Blood vessels extraction from fundus fluorescein angiogram in Curvelet domain

Abstract: This paper proposes a new method for blood vessel segmentation and extraction based on Curvelet domain and Hough transform. Diabetic retiopathy is an important human visual disease which leads blindness. Fluorescein angiography has become indispensable in the diagnosis and evaluation of many retinal conditions. Here, we introduced a novel and efficient algorithm for automated retinal blood vessels segmentation in fluorescein angiography images. The proposed method in this paper consists of three main steps that in the first step, the input image to create an image with high contrast and uniform background by becoming curvelet transform under processing. Then, in the next step Kirschs templates are used for edge detection in retinal images and arithmetic mean filter is applied to the image. Finally, Hough transform is applied to the image obtained from the previous step to remove non-information parts. Experimental results show the superiority of the proposed method against competing approaches. Keywords: Transforms,Diabetes,Image edge detection,Biomedical imaging,Retinopathy,Blood vessels,Retin

The Relative Significance of Positive Coupling and Inertial Effects on Gas Condensate Relative Permeabilities at High Velocity

Abstract The authors were the first to report that gas-condensate relative permeability will increase with increasing velocity. This positive rate effect, which was later confirmed by other investigators, was attributed to the coupling of the flow of the two phases and was referred to as the "positive coupling" effect. The observation was made in tests conducted at velocities where the effect of "inertia" was not significant. The objective of the latest study was to investigate the competition between the two effects of "negative inertia" and "positive coupling" on gas-condensate relative permeability at velocities up to one order of magnitude above the velocity boundary with significant inertia. The maximum tested velocity was 700 m/day, which was representative of the flow regime within fractions of a meter from the wellbore of a typical producer. The tests were conducted on different cores at various interfacial tension (IFT) values. The results have shown that "inertia" was dominant in cores saturated with 100% gas at the tested conditions. However, as the condensate saturation increased, an improvement in relative permeability due to "positive coupling" was observed over the entire range of velocities at all values of IFT tested. This resulted in the generation of unique relative permeability curves, showing decreasing relative permeability with increasing velocity at low condensate saturations, and increasing relative permeability with increasing velocity at high condensate saturations. This trend was observed mainly for the gas phase. Previously published data had indicated that inertia reduced the gas relative permeability at high velocity. The data has been used to develop empirical correlations, which relate the change of gas-condensate relative permeability to variations in fluid saturation, velocity and IFT

New parton distributions in fixed flavour factorization scheme from recent deep-inelastic-scattering data

We present our QCD analysis of the proton structure function $F_2^p(x,Q^2)$ to determine the parton distributions at the next-to-leading order (NLO). The heavy quark contributions to $F_2^i(x,Q^2)$, with $i$ = $c$, $b$ have been included in the framework of the `fixed flavour number scheme' (FFNS). The results obtained in the FFNS are compared with available results such as the general-mass variable-flavour-number scheme (GM-VFNS) and other prescriptions used in global fits of PDFs. In the present QCD analysis, we use a wide range of the inclusive neutral-current deep-inelastic-scattering (NC DIS) data, including the most recent data for charm $F_2^c$, bottom $F_2^b$, longitudinal $F_L$ structure functions and also the reduced DIS cross sections $\sigma_{r,NC}^\pm$ from HERA experiments. The most recent HERMES data for proton and deuteron structure functions are also added. We take into account ZEUS neutral current $e^ \pm p$ DIS inclusive jet cross section data from HERA together with the recent Tevatron Run-II inclusive jet cross section data from CDF and D{\O}. The impact of these recent DIS data on the PDFs extracted from the global fits are studied. We present two families of PDFs, {\tt KKT12} and {\tt KKT12C}, without and with HERA `combined' data sets on $e^{\pm}p$ DIS. We find these are in good agreement with the available theoretical models.Comment: 23 pages, 26 figures and 4 tables. V3: Only few comments and references added in the replaced version, results unchanged. Code can be found at http://particles.ipm.ir/links/QCD.ht

Iranian Herbalists, But Not Cooks, Are Better at Naming Odors Than Laypeople

Odor naming is enhanced in communities where communication about odors is a central part of daily life (e.g., wine experts, flavorists, and some hunter-gatherer groups). In this study, we investigated how expert knowledge and daily experience affect the ability to name odors in a group of experts that has not previously been investigated in this context—Iranian herbalists; also called attars—as well as cooks and laypeople. We assessed naming accuracy and consistency for 16 herb and spice odors, collected judgments of odor perception, and evaluated participants' odor meta-awareness. Participants' responses were overall more consistent and accurate for more frequent and familiar odors. Moreover, attars were more accurate than both cooks and laypeople at naming odors, although cooks did not perform significantly better than laypeople. Attars' perceptual ratings of odors and their overall odor meta-awareness suggest they are also more attuned to odors than the other two groups. To conclude, Iranian attars—but not cooks—are better odor namers than laypeople. They also have greater meta-awareness and differential perceptual responses to odors. These findings further highlight the critical role that expertise and type of experience have on olfactory functions

Topoisomerase II beta interacts with cohesin and CTCF at topological domain borders

BACKGROUND: Type II DNA topoisomerases (TOP2) regulate DNA topology by generating transient double stranded breaks during replication and transcription. Topoisomerase II beta (TOP2B) facilitates rapid gene expression and functions at the later stages of development and differentiation. To gain new insight into the genome biology of TOP2B, we used proteomics (BioID), chromatin immunoprecipitation, and high-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) to identify novel proximal TOP2B protein interactions and characterize the genomic landscape of TOP2B binding at base pair resolution. RESULTS: Our human TOP2B proximal protein interaction network included members of the cohesin complex and nucleolar proteins associated with rDNA biology. TOP2B associates with DNase I hypersensitivity sites, allele-specific transcription factor (TF) binding, and evolutionarily conserved TF binding sites on the mouse genome. Approximately half of all CTCF/cohesion-bound regions coincided with TOP2B binding. Base pair resolution ChIP-exo mapping of TOP2B, CTCF, and cohesin sites revealed a striking structural ordering of these proteins along the genome relative to the CTCF motif. These ordered TOP2B-CTCF-cohesin sites flank the boundaries of topologically associating domains (TADs) with TOP2B positioned externally and cohesin internally to the domain loop. CONCLUSIONS: TOP2B is positioned to solve topological problems at diverse cis-regulatory elements and its occupancy is a highly ordered and prevalent feature of CTCF/cohesin binding sites that flank TADs

The effect of graphite and carbon black ratios on conductive ink performance

Conductive inks based on graphite and carbon black are used in a host of applications including energy storage, energy harvesting, electrochemical sensors and printed heaters. This requires accurate control of electrical properties tailored to the application; ink formulation is a fundamental element of this. Data on how formulation relates to properties have tended to apply to only single types of conductor at any time, with data on mixed types of carbon only empirical thus far. Therefore, screen printable carbon inks with differing graphite, carbon black and vinyl polymer content were formulated and printed to establish the effect on rheology, deposition and conductivity. The study found that at a higher total carbon loading ink of 29.4% by mass, optimal conductivity (0.029 Ω cm) was achieved at a graphite to carbon black ratio of 2.6 to 1. For a lower total carbon loading (21.7 mass %), this ratio was reduced to 1.8 to 1. Formulation affected viscosity and hence ink transfer and also surface roughness due to retention of features from the screen printing mesh and the inherent roughness of the carbon components, as well as the ability of features to be reproduced consistently

GEANT4 : a simulation toolkit

Abstract Geant4 is a toolkit for simulating the passage of particles through matter. It includes a complete range of functionality including tracking, geometry, physics models and hits. The physics processes offered cover a comprehensive range, including electromagnetic, hadronic and optical processes, a large set of long-lived particles, materials and elements, over a wide energy range starting, in some cases, from 250 eV and extending in others to the TeV energy range. It has been designed and constructed to expose the physics models utilised, to handle complex geometries, and to enable its easy adaptation for optimal use in different sets of applications. The toolkit is the result of a worldwide collaboration of physicists and software engineers. It has been created exploiting software engineering and object-oriented technology and implemented in the C++ programming language. It has been used in applications in particle physics, nuclear physics, accelerator design, space engineering and medical physics. PACS: 07.05.Tp; 13; 2

Shower development of particles with momenta from 15 GeV to 150 GeV in the CALICE scintillator-tungsten hadronic calorimeter

We present a study of showers initiated by electrons, pions, kaons, and protons with momenta from 15 GeV to 150 GeV in the highly granular CALICE scintillator-tungsten analogue hadronic calorimeter. The data were recorded at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron in 2011. The analysis includes measurements of the calorimeter response to each particle type as well as measurements of the energy resolution and studies of the longitudinal and radial shower development for selected particles. The results are compared to Geant4 simulations (version 9.6.p02). In the study of the energy resolution we include previously published data with beam momenta from 1 GeV to 10 GeV recorded at the CERN Proton Synchrotron in 2010.Comment: 35 pages, 21 figures, 8 table

A Study of Time-Dependent CP-Violating Asymmetries and Flavor Oscillations in Neutral B Decays at the Upsilon(4S)

We present a measurement of time-dependent CP-violating asymmetries in neutral B meson decays collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B Factory at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. The data sample consists of 29.7 ${\rm fb}^{-1}$ recorded at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance and 3.9 ${\rm fb}^{-1}$ off-resonance. One of the neutral B mesons, which are produced in pairs at the $\Upsilon(4S)$, is fully reconstructed in the CP decay modes $J/\psi K^0_S$, $\psi(2S) K^0_S$, $\chi_{c1} K^0_S$, $J/\psi K^{*0}$ ($K^{*0}\to K^0_S\pi^0$) and $J/\psi K^0_L$, or in flavor-eigenstate modes involving $D^{(*)}\pi/\rho/a_1$ and $J/\psi K^{*0}$ ($K^{*0}\to K^+\pi^-$). The flavor of the other neutral B meson is tagged at the time of its decay, mainly with the charge of identified leptons and kaons. The proper time elapsed between the decays is determined by measuring the distance between the decay vertices. A maximum-likelihood fit to this flavor eigenstate sample finds $\Delta m_d = 0.516\pm 0.016 {\rm (stat)} \pm 0.010 {\rm (syst)} {\rm ps}^{-1}$. The value of the asymmetry amplitude $\sin2\beta$ is determined from a simultaneous maximum-likelihood fit to the time-difference distribution of the flavor-eigenstate sample and about 642 tagged $B^0$ decays in the CP-eigenstate modes. We find $\sin2\beta=0.59\pm 0.14 {\rm (stat)} \pm 0.05 {\rm (syst)}$, demonstrating that CP violation exists in the neutral B meson system. (abridged)Comment: 58 pages, 35 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Phylomemetics—Evolutionary Analysis beyond the Gene

Genes are propagated by error-prone copying, and the resulting variation provides the basis for phylogenetic reconstruction of evolutionary relationships. Horizontal gene transfer may be superimposed on a tree-like evolutionary pattern, with some relationships better depicted as networks. The copying of manuscripts by scribes is very similar to the replication of genes, and phylogenetic inference programs can be used directly for reconstructing the copying history of different versions of a manuscript text. Phylogenetic methods have also been used for some time to analyse the evolution of languages and the development of physical cultural artefacts. These studies can help to answer a range of anthropological questions. We propose the adoption of the term “phylomemetics” for phylogenetic analysis of reproducing non-genetic elements