Assessment of Monitor Units and Gamma Pass Rate for 6 MV and Flattening Filter Free (FFF) Beams in Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT)

Background: In linear accelerators, the treatment field’s uniform intensity is achieved by including a flattening filter in the beam. However, to produce more conformal dose distributions, contemporary radiotherapy practice now frequently uses fluence and aperture modifying techniques, such as volumetric modulated arc therapy. In these circumstances, the flattening filter in the beam manufacturing process is no longer required. It is therefore necessary to compare the monitor units of 6 MV and flattening filter free plans and how it influences the gamma pass rates to determine which is best for treating cervical cancer with pelvic lymph node metastasis. Methods: VMAT plans for fifteen patients with cervical cancer with pathological pelvic lymph node metastasis were included in this study. Each patient had two VMAT plans using conventional 6 MV beam with flattening filter and one with flattening filter free beam (FFF). The VMAT plans were made using two arcs, and then recalculated to give the planned dose distribution to the detectors in a Delta4 phantom. The VMAT plans were irradiated on the Delta4 phantom using an Elekta linear accelerator (6 MV). Results: The mean monitor unit for the 6 MV plans was 506.3 MU and a standard deviation of 48.6 while that of the FFF plans had a mean MU of 701.5 with a standard deviation of 87.6. The total monitor units (MUs) for the FFF plans were significantly greater than the 6 MV plans (p = 6.1 × 10-5). Conclusion: Flattening filter free (FFF) plans require more numbers of monitor units in comparison to conventional 6 MV filtered beams for external radiation of cervical cancer with pelvic lymph nodes involvement.

一种基于Filter Faster R-CNN的数字PCR液滴检测技术

目的研究液滴数字聚合酶链式反应(ddPCR)液滴检测技术,去除图像中灰尘、气泡、芯片表面的划痕以及微小凹陷等因素产生的异常点对结果的影响,实现高通量、稳定和准确的ddPCR液滴的自动检测。方法提出Filter Faster R-CNN ddPCR液滴检测模型。使用Faster R-CNN生成液滴预测框,之后使用异常点过滤模块(Filter)去除阳性液滴预测框中的异常点。以诺如病毒片段的质粒为模板进行ddPCR实验,建立一个ddPCR数据集,用于模型的训练(2462例,约占78.56%)和测试(672例,约占21.44%)。对异常点过滤模块的3个过滤支路在验证集上进行消融实验,通过与其他ddPCR液滴检测模型进行比较的对比实验以及进行ddPCR的绝对定量实验。结果在少尘和多尘的环境中,Filter Faster R-CNN阳性液滴准确率为98.23%和88.35%,综合指标F1分数分别达到了99.15%和99.14%,高于其他相比较的模型。独立样本T检验的结果证明,相比未添加过滤模块的网络,添加过滤模块后能够显著提示模型在多尘环境中的阳性准确率。在ddPCR绝对定量实验中,将商业化流式检测设备的结果作为标准浓度,绘制了回归线。结果显示,回归线斜率为1.0005,截距为-0.025,决定系数达到了0.9997,二者结果高度一致。结论本文提出了一种基于Filter Faster R-CNN的ddPCR液滴检测技术,为在多种环境条件下的ddPCR实验提供了鲁棒的液滴检测方法。

Estimating the subsolar magnetopause position from soft X-ray images using a low-pass image filter

The Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager(LEXI)and Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)missions will image the Earth’s dayside magneto pause and cusps in soft X-rays after their respective launches in the near future,to specify glo bal magnetic reconnection modes for varying solar wind conditions.To suppo rt the success of these scientific missions,it is critical to develop techniques that extract the magnetopause locations from the observed soft X-ray images.In this research,we introduce a new geometric equation that calculates the subsolar magnetopause position(RS)from a satellite position,the look direction of the instrument,and the angle at which the X-ray emission is maximized.Two assumptions are used in this method:(1)The look direction where soft X-ray emissions are maximized lies tangent to the magnetopause,and(2)the magnetopause surface near the subsolar point is almost spherical and thus RSis nea rly equal to the radius of the magneto pause curvature.We create synthetic soft X-ray images by using the Open Geospace General Circulation Model(OpenGGCM)global magnetohydrodynamic model,the galactic background,the instrument point spread function,and Poisson noise.We then apply the fast Fourier transform and Gaussian low-pass filte rs to the synthetic images to re move noise and obtain accurate look angles for the soft X-ray pea ks.From the filte red images,we calculate RS and its accuracy for different LEXI locations,look directions,and solar wind densities by using the OpenGGCM subsolar magnetopause location as ground truth.Our method estimates RS with an accuracy of<0.3 RE when the solar wind density exceeds>10 cm-3.The accuracy improves for greater solar wind densities and during southward interplanetary magnetic fields.The method ca ptures the magnetopause motion during southwa rd interplaneta ry magnetic field turnings.Consequently,the technique will enable quantitative analysis of the magnetopause motion and help reveal the dayside reconnection modes for dynamic solar wind conditions.This technique will suppo rt the LEXI and SMILE missions in achieving their scientific o bjectives.

GLOBAL SOLUTIONS TO 1D COMPRESSIBLE NAVIER-STOKES/ALLEN-CAHN SYSTEM WITH DENSITY-DEPENDENT VISCOSITY AND FREE-BOUNDARY

This paper is concerned with the Navier-Stokes/Allen-Cahn system,which is used to model the dynamics of immiscible two-phase flows.We consider a 1D free boundary problem and assume that the viscosity coefficient depends on the density in the form ofη(ρ)=ρ^(α).The existence of unique global H^(2m)-solutions(m∈N)to the free boundary problem is proven for when 0<α<1/4.Furthermore,we obtain the global C^(∞)-solutions if the initial data is smooth.

Recursive Filtering for Stochastic Systems With Filter-and-Forward Successive Relays

In this paper,the recursive filtering problem is considered for stochastic systems over filter-and-forward successive relay(FFSR)networks.An FFSR is located between the sensor and the remote filter to forward the measurement.In the successive relay,two cooperative relay nodes are adopted to forward the signals alternatively,thereby existing switching characteristics and inter-relay interferences(IRI).Since the filter-and-forward scheme is employed,the signal received by the relay is retransmitted after it passes through a linear filter.The objective of the paper is to concurrently design optimal recursive filters for FFSR and stochastic systems against switching characteristics and IRI of relays.First,a uniform measurement model is proposed by analyzing the transmission mechanism of FFSR.Then,novel filter structures with switching parameters are constructed for both FFSR and stochastic systems.With the help of the inductive method,filtering error covariances are presented in the form of coupled difference equations.Next,the desired filter gain matrices are further obtained by minimizing the trace of filtering error covariances.Moreover,the stability performance of the filtering algorithm is analyzed where the uniform bound is guaranteed on the filtering error covariance.Finally,the effectiveness of the proposed filtering method over FFSR is verified by a three-order resistance-inductance-capacitance circuit system.

Bayesian Filtering for High-Dimensional State-Space Models With State Partition and Error Compensation

In the era of exponential growth of data availability,the architecture of systems has a trend toward high dimensionality,and directly exploiting holistic information for state inference is not always computationally affordable.This paper proposes a novel Bayesian filtering algorithm that considers algorithmic computational cost and estimation accuracy for high-dimensional linear systems.The high-dimensional state vector is divided into several blocks to save computation resources by avoiding the calculation of error covariance with immense dimensions.After that,two sequential states are estimated simultaneously by introducing an auxiliary variable in the new probability space,mitigating the performance degradation caused by state segmentation.Moreover,the computational cost and error covariance of the proposed algorithm are analyzed analytically to show its distinct features compared with several existing methods.Simulation results illustrate that the proposed Bayesian filtering can maintain a higher estimation accuracy with reasonable computational cost when applied to high-dimensional linear systems.

Dynamic Event-Triggered Quadratic Nonfragile Filtering for Non-Gaussian Systems:Tackling Multiplicative Noises and Missing Measurements

This paper focuses on the quadratic nonfragile filtering problem for linear non-Gaussian systems under multiplicative noises,multiple missing measurements as well as the dynamic event-triggered transmission scheme.The multiple missing measurements are characterized through random variables that obey some given probability distributions,and thresholds of the dynamic event-triggered scheme can be adjusted dynamically via an auxiliary variable.Our attention is concentrated on designing a dynamic event-triggered quadratic nonfragile filter in the well-known minimum-variance sense.To this end,the original system is first augmented by stacking its state/measurement vectors together with second-order Kronecker powers,thus the original design issue is reformulated as that of the augmented system.Subsequently,we analyze statistical properties of augmented noises as well as high-order moments of certain random parameters.With the aid of two well-defined matrix difference equations,we not only obtain upper bounds on filtering error covariances,but also minimize those bounds via carefully designing gain parameters.Finally,an example is presented to explain the effectiveness of this newly established quadratic filtering algorithm.

A multi-scale second-order autoregressive recursive filter approach for the sea ice concentration analysis

To effectively extract multi-scale information from observation data and improve computational efficiency,a multi-scale second-order autoregressive recursive filter(MSRF)method is designed.The second-order autoregressive filter used in this study has been attempted to replace the traditional first-order recursive filter used in spatial multi-scale recursive filter(SMRF)method.The experimental results indicate that the MSRF scheme successfully extracts various scale information resolved by observations.Moreover,compared with the SMRF scheme,the MSRF scheme improves computational accuracy and efficiency to some extent.The MSRF scheme can not only propagate to a longer distance without the attenuation of innovation,but also reduce the mean absolute deviation between the reconstructed sea ice concentration results and observations reduced by about 3.2%compared to the SMRF scheme.On the other hand,compared with traditional first-order recursive filters using in the SMRF scheme that multiple filters are executed,the MSRF scheme only needs to perform two filter processes in one iteration,greatly improving filtering efficiency.In the two-dimensional experiment of sea ice concentration,the calculation time of the MSRF scheme is only 1/7 of that of SMRF scheme.This means that the MSRF scheme can achieve better performance with less computational cost,which is of great significance for further application in real-time ocean or sea ice data assimilation systems in the future.

3D robust anisotropic diffusion filtering algorithm for sparse view neutron computed tomography 3D image reconstruction

The most critical part of a neutron computed tomography(NCT) system is the image processing algorithm,which directly affects the quality and speed of the reconstructed images.Various types of noise in the system can degrade the quality of the reconstructed images.Therefore,to improve the quality of the reconstructed images of NCT systems,efficient image processing algorithms must be used.The anisotropic diffusion filtering(ADF) algorithm can not only effectively suppress the noise in the projection data,but also preserve the image edge structure information by reducing the diffusion at the image edges.Therefore,we propose the application of the ADF algorithm for NCT image reconstruction.To compare the performance of different algorithms in NCT systems,we reconstructed images using the ordered subset simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique(OS-SART) algorithm with different regular terms as image processing algorithms.In the iterative reconstruction,we selected two image processing algorithms,the Total Variation and split Bregman solved total variation algorithms,for comparison with the performance of the ADF algorithm.Additionally,the filtered back-projection algorithm was used for comparison with an iterative algorithm.By reconstructing the projection data of the numerical and clock models,we compared and analyzed the effects of each algorithm applied in the NCT system.Based on the reconstruction results,OS-SART-ADF outperformed the other algorithms in terms of denoising,preserving the edge structure,and suppressing artifacts.For example,when the 3D Shepp–Logan was reconstructed at 25 views,the root mean square error of OS-SART-ADF was the smallest among the four iterative algorithms,at only 0.0292.The universal quality index,mean structural similarity,and correlation coefficient of the reconstructed image were the largest among all algorithms,with values of 0.9877,0.9878,and 0.9887,respectively.

CONVEXITY OF THE FREE BOUNDARY FOR AN AXISYMMETRIC INCOMPRESSIBLE IMPINGING JET

This paper is devoted to the study of the shape of the free boundary for a threedimensional axisymmetric incompressible impinging jet.To be more precise,we will show that the free boundary is convex to the fluid,provided that the uneven ground is concave to the fluid.

Optimize Purcell filter design for reducing influence of fabrication variation

To protect superconducting qubits and enable rapid readout, optimally designed Purcell filters are essential. To suppress the off-resonant driving of untargeted readout resonators, individual Purcell filters are used for each readout resonator.However, achieving consistent frequency between a readout resonator and a Purcell filter is a significant challenge. A systematic computational analysis is conducted to investigate how fabrication variation affects filter performance, through focusing on the coupling capacitor structure and coplanar waveguide(CPW) transmission line specifications. The results indicate that the T-type enclosing capacitor(EC), which exhibits lower structural sensitivity, is more advantageous for achieving target capacitance than the C-type EC and the interdigital capacitor(IDC). By utilizing a large-sized CPW with the T-type EC structure, fluctuations in the effective coupling strength can be reduced to 10%, given typical micro-nanofabrication variances. The numerical simulations presented in this work minimize the influence of fabrication deviations, thereby significantly improving the reliability of Purcell filter designs.

Electrically controllable spin filtering in zigzag phosphorene nanoribbon based normal–antiferromagnet–normal junctions

We investigated the electric controllable spin-filtering effect in a zigzag phosphorene nanoribbon(ZPNR) based normal–antiferromagnet–normal junction. Two ferromagnets are closely coupled to the edges of the nanoribbon and form the edge-to-edge antiferromagnetism. Under an in-plane electric field, the two degenerate edge bands of the edge-to-edge antiferromagnet split into four spin-polarized sub-bands and a 100% spin-polarized current can be easily induced with the maximal conductance 2e~2/h. The spin polarization changes with the strength of the electric field and the exchange field,and changes sign at opposite electric fields. The spin-polarized current switches from one edge to the other by reversing the direction of the electric field. The edge current can also be controlled spatially by changing the electric potential of the scattering region. The manipulation of edge current is useful in spin-transfer-torque magnetic random-access memory and provides a practical way to develop controllable spintronic devices.

A Novel Clutter Suppression Algorithm for Low-Slow-Small Targets Detecting Based on Sparse Adaptive Filtering

Passive detection of low-slow-small(LSS)targets is easily interfered by direct signal and multipath clutter,and the traditional clutter suppression method has the contradiction between step size and convergence rate.In this paper,a frequency domain clutter suppression algorithm based on sparse adaptive filtering is proposed.The pulse compression operation between the error signal and the input reference signal is added to the cost function as a sparsity constraint,and the criterion for filter weight updating is improved to obtain a purer echo signal.At the same time,the step size and penalty factor are brought into the adaptive iteration process,and the input data is used to drive the adaptive changes of parameters such as step size.The proposed algorithm has a small amount of calculation,which improves the robustness to parameters such as step size,reduces the weight error of the filter and has a good clutter suppression performance.

An improved particle filter indoor fusion positioning approach based on Wi-Fi/PDR/geomagnetic field

The existing indoor fusion positioning methods based on Pedestrian Dead Reckoning(PDR)and geomagnetic technology have the problems of large initial position error,low sensor accuracy,and geomagnetic mismatch.In this study,a novel indoor fusion positioning approach based on the improved particle filter algorithm by geomagnetic iterative matching is proposed,where Wi-Fi,PDR,and geomagnetic signals are integrated to improve indoor positioning performances.One important contribution is that geomagnetic iterative matching is firstly proposed based on the particle filter algorithm.During the positioning process,an iterative window and a constraint window are introduced to limit the particle generation range and the geomagnetic matching range respectively.The position is corrected several times based on geomagnetic iterative matching in the location correction stage when the pedestrian movement is detected,which made up for the shortage of only one time of geomagnetic correction in the existing particle filter algorithm.In addition,this study also proposes a real-time step detection algorithm based on multi-threshold constraints to judge whether pedestrians are moving,which satisfies the real-time requirement of our fusion positioning approach.Through experimental verification,the average positioning accuracy of the proposed approach reaches 1.59 m,which improves 33.2%compared with the existing particle filter fusion positioning algorithms.

Adaptive H_(∞)Filtering Algorithm for Train Positioning Based on Prior Combination Constraints

To solve the problem of data fusion for prior information such as track information and train status in train positioning,an adaptive H∞filtering algorithm with combination constraint is proposed,which fuses prior information with other sensor information in the form of constraints.Firstly,the train precise track constraint method of the train is proposed,and the plane position constraint and train motion state constraints are analysed.A model for combining prior information with constraints is established.Then an adaptive H∞filter with combination constraints is derived based on the adaptive adjustment method of the robustness factor.Finally,the positioning effect of the proposed algorithm is simulated and analysed under the conditions of a straight track and a curved track.The results show that the positioning accuracy of the algorithm with constrained filtering is significantly better than that of the algorithm without constrained filtering and that the algorithm with constrained filtering can achieve better performance when combined with track and condition information,which can significantly reduce the train positioning error.The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is verified.

Yolk free egg substitute improves the serum phospholipid profile of mice with metabolic syndrome based on lipidomic analysis

In this study,the impacts of egg consumption on mice model of metabolic syndrome(Met S)were comparatively investigated.Mice were divided into five groups(n=8):normal diet group(ND),high-fat diet group(HFD),HFD with whole egg group(WE),HFD with free-yolk egg substitute group(YFES),and HFD with lovastatin group(Lov).Main biochemical indexes and a non-targeted lipidomic analysis were employed to insight the lipid profile changes in serum.It was revealed that WE could significantly improve serum biochemical indexes by reducing body weight,low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C)and total cholesterol(TC),while increasing high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.YFES exhibited remarkably better performance in increasing phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidic acids,while decreasing phosphatidylinositol than WE.A total of 50 differential lipids biomarkers tightly related to glycerophospholipids metabolism were screened out.Carnitine C18:2 and C12:1,SM(d18:0/12:0),and SM(d18:1/14:1)were significantly upregulated in YFES compared to WE.YFES reduced expression of SREBP-1c and Cpt1a,while did not affect the expression of PPAR-α.Sphingomyelin biomarkers were positively related to the TC(|r|>0.6),while PPAR-αwas negatively correlated with triglyceride and LDL-C levels.To sum up,YFES attenuated HFD-induced Met S by improving the serum phospholipids,which account for its modulation of glycerophospholipid metabolism.

母体产前血清AFP、Freeβ-HCG、uE3检测对筛查胎儿染色体异常的临床价值

目的探讨产前母体血清甲胎蛋白(AFP)、游离β绒毛膜促性腺激素(Free-β-HCG)、雌三醇(uE3)检测对筛查胎儿染色体异常的临床价值。方法选取我院2021年9月—2023年3月100例高风险孕妇进行无创DNA检测,根据染色体状态分为阳性组、阴性组。对比2组孕12周时血清AFP、Freeβ-HCG、uE3及NT值水平,Logistic回归分析血清各指标对胎儿染色体异常的影响因素;ROC分析孕12周时血清各指标联合检测对胎儿染色体异常的预测价值。结果阳性组孕12周时血清AFP、uE3均低于阴性组、血清Freeβ-HCG及NT值均高于阴性组(P<0.05);分析认为孕12周时血清AFP、uE3为胎儿染色体异常的保护因素、Freeβ-HCG及NT值为胎儿染色体异常的危险因素(P<0.05);ROC分析孕12周时检测母体血清AFP、Freeβ-HCG、uE3水平对预测胎儿染色体异常的AUC分别为0.654、0.673、0.664,其联合检测对预测胎儿染色体异常的AUC为0.717。结论产前母体血清AFP、Freeβ-HCG、uE3联合检测在胎儿染色体异常的筛查中均具有较高的预测价值,3者联合检测的预测效能更高,可广泛应用于早期临床筛查中。

An anti-aliasing filtering of quantum images in spatial domain using a pyramid structure

As a part of quantum image processing,quantum image filtering is a crucial technology in the development of quantum computing.Low-pass filtering can effectively achieve anti-aliasing effects on images.Currently,most quantum image filterings are based on classical domains and grayscale images,and there are relatively fewer studies on anti-aliasing in the quantum domain.This paper proposes a scheme for anti-aliasing filtering based on quantum grayscale and color image scaling in the spatial domain.It achieves the effect of anti-aliasing filtering on quantum images during the scaling process.First,we use the novel enhanced quantum representation(NEQR)and the improved quantum representation of color images(INCQI)to represent classical images.Since aliasing phenomena are more pronounced when images are scaled down,this paper focuses only on the anti-aliasing effects in the case of reduction.Subsequently,we perform anti-aliasing filtering on the quantum representation of the original image and then use bilinear interpolation to scale down the image,achieving the anti-aliasing effect.The constructed pyramid model is then used to select an appropriate image for upscaling to the original image size.Finally,the complexity of the circuit is analyzed.Compared to the images experiencing aliasing effects solely due to scaling,applying anti-aliasing filtering to the images results in smoother and clearer outputs.Additionally,the anti-aliasing filtering allows for manual intervention to select the desired level of image smoothness.

AAK Theorem and a Design of Multidimensional BIBO Stable Filters

Rational approximation theory occupies a significant place in signal processing and systems theory. This research paper proposes an optimal design of BIBO stable multidimensional Infinite Impulse Response filters with a realizable (rational) transfer function thanks to the Adamjan, Arov and Krein (AAK) theorem. It is well known that the one dimensional AAK results give the best approximation of a polynomial as a rational function in the Hankel semi norm. We suppose that the Hankel matrix associated to the transfer function has a finite rank.

A novel efficient energy absorber with free inversion of a metal foam-filled circular tube

In this paper, a novel efficient energy absorber with free inversion of a metal foam-filled circular tube(MFFCT) is designed, and the axial compressive behavior of the MFFCT under free inversion is studied analytically and numerically. The theoretical analysis reveals that the energy is mainly dissipated through the radial bending of the metal circular tube, the circumferential expansion of the metal circular tube, and the metal filled-foam compression. The principle of energy conservation is used to derive the theoretical formula for the minimum compressive force of the MFFCT over free inversion under axial loading. Furthermore, the free inversion deformation characteristics of the MFFCT are analyzed numerically. The theoretical steady values are found to be in good agreement with the results of the finite element(FE) analysis. The effects of the average diameter of the metal tube, the wall thickness of the metal tube, and the filled-foam strength on the free inversion deformation of the MFFCT are considered. It is observed that in the steady deformation stage, the load-carrying and energy-absorbing capacities of the MFFCT increase with the increase in the average diameter of the metal tube, the wall thickness of the metal tube, or the filled-foam strength. The specific energy absorption(SEA) of free inversion of the MFFCT is significantly higher than that of the metal tube alone.