• Improved accuracy of Erythropoietin (Epo) detection – the doping substance in sportsmen;
• Method for measurement of thin layers for nanoelectronics.

Result 1: Improved accuracy of Erythropoietin (Epo) detection – the doping substance in sportsmen

Project: Research into refined classification of bands in Epo images

Investigators: Svorad Štolc, Ivan Bajla

In the year 2003, World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) initiated an international project with the goal to develop a suitable and easy to use software system aimed at the standardized quantitative analysis of digital images acquired during the process of erythropoietin (Epo) doping control. Within the cooperation between Austrian Research Centers GmbH and Institute of Measurement Science, Slovak Academy of Sciences, improved image preprocessing method has been developed. The proposed method - Band Straightening Algorithm (BSA) - significantly reduces local geometric distortions in Epo images that cause band detection problems, especially incases with geometrically distorted and disrupted bands. The accuracy of the band detection is one of the most critical points of the Epo image analysis. In the year 2006, the proposed method has been implemented in the latest release of the software package GASepo 2.1, which is used in Doping-Control laboratories worldwide.

Figure: The example of an Epo image processed without (a, b) and with (c, d) the use of BSA. One can see the clear straightening effect of the source image using BSA (c vs. a) as well as the remarkable improvement of correct merging of related object fragments (d vs. b).

Publications

• ŠTOLC, S. - BAJLA, I.: Improvement of band segmentation in Epo images via column shift transformation with cost functions. Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing 44 (4), 2006, 257-274.
• ŠTOLC, S. - BAJLA, I.: Improvement of band classification in GASepo system used in Epo doping-control. In: J. Jan, J. Kozumplík, I. Provazník, editors, 18th Biennial International EURASIP Conference BIOSIGNAL 2006 - Analysis of biomedical signals and images. Brno, Czech Republic, June 28-30, 2006, 281-283. VUTIUM Press.

Result 2: Method for measurement of thin layers for nanoelectronics

Investigator: Miroslav Hain

In the frame of international cooperation with Nanoelectronics Research Institute, AIST, Japan a method for measurement of thin semitransparent layers was developed. The measurement method exploits Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and is based on the spectral modulation of an infrared light in the thin layer. Basic measurement range is 1 to 100 µm with resolution 1 nm. The method was successfully tested on a measurement of SiO₂ thin layers with nominal thickness 1, 3 and 30 µm.