Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fast semi-automatic segmentation of focal liver lesions in contrast-enhanced ultrasound, based on a probabilistic model

Assessment of focal liver lesions (FLLs) in contrast-enhanced ultrasound requires the delineation of the FLL in at least one frame of the acquired data, which is currently performed manually by experienced radiologists. Such a task leads to subjective results, is time-consuming and prone to misinterpretation and human error. This paper describes an attempt to improve this clinical practice by proposing a novel fast two-step method to automate the FLL segmentation, initialised only by a single seed point. Firstly, rectangular force functions are used to improve the accuracy and computational efficiency of an active ellipse model for approximating the FLL shape. Then, a novel probabilistic boundary refinement method is used to iteratively classify boundary pixels rapidly. The proposed method allows for faster and easier assessment of FLLs, whilst requiring less interaction, but producing results comparably consistent with manual delineations, and hence increasing the confidence of radiologists when making a diagnosis. Quantitative evaluation based on real clinical data, from two different European countries reflecting true clinical practice, demonstrates the value of the proposed method.
Concurrent psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy in the treatment of depression and anxiety in cancer patients

Over the past 30 years, numerous studies have compared the relative effectiveness of psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, and concurrent therapeutic approaches in treatment of common psychiatric disorders, such as depression and anxiety. Generally, these studies have demonstrated that the combined approach is somewhat more effective in treating the disorder in question, as well as in preventing relapse. A number of theories regarding the reasons for this finding have been proposed. The application of this therapeutic approach to the specific population of cancer patients has not been studied in systematic research. This paper briefly reviews the studies comparing the efficacies of various treatment approaches for depression, discusses reasons for the efficacy of such an approach, and outlines a series of reasons why this may be the preferred model for intervening with cancer patients. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A Brain MR Images Segmentation Method Based on SOM Neural Network

Image segmentation is an indispensable process in the visualization of human tissues, particularly during clinical analysis of magnetic resonance (MR) images. In this paper, a novel brain MR images segmentation method is presented based on self-organizing map (SOM) neural network. The method comprises two main steps: feature extraction and pixel classification based on SOM neural network. In traditional techniques, neural network's input is the feature vector extracted from the intensity of the pixel and of its n nearest neighbors, which introduces dependency on the gray levels spatial distribution, and thus the final segmentation results are prone to be effected by noise. To enhance the robustness of the method, we perform statistical transformation to the traditional feature vector as neural network's input. Simulated brain MR images with different noise levels and intensity inhomogeneities are segmented to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method compared to the traditional technique.
Graphene transfer to 3-dimensional surfaces: a vacuum-assisted dry transfer method

Chemical vapour deposition (CVD) grown graphene presents an efficient synthetic route for large-scale graphene production, however, current transfer methods are focused on transferring graphene onto planar substrates. Here, we describe a method to uniformly transfer CVD-grown graphene onto 3D objects with high shape complexity. Due to its promises as a coating for medical applications, we investigated graphene transfer onto commercially available titanium implants with different geometries using a vacuum-assisted dry transfer method. A self-standing graphene-polymer tape is obtained by spin coating of a silicone polymer on the graphene, followed by the addition of a support layer, and the electrochemical delimitation of the growth substrate. The tape is then wrapped around the object and placed into a mould to conform to the surface. Using a pressure differential provided via partial vacuum, a uniform force is applied to the surface. Graphene characteristics are assessed by Raman spectroscopy and AFM. 74% and 95% coverage yields are obtained after a single transfer and double transfer respectively, with an observed increase in the number of graphene layers and an overall decrease in defect contributions. In vitro cell assays demonstrate that the coating is non-cytotoxic enabling further exploration of this method for medical applications.
Deriving Consensus for Multi-Parallel Corpora: an English Bible Study

What can you do with multiple noisy versions of the same text? We present a method which generates a single consensus between multi-parallel corpora. By maximizing a function of linguistic features between word pairs, we jointly learn a single corpus-wide multiway alignment: a consensus between 27 versions of the English Bible. We additionally produce English paraphrases, word-level distributions of tags, and consensus dependency parses. Our method is language independent and applicable to any multi-parallel corpora. Given the Bible’s unique role as alignable bitext for over 800 of the world’s languages, this consensus alignment and resulting resources offer value for multilingual annotation projection, and also shed potential insights into the Bible itself.
Efficient Hierarchical Embedding for Learning Coherent Visual Styles

The visionary Steve Jobs said, “A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them. ” A powerful recommender system not only shows people similar items, but also helps them discover what they might like, and items that complement what they already purchased. In this paper, we attempt to instill a sense of “intention” and “style” into our recommender system, i.e., we aim to recommend items that are visually complementary with those already consumed. By identifying items that are visually coherent with a query item/image, our method facilitates exploration of the long tail items, whose existence users may be even unaware of. This task is formulated only recently by Julian et al. [1], with the input being millions of item pairs that are frequently viewed/bought together, entailing noisy style coherence. In the same work, the authors proposed a Mahalanobisbased transform to discriminate a given pair to be sharing a same style or not. Despite its success, we experimentally found that it’s only able to recommend items on the margin of different clusters, which leads to limited coverage of the items to be recommended. Another limitation is it totally ignores the existence of taxonomy information that is ubiquitous in many datasets like Amazon the authors experimented with. In this report, we propose two novel methods that make use of the hierarchical category metadata to overcome the limitations identified above. The main contributions are listed as following.
Structural, Optical and Electrical Properties of Spray Pyrolysis Deposited CdS Films

Summary The n-type cadmium sulfide (CdS) is one of the most promising materials for hetero-junction thin film solar cell applications due to its wide bandgap (2.42 eV). In present communication, the deposition of pure CdS films with hexagonal symmetry by using home-built spray pyrolysis technique and aqueous solutions of CdCl2 and NH2.CS. NH2 as the precursor materials is reported. The films were deposited at the substrate temperatures of 200, 250 and 300 °C with UHP nitrogen as a carrier gas and characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-visible spectroscopy and Hall Effect measurement. The structural studies by using XRD showed that the resultant films have strong orientation of CdS crystallites along (101) with hexagonal structure (wurtzite type). The average crystallite size is found to be 17 nm. The UV-visible spectroscopy studies of resultant films showed the optical transmittance equal to ≈50% and bandgap is found to be between 2.39 – 2.41 eV. The resistivity and average Hall coefficient are found to be 1.451 × 101 Ωcm and - 1.557 × 103 cm3/C respectively. The resultant films are observed to be good to make a solar cell with CdS as a window layer.
Lightweight Authentication Protocols for Low-Cost RFID Tags

Providing security in low-cost RFID tags is a challenging task because tags are highly resource constrained and cannot support strong cryptography. Special lightweight algorithms and protocols need to be designed that take into account the limitations of the tags. In this paper, we propose a set of extremely lightweight tag authentication protocols. We also provide an analysis of the proposed protocols.
A comparative evaluation on prediction methods of nucleosome positioning

Nucleosome positioning plays an essential role in cellular processes by modulating accessibility of DNA to proteins. Many computational models have been developed to predict genome-wide nucleosome positions from DNA sequences. Comparative analysis of predicted and experimental nucleosome positioning maps facilitates understanding the regulatory mechanisms of transcription and DNA replication. Therefore, a comprehensive evaluation of existing computational methods is important and useful for biologists to choose appropriate ones in their research. In this article, we carried out a performance comparison among eight widely used computational methods on four species including yeast, fruitfly, mouse and human. In particular, we compared these methods on different regions of each species such as gene sequences, promoters and 5'UTR exons. The experimental results show that the performances of the two latest versions of the thermodynamic model are relatively steadier than the other four methods. Moreover, these methods are workable on four species, but their performances decrease gradually from yeast to human, indicating that the fundamental mechanism of nucleosome positioning is conserved through the evolution process, but more and more factors participate in the determination of nucleosome positions, which leads to sophisticated regulation mechanisms.
Adult Brain Plasticity Elicited by Anomia Treatment Year : 2003 Version : Final published version

& We describe a study where a specific treatment method for word-finding difficulty (so-called contextual priming technique, which combines massive repetition priming with semantic priming) was applied with three chronic left hemispheredamaged aphasics. Both before and after treatment, which focused on naming of a series of pictures, naming-related brain activity was measured by magnetoencephalography (MEG). Due to its excellent temporal resolution and good spatial resolution, we were able to track treatment-induced changes in cortical activity. All three subjects showed improved naming of the trained items. In all subjects, a single source area, located in the left inferior parietal lobe, close to the lesioned area, displayed statistically significant training-induced changes. This effect was of long latency as it started 300–600 msec after picture presentation. The change in activation was specific to training, as it could not be accounted for by variation of cortical dynamics associated with increased proportion of correct answers. Our interpretation is that the training effect reflects more effective phonological encoding and storage of the trained items through the engagement of a left hemispheric word-learning system. This is in line with recent functional imaging studies, which have linked left inferior parietal lobe activity to the phonological storage component of the verbal working memory, as well as with theoretical arguments stating that the primary role of the phonological loop is to acquire new words. Finally, the MEG results showed no evidence of increased right hemisphere participation following training, supporting the view that restoration of language-related networks in the damaged left hemisphere is crucial for anomia recovery. &
New material and selective growth of thin SiC films for environmental and optoelectronics devices

A thin films of crystalline Silicon Carbide (c-SiC) and amorphous Silicon Carbide (a-Si1-xCx) were grown onto p-type Si substrate by using a hot target p-type polycrystalline 6H-SiC target by both methods: Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) with KrF excimer laser and sputtering DC magnetron with a mixture of gas Ar:H2, respectively. The target ldquo6H-SiCrdquo used to elaborate the thin films, is realized from a mixture of 1SiO2 with 3C (carbon) ldquo1SiO2 + 3Crdquo heated in an oven at 2500 degC. In this experiment, we mainly investigated the dependence of structural and optical properties of c-SiC and a-Si1-xCx. From the comparative study, different techniques are used, Scanning Electronic Microscopy, Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry, Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy and photoluminescence. A SEM analysis indicates a quasi-high quality of the crystalline films c-SiC compared to the one grown by sputtering methods that reveals defects on the surface of SiC films. In addition, a SIMS analysis gives a ratio constant ratio Si/C = 1.07 for c-SiC films obtained by PLD method, in contrary the one obtained by sputtering gives a variable ratio versus depth, this last property of the amorphous a-Si1-xCx can be used to elaborate a Schottky photodiode with a high quantum efficiency. Finally, a crystalline 0.9 mum of thin SiC layer was elaborated using PLD method at low temperature deposition and 0.23 mum of amorphous a-Si1-xCx layer was realized by sputtering DC magnetron. In addition, the structural and optical properties of the two films are also strongly different, these property allow to used the films in much applications on optoelectronics devices such as UV photodiode and environmental as gas sensors.
Unnesting SQL Queries in the Presence of Disjunction

Optimizing nested queries is an intricate problem. It becom es even harder if in a nested query the linking predicate or the correlation predicate occurs d isjunctively. We present the first unnesting strategy that can effectively deal with such queries. The starting point of our approach is to translate SQL into th e relational algebra extended by bypass operators. Then we present for the first time unnestin g equivalences which are valid for algebraic expressions containing bypass operators. Applyin g these to the translated queries results in our effective unnesting strategy for nested SQL queries wit h disjunction. With an extensive experimental study (including three commercial DBMSs), we demons trate the possible performance gains of our approach.
The organisation of Chinese shame concepts?

This study examined Chinese shame concepts. By asking native Chinese to identify terms for shame, we collected 113 shame terms. Hierarchical cluster analysis of sorted terms yielded a comprehensive map of the concept. We found, at the highest abstract level, two large distinctions of “shame state, self‐focus” and “reactions to shame, other‐focus. ” While the former describes various aspects of actual shame experience that focuses on the self, the latter focuses on consequences of and reactions to shame directed at others. Shame state with self‐focus contained three further sets of meanings: (1) one's fears of losing face; (2) the feeling state after one's face has been lost; and (3) guilt. Reactions to shame with other‐focus also consisted of three further sets of subcomponents at the same level: (4) disgrace; (5) shamelessness and its condemnation; and (6) embarrassment. Except for guilt, there were several subclusters under each of these categories. We discussed both universal trends and specific constellations of shame concepts in Chinese culture.
Detection of a Hot Subdwarf Companion to the Be Star FY Canis Majoris

The rapid rotation of Be stars may be caused in some cases by past mass and angular momentum accretion in an interacting binary in which the mass donor is currently viewed as a small, hot subdwarf stripped of its outer envelope. Here we report on the spectroscopic detection of such a subdwarf in the Be binary system FY Canis Majoris from the analysis of data acquired by the IUE spacecraft and KPNO Coudé Feed Telescope over the course of 16 and 21 yr, respectively. We present a double-lined spectroscopic orbit for the binary based on radial velocities from the IUE spectra and use the orbital solutions with a Doppler tomography algorithm to reconstruct the components’ UV spectra. The subdwarf is hot (Teff = 45 ± 5 kK) and has a mass of about 1.3 M☉ and a radius of about 0.6 R☉. It contributes about 4% as much flux as the Be star does in the FUV. We also present observations of the Hα and He I λ6678 emission features that are formed in the circumstellar disk of the Be star. Orbital flux and velocity variations in the He I λ6678 profile indicate that much of the emission forms along the disk rim facing the hot subdwarf where the disk is probably heated by the incident radiation from the subdwarf. A study of the FUV infall shell lines discovered in the 1980s confirms their episodic presence but reveals that they tend to be found around both quadrature phases, unlike the pattern in Algol binaries. Phase-dependent variations in the UV N V doublet suggest the presence of a N-enhanced wind from the subdwarf and a possible shock-interaction region between the stars where the subdwarf’s wind collides with the disk of the Be star.
PINALOG: a novel approach to align protein interaction networks—implications for complex detection and function prediction

Motivation: Analysis of protein–protein interaction networks (PPINs) at the system level has become increasingly important in understanding biological processes. Comparison of the interactomes of different species not only provides a better understanding of species evolution but also helps with detecting conserved functional components and in function prediction. Method and Results: Here we report a PPIN alignment method, called PINALOG, which combines information from protein sequence, function and network topology. Alignment of human and yeast PPINs reveals several conserved subnetworks between them that participate in similar biological processes, notably the proteasome and transcription related processes. PINALOG has been tested for its power in protein complex prediction as well as function prediction. Comparison with PSI-BLAST in predicting protein function in the twilight zone also shows that PINALOG is valuable in predicting protein function. Availability and implementation: The PINALOG web-server is freely available from http://www.sbg. bio.ic. ac.uk/~pinalog. The PINALOG program and associated data are available from the Download section of the web-server. Contact: m.sternberg@imperial.ac.uk Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Parameter-dependent Lyapunov functional for stability of time-delay systems with polytopic-type uncertainties

This note concerns the problem of the robust stability of a linear system with a time-varying delay and polytopic-type uncertainties. In order to construct a parameter-dependent Lyapunov functional for the system, we first devised a new method of dealing with a time-delay system without uncertainties. In this method, the derivative terms of the state, which is in the derivative of the Lyapunov functional, are retained and some free weighting matrices are used to express the relationships among the system variables, and among the terms in the Leibniz-Newton formula. As a result, the Lyapunov matrices are not involved in any product terms of the system matrices in the derivative of the Lyapunov functional. This method is then easily extended to a system with polytopic-type uncertainties. Numerical examples demonstrate the validity of the proposed criteria.
High Precision Analysis of NPs with a Deep Processing Grammar

In this paper we present LXGram, a general purpose grammar for the deep linguistic processing of Portuguese that aims at delivering detailed and high precision meaning representations. LXGram is grounded on the linguistic framework of Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG). HPSG is a declarative formalism resorting to unification and a type system with multiple inheritance. The semantic representations that LXGram associates with linguistic expressions use the Minimal Recursion Semantics (MRS) format, which allows for the underspecification of scope effects. LXGram is developed in the Linguistic Knowledge Builder (LKB) system, a grammar development environment that provides debugging tools and efficient algorithms for parsing and generation. The implementation of LXGram has focused on the structure of Noun Phrases, and LXGram accounts for many NP related phenomena. Its coverage continues to be increased with new phenomena, and there is active work on extending the grammar's lexicon. We have already integrated, or plan to integrate, LXGram in a few applications, namely paraphrasing, treebanking and language variant detection. Grammar coverage has been tested on newspaper text.
Recognition specificity of the duplicated segments present in Clostridium thermocellum endoglucanase CelD and in the cellulosome-integrating protein CipA

The binding specificity of the duplicated segments borne by Clostridium thermocellum endoglucanase CelD and by the cellulosome-integrating protein CipA was investigated. The fusion protein CelC-DSCelD, in which the duplicated segment of CelD was fused to the COOH terminus of endoglucanase CelC, bound with an affinity of 4.7 x 10(7) M-1 to the fusion protein MalE-RDCipA, in which the seventh receptor domain of CipA was grafted onto the COOH terminus of the Escherichia coli maltose-binding protein MalE. The affinity of CelC-DSCelD for the homologous chimeric protein MalE-RDORF3p, carrying the receptor of the surface protein ORF3p, was 6.9 x 10(6) M-1. The fusion protein CelC-DSCipA, in which the duplicated segment of CipA was grafted onto the COOH terminus of CelC, did not bind detectably to MalE-RDCipA or MalE-RDORF3p. However, Western blotting (immunoblotting) experiments indicated that the duplicated segment of CipA was able to bind to a set of C. thermocellum proteins which are different from those recognized by the duplicated segment of CelD. These results argue against the hypothesis that ORF3p interacts with the duplicated segment of CipA. More probably, ORF3p binds to individual cellulases and hemicellulases harboring duplicated segments.
“Hey John”: Signals Conveying Communicative Intention toward the Self Activate Brain Regions Associated with “Mentalizing,” Regardless of Modality

Successful communication between two people depends first on the recognition of the intention to communicate. Such intentions may be conveyed by signals directed at the self, such as calling a person's name or making eye contact. In this study we use functional magnetic resonance imaging to show that the perception of these two signals, which differ in modality and sensory channel, activate common brain regions: the paracingulate cortex and temporal poles bilaterally. These regions are part of a network that has been consistently activated when people are asked to think about the mental states of others. Activation of this network is independent of arousal as measured by changes in pupil diameter.