Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Noise-Analysis-Based Non-Local Means Method for X-ray Grating-Based Mammography Denoising

X-ray grating-based mammography can potentially revolutionize the radiologic approach to breast imaging, because it works well with conventional X-ray tube and can retrieve attenuation, differential phase and dark-field information in a single scanning. However, images, especially the differential phase and dark-field images, are contaminated by noises, which would cause deterioration of the image quality and make the image denoising essential. In this paper, noise-analysis-based non-local means (NANLM) denoising method is proposed for X-ray grating-based mammography based on the previous work on noise analysis. Since pixelwise noise variances can be estimated by noise analysis, NANLM makes use of the self-similarity and sparseness in noise variances to estimate pixel intensities as a similarity-weighted average. Furthermore, in order to estimate noise variances more accurately for better image quality, a two-step NLM-NANLM method is proposed. Numerical simulation, sample model and mammography results all validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Adaptive Load Balancing: A Study in Multi-Agent Learning

We study the process of multi-agent reinforcement learning in the context of load balancing in a distributed system, without use of either central coordination or explicit communication. We first define a precise framework in which to study adaptive load balancing, important features of which are its stochastic nature and the purely local information available to individual agents. Given this framework, we show illuminating results on the interplay between basic adaptive behavior parameters and their effect on system efficiency. We then investigate the properties of adaptive load balancing in heterogeneous populations, and address the issue of exploration vs. exploitation in that context. Finally, we show that naive use of communication may not improve, and might even harm system efficiency.
Evaluation of RNA Isolation Methods and Reference Genes for RT-PCR Analyses of Rare Target RNA

Abstract Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR) analysis is increasingly becoming part of the diagnostic and prognostic evaluation for hematologic and oncologic disorders. Currently, different RNA isolation methods are used in the diagnostic laboratories. No data are available on their suitability for sensitive detection of breakpoint cluster region-abelson (BCR-ABL) gene transcripts. We have extracted RNA from mononuclear cell (MNC) fractions and from lysed blood samples of 4 patients (1 with leukocytosis, 1 with chronic myelogeneous leukemia (CML) under interferon treatment, and 2 CML patients after bone marrow transplantation) with 3 RNA isolation reagents (TRIzol™, RNAzol™, FastTube™ reagent). RNA yield was slightly higher with RNAzol™ than with TRIzol™ as indicated by agarose gel electrophoresis and spectrophotometric measurement at 260 nm. The FastTube™ reagent was unsuitable for RNA isolation from MNC, and was not evaluated for lysed blood. Quantitative competitive RT-PCR amplification of the ABL gene showed comparable results for RNA isolated with RNAzol™ and TRIzol™. In RNA samples extracted from lysed whole blood, the presence of amplifiable RNA/cDNA was confirmed by amplification of 4 selected reference genes (porphobilinogen deaminase (PBGD), ABL, the gene spanning the BCR on chromosome 22 and retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARA)) in a multiplex PCR. High quality, DNA-free RNA was obtained with RNAzol™, and 1 BCR-ABL-positive (specific for translocation t [9; 22]) cell among 2×104 normal cells was successfully detectable by single step RT-PCR. In RNA isolated with TRIzol™, major contaminations with genomic DNA were observed which significantly impaired the interpretation of the results of RT-PCR analysis.
Characterization of Epithelial Apoptosis in Biopsies of Small-Bowel Allografts Using Cleaved Caspase 3 Immunostaining

Background. The diagnosis of acute cellular rejection (ACR) in small-bowel allograft biopsies depends in part on quantification of crypt apoptotic bodies (ABs). The definition of ABs varies between authors. Recently, immunoperoxidase stains specific for apoptotic material have been used in paraffin-embedded tissue. The aim was to characterize AB morphology and quantify ABs using immunoperoxidase and hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. Methods. Allograft biopsies with diagnoses of negative for ACR, indeterminate for ACR, and mild ACR were selected. Sections were stained for cleaved caspase 3 (CC3). The number of ABs per 10 crypt epithelial cells was compared by H&E and CC3 staining. Results. A total of 39 cases (15 negative, 12 indeterminate, 12 mild ACR) were obtained. CC3 staining revealed that ABs varied from well-developed “classical” exploding crypt cells to intraepithelial clusters of basophilic material. In 61%, the number detected by CC3 was higher than on H&E stains (mean 4.30 and 3.56; P < .002), with good overall correlation. With the latter definition, AB numbers by H&E were significantly higher in most cases (72%), with the diagnosis of mild ACR being downgraded in 50% if only classical ABs were counted. Conclusions. ABs have a range of morphology in biopsies of intestinal allografts, and H&E identifies the majority. The results suggest that AB counts should include basophilic clusters.
Performance Evaluation of QoS Parameters in Dynamic Spectrum Sharing for Heterogeneous Wireless Communication Networks

Cognitive radio nodes have been proposed as means to improve the spectrum utilization. It reuses the spectrum of a primary service provider under the condition that the primary service provider services are not harmfully interrupted. A cognitive radio can sense its operating environment's conditions and it is able to reconfigure itself and to communicate with other counterparts based on the status of the environment and also the requirements of the user to meet the optimal communication conditions and to keep quality of service (QoS) as high as possible. The efficiency of spectrum sharing can be improved by minimizing the interference. The Utility function that captures the cooperative behavior to minimize the interference and the satisfaction to improve the throughput is investigated. The dynamic spectrum sharing algorithm can maintain the quality of service (QoS) of each network while the effective spectrum utilisation is improved under a fluctuation traffic environment when the available spectrum is limited.
Performance Evaluation of SIFT and Convolutional Neural Network for Image Retrieval

Convolutional Neural Network (NN) has gained a lot of attention of the researchers due to its high accuracy in classification and feature learning. In this paper, we evaluated the performance of CNN used as feature for image retrieval with the gold standard feature, aka SIFT. Experiments are conducted on famous Oxford 5k data-set. The mAP of SIFT and CNN is 0.6279 and 0.5284, respectively. The performance of CNN is also compared with bag of visual word (BoVW) model. CNN achieves better accuracy than BoVW.
Listeria monocytogenes Impact on Mature or Old Pseudomonas fluorescens Biofilms During Growth at 4 and 20°C

Changes in spatial organization, as observed by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), viable cell content, biovolume, and substratum surface coverage of the biofilms formed on glass by Pseudomonas fluorescens resulting from co-culture with Listeria monocytogenes, were examined. Two strains of L. monocytogenes, two culture temperatures and two biofilm developmental stages were investigated. Both L. monocytogenes strains, a persistently sampled isolate (collected repeatedly along 3 years from a meat factory) and Scott A, induced shrinkage in matrix volume, both at 20°C and 4°C, in mature or old biofilms, without loss of P. fluorescens cell count per surface unit. The nearly homogeneous pattern of surface coverage shown by mono-species P. fluorescens biofilms, turned into more irregular layouts in co-culture with L. monocytogenes. The upper layer of both mono and dual-species biofilms turned to predominantly consist of matrix, with plenty of viable cells underneath, in old biofilms cultured at 20°C, but not in those grown at 4°C. Between 15 and 56% of the substratum area was covered by biofilm, the extent depending on temperature, time and L. monocytogenes strain. Real biofilms in food-related surfaces may thus be very heterogeneous regarding their superficial components, i.e., those more accessible to disinfectants. It is therefore a hygienic challenge to choose an adequate agent to disrupt them.
New resource allocation techniques for base station power reduction in orthogonal and non-orthogonal multiplexing systems

This paper provides several new methods for joint subcarrier and power allocation in the contexts of orthogonal and non-orthogonal multiple access. The aim is to minimize the average downlink BS transmit power, under user rate constraints. Particular care is given to the reduction of the complexity of corresponding algorithms. Results show that the proposed methods allow a significant decrease in the necessary total power consumed by NOMA, especially when compared to the case of orthogonal signaling.
Real-time radial symmetry for speed sign detection

Algorithms for classifying road signs have a high computational cost per pixel processed. A promising approach to real-time sign detection is to reduce the number of pixels to be classified as being a particular sign to a minimum by some form of sign detection on the image using less time expensive algorithms. In this paper, we adapt the fast radial symmetry detector to the image stream from a camera mounted in a car eliminate almost all non-sign pixels from the image stream. We then are able to apply normalised cross-correlation to classify the signs. This method is suitable for circular signs only; we apply it to Australian speed signs in this paper. Our results show that it is robust to a broad range of lighting conditions. Also, as the method is fast, there is no need to make unrealistic-ally strict assumptions about image structure.
Tethering of Homo and Block Glycopolymer Chains onto Montmorillonite Surface by Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization

Well-defined homo glycopolymer/montmorillonite (MMT) nanocomposite (gly1) was prepared successfully by the “grafting from” technique from the modified surface of MMT via surface initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) of 3-O-methacryloyl-1,2:5,6-di-O-isopropylidene-α-D-glucofuranose (gly) in the presence of Cu(I)Br/ bi- pyridyl at 90? C in xylene. Well-defined diblock copolymers (gly2, gly3, gly4 and gly5) were also synthesized via the same technique by using comonomers of methylmethacrylate (MMA) or styrene (St) with glycomonomer (gly) using the same catalytic system. The formed nanocomposites showed both intercalated and exfoliated structures, as judged by XRD and TEM measurements. Further analyses were performed on such nanocomposites to confirm their formation such as TGA and DSC. The structures of the attached polymers to MMT were characterized by 1H NMR.
Structuring Political Opinions: Attitude Consistency and Democratic Competence among the U.S. Mass Public

Political democracy assumes that citizens can form consistent political attitudes that guide their political actions, thereby communicating political preferences to elites. Responding to the longstanding debate about the democratic competence of the U.S. mass public, we use a multitiered framework of opinion formation to describe the structure of mass opinion, showing that the mass public displays relatively consistent responses across multiple issues and uses these to evaluate presidential candidates. Confirmatory factor analysis allows us to examine multiple models of political attitudes, showing the best fit to be three positively correlated general orientations for economic, social, and racial issues. We find no significant racial or educational differences in the structuring of these attitudes but some evidence of “race-coding” of economic issues and class differences in levels of support for economic and social liberalism. Liberal/conservative self-identification operates as a basic structuring principle for organizing these general orientations with liberals and conservatives assigning different salience to specific issues. These general political orientations, in turn, influence presidential evaluations net of party loyalties. Although the mass public may not be ideologically sophisticated, it is “deliberative and reasonable” in its political thinking and, in this sense, democratically competent.
The efficacy of immediate versus delayed antibiotic administration on bacterial growth and biofilm production of selected strains of uropathogenic Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Purpose The treatment of urinary tract infections (UTI) with antibiotics is commonly used, but recurrence and antibiotic resistance have been growing and concerning clinicians. We studied whether the rapid onset of a protective biofilm may be responsible for the lack of effectiveness of antibiotics against selected bacteria. Materials and Methods Two established uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains, UTI89 and CFT073, and two Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains, PA01 and Boston-41501, were studied to establish a reliable biofilm formation process. Bacterial growth (BG) was determined by optical density at 600 nm (OD 600) using a spectrophotometer, while biofilm formation (BF) using crystal violet staining was measured at OD 550. Next, these bacterial strains were treated with clinically relevant antibiotics, ciprofloxacin HCl (200 ng/mL and 2 μg/mL), nitrofurantoin (20 μg/mL and 40 μg/mL) and ampicillin (50 μg/mL) at time points of 0 (T0) or after 6 hours of culture (T6). All measurements, including controls (bacteria -1% DMSO), were done in triplicates and repeated three times for consistency. Results The tested antibiotics effectively inhibited both BG and BF when administered at T0 for UPEC strains, but not when the antibiotic administration started 6 hours later. For Pseudomonas strains, only Ciprofloxacin was able to significantly inhibit bacterial growth at T0 but only at the higher concentration of 2 μg/mL for T6. Conclusion When established UPEC and Pseudomonas bacteria were allowed to culture for 6 hours before initialization of treatment, the therapeutic effect of selected antibiotics was greatly suppressed when compared to immediate treatment, probably as a result of the protective nature of the biofilm.
Regression models for patient-reported measures having ordered categories recorded on multiple occasions.

OBJECTIVES The article reviews proportional and partial proportional odds regression for ordered categorical outcomes, such as patient-reported measures, that are frequently used in clinical research in dentistry. METHODS The proportional odds regression model for ordinal data is a generalization of ordinary logistic regression for dichotomous responses. When the proportional odds assumption holds for some but not all of the covariates, the lesser known partial proportional odds model is shown to provide a useful extension. RESULTS The ordinal data models are illustrated for the analysis of repeated ordinal outcomes to determine whether the burden associated with sensory alteration following a bilateral sagittal split osteotomy procedure differed for those patients who were given opening exercises only following surgery and those who received sensory retraining exercises in conjunction with standard opening exercises. CONCLUSIONS Proportional and partial proportional odds models are broadly applicable to the analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal ordinal data in dental research.
Design and Crime : And Other Diatribes

In these diatribes on the marketing of culture and the branding of identity, the development of spectacle--architecture and the rise of global cities, Hal Foster surveys our new political economy of design. Written in a lively style, "Design and Crime" explores the historical relations of modern art and modern museum, the conceptual vicissitudes of art history and visual studies, the recent travails of art criticism, and the double aftermath of modernism and postmodernism in an attempt to illuminate the conditions for critical culture in the present.
On the fusion of inertial data for signal strength localization

Localization in wireless sensor networks (WSN) based on the evaluation of received signal strength (RSS) values of communication packets has received a considerable amount of research interest in the last years. In spite of the number of approaches that have been presented, the performance of most systems remains rather poor due to the unpredictable behavior of RSS values and the resulting fluctuating position estimations. In this paper, an approach to cope with these fluctuations for the purpose of ad-hoc person localization in WSN is presented. A hip-mounted inertial measurement unit (IMU), carried by the person to localize, is used to collect data on the current movement. This data is used to stabilize the RSS position estimation by means of a Kalman filter. The experimental evaluation shows that the proposed method carries the potential to improve RSS localization methods. We present results of experiments in in- and outdoor environments and quantify the improvements that can be achieved by fusing inertial data with RSS position estimation schemes for person localization. It can be concluded that fusing inertial data can improve the performance of RSS-based localization systems.
Analysis of Phase Spectrum of Speech Signals Using Allpass Modeling

The phase spectrum of Fourier transform has received lesser prominence than its magnitude counterpart in speech processing. In this paper, we propose a method for parametric modeling of the phase spectrum, and discuss its applications in speech signal processing. The phase spectrum is modeled as the response of an allpass (AP) filter, whose coefficients are estimated from the knowledge of speech production process, especially the impulse-like nature of excitation source. A signal retaining only the phase spectral component of speech signal is derived by suppressing the magnitude spectral component, and is modeled as the output of an AP filter excited with a sequence of impulses. Entropy of energy of the input signal is minimized to estimate the coefficients of the AP filter. The resulting objective function, being nonconvex in nature, is minimized using particle swarm optimization. The group delay response of estimated AP filters can be used for accurate analysis of resonances of the vocal-tract system (VTS). The error signal associated with AP modeling provides unambiguous evidence about the instants of significant excitation of the VTS. The applications of the proposed AP modeling include, but not limited to, formant tracking, extraction of glottal closure instants, speaker verification and speech synthesis.
Employability Skills. At a Glance.

This publication offers a snapshot of developments in employability skills since 2002. It finds that most research has focused around teaching, assessing and reporting on employability skills, where consistency remains a key challenge. There also continues to be a lack of understanding of employability skills among some teachers. Until these issues are addressed, the sector could fall short in providing learners with the skills they need to succeed in their vocations.
The global human settlement layer from landsat imagery

The growth of the built environment is a global environmental change processes that can be measured and monitored with Earth Observation. That growth is expected to continue as populations continue to both increase and urbanize. The Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) project was set up to measure and monitor the global built up environment and its changes [1]. The GHSL layers presented herein are derived by processing the global archive of Landsat imagery dating back to 1975. GHSL from Landsat include four global built up information layers corresponding to epochs: 1975, 1990, 2000 and 2014 [2]. The geo-information generated is used in a wide variety of applications that include the generation of urbanization statistics, to quantify exposure to natural hazards for disaster risk and early warning models, to derive global fine scale population density grids, and to generate indicators to monitor targets for main international framework agreements.
The diagnostic and prognostic values of Ki-67/MIB-1 expression in thyroid cancer: a meta-analysis with 6,051 cases

Background Growing evidence has demonstrated that Ki-67/MIB-1 has an effect on the clinical progression and prognosis in cancers. However, the diagnostic and prognostic values of Ki-67/MIB-1 in thyroid cancer remain unclear. Materials and methods The meta-analysis was conducted in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Studies were retrieved from PubMed, EBSCO, EMBASE, ISI Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, WanFang and Chinese VIP databases. MetaDiSc and STATA12.0 were used to analyze the meta-analysis. Fixed-effect analysis and random-effect analysis were applied to pool the relative ratio based on heterogeneity in this meta-analysis. Results In the meta-analysis, 51 eligible studies were included. The pooled sensitivity of Ki-67/MIB-1 was 0.61 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.59–0.63) and specificity was 0.75 (95% CI: 0.74–0.77) in thyroid cancer. The pooled positive likelihood ratio was 3.19 (95% CI: 2.30–4.42) and negative likelihood ratio was 0.43 (95% CI: 0.35–0.54). In the diagnosis of thyroid cancer, the pooled diagnostic odds ratio of Ki-67/MIB-1 was 8.54 (95% CI: 5.03–14.49). The area under the symmetric receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.804 (standard error =0.031). Our results showed that there were statistical associations between Ki-67/MIB-1 and age (odds ratio [OR] =1.71, 95% CI: 1.14–2.57, P=0.010), tumor size (OR =1.86, 95% CI: 1.17–2.96, P=0.008), lymph node metastasis (OR =2.49, 95% CI: 1.42–4.39, P=0.002), metastasis status (OR =6.96, 95% CI: 2.46–19.69, P<0.001), tumor node metastasis stage (OR =6.56, 95% CI: 3.80–11.34, P<0.001) and extrathyroid extension (OR =1.91, 95% CI: 1.27–2.87, P=0.002). Furthermore, thyroid cancer patients with a high level of Ki-67/MIB-1 had a worse disease-free survival as compared to patients with a low level of Ki-67/MIB-1 (hazard ratio =5.19, 95% CI: 3.18–8.46, P<0.001). Also, Ki-67/MIB-1 was found to be associated with increased risk of mortality (hazard ratio =3.56, 95% CI: 1.17–10.83, P=0.025). Conclusion Our results demonstrated that Ki-67/MIB-1 might act as a potential factor in diagnosing thyroid cancer in Chinese. Also, the meta-analysis indicated that Ki-67/MIB-1 might have an effect on prognosis in non-Chinese thyroid cancer patients.