Sample Position Research Articles

The distinct roles of reinforcement learning between pre-procedure and intra-procedure planning for prostate biopsy

PurposeMagnetic resonance (MR) imaging targeted prostate cancer (PCa) biopsy enables precise sampling of MR-detected lesions, establishing its importance in recommended clinical practice. Planning for the ultrasound-guided procedure involves pre-selecting needle sampling positions. However, performing this procedure is subject to a number of factors, including MR-to-ultrasound registration, intra-procedure patient movement and soft tissue motions. When a fixed pre-procedure planning is carried out without intra-procedure adaptation, these factors will lead to sampling errors which could cause false positives and false negatives. Reinforcement learning (RL) has been proposed for procedure plannings on similar applications such as this one, because intelligent agents can be trained for both pre-procedure and intra-procedure planning. However, it is not clear if RL is beneficial when it comes to addressing these intra-procedure errors.MethodsIn this work, we develop and compare imitation learning (IL), supervised by demonstrations of predefined sampling strategy, and RL approaches, under varying degrees of intra-procedure motion and registration error, to represent sources of targeting errors likely to occur in an intra-operative procedure.ResultsBased on results using imaging data from 567 PCa patients, we demonstrate the efficacy and value in adopting RL algorithms to provide intelligent intra-procedure action suggestions, compared to IL-based planning supervised by commonly adopted policies.ConclusionsThe improvement in biopsy sampling performance for intra-procedure planning has not been observed in experiments with only pre-procedure planning. These findings suggest a strong role for RL in future prospective studies which adopt intra-procedure planning. Our open source code implementation is available here.

Suppression of ITPKB degradation by Trim25 confers TMZ resistance in glioblastoma through ROS homeostasis

Temozolomide (TMZ) represents a standard-of-care chemotherapeutic agent in glioblastoma (GBM). However, the development of drug resistance constitutes a significant hurdle in the treatment of malignant glioma. Although specific innovative approaches, such as immunotherapy, have shown favorable clinical outcomes, the inherent invasiveness of most gliomas continues to make them challenging to treat. Consequently, there is an urgent need to identify effective therapeutic targets for gliomas to overcome chemoresistance and facilitate drug development. This investigation used mass spectrometry to examine the proteomic profiles of six pairs of GBM patients who underwent standard-of-care treatment and surgery for both primary and recurrent tumors. A total of 648 proteins exhibiting significant differential expression were identified. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) unveiled notable alterations in pathways related to METABOLISM_OF_LIPIDS and BIOLOGICAL_OXIDATIONS between the primary and recurrent groups. Validation through glioma tissue arrays and the Xiangya cohort confirmed substantial upregulation of inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate (IP3) kinase B (ITPKB) in the recurrence group, correlating with poor survival in glioma patients. In TMZ-resistant cells, the depletion of ITPKB led to an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) related to NADPH oxidase (NOX) activity and restored cell sensitivity to TMZ. Mechanistically, the decreased phosphorylation of the E3 ligase Trim25 at the S100 position in recurrent GBM samples accounted for the weakened ITPKB ubiquitination. This, in turn, elevated ITPKB stability and impaired ROS production. Furthermore, ITPKB depletion or the ITPKB inhibitor GNF362 effectively overcome TMZ chemoresistance in a glioma xenograft mouse model. These findings reveal a novel mechanism underlying TMZ resistance and propose ITPKB as a promising therapeutic target for TMZ-resistant GBM.

Enhancing medical image segmentation with a multi-transformer U-Net.

Various segmentation networks based on Swin Transformer have shown promise in medical segmentation tasks. Nonetheless, challenges such as lower accuracy and slower training convergence have persisted. To tackle these issues, we introduce a novel approach that combines the Swin Transformer and Deformable Transformer to enhance overall model performance. We leverage the Swin Transformer's window attention mechanism to capture local feature information and employ the Deformable Transformer to adjust sampling positions dynamically, accelerating model convergence and aligning it more closely with object shapes and sizes. By amalgamating both Transformer modules and incorporating additional skip connections to minimize information loss, our proposed model excels at rapidly and accurately segmenting CT or X-ray lung images. Experimental results demonstrate the remarkable, showcasing the significant prowess of our model. It surpasses the performance of the standalone Swin Transformer's Swin Unet and converges more rapidly under identical conditions, yielding accuracy improvements of 0.7% (resulting in 88.18%) and 2.7% (resulting in 98.01%) on the COVID-19 CT scan lesion segmentation dataset and Chest X-ray Masks and Labels dataset, respectively. This advancement has the potential to aid medical practitioners in early diagnosis and treatment decision-making.

Stochastic modeling of a neutron imaging center at the Brazilian Multipurpose Reactor

Neutron imaging is a non-destructive technique for analyzing a wide class of samples, such as archaeological or industrial material structures. In recent decades, technological advances have had a great impact on the neutron imaging technique, which has meant an evolution from simple radiographs using films (2D) to modern tomography systems with digital processing (3D). The 5 MW research nuclear reactor IEA-R1, which is located at the Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares (IPEN) in Brazil, possesses a neutron imaging instrument with 1.0×106n/cm2s in the sample position. IEA-R1 is over 60 years old and the future of neutron science in Brazil, including imaging, will be expanded to a new facility called the Brazilian Multipurpose Reactor (RMB, Portuguese acronym), which will be built soon. The new reactor will house a suite of instruments at the Neutron National Laboratory, including the neutron imaging facility, viz., Neinei. Inspired by recent author’s works, we model the Neinei instrument through stochastic Monte Carlo simulations. We investigate the sensitivity of the neutron imaging technique parameter (L/D ratio) with the neutron flux, and the results are compared to data from the Neutra (PSI), Antares (FRM II), BT2 (NIST) and DINGO (OPAL) instruments. The results are promising and provide avenues for future improvements.

Identification of exhaust stack sampling location of a research reactor considering ANSI/HPS N13.1-2011 mixing criteria using computational fluid dynamics

ABSTRACT Research Reactors have exhaust stacks that emit filtered radioactive gaseous waste into the atmosphere. In this research work, to check whether the radioactive gaseous waste met the requirements of ANSI/HPS N13.1–2011 mixing criteria, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was performed. According to ANSI criteria, Coefficient of Variance (COV) of velocity uniformity, flow angle, tracer gas, and aerosol particles concentration should be less than 20%. Therefore, the COV of the four parameters at different sampling positions along the stack height, with eight tracer gas and eight particles injection cases, were analyzed. The COV of velocity at 6 m height is 17.5% and flow cyclone is 9.8 degree. The results indicated that the 6 m height of the stack is enough for cyclone angle and COV of velocity to fulfill the ANSI mixing criteria. The COV of tracer gas concentration in one to eight injection cases is 10%, 4.8%, 7.5%, 17%, 2.5%, 6%, 13%, and 5% at 14 m stack height so the tracer gas also satisfied the standard mixing criteria in a concise length of 14 m because of the minimal difference in densities of tracer gas and air. However, due to their much higher density, aerosol particles took much longer to mix into the air. At 60 m stack height, the COV of aerosol particle concentration in one to eight injection cases is 14.8%, 18%, 8%, 12%, 11%, 15%, 15.5%, and 2%, respectively. As a result, when the stack height is set to 60 m, the COV of velocity, cyclone flow angle, tracer gas concentration, and aerosol particle concentration are found to meet the ANSI mixing criteria. Therefore, the minimum recommended height of the stack is proposed to be 60 m for the case under consideration.

Flow-Driven Self-Propulsion of Oil Droplet on a Surfactant Solution Surface, as Observed by Time-Resolved Interfacial Tension and Surface Flow Speed Measurements.

The imbalanced force of the interfacial tension applied to an object has often been taken into account in the analysis of the motion mechanism of self-propelled systems. However, heterogeneous distributions of the interfacial tension also cause Marangoni flows, and these flows also contribute to the self-propulsion through the viscous force. The contribution of such flows has not been observed directly, while the interfacial tension difference has been measured in some systems. In this study, simultaneous measurements of the interfacial tension and surface flow speed of the unidirectional self-propelled motion of a butyl salicylate (BS) droplet in a circular channel on a sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) aqueous solution were achieved by the quasi-elastic laser scattering method. The droplet position was also recorded by observing its fluorescence excited by a UV light. The BS droplet speed dependence of the interfacial tension and surface flow speed were measured by varying the initial BS concentration codissolved in the SDS aqueous solution. As a result, a periodic decrease of the interfacial tension and a periodic increase of the speed of both forward and backward flows were observed when the droplet passed the sampling position of the time-resolved measurements. When they were converted to the distribution in space of the droplet position, no droplet speed dependence of the interfacial tension difference between the front and rear of the droplet was observed. On the other hand, the speed of both forward and backward flows increased as the droplet speed increased. By analysis of the above results with a simplified model, it was clarified that the forward flow driven by the interfacial tension gradient at the droplet front is actually important in the mechanism of the unidirectional self-propelled motion of a droplet.

The Impact of IFRS 9 Compliance on Financial Statement Outputs: An Exploratory Study of a Sample of Commercial Banks

The current research aims to adopt Financial Reporting Standards No. (9) using one of the alternatives to accounting measurement (fair value/amortized cost). This approach transforms financial statements into a crucial tool for management to assess financial performance. This application is expected to alter the actual reality of the economic unit, influencing the value of the stock and impacting competitive value in the future. Several statistical tools and equations related to fair value/amortized cost, as outlined in International Accounting Standard 9, were employed. The research yielded several conclusions, with the most significant being that the implementation of the fair value accounting model by the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS9) can lead to results that truly reflect the financial performance and position of the research sample, instilling confidence in the financial statement outputs. After identifying the key conclusions, the research provides various recommendations. Foremost among them is the encouragement for banks to adhere to international financial reporting standards, particularly the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS9). This recommendation stems from the evident importance of presenting financial statements in a manner that accurately mirrors their actual reality.

Design of moderator and collimator based on compact D-T neutron source for neutron imaging

ABSTRACT The Compact thermal neutron imaging systems have become an important development trend. Compact thermal neutron imaging systems can use neutron tubes as neutron sources because of their low cost, small size, and portability. In order to achieve optimal imaging quality, the moderator and collimator in a neutron imaging system based on neutron tubes source are designed and simulated using SuperMC. The entrance position of the collimator is determined by analyzing the performance of different materials with their parameter’s optimization. It is suggested that a cylinder-shaped structure made of carbon, hydrogenous materials, and heavy metals can significantly increase the thermal neutron flux at the sample location. Further dimension optimization is carried out to improve the neutron beam collimation performance. A vertically divergent collimator with a divergence angle of 5° and an air gap is selected, along with the addition of a B4C lining material. According to the modelling results, the sample position can be as far away from the neutron source as 77 cm with a neutron source yield of 1.14 × 109 n/s. The collimation ratio is 29, the thermal neutron flux is 1.08 × 103 n/cm2·s, and n/γ is 1.44 × 1012 n/cm2·Sv, which is suitable for thermal neutron radiography.

Event-triggering Formation Control for Second-order Multi-agent Systems With Sampled Position Data

Event-triggering Formation Control for Second-order Multi-agent Systems With Sampled Position Data

Prompt gamma rays of terbium induced by inelastic scattering of fission neutrons

AbstractPrompt gamma rays of terbium emitted after (n,nʹγ) inelastic scattering reactions induced by irradiation of a terbium(III) hexahydrate (TbCl3·6H2O) sample with a beam of fission neutrons were investigated with the instrument FaNGaS (Fast Neutron-induced Gamma-ray Spectrometry) at an angle of 90° between neutron beam and detector. At sample position, the fast-neutron flux was 1.13 × 108 cm−2 s−1and the neutron beam has an average energy of 2.30 MeV. We identified 124 prompt gamma lines from the159Tb(n,nʹγ)159Tb reaction. Presence of prompt gamma rays from oxygen and chlorine was used for a concise verification of recently published results. Relative gamma-ray intensities, effective cross sections and fast-neutron spectrum-averaged partial production cross sections of the gamma lines are given including comparisons with available literature data. We found a reasonable agreement and the multitude of unreported lines adds decisive value to nuclear spectroscopy. Additionally, we estimated the detection limit of terbium as 1 mg for a counting time of 12 h.

Objective identification of Lepidocyclina (Foraminifera) species from the Eocene of Cuba based on growth-invariant morphometric characters

Megalospheric specimens of Lepidocyclina from seven localities in western and central Cuba were morphometrically investigated using 11 growth-independent characters for equatorial sections of nepionts and 19 growth-independent and invariant characters describing equatorial sections of neanic chamberlets. This provides a complete geometric reconstruction of the equatorial morphology for lepidocyclinids. Specimens were objectively (to be precise, intersubjectively) classified by clustering and ordination methods resulting in four morphologically homogenous groups. These unprejudiced groups are then subjectively identified as Lepidocyclina macdonaldi, L. pustulosa, L. ariana and L. ocalana following the taxonomic rules and checked for significant differences. The D/P-ratio (deuteroconch/protoconch) separates L. ocalana (D/P ≥ 1) from L. pustulosa (D/P ≅ 1), L. macdonaldi and L. ariana (D/P < 1). The form of neanic chamberlets differentiates both L. macdonaldi and L. pustulosa possessing arcuate chamberlets from L. ariana and L. ocalana with spatulate chamberlets. The smaller sized characters isolate L. pustulosa from the other species. Lepidocyclina macdonaldi has the longest stratigraphical range occurring from ABZ 9 to ABZ 16 (American larger Benthic foraminifera Zonation). Lepidocyclina ariana is restricted to ABZ 12, while L. pustulosa and L. ocalana range from ABZ 13 to ABZ 16 and ABZ 15 to ABZ 16, respectively. An evolutionary trend could be detected in nepionts of L. macdonaldi starting from slightly smaller nepionts at the first appearance to significantly larger nepionts at the end of the Priabonian. Additionally, the arcuate chamberlets arranged in rows transform from not connected to connected. Differences within L. ocalana can be explained by environmental influences due to the palaeogeographical position of samples.

Joint Sample Position Based Noise Filtering and Mean Shift Clustering for Imbalanced Classification Learning

Joint Sample Position Based Noise Filtering and Mean Shift Clustering for Imbalanced Classification Learning

Re-thinking methane storage mechanism in highly metamorphic coalbed reservoirs — A molecular simulation considering organic components

Highly metamorphic coal plays a significant role in China's energy development plan owing to its high calorific value. Its complex organic composition provides outstanding storage capabilities for methane (clean and efficient unconventional natural gas), which leads to terrible gas outburst hazards. Minimizing the main storage sites of CH4 (micropores) through organic solvent extraction provides an efficient and safe route for exploiting coal and natural gas energy sources. This phenomenon can be elucidated by the removal of the chemical components that have an adverse impact on the micropore filling theory. In this study, we constructed macromolecular models of highly metamorphic coal, and relative dynamic simulations under experiment and field conditions are performed. The corresponding CH4 storage capacity and spatial coordination distribution of the coal after five treatments were derived. Combined with the results of the micropore filling theory, it was shown that the equilibrium distance of CH4 filling in the micropore increased with the degree of extraction (from 0.351 nm for XT to 0.572 nm for XT-DMF). Also, the trend of CH4 adsorption position in the representative samples (the number of monolayer affixations decreased from 10 to 9) provides crucial support for the conclusions, and the low-potential region with a high potential difference contributes to CH4 stability. The breakthrough of this study will provide strong support and a solid theoretical basis for the efficient and safe exploitation of CBM (Coalbed methane) energy resources.

Framework to optimize fixed-length micro-CT systems for propagation-based phase-contrast imaging.

A laboratory X-ray imaging system with a setup that closely resembles commercial micro-CT systems with a fixed source-to-detector distance of ∼90 cm is investigated for single distance propagation-based phase-contrast imaging and computed tomography (CT). The system had a constant source-to-detector distance, and the sample positions were optimized. Initially, a PTFE wire was imaged, both in 2D and 3D, to characterize fringe contrast and spatial resolution for different X-ray source settings and source-to-sample distances. The results were compared to calculated values based on theoretical models and to simulated (wave-optics based) results, with good agreement being found. The optimization of the imaging system is discussed. CT scans of two biological samples, a tissue-engineered esophageal scaffold and a rat heart, were then acquired at the optimum parameters, demonstrating that significant image quality improvements can be obtained with widely available components placed inside fixed-length cabinets through proper optimization of propagation-based phase-contrast.

The Presence of Four Pathogenic Oral Bacterial Species in Six Wild Snake Species from Southern Taiwan: Associated Factors.

The oral cavity of snakes serves as a habitat for various microorganisms, some of which may include potential zoonotic pathogens posing risks to hosts and causing wound infections in snakebite victims. Clinical studies on snakebite cases in Taiwan have identified specific pathogens, such as Enterococcus faecalis (Gram-positive), Morganella morganii, Aeromonas hydrophila, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Gram-negative). However, the prevalence of these bacteria in the oral cavity of wild snakes remains largely unknown. This study investigated the occurrence of these bacteria in six wild snake species (Naja atra, Bungarus multicinctus, Trimeresurus stejnegeri, Protobothrops mucrosquamatus, Boiga kraepelini, and Elaphe taeniura friesi) from southern Taiwan, along with factors influencing their presence. Oropharyngeal swab samples were collected from a substantial number of wild-caught snakes (n = 1104), followed by DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction, and gel electrophoresis. The band positions of samples were compared with positive and negative controls to determine the presence of target bacteria in each sample. The overall occurrence rates were 67.4% for E. faecalis, 31.5% for M. morganii, 8.2% for A. hydrophila, and 7.7% for P. aeruginosa. Among snake species, B. kraepelini exhibited dominance in E. faecalis (93.4%), A. hydrophila (17.1%), and P. aeruginosa (14.5%), while male N. atra showed dominance in M. morganii (51.3%). The occurrence of E. faecalis was lowest in winter. The results of multiple logistic regression analyses suggest that factors such as species, sex, temperature, season, and coexisting pathogens may have a significant impact on the occurrence of target bacteria. These findings have implications for wildlife medicine and snakebite management.

Generation mechanism and temporal–spatial evolution of electron excitation induced by an ultrashort pulse laser in zirconia ceramic

Femtosecond lasers have been applied in the machining of zirconia (ZrO2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$${{\ extrm{ZrO}}_2}$$\\end{document}) ceramics because of their ultrashort pulse duration and high peak power. However, the high-precision micromachining of zirconia remains challenging owing to an unclear understanding of the ultrafast laser–material interaction mechanisms. In this study, the transient processing phenomenon induced by a femtosecond laser pulse, namely electron excitation (filament), occurring on a picosecond to nanosecond timescale, was directly observed and quantitatively investigated inside ZrO2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$${{\ extrm{ZrO}}_2}$$\\end{document}. A pump-probe imaging method comprising a focusing probe beam integrated with a high-speed camera was used. The evolution process, type variation, and related interaction mechanisms of the filament were revealed under different parameters, including laser pulse energy, sample position, and pulse duration. Finally, the generation mechanism of multiple filaments was clarified and successfully elucidated. This study reveals the ultrafast laser–material interaction mechanisms and the high-precision processing in the laser drilling of zirconia ceramics.

A Rotating Object Detector with Convolutional Dynamic Adaptive Matching

Standard convolution sliding along a fixed direction in common convolutional neural networks (CNNs) is inconsistent with the direction of aerial targets, making it difficult to effectively extract features with high-aspect-ratio and arbitrary directional targets. To this end, We have fully considered the dynamic adaptability of remote sensing (RS) detectors in feature extraction and the balance of sample gradients during training and designed a plug-and-play dynamic rotation convolution with an adaptive alignment function. Specifically, we design dynamic convolutions in the backbone network that can be closely coupled with the spatial features of aerial targets. We design a network that can capture the rotation angle of aerial targets and dynamically adjust the spatial sampling position of the convolution to reduce the difference between the convolution and the target in directional space. In order to improve the stability of the network, a gradient adaptive equalization loss function is designed during training. The loss function we designed strengthens the gradient of high-quality samples, dynamically balancing the gradients of samples of different qualities to achieve stable training of the network. Sufficient experiments were conducted on the DOTA, HRSC-2016, and UCAS-AOD datasets to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method and to achieve an effective balance between complexity and accuracy.

Automating Robotic Micro-Assembly of Fluidic Chips and Single Fiber Compression Tests Based-on Θ Visual Measurement With High-Precision Fiducial Markers

At small scales, automating robotic tasks such as assembly, force/displacement characterization, positioning, etc., appear to be particularly limited. This is due to the lack of sufficiently performing and easy-to-implement multi-degrees-of-freedom measurement systems able to measure the relative pose between micro-parts. In order to address this issue, a measurement method based on High-Precision fiducial markers (named HP code) is proposed. This measurement method combines a periodic pattern (providing high resolution by phase-based computation) with more regular QR codes (bringing versatile implementations and a quick detection). The design and method to efficiently locate these HP codes are presented in this paper. Experimental investigations demonstrate ultra-high resolution: <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2$</tex-math> </inline-formula> nm and <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$5$</tex-math> </inline-formula> <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\upmu$</tex-math> </inline-formula> rad along <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$X,Y$</tex-math> </inline-formula> and <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Theta$</tex-math> </inline-formula> respectively (i.e. one thousandth of a pixel typically). The method is designed to be scalable as well as self-calibrated and to provide high robustness and high versatility. Two typical challenging applications in the field of microrobotics are automated to demonstrate these disruptive performances and the easy-to-implement capability of the method: (1) the automated assembly of two micro-fluidic chips through visual servoing with an achieved positioning accuracy below <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$50$</tex-math> </inline-formula> nm, and (2) the automated micromechanical characterization of single fibers achieved by the integration of HP codes into a compliant structure enabling simultaneous micro-force and displacement sensing capabilities. These achievements highlight the versatility of the method and open the door to the rapid automation of high-quality robotic tasks at the micro scale. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Note to Practitioners</i> —The motivation for this work/study is based on the fact that many application areas are extensively orienting towards microrobotic systems to perform precise tasks with versatility. However, at the micro scale, many disturbances such as the effects of climate change strongly affect this precision. This problem is amplified by the fact that sensors cannot be easily integrated, either by lack of space or by the lack of measurement systems available. Vision-based approaches are widespread at this scale and appear very promising to measure the relative pose between micro-parts. Nevertheless, existing vision-based approaches like digital image correlation are both scale and texture dependent. Due to the lack of space, they are also difficult to use in practice at small scales for high resolution measurement. The main contribution of this paper lies in the capability to achieve ultra-high resolution measurements. For that, a structure based on High-Precision fiducial markers (named HP codes) is proposed and requires few and simple settings while achieving very high resolution both in position and orientation, typically down to one thousandth of a pixel and a few micro radians, respectively. It provides an off-the-shelf solution, versatile, easy to implement and achieves high resolution measurements in the plane (XY <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Theta$</tex-math> </inline-formula> ). HP codes are applicable to a wide range of applications such as tracking of a component/part of a mobile or deformable system, visual servoing of microrobots, positioning of samples, assembly of components or even mechanical characterization. A free distribution of the library is available online at https://projects.femto-st.fr/ vernier/.

Task-Wise Sampling Convolutions for Arbitrary-Oriented Object Detection in Aerial Images.

Arbitrary-oriented object detection (AOOD) has been widely applied to locate and classify objects with diverse orientations in remote sensing images. However, the inconsistent features for the localization and classification tasks in AOOD models may lead to ambiguity and low-quality object predictions, which constrains the detection performance. In this article, an AOOD method called task-wise sampling convolutions (TS-Conv) is proposed. TS-Conv adaptively samples task-wise features from respective sensitive regions and maps these features together in alignment to guide a dynamic label assignment for better predictions. Specifically, sampling positions of the localization convolution in TS-Conv are supervised by the oriented bounding box (OBB) prediction associated with spatial coordinates, while sampling positions and convolutional kernel of the classification convolution are designed to be adaptively adjusted according to different orientations for improving the orientation robustness of features. Furthermore, a dynamic task-consistent-aware label assignment (DTLA) strategy is developed to select optimal candidate positions and assign labels dynamically according to ranked task-aware scores obtained from TS-Conv. Extensive experiments on several public datasets covering multiple scenes, multimodal images, and multiple categories of objects demonstrate the effectiveness, scalability, and superior performance of the proposed TS-Conv.

Two-photon microscopy of acoustofluidic trapping for highly sensitive cell analysis.

We combine two-photon-excited fluorescence microscopy and acoustofluidic trapping in a spherical microchamber to in vitro study cells and cell clusters three-dimensionally close to in vivo conditions. The two-photon microscopy provides the in-depth 3D analysis of the spherical microchamber dimensions as well as the positions of trapped samples therein with high spatial precision and high temporal resolution enabling even tracking of the fast moving particles. Furthermore, optical sectioning allows to gather information of individual cells in trapped cell clusters inside the chamber. We demonstrate real-time monitoring of osmosis in A549 lung cells and red blood cells as one possible biomedical application. The observed osmosis reduced the cell membrane diameter by approximately 4 μm in the A549 cells and by approximately 2 μm in the red blood cells. Our approach provides an important optical tool for future investigations of cell functions and cell-cell interactions avoiding wall-contact inside an acoustofluidic device.