Ancillary Information Research Articles

Clinical significance of perifissural nodules in the oncologic population

PurposeTo evaluate for stability of perifissural nodules (PFNs) in a dedicated oncologic population. MethodsA retrospective review of 500 computed tomography (CT) chests from oncologic patients at our tertiary care cancer center with at least a three year follow up yielded 76 patients with PFNs. Patients with metastases on baseline CT chest were excluded (n = 14) as the presence of a PFN would not be clinically relevant, thus our final patient cohort was 62 patients with a total of 112 PFNs. PFN features, clinical features, and ancillary information was recorded from the CT and the electronic medical record for all patients. The two patient cohorts—stable or decreased PFN vs. increased PFN—were then compared. Results112 PFNs were examined in 62 patients with a median follow up interval of 5.7 years. Of 62 patients, 59 (95.2%, 95% CI: 86.5, 99.0) had decreased/stable PFNs on follow up scan (median follow up 5.6 years) and 3 (4.8%, 95% CI: 1.0, 13.5%) had enlarged PFNs (median follow up 6.3 years). None of the PFN features, clinical features, nor ancillary information from the CT proved to be statistically significant. ConclusionsDespite the lack of statistically significant distinguishing features to predict growth, our results are reassuring, since the majority of PFNs in our oncology patients were decreased or unchanged in size which is comparable to previously published data on PFNs in non-oncologic patients. Thus, we can similarly presume these nodules are most likely benign and can provide reassurance to our oncologic colleagues and our patients. Larger studies are warranted to further evaluate PFNs in the oncologic population which also examines the nodules by cancer type.

The oncogenic role of hepatitis delta virus in hepatocellular carcinoma.

SummaryHepatitis delta virus (HDV) is a small defective virus that needs hepatitis B virus (HBV) to replicate and propagate. HDV infection affects 20-40 million people worldwide and pegylated interferon (PegIFN) is the only recommended therapy. There is limited data on the contribution of HDV infection to HBV-related liver disease or liver cancer. Evidence from retrospective and cohort studies suggests that HBV/HDV coinfection accelerates progression to cirrhosis and is associated with an increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development compared to HBV monoinfection. Although the life cycle of HDV is relatively well known, there is only ancillary information on the molecular mechanisms that can drive specific HDV-related oncogenesis. No thorough reports on the specific landscape of mutations or molecular classes of HDV-related HCC have been published. This information could be critical to better understand the uniqueness, if any, of HDV-related HCC and help identify novel targetable mutations. Herein, we review the evidence supporting an oncogenic role of HDV, the main reported mechanisms of HDV involvement and their impact on HCC development.

Planning lunar observations for satellite missions in low-Earth orbit

For Earth-observing satellites in low-Earth orbit, radiometric calibration of the sensors on-orbit is critical for maintaining consistent Earth-view (EV) retrievals as the mission progresses. Many of these satellite instruments use on-board calibration targets, EV sites, and observations of celestial targets in order to perform the sensor characterization. Among the celestial targets, the Moon is widely used across a range of Earth-observing instruments in order to perform radiometric calibration, spatial characterization, and sensor intercomparison. Since many of these instruments use satellite maneuvers in order to bring the Moon into view at a desired time, calculating the time and geometric parameters of the observations is vital for mission planning purposes. We develop a simple tool for planning such observations of the Moon and other celestial targets for instruments in low-Earth orbit based on the SPICE toolkit developed by the Navigation and Ancillary Information Facility at NASA. Given a set of satellite orbital data along with a definition of the instrument coordinates, the tool is designed to provide the timing of observations for an arbitrary view-port direction and a maneuver along an arbitrary axis relative to the spacecraft. The tool can be tested versus known lunar observations for the Aqua and Terra moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer and the Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20 visible infrared imaging radiometer suite instruments for both roll and pitch maneuvers. We also perform simulations of lunar observations for different instrument configurations, orbits, and maneuver types in order to analyze the change in the potential lunar observations. Finally, we show a simple extension of the tool which can be used for identifying planet and star observations.

Specifications of Cartographic Symbols for Indonesian Tactile Map

Visual impairment people require a means of information transfer which different from normal people, it needs to be touched or amplified by audio, including maps that apprise them of the objects and events occurring on Earth. Cartographic Sciences have developed tactile maps that offers touchable symbols for supporting blind and partially sighted people in recognizing the spatial distribution of geographical phenomena and their intercorrelation. Creating an informative tactile maps need a specific design of symbol, ancillary information, and map reproduction that meets the need and the capacity of its users. Unfortunately, there has been no international standardization for these map features that could be used as a foundation to build a standardization for our national tactile map. Therefore, this research adopted and modified the designs of tactile symbols published by the National Mapping Council of Australia, the Guidelines for Design of Tactile Graphics by American Printing House, the use of tactile variables by Vasconcellos, the Specifications of Topographic Elements Mapping by Bakosurtanal, and the application of visual variables of Bertin for cartographic mapping. The resultant symbol designs from the modification were applied to develop the tactile maps of Yogyakarta City on swell paper. Then, through interviews with map users (visually impaired people in the city), we evaluated these symbols from two aspects, comprehension of tactile variables and the types of the tactile maps required.

Automated Coregistration of Multisensor Orthophotos Generated from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Platforms

Image coregistration is a key preprocessing step to ensure the effective application of very-high-resolution (VHR) orthophotos generated from multisensor images acquired from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms. The most accurate method to align an orthophoto is the installation of air-photo targets at a test site prior to flight image acquisition, and these targets were used as ground control points (GCPs) for georeferencing and georectification. However, there are time and cost limitations related to installing the targets and conducting field surveys on the targets during every flight. To address this problem, this paper presents an automated coregistration approach for orthophotos generated from VHR images acquired from multisensors mounted on UAV platforms. Spatial information from the orthophotos, provided by the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) at each image’s acquisition time, is used as ancillary information for phase correlation-based coregistration. A transformation function between the multisensor orthophotos is then estimated based on conjugate points (CPs), which are locally extracted over orthophotos using the phase correlation approach. Two multisensor datasets are constructed to evaluate the proposed approach. These visual and quantitative evaluations confirm the superiority of the proposed method.

Towards an empirical model to estimate the spatial variability of grapevine phenology at the within field scale

The aim of this study is to propose an empirical spatial model to estimate the spatial variability of grapevine phenology at the within-field scale. This spatial model allows the characterization of the spatial variability of a given variable of the fields through a single measurement performed in the field (reference site) and a combination of site-specific coefficients calculated through historical information. This approach was compared to classical approaches requiring extensive sampling and phenology models based on climatic data, which do not consider the spatial variability of the field. The study was conducted on two fields of Vitis vinifera, one of cv Cabernet Sauvignon (CS, 1.56 ha) and the other one of cv Chardonnay (CH, 1.66 ha) located in Maule Valley, Chile. Date of occurrence of grapevine phenology (budburst, flowering and veraison) were observed at the within field level following a regular sampling grid during 4 seasons for cv CS and 2 seasons for cv CH. The best results were obtained with the devised spatial model in almost all cases, with a Root Mean Square Errors (RMSE) lower than 3 days. However, if the variability of phenology is low, the traditional method of sampling could lead to better results. This study is the first step towards a modeling of the spatial variability of grapevine phenology at the within-field scale. To be fully operational in commercial vineyards, the calibration process needs simplification, for example, using low cost, inexpensive ancillary information to zone vineyards according to grapevine phenology.

Detection of lateral discontinuities via surface waves analysis: A case study at a derelict industrial site

We applied a multi-offset surface wave analysis (MOPA) to detect subsoil lateral heterogeneities at a dismissed industrial site along the coast of the city of Trieste (Italy). The site is heavily contaminated and is undergoing characterization in view of possible remediation and re-use. Sea/land interactions and massive anthropic interventions make the site particularly complex. The main lateral heterogeneities consist of an extended buried quay, which also divides continental and marine sediments. We used seismic surface waves to define this contact, while also using supporting data from boreholes and geo-electrical surveys. A multi-offset phase and attenuation analysis was conducted on a few seismic lines, and produced clear evidence concerning the sought heterogeneities. Field data interpretation was corroborated also by ancillary information, and by synthetic modeling, that produced seismograms totally consistent with the recorded ones. In summary, the case study demonstrates how MOPA can be applied in a straightforward manner to define heterogeneities even at a very small spatial scale, and in complex environments such as derelict industrial sites.

Improving the Predictive Validity of Reading Comprehension Using Response Times of Correct Item Responses

ABSTRACT Response times have often been used as ancillary information to improve parameter estimation. Under the dual processing theory, assuming reading comprehension requires an automatic process, a fast, correct response is an indicator of effective automatic processing. A skilled, automatic comprehender should be high in response accuracy and low in response times. Following this argument, several questions were addressed in this study. First, individuals with higher ability endorsed a correct response more quickly in the reading comprehension assessment, suggesting correct response times provide useful information in discriminating individuals of different abilities. Second, in terms of predicting an external criterion of reading proficiency, the increment of predictive validity of categorized correct response times was larger than the incremental validity of continuous response times based on both correct and incorrect response times. An index reflecting both accuracy and response time yielded higher incremental validity than indices reflecting response time only. Results support response time as manifesting a dimension of interest in its own right, over its inclusion as an ancillary dimension in a multidimensional model.

Is Accurate Synoptic Altimetry Achievable by Means of Interferometric GNSS-R?

This paper evaluates the capability of interferometric global navigation satellite system reflectometry (GNSS-R) to perform sea surface altimetry in a synoptic scenario. Such purpose, which requires the combination of the results from different GNSS signals, constitutes a unique characteristic of this approach. Interferometric GNSS-R group delay altimetry has been proven to be more precise than conventional GNSS-R. However, the self-consistency and accuracy of their synoptic solutions (simultaneous multi-static results) have never been proved before. In our work, we analyze a dataset of GNSS signals reflected off the Baltic Sea acquired during an airborne campaign using a receiver that was developed for such a purpose. Among other features, it enables beamformer capability in post-processing to get multiple and simultaneous GNSS signals under the interferometric approach’s restrictions. In particular, the signals from two GPS and two Galileo satellites, at two frequency bands (L1 and L5), covering an elevation range between 28° and 83°, are processed to retrieve sea surface height estimations. The results obtained are self-consistent among the different GNSS signals and data tracks, with discrepancies between 0.01 and 0.26 m. Overall, they agree with ancillary information at 0.40 m level, following a characteristic height gradient present at the experimental site.

A comprehensive overview of biometric fusion

The performance of a biometric system that relies on a single biometric modality (e.g., fingerprints only) is often stymied by various factors such as poor data quality or limited scalability. Multibiometric systems utilize the principle of fusion to combine information from multiple sources in order to improve recognition accuracy whilst addressing some of the limitations of single-biometric systems. The past two decades have witnessed the development of a large number of biometric fusion schemes. This paper presents an overview of biometric fusion with specific focus on three questions: what to fuse, when to fuse, and how to fuse. A comprehensive review of techniques incorporating ancillary information in the biometric recognition pipeline is also presented. In this regard, the following topics are discussed: (i) incorporating data quality in the biometric recognition pipeline; (ii) combining soft biometric attributes with primary biometric identifiers; (iii) utilizing contextual information to improve biometric recognition accuracy; and (iv) performing continuous authentication using ancillary information. In addition, the use of information fusion principles for presentation attack detection and multibiometric cryptosystems is also discussed. Finally, some of the research challenges in biometric fusion are enumerated. The purpose of this article is to provide readers a comprehensive overview of the role of information fusion in biometrics.

LOFAR observations of the XMM-LSS field

We present observations of the XMM Large-Scale Structure (XMM-LSS) field observed with the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) at 120–168 MHz. Centred at a J2000 declination of −4.5°, this is a challenging field to observe with LOFAR because of its low elevation with respect to the array. The low elevation of this field reduces the effective collecting area of the telescope, thereby reducing sensitivity. This low elevation also causes the primary beam to be elongated in the north-south direction, which can introduce side lobes in the synthesised beam in this direction. However the XMM-LSS field is a key field to study because of the wealth of ancillary information, encompassing most of the electromagnetic spectrum. The field was observed for a total of 12 h from three four-hour LOFAR tracks using the Dutch array. The final image presented encompasses ∼27 deg2, which is the region of the observations with a >50% primary beam response. Once combined, the observations reach a central rms of 280μJy beam−1at 144 MHz and have an angular resolution of 7.5 × 8.5″. We present our catalogue of detected sources and investigate how our observations compare to previous radio observations. This includes investigating the flux scale calibration of these observations compared to previous measurements, the implied spectral indices of the sources, the observed source counts and corrections to obtain the true source counts, and finally the clustering of the observed radio sources.

Papaver rhoeas L. mapping with cokriging using UAV imagery

Accurately mapping the spatial distribution of weeds within a field is a first step towards effective Site-specific Weed Management. The main objective of this study was to investigate if the multivariate geostatistical method of cokriging (COK) can be used to improve the accuracy of Papaver rhoeas L. infestations maps in winter wheat fields using high-resolution UAV imagery as ancillary information. The primary variable was obtained by intensive grid weed density field samplings and the secondary variables were derived from the UAV imagery taken the same day as the weed field samplings (e.g. wavebands and derivative products, such as band ratios and vegetation indexes). Univariate Ordinary Kriging (OK) and multivariate cokriging (COK) interpolation methods were used and compared for Papaver density mapping. The performances of the different methods were assessed by cross-validation. The results indicated that COK outperformed OK in the spatial interpolation of Papaver density. COK reduced the prediction errors and enhanced the accuracy of Papaver estimates maps. The best performances were obtained when COK was performed with the UAV-secondary variables that yielded the highest correlation with Papaver density and produced the strongest spatial cross-semivariograms. On average, the COK with UAV-derived ancillary variables improved the accuracy of mapping Papaver density by 11 to 21% compared with OK. The results suggest the great potential of high-resolution UAV imagery as a source of ancillary information to improve the accuracy of spatial mapping of sparsely sampled target variables using COK.

Land-cover classification from multiple classifiers using decision fusion based on the probabilistic graphical model

ABSTRACTA novel method of using different classification algorithms in an integrated manner by adaptively weighted decision level fusion was proposed. The proposed fusion scheme involves two steps. First, we processed the data using each classifier separately and provided probability estimations for each pixel of the considered classes. Then, the results are aggregated on the basis of the decision rule of probabilistic graphical model according to the capabilities of classifiers and ancillary information. The method was tested and validated through the Landsat 8 operational land imager data using two different classifiers, namely, maximum likelihood classifier and support vector machine. The proposed method provided higher accuracy improvement than the separate use of different classifiers and that complex landscapes, such as mountainous regions, have higher accuracy improvement than the relatively homogenous ones. Moreover, the method can handle more than two types of classifiers and effectively introduce additional ancillary information for adaptive weight selection. These findings can help promote our proposed method as an emerging approach for land-cover classification through remote sensing technology.

Bringing historical British Population Census records into the 21st century: A method for geocoding households and individuals at their early‐20th‐century addresses

AbstractIncreased use of geographical information systems (GISs) for social scientific research has highlighted the analytical possibilities offered by unlocking historical data sources that are impractical with contemporary data. Genealogists and social scientific researchers have used information relating to individuals, households, and their addresses contained in the British historical census records for a number of years. This article takes geographical exploration of these a stage further by developing a method of attaching grid references to the census addresses, thereby opening up new research possibilities including spatial analysis. The resultant geocoded census data enable address‐, household‐, and individual‐level historical research and aggregation to contemporary and historical spatial units for exploration of demographic and socio‐economic change. The paper focuses on the development of a method of geocoding 1901 and 1911 Census data in respect of six study areas in the historical counties of London and Middlesex with over 260,000 individuals within some 60,000 households or communal establishments in both 1901 and 1911. Successful semi‐automated matching of historical census addresses with a contemporary address database is related to population density, change from property naming to numbering, residential development, thoroughfare name changes, and transcription error. Complete geocoding was completed by manual digitising with the aid of ancillary information sources and geographical information embedded in census records. The method outlined has the potential to be replicated in other areas and be adapted to use with other contemporary address databases that contain grid references. The paper outlines the factors that would influence transferability of the geocoding method.

Determination of Irrigation Supply Efficiency in Challenging Environment Case Study of Bal’ad District, Middle Shabelle Region in Somalia

The paper aims to determine the irrigation water supply efficiency of different irrigation methods used in the challenging environment of Bal’ad district in Somalia. Data was collected from the literature, field visits using field records and scheduled interviews, GPS coordinates and from ancillary information, such as remote sensing images and existing national maps. A comparison was done by use of secondary sources, such as academic journals using information from authorities on irrigation and water loss. Sampling was done by use of Snow balling. The results highlighted response rate for farmers being 80% while that of NGO employees is 75.76%. According to the results, the main ways through which irrigation water is lost is through: evaporation; seepage through the canal bunds; overtopping the bunds; overflow losses and overwatering with the average field application efficiency of 25% and conveyance efficiency of 30%. These generated a scheme irrigation efficiency of 7.5% which is poor for surface irrigation prevalent in the study area. The loss of irrigation water was found to be reduced by the following: daily supervision; proper maintenance; water allocation to farmers; good management; lining of canals; management of irrigation methods; ongoing evaluation; good land preparation; and training farmers.

North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) in Irish Waters: 1300-1987

North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) once occurred seasonally in Irish waters but in recent decades their presence has declined. This study reviews the existing literature to develop an understanding of the past distribution of North Atlantic right whales, their abundance, temporal occurrence, interspecies associations and apparent use of Irish waters. Ancillary information supporting these core aims was investigated to provide a context for the historical misidentification of North Atlantic right whales and the development of Irish whaling to evaluate the presence of this species in Irish waters. Records of the species within the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), between 1300—1987 were validated based on the available data to three confidence levels: definite, probable and possible right whales. Seventeen records comprising at least 42 individual whales exist (including probable Basque whaling effort from the fourteenth century to the sixteenth century). Of the records available, 52% were considered ‘definitely’ right whales with eight comprising 22 individuals from two early twentieth century and two mid-seventeenth century commercial whaling stations operating in the northwest of Ireland. Six ‘probable’ right whale records involving 15 individuals were identified, including two sightings from the late twentieth century while two ‘possible’ records of five individuals were also noted. The previous importance of Ireland's north western coastline as a potential early summer feeding area in the Northeast Atlantic for migrating right whales, along with the apparent extirpation of the species in the region are also discussed.

The Role of Human Evolution In The Development of Schizophrenia And Cognitive Traits Applying Polygenic Analytical Approaches

Psychiatric disorders have like other complex human phenotypes a polygenic architecture and are unlikely to undergo selection in the form of major selective sweeps. It is more likely to develop due to subtle shifts in allele frequencies which are hard to detect using traditional statistical methods. Our recently developed false discovery rate (FDR) framework exploits ancillary information to improve the power of genome-wide association studies (GWAS). This method can assess enrichment of polygenic effects on various phenotypes in specific genic annotation categories. In a series of studies, we applied this method to investigate the effect of evolutionary metrics using data from GWASs of psychiatric and cognitive phenotypes, and evolutionary proxies representing various time periods of human evolution.The Neanderthal selective sweep score, which measures positive selection in humans after the human-Neanderthal split approximately 50,000 years ago, was used to test the hypothesis that the schizophrenia is related to the development of the complex human brain and concurrently, language skills and creative reasoning. We show that regions that underwent positive selection in humans after divergence from Neanderthals are more likely to be associated with schizophrenia.We also investigated if Neanderthal selective sweep score are enriched in cognitive phenotypes including education attainment, college completion, and more specific cognitive functions including reaction time and verbal numerical reasoning. The findings indicate that SNPs in the swept regions are more likely to be associated with education attainment, college completion, and to some extent to general cognitive function.Less recently evolved regions like the human accelerated regions (HAR), segmental duplication regions (SD), and ohnologous regions (Ohno) were analyzed for association with schizophrenia. These represent time periods before 200,000 years ago when hominid and chimpanzee branches split (HAR), 35-40 million years ago during the great ape-hominid split (SD), and the period of separation of vertebrate and invertebrate lineages 500 million years ago (Ohno). We could not detect significant enrichment for any of these evolutionary markers.These findings help us understand the evolutionary history of schizophrenia and cognitive phenotypes. As humans evolved, our ability to think in abstract terms, use language to communicate with one another and organize complex rule-based societies improved, but such development probably made us more vulnerable to mental pathologies like schizophrenia.

“where is the heart?” When cardiac magnetic resonance imaging helps if echocardiography is inconclusive

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is the gold standard technique to comprehensively assess cardiac structure and function. A 64-year-old male, planned for surgical coronary revascularization, underwent transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography for a mitral regurgitation, with an eccentric jet of unclear mechanism; these examinations were inconclusive because of the lack of adequate visualization of the cardiac structures. A CMR was then performed to quantify mitral regurgitation and, additionally, it documented a giant hiatus hernia with gastric sliding into the thorax. In this case, CMR helped to better define the severity of a valvular disease and provided ancillary information from the extracardiac findings.

The 3MI Level-1C geoprojected product – definition and processing description

The Multi-viewing, Multi-channel and Multi-polarisation Imager (3MI) on board the Metop-SG satellites will observe polarised multi-spectral radiances of a single target within a very short time period from the visible to the shortwave infrared region with daily global coverage. In order to provide the users of 3MI data with an easy to use and well characterised radiance product EUMETSAT will make a geoprojected and regridded 3MI level-1C product available to users within 70 min of sensing. The paper describes the methodologies of geoprojection and regridding used for the processing of such a product. In addition, the colocation of ancillary information, in particular from the METimage 20-channel imager providing subpixel information of the radiance field and of clouds is described in detail. The latter information is provided as colocated geometric average values in the product and is also used to provide a realistic scene-dependent error introduced by the radiance regridding. Initial estimates, using a synthetic test dataset of top-of-atmosphere radiances of 3MI and METimage at native instrument resolution, provide an upper limit for the additional radiance error contribution depending on the scene homogeneity. Colocated METimage cloud-top height information is also used for parallax correction of the coregistered radiance data either to the cloud height or to the surface elevation, depending on the origin of the dominant radiance signal within the line-of-sight.

Using model predictions of soil carbon in farm-scale auditing - A software tool

We introduce a software tool for optimal sampling design in the context of farm-scale soil carbon auditing, where the amount of sequestered soil carbon will be estimated from a random sample. Existing tools do not use available ancillary information, or do not have the functionality needed for farm-scale soil carbon auditing.Using a grid of predicted carbon content with associated uncertainty, the software optimises a stratified random sampling design, such that the profit is maximised on the basis of sequestered carbon price, sampling costs, and a trading parameter that balances farmer's and buyer's risks due to uncertainty of the estimated amount of sequestered carbon.As the algorithm is computationally intensive, the package is written in Julia for speed. From a case study we conclude that our software is an effective tool for farm-scale soil carbon auditing, and that it outperforms the existing tools in terms of efficiency and functionality.