Registration of a series of the two-dimensional electron microscope images of the brain tissue into volumetric form is an important technique that can be used for neuronal circuit reconstruction. However, complex appearance changes of neuronal morphology in adjacent sections bring difficulty in finding correct correspondences, making serial section neural image registration challenging. To solve this problem, we consider whether there are such stable "markers" in the neural images to alleviate registration difficulty. In this paper, we employ the spherical deformation model (...) to simulate the local neuron structure and analyze the relationship between registration accuracy and neuronal structure shapes in two adjacent sections. The relevant analysis proves that regular circular structures in the section images are instrumental in seeking robust corresponding relationships. Then, we design a new serial section image registration framework driven by this neuronal morphological model, fully utilizing the characteristics of the anatomical structure of nerve tissue and obtaining more reasonable corresponding relationships. Specifically, we leverage a deep membrane segmentation network and neural morphological physical selection model to select the stable rounded regions in neural images. Then, we combine feature extraction and global optimization of correspondence position to obtain the deformation field of multiple images. Experiments on real and synthetic serial EM section neural image datasets have demonstrated that our proposed method could achieve more reasonable and reliable registration results, outperforming the state-of-the-art approaches in qualitative and quantitative analysis. (shrink)

Imagine you are an editor at a well respected national magazine with a rich history in photojournalism. The magazine is ready for publication but there is a problem with the cover. The photograph chosen for the cover does not quite fit the vertical format of the magazine and no other picture has all the qualities to best illustrate the cover story. No problem! With a computer, an operator simply moves the objects in the photograph closer together to fit the magazine (...) format perfectly. The finished product is virtually undetectable, even by experts. (shrink)

At present, most of the research in the field of medical-assisted diagnosis is carried out based on image or electronic medical records. Although there is some research foundation, they lack the comprehensive consideration of comprehensive image and text modes. Based on this situation, this article proposes a fusion classification auxiliary diagnosis model based on GoogleNet model and Bi-LSTM model, uses GoogleNet to process brain computed tomographic images of ischemic stroke patients and extract CT image features, uses Bi-LSTM model to (...) extract the electronic medical record text, integrates the two features using the full connection layer network and Softmax classifier, and obtains a method that can assist the diagnosis from two modes. Experiments show that the proposed scheme on average improves 3.05% in accuracy compared to individual image or text modes, and the best performing GoogleNet + Bi-LSTM model achieves 96.61% accuracy; although slightly less in recall, it performs better on F1 values, and has provided feasible new ideas and new methods for research in the field of multi-model medical-assisted diagnosis. (shrink)

Although negative stain electron microscopy is a wonderfully simple way of directly visualizing protein complexes and other biological macromolecules, the images are not really comparable to those of objects seen in everyday life. The failure to appreciate this has recently led to an incorrect interpretation of RecA‐family filament structures.

Cryo‐electron microscopy allows the visualization of macromolecules in their native state. Combined with techniques of three‐dimensional reconstruction, cryo‐EM images of single molecules can be used to study macromolecular interactions. The ribosome, a large RNA–protein complex with multiple binding interactions, is an excellent test case illustrating the power of these new techniques. Conformational changes during the binding of tRNA and protein factors to the ribosome can now be studied without the interference of crystal packing. Now that the first X‐ray structures of (...) ribosomal subunits have become available, conformational changes observed by cryo‐EM in different functional states can be traced back to internal rearrangements of the underlying structural framework. Electron microscopy, X‐ray crystallography, and modeling should be used together in the endeavor to understand the functioning of the translational machinery. BioEssays 23:725–732, 2001. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (shrink)

Microscopy allows us to observe objects we cannot see with our eyes alone. With a light microscope, we can distinguish objects at the scale of the wavelengths of visible light just under a micrometer. Around 1870 Ernst Abbe, who laid the foundation of modern optics, suggested that the resolution of a microscope would improve by using some yet-unknown radiation with shorter wavelengths than visible light, that is, below 390 nanometers (1 nm = 10−9 m). Electrons can have wavelengths near 1 (...) picometer (1 pm = 10−12 m) and should therefore allow atoms to be distinguished since they are typically at least a few hundred pm apart. In this oversimplified view, further decreasing the wavelength of the radiation should allow us to increase the resolution of electron microscopy even more. However, this can only be done by increasing the energy of the radiation, which would ultimately destroy the samples. Other factors also affect the resolution of electron microscopes, among them non-ideal imaging properties of electromagnetic lenses, which result in false images. It took more than half a century to understand and control these aberrations and separate objects less than 1 Ångstrom (1 Å = 10−10 m) apart. (shrink)

Supersaturated hcp f -Zr alloys containing 22-28 at.% N were prepared by nitriding sheets of Zr in an atmosphere of high-purity N 2 , followed by homogenization under high-purity Ar gas. Quenching and isothermal ageing of the alloys for various times between 500 and 650°C resulted in precipitation of a metastable phase, rather than the equilibrium phase ZrN. This investigation focused on determining the structure, orientation relationship, habit plane, morphology, growth kinetics and atomic growth mechanism of this non-equilibrium precipitate using (...) transmission electron microscopy imaging and diffraction techniques, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, electron-energy-loss spectroscopy and various simulation programs. The precipitate, which was arbitrarily designated the  phase, has a monoclinic Bravais lattice. Its lattice parameters are a = 0.32 nm, b = 0.60 nm, c = 0.56 nm, f = g = 90° and n = 121.5°. Its orientation relationship with the f matrix is $$ _alpha /mskip-2/ _xiquad adquad [01bar 10] _alpha /mskip-2/ [001]_xi, $$ and the average habit plane of lenticularly shaped precipitates is $_alpha$ . Determination of the structure and other aspects of the phase transformation are discussed. (shrink)

Barbara Stafford is at the forefront of a growing movement that calls for the humanities to confront the brain’s material realities. In Echo Objects she argues that humanists should seize upon the exciting neuroscientific discoveries that are illuminating the underpinnings of cultural objects. In turn, she contends, brain scientists could enrich their investigations of mental activity by incorporating phenomenological considerations—particularly the intricate ways that images focus intentional behavior and allow us to feel thought. This, then, is a book for both (...) sides of the aisle, a stunningly broad exploration of how complex images—or patterns that compress space and time—make visible the invisible ordering of human consciousness. Stafford demonstrates, for example, how the compound formats of emblems, symbols, collage, and electronic media reveal the brain’s grappling to construct mental objects that are redoubled by prior associations. On the other hand, she compellingly shows that findings in evolutionary biology and the neurosciences are providing profound opportunities for understanding aesthetic conundrums as old and deep-seated as the human urge to imitate, the mapping of inner space, and the role of narrative and nonnarrative representation. As precise in her discussions of firing neurons as she is about the coordinating dynamics of image making, Stafford locates these major transdisciplinary issues at the intersection of art, science, philosophy, and technology. Ultimately, she makes an impassioned plea for a common purpose—for the acknowledgement that, at the most basic level, these separate projects belong to a single investigation. (shrink)

In this article, the authors are concerned with the question of the nature of print and the impact print has on shaping the collective mentality, especially in the context of the electronic media “boom”. Based on their analysis, they state that print has, since its creation, promoted a subject-object dualism, the development of abstract, linear thinking and the shaping of a collective mentality. Print is currently already under the strong, paradigmatic influence of electronic media resulting in a qualitatively (...) new kind of “reading”. That is to say that the electronic media cyberspace encourages the “hyper-textual” interlinking of different kinds of information in our learning or thinking, which can be referred to as “rhizomorphic”. This kind of process is bound up with non-linear “reading”, where the image dominates the word in cyberspace. The electronic media cyberspace thus dominates and shapes the contemporary collective mentality in our culture, including its approach to print. (shrink)

BackgroundElectronic cigarettes as substitute devices for regular tobacco cigarettes have been increasing in recent times. We investigated neuronal substrates of vaping e-cigs and smoking r-cigs from r-cig smokers.MethodsTwenty-two r-cig smokers made two visits following overnight smoking cessation. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired while participants watched smoking images. Participants were then allowed to smoke either an e-cig or r-cig until satiated and fMRI data were acquired. Their craving levels and performance on the Montreal Imaging Stress Task and (...) a 3-back alphabet/digit recognition task were obtained and analyzed using two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance. Regions-of-interest were identified by comparing the abstained and satiated conditions. Neuronal activation within ROIs was regressed on the craving and behavioral data separately.ResultsCraving was more substantially reduced by smoking r-cigs than by vaping e-cigs. The response time for the 3-back task was significantly shorter following smoking r-cigs than following vaping e-cigs = 5.3, p = 0.035). Neuronal activations of the right vermis, right caudate, and right superior frontal gyrus were significantly correlated with the RT for the 3-back task only for smoking r-cigs.ConclusionOur findings suggest that insufficient satiety from vaping e-cigs for r-cigs smokers may be insignificant effect on working memory function. (shrink)

This article is an email conversation between the artist Thomas Hirschhorn and the philosopher Jacques Rancière that took place from December 2009 to February 2010. The images of ‘The Bijlmer Spinoza-Festival’, an artwork by Thomas Hirschhorn that occurred in the outskirts of Amsterdam in 2009, portray the levels of engagement by the local participants and the interaction with invited speakers and performers. The interview with Jacques Rancière addresses the problem of classifying collaborative art projects within the conventional categories of art (...) and politics. It explores the vital function of artistic presence and the possibility of establishing a mode of aesthetic exchange that proceeds from the experience of equality. (shrink)

Social network sites are a new communication channel to convey CSR information. They are interactive channels that let users participate, spread content and generate positive and negative electronic word-of-mouth about companies that can dramatically affect their reputation and future business. To identify the factors behind this behaviour, we designed a causal model to explain the intention to both comment on and share a negative corporate social responsibility news posted on Facebook. We included the following as explanatory variables: social consciousness, (...) environmental consciousness, information usefulness, corporate image and attitude towards sharing and commenting on CSR news. We surveyed 208 Facebook users who evaluated a fictitious news item about an environmental issue. We observed that social and environmental consciousness influences the usefulness of information and the attitude towards behaviour, which may explain the eWOM intention of the specific news. However, corporate image can cause people to refrain from generating eWOM and spreading the news on their friend social network. (shrink)

Electronic mail (email), using ARPANET and other networks has been in use for almost 20 years. The widespread use of telefax is more recent. However, unless email is freed from dependence on the networks, I predict it will be supplanted by telefax for most uses in spite of its many advantages over telefax. These advantages include the fact that information is transmitted more cheaply as character streams than as images. Multiple addressees are readily accommodated. Moreover, messages transmitted as character (...) streams can be readily filed, searched, edited and used by computer programs. (shrink)

In many scientific fields, today’s practices of empirical enquiry rely heavily on the production of images that display the investigated phenomena. And while scientific images of phenomena have been important for a long time, what is striking now is that scientists have found ways to visualize such widely different types of phenomena. In the past twenty or thirty years, we have become accustomed to seeing images of galaxies, of cells, of the human brain but also of blood flow or of (...) turbulent fluids. This success in making images relies first on the set of imaging devices that have flourished in the twentieth century, instruments such as radio-telescopes, electronic microscopes, MRI and many more. Without these... (shrink)

In this paper, we construct a parallel image of the conventional Maxwell theory by replacing the observer-time by the proper-time of the source. This formulation is mathematically, but not physically, equivalent to the conventional form. The change induces a new symmetry group which is distinct from, but closely related to the Lorentz group, and fixes the clock of the source for all observers. The new wave equation contains an additional term (dissipative), which arises instantaneously with acceleration. This shows that the (...) origin of radiation reaction is not the action of a “charge” on itself but arises from inertial resistance to changes in motion. This dissipative term is equivalent to an effective mass so that classical radiation has both a massless and a massive part. Hence, at the local level the theory is one of particles and fields but there is no self-energy divergence (nor any of the other problems). We also show that, for any closed system of particles, there is a global inertial frame and unique (invariant) global proper-time (for each observer) from which to observe the system. This global clock is intrinsically related to the proper clocks of the individual particles and provides a unique definition of simultaneity for all events associated with the system. We suggest that this clock is the historical clock of Horwitz, Piron, and Fanchi. At this level, the theory is of the action-at-a-distance type and the absorption hypothesis of Wheeler and Feynman follows from global conservation of energy. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:ImagesLynn Hershman Leeson’s first feature film, Conceiving Ada, was shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, The Toronto International Film Festival, The Berlin International Film Festival and thirty-five other festivals worldwide. It also received the award of “Outstanding Achievement in Drama” from the Festival of Electronic Cinema. Conceiving Ada was released by Fox Lorber in February 1999 and on DVD in February 2000.She was awarded the 2003 Alfred (...) P. Sloan Award for writing and directing Teknolust, starring Tilda Swinton and Jeremy Davies, which premiered in the American Showcase of the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. In fall 2005 the University of California Press published the monograph Secret Agents Private I, The Art and Films of Lynn Hershman Leeson. Her touring retrospective is organized by the Henry Gallery in Seattle.Hershman Leeson is a Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Davis, and an A.D. White Professor at Large at Cornell University. Click for larger view View full resolutionFigure 1. Lynn Hershman Leeson, Conceiving Ada, 1997, Film still, Photo courtesy of Lynn Hershman Leeson and bitforms gallery, New York (page 2) Click for larger view View full resolutionFigure 2. Lynn Hershman Leeson, Conceiving Ada, 1997, Film still, Photo courtesy of Lynn Hershman Leeson and bitforms gallery, New York (page 13) Click for larger view View full resolutionFigure 3. Lynn Hershman Leeson, Conceiving Ada, 1997, Film still, Photo courtesy of Lynn Hershman Leeson and bitforms gallery, New York (page 24) Click for larger view View full resolutionFigure 4. Lynn Hershman Leeson, Conceiving Ada, 1997, Film still, Photo courtesy of Lynn Hershman Leeson and bitforms gallery, New York (page 37) Click for larger view View full resolutionFigure 5. Lynn Hershman Leeson, Conceiving Ada, 1997, Film still, Photo courtesy of Lynn Hershman Leeson and bitforms gallery, New York (page 47) Click for larger view View full resolutionFigure 6. Lynn Hershman Leeson, Conceiving Ada, 1997, Film still, Photo courtesy of Lynn Hershman Leeson and bitforms gallery, New York (page 58) Click for larger view View full resolutionFigure 7. Lynn Hershman Leeson, Conceiving Ada, 1997, Film still, Photo courtesy of Lynn Hershman Leeson and bitforms gallery, New York (page 81) Click for larger view View full resolutionFigure 8. Lynn Hershman Leeson, Conceiving Ada, 1997, Film still, Photo courtesy of Lynn Hershman Leeson and bitforms gallery, New York (page 91) Click for larger view View full resolutionFigure 9. Lynn Hershman Leeson, Conceiving Ada, 1997, Film still, Photo courtesy of Lynn Hershman Leeson and bitforms gallery, New York (page 103)Copyright © 2006 The Johns Hopkins University Press... (shrink)