Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Spatial Coherence Approach to Minimum Variance Beamforming for Plane-Wave Compounding

A new approach to implement minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) beamforming is introduced for coherent plane-wave compounding (CPWC). MVDR requires the covariance matrix of the incoming signal to be estimated and a spatial smoothing approximation is usually adopted to prevent this calculation from being underconstrained. In the new approach, we analyze MVDR as a spatial filter that decorrelates signals received at individual channels before summation. Based on the analysis, we develop two MVDR beamformers without using any spatial smoothing. First, MVDR weights are applied to the received signals after accumulating the data over transmits at different angles, while the second involves weighting the data collected in individual transmits and compounding over the transducer elements. In both cases, the covariance matrix is estimated using a set of slightly different combinations of the echo data. We show the sufficient statistic for this estimation that can be described by approximating the correlation among the backscattered ultrasound signals to their spatial coherence. Using the van Cittert–Zernike theorem, their statistical similarity is assessed by relating the spatial coherence to the profile of the source intensity. Both spatial-coherence-based MVDR beamformers are evaluated on data sets acquired from simulation, phantom, and in vivo studies. Imaging results show that they offer improvements over simple coherent compounding in terms of spatial and contrast resolutions. They also outperform other existing MVDR-based methods in the literature that are applied to CPWC.
Microencapsulation of Dragon Fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus) Peel Extract Using Maltodextrin

Dragon fruit peel can be utilized as a natural dye due to betacyanin content, red-violet pigment of betalain group. Betacyanin is unstable to temperature, oxygen, and light, consequently microencapsulation technology is required to maintain its stability. This study aims to determine microencapsulation efficiency of dragon fruit peel extract with variation of encapsulation ratio and to perceive morphological characteristics of dragon fruit peel extractt encapsulated. In this study, the dragon fruit peel was extracted using polar solvent pH 4 and pH 5 by maceration method. Maltodextrin is used as coating encapsulation and freeze drying is applied as microencapsulation method. The results showed that, encapsulation of dragon fruit peel extract using maltodextrin with extract ratio to suspension of 5:1, more efficient than ratio of 3:1. Morphological encapsulation of dragon fruit peel extracts resulted in matrix form with particle diameter of dragon fruit peel extract with pH 5 solvent between 0,460-0,770 μm, while particle diameter of dragon fruit peel extract with pH 4 solvent between 0,288-0,640 μm. This study has a great impact to development of microencapsulation technology on red dragon fruit peel as waste utilization which can further be utilized as a functional natural dye in food. This study would be a reference for further researchers or people who engaged in food industry.
Analysis of variation in calibration curves for Kodak XV radiographic film using model‐based parameters

Film calibration is time‐consuming work when dose accuracy is essential while working in a range of photon scatter environments. This study uses the single‐target single‐hit model of film response to fit the calibration curves as a function of calibration method, processor condition, field size and depth. Kodak XV film was irradiated perpendicular to the beam axis in a solid water phantom. Standard calibration films (one dose point per film) were irradiated at 90 cm source‐to‐surface distance (SSD) for various doses (16–128 cGy), depths (0.2, 0.5, 1.5, 5, 10 cm) and field sizes (5×5,10×10 and 20×20cm2). The 8‐field calibration method (eight dose points per film) was used as a reference for each experiment, taken at 95 cm SSD and 5 cm depth. The delivered doses were measured using an Attix parallel plate chamber for improved accuracy of dose estimation in the buildup region. Three fitting methods with one to three dose points per calibration curve were investigated for the field sizes of 5×5,10×10 and 20×20cm2. The inter‐day variation of model parameters (background, saturation and slope) were 1.8%, 5.7%, and 7.7% (1 σ) using the 8‐field method. The saturation parameter ratio of standard to 8‐field curves was 1.083±0.005. The slope parameter ratio of standard to 8‐field curves ranged from 0.99 to 1.05, depending on field size and depth. The slope parameter ratio decreases with increasing depth below 0.5 cm for the three field sizes. It increases with increasing depths above 0.5 cm. A calibration curve with one to three dose points fitted with the model is possible with 2% accuracy in film dosimetry for various irradiation conditions. The proposed fitting methods may reduce workload while providing energy dependence correction in radiographic film dosimetry. This study is limited to radiographic XV film with a Lumisys scanner. PACS number: 87.55. Qr
Negations With Respect to Admissible Orders in the Interval-Valued Fuzzy Set Theory

Admissible orders have brought the structure of chains in the framework of interval-valued fuzzy sets. However, a deeper study of functions monotone with respect to admissible orders is still missing in the literature. In this work, we consider the construction of negations and strong negations on intervals with respect to admissible orders, in particular, for the Xu and Yager and lexicographical orders, as well as for those based on <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K_\alpha$</tex-math></inline-formula> operators. We introduce and discuss an approach to the construction of strong negations on intervals with respect to <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K_{\alpha,\beta }$</tex-math></inline-formula> orders based on an arbitrary couple of strong negations defined over the standard real interval <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$[0,1]$</tex-math></inline-formula>. The introduced strong negations have a deep impact on all fields exploiting fuzzy methods dealing with intervals, allowing to introduce complements, dual aggregations, implications, entropies, etc.
Consistent Disaster Recovery for Microservices: the BAC Theorem

How do you back up a microservice? You dump its database. But how do you back up an entire application decomposed into microservices? In this article, we discuss the tradeoff between the availability and consistency of a microservice-based architecture when a backup of the entire application is being performed. We demonstrate that service designers have to select two out of three qualities: backup, availability, and/or consistency (BAC). Service designers must also consider how to deal with consequences such as broken links, orphan state, and missing state.
Regulation of muscle protein synthesis in an in vitro cell model using ex vivo human serum

What is the central question of this study? Can medium conditioned by ex vivo human serum regulate muscle protein synthesis in skeletal muscle cells in vitro? What is the main finding and its importance? This study demonstrates that medium conditioned by ex vivo human serum can regulate muscle protein synthesis in skeletal muscle cells in vitro via the mammalian Target of Rapomycin (mTOR) pathway, and this can be regulated differentially by fed and fasted ex vivo human serum.
Hierarchical Novelty Detection for Visual Object Recognition

Deep neural networks have achieved impressive success in large-scale visual object recognition tasks with a predefined set of classes. However, recognizing objects of novel classes unseen during training still remains challenging. The problem of detecting such novel classes has been addressed in the literature, but most prior works have focused on providing simple binary or regressive decisions, e.g., the output would be "known," "novel," or corresponding confidence intervals. In this paper, we study more informative novelty detection schemes based on a hierarchical classification framework. For an object of a novel class, we aim for finding its closest super class in the hierarchical taxonomy of known classes. To this end, we propose two different approaches termed top-down and flatten methods, and their combination as well. The essential ingredients of our methods are confidence-calibrated classifiers, data relabeling, and the leave-one-out strategy for modeling novel classes under the hierarchical taxonomy. Furthermore, our method can generate a hierarchical embedding that leads to improved generalized zero-shot learning performance in combination with other commonly-used semantic embeddings.
A novel fabrication process to realize a valveless micropump on a flexible substrate

This paper reports, for the first time, on the design, fabrication and testing of a planar valveless micropump, entirely screen printed onto a flexible polyimide (Kapton) substrate using sacrificial, structural, conductive and piezoelectric layers. The sacrificial layer, used to achieve a pump chamber and inlet/outlet channels, is removed using water followed by a 140 ° C heat treatment to evaporate the water from the structure. The fabrication process is analogous to a standard silicon based micro-electro-mechanical system sacrificial process. Applying a sinusoidal AC voltage to the piezoelectric layer drives a flexible membrane which pumps a liquid through the chamber. A maximum flow rate of 38 μl min−1 was achieved using a drive frequency of 3 kHz.
Telomeres as a molecular marker of male infertility

Abstract In recent years, male infertility has become a growing social problem. Standard diagnostic procedures, based on assessing seminological parameters, are often insufficient to explain the causes of male infertility. Because of this, new markers with better clinical application are being sought. One of the promising markers seems to be an assessment of telomere length of sperm. Sperm telomeres, in contrast to somatic cells, are elongated as men age. The results of some studies suggest that telomere length may be relevant in the case of fertilization and normal embryo development. Literature reports indicate that there is a correlation between telomere length of sperm and abnormal sperm parameters. The measurement of telomere length using the method of quantitative PCR could become a new marker of spermatogenesis, which can be useful for evaluating male reproductive age.
Aggregated Momentum: Stability Through Passive Damping

Momentum is a simple and widely used trick which allows gradient-based optimizers to pick up speed along low curvature directions. Its performance depends crucially on a damping coefficient $\beta$. Large $\beta$ values can potentially deliver much larger speedups, but are prone to oscillations and instability; hence one typically resorts to small values such as 0.5 or 0.9. We propose Aggregated Momentum (AggMo), a variant of momentum which combines multiple velocity vectors with different $\beta$ parameters. AggMo is trivial to implement, but significantly dampens oscillations, enabling it to remain stable even for aggressive $\beta$ values such as 0.999. We reinterpret Nesterov's accelerated gradient descent as a special case of AggMo and analyze rates of convergence for quadratic objectives. Empirically, we find that AggMo is a suitable drop-in replacement for other momentum methods, and frequently delivers faster convergence.
Renal transplantation outcome and social deprivation in the French healthcare system: a cohort study using the European Deprivation Index

The study objective was to estimate the effect of social deprivation estimated by the European Deprivation Index (EDI) on the risk of death and graft failure on renal transplantation in France. EDI was calculated for 8701 of 9205 patients receiving a first renal transplantation between 2010 and 2014. Patients were separated in EDI quintiles of the general population. A Cox model (cs‐HR: cause‐specific hazard ratio of death or graft failure) and a Fine and Gray model (sd‐HR: subdistribution hazard ratio of death and graft failure) were used for the analysis. The 5th quintile group (most deprived) accounted for 32% of patients [2818 of 8701]. In the multivariate analysis, compared with quintile 1, the risk of death was higher for the 5th quintile group in the complete cohort [cs‐HR: 1.31, 95% CI: (1.01–1.70), sd‐HR: 1.29, 95% CI: (1.00–1.68)], in the deceased donor group [cs‐HR: 1.31, 95% CI: (1.00–1.71), sd‐HR: 1.30, 95% CI: (1.00–1.70)] but not in living donor transplant patients. There was no association between the EDI groups and the risk of transplant failure. Social deprivation estimated by the EDI is associated with an increased risk of death in transplantation in France but not with the chance of allograft loss.
Design and implementation of solar pumping system with induction motor and submersible pump

Solar Water Pumping System (SWPS) is becoming increasingly popular in remote areas where grid is not available or unreliable. This system is mainly used for irrigation purpose in farming and household purposes. In the proposed system, induction motor along with submersible pump of 1.5 kW is used. On the basis of motor rating, solar panel rating is decided to be 1.8 kW considering losses in the system. In this paper the main focus is to design boost-converter which boosts the voltage obtained from solar panel. This boost voltage acts as a dc-link voltage for three-phase inverter. Three-phase inverter is developed to convert dc voltage into ac voltage. This ac voltage generated is given to induction motor which runs the submersible pump. Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithm is implemented to obtain maximum power from the solar panel under different solar irradiation and temperature. In this topology, incremental conductance method is used to obtain maximum power from solar panel. Modulation index of inverter is controlled by Sine-Triangle Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM) technique. SPWM along with V/F scheme is implemented for the control of inverter which results in the control of speed of induction motor when the output from solar panel changes. Design and simulation verification of the system is performed in PSIM software. After satisfactory results obtained through simulation studies, hardware setup is also tested on resistive load.
Granular Fuzzy Regression Domain Adaptation in Takagi–Sugeno Fuzzy Models

In classical data-driven machine learning methods, massive amounts of labeled data are required to build a high-performance prediction model. However, the amount of labeled data in many real-world applications is insufficient, so establishing a prediction model is impossible. Transfer learning has recently emerged as a solution to this problem. It exploits the knowledge accumulated in auxiliary domains to help construct prediction models in a target domain with inadequate training data. Most existing transfer learning methods solve classification tasks; only a few are devoted to regression problems. In addition, the current methods ignore the inherent phenomenon of information granularity in transfer learning. In this study, granular computing techniques are applied to transfer learning. Three granular fuzzy regression domain adaptation methods to determine the estimated values for a regression target are proposed to address three challenging cases in domain adaptation. The proposed granular fuzzy regression domain adaptation methods change the input and/or output space of the source domain's model using space transformation, so that the fuzzy rules are more compatible with the target data. Experiments on synthetic and real-world datasets validate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.
Radiation skyshine from a 6 MeV medical accelerator

This study assesses the dose level from skyshine produced by a 6 MeV medical accelerator. The analysis of data collected on skyshine yields professional guidance for future investigators as they attempt to quantify and qualify radiation protection concerns in shielding therapy vaults. Survey measurements using various field sizes and at varying distances from a primary barrier have enabled us to identify unique skyshine behavior in comparison to other energies already seen in literature. In order to correctly quantify such measurements outside a shielded barrier, one must take into consideration the fact that a skyshine maximum may not be observed at the same distance for all field sizes. A physical attribute of the skyshine scatter component was shown to increase to a maximum value at 4.6 m from the barrier for the largest field size used. We recommend that the largest field sizes be used in the field for the determination of skyshine effect and that the peak value be further analyzed specifically when considering shielding designs. PACS numbers: 87.52. ‐g, 87.52. Df, 87.52. Tr, 87.53. ‐j, 87.53. Bn, 87.53. Dq, 87.66. ‐a, 89. , 89.60. +x
3H-Imipramine Binding to Previously Frozen Platelet Membranes from Depressed Patients, Before and After Treatment

3H-imipramine binding in 39 drug-free patients with major depression and 44 healthy controls did not differ significantly between the two groups, in male or female subjects or in subgroups of depressed patients divided by endogenicity or dexamethasone suppression test result. 3H-imipramine binding in depressed patients drug-free for less than three weeks did not differ from those drug-free for longer intervals or from controls. A significant seasonal variation of 3H-imipramine Bmax was found, with lower values in summer and autumn. Treatment of depressed patients with imipramine or lofepramine for six weeks increased K D and Bmax. Methodological modification (in preparation and storage of platelets) does not explain the major differences in results between this study (using frozen platelets), a previous one (using freshly prepared platelets) and others in general, although it might contribute to the range of values reported.
Detecting Multivariate Gene Interactions in RNA-Seq Data Using Optimal Bayesian Classification

Differential gene expression testing is an analysis commonly applied to RNA-Seq data. These statistical tests identify genes that are significantly different across phenotypes. We extend this testing paradigm to multivariate gene interactions from a classification perspective with the goal to detect novel gene interactions for the phenotypes of interest. This is achieved through our novel computational framework comprised of a hierarchical statistical model of the RNA-Seq processing pipeline and the corresponding optimal Bayesian classifier. Through Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling and Monte Carlo integration, we compute quantities where no analytical formulation exists. The performance is then illustrated on an expression dataset from a dietary intervention study where we identify gene pairs that have low classification error yet were not identified as differentially expressed. Additionally, we have released the software package to perform OBC classification on RNA-Seq data under an open source license and is available at http://bit.ly/obc_package.
Investigation of performance in integrated access and backhaul networks

Wireless backhaul allows densification of mobile networks without incurring additional fiber deployment cost. This, in turn, leads to high spatial reuse, which is a significant tool to meet increasing wireless demand in 5G networks. Integrated access and backhaul (IAB), where access and backhaul network share the same standard wireless technology (e.g. 5G new radio (NR) standard), allows interoperability among different IAB manufacturers and flexible operation between access and back-haul. This paper investigates joint resource allocation and relay selection in a multi-hop IAB network to maximize geometric mean of UE rates. Our study illustrates several advantages and features of IAB. First, IAB significantly improves UE rates compared to access only networks and can provide an important intermediate solution during incremental fiber deployment. Second, IAB networks with optimal mesh outperforms IAB networks with RSRP based spanning tree both in terms of rate and latency.
Scanner and kVp dependence of measured CT numbers in the ACR CT phantom

Quality control testing of CT scanners in our region includes a measurement of CT numbers in the American College of Radiology (ACR) CT phantom using a standardized protocol. CT number values are clinically relevant in determining the composition of various tissues in the body. Accuracy is important in the characterization of tumors, assessment of coronary calcium, and identification of urinary stone composition. Effective quality control requires that tolerance ranges of CT number values be defined: a measured value outside the range indicates the need for further investigation and possible recalibration of the scanner. This paper presents the results of CT number measurements on 36 scanners (25 GE, 10 Siemens and 1 Toshiba) at each available kVp. Among the five materials (solid water, air, polyethylene, acrylic, bone‐equivalent) the measured CT numbers exhibit manufacturer and kVp dependence, which should be taken into account when defining tolerances. With this scan protocol, air and solid water values are significantly higher on GE scanners than on Siemens scanners (p‐value<0.01 at each kVp). The CT numbers of polyethylene and acrylic increase with kVp, while the bone‐equivalent CT number decreases. These results are used to define manufacturer‐ and kVp‐specific tolerance ranges for the CT numbers of each material in this phantom, which will be used in our quality control program. PACS numbers: 87.57. qp, 87.57. C‐
Using a 2D detector array for meaningful and efficient linear accelerator beam property validations

Following linear accelerator commissioning, the qualified medical physicist is responsible for monitoring the machine's ongoing performance, detecting and investigating any changes in beam properties, and assessing the impact of unscheduled repairs. In support of these responsibilities, the authors developed a method of using a 2D ionization chamber array to efficiently test and validate important linear accelerator photon beam properties. A team of three physicists identified critical properties of the accelerator and developed constancy tests that were sensitive to each of the properties. The result was a 14‐field test plan. The test plan includes large and small fields at varying depths, a reduced SSD field at shallow depth for sensitivity to extra focal photon and electron components, and analysis of flatness, symmetry, dose, dose profiles, and dose ratios. Constancy tests were repeated five times over a period of six weeks and used to set upper and lower investigation levels at ±3 SDs. Deliberate variations in output, penumbra, and energy were tested to determine the suitability of the proposed method. Measurements were also performed on a similar, but distinct, machine to assess test sensitivity. The results demonstrated upper and lower investigation levels significantly smaller than the comparable TG‐142 annual recommendations, with the exception of the surrogate used for output calibration, which still fell within the TG‐142 monthly recommendation. Subtle changes in output, beam energy, and penumbra were swiftly identified for further investigation. The test set identified the distinct nature of the second accelerator. The beam properties of two photon energies can be validated in approximately 1.5 hrs using this method. The test suite can be used to evaluate the impact of minor repairs, detect changes in machine performance over time, and supplement other machine quality assurance testing. PACS numbers: 87.56bd, 87.56Fc