Determining the impact of an artificial intelligence tool on the management of pulmonary nodules detected incidentally on CT (DOLCE) study protocol: a prospective, non-interventional multicentre UK study.

Introduction In a small percentage of patients, pulmonary nodules found on CT scans are early lung cancers. Lung cancer detected at an early stage has a much better prognosis. The British Thoracic Society guideline on managing pulmonary nodules recommends using multivariable malignancy risk prediction models to assist in management. While these guidelines seem to be effective in clinical practice, recent data suggest that artificial intelligence (AI)-based malignant-nodule prediction solutions might outperform existing models. Methods and analysis This study is a prospective, observational multicentre study to assess the clinical utility of an AI-assisted CT-based lung cancer prediction tool (LCP) for managing incidental solid and part solid pulmonary nodule patients vs standard care. Two thousand patients will be recruited from 12 different UK hospitals. The primary outcome is the difference between standard care and LCP-guided care in terms of the rate of benign nodules and patients with cancer discharged straight after the assessment of the baseline CT scan. Secondary outcomes investigate adherence to clinical guidelines, other measures of changes to clinical management, patient outcomes and cost-effectiveness. Ethics and dissemination This study has been reviewed and given a favourable opinion by the South Central—Oxford C Research Ethics Committee in UK (REC reference number: 22/SC/0142). Study results will be available publicly following peer-reviewed publication in open-access journals. A patient and public involvement group workshop is planned before the study results are available to discuss best methods to disseminate the results. Study results will also be fed back to participating organisations to inform training and procurement activities. Trial registration number NCT05389774

Design, fabrication, and testing of a sodium evaporator for the STM4-120 kinematic Stirling engine

This report describes the development and testing of a compact heat-pipe heat exchanger kW(e) designed to transfer thermal energy from hot combustion gases to the heater tubes of a 25-kW(e) Stirling engine. In this system, sodium evaporates from a surface that is heated by a stream of hot gases. The liquid metal then condenses on the heater tubes of a Stirling engine, where energy is transferred to the engine`s helium working fluid. Tests on a prototype unit illustrated that a compact (8 cm {times} 13 cm {times} 16 cm) sodium evaporator can routinely transfer 15 kW(t) of energy at an operating vapor temperature of 760 C. Four of these prototype units were eventually used to power a 25-kW(e) Stirling engine system. Design details and test results from the prototype unit are presented in this report

On the origin of recent intraplate volcanism in Australia

Many intraplate volcanic provinces do not appear to originate from plate-boundary processes or upwelling mantle plumes. Edge-driven convection (EDC), where a small-scale convective instability (induced by local variations in lithospheric thickness) displaces hot mantle material upward, provides an alternative hypothesis for such volcanism. Recently, EDC has been postulated as the trigger for Quaternary intraplate volcanism in Australia, due to the proximity of a craton edge. However, the Precambrian shield region of the Australian continent has a boundary that is at least 10,000 km long, yet the Newer Volcanics Province (NVP) is contained within a 400 � 100 km region. This brings into question EDC as a causal mechanism, unless nucleation at a single location can be explained. Here, we use a combination of seismic tomography and geodynamic modeling to show, for the first time, that (1) the source of the NVP is restricted to the upper mantle, and (2) mantle upwelling triggered by EDC is localized and intensified beneath the NVP as a result of three-dimensional variations in lithospheric thickness and plate motion-induced shear flow. This study helps to solve the global puzzle of why step changes in lithospheric thickness, which occur along craton edges and at passive margins, produce volcanism only at isolated locations. © 2014 Geological Society of America

The value of English geoconservation sites in understanding historical collections of lower and middle palaeolithic artefacts

Lower and Middle Paleolithic archaeological sites in England risk falling through the cracks between different types of heritage conservation, since they lack recognisable structures; these sites have often benefitted from protection under geoconservation, particularly through selection as Geological Conservation Review sites, and subsequent designation as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). The geoconservation of key sites, particularly in the formative years of British geoconservation, has allowed combined geological and archaeological reinvestigation. This is of particular benefit to understanding Lower and Middle Paleolithic artefact assemblages, which were often collected in the later 19th–earlier 20th century and consequently lacked both detailed spatial or stratigraphic provenance and contextual geological information. As such, the ‘fine grained’ data which could be gleaned from such artefact collections was limited. Here we review the benefit of geoconservation in allowing the contextualisation of historical archaeological collections, focussing on six key English sites where geological and archaeological reinvestigation has led to important archaeological findings. In particular, the emerging evidence of chronological patterning in Lower and Middle Paleolithic artefacts makes the preservation of such deposits valuable to Quaternary science in general

Earth's multi-scale topographic response to global mantle flow

Earth's surface topography is a direct physical expression of our planet's dynamics. Most is isostatic, controlled by variations in thickness and density within the crust and lithosphere, but a significant proportion arises due to forces exerted by underlying mantle convection. This dynamic topography directly connects the evolution of surface environments to Earth's deep interior, but it remains poorly understood: predictions from mantle flow simulations are often inconsistent with inferences from the geological record, with little consensus about its spatial pattern, wavelength and amplitude. Here, we demonstrate that previous comparisons between predictive models and observational constraints have been biased by subjective choices. Using measurements of residual topography beneath the world's oceans, and an innovative statistical approach to performing spherical harmonic analyses, we generate a robust estimate of Earth's oceanic residual topography power spectrum. Our analyses imply power of 0.5 +- 0.35 km^2 and peak amplitudes of 0.8 +- 0.1 km at long-wavelength (~10^4 km), decreasing by roughly one order of magnitude at shorter wavelengths (~10^3 km). We show that geodynamical simulations can only be reconciled with these observational constraints if they incorporate lithospheric structure and its impact on global mantle flow, illustrating that both deep (long-) and shallow (shorter-wavelength) processes are crucial to generating the observed surface response. Our results imply that dynamic topography is intimately connected to the structure and evolution of Earth's lithosphere, presenting a challenge to the reconstruction of its temporal evolution and impact at Earth's surface