On the accuracy and reproducibility of a novel probabilistic atlas-based generation for calculation of head attenuation maps on integrated PET/MR scanners

Purpose To propose an MR-based method for generating continuous-valued head attenuation maps and to assess its accuracy and reproducibility. Demonstrating that novel MR-based photon attenuation correction methods are both accurate and reproducible is essential prior to using them routinely in research and clinical studies on integrated PET/MR scanners. Methods Continuous-valued linear attenuation coefficient maps (“μ-maps”) were generated by combining atlases that provided the prior probability of voxel positions belonging to a certain tissue class (air, soft tissue, or bone) and an MR intensity-based likelihood classifier to produce posterior probability maps of tissue classes. These probabilities were used as weights to generate the μ-maps. The accuracy of this probabilistic atlas-based continuous-valued μ-map (“PAC-map”) generation method was assessed by calculating the voxel-wise absolute relative change (RC) between the MR-based and scaled CT-based attenuation-corrected PET images. To assess reproducibility, we performed pair-wise comparisons of the RC values obtained from the PET images reconstructed using the μ-maps generated from the data acquired at three time points. Results The proposed method produced continuous-valued μ-maps that qualitatively reflected the variable anatomy in patients with brain tumor and agreed well with the scaled CT-based μ-maps. The absolute RC comparing the resulting PET volumes was 1.76 ± 2.33 %, quantitatively demonstrating that the method is accurate. Additionally, we also showed that the method is highly reproducible, the mean RC value for the PET images reconstructed using the μ-maps obtained at the three visits being 0.65 ± 0.95 %. Conclusion Accurate and highly reproducible continuous-valued head μ-maps can be generated from MR data using a probabilistic atlas-based approach.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant 1R01EB014894-01A1)United States. Department of Defense (National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowship (NDSEG) Program

Pressure-induced Miscibility Increase of CH4 in H2O: A Computational Study Using Classical Potentials

Methane and water demix under normal (ambient) pressure and temperature conditions, due to the polar nature of water and the apolar nature of methane. Recent experimental work has shown, though, that increasing the pressure to values between 1 and 2 GPa (10 to 20 kbar) leads to a marked increase of methane solubility in water, for temperatures which are well below the critical temperature for water. Here we perform molecular dynamics simulations based on classical force fields – which are well-used and have been validated at ambient conditions – for different values of pressure and temperature. We find the expected increase in miscibility for mixtures of methane and supercritical water; however our model fails to reproduce the experimentally observed increase in methane solubility at large pressures and below the critical temperature of water. This points to the need to develop more accurate force fields for methane and methane-water mixtures under pressure

PREDICTING HUMAN MOVEMENT TYPE BASED ON MULTIPLE ACCELEROMETERS USING MOVELETS

We introduce statistical methods for prediction of types of human movement based on three tri-axial accelerometers worn simultaneously at the hip, left, and right wrist. We compare the individual performance of the three accelerometers using movelets and propose a new prediction algorithm that integrates the information from all three accelerometers. The development is motivated by a study of 20 older subjects who were instructed to perform 15 different types of activities during in-laboratory sessions. The differences in the prediction performance for different activity types among the three accelerometers reveal subtle yet important insights into how the intrinsic physical features of human movements could be effectively utilized in prediction. The proposed integrative movelet method takes into account those findings to augment the prediction accuracy and improve our understanding of human movement measurements

On perfectly generating projective classes in triangulated categories

We say that a projective class in a triangulated category with coproducts is perfect if the corresponding ideal is closed under coproducts of maps. We study perfect projective classes and the associated phantom and cellular towers. Given a perfect generating projective class, we show that every object is isomorphic to the homotopy colimit of a cellular tower associated to that object. Using this result and the Neeman's Freyd--style representability theorem we give a new proof of Brown Representability Theorem.Comment: to appear in Comm. Algebr

Planary Symmetric Static Worlds with Massless Scalar Sources

Motivated by the recent wave of investigations on plane domain wall spacetimes with nontrivial topologies, the present paper deals with (probably) the most simple source field configuration which can generate a spatially planary symmetric static spacetime, namely a minimally coupled massless scalar field that depends only upon a spacelike coordinate, $z$. It is shown that the corresponding exact solutions $({\cal M}, {\bf{\rm g}}_{\pm})$ are algebraically special, type $D - [S - 3T]_{(11)}$, and represent globally pathologic spacetimes with a $G_{4}$ - group of motion acting on ${\bf{\rm R}}^{2} \times {\bf{\rm R}}$ orbits. In spite of the model simplicity, these $\phi$ - generated worlds possess naked timelike singularities (reached within a finite universal time by normal non-spacelike geodesics), are completely free of Cauchy surfaces and contain into the $t$ - leveled sections points which can not be jointed by ${\rm C}^{1}$ - trajectories images of oblique non-spacelike geodesics. Finally, we comment on the possibility of deriving from $({\cal M}, {\bf{\rm g}}_{\pm})$ two other physically interesting ^^ ^^ $\phi$ - generated'' spacetimes, by appropiate jonction conditions in the $(z = 0)$ - plane.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX format, figures not include