Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Kidney deformation and intraprocedural registration: a study of elements of image-guided kidney surgery.

INTRODUCTION Central to any image-guided surgical procedure is the alignment of image and physical coordinate spaces, or registration. We explored the task of registration in the kidney through in vivo and ex vivo porcine animal models and a human study of minimally invasive kidney surgery. METHODS A set of (n = 6) ex vivo porcine kidney models was utilized to study the effect of perfusion and loss of turgor caused by incision. Computed tomography (CT) and laser range scanner localizations of the porcine kidneys were performed before and after renal vessel clamping and after capsular incision. The da Vinci robotic surgery system was used for kidney surface acquisition and registration during robot-assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy. The surgeon acquired the physical surface data points with a tracked robotic instrument. These data points were aligned to preoperative CT for surface-based registrations. In addition, two biomechanical elastic computer models (isotropic and anisotropic) were constructed to simulate deformations in one of the kidneys to assess predictive capabilities. RESULTS The mean displacement at the surface fiducials (glass beads) in six porcine kidneys was 4.4 ± 2.1 mm (range 3.4-6.7 mm), with a maximum displacement range of 6.1 to 11.2 mm. Surface-based registrations using the da Vinci robotic instrument in robot-assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy yielded mean and standard deviation closest point distances of 1.4 and 1.1 mm. With respect to computer model predictive capability, the target registration error was on average 6.7 mm without using the model and 3.2 mm with using the model. The maximum target error reduced from 11.4 to 6.2 mm. The anisotropic biomechanical model yielded better performance but was not statistically better. CONCLUSIONS An initial point-based alignment followed by an iterative closest point registration is a feasible method of registering preoperative image (CT) space to intraoperative physical (robot) space. Although rigid registration provides utility for image-guidance, local deformations in regions of resection may be more significant. Computer models may be useful for prediction of such deformations, but more investigation is needed to establish the necessity of such compensation.
What Influence User Generated Content Adoption Behavior in a Weak-tie dominant Social Media Context: a Theoretical Model

The emergence of User Generated Content (UGC) and social media, enables common users to have great influence on other users adoption and decision making behavior. In current research, perceived information usefulness is always taken as the only antecedent of UGC adoption, which is not enough to explain the underlying mechanism, especially in new social media context. This study proposes a new theoretical model with new social factors. Different dimensions of tie strength are innovatively applied in the model to analyse the new context characterized by weak ties.
Stock Return Predictability: Is it There?

We ask whether stock returns in France, Germany, the UK and the US are predictable by three instruments: the dividend yield, the earnings yield and the short rate. The predictability regression is suggested by a present value model with earnings growth, payout ratios and the short rate as state variables. We use this model imposing a constant risk premium to examine the finite sample evidence on predictability. Not only do we find the short rate to be a relevant state variable theoretically, it is also the only robust short-run predictor of equity returns. The evidence in Lamont (1998) on earnings and dividend yield predictability is not robust to our increased sample period, does not survive finite sample corrections and does not extend to other countries. We find no evidence of long-horizon predictability once we account for finite sample influence. Finally, cross-country predictability appears stronger than predictability using local instruments.
Genetic Association between Xeroderma Pigmentosum Polymorphism Rs2228000 with Staging and Development of Bladder Cancer

Background: Bladder Cancer is the sixth most common malignancy in males worldwide, and the second in Iraq. XPC Repair Gene polymorphism may cause a reduction in DNA repair capacity and inﬂuence an individual’s susceptibility to bladder cancer and the prognosis of the disease. Objective: To investigate the influence of active tobacco smoking on human DNA repair gene XPC rs2228000 polymorphism in patients with bladder cancer and the impact of XPC polymorphism C>T to the staging and development of the disease. Methods: A total of 62 of histo-pathologically confirmed diagnosed bladder cancer patients, and 38 age-matched healthy controls were involved in the study. All were recruited from February to September 2017 in a case-control study conducted in the Department of Biochemistry at the College of Medicine University of Baghdad. Genotyping of the XPC rs2228000 (C>T) was evaluated using a polymerase chain reaction and by Sanger sequencing method. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated as a measure of the combined effect of cigarette smoking, and DNA Double-Strand breaks Repair Gene XPC Polymorphism on bladder cancer risk, staging, and development. Result: Heterozygous genotype of the XPC rs2228000 (C>T) showed a significant increase in bladder cancer risk OR (95% CI) = 2.75 (1.0-7.2), p value<0.05. Also, the study found that patients with the polymorphic allele (T genotype) have significantly increased the risk of bladder cancer (OR, 2.7; * p = 0.02). A statistically highly significant increased bladder cancer risk in the smoker with T Allele (OR, 4.3; ** p = 0.004). Moreover, T Allele genotypes were also observed to be associated with a significantly increased risk of T1 (OR, 3.9; ** p = 0.005). Conclusion: The study suggests that having polymorphic gene genotype of DNA Repair Gene XPC rs2228000 could increase the risk of bladder cancer and also affect the development and staging of the disease while having the genotype could decrease the risk of bladder cancer and increase the survival rate of bladder cancer patients. Keywords : Bladder Cancer, XPC, Rs2228000, Polymorphism.
Shake'n'sense: reducing interference for overlapping structured light depth cameras

We present a novel yet simple technique that mitigates the interference caused when multiple structured light depth cameras point at the same part of a scene. The technique is particularly useful for Kinect, where the structured light source is not modulated. Our technique requires only mechanical augmentation of the Kinect, without any need to modify the internal electronics, firmware or associated host software. It is therefore simple to replicate. We show qualitative and quantitative results highlighting the improvements made to interfering Kinect depth signals. The camera frame rate is not compromised, which is a problem in approaches that modulate the structured light source. Our technique is non-destructive and does not impact depth values or geometry. We discuss uses for our technique, in particular within instrumented rooms that require simultaneous use of multiple overlapping fixed Kinect cameras to support whole room interactions.
Fisher’s exact approach for post hoc analysis of a chi-squared test

This research is motivated by one of our survey studies to assess the potential influence of introducing zebra mussels to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada. One research question in this study is to investigate the association between the boating activity type and the awareness of zebra mussels. A chi-squared test is often used for testing independence between two factors with nominal levels. When the null hypothesis of independence between two factors is rejected, we are often left wondering where does the significance come from. Cell residuals, including standardized residuals and adjusted residuals, are traditionally used in testing for cell significance, which is often known as a post hoc test after a statistically significant chi-squared test. In practice, the limiting distributions of these residuals are utilized for statistical inference. However, they may lead to different conclusions based on the calculated p-values, and their p-values could be over- o6r under-estimated due to the unsatisfactory performance of asymptotic approaches with regards to type I error control. In this article, we propose new exact p-values by using Fisher’s approach based on three commonly used test statistics to order the sample space. We theoretically prove that the proposed new exact p-values based on these test statistics are the same. Based on our extensive simulation studies, we show that the existing asymptotic approach based on adjusted residual is often more likely to reject the null hypothesis as compared to the exact approach due to the inflated family-wise error rates as observed. We would recommend the proposed exact p-value for use in practice as a valuable post hoc analysis technique for chi-squared analysis.
IMMUNOTHERAPY OF CANCER WITH CELL WALL SKELETON OF MYCOBACTERIUM BOVIS‐BACILLUS CALMETTE‐GUÉRIN: EXPERIMENTAL AND CLINICAL RESULTS

Adjuvant and antitumor activities of CWS prepared from cells of mycobacteria, nocardia, and corynebacteria were examined. Oil-attached CWS of M. bovis BCG (BCG-CWS) stimulated the generation of cell-mediated cytotoxic effector cells in mice. Tumor growth was suppressed in mice inoculated intradermally with a mixture of oil-attached CWS and living tumor cells. Systemic and specific tumor immunity was demonstrated in mice in which tumor growth was suppressed. Tumor growth was also suppressed by oil-attached CWS of BCG or N. rubra in autochthonous autografts of spontaneous mammary adenocarcinoma and methylcholanthrene-induced fibrosarcoma in mice. The intravenous injection of oil-attached BCG-CWS prevents the appearance of lung cancer in rabbits by the instillation of chemical carcinogens. It was also shown that treatment with oil-attached BCG-CWS was able to elevate the immunologically depressed state of tumor-bearing mice to a normal level, as determined by a cell-mediated cytotoxicity assay that empolyed chromium release as the standard. Preliminary results suggest that oil-attached BCG-CWS is useful as an immunotherapeutic agent for both lung cancer and for malignant melanoma, leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, and other neoplastic diseases and that this agent operates without any significant complications.
A Novel Purse-String Suture and Dehydrated Human Amnion/Chorion Membrane Allograft Closure Technique for the Repair of Defects Following Mohs Micrographic and Excisional Surgery

Four elderly patients with multiple comorbidities, polypharmacy, and social issues requested surgical management of sizeable, symptomatic skin cancers: basal cell carcinomas (BCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and melanoma. All patients desired closure methods that would avoid extensive reconstruction and minimize wound care responsibilities. In this retrospective case series, we investigated outcomes, cosmesis, and ease of wound care following reconstruction with combination of purse-string suture and single application dehydrated human amnion/chorion membrane allograft (dHACM) closure technique for the repair of MMS and excisional surgery defects in a medically fragile patient population.
Quantifying the cosmic web – I. The large-scale halo ellipticity–ellipticity and ellipticity–direction correlations

The formation of dark matter haloes tends to occur anisotropically along the filaments of the cosmic web, which induces ellipticity-ellipticity (EE) correlations between the shapes of haloes, as well as ellipticity-direction (ED) cross-correlations between halo shapes and the directions to neighbouring haloes. We analyse the halo catalogue and the semi-analytic galaxy catalogue of the recent Millennium Run Simulation to measure the EE and ED correlations numerically at four different redshifts (z = 0,0.5, 1 and 2). For the EE correlations, we find that (i) the major-axis correlation is strongest while the intermediate-axis correlation is weakest; (ii) the signal is significant at distances out to 10 h -1 Mpc; (iii) the signal decreases as z decreases and (iv) its behaviour depends strongly on the halo mass scale, with larger masses showing stronger correlations at large distances. For the ED correlations, we find that (i) the correlations are much stronger than the EE correlations, and are significant even out to distances of 50 h-' Mpc; (ii) the signal also decreases as z decreases and (iii) it increases with halo mass at all distances. We also provide empirical fitting functions for the EE and ED correlations. The EE correlations are found to scale linearly with the linear density correlation function, ζ(r), while the ED cross-correlation is found to scale as ζ 1/2 (r) at large distances beyond 10 h -1 Mpc. The best-fitting values of the fitting parameters for the EE and the ED correlations are all determined through x 2 -statistics. Our results may be useful for quantifying the filamentary distribution of dark matter haloes over a wide range of scales.
An Intertemporal International Asset Pricing Model: Theory and Empirical Evidence

We extend Campbell's (1993) model to develop an intertemporal international asset pricing model (IAPM). We show that the expected international asset return is determined by a weighted average of market risk, market hedging risk, exchange rate risk and exchange rate hedging risk. These weights sum up to one. Our model explicitly separates hedging against changes in the investment opportunity set from hedging against exchange rate changes as well as exchange rate risk from intertemporal hedging risk. A test of the conditional version of our intertemporal IAPM using a multivariate GARCH process supports the asset pricing model. We find that the exchange rate risk is important for pricing international equity returns and it is much more important than intertemporal hedging risk.
The Ivanov regularized Gauss-Newton method in Banach space with an a posteriori choice of the regularization radius

In this paper, we consider the iteratively regularized Gauss–Newton method, where regularization is achieved by Ivanov regularization, i.e., by imposing a priori constraints on the solution. We propose an a posteriori choice of the regularization radius, based on an inexact Newton/discrepancy principle approach, prove convergence and convergence rates under a variational source condition as the noise level tends to zero and provide an analysis of the discretization error. Our results are valid in general, possibly nonreflexive Banach spaces, including, e.g., {L^{\infty}} as a preimage space. The theoretical findings are illustrated by numerical experiments.
Demonstrating Hybrid Learning in a Flexible Neuromorphic Hardware System

We present results from a new approach to learning and plasticity in neuromorphic hardware systems: to enable flexibility in implementable learning mechanisms while keeping high efficiency associated with neuromorphic implementations, we combine a general-purpose processor with full-custom analog elements. This processor is operating in parallel with a fully parallel neuromorphic system consisting of an array of synapses connected to analog, continuous time neuron circuits. Novel analog correlation sensor circuits process spike events for each synapse in parallel and in real-time. The processor uses this pre-processing to compute new weights possibly using additional information following its program. Therefore, to a certain extent, learning rules can be defined in software giving a large degree of flexibility. Synapses realize correlation detection geared towards Spike-Timing Dependent Plasticity (STDP) as central computational primitive in the analog domain. Operating at a speed-up factor of 1000 compared to biological time-scale, we measure time-constants from tens to hundreds of micro-seconds. We analyze variability across multiple chips and demonstrate learning using a multiplicative STDP rule. We conclude that the presented approach will enable flexible and efficient learning as a platform for neuroscientific research and technological applications.
Réponse immunitaire innée et adaptative du porc face au virus du syndrome dysgénésique et respiratoire porcin

Le virus du syndrome dysgenesique et respiratoire porcin (SDRPv) est un pathogene a l’origine de problemes respiratoires et de reproduction. La reponse immunitaire face au SDRPv est caracterisee par une viremie persistante et un retard dans la mise en place des anticorps neutralisants. Les macrophages alveolaires (AM) sont la cible principale du virus mais plusieurs etudes in vitro suggerent une infection des cellules dendritiques (DC). Dans ce manuscrit, de nouvelles cibles cellulaires du virus ont ete decouvertes dans le poumon et dans les ganglions tracheo-bronchiques. Les cellules du parenchyme pulmonaire AM-like sont infectes in vivo par le SDRPv de Type 1 alors que les cDC1, cDC2 et moDC du poumon ne sont pas infectees. La souche Lena Type 1.3 se distingue des autres souches par sa capacite a induire une polarisation vers une reponse Th1 in vitro. Une experience de transfert de lymphocytes T memoires in vivo suggerent une reponse cellulaire accrue et deletere lors de l’infection par la souche Lena. Trois populations de macrophages ont ete identifiees dans les ganglions et nommees : macrophages perifolliculaires (PFMacro), macrophages des cordons lymphatiques (cordMacro) et macrophages efferents (effMacro). Les effMacro et les PFMacro sont infectes par les souches europeennes. Quant a la reponse humorale, 5 stades de differenciation des LB dans les ganglions ont ete identifies et une etude de l’impact de l’infection sur la differenciation des lymphocytes B est en cours.
The effects of different spices on chemical, biochemical, textural and sensory properties of White cheeses during ripening

The aim of this study was to test the effects of various spices on the physicochemical and sensory properties of white cheese. Six different white cheeses were produced by incorporating the spices of black cumin, mint, thyme, red pepper and isot pepper at a ratio of 3 % (w/v) of the cheese milk. All cheeses were vacuum-packed and ripened at 4±1°C. On the 2nd, 15th, 30th, 60th and 90th days of ripening, dry matter, fat, pH, titratable acidity, salt, total proteins, ripening index, non-protein nitrogen rate, amino nitrogen rate, electrophoretic casein fractions, textural and sensory properties were determined. Isot pepper and black cumin increased the proteolysis rates of white cheeses with higher degradation rates on β-casein fraction, indicating that these cheese samples had more pronounced ripening. On the other hand, thyme and isot pepper were more effective on αs1-casein fraction. All tested spices, except isot pepper, contributed to the sensory properties of white cheeses, by increasing the consumer acceptance. This study reveals spice addition had positive effects on chemical, biochemical and sensory characteristics of white cheese, and thus, white cheese with spice addition is an alternative novel product with a good potential.
Flexible integer DCT architectures for HEVC

In this paper, we present high throughput and power-efficient architectures for the implementation of integer DCT of different lengths to be used in upcoming High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC). We have shown that efficient matrix-multiplication schemes could be used to derive parallel architectures for 1-D integer DCT of different lengths. Apart from that we have proposed three different flexible architectures which could be used for implementing the DCT of any of the prescribed lengths such as 4, 8, 16 and 32, each having particular advantage in terms of area, delay, or power. The proposed architectures can provide higher throughput at a lower operating frequency than the existing architectures for HEVC. Furthermore, it can support Ultra-High-Definition (UHD) 7680×4320 @30fps video which is one of the applications of HEVC.
Title-can be set in "File -> Properties"

1 CEA Saclay, DSM/IRFU/service d’Astrophysique, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France 2 National Astronomical Observatories/CAS, 20A Datun Road, Beijing, 100012, China 3 Institute of High Energy Physics/CAS, 19B YuquanLu, Beijing, 100049 ,China 4 Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), UPS-OMP, Toulouse, France 5 Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, 38 rue Juliot-Curie, 13388 Marseille, France 6 Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, 98 bis boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France 7 Astroparticule et Cosmologie (APC), 75013 Paris, France 8 Department of Physics, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA 9 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
Two modes of weight training programs and patellar stabilization.

CONTEXT Underconditioned patellar stabilizing muscles could be a predisposing factor for patellar instability. OBJECTIVE To examine the effect of 2 modes of weight training on the size of the vastus medialis obliquus (VMO), the resting position and passive mobility of the patella, and the strength of the knee extensor muscles. DESIGN Prospective intervention, repeated measures in 3 groups. SETTING Orthopaedic and sports sciences research laboratory. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS 48 healthy adults free from back and lower extremity injuries. INTERVENTION(S) Participants were randomly assigned to muscle hypertrophy training, muscle strength training, or the control group. Those in the training groups pursued training 3 times per week for 8 weeks. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) Magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound cross-sectional area of the VMO, patellar tilt angle on magnetic resonance imaging, instrumented passive patellar mobility, and isometric knee extension torque of the dominant leg. RESULTS Participants in both training groups had comparable gains in VMO size, passive patellar stability, and knee extension force, all of which were greater than for the control group (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS Both short-term muscle hypertrophy and strength training programs can reinforce the patellar stabilizers in previously untrained volunteers.