Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automatic determination of pedicle screw size, length, and trajectory from patient data

Pedicle screw insertion is an orthopaedic spinal fixation procedure involving the placement of screws through individual spine pedicles and secured in spinal vertebrae. Pedicle anatomy varies widely within and across the patient population, and many complications have been reported with the surgical technique. To reduce complications, an automated procedure was developed that utilizes patient-specific medical imaging data to predetermine optimum pedicle screw size, length, and trajectory. The procedure involves importing medical imaging scans into the software, creating uniform voxel data for algorithm simplicity, segmenting the bony anatomy of the spine and defining its boundary, and identifying the pedicle using a search algorithm. The operations are performed in two-dimensions in the coordinate system of the medical imaging data. For each image slice, the minimum pedicle width is identified, and examining all slices identifies the overall minimum pedicle width. The optimum trajectory is determined using a 3D linear least squares fit to the array of minimum pedicle width midpoints. With the optimum trajectory determined, the maximum screw size and length are determined.
Tree Automata, Mu-Calculus and Determinacy (Extended Abstract)

We show that the propositional Mu-Calculus is equivalent in expressive power to finite automataon infinite trees. Since complementation is trivial in the MuCalculus, our equivalence provides a radically simplified, alternative proof of Rabin’s complementation lemma for tree automata, which is the heart of one of the deepest decidability results. We also show how Mu-Calculus can be used to establish determinacy of infinite games used in earlier proofs of complementation lemma, and certain games used in the theory of on-line algorithms.
Sexual Identity Issues for Male Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Qualitative Study

ABSTRACT This study explored the impact of sexual abuse on male sexual identity, utilizing qualitative methodology in interviews with 10 sexually abused men. The findings suggest that male survivors struggle with the disparity between sexual victimization and societal stereotypes of masculinity. The greatest difficulty was with social sex role identity; however, male abuse survivors also question their gender identity. While participants had no sexual orientation identity problems, they tended to find sexual contact threatening. Implications for clinical practice are suggested.
An Efficient Incremental Clustering Method for Incremental Cloud Data

Cloud Computing is a technology that uses the internet and central remote servers to maintain data and applications. Cloud computing allows consumers and businesses to use applications without installation and access their personal files at any computer with internet access. This technology allows for much more efficient computing by centralizing data storage, processing and bandwidth. Typically, the data sets in these applications are anonymized using K-anonymity to assert the privacy of data owners but the privacy requirements can be violated when new data join over time. Traditional clustering algorithms are static in nature . In this paper new ways of Incremental clustering algorithms are discussed. This algorithm clusters data in dynamic form. The database is assumed to be clustered initially and every new element is added as without need of changing existing clustered database.
Multiple gains and losses of Wolbachia symbionts across a tribe of fungus‐growing ants

Although the intracellular bacterium Wolbachia is ubiquitous in insects, it has a unique relationship with New World ants on which particular bacterial strains have specialized. However, data are from distantly related hosts and detailed phylogenetic information which could reveal transmission dynamics are lacking. Here, we investigate host–Wolbachia relationships in the monophyletic fungus‐growing ant tribe Attini, screening 23 species and using multilocus sequence typing to reliably identify Wolbachia strains. This technique reduces the significant problem of recombination seen using traditional single gene techniques. The relationship between Wolbachia and the fungus‐growing ants appears complex and dynamic. There is evidence of co‐cladogenesis, supporting vertical transmission; however, this is incomplete, demonstrating that horizontal transmission has also occurred. Importantly, the infection prevalence is frequently different between closely related taxa, with the Acromyrmex leaf‐cutting ants appearing particularly prone to infection and there being no consistent relationship with any of the major life history transitions. We suggest that infection loss and horizontal transmission have driven epidemics or selective sweeps of Wolbachia, resulting in multiple gains and losses of infection across the fungus‐growing ants.
Minimal structure from motion representation for image geocoding

In this extended abstract we present our early work on structure from motion data compression for image geocoding. We address the advantages of image geocoding over standard trillateration solutions and identify desired characteristics for an image geocoding system such as accuracy, speed and scalability. We hypothesize that scalability impacts both speed and accuracy and should be further researched. Hence, in this thesis we would like to know which is the minimal representation of structure from motion to efficiently compute the location and orientation of new photographs.
Quantitative Electrocardiography a

Although the first attempts to automate electrocardiograph (ECG) analysis by digital computer were made as early as 1957 by H. V. Pipberger and coworkers,’ it took considerably more time to develop operational computer programs than originally anticipated. However, over the last 15 years computer processing of ECGs has increased rapidly.2-s Still, until recently there were no standards in this field. There were no common definitions of waves, no standards for measurement or diagnostic classification, and no uniform terminology for reporting. Even more, data processed by one ECG system can up to today, due to lack of standards, not be transmitted and read by another ECG computer system in routine practice. This has created a situation, whereby large differences in measurement results by different computer programs hamper the exchange of diagnostic criteria and interpretation result^. ^. ' More and more microcomputer-based interpretative ECG machines are being put on the market without any prior independent validation. In order to overcome some of these problems, a concerted action was started in the European Community (EC) in June 1980, striving towards “Common Standards for Quantitative Electrocardiography” (abbreviated CSE). 8,9 In the present paper we will briefly summarize the objectives, present results, and future actions related to this project .
Minimizing hallucination in histogram of Oriented Gradients

Histogram of Oriented Gradients is one of the most extensively used image descriptors in computer vision. It has successfully been applied to various vision tasks such as localization, classification and recognition. As it mainly captures gradient strengths in an image, it is sensitive to local variations in illumination and contrast. In the result, a normalization of this descriptor turns out to be essential for good performance [3, 4]. Although different normalization schemes have been investigated, all of them usually employ L1 or L2-norm. In this paper we show that an incautious application of L-like norms to the HOG descriptor might produce a hallucination effect. To overcome this issue, we propose a new normalization scheme that effectively minimizes hallucinations. This scheme is built upon a detailed analysis of the gradient distribution resulting in adding an extra bin with a specific value that increases HOG distinctiveness. We validated our approach on person re-identification and action recognition, demonstrating significant boost in the performance.
An approach to the optimal operation of the microgrid with renewable energy sources and energy storage systems

This paper proposes a model for analyzing the production and storage of electricity in the microgrid. The purpose of the model is the analysis of electricity production and storage in the microgrid with the goal of satisfying load demand at minimal production costs and CO2 emissions. Apart from the description of the model itself, the paper presents the results of the simulation of the production and storage of electricity in the microgrid which is a part of a distribution network. The microgrid uses a photovoltaic plant, a wind turbine, a small pumped hydro and diesel and gas generators for power generation, and battery energy storage systems and the reservoir of a small pumped hydro as energy storages.
Purinergic signaling in the cerebellum: Bergmann glial cells express functional ionotropic P2X7 receptors

Astrocytes constitute active networks of intercommunicating cells that support the metabolism and the development of neurons and affect synaptic functions via multiple pathways. ATP is one of the major neurotransmitters mediating signaling between neurons and astrocytes. Potentially acting through both purinergic metabotropic P2Y receptors (P2YRs) and ionotropic P2X receptors (P2XRs), up until now ATP has only been shown to activate P2YRs in Bergmann cells, the radial glia of the cerebellar cortex that envelopes Purkinje cell afferent synapses. In this study, using multiple experimental approaches in acute cerebellar slices we demonstrate the existence of functional P2XRs on Bergmann cells. In particular, we show here that Bergmann cells express uniquely P2X7R subtypes: (i) immunohistochemical analysis revealed the presence of P2X7Rs on Bergmann cell processes, (ii) in whole cell recordings P2XR pharmacological agonists induced depolarizing currents that were blocked by specific antagonists of P2X7Rs, and could not be elicited in slices from P2X7R‐deficient mice and finally, (iii) calcium imaging experiments revealed two distinct calcium signals triggered by application of exogenous ATP: a transient signal deriving from release of calcium from intracellular stores, and a persistent one following activation of P2X7Rs. Our data thus reveal a new pathway by which extracellular ATP may affect glial cell function, thus broadening our knowledge on purinergic signaling in the cerebellum. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Back-to-Back Microstrip Antenna Fed With Tunable Power Divider

A design for microstrip antennas with reconfigurable radiation pattern is described. Dual stacked patch antennas and one tunable power divider are involved in the reconfigurable design. The two antennas are arranged by a back-to-back configuration, and they are, respectively, excited by the outputs of the power divider composed of a quasi-lumped coupler and two varactor diodes. By controlling the dc voltage of the varactors, the ratio of two outputs of the power divider can be varied between 0 and 13 dB so that the radiation patterns generated by the two antennas are changed. A prototype operating at 2.45 GHz frequency band is implemented and tested. Experimental results demonstrate that the radiation of the prototype in the H-plane can be switched between an omnidirectional pattern and broadside patterns with various front-to-back ratios.
A Fully Automatic Method for Gridding Bright Field Images of Bead-Based Microarrays

In this paper, a fully automatic method for gridding bright field images of bead-based microarrays is proposed. There have been numerous techniques developed for gridding fluorescence images of traditional spotted microarrays but to our best knowledge, no algorithm has yet been developed for gridding bright field images of bead-based microarrays. The proposed gridding method is designed for automatic quality control during fabrication and assembly of bead-based microarrays. The method begins by estimating the grid parameters using an evolutionary algorithm. This is followed by a grid-fitting step that rigidly aligns an ideal grid with the image. Finally, a grid refinement step deforms the ideal grid to better fit the image. The grid fitting and refinement are performed locally and the final grid is a nonlinear (piecewise affine) grid. To deal with extreme corruptions in the image, the initial grid parameter estimation and grid-fitting steps employ robust search techniques. The proposed method does not have any free parameters that need tuning. The method is capable of identifying the grid structure even in the presence of extreme amounts of artifacts and distortions. Evaluation results on a variety of images are presented.
Absence of Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide Expression in Hematopoietic Cells Enhances Th1 Polarization and Antiviral Immunity in Mice

Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) induces regulatory dendritic cells (DC) in vitro that inhibit cellular immune responses. We tested the role of physiological levels of VIP on immune responses to murine CMV (mCMV) using VIP-knockout (VIP-KO) mice and radiation chimeras engrafted with syngenic VIP-KO hematopoietic cells. VIP-KO mice had less weight loss and better survival following mCMV infection compared with wild-type (WT) littermates. mCMV-infected VIP-KO mice had lower viral loads, faster clearance of virus, with increased numbers of IFN-γ+ NK and NKT cells, and enhanced cytolytic activity of NK cells. Adaptive antiviral cellular immunity was increased in mCMV-infected VIP-KO mice compared with WT mice, with more Th1/Tc1-polarized T cells, fewer IL-10+ T cells, and more mCMV-M45 epitope peptide MHC class I tetramer+ CD8+ T cells (tetramer+ CD8 T cells). mCMV-immune VIP-KO mice had enhanced ability to clear mCMV peptide-pulsed target cells in vivo. Enhanced antiviral immunity was also seen in WT transplant recipients engrafted with VIP-KO hematopoietic cells, indicating that VIP synthesized by neuronal cells did not suppress immune responses. Following mCMV infection there was a marked upregulation of MHC-II and CD80 costimulatory molecule expression on DC from VIP-KO mice compared with DC from WT mice, whereas programmed death-1 and programmed death ligand-1 expression were upregulated in activated CD8+ T cells and DC, respectively, in WT mice, but not in VIP-KO mice. Because the absence of VIP in immune cells increased innate and adaptive antiviral immunity by altering costimulatory and coinhibitory pathways, selective targeting of VIP signaling represents an attractive therapeutic target to enhance antiviral immunity.
MSK1 Regulates Homeostatic and Experience-Dependent Synaptic Plasticity

The ability of neurons to modulate synaptic strength underpins synaptic plasticity, learning and memory, and adaptation to sensory experience. Despite the importance of synaptic adaptation in directing, reinforcing, and revising the behavioral response to environmental influences, the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying synaptic adaptation are far from clear. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a prime initiator of structural and functional synaptic adaptation. However, the signaling cascade activated by BDNF to initiate these adaptive changes has not been elucidated. We have previously shown that BDNF activates mitogen- and stress-activated kinase 1 (MSK1), which regulates gene transcription via the phosphorylation of both CREB and histone H3. Using mice with a kinase-dead knock-in mutation of MSK1, we now show that MSK1 is necessary for the upregulation of synaptic strength in response to environmental enrichment in vivo. Furthermore, neurons from MSK1 kinase-dead mice failed to show scaling of synaptic transmission in response to activity deprivation in vitro, a deficit that could be rescued by reintroduction of wild-type MSK1. We also show that MSK1 forms part of a BDNF- and MAPK-dependent signaling cascade required for homeostatic synaptic scaling, which likely resides in the ability of MSK1 to regulate cell surface GluA1 expression via the induction of Arc/Arg3.1. These results demonstrate that MSK1 is an integral part of a signaling pathway that underlies the adaptive response to synaptic and environmental experience. MSK1 may thus act as a key homeostat in the activity- and experience-dependent regulation of synaptic strength.
Some Remarks on Generalized Finite Element Methods (GFEM) in Solid Mechanics

After a short introduction to Generalized Finite Element Methods (GFEM) for two-dimensional triangular elements, a technique is presented to impose Dirichlet-type boundary conditions to global higher order GFEM ansatz spaces. The convergence rates of h-, p-, hp-and enriched p-versions of the GFEM are discussed with respect to singularities. The method is applied to a two dimensional Poisson model problem and the global errors measured in energy norm are compared.
Semiparametric Stationarity and Fractional Unit Roots Tests Based on Data-Driven Multidimensional Increment Ratio Statistics

Abstract In this paper, we show that the central limit theorem (CLT) satisfied by the data-driven Multidimensional Increment Ratio (MIR) estimator of the memory parameter d established in Bardet and Dola (2012. Adaptive Estimator of the Memory Parameter and Goodness-of-Fit Test Using a Multidimensional Increment Ratio Statistic.” Journal of Multivariate Analysis 105:222–40) for dϵ(–0.5, 0.5) can be extended to a semiparametric class of Gaussian fractionally integrated processes with memory parameter dϵ(–0.5, 1.25). Since the asymptotic variance of this CLT can be estimated, by data-driven MIR tests for the two cases of stationarity and non-stationarity, so two tests are constructed distinguishing the hypothesis d < 0.5 and d≥0.5, as well as a fractional unit roots test distinguishing the case d=1 from the case d < 1. Simulations done on numerous kinds of short-memory, long-memory and non-stationary processes, show both the high accuracy and robustness of this MIR estimator compared to those of usual semiparametric estimators. They also attest of the reasonable efficiency of MIR tests compared to other usual stationarity tests or fractional unit roots tests.
Implementation of transmit antenna weight adaptation through stochastic gradient feedback

Feedback assisted transmission antenna weight adaptation has been proposed for Third Generation cellular systems to provide increased capacity on the forward link. This approach provides enhancement concurrently from fading mitigation and beam steering. One such algorithm maximizes the usable power to the mobile by perturbation extracted gradient adaptation of the transmit weight vector. With perfect channel estimation and other idealized assumptions this method has been shown to be capable of providing weights approaching that of the optimal multi-element transmitter. In this paper a method for common perturbation transmission is introduced and compared to dedicated perturbation transmission in a CDMA system. In addition, a subspace weighting approach is introduced to enhance the algorithm performance in correlated fading. Simulations of the algorithm operating in a cdma2000 system incorporate feedback bit errors, latency and channel estimation errors with a dedicated pilot.
Electronic Field Free Line Rotation and Relaxation Deconvolution in Magnetic Particle Imaging

It has been shown that magnetic particle imaging (MPI), an imaging method suggested in 2005, is capable of measuring the spatial distribution of magnetic nanoparticles. Since the particles can be administered as biocompatible suspensions, this method promises to perform well as a tracer-based medical imaging technique. It is capable of generating real-time images, which will be useful in interventional procedures, without utilizing any harmful radiation. To obtain a signal from the administered superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) particles, a sinusoidal changing external homogeneous magnetic field is applied. To achieve spatial encoding, a gradient field is superimposed. Conventional MPI works with a spatial encoding field that features a field free point (FFP). To increase sensitivity, an improved spatial encoding field, featuring a field free line (FFL) can be used. Previous FFL scanners, featuring a 1-D excitation, could demonstrate the feasibility of the FFL-based MPI imaging process. In this work, an FFL-based MPI scanner is presented that features a 2-D excitation field and, for the first time, an electronic rotation of the spatial encoding field. Furthermore, the role of relaxation effects in MPI is starting to move to the center of interest. Nevertheless, no reconstruction schemes presented thus far include a dynamical particle model for image reconstruction. A first application of a model that accounts for relaxation effects in the reconstruction of MPI images is presented here in the form of a simplified, but well performing strategy for signal deconvolution. The results demonstrate the high impact of relaxation deconvolution on the MPI imaging process.
Incapacitated? Exploring the health and illness narratives of Incapacity Benefit recipients

Previous research has focused upon health, illness and identity, but the experience of receiving welfare benefits has largely been omitted. This thesis attempts to address this deficit by exploring the relationship between long-term Incapacity Benefit (IB) receipt and stigma in areas of North East England. Employing qualitative methodology, 25 IB recipients participated in the study, alongside 18 key stakeholders who worked with IB recipients. The narratives presented in this study uncover lives that are fraught with ill health and disability on a daily basis, accompanied by a strong sense of stigma, shame and frustration. Further, not all long-term IB recipients are resigned to a life on benefits – many possess a deep-seated desire to return to the labour market, including engaging in permitted or voluntary work – a sentiment which directly refutes any ‘dependency culture’ rhetoric. Tying all of this together is the construction and reconstruction of identity for long-term IB recipients. Stigma and shame arose as a result of the widespread suspicion of sick and disabled people; suspicion that was replicated in the views of some of the stakeholders involved in this study. Disturbingly, this led to a further distinction between ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ amongst sickness benefits recipients themselves. Crucially, narratives were relayed against a backdrop of ongoing welfare reform which led to a dominant discourse of fear and insecurity for many participants who worried that their health would get worse, yet they could still be classified as ‘fit for work’. Fundamentally, this research calls for the need for a greater understanding of the lives of sick and disabled people, and an acceptance that being on sickness benefits is not the easy way out.