Adaptive Order Polynomial Fitting for Pulmonary Nodule Segmentation in Chest Radiograph

Segmentation of pulmonary nodules in chest radiographs is a particularly challenging task due to heavy noise and superposition of ribs,vessels,and other complicated anatomical structures in lung field. In this paper,an adaptive order polynomial fitting based raycasting algorithm is proposed for pulmonary nodule segmentation in chest radiographs. Instead of detecting nodule edge points directly,the nodule intensity profiles are first fitted by using the polynomials with adaptively determined orders. Then,the edge positions are identified through analyzing the local minimum of the fitted curves.The performance of the proposed algorithm was evaluated over an image database with 148 nodule cases in chest radiographs that were collected from a variety of digital radiograph modalities. The preliminary results show the proposed algorithm can obtain a high rate of successful segmentations.

Adaptive OrderWENO Reconstructions for the Semi-Lagrangian Finite Difference Scheme for Advection Problem

We present a new conservative semi-Lagrangian finite difference weighted essentially non-oscillatory scheme with adaptive order.This is an extension of the conservative semi-Lagrangian(SL)finite difference WENO scheme in[Qiu and Shu,JCP,230(4)(2011),pp.863-889],in which linear weights in SL WENO framework were shown to not exist for variable coefficient problems.Hence,the order of accuracy is not optimal from reconstruction stencils.In this paper,we incorporate a recent WENO adaptive order(AO)technique[Balsara et al.,JCP,326(2016),pp.780-804]to the SL WENO framework.The new scheme can achieve an optimal high order of accuracy,while maintaining the properties of mass conservation and non-oscillatory capture of solutions from the original SL WENO.The positivity-preserving limiter is further applied to ensure the positivity of solutions.Finally,the scheme is applied to high dimensional problems by a fourth-order dimensional splitting.We demonstrate the effectiveness of the new scheme by extensive numerical tests on linear advection equations,the Vlasov-Poisson system,the guiding center Vlasov model as well as the incompressible Euler equations.

Robust Adaptive Gain Higher Order Sliding Mode Observer Based Control-constrained Nonlinear Model Predictive Control for Spacecraft Formation Flying

This work deals with the development of a decentralized optimal control algorithm, along with a robust observer,for the relative motion control of spacecraft in leader-follower based formation. An adaptive gain higher order sliding mode observer has been proposed to estimate the velocity as well as unmeasured disturbances from the noisy position measurements.A differentiator structure containing the Lipschitz constant and Lebesgue measurable control input, is utilized for obtaining the estimates. Adaptive tuning algorithms are derived based on Lyapunov stability theory, for updating the observer gains,which will give enough flexibility in the choice of initial estimates.Moreover, it may help to cope with unexpected state jerks. The trajectory tracking problem is formulated as a finite horizon optimal control problem, which is solved online. The control constraints are incorporated by using a nonquadratic performance functional. An adaptive update law has been derived for tuning the step size in the optimization algorithm, which may help to improve the convergence speed. Moreover, it is an attractive alternative to the heuristic choice of step size for diverse operating conditions. The disturbance as well as state estimates from the higher order sliding mode observer are utilized by the plant output prediction model, which will improve the overall performance of the controller. The nonlinear dynamics defined in leader fixed Euler-Hill frame has been considered for the present work and the reference trajectories are generated using Hill-Clohessy-Wiltshire equations of unperturbed motion. The simulation results based on rigorous perturbation analysis are presented to confirm the robustness of the proposed approach.

One-and Multi-dimensional CWENOZ Reconstructions for Implementing Boundary Conditions Without Ghost Cells

We address the issue of point value reconstructions from cell averages in the context of third-order finite volume schemes,focusing in particular on the cells close to the boundaries of the domain.In fact,most techniques in the literature rely on the creation of ghost cells outside the boundary and on some form of extrapolation from the inside that,taking into account the boundary conditions,fills the ghost cells with appropriate values,so that a standard reconstruction can be applied also in the boundary cells.In Naumann et al.(Appl.Math.Comput.325:252–270.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amc.2017.12.041,2018),motivated by the difficulty of choosing appropriate boundary conditions at the internal nodes of a network,a different technique was explored that avoids the use of ghost cells,but instead employs for the boundary cells a different stencil,biased towards the interior of the domain.In this paper,extending that approach,which does not make use of ghost cells,we propose a more accurate reconstruction for the one-dimensional case and a two-dimensional one for Cartesian grids.In several numerical tests,we compare the novel reconstruction with the standard approach using ghost cells.

Pros and cons of climate change in China

Climate change strongly affected the structure and functions of natural ecosystems,e.g.the vegetation productivity decreased in the Northeast permafrost region due to the higher temperature and less precipitation,whereas in the Tibetan Plateau,the vegetation productivity increased,owing to the improved thermal resource.Climate change led to reduced precipitation in North and Northeast China and thus the reduced surface runoff.The public needs for energy were changed because of climate change,e.g.the shorter heating period in winter.Climate change profoundly influenced human health,pathophoresis and major projects by increasing extreme events,including frequency and magnitude,and causing more serious water shortage.Under the background of climate change,although the improved thermal resources can be helpful for extending the crop growth period,more extreme events may resulted in more instability in agricultural productivity.Not only did climate change indirectly affect the secondary and tertiary industries through the impacts on agriculture and natural resources,but also climate change mitigation measures,such as carbon tax,tariff and trading,had extensive and profound influences on the socioeconomic system.Further analysis indicated that the impact of climate change presented significant regional differences.The impact had its pros and cons,while the advantages outweighed the disadvantages.Based on the above analysis on the impacts of climate change,we put forward suggestions on coping with climate change.First,scientifically dealing with climate change will need to seek advantages while avoiding the disadvantages of climate change in order to achieve the orderly adaptation to climate change,which is characterized with"Overall best,long-term benefit."Second,quantitative adaptation should be given more attention,e.g.proposing operational schemes and predictable goals and using uncertainty analysis on adaptation measures.Third,more active coping strategy should be adopted to enhance China's future comprehensive competitiveness.The strategies include but are not limited to gradually adjusting the industrial structure,intensifying the research and development(R&D)of emission reduction technology and actively responding to the influence of carbon tax,tariff and trading on socioeconomic development in China.

An oscillation-free Hermite WENO scheme for hyperbolic conservation laws

In this paper, the sixth-order oscillation-free Hermite weighted essentially non-oscillatory (OFHWENO) scheme is proposed for hyperbolic conservation laws on structured meshes, where the zeroth- andfirst-order moments are the variables for the governing equations. The main difference from other HWENOschemes existing in the literature is that we add high-order numerical damping terms in the first-order momentequations to control spurious oscillations for the OF-HWENO scheme. The OF-HWENO scheme not only canachieve the designed optimal numerical order, but also can be easily implemented as we use only one set ofstencils in the reconstruction procedure and the same reconstructed polynomials are applied for the zeroth- andfirst-order moment equations. In order to obtain the adaptive order resolution when facing discontinuities, atransition polynomial is added in the reconstruction, where the associated linear weights can also be any positivenumbers as long as their summation equals one. In addition, the OF-HWENO scheme still keeps compactnessas only immediate neighbor values are needed in the space discretization. Some benchmark numerical tests areperformed to illustrate the high-order accuracy, high resolution and robustness of the proposed scheme.

On Orderly Adaptation to Global Warming

Global warming during the last century has been a well-known fact. Despite arguments and uncertainties in explanations, most scientists agree that this century-scale warming trend is attributable to human activities. According to the recent assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change （IPCC, 2007） based on worldwide scientific results,