Samulski.nl - Maurice Samulski

My first journal article

Maurice Samulski — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:19:56 +0000

Yes!! After almost three years of hard work, I have my first journal article accepted for publication by European Radiology. It is published as open-access, so the article is free for everyone to download as a PDF. The article is entitled: “Using computer-aided detection in mammography as a decision support”. I’m very thrilled with my first publication, and I hope that I am on the right track getting my PhD. My second article about a multi-view CAD system is almost ready to be sent to an other journal for consideration. Read further for the abstract.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate an interactive computer-aided detection (CAD) system for reading mammograms to improve decision making.

METHODS: A dedicated mammographic workstation has been developed in which readers can probe image locations for the presence of CAD information. If present, CAD findings are displayed with the computed malignancy rating. A reader study was conducted in which four screening radiologists and five non-radiologists participated to study the effect of this system on detection performance. The participants read 120 cases of which 40 cases had a malignant mass that was missed at the original screening. The readers read each mammogram both with and without CAD in separate sessions. Each reader reported localized findings and assigned a malignancy score per finding. Mean sensitivity was computed in an interval of false-positive fractions less than 10

RESULTS: Mean sensitivity was 25.1% in the sessions without CAD and 34.8% in the CAD-assisted sessions. The increase in detection performance was significant (p = 0.012). Average reading time was 84.7 +/- 61.5 s/case in the unaided sessions and was not significantly higher when interactive CAD was used (85.9 +/- 57.8 s/case).

CONCLUSION: Interactive use of CAD in mammography may be more effective than traditional CAD for improving mass detection without affecting reading time.

Barcelona in one day

Maurice Samulski — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:32:17 +0000

Being in Spain for the first time, attending the EIBIR winter school, I decided to explore Barcelona a little before flying back to The Netherlands. One day is way too short, but I had to be back in Holland to welcome my girlfriend coming from Norway. One day is short, but still I have been able to see some of the typical touristic attractions Barcelona has to offer. Click on the read more link to see some photo’s, and hopefully I’m going back to Spain with my girlfriend in the summer.

EIBIR Winter School 2010 – Viladrau

Maurice Samulski — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:05:47 +0000

I’ve been to the EIBIR Winter School that took place from January 17 – 22, 2010 in Viladrau, Spain to learn a lot about biomedical imaging research focused on the two leading causes of death worldwide: cardiovascular and oncologic diseases. During the five days, there were a lot of intense lectures hosted in the Hostal de la Gloria, Viladrau. To break the week, we also had a very nice excursion: a walk through the forest with a guide that took us to the house of one of the most famous bandits: Serrallonga. After the heavy week of studying, we finished our stay in Viladrau and went up into the Turo de l’Home ( ‘mountain man’ in Castilian), which is the highest mountain in the Montseny massif with a height of 1712 meters.

Christmas in Norway

Maurice Samulski — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:01:41 +0000

I went to Norway to experience my first Norwegian Christmas with my girlfriend. The hectic Christmas shopping spree is about the same as here. Also decorating a Christmas tree is common here. But on the country side there are some other special tradions, like drinking special Christmas beer “Juleøl”; traditional pork dishes as “ribbe” are made; an enormous amount of small cakes (rosettes, christmas cookies, etc), and “julekake”, a Christmas bread filled with raisins. Keeping the fireplace burning. On Christmas Eve we have put a bowl of porridge in the barn for the “nisse”, a mythical creature that protects the farm. Also mounting the “julenek” on poles for the birds (a stalk of oats, corn) is a tradition that takes place on Christmas Eve. And on the first Christmas day it’s quite common to not sit at home, but go outside skiing which I did too with my new skies I got from my parents in law.

Engagement & Røros

Maurice Samulski — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:38:01 +0000

On the 19th August 2009, me and my girlfriend got engaged in Norway! To celebrate it we had a nice dinner with my girlfriend’s parents at Tautra Island at Frosta. The next day we had a beautiful trip to Røros, an old mining town in the east of Norway not far from the Swedish border. It has lots of beautiful wooden houses, cozy shops, a nice atmosphere, and a museum about Røros coppermine. The place we stayed at was called Erzscheidergården where every room is uniquely decorated. I can recommend it to everyone.

Sheep Gathering 2009

Maurice Samulski — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:28:05 +0000

Visiting Norway again, to have my first real sheep gathering experience. With a large flock of sheep spread out over the mountains, we went out and search for them. Armed with border collies, we gather the sheep and push them to the large flock and move them back to the cottage. First day was a very rainy day, difficult to see anything moving, but we were able to gather more sheep than expected. The second day was much better weather – and was a lot more nice to walk. We captured a lot of sheep. The next day it would rain again, and all the gathered sheep so far (around 200) were moved down to the parking lot and sorted out to their respective owners. All in all it was a great experience.

Lofoten and Mountains

Maurice Samulski — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:09:56 +0000

Back again from an exciting 3 weeks vacation to Norway, with my first real mountain trip experience. And if that wasn’t enough, me and my girlfriend made a nice road trip from Verdal to Lofoten, one of Norway’s most beautiful areas. And aside I’ve been to the Vømmølfestival, a festivity that has some similarities with Limburg’s carnaval.

See here for the photo’s

See here for the travel report from day to day.

Girlfriend March 2009

Maurice Samulski — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 17:56:32 +0000

After my exciting visit to beautiful Norway, my girlfriend came to visit me in Germany and meet my parents, my sister, relatives and friends for the first time and got to experience my home country, The Netherlands. It was wonderful and we spent a lot of time alone and with my family, the two weeks were over before we knew it. Thankfully, in 3 weeks I will be in Norway again to visit my girlfriend and her family again!

See here for the photo’s (updated again)

SPIE 2009

Maurice Samulski — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 12:33:57 +0000

For the third time I went to the SPIE Medical Imaging conference, being held this year in Orlando, Florida. The meeting was from 6-12 February 2009 at the Disney Coronado Springs Resort in Lake Buena Vista. It is one of my favourite conferences, as it has an overall informal character, which enables one to network and share ideas among colleagues in the field. This year I’ve presented my work at a different session than usually, in the Image Perception, Observer Performance and Technology Assessment session. It was a very sunny week, and we had also opportunities to relax and enjoy the nice weather and food.

Norway January 2009

Maurice Samulski — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:02:24 +0000

I recently returned from a fabulous, but much too short vacation in snowy Norway. I flew to Oslo from Dusseldorf and made a long train trip from Oslo to Trondheim to finally meet my girlfriend face to face, who I have met six months ago by pure coincidence. Six days were far too short, to explore one of the most beautiful countries on Earth, with beautiful mountains, fjords, waterfalls and other great nature. I’ll certainly will return to see the beautiful scenes of Bergen, Lofoten, Stavanger, and many more places. Nevertheless, even in that short time I got a fairly good taste of the best things Norway has to offer, and my first real uphill skiing experience in the mountains was one of the best experiences I had in my life. Combined with meeting the girl of my dreams, it was certainly an unforgettable vacation.

See here some of the photo’s