Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In vivo myelin imaging and tissue microstructure in white matter hyperintensities and perilesional white matter

Introduction: White Matter hyperintensities (WMHs) relate to cognitive decline in aging, due to their deleterious effect on white matter structure. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) detects changes to white matter microstructure, both within the WMH and extending in a penumbra-like pattern in surrounding (perilesional) normal appearing white matter (NAWM). However, DTI markers are not specific to tissue components, complicating interpretation of previous DTI findings. Myelin water imaging is a novel imaging technique that provides specific markers of myelin content (myelin water fraction: MWF) and interstitial fluid (geometric mean T2: GMT2). Here we combined DTI and myelin water imaging to examine tissue characteristics in WMHs and perilesional NAWM. Our goal was to establish a multimodal neuroimaging approach to track WMH progression. Methods: 80 individuals (47 older adults and 33 individuals with chronic stroke) underwent neuroimaging and tissue segmentation. To measure perilesional NAWM, WMH masks were dilated in 2mm segments up to 10mm in distance from the WMH to measure perilesional NAWM. Fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), MWF, and GMT2 were extracted from WMHs and perilesional NAWM. We examined whether white matter metrics showed a spatial gradient of effects in perilesional NAWM, as a function of Distance from the WMH, and Group. We tested whether white matter metrics in the WMH lesion related to severity of cerebrovascular disease across the whole sample, indexed by whole brain WMH volume. Results: We observed a spatial gradient of higher MD and GMT2, and lower FA, in perilesional NAWM and the WMH. In the chronic stroke group, MWF was reduced in the WMH lesion but did not show a spatial gradient in perilesional NAWM. Across the whole sample, white matter metrics within the WMH lesion related to whole-brain WMH volume; MD and GMT2 increased, and MWF decreased, with increasing WMH volume. Conclusions: NAWM adjacent to WMHs exhibits characteristics of a transitional stage between healthy NAWM tissue and WMH lesions. This was observed in markers sensitive to interstitial fluid, but not in the specific marker of myelin concentration (MWF). Within the WMH, interstitial fluid was higher and myelin concentration was lower in individuals with more severe cerebrovascular disease. Our data suggests that fluid-sensitive imaging metrics (such as DTI) can identify NAWM at high risk of conversion to a WMH. In contrast, specific markers of myelin concentration (e.g., MWF) can be used to measure levels of demyelination in the WMH itself, which may be a useful marker for disease staging of advanced WMHs.
The Understanding persistent Pain Where it ResiDes study of low back pain cohort profile

Background: Despite chronic low back pain (LBP) being considered a biopsychosocial condition for diagnosis and management, few studies have investigated neurophysiological and neuro-biological risk factors thought to underpin the transition from acute to chronic LBP. The aim of this cohort profile is to describe the methodology, compare baseline characteristics between acute LBP participants and pain-free controls, and compare LBP participants with or without completed follow-up. Methods: 120 individuals experiencing acute LBP and 57 pain-free controls were recruited to participate in the Understanding Persistent Pain Where it Resides (UPWaRD) study. Screening was conducted via email and phone. Neuro-biological, psychological, and sociodemographic data were collected at baseline, three- and six-months. LBP status was assessed using the numerical rating scale and Roland-Morris disability questionnaire at three and six-month follow-up. Results: 95 participants (79%) provided outcome data at three-month follow-up and 96 participants (80%) at six-months. Participants who did not complete follow-up at three- and six-months within the UPWaRD LBP cohort had higher psychological distress, higher pain interference, higher levels of moderate physical activity, and reported occupational difficulties due to pain (P = <0.05). Compared to controls, LBP participants in the UPWaRD cohort were older, had a higher BMI, a higher prevalence of comorbidities and higher medication usage. Higher depression, anxiety and stress, lower pain self-efficacy and higher pain catastrophizing during acute LBP were correlated with higher six-month pain and disability (P = < 0.01). Conclusions: This cohort profile reports baseline characteristics of the UPWaRD LBP and pain-free control cohort.
Effectiveness of BNT162b2 and ChAdOx1 against SARS-CoV-2 household transmission - a prospective cohort study in England

Background: The ability of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines to protect against infection and onward transmission determines whether immunisation can control global circulation. We estimated effectiveness of BNT162b2 and ChAdOx1 vaccines against acquisition and transmission of the Alpha and Delta variants in a prospective household study in England. Methods: Adult index cases in the community and their household contacts took oral-nasal swabs on days 1, 3 and 7 after enrolment. Swabs were tested by RT-qPCR with genomic sequencing conducted on a subset. We used Bayesian logistic regression to infer vaccine effectiveness against acquisition and transmission, adjusted for age, vaccination history and variant. Findings: Between 2 February 2021 and 10 September 2021 213 index cases and 312 contacts were followed up. After excluding households lacking genomic proximity (N=2) or with unlikely serial intervals (N=16), 195 households with 278 contacts remained of whom 113 (41%) became PCR positive. Delta lineages were 4.6 times (95% Credible Interval: 1.5 - 20.1) more transmissible than Alpha; contacts older than 18 years were 2.0 times (1.4 - 3.3) more likely to acquire infection than children. Effectiveness of two doses of BNT162b2 against transmission of Delta was 31% (-3%, 61%) and 42% (14%, 69%) for ChAdOx1, similar to their effectiveness for Alpha. Protection against infection with Alpha was higher than for Delta, 71% (12%,95%) vs 24% (-2%, 64%) respectively for BNT162b2 and 26% (-39%, 73%) vs 14% (-5%, 46%) respectively for ChAdOx1. Interpretation: BNT162b2 and ChAdOx1 reduce transmission of the Delta variant from breakthrough infections in the household setting though their protection against infection is low. Funding: This study was funded by the UK Health Security Agency (formerly Public Health England) as part of the COVID-19 response.
Microwave monolithic integrated circuit-related metrology at the National Institute of Standards and Technology

How the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) interacts with the GaAs community and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MIMIC) initiative is described. The organization of a joint industry and government laboratory consortium for MIMIC-related metrology research is described along with some of the initial technical developments at NIST done in support of the consortium. >
Estimating Economic Losses from Earthquakes Using an Empirical Approach

We extended the U.S. Geological Survey's Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) empirical fatality estimation methodology proposed by Jaiswal et al. (2009) to rapidly estimate economic losses after significant earthquakes worldwide. The requisite model inputs are shaking intensity estimates made by the ShakeMap system, the spatial distribution of population available from the LandScan database, modern and historic country or sub-country population and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data, and economic loss data from Munich Re's historical earthquakes catalog. We developed a strategy to approximately scale GDP-based economic exposure for historical and recent earthquakes in order to estimate economic losses. The process consists of using a country-specific multiplicative factor to accommodate the disparity between economic exposure and the annual per capita GDP, and it has proven successful in hindcast-ing past losses. Although loss, population, shaking estimates, and economic data used in the calibration process are uncertain, approximate ranges of losses can be estimated for the primary purpose of gauging the overall scope of the disaster and coordinating response. The proposed methodology is both indirect and approximate and is thus best suited as a rapid loss estimation model for applications like the PAGER system.
Human Performance Consequences of Automated Decision Aids

Two experiments are reported that investigate to what extent performance consequences of automated aids are dependent on the distribution of functions between human and automation and on the experience an operator has with an aid. In the first experiment, performance consequences of three automated aids for the support of a supervisory control task were compared. Aids differed in degree of automation (DOA). Compared with a manual control condition, primary and secondary task performance improved and subjective workload decreased with automation support, with effects dependent on DOA. Performance costs include return-to-manual performance issues that emerged for the most highly automated aid and effects of complacency and automation bias, respectively, which emerged independent of DOA. The second experiment specifically addresses how automation bias develops over time and how this development is affected by prior experience with the system. Results show that automation failures entail stronger effects than positive experience (reliably working aid). Furthermore, results suggest that commission errors in interaction with automated aids can depend on three sorts of automation bias effects: (a) withdrawal of attention in terms of incomplete cross-checking of information, (b) active discounting of contradictory system information, and (c) inattentive processing of contradictory information analog to a “looking-but-not-seeing” effect.
Estimating the impact of child and early adolescent depression on subsequent educational attainment: secondary analysis of an existing data linkage

Abstract Aims Depression is thought to be associated with lower subsequent educational attainment during school. But, without longitudinal studies which take account of prior attainment and other potential confounders, estimates of the impact of clinically recognised depression in childhood and early adolescence are unknown. We investigated whether a clinical diagnosis of depression is associated with lower subsequent educational attainment, and whether the association is modified by gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Methods We conducted a secondary analysis of an existing administrative data linkage between national educational data and a large mental healthcare provider in London, UK (2007–2013). Depression diagnosis before age 15 (exposure) was measured from electronic health records, and subsequent educational attainment at age 15–16 (outcome) was measured from educational records. We fitted logistic regression models and adjusted for gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, relative age in school year, neurodevelopmental disorder diagnosis and prior attainment. We investigated effect modifiers using interaction terms. Results In total, n = 63 623 were included in analysis, of whom n = 242 had record of a depression diagnosis before age 15. Depression was associated with lower odds of subsequently achieving expected attainment levels in national exams, after adjustment for all covariates (odds ratio = 0.60, 95% confidence interval = 0.43 to 0.84, p = 0.003). There was no evidence that gender, ethnicity or socioeconomic status modified this association. Conclusions These findings support a relationship between depression and lower subsequent educational attainment. This highlights the need for tailored educational interventions to support children and adolescents with depression, particularly in the lead up to key educational milestones.
Corporate Social Responsibility and Organizational Performance: Mediating Role of Employee Job Satisfaction

Abstract The study assesses the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and organizational performance of the companies listed on Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE). It further investigates the mediating effects of employee satisfaction on the relationship between CSR and OP. The survey data was collected from 246 responses, comprising junior and senior staff, senior level managers who are in charge of the day-to-day running of the companies and they are in the position to provide adequate and sufficient information with regards to the companies. A SmartPLS (version 3.2.3) was used to analyse the data. The findings of the study show that CSR activities significantly and positively influence organizational performance. This influence is found to be pronounced especially when CSR activities are deliberately exercised toward internal stakeholders. A positive relationship was found between CSR and ESAT, while ESAT also influence OP positively.
Determinants of the effective tax burden of companies in the Telecommunications activities in the Republic of Croatia

Abstract The aim of this paper is to identify the determinants of the effective tax burden of companies in the activity division Telecommunication in the Republic of Croatia. The research covers the time interval from 2008 to 2017. Dynamic panel analysis was used to conduct the research. Microeconomic data were obtained from the databases of the Financial Agency, and macroeconomic data from the Central Bureau of Statistics. The results indicate that the effective tax burden of companies in the activity division Telecommunication is affected by the effective tax burden from the previous period, company size, leverage, inventory intensity, profitability and economic cycle. While capital and labour intensity didn`t prove statistically significant. The main limitations of the research lie in the impossibility of generalizing the stated results to all companies from the observed activity, using only one evaluation model, and being a cabinet-type research, without confirmation of the results obtained by companies. The research received several scientific contributions: this is the first study of the determinants of the effective tax burden conducted in the Republic of Croatia; the research covers an entire activity whit different companies sizes, and not as in most previous research, which mainly include only large companies listed on the stock exchange; unlike previous studies that used a balanced sample, and in most cases static panel models, this study used an unbalanced sample and a dynamic panel model.
Self-discharge in supercapacitors: Causes, effects and therapies: An overview

Abstract Self-discharge as an omnipresent and unwelcome feature of electrochemical storage devices driven by fundamental forces is briefly introduced and put into perspective. Causes and observed effects as well as possible consequences and modifications in support of a therapy of these effects are described. Care is taken to consider observed phenomena with respect to different types of supercapacitors and different classes of electrode materials and additives inside a cell. Modeling and further theoretical approaches are presented. Recommendations for reporting and data presentation are provided.
In vitro inhibitory effects of glucosamine, chondroitin and diacerein on human hepatic CYP2D6

Abstract Objectives Glucosamine, chondroitin and diacerein are natural compounds commonly used in treating osteoarthritis. Their concomitant intake may trigger drug–natural product interactions. Cytochrome P450 (CYP) has been implicated in such interactions. Cytochrome P450 2D6 (CYP2D6) is a major hepatic CYP involved in metabolism of 25% of the clinical drugs. This study aimed to investigate the inhibitory effect of these antiarthritic compounds on CYP2D6. Methods CYP2D6 was heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli. CYP2D6–antiarthritic compound interactions were studied using in vitro enzyme kinetics assay and molecular docking. Results The high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-based dextromethorphan O-demethylase assay was established as CYP2D6 marker. All glucosamines and chondroitins weakly inhibited CYP2D6 (IC50 values >300 µM). Diacerein exhibited moderate inhibition with IC50 and K i values of 34.99 and 38.27 µM, respectively. Its major metabolite, rhein displayed stronger inhibition potencies (IC50=26.22 μM and K i =32.27 μM). Both compounds exhibited mixed-mode of inhibition. In silico molecular dockings further supported data from the in vitro study. From in vitro–in vivo extrapolation, rhein presented an area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) ratio of 1.5, indicating low potential to cause in vivo inhibition. Conclusions Glucosamine, chondroitin and diacerein unlikely cause clinical interaction with the drug substrates of CYP2D6. Rhein, exhibits only low potential to cause in vivo inhibition.
Towards a model of information systems user competency

and were added considering the novelty of this construct. Table 5.5: Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficients – Pilot Study Construct Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient Perception of IS Value . 94 Willingness to Try and to Explore . 92 Domain Knowledge of and Skills in IS . 97 IS User Competency . 96
Project Portfolio Control and Portfolio Management Performance in Different Contexts

This article investigates the nature and relationship of project portfolio control techniques and portfolio management performance, and how this relationship is moderated by situational idiosyncrasies of internal and external dynamics, industries, governance types, and geographic location. A worldwide questionnaire with 242 responses was used, of which 136 high-performing responses were filtered out for quantitative analysis of best practices. Three portfolio control factors were identified: portfolio selection, portfolio reporting, and decision-making style. Two measures for portfolio management performance were identified: achievement of desired portfolio results and achievement of project and program purpose. The results indicate that different portfolio control mechanisms are associated with different performance measures. A contingency model was developed, including moderating effects by contextual variables.
Joint production control and product quality decision making in a failure prone multiple-product manufacturing system

This paper considers joint production control and product quality specifications decision making in unreliable multiple-product manufacturing system. This is with the knowledge that an optimum compromise should guide the decision making process. In fact, tight process specifications will generally lead to products with good quality and higher market values, but at the same time associated with a higher rate of non-conforming parts rejection leading to higher non quality costs and lower plant productivity. Moreover, in unreliable manufacturing context the decision maker should adopt an adequate production policy to hedge against future capacity shortages caused by machine failures in order to meet customer demand. This paper intends to extend previous findings to tackle this problem and study the overall decision making process aiming to guide the production and quality specification decisions in multiple-product context. The overall optimal decision policy is defined here as one that maximises the long term average per unit time profit of a combined measure of quality and quantity dependent sales revenue, minus inventory and backlog costs, in the presence of random plant failures and random repair durations.
CryoPoseNet: End-to-End Simultaneous Learning of Single-particle Orientation and 3D Map Reconstruction from Cryo-electron Microscopy Data

Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) provides images from different copies of the same biomolecule in arbitrary orientations. Here, we present an end-to-end unsupervised approach that learns individual particle orientations directly from cryo-EM data while reconstructing the 3D map of the biomolecule following random initialization. The approach relies on an auto-encoder architecture where the latent space is explicitly interpreted as orientations used by the decoder to form an image according to the physical projection model. We evaluate our method on simulated data and show that it is able to reconstruct 3D particle maps from noisy- and CTF-corrupted 2D projection images of unknown particle orientations.
Sample-Efficient Learning of Cellular Antenna Parameter Settings

Finding an optimum configuration of base station (BS) antenna parameters is a challenging, non-convex problem for cellular networks. The chosen configuration has major implications for coverage and throughput in real-world systems, as it effects signal strength differently throughout the cell, as well as dictating the interference caused to other cells. In this paper, we propose a novel and sample-efficient data-driven methodology for optimizing antenna downtilt angles. Our approach combines Bayesian optimization (BO) with Differential Evolution (DE): BO decreases the computational burden of DE, while DE helps BO avoid the curse of dimensionality. We evaluate the performance on a realistic state-of-the-art cellular system simulator developed by AT&T Labs, that includes all layers of the protocol stack and sophisticated channel models. Our results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms Bayesian optimization, random selection, and the baseline settings adopted in 3GPP by nontrivial amounts in terms of both capacity and coverage. Also, our approach is notably more time-efficient than DE alone.
Regime type, issues of contention, and economic sanctions: Re-evaluating the economic peace between democracies

Past studies have applied insights from the democratic peace to show that democracies are also less likely to sanction one another compared to other regime types. More recent work challenges this finding by arguing that the economic peace between democracies largely disappears once methodological improvements are included along with the particular behavior of the United States as market hegemon. This article cautions that these critiques may themselves be an artifact of particularities in past data on economic sanctions. Using a larger and more representative sanctions dataset, the analysis shows that democracies do seem less likely on average to sanction each other. Furthermore, the United States does not appear to be unique in its sanctioning behavior compared to other democracies. However, the article proposes a middle ground between proponents and skeptics of an economic peace between democracies. The analysis shows that the pacifying effects of joint democracy only operate for security related sanctions, while in non-security related matters democratic constraints are less evident. The results point to the importance of considering more closely the choice of data on sanctions, but also the need to take into account the issues under contention for episodes of economic coercion.