Emerging Technologies, Signal Processing and Statistical Methods for Screening of Cervical Cancer In Vivo: Are They Good Candidates for Cervical Screening?

The current cervical cancer screening test (the Pap smear) is a manual cytological procedure. This cytology test has various limitations and many errors. Excellent candidates for improving the performance of the cervical cancer screening procedure are electro-optical systems (EOSs), used for assessment of the cervical cancer precursors in vivo, such as digital spectroscopy, digital colposcopy and bioelectrical phenomena-based systems. These EOSs use the advantages of signal processing methods and can replace the qualitative assessments, with objective metrics. The EOSs can be used as an adjunct to the current screener or as a primary screener. We analyse and discuss the effectiveness of the signal processing and statistical methods for diagnosis of cervical cancer in vivo. This analysis is reinforced by the presentation of the scientific and clinical contributions of these methods in clinical practice. As a result of this analysis, we outline and discuss the well-established estimates of the signal processing features and the ambiguous features, that are used for classification of the cervical pre-cancer in vivo

Active Contour Model Based Segmentation of Colposcopy Images of Cervix Uteri Using Gaussian Pyramids

Colposcopic images from cervix uteri are subjected to a segmentation algorithm using a combination of an active contour model or snakes on multiresolution levels, using a Gaussian Pyramid (GP). The segmentation aims to outline a specific feature from the cervical images- the Transformation Zone (TZ), where a possible neoplasia (a pre-cancer or cancer tissue stage) can occur. The process includes an implementation of a new snake - the boundary-searching snake, based on both image gradient features and region features. The adaptive 'snake' is executed on a low image resolution level, aiming to avoid a specific artifact in the images-known as a specular reflection. Further, the snake coordinates are propagated to the highest level of the GP. The resulting algorithm segments one of the most complex and variable anatomical shapes as a biological structure in its normal and pre-cancerous stages of the cervix uteri

Data consistency in transactional storage systems: a centralised approach.

We introduce an interleaving operational semantics for describing the client-observable behaviour of atomic transactions on distributed key-value stores. Our semantics builds on abstract states comprising centralised, global key-value stores and partial client views. We provide operational definitions of consistency models for our key-value stores which are shown to be equivalent to the well-known declarative definitions of consistency model for execution graphs. We explore two immediate applications of our semantics: specific protocols of geo-replicated databases (e.g. COPS) and partitioned databases (e.g. Clock-SI) can be shown to be correct for a specific consistency model by embedding them in our centralised semantics; programs can be directly shown to have invariant properties such as robustness results against a weak consistency model

Taxonomy of Hungarian personality traits:Replication and refinement

We aim to replicate the previously published structure that was based on a taxonomy of traits according to psycho-lexical principles (Szirmák & De Raad, 1994). Method: The original list of 561 trait terms was used and ad-ministered to 1,503 participants, in part through using a paper version, and in part using an online version of the list. The participants provided self-ratings on these traits, and in addition filled out five questionnaires for purposes of validation and as an aid in identification of thelexically derived factors. Additional analyses were done using the joint sample of the present 1,503 participants and the previously used sample of 400 participants.Results: On ipsatized data, principal components analyses were performed, resulting in a sixfactor solution considered as the most adequate one. The factors were identified as the Big Five plus an Integrity-Honesty related factor. The analyses using the joint data set strengthened the adequacy of the six-factor solution.Conclusion: The previously published structure was ap-proximately replicated in a new sample of participants. Moreover,the results gave rise to a re-labeling of the previous Integrity factor into Narcissis

One-Pot Synthesis of 5,6-Dihydro-4H-1,2-Oxazines by Cyclization of Ketoximes with Derivatives of Allylbenzene

A new series of 5,6-dihydro-4H-1,2-oxazines were synthesized via hetero Diels-Alder reaction of  α-nitrosolefins with derivatives of allylbenzene. α-Nitrosoolefins were generated from ketoximes by the action of chloramine-T and triethylamine

A Coupled Thermoreflectance Thermography Experimental System and Ultra-Fast Adaptive Computational Engine for the Complete Thermal Characterization of Three-Dimensional Electronic Devices : Validation

This work builds on the previous introduction [1] of a coupled experimental-computational system devised to fully characterize the thermal behavior of complex 3D submicron electronic devices. The new system replaces the laser-based surface temperature scanning approach with a CCD camera-based approach. As before, the thermo-reflectance thermography system is used to non-invasively measure with submicron resolution the 2D surface temperature field of an activated device. The measured temperature field is then used as input for an ultra-fast inverse computational solution to fully characterize the thermal behavior of the complex three-dimensional device. For the purposes of this investigation, basic micro-heater devices were built, activated, and measured. In order to quantitatively validate the coupled experimental-computational system, the system was used to extract geometric features of a known device, thus assessing the system's ability to combine measured experimental results and computations to fully characterize complex 3D electronic devices