Artificial neural network-statistical approach for PET volume analysis and classification

Copyright © 2012 The Authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.The increasing number of imaging studies and the prevailing application of positron emission tomography (PET) in clinical oncology have led to a real need for efficient PET volume handling and the development of new volume analysis approaches to aid the clinicians in the clinical diagnosis, planning of treatment, and assessment of response to therapy. A novel automated system for oncological PET volume analysis is proposed in this work. The proposed intelligent system deploys two types of artificial neural networks (ANNs) for classifying PET volumes. The first methodology is a competitive neural network (CNN), whereas the second one is based on learning vector quantisation neural network (LVQNN). Furthermore, Bayesian information criterion (BIC) is used in this system to assess the optimal number of classes for each PET data set and assist the ANN blocks to achieve accurate analysis by providing the best number of classes. The system evaluation was carried out using experimental phantom studies (NEMA IEC image quality body phantom), simulated PET studies using the Zubal phantom, and clinical studies representative of nonsmall cell lung cancer and pharyngolaryngeal squamous cell carcinoma. The proposed analysis methodology of clinical oncological PET data has shown promising results and can successfully classify and quantify malignant lesions.This study was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation under Grant SNSF 31003A-125246, Geneva Cancer League, and the Indo Swiss Joint Research Programme ISJRP 138866. This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund

Measurement of streaming potential coupling coefficient in sandstones saturated with natural and artificial brines at high selenity

We report experimental measurements of the streaming potential coupling coefficient in sandstones saturated with NaCl-dominated artificial and natural brines up to 5.5 M (321.4 g L−1 of NaCl; electrical conductivity of 23 S m−1). We find that the magnitude of the coupling coefficient decreases with increasing brine salinity, as observed in previous experimental studies and predicted by models of the electrical double layer. However, the magnitude of the coupling coefficient remains greater than zero up to the saturated brine salinity. The magnitude of the zeta potential we interpret from our measurements also decreases with increasing brine salinity in the low-salinity domain (0.4 M). We hypothesize that the constant value of zeta potential observed at high salinity reflects the maximum packing of counterions in the diffuse part of the electrical double layer. Our hypothesis predicts that the zeta potential becomes independent of brine salinity when the diffuse layer thickness is similar to the diameter of the hydrated counterion. This prediction is confirmed by our experimental data and also by published measurements on alumina in KCl brine. At high salinity (>0.4 M), values of the streaming potential coupling coefficient and the corresponding zeta potential are the same within experimental error regardless of sample mineralogy and texture and the composition of the brine

Pemikiran Fiqih Moderat di Timur Tengah dan Relasinya dengan Gerakan Fiqih Formalis

Islamic thought has conventionally distinguished between what it calls the People of Hadith (ahlu al-had?s) and the People of Opinion (ahl ar-ra?y). These two segments have improved into a countless current of thought in the modern world, making it impossible to refer to a certain type of thinking as this or that. Nonetheless, the basic characters of the modern Muslim thinking are not quite distinctive from that of the classical-dualistic dichotomy. Hence, the clash of discourse that we witnessed recently in various Muslim worlds is reflective of the intellectual tension between the People of Hadith and the People of Opinion. The clash of discourse that we have just referred to even took the form of physical conflict such as that which happened in Egypt and Algeria. In these two Muslim countries the clash of discourse has turned into the clash of politics, where religious radicalism and absolutism are the dominant features. This paper seeks to provide a critique of this negative development, offering in the process a kind of discourse that can serve as an alternative, namely the discourse of a moderate Islam

The dominant of Bloggers in Malaysian politics through social networks

Every country in this world has own political issues. In Malaysia for example, political issues played an important role that can influence other factors such as social and economy. As we all know, political factor can give positive and negative effect to a situation in Malaysia. The frequent usage of computer nowadays by Malaysian people helps in spreading information and news about political situation in Malaysia through cyberspace. In this paper, we use web mining system with Artificial Immune System (AIS) to regain a small group of relevant websites and webpages on political issues in Malaysia. To analyze the relationship between website and webpages, the concept of social networks will be used. Result from the web mining system with AIS will be used to understand the impact of social network to the political situation in Malaysia

Longevity and mortality in Kennel Club registered dog breeds in the UK in 2014

Abstract Background The domestic dog is one of the most diverse mammalian species, exhibiting wide variations in morphology, behaviour and morbidity across breeds. Therefore, it is not unexpected that breeds should also exhibit variation in mortality and longevity. While shorter longevity per se may not necessarily be a welfare issue, a generally foreshortened lifespan in a breed that is accompanied by a high prevalence of a particular cause of death may reveal potentially serious welfare concerns and highlight scope to improve breed welfare. Survey data gathered directly from owners offer useful insights into canine longevity and mortality that can support the overall evidence base for welfare reforms within breeds. Results Mortality data on 5663 deceased dogs registered with the UK Kennel Club were collected from an owner-based survey. The most commonly reported causes of death were old age (13.8%), unspecified cancer (8.7%) and heart failure (4.9%); with 5.1% of deaths reported as unknown cause. Overall median age at death was 10.33 years (interquartile range: 7.17–12.83 years). Breeds varied widely in median longevity overall from the West Highland Terrier (12.71 years) to the Dobermann Pinscher (7.67 years). There was also wide variation in the prevalence of some common causes of death among breeds, and in median longevity across the causes of death. Conclusion Substantial variation in the median lifespan and the prominent causes of death exists across breeds. This study has identified some breeds with both a low median lifespan and also a high proportional mortality for one or more specific causes of death that should be considered as both potential welfare concerns as well as opportunities for improvement

Large-scale survey to estimate the prevalence of disorders for 192 Kennel Club registered breeds

Abstract Background Pedigree or purebred dogs are often stated to have high prevalence of disorders which are commonly assumed to be a consequence of inbreeding and selection for exaggerated features. However, few studies empirically report and rank the prevalence of disorders across breeds although such data are of critical importance in the prioritisation of multiple health concerns, and to provide a baseline against which to explore changes over time. This paper reports an owner survey that gathered disorder information on Kennel Club registered pedigree dogs, regardless of whether these disorders received veterinary care. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of disorders among pedigree dogs overall and, where possible, determine any variation among breeds. Results This study included morbidity data on 43,005 live dogs registered with the Kennel Club. Just under two thirds of live dogs had no reported diseases/conditions. The most prevalent diseases/conditions overall were lipoma (4.3%; 95% confidence interval 4.13-4.52%), skin (cutaneous) cyst (3.1%; 2.94-3.27%) and hypersensitivity (allergic) skin disorder (2.7%; 2.52-2.82%). For the most common disorders in the most represented breeds, 90 significant differences between the within breed prevalence and the overall prevalence are reported. Conclusion The results from this study have added vital epidemiological data on disorders in UK dogs. It is anticipated that these results will contribute to the forthcoming Breed Health & Conservation Plans, a Kennel Club initiative aiming to assist in the identification and prioritisation of breeding selection objectives for health and provide advice to breeders/owners regarding steps that may be taken to minimise the risk of the disease/disorders. Future breed-specific studies are recommended to report more precise prevalence estimates within more breeds

Revisiting νμ(νˉμ)\nu_\mu(\bar\nu_\mu) and νe(νˉe)\nu_e(\bar\nu_e) Induced Quasielastic Scattering from Nuclei in Sub-GeV Energy Region

We present the results of charged current quasielastic(CCQE) scattering cross sections from free as well as bound nucleons like in $^{12}C$, $^{16}O$, $^{40}Ar$ and $^{208}Pb$ nuclear targets in $E_\nu(_{\bar\nu})~\le~$1 GeV energy region. The results are obtained using local Fermi gas model with and without RPA effect. The differences those may arise in the electron and muon production cross sections due to the different lepton mass, uncertainties in the axial dipole mass $M_A$ and pseudoscalar form factor, and due to the inclusion of second class currents have been highlighted for neutrino/antineutrino induced processes.Comment: Published in Journal of the Physical Society of Japan (NuInt-2015

Back Reaction of Hawking Radiation on Black Hole Geometry

We propose a model for the geometry of a dynamical spherical shell in which the metric is asymptotically Schwarzschild, but deviates from Ricci-flatness in a finite neighbourhood of the shell. Hence, the geometry corresponds to a `hairy' black hole, with the hair originating on the shell. The metric is regular for an infalling shell, but it bifurcates, leading to two disconnected Schwarzschild-like spacetime geometries. The shell is interpreted as either collapsing matter or as Hawking radiation, depending on whether or not the shell is infalling or outgoing. In this model, the Hawking radiation results from tunnelling between the two geometries. Using this model, the back reaction correction from Hawking radiation is calculated.Comment: Latex file, 15 pages, 4 figures enclosed, uses eps