A Whole-Slide Image Managing Library Based on Fastai for Deep Learning in the Context of Histopathology: Two Use-Cases Explained

Background: Processing whole-slide images (WSI) to train neural networks can be intricate and labor intensive. We developed an open-source library dealing with recurrent tasks in the processing of WSI and helping with the training and evaluation of neuronal networks for classification tasks. Methods: Two histopathology use-cases were selected and only hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained slides were used. The first use case was a two-class classification problem. We trained a convolutional neuronal network (CNN) to distinguish between dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor (DNET) and ganglioglioma (GG), two neuropathological low-grade epilepsy-associated tumor entities. Within the second use case, we included four clinicopathological disease conditions in a multilabel approach. Here we trained a CNN to predict the hormone expression profile of pituitary adenomas. In the same approach, we also predicted clinically silent corticotroph adenoma. Results: Our DNET-GG classifier achieved an AUC of 1.00 for the ROC curve. For the second use case, the best performing CNN achieved an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.97 for the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) for corticotroph adenoma, 0.86 for silent corticotroph adenoma, and 0.98 for gonadotroph adenoma. All scores were calculated with the help of our library on predictions on a case basis. Conclusions: Our comprehensive and fastai-compatible library is helpful to standardize the workflow and minimize the burden of training a CNN. Indeed, our trained CNNs extracted neuropathologically relevant information from the WSI. This approach will supplement the clinicopathological diagnosis of brain tumors, which is currently based on cost-intensive microscopic examination and variable panels of immunohistochemical stainings.

Uses of Nanoclays and Adsorbents for Dye Recovery: A Textile Industry Review

Wastewater recovery is one of the most pressing contaminant-related subjects in the textile industry. Many cleaning and recovery techniques have been applied in recent decades, from physical separation to chemical separation. This work reviews textile wastewater recovery by focusing on natural or synthetic nanoclays in order to compare their capabilities. Presently, a wide variety of nanoclays are available that can adsorb substances dissolved in water. This review summarizes and describes nanoclay modifications for different structures (laminar, tubular, etc.) to compare adsorption performance under the best conditions. This adsorbent capacity can be used in contaminant industries to recover water that can be used and be recontaminated during a second use to close the production circle. It explores and proposes future perspectives for the nanoclay hybrid compounds generated after certain cleaning steps. This is a critical review of works that have studied adsorption or desorption procedures for different nanoclay structures. Finally, it makes a future application proposal by taking into account the summarized pros and cons of each nanoclay. This work addresses contaminant reuse, where part of the employed dyes can be reused in printing or even dyeing processes, depending on the fixing capacity of the dye in the nanoclay, which is herein discussed.

Advances in Microfiltration and Ultrafiltration Technology for Greywater Treatment: A Review

Advances in microfiltration and ultrafiltration technology for the treatment of greywater are important today because everything surrounding the use and preservation of water is an issue that increases in importance over the decades, and our planet will be seriously affected by the consequences of climate change, making water availability uncertain. Hence, wastewater recycling and its cyclical use have become a major topic in the scientific and engineering communities. The objective of this research is focused on compiling and updating all the advances in wastewater treatment, with emphasis on Greywater, in which components have a lower pollutant load than the rest of wastewater. In addition, microfiltration and ultrafiltration technologies were the technology selected to investigate in this investigation because they have the local potential for a second use of the wastewater before the discharge of contaminated water to the sanitation network. This research was carried out using words related to the exposed topic, such as “microfiltration”, “ultrafiltration”, “cleaning wastewater” and “greywater” in the search for documents in scientific search engines, selecting those that covered the topic and could be used to create this document. The results that were developed in this investigation, indicate that there is no generalized consensus on how to treat this greywater, nor how to qualify it. Additionally, it is important to note that despite the fact that urban greywater treatments have given good results, with the widespread use of bioreactors for this task, and the existence of various treatment alternatives for liquid waste that have shown good price-value ratio, studies related to greywater treatments using porosities are still in the incipient stages.

HISTORIC AND CONSTRUCTIONAL ASPECTS OF STONE SCHOOLS IN GREECE: THE CASE OF THE ARISTOTLE MUNICIPALITY IN CHALKIDIKI

Historic schools, built during the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century, were evolved according to the wider socio-economic changes that took place at regional, national and international level. Their construction usually followed specific principles, governed by their functional role and structural safety requirements. In this study, the historical background of school buildings in Greece is given, in an effort to assess their evolution and physiognomy. To this direction, 14 historic school buildings, located in the Aristotle Municipality of Chalkidiki, N. Greece, were studied, taking into account their architectural and constructional characteristics. These buildings were erected from 1871 up to 1958 and are nowadays mostly used as elementary schools. In some cases, they are in second use or abandoned. They concerned 1 up to 3 storeys buildings, with rectangular ground plan, symmetrically organized around a main corridor. Their size and dimensions varied according to their capacity. From the beginning of the 30’s, supplementary elements of reinforced concrete (slabs, beams) were added, in combination with the existing building techniques. Nowadays, they are generally preserved in good state, due to the consecutive interventions taken place during their service life. However, their documentation and identification as heritage structures should be further assessed, in order to convey the tangible and intangible values they incorporate in the next generations.

Clustering with Scikit-Learn in Python

This tutorial demonstrates how to apply clustering algorithms with Python to a dataset with two concrete use cases. The first example uses clustering to identify meaningful groups of Greco-Roman authors based on their publications and their reception. The second use case applies clustering algorithms to textual data in order to discover thematic groups. After finishing this tutorial, you will be able to use clustering in Python with Scikit-learn applied to your own data, adding an invaluable method to your toolbox for exploratory data analysis.

Design and Development of a Multi-Application Hexacopter

The technology of the fixed wing and the rotary wing unmanned aerial vehicles have been emerging and the applications have been focused widely to numerous regions. This paper focuses on some applications where we have tested our multicopter and in future the further improvement shall incorporate. Our main focus was to build an aerial Covid warrior considering mainly three different and useful applications particularly for remote village areas where many facilities are not always available. First application is the delivery of the medical supplies to the people in need. Second, use of the onboard speaker, which can relay valuable information during emergency or the valuable health related awareness remotely by respective department. And the third application is use of the sanitizer spray arrangement for the larger area disinfection. The prototype has been tested in a typical village area in different conditions and has provided required performance due to optimized design. This paper is to facilitate other users to explore the capabilities of the multicopters for any situations like we suggested with this project considering this pandemic.

Recycling of Spent Reverse Osmosis Membranes for Second Use in the Clarification of Wet-Process Phosphoric Acid

Various techniques have been used to “clean-up” wet-process phosphoric acid such as precipitation, flotation and adsorption. To address the potential of membrane processes in the phosphoric acid clarification process, this study explores the benefits of membrane techniques as a green separation technique for phosphoric acid clarification in an eco-efficient way through the use of recycling spent reverse osmosis membrane. Regenerated membrane was used to study the phosphoric acid clarification at a laboratory scale. They were immersed in an oxidizer for at most seven days. The samples were characterized systematically before immersion in an oxidant media. In this study, the potential to regenerate spent membranes and application of this media to clarify the 29% P2O5 phosphoric acid was demonstrated. This study shows, through experiments, that the reverse osmosis (RO) membranes could achieve a rejection of 70% and 61% for suspended solid and organic matter, respectively. These promising results will pave the way for implementation of these membranes in phosphoric acid treatment. Moreover, besides being economically advantageous, the use of the spent membrane is likely an environmentally friendly route (no waste, no organic solvent and effluent to be regenerated later on).

Stationary, Second Use Battery Energy Storage Systems and Their Applications: A Research Review

The global demand for electricity is rising due to the increased electrification of multiple sectors of economic activity and an increased focus on sustainable consumption. Simultaneously, the share of cleaner electricity generated by transient, renewable sources such as wind and solar energy is increasing. This has made additional buffer capacities for electrical grids necessary. Battery energy storage systems have been investigated as storage solutions due to their responsiveness, efficiency, and scalability. Storage systems based on the second use of discarded electric vehicle batteries have been identified as cost-efficient and sustainable alternatives to first use battery storage systems. Large quantities of such batteries with a variety of capacities and chemistries are expected to be available in the future, as electric vehicles are more widely adopted. These batteries usually still possess about 80% of their initial capacity and can be used in storage solutions for high-energy as well as high-power applications, and even hybrid solutions encompassing both. There is, however, no holistic review of current research on this topic. This paper first identifies the potential applications for second use battery energy storage systems making use of decommissioned electric vehicle batteries and the resulting sustainability gains. Subsequently, it reviews ongoing research on second use battery energy storage systems within Europe and compares it to similar activities outside Europe. This review indicates that research in Europe focuses mostly on “behind-the-meter” applications such as minimising the export of self-generated electricity. Asian countries, especially China, use spent batteries for stationary as well as for mobile applications. In developing countries, off-grid applications dominate. Furthermore, the paper identifies economic, environmental, technological, and regulatory obstacles to the incorporation of repurposed batteries in second use battery energy storage systems and lists the developments needed to allow their future uptake. This review thus outlines the technological state-of-the-art and identifies areas of future research on second use battery energy storage systems.