Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improvements in high resolution ultrasound for postoperative investigation of capillary microperfusion after free tissue transfer.

INTRODUCTION High resolution ultrasound (US) techniques as implemented in the latest generation of US machines provide imminently better resolution compared to previous high resolution models. This improvement is based on advanced transducer technologies as well as updated post-processing procedures. Furthermore, matrix linear transducers providing frequencies from 6 to 15 MHz are now available. The aim of the study was the evaluation of these new techniques for the immediate postoperative investigation of microcirculation after free tissue transfer by supplemental use of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound Imaging (CEUS). PATIENTS AND METHODS To this end, we investigated 12 patients who underwent free tissue transfer in order to cover tissue defects in various body regions. We utilized the new GE Logiq E9 equipped with a linear 6-9 MHz and a matrix 6-15 MHz probe as well as the GE Logiq 9 with the previous version of the linear 6-9 MHz probe. Both machines provide the modalities of SRI, Cross Beam and THI. The perfusion curves were quantitatively analyzed using digital cine sequences (Qontrast, Bracco, Italy). Furthermore, two independent investigators evaluated the digitally recorded images with respect to the resolution of details based on a scale ranging from 0 to 5, and after application of 2.4 ml SonoVue (Bracco, Italy), evaluated the image quality regarding the representation of tissue perfusion. RESULTS None of the free flaps showed clinical or laboratory signs of flap failure during the hospital stay. Several flaps showed typical perfusion patterns relating to the flap type. The combination of SRI, Cross Beam and THI allows, in most cases, a more exact differentiation of tissue graft outlines and tissue composition, in particular the tissue texture, compared to the use of B-scan only. In addition, the high resolution matrix technology combined with the broader spectrum of 6-15 MHz considerably improves the representation of image details compared to multifrequency probes with 6-9 MHz. The use of updated post-processing procedures as well as new transducer technologies in CEUS also results in improved resolution and thus achieves a higher score compared to previous models. CONCLUSION At present, these new US technologies combined with the updated 6-9 MHz probe provide the optimal assessment of perfusion in cutaneous, subcutaneous and deeper tissue layers. The additional use of new multifrequency 6-15 MHz matrix probes improves the resolution in the B-mode to an even higher degree.
Impact of Subject Attrition on Sample Size Determinations for Longitudinal Cluster Randomized Clinical Trials

Subject attrition is a ubiquitous problem in any type of clinical trial and, thus, needs to be taken into consideration at the design stage particularly to secure adequate statistical power. Here, we focus on longitudinal cluster randomized clinical trials (cluster-RCT) that aim to test the hypothesis that an intervention has an effect on the rate of change in the outcome over time. In this setting, the cluster-RCT assumes a three-level hierarchical data structure in which subjects are nested within a higher level unit such as clinics and are evaluated for outcome repeatedly over the study period. Furthermore, the subject-specific slopes can be modeled in terms of fixed or random coefficients in a mixed-effects linear model. Closed-form sample size formulas for testing the preceding hypothesis have been developed under an assumption of no attrition. In this article, we propose closed-form approximate samples size determinations with anticipated attrition rates by modifying those existing sample size formulas. With extensive simulations, we examine performances of the modified formulas under three attrition mechanisms: attrition completely at random, attrition at random, and attrition not at random. In conclusion, the proposed modification is very effective under fixed-slope models but yields biased, perhaps substantially so, statistical power under random slope models.
The Public Handshake, the Pushed Gossip and the Healthcare Marketing

Healthcare Marketing for a hospital is challenged by the new tariff system SwissDRG. An ongoing trial in Switzerland shows the idea and effect of viral marketing. The development of a public handshake/pushed gossip strategy is based on the theories of nudge (shift public opinion), constructivistic didactic (provide learning environment) and municipal intelligence (educate community). To be questionized is the bonding from a public hospital to its neighbourhood. With two instruments - teddy clinic for plush pets and kids as a simulated hospital treatment - and Waidfokus+ a series of public presentations about non-medical issues - the deliberately element of disturbance - as the hospital has no children award and is known for its public presentations about medical issues only - is the object of a practical research. The findings provide a first piece of knowledge that "unlogical" activities attract neighbours never been to the hospital before as well as former patients.
SAR deposition by curved CFMA-434 applicators for superficial hyperthermia: Measurements and simulations

Introduction: Contact flexible microstrip applicators (CFMA) are applied for superficial hyperthermia. In the clinic these flexible applicators are mostly applied bent along the body curvature. This paper investigates the specific absorption rate (SAR) patterns of CFMA applicators, when bent around an elliptical tissue-equivalent phantom. Methods: The 2H (aperture size 14.8 × 14.3 cm2), 3H (28.7 × 20.7 cm2), 4H (19.6 × 19.6 cm2) and 5H (19.7 × 28.5 cm2) applicators were examined. Measurements were performed for the 5H applicator; existing measurement data were analysed for the 3H applicator. Finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations with a resolution of 2 × 2 × 1 mm3 were performed for all applicators. Applicators were bent around the top and the side of the elliptical phantom to examine different curvatures. The SAR deposition, effective field size (EFS) and effective heating depth (EHD) were evaluated and compared to results for straight applicators. Results: Bending the applicators generally yielded a focusing effect of the SAR, which was most pronounced with a strong curvature, but especially the 5H applicator showed a stronger power absorption at the sides of the applicator, compared to the centre region. The EFS became smaller when bending the applicators; this effect was also more pronounced for a strong curvature. The EHD increased for bent applicators, but the degree depended strongly on the location. Conclusion: The behaviour of bent CFMA applicators is not trivial and the SAR deposition is not similar for all applicators. The EFS decreases and the EHD increases, but very locally. Therefore, it is generally advisable to analyse the SAR distribution of flexible applicators in both straight and bent state.
The Effect of Financial Liberalization on the Efficiency of Financial Institutions: The Case of Jordanian Commercial Banks

SUMMARY Jordan undertook major financial sector liberalization starting in the early of 1990s. The effect of this reform on the efficiency of the banking sector is evaluated. A non-parametric method of Data Development Analysis (DEA) has been used to arrive at the efficiency scores for a panel data sample covering eight Jordanian commercial banks over the period 1984 to 2001. The findings suggest that liberalization program was followed by an observable increase in efficiency. Another finding of the study is that large banks demonstrated the faster productivity growth during the liberalization. The study has important implications such as guiding the government policy regarding deregulation and liberalization.
OLA1, a Translational Regulator of p21, Maintains Optimal Cell Proliferation Necessary for Developmental Progression

ABSTRACT OLA1, an Obg-family GTPase, has been implicated in eukaryotic initiation factor 2 (eIF2)-mediated translational control, but its physiological functions remain obscure. Here we report that mouse embryos lacking OLA1 have stunted growth, delayed development leading to immature organs—especially lungs—at birth, and frequent perinatal lethality. Proliferation of primary Ola1−/− mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) is impaired due to defective cell cycle progression, associated with reduced cyclins D1 and E1, attenuated Rb phosphorylation, and increased p21Cip1/Waf1. Accumulation of p21 in Ola1−/− MEFs is due to enhanced mRNA translation and can be prevented by either reconstitution of OLA1 expression or treatment with an eIF2α dephosphorylation inhibitor, suggesting that OLA1 regulates p21 through a translational mechanism involving eIF2. With immunohistochemistry, overexpression of p21 protein was detected in Ola1-null embryos with reduced cell proliferation. Moreover, we have generated p21−/− Ola1−/− mice and found that knockout of p21 can partially rescue the growth retardation defect of Ola1−/− embryos but fails to rescue them from developmental delay and the lethality. These data demonstrate, for the first time, that OLA1 is required for normal progression of mammalian development. OLA1 plays an important role in promoting cell proliferation at least in part through suppression of p21 and organogenesis via factors yet to be discovered.
Influence of the Driving Waveform on the Open-Loop Frequency Response of MEMS Resonators With Nonlinear Actuation Schemes

This paper deals with the influence of the shape of the driving waveform on the frequency responses of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) resonators under nonlinear actuation. Our models show that, at large oscillation amplitudes, these responses are strongly dependent on the shape of the actuation waveform so that the nonlinear frequency response is not the system signature, but the system signature under a specific driving waveform. The case of a MEMS resonator electrostatically driven with a sine-, pulsed-, or square-wave voltage is specifically addressed. Our models and simulations, supported by experimental evidence, predict counterintuitive phenomena resulting from the distortion of the actuation waveform by the displacement-dependent electrostatic nonlinearity. This paper emphasizes that this issue should not be overlooked in order to perform quantitative MEMS characterization in the nonlinear regime.
North Atlantic Intermediate Depth Variability During the Younger Dryas: Evidence from Benthic Foraminiferal Mg/Ca and the Gfdl R30 Coupled Climate Model

The transition from the most recent glaciation to the Holocene interglacial was punctuated by several millennial scale climate oscillations [Bond et al., 1993; Dansgaard et al., 1993; 1992]. The most dramatic of these oscillations was the Younger Dryas, which was a near-glacial cold event in the North Atlantic that lasted from ∼13,000 to ∼11,500 years before present. Many paleoclimate records from the circumNorth Atlantic reveal a significant cooling during the Younger Dryas, including oxygen isotopes in Greenland ice cores [Dansgaard, 1984] and the faunal assemblages of planktic foraminifera [Ruddiman and McIntyre, 1981]. More recently, however, the widespread nature of the event has been revealed in paleoclimate records from around the globe, North Atlantic Intermediate Depth Variability During the Younger Dryas: Evidence From Benthic Foraminiferal Mg/Ca and the GFDL R30 Coupled Climate Model
NAVIGATING THE COMPLEXITIES OF LEGISLATION: HOW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS INTERPRET AND IMPLEMENT FLORIDA'S THIRD-GRADE RETENTION POLICY

of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy NAVIGATING THE COMPLEXITIES OF LEGISLATION: HOW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS INTERPRET AND IMPLEMENT FLORIDA’S THIRD-GRADE RETENTION POLICY By Courtney Caldwell Zmach May 2006 Chair: Richard L. Allington Cochair: Anne McGill-Franzen Major Department: Teaching and Learning Retention policies affecting third graders have become increasingly common as schools, districts, and states across the country work to comply with the federal mandate for all third-grade students to read at or above grade level by 2014. Florida is one such state to enact a high-stakes retention policy as a way to meet accountability challenges. Third graders in Florida who fail the state assessment, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), are held back in grade. This exploratory study gained understanding of Florida’s third-grade retention policy by focusing on the elementary school principal (n=102) as the unit of analysis. To examine the Florida policy, it seemed useful to better understand patterns of third-grade student retention over a 5-year period, retention beliefs of principals, and degree of support given to students affected by the policy. The overarching research question of this study was “What is the trend of third-grade retention practices before and after
Exploring socially responsible behaviour of Indian consumers: an empirical investigation

Purpose - With growing consumerism in the country, Indians need to behave in a socially responsible manner for its sustainable development. This study sets out to explore the extent of the relationship between the demography and socially responsible behaviour of Indian consumers. Design/methodology/approach - A slightly modified SRCB scale developed by Antil and Bennet with 34 Likert-type items along with a few demographic questions is introduced among two equal groups representing urban and rural consumers, because they almost equally contribute to the country's GDP. Findings - Urban respondents scored high in all demographic categories in comparison with rural consumers. Gender-wise, the behaviour was quite symmetrical in both the groups. Education-wise, inverse relationship is noticeable between the SRCB-mean values and educational-level; it may be due to the respondents' continuing education. The inference is reinforced while analyzing the SRCB-values across the age groups. Interestingly, younger ones particularly, the females are demonstrating high scoring on the SRCB-scale. Analyzing according to income-level revealed significant difference only for urban consumers. The lower-income category score high because they are non-earning (students) or have just begun earning. Research limitations/implications - The implications for green marketers are to focus on young consumers and more particularly the female population for creating loyal segment and gaining competitive edge. The policy makers need to promote urbanization for sustainable living and creating awareness of clean-green living. Young Indians are identified as being more promising and socially responsible than their elders. Originality/value - The paper makes an attempt to identify an insight into Indian consumers in terms of their socially responsible consumption behaviour. It presents a base for future studies on consumer social responsibility.
A Novel Quasigroup Substitution Scheme for Chaos Based Image Encryption

A During last two decades, there has been a prolific growth in the chaos based image encryption algorithms. Up to an extent these algorithms have been able to provide an alternative to exchange large media files (images and videos) over the networks in a secure way. However, there have been some issues with the implementation of chaos based image ciphers in practice. One of them is reduced/small key space due to the fact that chaotic behavior is only observed for certain range of system parameters/initial conditions of the chaotic system used in such algorithms. To overcome this difficulty, we propose a simple, efficient and robust image encryption algorithm based on combined applications of quasigroups and chaotic standard map. The proposed image cipher is based on the popular substitution-diffusion architecture (Shanon) where a quasigroup of order 256 and chaotic standard map have been used for the substitution and permutation of image pixels respectively. Due to the introduction of quasigroup as part of the secret key along with the parameter and initial conditions of the chaotic standard map, the key space has been increased significantly. The proposed image cipher is very fast due to the fact that the substitution based on the quasigroup operations is very simple and can be executed easily through the lookup table operations on Latin squares (which are Cayley operation tables of quasigroups) and the permutation is performed row-by-row as well as column-by-column using the pseudo random number sequences gener-ated through the chaotic standard map. The security and performance have been analyzed through the histograms, correlation coefficients, information entropy, key sensitivity analysis, differential analysis, key space analysis etc. and the results prove the efficiency and robustness of the proposed image cipher against the possible security threats.
In silico pKa Prediction and ADME Profiling

Improving the ADME profile of drug candidates is a critical step in lead optimization, and because pKa affects most ADME properties such as lipophilicity, solubility, and metabolism, it is extremely advantageous to predict pKa in order to guide the design of new compounds. However, accurately (<0.5 log units) predicting pKa by empirical methods can be challenging especially for novel series, because of lack of knowledge on determinants of pKa (steric effects, ring effects, H‐bonding, etc.), and because of limited experimental data on the effects of specific chemical groups on the ionization of an atom. To address these issues, we recently developed the computational package MoKa, which integrates graphical and command line tools designed for computational and medicinal chemists to predict the pKa values of organic compounds. Here, we present the major issues considered when we developed MoKa, such as the accurate selection of training data, the fundamentals of the methodology (which has also been extended to predict protein pKa), the treatment of multiprotic compounds, and the selection of the dominant tautomer for the calculation. Last, we illustrate some specific applications of MoKa to predict solubility, lipophilicity, and metabolism.
Impact Of The Manufacturing Sector On The Export Competitiveness Of European Countries – A Spatial Panel Analysis

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to determine how changes in the export competitiveness of the EU economy (measured by exports and net exports) depend on changes in the competitiveness of processing industries, on the basis of manufacturing data from 19 EU countries over years 1995-2009 and using a spatial panel data model. The determinants of export competitiveness are selected in the light of predictions from international trade theory, growth theory and the theory of innovation. In particular, the paper explores how the size of foreign demand, the value of domestic demand, the level of ULC in the sector, the degree of openness of the sector to foreign markets, labour productivity and intermediate consumption in a sector affect the export competitiveness of the European economies selected. The results from spatial data models lead to a conclusion about the statistical significance of spatial dependencies in export competitiveness modelling. The analysis indicates the different determinants of export competitiveness, both if it is measured by export value and if it measured by net exports. The authors hope that the results will be a voice in the discussion on enhancing the competitiveness of European industrial sectors
The Ankle Clonus Test for Assessment of the Integrity of the Spinal Cord during Operations for Scoliosis*

The ankle clonus test, a method for evaluating the integrity of the spinal cord during operations for scoliosis, is predicated on the finding that patients recovering from general anesthesia normally have temporary ankle clonus bilaterally. An absence of transient ankle clonus has been shown to indicate neurological compromise. The test was performed for 1006 patients who were being managed with spinal arthrodesis and instrumentation and 115 control patients who had an operation under general anesthesia because of a condition that was unrelated to the spine. The six patients in whom a neurological deficit developed all had had a so-called positive result on the ankle clonus test (that is, an absence of transient ankle clonus). There were no false-negative results and three false-positive results; the test therefore had a sensitivity of 100 per cent and a specificity of 99.7 per cent. The ankle clonus test was found to be more accurate than the wake-up test and monitoring of somatosensory evoked potentials for predicting neurological compromise.
The Effect of Property Taxes on Location Decisions:Evidence from the Market for Vacation Homes

The Tiebout model assumes that individuals 'vote with their feet' and choose to locate in the jurisdiction which best matches their fiscal preferences. In this paper, we test Tiebout's voting mechanism by examining whether housing purchase decisions are sensitive to changes in local property tax rates. Results from previous empirical tests of the link between property taxes and mobility are mixed and typically suffer from a myriad of identification problems including the confounding influence of tax rates on public good levels, tax endogeneity arising as a result of jurisdictional composition, and aggregation bias. In this paper, we are able to overcome many of the traditional obstacles to identification by: 1) focusing on purchasers of vacation homes who arguably receive no benefits from public goods funded by the tax change; 2) examining an exogenous and differential change in tax rates that arose from Michigan's Proposal A in 1994; and 3) using a high-resolution tax dataset at the Census Tract level. Our results provide some of the clearest evidence to date that household location choices are sensitive to tax changes. Further, consistent with theoretical predictions, the impact of tax changes on housing counts is found to be sensitive to the elasticity of housing supply.
MICROGEOGRAPHIC COUNTERGRADIENT VARIATION IN THE WOOD FROG, RANA SYLVATICA

Abstract Prior studies have shown that macrogeographic gradients in temperature associated with latitude and altitude can lead to countergradient patterns of variation in a number of taxa: individuals from colder environments are known to grow or develop faster than their conspecifics from warmer environments when placed in a common setting. In this study, I hypothesized that countergradient variation also is important at microgeographic scales. The wood frog, Rana sylvatica, breeds in open-canopied, temporary wetlands as well as those heavily shaded by vegetation. Shading leads to cooler thermal environments that are associated with embryonic development rates as much as 50% slower than those in unshaded wetlands. Wetlands with contrasting canopy environments are often found within tens or hundreds of meters of each other. In a common garden experiment, embryos from nearby natural wetlands displayed countergradient variation: individuals collected from shaded wetlands developed up to 12% faster than those collected from relatively unshaded wetlands. The results of this study suggest that the concept of countergradient variation may be extended to small scales of space. In addition, the rate and scale of vegetation dynamics (the agent of wetland shading) imply that divergence in development among residents of nearby wetlands may be relatively rapid, on the order of decades.