Search

Contouring has become an increasingly important aspect of radiation therapy due to inverse planning, and yet is extremely time‐consuming. To improve contouring efficiency and reduce potential inter‐observer variation, the atlas‐based auto‐segmentation (ABAS) function in Velocity was introduced to ICONcancer centres (ICC) throughout Australia as a solution for automatic contouring. This paper described the implementation process of the ABASfunction and the construction of user‐defined atlas sets and compared the contouring efficiency before and after the introduction of ABAS. The results indicate that the main limitation to the ABASperformance was Velocity's sub‐optimal atlas selection method. Three user‐defined atlas sets were constructed. Results suggested that the introduction of the ABASsaved at least 5 minutes of manual contouring time (P <0.05), although further verification was required due to limitations in the data collection method. The pilot rollout adopting a ‘champion’ approach was successful and provided an opportunity to improve the user‐defined atlases prior to the national implementation. The implementation of user‐defined ABASfor head and neck (H&N) and female thorax patients at ICCs was successful, which achieved at least 5 minutes of efficiency gain. To improve contouring efficiency and reduce potential inter‐observer variation, the atlas‐based auto‐segmentation (ABAS) function was introduced to ICON cancer centres (ICC) throughout Australia. Three user‐defined atlas sets were constructed, which saved at least 5 minutes of manual contouring time.

The diversity of Ti–Sn–W–Nb–Ta oxide minerals within a complex granite-related magmatic–hydrothermal system was studied by electron microprobe on the example of the Cínovec (Zinnwald) granite cupola containing a well-known Sn–W– Li deposit. The Cínovec granite cupola is a late Variscan (ca. 322 Ma), strongly fractionated A-type pluton composed of upper zinnwaldite granite and lower biotite granite. The zinnwaldite granite contains numerous subhorizontal quartz veins and greisen bodies, both composed of quartz, zinnwaldite and topaz and minor amounts of fluorite and Ti–Sn–W–Nb–Ta oxide minerals. Common Nb–Ta-rich rutile and rare cassiterite, columbite-(Fe) and -(Mn), and minerals of the pyrochlore-supergroup were found in biotite granite in deeper parts of the pluton, whereas common columbite occurs with rare W-rich ixiolite, qitianlingite, pyrochlores, and scheelite in some varieties of zinnwaldite granite. In the uppermost part of the cupola, Ta-rich cassiterite, microlite and pyrochlore are frequently observed. The greisens host predominantly wolframite, scheelite and Ta-poor cassiterite, which are accompanied by columbite-group minerals, rare W-rich ixiolite and qitianlingite. Throughout the pluton, the molar Mn/(Fe + Mn) ratio in columbite increases from 0.15–0.40 in the deeper part of the zinnwaldite granite (depths of 500–635 m) to 0.5–0.9 in granite and greisen in the uppermost part of the pluton (depths of 0–180 m), but no systematic changes in the Ta/(Nb +Ta) ratio were found. On the scale of individual zoned crystals, the rims are always Ta-enriched, whereas the Mn/(Fe + Mn) values in the rims are equal or lower. The Nb, Ta-rich rutile, interiors of the columbite crystals and Ta-rich cassiterite disseminated in the granites are interpreted as products of magmatic crystallization. The Tarich rims of columbite-(Fe) to -(Mn), Ta-poor cassiterite and all wolframite found in the greisen should be attributed to the early hydrothermal (greisenization) stage, whereas W-rich ixiolite, qitianlingite, and pyrochlore-supergroup minerals appear to belong to the later, hydrothermal event at comparatively lower temperature.

A fluidized layer of granular material used for the separation of particulate impurities in drinking water treatmentThis paper deals with the application of a fluidized layer of granular material (FLGM) for the direct separation of destabilized impurities during drinking water treatment. Further, it investigates the effect of operation parameters (fluidized layer grain size, technological arrangement, velocity gradient, retention time, dosage of destabilisation reagent and temperature) on the aggregation and separation efficiency of the layer. The tests were carried out in a pilot plant scale. Aluminium sulphate was used as the destabilisation reagent. The highest separation efficiencies were achieved, when the particles entered the fluidized layer immediately after the dosing of the destabilisation reagent, when they had the lowest degree of aggregation. The separation efficiency (φ) also increased with increasing velocity gradient and the maximal value was reached at the velocity gradient of about 250 s-1. The most efficient separation of aluminium was achieved at 5 °C, but the effect of temperature on the efficiency of organic matter separation (φTOC) was not very significant. The maximal efficiency of separation on the layer grains reached the values φAl= 0.81 at the optimal dosage DAl= 1.55 mg L-1and φTOC= 0.31 at the optimal dosage DAl= 2.36 mg L-1. The indisputable advantage of using FLGM for the separation of impurities is that they are intercepted on the layer grains in a form of solid, water-free shell (or coat) with the density of 2450 kg m-3, and there is no need to deal with the sludge dewatering.

Efficient assembly of 6substituted 4aryl5oxo1,4,5,7tetrahydropyrrolo3,4bpyridines 7af is described according to a Hantzsch type reaction from formylester 4 by imination, borohydride reduction and intramolecular thermal aminoester cyclization. The starting compound 4 was prepared in three steps from the readily available formyl derivative 1, methyl 4,4dimethoxy3oxobutanoate and methyl 3aminocrotonate.

The current crisis in architecture's effectual and significative power is the result of historical processes which have boon analyzed (by the Left) as the development of industrial capitalism and (by Foucault) as the development of technical-instrumental power. These processes have led to the loss of the authority of the divine referential, of the authenticity of the object, and of our sense of historicity. To recover the power of meaning (beyond mere instrumentality, nostalgic sentimentality, and power emblems), the communicative relations between spatial structure and human life-praxis must be investigated critically. Only then will architecture and urban space contribute their hermencutic power to the retrieval of the human potential to appropriate the world, The powers of architecture consist in (a) its ability to influence the spatiotemporal articulation of life-praxis and thus to condition one's fundamental relations to the world and to oneself, and (b) its ability to communicate to us about this world and ourselves, In a period of retrenchment and loss of nerve, the relative functional indifference of architecture can become an opening through which one may glimpse more humanizing relations with others and with nature, More specifically, the powers of architecture can be deployed to implant counterpractices resisting depowerment in the societal context, As part of economic praxis, architecture and urban structure can make possible and can communicate self-determined multiple uses and the life-values involved in them; as part of politics, architecture can encourage direct communication and local action and negotiation; as part of culture, architectural and urban space can open paths to reconstructand reexperience the fundamental qualities of nature and the societal other, and it can allow us to reappropriate the world by enabling us to open up a horizon for new values andcorresponding new forms of praxis; and finally, against the city conceived as an abstract network of instrumentalized powers, architecture could pose the open andarticulated city, in which proximity with relatedness safeguards what cities historically have contributed to life-praxis and in which space is a liberative significant component.

The problem of a Belt chamber matrix cracking is presented. The influence of crack surface quality on the effective values of near crack tip stress is discussed. It is shown that under working conditions of the vessel, the existing shear friction between upper and lower crack surfaces caused by crack surface roughness can prevent the crack surface sliding displacement. Therefore, the control variable for matrix cracking is the value of stress intensity factor KI corresponding to normal node of loading only. The calculations are performed by finite element method within the range of linear elastic fracture mechanics.