Framework for progressive segmentation of chest radiograph for efficient diagnosis of inert regions

Segmentation is one of the most essential steps required to identify the inert object in the chest x-ray. A review with the existing segmentation techniques towards chest x-ray as well as other vital organs was performed. The main objective was to find whether existing system offers accuracy at the cost of recursive and complex operations. The proposed system contributes to introduce a framework that can offer a good balance between computational performance and segmentation performance. Given an input of chest x-ray, the system offers progressive search for similar image on the basis of similarity score with queried image. Region-based shape descriptor is applied for extracting the feature exclusively for identifying the lung region from the thoracic region followed by contour adjustment. The final segmentation outcome shows accurate identification followed by segmentation of apical and costophrenic region of lung. Comparative analysis proved that proposed system offers better segmentation performance in contrast to existing system

Sphinx 4 Speech Recognition in ATC

Speech Recognition plays a very important role in day to day life. Speech Recognition is widely used and addicted by this world as it allows users to communicate with computers by recognizing their spoken language. Communication with Speech Recognition made our lives easy. There are many types of open source Speech Recognition Engine. Different types of application are built using Speech Recognition Engine. An Application is built for Air Traffic Controller. A new Software library with good grammar is proposed according to Air Traffic Controller commands. This Software library is used to build successful working application

Curvelet Transform based Retinal Image Analysis

Edge detection is an important assignment in image processing, as it is used as a primary tool for pattern  recognition, image segmentation and scene analysis.  An edge detector is a high-pass filter that can be applied for extracting the edge points within an image. Edge detection in the spatial domain is  accomplished through convolution with a set of directional derivative masks in this domain. On the other hand, working in the  frequency domain has many advantages, starting from introducing an alternative description to the  spatial representation and providing more efficient and faster computational schemes with less sensitivity  to noise through high filtering, de-noising and compression algorithms. Fourier transforms, wavelet and  curvelet transform are among the most widely used frequency-domain edge detection from satellite  images. However, the Fourier transform is global and poorly adapted to local singularities. Some of  these draw backs are solved by the wavelet transforms especially for singularities detection and  computation. In this paper, the relatively new multi-resolution technique, curvelet transform, is assessed  and introduced to overcome the wavelet transform limitation in directionality and scaling.  In this research paper, the assessment of second generation curvelet transforms as an edge detection tool  will be introduced and compared with first generation cuevelet transform.DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v3i3.245

Evaluation of Retention among Acid-etch and Self-etch Sealants: An in vivo Study

Aim: The aim of the study is to evaluate the retention of fissure sealants following the use of self-etch priming agent and traditional acid-etch method. Materials and methods: Thirty subjects around the age 8 to 12 years old school children was recruited to this study by two dental professionals. Paired lower molars were the principal  unit of analysis. Pit and fissure sealant placement lower molars  followed by traditional acid-etching done on 36 and self-etch primer (3M ESPE) on 46. After 6 months the retention was evaluated using Smales RJ and Wong KC (1999) retention evaluation criteria. The Chi-square test was used to evaluate the difference in the retention rates. Results: The total retention in the self-etch sealant group seems to be high, the difference between the groups was not statistically significant. The chi-square computed value was found to b e c2 = 0.417, df = 1 and p = 0.519. This means that there was no significance difference between the retention rate of self-etch sealant compared to conventional acid-etch technique. Hence, this study conclude that self-etch primer (3M ESPE Adper) is effective in bonding sealant to enamel and that the simplified method dramatically shortens treatment time and treatment complexity

Schedule of Factors Influencing Adherence (SOFIA) to Psychiatric Treatment in Persons with Schizophrenia: Validity and Pilot Testing

Qualitative research has highlighted the complex interplay of multiple factors that preclude persons with schizophrenia in rural Indian settings for discontinued psychiatric treatment. In this context, this paper aims to establish the face and content validities of an interview schedule titled „Schedule of Factors Influencing Adherence (SOFIA) to Psychiatric Treatment in Persons with Schizophrenia‟ which comprehensively assesses factors for discontinued psychiatric treatment and the feasibility of its administration of the schedule. SOFIA contains 16 factors. This schedule involves three phases of interviewing patients and family members. This was given to twelve experts who used likert scales to rate each items wells as the dimensions of the schedule. Later on, fifteen persons with schizophrenia were interviewed with SOFIA to test the feasibility of administration. The results showed that Fourteen items were rated as either satisfactory (score=4) or very much satisfactory (score=5) by all twelve experts; remaining two were rated as 4 or 5 by 11 experts. Regarding comprehensiveness of the factors, scoring methods and general instructions given to the interviewers, all provided scores > 4; regarding method of interviewing, 11 provided score of > 4; with regard to overall interview schedule, all experts provided scores > 4. Pilot testing revealed that it took 60 minutes to administer SOFIA

Comparative analyses of morphological, anatomical and nutritional traits of cotton cultivars in relation to Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae)

Leaf morphology, anatomy and nutritional traits of ten cotton cultivars were correlated with the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) incidence. The cultivars namely, LD 327, P 59, HS 1300 and P 1752 had less incidence of B. tabaci ranging from 1.9-2.8 adults per leaf with higher density of glandular and non-glandular trichomes; in terms of length of trichomes and distance to phloem tissue the cultivar F 2036 had the longest while it was the shortest in LD 327. The latter was also unique in having the thinnest leaf lamina (216 μm) and the least protein content in the leaf (0.40 mg/ml). The cultivars with higher B. tabaci incidence were found to have maximum calcium, chlorine and sodium contents in their leaves, while the cultivars with less incidence had higher magnesium, sulphur and potassium contents. The cultivar LD 327 which showed least incidence of B. tabaci revealed a positive correlation as regards density and length of trichomes, distance to phloem tissue, and sulphur and potassium contents with whitefly incidence

Quantitation of nitrofurantoin in human plasma by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

A reliable, selective and sensitive LC-MS/MS assay has been proposed for the determination of nitrofurantoin in human plasma. The analyte and nitrofurazone were extracted from 100 µL of human plasma via SPE on Strata-X 33 µm extraction cartridges. Chromatography was done on a BDS Hypersil C18 (100 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 µm) column under isocratic conditions. Quantitation was done using the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode for deprotonated precursor to product ion transitions of nitrofurantoin (m/z 237.0 → 151.8) and nitrofurazone (m/z 197.0 →123.9). The limit of detection and the lowest limit of quantitation of the method were 0.25 ng mL–1 and 5.00 ng mL–1, respectively, with a linear dynamic range of 5.00–1500 ng mL–1 for nitrofurantoin. The intra-batch and inter-batch precision (RSD, %) was ≤ 5.8 %, while the mean extraction recovery was > 92 %. The method was successfully applied to a bioequivalence study of a 100 mg nitrofurantoin capsule formulation in 36 healthy subjects

Bionomics and population dynamics of Bemisia tabaci on subabul (Leucaena leucocephala)

Leucaena leucocephala (subabul) has been recently reported as a host plant of the polyphagous whitefly Bemisia tabaci(Gennadius) from India. A study was carried out on the population dynamics of this whitefly on leucaena for two years and it revealed that its populations reached a peak (121.58 and 134.83 adults per two leaves) in September. The spatial distribution pattern revealed that it is always an aggregated dispersion (Taylor’s Power Law) in all the strata but more aggregation in the middle leaves (b = 3.123). Linear association between population and weather factors revealed that maximum and minimum temperature had a significant positive correlation (r = 0.60, 0.54). The sex ratio in the field varied from 1:1.9 to 1:4.9 (male: female).The present observations indicate that incidence of B. tabaci on L. leucocephala, is an adaptation to a suitable host so as to survive during the winter season when the lowest temperature is about 2-4°C

B \to K(K^*) missing energy in Unparticle physics

In the present work we study the effects of an unparticle \unpart as the possible source of missing energy in the decay $B \to K (K^*) + {\rm missing energy}$. We find that the dependence of the differential branching ratio on the $K$($K^*$)-meson's energy in the presence of the vector unparticle operators is very distinctive from that of the SM. Moreover, in using the existing upper bound on $B \to K (K^*) + {\rm missing energy}$ decays, we have been able to put more stringent constraints on the parameters of unparticle stuff.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure