Critical issues in breast imaging by vibro-acoustography

Clinically, there are two important issues in breast imaging: detection of microcalcifications and identification of mass lesions. X-ray mammography is the main imaging method used for detection of microcalcification, and ultrasound imaging is normally used for detection of mass lesions in breast. Both these methods have limitations that reduce their clinical usefulness. For this reasons, alternative breast imaging modalities are being sought. vibro-acoustography is an imaging modality that has emerged in recent years. This method is based on low-frequency harmonic vibrations induced in the object by the radiation force of ultrasound. This paper describes potential applications of vibro-acoustography for breast imaging and addresses the critical imaging issues such as detection of microcalcifications and mass lesions in breast. Recently, we have developed a vibro-acoustography system for in vivo breast imaging and have tested it on a number of volunteers. Resulting images show soft tissue structures and calcifications within breast with high contrast, high resolution, and no speckles. The results have been verified using X-ray mammography. The encouraging results from in vitro and in vivo experiments suggest that further development of vibro-acoustography technology may lead to a new clinical tool that can be used to detect microcalcifications as well as mass lesions in breast.     

Molecular emission cavity analysis: Part 20. Indirect determination of amines by their reaction with the formaldehyde—sulphite addition compound

Aromatic and aliphatic amines and hydrazine in the range 1–30 × lO^-5 M are determined by measuring the S₂ emission in a carbon cavity held in a hydrogen—nitrogen flame arising from the formation of an addition compound between the amine, formaldehyde and sulphite. As little as 1.8 ng of aniline in 5 μl (4 × 10^-6 M) can be detected.     

Simultaneous kinetic determination of sulfite and sulfide using artificial neural networks

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are proposed for the determination of sulfite and sulfide simultaneously. The method is based on the reaction between Brilliant Green (BG) as a colored reagent and sulfite and/or sulfide in buffered solution (pH 7.0) and monitoring the changes of absorbance at maximum wavelength of 628 nm. Experimental conditions such as pH, reagents concentrations, and temperature were optimized and training the network was performed using principal components (PCs) of the original data. The network architecture (number of input, hidden and output nodes), and some parameters such as learning rate (η) and momentum (α) were also optimized for getting satisfactory results with minimum errors. The measuring range was 0.05-3.6 μg ml⁻¹ for both analytes. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the quantification of the sulfite and sulfide in different water samples.     

Nonlinear total variation based noise removal algorithms

A constrained optimization type of numerical algorithm for removing noise from images is presented. The total variation of the image is minimized subject to constraints involving the statistics of the noise. The constraints are imposed using Lanrange multipliers. The solution is obtained using the gradient-projection method. This amounts to solving a time dependent partial differential equation on a manifold determined by the constraints. As t → ∞ the solution converges to a steady state which is the denoised image. The numerical algorithm is simple and relatively fast. The results appear to be state-of-the-art for very noisy images. The method is noninvasive, yielding sharp edges in the image. The technique could be interpreted as a first step of moving each level set of the image normal to itself with velocity equal to the curvature of the level set divided by the magnitude of the gradient of the image, and a second step which projects the image back onto the constraint set.     

A new genetic approach to construct near-optimal binary search trees

Many definitive and approximate methods have been so far proposed for the construction of an optimal binary search tree. One such method is the use of evolutionary algorithms with satisfactorily improved cost efficiencies. This paper will propose a new genetic algorithm for making a near-optimal binary search tree. In this algorithm, a new greedy method is used for the crossover of chromosomes while a new way is also developed for inducing mutation in them. Practical results show a rapid and desirable convergence towards the near-optimal solution. The use of a heuristic to create not so costly chromosomes as the first offspring, the greediness of the crossover, and the application of elitism in the selection of future generation chromosomes are the most important factors leading to near-optimal solutions by the algorithm at desirably high speeds. Due to the practical results, increasing problem size does not cause any considerable difference between the solution obtained from the algorithm and exact solution.     

Photodesorption of alkali anions from alkali-halide cluster anions

Using photoelectron spectroscopy, we have observed alkali anion photodesorption from alkali-halide cluster anions that contain two weakly bound electrons. In the alkali iodides, we have found this type of desorption in almost every (MI)(n)M- cluster we have studied (M=Na, K, Cs; n<9), although it depends on the probe laser frequency and cluster temperature. Using pump-probe techniques, we have shown that the process occurs on a picosecond time scale by way of an electronic excitation of the cluster's spin-paired electrons.     

Observation of optically induced feshbach resonances in collisions of cold atoms

We have observed optically induced Feshbach resonances in a cold ( <1 mK) sodium vapor. The optical coupling of the ground and excited-state potentials changes the scattering properties of an ultracold gas in much the same way as recently observed magnetically induced Feshbach resonances, but allows for some experimental conveniences associated with using lasers. The scattering properties can be varied by changing either the intensity or the detuning of a laser tuned near a photoassociation transition to a molecular state in the dimer. In principle this method allows the scattering length of any atomic species to be altered. A simple model is used to fit the dispersive resonance line shapes.     

Simultaneous determination of ferric, ferrous and total iron by extraction differential pulse polarography: application to the speciation of iron in rocks

The voltammetric characteristics of Fe(III) oxinate at a mercury electrode, in the presence of 0.2 M tributylammonium perchlorate (tri-BAP) and 0.2 M tributylamine (tri-BA) as the supporting electrolyte have been studied in chloroform. With this supporting electrolyte a two electron quasi-reversible process for the reduction of Fe(III) oxinate was observed. Preceded by a solvent extraction of Fe(III) oxinate in chloroform, differential pulse polarography (DP) was used for the determination of iron. The calibration graph was linear over the concentration range 0.5–50 μM Fe(III) oxinate in chloroform and the detection limit was 1.5 μM. The proposed DP method has been used for the determination of ferric, ferrous and total iron in a mixture and successfully applied to the speciation of iron in rocks.     

All-optical half adder based on photonic crystals for BPSK signals

Optical and Quantum Electronics - This paper aims at first deriving the general forms of the electromagnetic vector and scalar potentials inside a cylindrical wave-guide by placing a 3D-charged...