Quantitative T1-relaxation corrected metabolite mapping of 12 metabolites in the human brain at 9.4 T

Magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) is a non-invasive imaging modality that enables observation of metabolites. Applications of MRSI for neuroimaging applications has shown promise for monitoring and detecting various diseases. This study builds off previously developed techniques of short TR, 1H FID MRSI by correcting for T1-weighting of the metabolites and utilizing an internal water reference to produce quantitative (mmol kg-1) metabolite maps. This work reports and shows quantitative metabolite maps for 12 metabolites for a single slice. Voxel-specific T1-corrections for water are common in MRSI studies; however, most studies use either averaged T1-relaxation times to correct for T1-weighting of metabolites or omit this correction step entirely. This work employs the use of voxel-specific T1-corrections for metabolites in addition to water. Utilizing averaged T1-relaxation times for metabolites can bias metabolite maps for metabolites that have strong differences between T1-relaxation for GM and WM (i.e. Glu). This work systematically compares quantitative metabolite maps to single voxel quantitative results and qualitatively compares metabolite maps to previous works.

Radiometric spectral fusion of VNIR and SWIR hyperspectral cameras

When two hyperspectral cameras are sensitive to complementary portions of the electromagnetic spectrum it is fundamental that the calibration processes conducted independently lead to comparable radiance values, especially if the cameras show a shared spectral interval. However, in practice, a perfect matching is hard to obtain, and radiance values that are expected to be similar might differ significantly. In the present study we propose to introduce an ulterior linear correcting factor in the radiometric calibration pipeline of two hyperspectral cameras, operating in the visible near infrared (VNIR) and short wave infrared (SWIR) intervals. The linearity properties of both cameras are preliminarily assessed, conducting acquisitions on five standardized targets, and highlighting noise at the sensors level and different illumination fields as the main causes of radiance mismatch. The correction step that we propose allows the retrieval of accurate and smoothly connected VNIR-SWIR reflectance factor curves.

Modified proximal symmetric ADMMs for multi-block separable convex optimization with linear constraints

We consider the linearly constrained separable convex optimization problem whose objective function is separable with respect to [Formula: see text] blocks of variables. A bunch of methods have been proposed and extensively studied in the past decade. Specifically, a modified strictly contractive Peaceman–Rachford splitting method (SC-PRCM) [S. H. Jiang and M. Li, A modified strictly contractive Peaceman–Rachford splitting method for multi-block separable convex programming, J. Ind. Manag. Optim. 14(1) (2018) 397-412] has been well studied in the literature for the special case of [Formula: see text]. Based on the modified SC-PRCM, we present modified proximal symmetric ADMMs (MPSADMMs) to solve the multi-block problem. In MPSADMMs, all subproblems but the first one are attached with a simple proximal term, and the multipliers are updated twice. At the end of each iteration, the output is corrected via a simple correction step. Without stringent assumptions, we establish the global convergence result and the [Formula: see text] convergence rate in the ergodic sense for the new algorithms. Preliminary numerical results show that our proposed algorithms are effective for solving the linearly constrained quadratic programming and the robust principal component analysis problems.

The Prediction of the Performance of a Twisted Rudder

A new design approach using the concept of a twisted rudder to improve rudder performances has been proposed in the current paper. A correction step was introduced to obtain the accurate inflow angles induced by the propeller. Three twisted rudders were designed with different twist angle distributions and were tested both numerically and experimentally to estimate their hydrodynamic characteristics at a relatively high ship speed. The improvement in the twisted rudders compared to a reference flat rudder was assessed in terms of total cavitation amount, drag and lift forces, and moment for each twin rudder. The total amount of surface cavitation on the final optimized twin twisted rudder at a reference design rudder angle decreased by 43% and 34.4% in the experiment and numerical prediction, respectively. The total drag force slightly increased at zero rudder angle than that for the twin flat rudder but decreased at rudder angles higher than 4° and 6° in the experiment and numerical simulation, respectively. In the experimental measurements, the final designed twin twisted rudder gained a 5.5% increase in the total lift force and a 37% decrease in the maximum rudder moment. Regarding these two performances, the numerical results corresponded to an increase of 3% and a decrease of 66.5%, respectively. In final, the present numerical and experimental results of the estimation of the twisted rudder performances showed a good agreement with each other.

Laser Scanning and Parametrization of Weld Grooves with Reflective Surfaces

This paper presents a novel weld groove parametrization algorithm, which is developed specifically for weld grooves in typical stub and butt joints between large tubular elements. The procedure is based on random sample consensus (RANSAC) with additionally proposed correction steps, including a corner correction step for grooves with narrow root weld, and an iterative error elimination step for improving the initially obtained data fit. The problem of curved groove sides (due to the pipe geometry) is attributed and solved. In addition, the procedure detects and eliminates several types of data noise due to laser line reflections. The performance of the procedure is studied experimentally using small-scale test objects, which have been ground using typical industrial power tools to achieve a realistic level of reflections. The execution times and data fit errors of the proposed procedure are compared to a procedure based on a more conventional RANSAC approach for line segment detection.

Raw EPIC Data Calibration

Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) raw level-0 (L0) data in one channel is a 12-bit 2,048 × 2,048 pixels image array plus auxiliary data such as telemetry, temperature, etc. The EPIC L1a processor applies a series of correction steps on the L0 data to convert them into corrected count rates (level-1a or L1a data): Dark correction, Enhanced pixel detection, Read wave correction, Latency correction, Non-linearity correction, Temperature correction, Conversion to count rates, Flat fielding, and Stray light correction. L1a images should have all instrumental effects removed and only need to be multiplied by one single number for each wavelength to convert counts to radiances, which are the basis for all higher-level EPIC products, such as ozone and sulfur dioxide total column amounts, vegetation index, cloud, aerosol, ocean surface, and vegetation properties, etc. This paper gives an overview of the mathematics and the pre-launch and on-orbit calibration behind each correction step.

MARRYING DEEP LEARNING AND DATA FUSION FOR ACCURATE SEMANTIC LABELING OF SENTINEL-2 IMAGES

The understanding of the Earth through global land monitoring from satellite images paves the way towards many applications including flight simulations, urban management and telecommunications. The twin satellites from the Sentinel-2 mission developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) provide 13 spectral bands with a high observation frequency worldwide. In this paper, we present a novel multi-temporal approach for land-cover classification of Sentinel-2 images whereby a time-series of images is classified using fully convolutional network U-Net models and then coupled by a developed probabilistic algorithm. The proposed pipeline further includes an automatic quality control and correction step whereby an external source can be introduced in order to validate and correct the deep learning classification. The final step consists of adjusting the combined predictions to the cloud-free mosaic built from Sentinel-2 L2A images in order for the classification to more closely match the reference mosaic image.

Identification and correction of phase switches with Hi-C data in the Nanopore and HiFi chromosome-scale assemblies of the dikaryotic leaf rust fungus Puccinia triticina

BackgroundMost animals and plants have more than one set of chromosomes and package these haplotypes into a single nucleus within each cell. In contrast, many fungal species carry multiple haploid nuclei per cell. Rust fungi are such species with two nuclei (karyons) that contain a full set of haploid chromosomes each. The physical separation of haplotypes in dikaryons means that, unlike in diploids, Hi-C chromatin contacts between haplotypes are false positive signals.ResultsWe generate the first chromosome-scale, fully-phased assembly for the dikaryotic leaf rust fungus Puccinia triticina and compare Nanopore MinION and PacBio HiFi sequence-based assemblies. We show that false positive Hi-C contacts between haplotypes are predominantly caused by phase switches rather than by collapsed regions or Hi-C read mis-mappings. We introduce a method for phasing of dikaryotic genomes into the two haplotypes using Hi-C contact graphs, including a phase switch correction step. In the HiFi assembly, relatively few phase switches occur, and these are predominantly located at haplotig boundaries and can be readily corrected. In contrast, phase switches are widespread throughout the Nanopore assembly. We show that haploid genome read coverage of 30-40 times using HiFi sequencing is required for phasing of the leaf rust genome (~0.7% heterozygosity) and that HiFi sequencing resolves genomic regions with low heterozygosity that are otherwise collapsed in the Nanopore assembly.ConclusionsThis first Hi-C based phasing pipeline for dikaryons and comparison of long-read sequencing technologies will inform future genome assembly and haplotype phasing projects in other non-haploid organisms.

Automatic Segmentation and Measurement of Infantile Hemangioma

Infantile hemangiomas (IHs) are a type of vascular tumors that affect around 10% of newborns. The measurement of the lesion size and the assessment of the evolution is done manually by the physician. This paper presents an algorithm for the automatic computation of the IH lesion surface. The image scale is computed by using the Hough transform and the total variation. As pre-processing, a geometric correction step is included, which ensures that the lesions are viewed as perpendicular to the camera. The image segmentation is based on K-means clustering applied on a five-plane image; the five planes being selected from seven planes with the use of the Karhunen-Loeve transform. Two of the seven planes are 2D total variation filters, based on symmetrical kernels, designed to highlight the IH specific texture. The segmentation performance was assessed on 30 images, and a mean border error of 9.31% was obtained.

Life cycle analysis of hybrid oil palm/glass fibre-reinforced polyurethane composites for automotive crash box

Currently, the world is getting more poisonous due to the toxic contaminated and wastewater release from the industries activities. The designers should analyse the effect to the environmental and human health, prior starting any manufacturing and fabricating process. This technique able to optimize the company profit and reduced unnecessary cost by predict any consequences and do correction step before the problem emerge for every action taken. Therefore, this paper aim to provide the evidence that the selection of material and manufacturing process used to fabricate ACB has minimum impact on the environment and human health. A few methods can be used to calculate the environmental damage assessment such as network, compare and uncertainty analysis. In this study, analyse calculation method selected to predict the environmental impact. The results for the damage to human health analysis only contribute 0.0125 DALY, analysis results for the hazardous elements such as methane, trichlorofluoromethane and Chlorofluorocarbons produced during the fabrication process only 1.32 x 10-9 DALY. Besides, the major damage elements to ecosystem quality results only contribute 1.97 x 10-4 species.yr. Therefore, the remarkable results show that the process and material selection to fabricate ACB are very low which was below than 0.1 DALY. Moreover, damage assessment for the terrestrial ecotoxicity of pulforming process using oil palm natural/glass fibre reinforced polyurethane composite only contributed 1.13 × 10−10 (species.year). Consequently, the process could not damage the human health and indicates that the process is environmentally friendly and safe for the ecosystem.