Second-generation optoacoustic imaging of breast cancer patients

Since the initial breast transillumination almost a century ago, breast cancer imaging using light has been considered in different implementations aiming to improve diagnostics, minimize the number of available biopsies, or monitor treatment. However, due to strong photon scattering, conventional optical imaging yields low resolution images, challenging quantification and interpretation. Optoacoustic imaging addresses the scattering limitation and yields high-resolution visualization of optical contrast, offering great potential value for breast cancer imaging. Nevertheless, the image quality of experimental systems remains limited due to a number of factors, including signal attenuation with depth and partial view angle and motion effects, particularly in multi-wavelength measurements. We developed data analytics methods to improve the accuracy of handheld optoacoustic breast cancer imaging, yielding second-generation optoacoustic imaging performance operating in tandem with ultrasonography. We produced the best images yet with handheld optoacoustic examinations of the human breast and breast cancer, in terms of resolution and contrast. Using these advances, we examined optoacoustic markers of malignancy, including vasculature abnormalities, hypoxia, and inflammation, on images obtained from breast cancer patients. We achieved the best optoacoustic images of the human breast ever obtained using handheld examination, advancing the diagnostic and theranostic potential of the hybrid optoacoustic-ultrasound (OPUS) examination over routine ultrasonography.

Populism as Communication: Political Campaigning on Facebook

We adopt the notion of populism as a communication phenomenon that includes typical elements of content and of style, moving away from actor-centered approaches towards a content-centered approach. Empirically, our study measures populism to varying degrees and forms in 3564 Facebook postings of political parties in France, Germany and the United Kingdom during the 2014 EU elections campaigns, the 2017 national parliamentary election campaigns, and a non-electoral period in 2018 in each country. The results show that populism is not a marginal phenomenon, but that it is present in about one fourth of all postings in some form; that there is variance between countries, party types, policy fields, and over time. While radical parties are very exclusionary towards out-groups on the radical right and very anti-elitist on the radical left and the radical right, this observation provides only a partial view of the multifaceted phenomenon of populism.

Depicting National Cultures: Comprehensiveness of 21st Century Travel Guidebooks

Travel guidebooks play an important role in tourism as an information source. They not only give practical information but also cultural information. However, this latter aspect of guidebooks has barely been researched. Guidebook authors can choose to write about any aspects of a country's national culture, but we do not seem to know which aspects they chose to write about—that is, how comprehensive the guidebooks' depictions of culture are. In order to establish the comprehensiveness of contemporary guidebooks, a framework of cultural categories is developed based on theories about culture and intercultural communication. The method is content analysis of document data. In the empirical part of the study, three guidebooks about Denmark are examined quantitatively in order to establish how comprehensive their representation of the cultural values and cultural behavior categories of Denmark is. Based on the criteria set, travel guidebooks cannot be considered comprehensive. Readers should be aware that guidebooks only give a partial view of a destination's culture. With the increased availability of online hotel and restaurant resources for tourists, the publishers of travel guidebooks could expand the sections on national culture. This will increase readers' experiential value of the guidebooks and give guidebooks a competitive edge, whether the guidebooks are printed or digital.

Life cycle assessment and circularity indicators

Purpose In a context where the transition to a circular economy is increasingly required, it is necessary to clarify the relationship between sustainability and circularity. In this commentary we summarise what are circularity indicators and what is LCA (Life Cycle Assessment), and we discuss their potential role in improving circular decision making. Methods Based on literature, a focus on how circularity indicators and LCA could be used in circular decision making is presented. Moreover, an analysis of recent studies has been carried out to identify the relationship between LCA and circularity indicators. Results and discussion We can state that no authors have concluded that circularity indicators can be used alone to choose the best option in circular economy projects. This is because the circularity indicators only provide a partial view on the environmental performance of a system. At the same time, it appears that the circularity indicators are easier to communicate, and a high degree of circularity could help to build good relationships with customers and increase reputation among stakeholders, as well as to have an easier access to funding. Conclusions and recommendations At the end, we propose a procedure to include both the LCA and the circularity measurement in the assessment of circular economy strategies. While still at an early stage of conceptualisation, it gives an idea on how to integrate environmental sustainability aspects into circular economy initiatives.

Practice Theory and Postsocialist Civil Society: Toward a New Analytical Framework

When discussing postsocialist civil societies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), scholars have predominantly focused on the nonparticipatory and advocacy-oriented activities of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), effectively narrowing the concept of “civil society” to that of the “civic sector.” This actor-focused and normative approach has resulted in a systematic obfuscation of less structured forms of everyday resistance, civic engagement, active citizenship, contentious politics, and social movements, giving only a partial view of civil societies in the region. Through a critical dialogue between state-of-the-art research on postsocialist civil society and the practice turn in international political sociology (IPS), this article postulates an analytical distinction between contentious and compliant practices in order to arrive at a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the ways in which postsocialist civil societies are manifested, enacted, and actualized. On the one hand, the proposed practice turn moves the research agenda away from abstract, universalist, and normative assumptions of what civil society should be in favor of an embedded, contextual, and critical understanding of what it actually is; on the other hand, this shift opens venues for theorizing not only about, but also from the “postsocialist condition” of civil societies in the transnational space of CEE.

Evaluation of strain averaging area and strain estimation errors in a spheroidal left ventricular model using synthetic image data and speckle tracking

Background In majority of studies on speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) the strain estimates are averaged over large areas of the left ventricle. This may impair the diagnostic capability of the STE in the case of e.g. local changes of the cardiac contractility. This work attempts to evaluate, how far one can reduce the averaging area, without sacrificing the estimation accuracy that could be important from the clinical point of view. Methods Synthetic radio frequency (RF) data of a spheroidal left ventricular (LV) model were generated using FIELD II package and meshes obtained from finite element method (FEM) simulation. The apical two chamber (A2C) view and the mid parasternal short axis view (pSAXM) were simulated. The sector encompassed the entire cross-section (full view) of the LV model or its part (partial view). The wall segments obtained according to the American Heart Association (AHA17) were divided into subsegments of area decreasing down to 3 mm2. Longitudinal, circumferential and radial strain estimates, obtained using a hierarchical block-matching method, were averaged over these subsegments. Estimation accuracy was assessed using several error measures, making most use of the prediction of the maximal relative error of the strain estimate obtained using the FEM derived reference. Three limits of this predicted maximal error were studied, namely 16.7%, 33% and 66%. The smallest averaging area resulting in the strain estimation error below one of these limits was considered the smallest allowable averaging area (SAAA) of the strain estimation. Results In all AHA17 segments, using the A2C projection, the SAAA ensuring maximal longitudinal strain estimates error below 33% was below 3 mm2, except for the segment no 17 where it was above 278 mm2. The SAAA ensuring maximal circumferential strain estimates error below 33% depended on the AHA17 segment position within the imaging sector and view type and ranged from below 3–287 mm2. The SAAA ensuring maximal radial strain estimates error below 33% obtained in the pSAXM projection was not less than 287 mm2. The SAAA values obtained using other maximal error limits differ from SAAA values observed for the 33% error limit only in limited number of cases. SAAA decreased when using maximal error limit equal to 66% in these cases. The use of the partial view (narrow sector) resulted in a decrease of the SAAA. Conclusions The SAAA varies strongly between strain components. In a vast part of the LV model wall in the A2C view the longitudinal strain could be estimated using SAAA below 3 mm2, which is smaller than the averaging area currently used in clinic, thus with a higher resolution. The SAAA of the circumferential strain estimation strongly depends on the position of the region of interest and the parameters of the acquisition. The SAAA of the radial strain estimation takes the highest values. The use of a narrow sector could increase diagnostic capabilities of 2D STE.

A rule-based argumentation framework for distributed contextual reasoning in dynamic environments

In this study, we tackled the problem of distributed reasoning in environments in which agents may have incomplete and inconsistent knowledge. Conflicts between agents are resolved through defeasible argumentation-based semantics with a preference function. Support for dynamic environments, where agents constantly enter and leave the system, was achieved by means of rules whose premises can be held by arbitrary agents. Moreover, we presented a formalism that enables agents to share information about their current situation or focus when issuing queries to other agents. This is necessary in environments where agents have a partial view of the world and must be able to cooperate with one another to reach conclusions. Hence, we presented the formalization of a multi-agent system and the argument construction and semantics that define its reasoning approach. Using example scenarios, we demonstrated that our system enables the modeling of a broader range of scenarios than related work.

Evaluation of School Climate Behaviors in the School Context: CONVIVE Questionnaire

School climate research has traditionally been carried out by separating its two main components, prosocial and antisocial behaviors. This is often a partial view of the school climate. Hence, the goal of this study is to develop an evaluation instrument (CONVIVE) that takes into account both perspectives of the school climate through a dual-strategy design, psychometric and non-experimental, cross-sectional, and descriptive-comparative. The sample includes 600 Primary and Secondary Education students from a southeastern region of Spain. Exploratory and Confirmatory Factorial Analysis fit indices were used for the psychometric study. The result is a 26-item instrument (CONVIVE) made up of four scales that evaluate antisocial and prosocial behaviors, both performed toward others and received by peers: Prosocial Behavior Actor, Prosocial Behavior Receiver, Antisocial Behavior Actor, and Antisocial Behavior Receiver. These behaviors differ as a function of sex and the educational stage.

Complex structure of a proto-brown dwarf

We present ALMA 12CO (2-1), 13CO (2-1), C18O (2-1) molecular line observations of a very young proto-brown dwarf system, ISO-OPH 200. We have conducted physical+chemical modelling of the complex internal structure for this system using the core collapse simulations for brown dwarf formation. The model at an age of ∼6000 yr can provide a good fit to the observed kinematics, spectra, and reproduce the complex structures seen in the moment maps. Results from modelling indicate that 12CO emission is tracing an extended (∼1000 au) molecular outflow and a bright shock knot, 13CO is tracing the outer (∼1000 au) envelope/pseudo-disc, and C18O is tracing the inner (∼500 au) pseudo-disc. The source size of ∼8.6 au measured in the 873μm image is comparable to the inner Keplerian disc size predicted by the model. A 3D model structure of ISO-OPH 200 suggests that this system is viewed partially through a wide outflow cavity resulting in a direct view of the outflow and a partial view of the envelope/pseudo-disc. We have argued that ISO-OPH 200 has been mis-classified as a Class Flat object due to the unusual orientation. The various signatures of this system, notably, the young ∼616 yr outflow dynamical age and high outflow rate (∼1 × 10−7 M⊙ yr−1), silicate absorption in the 10$\rm{\mu m}$ mid-infrared spectrum, pristine ISM-like dust in the envelope/disc, comparable sizes of the extended envelope and outflow, indicate that ISO-OPH 200 is an early Class 0 stage system formed in a star-like mechanism via gravitational collapse of a very low-mass core.

Network Creation Games with Traceroute-Based Strategies

Network creation games have been extensively used as mathematical models to capture the key aspects of the decentralized process that leads to the formation of interconnected communication networks by selfish agents. In these games, each user of the network is identified by a node and selects which link to activate by strategically balancing his/her building cost with his/her usage cost (which is a function of the distances towards the other player in the network to be built). In these games, a widespread assumption is that players have a common and complete information about the evolving network topology. This is only realistic for small-scale networks as, when the network size grows, it quickly becomes impractical for the single users to gather such a global and fine-grained knowledge of the network in which they are embedded. In this work, we weaken this assumption, by only allowing players to have a partial view of the network. To this aim, we borrow three popular traceroute-based knowledge models used in network discovery: (i) distance vector, (ii) shortest-path tree view, and (iii) layered view. We settle many of the classical game theoretic questions in all of the above models. More precisely, we introduce a suitable (and unifying) equilibrium concept which we then use to study the convergence of improving and best response dynamics, the computational complexity of computing a best response, and to provide matching upper and lower bounds to the price of anarchy.