Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long-tailed Visual Recognition via Gaussian Clouded Logit Adjustment

Long-tailed data is still a big challenge for deep neural networks, even though they have achieved great success on balanced data. We observe that vanilla training on longtailed data with crossentropy loss makes the instance-rich head classes severely squeeze the spatial distribution of the tail classes, which leads to difficulty in classifying tail class samples. Furthermore, the original crossentropy loss can only propagate gradient short-lively because the gradient in softmax form rapidly approaches zero as the logit difference increases. This phenomenon is called softmax saturation. It is unfavorable for training on balanced data, but can be utilized to adjust the validity of the samples in long-tailed data, thereby solving the distorted embedding space of long-tailed problems. To this end, this paper proposes the Gaussian clouded logit adjustment by Gaussian perturbation of different class logits with varied amplitude. We define the amplitude of perturbation as cloud size and set relatively large cloud sizes to tail classes. The large cloud size can reduce the softmax saturation and thereby making tail class samples more active as well as enlarging the embedding space. To alleviate the bias in a classifier, we therefore propose the class-based effective number sampling strategy with classifier retraining. Extensive experiments on benchmark datasets validate the superior performance of the proposed method. Source code is available at https://github.com/Keke921/GCLLoss.
Evaluation of B-Cell Kinetics After Acellular Pertussis Vaccination in Four Cohorts of Different Age and Priming Background

Pertussis is a vaccine-preventable disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. Over the past years, the incidence and mortality of pertussis increased significantly. A possible cause is the switch from whole cell to acellular pertussis vaccines, although other factors may also contribute. To develop future vaccines and improve current vaccination strategies, it is critical to understand factors influencing the generation of immunological memory. We applied high-dimensional flow cytometry to investigate changes in B cells in individuals of different ages and distinct priming backgrounds upon administration of an acellular pertussis booster vaccine. These findings were correlated to vaccine-specific plasma cells and serum Ig levels. Expansion and maturation of plasma cells 7 days post-vaccination was the most prominent cellular change in all age groups, and was most pronounced for more mature IgG1+ plasma cells. Cellular responses were stronger in individuals primed with whole cell vaccine than in individuals primed with acellular vaccine. Moreover, IgG1+ plasma cell expansion weakly correlated with Prn- and PT- specific serum IgG levels. Our study points at plasma cells as a potential early cellular marker of an immune response and contributes to understanding differences in immune responses between age groups and priming backgrounds.
Causal Effect Analysis of Demographic Concordance of Physician Trust and Respect in an Emergency Care Setting

Objective Patient perceptions of physician trust and respect are important factors for patient satisfaction evaluations. However, perceptions are subjective by nature and can be affected by patient and physician demographic characteristics. We aim to determine the causal effect on patient–physician demographic concordance and patient perceptions of physician trust and respect in an emergency care setting. Methods We performed a causal effect analysis in an observational study setting. A near-real-time patient satisfaction survey was sent via telephone to patients within 72 h of discharge from an emergency department (ED). Patient-trust-physician (PTP) and physician-show-respect (PSR) scores were measured. Patient and physician demographics (age, gender, race, and ethnicity) were matched. Causal effect was analyzed to determine the direct effect of patient–physician demographic concordance on PTP/PSR scores. Results We enrolled 1815 patients. The treatment effect of patient–physician age concordance on PTP scores was −0.119 (p = 0.036). Other treatment effect of patient–physician demographic concordance on patient perception of physician trust and respect ranged from −0.02 to −0.2 (p > 0.05). Conclusion Patient–physician age concordance may cause a negative effect on patient perception of physician trust. Otherwise, patient–physician demographic concordance has no effect on patient perceptions of physician trust and respect.
Sustainability of water facilities under community based management in Zimbabwe

Community Based Management (CBM) has been envisaged as a panacea to sustainability challenges faced in the Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector globally. In spite of this approach having success stories, studies have shown that failures are also being recorded. This study investigated the sustainability of rural water supply facilities under the CBM approach in Chipinge District of Zimbabwe. The specific objectives were to assess the technical, financial and institutional factors influencing sustainability. A cross sectional study design was used. Data was collected using Focus Group Discussions, Key Informant Interviews, household questionnaires and an observation checklist. Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS and Microsoft Excel while qualitative data was analysed using the thematic approach. Results showed that the technical factors which are influencing sustainability are age of the water facility, frequency of carrying out preventive maintenance and existence of external support. Regression analysis showed a positive linear correlation between age and breakdown frequency (R2 = 0.46) and the odds of obtaining a breakdown decreased as the frequency of preventive maintenance increased. User communities were contributing inadequate O&M funds resulting in long downtimes. Non-functionality of WPCs negatively influenced sustainability. The study recommends training of user communities on CBM and technical skills.
Methylglyoxal Induces Endothelial Dysfunction via Stunning-like Phenotype

Elevated levels of methylglyoxal (MG) and its associated post-translational modifications have been reported to be associated with progression and development of numerous pathological conditions. Despite such extensive evidence, it still remains unclear what the specific effects of MG are other than that induction of cytotoxicity. Here we evaluated the effects of MG in cardiac endothelial cells in vitro. We found that MG leads to a non-proliferative state and endothelial dysfunction, which is reversible as MG-H1, a major post-translational modification induced by MG, is turned over by lysosomal degradation. MG-induced cellular stunning/paralysis describes a new hallmark for cellular dysfunction which could lead to alterations in tissue homeostasis as well as cell-to-cell interactions, thereby contributing to the pathogenesis of diseases.
Enhancement of the immunity and body weight gain in broiler by feeding with the brewer’s yeast β-glucan degraded by gamma Co-60 radiation

The insoluble β-glucan extracted from the cell wall of brewer’s yeast was dispersed in deionized water for swelling, then irradiated in order to degrade into water-soluble β-glucan. The results revealed that the water-soluble β-glucan contents in the irradiated samples were increased with radiation dose to 25.89, 49.07 and 66.71%; whereas their molecular weight (Mw) decreased to 48.1, 23.0 and 10.8 kDa by gamma irradiation at 100, 200 and 300 kGy, respectively. The supplementation of poultry feed with the radiation degraded β-glucan enhanced both non-specific (total white blood cells, lymphocytes, neutrocytes) and specific immune components (anti-Newcastle disease, anti-Gumboro disease virus and anti-infectious bronchitis virus antibodies) in the broilers. In comparison with the control, broiler fed normal poultry foodstuff without β-glucan, the supplementation of radiation degraded β-glucan not only increased the survival rate of the testing broiler about 33.3% and their average body weight of about 24.4%, but also reduced the feed conversion rate from 4.8 to 3.1 kg. The β-glucan oligosaccharides that having Mw of about 25 kDa produced by gamma irradiation at 200 kGy showed the highest effect on the growth performance and immunomodulatory capability in the immune system of the testing broilers. This product is promising to be applied for production of the safe stimulator of immunity for broiler chickens.
Kinetics and Energetics of Intramolecular Electron Transfer in Single-Point Labeled TUPS-Cytochrome c Derivatives

Electron transfer within and between proteins is a fundamental biological phenomenon, in which efficiency depends on several physical parameters. We have engineered a number of horse heart cytochrome c single-point mutants with cysteine substitutions at various positions of the protein surface. To these cysteines, as well as to several native lysine side chains, the photoinduced redox label 8-thiouredopyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonate (TUPS) was covalently attached. The long-lived, low potential triplet excited state of TUPS, generated with high quantum efficiency, serves as an electron donor to the oxidized heme c. The rates of the forward (from the label to the heme) and the reverse (from the reduced heme back to the oxidized label) electron transfer reactions were obtained from multichannel and single wavelength flash photolysis absorption kinetic experiments. The electronic coupling term and the reorganization energy for electron transfer in this system were estimated from temperature-dependent experiments and compared with calculated parameters using the crystal and the solution NMR structure of the protein. These results together with the observation of multiexponential kinetics strongly support earlier conclusions that the flexible arm connecting TUPS to the protein allows several shortcut routes for the electron involving through space jumps between the label and the protein surface.
Association Between the Interferon-γ +874 T/A Polymorphism and the Risk and Clinical Manifestations of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Preliminary Study

Background Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) is a pivotal cytokine involved in the development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The IFN-γ +874 T/A polymorphism has been shown to be related to the susceptibility to SLE in other races, but this has not been investigated in the Chinese Han population. Methods We designed this study to interpret the potential correlation between this polymorphism and SLE risk in a Chinese Han population. We included 374 SLE patients and 405 controls in this study. Odds ratios and relevant 95% confidence intervals were figured out to evaluate the potential strength of the association. Results Data revealed that the IFN-γ +874 T/A polymorphism showed an association with an enhanced risk of SLE in this Chinese Han population. TA or TA +AA genotype carriers showed an increased risk of developing SLE. Subgroup analyses found that this polymorphism elevated the risk of SLE among females. Additionally, this polymorphism was associated with clinical manifestations of SLE including lupus nephritis, proteinuria, anti-dsDNA antibodies, anti-Sm antibodies, and SLICC/ACR damage index. Furthermore, we conducted a meta-analysis and found that this polymorphism was associated with the risk of SLE, especially among Asians. Conclusion Totally, this study detects that the IFN-γ +874 T/A polymorphism is related to the risk and clinical manifestations of SLE in a Chinese Han population.
Disc and Vertebral Body Morphology From Birth to Adulthood

Accurate 3D-measurements demonstrate that vertebral bodies increase in height up to adulthood, but discs only in the first years. The discs transverse surface area increases continuously; thus, disc slenderness decreases overall. Relatively, adolescent female discs remain slenderer. These measurements may assist future studies on disc morphology in spinal deformities. Study Design. Cross-sectional. Objective. The aim of this study was to describe the morphology of intervertebral discs and vertebral bodies during growth in asymptomatic children and adolescents. Summary of Background Data. Earlier studies demonstrated that spinal growth occurs predominantly in vertebral bodies. This axiom introduced a vertebral-body-focus for unravelling etiological questions and achieve growth-modulation in young spinal deformity patients. Recent studies show the importance of the intervertebral discs in the early phases and possible etiology of pediatric spinal deformities. There is presently a paucity of 3D morphometric data of spinal elements during growth. Methods. A database of 298 patients aged 0 to 21 that have received a computed tomography scan for indications not related to the spine was analyzed. Custom made software was used to semi-automatically measure intervertebral disc and vertebral body morphology, corrected for orientation in all 3 planes. Results. Vertebral body height increased from birth up to adulthood, from 4-to-14 mm in the cervical, 6 to 20 mm in the thoracic, and 9 to 28 mm in the lumbar spine. This increase was 0.70 mm/year in males, more pronounced than females with 0.62 mm/year (P = 0.001). Lumbar discs increased throughout growth from 4.4 to 9.0 mm, whereas thoracic discs only increased from 3.5 to 4.9 mm at age 4 and remained stable afterwards, similarly for cervical discs. The disc transverse surface area increased greatly and consistently throughout growth. Disc slenderness was stable in the lumbar spine during growth, but decreased in the thoracic and cervical spine. Overall, discs were more slender in females, especially around early adolescence. Conclusion. The spine grows predominantly in the vertebral bodies. Thoracic discs increase in height only during the first years, whereas the transverse surface area continues to increase throughout growth, thus discs slenderness decreases. Relatively, female discs remained slenderer around growth-spurt. These measurements may assist future studies on the role of disc morphology in the etiology and treatment of spinal deformity. Level of Evidence: 4
Transferability of Community-Based Collision Prediction Models for Use in Road Safety Planning Applications

Collision prediction models (CPMs) are statistically developed mathematical models that relate the occurrence of traffic collisions to various traits or explanatory variables of locations and zones. This paper describes the use of several recently developed community-based, macro-level CPMs and model-use guidelines in a CPM transferability case study for spatial and temporal transferability. The objective was to test the model-use guidelines in an application that involved transferring CPMs developed using 1996 data for the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) for use in the Central Okanagan Regional District (CORD) using 2003 data. The GVRD and CORD are regions located 400 km apart in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. The case study was carried out in two parts. First, CPMs were developed using 2003 data for the City of Kelowna following recommended community-based, macrolevel collision prediction model development guidelines. Second, existing CPMs were transferred from the GVRD to the CORD, using the recommended transferability guidelines. An analysis of the results revealed that macrolevel CPM transferability was possible and no more complicated than microlevel CPM transferability. To facilitate the development of reliable community-based macrolevel collision prediction models, it is recommended that CPMs be transferred rather than developed whenever and wherever communities lack sufficient data of adequate quality.
SCHOOL RE-OPENING SIMULATIONS WITH COVID-19 AGENT-BASED MODEL FOR QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES

Abstract. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted schools to close in 2020, and with its negative impact on the quality of learning, the conversation shifts to the re-opening scenarios. In this study, we coupled a COVID-19 agent-based model (ABM) with social contact probabilities from pre-pandemic estimates. We then simulated school re-opening and vaccination scenarios in Quezon City, Philippines using our ABM. Our toy simulations suggest that the city could already re-open schools with 50% vaccination coverage. However, we suggest that students shall be vaccinated first, mask-wearing and physical distance shall be strictly observed, and schools shall only be re-opened by 25% as a precaution. Policymakers may take insights from the study.
Joint coding and modulation designs for bandlimited satellite channels

This thesis addresses the problem of severe bandwidth. and power limitation of future satellite systems by a joint consideration of coding and modulation. Bandwidth economy is achieved by two methods. First, baseband pulses with rapid spectral rolloff and less than unity bandwidth-to-symbol-rate ratioare obtained by allowing controlled intersymbol interference (ISI). Second, phase shift keying (PSK) having more phases is used. Convolutional encoding with maximum likelihood decoding is used to tradeoff some bandwidth economy acquired to overcome the power limitation. Lower bounds, tight in most cases, are derived for the minimum free Euclidean distance of the modulator output signals, after coding and inclusive of ISI. These bounds are used for searching good encoders. Various encoder structures and modulation schemes are proposed. In combining a rate 2/3 encoder of six binary memories with 80-PSK modulation having controlled ISI, an Eb/No gain of 4-5 dB over uncoded QPSK is achieved simultaneously with marked spectral improvement. System performances are evaluated theoretically and confirmed by simulation. THESIS SUPERVISOR: Pierre A. Humblet TITLE: Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering CO-OP COMPANY SUPERVISOR: Russell J. F. Fang TITLE: Manager, Communication System Analysis, COMSAT Labs
Efficacy of single-dose HPV vaccination among young African women

Background: Single-dose HPV vaccination, if efficacious, would be tremendously advantageous; simplifying implementation and decreasing costs. Methods: We performed a randomized, multi-center, double-blind, controlled trial of single-dose nonavalent (HPV 16/18/31/33/45/52/58/6/11) or bivalent (HPV 16/18) HPV vaccination compared to meningococcal vaccination among Kenyan women aged 15-20 years. Enrollment and six monthly cervical swabs and a month three vaginal swab were tested for HPV DNA. Enrollment sera were tested for HPV antibodies. The modified intent-to-treat (mITT) cohort comprised participants who tested HPV antibody negative at enrollment and HPV DNA negative at enrollment and month three. The primary outcome was incident persistent vaccine-type HPV infection by month 18. Results: Between December 2018 and June 2021, 2,275 women were randomly assigned and followed; 758 received the nonavalent HPV vaccine, 760 the bivalent HPV vaccine, and 757 the meningococcal vaccine; retention was 98%. Thirty-eight incident persistent infections were detected in the HPV 16/18 mITT cohort: one each among participants assigned to the bivalent and nonavalent groups and 36 among those assigned to the meningococcal group; nonavalent Vaccine Efficacy (VE) was 97.5% (95%CI 81.7-99.7%, p=<0.0001), and bivalent VE was 97.5% (95%CI 81.6-99.7%, p=<0.0001). Thirty-three incident persistent infections were detected in the HPV 16/18/31/33/45/52/58 mITT cohort: four in the nonavalent group and 29 in the meningococcal group; nonavalent VE for HPV 16/18/31/33/45/52/58 was 88.9% (95%CI 68.5-96.1%, p<0.0001). The rate of SAEs was 4.5-5.2% by group. Conclusions: Over the 18 month time-frame we studied, single-dose bivalent and nonavalent HPV vaccines were each highly effective in preventing incident persistent oncogenic HPV infection, similar to multidose regimens.
Gas Rises Rapidly Through Drilling Mud

To understand the development of a gas kick, we must know the rate at which gas migrates upward through drilling mud. Migration rates measured in laboratory experiments are much greater than those commonly accepted by the drilling industry. To address this controversy, we use a computer simulator to model field data and test-well experiments in detail. Both the experiments and the field data show that gas migrates as fast as 6000 ftlhr [0.5 m/s] through drilling mud. The field data show that gas migration can drive surface pressure up as fast as 3000 psilhr [4.9 kPals]. These conclusions agree with laboratory experiments and contradict what is generally accepted in the industry. The results from the simulation of the field kick were incorporated in a case study. The study increases drill crew awareness of the speed at which gas can arrive at surface and demonstrates that a reduction in pump pressure can be a very late kick indicator.
Scavenging Tumor Necrosis Factor α Does Not Affect Inhibition of Dentate Granule Cells Following In Vitro Entorhinal Cortex Lesion

Neurons that lose part of their afferent input remodel their synaptic connections. While cellular and molecular mechanisms of denervation-induced changes in excitatory neurotransmission have been identified, little is known about the signaling pathways that control inhibition in denervated networks. In this study, we used mouse entorhino-hippocampal tissue cultures of both sexes to study the role of the pro-inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) in denervation-induced plasticity of inhibitory neurotransmission. In line with our previous findings in vitro, an entorhinal cortex lesion triggered a compensatory increase in the excitatory synaptic strength of partially denervated dentate granule cells. Inhibitory synaptic strength was not changed 3 days after the lesion. These functional changes were accompanied by a recruitment of microglia in the denervated hippocampus, and experiments in tissue cultures prepared from TNF-reporter mice [C57BL/6-Tg(TNFa-eGFP)] showed increased TNFα expression in the denervated zone. However, inhibitory neurotransmission was not affected by scavenging TNFα with a soluble TNF receptor. In turn, a decrease in inhibition, i.e., decreased frequencies of miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents, was observed in denervated dentate granule cells of microglia-depleted tissue cultures. We conclude from these results that activated microglia maintain the inhibition of denervated dentate granule cells and that TNFα is not required for the maintenance of inhibition after denervation.
Beam Characterization and Improvement with a Flux Mapping System for Dish Concentrators

A flux mapping system able to measure the flux distribution of dish/Stirling systems in planes perpendicular to the optical axis was built and operated at the Plataforma Solar de Almeria (PSA). It uses the indirect measuring method with a water-cooled Lambertian target placed in the beam path and a CCD-camera mounted on the concentrator taking images of the brightness distribution of the focal spot. The calibration is made by calculating the total power coming from the dish and relating it to the integrated gray value over the whole measurement area. The system was successfully operated in a DISTAL II stretched membrane dish and in the new EURODISH in order to characterize their beams and improve the flux distribution on their receivers.Copyright © 2002 by ASME