Computer-aided Diagnosis of Breast Elastography

Ultrasonography has been an important imaging technique for detecting breast tumors. As opposed tothe conventional B-mode image, the real-time tissue elastography by ultrasound is a new technique for imagingthe elasticity and applied to detect the stiffness of tissues. The red region of color elastography indicatesthe soft tissue and the blue one indicates the hard tissue. The harder tissue usually is classified as malignancy.In this paper, the authors proposed a computer-aided diagnosis( CAD) system on elastography tomeasure whether this system is effective and accurate to classify the tumor into benign and malignant. Accordingto the features of elasticity, the color elastography was transferred to hue, saturation, and value(HSV) color space and extracted meaningful features from hue images. Then the neural network was utilizedin multiple features to distinguish tumors. In this experiment, there are 180 pathology-proven cases including113 benign and 67 malignant cases used to examine the classification. The results of the proposedsystem showed an accuracy of 83.89 %, a sensitivity of 82.09 % and a specificity of 84.96 %. Compared withthe physician\u27s diagnosis, an accuracy of 78.33 %, a sensitivity of 53.73 % and a specificity of 92.92 %, theproposed CAD system had better performance. Moreover, the agreement of the proposed CAD system andthe physician\u27s diagnosis was calculated by kappa statistics, the kappa 0.64 indicated there is a fair agreementof observers

Which method is best for the induction of labour?: A systematic review, network meta-analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis

Background: More than 150,000 pregnant women in England and Wales have their labour induced each year. Multiple pharmacological, mechanical and complementary methods are available to induce labour. Objective: To assess the relative effectiveness, safety and cost-effectiveness of labour induction methods and, data permitting, effects in different clinical subgroups. Methods: We carried out a systematic review using Cochrane methods. The Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group’s Trials Register was searched (March 2014). This contains over 22,000 reports of controlled trials (published from 1923 onwards) retrieved from weekly searches of OVID MEDLINE (1966 to current); Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library); EMBASE (1982 to current); Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (1984 to current); ClinicalTrials.gov; the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Portal; and hand-searching of relevant conference proceedings and journals. We included randomised controlled trials examining interventions to induce labour compared with placebo, no treatment or other interventions in women eligible for third-trimester induction. We included outcomes relating to efficacy, safety and acceptability to women. In addition, for the economic analysis we searched the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, and Economic Evaluations Databases, NHS Economic Evaluation Database and the Health Technology Assessment database. We carried out a network meta-analysis (NMA) using all of the available evidence, both direct and indirect, to produce estimates of the relative effects of each treatment compared with others in a network. We developed a de novo decision tree model to estimate the cost-effectiveness of various methods. The costs included were the intervention and other hospital costs incurred (price year 2012–13). We reviewed the literature to identify preference-based utilities for the health-related outcomes in the model. We calculated incremental cost-effectiveness ratios, expected costs, utilities and net benefit. We represent uncertainty in the optimal intervention using cost-effectiveness acceptability curves. Results: We identified 1190 studies; 611 were eligible for inclusion. The interventions most likely to achieve vaginal delivery (VD) within 24 hours were intravenous oxytocin with amniotomy [posterior rank 2; 95% credible intervals (CrIs) 1 to 9] and higher-dose (≥ 50 μg) vaginal misoprostol (rank 3; 95% CrI 1 to 6). Compared with placebo, several treatments reduced the odds of caesarean section, but we observed considerable uncertainty in treatment rankings. For uterine hyperstimulation, double-balloon catheter had the highest probability of being among the best three treatments, whereas vaginal misoprostol (≥ 50 μg) was most likely to increase the odds of excessive uterine activity. For other safety outcomes there were insufficient data or there was too much uncertainty to identify which treatments performed ‘best’. Few studies collected information on women’s views. Owing to incomplete reporting of the VD within 24 hours outcome, the cost-effectiveness analysis could compare only 20 interventions. The analysis suggested that most interventions have similar utility and differ mainly in cost. With a caveat of considerable uncertainty, titrated (low-dose) misoprostol solution and buccal/sublingual misoprostol had the highest likelihood of being cost-effective. Limitations: There was considerable uncertainty in findings and there were insufficient data for some planned subgroup analyses. Conclusions: Overall, misoprostol and oxytocin with amniotomy (for women with favourable cervix) is more successful than other agents in achieving VD within 24 hours. The ranking according to safety of different methods was less clear. The cost-effectiveness analysis suggested that titrated (low-dose) oral misoprostol solution resulted in the highest utility, whereas buccal/sublingual misoprostol had the lowest cost. There was a high degree of uncertainty as to the most cost-effective intervention

Integrative Promise and Explanatory Virtues in the Life Sciences

Explanations in the life sciences, I will argue, are often defended on the basis of a cluster of related, interconnected explanatory virtues: their capacity to integrate disparate biological phenomena (integration), their use of stringent tests of that integration (stringency), their opportunistic relationships to other biological fields (opportunism), and their often forthright acceptance of non-epistemic value judgments (non-epistemic values). In a recent book (currently under review), I have proposed to call this cluster of explanatory virtues integrative promise. I will present this general approach, and then illustrate it by drawing upon recent debates over a “return to natural history” in evolutionary biology – a controversy, I claim, that is fruitfully explained as being one over the integrative promise of natural history for the contemporary life sciences

Discovery or Invention: Modern Interpretations of Zhang Xuecheng

Zhang Xuecheng was an ordinary scholar in eighteenth-century China. But in modern times he was recognized as an extraordinary historian. His remark that "the Six Classics are all history" was especially praised as a remarkable breakthrough or distinct paradigm. This study, however, argues that the rediscovery of Zhang was in effect a modern invention. "The Six Classics are all history" is actually quite an old concept. At least from the sixteenth-century on, Wang Yangming had already set a precedent for Zhang, whose version of the dictum was quite similar to his predecessors as well as contemporaries. Zhang filled in little, if any, new wine in the old bottle. He found no new meaning in history, as he believed the so-called Dao, or Way, contained in the Six Classics was as eternal as the sun and the moon and applied to hundreds of generations to come. He had no intention of turning history against the Classics, or of replacing the Classics with history, as modern scholars have claimed. His view of history was well within the bounds of Confucian historiography. Zhang attached a great deal of importance to history, but he was not unique in this regard. His historiography rested almost totally on the laurels of orthodox Confucianism. He criticized Dai Zhen, but his criticism was generally based on moral grounds and it seems to have little epistemological significance. Zhang Xuecheng emphasized the importance of history to serve statecraft (jingshi), but this view, too, was scarcely original. In this regard, he was more a successor than an innovator. He remained a rather old-fashioned scholar in the eighteenth century. The rediscovery of Zhang in modern times actually reflects modern scholars' concerns. They read their own ideas into Zhang Xuecheng's writings. Zhang never considered the Classics or history as mere historical materials as modern historians do. Nor did Zheng try to secularize the Classics and history, which might have constituted a major breakthrough in the conception of historiography. A secularized Zhang was thus the invention of modern scholars. In addition, only modern scholars, like Collingwood and Qian Zhongshu, who consider the past dead, feel duty-bound to breathe new life into this moribund history. There are no striking similarities, as a modern scholar claims, between eighteenth-century Zhang and twentieth-century Collingwood. This study is as much interested in exposing misrepresentations as in revealing the modern concerns that helped invent Zhang. These concerns, in fact, reflect the dramatic changes of modern Chinese historiography

Cooperation and competition in tango : transnationalization of higher education and the emergence of regulatory regionalism in Asia

Confronted with a growing pressure for internationalization, together with the strong urge for enhancing the global status in the highly competitive knowledge-based economy, many Asian governments have adopted different strategies to make their higher education (HE) more competitive through the quest for becoming a regional education hub and the transnationalization of HE in order to assert their regional/global influences. Unquestionably, the rise of transnational higher education (TNHE) and the quest for regional education hub status among Asian countries has suggested more competition. However, we have also observed more regional cooperation emerging through various kinds of bilateral and multilateral collaborations among Asian states with attempts to strengthen the regional influences in coping with the growing challenges from their counterparts in Europe and North America. One of the major trends of changing university governance is the emergence of regulatory regionalism, which is reflected by the striking features of recent developments in regional governance that transcend territorial spaces of nation states. This chapter sets out against this policy context to examine major policies introduced and strategies employed by governments in selected Asian societies – Singapore and Malaysia – in expanding TNHE programs and actively involving regional collaborations. More specifically, this chapter also reviews major developments of deepening regional cooperation among Asian countries/societies to assert their regional influences in the globalizing world

CSES Module 1-3 Harmonized Trend File

Für weitere Informationen zur Variablenliste siehe die Dokumentation (Codebook) des CSES Module 1-3 Harmonized Trend File. Informationen zum Inhalt können den Studiennummern ZA5179 CSES Module 1 Full Release, ZA5180 CSES Module 2 Full Release, und ZA5181 CSES Module 3 Full Release entnommen werden

Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (2001-2006)

The module was administered as a post-election interview. The resulting data are provided along with voting, demographic, district and macro variables in a single dataset. CSES Variable List The list of variables is being provided on the CSES Website to help in understanding what content is available from CSES, and to compare the content available in each module. Themes: MICRO-LEVEL DATA: Identification and study administration variables: mode of interview; gender of interviewer; date questionnaire administered; election type; weighting factors; if multiple rounds: percent of vote selected parties received in first round; selection of head of state; direct election of head of state and process of direct election; threshold for first-round victory; selection of candidates for the final round; simple majority or absolute majority for 2nd round victory; primary electoral district of respondent; number of days the interview was conducted after the election Demography: age; gender; education; marital status; union membership; union membership of others in household; business association membership, farmers´ association membership; professional association membership; current employment status; main occupation; socio economic status; employment type - public or private; industrial sector; current employment status, occupation, socio economic status, employment type - public or private and industrial sector of spouse; household income; number of persons in household; number of children in household under the age of 18; attendance at religious services; race; ethnicity; religiosity; religious denomination; language usually spoken at home; region of residence; rural or urban residence Survey variables: political participation during the recent election campaign (persuade others, campaign activities) and frequency of political participation; contacted by candidate or party during the campaign; respondent cast a ballot at the current and the previous election; vote choice (presidential, lower house and upper house elections) at the current and the previous election; respondent cast candidate preference vote at the current election; most important issue; evaluation of governments performance concerning the most important issue and in general; satisfaction with the democratic process in the country; attitude towards selected statements: it makes a difference who is in power and who people vote for; democracy is better than any other form of government; respondent cast candidate preference vote at the previous election; judgement of the performance of the party the respondent voted for in the previous election; judgement how well voters´ views are represented in elections; party and leader that represent respondent´s view best; form of questionnaire (long or short); party identification; intensity of party identification; sympathy scale for selected parties; assessment of parties and political leaders on a left-right-scale; political participation during the last 5 years: contacted a politician or government, protest or demonstration, work with others who share the same concern; respect for individual freedom and human rights; assessment how much corruption is widespread in the country; self-placement on a left-right-scale; political information items DISTRICT-LEVEL DATA: number of seats contested in electoral district, number of candidates, number of party lists, percent vote of different parties, official voter turnout in electoral district MACRO-LEVEL DATA: percent of popular vote received by parties in current (lower house/upper house) legislative election; percent of seats in lower house received by parties in current lower house/upper house election; percentage of official voter turnout; number of portfolios held by each party in cabinet, prior to and after the most recent election; year of party foundation; ideological family the parties are closest to; European parliament political group and international organization the parties belong to; significant parties not represented before and after the election; left-right position of parties; general concensus on these left-right placements among informed observers in the country; alternative dimension placements; consensus on the alternative dimension placements; most salient factors in the election; consensus on the salience ranking; electoral alliances permitted during the election campaign; name of alliance and participant parties; number of elected legislative chambers; for lower house and upper house was asked: number of electoral segments; number of primary districts; number of seats; district magnitude (number of members elected from each district); number of secondary and tertiary electoral districts; compulsory voting; votes cast; voting procedure; transferrable votes; cumulated votes if more than one can be cast; party threshold; used electoral formula; party lists close, open, or flexible; parties can run joint lists; possibility of apparentement; multi-party endorsements; ally party support; requirements for joint party lists; types of apparentement agreements; multi-party endorsements on ballot; head of state (regime type); year of presidential election (before or after this legislative election); process if indirect election; if by electoral college: selection of electors, deliberates, and voting procedure; if by legislature: chambers of the legislature, voting procedure; power of the head of state (introduce legislation, expedited action, package veto, partial veto, legislate by decree, emergency powers, negotiate agreements, commander of forces, introduce referenda, refer legislation to judiciary, legislative sessions); head of government (elected independently, is the head of state, selection method if not elected independently); authorities of the head of government concerning the composition of the cabinet (name ministers, nominate ministers, review ministerial nominations, dismiss ministers); authorities of the head of government concerning the policy making process (chair cabinet meetings, legislature schedules, policy alternatives, refers policy to committee, votes of confidence); methods of cabinet dismissal (head of state acting alone, by head of government alone, majority of legislature, plurality of legislature, combination); dissolution of legislature prior to regularly scheduled elections; dissolution of legislature by: head of state, head of government, majority of legislature, combination; restrictions on dissolving legislature (on the timing, as a response to action/inaction by the legislature); second chamber of the legislature (method of election, composition, exclusive legislative powers, power over the cabinet); constitutional federal structure; central power over peripher

3C 279 Event Horizon Telescope imaging

VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'Event Horizon Telescope imaging of the archetypal blazar 3C 279 at an extreme 20 microarcsecond resolution.' (bibcode: 2020A&A...640A..69K