The cost of marine litter damage to the global marine economy: Insights from the Asia-Pacific into prevention and the cost of inaction.

Marine litter is recognised as imposing a range of costs on marine economies and environments as we target UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to 2030. Prevention of these avoidable damage costs can restore economic benefits and ocean health. In the Asia-Pacific we estimate the annual damage cost from marine litter to the marine economy has risen eightfold since 2008 and in 2015 was US$10.

Viewing your digital radiographs: which monitor is best?

Many dental practitioners use flat panel monitors in their practices on a daily basis, and for those practitioners who have made the move to digital imaging, the use of this device often extends to viewing digital radiographs. Monitors that present good quality images should be used and the image quality should be checked. This article provides practitioners with some of the key areas they should consider when selecting or buying a flat panel monitor for dental radiology purposes.

DICOM part 14: GSDF-calibrated medical grade monitor vs a DICOM part 14: GSDF-calibrated "commercial off-the-shelf" (COTS) monitor for viewing 8-bit dental images.

Objectives: To investigate whether there is any difference in the presented image quality between a medical grade monitor and a "commercial off-the- shelf" (COTS) monitor when displaying an 8-bit dental image.

Methods: The digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) part 14: greyscale standard display function (GSDF) was verified for both monitors. A visual grading characteristics (VGC) curve was constructed to measure the difference in image quality between the two monitors by comparing radiological structures displayed on each monitor with a DICOM part 14: GSDF-calibrated laptop monitor as reference.

Quality of 'commercial-off-the-shelf' (COTS) monitors displaying dental radiographs.

Background: A computer display monitor used for interpreting dental images should have a maximum luminance of 171 cd/m(2). A monitor used for clinical review should have a maximum luminance of 100 cd/m(2).

Objective: To compare luminance and ambient lighting measurements for a selection of computer display monitors in different locations of a dental teaching hospital to available guidelines.

Could standardizing "commercial off-the-shelf" (COTS) monitors to the DICOM part 14: GSDF improve the presentation of dental images? A visual grading characteristics analysis.

Objectives: To investigate whether standardizing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) display devices to the digital imaging and communications in medicine part 14: greyscale standard display function (DICOM part 14: GSDF) would affect the presentation of dental images.

Methods: Two COTS display devices from the radiology department of a dental teaching hospital and a laptop computer monitor for reference were calibrated to conform to DICOM part 14: GSDF. Four dental surgeons and two final-year students undertook a relative visual grading analysis of the two devices before and after calibration, under control of the viewing environment.