Normalized glandular dose coefficients for digital breast tomosynthesis using detailed Chinese breast models

The rise in breast cancer diagnoses among Chinese women has necessitated the use of X-ray breast screening,which carries a radiation risk.This study aimed to provide a dosimetry protocol for the Chinese female population to replace the traditional standard that utilizes simplified breast models,for the accurate estimation of the mean glandular dose of a patient undergoing digital breast tomosynthesis(DBT).The first set of detailed Chinese female breast models and representative breast parameters was constructed.Considering backscatter radiation and computational efficiency,we improved the combination of these models and the Chinese reference adult female whole-body voxel phantom.Image acquisition for four commercial DBT systems that are widely employed in China was simulated using the Monte Carlo method to obtain the normalized glandular dose coefficients of DBT(D_(gN)^(DBT))and the glandular depth dose(D_(g)^(dep)(z))for different breast characteristics and X-ray spectra.We calculated a series of D_(gN)^(DBT) values for breasts with different percentage mass glandularities(5%,25%,50%,75%,and 100%)and compressed breast thicknesses(2,3,4,5,6,and 7 cm)at various tube potentials(25,28,30,32,35,and 49 kV)and target/filter combinations(W/Rh,W/Al,Mo/Mo,Rh/Rh,and Rh/Ag).The parameter dependence of the breast characteristics and beam conditions on D_(gN)^(DBT) in detailed breast models was investigated.The D_(gN)^(DBT) results were 14.6-51.0%lower than those of the traditional dosimetry standard in China.The difference in D_(gN)^(DBT) was mainly due to a decrease in the depth of the main energy deposition area caused by the glandular distribution along the depth direction.The results obtained in this study may be used to improve breast dosimetry in China and provide more detailed information on risk assessment during DBT.

MULTIPLICITY OF NORMALIZED SOLUTIONS FOR THE FRACTIONAL SCHR?DINGER-POISSON SYSTEM WITH DOUBLY CRITICAL GROWTH

In this paper,we are concerned with solutions to the fractional Schrodinger-Poisson system■ with prescribed mass ∫_(R^(3))|u|^(2)dx=a^(2),where a> 0 is a prescribed number,μ> 0 is a paremeter,s ∈(0,1),2 <q <2_(s)^(*),and 2_(s)^(*)=6/(3-2s) is the fractional critical Sobolev exponent.In the L2-subcritical case,we show the existence of multiple normalized solutions by using the genus theory and the truncation technique;in the L^(2)-supercritical case,we obtain a couple of normalized solutions by developing a fiber map.Under both cases,to recover the loss of compactness of the energy functional caused by the doubly critical growth,we need to adopt the concentration-compactness principle.Our results complement and improve upon some existing studies on the fractional Schrodinger-Poisson system with a nonlocal critical term.

Assessment of vegetation cover changes and the contributing factors in the Al-Ahsa Oasis using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI)

The abandonment of date palm grove of the former Al-Ahsa Oasis in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia has resulted in the conversion of delicate agricultural area into urban area.The current state of the oasis is influenced by both expansion and degradation factors.Therefore,it is important to study the spatiotemporal variation of vegetation cover for the sustainable management of oasis resources.This study used Landsat satellite images in 1987,2002,and 2021 to monitor the spatiotemporal variation of vegetation cover in the Al-Ahsa Oasis,applied multi-temporal Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI)data spanning from 1987 to 2021 to assess environmental and spatiotemporal variations that have occurred in the Al-Ahsa Oasis,and investigated the factors influencing these variation.This study reveals that there is a significant improvement in the ecological environment of the oasis during 1987–2021,with increase of NDVI values being higher than 0.10.In 2021,the highest NDVI value is generally above 0.70,while the lowest value remains largely unchanged.However,there is a remarkable increase in NDVI values between 0.20 and 0.30.The area of low NDVI values(0.00–0.20)has remained almost stable,but the region with high NDVI values(above 0.70)expands during 1987–2021.Furthermore,this study finds that in 1987–2002,the increase of vegetation cover is most notable in the northern region of the study area,whereas from 2002 to 2021,the increase of vegetation cover is mainly concentrated in the northern and southern regions of the study area.From 1987 to 2021,NDVI values exhibit the most pronounced variation,with a significant increase in the“green”zone(characterized by NDVI values exceeding 0.40),indicating a substantial enhancement in the ecological environment of the oasis.The NDVI classification is validated through 50 ground validation points in the study area,demonstrating a mean accuracy of 92.00%in the detection of vegetation cover.In general,both the user’s and producer’s accuracies of NDVI classification are extremely high in 1987,2002,and 2021.Finally,this study suggests that environmental authorities should strengthen their overall forestry project arrangements to combat sand encroachment and enhance the ecological environment of the Al-Ahsa Oasis.

Normalized fatigue properties of asphalt mixture at various temperatures

This study normalized the mixture's fatigue behavior at various temperatures,and the strength and fatigue tests of the mixture were conducted.The stress state of the asphalt mixture includes direct tensile,uniaxial compression,and indirect tensile.The Desai yield surface and fatigue path were proposed.And a normalized fatigue characteristics model of the mixture was established.The following conclusions were obtained.With the increases in the loading rate,the strength of the asphalt mixture increased.As the temperature increases,the strength of the mixture is reduced.At various temperatures and rates,the strength forms a closed curved surface.The Desai strength yield surface was established,which forms a closed curved surface.When the loading rate and temperature are below a certain critical line,the asphalt mixture will not undergo strength damage.At a fixed stress state,the fatigue damage path of the mixture was determined.The stress ratio was determined considering the influence of the loading rate.In this way,a normalized model can be described to express the asphalt mixture fatigue properties at various temperatures and stress levels.For the asphalt mixture in an indirect tensile state,the normalized fatigue equation parameter is 4.09.This model is more suitable for reflecting the viscous-elastic behavior of the mixtures than the fatigue equation determined by the notional stress ratio.

THE EXISTENCE AND STABILITY OF NORMALIZED SOLUTIONS FOR A BI-HARMONIC NONLINEAR SCHR?DINGER EQUATION WITH MIXED DISPERSION

In this paper,we study the ground state standing wave solutions for the focusing bi-harmonic nonlinear Schrodinger equation with aμ-Laplacian term(BNLS).Such BNLS models the propagation of intense laser beams in a bulk medium with a second-order dispersion term.Denoting by Qpthe ground state for the BNLS withμ=0,we prove that in the mass-subcritical regime p∈(1,1+8/d),there exist orbit ally stable ground state solutions for the BNLS when p∈(-λ0,∞)for someλ0=λ0(p,d,‖Qp‖L2)>0.Moreover,in the mass-critical case p=1+8/d,we prove the orbital stability on a certain mass level below‖Q*‖L2,provided thatμ∈(-λ1,0),where■and Q*=Q1+8/d.The proofs are mainly based on the profile decomposition and a sharp Gagliardo-Nirenberg type inequality.Our treatment allows us to fill the gap concerning the existence of the ground states for the BNLS when p is negative and p∈(1,1+8/d].

The Supply-Side Structural Reforms——Adapting to and Leading China's New Normal

The Central Economic Working Conference proposed supplyside structural reforms which can be regarded as major innovations and necessary measures that adapt to and lead the new normal of economic development. The 13^(th) Five Year Plan is a critical period for the transformation of economic development patterns and economic restructuring, so clarifying the theoretical values and practical significances of the supply-side structural reforms, making a clear explanation of the scientific connotations and policy implications of these reforms from a scientific standpoint, and discussing concrete measures to promote the reforms against the background of the economic new normal not only has academic values but also has important practical implications. Viewed from the practical standpoint of China' s new normal and through analyzing the basic national conditions, this article proposes a roadmap for implementing the proposed reforms and points out that only by doing well in the hybrid operation of "addition, subtraction, multiplication and division", based on the framework of the "five policy pillars", an innovative path of the supply-side structural reforms with Chinese characteristics can be paved.

THE EXISTENCE OF GROUND STATE NORMALIZED SOLUTIONS FOR CHERN-SIMONS-SCHRODINGER SYSTEMS

In this paper,we study normalized solutions of the Chern-Simons-Schrödinger system with general nonlinearity and a potential in H^(1)(ℝ^(2)).When the nonlinearity satisfies some general 3-superlinear conditions,we obtain the existence of ground state normalized solutions by using the minimax procedure proposed by Jeanjean in[L.Jeanjean,Existence of solutions with prescribed norm for semilinear elliptic equations,Nonlinear Anal.(1997)].

Research on the Practical Path of Collaborative Innovation Talent Training in Supply-Side Applied Undergraduate Colleges

The cultivation of supply-side collaborative innovation talents mainly focuses on four elements:labor,capital,technology,and system.The improvement of these four elements is essentially a long-term process,which determines the potential growth rate in the medium and long term.In this paper,we analyzed the current situation,put forward two major problems,the low degree of specialization and insufficient participation,and focus on the research on the practical path of collaborative innovation talent training in applied undergraduate colleges from the perspective of the system.

Supply-Side Structural Reform, Digital Economy and Corporate Default Risk

In recent years, a lot of corporate defaults have had an impact on the capital market. How to prevent corporate default risks has become an important topic of concern for the academic community, enterprises and the government. We took China’s A-share listed companies from 2012 to 2018 as a sample, and used the double difference method to analyze the impact of supply-side structural reforms on corporate default risks. We found that supply-side structural reforms have reduced the risk of corporate default, and the inhibitory effect has gradually increased. In the relationship between supply-side structural reforms and corporate default risks, corporate financing capabilities have played an intermediary role. Supply-side structural reforms can improve the company’s endogenous financing capabilities, thereby reducing the risk of corporate default. However, we also found that the mediating effect of a company’s exogenous financing capability is not significant. At the same time, the regression results show that the digital economy can play a regulatory role. It can not only actively regulate the relationship between supply-side structural reforms and corporate default risks, but also mediate the mediating effect of corporate endogenous financing capabilities. The results of this article provide some evidence for the synergy between supply-side structural reforms and the digital economy.

Depth-Guided Vision Transformer With Normalizing Flows for Monocular 3D Object Detection

Monocular 3D object detection is challenging due to the lack of accurate depth information.Some methods estimate the pixel-wise depth maps from off-the-shelf depth estimators and then use them as an additional input to augment the RGB images.Depth-based methods attempt to convert estimated depth maps to pseudo-LiDAR and then use LiDAR-based object detectors or focus on the perspective of image and depth fusion learning.However,they demonstrate limited performance and efficiency as a result of depth inaccuracy and complex fusion mode with convolutions.Different from these approaches,our proposed depth-guided vision transformer with a normalizing flows(NF-DVT)network uses normalizing flows to build priors in depth maps to achieve more accurate depth information.Then we develop a novel Swin-Transformer-based backbone with a fusion module to process RGB image patches and depth map patches with two separate branches and fuse them using cross-attention to exchange information with each other.Furthermore,with the help of pixel-wise relative depth values in depth maps,we develop new relative position embeddings in the cross-attention mechanism to capture more accurate sequence ordering of input tokens.Our method is the first Swin-Transformer-based backbone architecture for monocular 3D object detection.The experimental results on the KITTI and the challenging Waymo Open datasets show the effectiveness of our proposed method and superior performance over previous counterparts.

A novel mitigation measure for normal fault-induced deformations on pile-raft systems

Evidence from recent earthquakes has shown destructive consequences of fault-induced permanent ground movement on structures.Such observations have increased the demand for improvements in the design of structures that are dramatically vulnerable to surface fault ruptures.In this study a novel connection between the raft and the piles is proposed to mitigate the hazards associated with a normal fault on pile-raft systems by means of 3D finite element(FE)modeling.Before embarking on the parametric study,the strain-softening constitutive law used for numerical modeling of the sand has been validated against centrifuge test results.The exact location of the fix-head and unconnected pile-raft systems relative to the outcropping fault rupture in the free-field is parametrically investigated,revealing different failure mechanisms.The performance of the proposed connection for protecting the pile-raft system against normal fault-induced deformations is assessed by comparing the geotechnical and structural responses of both types of foundation.The results indicate that the pocket connection can relatively reduce the cap rotation and horizontal and vertical displacements of the raft in most scenarios.The proposed connection decreases the bending moment response of the piles to their bending moment capacity,verging on a fault offset of 0.6 m at bedrock.

Neuroimaging in atypical normal tension glaucoma:debating routine implementation in the absence of classic neurological findings

●AIM:To assess the necessity of neuroimaging in patients with neurological or atypical findings of normal tension glaucoma(NTG)who do not exhibit typical glaucoma manifestations.●METHODS:A retrospective analysis was conducted on 90 atypical NTG patients who underwent cranial magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)due to atypical symptoms.The demographic characteristics,clinical parameters,and radiological findings were recorded.●RESULTS:Among the patients,66.7%had abnormal radiology results,with the most common findings being gliosis(34.4%),sequelae of cerebrovascular events and vascular malformations(14.4%),and benign intracranial mass lesions(11%).Non-glaucomatous visual field defects were more frequently observed in patients with abnormal neuroimaging results.However,there were no significant differences in intraocular pressure,optic disc parameters,retinal nerve fiber layer thickness,and visual field indices between patients with normal and abnormal radiological results.The mean age of the patients was 58.74y.Interestingly,there was a significant age difference,with the abnormal radiology group having a higher median age(P=0.021).●CONCLUSION:The study highlights the importance of cranial imaging in older NTG patients to detect underlying pathologies and prevent misdiagnosis.It suggests that neuroimaging may be warranted in NTG patients with atypical visual field defects incompatible with glaucoma.However,routine neuroimaging in all NTG patients without classic neurological signs may not be necessary.

Strategies for Cultivating Public Funded Targeted Normal Students Based on Goal Management Theory : A Case Study of East, West and North Guangdong

Public funded targeted normal students are an important component of China s teacher team construction.Since its implementation in 2007,a large number of outstanding rural teachers who have been striving on the front line of education have been trained.Based on the theory of goal management,this paper explores the problems and countermeasures in the training of public funded targeted normal students.It strives to solve the problems of low willingness to teach and high default rates among public funded normal students,and hopes that the suggestions proposed in this paper can further promote the effective implementation of policies for public funded normal students.

Geometry and 3D seismic characterisation of post-rift normal faults in the Pearl River Mouth Basin,northern South China Sea

Based on high-resolution 3D seismic data acquired in the Pearl(Zhujiang)River Mouth Basin of the northern South China Sea,this study investigated the geometry,spatial extension,and throw distribution of the post-rift normal fault through detailed seismic interpretation and fault modeling.A total of 289 post-rift normal faults were identified in the study area and can be classified into four types:(1)isolated normal faults above the carbonate platform;(2)isolated normal faults cutting through the carbonate platform;(3)conjugate normal faults,and(4)connecting normal faults.Throw distribution analysis on the fault planes show that the vertical throw profiles of most normal fault exhibit flat-topped profiles.Isolated normal faults above the carbonate platform exhibit roughly concentric ellipses with maximum throw zones in the central section whereas the normal faults cutting through the carbonate platform miss the lowermost section due to the chaotic seismic reflections in the interior of the carbonate platform.The vertical throws of conjugate normal faults anomalously decrease toward their intersection region on the fault plane whereas the connecting normal faults present two maximum throw zones in the central section of the fault plane.According to the symmetric elliptical distribution model of fault throw,an estimation was made indicating that normal faults cutting through the carbonate platform extended downward between-1308 s and-1780 s(two-way travel time)in depth and may not penetrate the entire Liuhua carbonate platform.Moreover,it is observed that the distribution of karst caves on the top of the carbonate platform disaccord with those of hydrocarbon reservoirs and the post-rift normal faults cutting through the carbonate platform in the study area.We propose that these karst caves formed most probably by corrosive fluids derived from magmatic activities during the Dongsha event,rather than pore waters or hydrocarbons.

A Normalizing Flow-Based Bidirectional Mapping Residual Network for Unsupervised Defect Detection

Unsupervised methods based on density representation have shown their abilities in anomaly detection,but detection performance still needs to be improved.Specifically,approaches using normalizing flows can accurately evaluate sample distributions,mapping normal features to the normal distribution and anomalous features outside it.Consequently,this paper proposes a Normalizing Flow-based Bidirectional Mapping Residual Network(NF-BMR).It utilizes pre-trained Convolutional Neural Networks(CNN)and normalizing flows to construct discriminative source and target domain feature spaces.Additionally,to better learn feature information in both domain spaces,we propose the Bidirectional Mapping Residual Network(BMR),which maps sample features to these two spaces for anomaly detection.The two detection spaces effectively complement each other’s deficiencies and provide a comprehensive feature evaluation from two perspectives,which leads to the improvement of detection performance.Comparative experimental results on the MVTec AD and DAGM datasets against the Bidirectional Pre-trained Feature Mapping Network(B-PFM)and other state-of-the-art methods demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves superior performance.On the MVTec AD dataset,NF-BMR achieves an average AUROC of 98.7%for all 15 categories.Especially,it achieves 100%optimal detection performance in five categories.On the DAGM dataset,the average AUROC across ten categories is 98.7%,which is very close to supervised methods.

Unveiling the silent link:Normal-tension glaucoma's enigmatic bond with cardiac blood flow

This comprehensive review embarks on a captivating journey into the complex relationship between cardiology and normal-tension glaucoma(NTG),a condition that continues to baffle clinicians and researchers alike.NTG,characterized by optic nerve damage and visual field loss despite normal intraocular pressure,has long puzzled clinicians.One emerging perspective suggests that alterations in ocular blood flow,particularly within the optic nerve head,may play a pivotal role in its pathogenesis.While NTG shares commonalities with its high-tension counterpart,its unique pathogenesis and potential ties to cardiovascular health make it a fascinating subject of exploration.It navigates through the complex web of vascular dysregulation,blood pressure and perfusion pressure,neurovascular coupling,and oxidative stress,seeking to uncover the hidden threads that tie the heart and eyes together in NTG.This review explores into the intricate mechanisms connecting cardiovascular factors to NTG,shedding light on how cardiac dynamics can influence ocular health,particularly in cases where intraocular pressure remains within the normal range.NTG's enigmatic nature,often characterized by seemingly contradictory risk factors and clinical profiles,underscores the need for a holistic approach to patient care.Drawing parallels to cardiac health,we examine into the shared vascular terrain connecting the heart and the eyes.Cardiovascular factors,including systemic blood flow,endothelial dysfunction,and microcirculatory anomalies,may exert a profound influence on ocular perfusion,impacting the delicate balance within the optic nerve head.By elucidating the subtle clues and potential associations between cardiology and NTG,this review invites clinicians to consider a broader perspective in their evaluation and management of this elusive condition.As the understanding of these connections evolves,so too may the prospects for early diagnosis and tailored interventions,ultimately enhancing the quality of life for those living with NTG.

Effect of the mixing of s-wave and chiral p-wave pairings on electrical shot noise properties of normal metal/superconductor tunnel junctions

We study theoretically the electrical shot noise properties of tunnel junctions between a normal metal and a superconductor with the mixture of singlet s-wave and chiral triplet p-wave pairing due to broken inversion symmetry. We investigate how the shot noise properties vary as the relative amplitude between the two parity components in the pairing potential is changed. It is demonstrated that some characteristics of the electrical shot noise properties of such tunnel junctions may depend sensitively on the relative amplitude between the two parity components in the pairing potential, and some significant changes may occur in the electrical shot noise properties when the relative amplitude between the two parity components is varied from the singlet s-wave pairing dominated regime to the chiral triplet p-wave pairing dominated regime. In the chiral triplet p-wave pairing dominated regime, the ratio of noise power to electric current is close to 2e both in the in-gap and in the out-gap region. In the singlet s-wave pairing dominated regime, the value of this ratio is close to 4e in the inner gap region but may reduce to about 2e in the outer gap region as the relative amplitude of the chiral triplet pairing component is increased. The variations of the differential shot noise with the bias voltage also exhibit some significantly different features in different regimes. Such different features can serve as useful diagnostic tools for the determination of the relative magnitude of the two parity components in the pairing potential.

Normal pregnancy outcome after first-trimester exposure to semaglutide in an overweight woman: a case report

We reported a case of an overweight 34-year-old woman who unexpectedly became pregnant while undergoing semaglutide in early pregnancy and delivered a healthy male infant by caesarean section at 37 weeks and 4 days of gestation.Until now,the safety of semaglutide for use during pregnancy was unknown.This report may contribute to the limited knowledge available on pregnant women exposure to semaglutide.

基于Batch Normalization的UNet视网膜血管分割算法

视网膜血管的提取可以通过卷积神经网络学习的方法,但这种方法容易受到初始图像质量的影响,存在网络学习速度慢、效率低的问题.针对这一问题,提出了一种融合Batch Normalization和UNet卷积神经网络的视网膜血管分割算法.以视网膜图像的三原色通道作为网络的输入数据,然后利用融合批归一化的UNet卷积神经网络对分割模型进行训练,进一步优化网络效率.经过测试和验证,结果表明,在DRIVE公开数据集上,该方法能够更好地提取周围血管结构,灵敏度、准确度、特异性和曲线下面积均较好.

用Normalized Cut法自动提取乳腺超声图像中的肿瘤边缘

提出一种带权重邻域灰度信息的normalized cut(Ncut)方法,该方法能够全自动提取乳腺超声图像的肿瘤边缘.通过Ncut分块乳腺超声图像中的各块灰度及空间分布特征来识别待检测肿瘤的轮廓.对于少数分割不精确的结果,可用结合局部能量项的动态轮廓模型对所提取的初始边缘进行修正,使其更接近真实目标轮廓.对包含112幅乳腺肿瘤超声图像的数据库进行边缘提取,结果表明:该方法无需人工干预,能够准确有效地实现肿瘤分割,且计算量小,有望提高计算机辅助诊断的自动化程度.