Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A front-end ASIC with high-voltage transmit switching and receive digitization for forward-looking intravascular ultrasound

This paper presents a front-end ASIC for forward-looking intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging. The ASIC is intended to be mounted at the tip of a catheter and can interface a total of 80 piezo-electric transducer elements with an imaging systems using only 4 cables, thus significantly reducing the system complexity compared to the prior art. It is capable of switching high-voltage transmit pulses to 16 transmit elements, and capturing the resulting echo signals using 64 multiplexed receive elements. The ASIC digitizes the received signals locally, providing more robust communication than prior analog approaches. Measurements show that the ASIC effectively switches transmit pulses up to 30 V, and digitizes echo signals with a bandwidth of 16 MHz, while consuming only 10 mW. Acoustic measurements in combination with a prototype transducer array demonstrate pulse transmission and reception. Finally, a B-mode image of a needle phantom demonstrates the imaging capability.
Examination of Digestive Enzyme Distribution in Gut Tract and Functions of Intestinal Caecum, in Megascolecid Earthworms (Oligochaeta: Megascolecidae) in Japan

Earthworms ingest various materials in addition to food items, such as soil particles. Most earthworms of the family Megascolecidae, a dominant family in Japan, have intestinal caeca connected directly to the intestinal tract. The function of the caeca has not been demonstrated, although it is thought to be associated with digestion. We investigated the activity of the digestive enzymes amylase, phosphatase, cellulase, and protease in different regions of the gut, including the intestinal caeca, in three species of megascolecid earthworms, Pheretima heteropoda, Pheretima hilgendorfi, and Pheretima sieboldi. Activities of several enzymes were high in the intestinal caeca; in particular, protease activity was higher in the caeca than that in the anterior gut, foregut, midgut, and hindgut in all three species. Moreover, the ratio of enzyme activities in the intestinal caeca to whole-gut tended to be higher in manicate intestinal caeca than in simple intestinal caeca. These results suggest that the digestive system of earthworms relies on the intestinal caeca.
Evaluating Vacancy Referrals and the Roles of Sanctions and Sickness Absence*

Job vacancy referrals are a common active labor market policy measure. Unemployment insurance agencies may combat moral hazard by punishing refusals to apply to assigned vacancies. During sickness spells, minimum requirements on search behaviour do not apply. This may reduce the threat effect of sanctions. We study effects of vacancy referrals and sanctions on unemployment durations and job match quality. We find that a vacancy referral increases the transition rate into work. We also find a positive effect of a vacancy referral on the probability of reporting sick.
Predictors for Successful Treatment of Pediatric Deep Neck Infections Using Antimicrobials Alone

Among hospitalized children with parapharyngeal or retropharyngeal infection, multivariate analysis was performed for the outcomes: successful treatment with antibiotics alone, absence of complications and length of stay less than 3 days. Those with apparent abscess on computed tomography scan had a lower probability of treatment with antimicrobials alone while older age was associated with increased probability of treatment with antibiotics alone.
Perception of Novel Faces: The Parts Have it!

It has been suggested that, as a result of expertise, configural information plays a predominant role in face processing. We investigated this idea using novel and learned faces. In experiment 1, sixteen participants matched two subsequently presented blurred or scrambled faces, which could be either upright or inverted, in a sequential same—different matching task. By means of blurring, featural information is hampered, whilst scrambling disrupts configural information. Each face was unfamiliar to the participants and was presented for 1000 ms. An ANOVA on the d' values revealed a significant advantage for scrambled faces. In experiment 2, fourteen participants were tested with the same design, except that the second face was always intact. Again, the ANOVA on the d' values revealed a significant advantage for scrambled faces. In experiment 3 half of the faces were learned in a familiarisation block prior to the experiment. The ANOVA of these d' values revealed a significant interaction of familiarity and condition, showing that blurred stimuli were better recognised when the faces were familiar. These results suggest that recognition of novel faces, compared to learned faces, relies relatively more on the processing of featural information. In the course of familiarisation the importance of configural information increases.
Pesticide use and incident diabetes among wives of farmers in the Agricultural Health Study

Objective To estimate associations between use of specific agricultural pesticides and incident diabetes in women. Methods We used data from the Agricultural Health Study, a large prospective cohort of pesticide applicators and their spouses in Iowa and North Carolina. For comparability with previous studies of farmers, we limited analysis to 13 637 farmers’ wives who reported ever personally mixing or applying pesticides at enrolment (1993–1997), who provided complete data on required covariates and diabetes diagnosis and who reported no previous diagnosis of diabetes at enrolment. Participants reported ever-use of 50 specific pesticides at enrolment and incident diabetes at one of two follow-up interviews within an average of 12 years of enrolment. We fit Cox proportional hazards models with age as the time scale and adjusting for state and body mass index to estimate HRs and 95% CIs for each of the 45 pesticides with sufficient users. Results Five pesticides were positively associated with incident diabetes (n=688; 5%): three organophosphates, fonofos (HR=1.56, 95% CI 1.11 to 2.19), phorate (HR=1.57, 95% CI 1.14 to 2.16) and parathion (HR=1.61, 95% CI 1.05 to 2.46); the organochlorine dieldrin (HR=1.99, 95% CI 1.12 to 3.54); and the herbicide 2,4,5-T/2,4,5-TP (HR=1.59, 95% CI 1.00 to 2.51). With phorate and fonofos together in one model to account for their correlation, risks for both remained elevated, though attenuated compared with separate models. Conclusions Results are consistent with previous studies reporting an association between specific organochlorines and diabetes and add to growing evidence that certain organophosphates also may increase risk.
A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Three Different Methods of Psychiatric Case Finding in the General Population

Summary A study was carried out to compare the sensitivity as well as cost of three different methods of psychiatric case detection. It was found that the simplest method, which involved interviewing about 3 per cent of the adult population, with a questionnaire taking only five minutes to complete, picked up as many adult epileptics and nearly as many psychotics as the inquiry with all the adults in the population using a sophisticated structured interview schedule. A method of medium complexity, in which the short five-minute questionnaire was given to one adult member of each family, detected in addition to all adult epileptics and psychotics, and many juvenile epileptics and mentally retarded. The cost of the simplest method was one-ninth and that of the method of medium complexity, one-fifth of the cost of the most sophisticated method. The method of medium complexity is recommended for use in the rural psychiatry programme of the developing countries.
Flow cytometric analysis of peripheral blood and bone marrow for tumor cells in patients with neuroblastoma

Several sensitive surveillance tests reportedly have been used to detect occult neuroblastoma (NB) cells in peripheral blood (PB) and bone marrow (BM). They may be useful in monitoring minimal residual tumor cells. The authors report the feasibility and clinical usefulness of a sensitive flow cytometric assay that has been newly developed and evaluated to detect NB cells.
On using distributional analysis techniques for determining the onset of the influence of experimental variables

Much of the investigation of eye movement control in visual cognition has focused on the influence of experimental variables on mean fixation durations. In this article, we explored the convergence between two distributional analysis techniques that were recently introduced in this domain. First, Staub, White, Drieghe, Hollway and Rayner, proposed fitting the ex-Gaussian distribution to individual participants’ data in order to ascertain whether a variable has a rapid or a slow influence on fixation durations. Second, the divergence point analysis (DPA) procedure was introduced by Reingold, Reichle, Glaholt and Sheridan in order to determine more precisely the earliest discernible impact of a variable on the distribution of fixation durations by contrasting survival curves across two experimental conditions and determining the point at which the two curves begin to diverge. In this article, we introduced a new version of the DPA procedure which is based on ex-Gaussian fitting. We evaluated this procedure by re-analyzing data obtained in previous empirical investigations as well as by conducting a simulation study. We demonstrated that the new ex-Gaussian DPA technique produced estimates that were consistent with estimates produced by prior versions of DPA procedure, and in the present simulation, the ex-Gaussian DPA procedure produced somewhat more accurate individual participant divergence point estimates. Based on the present findings, we also suggest guidelines for best practices in the use of DPA techniques.
Characterization of the Epidemic European Fusidic Acid-Resistant Impetigo Clone of Staphylococcus aureus

ABSTRACT Resistance to the antibiotic fusidic acid in European strains of Staphylococcus aureus causing impetigo has increased in recent years. This increase appears to have resulted from clonal expansion of a strain we have designated the epidemic European fusidic acid-resistant impetigo clone (EEFIC), which carries the fusidic acid resistance determinant fusB on its chromosome. To understand better the properties of the EEFIC responsible for its success, we have performed detailed phenotypic and genotypic characterization of this clone. Molecular typing revealed the EEFIC to be ST123, spa type t171, and agr type IV and therefore unrelated to earlier prevalent fusB+ strains found in the United Kingdom. EEFIC strains exhibited resistance to fusidic acid, penicillin, and, in some cases, erythromycin, which are all used in the treatment of impetigo. PCR analysis of the EEFIC and complete DNA sequencing of the 39.3 Kb plasmid it harbors identified genes encoding several toxins previously implicated in impetigo (exfoliative toxins A and B and EDIN-C). The location of fusB was mapped on the chromosome and found to be associated with a novel 16.6-kb genomic island integrated downstream of groEL. Although this element is related to classical staphylococcal pathogenicity islands, it does not encode any known virulence factors and consequently has been designated SaRIfusB (for “S. aureus resistance island carrying fusB”).
Integration Processes Compared: Cortical Differences for Consistency Evaluation and Passive Comprehension in Local and Global Coherence

This research studies the neural systems underlying two integration processes that take place during natural discourse comprehension: consistency evaluation and passive comprehension. Evaluation was operationalized with a consistency judgment task and passive comprehension with a passive listening task. Using fMRI, the experiment examined the integration of incoming sentences with more recent, local context and with more distal, global context in these two tasks. The stimuli were stories in which we manipulated the consistency of the endings with the local context and the relevance of the global context for the integration of the endings. A whole-brain analysis revealed several differences between the two tasks. Two networks previously associated with semantic processing and attention orienting showed more activation during the judgment than the passive listening task. A network previously associated with episodic memory retrieval and construction of mental scenes showed greater activity when global context was relevant, but only during the judgment task. This suggests that evaluation, more than passive listening, triggers the reinstantiation of global context and the construction of a rich mental model for the story. Finally, a network previously linked to fluent updating of a knowledge base showed greater activity for locally consistent endings than inconsistent ones, but only during passive listening, suggesting a mode of comprehension that relies on a local scope approach to language processing. Taken together, these results show that consistency evaluation and passive comprehension weigh differently on distal and local information and are implemented, in part, by different brain networks.
Nucleation and evolution of ultrasonic cavitation in a rotating exposure chamber

The nucleation and progression of ultrasonic cavitation in a rotating exposure chamber were investigated by observing hemolysis of a 0.5% suspension of erythrocytes. Bursts of 1.6 MHz ultrasound beams of 11 W/cm2 spatial peak intensity were synchronized with the rotation to aim the bursts down the axis of a cylindrical chamber. Cavitational hemolysis always occurred in fresh phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution, but cavitation incidence declined to 38% in 4 day old PBS. The amount of hemolysis for 11 ms or 44 ms bursts with 60 rpm rotation increased in proportion to the number of bursts. Hemolysis was found above a minimum burst duration of 5.5 to 8.3 ms in the normal 2 cm chamber. This did not appear to change for 1 cm or 4 cm chamber lengths, but it did change to about 2.2 ms and about 44 ms for over‐ and undersaturated gas conditions, respectively. Off‐times associated with rotation speeds of 15 to 30 rpm reduced the effectiveness of the cavitation, and addition of fixed cells at only 0.01% to 0.02% greatly reduced the hemolysis. For this ultrasonic exposure system, several thousand bubbles, possibly generated from as few as one cavitation nucleus, move across the chamber at up to 10 m/s, each lysing a few hundred cells, and then are cycled back to the front of the chamber by the rotation to reinitiate the cavitation on the next burst.
Litigation Risk and Voluntary Disclosure: Evidence from Legal Changes

This paper documents that changes in litigation risk affect corporate voluntary disclosure practices. We make causal inferences by exploiting three legal events that generate exogenous variations in firms' litigation risk. Using a matching-based fixed-effect difference-in-differences design, we find that the treated firms tend to make fewer (more) management earnings forecasts relative to the control firms when they expect litigation risk to be lower (higher) following the legal event. The results are concentrated on the earnings forecasts conveying negative news and are robust to alternative specifications, samples, and outcome variables. JEL Classifications: D80; G14; K22; K41; M41.
Drug-eluting balloon versus second-generation drug-eluting stent for the treatment of restenotic lesions involving coronary bifurcations.

AIMS To report clinical outcomes in patients treated with drug-eluting balloon (DEB) versus second-generation drug-eluting stent (DES) for in-stent restenosis (ISR) involving a bifurcation lesion. METHODS AND RESULTS Between February 2007 and November 2012, 167 bifurcation restenoses in 158 patients were treated with either DEB (n=73) or second-generation DES (n=85). The EuroSCORE was significantly higher in the DEB group (4.2±3.8 vs. 2.8±2.1, p=0.004). Regarding restenosed stent type, second-generation DES was more frequently seen in the DEB group (26.9% vs. 6.7%, p<0.001). In this group, there was also a trend towards more frequent stenting for a previous ISR (stent-in-stent) as compared with the DES group (25.6% vs. 15.6%, p=0.074). Over a median follow-up period of 701 days, there was no significant difference in major adverse cardiac events (MACE), defined as cardiac death, myocardial infarction including periprocedural myocardial infarction, target vessel revascularisation, between the two groups (p=0.585). Independent predictors of MACE on multivariate Cox regression analysis included stent-in-stent (HR: 2.16; 95% CI: 1.11 to 4.20; p=0.023) and true bifurcation lesions (HR: 2.98; 95% CI: 1.45 to 6.14; p=0.001). CONCLUSIONS DEB for bifurcation restenosis may be an acceptable treatment option, especially in cases where repeat stenting has not already been performed for the treatment of a previous restenosis.
Emergence in Human Dental Plaque and Host Distribution of Amylase-binding Streptococci

Salivary amylase is known to bind specifically to several species of oral streptococci. To assess the importance of this interaction in bacterial colonization of the oral cavity, we determined the proportion and identity of amylase-binding bacteria (ABB) in dental plaque of humans and various salivary amylase-secreting and non-secreting mammalian species. The numbers of ABB in undisturbed plaque collected over time from tooth surfaces of six human volunteers or from 14 other mammalian species were determined by means of a replica-plating assay. The mean proportion of ABB cultured aerobically from human teeth at 2 h was 10.5% (SD 10), at 8 h 7.9% (8), at 24 h 13% (11), and at 48 h 12% (9). The mean proportion of anaerobically cultured ABB found at 2 h was 3% (SD 4), at 8 h 5% (5), at 24 h 12% (9), and at 48 h 16% (12). Amylase-binding bacteria cultured from these samples resembled Streptococcus mitis, Streptococcus gordonii, Streptococcus salivarius, Streptococcus crista, or unidentified streptococci. In addition, only animals exhibiting salivary amylase activity in their saliva harbored ABB (ranging from 2 to 31% of the total flora), with the exception of the pig, where no ABB were found to colonize, despite considerable amylase activity in saliva. Only strains resembling S. mitis and S. salivarius and unspeciated strains were isolated from these mammals. These results suggest that amylase-binding streptococci are the predominant ABB in human plaque, and their numbers generally increase as plaque develops. Since ABB colonized only the oral cavities of hosts demonstrating salivary amylase activity, the ability to bind amylase may play an important role in oral colonization by these bacteria.
Flexible Mobility On-Demand: An Environmental Scan

On-demand shared mobility is increasingly being promoted as an influential strategy to address urban transport challenges in large and fast-growing cities. The appeal of this form of transport is largely attributed to its convenience, ease of use, and affordability made possible through digital platforms and innovations. The convergence of the shared economy with a number of established and emerging technologies—such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and Cloud and Fog computing—is helping to expedite their deployment as a new form of public transport. Recently, this has manifested itself in the form of Flexible Mobility on Demand (FMoD) solutions, aimed at meeting personal travel demands through flexible routing and scheduling. Increasingly, these shared mobility solutions are blurring the boundaries with existing forms of public transport, particularly bus operations. This paper presents an environmental scan and analysis of the technological, social, and economic impacts surrounding disruptive technology-driven shared mobility trends. Specifically, the paper includes an examination of current and anticipated external factors that are of direct relevance to collaborative and low carbon mobility. The paper also outlines how these trends are likely to influence the mobility industries now and into the future. The paper collates information from a wide body of literature and reports on findings from actual ‘use cases’ that exist today which have used these disruptive mobility solutions to deliver substantial benefits to travellers around the world. Finally, the paper provides stakeholders with insight into identifying and responding to the likely needs and impacts of FMoD and informs their policy and strategy positions on the implementation of smart mobility systems in their cities and jurisdictions.
Temperature Volatility Risk

We produce novel empirical evidence on the relevance of temperature volatility shocks for the dynamics of macro aggregates and asset prices. Using two centuries of UK temperature data, we document that the relationship between temperature volatility and the macroeconomy varies over time. First, the sign of the causality from temperature volatility to TFP growth is negative in the post-war period (i.e., 1950-2015) and positive before (i.e., 1800-1950). Second, over the pre-1950 (post-1950) period temperature volatility shocks positively (negatively) affect TFP growth. In the post-1950 period, temperature volatility shocks are also found to undermine equity valuations and other main macro aggregates. More importantly, temperature volatility shocks are priced in the cross section of returns and command a positive premium. We rationalize these findings within a production economy featuring long-run productivity and temperature volatility risk. In the model temperature volatility shocks generate non-negligible welfare costs. Such costs decrease (increase) when associated with immediate technology adaptation (capital depreciation).
How Does Consumers’ Omnichannel Shopping Behaviour Translate into Travel and Transport Impacts? Case-Study of a Footwear Retailer in Belgium

Retailers and consumers are increasingly “omnichannel”. This means that retailers offer multiple integrated offline and online channels to their customers, while consumers use multiple offline and online channels throughout their shopping journeys. In these shopping journeys, consumers can travel for researching, testing, receiving and returning activities related to a purchase, next to the purchasing itself. It is unclear how such omnichannel consumer behaviour materialises in practice. This information is important for practitioners from retail as well as for society, not in the least because of the environmental impact that shopping trips generate. Existing environmental assessments of retail-related transport and logistics do not account for consumers’ omnichannel shopping and travel behaviour. To fill this gap in research, we set up a case-study collaboration with an omnichannel footwear retailer in Belgium. We collected data on logistics and consumer flows and analysed this data to determine the CO2 footprint. Our research results in six profiles, of which “the online shopper” that shops online and receives its purchase at home or at a collection point generates the lowest impact. However, when online shoppers travel to stores prior to their e-purchase and become “showroomers”, the external CO2 costs double compared to “traditional shoppers” that carry out all shopping activities in-store and are more than eight times higher compared to “online shoppers”. Although the case-study context should be taken into account (e.g., in terms of product type, retailer type and geography), a sensitivity analysis demonstrates the robustness of our results.