The present work shows an application of the Chan-Vese algorithm for the semi-automatic segmentation of anatomical structures of interest (lungs and lung tumor) in 4DCT images of the thorax, as well as their three-dimensional reconstruction. The segmentation and reconstruction were performed on 10 CT images, which make up an inspiration-expiration cycle. The maximum displacement was calculated for the case of the lung tumor using the reconstructions of the onset of inspiration, the onset of expiration, and the voxel information. The proposed method achieves appropriate segmentation of the studied structures regardless of their size and shape. The three-dimensional reconstruction allows us to visualize the dynamics of the structures of interest throughout the respiratory cycle. In the future, it is expected to have more evidence of the good performance of the proposed method and to have the feedback of the clinical expert, since the knowledge of the characteristics of anatomical structures, such as their dimension and spatial position, helps in the planning of Radiotherapy (RT) treatments, optimizing the radiation dose to cancer cells and minimizing it in healthy organs. Therefore, the information found in this work may be of interest for the planning of RT treatments.
Monitoring marine biodiversity is a challenge in some vulnerable and difficult-to-access habitats, such as underwater caves. Underwater caves are a great focus of biodiversity, concentrating a large number of species in their environment. However, most of the sessile species that live on the rocky walls are very vulnerable, and they are often threatened by different pressures. The use of these spaces as a destination for recreational divers can cause different impacts on the benthic habitat. In this work, we propose a methodology based on video recordings of cave walls and image analysis with deep learning algorithms to estimate the spatial density of structuring species in a study area. We propose a combination of automatic frame overlap detection, estimation of the actual extent of surface cover, and semantic segmentation of the main 10 species of corals and sponges to obtain species density maps. These maps can be the data source for monitoring biodiversity over time. In this paper, we analyzed the performance of three different semantic segmentation algorithms and backbones for this task and found that the Mask R-CNN model with the Xception101 backbone achieves the best accuracy, with an average segmentation accuracy of 82%.
To save patients’ lives, it is important to go for an early diagnosis of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH). For diagnosing ICH, the widely used method is non-contrast computed tomography (NCCT). It has fast acquisition and availability in medical emergency facilities. To predict hematoma progression and mortality, it is important to estimate the volume of intracranial hemorrhage. Radiologists can manually delineate the ICH region to estimate the hematoma volume. This process takes time and undergoes inter-rater variability. In this research paper, we develop and discuss a fine segmentation model and a coarse model for intracranial hemorrhage segmentations. Basically, two different models are discussed for intracranial hemorrhage segmentation. We trained a 2DDensNet in the first model for coarse segmentation and cascaded the coarse segmentation mask output in the fine segmentation model along with input training samples. A nnUNet model is trained in the second fine stage and will use the segmentation labels of the coarse model with true labels for intracranial hemorrhage segmentation. An optimal performance for intracranial hemorrhage segmentation solution is obtained.
In view of the fact that the convolution neural network segmentation method lacks to capture the global dependency of infected areas in COVID-19 images, which is not conducive to the complete segmentation of scattered lesion areas, this paper proposes a COVID-19 lesion segmentation method UniUNet based on UniFormer with its strong ability to capture global dependency. Firstly, a U-shaped encoder-decoder structure based on UniFormer is designed, which can enhance the cooperation ability of local and global relations. Secondly, Swin spatial pyramid pooling module is introduced to compensate the influence of spatial resolution reduction in the encoder process and generate multi-scale representation. Multi-scale attention gate is introduced at the skip connection to suppress redundant features and enhance important features. Experiment results show that, compared with the other four methods, the proposed model achieves better results in Dice, loU and Recall on COVID-19-CT-Seg and CC-CCIII dataset, and achieves a more complete segmentation of the lesion area.
This paper aims to segment online consumers based on their attitude toward self-interest and ethical attitudes and explore the impact of these attitudes on the purchasing behavior of agricultural products online in China. The study was conducted using 633 online survey responses from consumers who have purchased agricultural products online in China. First, to validate the relationship between attitude and behavior by structural equation modeling. Next, the number of segments was determined using K-means. Finally, Pearson Chi-square difference tests were performed to analyze demographic and behavioral variables and identify each segment’s characteristics. The results of this study provide a segmentation analysis of the online market for agricultural products in China. The four segments identified are pure ethical consumers, information communicators, brand-quality pursuers, and well-heeled shoppers. Additionally, this study reveals the characteristics of each segment based on demographic and behavioral variables. This study provides a novel approach to segmenting Chinese consumers who purchase agricultural products online based on their attitudes toward self-interest and ethical attitudes, aiming to understand the impact of these attitudes on their purchasing behavior. Moreover, from an ethical consumerism perspective, it explores the effect of ethical information on purchasing agricultural products online, highlighting its significant implications for online marketing strategies.
The power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) combined with the surgeons’ expertise leads to breakthroughs in surgical care, bringing new hope to patients. Utilizing deep learning-based computer vision techniques in surgical procedures will enhance the healthcare industry. Laparoscopic surgery holds excellent potential for computer vision due to the abundance of real-time laparoscopic recordings captured by digital cameras containing significant unexplored information. Furthermore, with computing power resources becoming increasingly accessible and Machine Learning methods expanding across various industries, the potential for AI in healthcare is vast. There are several objectives of AI’s contribution to laparoscopic surgery; one is an image guidance system to identify anatomical structures in real-time. However, few studies are concerned with intraoperative anatomy recognition in laparoscopic surgery. This study provides a comprehensive review of the current state-of-the-art semantic segmentation techniques, which can guide surgeons during laparoscopic procedures by identifying specific anatomical structures for dissection or avoiding hazardous areas. This review aims to enhance research in AI for surgery to guide innovations towards more successful experiments that can be applied in real-world clinical settings. This AI contribution could revolutionize the field of laparoscopic surgery and improve patient outcomes.
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