Foreign Object Research Articles

Chest X-ray Foreign Objects Detection Using Artificial Intelligence.

Diagnostic imaging has become an integral part of the healthcare system. In recent years, scientists around the world have been working on artificial intelligence-based tools that help in achieving better and faster diagnoses. Their accuracy is crucial for successful treatment, especially for imaging diagnostics. This study used a deep convolutional neural network to detect four categories of objects on digital chest X-ray images. The data were obtained from the publicly available National Institutes of Health (NIH) Chest X-ray (CXR) Dataset. In total, 112,120 CXRs from 30,805 patients were manually checked for foreign objects: vascular port, shoulder endoprosthesis, necklace, and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). Then, they were annotated with the use of a computer program, and the necessary image preprocessing was performed, such as resizing, normalization, and cropping. The object detection model was trained using the You Only Look Once v8 architecture and the Ultralytics framework. The results showed not only that the obtained average precision of foreign object detection on the CXR was 0.815 but also that the model can be useful in detecting foreign objects on the CXR images. Models of this type may be used as a tool for specialists, in particular, with the growing popularity of radiology comes an increasing workload. We are optimistic that it could accelerate and facilitate the work to provide a faster diagnosis.

LAW-IFF Net: A semantic segmentation method for recognition of marine current turbine blade attachments under blurry edges

Challenges exist in the power generation efficiency and safety of marine current turbines (MCTs), as the MCT blades are often attached by foreign objects when operating underwater. It is essential for the stable operation of an MCT to recognize attachments timely and accurately. However, underwater imaging suffers from blurry edges due to light attenuation and scattering. It is challenging for accurate recognition through underwater images since blurry edges result in unclear edge features. To alleviate this problem, LAW-IFF Net is proposed in this paper, which mainly contains two parts. Firstly, this paper proposes to transform the local averages of feature maps into weight matrices, namely the locally average weighting (LAW) mechanism. It is intended to alleviate the edge gradient reduction caused by blurry edges. Secondly, the proposed improved feature fusion (IFF) mechanism aims to overcome the deviation caused by the feature fusion of different attention branches based on spatial attention. At the same time, the lightweight networks are combined with the proposed method to improve the computation speed and ensure the timeliness of recognition. Experimental results on the MCT dataset show the superiority of the proposed method in terms of accuracy and speed of attachment recognition in images with blurry edges. The experimental results on publicly available datasets show the applicability of the proposed method to other underwater images.

Prediction of Impact Information of Composites Laminates Considering the Practicality

Recently, carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) have been used in various applications, including aircraft. Because they are vulnerable to out-of-plane loads, internal and externaldamage occurs when foreign objects impact them. Internal damage that can affect residual properties is difficult to find and judge from the outside without special devices, which arehighly costed and are sometimes difficult to conduct in some locations. In this study, surface contour information was obtained from impact tests on CFRP laminates, and thepredictability of compression after impact (CAI)strength was investigated using a conventional single-task random forest model, and a decision tree-based multi-task learning model with other objective variables related to impact tests. The models estimated CAI strength with around 75% R2, and the conventional single-task learning model showed the highest value. The importance of each model indicated that factors that contribute to impact-related objective variables (impactor shape, delamination area, and delamination length) and those to CAI strength do not have a strong relationship.

Simulation of Foreign Object Detection Using Passive Inductive Sensors in a Wireless Charging System for Electric Vehicles

During wireless charging of the traction battery of electrically powered vehicles, the active area between the ground and vehicle assemblies must be monitored for inductive power transfer. If metallic foreign objects enter this area, they interact with the magnetic field and can heat up strongly, and thus become a potential source of hazard. To detect such foreign objects, measurements based on passive inductive sensors have already been carried out in advance. However, a large number of factors influence the detectability of metallic foreign objects, such as the characteristics of the magnetic field of the ground assembly coil, the size, shape, position, orientation, and material composition of the foreign objects, or the design of the sensor coils. The related practical testing effort can be reduced if the characteristics of the charging system and the foreign object detection system can be simulated. Therefore, simulation models were developed within the scope of this work and validated with the help of practical measurements. These models were used in the next step to analyze new test arrangements that had not yet been investigated by measurement. In the simulations described here, precision in the range of 1 mV could be achieved. Cumulatively, many influencing factors can be easily investigated, and results can be generated in a largely automated manner and typically in a wider variety than with practical measurements.

Management of Bilateral Foreign Objects in Immature Permanent Maxillary Central Incisors: A Case Report

AbstractTraumatic dental injuries are more commonly seen in children and it often results in a complicated crown fracture. This case is unique as foreign objects in the form of hand-sewing needles were accidentally lodged bilaterally in both maxillary central incisors. A 13-year-old patient was referred to the Dental Clinics at the College of Dentistry, Jazan University with a complaint of broken needles in her front teeth and a history of trauma 3 years ago. Although the patient had the habit of using a hand-sewing needle to remove the lodged food particles from the open pulp chamber, she was not able to recollect the incidence of needle separations. Radiographic examination revealed radiopaque objects in the middle third of the right maxillary central incisor (#11) and in the apical third of the left maxillary central incisor (#21). Tooth #11 was clinically diagnosed as pulp necrosis with chronic apical abscess and tooth #21 as pulp necrosis with asymptomatic apical periodontitis. The micro tweezer from the broken instrument removal kit (Zumax Medical Co.,Ltd., Jiangsu, China) was used to retrieve the separated needle pieces under the operating microscope. The open apices were managed by the formation of mineral trioxide aggregate apical plug, and the procedure of root reinforcement was achieved by bonded resin cement and fiber resin posts. Finally, teeth were restored with dual cure core build-up composite material and direct composite veneers. Recommendations are made to treat complicated crown fractures, especially in children on priority to minimize the risk of foreign object impaction.

Emesis induction is successful for recovery of gastric foreign objects in cats.

To prospectively assess the efficacy of emesis induction for the recovery of gastric foreign objects in cats and to determine if any factors influenced recovery. 22 client-owned cats. Cats for which emesis induction was deemed appropriate were administered an emetic agent by the attending clinician between October 2018 and April 2021. Data collected included whether emesis was successful in recovery in some or all of the foreign object, time from administration to emesis, number of emetic events, and type, length, width, and surface area of the material ingested. Of the 22 cats that had emesis attempted, 11 (50%) vomited some or all of the foreign object. The time from ingestion to presentation, time from the last meal, presence of food in the vomitus, type of the object, and length, width, and surface area of the object did not influence the likelihood of successful recovery with emesis induction. The most common object cats ingested were rubber bands. Recovery of gastric foreign objects in cats with emesis induction alone may be successful 50% of the time. The type and size of the object is unlikely to influence whether or not emesis will be successful. This information can help prepare cat-owners for expectations and outcomes following attempts at emesis induction.

Antimicrobial resistance patterns of Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolated from dogs presented at a veterinary academic hospital in South Africa.

Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae are opportunistic bacterial pathogens responsible for hospital-acquired infections in veterinary medicine. Infection with these bacteria always requires urgent antimicrobial therapy. However, there is no evidence of studies that have investigated the antimicrobial drug resistance profile of these organisms in a veterinary setting in South Africa. This study investigated the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) patterns of A. baumannii and K. pneumoniae from clinical specimens obtained from dogs presented at a veterinary academic hospital. The findings of this study contribute to an improved understanding of the AMR profile of these bacteria in veterinary medicine. Retrospective data of clinical samples from dogs that were positive for A. baumannii and K. pneumoniae between 2007 and 2013 were used in this study. The antimicrobial susceptibility of the isolates was determined using the disk diffusion method following the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. The A. baumannii isolates were subjected to a panel of 20 antibiotics, while K. pneumoniae isolates were subjected to a panel of 22 antibiotics. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented using tables and figures. Twenty (n = 20) A. baumannii isolates were isolated from bronchoalveolar lavage, foreign objects, bone, urine, skin, blood, ear, nasal, and oral cavity. Almost all A. baumannii (95%, 19/20) isolates were resistant to at least one antibiotic, and 60% (12/20) were multidrug-resistant (MDR). Klebsiella pneumoniae (n = 56) was isolated from urine, foreign objects, abscesses, ears, eyes, tracheal aspirations, bronchoalveolar lavages, eyes, abdominal aspirates, anal glands, bones, and intestinal and lung biopsies. All K. pneumoniae (100%, 56/56) isolates were resistant to at least one antibiotic, and 98% (55/56) were MDR. Both A. baumannii and K. pneumoniae were isolated in various clinical tissue samples and exhibited a high prevalence of resistance to multiple antibiotics. In addition, these bacteria exhibited a high prevalence of resistance to β-lactam compared to other classes of antibiotics, which is likely to impact treatment options and patient prognosis.

Analysis of Energy Absorption of Soft Body Armor with Experimental Method and Finite Element Method Using STF (Shear Thickening Fluid) Composite Material

Body armor is personal protective equipment or shield clothing for soldiers that has existed since Roman times until now. The function of body armor is to protect the body from attacks by foreign objects by absorbing energy. Body armor must have ballistic resistance and stabbing resistance, however, body armor that is often found usually has a high anti-ballistic level but is low in receiving stabbing attacks. STF (Shear Thickening Fluid) is a composite material which is unique in that the viscosity level can change in a way that causes the liquid dispersion to become solid and allows for increased stabbing resistance. This research began by making Kevlar samples which were then mixed with STF and then subjected to tensile testing to obtain material properties that were useful for simulating with FEM. The simulation is intended to analyze the rate of energy absorption that occurs in the sample. The results show that the kinetic energy absorption rate of the bullet is absorbed at a viscosity of 87%. The small energy that occurs is also absorbed in the form of frictional resistance with a value of 11.9%. The identified comparison results show that in cases 1-3 the percentage of viscosity is high so it is viscous, whereas in case 4 the direct reflection of the viscosity is low so it is close to liquid.

Detect small object based on FCOS and adaptive feature fusion

Object identification has always been a difficult issue in the field of computer vision, where the objective is to identify the location and kind of particular objects in images. Convolutional neural networks have achieved significant advancements in accuracy and speed, and this is mostly due to their quick evolution. However, in practical applications, the detection of small objects is still an unresolved problem. Due to the sparse pixel information of small target, it is relatively difficult to extract small target features effectively. Although many methods have made significant progress, the detection rate and recall rate both have space for improvement under various conditions. This study suggests a small object detection technique that utilizes feature map weight self allocation and single-stage detection model FCOS to further increase the recall and accuracy of small object detection., which is used in aerial photography dataset and airport foreign object dataset respectively. The average detection accuracy and recall of the technique are roughly 10% higher than the baseline, as shown by the quantitative and qualitative trial findings, demonstrating the effectiveness of the adaptive feature fusion approach.

Ascend launches metal-detectable cable tie compounds to streamline supply chain for customers

Ascend Performance Materials has announced the launch of pre-colored, metal-detectable Vydyne® PA66 compounds for cable ties and fasteners for industries where foreign object contamination causes health concerns and reputational damage, such as in pharmaceutical and food processing facilities. The new product reportedly meets the most stringent performance standards and should simplify the supply chain for cable tie and fastener producers.

Investigation of the unusual deformations of external tendons in concrete highway bridges

AbstractDuring a regular inspection of a multi‐span highway bridge, an unusual deformations of external post‐tensioned tendons were observed. These deformations were not noticed or recorded during the previous main inspections. A detailed visual inspection of the condition of external tendons was performed on all bridges with external tendons by mapping the location and extent of unusual deformation. Based on this, several non‐destructive tests were performed, where deformations were first noticed, from magnetic‐flux leakage to radiographic screening. Some local destructive investigations were subsequently carried out at several locations in two bridges, i.e. opening the tendons. The result of the tendons opening showed the presence of foreign objects and non‐tensioned strands, the latter being a possible cause for the deformations of that tendon. In both locations, the injection mass was compact with only hairy transverse cracks, both on the undeformed part as well as on the moderately deformed part of the tendon. In this paper, the latest results from this study are presented in detail.

Determinants of Pepper Quality Based on the Percentage of Foreign Objects Based You Only Look Once (YOLO)

The presence of foreign objects in pepper seeds is one of the things that affect the quality of pepper seeds. Farmers in Bangka sell pepper to pepper collectors. The collectors in this area still inspect the pepper using manual methods without the help of other tools, so there are still foreign objects such as dry leaves or pepper stalks. This method is often inefficient because the precision of each person is different. In this case, we propose to determine the quality of pepper based on the percentage of foreign objects automatically in accordance with the determination of pepper quality standards regulated in the national quality standard (SNI). The authors use YOLOv3 for object detection which is one of the fastest and most accurate object detection methods, outperforming other detection algorithms. However, YOLOv3 requires a heavy computer architecture. Therefore, YOLOv3-tiny, a lighter version of YOLOv3, can be a solution for smaller architectures. This study found that YOLOv3-tiny model has a reasonably high network performance value: precision value of 0.99, recall value above 70%, and F1 score above 80%. While determining the quality of pepper according to the standard quality of pepper (SNI) the value obtained must be below 2%. Then a comparison was made between the detection system and the manual calculation of objects. It was found that in the sample of 26 pepper seeds, the system detected 8.97 seconds faster than manual calculation.

Toxicological and morphological aspects of nano-TiO2 and nano-TiO2-Ag acute action on the liver of mice

Aim. To study the toxic effect of TiO2 and TiO2-Ag nanopowders on the morphology and elemental composition of the laboratory mice liver. Materials and methods. The study used a model of acute intoxication on laboratory animals. Mice were injected intraperitoneally with TiO2 and TiO2-Ag nanopowders at 4000 mg/kg, 7000 mg/kg, or 10000 mg/kg doses. During two weeks, the animals were observed, lethality was assessed, the accumulation of nanopowder in the organ and the morphology of liver tissues were investigated. The content of titanium and silver in liver samples was determined by optical emission spectroscopy with inductively coupled plasma. Liver tissue micropreparations were examined using an Olympus BX51 light microscope. Also, the micropreparations of the liver were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) using the Tescan Mira 3 device, and the elemental composition was determined using an energy dispersive spectrometer Oxford instrument, X-max 80 mm2. Results. The dependence of the mice lethality on the nanopowders dose was revealed; mortality was higher when exposed to nano-TiO2-Ag compared to nano-TiO2. Average lethal doses were calculated using probit analysis. For nano-TiO2, the LD50 is 4783.30 mg/kg; for nano-TiO2-Ag – 724.44 mg/kg. The accumulation of titanium, titanium, and silver in the liver after exposure to nano-TiO2 and nano-TiO2-Ag was established. In general, there was a tendency to increase the content of titanium in the skin tissue with an increase in the administered dose of nanopowders. Morphological changes in the liver were studied by histological methods. The most characteristic morphological signs of the toxic effect of nano-TiO2 on tissue were dystrophic changes at the level of 67.7 % (cytoplasmic vacuolization in hepatocytes), and when exposed to nano-TiO2-Ag – initial necrotic changes at the level of 70 % (hepatocytes with nuclear pyknosis). It is worth noting that the toxic effect of nano-TiO2 and nano-TiO2-Ag is much less often manifested by focal necrosis and inflammatory reactions (focal infiltration), in some cases, there were adaptive changes that provoked an increase in the number of binuclear hepatocytes. In case of detection agglomerates of a foreign object (crystalline inclusions) were obtained, which were examined spectrally and showed a high content of titanium (Ti). SEM morphometry showed that the size of nanoparticles and their agglomerates ranged from 80 nm to 20 μm. Conclusions. The lethality of mice was higher when the composition of nano-TiO2-Ag was introduced compared to nano-TiO2. Based on the calculated average lethal doses, both nanopowders were assigned to the 3rd class (moderately dangerous) of the danger of chemical substances according to the classification of GOST 12.1.007-76. It was established that with an increase in the injected dose in the tissue of the products of laboratory mice, the accumulation of titanium (under the action of nano-TiO2) and titanium and silver (under the action of nano-TiO2-Ag) increases. Characteristic microscopic signs of the toxic effect of TiO2 and TiO2-Ag nanopowders after intraperitoneal injection in laboratory bags are dystrophic changes in hepatocytes, necrosis of parenchymal disease, while inflammatory reactions occur less often. SEM and the method of elemental mapping of titanium confirmed the presence of TiO2 nanoparticles and their agglomerates in skin tissue when TiO2 nanopowder was administered.

SOUND METHODS OF DETECTING FRAGMENTS IN THE WOUND

The work considers the search for simple and reliable means of diagnosing foreign objects in the patient's body without the use of X-ray machines. The main methods of such diagnostics include ultrasound, but it requires the use of a special immersion liqu

Reducing Retained Foreign Objects in the Operating Room: A Quality Improvement Initiative.

Although the incidence of pediatric retained foreign objects (RFOs) during surgery is diminutive (1/32,000), RFOs are often the most common sentinel events reported. In 2021, our institution noted an increase in RFOs evidenced by a substantial decrease in days between events. We aimed to minimize the incidence of RFO which was measured as an increase of days between events at our institution by implementation of a Quality Improvement initiative. This effort was conducted across 4 surgical centers within a tertiary children's healthcare system in December 2021. Patients undergoing surgery within this healthcare system across all surgical specialties were included. The quality improvement initiative was developed by a multidisciplinary team and included 6 steps focusing on quiet time, minimizing interruptions, and closed-loop communication during final surgical count. Seven Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles were used to test, refine, and implement the protocol. Adherence to the final surgical count protocol was monitored throughout the study period. In 2021, before protocol implementation, average time between RFO events was 29 days. After implementation of our quality initiative, the final surgical count protocol, we improved to 451 days between RFO events by February 2023, exceeding the upper control limit (235 days). After implementation, the number of RFO events dropped from 7 in 2021 to 0 in 2022. Adherence to the final surgical count protocol implementation was 96.4% by the end of cycle 7. RFOs during pediatric surgical procedures can be successfully reduced using quality improvement methodology focusing on standardizing the procedure of the final surgical count.

A Foreign Object Detection Method for Belt Conveyors Based on an Improved YOLOX Model

As one of the main pieces of equipment in coal transportation, the belt conveyor with its detection system is an important area of research for the development of intelligent mines. Occurrences of non-coal foreign objects making contact with belts are common in complex production environments and with improper human operation. In order to avoid major safety accidents caused by scratches, deviation, and the breakage of belts, a foreign object detection method is proposed for belt conveyors in this work. Firstly, a foreign object image dataset is collected and established, and an IAT image enhancement module and an attention mechanism for CBAM are introduced to enhance the image data sample. Moreover, to predict the angle information of foreign objects with large aspect ratios, a rotating decoupling head is designed and a MO-YOLOX network structure is constructed. Some experiments are carried out with the belt conveyor in the mine’s intelligent mining equipment laboratory, and different foreign objects are analyzed. The experimental results show that the accuracy, recall, and mAP50 of the proposed rotating frame foreign object detection method reach 93.87%, 93.69%, and 93.68%, respectively, and the average inference time for foreign object detection is 25 ms.

Detection of Foreign Objects Around the Railway Line with YOLOv8

This study proposes a deep learning-based method to detect foreign objects around the railway line. It is important to make this determination with high accuracy for rail transport safety, but traditional methods are disadvantageous in terms of time and cost. In the proposed method, the RailSem19 dataset was used, and a YOLOv8-based model was designed. YOLOv8 is a prominent algorithm in the literature with its fast and accurate object detection capability. In the study, the dataset was diversified using image enhancement techniques. The training, validation, and testing stages used manually labeled data for human and car classes. The training process was carried out through Google Colab and different YOLOv8 sub-architectures were evaluated. The results showed that the YOLOv8m sub-architecture had higher mAP50 values than the other sub-architectures and showed a successful performance in the validation phase. The YOLOv8m model was able to clearly distinguish people and cars around the railway line. The YOLOv8m sub-architecture achieved a mAP50 value of 88.8%. This study presents an automated and efficient method to improve rail transport safety. The high success of the YOLOv8-based model with the RailSem19 dataset can be considered an effective solution to detect potential risks around the railway line.

Intermittent Exothermic and Self-Healing Hydrated Salt Gels for Advanced Thermal Management of Underfloor Radiant Heating System.

Phase change materials (PCMs) have great prospects in thermal management applications because they can store and release latent heat. However, they are not suitable for on-demand heating as they can only release heat once. Herein, this work reports the intermittent exothermic of PCMs based on a supersaturated salt solution, exhibiting fully controlled long-term storage of energy, releasing and suspending heat on demand. Due to the high energy barrier, it is difficult for the supersaturated salt solution to nucleate; thus, it can store energy for a long time. Contact with seeds or other foreign objects can destroy the metastable state of the supersaturated salt solution and promote the formation of crystal nuclei, enabling crystallization and heat release on demand. The release of crystallization heat can be interrupted using scissors dip in water. Additionally, self-healing behavior allows it to be recycled and last longer, due to the presence of Fe3+ , inducing strong dynamic reversible non-covalent crosslinking through metal coordination bonds. Furthermore, the hydrated salts gels are applied for thermal management of underfloor radiant heating system, demonstrating four types of intermittent exotherms sequences amazingly. Further, the intermittent exothermic hydrated salts gels provide a more user-friendly thermal management of underfloor radiant heating systems.

Awareness and Practices towards Vaccinating Their Children against COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study among Pakistani Parents.

There are typically lower COVID-19 vaccination rates among developing versus higher-income countries, which is exacerbated by greater vaccine hesitancy. However, despite the increasing evidence of safety, parents are still reluctant to vaccinate their children against COVID-19. This is a concern in countries experiencing successive waves, such as Pakistan. Consequently, the objective of this study was to gain better understanding and practice regarding parents vaccinating their children against COVID-19 in Pakistan. A cross-sectional study was conducted to measure parents' attitudes towards vaccinating their children. In total, 451 parents participated in the study, giving a response rate of 70.4%; 67.4% were female, 43.2% belonged to the 40-49 years age group, and 47.7% had three children, with 73% of parents fully immunized against COVID-19. We found that 84.7% of parents did not consider COVID-19 to be a very serious issue, and 53.9% considered that their children were not at high risk of COVID-19. Overall, only a quarter of the study participants had currently vaccinated their children and 11.8% were willing to vaccinate their children in the near future. Parents who had a better knowledge of COVID-19, secondary or higher education, children who had chronic illness, and those parents whose children had been infected with COVID-19 were more likely to have their children vaccinated. The most common reasons for vaccine hesitancy were "my child is not at high risk of COVID-19" (61%) and "I am afraid to put/inject a foreign object inside my child's body" (52.2%). Overall, vaccine acceptance was low among the parents of the children. Those parents with higher education, chronic illnesses, greater knowledge of COVID-19 and its vaccines, and those whose children had been infected with COVID-19 were significantly (p < 0.001) inclined towards vaccinating their children. Effective campaigns as well as awareness sessions are needed to address misinformation and reduce vaccine hesitancy.

WTP6.8 A Decade of NHS Never Events – Has formal reporting made a difference?

Abstract Introduction NHS England defines “Never Events” (NE) as 'patient safety incidents that are wholly preventable where guidance or safety recommendations that provide strong systemic protective barriers are available at a national level and have been implemented by healthcare providers'. NHS Organisations were required to publish data on NE from April 2012. This project aims to identify changes in NE patterns to help inform future learning. Methods All published data between April 2012 and March 2022 was collected from NHS England. Data processing and manipulation was carried out using Microsoft Excel. Results A total of n=4,055 NE and n=175,920,530 procedures were reported. During the 2020-2021 year there were significantly less (p=0.029) NE compared to 2019-2020, however the rate of NE per million procedures (25 vs 27) remained unchanged p=0.18. Overall, there appears to be an increasing trend in NE, p&amp;lt;0.001. The majority of NE related to wrong site surgery, n=1,628(40%), retained foreign objects, n=1,090(27%) and wrong implant/prosthesis, n=506(12%), p&amp;lt;0.001. Within wrong site surgery, the most common NE was wrong procedure, n=529(32%), followed by laterality errors, n=391(24%), p&amp;lt;0.001. Discussion &amp; Conclusion The results demonstrate that despite systemic protective barriers such as the WHO Checklist, overall rate of NE has not reduced. This is likely to be confounded by changes in reporting as well as definitions, for example from April 2021 wrong tooth extraction was not considered a NE. The importance of Human Factors must not be overlooked, and NHS Trusts should consider formal provision of such training for all those in clinical roles.