Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automatic active contour model for satellite images

Snake algorithm is widely used for edge detection. Snake is a parametric curve based on energy minimization principle which has internal forces which retains its characteristics and external forces which is responsible for pulling it towards lines, edges. The initialization of contours is a critical factor in active contour model. Poorly initialized contour fails to capture edges. Various methods have been developed for automatic initialization of contours. Satellite images generally cover large area and they are large in size. So their computational complexity is high. In this paper, we are estimating external energy from static force using Poisson's equations and determines most likely initial contour. We have used vector field convolution force for deformation. We have extended Bing Li and Scott T. Acton's [4] algorithm for satellite images. Comparison is done with Center of divergent method, Force field segmentation method and Canny edge detection method. Poisson inverse gradient method requires minimum number of iteration and time required for snake deformation.
Digital dark matter within product service systems

Purpose The unobserved benefits of digital technologies are described as digital dark matter. Product service systems (PSSs) are bundles of products and services that deliver value in use, which is unobserved but generates benefits. This paper aims to empirically quantify digital dark matter within PSSs and correlates that measure with national competitiveness. Design/methodology/approach A novel methodology establishes the link between customer needs and a product and digital service portfolio offered across ten developed economies. The case context is the music industry where product and services are often substitutes – a cannibalistic PSS. Consumer information is obtained from a unique database of more than 18,000 consumer surveys. Consumer demand for digital formats is modelled and predicted through logistic regressions. Findings The work provides inverse estimations for digital dark matter within PSSs by calculating the gap between supply and demand for digital offers – described as the business model challenge. The USA has the lowest business model challenge; the home of major companies developing digital technologies. Digital dark matter is shown to be positively correlated with national competitiveness and manufacturing competitiveness indices. Practical implications The success of a cannibalistic PSS requires good understanding of market demand. Governments embarking on soft innovation policies might incentivise the development of service-orientated business models based on digital technologies. Originality/value Work expands theory on the concept of digital dark matter to the PSS literature. Empirically, a novel method is proposed to measure digital dark matter.
Endovascular brachytherapy for prophylaxis of restenosis after femoropopliteal angioplasty: five-year follow-up--prospective randomized study.

PURPOSE To report the 5-year results from the prospective randomized Vienna-2 trial, which was designed to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of adjunctive endovascular brachytherapy (EBT) compared with no further treatment after successful revascularization in patients with long-segment femoropopliteal lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS Each patient gave written informed consent to participate in the study, which was approved by the hospital's ethics committee. One hundred two patients (men, 53.9%; mean age, 72.1 years +/- 8.7 [standard deviation]; lesion length, 8.1 cm +/- 4.9) underwent percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) without further stent implantation. Patients were then assigned to either receive EBT (n = 51) by using an iridium 192 source, with a prescribed dose of 12 Gy at 3 mm from the source axis, or no further treatment (n = 51). Radiation was delivered without a centering catheter. Data were analyzed by using a Student t test for continuous values and a chi(2) test to compare categorical values. A Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was performed to evaluate predictors of recurrence at follow-up. RESULTS After 6 months, the restenosis rate for the 102 patients with completed 5-year follow-up was significantly reduced for the PTA plus EBT group versus the PTA alone group (29.4% vs 56.9%, P < .05). During follow-up we observed a late catch-up phenomenon, and after 5 years the recurrence rate was comparable in both groups (72.5% vs 72.5%, P > .99). Time to recurrence, however, was significantly delayed in the PTA plus EBT group (17.5 months +/- 14.7 vs 7.4 months +/- 6.8 for the PTA alone group, P < .05). CONCLUSION At 5-year follow-up, PTA followed by gamma radiation EBT with a dose of 12 Gy resulted in a delay but not an inhibition of restenosis when compared with that of PTA alone.
Uumanned Aerial Vehicle Data Analysis For High-throughput Plant Phenotyping

Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) provide an efficient way to phenotype crop morphology with spectral traits such as plant height, canopy cover and various vegetation indices (VIs) providing information to elucidate genotypic responses to the environment. In this study, we investigated the potential use of UAS-derived traits to elucidate biomass, nitrogen and chlorophyll content in sorghum under nitrogen stress treatments. A nitrogen stress trial located in Nebraska, USA, contained 24 different sorghum lines, 2 nitrogen treatments and 8 replications, for a total of 384 plots. Morphological and spectral traits including plant height, canopy cover and various VIs were derived from UAS flights with a true-color RGB camera and a 5-band multispectral camera at early, mid and late growth stages across the sorghum growing season in 2017. Simple and
Geography of Follicle Formation in the Embryonic Mouse Ovary Impacts Activation Pattern During the First Wave of Folliculogenesis1

ABSTRACT During embryonic development, mouse female germ cells enter meiosis in an anterior-to-posterior wave believed to be driven by retinoic acid. It has been proposed that ovarian follicle formation and activation follow the same general wave of meiotic progression; however, the precise anatomic specification of these processes has not been delineated. Here, we created a mouse line using Mvh, Gdf9, and Zp3 promoters to drive distinct temporal expression of three fluorescent proteins in the oocytes and to identify where the first follicle cohort develops. The fluorescent profile revealed that the first growing follicles consistently appeared in a specific region of the ovary, the anterior-dorsal region, which led us to analyze if meiotic onset occurred earlier in the dorsal ovarian region. Surprisingly, in addition to the anterior-to-posterior wave, we observed an early meiotic entry in the ventral region of the ovary. This additional anatomic stratification of meiosis contrasts with the localization of the initial follicle formation and activation in the dorsal region of the ovary. Therefore, our study suggests that the specification of cortical and medullar areas in the ventral and dorsal regions on the ovary, rather than the onset of meiosis, impacts where the first follicle activation event occurs.
The “drunken honeycomb” feature of pulmonary mucinous adenocarcinoma: A diagnostic pitfall of bronchial brushing cytology

Pulmonary mucinous adenocarcinoma (PMA) is the terminology recently proposed in the new International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer/American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society (IASLC/ATS/ERS) International Multidisciplinary Classification of Lung Adenocarcinoma Guidelines for most tumors previously classified as mucinous bronchioloalveolar carcinomas (mBACs). PMA is histologically characterized by lepidic growth and at least some degree of invasive growth of goblet or columnar neoplastic cells with abundant intracytoplasmic mucin. We report here the cytologic features of PMA in a bronchial brushing specimen. The patient is an 84‐year‐old woman with a persistent dense consolidation in the right middle lobe of the lung found on non‐contrast computed tomography (CT) scan. Bronchial brushing smears showed a monotonous population of columnar neoplastic cells forming “drunken honeycomb”‐like cell clusters. The neoplastic cells displayed inconspicuous cytologic atypia. The concurrent transbronchial tissue biopsy and the resection specimen confirmed the diagnosis of PMA. Due to the bland nuclear features, the neoplastic cells in the bronchial brushing specimen were interpreted as benign at the time of the initial diagnosis, demonstrating a diagnostic pitfall of bronchial brushing cytology. A high index of suspicion is recommended when a lung lesion with “drunken honeycomb”‐like cell clusters is encountered in bronchial brushing specimens. The review of the literature regarding the recently designated PMA is presented. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2013. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Do Malaysian Horizontal Mergers and Acquisitions Create Value?

This article examines the value-added phenomenon of Malaysian horizontal merger and acquisition activities (M&A) in the long run for the period 1994–2010. In this regard, this article used economic value-added (EVA) approach and cost-efficiency approach (stochastic frontier analysis (SFA)) to investigate synergistic benefits. The findings suggest that bidder firms experience no significant improvement in operating and financial efficiencies in the long run. Specifically, the operating performance of bidder firms deteriorated after the merger exercise, whereas the target firms had no significant improvement in operating performance over the same period. In summary, the findings suggest no synergistic gains from horizontal mergers in Malaysia. These findings imply that the long-run performance of firms in the horizontal mergers or acquisitions is driven by other motives rather than synergistic gains.
Electronic Music is Here to Stay - Or is it?

Musical composers frequently make use of new technologies in instrumentation. Whilst orchestral traditions remain strong and the instruments viable, what of the works of composers of electronic music where the sound sources have fallen into disrepair, obsolescence, or modern technology has changed the sound so that it bears no relation to the original? Beyond collections of manuscripts and recordings, the practicalities of the re-performance of electronic music compositions have not been widely discussed, and no methodology for archiving the artefacts for re-performability exists. In time, as greater importance is placed on these works, the issue will become more difficult to retrospectively resolve.
Unified Model of Linear and Nonlinear Crosstalk in Multi-Core Fiber

In this paper, the theoretical unification of linear and nonlinear inter-core crosstalk (IC-XT) in step-index single-mode multicore fiber (MCF) media is reported and validated experimentally. In order to estimate the IC-XT when operating in linear and nonlinear regimes, the coupled-mode theory (CMT) and the coupled-power theory (CPT) have been unified in both power regimes. The theoretical analysis of the CMT indicates that in coupled MCFs with reduced core-to-core distance (core pitch) the nonlinear self-coupling and cross-coupling effects should be considered when operating with high optical powers. However, considering a core pitch value higher than three times the core radius only the self-coupling effect should be taken into account for estimating the nonlinear IC-XT. Considering these results, the CPT is also extended to nonlinear regime including the dominant nonlinear coupling effect. Using both CMT and CPT, the statistical model of nonlinear IC-XT is completed with the closed-form expressions for estimating the cumulative distribution function, the probability density function and the crosstalk mean and variance as a function of the power level launched into a single-core of the MCF. The crosstalk model presented is additionally extended when multiple cores are simultaneously excited. Finally, the theoretical model is experimentally validated in a homogeneous four-core fiber considering different bending radius configurations.
Turnout Bias in Postelection Surveys: Political Involvement, Survey Participation, and Vote Overreporting

Turnout bias is a classic flaw of postelection surveys. It has a double cause: overrepresentation of actual voters among survey respondents and vote overreporting by actual nonvoters. Previous studies have focused on the latter, measurement bias, and have failed to address the former, nonresponse bias. However, turnout is typically a topic where there may be a link between response propensity and measurement error, as factors related to political involvement are likely to influence both survey participation and misreport. To take this link into account, we resort to a Heckman selection model in which the outcome equation estimates the probability of overreporting conditional on the probability of participation in the survey. We apply such a model to a unique data set of validated votes from the canton of Geneva, Switzerland, informing about the actual turnout of both individuals who were interviewed and individuals who were sampled but could not be interviewed. Based on the same data, we put forward a solution that may correct for the nonresponse bias in cases where information regarding nonresponse is not available. Applying this correction to U.S. data shows that not correcting for response propensity may indeed lead to inaccurate estimates of the determinants of overreporting and, ultimately, of turnout.
Prevalence of Multidrug Resistant Bacteria Causing Late-Onset Neonatal Sepsis

ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 4 Number 5 (2015) pp. 172-190 http://www.ijcmas. com Neonatal sepsis is a leading cause of neonatal mortality in developing countries. Identification of the etiological agents of neonatal sepsis is essential for effective treatment. Out of 106 microbial isolates recovered from blood cultures of late onset neonatal sepsis (LONS) patients, only 70 (66 %) isolates were Gram-positive bacteria, 31 (29.2%) isolates were Gram-negative bacteria and 5 (4.7%) isolates were Candida sp. Coagulase negative staphylococci (CONS) was the most common causative LONS, which reached to 43(40.6%) of total isolates, followed by Micrococcus, Enterobacter, Coagulase positive staphylococci (COPS),Candida, Shigella, E. coli, Bacillus, Citrobacter and Klebsiella, which reached to 13(12.3%), 11(10.4%), 10(9.4%), 7(6.6%), 5(4.7%), 5(4.7%), 4(3.8%),4(3.8%) and 4(3.8%), respectively. CONS strains appeared more resistance to various test antibiotics compared to COPS. In addition, both of Staphylococcus and Enterobacterial isolates appeared high degree of resistance to penicillins and cephalosporins antibiotics, but their sensitivity to other tested antibiotics are different. In addition, about 50% of Staphylococcus isolates were resistant to aminoglycosides, IPM, glycopeptides and linezolid antibiotics, while 50% Enterobacterial isolates were resistant to glycopeptides, aminoglycosides, monobactam and tetracycline. The most resistant strains in the present study are Staphylococcus NBS-35, Staphylococcus NBS-98 and Enterobacter NBS-40which identified based on 16S rRNA gene sequence as strains of Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus and Enterobacter cloacae, respectively. K ey wo rd s Neonatal sepsis, resistant, antibiotics, Staphylococcus,
Silent stroke: pathogenesis, genetic factors and clinical implications as a risk factor

Silent stroke is frequently recognized in elderly persons. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging has proved to be highly sensitive in the detection of recent silent stroke, and may further applications in the future. Silent stroke in healthy and asymptomatic individuals mainly comprises lacunar infarcts, which are often associated with white matter changes. Thus, analyses of risk factors and genetic factors in small-vessel diseases such as lacunar infarct and white matter changes may provide clues regarding the pathogenesis of silent stroke. Silent stroke may be a risk factor for clinical stroke and cognitive impairment, but prospective studies are required to confirm this.
Porcine pancreatic icosapeptide as a marker of graft survival and rejection in xenotransplantation

Abstract: The previous study showed that it is possible to monitor the viability of xenografted fetal pig pancreas in the first 3 weeks after transplantation in a normoglycemic immunoincompetent mouse [ 1 ]. This is achieved by measuring serum levels of porcine pancreatic icosapeptide (PI) in the host using a specific immunoassay. PI is secreted from the pancreatic polypeptide (PP) cell, the first mature endocrine cell of the fetal pig pancreas. Insufficient insulin is produced by the graft at this time to use it as a marker of graft viability. We have now examined the usefulness of PI to monitor graft survival in diabetic immunoincompetent mice and in immunosuppressed mice. Fetal porcine pancreatic tissue was transplanted beneath the renal capsule of streptozotocin‐diabetic non‐obese diabetic severe combined immunodeficient mice (NOD‐SCID) and BALB/c mice given cyclosporin (CsA) for 21 or 10 days, respectively. Blood and grafts were analyzed periodically over 15 and 3 weeks, respectively, for porcine PI and C‐peptide/insulin. In the diabetic mice, porcine PI was detected in sera up to 2 weeks following transplantation and was absent thereafter. Serum porcine C‐peptide was detectable at 3 weeks and reached maximum levels at 12 to 15 weeks. PI content of the grafts was highest at day 4 and 3 weeks and lowest from 9 weeks onwards while insulin levels in the graft were highest from 9 weeks onwards. In BALB/c mice immunosuppressed with CsA, serum PI was detectable for 21 days. In the mice given CsA only for 10 days, serum PI was detectable for that time, but not on day 14 although PI was detectable in the graft. In mice given no CsA, PI was undetectable in serum at any time although PI was present in the graft at day 4. The presence of porcine PI in sera is a marker of graft survival of fetal porcine pancreatic tissue in diabetic immunocompetent mice in the first 2 weeks after transplantation. Its absence in immunosuppressed mice in this period is an early indicator of graft rejection.
House of Debt: How They (and You) Caused the Great Recession, and How We Can Prevent It From Happening Again

welfare state supports housing costs through the payment of benefit. The main focus here is on the recent reforms in welfare provision. The final chapter draws together the preceding material by conceptualising how changes to the UK’s housing system are essentially concerned with the debate about the extent to which the state can and should intervene in the market. Here, she cites Massey (2010) who suggests that through increasing privatisation, millions of people have been ‘entangled’ in the interests of finance and have been ‘ideologically acculturated into its ways of thinking’. The chapter concludes with a call for a ‘paradigm shift’ to address low growth, less consumption and alleviating poverty and challenges the prevailing political ideology of individualism, private interest and consumerism. This remains a major challenge where successive central government policy is rooted in an enduring political ideology that has pursued the dismantling of the foundations of the welfare state and thus housing as a welfare good. Maybe the recent proposals for decentralising governance and granting more decision-making powers to city regions and regions following the Scottish referendum offer some hope for such a paradigm shift.
Economic Growth and Population Models

One of the key elements in any standard economic growth theory is that population growth exponentially at a constant rate n > 0. This simple model can provide an adequate approximation to such growth only for the initial period because, growing exponentially, population approaches infinity when t goes to infinity, which is clearly unrealistic. The exponential model does not accommodate growth reductions due to competition for environmental resources such as food and habitat. In this paper we reformulate the neoclassical Solow model of economic growth by assuming that the law describing population growth verifies two stilized facts: 1) population is strictly increasing and bounded and 2) the rate of growth of population is strictly decreasing to zero. The main result of the paper is the proof of the convergence of capital per worker to a constant value independently of the initial condition. This constant value coincides with the steady state of the original Solow model with zero population growth rate.
Gastrointestinal , Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Pathology Reactive Oxygen Species Mediate Liver Injury Through Parenchymal Nuclear Factor-B Inactivation in Prolonged Ischemia / Reperfusion

From the Liver Unit, Hospital Clinic, Institut de Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi-Sunyer (IDIBAPS)-Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas Esther Koplowitz (CIBEK), el Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBEREHD), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona; and the Department of Cell Death and Proliferation, El Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas de Barcelona, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (IIBB-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
Refining the measurement of physician job satisfaction: results from the Physician Worklife Survey. SGIM Career Satisfaction Study Group. Society of General Internal Medicine.

BACKGROUND Physician job satisfaction has been linked to various patient care and health system outcomes. A survey instrument that concisely measures physicians' satisfaction with various job facets can help diverse stake-holders to better understand and manage these outcomes. OBJECTIVE To document the development and validation of a multidimensional physician job satisfaction measure and separate global satisfaction measures. DESIGN Self-administered questionnaire: Physician Worklife Survey (PWS). SUBJECTS A pilot study employed a national American Medical Association Masterfile sample of US primary care physicians and random samples from four states. Responses (n = 835; 55% return rate) were randomly assigned to developmental (n = 560) or cross-validation (n = 275) samples. A national sample (n = 2,325; 52% response rate) of physicians was used in a subsequent validation study. RESULTS A 38-item, 10-facet satisfaction measure resulting from factor and reliability analyses of 70 pilot items was further reduced to 36 items. Reliabilities of the 10 facets ranged from . 65 to . 77. Three scales measuring global job, career, and specialty satisfaction were also constructed with reliabilities from . 84 to . 88. Results supported face, content, convergent, and discriminant validity of the measures. CONCLUSIONS Physician job satisfaction is a complex phenomenon that can be measured using the PWS.