Objectives: To investigate the impact of deep learning (DL) on radiologists’ detection accuracy and reading efficiency of rib fractures on CT. Methods: Blunt chest trauma patients (n = 198) undergoing thin-slice CT were enrolled. Images were read by two radiologists (R1, R2) in three sessions: S1, unassisted reading; S2, assisted by DL as the concurrent reader; S3, DL as the second reader. The fractures detected by the readers and total reading time were documented. The reference standard for rib fractures was established by an expert panel. The sensitivity and false-positives per scan were calculated and compared among S1, S2, and S3. Results: The reference standard identified 865 fractures on 713 ribs (102 patients) The sensitivity of S1, S2, and S3 was 82.8, 88.9, and 88.7% for R1, and 83.9, 88.7, and 88.8% for R2, respectively. The sensitivity of S2 and S3 was significantly higher compared to S1 for both readers (all p < 0.05). The sensitivity between S2 and S3 did not differ significantly (both p > 0.9). The false-positive per scan had no difference between sessions for R1 (p = 0.24) but was lower for S2 and S3 than S1 for R2 (both p < 0.05). Reading time decreased by 36% (R1) and 34% (R2) in S2 compared to S1. Conclusions: Using DL as a concurrent reader can improve the detection accuracy and reading efficiency for rib fracture. Advances in knowledge: DL can be integrated into the radiology workflow to improve the accuracy and reading efficiency of CT rib fracture detection.

No abstract

The network lifetime of wireless rechargeable sensor network (WRSN) is commonly extended through routing strategy or wireless charging technology. In this paper, we propose an optimization algorithm from the aspects of both charging and routing process. To balance the network energy in charging part, node’s charging efficiency is balanced by dynamically planning charging point positions and the charging time is allocated according to the energy consumption rate of nodes. Moreover, the routing method is adapted to the node’s charging efficiency. The adaptive routing strategy assigns more forwarding tasks to nodes that can get more energy during the charging phase, and makes the data packets transmit farther away, thus reducing the average hops and energy consumption of the network. Finally, the simulation results reveal that the proposed algorithm has certain advantages in prolonging the network lifetime, reducing the average hop counts and balancing the energy of each node.

No abstract

No abstract