Aligning 3D time-of-flight MRA datasets for quantitative longitudinal studies: evaluation of rigid registration techniques

Objective

3D Time-of-flight (TOF) magnetic resonance angiography is commonly used for vascular analyses. A quantification of longitudinal morphological changes usually requires the registration of TOF image sequences acquired at different time points. The aim of this study was to evaluate the precision of different 3D rigid registration setups such that an optimal quantification of morphological changes can be achieved.

Methods

Eight different rigid registration techniques were implemented and evaluated in this study using the target registration error (TRE) calculated based on 554 landmarks defined in twenty TOF datasets. The registration techniques differed in integration of brain and vessel segmentation masks and usage of a multi-resolution framework. Furthermore, the benefit of a prior volume-of-interest definition for registration accuracy was evaluated.

Results

The results revealed that the highest registration accuracies can be achieved using a multi-resolution framework and a cerebrovascular segmentation as mask. Numerically, a mean TRE of 1.1 mm was calculated. If applicable, a prior definition of a volume-of-interest allows a reduction of the TRE to only 0.6 mm.

Conclusion

TOF datasets should be registered using vessel segmentations as mask, multi-resolution framework and previous volume-of-interest definition if possible to obtain the highest registration precision. This is especially the case for longitudinal datasets that are separated by several months while the registration technique seems less important for datasets that are only separated by a few days.     

Acoustic emissions from reinforced concrete

Acoustic emissions from reinforced-concrete beams, reinforcing bars and plain concrete cylinders were monitored. Acoustic-emission events were used in a study of source locations, frequency characteristics, and other analytical methods that have found use in the past for evaluating acoustic-emission data in other fields of engineering. Tests were done on reinforced-concrete beams under flexural loading, individual reinforcing bars under pure tension, concrete cylinders under compression, and reinforcing bars subject to pullout tests.The experimental data were first analyzed with conventional acoustic-emission methodology. A critical look at many acoustic-emission techniques currently used in other materials (metals, composites, etc.) demonstrated some of the difficulties of applying the same techniques to reinforced concrete. More importantly, it illustrated the limitations of signal processing and parameter estimation of acoustic-emission events as viable nondestructive-evaluation (NDE) techniques for reinforced-concrete structures. Subsequently, on the basis of the experimental results, some of the more promising aspects of developing acoustic emission into a structural monitoring tool are discussed.     

青藏铁路多年冻土工程地质特征及其评价

青藏高原多年冻土是地质历史时期高海拔寒冷气候条件下的产物,也是青藏铁路建设的三大难题之一;而多年冻土工程地质特征及其评价工作是作出合理、可靠的工程设计的基础。结合青藏铁路沿线多年冻土区的15个地形地貌分区,在青藏铁路多年冻土区选择了70个典型断面进行了地质勘查,采用地质钻探和室内试验相结合的方法,研究了各区的工程地质特征并对其工程地质类型进行了评价。研究表明:青藏铁路多年冻土区冻土类型多样,高含冰量冻土、厚层地下冰广泛分布,不同区段地温差异性较大,工程地质条件复杂多变,良好、一般、不良和极差的工程地质区段交错分布。     

Equivariant Mapping Class Group and Orbit Braid Group

Motivated by the work of Birman about the relationship between mapping class groups and braid groups, the authors discuss the relationship between the orbit braid group and the equivariant mapping class group on the closed surface M with a free and proper group action in this paper. Their construction is based on the exact sequence given by the fibration F₀^GM → F(M/G, n). The conclusion is closely connected with the braid group of the quotient space. Comparing with the situation without the group action, there is a big difference when the quotient space is T².     

陕北榆神府矿区地质环境现状及采煤效应影响预测

以我国西部特大型煤田榆神府矿区为例 ,从环境工程地质学角度分析了该区煤炭资源开发中主要的环境工程地质问题 ,并进行了综合地质环境质量现状和采后变化预测评价。研究结果对该区煤炭资源合理开发宏观决策和规划设计有直接指导意义。     

一阶模糊谓词逻辑公式的区间解释真度理论

通过引进一阶模糊语言变元集赋值的新概念,给出了一阶模糊谓词逻辑(或一阶模糊语言)公式的区间解释真度的定义,并讨论了它们的一系列性质。     

运用ABC系统的先进制造系统经济评价模型

活动为基础的成本计算系统是一种更适应先进制造系统生产特征的成本会计创新模式。本文提出了一种运用ＡＢＣ系统的制造系统经济评价模型，并通过案例说明该模型不但能准确反映先进制造系统使用生产要素的有形成本，而且能充分反映机会成本等无形费用对评价结果的重要影响。     

The Degree and Regularity of Vanishing Ideals of Algebraic Toric Sets Over Finite Fields

Let X* be a subset of an affine space 𝔸 ^s , over a finite field K, which is parameterized by the edges of a clutter. Let X and Y be the images of X* under the maps x → [x] and x → [(x, 1)], respectively, where [x] and [(x, 1)] are points in the projective spaces ? ^s?1 and ? ^s , respectively. For certain clutters and for connected graphs, we were able to relate the algebraic invariants and properties of the vanishing ideals I(X) and I(Y). In a number of interesting cases, we compute its degree and regularity. For Hamiltonian bipartite graphs, we show the Eisenbud–Goto regularity conjecture. We give optimal bounds for the regularity when the graph is bipartite. It is shown that X* is an affine torus if and only if I(Y) is a complete intersection. We present some applications to coding theory and show some bounds for the minimum distance of parameterized linear codes for connected bipartite graphs.     

含砷的铝标准物质的制备和定值

本文叙述了含砷铝标准物质的制备过程和定值结果。采用了间接加入法，以异基体的Cu-As中间合金形态把As加入并均匀分布在铝液中。用制备出的标准物质制作校准曲线，进行光谱分析，其结果与仲裁结果相符。本标准物质与俄罗斯的同类标准物质比对实验表明：本标准物质的主要特性指标达到或超过俄罗斯的水平。本标准物质制备成功，填补了国内无含As铝标准物质的空白，本标准物质可替代同类进口标准物质。     

Complexity bounds for second-order optimality in unconstrained optimization

This paper examines worst-case evaluation bounds for finding weak minimizers in unconstrained optimization. For the cubic regularization algorithm, Nesterov and Polyak (2006) [15] and Cartis et al. (2010) [3] show that at most O(?⁻³) iterations may have to be performed for finding an iterate which is within ? of satisfying second-order optimality conditions. We first show that this bound can be derived for a version of the algorithm, which only uses one-dimensional global optimization of the cubic model and that it is sharp. We next consider the standard trust-region method and show that a bound of the same type may also be derived for this method, and that it is also sharp in some cases. We conclude by showing that a comparison of the bounds on the worst-case behaviour of the cubic regularization and trust-region algorithms favours the first of these methods.