Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Salivary gland ultrasound is linked to the autoimmunity profile in patients with primary Sj € ogren ’ s syndrome

Objective: Salivary gland ultrasound (SGU) is a reliable technique for assessing the salivary glands in patients with primary Sj€ ogren’s syndrome (pSS). The aim of this study was to elucidate the relationship between SGU findings and autoimmunity in patients with pSS. Methods: Patients with pSS underwent an SGU assessment. The patients were classified into three groups according to their autoimmunity profile: the complete positive group (positive rheumatoid factor, antinuclear antibodies, and anti-Ro/anti-La antibodies), the partial seropositive group (positivity of at least one autoantibody but not all), and the seronegative group. Results: In total, 93 patients were evaluated. Eighty-six (92.5%) were female, and their median age was 49.5 years. The median disease duration was 12.3 years. Pathological SGU findings were present in 32 (34.4%) patients [25 of 36 (78.1%) in the complete positive group and 7 of 44 (21.9%) in the partial positive group]. Patients with pathological SGU findings had a shorter Department of Rheumatology, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Mara~n on, Madrid, Spain Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA Department of Rheumatology, Hospitales Madrid, Spain Department of Medicine, Universidad Complutense of Madrid, Spain Corresponding author: Juan Carlos Nieto-González, Department of Rheumatology, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Mara~n on, Calle Barrilero 9, esc 2, 3 D. Madrid 28007,
Guidelines and Considerations for Metabolic Tolerance Tests in Mice Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapy

: The epidemic of the century, Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is continuously rising. Intensive research is urgently needed whereby experimental models represent an essential tool to optimise the diagnostic strategy and to improve therapy. In this review, we describe the central principles of the metabolic tests available in order to study glucose and insulin homeostasis in mice, focusing on the most widely used – the glucose and insulin tolerance tests. We provide detailed experimental procedures as well as the practical implementation of these methods and discuss the main factors that should be taken into account when using this methodology.
THE UPTAKE AND FLUX OF DISSOLVED NITROGEN IN MARINE WATERS

9 List of publications forming the basis of this thesis 10 Critical appraisal 11 J. Introduction 12 2. Objectives 13 3. Discussion 15 3.1 Methodology and Developments 15 3.2 Microbial uptake & transformation of nitrogen 18 3.2. 1 Investigation of processes 18 3.2. 2 Derived indices of productivity 20 3.3 Water column stability & physical control 23 4. Summary 25 4.1 Significant outcomes of work presented 26 5. Future work 27 6. References 28 Publications Paper I 32 Paper 11 51 Paper II I 60 Paper IV 70 Paper V 99 Paper VI 106 Appendix Full list of refereed publications by A.P. Rees 121
Comparison of growth and yield performances of horsegram ( Macrotyloma uniflorum L.) supplemented with organic and inorganic fertilizers

— Horsegram is an underutilized legume with greater potential to utilize as food and feed. In the Sri Lankan context, no fertilizer recommendations have been developed, as such impede commercial cultivation of horsegram. Hence, a field experiment was carried out to investigate the crop performance of two varieties viz; ANKK -black and ANKK-brown under different regimes of fertilizer applications. The treatment comprised of the full dose of recommended inorganic fertilizer of mung bean (T1), a half dose of recommended inorganic fertilizers (T2), compost mix (T3), and control treatment (T4) were laid down in a split-plot design replicated three times. The results revealed that variety ANKK-brown responded superior to the ANKK-black. The highest chlorophyll content (44.3), dry weight of shoot (29g Plant -1 ), root (1.97g plant -1 ), pods (160 plant -1 ), and mean grain yield (1877.8 kg ha -1 ) resulted in T1. However, a significantly increased number of root nodules (42 plant -1 ) were produced with T3. Moreover, there was a positive association between chlorophyll content versus the number of pods per plant (0.45), shoot (0.52) and root (0.53) dry matter production. Therefore, the findings suggest that the horsegram can either be successfully grown with NPK inorganic fertilizers of 35 kg/ha urea, 100 kg/ha muriate of potash (MOP) and 75 kg/ha triple super phosphate (TSP)] or be with the application of organic manures at the rates of 10,000kg/ha (T3) without significant compromise in crop yields.
Monitoring and Intrinsic Motivation: Evidence from Liberia’s Trucking Firms

Information asymmetries make contracting difficult within firms. Standard principal-agent theory predicts that monitoring should unambiguously raise workers’ effort. I test this prediction using a field experiment with Liberian trucking companies. Results show that drivers who are experimentally monitored provide more effort on average. However, a key finding is that this effect is heterogeneous across drivers: some drivers provide less effort as a result of monitoring and managers are therefore reluctant to monitor them. I outline several reasons for why this might be and show that decreasing effort may be a way for drivers to retaliate against the manager’s decision to monitor them. ∗Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Sciences Po; 28 Rue des Saints Peres, Paris 75007, France; +33 (0)1 45 49 85 86; golvine.derochambeau@sciencespo.fr. I am thankful to Johannes Boehm, Jeanne Hagenbach, Emeric Henry, Jonas Hjort, Nandita Krishnaswany, Andrea Prat, Matthieu Teachout, Eric Verhoogen, seminar participants at Boston University, Columbia, The Graduate Institute inGeneva, INSEAD,McGill, Sciences Po, StockholmUniversity, Toulouse School of Economics, UC Irvine, UC Santa Cruz, and the University of Oslo, and conference participants at IGC-PEDL, NEUDC, SIOE, MOEE, IMOENT CEPR, and IPA SME for helpful comments. This project was supported by the International Growth Center (IGC), the Private Enterprise Development in Low-Income Countries Initiative (PEDL), the Center for Development Economics and Policy (CDEP), and the Development Colloquium at Columbia. USAID-Liberia financed the GPS trackers used in the experiment. The data collection was completed by the Liberian firms “Q&A, Inc”, led by Alpha Simpson. The project was registered in the AEA RCT Registry, ID 0002049
a voxel-based morphometric study of age- and sex-related changes in white matter volume in the normal aging brain

Objective: To carry out a cross-sectional study of 187 cognitively normal Chinese adults using the voxel-based morphometry (VBM) approach to delineate age-related changes in the white matter volume of regions of interest in the brain and further analyze their correlation with age. Materials and methods: A total of 187 cognitively normal adults were divided into the young, middle, and old age-groups. Conventional magnetic resonance imaging was performed with the Achieva 3.0 T system. Structural images were processed using VBM8 and statistical parametric mapping 8. Regions of interest were obtained by WFU PickAtlas, and all realigned images were spatially normalized. Results: Females showed significantly greater total white matter volume than males ( t = 2.36, P = 0.0096, false-discovery rate [FDR] corrected). VBM demonstrated statistically significant age-related differences in white matter volume between the young age-group and the middle age-group ( P , 0.05, FDR corrected) and between the middle age-group and the old age-group ( P , 0.05, FDR corrected). No interaction was found between age and sex on white matter volume ( P . 0.05, FDR corrected). Logistic regression analysis revealed nonlinear correlation between total white matter volume and age ( R 2 = 0.124, P , 0.001). White matter volume gradually increased before 40 years of age, peaked around 50 years of age, and rapidly declined after 60 years of age. Conclusion: Significant age-related differences are present in white matter volume across multiple brain regions during aging. The VBM approach may help differentiate underlying normal neurobiological aging changes of specific brain regions from neurodegenerative impairments.
International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime

: The study examined the current trend in cybercrime awareness and the relationship such trend has with cybercrime vulnerability or victimization. Selecting a sample of 1104 Internet users from Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria, We found that: 1) awareness of information security was high in that about 2 in every 3 (68%) participants demonstrated a favorable awareness of information security and cybercrime. It was, however, revealed that such a high level of awareness could be partial and weak. 2) most Internet users demonstrated the awareness of fraud-related cybercrime categories (39%), e-theft (15%), hacking (12%), and ATM theft (10%). However, they were rarely aware of sexually related offenses, cyber-terrorism, malware attacks, spam emails, and identity theft as their proportion hovered around 8% and below. 3) Internet users significantly demonstrated more awareness of computer-assisted (M = 2.5; SD = 1.7) than that of computer-focused cybercrime categories (M = 2.2, SD = 1.3), t(1103) = 2.9, p=. 000, r =. 2. 4) Internet users significantly demonstrated more awareness of property cybercrime (M = 2.54; SD = 1.6) than that of violent cybercrime categories (M = 1.82, SD = 1.2), t(1103) = 5.94, p=. 000, r =. 3. 5) cybercrime awareness is positively correlated to cybercrime victimization experiences in that par - ticipants who demonstrated more awareness of cybercrime experienced significantly more cybercrime victimization (M =
Monetary Policy in a World Without Money

This paper considers whether the development of electronic money' poses any threat to the ability of central banks to control the value of their national currencies through conventional monetary policy. It argues that even if the demand for base money for use in facilitating transactions is largely or even completely eliminated, monetary policy should continue to be effective. Macroeconomic stabilization depends only upon the ability of central banks to control a short-term nominal interest rate, and this would continue to be possible, in particular through the use of a channel' system for the implementation of policy, like those currently used in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The rice water weevil.

Population studies of insect, ( Lissorhoptus venezolanus ) were performed using a light trap located in the Centre of Agricultural Research INIA Calabozo, Guárico state, from 2001 to 2017. The objectives of this study were to study the population dynamics of the insect L. venezolanus and the ratio of the population with five climatic factors, infor-mation provided by the Climatology section of the same center. Rice cultivation in Calabozo presents the species L. venezolanus important pest during the winter, reaching population peaks during the months of April and May in the years of study. Statistical not significance between insect populations with low temperatures, high, evaporation and precipitation.
Corneal and conjunctival sensitivity in intolerant contact lens wearers

The role of the upper tarsal conjunctiva in ocular surface discomfort is unknown; however the upper lid may contribute to symptoms of dryness and discomfort in ocular surface disease and in contact lens (CL) wear. There is increasing evidence for the role of the conjunctiva in contact lens discomfort (reviewed in Stapleton et al.). Although contemporary CL wear has minimal impact on corneal sensation threshold, there is an indication that it may affect the conjunctival threshold. The aim of this preliminary work was to measure the threshold of the tarsal conjunctiva in CL wearers who had discontinued wear due to discomfort.
Prevalence of Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Pulmonary Disease

N mycobacteria (NTM) are a biologically diverse group of microorganisms that may cause progressive NTM pulmonary disease (NTM-PD), particularly in persons who have risk factors such as advanced age or chronic airway diseases (1–3). However, populationbased data on the epidemiology of NTM-PD are scarce, particularly in Europe. We used hospital discharge codes from the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10), as a surrogate to demonstrate that NTMPD prevalence is steadily increasing in Germany, as is the case in many other countries (4–6). However, we assumed that most patients with this chronic infection are managed in outpatient care. The objective of this population-based study was to estimate the annual overall prevalence rates of NTM-PD in Germany over a 6-year period and to analyze the distribution of age and sex, the site of healthcare provision, and concomitant conditions, using a representative sample of routine statutory health insurance claims data.
New hope for patients with pure lower motor neuron syndromes

Motor neuron disease is still one of the most dramatic neurological conditions; it reflects a range of which one end encompasses patients with the bulbar form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis who have dysarthria and dysphagia and have a dramatically shortened life expectancy. For patients with probable or definite motor neuron disease according to established criteria, the recent introduction of the antiglutamate drug riluzole gives a mean prolongation of life after diagnosis of some 3 months.1 The other end of the range of motor neuron disease is formed by patients with so called multifocal motor neuropathy. This is characterised by lower motor neuron dysfunction in the areas of selected motor nerves. Neurophysiological demonstration of conduction block over these nerves is pivotal for the diagnosis.2 Before the discovery of multifocal motor neuropathy as a separate and treatable condition, patients with …
Urban Growth and Land Degradation in Developing Cities: Change and Challenges in Kano Nigeria

Contents: Preface Glossary of Hausa words Introduction Sustainability, land degradation and peri-urban expansion Historical background to farming in the Kano close-settled zone Land, soil and sustainable livelihoods Urban pressure and woodland degradation: perceptions of tree cover change in the Kano close-settled zone Water quality, urban waste and sustainability Sustainability challenged? Seeing beyond Kano's 'political-ecological footprint' Bibliography Index.
Assessment of saline-freshwater interface structure in the Indian coastal delta complexes

The structure of the saline-freshwater interface is important in the context of estimating fresh groundwater reserves and sustainability, saline water intrusion processes and freshwater discharges into adjoining ocean basins. A method of investigating this structure using self potential and resistivity logs is presented and tested for the Mahanadi-Brahmini-Baitarni delta systems of Orissa on the Indian coast. The method involves establishing a graphical relationship between R w (true water resistivity) and R we (equivalent water resistivity) and the use of scatter trend diagrams between dissolved solids and other ions to derive and estimate ionic components for unknown zones at different depths. A three-dimensional saline-freshwater interface structure map of the study area has been derived and serves as an important tool for: (i) estimation of freshwater resources and withdrawal strategies for future well field development; (ii) understanding the processes and magnitude of saline water intrusion and developing appropriate mitigation strategies; and (iii) identifying areas with active subsurface fresh groundwater discharge channels into adjoining oceanic basins.
The Bovine Mystique: Power, Property and Livestock in Rural Lesotho

New information from Lesotho suggests a need to rethink common utilitarian and dualist approaches to livestock keeping in southern Africa. Non-commercial livestock practices in Lesotho can only be understood as the product of a particular cultural ordering of property which constitutes livestock and cash as distinct domains which are not freely inter-convertible. The cultural rules which define and valorise livestock as a special category of property are not residues from a traditional past but products of a contemporary social process which involves both local power relations and the larger structures of the regional migrant-labour economy which condition them. These power relations centre on the relationships: men/women (based on the division wage-earning husband/dependent wife), senior/junior (based on the division bridewealth receiver/bridewealth giver), and patron/client (based on the division livestock lender/livestock borrower). So-called 'traditional' modes of stock-keeping thus rest on a structure of property which finds very modern attachments and points of support in a range of contemporary institutions of the household, community, and regional economy. This suggests a theoretical need to focus less on dualist spheres or utilitarian 'rational choices' and more on clusters of interconnexion that may cut across received analytical categories.
Epidemiology and molecular diagnosis of acute conjunctivitis in patients attending Hamadan, west Iran ophthalmology clinics 2016 – 2017

Background: Viruses are considered the most common cause of infectious conjunctivitis. PCR has been approved as the best standard method to diagnose viral conjunctivitis. This study was conducted to investigate epidemiological patterns of conjunctivitis in Hamadan, west Iran. In addition, the frequency of the most important cause of infectious conjunctivitis diagnosed by PCR and its seasonal variations and association with certain socioeconomic and health factors were studied. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 125 patients with suspected viral conjunctivitis or keratoconjunctivitis in Hamadan, west Iran from July 2016 to June 2017 were examined for the presence of herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV1), HSV2, varicella-zoster virus (VZV), adenovirus. and Chlamydia trachomatis using multiplex real-time PCR. Results: Adenoviruses were the most prevalent pathogens (94.4%). HSV1 was found in two (1.6%) patients. HSV2, VZV, and C. trachomatis were not seen in any patients. There was no difference in acquisition of conjunctivitis between men and women. A total of 55 (44%) patients attended the clinics in summer. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that adenoviruses were a much more common viral cause of conjunctivitis in the studied region compared to ﬁ ndings in other regions. In addition, the acquisition rate of eye infection is expected to decrease dramatically in this region through control of adenoviruses. Demographic variables ie, age, sex, and income level, were not signi ﬁ cantly associated with acquisition of viral infection.
Time-Frequency Transforms for Radar Imaging and Signal Analysis

Introduction: radar electronic backscattering radar signals radar ambiguity function and matched filter synthetic aperture radar imaging. Time-frequency transforms: linear transforms bilinear transforms. Detection and extraction of signal noise: time-varying frequency filtering SNR improvement in time-frequency domain CFAR detection in joint time-frequency domain signal extraction in joint time-frequency domain. Time-frequency analysis of radar range profiles: electromagnetic phenomenology embedded in backscattered data time-frequency representation of range profiles application of high-resolution time-frequency techniques to scattering data extraction of dispersive scattering features from radar imagery using time-frequency processing. Time-frequency based image formation: radar imaging of moving targets motion compensation time-frequency based image formation radar imaging of manoeuvring targets radar imaging of multiple targets. Motion compensation in inverse synthetic aperture radar imaging using time-frequency techniques: motion compensation algorithms time-frequency based motion compensation motion compensation examples of simulated and measured data presence of three-dimensional target motion. Synthetic aperture radar imaging of moving target: radar signatures of moving targets effect of target motion on SAR imaging detection and imaging of moving targets SAR imaging of moving targets using time-frequency transforms. Time-frequency transform for analysis of micro-doppler phenomena: vibration induced micro-doppler rotation induced micro-doppler examples. Trends in time-frequency transforms for radar applications.
Anomaly detection and prediction of human actions in a video surveillance environment

World wide focus has over the years been shifting towards security issues, not in least due to recent world wide terrorist activities. Several researchers have proposed state of the art surveillance systems to help with some of the security issues with varying success. Recent studies have suggested that the ability of these surveillance systems to learn common environmental behaviour patterns as wells as to detect and predict unusual, or anomalous, activities based on those learnt patterns are possible improvements to those systems. In addition, some of these surveillance systems are still run by human operators, who are prone to mistakes and may need some help from the surveillance systems themselves in detection of anomalous activities. This dissertation attempts to address these suggestions by combining the fields of Image Understanding and Artificial Intelligence, specifically Bayesian Networks, to develop a prototype video surveillance system that can learn common environmental behaviour patterns, thus being able to detect and predict anomalous activity in the environment based on those learnt patterns. In addition, this dissertation aims to show how the prototype system can adapt to these anomalous behaviours and integrate them into its common patterns over a prolonged occurrence period. The prototype video surveillance system showed good performance and ability to detect, predict and integrate anomalous activity in the evaluation tests that were performed using a volunteer in an experimental indoor environment. In addition, the prototype system performed quite well on the PETS 2002 dataset 1, which it was not designed for. The evaluation procedure used some of the evaluation metrics commonly used on the PETS datasets. Hence, the prototype system provides a good approach to anomaly detection and prediction using Bayesian Networks trained on common environmental activities.