Quantitative combination of volumetric MR imaging and MR spectroscopy data for the discrimination of meningiomas from metastatic brain tumors by means of pattern recognition

The analysis of information derived from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS) has been identified as an important indicator for discriminating among different brain pathologies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficiency of the combination of textural MRI features and MRS metabolite ratios by means of a pattern recognition system in the task of discriminating between meningiomas and metastatic brain tumors. The data set consisted of 40 brain MR image series and their corresponding spectral data obtained from patients with verified tumors. The pattern recognition system was designed employing the support vector machines classifier with radial basis function kernel; the system was evaluated using an external cross validation process to render results indicative of the generalization performance to “unknown” cases. The combination of MR textural and spectroscopic features resulted in 92.15% overall accuracy in discriminating meningiomas from metastatic brain tumors. The fusion of the information derived from MRI and MRS data might be helpful in providing clinicians a useful second opinion tool for accurate characterization of brain tumors.     

Combined land-use and water allocation planning

A general framework for a combined land use and water management is described. An optimization problem is formulated that combines combinatorial and spatial characteristics. The aim of the planning is to maximize economic benefit, while minimizing water extraction and transportation cost under ecological constraints. A genetic algorithm is employed endowed with a new neighborhood operator. This operator acts on a local level, but it produces global results. Although the computational scheme does not include compactness as a separate objective, compact patterns are produced as emergent results. The algorithm is tested on a fictive area represented as a grid with 15×15 land blocks and, also, on a real-world case study.     

Sequential monitoring of a Bernoulli sequence when the pre-change parameter is unknown

The task of monitoring for a change in the mean of a sequence of Bernoulli random variables has been widely studied. However most existing approaches make at least one of the following assumptions, which may be violated in many real-world situations: (1) the pre-change value of the Bernoulli parameter is known in advance, (2) computational efficiency is not paramount, and (3) enough observations occur between change points to allow asymptotic approximations to be used. We develop a novel change detection method based on Fisher’s exact test which does not make any of these assumptions. We show that our method can be implemented in a computationally efficient manner, and is hence suited to sequential monitoring where new observations are constantly being received over time. We assess our method’s performance empirically via using simulated data, and find that it is comparable to the optimal CUSUM scheme which assumes both pre- and post-change values of the parameter to be known.     

An experimental and theoretical study of butyl methacrylate in situ radical polymerization kinetics in the presence of graphene oxide nanoadditive

The butyl methacrylate radical polymerization kinetics in the presence of graphene oxide nanoadditive is studied both experimentally and theoretically. The experimental study includes the formation of graphite oxide from the oxidation of graphite and its subsequent transformation to graphene oxide (GO) after ultrasonication and in situ polymerization. Monomer conversion versus time was monitored gravimetrically at various reaction temperatures and initial GO fractions. Formation of GO was verified by X‐ray diffraction spectra and the number and weight average molecular weights of the final polymer were obtained from GPC measurements. A detailed theoretical kinetic model was further developed. The model predictions were found to be in satisfactory agreement with the experimental data. The presence of GO was found to result in reduced initiator efficiency verified theoretically and explained through side reactions of primary radicals. Finally, nanocomposites showed enhanced thermal stability compared to neat PBMA. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017 , 55, 1433–1441     

Effect of counterions on the thermotropic and thermochromic properties of ionic liquid crystals

Novel liquid crystal materials based on 1-alkyl-4-[5-(dodecylsulphanyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl]pyridinium and bearing bromide, alkyl sulphate or bis(2-ethylhexyl)sulphosuccinate counterions were prepared. Their thermotropic and thermochromic properties were characterized and compared. It was established that the majority of these compounds exhibited SmA mesophases. The observation of thermochromic properties for certain of the compounds is considered to be the consequence of the existence of a charge-transfer complex between the pyridinium cation and its counterion.     

OBSERVATIONS ON THE SYNTHESIS AND in vivo PHOTODYNAMIC ACTIVITY OF SOME BENZOCHLORINS

An improved synthesis of benzochlorins is reported. Demetallation of the meso-hydroxymethylvinyl derivative of octaethylporphyrin, followed by treatment with sulfuric acid results in cyclization to generate the corresponding octaethylbenzochlorin in high yield. Prolonged treatment with acid generates the sulfonated derivative. These sensitizers were shown to be efficient photodynamic agents in vivo. Animals bearing a transplanted N-[4-(5-nitro-2-furyl)-2-thiazoly]formamide induced urothelial tumor were treated with either the benzochlorin or its sulfonated derivative. Irradiation of tumors 24 h later resulted in a significant tumoricidal effect in a short term assay. We conclude that benzochlorins warrant further examination as potential agents for use in photodynamic therapy.     

A technique for speeding up the solution of the Lagrangean dual

We propose techniques for the solution of the LP relaxation and the Lagrangean dual in combinatorial optimization and nonlinear programming problems. Our techniques find the optimal solution value and the optimal dual multipliers of the LP relaxation and the Lagrangean dual in polynomial time using as a subroutine either the Ellipsoid algorithm or the recent algorithm of Vaidya. Moreover, in problems of a certain structure our techniques find not only the optimal solution value, but the solution as well. Our techniques lead to significant improvements in the theoretical running time compared with previously known methods (interior point methods, Ellipsoid algorithm, Vaidya's algorithm). We use our method to the solution of the LP relaxation and the Langrangean dual of several classical combinatorial problems, like the traveling salesman problem, the vehicle routing problem, the Steiner tree problem, thek-connected problem, multicommodity flows, network design problems, network flow problems with side constraints, facility location problems,K-polymatroid intersection, multiple item capacitated lot sizing problem, and stochastic programming. In all these problems our techniques significantly improve the theoretical running time and yield the fastest way to solve them.     

Artificial compressibility, characteristics-based schemes for variable density, incompressible, multi-species flows. Part I. Derivation of different formulations and constant density limit

The paper presents various formulations of characteristics-based schemes in the framework of the artificial-compressibility method for variable-density incompressible flows. In contrast to constant-density incompressible flows, where the characteristics-based variables reconstruction leads to a single formulation, in the case of variable density flows three different schemes can be obtained henceforth labeled as: transport, conservative and hybrid schemes. The conservative scheme results in pseudo-compressibility terms in the (multi-species) density reconstruction. It is shown that in the limit of constant density, the transport scheme becomes the (original) characteristics-based scheme for incompressible flows, but the conservative and hybrid schemes lead to a new characteristics-based variant for constant density flows. The characteristics-based schemes are combined with second and third-order interpolation for increasing the computational accuracy locally at the cell faces of the control volume. Numerical experiments for constant density flows reveal that all the characteristics-based schemes result in the same flow solution, but they exhibit different convergence behavior. The multigrid implementation and numerical studies for variable density flows are presented in Part II of this study.     

Generalized layerwise mechanics for the static and modal response of delaminated composite beams with active piezoelectric sensors

A coupled linear layerwise laminate theory and a beam FE are formulated for analyzing delaminated composite beams with piezoactuators and sensors. The model assumes zig-zag fields for the axial displacements and the electric potential and it treats the discontinuities in the displacement fields due to the delaminations as additional degrees of freedom. The formulation naturally includes the excitation of piezoelectric actuators, their interactions with the composite laminate, and the effect of delamination on the predicted sensory voltage. The quasistatic and modal response of laminated composite Gr/Epoxy beams with active or sensory layers having various delamination sizes is predicted. The numerical results illustrate the strong effect of delamination on the sensor voltage, on through the thickness displacement and on the stress fields. Finally, the effect of delamination on modal frequencies and shapes are predicted and compared with previously obtained experimental results.