Historic Timber Roof Structure Reconstruction through Automated Analysis of Point Clouds

We present a set of methods to improve the automation of the parametric 3D modeling of historic roof structures using terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) point clouds. The final product of the TLS point clouds consist of 3D representation of all objects, which were visible during the scanning, including structural elements, wooden walking ways and rails, roof cover and the ground; thus, a new method was applied to detect and exclude the roof cover points. On the interior roof points, a region-growing segmentation-based beam side face searching approach was extended with an additional method that splits complex segments into linear sub-segments. The presented workflow was conducted on an entire historic roof structure. The main target is to increase the automation of the modeling in the context of completeness. The number of manually counted beams served as reference to define a completeness ratio for results of automatically modeling beams. The analysis shows that this approach could increase the quantitative completeness of the full automatically generated 3D model of the roof structure from 29% to 63%.

A novel scalable electrode array and system for non-invasively assessing gastric function using flexible electronics

Disorders of gastric function are highly prevalent, but diagnosis often remains symptom-based and inconclusive. Body surface gastric mapping is an emerging diagnostic solution, but current approaches lack scalability and are cumbersome and clinically impractical. We present a novel scalable system for non-invasively mapping gastric electrophysiology in high-resolution (HR) at the body-surface. The system comprises a custom-designed flexible HR sensor array and portable data-logger synchronized to an App, with automated analysis and visualization algorithms. The novel system underwent performance testing then validation in 24 healthy subjects. In all subjects, gastric electrophysiology and meal responses were successfully captured and mapped non-invasively (mean frequency 2.9 ± 0.3 cycles per minute; peak amplitude at mean 60 m postprandially with return to baseline in <4 h). Spatiotemporal mapping showed regular and consistent wave activity of mean direction 182.7°±73 (74.7% antegrade, 7.8% retrograde, 17.5% indeterminate). The presented system is a new diagnostic tool for assessing gastric function that is scalable, validated, and ready for clinical applications, offering several biomarkers that are new to gastroenterology practice.

High-throughput formation and image-based analysis of basal-in mammary organoids in 384-well plates

This manuscript describes a new method for forming basal-in MCF10A organoids using commercial 384-well ultra-low attachment (ULA) microplates and the development of associated live-cell imaging and automated analysis protocols. The use of a commercial 384-well ULA platform makes this method more broadly accessible than previously reported hanging drop systems and enables in-incubator automated imaging. Therefore, time points can be captured on a more frequent basis to improve tracking of early organoid formation and growth. However, one major challenge of live-cell imaging in multi-well plates is the rapid accumulation of large numbers of images. In this paper, an automated MATLAB script to handle the increased image load is developed. This analysis protocol utilizes morphological image processing to identify cellular structures within each image and quantify their circularity and size. Using this script, time-lapse images of aggregating and non-aggregating culture conditions are analyzed to profile early changes in size and circularity. Moreover, this high-throughput platform is applied to widely screen concentration combinations of Matrigel and epidermal growth factor (EGF) or heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor (HB-EGF) for their impact on organoid formation. These results can serve as a practical resource, guiding future research with basal-in MCF10A organoids.

Application of evoked response audiometry for specifying aberrant gamma oscillations in schizophrenia

Gamma oscillations probed using auditory steady-state response (ASSR) are promising clinical biomarkers that may give rise to novel therapeutic interventions for schizophrenia. Optimizing clinical settings for these biomarker-driven interventions will require a quick and easy assessment system for gamma oscillations in psychiatry. ASSR has been used in clinical otolaryngology for evoked response audiometry (ERA) in order to judge hearing loss by focusing on the phase-locked response detectability via an automated analysis system. Herein, a standard ERA system with 40- and 46-Hz ASSRs was applied to evaluate the brain pathophysiology of patients with schizophrenia. Both ASSRs in the ERA system showed excellent detectability regarding the phase-locked response in healthy subjects and sharply captured the deficits of the phase-locked response caused by aberrant gamma oscillations in individuals with schizophrenia. These findings demonstrate the capability of the ERA system to specify patients who have aberrant gamma oscillations. The ERA system may have a potential to serve as a real-world clinical medium for upcoming biomarker-driven therapeutics in psychiatry.

Automated analysis of platelet microstructures using a feature length orientation space

The ability to measure elongated structures such as platelets and colonies, is an important step in the microstructural analysis of many materials. Widely used techniques and standards require extensive manual interaction making them slow, laborious, difficult to repeat and prone to human error. Automated approaches have been proposed but often fail when analysing complex microstructures. This paper addresses these challenges by proposing a new, automated image analysis technique, to reliably assess platelet microstructure. Tools from Mathematical Morphology are designed to probe the image and map the response onto a new feature-length orientation space (FLOS). This enables automated measurement of key microstructural features such as platelet width, orientation, globular volume fraction, and colony size. The method has a wide field of view, low dependency on input parameters, and does not require prior thresholding, common in other automated analysis techniques. Multiple datasets of complex Titanium alloys were used to evaluate the new techniques which are shown to match measurements from expert materials scientists using recognized standards, while drastically reducing measurement time and ensuring repeatability. The per-pixel measurement style of the technique also allows for the generation of useful colourmaps, that aid further analysis and provide evidence to increase user confidence in the quantitative measurements.

Delivery Room ST Segment Analysis to Predict Short Term Outcomes in Near-Term and Term Newborns

Background: ST-segment changes to the fetal electrocardiogram (ECG) may indicate fetal acidosis. No large-scale characterization of ECG morphology immediately after birth has been performed, but ECG is used for heart rate (HR) assessment. We aimed to investigate ECG morphology immediately after birth in asphyxiated infants, using one-lead dry-electrode ECG developed for HR measurement. Methods: Observational study in Tanzania, between 2013–2018. Near-term and term infants that received bag-mask ventilation (BMV), and healthy controls, were monitored with one-lead dry-electrode ECG with a non-diagnostic bandwidth. ECGs were classified as normal, with ST-elevations or other ST-segment abnormalities including a biphasic ST-segment. We analyzed ECG morphology in relation to perinatal variables or short-term outcomes. Results: A total of 494 resuscitated and 25 healthy infants were included. ST-elevations were commonly seen both in healthy infants (7/25; 28%) and resuscitated (320/494; 65%) infants. The apparent ST-elevations were not associated with perinatal variables or short-term outcomes. Among the 32 (6.4%) resuscitated infants with “other ST-segment abnormalities”, duration of BMV was longer, 1-min Apgar score lower and normal outcomes less frequent than in the resuscitated infants with normal ECG or ST-elevations. Conclusions: ST-segment elevation was commonly seen and not associated with negative outcomes when using one-lead dry-electrode ECG. Other ST-segment abnormalities were associated with prolonged BMV and worse outcome. ECG with appropriate bandwidth and automated analysis may potentially in the future aid in the identification of severely asphyxiated infants.

Automated SEM Image Analysis of the Sphere Diameter, Sphere-Sphere Separation, and Opening Size Distributions of Nanosphere Lithography Masks

Colloidal nanosphere monolayers—used as a lithography mask for site-controlled material deposition or removal—offer the possibility of cost-effective patterning of large surface areas. In the present study, an automated analysis of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images is described, which enables the recognition of the individual nanospheres in densely packed monolayers in order to perform a statistical quantification of the sphere size, mask opening size, and sphere-sphere separation distributions. Search algorithms based on Fourier transformation, cross-correlation, multiple-angle intensity profiling, and sphere edge point detection techniques allow for a sphere detection efficiency of at least 99.8%, even in the case of considerable sphere size variations. While the sphere positions and diameters are determined by fitting circles to the spheres edge points, the openings between sphere triples are detected by intensity thresholding. For the analyzed polystyrene sphere monolayers with sphere sizes between 220 and 600 nm and a diameter spread of around 3% coefficients of variation of 6.8–8.1% for the opening size are found. By correlating the mentioned size distributions, it is shown that, in this case, the dominant contribution to the opening size variation stems from nanometer-scale positional variations of the spheres.