Fast Gravitational Approach for Rigid Point Set Registration with Ordinary Differential Equations

This article introduces a new physics-based method for rigid point set alignment called Fast Gravitational Approach (FGA). In FGA, the source and target point sets are interpreted as rigid particle swarms with masses interacting in a globally multiply-linked manner while moving in a simulated gravitational force field. The optimal alignment is obtained by explicit modeling of forces acting on the particles as well as their velocities and displacements with second-order ordinary differential equations of motion. Additional alignment cues (point-based or geometric features, and other boundary conditions) can be integrated into FGA through particle masses. We propose a smooth-particle mass function for point mass initialization, which improves robustness to noise and structural discontinuities. To avoid prohibitive quadratic complexity of all-to-all point interactions, we adapt a Barnes-Hut tree for accelerated force computation and achieve quasilinear computational complexity. We show that the new method class has characteristics not found in previous alignment methods such as efficient handling of partial overlaps, inhomogeneous point sampling densities, and coping with large point clouds with reduced runtime compared to the state of the art. Experiments show that our method performs on par with or outperforms all compared competing non-deep-learning-based and general-purpose techniques (which do not assume the availability of training data and a scene prior) in resolving transformations for LiDAR data and gains state-of-the-art accuracy and speed when coping with different types of data disturbances.Comment: 18 pages, 18 figures and two table

Sarcoidosis of the Intra- and Extrahepatic Bile Ducts with Concomitant Cholangitis in a Patient with Ulcerative Colitis

Cholangitis in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) can lead to misdiagnosis of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). Furthermore, it can mimic cholangiocellular carcinoma, which also can lead to inappropriate and potentially harmful treatment of the patient. An 18-year-old male patient with known UC presented with pain in his right upper abdomen and elevation of the cholestatic liver enzymes (alkaline phosphatase: 197 U/L, γ-glutamyltransferase: 229 U/L) and increased inflammatory parameters (leukocytosis and CrP of 13.6 mg/L). Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography revealed unclear stenosis in the bifurcation of the main hepatic bile duct as well as in the prepapillary bile duct. Ultrasound (US) examination and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography showed dilatation of the intra -and extrahepatic bile ducts, which raised the suspicion of PSC. US image with dilated intra- and extrahepatic dilatation of the bile duct was also suggestive for autoimmune cholangitis. However, serum analysis revealed an elevated soluble interleukin-II receptor (1,305 U/mL), while immunoglobulin G4 was within normal ranges. Liver biopsy demonstrated hepatic inflammation and presence of granulomatous cells within the portal fields – convenient to sarcoidosis. After starting treatment with steroids, we observed a rapid clinical response with improvement of the dilated bile ducts and decrease of the initially elevated cholestatic liver enzymes. Sarcoidosis within the bile duct is a rare condition. Steroids are the treatment of choice and – along with the histology – are furthermore helpful to differentiate between several potential differential diagnoses like IgG4 cholangitis, primary biliary cholangitis, or PSC

Toprak akifer arıtım sistemleri ile evsel atıksu kalitesinin iyileştirilmesi

TÜBİTAK YDABÇAG Proje31.05.2001Toprak Akifer Arıtım Sistemi (TAAS) atıksuyun iyileştirilmesi ve yelden kullanılmasında uygulanabilir bir seçenek olarak kullanılmaktadır. Bu çalışmada üç ade: 1 m yüksekliğindeki ve 0.15 m çapındaki toprak kolonu (kumlu killi tın, SCL; tınlı kum, LS; ve kumlu tın, SL) TAAS'nin proses performansını simule etmek için kullanılmıştır. Bu çalışmadaki sistem girdileri: hidrolik yükleme hızı ve havalandırma iken sistem çıktıları inflitrasyon hızı; Çözünmüş Organik Karbon, Kimyasal Oksijen İhtiyacı, Amonyak, Nitrit, Nitrat ve Toplam Fosfor giderimleridir. Toprakların hidrolik durumu ise topraktaki su basıncının tensiyometre/manometer düzeneğiyle ölçülmesi sonucunda belirlenmektedir. Kolon profilindeki Çözünmüş Oksijen ve üst topraktaki toplam organik içerik ölçülerek biyolojik etkinlik izlenmiştir. Kolonlarda kullanılan topraklar kum ve Ankara Gölbaşı'ndan alınan ince bünyeli doğal toprak örneği karıştırılarak hazırlanmıştır. Çalışmada giriş suyu olarak Ankara Merkezi Atıksu Arıtma Tesisi'nden alınan birincil ve ikincil arıtım çıkış suları kullanılmıştır. Çalışmanın ilk basamağı toprak kolonların oyunlaştırılmasıdır. Birincil ve sentetik atıksu bu amaçla kullanılmıştır. İkinci basamak ise üç değişik işletim programının uygulanmasıdır: 7 gün ıslak/7 gün kuru, 3 gün ıslak/4 gün kuru döngüleri ve düşük hız infiltrasyon. SCL ve LS toprakları Kimyasal Oksijen İhtiyacı gideriminde 3 gün ıslak/ 4 gün kuru döngüleri sırasında düşük hızlı infiltrasyona oranla daha yüksek verim sağlamışlardır. Giriş suyunun Kimyasal Oksijen İhtiyacı 25 mg/I'nin altına düştüğünde kolonların Kimyasal verimlerinin önemli Oksijen İhtiyacı giderim verimlerinin önemli oranda azaldığı gözlemlenmiştir. 7 gün ıslak/7 gün kuru döngüler, 3 gün ıslak/ 4 gün kuru döngülerine oranla daha yüksek nitrat giderimi sağlamıştır. LS ve SL toprakları SCL toprağına oranla daha yüksek oranda toplam fosfor gidermiştir. TAAS nin Türkiyede kullanılma potansiyeli mevcut olup, uygun bölgelerde pilot ölçekli uygulamalara en kısa sürede geçilmesi önerilmektedir

Nitrite and nitrate removal efficiencies of soil aquifer treatment columns

Bench-scale soil column experiments were performed to examine the effects of soil type and infiltration conditions on the removal efficiencies of wastewater nitrites and nitrates during the biological ripening phase of soil aquifer treatment (SAT) columns. SAT was simulated in three 1-m-high soil columns packed with 3 different natural agricultural soils having sandy clay loam (SCL), loamy sand (LS) and sandy loam (SL) textures. All columns were equipped with tensiometers and soil-water sampling ports, and received secondary effluent from a wastewater treatment plant with a conventional biological treatment system. Soil columns were ponded with wastewater to a depth of 2.5 cm above the soil surface and operated under 2 different alternating wet and dry cycles, 7 days wet/7 days dry and 3 days wet/4 days dry. The effect of wetting and drying periods on SAT nitrogen removal performance was assessed comparing nitrite and nitrate removal rates of 7 days wetting/7 days drying and 3 days wetting/4 days drying cycles. Infiltration rate and the length of wetting period were important parameters affecting nitrogen removal efficiency of SAT columns. Denitrification performance of the columns decreased significantly when the infiltration schedule was switched from 7 days wetting/7 days drying to 3 days wetting/4 days drying cycles. LS soil operated with 7 days wetting/7 days drying cycles had the highest (95%) nitrogen removal performance. SCL and SL soils can be operated under both 7 days wetting/ 7 days drying cycles and 3 days wetting/4 days drying cycles to meet the denitrification/nitrification requirements of SAT. © Tübi̇tak

Using structure of automata for faster synchronizing heuristics

The problem of finding a synchronizing sequence for an automaton is an interesting problem studied widely in the literature. Finding a shortest synchronizing sequence is an NP-Hard problem. Therefore, there are heuristics to find short synchronizing sequences. Some heuristics work fast but produce long synchronizing sequences, whereas some heuristics work slow but produce relatively shorter synchronizing sequences. In this paper we propose a method for using these heuristics by considering the connectedness of automata. Applying the proposed approach of using these heuristics make the heuristics work faster than their original versions, without sacrificing the quality of the synchronizing sequences

TRANSPEDİKÜLER YAKLAŞIMLA TEDAVİ EDİLEN KALSİFİYE TORASİK DİSK HERNİLERİNiN KLİNİK SONUÇLARI

Giriş: Semptomatik torakal disk hernileri oldukça nadir görülmesi, farklı klinik durumlarla ortaya çıkması, ortak kabul edilebilir bir cerrahi endikasyonu olmaması ve farklı cerrahi girişimlerin olması nedeniyle tedavisi zor bir patolojidir. Biz bu çalışmada kalsifiye torakal disk hernili olgu serimizi ve sonuçlarını sunduk.Hasta ve Yöntemler: Bu geriye dönük çalışmada 2008-2013 yılları arasında torakal disk hernisi nedeniyle ameliyat edilmiş olgular incelendi. Bilgiler, temel demografik veriler, klinik bulgular, sonuçlar, ameliyat notları ve komplikasyon bilgilerini içeren hasta dosyalarından elde edildi.Sonuçlar: 10 olgunun 6'sı bayan, 4'ü erkekti (yaşları ortalaması 35,6 yıl olup 22-58 arasındaydı). Ortalama takip süresi 28,1 aydır . Bütün olgular transpediküler yaklaşımla ameliyat edildi ve 7 olguya posterior transpediküler fiksasyon uygulandı. Preoperatif dönemde 3 olguda Nurick skoru 1 iken, iki olguda 2, üç olguda 3 ve 2 olguda 4 olarak tespit edildi. Cerrahi tedavi tüm olgularda yeterli iyileşme ve Nurick skorlarında düzelme sağladı (%100). Beş olguda Nurick skoru 0 olurken 5 olguda 1 olarak tespit edildi. Ortalama Nurick skoru 2,5 dan 0,5 e iyileşti. Sonuç: Kalsifiye torakal disk hernilerinin cerrahisinde çelişkiler mevcuttur. Cerrahideki amaç seçilecek yöntemle spinal kortta herhangi bir manipülasyona neden olmadan nöral elemanları dekompresyonudur. Uygun şekilde tanı konup tedavi edildiğinde başarılı sonuçlar alınabilirIntroduction: Symptomatic thoracic disc herniations are relatively rare and challenging due to wide variety of clinical presentations, lack of consensus on surgical indications and variety of surgical approaches. Our objective was to describe our series of calcified thoracic disc herniations and outcomes.Materials and Methods: A retrospective cohort study of 10 patients with calcified TDH operated between 2008 and 2013. Data were collected from review of patients’ notes and radiological studies and included basic demographic data and clinical presentation and outcome, operative procedure and complications. 10 patients, including 6 males and 4 females (mean age 35.6 years, range 22-58 years). The mean follow-up was 28.1 months . All patients were operated by transpedicular approach and in 7 patients posterior transpedicular stabilization was performed.Results: In the preoperative period three patients were Nurick grade 1, two patients were grade 2, three patients were grade 3 and two patients were grade 4. Surgical treatment obtained satisfactory results and the Nurick grade improved in all of the patients (100 %). Five patients’ symptoms turned out to be Nurick grade 0 and five patients turned out to be grade 1. The mean Nurick grade improved from 2.4 to 0.5. Conclusion: Calcified TDHs remains a surgical challenge. The goal of the surgery is to decompress the neural elements without any manipulation of the spinal cord apart from the choice of surgical technique. When adequately diagnosed and treated, satisfactory results can be achieve

Eighth Istanbul symposium on pediatric extracorporeal life support systems and pediatric cardiopulmonary perfusion

To improve the outcomes of pediatric extracorporeal life support (ECLS) and cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) procedures in Turkey, we have established a series of conferences, called “Istanbul Symposiums.” Since the first symposium in June of 2011, we have organized seven additional symposiums in Istanbul (1–3). The objective of this editorial is to share the latest results on pediatric ECLS and CPB patients with the Artificial Organs community

grepthat/libOpenDRIVE: v0.5.0

What's Changed fix: include missing header by @hsynydn in https://github.com/grepthat/libOpenDRIVE/pull/68 Export target; Add installation of library / public headers by @m0uH in https://github.com/grepthat/libOpenDRIVE/pull/70 Add support for signals and lane validity records by @pranavashok in https://github.com/grepthat/libOpenDRIVE/pull/76 Feature: add signal mesh creation by @michikommader in https://github.com/grepthat/libOpenDRIVE/pull/8