Systematic Errors Research Articles

A Method to Evaluate Orientation-Dependent Errors in the Center of Contrast Targets Used with Terrestrial Laser Scanners

Terrestrial laser scanners (TLS) are portable dimensional measurement instruments used to obtain 3D point clouds of objects in a scene. While TLSs do not require the use of cooperative targets, they are sometimes placed in a scene to fuse or compare data from different instruments or data from the same instrument but from different positions. A contrast target is an example of such a target; it consists of alternating black/white squares that can be printed using a laser printer. Because contrast targets are planar as opposed to three-dimensional (like a sphere), the center of the target might suffer from errors that depend on the orientation of the target with respect to the TLS. In this paper, we discuss a low-cost method to characterize such errors and present results obtained from a short-range TLS and a long-range TLS. Our method involves comparing the center of a contrast target against the center of spheres and, therefore, does not require the use of a reference instrument or calibrated objects. For the short-range TLS, systematic errors of up to 0.5 mm were observed in the target center as a function of the angle for the two distances (5 m and 10 m) and resolutions (30 points-per-degree (ppd) and 90 ppd) considered for this TLS. For the long-range TLS, systematic errors of about 0.3 mm to 0.8 mm were observed in the target center as a function of the angle for the two distances (5 m and 10 m) at low resolution (28 ppd). Errors of under 0.3 mm were observed in the target center as a function of the angle for the two distances at high resolution (109 ppd).

Validity of A-Mode Ultrasound for Estimating Body Fat Percentage of Young Adult Athletes: A Multicomponent Model Study.

This study compared %BFUS to %BF4C in young adult athletes. University club sport athletes (86 women, 138 men) from a variety of teams participated. ADP, DXA, and bioimpedance spectroscopy were used to measure body volume, bone mineral content, and total body water, respectively, for the 4C model. Ultrasound measurements were taken at three sites to estimate %BFUS. Comparisons between %BFUS and %BF4C were evaluated with Pearson correlation, paired t-test, linear regression, equivalence testing, and plots of individual errors. For the combined sample of men and women (N = 224), the two methods were highly correlated (r = 0.93) with a constant error (CE) of 0.8% BF (P < .001) and standard error of estimate (SEE) of 3.0% BF. The 90% confidence intervals of the mean difference (0.47 to 1.17) were well within the ±2% BF limits for equivalence testing, and no bias was evident from the error plot. However, equivalence testing failed to remain inside the ±2% BF range for women, and the prediction errors for women (CE = 1.9% BF, P < .001, SEE = 3.2% BF) were larger than for men (CE = 0.1% BF, P = .597, SEE = 2.8% BF). Overall, the %BFUS errors were low, suggesting that A-mode ultrasound is a valid field measure of %BF for young adult athletes. Accuracy is better for men than women.

Retrieving the atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane from the European Copernicus CO2M satellite mission using artificial neural networks

Abstract. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) are the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gases and the main drivers of climate change. Monitoring their concentrations from space helps detect and quantify anthropogenic emissions, supporting the mitigation efforts urgently needed to meet the primary objective of the Paris Agreement, adopted at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2015, to limit the global average temperature increase to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. In addition, satellite observations can be used to quantify natural sources and sinks, improving our understanding of the carbon cycle. Advancing these goals is one key motivation for the European Copernicus CO2 monitoring mission CO2M. The necessary accuracy and precision requirements for the measured quantities XCO2 and XCH4 (the column-averaged dry-air mole fractions of CO2 and CH4) are demanding. According to the CO2M mission requirements, the spatial and temporal variability of the systematic errors (or spatio-temporal systematic errors) of XCO2 and XCH4 must not exceed 0.5 ppm and 5 ppb, respectively. The stochastic errors due to instrument noise must not exceed 0.7 ppm for XCO2 and 10 ppb for XCH4. Conventional so-called full-physics algorithms for retrieving XCO2 and/or XCH4 from satellite-based measurements of reflected solar radiation are typically computationally intensive and still usually require empirical bias corrections based on supervised machine learning methods. Here we present the retrieval algorithm Neural networks for Remote sensing of Greenhouse gases from CO2M (NRG-CO2M), which derives XCO2 and XCH4 from CO2M radiance measurements with minimal computational effort using artificial neural networks (ANNs). In addition, NRG-CO2M also provides estimates of both the noise-driven uncertainties and the averaging kernels of XCO2 and XCH4 for each sounding. Since CO2M will not be launched until 2026, our study exploits simulated measurements over land surfaces from a comprehensive observing system simulation experiment (OSSE) that includes realistic meteorology, aerosols, surface bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF), solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF), and CO2 and CH4 concentrations. We created a novel hybrid learning approach that combines advantages of simulation-based and measurement-based training data to ensure coverage of a wide range of XCO2 and XCH4 values, making the training data representative of future concentrations as well. The algorithm's postprocessing is designed to achieve a high data yield of about 80 % of all cloud-free soundings. The spatio-temporal systematic errors of XCO2 and XCH4 are 0.44 ppm and 2.45 ppb, respectively. The average single sounding precision is 0.41 ppm for XCO2 and 2.74 ppb for XCH4. Therefore, the presented retrieval method has the potential to meet the demanding CO2M mission requirements for XCO2 and XCH4. While the presented results are a solid proof of concept, the actual achievable quality can only be determined once NRG-CO2M is trained on real data, where it is confronted, e.g., with unknown instrument effects and systematic errors in the training truth.

Direct assessment of the influence of pose repeatability on the accuracy of dimensional measurements for computed tomography systems with high degrees of freedom

Abstract Industrial x-ray computed tomography (CT) systems with high geometric flexibility are increasingly utilized for large-scale measurement objects or challenging measurement tasks. To maintain high accuracy when deviating from the established circular scan trajectory, trajectory calibration methods using multi-sphere reference objects with known marker positions are commonly employed. These multi-sphere objects can either be scanned together with the measurement object (online trajectory calibration) or in a separate scan (offline trajectory calibration). While offline calibration increases machine time, it generally results in higher scan quality. However, a sufficient pose repeatability is necessary to ensure comparable or even superior accuracy to online calibration. In this contribution, we present a straightforward procedure to compare both types of trajectory calibration in a way that the differences of the results can directly be traced back to the influence of the pose repeatability. The multi-sphere reference object is not only used for trajectory calibration, but simultaneously as a measurement object for repeated measurements. The methodology is tested on both a twin robotic CT system and a conventional CT system that is additionally equipped with a hexapod manipulator for adaptive object tilting. Results showed, independent from the type of trajectory calibration, systematic measurement errors in the order of 10−5–10−4 of measured sphere distances and sphericity values below 50 μ m . For sphere distances, random errors were increased by a factor of 5 due to the offline trajectory calibration, but were still low ( &lt; 1 μ m ) in comparison to systematic errors and the spread of different measurement features. Overall, both investigated systems demonstrated sufficient positioning repeatability for offline trajectory calibration. The method is in general also applicable to any other types of manipulator systems used for CT devices. It provides a workflow for the decision which type of trajectory calibration is preferable for a given CT system.

DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC DETERMINATION OF PROPRANOLOL IN EXTEMPORANEOUS POWDERS OF MANUFACTURE FOR CHILDREN

Introduction. Propranolol, a non-selective beta-blocker, is included in Russian and international treatment protocols for various cardiovascular diseas-es in children and adults. It has also demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of infantile hemangiomas, migraines, glaucoma and other diseases. The pharmaceutical industry produces propranolol in tablets of 10 and 40 mg. However, for pediatric treatment, dosages of 0.5–2.5 mg/kg/day are re-quired. Extemporaneous pharmaceutical powders for internal use allow for individual dosing. This study aims were to develop method for the quantitative determination of propranolol by spectrophotometric method in powders containing dex-trose or lactose and to carry out validation assessment of this method. Material and methods. The pharmaceutical substances propranolol hydrochloride was purchased from (Changzhou Yabang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, China), dextrose monohydrate – from (Weifang Shengtai Medicine Co., Ltd, China) and lactose monohydrate – from (DFE Pharma GmbH&amp;Co. KG, Goch, Germany). The optical density of propranolol solutions was measured on a UNICO 2802 spectrophotometer (Russia) at a wavelength of 290 nm in cu-vettes with a layer thickness of 10 mm. Weighing of the samples was carried out on an analytical balance ADV-200M (Russia). Results. The method has been developed for the spectrophotometric quantitative determination of propranolol in powders containing dextrose or lac-tose. The validation of the method was carried out by the requirements of OFS.1.1.0012 “Validation of analytical methods” of the Russian State Phar-macopoeia of the XV edition, confirmed its specificity, linearity in the range from 12 to 28 µg/mL (r=0,9995 for dextrose powder и r=0,9997 for lactose powder), intermediate (intra-laboratory) precision and accuracy. The results are not burdened by systematic error. The relative standard deviation (RSD) does not exceed 2.0%. Conclusions. A validation evaluation of a spectrophotometric method for the quantitative determination of propranolol in powders with dextrose or lac-tose has been developed and carried out. The proposed method can be used to control the quality of extemporal medicines.

Massive Clusters and OB Associations as Output of Massive Star Formation in Gaia Era

Over the past two decades, our understanding of star formation has undergone a major shift, driven by a wealth of data from infrared, submillimeter and radio surveys. The emerging view depicts star formation as a hierarchical process, which predominantly occurs along filamentary structures in the interstellar medium. These structures span a wide range of spatial scales, ultimately leading to the birth of young stars, which distribute in small groups, clusters and OB associations. Given the inherently complex and dynamic nature of star formation, a comprehensive understanding of these processes can only be achieved by examining their end products—namely, the distribution and properties of young stellar populations. In the Gaia era, the nearby OB associations are now characterised with unprecedented detail, allowing for a robust understanding of their formation histories. Nevertheless, to fully grasp the mechanisms of star formation and its typical scale, it is essential to study the much larger associations, which constitute the backbones of spiral arms. The large catalogues of young open clusters that have emerged from Gaia DR3 offer a valuable resource for investigating star formation on larger spatial scales. While the cluster parameters listed in these catalogues are still subject to many uncertainties and systematic errors, ongoing improvements in data analysis and upcoming Gaia releases promise to enhance the accuracy and reliability of these measurements. This review aims to provide a comprehensive summary of recent advancements and a critical assessment of the datasets available.

Measuring the angular momentum of a neutron using Earth's rotation

A coupling between Earth's rotation and orbital angular momentum (OAM), known as the Sagnac effect, is observed in entangled neutrons produced using a spin-echo interferometer. After correction for instrument systematics the measured coupling is within 5% of theory, with an uncertainty of 7.2%. The OAM in our setup is transverse to the propagation direction and scales linearly with neutron wavelength (4–12.75 Å), so the Sagnac coupling can be varied without mechanically rotating the device, which avoids systematic errors present in previous experiments. The detected transverse OAM of our beam corresponds to 4098±295ℏÅ−1,105 times lower than in the previous neutron experiments. This demonstrates the feasibility of using the Sagnac effect to definitively measure neutron OAM and paves the way towards a future observation of the quantum Sagnac effect. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

The Intra-Examiner Variability in and Accuracy of Traditional Manual Diagnostics of Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo: A Prospective Observational Cohort Study

Background/Objectives: Accurate head positioning is essential for diagnostics of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). This study aimed to quantify the head angles and angular velocities during traditional manual BPPV diagnostics in patients with positional vertigo. Methods: A prospective, observational cohort study was conducted at a tertiary university hospital outpatient clinic. One trained examiner performed the Supine Roll Test (SRT) and the Dix–Hallpike test (DHT) on 198 adults with positional vertigo. The primary outcomes included head angle variability and accuracy and angular velocity variability. The secondary outcomes examined the relationship between the head angle accuracy and participant-reported limitations. Results: The absolute variability for all head angles ranged from ±8.7° to ±11.0°. The yaw axis head angles during the DHT, particularly on the left side, had the highest relative variability (left DHT: coefficient of variance 0.29). Systematic errors included the yaw axis head angles undershooting the target (90°) by 19.7–23.8° during the SRT and the pitch axis head angles undershooting the target (120°) by 7.8–8.7° during the DHT. The left-sided yaw axis in the DHT was undershot by 11.8°, while the right-sided DHT angle was slightly overshot (2.5°). Right-sided yaw axis angles in the SRT and DHT were more accurate than the left-sided ones (right SRT: 19.9°; left SRT: 23.9°; p &lt; 0.0001) (right DHT: 7.0°; left DHT: 13.2°; p &lt; 0.0001). The regression analysis found no association between the participant-reported limitations and head angle accuracy. Conclusions: This study highlights the substantial variability and inaccuracies in head positioning during traditional manual BPPV diagnostics, supporting the relevance of a guidance system to improve BPPV diagnostics. Level of evidence: III. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT05846711.

Dual-Beam THz Spectrometer with Low-Aberration Optics and Off-Axis Multipixel Photoconductive Emitters for Reduced Systematic Errors

Dual-Beam THz Spectrometer with Low-Aberration Optics and Off-Axis Multipixel Photoconductive Emitters for Reduced Systematic Errors

Assessing the validity of a wearable shoulder motion tracking system through comparison with dartfish in patients undergoing shoulder joint replacement surgery

Objective assessments of shoulder motion are paramount for effective rehabilitation and evaluation of surgical outcomes. Inertial Measurement Units (IMU) have demonstrated promise in providing unbiased movement data. This study is dedicated to evaluating the concurrent construct validity and accuracy of a wearable IMU-based sensor system, called 'Motion Shirt', for the assessment of humero-thoracic motion arcs in patients awaiting shoulder replacement surgery. This evaluation was conducted by comparing Motion Shirt data with the Dartfish Motion Analyzer software during the Functional Impairment Test-Hand and Neck/Shoulder/Arm (FIT-HaNSA) test. Thirteen patients (age > 50), who were awaiting shoulder replacement surgery, were recruited. The Motion Shirt was employed to measure angular humero-thoracic movements in two planes during the FIT-HaNSA test. Simultaneously, two cameras recorded the participants' movements to provide reference data. Bland-Altman plots were generated to visualize agreement between the Motion Shirt and the reference data obtained from the Dartfish Motion Analyzer software. The data analysis on Bland-Altman plots revealed a substantial level of agreement between the Motion Shirt and Dartfish analysis in measuring humero-thoracic motion. In Task-1, no significant systematic errors were exhibited, with only 3.27% and 2.18% of points exceeding the limits of agreement (LOA) in both elevation and the Plane of Elevation (POE), signifying a high level of concordance. In Task-2, a high level of agreement was also observed in Elevation, with only 3.8% of points exceeding the LOA. However, 5.98% of points exceeded LOA in POE for Task-2. In Task-3, focused on sustained overhead activity, the Motion Shirt showed strong agreement with Dartfish in Elevation (2.44% points exceeded LOA), but in POE, 7.32% points exceeded LOA. The Motion Shirt demonstrated a robust concordance with Dartfish Motion Analyzer system in assessing humerothoracic motion during the FIT-HaNSA test. These results affirm the Motion Shirt's suitability for objective motion analysis in patients awaiting shoulder replacement surgery.

Objective study validity diagnostics: a framework requiring pre-specified, empirical verification to increase trust in the reliability of real-world evidence.

Propose a framework to empirically evaluate and report validity of findings from observational studies using pre-specified objective diagnostics, increasing trust in real-world evidence (RWE). The framework employs objective diagnostic measures to assess the appropriateness of study designs, analytic assumptions, and threats to validity in generating reliable evidence addressing causal questions. Diagnostic evaluations should be interpreted before the unblinding of study results or, alternatively, only unblind results from analyses that pass pre-specified thresholds. We provide a conceptual overview of objective diagnostic measures and demonstrate their impact on the validity of RWE from a large-scale comparative new-user study of various antihypertensive medications. We evaluated expected absolute systematic error (EASE) before and after applying diagnostic thresholds, using a large set of negative control outcomes. Applying objective diagnostics reduces bias and improves evidence reliability in observational studies. Among 11716 analyses (EASE = 0.38), 13.9% met pre-specified diagnostic thresholds which reduced EASE to zero. Objective diagnostics provide a comprehensive and empirical set of tests that increase confidence when passed and raise doubts when failed. The increasing use of real-world data presents a scientific opportunity; however, the complexity of the evidence generation process poses challenges for understanding study validity and trusting RWE. Deploying objective diagnostics is crucial to reducing bias and improving reliability in RWE generation. Under ideal conditions, multiple study designs pass diagnostics and generate consistent results, deepening understanding of causal relationships. Open-source, standardized programs can facilitate implementation of diagnostic analyses. Objective diagnostics are a valuable addition to the RWE generation process.

Path integral Monte Carlo in a discrete variable representation with Gibbs sampling: Dipolar planar rotor chain.

In this work, we propose a path integral Monte Carlo approach based on discretized continuous degrees of freedom and rejection-free Gibbs sampling. The ground state properties of a chain of planar rotors with dipole-dipole interactions are used to illustrate the approach. Energetic and structural properties are computed and compared to exact diagonalization and numerical matrix multiplication for N ≤ 3 to assess the systematic Trotter factorization error convergence. For larger chains with up to N = 100 rotors, Density Matrix Renormalization Group calculations are used as a benchmark. We show that using Gibbs sampling is advantageous compared to traditional Metropolis-Hastings rejection importance sampling. Indeed, Gibbs sampling leads to lower variance and correlation in the computed observables.

Comparison of Freestyle Optium Neo H and Centrivet GK Device in the Diagnosis of Hypoglycaemia and Hyperketonaemia in Dairy Goats: A Field Study.

There is a lack of data on the validation and diagnostic performance of the Freestyle Optium Neo-H (Freestyle) and Centrivet GK (Centrivet) devices for the diagnosis of hypoglycaemia, hyperglycaemia and hyperketonaemia in goats. The aim of the present study was to validate the Freestyle and Centrivet for the analysis of whole blood beta-hydroxybutyric acid (BHBA) and to validate the Freestyle for the analysis of whole blood glucose concentrations using the reference method (RM) in goat blood collected from the jugular and ear veins. Venous blood samples were utilised to assess glucose and BHBA concentrations using the Freestyle, Centrivet and RM. The cut-off point of BHBA was ≥0.8mmol/L for hyperketonaemia. A total of 198 paired blood samples (vena jugularis and ear vein) were collected from 99 hair goats. The cut-off point for hypoglycaemia diagnosis was <49mg/dL. There were proportional but no constant errors between RM and Freestyle and Centrivet for BHBA, and both proportional and constant errors were observed for glucose analysis. The mean bias for BHBA analysis was 0.14 and 0.06mmol/L (Freestyle-RM) 0.51 and 0.16mmol/L (Centrivet-RM) for jugular and ear veins, respectively. The mean bias for blood glucose analysis was 0.0 and 5.6mg/L between Freestyle and RM in the jugular and ear veins, respectively. The sensitivity (Centrivet: 50%-61.3%; Freestyle: 93.6%-75.8%) and specificity (Centrivet GK: 75.7%-73%; Freestyle: 37.8%-70.3%) were determined in jugular and ear vein blood for hyperketonaemia diagnostics, respectively. The AUC of Freestyle was 0.89 and 0.95 in the jugular and ear vein for hypoglycaemia, respectively. The sensitivity of Freestyle was 60.3% and 96.8% in the jugular and ear vein for hypoglycaemia. The specificity of Freestyle was 100.0% and 76.7% for hypoglycaemia in jugular and ear veins, respectively. Freestyle demonstrated acceptable diagnostic performance for hypoglycaemia in ear veins, but neither Freestyle nor Centrivet showed sufficient diagnostic performance for hyperketonaemia. Both analysers were not interchangeable with RM in BHBA and glucose analysis.

Observing kinematic anisotropies of the stochastic background with LISA

We propose a diagnostic tool for future analyses of stochastic gravitational wave background signals of extra-galactic origin in LISA data. Next-generation gravitational wave detectors hold the capability to track unresolved gravitational waves bundled into a stochastic background. This composite background contains cosmological and astrophysical contributions, the exploration of which offers promising avenues for groundbreaking new insights into very early universe cosmology as well as late-time structure formation. In this article, we develop a full end-to-end pipeline for the extraction of extra-galactic signals, based on kinematic anisotropies arising from the galactic motion, via full-time-domain simulations of LISA's response to the gravitational wave anisotropic sky. Employing a Markov-Chain-Monte-Carlo map-making scheme, multipoles up to ℓ=2 are recovered for scale-free spectra in the case of a high signal-to-noise ratio. We demonstrate that our analysis is consistently beating sample variance and is robust against statistical and systematic errors. The impact of instrumental noise on the extraction of kinematic anisotropies is investigated, and we establish a detection threshold of Ω GW ≳ 5 × 10-8 in the presence of instrument-induced noise. Potential avenues for improvement in our methodology are highlighted.

Testing the robustness of the BAO determination in the presence of massive neutrinos

We study the robustness of the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) feature in the large-scale structure in the presence of massive neutrinos. In the standard BAO analysis pipeline a reference cosmological model is assumed to boost the BAO peak through the so-called reconstruction technique and in the modelling of the BAO feature to extract the cosmological information. State-of-the art spectroscopic BAO measurements, such as the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument claim an aggregate precision of 0.52% on the BAO scale, with a systematic error of 0.1% associated to the assumption of a reference cosmology when measuring and analyzing the BAO feature. While the systematic effect induced by this arbitrary choice of fiducial cosmology has been studied for a wide range of ΛCDM-like models, it has not yet been tested for reference cosmologies with massive neutrinos with the precision afforded by next generation surveys. In this context, we employ the Quijote high-resolution dark-matter simulations with haloes above a mass of M ∼ 2×1013 h -1 M ⊙, with different values for the total sum of neutrinos masses, ∑mν [eV] = 0, 0.1, 0,2, 0.4 to study and quantify the impact of the pipeline's built-in assumption of massless neutrinos on the measurement of the BAO signal, with a special focus on the BAO reconstruction technique. We determine that any additional systematic bias introduced by the assumption of massless neutrinos is no greater than 0.1% (0.2%) for the isotropic (anisotropic) measurement. We expect these conclusions also hold for galaxies provided that neutrino properties do not alter the galaxy-halo connection.

Testing the asteroseismic estimates of stellar radii with surface brightness-colour relations and Gaia DR3 parallaxes

Context. A recent investigation highlighted peculiar trends between the radii derived from surface brightness-colour relations (SBCRs) combined with Gaia DR3 parallaxes with respect to asteroseismic scaling relation radii from K2 data. Aims.Kepler data differ from K2 data in many aspects. We investigated on the robustness of the results based on Kepler data. Methods. We cross-matched asteroseismic and astrometric data for over 12 000 red giant branch and red clump stars from the end-of-mission Kepler catalogue with the Gaia DR3 and TESS Input Catalogue v8.2 to obtain precise parallaxes, V- and K-band magnitudes, and E(B − V) colour excesses. Two well-tested SBCRs from the literature were adopted to estimate stellar radii. Results. The analysis confirmed that SBCR and asteroseismic radii agree very well. The overall differences are only 1–2% depending on the adopted SBCR. The dispersion of 7% was about two-thirds of what was found for K2-based data. As a difference from the K2-based investigation, the ratio of SBCRs-to-asteroseismic radii did not depend on the metallicity [Fe/H]. Moreover, the intriguing decreasing trend with [α/Fe] of the radius ratio for massive stars that was observed in K2 data was absent in Kepler data. The SBCR radii are systematically higher than asteroseismic estimates by 5% for stars with masses below 1.0 M⊙. Conclusions. The SBCRs have proven to be a highly effective tool for estimating radii with a precision comparable to that obtained from asteroseismology, but at a significantly lower observational cost. Moreover, the superior concordance of Kepler-derived radii with SBCR measurements and the absence of the discrepancies observed in the K2-derived radii suggest the existence of underlying systematic errors that impact specific mass and metallicity regimes within the K2 dataset.

The Use of Melatoninergic Antidepressants for Stabilization of Remission in Depression Comorbid with Alcohol Abuse, Anxiety or Neuropsychiatric Disorders: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND: Depression is one of the most common mental disorders and is associated with a significant increase in the risk of mental and somatic comorbidities. The chronobiological theory of the pathogenesis of depression explains the relationship between the symptoms of depression and disturbance of circadian rhythm regulation. Disrupted circadian rhythms are also observed in other disorders such as alcohol use disorder, anxiety disorders, epilepsy, and Parkinson’s disease. Therefore, there is a growing interest in the use of medications with a melatoninergic mechanism of action in the treatment of depression comorbid with the aforementioned disorders. AIM: This review aims to systematically examine the evidence for the use of melatoninergic antidepressants (agomelatine and fluvoxamine) in the treatment of depression comorbid with alcohol abuse, anxiety disorders (including phobic anxiety, panic, and generalized anxiety disorders), or neuropsychiatric disorders (such as epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease). METHODS: This systematic review included experimental studies, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses published in English and Russian, which examined the use of fluvoxamine and agomelatine in adult patients with recurrent depressive disorder (ICD-10) or major depressive disorder (DSM-5) comorbid with alcohol abuse, anxiety or neuropsychiatric disorders. The search was conducted in the PubMed, Cochrane Library and eLIBRARY scientific databases. The quality of the selected studies was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool, which is used to evaluate the risk of systematic errors in clinical studies. The results were presented as a narrative synthesis and grouped by the comorbidities evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 20 articles were reviewed (with a pooled sample size of n=1,833 participants). The results suggest that melatoninergic antidepressants might help in reducing depressive and anxiety symptoms, improve sleep, decrease alcohol cravings, and alleviate the severity of motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease. Moreover, the use of pharmacogenetic testing to select the medication and dosage may enhance its therapeutic effectiveness. CONCLUSION: The review demonstrates a significant lack of clinical data and guidelines on the use of melatoninergic medications for the treatment of depression comorbid with other disorders. In this regard, it is currently difficult to draw a definitive conclusion regarding the efficacy and safety of agomelatine and fluvoxamine in the treatment of these comorbidities. Available studies suggest an improvement in the clinical manifestations of the comorbidities. Future research directions might include the development and implementation of double-blind, randomized clinical trials to study the use of melatoninergic medications in patients with depression comorbid with other disorders.

Improving Model Chain Approaches for Probabilistic Solar Energy Forecasting through Post-processing and Machine Learning

Weather forecasts from numerical weather prediction models play a central role in solar energy forecasting, where a cascade of physics-based models is used in a model chain approach to convert forecasts of solar irradiance to solar power production. Ensemble simulations from such weather models aim to quantify uncertainty in the future development of the weather, and can be used to propagate this uncertainty through the model chain to generate probabilistic solar energy predictions. However, ensemble prediction systems are known to exhibit systematic errors, and thus require post-processing to obtain accurate and reliable probabilistic forecasts. The overarching aim of our study is to systematically evaluate different strategies to apply post-processing in model chain approaches with a specific focus on solar energy: not applying any post-processing at all; post-processing only the irradiance predictions before the conversion; post-processing only the solar power predictions obtained from the model chain; or applying post-processing in both steps. In a case study based on a benchmark dataset for the Jacumba solar plant in the U.S., we develop statistical and machine learning methods for post-processing ensemble predictions of global horizontal irradiance (GHI) and solar power generation. Further, we propose a neural-network-based model for direct solar power forecasting that bypasses the model chain. Our results indicate that postprocessing substantially improves the solar power generation forecasts, in particular when post-processing is applied to the power predictions. The machine learning methods for post-processing slightly outperform the statistical methods, and the direct forecasting approach performs comparably to the post-processing strategies.

Key Parameters for Performance and Resilience Modeling of 3D Time-of-Flight Cameras Under Consideration of Signal-to-Noise Ratio and Phase Noise Wiggling.

Because of their resilience, Time-of-Flight (ToF) cameras are now essential components in scientific and industrial settings. This paper outlines the essential factors for modeling 3D ToF cameras, with specific emphasis on analyzing the phenomenon known as "wiggling". Through our investigation, we demonstrate that wiggling not only causes systematic errors in distance measurements, but also introduces periodic fluctuations in statistical measurement uncertainty, which compounds the dependence on the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Armed with this knowledge, we developed a new 3D camera model, which we then made computationally tractable. To illustrate and evaluate the model, we compared measurement data with simulated data of the same scene. This allowed us to individually demonstrate various effects on the signal-to-noise ratio, reflectivity, and distance.

Intrafraction Patient Positional Uncertainty in Lung Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy with Abdominal Compression.

Motion management presents a significant challenge in thoracic stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR). Currently, a 5.0 mm standard planning target volume (PTV) margin is widely used to ensure adequate dose to the tumor. Considering recent advancements in tumor localization and motion management, there is merit to reassessing the necessary PTV margins for modern techniques. This work presents a large-scale analysis of intrafraction repositioning for lung SABR under forced shallow breathing to determine the margin requirements for modern delivery techniques. Treatment data for 124 lung SABR patients treated in 607 fractions on a linear accelerator were retrospectively collected for analysis. All patients were treated using pneumatic abdominal compression and intrafraction 4D cone beam computed tomography (4D CBCT)-guided repositioning halfway through treatment. Executed repositioning shifts were collected and used to calculate margin requirements using the 2-standard deviation (2SD) method and an analytic model which accounts for systematic and random errors in treatment. 85.7% of treated fractions had 3D repositioning shifts under 5.0 mm. 53 fractions (8.7%) had shifts ≥5.0 mm in at least one direction. Margins in the right-left, inferior-superior, and posterior-anterior directions were 3.62 mm, 4.34 mm, and 3.50 mm, respectively, calculated using the 2SD method. The analytic approach estimated 4.01 mm, 4.37 mm, and 3.95 mm margins were appropriate for our workflow. Executing intrafraction repositioning reduced margin requirements by 0.73 ± 0.07 mm. Clinical data suggests that the uniform 5.0 mm margin is conservative for our workflow. Utilizing modern techniques such as 4D CT, 4D CBCT, and effective motion management can significantly reduce required margins, and therefore necessary healthy tissue dose. However, the limitations of margin calculation models must be considered, and margin reduction must be approached with caution. Users should conduct a formal risk assessment prior to adopting new standard PTV margins.