Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quantification of cerebral blood flow, cerebral blood volume, and blood–brain‐barrier leakage with DCE‐MRI

Dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI (DSC‐MRI) is the current standard for the measurement of Cerebral Blood Flow (CBF) and Cerebral Blood Volume (CBV), but it is not suitable for the measurement of Extraction Flow (EF) and may not allow for absolute quantification. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a methodology to measure CBF, CBV, and EF from T1‐weighted dynamic contrast‐enhanced MRI (DCE‐MRI). A two‐compartment modeling approach was developed, which applies both to tissues with an intact and with a broken Blood‐Brain‐Barrier (BBB). The approach was evaluated using measurements in normal grey matter (GM) and white matter (WM) and in tumors of 15 patients. Accuracy and precision were estimated with simulations of normal brain tissue. All tumor and normal tissue curves were accurately fitted by the model. CBF (mL/100 mL/min) was 82 ± 21 in GM and 23 ± 14 in WM, CBV (mL/100 mL) was 2.6 ± 0.8 in GM and 1.3 ± 0.4 in WM. EF (mL/100 mL/min) was close to zero in GM (−0.009 ± 0.05) and WM (−0.03 ± 0.08). Simulations show an overlap between CBF values of WM and GM, which is eliminated when Contrast‐to‐Noise (CNR) is improved. The model provides a consistent description of tracer kinetics in all brain tissues, and an accurate assessment of perfusion and permeability in reference tissues. The measurement sequence requires optimization to improve CNR and the precision in the perfusion parameters. With this approach, DCE‐MRI presents a promising alternative to DSC‐MRI for quantitative bolus‐tracking in the brain. Magn Reson Med, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Appearance-based people recognition by local dissimilarity representations

Among the possible applications of computer vision to video-surveillance, person re-identification over a network of camera sensors, using cues related to clothing appearance, is gaining much interest. Re-identification techniques can be used for various tasks, e.g., online tracking of a person, and off-line retrieval of all video sequences containing an individual of interest, whose image is given as a query. Recently, some authors proposed to exploit clothing appearance descriptors also to retrieve video sequences of individuals that match a textual description of clothing (e.g., "person wearing a black t-shirt and white trousers"), instead of an image. We name this task "appearance-based people search". This functionality can be useful, e.g., in forensics investigations, where a textual description can be provided by a witness. In this paper, we present and experimentally evaluate a general method to perform both person re-identification and people search, using any given descriptor of clothing appearance that exploits widely used multiple part/multiple component representations. It is based on turning the considered appearance descriptor into a dissimilarity-based one, through a framework we previously proposed for speeding up person re-identification methods. Our approach allows one to deploy systems able to perform both tasks with the same pipeline and processing stages for constructing descriptors.
Clipping contributions to nitrate leaching from creeping bentgrass under varying irrigation and N rates

The effect of clipping management on nitrate (NO3) leaching beneath creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.) has received little attention. The objective of this experiment was to examine the effects of returning grass clippings to creeping bentgrass in combination with N fertilization and irrigation on NO3 leaching. A 30-week long experiment was conducted using fairway-height creeping bentgrass in large, undisturbed soil columns (20.3-cm diam. x 60.9-cm length) under controlled greenhouse conditions. Treatments were four rates of N fertilization (equivalent to 0, 98, 196, and 392 kg N ha-1 year-1) and two levels of irrigation [standard (25 mm per week) or standard + historical weekly precipitation amounts], with grass clippings either returned or removed. Higher percolate NO3-N concentrations and mass losses were found when clippings were returned, as N rate increased, and with the higher irrigation treatment. Flow-weighted concentrations of NO3-N in percolate ranged from 0.13 to 21.0 mg L -1 and the percent of applied N lost as leachate ranged from 0.9 to 63%. These findings suggest that water quality goals may not be reached if N fertilization rates are not reduced when clippings are returned to bentgrass fairways or in cases of over-watering.
A COMPLEX DESIGN OF THE INTEGRATED FORWARD-REVERSE LOGISTICS NETWORK UNDER UNCERTAINTY

Reza Babazadeh is M.S. Student in Department of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. Reza Tavakkoli-Moghaddam is a Professor in Department of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. Jafar Razmi is an Associate Professor in Department of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
Prevalence of Postmenopausal Symptoms, Its Effect on Quality of Life and Coping in Rural Couple

Aim: Menopause is a physiological process, with potential to lead to various pathological/psychological complications, leading to change in quality of life (QOL). Although literature suggests the effect of menopause on various aspects of life, there is scarcity of studies from rural setup in this regard. Thus, it is essential to assess extent of menopause-related changes, its awareness, and coping mechanisms in rural couple. This study aimed to find the prevalence of postmenopausal symptoms, its severity, and effect on QOL of rural women and the couples' coping mechanisms. Materials and Methodology: A cross-sectional survey was conducted by approaching 250 families from two villages of Gujarat, India. Inclusion criteria were any woman having attained menopause naturally within last 10 years and having her husband available for data collection. Hundred such couples consenting for participation were included in the study. Data on demographic variables, menopause-specific QOL, personal health of women, and coping of the couple were collected. Results: The prevalence of menopausal symptoms was found to be 47%. Mean (standard deviation) age at menopause was 44.9 (4.9) years. The prevalence of at least one symptom related to vasomotor was 21.3%, physical 91.5%, psychosocial 44.7%, and sexual was 0%. “QOL and Bother” analysis revealed that all those with menopausal symptoms also had their QOL affected from mild-to-moderate extent. The husbands of women with menopausal symptoms were aware of their condition; however, neither of them exhibited use of the active coping mechanism. The avoidant emotional coping strategy appeared to be followed by most. Conclusion: Couples were found to be aware of menopause; however, the symptoms arising as consequence of it seem to be accepted as natural age-related changes. This could possibly account for not taking any active coping strategy despite reporting of mild-to-moderate botheration by women and awareness in both. Rigorous health education and awareness about menopausal changes might be beneficial.
Prospective evaluation of point-of-care ultrasonography for the diagnosis of pneumonia in children and young adults.

OBJECTIVE To determine the accuracy of point-of-care ultrasonography for the diagnosis of pneumonia in children and young adults by a group of clinicians. DESIGN Prospective observational cohort study. SETTING Two urban emergency departments. PARTICIPANTS Patients from birth to age 21 years undergoing chest radiography for suspected community-acquired pneumonia. INTERVENTION After documenting clinical examination findings, clinicians with 1 hour of focused training used ultrasonography to diagnose pneumonia in children and young adults. MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES Test performance characteristics for the ability of ultrasonography to diagnose pneumonia were determined using chest radiography as a reference standard. Subgroup analysis was performed in patients having lung consolidation exceeding 1 cm with sonographic air bronchograms detected on ultrasonography; specificity and positive likelihood ratio (LR) were calculated to account for lung consolidation of 1 cm or less with sonographic air bronchograms undetectable by chest radiography. RESULTS Two hundred patients were studied (median age, 3 years; interquartile range, 1-8 years); 56.0% were male, and the prevalence of pneumonia by chest radiography was 18.0%. Ultrasonography had an overall sensitivity of 86% (95% CI, 71%-94%), specificity of 89% (95% CI, 83%-93%), positive LR of 7.8 (95% CI, 5.0-12.4), and negative LR of 0.2 (95% CI, 0.1-0.4) for diagnosing pneumonia by visualizing lung consolidation with sonographic air bronchograms. In subgroup analysis of 187 patients having lung consolidation exceeding 1 cm, ultrasonography had a sensitivity of 86% (95% CI, 71%-94%), specificity of 97% (95% CI, 93%-99%), positive LR of 28.2 (95% CI, 11.8-67.6) and negative LR of 0.1 (95% CI, 0.1-0.3) for diagnosing pneumonia. CONCLUSION Clinicians are able to diagnose pneumonia in children and young adults using point-of-care ultrasonography, with high specificity.
Identifying Short-Names for Place Entities from Social Networks

Organizations can be identified by a myriad of terms apart from their official names. While abbreviations remain a common "short-name" to reference organizations, the prevalence of other short-names has risen in conjunction with social networks. When a user enters a short-name as a locational search query, it remains a challenge to infer the relationship between the short-name and the organization it ostensibly represents. For a number of organizations around the Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area, we first generate a list of possible short-names for each of them. We then search through their tweets to build a corpus of short-names associated with each organization. By measuring our list against the corpus, we can identify potential short-names, and return the location of the organization.
Preparation and rheologic behavior of MMT laminating adhesive

MMT nanometer paper-plastic laminating adhesive was prepared via seed emulsion polymerization after MMT was dipped in monomers.Rheologic behavior was discussed and it was found that the when values of K,η_0,E_a were higher,the value of n was lower than that of common laminating adhesives.
Is Khat (Catha edulis) chewing a risk factor for periodontal diseases? A systematic review

Background Khat (Catha edulis) chewing is a highly prevalent habit in the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa, and has recently spread to Western countries. The association between khat chewing and oral mucosal lesions is well documented in the literature. However, there is no concrete evidence on the association between khat chewing and periodontal disease. The purpose of this systematic review was to analyze the influence of khat chewing on periodontal health. Material and Methods A literature search of PubMed, Scopus and Web of Sciences databases was carried out to identify relevant articles published from 1990 to May 2017. The inclusion criteria were all clinical studies that assessed the relationship between khat chewing and periodontal disease. Results The search yielded 122 articles, of which 10 were included in this systematic review. Most of the studies exhibited a positive correlation between khat chewing and periodontal disease. Conclusions Altogether, the analysis of the current evidence reveals that khat chewing is destructive to the periodontium and enhances the risk of periodontal disease progression. However, due to variability of studies, more longitudinal case-controlled studies are highly warranted to establish a causal relation between khat chewing and periodontal disease. Key words:Khat chewing, periodontal health, periodontal disease, risk factor.
Convergence of gut microbiomes in myrmecophagous mammals

Mammals have diversified into many dietary niches. Specialized myrmecophagous (ant‐ and termite‐eating) placental mammals represent a textbook example of evolutionary convergence driven by extreme diet specialization. Armadillos, anteaters, aardvarks, pangolins and aardwolves thus provide a model system for understanding the potential role of gut microbiota in the convergent adaptation to myrmecophagy. Here, we expand upon previous mammalian gut microbiome studies by using high‐throughput barcoded Illumina sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene to characterize the composition of gut microbiota in 15 species representing all placental myrmecophagous lineages and their close relatives from zoo‐ and field‐collected samples. We confirm that both diet and phylogeny drive the evolution of mammalian gut microbiota, with cases of convergence in global composition, but also examples of phylogenetic inertia. Our results reveal specialized placental myrmecophages as a spectacular case of large‐scale convergence in gut microbiome composition. Indeed, neighbour‐net networks and beta‐diversity plots based on UniFrac distances show significant clustering of myrmecophagous species (anteaters, aardvarks and aardwolves), even though they belong to phylogenetically distant lineages representing different orders. The aardwolf, which diverged from carnivorous hyenas only in the last 10 million years, experienced a convergent shift in the composition of its gut microbiome to become more similar to other myrmecophages. These results confirm diet adaptation to be a major driving factor of convergence in gut microbiome composition over evolutionary timescales. This study sets the scene for future metagenomic studies aiming at evaluating potential convergence in functional gene content in the microbiomes of specialized mammalian myrmecophages.
Effectiveness of the Tier 1 Program of Project P.A.T.H.S.: Findings Based on Three Years of Program Implementation

The Tier 1 Program of the Project P.A. T.H. S. (Positive Adolescent Training through Holistic Social Programmes) is a positive youth development program implemented in school settings, utilizing a curricular-based approach. In the third year of the Full Implementation Phase, 19 experimental schools (n = 3,170 students) and 24 control schools (n = 3,808 students) participated in a randomized group trial. Utilizing the six-wave longitudinal data, ANCOVA, and linear mixed models controlling for differences between the two groups in terms of Wave 1 pretest scores, personal variables, and random effects of schools, it was revealed that participants in the experimental schools showed significantly better development than did participants in the control schools at post-test (Wave 6) based on different indicators of positive youth development derived from the Chinese Positive Youth Development Scale and other measures. Students in the experimental schools also displayed a lower level of intention to engage in problem behavior and better school adjustment than did students in the control schools. Similarly, differences between experimental participants who perceived the program to be beneficial and control participants were found.
AIK Method for Band Clustering Using Statistics of Correlation and Dispersion Matrix

The proposed method is based on different characteristics of band images of hyperspectral data. Band clustering approach is based on Dispersion Matrix and Correlation Coefficient. Hyperspectral data is calculated by these approaches. Materials do not have maximum discriminatory probability within the same band. Therefore a single band clustering and selection method is not effective for multiple targets. To overcome this problem multi-techniques are used for band clustering and for each technique same method is used for end member detection. An important issue in band selection is how many bands needed to be selected in order to preserve the maximum information. Vertex component analysis (VCA) is used for unmixing of hyperspectral data. The entire work is done by using MATLAB.
Nessi: An EEG-Controlled Web Browser for Severely Paralyzed Patients

We have previously demonstrated that an EEG-controlled web browser based on self-regulation of slow cortical potentials (SCPs) enables severely paralyzed patients to browse the internet independently of any voluntary muscle control. However, this system had several shortcomings, among them that patients could only browse within a limited number of web pages and had to select links from an alphabetical list, causing problems if the link names were identical or if they were unknown to the user (as in graphical links). Here we describe a new EEG-controlled web browser, called Nessi, which overcomes these shortcomings. In Nessi, the open source browser, Mozilla, was extended by graphical in-place markers, whereby different brain responses correspond to different frame colors placed around selectable items, enabling the user to select any link on a web page. Besides links, other interactive elements are accessible to the user, such as e-mail and virtual keyboards, opening up a wide range of hypertext-based applications.
A Molecular Tool for Carbon Transfer in Mechanosynthesis

Proposed advanced mechanosynthetic systems [1] require molecular tools able to bind and transfer reactive moieties with high reliability at 300 K (failure rates << 10–10 per transfer operation). Screening of a large number of candidate tools at the AM1 level enabled the identification of a structure, DC10c, that is calculated (at the B3LYP/6- 31G(d,p) level) to meet these stringent requirements when used to transfer carbon dimers to any of a target class of graphene-, nanotube-, and diamond-like structures [2]. The favorable energy of transfer (exoergic by a mean energy ≥ 0.261 aJ per dimer) results from avoidance of the generation of high-energy radical sites during dimer release by means of π-delocalization to form a strained aromatic ring on the binding face of the empty structure. These energies are compatible with transfer-failure rates ~ 10–24 per operation at 300 K, and overall failure rates << 10–10.
BIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF THERMOSENSITIVE CHITOSAN GELS CONDITIONING IN WATER

In this paper the properties of thermosensitive chitosan hydrogels prepared with the use of chitosan salz (chloride and lactate) and -glycerophosphate are presented. Biological studies were carried out on thermogels without conditioning in water and on thermogels after 24 h conditioning in water. Experiments were conducted on a reference cell line L 929 (NCTC clone 929) American Type Culture Collection according to Annex C PN-EN ISO 10993-5
Shared Authentication Information for Preventing DDoS attacks in Mobile WiMAX Networks

Recent broadband wireless technologies such as HSDPA and mobile WiMAX achieve high data rate transmission, making wireless networking environments more similar to wired environments. As a result, wireless networks are also being exposed to DDoS attack. In this paper, we consider a possible DDoS attack in mobile WiMAX networks and solve this problem by using our proposed shared authentication information (SAI). SAI exploits unused upper 64 bits of the 128-bit cipher-based message authentication code (CMAC) which has been designed to provide the integrity of management message. In the mobile WiMAX network, the lower significant 64 bits of CMAC are truncated and used. Therefore we are able to use the upper 64 bits for our SAI while assuring the same level of security guaranteed by CMAC. Since SAI can be obtained from CMAC calculation, no additional calculations or message exchanges are required for sharing SAI and only the entity having the CMAC key can know SAI. Owing to these properties, using SAI can be a simple defense mechanism against DDoS attack without incurring overhead at access service network gateway (ASN GW) and base station (BS).
CSI-EPT: A Contrast Source Inversion Approach for Improved MRI-Based Electric Properties Tomography

Electric properties tomography (EPT) is an imaging modality to reconstruct the electric conductivity and permittivity inside the human body based on B1+ maps acquired by a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. Current implementations of EPT are based on the local Maxwell equations and assume piecewise constant media. The accuracy of the reconstructed maps may therefore be sensitive to noise and reconstruction errors occur near tissue boundaries. In this paper, we introduce a multiplicative regularized CSI-EPT method (contrast source inversion-electric properties tomography) where the electric tissue properties are retrieved in an iterative fashion based on a contrast source inversion approach. The method takes the integral representations for the electromagnetic field as a starting point and the tissue parameters are obtained by iteratively minimizing an objective function which measures the discrepancy between measured and modeled data and the discrepancy in satisfying a consistency equation known as the object equation. Furthermore, the objective function consists of a multiplicative Total Variation factor for noise suppression during the reconstruction process. Finally, the presented implementation is able to simultaneously include more than one B1+ data set acquired by complementary RF excitation settings. We have performed in vivo simulations using a female pelvis model to compute the B1+ fields. Three different RF excitation settings were used to acquire complementary B1+ fields for an improved overall reconstruction. Numerical results illustrate the improved reconstruction near tissue boundaries and the ability of CSI-EPT to reconstruct small tissue structures.
VideoText Database System

Abstrllct Tbis paper introduces a new approach to realize video databases. It consists of a Video-Te;>l:l data model based all frce text annotations associated with logical video segments and a corresponding query language. 'f'raditional database techniques arc inadequate for exploiting qucries 011 unstruclured data like video, supporting temporal queries, and ranking query results according to their relevance to the query. In this paper, we propose to use information retrieval techniques 10 provide lllcse fcatures and 10 extend 1he query language to accommodate interval queries that are useful due to UtC stream nalure of video elata. Algorithms are provided . to show ltow llie user queries are evaluated. Fiuall)', a generic and modl11ar video da1abase architecture based all VideoText data model is described. 1 Introduction Video databases store a large number of video streams and provide content-based accesses to users. An increasingly important issue in creating video databases is the indexing and retrieval of video data. Currently, there arc two main approaches to this problem which are based on image analysis and text annotations, respectively. The image analysis approach supports accesses based on the visual content of the video data; however, in many cases, semantic contcnt-ba. '3cd accesses is more interesting and nature to users. The text annotation approach provides semantic content-based accesses since automatic semantic interpration of video data is not feasible given the state art of computer vision and machine intelligence. A number of proposals use database techniques to annotate and query video [01, 11, 18, 25]; however, they do not exploit the feature of free text annotation and sophisticated Information lletrieval techniques (Ill) in terms of temporal queries and ranking answers [8, 17, 201]. It has been shown that Boolean retrieval (mostly used in databases) may yield a rather poor retrieval quality in the video databases. On the other hand, systems based on term weights or probabilistic retrieval improve retrieval effectiveness by producing a ranked list of answers according to their relevance to the query rather than just a set of answers as in Boolean retrieval [201]. Tn this paper, we introduce a video data model called VideoText that can be used for semantic content-based query purposes. It is based on free text annotations rather than a fixed set of keywords to index video streams or video segments. The annotations for many video data resources are already available, e.g. the closed caption in TV broadcasts. The proposed approach supports incremental, …