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Objectives Though carotid body tumors are rare, increasing attentions have been given because of malignant transformation and high surgical risk. However, at present, the characteristics and etiology still remain unclear. Our study was designed to describe the clinical features of carotid body tumors in our institution and to compare the results with previous reports. Methods We retrospectively reviewed carotid body tumor patients diagnosed in our institution from January 2015 to May 2020. The demographics, comorbidities, lesion location, anatomic characteristics, complications, and postoperative outcomes were evaluated. Carotid body tumor measurements were determined from computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and carotid arteriography examination. We described and compared the clinical features of carotid body tumors in our institution and other reports. Results We totally identified 122 carotid body tumor cases for the present analysis. The mean age was 50.26 years, with the majority being female (82%). The commonest presentation was a painless neck mass (68%). For the distribution of nationality, most patients were the Han nationality (69.7%). The mean altitude of habitat of patients was 2689.4 km; 19.7% patients suffered bilateral lesions. The main blood supply of carotid body tumors was from external carotid artery (54.1%). For patients who received operation, 11 (11.2%) patients experienced cranial nerve injury. The maximal diameter of tumors was 3.99 ± 1.98 cm in male and 3.38 ± 1.36 cm in female. The volume of tumors was 31.49 ± 29.76 cm3 in male and 15.27 ± 13.06 cm3 in female. The distance to base of skull of tumors was 3.39 ± 1.07 cm (3.99 ± 1.98 cm in male vs 3.38 ± 1.36 cm, P < 0.05). Two patients (2.04%) were identified as having malignant carotid body tumor. Conclusions Though carotid body tumor had a low morbidity and multitudinous clinicopathologic features, it was apt to middle-aged women and the main blood supply was from external carotid artery. The painless neck mass was the commonest presentation of carotid body tumors. There were significant difference between male and female patients regarding platelet, hemoglobin, distance to base of skull, tumor volume, altitude of habitat, carotid body tumor location, and hypertension.

Objective. We studied the contamination of the soil with helminth-protozoan infestations in Astrakhan region for 20102019. Materials and methods. The research work was carried out in the Laboratory of Bacteriological and Parasitological Research of the Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in the Astrakhan Region in 20102019. A total of 10 692 soil samples were examined, and 11 384 studies were performed. The number of samples, which did not meet the sanitary and parasitological indicators was 7.0 % (753 samples). Eggs and larvae of helminths, as well as cysts of pathogenic intestinal protozoa were found in these samples. Results. During the analyzed period, 86 491 samples of sanitary and parasitological studies were selected and examined in the Astrakhan region, of which 93.6 % (80 962 samples) were samples taken from various environmental objects (water, soil, manure, flushes from solid household surfaces). The total share of soil samples in the structure of all studies of environmental objects was 13.2 % (10 692 samples). Conclusions. Parasitic contamination of the soil remains tense, as evidenced by positive findings in the form of eggs and larvae of helminths, as well as cysts of pathogenic intestinal protozoa. The presence of toxocara eggs and strongylid larvae in the soil indicates contamination of this object with the feces of infected animals. The presence of eggs of ascarids, opisthorchis, pygmy tapeworm and cysts of dysentery amoeba in the soil may indicate that this object is contaminated with the feces of persons with parasitic infestation, or about accidents on the sewer network and underflooding of soil sampling sites.

Purpose Evaluating the extent of cerebral ischemic infarction is essential for treatment decisions and assessment of possible complications in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Patients are often triaged according to image-based early signs of infarction, defined by Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS). Our aim was to evaluate interrater reliability in a large group of readers. Methods We retrospectively analyzed 100 investigators who independently evaluated 20 non-contrast computed tomography (NCCT) scans as part of their qualification program for the TENSION study. Test cases were chosen by four neuroradiologists who had previously scored NCCT scans with ASPECTS between 0 and 8 and high interrater agreement. Percent and interrater agreements were calculated for total ASPECTS, as well as for each ASPECTS region. Results Percent agreements for ASPECTS ratings was 28%, with interrater agreement of 0.13 (95% confidence interval, CI 0.09–0.16), at zero tolerance allowance and 66%, with interrater agreement of 0.32 (95% CI: 0.21–0.44), at tolerance allowance set by TENSION inclusion criteria. ASPECTS region with highest level of agreement was the insular cortex (percent agreement = 96%, interrater agreement = 0.96 (95% CI: 0.94–0.97)) and with lowest level of agreement the M3 region (percent agreement = 68%, interrater agreement = 0.39 [95% CI: 0.17–0.61]). Conclusion Interrater agreement reliability for total ASPECTS and study enrollment was relatively low but seems sufficient for practical application. Individual region analysis suggests that some are particularly difficult to evaluate, with varying levels of reliability. Potential impairment of the supraganglionic region must be examined carefully, particularly with respect to the decision whether or not to perform mechanical thrombectomy.

Basal cell carcinoma is most common type of non-melanotic skin cancer. Causative agents are UV and ionizing radiation and chemicals. Nodular, pigmented, superficial, cystic and infiltrative are major subtypes. It is mainly treated by excision surgery in the form of wide local excision and reconstruction is done by various flaps. In our study 10 patients were included and found that carcinoma is commoner in old age female patients and mainly near right canthus of eyeball; treated with surgery which is well tolerated by all the patients.

This study aimed to examine regional differences for asthma and other chronic obstructive lung diseases. The study was based on data collected from annual reports produced by the Ministry of Health over a ten-year period beginning from 2010 to 2019. Incidence rates for eleven regions in the Sultanate of Oman were analyzed using statistical tools including; analysis of variance and binary logistic regression model to determine the effect of region on asthma and other chronic obstructive lung diseases. The incident rates were found to be significantly different by region (F-value = 27.07, p = 0.00). There was no significant variation by year (F-value = 1.05, p > 0.407). Overall over the ten-year period the incidence rates stagnated between 250 and 300 per 10000 of the population, but showed a reducing trend between 2016 and 2019. The logistic regression model shows that compared to the Muscat region, all the other regions had significant increased odd ratios. There is a significant evidence of regional variation in the incidence of asthma and other chronic obstructive lung diseases. This implies probable characteristics in geographical regions that are associated with asthma and other chronic obstructive lung diseases’ exacerbation. Five asthma-region classifications were identified from our analysis. Findings of this study may be used to guide decision making towards the management and control of asthma and chronic obstructive lung diseases.

A maximal stable extremely region (MSER) analysis based convolutional neural networks (CNN) for unified detects detection framework is proposed in this paper. Our proposed framework utilizes the generality and stability of MSER to generate the desired defects candidates. Then a specific trained binary CNN classifier is adopted over the defects candidates and produces the final determined defects. Experiments on various defects dataset over different categories have demonstrated the effectiveness of our proposed framework. Beside, we can adjust the parameter settings in MSER to satisfy different requests over various industries (high precision, high recall, etc).

Background Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are effective in reducing thromboembolism events in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). However, little is known about trends in NVAF prevalence and DOAC prescriptions in daily clinical practice. This study investigated the current status and trends in NVAF prevalence and DOAC prescriptions in a region of Japan.Methods and Results:Annual data for the 4 years from May 2014 to May 2017 in the Tsugaru region of Aomori Prefecture, Japan, were obtained for analysis from the Japanese National Health Insurance database ("Kokuho" database [KDB]). The prevalence of NVAF in subjects aged 40-74 years increased gradually over the 4-year study period (1,094/57,452 [1.90%] in 2014, 1,055/56,018 [1.88%] in 2015, 1,072/54,256 [1.98%] in 2016, and 1,154/52,341 [2.20%] in 2017). The proportion of NVAF patients prescribed warfarin decreased (42%, 33%, 24%, and 21% in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017, respectively), the proportion of those prescribed DOACs increased (30%, 42%, 50%, and 57%, respectively), and the proportion not prescribed an oral anticoagulant (OAC) decreased (28%, 25%, 26%, and 22%, respectively). However, 17% of patients with a CHADS2score ≥2 were not prescribed an OAC in 2017. Conclusions By using the KDB we found that the prevalence of NVAF has increased gradually from 2014 to 2017. In the Tsugaru region in Japan, DOACs prescriptions increased and warfarin prescriptions decreased over the 4-year period.

The present report describes the first case of postpartum disseminated histoplasmosis in a 24-year-old HIV-negative woman. On the tenth day after vaginal delivery, the patient presented with dyspnea, fever, hypotension, tachycardia, and painful hepatomegaly. Yeast-like Histoplasma capsulatum features were isolated in the buffy coat. The phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that the fungal isolate was similar to other H. capsulatum isolates identified in HIV patients from Ceará and Latin America. Thus, histoplasmosis development in individuals with transitory immunosuppression or during the period of immunological recovery should be carefully examined.

Background: High blood pressure is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and is influenced by both environmental and genetic factors. Epigenetic processes including DNA methylation potentially mediate the relationship between genetic factors, the environment and cardiovascular disease. Despite an increased risk of hypertension and cardiovascular disease in individuals of South Asians compared to Europeans, it is not clear whether associations between blood pressure and DNA methylation differ between these groups.Methods: We performed an epigenome-wide association study and differentially methylated region (DMR) analysis to identify DNA methylation sites and regions that were associated with systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and hypertension. We analyzed samples from 364 European and 348 South Asian men (first generation migrants to the UK) from the Southall And Brent REvisited cohort, measuring DNA methylation from blood using the Illumina Infinium® HumanMethylation450 BeadChip.Results: One CpG site was found to be associated with DBP in trans-ancestry analyses (i.e. both ethnic groups combined), while in Europeans alone seven CpG sites were associated with DBP. No associations were identified between DNA methylation and either SBP or hypertension. Comparison of effect sizes between South Asian and European EWAS for DBP, SBP and hypertension revealed little concordance between analyses. DMR analysis identified several regions with known relationships with CVD and its risk factors.Conclusion: This study identified differentially methylated sites and regions associated with blood pressure and revealed ethnic differences in these associations. These findings may point to molecular pathways which may explain the elevated cardiovascular disease risk experienced by those of South Asian ancestry when compared to Europeans.

The location of large companies can be used to analyze the distribution of industrial facilities and capital. Turkey, an emerging economy, has experienced a rapid change for the last two decades in terms of industrial change. In this paper, we propose a trend analysis-based methodology to analyze the development of the largest 500 companies in Turkey in an effort to observe the regional change and development. We first analyze the number of companies in seven regions between 2012 and 2015 and observe that the number of the largest companies move from the developed regions to less developed regions. A city-based research on the most important cities for the analysis is also included in our project. It is observed that central industrial cities including Istanbul rapidly lose their largest companies to other cities. The results of the city and region analysis confirm that a higher number of large companies are likely to emerge in different cities and regions of the country.

The improvement of regional eco-efficiency is a significant approach to achieve coordinated development of China's economic development and environmental protection, and an effective environmental regulation system is a crucial driver to the improvement of regional eco-efficiency. Based on the panel data of China's 30 provinces during 2000–2013, this paper divides environmental regulation into three types: command-and-control regulation, market-based regulation and voluntary regulation. STIRPAT model is employed to test the effects of these three environmental regulations on eco-efficiency in the eastern, central and western regions of China. Research results turn out that: (1) in the eastern region, market-based and voluntary environmental regulation have a positive impact on eco-efficiency improvement while command-and-control environmental regulation has no significant impact, and (2) in the central region, command-and-control and market-based environmental regulation can promote eco-efficiency more significantly compared with voluntary environmental regulation, and (3) in the western region, command-and-control environmental regulation plays a positive role in eco-efficiency improvement whilst market-based and voluntary environmental regulation have no significant impacts. These findings indicate that the effects of different types of environmental regulation on eco-efficiency apparently differ in regions. Finally, to optimize and adjust the environmental regulation tools, policy recommendations targeting different regions are concluded.

The Turin Shroud is traditionally considered the burial cloth of Jesus Christ, but carbon-14 analysis indicated a medieval date. Here, a digital restoring of the hands' region of the Turin Shroud image has allowed to visualize anatomic details never seen before: the scrotum and part of the right hand's thumb. Additionally, the unnatural position of the right hand's thumb, adjacent to the palm of the hand, positioned below it and, consequently, almost fully hidden except for its protruding end, seems to denote a stress, which could be consequent to crucifixion. These results shed new light on the long-lasting scientific debate about the authenticity of the relic since the absence of the thumbs has been considered as one of the most important indirect proof that the Turin Shroud wrapped the body of a man who was crucified alive. (C) 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) with successive interference cancellation is considered as one of the most promising schemes in multi-user access wireless networks. Based on the principles of NOMA and full-duplex (FD) communications, this paper proposes a novel FD-aided cooperative NOMA (FD-NOMA) scheme to optimize the maximum achievable rate region. Since self-interference often exists in FD communications, a self-interference canceller is employed in this system. Specifically, three schemes that aim to maximize the achievable rate region are provided. The first one is investigated under the assumption that the transmitted power is fixed, while the other two schemes are achieved with the aid of two developed algorithms. For the purpose of studying the rate region in the non-ideality condition, the error vector magnitudelevel is introduced in the analysis of the third scheme. Finally, analytical results demonstrate that the proposed FD-NOMA scheme outperforms the conventional schemes based on NOMA in terms of the rate region, and the maximum rate region of the FD-NOMA scheme is compared with different coefficients.

In this letter, we investigate the power and rate allocation problem for decode-and-forward two-path relay systems. To deal with the inter-relay interference at the relays, two power and rate allocation schemes based on feasible power region analysis are proposed. Numerical results show that the proposed schemes can provide better power and outage performances compared with the other existing alternatives. Besides, we also discuss the performance difference between the two proposed schemes for different rate requirements. We find that the suboptimal but simpler successive-interference-cancellation-based scheme can offer near-optimal performance.

Skin cancer is an abnormal growth of skin cells on body parts which get more exposure to sunlight. Detection of cancer in early stages improves patient outcomes, however, manual assessment of medical cells and microscopy images is laborious work, and the results are often subjective so that the agreement between viewers can be low. In this paper, a new method is proposed to detect skin cancer signs such as asymmetry, border, colour and diameter using segmentation and region analysis. Melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer images have been classified using region analysis, boundary, colour and size measurements. To achieve accurate and computationally efficient results, Local Binary Pattern Convolutional Neural Networks are employed. The proposed method has provided a high classification performance, achieving 0.95 accuracy rate, 0.95 sensitivity, and 0.96 specificity on the ISIC public data sets.

Summary Background In accordance with the age parameters specified in Sustainable Development Goal target 3.4, current policy and monitoring of non-communicable disease (NCD) mortality trends focus on people aged 30–69 years. This approach excludes the majority of NCD deaths, which occur at older ages. We aimed to compare cardiovascular mortality for different age groups in the WHO Region of the Americas. Methods We extracted mortality data from the Pan American Health Organization regional mortality database for 36 countries for the period 2000 to 2015. We calculated age-standardised mortality rates (ASMRs) from cardiovascular diseases for different age groups for these countries. Joinpoint regression models were used to estimate mortality trends, providing estimates of the average annual percentage change for the period 2000–15. Findings Individuals aged 70 years or older accounted for the majority of cardiovascular disease deaths in all countries (range 52–82%). Considerable variation in cardiovascular deaths was observed between countries for all age categories. Between 2000 and 2015, in most countries, the largest reductions in ASMR were observed in the older age groups (aged ≥70 years). The total number of regional cardiovascular disease deaths that hypothetically could have been averted in 2015 for people aged 30–79 years was 440 777, of which 211 365 (48%) occurred among people aged 70–79 years. Interpretation Data for the WHO Region of the Americas are sufficiently robust to permit comparative analysis of cardiovascular disease mortality trends for people aged 70 years and older over time and across countries. Although the reduction of cardiovascular disease mortality in individuals aged 30–69 years is a valid policy goal for the Americas region, this objective should be expanded to include people at older ages. Funding None.

Background Emphysema, characterized by lung destruction, is a key component of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified multiple genetic factors associated with cross-sectional measures of quantitative emphysema, but the genetic determinants of longitudinal change in quantitative measures of emphysema remain largely unknown. Our study aims to identify genetic variants associated with longitudinal change in quantitative emphysema measured by computed tomography (CT) imaging. Methods We included current and ex-smokers from two longitudinal cohorts: COPDGene, a study of Non-Hispanic Whites (NHW) and African Americans (AA), and the Evaluation of COPD Longitudinally to Identify Predictive Surrogate End-points (ECLIPSE). We calculated annual change in two quantitative measures of emphysema based on chest CT imaging: percent low attenuation area (≤ − 950HU) (%LAA-950) and adjusted lung density (ALD). We conducted GWAS, separately in 3030 NHW and 1158 AA from COPDGene and 1397 Whites from ECLIPSE. We further explored effects of 360 previously reported variants and a lung function based polygenic risk score on annual change in quantitative emphysema. Results In the genome-wide association analysis, no variants achieved genome-wide significance (P

There are many factors that can affect the urban growth and it has great implications towards socio-economic for the related areas. Usually, the urban planning and monitoring are performed and administered by the local authorities for improvement and development purposes. This research focuses on analyzing the urban growth of Klang Valley in Malaysia (a developing country), where this is the most rapid growth area in the country. This area is divided into ten districts with different management and development plans. This work proposes a computing tool that applies cellular automata and modified game of life techniques to perform detailed analysis on urban expansion of Klang Valley area based on temporal imagery datasets. As a case study, satellite images were taken from different years where the prediction can be observed within fifteen years duration. The cellular automata technique is used for extracting high details of aerial images based on every pixel, while the modified game of life is for analyzing urban expansion. Based on the analysis, the pattern of the growth in any selected region in the area can be identified and the urban planners for each district can work together, discuss and make decision for monitoring, changes and development of Klang Valley.

e12571 Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and constitutes a public health problem due to its high rates of morbidity and mortality. Diagnosis is made through routine histopathology studies that are complemented by phenotypic expression studies of hormone receptors (estrogen and progesterone receptors), human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2) and cell proliferation index (Ki67) for their subtyping into molecular groups (luminal A, luminal B, Her2, and triple negative), which have different prognostic and therapeutic implications. Globally, a high prevalence of the Luminal A subtype has been reported, predominantly in North America, Europe, and some Latin American countries; however, the reports in the Colombian population are heterogeneous. The objective of this research is to establish an incidence profile of these molecular subtypes in a population of the coffee region in Colombia. Methods: Samples of 377 patients with a diagnosis of infiltrating breast cancer were collected retrospectively between 2015 and 2018. Inclusion criteria included: 1) Availability of personal data (year of diagnosis and age) 2) Infiltrating breast carcinoma. 3) Diagnosis between 2015 and 2018. 4) Study of complete immunohistochemistry and/or in situ hybridization (ISH) markers. Results: The histological subtypes included: NOS infiltrating ductal carcinomas (339 cases; 89.9 %), infiltrating lobular (23 cases; 6.1 %), infiltrating mucinous (6 cases; 1.5 %), infiltrating papillary (1 case; 0.2 %) and mixed patterns: ductal - lobular (3 cases; 0.7 %) and mucinous - ductal (5 cases; 1.3 %), of whom 56.2% (212 cases) correspond to luminal B, 22.2% (84 cases) to Luminal A, 14.8% (56 cases) to triple negative and 6.6% (25 cases) to HER2. Conclusions: These findings contrast with the prevalence reported worldwide. Therefore, in the population of the Colombian coffee region, this predominance of the molecular subtype luminal B should be considered when establishing prognosis and treatment plan by the medical staff.

Background Meningiomas arising at the pineal region are a rare entity and still represent a great neurosurgical challenge given their deep location and critical neuroanatomic relationships. The optimal surgical approach to treat these lesions is still under debate. Our objective is to review the topographic and diagnostic features of these lesions, which can help to guide an optimal surgical outcome. Methods We present 2 clinical cases of falcotentorial meningiomas successfully treated at our institution (2016–2017) with different surgical approaches. A literature review is performed, and a description of the classification, anatomic relationships, clinical features, diagnosis, and different surgical options and outcomes of these lesions is presented. Results The first patient was treated via a supracerebellar infratentorial approach, and the second patient was treated via a parieto-occipital interhemispheric approach. In both tumors, a gross total resection was achieved with no permanent neurologic deficits. In the literature review, gross total resection rates range from 33% to 100%, with no differences regarding the type of meningioma or the surgical approach performed. Permanent neurologic morbidity varies from 0% to 50%, and mortality rates range from 0% to 23%. The distortion and displacement of the vein of Galen and straight sinus represent the most important feature in the decision of optimal surgical approach. Conclusions Pineal region meningiomas represent very infrequent, challenging lesions, and their description in the literature is scarce. The systematic topographic classification of these tumors and evaluation of the neuroanatomic structures involved are crucial to guide a safe and optimal surgical approach and achieve satisfactory outcomes.

The work herein proposed presents a methodology which aims to identify cystoid regions using OCT scans. This method obtained satisfactory results detecting cystoid regions with different levels of complexity without needing any preprocessing nor candidate filtering steps.

Food segmentation is a vital step to improve the accuracy of food recognition, which is important for automatic pricing and nutritional analysis of canteen. In this paper, we propose a segmentation algorithm based on local variation driven superpixel grouping and region analysis. This algorithm first uses superpixels to construct a graph model for Chinese dish images, and then uses the idea of local variation method to group superpixels with similar characteristics to form different regions. Finally, region analysis is used to extract regions belonging to dishes. Experimental results show that the proposed method can robustly segment Chinese dish images and extract dishes from images.

The aim of the research paper is to make an assessment of the industry of financial leasing and ascertain the role that it plays in the enhancement of financial intermediation in different MENA nations. The approach was known to have followed involvement of both comparative and critical analysis of the financial indicators and the review of institutional, regulatory, and legal frameworks in the chosen countries. This paper also identifies the various impediments and sets forth numerous policy recommendations on promotion of the role playing by the financial leasing sector in the enhancement of financial systems and the strengthening of enterprise access in order to finance firms and more so those on the small scale. It is quite apparent that numerous nations in MENA have indeed made significant strides in the most recent times towards the development of financial leasing. However, it is important to note that there are indeed numerous challenges ahead that need to be addressed.

Quarry sites result from human activity, which includes the removal of original vegetation and the overlying soil to dig out stones for building use. Therefore, the dynamics of the quarry area provide a unique view of human mining activities. Actually, the topographic changes caused by mining activities are also a result of the development of the local economy. Thus, monitoring the quarry area can provide information about the policies of the economy and environmental protection. In this paper, we developed a combined method of machine learning classification and quarry region analysis to estimate the quarry area in a quarry region near Beijing. A temporal smoothing based on the classification results of all years was applied in post-processing to remove outliers and obtain gently changing sequences along the monitoring term. The method was applied to Landsat images to derive a quarry distribution map and quarry area time series from 1984 to 2017, revealing significant inter-annual variability. The time series revealed a five-stage development of the quarry area with different growth patterns. As the study region lies on two jurisdictions—Tianjin and Hebei—a comparison of the quarry area changes in the two jurisdictions was applied, which revealed that the different policies in the two regions could impose different impacts on the development of a quarry area. An analysis concerning the relationship between quarry area and gross regional product (GRP) was performed to explore the potential application on socioeconomic studies, and we found a strong positive correlation between quarry area and GRP in Langfang City, Hebei Province. These results demonstrate the potential benefit of annual monitoring over the long-term for socioeconomic studies, which can be used for mining decision making.

The development of the Saharan regions is imperatively conditioned by the persistence of water resources and their possibility of use over time (Haouchine et al. 2010). About 89% of the water resources are used by the agricultural sector and the existing industries are low water users (Bouammar 2010). Indeed, knowledge of the geochemical quality of groundwater in the Sahara is paramount because salinity is often linked to aridity.

In this letter, we propose prediction of primary user spectrum activity by constructing a continuous-time Markov chain model for Erlang-2 distributed on/off channel utilization intervals. Moreover, we propose a maximum-likelihood estimator for traffic parameters utilized by the predictor. Finally, we analyze the prediction confidence as the probability of the prediction performance that is not affected by traffic estimation errors. The prediction confidence is quantified by exploiting the proposed prediction region analysis.

The ship hull is accomplished by assembling various curved surfaces. There are numerous existing methods for ship hull processing, which need certain appropriate processing methods to enable it to be more efficient. The curved hull plates can be divided into convex region and saddle region. It is common to use line heating method to form a saddle region, when it comes to a convex region, it will be triangle heating method to be utilized. A precise analysis for curvature domain is required for the application of proper processing method. There exist various problems on existing calculation methods of curvature domain. Therefore, a more powerful method is demanded to it more accurately. In this study, a method called Dual Contouring is applied to extract curved surfaces, which is able to improve accuracy of extracted area. Based on all above, a best-suited heat processing method should be selected.

This paper presents an experimental analysis of the influence of the silicon thickness (t si )and the channel length (L) on the threshold voltage (V t ), subthreshold swing (SS), drain induced barrier lowering (DIBL), gate induced drain leakage (GIDL) and the ON-state over OFF-state current ratio (I ON /I OFF ))on Ultra Thin Buried Oxide (UTBOX) and Ultra Thin Body and Buried oxide (UTBB) SOI nMOSFET devices. In order to complement this analysis, a simulation of the UTBB devices was performed. Devices with thinner silicon film present better control of short channel effects resulting in improved parameters such as SS(tsi=50nm → ∼ 85–90 mV/dec; tsi=20nm → ∼ 70–80 mV/dec), DIBL(tsi=50nm → ∼ 130–150 mV/V; tsi=20nm → ∼ 25–40 mV/V), GIDL and a reduction of the channel length influence on them. When comparing the UTBB devices without and with ground plane implantation (GP) it was noted that the GP did not affect the DIBL and GIDL parameters, but it increases V t (∼0.25V without GP and ∼0.45V with GP), degrades SS and improves I on /I off (from ∼ 105 without GP to ∼108 with GP).

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an irreversible neurodegenerative disorder that accounts for 60–70% of cases of dementia in the elderly. An early diagnosis of AD is usually hampered for many reasons including the variable clinical and pathological features exhibited among affected individuals. This paper presents a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system with the primary goal of improving the accuracy, specificity, and sensitivity of diagnosis. In this system, PiB-PET scans, which were obtained from the ADNI database, underwent five essential stages. First, the scans were standardized and de-noised. Second, an Automated Anatomical Labeling (AAL) atlas was utilized to partition the brain into 116 regions or labels that served for local (region-based) diagnosis. Third, scale-invariant Laplacian of Gaussian (LoG) was used, per brain label, to detect the discriminant features. Fourth, the regions' features were analyzed using a general linear model in the form of a two-sample t-test. Fifth, the support vector machines (SVM) and their probabilistic variant (pSVM) were constructed to provide local, followed by global diagnosis. The system was evaluated on scans of normal control (NC) vs. mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (19 NC and 65 MCI scans). The proposed system showed superior accuracy, specificity, and sensitivity as compared to other related work.

Video databases are broadly applied both in consumer and professional domains. The importance of real-time surveillance video monitoring has increased for security reasons, while also for consumers video databases are rapidly growing. Quickly searching in databases is facilitated by region analysis, as it provides an indication for the contents of the video. For real-time and cost-efficient implementations, it is important to develop algorithms with low computational complexity. In this paper, we analyze the complexity of a newly develop semantic region labeling approach [2], e.g. road, sky, etc., which aims at extracting spatial contextual information from a video. In the analyzed semantic region labeling approach, color and texture features are combined with the vertical position to label the key regions. The algorithm is analyzed by its native DSP computations and memory usage to prove its practical feasibility. The analysis results show that the system has a low complexity while offering high-accuracy region labeling. A comparison with the state-of-the-art algorithm convincingly reveals that our system outperforms the state-of-the-art with fewer computations.

Vertical slot fishways are hydraulic structures which allow the upstream migration of fish through obstructions in rivers. The appropriate design of these devices should take into account the behavior and biological requirements of the target fish species. However, little is known at the present time about fish behavior in these artificial conditions, which hinders the development of more effective fishway design criteria. In this work, an efficient technique to study fish trajectories and behavior in vertical slot fishways is proposed. It uses computer vision techniques to analyze images collected from a camera system and effectively track fish inside the fishway. Edge and region analysis algorithms are employed to detect fish in extreme image conditions and Kalman filtering is used to track fish along time. The proposed solution has been extensively validated through several experiments, obtaining promising results which may help to improve the design of fish passage devices.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of ultrasonography in the establishment of the diagnosis of nonspecific nodular lesions of the oral soft tissues. We determined the indication of use and reliability of ultrasonography in the field of dentistry, considering whether it was of value in the conclusive diagnosis of these pathologies.We recruited 65 patients from the Oral Medicine Unit of São Lucas Hospital, who had submucosal and subcutaneous nodules, without established diagnosis. They were subjected to ultrasonography of the lesion, carried out with standardization of the protocol and equipment, utilizing a Doppler system. The ultrasonographic report was prepared by an experienced professional, noting the imaging characteristics as well as the possibility of diagnosis. Two calibrated examiners analyzed the data, comparing the ultrasonographic report with the final diagnosis. Accordingly, we used established scoring, where zero corresponded to no contribution to the final diagnosis, 1 helped in the management of the case, and 2 when imaging determined the diagnosis.A zero score was obtained for 12.3 % of the examinations performed, and 1 and 2 accounted for respectively 41.5 and 46.1 %, totaling a contribution of about 88 %. Ultrasonography was of value in the diagnosis of vascular lesions in 93.3 % and of neoplasms in 87.5 %. In the salivary gland diseases, it contributed to the final diagnosis in 75 %.The results demonstrated that ultrasonography is an effective tool in the determination of the definitive diagnosis of nonspecific nodular lesions of the soft tissues of the oral and maxillofacial region.

Background and aimThe Greater Poland Region is one of the most industrialised areas of Poland, with a high rate of cancer incidence and mortality. The present report estimated incidence and mortality data for Greater Poland in the year 2010.MethodsStatistical reports in this study include absolute number of cases and crude incidence rates. The derived age-, sex-, and site specific rates were age-standardised (ASRs per 100,000 person-years) using the European (ASRE) standard population.ResultsIn 2010, a total 13,581 new cancer cases were reported to the Greater Poland Cancer Registry. The number of new cases increased by 24% compared to 2001. Greater Poland has the second-highest ASR for both females and males among the 16 regions in Poland. The most common cancers are similar to those in other Western European countries. Among men, the most common cancers are lung (C34), colorectal (C18-C21), and prostate (C61) cancer. In women, breast cancer is the most common (C50), followed by colon (C18-C21) and lung (C34) cancer. Lung cancer in males accounts for more than one-third of all cancer-related deaths in Greater Poland. As in 2009, lung cancer is the leading cause of death in women.ConclusionsGiven the ageing of the population, the incidence of chronic diseases, including cancer, is expected to grow. These data indicate that cancer will continue to represent an important challenge both to local health authorities and the National Health Fund, which will need to meet the growing demand for cancer care.

This paper deals with the stabilization problem of Smith predictor structures using a PI controller. Stability regions that include all stabilizing parameters of a PI controller for the case of perfect matching between the plant and model and for mismatched case are obtained. The models of the plant are assumed to be FOPDT (first-order plus dead time) and SOPDT (second-order plus dead time) transfer functions. Thus, the aim of this study is to determine all stabilizing PI controllers for the Smith predictor scheme and to compare the stability regions obtained for perfectly matched and mismatched models. It is observed that the stability regions obtained for both cases are quite different and the stability regions for FOPDT and SOPDT models are broader than the stability region of the actual model. Furthermore, an approach is presented to find different models of an actual system using the stability region and it is shown that the stability region of these models can fit the stability region of actual system. A simulation example is provided to illustrate the results.

This article demonstrates how Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan change regional security dynamic in South Asia. The formation of regions, intensification and importance of regional power is interesting for different kind of scientists, including political analysts, due to the changing values of national nations in a global world and due to the power separation between members of international system. Regional nations, which are analyzed, are one of the most rapidly growing markets, what is more, a lot of important changes in politics, which give the world a tumble of particular tendencies, happens in these countries. All things considered, it is important to get information about processes which happens in Southern Asia, especially, in India which is a regional power. The article analyzes how regional security system in South Asia. Analysis of regional security dynamic in India-Pakistan conflict demonstrates how organization serves the purpose of enhancing the efficiency of transactions among states, but the ambiguity in them also functions as a tool to manage distribution of power.

Precision and stability region analysis of the realistic semi-strapdown homing guided (SSHG) system is made. The mathematic model of the parasitic loop of the SSHG system is established. The stability region of friction coefficient, counter electromotive force (EMF) coefficient, and sensor dynamic mismatch of the realistic SSHG system are given via Routh criterion by analyzing the stability of the parasitic loop. The stability degree of the semi-strapdown homing seeker (SSHS) parasitic loop can be improved mainly by changing the performance index of the seeker tracking control system. Via the simplified model of the SSHG system, the explicit analytic expressions of miss distance and command acceleration induced by target maneuvering and measurement errors are presented. With the adjoint technique, the influence patterns of the main system parameters and sensor measurement errors on the attack precision of the realistic complex SSHG system are analyzed. Numerical simulations indicate that when the ...

Building effective vehicular cyber-physical systems to improve road safety is a non-trivial challenge. The abnormal region of road –‘road abnormal region’– is one of the main reasons for traffic congestion and thus should be taken into account in order to inform the design of a road monitoring mechanism and navigation service. The characteristics of the abnormal region (AR) are investigated in this paper and an evaluation criterion is suggested. AnyLogic 6.0 (Education) is the platform used to simulate the generation of AR and its changing procedure, which provides justification for the proposed algorithm.

The channel nonstationarity caused by the train mobility is measured for the composite high-speed railway (HSR) scenario. The time-varying quasi-stationarity region analysis is based on spectral divergence (SD) metric carried on different frequencies. An obvious transition region is found in composite HSR. Moreover, based on the comparison of different frequencies, we found the apparent discrepancy of the quasi-stationarity region size estimated by the same threshold.

We present a novel approach to the coding and representation of shapes using intersections. Our algorithm combines contour and region based approaches. After exploring hitherto unvisited regions of the shape, we find salient features on the boundary in that region. Our method has a number of attractive features. First, it is efficient to compute, since only small yet salient regions are retrieved and analysed. Second, our algorithm generates a contour and region analysis simultaneously. Third, the algorithm is fully adaptive, so we do not need to set parameters, such as the number of features to be found, in advance. Finally, the algorithm can be implemented using familiar data structures including the max heap, circular linked lists and trees. We demonstrate the stability of the algorithm with a few practical image sets and developed an extended version which deals with enclosed shapes.