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Medical image segmentation is a crucial element of computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems. Segmentation maps are used to calculate imaging features, such as quantitative disease distribution and radiomic features. Since their introduction in 2015, UNets have become the state-of-the-art segmentation tools. However, since that time, many new methods for image processing have been introduced, such as vision transformers and multi-layer-perceptron-mixers (MLP-Mixers). Alongside baseline UNets, we have now investigated the application of such MLP-Mixers for medical image segmentation, as part of a CAD system for the diagnosis of interstitial lung diseases (ILDs). Furthermore, we have investigated the effect of 2D and 3D data representations on segmentation and the final CAD results. We have evaluated the performance of the baseline segmentation methods and the MLP-Mixer primary on the overall diagnostic performance of the CAD system - as well as on the accuracy of segmentation as an intermediate step. In addition to network and data representation variations, we have investigated two different techniques for selecting features, an agnostic method and an alternative approach which selects features tailored to a specific segmentation map and diagnosis task. Finally, the CAD’s performance was compared with that of four independent specialists in chest radiology. Among the 105 test cases, the diagnostic accuracy was 77.2±1.6% for the AI-approaches and 79.0±6.9% for the radiologists, indicating that the proposed systems perform comparably well to human readers in most of the cases. For the task of ILD pattern segmentation, similar results were obtained with 3D data and 2D tomography slices.

The present study presents an extensive dataset meticulously curated from solar images sourced from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), encompassing a range of spectral bands. This collaborative effort spans multiple disciplines and culminates in a robust and automated methodology that traverses the entire spectrum from solar imaging to the computation of spectral parameters and relevant characteristics.The significance of this undertaking lies in the profound insights yielded by the dataset. Encompassing diverse spectral bands and employing topological features, the dataset captures the multifaceted dynamics of solar activity, fostering interdisciplinary correlations and analyses with other solar phenomena. Consequently, the data's intrinsic value is greatly enhanced, affording researchers in solar physics, space climatology, and related fields the means to unravel intricate processes.To achieve this, an open-source Python library script has been developed, consolidating three pivotal stages: image acquisition, image processing, and parameter calculation. Originally conceived as discrete modules, these steps have been unified into a single script, streamlining the entire process. Applying this script to various solar image types has generated multiple datasets, subsequently synthesised into a comprehensive compilation through a data mining procedures.During the image processing phase, conventional libraries like OpenCV and Python's image analysis tools were harnessed to refine images for analysis. In contrast, image acquisition utilised established URL libraries in Python, facilitating direct access to original SOHO repository images and eliminating the need for local storage.The computation of spectral parameters involved a fusion of standard Python libraries and tailored algorithms for specific attributes. This approach ensures precise computation of a diverse array of attributes crucial for comprehensive analysis of solar images.

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Survey has obtained a set of spectroscopic measurements of galaxies to validate the final survey design and target selections. To assist in these tasks, we visually inspect DESI spectra of approximately 2500 bright galaxies, 3500 luminous red galaxies (LRGs), and 10,000 emission-line galaxies (ELGs) to obtain robust redshift identifications. We then utilize the visually inspected redshift information to characterize the performance of the DESI operation. Based on the visual inspection (VI) catalogs, our results show that the final survey design yields samples of bright galaxies, LRGs, and ELGs with purity greater than 99%. Moreover, we demonstrate that the precision of the redshift measurements is approximately 10 km s ^−1 for bright galaxies and ELGs and approximately 40 km s ^−1 for LRGs. The average redshift accuracy is within 10 km s ^−1 for the three types of galaxies. The VI process also helps improve the quality of the DESI data by identifying spurious spectral features introduced by the pipeline. Finally, we show examples of unexpected real astronomical objects, such as Ly α emitters and strong lensing candidates, identified by VI. These results demonstrate the importance and utility of visually inspecting data from incoming and upcoming surveys, especially during their early operation phases.

Experimental results on the phase transfer from structured beams to parametric light, generated by inducing four-wave mixing in an atomic gas, are reported. Near-infrared, Mathieu, and Gaussian pump beams yield a blue coherent Mathieu electromagnetic field and an infrared beam. Two complementary techniques enable full characterization of the up-converted modes. The unambiguous and efficient phase heritage of these complex quasipropagation invariant modes to up-converted photons is demonstrated. The presented data enable a quantitative study of dynamical variables related to Mathieu beams. These include elliptic angular momentum, a generalization of the orbital angular momentum of light, which is also up-converted through the nonlinear process.

Understanding the effects of major hydrogeological controls on hyporheic exchange and bank storage is essential for river water management, groundwater abstraction, restoration and ecosystem sustainability. Analytical models cannot adequately represent complex settings with, for example, transient boundary conditions, varying geometry of surface water–groundwater interface, unsaturated and overland flow, etc. To understand the influence of parameters such as (1) sloping river banks, (2) varying hydraulic conductivity of the riverbed and (3) different river discharge wave scenarios on hyporheic exchange characteristics such as (a) bank storage, (b) return flows and (c) residence time, a 2-D hydrogeological conceptual model and, subsequently, an adequate numerical model were developed. The numerical model was calibrated against observations in the aquifer adjacent to the hydropower-regulated Lule River, northern Sweden, which has predominantly diurnal discharge fluctuations during summer and long-lasting discharge peaks during autumn and winter. Modelling results revealed that bank storage increased with river wave amplitude, wave duration and smaller slope of the river bank, while maximum exchange flux decreased with wave duration. When a homogeneous clogging layer covered the entire river–aquifer interface, hydraulic conductivity positively affected bank storage. The presence of a clogging layer with hydraulic conductivity < 0.001 m d−1 significantly reduced the exchange flows and virtually eliminated bank storage. The bank storage return/fill time ratio was positively related to wave amplitude and the hydraulic conductivity of the interface and negatively to wave duration and bank slope. Discharge oscillations with short duration and small amplitude decreased bank storage and, therefore, the hyporheic exchange, which has implications for solute fluxes, redox conditions and the potential of riverbeds as fish-spawning locations. Based on these results, river regulation strategies can be improved by considering the effect of certain wave event configurations on hyporheic exchange to ensure harmonious hydrogeochemical functioning of the river–aquifer interfaces and related ecosystems.

Este trabajo muestra el estudio realizado en turbinas de vapor de pequeña capacidad de generación de las centrales termoeléctricas cubanas, relacionadas con la influencia estadística entre parámetros de proceso de la turbina, respecto al parámetro vibración absoluta, medidos en las chumaceras de la turbina. Se utilizan las bases de datos de los sistemas de monitoreado on-line de la turbina. Se exponen las relaciones existentes entre los principales parámetros seleccionados para este estudio.This work show the study in small steam turbine capacity of generation in cubans thermoelectric power station to relative with statistical influence between steam process parameters regarding absolute vibration parameter, in the steam housing measurements. Themselves use database as steam on-line monitoring systems. Expose the existing relation between the principal selection parameters for this study.

De distintas maneras se han ingeniado interesantes procedimientos para medir el radio de la tierra. Aquí se expone uno con la utilización de muchas técnicas sea formales o no para tal fín. El procedimiento es lo suficientemente sencillo como para que cualquier aficionado pueda repetirlo. No es un nuevo método, pero puede verse como pequeñas variaciones al mismo pudieran dar menos o más errores. El método precisa de tres piedras, una cuerda y una regla, de acuerdo con sus indicaciones, se debe contar también con un cerro desde donde podamos divisar el horizonte desde un lugar despejado en dos direcciones opuestas. La altura ideal de esta colina o promontorio seria de 30 a 300 metros sobre el nivel del mar (fácilmente podría ser desde un edificio); desde ella se divisara claramente una zona despejada. La motivación principal es proporcionar un marco para que los estudiantes en clase diserten acerca de la posibilidad de medier el tamaño de la tierra con argumentos muy sencillos y al alcance de todos. Se estimula de formulación de proyectos para investigación en el aula. Además se considera, en concordancia con las reformas de la educación y la globalización de las ciencias y los conocimientos, como estas actividades pueden acoger distintas disciplinas para un análisis óptimo de los resultados.

La condromatosis sinovial es una condición patológica rara que usualmente afecta a grandes articulaciones, en especial de las rodillas. Se caracteriza por múltiples nódulos cartilaginosos en el espacio articular. Los cuerpos condrales usualmente envuelven la sinovial de la articulación y son el producto de metaplasia mesenquimal; con frecuencia estos se encuentran sueltos dentro de la articulación; pueden estar adheridos a la sinovial y/o al disco intraarticular, y si son abundantes producen aumento del tamaño articular, dolor, chasquidos y llegan a comprometer la función de la articulación. El compromiso de la articulación témporo-mandibular es excepcional, encontrándose 50 casos publicados en la literatura mundial hasta la fecha. Se presenta el compromiso de la ATM en un paciente de sexo masculino, de 73 años, siendo éste el primer caso descrito para Ibero Latinoamérica.Synovial chondromatosis is a rare pathological condition which affects big joints, especially knees. This condition presents multiple cartilage nodes inside the joint space. These cartilage bodies are in close contact with the synovial and are free inside the fluid. The nodes could be stick at the synovial or at the articular disk, and produce increase of the articular size, pain, cracks, and compromise of the articular functions. The temporomandibular joint is affected exceptionally and only 50 cases are published in the medical literature until now. We present a synovial chondromatosis of the temporomandibular joint in a 73 years old, male patient. This is the first report in Iberolatinamerica.

Surveys conducted in diseased vineyards in Catalonia (N.E. Spain) showed that Cryptovalsa ampelina was very abundant on pruned canes, although it was isolated occasionally from necrotic wood of living plants. Identification of C. ampelina from the pruned canes was based on the morphology of the teleomorph. Its polysporous asci and pigmented allantoid ascospores distinguish it from Eutypa lata, the causal agent of eutypiose. However, cultures of C. ampelina are practically indistinguishable from cultures of other diatrypaceous species, therefore a PCR-based test was developed to identify cultures isolated from cankered wood. The designed species-specific primer pair (Camp- 1/Camp-2R) allowed for the unambiguous identification of C. ampelina in all tested cases involving cultures of diatrypaceous fungi. Additionally, the specificity of the primer pair to C. ampelina was confirmed by testing it on the host and on several other fungi known to occur on grapevine, namely species in the genera Botryosphaeria, Fomitiporia, Phaeoacremonium, Phaeomoniella and Phomopsis. The pathogenicity of C. ampelina on grapevine was confirmed through the observation of significant vascular lesions in artificial inoculations of grapevine plants, but the low frequencies of both mycelium reisolation and wound canker extension would suggest a low virulence for this fungus. Although C. ampelina does not appear to be a major pathogen of grapevine, its implication as a contributing factor to the decline of grapevines should deserve further investigations.

Here, the novel technique of extended-range high-energy-resolution fluorescence detection (XR-HERFD) has successfully observed the n = 2 satellite in manganese to a high accuracy. The significance of the satellite signature presented is many hundreds of standard errors and well beyond typical discovery levels of three to six standard errors. This satellite is a sensitive indicator for all manganese-containing materials in condensed matter. The uncertainty in the measurements has been defined, which clearly observes multiple peaks and structure indicative of complex physical quantum-mechanical processes. Theoretical calculations of energy eigenvalues, shake-off probability and Auger rates are also presented, which explain the origin of the satellite from physical n = 2 shake-off processes. The evolution in the intensity of this satellite is measured relative to the full Kα spectrum of manganese to investigate satellite structure, and therefore many-body processes, as a function of incident energy. Results demonstrate that the many-body reduction factor S 0 2 should not be modelled with a constant value as is currently done. This work makes a significant contribution to the challenge of understanding many-body processes and interpreting HERFD or resonant inelastic X-ray scattering spectra in a quantitative manner., (open access.)

The discovery of a new physical process in manganese metal is reported. This process will also be present for all manganese-containing materials in condensed matter. The process was discovered by applying our new technique of XR-HERFD (extended-range high-energy-resolution fluorescence detection), which was developed from the popular high-resolution RIXS (resonant inelastic X-ray scattering) and HERFD approaches. The acquired data are accurate to many hundreds of standard deviations beyond what is regarded as the criterion for `discovery'. Identification and characterization of many-body processes can shed light on the X-ray absorption fine-structure spectra and inform the scientist on how to interpret them, hence leading to the ability to measure the dynamical nanostructures which are observable using the XR-HERFD method. Although the many-body reduction factor has been used universally in X-ray absorption spectroscopy in analysis over the past 30 years (thousands of papers per year), this experimental result proves that many-body effects are not representable by any constant reduction factor parameter. This paradigm change will provide the foundation for many future studies and X-ray spectroscopy., (open access.)

The most accurate measurements of the mass attenuation coefficient for metals at low temperature for the zinc K-edge from 9.5 keV to 11.5 keV at temperatures of 10 K, 50 K, 100 K and 150 K using the hybrid technique are reported. This is the first time transition metal X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) has been studied using the hybrid technique and at low temperatures. This is also the first hybrid-like experiment at the Australian Synchrotron. The measured transmission and fluorescence XAFS spectra are compared and benchmarked against each other with detailed systematic analyses. A recent method for modelling self-absorption in fluorescence has been adapted and applied to a solid sample. The XAFS spectra are analysed using eFEFFIT to provide a robust measurement of the evolution of nanostructure, including such properties as net thermal expansion and mean-square relative displacement. This work investigates crystal dynamics, nanostructural evolution and the results of using the Debye and Einstein models to determine atomic positions. Accuracies achieved, when compared with the literature, exceed those achieved by both relative and differential XAFS, and represent a state-of-the-art for future structural investigations. Bond length uncertainties are of the order of 20-40 fm., (open access.)

High-accuracy X-ray mass attenuation coefficients were measured from the first X-ray Extended Range Technique (XERT)-like experiment at the Australian Synchrotron. Experimentally measured mass attenuation coefficients deviate by ∼50% from the theoretical values near the zinc absorption edge, suggesting that improvements in theoretical tabulations of mass attenuation coefficients are required to bring them into better agreement with experiment. Using these values the imaginary component of the atomic form factor of zinc was determined for all the measured photon energies. The zinc K-edge jump ratio and jump factor are determined and results raise significant questions regarding the definitions of quantities used and best practice for background subtraction prior to X-ray absorption fine-structure (XAFS) analysis. The XAFS analysis shows excellent agreement between the measured and tabulated values and yields bond lengths and nanostructure of zinc with uncertainties of from 0.1% to 0.3% or 0.003 Å to 0.008 Å. Significant variation from the reported crystal structure was observed, suggesting local dynamic motion of the standard crystal lattice. XAFS is sensitive to dynamic correlated motion and in principle is capable of observing local dynamic motion beyond the reach of conventional crystallography. These results for the zinc absorption coefficient, XAFS and structure are the most accurate structural refinements of zinc at room temperature.

The first X-ray Extended Range Technique (XERT)-like experiment at the Australian Synchrotron, Australia, is presented. In this experiment X-ray mass attenuation coefficients are measured across an energy range including the zinc K-absorption edge and X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS). These high-accuracy measurements are recorded at 496 energies from 8.51 keV to 11.59 keV. The XERT protocol dictates that systematic errors due to dark current nonlinearities, correction for blank measurements, full-foil mapping to characterize the absolute value of attenuation, scattering, harmonics and roughness are measured over an extended range of experimental parameter space. This results in data for better analysis, culminating in measurement of mass attenuation coefficients across the zinc K-edge to 0.023-0.036% accuracy. Dark current corrections are energy- and structure-dependent and the magnitude of correction reached 57% for thicker samples but was still large and significant for thin samples. Blank measurements scaled thin foil attenuation coefficients by 60-500%; and up to 90% even for thicker foils. Full-foil mapping and characterization corrected discrepancies between foils of up to 20%, rendering the possibility of absolute measurements of attenuation. Fluorescence scattering was also a major correction. Harmonics, roughness and bandwidth were explored. The energy was calibrated using standard reference foils. These results represent the most extensive and accurate measurements of zinc which enable investigations of discrepancies between current theory and experiments. This work was almost fully automated from this first experiment at the Australian Synchrotron, greatly increasing the possibility for large-scale studies using XERT.

Measurements of mass attenuation coefficients and X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) of zinc selenide (ZnSe) are reported to accuracies typically better than 0.13%. The high accuracy of the results presented here is due to our successful implementation of the X-ray extended range technique, a relatively new methodology, which can be set up on most synchrotron X-ray beamlines. 561 attenuation coefficients were recorded in the energy range 6.8-15 keV with measurements concentrated at the zinc and selenium pre-edge, near-edge and fine-structure absorption edge regions. This accuracy yielded detailed nanostructural analysis of room-temperature ZnSe with full uncertainty propagation. Bond lengths, accurate to 0.003 Å to 0.009 Å, or 0.1% to 0.3%, are plausible and physical. Small variation from a crystalline structure suggests local dynamic motion beyond that of a standard crystal lattice, noting that XAFS is sensitive to dynamic correlated motion. The results obtained in this work are the most accurate to date with comparisons with theoretically determined values of the attenuation showing discrepancies from literature theory of up to 4%, motivating further investigation into the origin of such discrepancies.

Objective: The objective of this research is to identify optimal inpatient discharge time targets to help hospitals reduce crowding, improve patient flow through the ED and balance staff workload., Methods: Fifteen months of emergency and inpatient records from a large quaternary teaching hospital were used to reconstruct patient pathways from hospital presentation to discharge. Discrete event simulation was used to assess operationally realistic discharge scenarios on flow performance. Main output measures included National Emergency Access Target (NEAT) performance (an ED performance metric), time spent waiting for a bed, hospital length of stay (LOS) and occupancy., Results: Similar levels of improvement in NEAT performance (16%), and reductions in average bed occupancy (1.5%) and inpatient bed wait time (25%) were observed across the simulation that discharged 80% patients before 11 a.m. and one that spread the target between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Individual inpatient wards returned potential improvements in NEAT performance (median 10%, interquartile range (IQR) 7%), and reductions in hospital LOS (median 1%, IQR 1%) and average occupancy (median 1%, IQR 2%) across the discharge scenarios., Conclusions: Conventional discharge targets like '80% by 11 a.m.' and others that spread targets across the day to balance staff workload freed up the equivalent of nine available beds for incoming patient flow, significantly reducing time spent waiting for an inpatient bed, hospital LOS and occupancy, and delivering much needed improvements in NEAT performance. While different strategies and workload distributions may suit individual hospital services, the study makes a strong case for improving 'early in the day' discharge timeliness to deliver better ED flow., (© 2016 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and Australasian Society for Emergency Medicine.)

Protein kinase C iota (PKCiota) has been implicated in Ras signaling, however, a role for PKCiota in oncogenic Ras-mediated transformation has not been established. Here, we show that PKCiota is a critical downstream effector of oncogenic Ras in the colonic epithelium. Transgenic mice expressing constitutively active PKCiota in the colon are highly susceptible to carcinogen-induced colon carcinogenesis, whereas mice expressing kinase-deficient PKCiota (kdPKCiota) are resistant to both carcinogen- and oncogenic Ras-mediated carcinogenesis. Expression of kdPKCiota in Ras-transformed rat intestinal epithelial cells blocks oncogenic Ras-mediated activation of Rac1, cellular invasion, and anchorage-independent growth. Constitutively active Rac1 (RacV12) restores invasiveness and anchorage-independent growth in Ras-transformed rat intestinal epithelial cells expressing kdPKCiota. Our data demonstrate that PKCiota is required for oncogenic Ras- and carcinogen-mediated colon carcinogenesis in vivo and define a procarcinogenic signaling axis consisting of Ras, PKCiota, and Rac1.