105 research outputs found
Non-fossil CO2 recycling - The technical potential for the present and future utilization for fuels in Germany
High-Pitch Computed Tomography Coronary Angiography—A New Dose-Saving Algorithm: Estimation of Radiation Exposure
Purpose. To estimate effective dose and organ equivalent doses of prospective ECG-triggered high-pitch CTCA. Materials and Methods. For dose measurements, an Alderson-Rando phantom equipped with thermoluminescent dosimeters was used. The effective dose was calculated according to ICRP 103. Exposure was performed on a second-generation dual-source scanner (SOMATOM Definition Flash, Siemens Medical Solutions, Germany). The following scan parameters were used: 320 mAs per rotation, 100 and 120 kV, pitch 3.4 for prospectively ECG-triggered high-pitch CTCA, scan range of 13.5 cm, collimation 64 × 2 × 0.6 mm with z-flying focal spot, gantry rotation time 280 ms, and simulated heart rate of 60 beats per minute. Results. Depending on the applied tube potential, the effective whole-body dose of the cardiac scan ranged from 1.1 mSv to 1.6 mSv and from 1.2 to 1.8 mSv for males and females, respectively. The radiosensitive breast tissue in the range of the primary beam caused an increased female-specific effective dose of 8.6%±0.3% compared to males. Decreasing the tube potential, a significant reduction of the effective dose of 35.8% and 36.0% can be achieved for males and females, respectively (P < 0.001). Conclusion. The radiologist and the CT technician should be aware of this new dose-saving strategy to keep the radiation exposure as low as reasonablly achievable
C-arm computed tomography and volume perfusion computed tomography (VPCT)-based assessment of blood volume changes in hepatocellular carcinoma in prediction of midterm tumor response to transarterial chemoembolization: a single center retrospective trial
Методы повышения эффективности работы газотурбинных установок
Объект исследования: газотурбинная установка. Цель работы: аналитический обзор современных направлений повышения эффективности работы ГТУ, сравнительный расчет простой и регенеративной ГТУ при заданных равных условиях. Для достижения поставленной цели рассмотрены следующие задачи: проведение литературного обзора современных направлений повышения эффективности работы газотурбинных установок; сравнительный тепловой расчет простой и регенеративной ГТУ при заданных равных условиях; Определение сметной стоимости работ по монтажу регенератора; анализ вредныхThe object of the study: gas turbine plant. The purpose of the work: analytical review of modern directions of increasing the efficiency of GTP operation, comparative calculation of simple and regenerative GTP under given equal conditions. To achieve this goal, the following tasks are considered: conducting a literature review of modern technologies to increase the efficiency of gas turbine plants; comparative heat calculation of simple and regenerative gas turbine plant (efficiency, specific fuel consumption, heat rate) for given equal conditions; determination of the estimated cost of
Complexity Analysis of Accelerated MCMC Methods for Bayesian Inversion
We study Bayesian inversion for a model elliptic PDE with unknown diffusion
coefficient. We provide complexity analyses of several Markov Chain-Monte Carlo
(MCMC) methods for the efficient numerical evaluation of expectations under the
Bayesian posterior distribution, given data . Particular attention is
given to bounds on the overall work required to achieve a prescribed error
level . Specifically, we first bound the computational complexity
of "plain" MCMC, based on combining MCMC sampling with linear complexity
multilevel solvers for elliptic PDE. Our (new) work versus accuracy bounds show
that the complexity of this approach can be quite prohibitive. Two strategies
for reducing the computational complexity are then proposed and analyzed:
first, a sparse, parametric and deterministic generalized polynomial chaos
(gpc) "surrogate" representation of the forward response map of the PDE over
the entire parameter space, and, second, a novel Multi-Level Markov Chain Monte
Carlo (MLMCMC) strategy which utilizes sampling from a multilevel
discretization of the posterior and of the forward PDE.
For both of these strategies we derive asymptotic bounds on work versus
accuracy, and hence asymptotic bounds on the computational complexity of the
algorithms. In particular we provide sufficient conditions on the regularity of
the unknown coefficients of the PDE, and on the approximation methods used, in
order for the accelerations of MCMC resulting from these strategies to lead to
complexity reductions over "plain" MCMC algorithms for Bayesian inversion of
PDEs.
Osteoblastic lesion screening with an advanced post-processing package enabling in-plane rib reading in CT-images
A Novel Monoclonal Antibody to Secreted Frizzled-Related Protein 2 Inhibits Tumor Growth
Secreted frizzled related protein 2 (SFRP2) is overexpressed in human angiosarcoma and breast cancer, and stimulates angiogenesis via activation of the calcineurin/ NFATc3 pathway. There are conflicting reports in the literature as to whether SFRP2 is an antagonist or agonist of ß-catenin. The aims of these studies were to assess the effects of SFRP2 antagonism on tumor growth and Wnt-signaling, and to evaluate whether SFRP2 is a viable therapeutic target. The anti-angiogenic and anti-tumor properties of SFRP2 monoclonal antibody (mAb) were assessed using in vitro proliferation, migration, and tube formation assays; and in vivo angiosarcoma and triple negative breast cancer models. Wnt-signaling was assessed in endothelial and tumor cells treated with SFRP2 mAb using Western blotting. Pharmacokinetic (PK) and biodistribution data were generated in tumor-bearing and non-tumor bearing mice. SFRP2 mAb was shown to induce anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic effects in vitro, and inhibit activation of ß-catenin and NFATc3 in endothelial and tumor cells. Treatment of SVR angiosarcoma allografts in nude mice with the SFRP2 mAb decreased tumor volume by 58% compared to control (p=0.004). Treatment of MDA-MB-231 breast carcinoma xenografts with SFRP2 mAb decreased tumor volume by 52% (p=0.03) compared to control, while bevacizumab did not significantly reduce tumor volume. Pharmacokinetic studies show the antibody is long circulating in the blood and preferentially accumulates in SFRP2-positive tumors. In conclusion, antagonizing SFRP2 inhibits activation of ß-catenin and NFATc3 in endothelial and tumor cells, and is a novel therapeutic approach to inhibiting angiosarcoma and triple negative breast cancer
Novel biomaterials: plasma-enabled nanostructures and functions
Material processing techniques utilizing low-temperature plasmas as the main process tool feature many unique capabilities for the fabrication of various nanostructured materials. As compared with the neutral-gas based techniques and methods, the plasma-based approaches offer higher levels of energy and flux controllability, often leading to higher quality of the fabricated nanomaterials and sometimes to the synthesis of the hierarchical materials with interesting properties. Among others, nanoscale biomaterials attract significant attention due to their special properties towards the biological materials (proteins, enzymes), living cells and tissues. This review briefly examines various approaches based on the use of low-temperature plasma environments to fabricate nanoscale biomaterials exhibiting high biological activity, biological inertness for drug delivery system, and other features of the biomaterials make them highly attractive. In particular, we briefly discuss the plasma-assisted fabrication of gold and silicon nanoparticles for bio-applications; carbon nanoparticles for bioimaging and cancer therapy; carbon nanotube-based platforms for enzyme production and bacteria growth control, and other applications of low-temperature plasmas in the production of biologically-active materials
Overview of the PALM model system 6.0
In this paper, we describe the PALM model system 6.0. PALM (formerly an abbreviation for Parallelized Largeeddy Simulation Model and now an independent name) is a Fortran-based code and has been applied for studying a variety of atmospheric and oceanic boundary layers for about 20 years. The model is optimized for use on massively parallel computer architectures. This is a follow-up paper to the PALM 4.0 model description in Maronga et al. (2015). During the last years, PALM has been significantly improved and now offers a variety of new components. In particular, much effort was made to enhance the model with components needed for applications in urban environments, like fully interactive land surface and radiation schemes, chemistry, and an indoor model. This paper serves as an overview paper of the PALM 6.0 model system and we describe its current model core. The individual components for urban applications, case studies, validation runs, and issues with suitable input data are presented and discussed in a series of companion papers in this special issue
Results of a survey by the European Society of Radiology (ESR): undergraduate radiology education in Europe—influences of a modern teaching approach
- …