Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Change Detection in Heterogenous Remote Sensing Images via Homogeneous Pixel Transformation

The change detection in heterogeneous remote sensing images remains an important and open problem for damage assessment. We propose a new change detection method for heterogeneous images (i.e., SAR and optical images) based on homogeneous pixel transformation (HPT). HPT transfers one image from its original feature space (e.g., gray space) to another space (e.g., spectral space) in pixel-level to make the pre-event and post-event images represented in a common space for the convenience of change detection. HPT consists of two operations, i.e., the forward transformation and the backward transformation. In forward transformation, for each pixel of pre-event image in the first feature space, we will estimate its mapping pixel in the second space corresponding to post-event image based on the known unchanged pixels. A multi-value estimation method with noise tolerance is introduced to determine the mapping pixel using $K$ -nearest neighbors technique. Once the mapping pixels of pre-event image are available, the difference values between the mapping image and the post-event image can be directly calculated. After that, we will similarly do the backward transformation to associate the post-event image with the first space, and one more difference value for each pixel will be obtained. Then, the two difference values are combined to improve the robustness of detection with respect to the noise and heterogeneousness (modality difference) of images. Fuzzy-c means clustering algorithm is employed to divide the integrated difference values into two clusters: changed pixels and unchanged pixels. This detection results may contain some noisy regions (i.e., small error detections), and we develop a spatial-neighbor-based noise filter to further reduce the false alarms and missing detections using belief functions theory. The experiments for change detection with real images (e.g., SPOT, ERS, and NDVI) during a flood in U.K. are given to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
The Role of Constituency, Party, and Industry in Pennsylvania’s Act 13

While a large body of research exists regarding the role of industry money on roll-call voting in the U.S. Congress, there is surprisingly little scholarship pertaining to industry influence on state politics. This study fills this void in an analysis of campaign donations and voting during passage of Act 13 in Pennsylvania during 2011 and 2012. After collecting information about natural gas production in state legislative districts, we estimate a series of multivariate models aimed at uncovering whether campaign donations contributed to a more favorable policy outcome for industry. Our findings indicate that campaign donations played a small but systematic role in consideration of the controversial legislation, which represented one of the first and most important state-level regulatory reforms for the hydraulic fracturing industry.
The Acclimation Processes for New, First-time Presidents at Public, Master’s-level Comprehensive Institutions: Lessons Learned

The purpose of this study was to learn the acclimation practices of new, first-time presidents at regional, public comprehensive institutions. An original survey conducted from January through March, 2015, was completed by 61 new CEOs for a 59% response rate. They reported numerous activities that were helpful to learn their organization so as to become sufficiently comfortable in their understanding of campus culture, governance processes, operational practices, regional partners, and state policy climate to lead their organizations forward. With experience they learned that acclimation took longer than they expected. The study found higher rates of female or minority CEOs, and more chief academic officers than reported in profiles of CEOs nationally. There were fewer “outsiders” to higher education, but fewer selected from within their institutions. They described the operational environment of their institutions and the immediacy of operational problems. Many were surprised by the immediacy of these challenges. Several areas were analyzed for gender differences, and also whether CEOs responses varied based on the operational environment they inherited. The CEOs reported similar professional pathways and preparation for the presidency, and shared feelings of rewards, successes, and frustrations. The CEOs indicated they removed significant numbers of inherited top executives. Female CEOs reported stronger empathy than male CEOs. This was reported both in those stakeholders with whom female CEOs developed strong relationships, and those with whom they struggled to connect. Finally, nearly 30% of the new CEOs reported they seriously thought about leaving their positions. © 2015 by Mark Kinders All Rights Reserved
Analysis and significance of messenger RNA in human ejaculated spermatozoa

Human ejaculate spermatozoa contain multiple mRNA species carried over from earlier stages in spermatogenesis. To date, gene‐specific RT‐PCR or in situ hybridization has detected transcripts for β‐actin, heat shock proteins (HSP) 70 and 90, protamines (PRM) 1 and 2, transition protein (TNp) 2, HLA II, β‐integrins, and, most recently, phosphodiesterase subtypes. We have further evidence for a complex population of transcripts based on screening a human testis cDNA library with a heterologous spermatozoal probe. High levels of transcribed repetitive sequences are present in human spermatozoa, including medium reiteration repeats (MERs) and short and long nuclear interspersed repeats (SINES and LINES). Both SINES and LINES belong to the retroposon class of repeat elements, which are thought to proliferate via an intermediate RNA that is converted to DNA by an RNA‐dependent DNA polymerase (reverse transcriptase). We have circumstantial evidence for the presence of an RT in ejaculate sperm based on the detection of transcripts for ORF2 of LINE 1 encoding such an enzyme. Our data suggests the following: 1. Ejaculate spermatozoa may be a very useful tool in the identification of genes linked to an infertile phenotype. 2. Spermatozoa (or spermatids) may express a reverse transcriptase, the role of which is unknown. 3. RNA isolated from spermatozoa or washed semen samples may facilitate the detection of mutations and deletions in testis‐expressed AZF‐linked genes. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 56:259–264, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Study of Inflammatory Status in Nephropathy Patients with History of Type-II Diabetes Mellitus Undergoing Haemodialysis.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE Diabetic nephropathy is one of the leading cause of chronic kidney failure. Local vascular inflammation is increased in diabetes mellitus (DM), which results in higher burden of microvascular and macrovascular complications. The present study was carried out to assess the importance of inflammatory status in nephropathy patients with Type-II DM. METHODOLOGY Eighty diagnosed cases of type II DM who had end stage renal disease (Nephropathy Stage-5) were selected for the study, they were further divided equally into 2 sub-categories; Group I (patients who were undergoing haemodialysis) and Group II (patients who were not undergoing haemodialysis). The control group comprised of 40 individuals who were age and sex matched healthy individuals. Inflammatory status was assessed by estimating serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum albumin. RESULTS A significant increase in serum CRP and a significant decrease in serum albumin were seen in test group- I and test group-2 as compared to controls. There was a positive correlation between serum albumin and GFR with r=0.904 in the Test Group-I and r=0.946 in Test Group-II. A negative correlation was observed between serum CRP and GFR r= -0.597 in Test Group-I and with r= -0.6231 in Test Group-II. Also, the correlation between CRP and albumin showed a negative trend with r= -0.848 in Test Group-I and with r= -0.78 in Test Group-II. CONCLUSION Microinflammation is a common finding in haemodialysis patients who have a history of nephropathy with Type-II diabetes mellitus. With a proper knowledge on factors which lead to this microinflammation, we can employ preventive strategies for a better management of Type-II diabetic nephropathy patients and thereby, for improving their survival.
Improved model architecture and training phase in an off-line HMM-based word recognition system

Describes the latest developments to enhance the performance of our HMM-based handwritten word recognition system. These methods only deal with the recognition phase and involve the improvement of the HMM architecture as well as the optimization of the training phase. Experiments carried out on real data show that the proposed approaches lead to significant improvements in the accuracy of the system.
Flow Cytometric Assessment of Membrane Integrity of Ethanol-Stressed Oenococcus oeni Cells

ABSTRACT The practical application of commercial malolactic starter cultures of Oenococcus oeni surviving direct inoculation in wine requires insight into the mechanisms involved in ethanol toxicity and tolerance in this organism. Exposure to ethanol resulted in an increase in the permeability of the cytoplasmic membrane, enhancing passive proton influx and concomitant loss of intracellular material (absorbing at 260 nm). Cells grown in the presence of 8% (vol/vol) ethanol revealed adaptation to ethanol stress, since these cells showed higher retention of compounds absorbing at 260 nm. Moreover, for concentrations higher than 10% (vol/vol), lower rates of passive proton influx were observed in these ethanol-adapted cells, especially at pH 3.5. The effect of ethanol on O. oeni cells was studied as the ability to efficiently retain carboxyfluorescein (cF) as an indicator of membrane integrity and enzyme activity and the uptake of propidium iodide (PI) to assess membrane damage. Flow cytometric analysis of both ethanol-adapted and nonadapted cells with a mixture of the two fluorescent dyes, cF and PI, revealed three main subpopulations of cells: cF-stained intact cells; cF- and PI-stained permeable cells, and PI-stained damaged cells. The subpopulation of O. oeni cells that maintained their membrane integrity, i.e., cells stained only with cF, was three times larger in the population grown in the presence of ethanol, reflecting the protective effect of ethanol adaptation. This information is of major importance in studies of microbial fermentations in order to assign bulk activities measured by classical methods to the very active cells that are effectively responsible for the observations.
News Shocks, Long-Run Risk, and Asset Returns

I study the long-run consumption risk reflected in news shock, a shock to expectations about future productivity. I identify news shock using a structural Vector Autoregression analysis. News shocks cause persistent future consumption growth and explain a large share of consumption movements in the long-run. Consistent with the long-run consumption risk hypothesis, I find that news shocks have a significantly positive risk premium in the cross section of asset returns. I also find that news shocks explain the size premium.
Isolation and partial characterization of a fatty acid binding protein in rat liver plasma membranes.

When [14C]oleate-bovine serum albumin complexes were incubated in vitro with rat liver plasma membranes (LPM), specific, saturable binding of oleate to the membranes was observed. Maximal heat-sensitive (i.e., specific) binding was 3.2 nmol/mg of membrane protein. Oleate-agarose affinity chromatography of Triton X-100-solubilized LPM was used to isolate a single 40-kDa protein with high affinity for oleate. On gel filtration, the protein comigrated with various fatty acids but not with [14C]bilirubin, [35S]sulfobromophthalein, [14C]taurocholate, [14C]phosphatidylcholine, or [14C]cholesteryloleate. A rabbit antibody to this membrane fatty acid-binding protein gave a single precipitin line with the antigen but no reactivity with concentrated cytosolic proteins, LPM bilirubin/sulfobromophthalein-binding protein, or rat albumin or other rat plasma proteins. The antibody selectively inhibited heat-sensitive binding of [14C]oleate to LPM. Immunofluorescence studies localized the antigen in liver-cell plasma membranes as well as in other major sites of fatty acid transport. These data are compatible with the hypothesis that this protein may act as a receptor in a hepatocellular uptake mechanism for fatty acids.
Concurrent Respiratory Motion Correction of Abdominal PET and Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced–MRI Using a Compressed Sensing Approach

We present an approach for concurrent reconstruction of respiratory motion–compensated abdominal dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE)–MRI and PET data in an integrated PET/MR scanner. The MR and PET reconstructions share the same motion vector fields derived from radial MR data; the approach is robust to changes in respiratory pattern and does not increase the total acquisition time. Methods: PET and DCE-MRI data of 12 oncologic patients were simultaneously acquired for 6 min on an integrated PET/MR system after administration of 18F-FDG and gadoterate meglumine. Golden-angle radial MR data were continuously acquired simultaneously with PET data and sorted into multiple motion phases on the basis of a respiratory signal derived directly from the radial MR data. The resulting multidimensional dataset was reconstructed using a compressed sensing approach that exploits sparsity among respiratory phases. Motion vector fields obtained using the full 6-min (MC6-min) and only the last 1 min (MC1-min) of data were incorporated into the PET reconstruction to obtain motion-corrected PET images and in an MR iterative reconstruction algorithm to produce a series of motion-corrected DCE-MR images (moco_GRASP). The motion-correction methods (MC6-min and MC1-min) were evaluated by qualitative analysis of the MR images and quantitative analysis of SUVmax and SUVmean, contrast, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and lesion volume in the PET images. Results: Motion-corrected MC6-min PET images demonstrated 30%, 23%, 34%, and 18% increases in average SUVmax, SUVmean, contrast, and SNR and an average 40% reduction in lesion volume with respect to the non–motion-corrected PET images. The changes in these figures of merit were smaller but still substantial for the MC1-min protocol: 19%, 10%, 15%, and 9% increases in average SUVmax, SUVmean, contrast, and SNR; and a 28% reduction in lesion volume. Moco_GRASP images were deemed of acceptable or better diagnostic image quality with respect to conventional breath-hold Cartesian volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination acquisitions. Conclusion: We presented a method that allows the simultaneous acquisition of respiratory motion–corrected diagnostic quality DCE-MRI and quantitatively accurate PET data in an integrated PET/MR scanner with negligible prolongation in acquisition time compared with routine PET/DCE-MRI protocols.
Mortality in a cohort of Danish patients with fibromyalgia: increased frequency of suicide.

OBJECTIVE A previous study demonstrated an association between self-reported widespread body pain and increased mortality. The aim of this study was to analyze whether fibromyalgia (FM) and FM-like symptoms are related to increased mortality. METHODS From hospital records, we identified 1,361 patients referred during the period 1984-1999 because of the suspicion of FM. The cases were reviewed by reviewers who were blinded to the outcome. The cohort was followed up for a total of 5,295 person-years at risk and was linked to the Danish Mortality Register. Using the number of years at risk and sex-, age-, and calendar-specific mortality rates from the general population, cause-specific standardized mortality ratios [SMRs] were calculated. RESULTS We observed no overall increased mortality among patients with FM. Among the 1,269 female patients, the SMRs (95% confidence intervals [95% CIs]) for an increased risk of death from suicide, liver cirrhosis/biliary tract disease, and cerebrovascular disease were 10.5 (95% CI 4.5-20.7), 6.4 (95% CI 2.3-13.9), and 3.1 (95% CI 1.1-6.8), respectively. The suicide risk was increased at the time of diagnosis and remained increased after 5 years. Patients meeting the American College of Rheumatology criteria for FM and patients with possible FM had the same cause-specific mortality pattern. No increased cause-specific mortality was observed in the 84 male patients. CONCLUSION The causes of a markedly increased rate of suicide among female patients with FM are at present unknown but may be related to increased rates of lifetime depression, anxiety, and psychiatric disorders. Risk factors for suicide should be sought at the time of the diagnosis of FM and at followup. The results also suggest that risk factors for liver disease and cerebrovascular disease should be evaluated in patients with FM.
Neuropsychological and neuroimaging outcome of HIV-associated progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in the era of antiretroviral therapy.

AIMS The purpose of the present case is to describe the functional outcome of a patient with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) on treatment with antiretroviral therapy using a multidisciplinary approach. METHODS Neuropsychological tests and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) were obtained at baseline and after 12 months to define the severity of white matter damage. Neuropsychological and neuroimaging data were compared to an HIV-infected patient without PML and with good immune system health, and to a second HIV-infected patient without PML but with notable immunosuppression. RESULTS Review of the HIV/PML patient's cognitive data at both time points revealed significant impairments compared to the control subjects. Similarly, the HIV/PML patient's white matter lesion load and whole brain volume were markedly different from the control subjects at both time points. The tractography-defined metrics suggest significant white matter fiber loss associated with HIV/PML that was not evident in either HIV control patient. DISCUSSION Our findings suggest that PML is associated with marked cognitive and neuroimaging abnormalities in the context of antiretroviral therapy. INTEGRATIVE SIGNIFICANCE To our knowledge this is the first study to integrate both quantitative DTI and cognitive assessment to define white matter damage associated with HIV and PML. This integrative approach provides a robust methodology to examine the integrity of brain systems mediating cognitive function.
Turbulent Mixing Processes in Atmospheric Bores and Solitary Waves Deduced from Profiling Systems and Numerical Simulation

Abstract Families of solitary waves (“solitons”) associated with two atmospheric bores on the same day were observed by an unprecedented number of ground-based and airborne profiling systems during the International H2O Project (IHOP). In addition, a very high-resolution numerical weather prediction model initialized with real data was used with success to simulate one of the bores and the evolving soliton. The predicted wave amplitude, phase speed, wavelength, and structure compared well to these extraordinarily detailed observations. The observations suggest that during the active phase (when turbulent mixing was active, which was prior to bore collapse), the bores and waves vigorously mixed dry air from above a nocturnal boundary layer down to the surface. Refractivity computed from near-surface radar observations showed pronounced decreases due to sudden drying during the passage of the bores in this phase, but refractivity increases appeared during the period of bore collapse. During both phases, the.
THE ROLE OF AUDITORS IN DETECTING CREATIVE ACCOUNTING: SINGAPOREAN AND AUSTRALIAN EVIDENCE

This study examines the association between the magnitude of earnings management and two characteristics of auditor value auditor independence and auditor quality. As earnings management, auditor independence and auditor quality are unobservable the study uses absolute discretionary accruals, the ratio of non-audit to total fees and auditor industry specialisation as respective proxies. This study finds no empirical evidence that non-audit services are associated with firms’ discretionary accruals. This result suggests that the provision of non-audit services by the incumbent auditor does not compromise independence. This study presents evidence of a negative association between auditor specialisation and the earnings management indicator. This finding infers that the magnitude of earnings management amongst firms engaging the services of a specialist is significantly lower than firms purchasing audit services from a non-specialist auditor.
Is healthcare-associated pneumonia a distinct entity needing specific therapy?

Purpose of review Healthcare-associated pneumonia (HCAP) was introduced in 2005 by American Thoracic Society/Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines as a new entity of pneumonia, resembling nosocomial pneumonia rather than community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in terms of frequency of multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens and outcomes, thus requiring broad spectrum initial antimicrobial coverage in order to prevent inadequate treatment and, as a consequence, excess mortality. This concept continues to be a subject of controversy. Main concerns relate to the definition of HCAP, the true frequency of MDR pathogens, and the impact of MDR pathogens on outcomes. Recent findings Definitions of HCAP and the relative frequencies of HCAP defining subgroups were highly variable. All studies demonstrated an increased severity of pneumonia at presentation and an excess mortality from HCAP as compared to CAP. The incidence of MDR pathogens in different observational studies was slightly increased but generally low in most studies originating from Europe, South Korea, Canada, and Japan. However, the data do not support a causal relationship of MDR incidence and excess mortality. Instead, after adjustment for confounders, mortality might be related to hidden or documented treatment restrictions in elderly and severely disabled patients. Accordingly, HCAP guideline concordant antimicrobial treatment did not improve outcomes. Summary The HCAP concept is based on varying definitions poorly predictive of MDR pathogens. The incidence of MDR pathogens is far lower than supposed in the original guideline document, and MDR pathogens do not seem to be the main cause of excess mortality. Broad antimicrobial coverage does not alter outcomes. As the HCAP concept results in a tremendous overtreatment without any evidence for improved outcomes, it should not be implemented in clinical practice prior to clear evidence that it is superior to a careful assessment of individual risk factors for MDR pathogens.
Two generalizations of column-convex polygons

Column-convex polygons were first counted by area several decades ago, and the result was found to be a simple, rational, generating function. In this work we generalize that result. Let a p-column polyomino be a polyomino whose columns can have 1, 2, …, p connected components. Then column-convex polygons are equivalent to 1-convex polyominoes. The area generating function of even the simplest generalization, namely 2-column polyominoes, is unlikely to be solvable. We therefore define two classes of polyominoes which interpolate between column-convex polygons and 2-column polyominoes. We derive the area generating functions of those two classes, using extensions of existing algorithms. The growth constants of both classes are greater than the growth constant of column-convex polyominoes. Rather tight lower bounds on the growth constants complement a comprehensive asymptotic analysis.