Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A framework for iterative reconstruction in phase-contrast computed tomography dedicated to the breast

We present the implementation of the CT iterative reconstruction strategy developed within the SYRMA-CT project for in vivo phase contrast CT of the uncompressed breast, ongoing at the ELETTRA synchrotron radiation facility (Trieste, Italy). Propagation-based phase-contrast imaging exploited the high spatial coherence of the monoenergetic laminar X-ray beam (3-mm high along the chest-wall-to-nipple direction), as well as the large object-to-detector distance (∼2 m) and the use of a prototype of Pixirad-8 high-resolution photon counting CdTe detector (60-μm pitch, eight detector units arranged in a row). The signal in projection views depends on the X-ray absorption as well as on the phase shift introduced by the breast tissue in the beam path. A phase retrieval algorithm allows recovering the projected 2D phase map of the irradiated tissue layer, which were input to the CT reconstruction; then, the 3D image of the breast was reconstructed via a simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique (SART) algorithm. The developed iterative reconstruction — coupled with a filtering process for reducing the noise level and ring artifacts by preserving edges sharpness — showed better image quality than conventional filtered backprojection (FBP) reconstruction. A phantom study showed that the iterative reconstruction produced images with a contrast-to-noise-ratio up to 65% and a spatial resolution up to 12% higher than those obtained with FBP. Finally, the developed algorithm removed ring-like artifacts caused by the detector dead space (0.16 mm) across adjacent detector units and by no perfect equalization after flat-field correction, without worsening the image quality.
Differential oligosaccharide recognition by evolutionarily-related beta-1,4 and beta-1,3 glucan-binding modules.

Enzymes active on complex carbohydrate polymers frequently have modular structures in which a catalytic domain is appended to one or more carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs). Although CBMs have been classified into a number of families based upon sequence, many closely related CBMs are specific for different polysaccharides. In order to provide a structural rationale for the recognition of different polysaccharides by CBMs displaying a conserved fold, we have studied the thermodynamics of binding and three-dimensional structures of the related family 4 CBMs from Cellulomonas fimi Cel9B and Thermotoga maritima Lam16A in complex with their ligands, beta-1,4 and beta-1,3 linked gluco-oligosaccharides, respectively. These two CBMs use a structurally conserved constellation of aromatic and polar amino acid side-chains that interact with sugars in two of the five binding subsites. Differences in the length and conformation of loops in non-conserved regions create binding-site topographies that complement the known solution conformations of their respective ligands. Thermodynamics interpreted in the light of structural information highlights the differential role of water in the interaction of these CBMs with their respective oligosaccharide ligands.
Modeling of wavelet coefficients in medical image compression

The discrete wavelet transform provides a new framework of multiresolution space-frequency representation. Its preliminary applications in medical image compression are promising. An accurate modeling of the spatial and frequency characteristics of the wavelet coefficients is a key to designing efficient and accurate quantization for wavelet-based source coding. In this study, we investigate the modeling of a finite mixture distribution of the wavelet coefficients, within the context of information theory and statistical model identification. Using a finite generalized Gaussian mixture to model the overall distribution of the coefficients, an unsupervised learning procedure is developed to quantify the histogram through a tripled adaptive algorithm including detection of the number of local kernels, approximation of the shape of local kernels, and estimation of model parameter values. Our preliminary experimental results indicate that the unsupervised and adaptive histogram quantification can efficiently and accurately fit to the overall mixture distribution of the coefficients for any given frequency subband with unknown characteristics.
The Modern Scottish Novel: Narrative and the National Imagination

In the last quarter century, Scottish novelists from Muriel Spark, Alasdair Gray and Allan Massie to James Kelman, Janice Galloway, A.L. Kennedy and Irvine Welsh have achieved significant international success. In The Modern Scottish Novel Cairns Craig shows how the work of such writers is constructed by a powerful national tradition in the novel, formed in the first decades of the century by writers such as John Buchan, Nan Shepherd, Lewis Grassic Gibbon and Neil Gunn, a tradition whose distinctive thematic and formal concerns have shaped a unique contribution to the novel in English. Tracing the influence of Scotland's political and social history on its novelists from the 1890s to the 1990s, Craig argues that the Scottish novel has had to develop a highly specific set of formal techniques to cope with a situation in which the dominance of the English language is challenged by the survival of the rich inheritance of Scots speech, and in which the continuing effects of Calvinism imply that all fiction is necessarily deceitful, when not actually diabolic. Craig also sets the Scottish novel in the specific traditions of Scottish intellectual life - from J.G. Frazer to John Macmurray and R.D. Laing. The Modern Scottish Novel provides the intellectual and artistic context for some of the most exciting and challenging contemporary writing in English.
DexROV: Enabling effective dexterous ROV operations in presence of communication latency

Subsea interventions in the oil & gas industry as well as in other domains such as archaeology or geological surveys are demanding and costly activities for which robotic solutions are often deployed in addition or in substitution to human divers - contributing to risks and costs cutting. The operation of ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles) nevertheless requires significant off-shore dedicated manpower to handle and operate the robotic platform and the supporting vessel. In order to reduce the footprint of operations, DexROV proposes to implement and evaluate novel operation paradigms with safer, more cost effective and time efficient ROV operations. As a keystone of the proposed approach, manned support will in a large extent be delocalized within an onshore ROV control center, possibly at a large distance from the actual operations, relying on satellite communications. The proposed scheme also makes provision for advanced dexterous manipulation and semi-autonomous capabilities, leveraging human expertise when deemed useful. The outcomes of the project will be integrated and evaluated in a series of tests and evaluation campaigns, culminating with a realistic deep sea (1,300 meters) trial in the Mediterranean sea.
Organization of corticostriatal projections from the vibrissal representations in the primary motor and somatosensory cortical areas of rodents

To characterize corticostriatal projections from rodent sensorimotor cortex, the anterograde tracers biotinylated dextran amine (BDA) and fluororuby (FR) were injected into the whisker representations of the primary motor (MI) and somatosensory (SI) cortices. Reconstructions of labeled terminals and their beaded varicosities in the neostriatum and thalamus were analyzed quantitatively to determine the degree of labeled overlap in both of these subcortical structures. Corticostriatal projections from the vibrissal representation in MI were more extensive than corresponding projections from SI. Both cortical areas sent dense projections to the dorsolateral neostriatum, but the MI vibrissal representation also projected to regions located more rostrally and medially. Despite these differences, both MI and SI projected to overlapping parts of the dorsolateral neostriatum. Tracer injections in both cortical areas also produced dense anterograde and retrograde labeling in the medial sector of the posterior complex of the thalamus (POm). Because POm is somatotopically organized and has reciprocal connections with both SI and MI cortices, the amount of labeled overlap in POm was used to indicate whether the tracers were injected into corresponding whisker representations of MI and SI. We found that the proportion of labeled overlap in the neostriatum was highly correlated with the amount of labeled overlap in POm. These results indicate that the rodent neostriatum receives convergent projections from corresponding regions in MI and SI cortex. Furthermore, the thalamocortical projections of the POm indicate that it may modulate corticostriatal outputs from corresponding representations in MI and SI. J. Comp. Neurol. 439:87–103, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Internationalizing University of Florida IFAS Extension Professional Development and Institutional Building

The University of Florida IFAS Extension, Internationalizing Extension Training Project (IETP) focused on the development and implementation of capacity building and institution building in international extension. University of Florida IFAS Extension and important partners; locally elected county commissioners and graduate students and teaching faculty of educational departments in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) collaborated to assist in Internationalizing Extension in Florida. The Internationalizing Extension professional development project, developed during the 2003 – 2004 program year, was unique in that it brought representatives of local government, teaching faculty and graduate students together with county extension faculty to explore international extension possibilities in a collaborative manner. Federal, state and local county governments fund extension in Florida. The boards of county commissions are critical partners with University of Florida IFAS Extension, as they contribute over 30 million dollars annually to the overall extension budget. In addition, commissioners make recommendations and decisions related to the local extension financial contribution. Results from this study revealed a positive change in knowledge of international issues and effects of globalization of communities by the participants of the training program. The University of Florida IFAS Internationalizing Extension training program was enhanced by including partners of Extension, demonstrating the importance of involving extension agents, local elected officials, teachers and graduate students. The IETP’s professional development and institution building activities, materials developed and papers/reports are posted on a special web site to use as an informational tool for participants and extension to use to teach future faculty and clientele.
Complications related to intravenous midline catheter usage. A 2-year study.

The introduction of the Landmark midline catheter (Menlo, Co., CA) brought an alternative to central line catheter placement for prolonged intravenous access. The study was initiated in 1993 to observe for complications, including hypersensitivity-like reactions. The authors hypothesized this i.v. modality would decrease the need for central i.v. lines and accompanying complications. At the time of catheter insertion, the i.v. team nurses completed a survey form that included demographics, underlying disease, and risk factors for infection. The catheter tip was cultured at the time of removal. In the second phase of the study, the authors focused specifically on hypersensitivity-like reactions. During a 2-year period, 248 patients had 334 midline catheters. Patient ages ranged from 23 to 98 years (mean age, 65 years). The bacteremia rate was 0.3%; the colonization rate was 0.9%. Factors associated with infection/ colonization included: length of time in place, chemotherapy, and lack of antibiotic administration. In the second phase of the study, during which an additional 170 catheters were placed in 131 patients, no hypersensitivity-like reactions were noted. The midline catheter appears to be a safe method of i.v. fluid administration for patients with limited peripheral vein access who need extended i.v. therapy.
Genome-wide discovery and analysis of microRNAs and other small RNAs from rice embryogenic callus

Small RNAs constitute a new and unanticipated layer of gene regulation present in the three domains of life. In plants, all organs are ultimately derived from a few pluripotent stem cells localized in specialized structures called apical meristems. The development of meristems involves a coordinated balance between undifferentiated growth and differentiation, a phenomenon requiring a tight regulation of gene expression. We used in vitro cultured embryogenic calli as a model to investigate the roles of meristem-associated small RNAs. Using high throughput sequencing, we sequenced 20 million short reads with size of 18-30nt from rice undifferentiated and differentiated calli. We confirmed 50 known microRNA families, representing one third of annotated rice microRNAs. Using a specific computational pipeline for plant microRNA identification, we identified 24 novel microRNA families. Among them, 53 microRNA or microRNA* sequences appear to vary in expression between differentiated and undifferentiated calli, suggesting a role in meristem development. Our analysis also revealed a new class of plant small RNAs derived from 5’ or 3’ ends of mature tRNA analogous to the tRFs in human cancer cell. We independently verified the expression of these small RNAs from 5’ end of mature tRNA using qRT-PCR.
A New Technique for Estimating the Lifetime of Bursts of Electron Precipitation From Sounding Rocket Measurements

At 0735 UT on 13 December 2015, the Rocket Experiment for Neutral Upwelling‐2 experiment launched north toward the auroral cusp region from Andoya, Norway. The instrumented rocket included an electron spectrometer, photometers that measured the auroral redline and greenline, and an instrument that measured ionospheric thermal electron temperature. On the down leg, just south of Svalbard, the rocket entered a region of poleward moving auroral forms that were characterized by narrow structures due to a combination of spatial and temporal variations. A noticeable feature was that the redline to greenline brightness ratio was much smaller than expected. A model is developed that shows that these emissions can be used to estimate the lifetimes of bursty electron precipitation. This model is shown to be consistent with some poleward moving auroral form lifetimes being on the order of 100 ms. The correlation between the precipitation and temperature bursts suggest that some transport occurred.
Regularity and strict identifiability in MIMO systems

We study finite impulse response (FIR) multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems with additive noise, treating the finite-length sources and channel coefficients as deterministic unknowns, considering both regularity and identifiability. In blind estimation, the ambiguity set is large, admitting linear combinations of the sources. We show that the Fisher information matrix (FIM) is always rank deficient by at least the number of sources squared and develop necessary and sufficient conditions for the FIM to achieve its minimum nullity. Tight bounds are given on the required source data lengths to achieve minimum nullity of the FIM. We consider combinations of constraints that lead to regularity (i.e., to a full-rank FIM and, thus, a meaningful Cramer-Rao bound). Exploiting the null space of the FIM, we show how parameters must be specified to obtain a full-rank FIM, with implications for training sequence design in multisource systems. Together with constrained Cramer-Rao bounds (CRBs), this approach provides practical techniques for obtaining appropriate MIMO CRBs for many cases. Necessary and sufficient conditions are also developed for strict identifiability (ID). The conditions for strict ID are shown to be nearly equivalent to those for the FIM nullity to be minimized.
Application of a Spanish Version of the “Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly” in the Clinical Assessment of Dementia

Summary:We studied the validity of a complete (S-IQCODE) and a shortened (SS-IQCODE) Spanish version of the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) for the diagnosis of dementia in a clinical setting. Fifty-three consecutive outpatients were assessed with an ezxtensive workup and followed up for 6 months in a specialized clinic for the diagnosis and management of dementia. Thirty eight (71%) were finally diagnosed as demented. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) had a slightly greater diagnostic power than did the S-IQCODE and the SS-IQCODE (sensitivity 89% vs. 84% and 79%; specificity 80% vs. 73% for both; positive predictive value 92% vs. 89% and 88%; negative predictive value 75% vs. 65% and 58%), but without statistical significance. Both the S-IQCODE and SS-IQCODE were independent of previous education of the patients. The best diagnostic results were obtained when the cognitive scores of the patient in the MMSE and the report of the relative in the S-IQCODE were simultaneously considered. We conclude that the IQCODE, in a complete as well as in a shortened form, is a good diagnostic instrument in the clinical setting that can enhance the validity of other cognitive tests.
Income‐related inequalities in the prevalence of depression and suicidal behaviour: a 10‐year trend following economic crisis

The issue of health inequalities has steadily gained attention in South Korea, as income inequality widened and social polarization increased following the country's economic crisis in the late 1990s. While official figures indicate a general trend of worsening mental health, with rapidly rising rates of suicide and depression in particular, the extent of socio-economic inequality with respect to mental health problems has not been well elucidated. This study aimed to measure income-related inequalities in depression, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in South Korea and to trace their changes over a 10-year period (1998-2007). The concentration index approach was employed to quantify the degree of income-related inequalities, using four waves of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data. The study found persistent pro-rich inequality in depression, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts over the past decade (i.e., individuals with higher incomes were less likely to have these conditions). The inequalities actually doubled over this period. These findings imply a need for expanded social protection policies for the less privileged in the population.
Heightened Resting Neural Activity Predicts Exaggerated Stressor-Evoked Blood Pressure Reactivity

Individuals who express relatively large-magnitude or “exaggerated” blood pressure (BP) reactions to behavioral stressors are presumably at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. As shown by recent neuroimaging studies, individuals who express exaggerated stressor-evoked BP reactivity also express heightened neural activity in corticolimbic brain areas that centrally regulate the cardiovascular system. These studies, however, have exclusively examined BP reactivity and concomitant neural activity during stressor exposure. If exaggerated BP reactivity originates in part from a centrally regulated and dispositional cardiovascular response tendency, then heightened resting (prestressor) corticolimbic activity may predict the subsequent expression of exaggerated stressor-evoked BP reactivity. To test this hypothesis, perfusion MRI was used to quantify resting regional cerebral blood flow (an indirect metabolic measure of neural activity) in men (n=19) and women (n=20) aged 20 to 37 years who subsequently performed cognitive stressor tasks to evoke BP reactivity. Individuals who expressed larger task-induced rises in systolic and diastolic BP also expressed higher resting regional cerebral blood flow in 4 functionally related corticolimbic areas: the dorsal and perigenual anterior cingulate, medial prefrontal, and insular cortices. Specifically, resting regional cerebral blood flow in these areas accounted, respectively, for 40% and 31% of the variance in systolic (P=0.001) and diastolic (P=0.008) BP reactivity, after accounting for total resting cerebral blood flow, resting BP, task performance, and task-related ratings of unpleasantness, arousal, and perceived psychological control. Heightened resting corticolimbic activity may represent a neurobiological correlate of an individual's predisposition for exaggerated stressor-evoked BP reactivity and possibly related cardiovascular risk.
Optical frequency synthesis with 1 Hz resolution

This paper reports on the development of a second generation coherent optical-to-microwave frequency chain based on the frequency-interval bisection method. We report successful operation of all three key elements of such a frequency chain: efficient nonlinear radiation production, reliable and accurate laser diode phase locking, as well as wide-span optical frequency comb generation. An analysis of the expected frequency stability of a synthesizer based on this type of frequency chain shows that it should be capable of transferring frequency stabilities at the level of 1.3/spl times/10/sup -15///spl tau/.
NEW TOOLS FOR STUDYING INTEGRATION AND MODULARITY

Abstract The study of phenotypic integration concerns the modular nature of organismal phenotypes. The concept provides a rationale for why certain subsets of phenotypic traits show particularly high levels of association over development and/or evolution. The techniques detailed in this report facilitate the generation and testing of hypotheses of phenotypic integration and trait interaction. The approach advocated for exploring patterns of interaction among traits is based on the statistical notion of conditional independence, incorporated in a technique known as graphical modeling. The use of graphical models is illustrated with an application to a well-known biological dataset of fowl skeletal measurements, previously analyzed by Sewall Wright. A definition of phenotypic modularity is given, based on a notion of mutual information, which provides a consistent criterion for recognizing and delimiting integrated subsets of traits and which can be related to standard models of multivariate selection. Corresponding Editor: M. Zelditch
Herding Behaviour, Bubbles and Log Periodic Power Laws in Illiquid Stock Markets: A Case Study on the Bucharest Stock Exchange

In this paper we investigate the herding behaviour of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE), using log periodic power laws models. By analysing the behaviour of the most speculative index from the Bucharest Stock Exchange, the BET-FI, we are able to demonstrate that Log-Periodic Power Law (LPPL) models are a useful tool for recognizing the behaviour of a stock market bubble, and have good abilities for predicting the critical point of a bubble. From our statistical investigation, it turns out that an iterative calibration of the model for the BET-FI regime leads ex post to a rather accurate forecast of the stock market crash in January 2008. Next, by using the same methodology, the anti-bubble regime from 2008 is used for a statistical fit. We then find an accurate “prediction” of the local point of phase transition on 27 October 2008.