Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multishot Diffusion-Weighted PROPELLER Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Abdomen

Objective:The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using multishot PROPELLER for diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) of the abdomen. Materials and Methods:Diffusion-weighted abdominal imaging was performed in 9 healthy volunteers and 3 patients using both single-shot DW-SE-EPI and multishot DW-PROPELLER (BLADE sequence). We compared ADC measurements in phantoms, liver and pancreatic tissues and performed qualitative comparisons of the diffusion-weighted images and ADC maps provided by these 2 techniques. Results:DW-PROPELLER significantly improved image quality (P < 0.05) with reduced geometric distortion and artifact. The ADC values of phantoms and abdominal organs measured by DW-PROPELLER were generally greater than those measured by single-shot DW-SE-EPI. The ADC values measured by both DWI techniques were significantly different for liver tissues but not for pancreatic tissues (P < 0.05). Preliminary patient studies demonstrated clearly distinguished lesion areas from surrounding normal liver tissues in the DW-PROPELLER images. DW-PROPELLER offers the potential for high-resolution DWI of the abdomen. Conclusions:The multishot DW-PROPELLER sequence is a promising technique for DWI of abdominal organs. Future clinical studies will evaluate the use of DW-PROPELLER technique for abdominal oncologic imaging applications.
On r-Cross Intersecting Families of Sets

Let (r−1)n ≥ rk and let $\FF_1,\ldots,\FF_r\subset\binom{[n]}k$. Suppose that F1 ∩ ⋅⋅⋅ ∩ Fr ≠ ∅ holds for all Fi ∈ i, 1 ≤ i ≤ r. Then we show that $\prod_{i=1}^r|\FF_i|\leq\binom{n-1}{k-1}^r$.
Embeddedness, Social Identity and Mobility: Why Firms Leave the NASDAQ and Join the New York Stock Exchange

Organizations derive their social identity from membership in formal groups and strive to maintain a positive social identity. When their social identity is threatened and group boundaries are permeable, organizations defect to other groups. This paper suggests that organizations receive identity-discrepant cues when in-group members defect to an out-group, but how organizations respond to such cues hinges on their social affiliations to the in-group, out-group, and defectors. A study of organizations that migrated from the NASDAQ stock market to the New York Stock Exchange reveals that strong ties to in-group members (NASDAQ members) reduced the impact of identity-discrepant cues and diminished defections. Conversely, strong ties to out-group members (NYSE members) enhanced the impact of identity-discrepant cues and increased defection. Proximity to defectors increased cross-overs—organizations followed defectors to whom they had direct ties. Implications for the study of embeddedness are outlined.
Quantitative Comparison of Genetically Encoded Ca2+ Indicators in Cortical Pyramidal Cells and Cerebellar Purkinje Cells

Genetically encoded Ca2+ indicators (GECIs) are promising tools for cell type-specific and chronic recording of neuronal activity. In the mammalian central nervous system, however, GECIs have been tested almost exclusively in cortical and hippocampal pyramidal cells, and the usefulness of recently developed GECIs has not been systematically examined in other cell types. Here we expressed the latest series of GECIs, yellow cameleon (YC) 2.60, YC3.60, YC-Nano15, and GCaMP3, in mouse cortical pyramidal cells as well as cerebellar Purkinje cells using in utero injection of recombinant adenoviral vectors. We characterized the performance of the GECIs by simultaneous two-photon imaging and whole-cell patch-clamp recording in acute brain slices at 33 ± 2°C. The fluorescent responses of GECIs to action potentials (APs) evoked by somatic current injection or to synaptic stimulation were examined using rapid dendritic imaging. In cortical pyramidal cells, YC2.60 showed the largest responses to single APs, but its decay kinetics were slower than YC3.60 and GCaMP3, while GCaMP3 showed the largest responses to 20 APs evoked at 20 Hz. In cerebellar Purkinje cells, only YC2.60 and YC-Nano15 could reliably report single complex spikes (CSs), and neither showed signal saturation over the entire stimulus range tested (1–10 CSs at 10 Hz). The expression and response of YC2.60 in Purkinje cells remained detectable and comparable for at least over 100 days. These results provide useful information for selecting an optimal GECI depending on the experimental requirements: in cortical pyramidal cells, YC2.60 is suitable for detecting sparse firing of APs, whereas GCaMP3 is suitable for detecting burst firing of APs; in cerebellar Purkinje cells, YC2.60 as well as YC-Nano15 is suitable for detecting CSs.
Coping and Gender Differences in Seasonality and Seasonal Affective Disorder

Research indicates an individual’s tendency to ruminate in response to seasonal changes predicts the severity of seasonality as well as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). However, research on the relationship between other coping strategies and SAD is sparse. My hypothesis was that maladaptive coping strategies such as mental disengagement would be related to higher levels of SAD. My research used archival data from 607 undergraduate students who reported on SAD symptoms and a variety of other measures. Statistically significant differences between coping strategies were found for women and men. In addition, predictors of seasonality were not consistent across gender. The present study identifies gender-specific factors related to seasonality.
Suicide in Schools

Foreword Mennuti and Christner 1. Overview and Introduction 2. Training Gatekeepers 3. School Crisis Response Planning 4. School Liability and Implications for Best Practice 5. Evidence-Based Suicide Prevention Programs 6. Guidelines for Suicide Risk Assessment 7. Intervening with a Potentially Suicidal Student 8. The Aftermath: Immediate Suicide Postvention Step by Step 9. The Bereaved Student, School, and Community 10. Caring for the Caregiver: Burnout, Compassion Fatigue, and Vicarious Traumatization 11. Comprehensive Case Study 12. Suicide and Schools: Resources
Interaction of streptococcal plasminogen binding proteins with the host fibrinolytic system

The ability to take advantage of plasminogen and its activated form plasmin is a common mechanism used by commensal as well as pathogenic bacteria in interaction with their respective host. Hence, a huge variety of plasminogen binding proteins and activation mechanisms exist. This review solely focuses on the genus Streptococcus and, in particular, on the so-called non-activating plasminogen binding proteins. Based on structural and functional differences, as well as on their mode of surface linkaging, three groups can be assigned: M-(like) proteins, surface displayed cytoplasmatic proteins with enzymatic activities (“moonlighting proteins”) and other surface proteins. Here, the plasminogen binding sites and the interaction mechanisms are compared. Recent findings on the functional consequences of these interactions on tissue degradation and immune evasion are summarized.
Algorithm level re-computing-a register transfer level concurrent error detection technique

In this paper we propose two algorithm-level time redundancy based Concurrent Error Detection (CED) schemes that exploit diversity in a Register Transfer (RT) level implementation. RT level diversity can be achieved either by changing the operation-to-operator allocation (allocation diversity) or by shifting the operands before re-computation (data diversity). By enabling a fault to affect the normal result and the re-computed result in two different ways, RT level diversity yields good CED capability with low area overhead. We used Synopsys Behavior Compiler (BC) to implement the technique.
Deep Feelings: A Massive Cross-Lingual Study on the Relation between Emotions and Virality

This article provides a comprehensive investigation on the relations between virality of news articles and the emotions they are found to evoke. Virality, in our view, is a phenomenon with many facets, i.e. under this generic term several different effects of persuasive communication are comprised. By exploiting a high-coverage and bilingual corpus of documents containing metrics of their spread on social networks as well as a massive affective annotation provided by readers, we present a thorough analysis of the interplay between evoked emotions and viral facets. We highlight and discuss our findings in light of a cross-lingual approach: while we discover differences in evoked emotions and corresponding viral effects, we provide preliminary evidence of a generalized explanatory model rooted in the deep structure of emotions: the Valence-Arousal-Dominance (VAD) circumplex. We find that viral facets appear to be consistently affected by particular VAD configurations, and these configurations indicate a clear connection with distinct phenomena underlying persuasive communication.
Simultaneous Displacement/Force Self-Sensing in Piezoelectric Actuators and Applications to Robust Control

Self-sensing technique consists of using an actuator as a sensor at the same time. This is possible for most actuators with physically reversible principle such as piezoelectric materials. The main advantages of self-sensing are: 1) the embeddability of the measurement technique, and 2) its low cost as no additional sensor is required. This paper presents a self-sensing technique for piezoelectric actuators used in precise positioning applications like micromanipulation and microassembly. The main novelty is that both displacement and force signals can be simultaneously estimated. This allows a feedback control using one of these two signals with a display of the other signal. To demonstrate this advantage, a robust H∞ feedback control on displacement with real-time display of the force is used as an application of the proposed self-sensing technique. In this paper, experimental results obtained with a piezoelectric cantilever actuator validate and demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed self-sensing.
Improved methods for polynomial fitting and distortion contribution analysis

This paper presents improvements in recently developed distortion contribution analysis based on Volterra analysis on top of harmonic balance. The polynomial fitting is enhanced by perturbed source-wise fitting that breaks the input-output correlation of multi-input nonlinear sources. The contribution analysis is enhanced by a more effective frequency-domain convolution calculation, and possibility to track individual mixing products in mixer applications.
RINSE: the real-time immersive network simulation environment for network security exercises

The RINSE simulator is being developed to support large-scale network security preparedness and training exercises, involving hundreds of players and a modeled network composed of hundreds of LANs. The simulator must be able to present a realistic rendering of network behavior as attacks are launched and players diagnose events and try counter measures to keep network services operating. We describe the architecture and function of RINSE and outline how techniques like multiresolution traffic modeling and new routing simulation methods are used to address the scalability challenges of this application. We also describe in more detail new work on CPU/memory models necessary for the exercise scenarios and a latency absorption technique that help when extending the range of client tools usable by the players.
PADÉ-BASED INTERPRETATION AND CORRECTION OF THE GIBBS PHENOMENON

Abstract. The convergence of a Fourier series on an interval can be interpreted naturally as the convergence of a Laurent series on the unit circle in the complex plane. In turn this Laurent series can be interpreted as the sum of an analytic and a co-analytic Taylor series.The Gibbs phenomenon in this context can be seen as an attempt to approximate a logarithmic branch cut with such series. Conversion of a truncated Taylor series to a Padé approximation does a much better job of approximating on most of the unit circle, but a rational function cannot approximate the jump itself. However, one can modify the traditional Padé approximation to include logarithmic singularities. When the jump locations are known exactly, this process appears to converge exponentially to a discontinuous or nonsmooth function throughout the interval . When the jump locations are not known in advance, standard Padé approximation to the derivative of the original series gives poles that approximate jump locations to what is observed to be fourth-order accuracy. All the procedures have analogs in the case of trigonometric interpolation of equispaced data.
Temporal Alcohol Availability Predicts First-Time Drunk Driving, but Not Repeat Offending

Alcohol availability has been linked to drunk driving, but research has not examined whether this relationship is the same for first-time and repeat offenses. We examined the relationship between the business hours of alcohol outlets licensed to serve alcohol for on-premises consumption and misdemeanor-level (first offense) and felony-level drunk driving (repeat offense) charges in New York State in 2009. Longer outlet business hours were associated with more misdemeanor drunk driving charges, but were not associated with felony drunk driving charges. The per capita density of on-premises alcohol outlets did not affect misdemeanor or felony drunk driving charges. The results suggest that temporal alcohol availability may be an impelling factor for first-time drunk driving, but other factors likely influence repeat drunk driving behaviors.
An efficient VLSI architecture for edge filtering in H.264/AVC

In this paper, we study and analyze the computational complexity of H.264/AVC baseline profile decoder based on SimpleScalar/ARM simulator. The simulation result shows that the memory reference, the operations of content activity check, and the edge filtering are known to be very time consuming in the embedded system. In order to reduce the memory reference and improve overall system performance, we proposed a new efficient VLSI architecture to accelerate the processing of deblocking filter. The proposed architecture is called “Adaptive Edge Filtering Operation (AEFO),” which could be embedded in a platform-based architecture as a co-processor. As a result, the performance of the embedded system using AEFO is 1.66 times faster than software implementation. Moreover, the number of total me mory references for loading and storage is reduced by 34% and 36% respectively.
An investigation into the use of the transporters DVD to enhance emotion recognition in children with an autistic spectrum condition

Baron-Cohen (2002) developed an intervention for children with a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Conditions (ASC) which utilises a DVD called the Transporters. The Transporters is a make- believe world of imaginary characters where vehicles have feelings and contains a combination of systematic elements such as trains and trams with human faces. The development of the Transporters is based on the ‘empathizing-systemizing’ theory. That is, in contrast to difficulties with emotion recognition, individuals with ASC have been shown to have an enhanced ability in ‘systemizing’ compared to typically developing children (Baron- Cohen, 2002). An experimental design with multiple baselines was used to assess the impact of the Transporters DVD intervention on the emotion recognition of children with Highly Functioning Autism (HFA). A repeated measures method was used whereby participants completed three measures at Time 1, 2 and 3. The intervention took place between Time 2 and Time 3. Performance was compared across all three times using an analysis of variance statistical test. There was no significant difference between Time 2 and 3 for any of the measures. The results from this research would suggest that more evidence is needed about the use of the Transporters within a school context before Educational Psychologists and other professionals recommend the Transporters as a tool to enhance emotion recognition when used in schools.
On the origin of skewed distributions of spontaneous synaptic potentials in autonomic ganglia

The histograms of spontaneous synaptic potentials at synapses in autonomic ganglia are described by distributions consisting of mixtures of Gaussians, rather than by single Gaussian distributions. The possible origin of these mixed distribution is investigated, using Monte–Carlo simulations of the action of spontaneously released units of transmitter. A single unit of acetylcholine of fixed size, released from an active zone with receptor patches both beneath and adjacent to the zone, does not give rise to the observed histograms. But if the unit is of variable size, consisting of integer multiples of smaller units, and release is from an active zone onto either the receptor patch beneath, or in addition onto adjacent patches, then the histogram is well described by a mixture of Gaussians. However, this explanation is unlikely to be correct since present evidence suggests that in most cases the released unit of transmitter saturates the postsynaptic receptor patch beneath the active zone. The final case considered is where a unit of transmitter is spontaneously released from an active zone, simultaneously with a unit in an adjacent zone less than one micron away. The histogram of potentials then conforms to those observed even when there are differences in the sizes of the receptor patches. It is suggested that this kind of release could provide an explanation for distributions of spontaneous potentials that are mixtures of Gaussians.
Current research on moral education and development in Europe

The Moral and Social Action Interdisciplinary Colloquium (MOSAIC) is an international multidisciplinary network of scholars working within the fields of the philosophy, psychology and sociology of moral development, moral education and moral thought. MOSAIC runs an annual conference, traditionally in June or July. This conference attracts an international mix of doctoral students, early career researchers and more established academics. The theme of the 2005 conference, held at the Universität Konstanz in Germany, was the moral and religious challenges facing education in Europe. The programme was diverse, with papers covering topics as varied as values education, religious orientation, morality across cultures, measuring morality, individual differences and moral domains. The inaugural lecture, delivered by Reinhard Hesse of the Pedagogical University of Freiburg, Switzerland, discussed how global changes impact on ethical reasoning and how, in an age of nuclear arsenals, ethics and science are welded together. He concluded that individuals must do all they can to sustain the globe and change destructive human urges. This research review aims to showcase some of the research presented at this MOSAIC conference. A selection of seven abstracts extended and edited to form summaries demonstrates the varied research in the fields of moral development, moral education and moral thought currently being undertaken by MOSAIC members. These provide a resource for those involved in, or who intend to embark on, related work. The first summary, from Mudje Koca of Liverpool Hope University, UK, is concerned with the implicit barriers faced by university students living with a disability. The next two summaries explore the challenges ethno-religious conflict pose for moral development. Marijana Handziska of Ss Cyril & Methodius University, Republic of Macedonia, focused on the impact that living during a period of political instability in the Republic of Macedonia had on the moral competence of Macedonian adolescents, whilst I explored how differences in the intensity of ethno-political conflicts impact on moral maturity. Both studies illustrated the negative and regressive impact political violence has on moral development. Sieglinde Weyringer and Jean-Luc Patry of the University of Salzburg, Austria, presented a values education programme being pioneered in Austria. Georg Lind, from the University of Konstanz, Germany, reflected on the 30th anniversary of the Moral Judgment Test (MJT; Lind & Wakenhut, 1985) by presenting the findings from 17 validation studies. The presentation illustrated the development of Journal of Moral Education Vol. 35, No. 1, March 2006, pp. 129–136
Multiplicity reactivation of influenza virus.

Influenza A virus, inactivated by heat or formaldehyde, does not multiply when inoculated into the allantois. Yet, such an inoculum will increase the apparent yield of a subsaturating inoculum of live virus by preventing its combination with uninfected cells. This effect may be mistaken for multiplicity reativation. By preventing adsorption of newly released particles to uninfected cells, the receptor-destroying enzyme of Vibrio cholerae can, with certain virus strains, imitate the effect of inactivated virus. Influenza virus particles, produced in the first cycle following a subsaturating inoculum, adsorb on to uninfected cells very soon after they become hemagglutinating.
The effects of nesting environment on neonatal hypoxic-ischemic injury

Term neonates with hypoxic-ischemic (HI) injury are at risk for devastating neurological sequelae. The objective of this study is to determine if altering the early environment for maternal care-taking impacts the immediate and long-term sequelae of HI offspring. The Rice-Vannucci model was used to induce HI in postnatal day (PND) 7 Long-Evans pups. Litters were assigned to a closed nest (CN) or normal standard housing (SH) condition. Neurobehavioral development, cognitive ability, and stress response were assessed to establish any benefits of the CN condition. Finally, postmortem brain tissue was analyzed for morphometric markers of injury. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is a product of many hands. I have received tremendous support throughout the duration of this project, without which it would have never been possible. While the scope of this support network is too large to thank individually, I would like to recognize some of the key people who made this thesis come to fruition. I am so grateful to my chair, Dr. Tiffany Donaldson, for guiding me from the early stages of study design to the final harvest. You have supported me in every possible way in this process, providing the funding, animals, team, and emotional support necessary to do it all. Thank you for all you have done to move me through this thesis and for continuing to believe in me all along the way. I would like to thank Dr. Doe Jenkins for teaching me the ins and outs of neonatal white matter injury; for giving me the opportunity for hands-on learning at the bedside and in the water maze; and for instilling in me your contagious passion for improving the lives of these babies and their families. I would like to thank Dr. Alice Carter for spending hours brainstorming ideas for nest-boxes, study designs, and statistics despite having a ridiculously busy schedule. I would also like to thank my good friend, Dr. Jamie Fraser, for teaching me everything I know about the rat model of neonatal HI, inspiring me to keep pushing the envelope, and always entertaining my wild hypotheses. who came in after a full day of classes, on weekends, and beautiful summer days to carry out the many procedures this study involves. I would like to thank my family for your patience and understanding for the many " breaks " that were spent far from home working on this project and for learning how to …