Intersection Volume Research Articles

Utilizing diffusion tensor imaging as an image biomarker in exploring the therapeutic efficacy of forniceal deep brain stimulation in a mice model of Alzheimer’s disease

Objective.With prolonged life expectancy, the incidence of memory deficits, especially in Alzheimer's disease (AD), has increased. Although multiple treatments have been evaluated, no promising treatment has been found to date. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the fornix area was explored as a possible treatment because the fornix is intimately connected to memory-related areas that are vulnerable in AD; however, a proper imaging biomarker for assessing the therapeutic efficiency of forniceal DBS in AD has not been established.Approach.This study assessed the efficacy and safety of DBS by estimating the optimal intersection volume between the volume of tissue activated and the fornix. Utilizing a gold-electroplating process, the microelectrode's surface area on the neural probe was increased, enhancing charge transfer performance within potential water window limits. Bilateral fornix implantation was conducted in triple-transgenic AD mice (3 × Tg-AD) and wild-type mice (strain: B6129SF1/J), with forniceal DBS administered exclusively to 3 × Tg-AD mice in the DBS-on group. Behavioral tasks, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were performed in all mice to assess the therapeutic efficacy of forniceal DBS.Main results.The results illustrated that memory deficits and increased anxiety-like behavior in 3 × Tg-AD mice were rescued by forniceal DBS. Furthermore, forniceal DBS positively altered DTI indices, such as increasing fractional anisotropy (FA) and decreasing mean diffusivity (MD), together with reducing microglial cell and astrocyte counts, suggesting a potential causal relationship between revised FA/MD and reduced cell counts in the anterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus, fornix, amygdala, and entorhinal cortex of 3 × Tg-AD mice following forniceal DBS.Significance.The efficacy of forniceal DBS in AD can be indicated by alterations in DTI-based biomarkers reflecting the decreased activation of glial cells, suggesting reduced neural inflammation as evidenced by improvements in memory and anxiety-like behavior.

Evaluasi Simpang Tiga Tak Bersinyal pada Simpang Tiga Ketapang Cepu

The objectives of this study are as follows: To determine the volume and capacity of the Ketapang Cepu three-stroke intersection. To find out the performance of the Ketapang Cepu intersection that has not been signaled. The researcher's research method is a method with a quantitative approach. The data is in the form of the type of vehicle volume crossing the intersection and traffic volume. Data analysis techniques used to analyze the results of this study using the method of Indonesian Road Capacity Guidelines 2014. The method of analyzing this research data is as follows: Analyzing peak times, namely analyzing survey results. Peak time analysis per 1 hour was conducted, which was analyzed with the rules of the Indonesian Road Capacity Guidelines (PKJI 2014). Conclusion From the results of the calculation above, the intersection capacity is 2950.7 skr / hour, the largest traffic volume is 2373.6 skr / hour, the chance of queuing that occurs 26% - 51%. In PKJI 2014, the delay of all intersections is included in the good category if it is in the range of 5-15 seconds. Based on the data above, the performance of Simpang Tiga Ketapang Cepu is still good (there is no congestion).

Radiation therapy margin reduction for patients with localized prostate cancer: A prospective study of the dosimetric impact and quality of life.

To investigate the impact of reducing Clinical Target Volume (CTV) to Planning Target Volume (PTV) margins on delivered radiation therapy (RT) dose and patient reported quality-of-life (QOL) for patients with localized prostate cancer. Twenty patients were included in a single institution IRB-approved prospective study. Nine were planned with reduced margins (4mm at prostate/rectum interface, 5mm elsewhere), and 11 with standard margins (6/10mm). Cumulative delivered dose was calculated using deformable dose accumulation. Each daily CBCT dataset was deformed to the planning CT (pCT), dose was computed, and accumulated on the resampled pCT using a parameter-optimized, B-spline algorithm (Elastix, ITK/VTK). EPIC-26 patient reported QOL was prospectively collected pre-treatment, post-treatment, and at 2-, 6-, 12-, 18-, 24-, 36-, 48-, and 60-month follow-ups. Post -RT QOL scores were baseline corrected and standardized to a [0-100] scale using EPIC-26 methodology. Correlations between QOL scores and dosimetric parameters were investigated, and the overall QOL differences between the two groups (QOLMargin-reduced -QOLcontrol ) were calculated. The median QOL follow-up length for the 20 patients was 48months. Difference between delivered dose and planned dose did not reach statistical significance (p>0.1) for both targets and organs at risk between the two groups. At 4years post-RT, standardized mean QOLMargin-reduced -QOLcontrol were improved for Urinary Incontinence, Urinary Irritative/Obstructive, Bowel, and Sexual EPIC domains by 3.5, 14.8, 10.2, and 16.1, respectively (higher values better). The control group showed larger PTV/rectum and PTV/bladder intersection volumes (7.2±5.8, 18.2±8.1cc) than the margin-reduced group (2.6±1.8, 12.5±8.3cc), though the dose to these intersection volumes did not reach statistical significance (p>0.1) between the groups. PTV/rectum intersection volume showed a moderate correlation (r=-0.56, p<0.05) to Bowel EPIC domain. Results of this prospective study showed that margin-reduced group exhibited clinically meaningful improvement of QOL without compromising the target dose coverage.

Intersection Planning for Multilane Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Traffic Management

Unmanned aerial system (UAS) traffic management of airspace is a domain that demands strategic management of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for smooth and conflict-free movement in the uncharted low-altitude G airspace. In the context of the previously proposed CORRIDRONE structure, UAV traffic has to be organized in a shared volume of airspace connecting two or more corridors for a network of multilane corridors, resulting in the formation of aerial intersections. In this work, an intersection planning algorithm is proposed that aims to provide no-conflict paths to the UAVs inside the intersection volume. Paths are modeled as a function of the lanes involved in the transition, and conflict resolution is achieved by changing lanes. Optimized solutions are found among the conflicted UAV paths, such that only a few paths need modifying, optimizing the number of lane changes and time spent in the intersection. Simulation results, including random starting time intervals, various UAV sizes, corridor sizes, and differing numbers of lanes in intersecting corridors, are presented to demonstrate the concepts discussed in the paper.

Experimental Investigations and Modeling of Interference Fringe Geometry in Line-Shaped Gaussian Beam Intersections for Laser Doppler Sensors

Line-shaped beam-based Doppler distance sensors enable 3D shape measurements of rotating objects, for instance for working lathe monitoring with a simultaneous, multipoint velocity, and distance measurement. The velocity and distance estimations are fundamentally referred to the interference fringe spacing of the sensors. In this case, the fringe spacing variation-caused measurement error is significant; however, a complete, accurate model of the fringe geometry distribution for the line-shaped fringe volume is still missing and required to identify and minimize the error. Therefore, this work presents a high-accuracy 3D model for the fringe spacing evaluation of the sensors with experimental investigations. The model is derived from the phase expression of Gaussian beams introducing extension ratio, and can be universally applied to describe fringe geometry distribution throughout the intersection volume of spherical and line-shaped beams. With an experimental setup of a laser Doppler sensor, a full-field fringe spacing estimation using a high-resolution matrix camera is performed with dual-wavelength beams. The numerical modeling and experimental results show an average relative difference below 0.6%.

Unveiling the transformation pathways of hierarchical γ90 – εtwin – α’ triple phase structure formation at ε-ε martensite intersection

Deformation-induced martensitic transformation (γ-austenite → ε-martensite/α’-martensite) in austenitic steels has garnered significant interest owing to its transformation-induced plasticity effect. To elucidate the orientation-dependent intricate γ/ε/α’ phase microstructure at deformation-induced ε-ε intersection, a single crystal of 316 austenitic stainless steel was compressed along the [001]γ axis at a cryogenic temperature (173 K). Electron backscattered diffraction analysis was employed to reveal the deformed microstructure on the (110)γ surface. A hierarchical triple phase structure was discovered at ε–ε intersection, where the γ rotated 90° from the matrix (γ90), {101¯2} ε-twin, and α’ phases coexist. Depending on the operative shear angle with a common intersection axis, either 90° (Type I) or 30° (Type II), three distinct atomic rearrangements of the intersection volume were observed: γ90 was present at Type I intersection, and α’-phase was developed at Type II intersection, respectively. {101¯2} ε-twin also occurred at Type I intersection, serving as an accommodation mechanism alongside the intersection γ90. EBSD results confirm the Shoji–Nishiyama (SN), Kurdjumov–Sachs (KS), and Burgers (B) orientation relationships within the complex γ – ε – α’ triple phase structures at ε–ε intersection. Transformation paths for three intersection products were visualized by the unified tetrahedron model, considering T/2 or T/3 γ-twinning shear as an intermediate state. Moreover, a novel scheme is proposed to index the α’-martensite crystallographic variants at ε-ε intersections by establishing a correlation between the Bain distortion and double shear process.

Unprotected Left-Turn Behavior Model Capturing Path Variations at Intersections

Path dispersion (the spatial distribution of vehicular paths) is an important feature of traffic flow inside intersections and differs from traffic flow running along traffic lanes at road segment, especially under conflicting movements. The path dispersion reflects the operational features of traffic flow and is related to driving behaviour, arrival flow patterns, layout design, and the traffic control and management scheme. This study aims to improve the understanding of the overall path dispersion of unprotected left-turns and the opposing through movement. A behavioural simulation model was established to represent the overall path dispersion. Human behaviours regarding vehicle trajectory planning with and without conflicting vehicles were modelled based on optimal control and integrated into the proposed discrete event simulation framework. The descriptive power and accuracy of the proposed simulation model were validated using empirical data. The effects of the spatial size of the intersection, crossing angle, and traffic volume on the path dispersion of the left-turn and through movement were explored based on numerical experiments. The results show that the proposed simulation model can represent the path dispersion of left-turn and opposing through movement well for both the calibrated intersections and newly added intersections without model parameter recalibration with an average error of 8.92%.

Exponential Decay of Intersection Volume With Applications on List-Decodability and Gilbert-Varshamov Type Bound

We give some natural sufficient conditions for balls in a metric space to have small intersection. Roughly speaking, this happens when the metric space is (i) expanding and (ii) wellspread, and (iii) a certain random variable on the boundary of a ball has a small tail. As applications, we show that the volume of intersection of balls in Hamming, Johnson spaces and symmetric groups decay exponentially as their centers drift apart. To verify condition (iii), we prove some large deviation inequalities ‘on a slice’ for functions with Lipschitz conditions. We then use these estimates on intersection volumes to ∙ obtain a sharp lower bound on list-decodability of random <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">q</i> -ary codes, confirming a conjecture of Li and Wootters; and ∙ improve the classical bound of Levenshtein from 1971 on constant weight codes by a factor linear in dimension, resolving a problem raised by Jiang and Vardy. Our probabilistic point of view also offers a unified framework to obtain improvements on other Gilbert-Varshamov type bounds, giving conceptually simple and calculation-free proofs for <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">q</i> -ary codes, permutation codes, and spherical codes. Another consequence is a counting result on the number of codes, showing ampleness of large codes.

Exploring operational characteristics of stop-controlled T-intersections on rural two-lane highways with passing lanes

Left turn traffic at unsignalized T-intersection on undivided rural two-lane high-speed highways poses both operational and safety challenges. More complexities are faced by through drivers in the same direction as the stopped or slowed down left-turn vehicle must choose to either slow down and wait or bypass the left-turn vehicle. Therefore, this study intends to explore the operational characteristics of these facilities. The focus is on the reaction of the drivers behind the left-turn vehicle in terms of the types of maneuvers taken to avoid collision and the distance upstream for the evasive maneuvers using field observations. Further, the impact of the drivers’ reaction on the intersection delay is assessed using a simulation analysis of 17 generic 10.5-mile two-lane corridors with varying configurations of passing lanes at or near the intersection with and without a left-turn lane. The field observation findings from five sites reveal that drivers will move to the shoulder to avoid slowing and stopping or colliding with the left-turn vehicle. The distance at which drivers move to the shoulder differs for the sites studied. The simulation results show that a relatively similar magnitude of reduction in intersection delay could be achieved by addition of either passing lane or left-turn lane, such addition is beneficial for at least 17 000 vpd intersection volume where the passing lane does not end within 1 500 ft is downstream of the intersection. The findings are expected to improve traffic operations at T-intersections on rural two-lane highways.

Improved Repeatability of Mouse Tibia Volume Segmentation in Murine Myelofibrosis Model Using Deep Learning.

A murine model of myelofibrosis in tibia was used in a co-clinical trial to evaluate segmentation methods for application of image-based biomarkers to assess disease status. The dataset (32 mice with 157 3D MRI scans including 49 test-retest pairs scanned on consecutive days) was split into approximately 70% training, 10% validation, and 20% test subsets. Two expert annotators (EA1 and EA2) performed manual segmentations of the mouse tibia (EA1: all data; EA2: test and validation). Attention U-net (A-U-net) model performance was assessed for accuracy with respect to EA1 reference using the average Jaccard index (AJI), volume intersection ratio (AVI), volume error (AVE), and Hausdorff distance (AHD) for four training scenarios: full training, two half-splits, and a single-mouse subsets. The repeatability of computer versus expert segmentations for tibia volume of test-retest pairs was assessed by within-subject coefficient of variance (%wCV). A-U-net models trained on full and half-split training sets achieved similar average accuracy (with respect to EA1 annotations) for test set: AJI = 83-84%, AVI = 89-90%, AVE = 2-3%, and AHD = 0.5 mm-0.7 mm, exceeding EA2 accuracy: AJ = 81%, AVI = 83%, AVE = 14%, and AHD = 0.3 mm. The A-U-net model repeatability wCV [95% CI]: 3 [2, 5]% was notably better than that of expert annotators EA1: 5 [4, 9]% and EA2: 8 [6, 13]%. The developed deep learning model effectively automates murine bone marrow segmentation with accuracy comparable to human annotators and substantially improved repeatability.

Analysis of Resident/Faculty Contour Concordance: A Potential Tool for Quantitative Assessment of Residents’ Performance in Target Volume Delineation

<h3>Purpose/Objective(s)</h3> Accurate target delineation/contouring is essential for radiation treatment planning and the clinical efficacy of radiation therapy. As a result, improving the quality of target delineation is an important goal in the education of radiation oncology residents. However, there is limited quantitative data on the quality of residents' contours. Therefore, it would be beneficial to track performance and improvement in resident target delineation during residency. The purpose of this study was to track the concordance of radiation oncology residents' contours with faculty physicians' contours over the course of one year to assess for patterns. <h3>Materials/Methods</h3> Residents were asked to contour target volumes (GTV, CTV, ITV, PTV, etc.); these contours were saved as separate structures and compared to the finalized, faculty physician-approved contours. Concordance between resident and faculty physician contours was determined by calculating the Jaccard Concordance Index (JCI). The JCI was calculated by dividing the intersection volume of the resident/faculty contours by the union volume of the resident/faculty contours. A score of 1 indicates complete agreement while a score of 0 indicates no agreement. Resident contours were stratified by PGY level (i.e., PGY-2, PGY-3, PGY-4). Data was collected from the 2020-2021 academic year. Two-tailed, unpaired t testing and one-way ANOVA testing was performed to compare mean values in JCI. A P-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. <h3>Results</h3> In total, 904 structures were available for analysis. The mean JCI was 0.766, 0.749, and 0.618 for the PGY-4 level resident, PGY-3 level resident, and PGY-2 level resident, respectively. There was statistically significant difference in mean JCI between PGY-levels (P < 0.001). On subset analysis of disease type, there was statistically significant difference in mean JCI between PGY-levels for brain metastases, primary gastrointestinal cancers, primary genitourinary cancers, primary gynecologic cancers, primary head/neck cancers, primary thoracic cancers, and sarcomas (P = 0.020, P < 0.001, P = 0.012, P < 0.001, P = 0.018, P < 0.001, respectively). There was no significant difference in mean JCI between PGY-levels for primary brain tumors, primary breast cancers, and lymphomas; however, there were fewer than 30 structures per resident for these disease types available for analysis. <h3>Conclusion</h3> Tracking and comparing the concordance of resident contours and faculty physician contours is an intriguing method of assessing resident performance in target volume delineation and could potentially serve as a quantitative metric in radiation oncology resident evaluation, which is lacking currently. However, additional study is necessary before this technique can be incorporated into residency assessments.

GEC-ESTRO (ACROP)–ABS–CBG Consensus Brachytherapy Target Definition Guidelines for Recurrent Endometrial and Cervical Tumors in the Vagina

Representatives from the Gynecologic Groupe European de Curietherapie-European Society for Radiation Therapy and Oncology (GYN GEC-ESTRO), the American Brachytherapy Society (ABS), and the Canadian Brachytherapy Group (CBG) met to develop international consensus recommendations for target definitions for image-guided adaptive brachytherapy for vaginal recurrences of endometrial or cervical cancer. Seventeen radiation oncologists and 2 medical physicists participated. Before an in-person meeting each participant anonymously contoured 3 recurrent endometrial/cervical cancer cases. Participants contoured the residual gross primary tumor volume (GTV-Tres), a high-risk clinical target volume (CTV-THR), and an intermediate-risk clinical target volume (CTV-TIR), on T2-weighted magnetic resonance images (MRIs). All contours were drawn using Falcon EduCase. Contours were reviewed at an in-person meeting during which a consensus document was created defining agreed-upon target definitions (Trial 1). After establishing these definitions, the group was sent one of the cases again (recurrent cervical cancer vaginal recurrence) and asked to contour the targets again (Trial 2). The Computerized Environment for Radiation Research (CERR) software (The Mathworks, Natwick, MA) was used to analyze the contours. Kappa statistics were generated to assess level of agreement between contours. A conformity index (CI), defined as the ratio between the intersection and union volume of a given pair of contours, was calculated. A simultaneous truth and performance level estimation (STAPLE) contour was created for the CTV-THR and CTV-TIR for the postmeeting case. Consensus definitions for GTV-Tres, CTV-THR, and CTV-TIR were established. Kappa statistics (Trial 1/Trial 2) for GTV-Tres, CTV-THR, and CTV-TIR were 0.536/0.583, 0.575/0.743 and 0.522/0.707. Kappa statistics for Trial 2 for the CTV-THR and CTV-TIR showed "substantial" agreement while the GTV-Tres remained at moderate agreement. This consensus provides recommendations to facilitate future collaborations for MRI-guided adaptive brachytherapy target definitions in endometrial/cervical vaginal recurrences.

Measuring resident/faculty contour concordance as a potential tool for quantitative assessment of residents' performance in target volume delineation: a feasibility study

<h3>Background</h3> Accurate target delineation/contouring is essential for radiation treatment planning and the clinical efficacy of radiation therapy. Clinical trial data has demonstrated the importance of quality contouring and treatment planning for optimal survival outcomes. As a result, improving the quality of target delineation is an important goal in the education of radiation oncology residents. However, there is limited quantitative data on the quality of residents' contours. Therefore, it would be beneficial to track performance and improvement in resident target delineation during residency. The purpose of this study was to determine if it was feasible to track the concordance of radiation oncology residents' contours with faculty physicians' contours. <h3>Methods</h3> Residents were asked to contour target volumes (GTV, CTV, ITV, PTV, etc.) based on patient history, physical exam, clinical stage and fused diagnostic imaging and were allowed to use any available outside resources, including textbooks, review articles, consensus guidelines, and online atlases. Resident contours were saved as separate structures. Finalized, faculty physician-approved contours were also saved. Saved contour structures and data from October 2019 through June 2020 were reviewed for feasibility. <h3>Results</h3> In total, 209 structures had both resident and faculty versions saved within Eclipse and were available for analysis. The Boolean Operations Tool in Eclipse (Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA, USA) was used to create an intersection volume of the resident/faculty contours. Separately, the Boolean Operations Tool was used to create a union volume of the resident/faculty contours. Based on these two volumes, the Jaccard Concordance Index (JCI) was calculated by dividing the intersection volume (in cubic centimeters [cc]) by the union volume (cc). The JCI could be successfully calculated for 203 (97.1%) of the 209 structures. For 6 structures (2.9%), both the intersection and union volumes could not be calculated because the volumes were too small for Eclipse to determine. All 6 of these structures were small brain metastases. <h3>Discussion</h3> Tracking and comparing the concordance of resident contours and faculty physician contours is feasible using available tools in Eclipse. Additional data collection and assessment is necessary before this technique can be more widely utilized.

Synchro Software-Based Alternatives for Improving Traffic Operations at Signalized Intersections

Traffic congestion is a considerable problem in urban arterials, especially at signalized intersections. Signalized intersections are critical elements of the highway system, thus improving their performance would significantly influence the overall operating performance of the system in terms of delay and level of service (LOS). The aim of this study is to assess the capacity performance of two signalized intersections in Duhok city, namely, Zari land intersection and Salahaddin Mosque intersection using the procedure in the Highway Capacity Manual and Synchro software. Total intersection delay, LOS, and volume to capacity ratio (v/c) were the measures of effectiveness used for comparison purposes. Different optimization alternatives have been tested to improve current and future performance. The results have shown that the Zari land intersection is currently operating at LOS F with an average delay of 590 s/veh and high values of v/c at specific movements. Results of optimization show that the scenario of creating an overpass with a change in cycle length and adding one additional lane in each direction is the best alternative to improve its performance to the LOS D with the maximum v/c ratio of 0.86. For Salahaddin Mosque intersection, the delay can be reduced from 544 s/veh (LOS F) with high values of v/c at the major street through movement to an average delay of 70 s/veh (LOS E) and maximum v/c ratio of 1, when cycle length and geometrics are changed, and approaching traffic from the minor street is prohibited.

Limit theorems for random points in a simplex

AbstractIn this work the $\ell_q$ -norms of points chosen uniformly at random in a centered regular simplex in high dimensions are studied. Berry–Esseen bounds in the regime $1\leq q &lt; \infty$ are derived and complemented by a non-central limit theorem together with moderate and large deviations in the case where $q=\infty$ . An application to the intersection volume of a regular simplex with an $\ell_p^n$ -ball is also carried out.

A stabilized multidomain partition of unity approach to solving incompressible viscous flow

In this work we propose a new stabilized approach for solving the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations on fixed overlapping grids. This new approach is based on the partition of unity finite element method, which defines the solution fields as weighted sums of local fields, supported by the different grids. Here, the discrete weak formulation of the problem is re-set in cG(1)cG(1) stabilized form, which has the dual benefit of lowering grid resolution requirements for convection dominated flows and allowing for the use of velocity and pressure discretizations which do not satisfy the inf–sup condition. Additionally, we provide an outline of our implementation within an existing distributed parallel application and identify four key options to improve the code efficiency namely: the use of cache to store mapped quadrature points and basis function gradients, the intersection volume splitting algorithm, the use of lower order quadrature schemes, and tuning the partition weight associated with the interface elements. The new method is shown to have comparable accuracy to the single mesh boundary-fitted version of the same stabilized solver based on three transient flow tests including both 2D and 3D settings, as well as low and moderate Reynolds number flow conditions. Moreover, we demonstrate how the four implementation options have a synergistic effect lowering the residual assembly time by an order of magnitude compared to a naive implementation, and showing good load balancing properties.

Optimization of a High-pressure Water-Powder Mixing Prototype for Offshore Platforms

A new device is designed to promote the mixing of high-pressure water jets and powders in typical industrial applications. The water and powder mixing devices traditionally used on offshore platforms are detrimentally affected by the geometrical configuration of the water nozzle and the powder spraying pipe, which are parallel, resulting in small intersecting volumes of liquid and powder. By allowing the related jets to intersect, in the present work the optimal horizontal distance, vertical distance and intersection angle are determined through a parametric investigation. It is also shown that such values change if the number of water layers is increased from one to two. In such a case, the water and powder intersection volume can be greatly increased because the trajectory of the dry powder particles becomes more chaotic.

Image based quantification of the proximal femur shape deformities in 3D by using the contralateral healthy shape structure: A preliminary study

As a result of the several hip joint disorders seen on the hip joint components, shape deformities occur in the morphological structure of the proximal femurs and femoral heads. Quantification of the shape deformities in related hip joint components is a crucial task since it may provide assistive information to clinical experts and surgeons in clinical treatment, assessment and prognosis processes. In this article, a preliminary study handling the 3D shape deformity quantification of the abnormal proximal femurs is presented. The shape deformity of the abnormal proximal femurs in bilateral hip joint images are quantified directly by using the morphological structure of the contralateral healthy proximal femurs without a need for a statistical shape model. For this purpose, segmentation maps of the bilateral proximal femurs are registered in 3D by performing a rigid transform method, and the regions outside the intersection volume are quantified as the shape deformities. To evaluate the proposed study, a total of 13 bilateral hip magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences of 13 patients with Legg-Calve-Perthes disease (LCPD) were used. The deformity ratios observed in experiments are quite promising and consistent with the Waldenstrom classification system stages of the LCPD. The shape deformity ratios of the pathological proximal femurs in 3D were quantified as 18.02% (±04.84), 26.41% (±07.54), 31.21% (±11.07), and 36.84% (±09.33), respectively for the Initial, Fragmentation, Reossification, and Remodelling stages of LCPD in this preliminary study.

Subthalamic and Pallidal Stimulations in Patients with Parkinson's Disease: Common and Dissociable Connections.

ObjectiveThe subthalamic nucleus (STN) and internal globus pallidus (GPi) are the most effective targets in deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the common and specific effects on brain connectivity of stimulating the 2 nuclei remain unclear.MethodsPatients with PD receiving STN‐DBS (n = 27, 6 women, mean age 64.8 years) or GPi‐DBS (n = 28, 13 women, mean age 64.6 years) were recruited for resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess the effects of STN‐DBS and GPi‐DBS on brain functional dynamics.ResultsThe functional connectivity both between the somatosensory‐motor cortices and thalamus, and between the somatosensory‐motor cortices and cerebellum decreased in the DBS‐on state compared with the off state (p < 0.05). The changes in thalamocortical connectivity correlated with DBS‐induced motor improvement (p < 0.05) and were negatively correlated with the normalized intersection volume of tissues activated at both DBS targets (p < 0.05). STN‐DBS modulated functional connectivity among a wider range of brain areas than GPi‐DBS (p = 0.009). Notably, only STN‐DBS affected connectivity between the postcentral gyrus and cerebellar vermis (p < 0.001) and between the somatomotor and visual networks (p < 0.001).InterpretationOur findings highlight common alterations in the motor pathway and its relationship with the motor improvement induced by both STN‐ and GPi‐DBS. The effects on cortico‐cerebellar and somatomotor‐visual functional connectivity differed between groups, suggesting differentiated neural modulation of the 2 target sites. Our results provide mechanistic insight and yield the potential to refine target selection strategies for focal brain stimulation in PD. ANN NEUROL 2021;90:670–682

Design of an arterial signal progression plan for multi-path flows with only intersection turning counts

Most congested urban arterials, connecting multiple major intersections with heavy turning flows, are likely to comprise multiple high-volume path flows in addition to its through traffic. Hence, such arterials, if designed with state-of-the-art models for progressing mainly through traffic flows, cannot achieve the expected level of performance, because those heavy path flows involving turning movements will inevitably suffer from overflows at their turning bays and consequently trigger a mutual blockage between the turning and through traffic flows. Although some recent advances on multi-path signal progression (Yang et al., 2015; Arsava et al., 2016) offer a viable design alternative for arterials accommodating such traffic patterns, their required data such as the arterial’s O-Ds or path volume information cannot be collected with state-of-the-practice traffic sensors, or mathematically estimated at the accuracy level sufficient for design of control strategies. As such, this study proposes a model with the optimized phase sequence and offsets to produce a progression band for each candidate path along the target arterial with only each intersection's volume counts, based on the set of “local bands” for all local paths constituted by each link’s upstream flow-in and downstream flow-out movements. Such identified local progression bands are then optimally connected between two neighboring links to form the progression band for traffic flows on each path to progress over multiple arterial links under the objective of maximizing the total weighted progression bands. To ensure the effectiveness of the produced progression bands, the proposed model has accounted for all factors and geometric constraints that may cause their mutual impedance in design of the offsets and phase sequences. The results of extensive numerical experiments with respect to delay and the number of stops per vehicle (reduced by 5.8% and 9.9%, respectively, compared to the benchmark model) within the entire network have shown the effectiveness of the proposed model.