Albiol, A., Corbi, A., & Albiol, F. (2017). Automatic intensity windowing of mammographic images based on a perceptual metric. Med. Phys., 44(4), 1369–1378.
Abstract: Purpose: Initial auto-adjustment of the window level WL and width WW applied to mammographic images. The proposed intensity windowing (IW) method is based on the maximization of the mutual information (MI) between a perceptual decomposition of the original 12-bit sources and their screen displayed 8-bit version. Besides zoom, color inversion and panning operations, IW is the most commonly performed task in daily screening and has a direct impact on diagnosis and the time involved in the process. Methods: The authors present a human visual system and perception-based algorithm named GRAIL (Gabor-relying adjustment of image levels). GRAIL initially measures a mammogram's quality based on the MI between the original instance and its Gabor-filtered derivations. From this point on, the algorithm performs an automatic intensity windowing process that outputs the WL/WW that best displays each mammogram for screening. GRAIL starts with the default, high contrast, wide dynamic range 12-bit data, and then maximizes the graphical information presented in ordinary 8-bit displays. Tests have been carried out with several mammogram databases. They comprise correlations and an ANOVA analysis with the manual IW levels established by a group of radiologists. A complete MATLAB implementation of GRAIL is available at . Results: Auto-leveled images show superior quality both perceptually and objectively compared to their full intensity range and compared to the application of other common methods like global contrast stretching (GCS). The correlations between the human determined intensity values and the ones estimated by our method surpass that of GCS. The ANOVA analysis with the upper intensity thresholds also reveals a similar outcome. GRAIL has also proven to specially perform better with images that contain micro-calcifications and/or foreign X-ray-opaque elements and with healthy BI-RADS A-type mammograms. It can also speed up the initial screening time by a mean of 4.5 s per image. Conclusions: A novel methodology is introduced that enables a quality-driven balancing of the WL/WW of mammographic images. This correction seeks the representation that maximizes the amount of graphical information contained in each image. The presented technique can contribute to the diagnosis and the overall efficiency of the breast screening session by suggesting, at the beginning, an optimal and customized windowing setting for each mammogram.
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Wuensch, W., Degiovanni, A., Calatroni, S., Korsback, A., Djurabekova, F., Rajamaki, R., et al. (2017). Statistics of vacuum breakdown in the high-gradient and low-rate regime. Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams, 20(1), 011007–11pp.
Abstract: In an increasing number of high-gradient linear accelerator applications, accelerating structures must operate with both high surface electric fields and low breakdown rates. Understanding the statistical properties of breakdown occurrence in such a regime is of practical importance for optimizing accelerator conditioning and operation algorithms, as well as of interest for efforts to understand the physical processes which underlie the breakdown phenomenon. Experimental data of breakdown has been collected in two distinct high-gradient experimental set-ups: A prototype linear accelerating structure operated in the Compact Linear Collider Xbox 12GHz test stands, and a parallel plate electrode system operated with pulsed DC in the kV range. Collected data is presented, analyzed and compared. The two systems show similar, distinctive, two-part distributions of number of pulses between breakdowns, with each part corresponding to a specific, constant event rate. The correlation between distance and number of pulses between breakdown indicates that the two parts of the distribution, and their corresponding event rates, represent independent primary and induced follow-up breakdowns. The similarity of results from pulsed DCto 12GHz rf indicates a similar vacuum arc triggering mechanism over the range of conditions covered by the experiments.
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Degiovanni, A., Wuensch, W., & Giner Navarro, J. (2016). Comparison of the conditioning of high gradient accelerating structures. Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams, 19(3), 032001–6pp.
Abstract: Accelerating gradients in excess of 100 MV/m, at very low breakdown rates, have been successfully achieved in numerous prototype CLIC accelerating structures. The conditioning and operational histories of several structures, tested at KEK and CERN, have been compared and there is clear evidence that the conditioning progresses with the number of rf pulses and not with the number of breakdowns. This observation opens the possibility that the optimum conditioning strategy, which minimizes the total number of breakdowns the structure is subject to without increasing conditioning time, may be to never exceed the breakdown rate target for operation. The result is also likely to have a strong impact on efforts to understand the physical mechanism underlying conditioning and may lead to preparation procedures which reduce conditioning time.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Garcia Martin, L. M., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Remon Alepuz, C., Ruiz Valls, P., et al. (2017). Observation of B-c(+) -> J/psi D-(*()) K-(*()) decays. Phys. Rev. D, 95(3), 032005–12pp.
Abstract: A search for the decays B-c(+) -> J/psi D-(*()0) Kappa(+) and B-c(+) -> J/psi D-(*K)+*(0) is performed with data collected at the LHCb experiment corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb(-1). The decays B-c(+) -> J/psi(DK+)-K-0 and B-c(+) -> J/psi D*K-0(+) are observed for the first time, while first evidence is reported for the B-c(broken vertical bar) -> J/psi D*K-broken vertical bar(*0) and B-c(broken vertical bar) -> J/psi(DK)-K-broken vertical bar*(0) decays. The branching fractions of these decays are determined relative to the B-c(+) -> J/psi pi(+) decay. The B-c(+) mass is measured, using the J/psi(DK+)-K-0 final state, to be 6274.28 +/- 1.40(stat) +/- 0.32(syst) MeV/c(2). This is the most precise single measurement of the B-c(+) mass to date.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Garcia Martin, L. M., Henry, L., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Remon Alepuz, C., et al. (2017). Observation of Five New Narrow Omega(0)(c) States Decaying to Xi K-+(c)-. Phys. Rev. Lett., 118(18), 182001–10pp.
Abstract: The Xi K-+(c)- mass spectrum is studied with a sample of pp collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.3 fb(-1), collected by the LHCb experiment. The Xi(+)(c) is reconstructed in the decay mode pK(-)pi(vertical bar) . Five new, narrow excited Omega(0)(c) states are observed: the Omega(c)(3000)(0), Omega(c)(3050)(0), Omega(c)(3066)(0), Omega(c) (3090)(0), and Omega(c)(3119)(0). Measurements of their masses and widths are reported.
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