Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hybrid Diffusion Imaging (HYDI)

Hybrid diffusion imaging (HYDI) is a new diffusion MRI method for characterizing complex diffusion. Diffusion-weighted measurements are obtained on multiple 'shells' of constant diffusion weighting. This diffusion encoding approach is amenable to multiple types of diffusion imaging analysis. The inner shells may be used to estimate the diffusion tensor and generate maps of the diffusion anisotropy and mean diffusivity. The outer shell, which has high angular resolution, may be used to estimate the distribution of white matter fiber tracts in a voxel. Finally, all of the data may be used to estimate the diffusion displacement spectrum for characterizing the full diffusion behavior in a voxel. HYDI experiments were performed on the brains of healthy volunteers and the results are presented. Overall, HYDI is an efficient and promising method for characterizing complex diffusion in the human brain and potentially other tissues
Preparation and evaluation of an Arg-Gly-Asp-modified chitosan/hydroxyapatite scaffold for application in bone tissue engineering

Bone tissue engineering has become a promising method for the repair of bone defects, and the production of a scaffold with high cell affinity and osseointegrative properties is crucial for successful bone substitute. Chitosan (CS)/hydroxyapatite (HA) composite was prepared by in situ compositing combined with lyophilization, and further modified by arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) via physical adsorption. In order to evaluate the cell adhesion rate, viability, morphology, and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, the RGD-CS/HA scaffold was seeded with bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs). The osseointegrative properties of the RGD-CS/HA scaffold were evaluated by in vivo heterotopic ossification and in vivo bone defect repair. After 4 h culture with the RGD-CS/HA scaffold, the adhesion rate of the BMSCs was 80.7%. After 3 days, BMSCs were fusiform in shape and evenly distributed on the RGD-CS/HA scaffold. Formation of extracellular matrix and numerous cell-cell interactions were observed after 48 h of culture, with an ALP content of 0.006±0.0008 U/l/ng. Furthermore, the osseointegrative ability and biomechanical properties of the RGD-CS/HA scaffold were comparable to that of normal bone tissue. The biocompatibility, cytocompatibility, histocompatibility and osseointegrative properties of the RGD-CS/HA scaffold support its use in bone tissue engineering applications.
Overview of Regular Dialysis Treatment in Japan as of 31 December 2006

A statistical survey of dialysis patients for the year 2006 was carried out for 4051 medical facilities across Japan, and responses were received from 3985 (98.37%) facilities. There were 264 473 dialysis patients (including 9003 peritoneal dialysis patients) in Japan at the end of 2006, which showed an increase of 6708 (2.6%) from the end of 2005. The number of patients per million population was 2069.9. The crude mortality rate during 2006 was 9.2%. The mean age of the patients who began dialysis (in 2006) was 66.4 years, and the mean age of the entire dialysis population was 64.4 years. The primary renal diseases of the patients who began dialysis were diabetic nephropathy (42.9%), chronic glomerulonephritis (25.6%), and nephrosclerosis (9.4%). Of the 3488 facilities that participated in the survey on the dialysate water quality, 2873 facilities (82.4%) measured the endotoxin concentration in the dialysate; and 1197 facilities (37.1%) out of 3228 measured the bacterial count in the dialysate. The mean hemoglobin concentration in the dialysis population at the end of 2006 was 10.23 ± 1.33 g/dL, which was equal to that at the end of 2005 (10.23 ± 1.37 g/dL). The mean concentration of serum creatinine in 15 853 patients who started dialysis during 2006 was 8.37 ± 3.58 mg/dL. The estimated glomerular filtration rate, which was calculated with formula modified for the Japanese population from the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) Study equation, was 5.46 ± 6.60 mL/min/1.73 m2.
Design of non-binary decoders using the role model framework

The concept of a message-passing decoder for non-binary low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes that operates on symbol rankings instead of probability distributions is investigated. The optimal Bayesian conversion from ranks back to probabilities is derived, and the hypothetical performance of a rank-based algorithm is measured by converting the rank-valued messages back to probabilities and implementing the node operations in the probability domain. While the performance of a pure rank-based decoder is disappointing, further analysis and performance evaluation shows that a hybrid decoder that switches to the probability domain for its final iteratons exhibits a performance at par with the best known low complexity decoders without causing a significant increase in the overall number of iterations.
Why so Fed Up and Footloose in it? Spelling Out the Associations between Occupation and Overall Job Satisfaction Shown By WERS 2004

Analysis of the Workplace Employment Relations Survey 2004 employee data shows striking differences in levels of overall job satisfaction among occupational groups. The examination is based on the 81 Minor Occupation groupings in UK Standard Occupational Classification 2000 classification. Taking a possible specific occupational effect possibly conditioned by resonance effects, as a theoretical point of departure, multivariate analysis is used to restate apparent occupational effect as occupationally bundled individual-level variables and workplace influencesa process seen as exchanging nominal-level measurement (names of occupations) with theoretical variables. Although 13 minor occupational groups retain statistically significant independent influence after the statistical treatment, these effects are small. Detailed illustration and specification of bundling effects and further examination of their sources take information and communications technology and communication professionals as their point of reference.
Consumers as Educators: Implementation of Patient Feedback in General Practice Training

There is growing interest in the adoption of patient-based assessments for the training of general practitioners. Consumers are in a unique position to comment on the quality of the doctor-patient interaction. Involving consumers as partners with general practice (GP) registrars and GP educators in the development of a patient feedback instrument enhances the relevance and acceptability of consumers as educators in GP training. It also demonstrates that social and medical agendas can be harmonized. Two patient feedback instruments on interpersonal skills were trialed in a training program for general practitioners in Australia. It was found that one of the instruments was more discriminating than the other because of its different response scale.
A system in chaos? Knowledge and sense-making on immigration policy in public debates

This article shows how press selection and presentation of knowledge and expertise relate to processes of sense-making over contemporary political dilemmas. It develops an approach that combines framing analysis with theoretical insights from the literature on narrative and complexity. It demonstrates the value of this approach through quantitative and qualitative analysis of media coverage of the UK government’s decision-making over access to the labour market for new European Union (EU) citizens in 2006. The findings illuminate the relationship between expertise and complexity, the partisan way in which the media utilize expertise, and how official and non-official sources relate to certainty and uncertainty over policy. The article also contributes to our understanding of how intense media scrutiny can shape public debates on immigration, where ‘moral panics’ are often accompanied by calls for government intervention, and the supposedly rational world of facts and figures is distorted into a ‘numbers game’.
A Critical Reassessment of the Role of Mitochondria in Tumorigenesis

Background Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is being analyzed by an increasing number of laboratories in order to investigate its potential role as an active marker of tumorigenesis in various types of cancer. Here we question the conclusions drawn in most of these investigations, especially those published in high-rank cancer research journals, under the evidence that a significant number of these medical mtDNA studies are based on obviously flawed sequencing results. Methods and Findings In our analyses, we take a phylogenetic approach and employ thorough database searches, which together have proven successful for detecting erroneous sequences in the fields of human population genetics and forensics. Apart from conceptual problems concerning the interpretation of mtDNA variation in tumorigenesis, in most cases, blocks of seemingly somatic mutations clearly point to contamination or sample mix-up and, therefore, have nothing to do with tumorigenesis. Conclusion The role of mitochondria in tumorigenesis remains unclarified. Our findings of laboratory errors in many contributions would represent only the tip of the iceberg since most published studies do not provide the raw sequence data for inspection, thus hindering a posteriori evaluation of the results. There is no precedent for such a concatenation of errors and misconceptions affecting a whole subfield of medical research.
Play Behaviors of Parents and Their Young Children With Disabilities

Learning to explore, communicate, and interact with others and the environment through play can be problematic for young children with disabilities, but with parental support, children can learn and interact successfully during play activities. To determine how parents engage their preschool children with disabilities in play and what behaviors they use to enjoy interaction and support development, 13 studies were reviewed. Play behaviors of young children with a variety of disabilities were also examined to determine how children engage with toys and adults and what types of play have a positive impact on development. Collaborative play was found to be beneficial to children regardless of their disability. Parents appear to use their knowledge of their children to engage them in play while scaffolding interactions to facilitate social communication, daily routines, and learning. Because play provides a context for the provision of early intervention supports, implications for practice are discussed.
Finding a set of optimal viewing for 3D surface reconstruction from 2D X-ray images using genetic algorithm

In 3D reconstruction, the efficiency and the accuracy of the reconstruction depend on the distribution of the reconstructed surface points or landmark points. This paper presents a new method, using multi-cellular genetic algorithm, to determine a set of any chosen number of projection angles that approximately provides the optimal distribution of the reconstructed surface points. This is to maximize the use of a small number of 2D X-ray to reconstruct surfaces and allow all important features to be reconstructed by using a minimum number of views. Some proof of concept computational experiments have been conducted to demonstrate the capability of the proposed method.
Compactness of discrete approximate solutions to parabolic PDEs - Application to a turbulence model

In this paper, we prove an adaptation of the classical compactness Aubin-Simon lemma to sequences of functions obtained through a sequence of discretizations of a parabolic problem. The main difficulty tackled here is to generalize the classical proof to handle the dependency of the norms controlling each function $u^{(n)}$ of the sequence with respect to $n$. This compactness result is then used to prove the convergence of a numerical scheme combining finite volumes and finite elements for the solution of a reduced turbulence problem.
T cell subset distribution and B cell hyperreactivity in mice expressing interleukin‐4 under the control of major histocompatibility complex class I regulatory sequences

Transgenic mice in which interleukin‐4 (IL‐4) is expressed under the control of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I regulatory sequences show low level expression of IL‐4 in all organs investigated. Several weeks after birth the animals develop thymus hypoplasia with a loss of CD4+CD8+ double‐positive cells and a relative increase in the mature population, especially, and in contrast to previously published lines, the CD4+ single‐positive cells. In the periphery, T lymphocytes eventually decline, CD8+ cells being more strongly affected. Many of the residual T cells exhibit the CD44highMel‐14low phenotype of antigenically experienced T cells. B cells also show an activated phenotype with respect to size, MHC class II and CD23 expression, are more readily stimulated by anti‐μ F(ab′)2 antibodies than are B cells from control littermates, and show a higher spontaneous and antigen‐induced production of IgG1 and IgE.
Huellas del proceso de metropolización en Chile

This paper analyzes the changes in the urban quality of life within the main metropolitan areas of the country over the last decade: Greater Santiago, Greater Valparaiso and Greater Concepcion. To this end, the Urban Quality of Life Index (UQLI) is applied to establish the possible patterns and trends that may shed light on the traces left by this metropolization process. Taking into account that two out of three people could live in the metropolitan areas of Chile during the next decade, and as a means to contribute to the construction of more cohesive, sustainable and competitive cities, this research aims to provide with guidelines on socio-territorial configuration to influential public and private sectors participating in the urban development.
Layers of the past: A theory and method for historical landscape analysis

Abstract The scope of this paper is to present a landscape analysis which allows for the inclusion of dynamics through time and the cultural diversity of the landscape. Our method is to classify the physical landscape into area types based on the main forms of production in the agricultural society. This is combined with known historical sites, and the result is presented as maps representing different periods in time. We also generate character areas from modern land use and geological maps on the basis of the elements which dominate the landscape today. Finally, we combine the time images with the character areas to present functional units in a manner which includes time depth. The method is described through examples from a municipality in southern Norway (Nøtterøy). The method is useful for defining cultural environments for the purpose of area planning and conservation, and is applicable on a general level.
Locally Weighted Learning for Naive Bayes Classifier

As a consequence of the strong and usually violated conditional independence assumption (CIA) of naive Bayes (NB) classifier, the performance of NB becomes less and less favorable compared to sophisticated classifiers when the sample size increases. We learn from this phenomenon that when the size of the training data is large, we should either relax the assumption or apply NB to a "reduced" data set, say for example use NB as a local model. The latter approach trades the ignored information for the robustness to the model assumption. In this paper, we consider using NB as a model for locally weighted data. A special weighting function is designed so that if CIA holds for the unweighted data, it also holds for the weighted data. The new method is intuitive and capable of handling class imbalance. It is theoretically more sound than the locally weighted learners of naive Bayes that base classification only on the $k$ nearest neighbors. Empirical study shows that the new method with appropriate choice of parameter outperforms seven existing classifiers of similar nature.
Complex sleep apnea syndrome

Complex sleep apnea syndrome (CompSAS) is a distinct form of sleep-disordered breathing characterized as central sleep apnea (CSA), and presents in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients during initial treatment with a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device. The mechanisms of why CompSAS occurs are not well understood, though we have a high loop gain theory that may help to explain it. It is still controversial regarding the prevalence and the clinical significance of CompSAS. Patients with CompSAS have clinical features similar to OSA, but they do exhibit breathing patterns like CSA. In most CompSAS cases, CSA events during initial CPAP titration are transient and they may disappear after continued CPAP use for 4~8 weeks or even longer. However, the poor initial experience of CompSAS patients with CPAP may not be avoided, and nonadherence with continued therapy may often result. Treatment options like adaptive servo-ventilation are available now that may rapidly resolve the disorder and relieve the symptoms of this disease with the potential of increasing early adherence to therapy. But these approaches are associated with more expensive and complicated devices. In this review, the definition, potential plausible mechanisms, clinical characteristics, and treatment approaches of CompSAS will be summarized.
Genomics of Basal Metazoans1

Abstract An in-depth understanding of the biology of animals will require the generation of genomics resources from organisms from all phyla in the metazoan phylogenetic tree. Such resources will ideally include complete genome sequences and comprehensive EST (expressed sequence tag) datasets for each species of interest. Of particular interest in this regard are animals in the early diverging non-bilaterian phyla Porifera, Placozoa, Cnidaria, and Ctenophora. Publications describing the results from the use of genomics approaches in these phyla have only recently begun to appear (Kortschak et al., 2003; Yang et al., 2003; Steele et al., 2004). Issues to be considered here include choosing the basal metazoan species to examine with genomics approaches, the relative advantages and disadvantages of genome sequencing versus EST projects, and the resources and infrastructure required to carry out such projects successfully.
Racing risk, gendering responsibility: a qualitative study of how South African students talk about sexual risk and responsibility

Individuals’ perceptions of risk have implications for whether and how they engage with protective strategies. This study investigated how sexual risk, specifically HIV and pregnancy and responsibility for these risks were constructed in discussions across five groups of youth in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The qualitative study used focus groups and interviews with a sample of 28 tertiary level students and 7 peri-urban youth. The constructions of risk intersected with raced and gendered narratives around sexual risk and responsibility. These constructions were used by the participants to assign and displace responsibility for the risks of HIV and pregnancy, rendering some groups immune to these risks. This constitutes a form of stigmatisation and also has implications for participants’ prevention practices.
Influence of the excitation frequency increase on a fluid model of the capacitively coupled argon plasma

In this work a simulation procedure for a plasma fluid model at very high excitation frequencies (VHF) is presented. The modeling of gas discharges based on the fluid model requires the input of collision cross-sections and electron energy distribution function (EEDF) which is obtained by solving the Boltzmann equations (BE). In this case the general discharge conditions must be known. For the higher excitation frequencies above 100 MHz the complex input parameter set for a BE solver is hard to obtain. Thus, a method of optimization of the modeling parameters for VHF range has been developed and is introduced in this work. Using a 1D plasma model for a capacitively coupled plasma reactor (CCP) the influence of the excitation frequency on the simulation procedure is presented. The results of performed calculations show the dependence of the EEDF and the computed transport properties like electron mobility, electron diffusivity, electron energy mobility, and electron energy diffusivity on the plasma excitation frequency.
The roles of autonomy-connectedness and attachment styles in depression and anxiety

The present study examined how autonomy—connectedness and attachment styles relate to depression and anxiety among 69 clients at a primary mental health care institution and 105 non-clients. We expected poor autonomy—connectedness (i.e., low self-awareness, low capacity for managing new situations, and high sensitivity to others) and insecure attachment to predict depression and anxiety. Clients, compared with non-clients, differed on all study variables. Anxious attachment was a strong predictor of depression and anxiety. Both sensitivity to others and capacity for managing new situations directly predicted anxiety; and, like self-awareness, had indirect effects, via anxious attachment, on both anxiety and depression. Results underscore the importance of autonomy—connectedness (in addition to insecure attachment) in treating anxiety and depression.
Wallets, ballots, or bullets: does wealth, democracy, or military capabilities determine war outcomes?

We examine the extent to which wealth, democracy, and/or relative military capabilities contribute to victory in interstate war. Examining contingency tables, we find that states with greater military capabilities are more likely to win their wars whether they are wealthier or democratic, and democratic states perform marginally better than wealthier states in war. Probit analyses indicate that although each of the variables has a robust and positive impact on war victory, relative capabilities has the strongest substantive impact, followed by wealth, then democracy. Hazard analyses reveal that states with greater military capabilities fight shorter wars than either democracies or wealthier states, and controlling for capabilities and wealth, the relationship between democracy and war duration is not significant, which challenges the view that democracies have a unique propensity to fight shorter wars. We also find that the democratic victory phenomenon is not universal, but is contingent on the placement of a single country, Israel, in the Western or non-Western democracy category. In sum, our analyses indicate that although each of the three factors contributes to war victory, relative military capability is the most powerful, consistent, and robust predictor to victory in interstate war.