Surface Defect Classification for Hot-Rolled Steel Strips by Selectively Dominant Local Binary Patterns

Developments in defect descriptors and computer vision-based algorithms for automatic optical inspection (AOI) allows for further development in image-based measurements. Defect classification is a vital part of an optical-imaging-based surface quality measuring instrument. The high-speed production rhythm of hot continuous rolling requires an ultra-rapid response to every component as well as algorithms in AOI instrument. In this paper, a simple, fast, yet robust texture descriptor, namely selectively dominant local binary patterns (SDLBPs), is proposed for defect classification. First, an intelligent searching algorithm with a quantitative thresholding mechanism is built to excavate the dominant non-uniform patterns (DNUPs). Second, two convertible schemes of pattern code mapping are developed for binary encoding of all uniform patterns and DNUPs. Third, feature extraction is carried out under SDLBP framework. Finally, an adaptive region weighting method is built for further strengthening the original nearest neighbor classifier in the feature matching stage. The extensive experiments carried out on an open texture database (Outex) and an actual surface defect database (Dragon) indicates that our proposed SDLBP yields promising performance on both classification accuracy and time efficiencyPeer reviewe

Deep Learning Meets Cognitive Radio: Predicting Future Steps

Learning the channel occupancy patterns to reuse the underutilised spectrum frequencies without interfering with the incumbent is a promising approach to overcome the spectrum limitations. In this work we proposed a Deep Learning (DL) approach to learn the channel occupancy model and predict its availability in the next time slots. Our results show that the proposed DL approach outperforms existing works by 5%. We also show that our proposed DL approach predicts the availability of channels accurately for more than one time slot

Volume growth of quasihyperbolic balls

The purpose of this paper is to study the notion of the quasihyperbolic volume and to find growth estimates for the quasihyperbolic volume of balls in a domain $G \subset {\mathbb R}^n\,$ in terms of the radii

Service Interaction Flow Analysis Technique for Service Personalization

Abstract Service interaction flows are difficult to capture, analyze, outline, and represent for research and design purposes. We examine how variation of personalized service flows in technology-mediated service interaction can be modeled and analyzed to provide information on how service personalization could support interaction. We have analyzed service interaction cases in a context of technology-mediated car rental service. With the analysis technique we propose, inspired by Interaction Analysis method, we were able to capture and model the situational service interaction. Our contribution regarding technology-mediated service interaction design is twofold: First, with the increased understanding on the role of personalization in managing variation in technology-mediated service interaction, our study contributes to designing service management information systems and human-computer interfaces that support personalized service interaction flows. Second, we provide a new analysis technique for situated interaction analysis, particularly when the aim is to understand personalization in service interaction flows

Dynamic probabilistic linear discriminant analysis for video classification

Component Analysis (CA) comprises of statistical techniques that decompose signals into appropriate latent components, relevant to a task-at-hand (e.g., clustering, segmentation, classification). Recently, an explosion of research in CA has been witnessed, with several novel probabilistic models proposed (e.g., Probabilistic Principal CA, Probabilistic Linear Discriminant Analysis (PLDA), Probabilistic Canonical Correlation Analysis). PLDA is a popular generative probabilistic CA method, that incorporates knowledge regarding class-labels and furthermore introduces class-specific and sample-specific latent spaces. While PLDA has been shown to outperform several state-of-the-art methods, it is nevertheless a static model; any feature-level temporal dependencies that arise in the data are ignored. As has been repeatedly shown, appropriate modelling of temporal dynamics is crucial for the analysis of temporal data (e.g., videos). In this light, we propose the first, to the best of our knowledge, probabilistic LDA formulation that models dynamics, the so-called Dynamic-PLDA (DPLDA). DPLDA is a generative model suitable for video classification and is able to jointly model the label information (e.g., face identity, consistent over videos of the same subject), as well as dynamic variations of each individual video. Experiments on video classification tasks such as face and facial expression recognition show the efficacy of the proposed metho

Relation between molecular electronic structure and nuclear spin-induced circular dichroism

The recently theoretically described nuclear spin-induced circular dichroism (NSCD) is a promising method for the optical detection of nuclear magnetization. NSCD involves both optical excitations of the molecule and hyperfine interactions and, thus, it offers a means to realize a spectroscopy with spatially localized, high-resolution information. To survey the factors relating the molecular and electronic structure to the NSCD signal, we theoretically investigate NSCD of twenty structures of the four most common nucleic acid bases (adenine, guanine, thymine, cytosine). The NSCD signal correlates with the spatial distribution of the excited states and couplings between them, reflecting changes in molecular structure and conformation. This constitutes a marked difference to the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) chemical shift, which only reflects the local molecular structure in the ground electronic state. The calculated NSCD spectra are rationalized by means of changes in the electronic density and by a sum-over-states approach, which allows to identify the contributions of the individual excited states. Two separate contributions to NSCD are identified and their physical origins and relative magnitudes are discussed. The results underline NSCD spectroscopy as a plausible tool with a power for the identification of not only different molecules, but their specific structures as well.Peer reviewe

Immunoscore in mismatch repair-proficient and -deficient colon cancer

The aim of this study was to investigate immune response and its prognostic significance in colon carcinomas using the previously described Immunoscore (IS). A population-based series of 779 colorectal cancers, operated on between 2000 and 2010, were classified according to tumour, node, metastasis (TNM) status, mismatch repair (MMR), and BRAF mutation status. Rectal cancer cases (n = 203) were excluded as a high proportion of these patients received preoperative neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Tissue microarray (TMA) samples collected from the tumour centre and invasive front were immunostained for CD3 and CD8. Lymphocytes were then digitally calculated to categorize IS from grade 0 to 4. Samples adequate for IS were available from 510 tumours. IS was significantly associated with AJCC/UICC stage, T stage, lymph node and distant metastases, perineural and lymphovascular invasion, MMR status, and BRAF mutation status. For IS0, IS1, IS2, IS3 and IS4, respectively, the 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rates were 59, 68, 78, 83 and 94% (p Peer reviewe

Medical treatment of second-trimester fetal miscarriage; A retrospective analysis

Objectives Research on the treatment of second-trimester miscarriages is scarce. We studied the outcomes, and the factors associated with adverse events and need for hospital resources in the medical treatment of second-trimester miscarriage. Materials and methods In these retrospective analyses we studied women treated for spontaneous fetal miscarriage with misoprostol-only (n = 24) or mifepristone and misoprostol (n = 177) in duration of gestation 12+ 1-21+ 6. Primary outcomes were the risk factors for surgical evacuation and excessive bleeding. Secondary outcomes were total misoprostol dose, time to expulsion and the length of hospital stay. Results History of surgical evacuation of the uterus increased the risk of surgical evacuation (p = 0.027). Excessive bleeding was not associated with any of the studied variables. More misoprostol was needed when the duration of gestation exceeded 17+0 weeks (p = 0.036). In multivariate analysis the time to fetal expulsion was shorter in women with history of 1-2 deliveries (hazard ratio [HR] 1.49, 95% confidence interval [CI]; 1.07-2.07), >= 3 deliveries (HR 1.63, 95% CI; 1.11-2.38) and with a two-day interval between mifepristone-misoprostol administration (HR 1.71, 95% CI; 1.05-2.81). Patients with symptoms (i.e. uterine bleeding or pain) at baseline had longer hospital stay (HR 0.66, 95% CI; 0.47-0.92). Conclusions The factors affecting the outcomes of medical treatment of second-trimester fetal miscarriage are similar to those of second-trimester induced abortion. Two-day interval between mifepristone-misoprostol administration might decrease the time to fetal expulsion and the need of hospital resources.Peer reviewe

A minor role of asparaginase in predisposing to cerebral venous thromboses in adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients

Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) covers up to a third of all venous thromboses (VTs) detected in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). It usually hampers patients' lives and may also endanger efficient leukemia treatment. Although many factors have been suggested to account for an elevated risk of VTs in patients with ALL, there still is a lack of studies focusing on CVTs and especially in the setting of adult ALL patients. We studied in our retrospective population-based cohort the occurrence, characteristics, as well as risk factors for VTs in 186 consecutively diagnosed Finnish adult ALL patients treated with a national pediatric-inspired treatment protocol ALL2000. In the risk factor analyses for VTs we found a distinction of the characteristics of the patients acquiring CVT from those with other kinds of VTs or without thrombosis. In contrast to previous studies we were also able to compare the effects of asparaginase in relation to CVT occurrence. Notably, more than half of the CVTs were diagnosed prior the administration of asparaginase which accentuates the role of other risk factors on the pathophysiology of CVT compared to truncal or central venous line (CVL) VTs in adult ALL patients.Peer reviewe

Primary neuroendocrine breast carcinomas are associated with poor local control despite favourable biological profile : a retrospective clinical study

Background: Breast carcinomas with neuroendocrine features (NEBC) are a very rare entity of mammary neoplasms, WHO classification of which has recently been revised. There are very limited data available about the clinical behaviour and treatment options of NEBC. Methods: We collected retrospectively patients with NEBC from Oulu and Helsinki University Hospitals in 2007-2015. There were 43 NEBC cases during the period. Results: The incidence of NEBC from all breast cancers varied from 0.1% in Helsinki to 1.3% in Oulu. The mean tumor size was 2.2 cm and 23 patients (55.8%) had no lymph node metastases when diagnosed. In total, 4 patients (9.3%) had distant metastases at the time of diagnosis. High estrogen receptor (ER) expression was observed in 41 (97.7%) patients. When non-metastatic NEBC were compared to a prospective set of ductal carcinomas (n = 506), NEBC were more often HER2 negative (p = 0.046), ER positive (p = 0.0062) and the NEBC patients were older (p <0.0005) than patients with ductal carcinomas. Plasma chromogranin A correlated only to higher age at diagnosis (p = 0. 0028). Relapse-free survival (p = 0.0013), disease-free survival (p = 0.024) and overall survival (p = 0.0028) favoured ductal carcinomas compared to NEBC, while no difference was observed in distant disease-free survival or in breast cancer-specific survival. Conclusions: There is remarkable variation in the incidence of NEBC in Finland, which is likely to be explained by differences in the use of neuroendocrine marker immunostainings. Poor local control and worse overall survival may be linked to the more aggressive biology of the disease, despite its association with apparently indolent prognostic factors.Peer reviewe