Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Classification of Tuberculosis and Pneumonia in Human Lung Based on Chest X-Ray Image using Convolutional Neural Network

AbstractIn this paper, we use chest x-ray images of Tuberculosis and Pneumonia to diagnose the patient using a convolutional neural network model. We use 4273 images of pneumonia, 1989 images of normal, and 394 images of tuberculosis. The data are divided into 80% as the training set and 20% as the testing set. We do the preprocessing steps to all of our images data, such as resize, converting RGB to grayscale, and Gaussian normalization. On the training dataset, the sampling technique used is undersampling and oversampling to balance each class. The best model was chosen based on the Area under Curve value i.e. the area under the curve of Receiver Operating Characteristics. This method shows that the best model obtains when trains the training dataset using oversampling. The Area under Curve value is 0.99 for tuberculosis and 0.98 for pneumonia. Therefore, this best model succeeds to identify 86% true for tuberculosis and 96% true for pneumonia.Keywords: chest X-ray images; tuberculosis; pneumonia; convolutional neural network. AbstrakPada penelitian ini memanfaatkan data citra chest x-ray penderita penyakit tuberculosis dan pneumonia. Model convolutional neural network digunakan untuk membantu mendiagnosis kedua penyakit ini. Data yang digunakan masing-masing sudah dilabeli sebanyak 4273 citra pneumonia, 1989 citra normal dan 394 citra tuberculosis. Data tersebut dibagi menjadi 80% himpunan data latih dan 20% data uji. Himpunan data tersebut telah melalui 3 tahap prepocessing yaitu resize citra, merubah citra RGB menjadi grayscale dan standarisasi gausian pada citra. Pada data latih dilakukan teknik sampling berupa undersampling dan oversampling data untuk menyeimbangkan data latih antar kelas. Model terbaik dipilih berdasarkan nilai Area under Curve yaitu luas daerah di bawah kurva Receiver Operating Chracteristics. Hasil menunjukkan bahwa model terbaik dihasilkan ketika dilatih menggunakan data latih hasil oversampling dengan nilai Area under Curve kelas tuberculosis sebesar 0,99 dan nilai Area under Curve kelas pneumonia sebesar 0,98. Oleh karena itu, model terbaik ini mampu mengindentifikasi sebanyak 86% penyakit tuberculosis dan 96% penyakit pneumonia.Kata Kunci: citra chest X-ray; penyakit infeksi paru; pengolahan citra digital Convolutional Neural Network.
Standardisation of chamber technique for CO2, N2O and CH4 fluxes measurements from terrestrial ecosystems

Abstract Chamber measurements of trace gas fluxes between the land surface and the atmosphere have been conducted for almost a century. Different chamber techniques, including static and dynamic, have been used with varying degrees of success in estimating greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O) fluxes. However, all of these have certain disadvantages which have either prevented them from providing an adequate estimate of greenhouse gas exchange or restricted them to be used under limited conditions. Generally, chamber methods are relatively low in cost and simple to operate. In combination with the appropriate sample allocations, chamber methods are adaptable for a wide variety of studies from local to global spatial scales, and they are particularly well suited for in situ and laboratory-based studies. Consequently, chamber measurements will play an important role in the portfolio of the Pan-European long-term research infrastructure Integrated Carbon Observation System. The respective working group of the Integrated Carbon Observation System Ecosystem Monitoring Station Assembly has decided to ascertain standards and quality checks for automated and manual chamber systems instead of defining one or several standard systems provided by commercial manufacturers in order to define minimum requirements for chamber measurements. The defined requirements and recommendations related to chamber measurements are described here.
Greek Budget Realities: No Easy Option

ABSTRACT:This paper uses a quantitative dynamic open economy macroeconomic model to examine alternative strategies that the Greek government could implement to increase its primary balance on a flow basis by 1 percent of GDP, representing roughly one quarter of Greece’s total annual liability. We examine the impact of increases in distortionary taxes and reductions in government expenditures on the macroeconomy in both the short and long run. The necessary fiscal adjustments are large and entail substantial macroeconomic costs. These costs are even greater when one takes into account realistic elasticities of the tax base and the fact that Greece is a small open economy. Delaying fiscal adjustment could yield short-term benefits, but ultimately such delays come at a high price unless Greece’s creditors are willing to provide additional finance at below-market rates. The basic framework holds the growth rate of the Greek economy fixed. Naturally, fiscal adjustments become less painful under a scenario in which the Greek economy returns to a positive growth path. Whether structural reforms or other policies can generate such growth remains an open question.
Dengue Virus Nonstructural-1 Protein And Its Phylogenetic Correlation To Human Fibrinogen and Thrombocytes: A Study To Explain Hemorrhagic Complications

Dengue infection is a major public health problem, yearly affecting thousands of children in the tropical countries. Luckily, the classical form of this infection resembles to viral flu: fever, headache, chill and rash. Mostly, affected patients have a complete recovery without any complication. However, there is a severe form of dengue infection called dengue hemorrhagic fever. In this case, the host immunological response host is the important factor in the course of the disease. However, the mechanisms underlying severe bleeding in dengue DHF are not completely understood. Recently, it was noted that the dengue virus nonstructural-1 protein (NS1) generated antibodies to common epitopes on fibrinogen and integrin/adhesin proteins on the platelet. Therefore, the role of NS1 as an important protein causing the unwanted immunological reaction bringing DHF is hypothesized. In this article, the author performs a phylogenetic analysis to answer the question how dengue virus NS1 protein is related to fibrinogen and platelet integrin/adhesin relating proteins. Answering this question, the author performed a multiple sequence alignment phylogenetic tree to present the family tree of the dengue virus NS1 proteins, fibrinogen and platelet integrin/adhesin relating proteins recorded in the genomic databases. These derived sequences from database were processed by ClustalW and subsequently used for preparation of distance matrix by Phylip protdist. The final generated phylogenetic tree of the studied proteins was presented. According to this study, it can be shown that D-2VNS1 presents more homology to those four related human proteins than D-3VNS1, possibly explaining the more common of dengue type 2 than dengue type 3 virus in DHF. In addition, the dengue virus NS1 protein presents the closed phylogenetic correlation to CD 61 than fibrinogen and the other two platelet integrin/adhesin relating proteins (CD41 and CD49B). Therefore, platelet CD61 should be further studied in the pathogenesis of DHF.
Pre-harvest application of salicylic acid influence physicochemical and quality characteristics of ‘Chimarrita’ peaches during cold storage

Peach is a climacteric highly-perishable fruit whose post-harvest preservation relies largely on cold storage. The combination of the last with other technologies allows to extend the shelf life of this product. One alternative is the utilization of salicylic acid, a natural compound involved in many physiological phenomena such as resistance against diseases and ripening. Considering these facts, the objective of the present work was to evaluate the effect of pre-harvest application of salicylic acid solutions on the quality of ‘Chimarrita’ peaches during post-harvest cold storage. The experiment was conducted at the Federal University of Pelotas/RS, in the campus of Capão do Leão/RS - Brazil. The application of salicylic acid solutions was performed by direct pulverization on the fruits, 30 days prior to harvest. The concentrations were: 0,0 (control); 1,0; 1,5; and 2,0 mM. After harvest, the fruits were stored in a cold chamber at 1,0 ± 0,5°C and 85-90% RH, for 30 days. The analyses were performed at the following cold storage periods (plus 2 days at room temperature of 20°C to all treatments, in order to simulate commercialization conditions): 10 (+2) days; 20 (+2) days; e 30 (+2) days. The variables evaluated were: mass loss (%); flesh firmness (N); DA index; color (L, a*, b* and hue angle); wooliness incidence (%); rot incidence (%); total soluble solids (°Brix); pH; titrable acidity (% of organic acids); and ratio. The salicylic acid doses and/or the cold storage periods had significant effects on all the evaluated parameters. For most of the parameters analyzed, the intermediate dosis of 1mM (and also 1,5mM) of salicilic acid showed the most promising results. Therefore, the application of salicylic acid solutions 30 days prior to harvest is a technique which can be combined to cold storage in order to shift the quality and the shelf-life of ‘Chimarrita’ peaches.
Unsupervised Feature Selection Algorithm via Local Structure Learning and Kernel Function

In order to reduce dimensionality of high-dimensional data, a series of feature selection algorithms have been proposed. But these algorithms have the following disadvantages: (1) they do not fully consider the nonlinear relationship between data features (2) they do not consider the similarity between data features. To solve the above two problems, we propose an unsupervised feature selection algorithm based on local structure learning and kernel function. First, through the kernel function, we map each feature of the data to the kernel space, so that the nonlinear relationship of the data features can be fully exploited. Secondly, we apply the theory of local structure learning to the features of data, so that the similarity of data features is considered. Then we added a low rank constraint to consider the global information of the data. Finally, we add sparse learning to make feature selection. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has better results than the comparison methods.
Advancements of Deep Q-Networks

Deep Q-Networks first introduced a combination of Reinforcement Learning and Deep Neural Networks at a large scale. These Networks are capable of learning their interactions within an environment in a self-sufficient manor for a wide range of applications. Over the following years, several extensions and improvements have been developed for Deep Q-Networks. In the following paper, we present the most notable developments for Deep Q-Networks, since the initial proposed algorithm in 2013.
DIPARTIMENTO DI ECONOMIA Banks , Distances and Financing Constraints for Firms

The wave of bank mergers and acquisitions experienced in European and U.S. credit markets during the Nineties has deeply changed the geography of banking industry. While the number of bank branches has increased in almost every country, reducing the operational distance between banks and borrowers, bank decisional centres and strategic functions have been concentrated in only a few places within each nation, increasing the functional distance between banks and local communities. In this paper, we carry out a multivariate analysis to assess the correlation of functional and operational distances with local borrowers’ financing constraints. We apply our analysis on Italian data at the local market level defined as provinces. Our findings consistently show that increased functional distance makes financing constraints more binding, it being positively associated with the probability of firms being rationed, investment-cash flow sensitivity, and the ratio of credit lines utilized by borrowers to credit lines make available by banks. These adverse effects are particularly evident for small firms and for firms located in southern Italian provinces. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the negative impact on financing constraints following the actual increased functional distance over the period 19962003 has substantially offset (and sometimes exceeded) the beneficial effects of the increased diffusion of bank branches occurring during the same period.
Treeline Dynamics on Southern Vancouver Island , British Columbia

This paper describes the nature of treeline dynamics and upper-elevation tree establishment patterns on southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia. We examined tree growth, climate and seedling relationships at three upper-elevation locations using standard dendroecological approaches. Our data suggest that this habitat has experienced species-specific pulses of tree establishment that have had a major impact on the character of the local treeline boundaries. The stem data collected within quadrats at Gemini Mountain and Haley Bowl show that seedling establishment within the last three centuries was episodic and linked to historical climatic patterns. Successful mountain hemlock establishment in this setting is restricted to periods characterized by either cool summers and shallow winter snowpacks, or warmer than normal summers and moderately deep snowpacks. The establishment of amabilis and subalpine fir seedlings appears restricted to intervals with cool growing seasons and moderately deep seasonal snowpacks. Episodic seedling establishment in the 20th century has resulted in a gradual infilling of the local treeline and the development of a more structured parkland belt that is expected to have habitat implications for endangered Vancouver Island marmot.
Sources Consulted by Women in African Countries to Manage Menopausal Symptoms : A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Despite an abundance of information regarding menopausal women in western society, African menopausal women have been overlooked in menopausal research, particularly, where they find information regarding menopause. Since inadequate health-related knowledge on menopause negatively affects the understanding of and coping with menopause and related symptoms, it is important to determine where women in Africa obtain their information about menopause. Aim: To conduct a systematic review to identify and analyse information sources consulted by menopausal women in the African region regarding the management of menopausal symptoms. Method: PubMed, Embase (OVID), Google Scholar, Medline (OVID), Medline in Process (OVID), Scopus, https://www.africabib. org/, African Index Medicus; http://indexmedicus.afro. who.int/, and African Journals Online (AJOL) were searched for publications from January 2000 to April 2017. Fourteen studies met the eligibility criteria. Twelve were quantitative while two were qualitative. Studies were independently appraised by two researchers using checklists from the Centre for Evidence-Based Management. Results: Meta-analysis explored the prevalence of different information sources reported with friends being the highest (44%, 95% CI: [0.35, 0.54]) followed by relatives (35%, 95% CI: [0.22, 0.50]) with medical providers being sources of information for only 30% of participants (95% CI: [0.15, 0.50]). Conclusion: Information regarding menopause among African women emanated primarily from friends and relatives, suggesting that women perceive menopause as a natural process whereby information is the best gleaned from informal sources. However, health care should aim to increase public awareness of menopause education and strengthen efforts to provide accurate, timely and How to cite this paper: Hofnie-Hoëbes, K. , Weightman, A. , Shatona, M. and Kelson, M. (2018) Information Sources Consulted by Women in African Countries to Manage Menopausal Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Open Journal of Nursing, 8, 317-338. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojn.2018. 85027 Received: March 26, 2018 Accepted: May 28, 2018 Published: May 31, 2018 Copyright © 2018 by author and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Internal corporate venturing: A review of (almost) five decades of literature

The continued, and burgeoning, growth of interest in corporate entrepreneurship (CE) amongst scholars and managers makes an opportune time for stocktaking and examination of the field’s current state of knowledge, and to reflect on the road ahead. This is especially important given the longstanding but frequently noncumulative, fragmented nature of research into CE (as well as entrepreneurship more broadly). Recent years have thus evidenced a number of reviews of CE literature (Dess et al. 2003; Ireland and Webb 2007; Narayanan et al. 2009). Multiple facets of CE have been examined in such literature reviews, including:
TRB 3 modulates microglial / macrophages polarization via down-regulating PPAR-gamma in rats suffering from diabetic cerebral ischemia

Objective: To investigate the role of TRB3 in the activation of microglia/macrophages during cerebral ischemia. Methods: Fifty-four SD rats were divided into sham group, CI (focal cerebral ischemia) group and CI+DM (diabetes mellitus) group. Type 2 diabetes was modeled by high fat diet and intraperitoneal injection of 60 mg/kg of streptozotocin before cerebral ischemia. Focal cerebral ischemia was achieved by 60 minutes of transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Twenty-four hours after ischemia, brain infarct area was measured after TTC staining. The ratio of cell apoptosis and M1/M2 microglia/macrophages of the 3 groups was also detected by flow cytometry within 24 hours after ischemia. Western blot was applied to detect the expression of TRB3 and PPAR-γ in ischemic portions of the brain tissue as well as the TRB3 knock-down or overexpressing CI+DM cell lines; RT-PCR was adopted for the examination of mRNA expression of IL-6, iNOS (markers for M1 type), IL-10, and arginase-1 (markers for M2 type) in the TRB3 knock-down CI+DM cell lines. In the meanwhile, the CI+DM rats also treated with PPAR-γ agonist (PGZ, 10 mg/kg) or inhibitor (GW9662, 0.3 mg/kg) after the modeling. Results: Compared with sham group and CI group, TTC staining revealed that diabetes mellitus combined with cerebral ischemic damage significantly induced the infarct volume and increased cell apoptosis. Compared with the CI group, the protein level of TRB3 and the ratio of M1/M2 microglia/macrophages in the brain tissue significantly increased in the CI+DM group. When knocking-down or overexpressing TRB3 in cells from the infarct tissues of CI+DM group, the ratio of apoptosis-positive cells and M1/M2 microglia/macrophages were significantly reduced while PPAR-γ protein expression level significantly increased. After treated with PGZ (10 mg/kg) and GW9662 (0.3 mg/kg), compared with the CI+DM group, the ratio of M1/M2 microglia/macrophages was significantly decreased in CI+DM+PGZ but obviously increased in CI+DM+GW9662 group. Conclusion: TRB3 could regulate microglial/macrophages polarization via down-regulated PPAR-gamma in rats with diabetic cerebral ischemia.
Popular Matching for Security-Enhanced Resource Allocation in Social Internet of Flying Things

As the Internet of Things (IoT) is maturing and acquires its social flavor, the Social IoT enables smart devices to build inter-thing social networks without human intervention. As a new form of smart devices, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are finding their way into IoT applications. The integrated Social Internet of Flying Things (SIoFT) can provide the social-aware UAV-assisted services. However, the broadcast nature of air-to-ground (A2G) channels makes them vulnerable to being eavesdropped by terrestrial malicious users due to their strong line-of-sight (LoS) links. In this paper, we investigate to ensure the security of A2G communications when the location information of multiple potential eavesdroppers cannot be perfectly estimated. Following the “no pain no gain” principle, the terrestrial users who reuse the UAV cellular spectrum will act as friendly jammers to realize “win-win” situation. Hence, joint trajectory design, power control, and channel allocation optimization problem is formulated to maximize the average secrecy rate of UAVs in worst case. In the first stage, we utilize the block coordinate descent method and successive convex optimization method to solve the trajectory design and power control problems in an iterative manner. In the second stage, we convert the user pairing problem into a popular matching problem with externalities. Two distributed algorithms are proposed to maintain the popular matching under dynamics. Moreover, we conduct detailed analysis of the popularity, convergence, and computational complexity. Simulation results demonstrate the superiority of our proposed method in terms of different performance metrics.
Graphene Oxide/Elastin Multilayered Membranes for Bone Regeneration

i Résumé . ii Acknowledgments. iv Table of contents . v List of figures . viii List of tables . x Contribution of Authors . xi 1. General Overview . 1 1.
Discovery of long-period variable stars in the very metal-poor globular cluster M15

ABSTRACT We present a search for long-period variable (LPV) stars among giant branch stars inM15 which, at [Fe/H] ∼–2.3, is one of the most metal-poor Galactic globular clusters.We use multi-colour optical photometry from the 0.6-m Keele Thornton and 2-mLiverpool Telescopes. Variability of δV ∼0.15 mag is detected in K757 and K825 overunusually-long timescales of nearly a year, making them the most metal-poor LPVsfound in a Galactic globular cluster. K825 is placed on the long secondary periodsequence, identiﬁed for metal-rich LPVs, though no primary period is detectable.We discuss this variability in the context of dust production and stellar evolution atlow metallicity, using additional spectra from the 6.5-m Magellan (Las Campanas)telescope. A lack of dust production, despite the presence of gaseous mass loss raisesquestions about the production of dust and the intra-cluster medium of this cluster.Keywords: stars: AGB and post-AGB — stars: late-type — stars: Population II —stars: variables: other — stars: winds, outﬂows — globular clusters: individual: M15
Competence acquisition and its relationship to employability. A case study

The idea of employability is one of the pillars of the European Higher Education Area. The study sample consists of the questionnaires for assessment of competence acquisition by students of the University of Extremadura, Spain, specifically studying for the Bachelor's Degree in Business Management and Administration during the academic years 2013/14 and 2014/15. Data analysis was carried out using factorial analysis and structural equations. The relationship between transversal and specific competences is demonstrated, also between transversal and general competences. The design of the curricula is adequate but the cooperation between internships coordinator and the degree's quality committee should be closer and actions should be proposed aimed at improving the results obtained. Universities’ own models for improving management should be complemented by others external reference such as the indicators supplied by business associations or by the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation of Spain.