Registration Module Research Articles

Non-linear conversion of HX4 uptake for automatic segmentation of hypoxic volumes and dose prescription

Background: Tumour hypoxia is associated with increased radioresistance and poor response to radiotherapy. Pre-treatment assessment of tumour oxygenation could therefore give the possibility to tailor the treatment by calculating the required boost dose needed to overcome the increased radioresistance in hypoxic tumours. This study concerned the derivation of a non-linear conversion function between the uptake of the hypoxia-PET tracer 18F-HX4 and oxygen partial pressure (pO2).Material and methods: Building on previous experience with FMISO including experimental data on tracer uptake and pO2, tracer-specific model parameters were derived for converting the normalised HX4-uptake at the optimal imaging time point to pO2. The conversion function was implemented in a Python-based computational platform utilising the scripting and the registration modules of the treatment planning system RayStation. Subsequently, the conversion function was applied to determine the pO2 in eight non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients imaged with HX4-PET before the start of radiotherapy. Automatic segmentation of hypoxic target volumes (HTVs) was then performed using thresholds around 10 mmHg. The HTVs were compared to sub-volumes segmented based on a tumour-to-blood ratio (TBR) of 1.4 using the aortic arch as the reference oxygenated region. The boost dose required to achieve 95% local control was then calculated based on the calibrated levels of hypoxia, assuming inter-fraction reoxygenation due to changes in acute hypoxia but no overall improvement of the oxygenation status.Results: Using the developed conversion tool, HTVs could be obtained using pO2 a threshold of 10 mmHg which were in agreement with the TBR segmentation. The dose levels required to the HTVs to achieve local control were feasible, being around 70–80 Gy in 24 fractions.Conclusions: Non-linear conversion of tracer uptake to pO2 in NSCLC imaged with HX4-PET allows a quantitative determination of the dose-boost needed to achieve a high probability of local control.

Fertilizer Information System for Banana Plantation

A banana is a nutritious fruit which contains good vitamins and nutrient for body. Banana tree requires suitable mean temperature and mean rainfall to grow up. Additionally, healthy soil improves crops growth due to sufficient nutrients. Farmers use fertilizer to improve soil nutrient and increase yield productions. Thus, a proper field management and fertilization is important to ensure banana plants to produce high quality of yield. Improper manage fertilizer will cause impact on the environment and affect the banana plantation. Therefore, fertilizer information system for banana plantation is developed to support farmers to manage information for banana farm in an effective way. Prototype model is employed to assist development of the system. PHP programming language is used to develop this system and MySQL as a system database. This system contains five modules which are registration and login module, manage banana plantation information module, fertilizer formulation management module, fertilizer information management module and report module. It is expected that the system will help farmers to manage and monitor the fertilizing task in the farm efficiently.

A Forest Vitality and Change Monitoring Tool Based on RapidEye Imagery

Forest damage and health problems can be identified, mapped, and better managed through the analysis of satellite imagery. However, a high degree of efficiency is achieved only if a workflow for preprocessing and analysis is mature enough for production and can be deployed in an operational processing environment. This letter shows a path for turning research into an operational tool for the purposes of forest delineation and disturbance monitoring using high-resolution RapidEye satellite imagery. The implemented workflow follows a modularized approach with separate modules for image registration, radiometric normalization, classification, and bitemporal analysis. The tool was developed for commercial service provision. It has successfully been deployed for the fourth year for German state forest customers. It makes use of python and python libraries, as well as algorithms of PCI Geomatica. The letter concludes with a case study showing the defoliation monitoring results of a Scots pine plantation area affected by a nun moth outbreak.

POINT CLOUD MANAGEMENT THROUGH THE REALIZATION OF THE INTELLIGENT CLOUD VIEWER SOFTWARE

Abstract. The paper presents a software dedicated to the elaboration of point clouds, called Intelligent Cloud Viewer (ICV), made in-house by AESEI software (Spin-Off of Politecnico di Bari), allowing to view point cloud of several tens of millions of points, also on of “no” very high performance systems. The elaborations are carried out on the whole point cloud and managed by means of the display only part of it in order to speed up rendering. It is designed for 64-bit Windows and is fully written in C ++ and integrates different specialized modules for computer graphics (Open Inventor by SGI, Silicon Graphics Inc), maths (BLAS, EIGEN), computational geometry (CGAL, Computational Geometry Algorithms Library), registration and advanced algorithms for point clouds (PCL, Point Cloud Library), advanced data structures (BOOST, Basic Object Oriented Supporting Tools), etc. ICV incorporates a number of features such as, for example, cropping, transformation and georeferencing, matching, registration, decimation, sections, distances calculation between clouds, etc. It has been tested on photographic and TLS (Terrestrial Laser Scanner) data, obtaining satisfactory results. The potentialities of the software have been tested by carrying out the photogrammetric survey of the Castel del Monte which was already available in previous laser scanner survey made from the ground by the same authors. For the aerophotogrammetric survey has been adopted a flight height of approximately 1000ft AGL (Above Ground Level) and, overall, have been acquired over 800 photos in just over 15 minutes, with a covering not less than 80%, the planned speed of about 90 knots.

Autostereoscopic augmented reality visualization for depth perception in endoscopic surgery

Augmented reality (AR) has received increasing attention in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) applications. The goal of applying AR techniques to MIS is to enhance a surgeon's perception of the spatial relationship by overlaying invisible structures (e.g. tumor or vessels) onto the in vivo endoscopic video acquired during the surgery. One of primary issues of AR visualization is to provide correct depth perception for visible and invisible structures. In this paper, we present a video-based AR system consisting of functional modules for real-time 3D surface capture, reconstruction, and registration with pre-operative segmented CT model. The real-time 3D registration allows precise overlay of invisible structures onto 2D video for AR visualization. The AR overlay result is displayed on a multi-view autostereoscopic lenticular LCD. To study and compare the efficacy of AR visualization techniques, we investigated five different AR visualization modes. Both simulated and in vivo experiments were carried out and autostereoscopic AR visualization results were given. Evaluation and comparison for depth perception between five AR visualization modes are presented. Finally, we conclude the characteristics of these visualization modes. The novelty of our work lies in successful implementation of an end-to-end 3D autostereoscopic AR system from real-time reconstruction and registration with our multi-channel 3D endoscope, and systematic evaluation and comparison of five different visualization modes for depth perception.

An improved FSL-FIRST pipeline for subcortical gray matter segmentation to study abnormal brain anatomy using quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM)

Accurate and robust segmentation of subcortical gray matter (SGM) nuclei is required in many neuroimaging applications. FMRIB's Integrated Registration and Segmentation Tool (FIRST) is one of the most popular software tools for automated subcortical segmentation based on T1-weighted (T1w) images. In this work, we demonstrate that FIRST tends to produce inaccurate SGM segmentation results in the case of abnormal brain anatomy, such as present in atrophied brains, due to a poor spatial match of the subcortical structures with the training data in the MNI space as well as due to insufficient contrast of SGM structures on T1w images. Consequently, such deviations from the average brain anatomy may introduce analysis bias in clinical studies, which may not always be obvious and potentially remain unidentified. To improve the segmentation of subcortical nuclei, we propose to use FIRST in combination with a special Hybrid image Contrast (HC) and Non-Linear (nl) registration module (HC-nlFIRST), where the hybrid image contrast is derived from T1w images and magnetic susceptibility maps to create subcortical contrast that is similar to that in the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) template. In our approach, a nonlinear registration replaces FIRST's default linear registration, yielding a more accurate alignment of the input data to the MNI template. We evaluated our method on 82 subjects with particularly abnormal brain anatomy, selected from a database of >2000 clinical cases. Qualitative and quantitative analyses revealed that HC-nlFIRST provides improved segmentation compared to the default FIRST method.

THERMOELECTRIC SENSORS FOR REGISTRATION OF INTRAOCULAR TEMPERATURE

To develop thermoelectric sensors for measuring of intraocular temperature and to study temperature distribution in different parts of the rabbit eye, depending on the ambient temperature. Materials and methods. The experiment was performed on 21 rabbits (42 eyes) which were divided into 3 groups depending on the ambient temperature. For temperature measurement, the thermoelectric device was developed consisting of the module for temperature registration, the measuring probes with thermocouple sensors and the computer with software. Results. The lowest temperature was noted in the outer corneal surface, and then it increased gradually in the inner segments of the eye and reached its maximum in the retina and subtenon space. A temperature gradient between the outer corneal surface and the retina was 3.23оС, 4.68оС and 3.85оС in Group I, II and III, respectively. Conclusions. The thermoelectric probe based on L-type thermocouples in the body of a standard polytetrafluoroethylene cannula with a low thermal conductivity was designed and manufactured. The temperature distribution in the rabbit eye was studied and the existence of the temperature gradient between the different parts of the eye in the in vivo experiment was confirmed. Raising and lowering of the ambient temperature increases the temperature gradient between the external and internal structures of the rabbit eye.

Design and implementation of an intelligent exam management system based on B/S structure for Hebei University

This study proposed an intelligent exam management system based on the Browser/Server (B/S) structure for Hebei University. The system was integrated with three levels: user interface, business logical, and data access. These levels manage the test arrangements and performance of students through i ntelligent data processing. Three function modules based on C#, ADO.NET, and ASP.NET technology and business demand were developed; the modules were user management, examination arrangement management, and performance management. Moreover, 10 sub-function modules, including the exam arrangement module and the score registration module, were realized. The practical operation results show that the established intelligent exam management system can efficiently achieve education informatization and plays a significant role in educational administration and management system. Consequently, the efficiency of examination work and the safety of the exam management system can be enhanced.

SU‐F‐T‐256: 4D IMRT Planning Using An Early Prototype GPU‐Enabled Eclipse Workstation

Purpose:True 4D IMRT planning, based on simultaneous spatiotemporal optimization has been shown to significantly improve plan quality in lung radiotherapy. However, the high computational complexity associated with such planning represents a significant barrier to widespread clinical deployment. We introduce an early prototype GPU‐enabled Eclipse workstation for inverse planning. To our knowledge, this is the first GPUintegrated Eclipse system demonstrating the potential for clinical translation of GPU computing on a major commercially‐available TPS.Methods:The prototype system comprised of four NVIDIA Tesla K80 GPUs, with a maximum processing capability of 8.5 Tflops per K80 card. The system architecture consisted of three key modules: (i) a GPU‐based inverse planning module using a highly‐parallelizable, swarm intelligence‐based global optimization algorithm, (ii) a GPU‐based open‐source b‐spline deformable image registration module, Elastix, and (iii) a CUDA‐based data management module. For evaluation, aperture fluence weights in an IMRT plan were optimized over 9 beams,166 apertures and 10 respiratory phases (14940 variables) for a lung cancer case (GTV = 95 cc, right lower lobe, 15 mm cranio‐caudal motion). Sensitivity of the planning time and memory expense to parameter variations was quantified.Results:GPU‐based inverse planning was significantly accelerated compared to its CPU counterpart (36 vs 488 min, for 10 phases, 10 search agents and 10 iterations). The optimized IMRT plan significantly improved OAR sparing compared to the original internal target volume (ITV)‐based clinical plan, while maintaining prescribed tumor coverage. The dose‐sparing improvements were: Esophagus Dmax 50%, Heart Dmax 42% and Spinal cord Dmax 25%.Conclusion:Our early prototype system demonstrates that through massive parallelization, computationally intense tasks such as 4D treatment planning can be accomplished in clinically feasible timeframes. With further optimization, such systems are expected to enable the eventual clinical translation of higher‐dimensional and complex treatment planning strategies to significantly improve plan quality.This work was partially supported through research funding from National Institutes of Health (R01CA169102) and Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA, USA.

A Study on the Dynamics of Computerisation on Tax and Customs Administrations in the Gambia: Challenges and Prospects (A Case Study of the Gambia Revenue Authority

The development of tax and customs computerisation has been one of the greatest challenges the tax administration system in The Gambia has been faced with since 1991. Recognising this challenge, the government of The Gambia from the First Republic and the Second Republic, respectively has ideate well-meaning strategic reforms and modernisation programmes all geared to improve the fiscal space and to effectively, and efficiently manage the public revenue with better accounting, audit and enforcement tools. This saw the need to invest in IT infrastructure as a need to catapult an efficient revenue collections system in order to ideate better fiscal mechanisms and tactics of addressing the issues of fiscal corruptions, frauds, tax evasion and avoidance that result to loss of public revenues. However, it has been one of a major battling challenge to the tax administration and continues to be a key challenge, despite the huge investments in the drive towards automation from the conception, development, training, deployment and implementation of modern IT structures and platform. The study set out to examine the nature and prospects of computerisation in tax and customs administration from The Gambia’s tax system perspectives. In addition, this paper investigates the adoption of automation by The Gambia Revenue Authority in the stream of revenue generation and tax administration. The study basically focuses on the role of automation as a key driver of better addressing the pervasive fraud in the tax systems, hence supporting better, effective and efficient administration and collections of government revenues. The study uses a mixed method approach consisting of both quantitative and qualitative methods. This was informed by the dearth of credible statistical data on the implementation of GAMTAXNET as well as that of the ASYCUDA implementation strategies. The thesis therefore, draws on a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews all geared to make an empirical inquiry on the GRA’s experience in the sphere of automation. This design method of the research was adopted so as to exhaustively study the variables within the stipulated time for the research proper. The research instruments were self-administered questionnaires. Simple random sampling method was used to select respondents from the sample size of 80 and the response rate was 100%. This was considered satisfactory for a study of this nature. This thesis innumerate some challenges yet to be resolved in the area of the payment, registration and audit modules which were not interrelating seamlessly. Other areas of challenges are e-filing, e-payment and reconciliation for proper revenue management. The results of the study reveal significant positive relationships between automation and tax, and customs administration. From the results conclusions were drawn. Therefore, this study calls for further research to be carried out on the socioeconomic benefits of tax and customs computerisation based on the challenges faced by the tax administration and government of the Gambia as discussed above as well as the current public opposition to the computerisation of the Gambian tax system.

Implementation and Evaluation of a Secure and Efficient Web Authentication Scheme using Mozilla Firefox and WAMP

User authentication and session management are two of the most critical aspects of computer security and privacy on the web. However, despite their importance, in practice, authentication and session management are implemented through the use of vulnerable techniques. To solve this complex problem, we proposed new authentication architecture, called StrongAuth. Later, we presented an improved version of StrongAuth that includes a secure session management mechanism based on public key cryptography and other cryptographic primitives. In this paper, we present an experimental implementation and evaluation of the proposed scheme to demonstrate its feasibility in real-world scenarios. Specifically, we realize a prototype consisting of two modules: (1) a registration module that implements the registration, and (2) an authentication module integrating both the mutual authentication and the session management phases of the proposed scheme. The experimental results show that in comparison to traditional authentication and session management mechanisms, the proposed prototype presents the lowest total runtime.

Implementation of Epic Beaker Clinical Pathology at an academic medical center

Background: Epic Beaker Clinical Pathology (CP) is a relatively new laboratory information system (LIS) operating within the Epic suite of software applications. To date, there have not been any publications describing implementation of Beaker CP. In this report, we describe our experience in implementing Beaker CP version 2012 at a state academic medical center with a go-live of August 2014 and a subsequent upgrade to Beaker version 2014 in May 2015. The implementation of Beaker CP was concurrent with implementations of Epic modules for revenue cycle, patient scheduling, and patient registration. Methods: Our analysis covers approximately 3 years of time (2 years preimplementation of Beaker CP and roughly 1 year after) using data summarized from pre- and postimplementation meetings, debriefings, and the closure document for the project. Results: We summarize positive aspects of, and key factors leading to, a successful implementation of Beaker CP. The early inclusion of subject matter experts in the design and validation of Beaker workflows was very helpful. Since Beaker CP does not directly interface with laboratory instrumentation, the clinical laboratories spent extensive preimplementation effort establishing middleware interfaces. Immediate challenges postimplementation included bar code scanning and nursing adaptation to Beaker CP specimen collection. The most substantial changes in laboratory workflow occurred with microbiology orders. This posed a considerable challenge with microbiology orders from the operating rooms and required intensive interventions in the weeks following go-live. In postimplementation surveys, pathology staff, informatics staff, and end-users expressed satisfaction with the new LIS. Conclusions: Beaker CP can serve as an effective LIS for an academic medical center. Careful planning and preparation aid the transition to this LIS.

The Design and Implementation of the University Alumni Management System

This is an era in which information technology is highly advanced and contact information of one's classmates from all over the world is always changing with living areas changed. This will inevitably make one lose touch with their classmates and alma mater. Based on this situation, a platform to strengthen one's connection with the college is urgently need. Therefore, alumni management system comes into being. This system is based on ASP.NET technology and the B/S model, using Visual Studio 2010 and SQL Server 2008 as development tools. The system consists of foreground system and background system, the main function modules of the foreground system including user registration, login, message board, news and other modules; the background system mainly includes add users, delete users, modify information of users, add news, delete news, add messages and others. One can facilitate the management of alumni and promote feelings for alumni with this system. It's a platform for alumni to communicate with each other which beyond the restriction of time and space.

Surveillance on the incidence of acute coronary events in the permanent residents aged 25 years and more from 2010 to 2012 in Zhejiang province

To survey the incidence of acute coronary events (nonfatal acute myocardial infarction and death from coronary heart disease), and analyze the trend and distribution characteristics in permanent residents aged 25 years and more across 30 surveillance regions of Zhejiang province from 2010 to 2012. Through databases matching and duplicate checking, this study incorporated the register module of coronary disease and the cause of death register module in Zhejiang provincial information system for chronic non-communicable diseases surveillance and management. The distribution of incidence was calculated across gender, age groups, regions and times. A total of 31 872 person-time acute coronary events were identified. The gender- and age-standardized mean annual incidence was 81.56 per 100 000 people in overall population, with 94.33 in males and 68.27 in females. Age-standardized incidence was 87.90 and 77.36 per 100 000 people in urban and rural area, respectively. Urban area had higher incidence rate than rural in each of the three years, and had obvious trend of increasing (P < 0.001) compared with rural area (P = 0.331). Incidence rate also increased significantly with age (P < 0.001).In addition, compared with women, men had higher incidence in each age group (all P < 0.001). The incidence rate increased rapidly in population older than 75 years old. The highest incidence was observed in age group ≥ 85 years old, with 2 371.67 and 1 873.92 per 100 000 in males and females, respectively. Apparent seasonal trend was observed for acute coronary events, which was low in summer and high in winter. Quantity and incidence for acute coronary events in residents aged 25 years and more of Zhejiang surveillance regions increased during 2010 to 2012. Male had higher incidence than female, and the incidence in urban areas was higher compared with rural areas. Residents older than 75 years old were high risk population of events, and winter was the high-occurrence season.

Development of the cross-platform framework for the medical image processing

This paper presents the development process of a platform for image processing with a focus on the medical imaging. Besides general image processing algorithms and visualization tools, this platform includes advanced medical imaging modules for segmentation, registration and morphological analysis. It allows fast addition and testing of new algorithms using a modular structure. New modules can be created by using a platform-independent C++ class library and can be easily integrated with a whole system by a plug-in mechanism. An abstract, hierarchical definition language allows the design of efficient graphical user interfaces, hiding the complexity of the underlying module network to the end user.

HDLC Implementation in Wireless Sensor Networks

work aims the designing and implementing an efficient HDLC chip. We use pipelining technique in HDLC register module which increases the throughput of the system and also helps in decreasing the delay of the system. In pipeline technique, number of instructions has been executed at the same time. The HDLC chip designed here supports two way communications means it supports full duplex communications which means that it can transmit and receive continuously. In this paper we adopt Xilinx's Spartan-3E for HDLC implementation and for hardware simulation we use Modelsim SE 6.2C.

HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE COMPLEX FOR FUNCTIONAL STATE MONITORING OF MOTHER AND FETUS

Text abstract Mother’s and fetus’s health are very important in present time. With timely diagnosis perinatal pathology, birth injuries, antenatal stillbirths and newborn perinatal death can be prevented. At the moment in the world there are no complexes which enable monitoring of the fetus without any risk to his health. So the main aim of this work is development of hardware and software system to assess the functional status of the mother and fetus by the analysis of the signals recorded from the abdominal electrodes. Objectives: 1) to formulate the requirements to noninvasive monitoring system and functional state assessment of mother and fetus. 2) to develop algorithms and software for monitoring system and functional state assessment of mother and fetus. 3) to determine fetus functional state at 32–33 week in women with uncomplicated pregnancies and in women with placental insufficiency in the compensation stage and subcompensation. The system concept is based on fetal heart rate recognition and analysis. Fetal heart rate has been extracted from the mixed signals received from abdominal electrodes. This technique is passive for a body so there is no research time limit. Device for simultaneous registration of fetal and maternal electrocardiogram is high sensitive bioamplifier with low level of intrinsic noises, high input resistance and suppression of inphase noises more than 80 DB. Digital processing of a signal is carried out by microcontroller of the registration module and personal computer. Preprocessing is carried out in microcontroller by receiving signals from the analog-to-digital converter on the increased sampling rate, digital filtering, decimation. With the help of the developed complex two-stage study was conducted. At first stage the fetal cardiointervalogram (i.e. fetus heartbeat period and the distribution pattern of these intervals in time) was studied. Second stage was carried out to search additional criteria of fetal functional state assessment with placental insufficiency in the pregnant with hyperandrogenism in the third trimester. As result, it was defined, that parameters of heart rate structure at 32–35 weeks of gestation allows to assess the risk of functional disorders and development of fetus hypoxia with sensitivity Se = 80% and specificity Sp = 73%.

The Exploration and Implementation of the Interactive Multimedia Network Autonomous Learning Platform

In the paper the interactive multimedia network autonomous learning platform is analyzed, through which its use case diagram is presented. The autonomous learning platform consists of user register module, user login module, teacher profile module, discussion and Q/A module, online test module, learning video module, system introduction module, material download module and backstage administration module. Primarily, the design and development of the platform is meant to solve the problem of data exchange between database and pages. Data are updated or deleted when the data of pages are transmitted to backstage database. The implementation of the autonomous learning platform fulfills people’s urgent demands of the online education, settles the drawback that education and being educated in traditional approach cannot be conducted at different time and in different places, and enhances the efficiency of teacher’s teaching and students’ learning enormously as well.

A Study on Simulative System of Mobile Payment

Present a mobile payment Simulative system, in the process of paying, the system requires three parts to join in which are business server, paying agent sever and mobile client for users. Analyze the system flow, includes registration and login, confirm the identity information, submit orders, payment, fund temporarily custody, shipping the goods, user received the goods, payment complete and sellers get the money. Design the module, the system mainly includes the registration and login module, order management module, shopping cart module etc. Implement the functions of the Web browsing, commodity management, account management, funds management, send the bill and payment management on the bill.

SU-E-J-263: Dosimetric Analysis On Breast Brachytherapy Based On Deformable Image Registration

Purpose: To quantitatively compare and evaluate the dosimetry difference between breast brachytherapy protocols with different fractionation using deformable image registration. Methods: The accumulative dose distribution for multiple breast brachytherapy patients using four different applicators: Contura, Mammosite, Savi, and interstitial catheters, under two treatment protocols: 340cGy by 10 fractions in 5 days and 825cGy by 3 fractions in 2days has been reconstructed using a two stage deformable image registration approach. For all patients, daily CT was acquired with the same slice thickness (2.5mm). In the first stage, the daily CT images were rigidly registered to the initial planning CT using the registration module in Eclipse (Varian) to align the applicators. In the second stage, the tissues surrounding the applicator in the rigidly registered daily CT image were non-rigidly registered to the initial CT using a combination of image force and the local constraint that enforce zero normal motion on the surface of the applicator, using a software developed in house. We calculated the dose distribution in the daily CTs and deformed them using the final registration to convert into the image domain of the initial planning CT. The accumulative dose distributions were evaluated by dosimetry parameters including D90, V150 and V200, as well as DVH. Results: Dose reconstruction results showed that the two day treatment has a significant dosimetry improvement over the five day protocols. An average daily drop of D90 at 1.3% of the prescription dose has been observed on multiple brachytherapy patients. There is no significant difference on V150 and V200 between those two protocols. Conclusion: Brachytherapy with higher fractional dose and less fractions has an improved performance on being conformal to the dose distribution in the initial plan. Elongated brachytherapy treatments need to consider the dose uncertainty caused by the temporal changes of the soft tissue.