agamben will permit us to identify the limits of this subtractive approach to politics and outline an alternative to it. peerReviewed

Medical confidentiality is an essential duty in the medical profession. In this paper, we introduce a novel robust blind watermarking method for securing the medical report in a DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) imaging. The insertion of each bit is done in the subtraction of adjacent DC coefficients of the FFT (fast Fourier transformation) using a key kw. Each bit of the watermark is eXORed with a bit generated by a proposed system which generates a bit sequence in function of the key kw. The proposed method has the features of having better security, invisibility, and robustness. Experimental results show that it is robust to single, double, and triple attacks and that it has better robustness than recently proposed watermarking schemes.

This paper aims to develop a background subtraction algorithm based on Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) using Probability Density Function (PDF) to identify the location of moving objects over a belt conveyor for pick and place operations using an industrial robot. In the present work, a stationary webcam is placed above the conveyor system to capture images of the objects that are coming into the view field. The objects of interest are identified by subtracting the background image (reference frame) from the current image frame based on the probability density function of respective pixels over time. The subtracted image frame is processed to extract the attributes such as location, colour, and shape of the objects. The extracted information, in turn, helps the robot to pick the desired object of interest. The results indicated that the GMM based background subtraction is more precisely extracting the features of the object than the direct subtraction technique for robotic applications. The algorithm is developed using MATLAB software.

This paper presents a one-dimensional-filtering-based constrained one-bit transformation (1D-C1BT)-based motion estimation to reduce the complexity of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) encoder. The proposed 1D-C1BT requires integer arithmetic additions, subtraction and shift operations to convert full resolution video frames to two bit depth 1D-C1BT frames. By embedding the 1D-C1BT in the HEVC encoder, the motion estimation (ME) complexity of the HEVC encoder is greatly reduced in terms of Motion Estimation Time (MET) and total Encoding Time (ET) in uni-prediction and bi-prediction respectively. From the experimental results, it is shown that the 1D-C1BT accompanying full search (FS) and test zonal search (TZS) algorithms greatly reduces MET and ET as compared to the FS and TZS algorithms of the HEVC encoder respectively. To further reduce the intricacy of the HEVC encoder in the fast search mode, star-diamond (SD) search accompanying 1D-C1BT is proposed. The 1D-C1BT accompanying SD further reduces MET and ET with small increment in Bjontegaard Delta Rate and small decrement in Bjontegaard Delta Peak Signal to Noise Ratio, compared to the TZS algorithm of the HEVC encoder. In the FS mode of the HEVC encoder, the proposed 1D-C1BT, accompanying FS, reduces MET by 86.00% and ET by 83.94%, with BD-Rate of 0.1452% and BD-PSNR of 0.2635% in low delay-P main profile. The proposed ME algorithms, 1D-C1BT accompanying full search (FS + 1D-C1BT), 1D-C1BT accompanying test zonal search (TZS + 1D-C1BT) and 1D-C1BT accompanying star diamond search (SD + 1D-C1BT) greatly reduce ME complexity in all the three configurations (low delay-P, low delay-B and random access main profile) of the HEVC encoder.

This study aimed to assess the detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) utilizing subtraction AP (arterial phase) imaging only for T1 hyperintense observations compared with the detection of HCC on subtraction AP imaging that included T1 hyper-, iso-, and hypointense lesions on gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MRI.This retrospective study included 234 patients (311 observations including 239 HCCs) at high risk for HCC who underwent gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MRI with subtraction AP imaging between 2015 and 2017. Arterial phase hyperenhancement (APHE) was divided into two subtypes: conventional APHE, where subtraction AP imaging is used to detect APHE only for T1 hyperintense observations; and modified APHE, where subtraction AP imaging is applied to T1 hyper-, iso-, and hypointense lesions. Two readers independently reviewed all observations and the per-observation diagnostic performances were compared using McNemar's test.Modified nonrim APHE showed significantly higher sensitivity than conventional nonrim APHE (90.0% vs 82.8%; p 0.001) for diagnosing HCC, without a significant difference in specificity (66.7% vs 68.1%; p 0.999). The LR-5 category with modified nonrim APHE provided better sensitivity than the LR-5 with conventional nonrim APHE (70.3% vs 63.2%; p 0.001), without a significant decrease in specificity (94.4% vs 95.8%; p 0.999).Extended application of subtraction AP imaging for T1 hypo- or isointense observations on gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MRI can improve sensitivity in the diagnosis of HCC without a significant difference in specificity.• Modified nonrim arterial phase hyperenhancement (APHE), extended application of subtraction arterial phase imaging for T1 hypo- or isointense observation, outperforms conventional nonrim APHE. • The LR-5 category with modified nonrim APHE provided better sensitivity in diagnosing HCC than the LR-5 with conventional APHE, without a significant decrease in specificity.

This paper proposes a new C-shaped scrambling method and combines it with the Logistic-Dynamics Coupled Map Lattices (LDCML) and DNA coding, thus designing a new image encryption scheme. First, we use the chaotic sequence generated by the LDCML system to perform preliminary scrambling on the original image. Then convert it into a DNA matrix according to a coding rule. After that perform the second scrambling according to the “C” shape. Next, the scrambled DNA matrix is subjected to a diffusion operation using the corresponding DNA sequence of the chaotic sequence generated by the LDCML system and the addition, subtraction and XOR rules of the DNA. At last, the final encrypted image is obtained by performing a DNA decoding operation on the diffused DNA matrix. Simulation experiments and security analysis show that the algorithm is safe and can resist common attack methods.

The study presents results of a tablet-based math game intervention to enhance early numeracy skills of children in Tanzania. Standard level 1 children (n = 122), attending a rural primary school, were randomly allocated to either intervention or control group. The intervention group participated in a daily intervention session for 46 days. Children’s performances in number identification, quantity discrimination, addition, subtraction, and missing number tasks were measured before and after the intervention with randomly selected children from both groups (treatment = 30, control = 31). Score gains in the intervention group were substantially greater than those in the control group. In particular, statistically significant effects of the intervention were identified in quantity discrimination, addition, and subtraction tasks. Item-level analyses using Item Response Theory showed that addition and subtraction items involving regrouping and most missing number items were too difficult even after the intervention. The study also identified which games were played the most or least during the sessions from play-log data and analyzed associations between children’s test performances and gameplays.

Both CT myelogram (CTM) and digital-subtraction myelogram (DSM) can be used to evaluate patients for possible cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks. DSM is a relatively new technique. No data exists on the radiation dose associated with this procedure, and how it compares with CTM. All patients who underwent DSM for spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH) refractory to blood patching from Dec 2016 – Sept 2019 were retrospectively assessed. DSM dose factors were then recorded (cumulative fluoroscopy time, total kerma area product (KAP, mGy.cm2), cumulative air kerma (mGy), as well as CTM dose factors (included CTDIvol (mGy) and dose-length product (DLP, mGy.cm). These indices were then used to calculate the effective dose for both procedures using standardized conversion factors. 61 DSMs were performed in 42 patients, 33 of which also underwent CTM. The median effective dose was 6.6 mSv per DSM study (range: 1.2 – 17.7). On a per-patient basis (i.e. those patients who underwent more than one DSM (as the initial one was negative), the median total effective dose was 13 mSv for their total DSM imaging (range: 2.6 –31.7). For the CTM, the median effective dose was 19.7 mSv (range: 3.2 – 82.4 mSv). The radiation dose with DSM appears to be significantly lower than that of CTM (p = 0.0005), when looking at CTM doses both from our institution and in the published literature.

To investigate the clinical utility of pointwise encoding time reduction with radial acquisition in subtraction-based magnetic resonance angiography (PETRA-MRA) and time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography (TOF-MRA) to evaluate saccular unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UIAs). A total of 49 patients with 54 TOF-MRA–identified saccular UIAs were enrolled. The morphologic parameters, contrast-to-noise-ratios (CNRs), and sharpness of aneurysms were measured using PETRA-MRA and TOF-MRA. Two radiologists independently evaluated subjective image scores, focusing on aneurysm signal homogeneities and sharpness depictions using a 4-point scale: 4, excellent; 3, good; 2, poor; 1, not assessable. PETRA-MRA and TOF-MRA acoustic noises were measured. All aneurysms were detected with PETRA-MRA. The morphologic parameters of 15 patients evaluated with PETRA-MRA were more closely correlated with those receiving computed tomography angiography over those receiving TOF-MRA. No significant differences between PETRA-MRA and TOF-MRA parameters were seen in the 54 UIAs (p > 0.10), excluding those with inflow angles (p

Unidimensional continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) protocol with Gaussian modulation is simpler in implementation and lower in costs than its two-dimensional counterpart, but its secure transmission distance is not as far as the latter. In this paper, we give a solution that using the photon subtraction, which is one of non-Gaussian operations, to improve the performance of the unidimensional CV-QKD protocol. Security analysis and numerical simulation indicate that the photon subtraction operation can significantly improve the secure transmission distance of the unidimensional CV-QKD protocol.

Spine canal segmentation is an emerging zone in research proposed to help interpretation and processing of advanced MRI and CT images. For instance, high resolution three-dimensional volumes can be divided to provide an estimation of spine canal atrophy. Spine canal segmentation is complex because of assortment of MRI contrasts and variation in human life structures. This investigation illustrates the details of spine canal segmentation techniques and gives a few measurements that can be utilized to contrast with other segmentation strategies. The details of background and foreground subtraction techniques, spine canal segmentation approach and optimization approach which are utilized in the different applications have been considered. In this paper, spine canal segmentation on probabilistic booting tree (PBT) with fuzzy support vector machine performance measures and metrics are analysed in state-of-the art technologies. Proposed approach is performed on the base of the automatic spine canal segmentation with the group of data MR. This proposed segmentation continue with fuzzy support vector machine (FSVM) technique to make fully automatic stream pipeline. The declaration in an automatic segmentation of stream pipeline was implemented with flexible voxel wise classification accompanying dimensions analogous with 3D Haar and labelled machine learning algorithms i.e. probabilistic boosting tree combined fuzzy support vector machine (PBT-FSVM). The novel segmentation technique correlated with MR data sets provides better accuracy than the exiting techniques and it is shown in experimental outcomes. To still improve performance of the results, online learning classification method can be in the proposed work.

Fast and accurate extraction of urban ground objects can ensure timely urban environmental monitoring. However, the current technology used to extract urban ground objects has many steps, slow speed and low practicality. In view of the shortcomings of current research, this study takes WorldView-2 as an example, collects typical image categories of urban imagery, conducts spectral curve fitting and characteristic analysis, uses a combination of the addition, subtraction and multiplication operations in some key bands to enhance the information of the target objects and constructs some spectral indices that are beneficial to the extraction of urban red, white, blue and cyan ground objects using the threshold method. The newly created spectral indices can effectively extract four colours of urban ground objects. Among them, the red and blue ground objects have good extraction results, whereas the white and cyan ground objects have poor extraction results. Results show that the new spectral index threshold method can rapidly extract the target ground objects in urban images by colour, which has good practicability.

K-edge imaging based on the photon counting detectors (PCDs) is an effective enhanced imaging method because the PCDs are conducive to the K-edge imaging due to the adjustable energy thresholds. The energy bins significantly affect the image quality of the K-edge imaging, but the conventional energy bins used for K-edge imaging are continuous which weaken the K-edge signal and decline the image quality. Hence, how to get a better K-edge signal by the optimized energy bins is the key point for the K-edge imaging based on the PCDs. This paper experimentally studied the influence of the energy bins used for the K-edge imaging based on the PCDs. The conventional energy bins were determined by the theoretical-attenuation method (TAM), and the optimized energy bins were determined by the threshold-scan method (TSM). For the phantom and mice imaging, we performed both the K-edge subtraction algorithm and the K-edge decomposition algorithm on the projections obtained by the energy bins which were determined by the TAM and TSM. The image quality was compared using the CNR of the objective area. The experimental results showed that the energy bins identified by the TSM had a better performance than the TAM in both imaging methods. The TSM improved the CNR by ~ 39% than the TAM in the phantom results and could better highlight the areas where the contrast agents are enriched (such as the kidney). The optimized energy bins can better highlight the K-edge signal than the conventional energy bins which can improve the image quality and have the potential to reduce the amount of the contrast agents.

Distance-dependent magnetic resonance tuning (MRET) technology enables the sensing and quantitative imaging of biological targets in vivo, with the advantage of deep tissue penetration and fewer interactions with the surroundings as compared with those of fluorescence-based Forster resonance energy transfer. However, applications of MRET technology in vivo are currently limited by the moderate contrast enhancement and stability of T1-based MRET probes. Here we report a new two-way magnetic resonance tuning (TMRET) nanoprobe with dually activatable T1 and T2 magnetic resonance signals that is coupled with dual-contrast enhanced subtraction imaging. This integrated platform achieves a substantially improved contrast enhancement with minimal background signal and can be used to quantitatively image molecular targets in tumours and to sensitively detect very small intracranial brain tumours in patient-derived xenograft models. The high tumour-to-normal tissue ratio offered by TMRET in combination with dual-contrast enhanced subtraction imaging provides new opportunities for molecular diagnostics and image-guided biomedical applications.

Little is known about the qualitative results (postoperative upper/lower lumbar arches distribution and lumbar apex or inflection point positioning) of lumbar pedicle subtraction osteotomies (L-PSO) depending on the level of L-PSO.We conducted a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data of adult deformity patients undergoing single-level L-PSO. We analyzed several variables in preoperative and postoperative sagittal radiographs: L-PSO level, Roussouly classification (R-type), inflection point (InfP), lumbar apex (LApex), spinopelvic parameters, lordosis distribution index (LDI = L4-S1/L1-S1), and number of levels in the lordosis (NVL). Comparisons between PSO levels were performed to determine lordosis distribution and sagittal shape using ANOVA test and Chi-squared statistics.A total of 126 patients were included in this study. L5-PSO mainly increased the lower lumbar arch, thereby increasing LDI. L4 increased upper/lower arches similarly. PSOs at and above L3 increased the upper lumbar arch, thereby decreasing LDI (P 0.001). L4-PSO added 1 vertebra into the lordosis (NVL = + 1.2 ± 2.2). PSOs above L3 added 2 vertebrae into the lordosis (NVL = + 2.3 ± 1.4). Overall P = 0.007. PSOs above L4 shifted the LApex cranially in 70% of the cases (mean 1.12 levels) and the InfP in 85% of the cases (mean 2.4 levels). L5-PSO shifted the LApex caudally in 70% of the cases (mean - 1.1 levels) and the InfP in 50% of the cases (mean - 1.6 levels). Overall P 0.006. The L-PSO level was not associated with a specific Roussouly-type P 0.05.The level of L-PSO influenced upper/lower lumbar arches distribution, and lumbar apex and inflection point positioning. The correct level should be chosen based on the individual assessment of each patient.

In this study we investigated the development of 245 kindergarteners’ mathematics problem solving (MPS) at two time points within 7 months using a cognitive diagnostic test, which measured three cognitive components (mathematical knowledge and skills, semantic understanding, and quantitative reasoning) with eleven cognitive attributes. The effects of five influencing factors [language ability, mathematics application ability, calculation ability, approaches to learning (ATL) and socio-economic status (SES)] on the children’s MPS ability at the two time points were examined. The results indicated that the 245 children’s mastery of mathematical knowledge and skills was much better than their mastery of semantic understanding and quantitative reasoning. Furthermore, they achieved significant progress in set comparison and addition and subtraction within the range of natural numbers to ten (two of the three cognitive attributes of mathematical knowledge and skills), additive composition reasoning and one-to-many correspondence reasoning (two of the three cognitive attributes of quantitative reasoning). Only their mathematics application ability significantly predicted their mastery of the three cognitive components of MPS ability at the two-time points. Their language and calculation abilities predicted only their mastery of mathematical knowledge and skills at the two time points. Their ATL predicted their mastery of the three cognitive components of MPS only at the first time point, and their SES predicted only their mastery of semantic understanding 7 months later.

An algorithm is exact if it always produces the correct answer on any input. Coming up with exact quantum algorithms that substantially outperform the best classical algorithm has been a quite challenging task. Nim game is a well-known combinatorial game which has a complete mathematical theory, and many kinds of Nim games have been studied in the literature. One famous kind of Nim games are subtraction games played with one heap of tokens, with players taking turns removing from the heap a number of tokens belonging to a specified subtraction set. The last player to move wins. In this paper, we propose a restricted subtraction game with the subtraction set determined by a specified matrix, and present an exact quantum algorithm to solve it. We show that the query complexity of our quantum algorithm is $O(n^{\frac {3}{2}})$, while the classical exact query complexity is Θ(n2).

Ex-vivo evaluation of the detectability of vertical root fractures (VRFs) using digital subtraction radiography (DSR) and conventional digital periapical radiography (CDPR); investigation of the effect of root canal filling, x-ray angulation, and thickness of the VRF in the diagnostic accuracy. Sixty root canals were mechanically prepared and radiographed either with a gutta-percha root canal filling or without, at 0o and ± 10o. VRFs were introduced with a universal testing machine. The width and angulation of the fracture line with the radiographic beam were calculated. DSR was performed comparing radiographs obtained prior to and after the VRF induction. Five examiners evaluated the resultant images and analysis was performed using receiver operator characteristic (ROC) statistics and binary logistic regression tests. No significant differences in sensitivity, specificity, and the areas under the ROC curves (AUC) between the CDPR and DSR were detected (p > 0.05), except for root canal filled teeth where the AUC for DSR was higher (p

Objectives: The diagnostic reading of follow-up low-dose whole-body computed tomography (WBCT) examinations in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) is a demanding process. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy and benefit of a novel software program providing rapid-subtraction maps for bone lesion change detection. Methods: Sixty patients (66 years ± 10 years) receiving 120 WBCT examinations for follow-up evaluation of MM bone disease were identified from our imaging archive. The median follow-up time was 292 days (range 200-641 days). Subtraction maps were calculated from 2-mm CT images using a nonlinear deformation algorithm. Reading time, correctly assessed lesions, and disease classification were compared to a standard reading software program. De novo clinical reading by a senior radiologist served as the reference standard. Statistics included Wilcoxon rank-sum test, Cohen's kappa coefficient, and calculation of sensitivity, specificity, positive/negative predictive value, and accuracy. Results: Calculation time for subtraction maps was 84 s ± 24 s. Both readers reported exams faster using subtraction maps (reader A, 438 s ± 133 s; reader B, 1049 s ± 438 s) compared to PACS software (reader A, 534 s ± 156 s; reader B, 1486 s ± 587 s; p < 0.01). The course of disease was correctly classified by both methods in all patients. Sensitivity for lesion detection in subtraction maps/conventional reading was 92%/80% for reader A and 88%/76% for reader B. Specificity was 98%/100% for reader A and 95%/96% for reader B. Conclusion: A software program for the rapid-subtraction map calculation of follow-up WBCT scans has been successfully tested and seems suited for application in clinical routine. Subtraction maps significantly facilitated reading of WBCTs by reducing reading time and increasing sensitivity. Key Points: A novel algorithm has been successfully applied to generate motion-corrected bone subtraction maps of whole-body low-dose CT scans in less than 2 min. Motion-corrected bone subtraction maps significantly facilitate the reading of follow-up whole-body low-dose CT scans in multiple myeloma by reducing reading time and increasing sensitivity.

Measurement of myocardial blood flow (MBF) is feasible using SPECT imaging but the acquisition requires more time than usual. Our study assessed the impact of reducing acquisition times on the accuracy and repeatability of the uptake rate constant (K1). Twenty-nine patients underwent two rest/stress studies with Tc-99m-tetrofosmin 18 ± 13 days apart, using a one-day rest/stress dynamic SPECT imaging protocol with a solid-state cardiac camera. A 5-minute static image was acquired prior to tracer injection for subtraction of residual activity, followed immediately by 11-minute of list-mode data collection. Static image acquisition times of 0.5, 1, and 3 minutes and dynamic imaging times of 5, 7, and 9 minutes were simulated by truncating list-mode data. Images were reconstructed with/without attenuation correction and with/without motion correction. Kinetic parameters were calculated using a 1-tissue-compartment model. K1 increased with reduced dynamic but not static imaging time (P 0.17). A shortened imaging protocol of 3-minute (rest) or 30-second (stress) static image acquisition and 9 minutes of dynamic image acquisition altered K1 by less than 5% compared to a previously validated 11-minute acquisition.

Time irreversibility is one of the fundamental properties of nonequilibrium complex brain activities and is relevant to various neurological conditions, e.g., epilepsy. However, the estimation of the joint probability distribution for quantitative time irreversibility (qTIR) is not trivial, and the application of qTIR in characterizing epileptic brain signals has received little attention. In this paper, we employ equal-value permutations instead of raw vectors to simplify qTIR, and we apply subtraction-based parameters to measure the probabilistic differences in order patterns for qTIR considering the forbidden permutations. We demonstrate that our simplified method, validated by chaotic and reversible model series and their surrogates, is equivalent to methods measuring the probabilistic difference between forward–backward vectors and the probabilistic difference between symmetric vectors. In characterizing epileptic brain electric activities, seizure electroencephalograms (EEGs) have the strongest qTIR due to the development of synchronous neuronal firing, and the qTIR of seizure-free EEGs lies between that of the healthy control and ictal EEGs. Overall, we conduct a comprehensive analysis of permutation-based qTIR for nonlinearity detection, and our findings regarding qTIR in epileptic EEGs improve our understanding of nonequilibrium epileptic brain electrical activity and might even contribute to predicting epileptic seizures.

Electrocardiogram (ECG) is one of the major methods for the diagnosis of heart malfunctions. ECG signals are susceptible to both high-frequency and low-frequency noises such as electromyography (EMG), power line interference (PLI) and baseline wander noises, respectively. These noises deteriorate the quality of ECG signals and challenge the proper identification of heart illnesses. In this article, we report an improved fully adaptive method for canceling high-frequency noises using the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) with the modified indirect subtraction and adaptive window techniques. As high-frequency noises are approximately of zero mean and lower-order intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) contain high-frequency noises, a statistical test is performed to determine whether a particular combination of IMFs has zero mean. First, to remove the PLI noise, the modified indirect subtraction technique is used. The sum of IMFs which are dominated by the noise is passed to a Butterworth band-pass filter, and the resultant filtered signal is subtracted directly from the noisy ECG signal. Then, the EMG noise is removed by an improved adaptive window-based noise reduction technique. By exploiting this technique, in contrast to common EMD-based methods, the duration of the QRS complex is computed regarding the location of the peak of the R wave and the widest possible QRS complex which makes the proposed technique applicable to all types of ECG signals. The quantitative results of simulations performed on several records from the MIT–BIH arrhythmia database prove the better performance of the proposed method than the compared methods at different noise levels.

Performance on word problems is influenced by linguistic and arithmetic factors, and by their interaction. To study these factors and interactions, we manipulated linguistic and arithmetic factors independently in a within-participant design that included complexity parameters (a) in the domain of arithmetic: carry/borrow (no-carry/borrow vs. carry/borrow), operation (addition vs. subtraction), (b) in the domain of linguistics: nominalization (nominalized vs. verbalized form), and (c) linking the two domains: lexical consistency (linguistic predicate locally consistent vs. inconsistent with mathematical operation). Response times of 25 students solving 320 one-step word problems were measured. All four factors showed a main effect on response times, and interactions between linguistic and arithmetic factors affected response times. These interactions were observed when the linguistic and arithmetic factors were conceptually linked. Our results highlight that not only the linguistic and arithmetic complexities of an item contribute to the difficulty of a word problem, but linguistic and arithmetic factors interact. We discuss the theoretical implications for the numerical and the linguistic domain as well as the possible impact of domain-general characteristics, such as working memory limitations as a potential reason for the observed interactions between numerical and linguistic attributes. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s10339-019-00948-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Although basing instruction on a learning trajectory (LT) is often recommended, there is little direct evidence to support the premise of a “LT approach”—that to be maximally meaningful, engaging, and effective, instruction is best presented one LT level beyond a child’s present level of thinking. The present report serves to address the question: Is it necessary to teach each contiguous level of a LT or can instruction be similarly or more effective when skipping levels, provided the necessary exemplars are made? In a multimethod research study that included individual teaching experiments embedded inside of a quasi-experimental research design, one group of 13 kindergartners received instruction based on an empirically-validated LT for addition and subtraction (the “LT” treatment). The counterfactual, “skip” treatment (n = 12), received instruction focused mainly on levels at least two levels above their present level for the same amount of time as the LT treatment. More children in the LT treatment exhibited greater addition and subtraction learning during sessions and from pretest to posttest than children in the skip treatment. Implications for future study are discussed.

Purpose To determine whether the sensitivity and specificity of four-dimensional CTA (4D-CTA) are equivalent to digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in the detection of underlying vascular abnormalities in patients with intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH). Methods A systematic review of studies comparing 4D-CTA with DSA in the detection of the underlying structural causes of ICH was performed on the literature published between 1998 and 2019. Results We identified a total of 237 articles from PubMed, SCOPUS and Web of Science using the following Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms: primary intracerebral haemorrhage, 4D-CTA, DSA, cerebral haemorrhage, angiography, digital subtraction, arteriovenous malformations, 4D, CTA, dynamic-CTA and time-resolved CTA. Following the removal of duplicate publications and articles failing to meet our inclusion criteria, there were four articles potentially viable for analysis. Therefore, there were not sufficient studies to provide a statistically meaningful meta-analysis. Conclusion The review of current literature has demonstrated that there are few published studies comparing 4D-CTA with DSA in spontaneous ICH, with only four suitable studies identified for potential analysis. However, due to the restricted number of patients and high sensitivity and specificity of 3 studies (100%), performing a meta-analysis was not meaningful. Qualitative analysis of the data concluded that 4D-CTA has the diagnostic potential to replace invasive DSA in certain cases with vascular abnormalities. However, further research studies directly comparing 4D-CTA with DSA using larger prospective patient cohorts are required to strengthen the evidence base.

The adaptability plays a significant role in moving detection. The diverse scenarios in real world still challenge this problem. Therefore, in this paper, we proposed an adaptive moving detection method, namely Adaptive Random-based Self-Organizing back- ground subtraction (ABSOBS) method. This method can adaptively extract the moving objects in various conditions and eliminate the “ghost” pixels simultaneously. Therefore, a robust initialization strategy is proposed to remove the noise pixels caused by the initialized frames. The proposed method uses a random- based scheme which allows the foreground pixels to up- date the neural network with a small probability. This strategy allows our algorithm to efficiently handle scene changes. Moreover, a foreground filter based on random rule is designed to eliminate the “ghost” pixel. More importantly, ABSOBS adopts a regulator to control the updating rate in different conditions. It makes our method easy-to-used and need not to set the parameters manually. The experiment results on various scenarios show that our method improves the detection accuracy for the SOBS and outperforms other state-of- the-art methods.