375,467 research outputs found
Evaluation of Motion Artifact Metrics for Coronary CT Angiography
Purpose
This study quantified the performance of coronary artery motion artifact metrics relative to human observer ratings. Motion artifact metrics have been used as part of motion correction and bestâphase selection algorithms for Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography (CCTA). However, the lack of ground truth makes it difficult to validate how well the metrics quantify the level of motion artifact. This study investigated five motion artifact metrics, including two novel metrics, using a dynamic phantom, clinical CCTA images, and an observer study that provided groundâtruth motion artifact scores from a series of pairwise comparisons. Method
Five motion artifact metrics were calculated for the coronary artery regions on both phantom and clinical CCTA images: positivity, entropy, normalized circularity, Fold Overlap Ratio (FOR), and LowâIntensity Region Score (LIRS). CT images were acquired of a dynamic cardiac phantom that simulated cardiac motion and contained six iodineâfilled vessels of varying diameter and with regions of soft plaque and calcifications. Scans were repeated with different gantry start angles. Images were reconstructed at five phases of the motion cycle. Clinical images were acquired from 14 CCTA exams with patient heart rates ranging from 52 to 82 bpm. The vessel and shading artifacts were manually segmented by three readers and combined to create groundâtruth artifact regions. Motion artifact levels were also assessed by readers using a pairwise comparison method to establish a groundâtruth reader score. The Kendall\u27s Tau coefficients were calculated to evaluate the statistical agreement in ranking between the motion artifacts metrics and reader scores. Linear regression between the reader scores and the metrics was also performed. Results
On phantom images, the Kendall\u27s Tau coefficients of the five motion artifact metrics were 0.50 (normalized circularity), 0.35 (entropy), 0.82 (positivity), 0.77 (FOR), 0.77(LIRS), where higher Kendall\u27s Tau signifies higher agreement. The FOR, LIRS, and transformed positivity (the fourth root of the positivity) were further evaluated in the study of clinical images. The Kendall\u27s Tau coefficients of the selected metrics were 0.59 (FOR), 0.53 (LIRS), and 0.21 (Transformed positivity). In the study of clinical data, a Motion Artifact Score, defined as the product of FOR and LIRS metrics, further improved agreement with reader scores, with a Kendall\u27s Tau coefficient of 0.65. Conclusion
The metrics of FOR, LIRS, and the product of the two metrics provided the highest agreement in motion artifact ranking when compared to the readers, and the highest linear correlation to the reader scores. The validated motion artifact metrics may be useful for developing and evaluating methods to reduce motion in Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography (CCTA) images
Verification of Agent-Based Artifact Systems
Artifact systems are a novel paradigm for specifying and implementing
business processes described in terms of interacting modules called artifacts.
Artifacts consist of data and lifecycles, accounting respectively for the
relational structure of the artifacts' states and their possible evolutions
over time. In this paper we put forward artifact-centric multi-agent systems, a
novel formalisation of artifact systems in the context of multi-agent systems
operating on them. Differently from the usual process-based models of services,
the semantics we give explicitly accounts for the data structures on which
artifact systems are defined. We study the model checking problem for
artifact-centric multi-agent systems against specifications written in a
quantified version of temporal-epistemic logic expressing the knowledge of the
agents in the exchange. We begin by noting that the problem is undecidable in
general. We then identify two noteworthy restrictions, one syntactical and one
semantical, that enable us to find bisimilar finite abstractions and therefore
reduce the model checking problem to the instance on finite models. Under these
assumptions we show that the model checking problem for these systems is
EXPSPACE-complete. We then introduce artifact-centric programs, compact and
declarative representations of the programs governing both the artifact system
and the agents. We show that, while these in principle generate infinite-state
systems, under natural conditions their verification problem can be solved on
finite abstractions that can be effectively computed from the programs. Finally
we exemplify the theoretical results of the paper through a mainstream
procurement scenario from the artifact systems literature
Artifact Lifecycle Discovery
Artifact-centric modeling is a promising approach for modeling business
processes based on the so-called business artifacts - key entities driving the
company's operations and whose lifecycles define the overall business process.
While artifact-centric modeling shows significant advantages, the overwhelming
majority of existing process mining methods cannot be applied (directly) as
they are tailored to discover monolithic process models. This paper addresses
the problem by proposing a chain of methods that can be applied to discover
artifact lifecycle models in Guard-Stage-Milestone notation. We decompose the
problem in such a way that a wide range of existing (non-artifact-centric)
process discovery and analysis methods can be reused in a flexible manner. The
methods presented in this paper are implemented as software plug-ins for ProM,
a generic open-source framework and architecture for implementing process
mining tools
Study 1: Participants in the Institutions by Artists Convention Report
Recent years have seen rapid growth in artistic activities using quasi-institutional terminology and procedures. Words like âCentreâ, âInstituteâ, âLaboratoryâ, and âOfficeâ figure prominently in the names of artist-initiated entities. What accounts for the impulse to project agency and authorship through an impersonal entity rather than through the figure of the individual artist? To examine this tendency, the Artifact Institute developed Study 1: Participants in the Institutions by Artists Convention.
The project includes the administration of a survey, analysis of the data collected, and the production of a report. The target group surveyed is defined as the set of all individuals who registered for, presented at, or otherwise attended the Convention. These individuals were invited to complete a questionnaire available at on-site computer terminals for the duration of the Convention and also online. Study 1 uses standard survey methodology and adheres to generally accepted protocols for quantitative research
Automated quantification and evaluation of motion artifact on coronary CT angiography images
Abstract Purpose
This study developed and validated a Motion Artifact Quantification algorithm to automatically quantify the severity of motion artifacts on coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) images. The algorithm was then used to develop a Motion IQ Decision method to automatically identify whether a CCTA dataset is of sufficient diagnostic image quality or requires further correction. Method
The developed Motion Artifact Quantification algorithm includes steps to identify the right coronary artery (RCA) regions of interest (ROIs), segment vessel and shading artifacts, and to calculate the motion artifact score (MAS) metric. The segmentation algorithms were verified against groundâtruth manual segmentations. The segmentation algorithms were also verified by comparing and analyzing the MAS calculated from groundâtruth segmentations and the algorithmâgenerated segmentations. The Motion IQ Decision algorithm first identifies slices with unsatisfactory image quality using a MAS threshold. The algorithm then uses an artifactâlength threshold to determine whether the degraded vessel segment is large enough to cause the dataset to be nondiagnostic. An observer study on 30 clinical CCTA datasets was performed to obtain the groundâtruth decisions of whether the datasets were of sufficient image quality. A fiveâfold crossâvalidation was used to identify the thresholds and to evaluate the Motion IQ Decision algorithm. Results
The automated segmentation algorithms in the Motion Artifact Quantification algorithm resulted in Dice coefficients of 0.84 for the segmented vessel regions and 0.75 for the segmented shading artifact regions. The MAS calculated using the automated algorithm was within 10% of the values obtained using groundâtruth segmentations. The MAS threshold and artifactâlength thresholds were determined by the ROC analysis to be 0.6 and 6.25 mm by all folds. The Motion IQ Decision algorithm demonstrated 100% sensitivity, 66.7% ± 27.9% specificity, and a total accuracy of 86.7% ± 12.5% for identifying datasets in which the RCA required correction. The Motion IQ Decision algorithm demonstrated 91.3% sensitivity, 71.4% specificity, and a total accuracy of 86.7% for identifying CCTA datasets that need correction for any of the three main vessels. Conclusion
The Motion Artifact Quantification algorithm calculated accurate
Pulse transducer with artifact signal attenuator
An artifact signal attenuator for a pulse rate sensor is described. The circuit for attenuating background noise signals is connected with a pulse rate transducer which has a light source and a detector for light reflected from blood vessels of a living body. The heart signal provided consists of a modulated dc signal voltage indicative of pulse rate. The artifact signal resulting from light reflected from the skin of the body comprises both a constant dc signal voltage and a modulated dc signal voltage. The amplitude of the artifact signal is greater and the frequency less than that of the heart signal. The signal attenuator circuit includes an operational amplifier for canceling the artifact signal from the output signal of the transducer and has the capability of meeting packaging requirements for wrist-watch-size packages
Neutron activation analysis traces copper artifacts to geographical point of origin
Impurities remaining in the metallic copper are identified and quantified by spectrographic and neutron activation analysis. Determination of the type of ore used for the copper artifact places the geographic point of origin of the artifact
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