Spline Smoothing over Difficult regions

We consider the problem of smoothing data on two-dimensional grids with holes or gaps. Such grids are often referred to as difficult regions. Since the data is not observed on these locations, the gap is not part of the domain. We cannot apply standard smoothing methods since they smooth over and across difficult regions. More unfavorable properties of standard smoothers become visible when the data is observed on an irregular grid in a non-rectangular domain. In this paper, we adopt smoothing spline methods within a state space framework to smooth data on one- or two-dimensional grids with difficult regions. We make a distinction between two types of missing observations to handle the irregularity of the grid and to ensure that no smoothing takes place over and across the difficult region. For smoothing on two-dimensional grids, we introduce a two-step spline smoothing method. The proposed solution applies to all smoothing methods that can be represented in a state space framework. We illustrate our methods for three different cases of interest

Accounting for Slow J/psi from B Decay

A slow J/psi excess exists in the inclusive B -> J/psi+X spectrum, and is indicative of some hadronic effect. From color octet nature of c cbar pair in b-> c cbar s decay, one such possibility would be B -> J/psi+ K_g decay, where K_g is a hybrid resonance with sbar g q constituents. We show that a K_g resonance of ~ 2 GeV mass and suitably broad width could be behind the excess.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Therapeutic capsule endoscopy: Opportunities and challenges

10.1260/2040-2295.2.4.459Journal of Healthcare Engineering24459-47

Effect of fiber suspension jet stability on alignment quality of discontinuous carbon fiber tapes

A hydrodynamic alignment process has been developed for converting discontinuous random carbon fibers into tapes with a highly aligned orientation distribution to greatly improve the applicability of recovered fibers to composite parts. In hydrodynamic alignment processes short fibers are aligned by the velocity gradient along the flow direction in a convergent nozzle. Thereafter the jet of fiber suspension is deposited on a nylon mesh and the now redundant dispersion medium is drained away to leave an aligned fiber tape. The fundamental physical principles at work in the process have not been widely studied and are shown in the present work to greatly influence the properties of the resulting materials. In this work, the influence of suspension jet stability on the fiber orientation distribution was examined and the liquid jet break-up regime was determined. To explore the factors which can affect the suspension jet stability, different nozzle geometries, viscosities of dispersion media, fiber lengths and Reynolds numbers were applied in experimental work. The shear rate profiles inside different nozzles were simulated by Computational Fluid Dynamics methods and the results described in this paper

Detecting autoreactive B cells in the peripheral blood of people with type 1 diabetes using ELISpot

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) is an autoimmune disorder where T lymphocytes damage the islet beta cells but B lymphocytes also play an important role. Although changes in peripheral B cell phenotype have been observed, little is known about the B cells that secrete the autoantibodies. We developed a sensitive B cell enzyme-linked immunospot assay (ELISpot assay) to detect individual B cell antibody responses to glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) and islet antigen-2 (IA-2). We found that even healthy donors have B cells that secrete antibodies in response to GAD and IA-2 in the ELISpot. There was increased B cell reactivity to autoantigens in the peripheral blood of individuals with newly-diagnosed, but not long-standing, type 1 diabetes. However, no correlation with serum autoantibody levels was found, indicating that additional factors such as antigen affinity or exposure to antigens in vivo are required for antibody secretion, and that even healthy donors have potentially autoreactive B cells

Semirigid Geometry

We provide an intrinsic description of $N$-super \RS s and $TN$-\SR\ surfaces. Semirigid surfaces occur naturally in the description of topological gravity as well as topological supergravity. We show that such surfaces are obtained by an integrable reduction of the structure group of a complex supermanifold. We also discuss the \s moduli spaces of $TN$-\SR\ surfaces and their relation to the moduli spaces of $N$-\s\ \RS s.Comment: 29p

Dissociation cross sections of ground-state and excited charmonia with light mesons in the quark model

We present numerical results for the dissociation cross sections of ground-state, orbitally- and radially-excited charmonia in collisions with light mesons. Our results are derived using the nonrelativistic quark model, so all parameters are determined by fits to the experimental meson spectrum. Examples of dissociation into both exclusive and inclusive final states are considered. The dissociation cross sections of several C=(+) charmonia may be of considerable importance for the study of heavy ion collisions, since these states are expected to be produced more copiously than the J/psi. The relative importance of the productions of ground-state and orbitally-excited charmed mesons in a pion-charmonium collision is demonstrated through the $\sqrt {s}$-dependent charmonium dissociation cross sections.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

A novel semi-fragile forensic watermarking scheme for remote sensing images

Peer-reviewedA semi-fragile watermarking scheme for multiple band images is presented. We propose to embed a mark into remote sensing images applying a tree structured vector quantization approach to the pixel signatures, instead of processing each band separately. The signature of themmultispectral or hyperspectral image is used to embed the mark in it order to detect any significant modification of the original image. The image is segmented into threedimensional blocks and a tree structured vector quantizer is built for each block. These trees are manipulated using an iterative algorithm until the resulting block satisfies a required criterion which establishes the embedded mark. The method is shown to be able to preserve the mark under lossy compression (above a given threshold) but, at the same time, it detects possibly forged blocks and their position in the whole image.Se presenta un esquema de marcas de agua semi-frágiles para múltiples imágenes de banda. Proponemos incorporar una marca en imágenes de detección remota, aplicando un enfoque de cuantización del vector de árbol estructurado con las definiciones de píxel, en lugar de procesar cada banda por separado. La firma de la imagen hiperespectral se utiliza para insertar la marca en el mismo orden para detectar cualquier modificación significativa de la imagen original. La imagen es segmentada en bloques tridimensionales y un cuantificador de vector de estructura de árbol se construye para cada bloque. Estos árboles son manipulados utilizando un algoritmo iteractivo hasta que el bloque resultante satisface un criterio necesario que establece la marca incrustada. El método se muestra para poder preservar la marca bajo compresión con pérdida (por encima de un umbral establecido) pero, al mismo tiempo, detecta posiblemente bloques forjados y su posición en la imagen entera.Es presenta un esquema de marques d'aigua semi-fràgils per a múltiples imatges de banda. Proposem incorporar una marca en imatges de detecció remota, aplicant un enfocament de quantització del vector d'arbre estructurat amb les definicions de píxel, en lloc de processar cada banda per separat. La signatura de la imatge hiperespectral s'utilitza per inserir la marca en el mateix ordre per detectar qualsevol modificació significativa de la imatge original. La imatge és segmentada en blocs tridimensionals i un quantificador de vector d'estructura d'arbre es construeix per a cada bloc. Aquests arbres són manipulats utilitzant un algoritme iteractiu fins que el bloc resultant satisfà un criteri necessari que estableix la marca incrustada. El mètode es mostra per poder preservar la marca sota compressió amb pèrdua (per sobre d'un llindar establert) però, al mateix temps, detecta possiblement blocs forjats i la seva posició en la imatge sencera

Cardiac computed tomography radiomics for the non-invasive assessment of coronary inflammation

Radiomics, via the extraction of quantitative information from conventional radiologic images, can identify imperceptible imaging biomarkers that can advance the characterization of coronary plaques and the surrounding adipose tissue. Such an approach can unravel the underlying pathophysiology of atherosclerosis which has the potential to aid diagnostic, prognostic and, therapeutic decision making. Several studies have demonstrated that radiomic analysis can characterize coronary atherosclerotic plaques with a level of accuracy comparable, if not superior, to current conventional qualitative and quantitative image analysis. While there are many milestones still to be reached before radiomics can be integrated into current clinical practice, such techniques hold great promise for improving the imaging phenotyping of coronary artery disease.Kevin Cheng, Andrew Lin, Jeremy Yuvaraj, Stephen J. Nicholls and Dennis T.L. Won