A three-dimensional computational model is presented for studying the efficacy of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) procedures targeted near large blood vessels. The analysis applies to procedures performed at intensities below the threshold for cavitation, boiling and highly nonlinear propagation, but high enough to increase tissue temperature a few degrees per second. The model is base...

Developments in the technology applied to the field of minimally invasive surgery have led to the exploration of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for the treatment of localized prostate cancer. Extensive research and continuous evolution have resulted in two commercially available HIFU devices: the Ablatherm and the Sonablate500. These devices are conceptually the same; however, specifi...

Introduction A challenge for High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) therapy in the upper abdomen is maintaining the ultrasound focal spot on the target during free breathing. Normal breathing can cause liver tissue to move by as much as 5.5 cm[1]. Consequently, current approaches require the patient to hold their breath during the deposition of focused ultrasound[2]. This practice assumes tha...

This paper advocates the use of ontology-supported website models to provide a semantic level solution for a search agent so that it can provide fast, precise, and stable search results. We have based on the technique to develop a focused crawler, which can benefit both user requests and domain semantics. Equipped with this technique, our focused crawler manifests the following interesting feat...

Ostracism-being excluded and ignored-thwarts satisfaction of four fundamental needs: belonging, self-esteem, control, and meaningful existence. The current study investigated whether training participants to focus their attention on the here-and-now (i.e., focused attention) reduces distress from an ostracism experience. Participants were first trained in either focused or unfocused attention, ...

Brain stimulation techniques are important in both basic and clinical studies. Majority of well-known brain stimulating techniques have low spatial resolution or entail invasive processes. Low intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) seems to be a proper candidate for dealing with such deficiencies. This review recapitulates studies which explored the effects of LIFU on brain structures and its func...

We develop a method similar to variable elimination for computing approximate marginals in graphical models. An underlying notion in this method is that it is not always necessary to compute marginals over all the variables in the graph, but focus on a few variables of interest. The Focused Inference (FI) algorithm introduced reduces the original distribution to a simpler one over the variables...

Background and Objectives: Despite the increasing impact of heavy metal pollution in Persian Gulf due to urban growth and agricultural and petroleum activities, few studies have focused on the behavior and relationships of these pollutants in the biotic and abiotic components of aquatic environments. In this study, the amount of some metals (copper, iron, lead, cadmium, zinc and nickel) was det...