Designing Digital Diagnostics

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-132
Author(s):  
Kathrin Friedrich

Abstract Since the 1990s Western clinical radiology has been confronted with a fundamental media-induced change - the so-called analogue-digital migration. Film-based diagnostics and archiving of radiological images are transformed into digital interfaces and infrastructures. Networked software applications, namely picture archiving and communication systems (PACS), provide a new basis for processing and displaying image data. The design and implementation of PACS and their (user) interfaces challenged, amongst others, the search for data standards for digital diagnostics. The data format DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communication) was developed to provide the technological basis for encoding image data. Simultaneously, DICOM determines how patients’ bodies are rendered machine-readable and how radiologists are able to gain software-based insights. A main function of DICOM metadata is encoding and continuously actualising patient identification for technological and human actors. A misidentification of image data and specific patient could lead to fatal errors in the furthe+r treatment process. Accordingly, metadata themselves meander between being invisible to the human user and being essential and hence necessarily visible information for diagnostics. Shifting between normativity and fluidity, DICOM metadata enables new practices of radiological diagnostics, which literally bear vital consequences for patients and, on another level, for the profession of radiology. The paper analyses inherent politics and tensions of metadata from a media theoretical point of view by employing the case of the DICOM standard. Based on subject-specific discourses, data models as well as an in-depth examination of exemplary DICOM metadata it shows how (meta)data politics redefine diagnostic infrastructures and routines as well as gain impact on epistemic and aesthetic practices at the turn of the analogue-digital migration.

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 5256-5260

A large number of diagnostic images which also include the MRIs are generated by the imaging departments of the hospitals for medical and legal reasons. This results in the creation of a huge amount of data in the form of images which are required to be stored for a long period. The primary challenge for the picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) allowing to store the image data and the display and reconstruction of the image for recalling at various sites. Image compression and reconstruction are necessary to cope up with these tasks. Significant efforts have been made in the recent towards the application of compressive sensing techniques for acquiring the data in MRI process. The primary aim of the theory of Compressive Sensing (CS) in signal processing is reducing the quantity of data that is acquired for successfully reconstructing the signals. Decreasing the number of coefficients of the acquired images will result in reduced acquisition time i.e. nothing but the duration for which the images are exposed to the MRI apparatus. This paper aims at using optimization algorithms in designing the scanner of the MR integrated with the CS, which results in the reduction of the scan time of the MRI. From a small set of acquired samples, images of satisfactory quality can be obtained. Various Compressive Sensing based optimization algorithms for reconstructing the MRI images are assessed, and a relative comparison is done for further research in this paper.


2011 ◽  
pp. 232-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudy J. Lapeer ◽  
Polydoros Chios ◽  
Alf D. Linney

The introduction of computerized systems in medicine started more than a decade ago. The first applications were mainly focused on archiving and the general database management of patient records with the aim of building fully- integrated Hospital Information Systems (HIS) and fast transfer of data and images (e.g. PACS - Picture Archiving and Communication Systems) between HIS. In parallel with this more general development, specialized computer systems were built to process and enhance image data from such systems as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computed Tomography (CT) scanners. The use of enhanced CT and MRI images led to the birth of Image Guided Surgery (IGS). Other terminology for similar concepts has since been used, e.g. Computer- Assisted Surgery (CAS), Computer Integrated Surgery and Therapy (CIST) (Lavallée et al, 1997) and Computer-Assisted Medical Interventions (CAMI). In this chapter, we shall look mainly at Computer-Assisted Surgery (CAS) systems and related systems which are aimed at the training of surgeons and the simulation and planning of surgical interventions. The emphasis will be on the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) aspect rather than the technological issues of such systems. The latter will be briefly discussed in the next section, to make the reader familiar with the terminology, the history and the current state of the art in CASPIT.


2007 ◽  
pp. 86-94
Author(s):  
A. Manakov

The article provides theoretical analysis and evaluation of the timber auctions reforms in Russia. The author shows that the mechanism of the "combined auctions", which functioned until recently, is more appropriate from the theoretical point of view (and from the point of view of the Russian practice) as compared to the officially approved format of the English auction.


2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-232
Author(s):  
Pál Dömösi ◽  
Géza Horváth

In this paper we introduce a novel block cipher based on the composition of abstract finite automata and Latin cubes. For information encryption and decryption the apparatus uses the same secret keys, which consist of key-automata based on composition of abstract finite automata such that the transition matrices of the component automata form Latin cubes. The aim of the paper is to show the essence of our algorithms not only for specialists working in compositions of abstract automata but also for all researchers interested in cryptosystems. Therefore, automata theoretical background of our results is not emphasized. The introduced cryptosystem is important also from a theoretical point of view, because it is the first fully functioning block cipher based on automata network.


2010 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernd Dollinger

Der Beitrag geht von Versuchen aus, integrative Perspektiven einer überaus heterogenen Graffitiforschung zu bestimmen. In Auseinandersetzung insbesondere mit Bruno Latours Ansatz des »Iconoclash« wird eine kulturtheoretische Referenz bestimmt, die Graffiti als Version identifiziert, d. h. als semiotisch orientierte Veränderung räumlich situierter Ordnungs- und Regulierungspraxen. Ihnen kann, wenn auch nicht zwingend, eine subversive Qualität zukommen. Durch die Ausrichtung am Konzept einer Version wird beansprucht, Forderungen einer normativ weitgehend abstinenten, nicht-essentialistischen und für komplexe Fragen der Identitäts- und Raumpolitik offenen Forschungspraxis einzulösen.<br><br>The contribution attempts to integrate multiple perspectives of current largely heterogeneous graffiti scholarship. Referring to Bruno Latour’s concept »iconoclash«, we discuss graffiti from a cultural-theoretical point of view as a »version«. It appears as a semiotically oriented modification of spatially situated practices that regulate social life. Often, but not necessarily, these practices involve subversive qualities. The concept of »version« facilitates a non-normative and non-essentialist strategy of research. This enables an explorative research practice in which the complex matters of identity and space politics that are associated with graffiti can be addressed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7894
Author(s):  
Gabriela Neagu ◽  
Muhammet Berigel ◽  
Vladislava Lendzhova

This paper examines the perspectives of rural NEETs in the information society. Our analysis focuses on the situation of three European countries—Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey—characterized by a high share of rural areas and a population of NEETs. From a methodological point of view, we use alternative research methods (secondary data analysis) with statistical methods (simple linear regression). From a theoretical point of view, we will opt for a multidimensional analysis perspective: the theory of digital divide, digital inclusion, virtual mobility, etc. Through data analysis, we expect to obtain a more complete and detailed picture of the ICT situation in rural areas (level of digital skills, level of digital inclusion) to demonstrate the importance of ICT in optimizing virtual mobility for the living conditions of the population, especially the NEET population.


Author(s):  
Beata Zagórska-Marek ◽  
Magdalena Turzańska ◽  
Klaudia Chmiel

AbstractPhyllotactic diversity and developmental transitions between phyllotactic patterns are not fully understood. The plants studied so far, such as Magnolia, Torreya or Abies, are not suitable for experimental work, and the most popular model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, does not show sufficient phyllotactic variability. It has been found that in common verbena (Verbena officinalis L.), a perennial, cosmopolitan plant, phyllotaxis differs not only between growth phases in primary transitions but also along the indeterminate inflorescence axis in a series of multiple secondary transitions. The latter are no longer associated with the change in lateral organ identity, and the sequence of phyllotactic patterns is puzzling from a theoretical point of view. Data from the experiments in silico, confronted with empirical observations, suggest that secondary transitions might be triggered by the cumulative effect of fluctuations in the continuously decreasing bract primordia size. The most important finding is that the changes in the primary vascular system, associated with phyllotactic transitions, precede those taking place at the apical meristem. This raises the question of the role of the vascular system in determining primordia initiation sites, and possibly challenges the autonomy of the apex. The results of this study highlight the complex relationships between various systems that have to coordinate their growth and differentiation in the developing plant shoot. Common verbena emerges from this research as a plant that may become a new model suitable for further studies on the causes of phyllotactic transitions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas M. Menzel ◽  
Hartmut Löwen

Abstract Magnetic gels and elastomers consist of magnetic or magnetizable colloidal particles embedded in an elastic polymeric matrix. Outstanding properties of these materials comprise reversible changes in their mechanical stiffness or magnetostrictive distortions under the influence of external magnetic fields. To understand such types of overall material behavior from a theoretical point of view, it is essential to characterize the substances starting from the discrete colloidal particle level. It turns out that the macroscopic material response depends sensitively on the mesoscopic particle arrangement. We have utilized and developed several theoretical approaches to this end, allowing us both to reproduce experimental observations and to make theoretical predictions. Our hope is that both these paths help to further stimulate the interest in these fascinating materials.


2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Marie Simon-Vandenbergen ◽  
Karin Aijmer

The study of of course presented in this article has an applied, a descriptive and a theoretical aim. Since of course proves to be very frequent in English, learners will need to know what meanings the item has and in what pragmatic contexts it is used. It has indeed been shown that some learners tend to use of course in contexts where it is felt by native speakers to be inappropriate. In order to explain such inappropriate uses we need detailed descriptions of the semantics and pragmatics of of course. From a theoretical point of view such multifunctional items raise the question of whether semantic polysemy or pragmatic polysemy is the best explanatory account. It is argued in this paper that empirical cross-linguistic work can contribute to providing answers to all three research questions. First, the study of correspondences and differences between languages with regard to the meanings and uses of pragmatic markers is a necessary step in the explanation of learner problems. Second, the bidirectional approach to equivalents, which involves going back and forth from sources to translations, enables us to show to what extent the equivalents have partially overlapping pragmatic functions. An in-depth comparison of the semantic fields in which the translation equivalents operate is the ultimate goal. Third, the translation method helps to see to what extent a core meaning account is justified. In this paper three languages are brought into the picture, viz. English, Swedish and Dutch. The cross-linguistic data have been gathered from three translation corpora, i.e. the English-Swedish Parallel Corpus, the Oslo Multilingual Corpus and the Namur Triptic Corpus.


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