Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On‐resonance and off‐resonance continuous wave constant amplitude spin‐lock and T1ρ quantification in the presence of B1 and B0 inhomogeneities

Spin‐lock MRI is a valuable diagnostic imaging technology, as it can be used to probe the macromolecule environment of tissues. Quantitative T1ρ imaging is one application of spin‐lock MRI that is reported to be promising for a number of clinical applications. Spin‐lock is often performed with a continuous RF wave at a constant RF amplitude either on resonance or off resonance. However, both on‐ and off‐resonance spin‐lock approaches are susceptible to B1 and B0 inhomogeneities, which results in image artifacts and quantification errors. In this work, we report a continuous wave constant amplitude spin‐lock approach that can achieve negligible image artifacts in the presence of B1 and B0 inhomogeneities for both on‐ and off‐resonance spin‐lock. Under the adiabatic condition, by setting the maximum B1 amplitude of the adiabatic pulses equal to the B1 amplitude of spin‐lock RF pulse, the spins are ensured to align along the effective field throughout the spin‐lock process. We show that this results in simultaneous compensation of B1 and B0 inhomogeneities for both on‐ and off‐resonance spin‐lock. The relaxation effect during the entire adiabatic half passage (AHP) and reverse AHP, and the stationary solution of the Bloch‐McConnell equation present at off‐resonance frequency offset, are considered in the revised relaxation model. We demonstrate that these factors create a direct current component to the conventional relaxation model. In contrast to the previously reported dual‐acquisition method, the revised relaxation model just requires one acquisition to perform quantification. The simulation, phantom, and in vivo experiments demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves superior image quality compared with the existing methods, and the revised relaxation model can perform T1ρ quantification with one acquisition instead of two.
Draft Genome Sequence of Multidrug-Resistant Escherichia coli NIVEDI-P44, Isolated from a Chicken Fecal Sample in Northeast India

ABSTRACT We report here the draft genome sequence of a multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli strain (NIVEDI-P44) isolated from a chicken fecal sample. The estimated genome size is 4.76 Mb, with a G+C content of 50.65%. The genome harbors multiple antibiotic resistance genes, blaDHA-1, mph(A), strA, strB, dfrA14, sul-2, tet(A), and qnrS1.
Joint Label Inference in Networks

We consider the problem of inferring node labels in a partially labeled graph where each node in the graph has multiple label types and each label type has a large number of possible labels. Existing approaches such as Label Propagation fail to consider interactions between the label types. Our proposed method, called EdgeExplain, explicitly models these interactions, while still allowing scalable inference under a distributed message-passing architecture. On a large subset of the Facebook social network, collected in a previous study, EdgeExplain outperforms label propagation for several label types, with lifts of up to $120%$ for recall@1 and 60% for recall@3.
Measuring partner violence chronicity and prevalence in the religious community: Contextualizing marital submission

Current domestic violence policies in the United States assume that rates of partner violence (PV) in the religious community are similar to those in the society-at-large, and that patriarchal views of female-to-male submission are the primary causes of PV in the religious community. The purpose of this quantitative confirmatory study was to investigate these assumptions by exploring the relationship between the practice of patriarchy and female submission and the prevalence of PV in two congregations, one liberal and one traditional in views about men and women's marital roles and responsibilities. This study introduces the Marital Submission Scale (MSS) created by this author and included as part of the Intimate Partner Relationship Questionnaires (IPRQ). The new construct distinguishes between the patriarchal Hierarchical Authoritarian (HA) and the Egalitarian Mutual Submission (EMS) models of marital relationships. The sample includes 193 married or previously married adults; 83 males and 110 females. This author found that respondents from the more traditional HA perspective reported higher scores on the MSS, the Fundamentalism Scale, and on the Relationship Dyadic Adjustment Scale. However, the rates of PV as measured by the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale and the Woman's Experience of Battering differed by both denomination and gender. Measuring Partner Violence vi Table of
Calculating the Upper Bounds for Multi-Document Summarization using Genetic Algorithms

Over the last years, several Multi-Document Summarization (MDS) methods have been presented in Document Understanding Conference (DUC) workshops. Since DUC01, several methods have been presented in approximately 268 publications of the state-of-the-art, that have allowed the continuous improvement of MDS, however in most works the upper bounds were unknowns. Recently, some works have been focused to calculate the best sentence combinations of a set of documents and in previous works we have been calculated the significance for single-document summarization task in DUC01 and DUC02 datasets. However, for MDS task has not performed an analysis of significance to rank the best multi-document summarization methods. In this paper, we propose a method based on Genetic Algorithms for calculating the best sentence combinations of DUC01 and DUC02 datasets in MDS through a meta-document representation. Moreover, we have calculated three heuristics mentioned in several works of state-of-the-art to rank the most recent MDS methods, through the calculus of upper bounds and lower bounds.
Underlying motivations for social media use by first time mothers

To become a mother is a radical change in life. Nowadays the number of new mothers that have started to use social media has increased considerably. The principal objective of this study is to find out the underlying motivations new mothers have to participate on social media. The method used for this study is a survey with open and closed questions administered to first time mothers aged between 25 – 35 years . I expect that the reasons behind the use of social media are the search and development of a new identity, the search for connection and as an instrument for parenting. Understanding these motivations can help people offer new tools, form communities, give support, and offer products that moms are looking for.
Effects of size and sex on swimming performance and metabolism of invasive mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki

In freshwater ecosystems, abiotic factors such as flow regime and water quality are considered important predictors of ecosystem invasibility. The aim of this study was to investigate the critical swimming capacity and metabolism of the eastern mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki, focusing on sex and size effects, to evaluate the influence of water flow on its invasive success. Specimens of mosquitofish were captured from the Ter Vell lagoon (L'Estartit, north-eastern Spain) in July 2014, and we measured the critical swimming speed (Ucrit) and oxygen consumption of individual fish (30 females and 30 males) using a mini swim tunnel. The mean Ucrit of this poeciliid fish was estimated at 14.11 cm·s−1 (range = 4.85–22.26), which is lower than that of many other fishes of similar size and confirms that this species is limnophilic and its invasive success might be partially explained by hydrologic alterations. However, the Ucrit and maximal metabolic rate vary markedly with fish size and sex, with males having much higher values for the same body mass, and thus probably being more resistant to strong water flows. Multiple regression models illustrate that multivariate analyses might increase the predictive power and understanding of swimming performance and metabolic traits, compared to results from conventional simple regressions.
Modeling and controlling of stochastic dynamics of complex nonlinear systems

An application of the path-integral approach to an analysis of the fluctuations in complex dynamical systems is discussed. It is shown that essentially the same ideas underly recent progress in the solutions of a number of long-standing problems in complex dynamics. In particular, we consider the problems of prediction, control and inference of chaotic dynamics perturbed by noise in the framework of path-integral approach.
What do foreign neighbors say about the mental lexicon?*

A corpus analysis of phonological word-forms shows that English words have few phonological neighbors that are Spanish words. Concomitantly, Spanish words have few phonological neighbors that are English words. These observations appear to undermine certain accounts of bilingual language processing, and have significant implications for the processing and representation of word-forms in bilinguals.
Too Big to Jail? Key-Player Policies When the Network is Endogenous

This paper endogenizes the network for the seminal model presented in Ballester et al. (2006) by way of a simple simultaneous move game. Agents choose with whom to associate and how much effort to exert. Effort levels display local strategic complementarities and global strategic substitutes. I show that all pairwise Nash equilibrium networks are nested split graphs. As in Ballester et al. (2006), agents’ equilibrium effort levels are proportional to Bonacich centrality. However, their ranking now coincides with a simpler measure, which is also easier to identify: degree centrality. I then study key player policies, which aim at minimizing aggregate effort levels via the elimination of an agent. In the spirit of network formation, after an agent was eliminated from a pairwise Nash equilibrium network, the remaining agents may revise their effort decisions and adapt their linking behavior. It is shown that, if the parameter governing global strategic substitutes is sufficiently small, then eliminating a most central agent also decreases aggregate effort levels most. This mirrors results obtained by Ballester et al. (2006). However, when global strategic substitutes are large, then, different from Ballester et al. (2006), eliminating a most central agent may not be optimal. Eliminating a most central agent, who in equilibrium also exerts highest criminal effort, decreases competition/congestion effects and increases incentives of the remaining agents to create new links. The latter effect on the aggregate level of crime may outweigh the former. These results are relevant for a wide range of applications, such as juvenile delinquency and crime, R&D expenditure of firms, bank bailouts and trade.
Energy metabolism and fasting in male and female insectivorous bats

Metabolic adaptations induced by 24 and 48 hours of fasting were investigated in male and female insectivorous bats (Molossus molossus Pallas, 1766). For this purpose, plasma glucose, non esterified fatty acids (NEFA), glycogen, protein and lipids concentrations in liver and muscles were obtained. Data presented here demonstrate that fed bats showed plasma glucose levels similar to those reported for other mammal species. In response to fasting, glycemia was decreased only in 48 hours fasted females. Plasma NEFA levels were similar in both sexes, and did not exhibit any changes during fasting. Considering the data from energy reserve variations, fed females presented an increased content of liver glycogen as well as higher breast muscle protein and limbs lipids concentrations, compared to fed males. In response to fasting, liver and muscle glycogen levels remained unchanged. Considering protein and lipid reserves, only females showed decreased values following fasting, as seen in breast, limbs and carcass lipids and breast muscle protein reserves, but still fail to keep glucose homeostasis after 48 hours without food. Taken together, our data suggest that the energy metabolism of insectivorous bats may vary according to sexual differences, a pattern that might be associated to different reproduction investments and costs between genders.
A Dynamical-System-Based Approach for Controlling Robotic Manipulators During Noncontact/Contact Transitions

Many daily life tasks require precise control when making contact with surfaces. Ensuring a smooth transition from free motion to contact is crucial as incurring a large impact force may lead to unstable contact with the robot bouncing on the surface, i.e., chattering. Stabilizing the forces at contact is not possible as the impact lasts for less than a millisecond, leaving no time for the robot to react to the impact force. We present a strategy in which the robot adapts its dynamic before entering into contact. The speed is modulated so as to align with the surface. We leverage the properties of autonomous dynamical systems for immediate replanning and handling unforeseen perturbations and exploit local modulations of the dynamics to control for the smooth transitions at contact. We show theoretically and empirically that by using the modulation framework, the robot can stably touch the contact surface, even when the surface's location is uncertain, at a desired location, and finally, leave the surface or stop on the surface at a desired point.
Novel roles for two-component regulatory systems in cytotoxicity and virulence-related properties in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The rapid adaptation of the opportunistic bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa to various growth modes and environmental conditions is controlled in part through diverse two-component regulatory systems. Some of these systems are well studied, but the majority are poorly characterized, even though it is likely that several of these systems contribute to virulence. Here, we screened all available strain PA14 mutants in 50 sensor kinases, 50 response regulators and 5 hybrid sensor/regulators, for contributions to cytotoxicity against cultured human bronchial epithelial cells, as assessed by the release of cytosolic lactate dehydrogenase. This enabled the identification of 8 response regulators and 3 sensor kinases that caused substantial decreases in cytotoxicity, and 5 response regulators and 8 sensor kinases that significantly increased cytotoxicity by 15–58% or more. These regulators were additionally involved in motility, adherence, type 3 secretion, production of cytotoxins, and the development of biofilms. Here we investigated in more detail the roles of FleSR, PilSR and WspR. Not all cognate pairs contributed to cytotoxicity (e.g. PhoPQ, PilSR) in the same way and some differences could be detected between the same mutants in PAO1 and PA14 strain backgrounds (e.g. FleSR, PhoPQ). This study highlights the potential importance of these regulators and their downstream targets on pathogenesis and demonstrates that cytotoxicity can be regulated by several systems and that their contributions are partly dependent on strain background.
Estimators for the linear regression model based on Winsorized observations

We develop an asymptotic, robust version of the Gauss-Markov theorem for estimating the regression parameter vector ? and a parametric function ? in the linear regression model. In a class of estimators for estimating ? that are linear in a Winsorized observation vector introduced by Welsh (1987), we show that Welsh's trimmed mean has smallest asymptotic covariance matrix. Also, for estimating a parametric function ? , the inner product of ? and the trimmed mean has the smallest asymptotic variance among a class of estimators linear in the Winsorized observation vector. A generalization of the linear Winsorized mean to the multivariate context is also given. Examples analyzing American lobster data and the mineral content of bones are used to compare the robustness of some trimmed mean methods.
e-STAB: Energy-Efficient Scheduling for Cloud Computing Applications with Traffic Load Balancing

Energy consumption accounts for a large percentage of the operational expenses in data centers that are used as backend computing infrastructure for cloud computing. Existing solutions for energy efficiency and job scheduling are focusing on job distribution between servers based on the computational demands, while the communication demands are ignored. This work emphases the role of communication fabric and presents a scheduling solution, named e-STAB, which takes into account traffic requirements of cloud applications providing energy efficient job allocation and traffic load balancing in data center networks. Effective distribution of network traffic improves quality of service of running cloud applications by reducing the communication-related delays and congestion-related packet losses. The validation results, obtained from the Green Cloud simulator, underline benefits and efficiency of the proposed scheduling methodology.
Quality of life on hemodialysis and inflammation: a descriptive analysis

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is highly prevalent worldwide. Patients with CKD on hemodialysis are more likely to present behavioral changes and worse quality of life as a result of their routine and complications. They also have higher levels of cytokines. The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between the inflammatory profile and quality of life measured by KDOQL-SF36 in hemodialysis outpatients. Patients older than 21 years of age and on routine hemodialysis for at least 6 months with treatment on a regular weekly basis were included and their anthropometric parameters and serum inflammatory markers were evaluated. Thirty patients consented to participate. Homocysteine (Hcy) levels were correlated with worse glomerular filtration rate (GFR; P=0.003) and creatinine (P=0.002). IL-6 was not correlated with worse nutritional status taking into account body mass index (BMI; kg/m2; P=0.83). On the other hand, TNF-alpha was positively correlated with albumin (P=0.008), nutritional status by BMI (P=0.04), and nutritional status by arm circumference area (P=0.04). IL-6 was correlated with activity limitation (P=0.02) and Hcy with work status (P=0.04). Hcy was correlated with nutritional status and inflammatory markers. In this population, the majority of the sections in KDOQL-SF36 were not correlated with cytokines levels.
Initial Academic Momentum and Student Success: Comparing 4- and 2-Year Students

ABSTRACT Today, many full-time students spend one, two, or more additional years completing a 2-year associate or 4-year bachelor degree. In order to reduce this time frame, many institutions are utilizing a 15 to Finish campaign to encourage full-time students to enroll in 15 credits each semester. The first purpose of this study was to examine if there is a relationship between the number of credit hours enrolled in the first semester and the number of credits earned at the end of the first year. Concurrently, it examined how a student’s initial academic momentum (i.e., the number of credit hours earned in the first year) relates to student persistence and degree completion. The second purpose was to determine if there was a relationship between a student’s socioeconomic status and the number of credit hours enrolled in the first semester—and if it is feasible for low-income students, who primarily attend community colleges, to afford additional credit hours. The results showed that more students who earned 30 credit hours in the first academic year persisted to the second year and earned a degree than students who did not earn 30 credit hours. Also, the results showed that the majority of low-income community college students had enough Federal Pell Grant funds to pay for the additional tuition cost. Given these results, practical and policy implications are discussed.
Convex Matrix Completion: A Trace-Ball Optimization Perspective

The problem of Matrix Completion (MC) refers to the process of adding entries for unknown or missing values in a matrix. In this paper, we study the convex matrix completion problem in the form of trace norm bounding. Specifically, we propose a robust solution for this problem based on trace-ball optimization, which can creatively change the original trace norm constraint into the problem of low-rank matrix factorization. Therefore, by searching in a ball space defined by the new trace constraint, the rank of new matrix can be self-determined such that the local minimum for matrix factorization is the global minimum for the original matrix completion task. Meanwhile, we define a free parameter γ to control the model complexity of our approach in terms of how well it fits the training data. Particularly, we identify a value of γb, which is the minimal value of the trace norm, in a way such that the model can exactly fit the known entries in the matrix. Furthermore, we also empirically reveal an important property of our approach: that is, a variable η generated by γ is always stable with the increase of the amount of training data. This can help to speed up the tuning of optimal parameters for large matrices. Finally, extensive experiments on several real-world datasets clearly validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Family medicine training in Africa: Views of clinical trainers and trainees

Background This article reports on the findings of a workshop held at the joint 5th World Organisation of Family Doctors (WONCA) Africa and 20th National Family Practitioners Conference in Tshwane, South Africa, in 2017. Postgraduate training for family medicine in Africa takes place in the clinical workspace at the bedside or next to the patient in the clinic, district hospital or regional hospital. Direct supervisor observation, exchange of reflection and feedback, and learning conversations between the supervisor and the registrar are central to learning and assessment processes. Objectives The aim of the workshop was to understand how family medicine registrars (postgraduate trainees in family medicine) in Africa learn in the workplace. Methods Thirty-five trainers and registrars from nine African countries, the United Kingdom, United States and Sweden participated. South Africa was represented by the universities of Cape Town, Limpopo, Pretoria, Sefako Makgatho, Stellenbosch, Walter Sisulu and Witwatersrand. Results Six major themes were identified: (1) context is critical, (2) learning style of the registrar and (teaching style) of the supervisor, (3) learning portfolio is utilised, (4) interactions between registrar and supervisor, (5) giving and receiving feedback and (6) the competence of the supervisor. Conclusion The training of family physicians across Africa shares many common themes. However, there are also big differences among the various countries and even programmes within countries. The way forward would include exploring the local contextual enablers that influence the learning conversations between trainees and their supervisors. Family medicine training institutions and organisations (such as WONCA Africa and the South African Academy of Family Physicians) have a critical role to play in supporting trainees and trainers towards developing local competencies which facilitate learning in the clinical workplace dominated by service delivery pressures.