Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Breast Tumour Classification Using Ultrasound Elastography with Machine Learning: A Systematic Scoping Review

Simple Summary Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers among women globally. Early and accurate screening of breast tumours can improve survival. Ultrasound elastography is a non-invasive and non-ionizing imaging approach to characterize lesions for breast cancer screening, while machine learning techniques could improve the accuracy and reliability of computer-aided diagnosis. This review focuses on the state-of-the-art development and application of the machine learning model in breast tumour classification. Abstract Ultrasound elastography can quantify stiffness distribution of tissue lesions and complements conventional B-mode ultrasound for breast cancer screening. Recently, the development of computer-aided diagnosis has improved the reliability of the system, whilst the inception of machine learning, such as deep learning, has further extended its power by facilitating automated segmentation and tumour classification. The objective of this review was to summarize application of the machine learning model to ultrasound elastography systems for breast tumour classification. Review databases included PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, and EMBASE. Thirteen (n = 13) articles were eligible for review. Shear-wave elastography was investigated in six articles, whereas seven studies focused on strain elastography (5 freehand and 2 Acoustic Radiation Force). Traditional computer vision workflow was common in strain elastography with separated image segmentation, feature extraction, and classifier functions using different algorithm-based methods, neural networks or support vector machines (SVM). Shear-wave elastography often adopts the deep learning model, convolutional neural network (CNN), that integrates functional tasks. All of the reviewed articles achieved sensitivity ≥80%, while only half of them attained acceptable specificity ≥95%. Deep learning models did not necessarily perform better than traditional computer vision workflow. Nevertheless, there were inconsistencies and insufficiencies in reporting and calculation, such as the testing dataset, cross-validation, and methods to avoid overfitting. Most of the studies did not report loss or hyperparameters. Future studies may consider using the deep network with an attention layer to locate the targeted object automatically and online training to facilitate efficient re-training for sequential data.
Effect of Echinacea Purpurea Extract on Anxiety-Like Behaviors in Neonatal Rats

Background: The use of herbal products is increased among people wordwide. Regarding lacking evidence on the use of herbal medication in children, this study was aimed to determine the effects of Echinacea Purpurea extract on anxiety-like behavior in neonatal rats. Materials and Methods: Forty male Wister strain pups in four groups received i.p injections of E. Purpurea extract (40, 80, and 250 mg/kg) or saline on 5th to 9th postnatal days. All pups were examined for anxiety test on the 22nd postnatal day in the elevated plus-maze test. During the test, parameters include percentage of open arm time (%OAT), percentage of open arm entry (%OAE), head dipping, rearing and locomotor activity have been measured. Results: In the present study, administration of 40, 80 and 250mg/kg doses of the E. Purpurea extract revealed a significant decrease in the %OAT compared to saline group (P<0.01). The E. Purpurea extract decreased head dipping parameters (P<0.01) and increased rearing parameters (P<0.01). E. Purpurea did not significantly change the locomotor activity. Conclusions: The results of present study showed that postnatal administration of E. Purpurea extract increases anxiety in neonatal rats comparing to control group. [GMJ.2017;6(1):52-60]
The cell growth cycle : resource 1 allocation and subcellular pattern 2 formation in budding yeast

17 Metabolic oscillations percolate throughout cellular physiology. The transcriptome oscillates 18 between expression of genes encoding for biosynthesis and growth, and for catabolism and stress 19 response. Long protein half-lives suppress effects on protein abundance level, and the function of 20 periodic transcription remains elusive. We performed RNA-seq analysis during a dynamic state of 21 the system. Short protein half-lives and high transcript abundance amplitude of sulfur uptake 22 genes and carbonic anhydrase, and dynamic changes of pathway intermediates H2S and CO2 23 support a direct role of transcription in cycle dynamics. Substantial changes in the relative duration 24 of expression of the antagonistic co-expression cohorts precede a system bifurcation to a longer 25 period, supporting the idea of a function in cellular resource allocation. The pulse-width 26 modulation model, a mathematical formulation of this idea, can explain a large body of published 27 experimental data on the dependence of the cycle period on the culture growth rate. This 28 pulse-like model of cell growth provides a first theoretical framework, where the phenomenon is 29 understood as a mechanism of cellular resource allocation and protein homeostasis, and is 30 applicable to circadian transcriptome dynamics from all domains of life. 31
Effects of Leadership Styles on Employee Performance: A Case Study of Turnall Holdings LTD, Harare

This article presents the results of a study that was undertaken to examine the impact of styles of leadership on employees’ performance, mainly the impact of transformational, transactional and laissez -faire leadership styles. In addition, especially, during rapid Covid-19 pandemic, leadership skills that effectively maintain organizational goals and objectives at the same time managing teams effectively is the key for organizational sustainability. Thus, crucial issues that impact leadership aiming to implement policies by World Health Organization (WHO) in an effort to curb contagion to employees are discussed. Statistical population of the study consists of 255 employees. A sample size of 156 was drawn from Turnall Holdings using a stratified random sampling technique. A quantitative approach, descriptive survey research design and a structured questionnaire which consists of close-ended questions were used for this study. The questionnaire was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0. The leadership styles were measured through the Multi-factor Leadership Questionnaire. Employee performance was measured using Yousef (2000) scale. Regression, descriptive, demographic analysis and reliability test, (Cronbach’s Alpha) were presented. For data analysis, descriptive and inferential techniques were used. Regression coefficient was utilized to assess the influence of styles of leadership on the performance of employees. Results exhibited that transformational and laissez-faire styles significantly positively impact employee performance. Whilst, transactional leadership is found to have a negative impact. Hence, to achieve desired upsurge performance this study commends that leader should exert more transformational followed by laissez-faire attributes and possibly shun transactional style since it diminishes employee performance. Study findings can benefit leaders as they could recognize and adopt the most appropriate styles and skills of leadership to be executed in order to attain maximum employee performance during and post Covid-19 pandemic.
Sex-Dependent Social and Repetitive Behavior and Neurochemical Profile in Mouse Model of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by deficits in social interaction, impaired communication, and repetitive behaviors. ASD presents a 3:1 ratio of diagnosed boys and girls, raising the question regarding sexual dimorphic mechanisms underlying ASD symptoms, and their molecular basis. Here, we performed in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in juvenile male and female Tsc2+/− mice (an established genetic animal model of ASD). Moreover, behavior and ultrasonic vocalizations during social and repetitive tasks were analyzed. We found significant sexual dimorphisms in the levels of metabolites in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Further, we observed that female mutant animals had a differential social behavior and presented an increase in repetitive behavior. Importantly, while mutant females displayed a more simplified communication during social tasks, mutant males exhibited a similar less complex vocal repertoire but during repetitive tasks. These results hint toward sex-dependent alterations in molecular and metabolic pathways, which can lead to the sexual dimorphic behaviors and communication observed in social and repetitive environments.
High-speed rail, urban form, and regional innovation: a time-varying difference-in-differences approach

ABSTRACT China's high-speed rail (HSR) construction provides an ideal ‘quasi-natural experiment’ in which regional issues are investigated. This study explores how HSR affects innovation efficiency and explores the mediating effect of urban form. Based on panel data comprising 280 cities in China from 2006 to 2016, this study uses a time-varying difference-in-differences method to analyze whether HSR affects regional innovation, and it explores the mediating effect of urban form. The results show the following. (1) HSR significantly promotes regional innovation. The parallel trend test shows that the treatment group and the control group have the same trend before HSR construction. (2) Knowledge spillovers are important manifestations through which HSR promotes regional innovation. HSR can significantly improve the level of total factor productivity and human capital. (3) Urban form mediates the impact of HSR on regional innovation significantly, which varies across the different indexes of different urban forms.
Comparing the road safety of neighbourhood development patterns: traditional versus sustainable communities

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has been researching a sustainable community development pattern — the Fused Grid road network. This paper reports on research to compare the road safety level of the Fused Grid with four other networks, including: traditional (1) grid and (2) culs-de-sac patterns, and, recently developed (3) 3-way offset and (4) Dutch sustainable road safety (SRS) patterns. Community-based, macro-level collision prediction models were developed and applied with data from Vancouver, Ottawa, and Victoria. The research used standard experimental design methods, including: control-trigger variables, sensitivity analysis, and cross-sectional analysis. Statistically significant results were obtained, and suggested that neighbourhoods built following CMHC's Fused Grid road network pattern would realize a 30 to 60% higher level of road safety than the commonly-used grid and culs-de-sac patterns, and a level of safety comparable to the 3-way offset pattern. Further research topics were recommended.
FREE-VIBRATION OF EMBEDDED FOUNDATIONS - THEORY VERSUS EXPERIMENT - CLOSURE

Comprehensive experimental results of 54 free-vibration tests on model footings embedded at various depths in moist dense sand and having circular, square, and rectangular base shapes were reported by Erden and Stokoe in 1974 and 1985. The results for vertical and coupled swaying-rocking oscillations are used in this paper to verify the homogeneous-half-space solutions given in a companion paper published by Gazetas in 1991 in the form of algebraic formulas and graphs for dynamic stiffnesses and damping factors. Particular attention is accorded to selecting appropriate values of the effective S-wave velocity, using either Erden’s original measurements and recommendations of 1974 or the measured response of the corresponding surface footings. It is demonstrated beyond significant doubt that: (1) The lower value of shear modulus around the footing sides and slippage at the footing side-soil interface may have contributed to not more than 25% of the shortfall in the experimental values; and (2) boundary wave reflections, primarily at the vertical interface between the sand and the high-damping soft boundary layer, are responsible for at least 75% of the observed discrepancies, having essentially eliminated the contribution to radiation damping from the swaying component of motion.
Low-altitude Sensing of Urban Atmospheric Turbulence with UAV

The capabilities of a quadcopter in the hover mode for low-altitude sensing of atmospheric turbulence with high spatial resolution in urban areas characterized by complex orography are investigated. The studies were carried out in different seasons (winter, spring, summer, and fall), and the quadcopter hovered in the immediate vicinity of ultrasonic weather stations. The DJI Phantom 4 Pro quadcopter and AMK-03 ultrasonic weather stations installed in different places of the studied territory were used in the experiment. The smoothing procedure was used to main regularities in the behavior of the longitudinal and lateral spectra of turbulence in the inertial and energy production ranges. The longitudinal and lateral turbulence scales were estimated by the least-square fit method with the von Karman model as a regression curve. It is shown that the turbulence spectra obtained with DJI Phantom 4 Pro and AMK-03 generally coincide with minor differences observed in the high-frequency region of the spectrum. In the inertial range, the behavior of the turbulence spectra shows that they obey the Kolmogorov-Obukhov “5/3” law. In the energy production range, the longitudinal and lateral turbulence scales and their ratio measured by DJI Phantom 4 Pro and AMK-03 agree to a good accuracy. Discrepancies in the data obtained with the quadcopter and the ultrasonic weather stations at the territory with complex orography are explained by the partial correlation of the wind velocity series at different measurement points and the influence of the inhomogeneous surface.
EFFECT OF USING SLURRY INFILTRATED FIBER CONCRETE ON THE BEHAVIOR OF REINFORCED CONCRETE CORBELS

This paper experimentally presents the behavior and strength of slurry infiltrated fiber concrete (SIFCON) corbels. The program included 3 specimens in which steel fiber volume fractions were varied (6,8, and 10) %. All specimens had a constant shear span to depth ratio (a/d=0.7) and were of the same width, length, and thickness. The corbel specimens were examined under the effect of concentrated vertical load only. It was found that the compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity, and failure mode were improved with the increase in steel fiber content for all SIFCON corbels.
The Effect of Turnover Intention, Locus of Control, Audit Fee, Work Motivation on the Performance Quality of Medan City Public Accountant Firm

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of turnover intention, locus of control, audit fees, and work motivation on the quality of auditor performance at the Medan City Public Accounting Firm in 2021. The choice of the sector in this study is due to very tight competition conditions like now. In this case, the auditor must always maintain their performance so that audit quality is not compromised. Auditors must perform work by professional standards so that trust in the auditor can be maintained. The data used is sourced from quantitative data in the form of questionnaires. Using the Simple Random Sampling technique, a sample of 50 auditors was drawn from five Medan City KAPs.The results showed that locus of control, audit fees, and work motivation had a positive and significant effect on the quality of auditor performance at KAP Medan City. Meanwhile, the turnover intention has a negative effect and does not significantly affect the quality of auditor performance at KAP Medan City. But all variables are affected simultaneously.
Examining Adaptive Behaviors as Resistance Strategies for African American College Students in Adverse University Contexts

This study explored the adaptive behaviors used by African American college students attending a predominantly White university. In-depth individual interviews were conducted and used as the primary method of data collection for this study. In addition, a focus group session provided member checking opportunity to strengthen the study. The analysis revealed participants utilized multiple adaptive behaviors to combat negative racialized experiences while attending a university where they were underrepresented. These adaptive behaviors were used as resistance strategies by African American students navigating a racially charged university context.
Implementation of Blended Learning in the Pandemic Period of Arabic Subjects in MTs Negeri 1 Banyumas

Learning Arabic in MTs Negeri 1 Banyumas many encountered various obstacles and obstacles. in the midst of this Covid-19 condition. Using the blended learning model by combining online learning and face-to-face learning (offline) in the Covid-19 pandemic can increase the effectiveness of learning and the learning spirit of learners because in addition to getting online subject matter also still get direct assistance from teachers in the teaching and learning process by paying attention to strict health protocols. This research is qualitative descriptive research because it produces qualitative data. Data collection uses interview, observation and documentation models. Analytical techniques using description techniques with Miles and Huberman's interaction analysis model with flow include data collection, data reduction, data presentation and conclusion withdrawal. The results of the study concluded, the first blended learning planning of Arabic MTs Negeri 1 Banyumas includes preparing a Learning Implementation Plan (RPP) and preparation of facilities and infrastructure supporting blended learning. Blended learning in Arabic subjects in MTs Negeri 1 Banyumas in this pandemic period is carried out with a provision of one day of online learning and one day of offline learning with a maximum capacity of 20 learners per class with a duration of 30 minutes per meeting hour. The learning evaluation system includes self-assessment, UTS or UAS that have been compiled by teachers using googleform and voice notes.
Clinical Trial Quality Assessment in Adult Spinal Surgery: What Do Publication Status, Funding Source, and Result Reporting Tell Us?

Study Design Narrative Review Objectives The objective of this study was to compare publication status of clinical trials in adult spine surgery registered on ClinicalTrials.gov by funding source as well as to identify other trends in clinical trials in adult spine surgery. Methods All prospective, comparative, therapeutic (intervention-based) trials of adult spinal disease that were registered on ClinicalTrials.gov with a start date of January 1, 2000 and completion date before December 17, 2018 were included. Primary outcome was publication status of published or unpublished. A bivariate analysis was used to compare publication status to funding source of industry vs non-industry. Results Our search identified 107 clinical trials. The most common source of funding was industry (62 trials, 57.9% of total), followed by University funding (26 trials, 24.3%). The results of 76 trials (71.0%) were published, with industry-funded trials less likely to be published compared to non–industry-funded trials (62.9% compared to 82.2%, P = .03). Of the 31 unpublished studies, 13 did not report any results on ClinicalTrials.gov, and of those with reported results, none was a positive trial. Conclusions Clinician researchers in adult spine surgery should be aware that industry-funded trials are less likely to go on to publication compared to non–industry-funded trials, and that negative trials are frequently not published. Future opportunities include improvement in result reporting and in publishing negative studies.
Realistic modeling of electromigration in today’s ULSI interconnections

I ACKNOWLEDGEMENT III DEDICATION V LIST OF FIGURES X LIST OF TABLES XIV CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 HISTORY OF ELECTROMIGRATION STUDY 1 1.2 ELECTROMIGRATION STUDY IN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT 2 1.3 CONTRIBUTION OF THE DISSERTATION 3 1.4 OUTLINE OF DISSERTATION 5 CHAPTER 2: PHYSICS OF ELECTROMIGRATION AND ITS MODELING . 6 2.1 BASIC PHYSICS OF ELECTROMIGRATION 6 2.2 PHYSICS-BASED EM MODELING 10 2.2.1 1-D continuum EM modeling 10 2.2.2 Void surface evolution model 24 2.2. 3 Other physics-based EM modeling 36 CHAPTER 3: THE APPLICATION OF FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS IN ELECTROMIGRATION STUDY 51 3.
Hydrodynamic and Polyelectrolyte Properties of Actin Filaments: Theory and Experiments

Actin filament’s polyelectrolyte and hydrodynamic properties, their interactions with the biological environment, and external force fields play an essential role in their biological activities in eukaryotic cellular processes. In this article, we introduce a unique approach that combines dynamics and electrophoresis light scattering experiments, an extended semiflexible worm-like chain model, and an asymmetric polymer length distribution theory to characterize the polyelectrolyte and hydrodynamic properties of actin filaments in aqueous electrolyte solutions. A fitting approach was used to optimize the theories and filament models for hydrodynamic conditions. We used the same sample and experimental conditions and considered several g-actin and polymerization buffers to elucidate the impact of their chemical composition, reducing agents, pH values, and ionic strengths on the filament translational diffusion coefficient, electrophoretic mobility, structure factor, asymmetric length distribution, effective filament diameter, electric charge, zeta potential, and semiflexibility. Compared to those values obtained from molecular structure models, our results revealed a lower value of the effective G-actin charge and a more significant value of the effective filament diameter due to the formation of the double layer of the electrolyte surrounding the filaments. Contrary to the data usually reported from electron micrographs, the lower values of our results for the persistence length and average contour filament length agree with the significant difference in the association rates at the filament ends that shift to sub-micro lengths, the maximum of the length distribution.