Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transcranial Acoustic Imaging for Guiding Cavitation-Mediated Ultrasonic Brain Therapy

Transcranial Acoustic Imaging for Guiding Cavitation-Mediated Ultrasonic Brain Therapy Ryan Matthew Jones Doctor of Philosophy Department of Medical Biophysics University of Toronto 2018 The ability to treat brain cancers and other disorders of the central nervous system is inherently limited by the presence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), a specialized structure that regulates molecular passage from the circulatory system into the brain. Ultrasound in combination with circulating microbubbles has been shown capable of transiently increasing BBB permeability in a localized and noninvasive manner, providing a window for the targeted delivery of therapeutics into the brain. Focused ultrasound (FUS)-induced BBB opening is an increasingly researched field, and the approach recently entered into clinical testing. However, sources of variability exist in the current procedures that motivate the need for real-time monitoring and control techniques to improve treatment safety and efficacy. In this thesis, hemispherical passive acoustic sensor arrays and established beamforming algorithms are employed to generate three-dimensional maps of microbubble activity within the brain during FUS-induced BBB opening; methods for mitigating trans-skull image distortion are explored and the use of imaging-based feedback to guide the procedures is investigated. An initial simulation study was carried out to establish the feasibility of transcranial passive acoustic imaging with sparse hemispherical receiver arrays. The effects of various parameters on the image quality obtained from conventional beamforming approaches, modified to incorporate patient-specific aberration corrections based on computed tomography (CT) skull morphology, were assessed in silico. Based on this study, a sparse receiver array was designed and integrated within an existing prototype hemispherical therapy array. The dual-mode system was characterized acoustically via in-vitro and in-vivo experiments with ex-vivo human skull specimens. The use of CT-based aberration corrections for trans-skull acoustic imaging was validated through comparisons with a gold standard, invasive source-based technique. Analytical and numerical models for simulating the receiver element corrections based on CT scans of the head were
Reinventing Cultural Identities in Diaspora: A Mother-Daughter Dyad in Tan's Narratives

Immigrants suffer problematic cultural identities due to their bicultural allegiances to their host and native cultures. They can not be totally free from their ‘being’, the shared cultural and historical experiences. As a result, they follow their cultural practices of native country even in their diasporic existences. At the same time, they adopt and follow the cultural practices of the host country. In fact, they are living in the cultural third space simultaneously oscillating between two cultures. In such cultural in-between’s, the first generation and the second generation immigrants undergo different experience in diaspora. In this article, Chinese American writer Amy Tan’s two fictions namely The Joy Luck Club and The Bonesetter’s Daughter are analyzed focusing on cultural identities of second generation immigrants. The second generation in these narratives is the daughters of Chinese immigrant mothers. Their relationship with their mothers unfolds their simultaneous attraction and distraction to the both native and host culture. Consequently, their cultural identities remain unstable, blurred and in the processes of transformation in the cultural third space of diaspora.
Reconstruction of 3D Models from Images and Point Clouds with Shape Primitives

3D models are widely used in different applications, including computer games, planning software, applications for training and simulation, and virtual city maps. For many of these applications it is necessary or at least advantageous, if the virtual 3D models are based on real world scenes and objects. Manual modeling is reserved for experts as it requires extensive skills. For this reason, it is necessary to provide automatic or semi-automatic, easy-to-use techniques for reconstructing 3D objects. In this thesis we present methods for reconstructing 3D models of man-made scenes. These scenes can often be approximated with a set of geometric primitives, like planes or cylinders. Using geometric primitives leads to light-weight, low-poly 3D models, which are beneficial for efficient storage and post-processing. The applicability of reconstruction algorithms highly depends on the existing input data, the characteristics of the captured objects, and the desired properties of the reconstructed 3D model. For this reason, we present three algorithms that use different input data. It is possible to reconstruct 3D models from just a few photographs or to use a dense point cloud as input. Furthermore, we present techniques to combine information from both, images and point clouds. The image-based reconstruction method is especially designed for environments with homogenous and reflective surfaces where it is difficult to acquire reliable point sets. Therefore we use an interactive application which requires user input. Shape primitives are fit to user-defined segmentations in two or more images. Our point-based algorithms, on the other hand, provide fully automatic reconstructions. Nevertheless, the automatic computations can be enhanced by manual user inputs for generating improved results. The first point-based algorithm is specialized on reconstructing 3D models of buildings and uses unstructured point clouds as input. The point cloud is segmented into planar regions and converted into 3D geometry. The second point-based algorithm additionally supports the reconstruction of interior scenes. While unstructured point clouds are supported as well, this algorithm specifically exploits the redundancy and visibility information provided by a set of range images. The data is automatically segmented into geometric primitives. Then the shape boundaries are extracted either automatically or interactively.
The Relationship between Psychopathy and Financial Risk and Time Preferences

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between psychopathy and its underlying traits and financial risk and time preferences. Design/methodology/approach The authors measure risk and time preferences using both the cumulative prospect theory and quasi-hyperbolic time discounting in a sample of business majors. The Psychopathic Personality Inventory – Revised test is then used to measure the global psychopathy and eight primary and two secondary traits of the sample of business majors. The measures of psychopathy are used as explanatory variables to model variation in subjects’ time and risk preferences. Findings The authors find that the overall score on the continuum of psychopathy is positively related to the linearity of the cumulative prospective utility function. A breakdown of psychopathy into its secondary and primary traits shows a more complex relation. For example, the secondary trait of self-centered impulsivity is statistically significant in models of financial risk preference determinants under the cumulative prospect theory. The authors find that the primary traits of self-centered impulsivity and stress immunity are related to a higher time preference discount rate under quasi-hyperbolic time preferences. Originality/value This paper adds to the literature on personality and financial decisions and highlights the importance of psychopathy in finance.
An Empirical Study of The Cocoa, Rubber and Economic Growth in Malaysia

The Malaysian plantation industry is an integral part of the agricultural sector. Cocoa and rubber products’ trade is very important to the Malaysian economy and the global agricultural industry. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between cocoa, rubber and economic growth in Malaysia. To examine this linkage, we use time series from 1972 to 2016. Based upon the results we examined for both the short-run and long-run by employing Johansen co-integration and Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). These findings showed that the cocoa and rubber had an impact on the GDP for long run relationship.
The Role of Social Capital in Community Based Tourism

The role of social capital in Community-based tourism (CBT) to reach local communities’ welfare is being the concern of tourism activities. Previous research found that social capital approach could be used to achieve sustainability and prosperity. Mutually beneficial trust and collective action among the member of the community as aspects of social capital played an important role to take off CBT. The study aimed to analyze the role of trust and collective action as elements of social capital on the local community of CBT Kampung Tajur and to examine the link between trust and collective action. This study was conducted on a sample of Kampung Tajur community which was appointed as CBT because its willingness to take collective action. The result showed that trust was a robust predictor of attending a religious meeting, participating in managing homestay, and joining for community work. On the other hand, the absence of attending a formal meeting and community meeting conducted by the community head did not have a link to trust among the community member. Our findings suggested that due to well implementation of social capital role in terms of trust and collective action, the community’s members must be encouraged as the subject in tourism activity by enhancing knowledge, empowerment, and inspiration based on local wisdom. Keywords: Collective action, Community-based Tourism, social capital, trust.
Preferences of the medical faculty members for electronic faculty development programs (e-FDP): a qualitative study

Introduction Medical faculties are responsible for the training and development of future physicians. Therefore, they must learn the teaching methods. Considering their extensive roles, adult learning theory, and technological developments, the best solution is e-learning. This study extracted the views and preferences of clinical faculties about the electronic faculty development programs. Methods Clinical faculty members and medical education and e-learning specialists from medical universities in Iran participated in this qualitative content analysis study during 2017–2018. Data were collected with purposive sampling method by 18 semi-structured interviews and 2 focus groups with 11 participants. The data were analyzed using the conventional qualitative content analysis method. Validity and accuracy of data were provided on the basis of Guba and Lincoln criteria. Results Five categories including “Technology infrastructure” (Presentation, Platform, E-Learning environment), “learner” (Features, Motivation), ”Program management” (Blending, Interaction), “content” (Design, Application, Organization), and “evaluation” (Learner assessment, Program evaluation) were extracted. Conclusion Faculty members prefer to attend e-learning courses that focus on individualization, blended learning, and mobile learning. The best solution is to use the microlearning approach, that is, short pieces of content focusing on a learning goal that can be presented by all electronic devices in the form of any kind of media, and is in fact the learning fingerfood.
Optimization of electrospinning conditions for magnetic poly (acrylonitrile- co- acrylic acid) nanofibers

Magnetic poly (acrylonitrile-co-acrylic acid) (PAN-co-AA) composite nanofibers with different proportions of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were fabricated using electrospinning technique. Electrospinning conditions like polymeric concentration, applied voltage, feeding rate, working distance, and collector type were explored and optimized to produce ultrafine- uniform size and bead free nanofibers. Electrospun nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Brunauer−Emmett−Teller (BET) isotherms, X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). The optimum electrospinning conditions were obtained to be 12wt% concentration, 20 kV voltages, 20 cm tips to collector distance and 0.5 mL/h flow rate. At the optimal operating condition the nanofibers diameter dropped from 359 nm to 74 nm and the specific surface area increased to 12.09 m2g-1 with respect to MNPs content (0 to 40 wt. %). Also, the magnetic property of magnetic nanofibers facilitated the separation of solid phase much easier than nonmagnetic nanofiber.
Covert Communications in the RF Band of Primary Wireless Networks

Covert systems are designed to operate at a low probability of detection (LPD) in order to provide system protection at the physical layer level. The classical approach to covert communications aims at hiding the covert signal in noise by lowering the power spectral density of the signal to a level that makes it indistinguishable from that of the noise. However, the increasing demand for modern covert systems that can provide better protection against intercept receivers (IRs) and provides higher data rates has shifted the focus to the design of Ad-Hoc covert networks (ACNs) that can hide their transmission in the RF spectrum of primary networks (PNs), like mobile networks. The early work on exploiting the RF band of other wireless systems has been promising; however, the difficulties in modeling such environments, analyzing the impact on/from the primary network, and deriving closed form expressions for the performance of the covert network have limited the work on this crucial subject. In this work, we provide the first comprehensive analyses of a covert network that exploits the RF band of an OFDM-based primary network to achieve covertness. A spectrum access algorithm is presented which would allow the ACN to transmit in the RF spectrum of the PN with minimum interference. Next, we use stochastic geometry to model both the OFDM-based PN as well as the ACN. Using stochastic geometry would also allow us to derive closed-form expressions and provide a comprehensive analysis for two metrics, namely an aggregate metric and a ratio metric. These two metrics quantify the covertness and performance of the covert
Changes in the Specific Charge Amount on the Surface of Cotton Fibres 
during the Alkali Pre-treatment Process

The aim of the pre-treatment process is to prepare cotton fabrics for subsequent technological operations, which are, in the majority, carried out in aqueous solutions. The pre-treatment processes modify, to some extent, the properties of cotton, resulting in a significant change in their zeta potential, the amount of specific surface charge or free energy surface. This study makes an assessment of the effect of the alkali pre-treatment process on changes in the amount of negative specific charges on cotton knitted surfaces, known as cationic demand. A “back-titration” method with the use of a Muetek PCD device was adopted for these experiments. It was found that the conventional process of alkali treatment of raw cotton knitted fabrics using sodium hydroxide in the presence of non-ionic surfactant reduced by nearly 50% the amount of negative specific surface charge. Also, changes in weight loss and improvements in the whiteness index, as well as the wettability of alkali pre-treated cotton knitwear, were observed.
From Processing-in-Memory to Processing-in-Storage

Near-data in-memory processing research has been gaining momentum in recent years. Typical processing-in-memory architecture places a single or several processing elements next to a volatile memory, enabling processing without transferring data to the host CPU. The increased bandwidth to and from volatile memory leads to performance gain. However processing-in-memory does not alleviate von Neumann bottleneck for big data problems, where datasets are too large to fit in main memory. We present a novel processing-in-storage system based on Resistive Content Addressable Memory ReCAM. It functions simultaneously as a mass storage and as a massively parallel associative processor. ReCAM processing-in-storage resolves the bandwidth wall by keeping computation inside the storage arrays, without transferring it up the memory hierarchy. We show that ReCAM based processing-in-storage architecture may outperform existing processing-in-memory and accelerator based designs. ReCAM processing-in-storage implementation of Smith-Waterman DNA sequence alignment reaches a speedup of almost five over a GPU cluster. An implementation of in-storage inline data deduplication is presented and shown to achieve orders of magnitude higher throughput than traditional CPU and DRAM based systems.
Directional Multi-Scale Stationary Wavelet-Based Representation for Human Action Classification

Human action recognition is a very active field in computer vision. Many important applications depend on accurate human action recognition, which is based on accurate representation of the actions. These applications include surveillance, athletic performance analysis, driver assistance, robotics, and human-centered computing. This chapter presents a thorough review of the field, concentrating the recent action representation methods that use spatio-temporal information. In addition, the authors propose a stationary wavelet-based representation of natural human actions in realistic videos. The proposed representation utilizes the 3D Stationary Wavelet Transform to encode the directional multi-scale spatiotemporal characteristics of the motion available in a frame sequence. It was tested using the Weizmann, and KTH datasets, and produced good preliminary results while having reasonable computational complexity when compared to existing state–of–the–art methods.
Addressees Are Sensitive to the Presence of Gesture When Tracking a Single Referent in Discourse

Production studies show that anaphoric reference is bimodal. Speakers can introduce a referent in speech by also using a localizing gesture, assigning a specific locus in space to it. Referring back to that referent, speakers then often accompany a spoken anaphor with a localizing anaphoric gesture (i.e., indicating the same locus). Speakers thus create visual anaphoricity in parallel to the anaphoric process in speech. In the current perception study, we examine whether addressees are sensitive to localizing anaphoric gestures and specifically to the (mis)match between recurrent use of space and spoken anaphora. The results of two reaction time experiments show that, when a single referent is gesturally tracked, addressees are sensitive to the presence of localizing gestures, but not to their spatial congruence. Addressees thus seem to integrate gestural information when processing bimodal anaphora, but their use of locational information in gestures is not obligatory in every discourse context.
Entrepreneurship among female immigrants. A case study in Madrid

El objetivo principal de este documento se centra en estudiar y comprender que factores determinan el uso o no uso de los recursos etnicos en las estrategias comerciales de las mujeres de negocios inmigrantes en Madrid. Para lograr este objetivo, estudiamos la relacion entre los factores estructurales de la sociedad de acogida, los recursos disponibles para las mujeres inmigrantes en el contexto de sus comunidades etnicas y otras caracteristicas individuales. En este estudio, se utiliza un enfoque cualitativo. Realizamos 27 entrevistas semiestructuradas con empresarios inmigrantes de America Latina (Brasil, Republica Dominicana, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Paraguay y Peru), Africa (Marruecos y Senegal) y Europa del Este (Bulgaria y Rumania). Las principales conclusiones revelan que la diferencia con respecto al empleo de los recursos etnicos radica en los siguientes factores: redes sociales, estatus legal, acceso a los recursos etnicos, ubicacion de negocios y origen de las mujeres empresarias
Ligninolitic Enzyme Immobilization from Pleurotus ostreatus for Dye and Batik Wastewater Decolorization

Batik wastewater is one of the environmental problems which has become a significant water pollution problem recently. It contains a large variety of synthetic dyes, chemicals, and has high chemical oxygen demand (COD). Synthetic dyes are difficult to degrade and have recalcitrant and toxic characteristics. Dyes can be degraded by ligninolytic enzymes, including laccase (Lac), manganese peroxidase (MnP), and lignin peroxidase (LiP). The immobilized ligninolytic enzyme is effectively used to enhance the degradation of dye wastewater. Pleurotus ostreatus , the most abundant ligninolytic enzyme source, is the candidate to regenerate fungal biomass as the bioremediation agent. Immobilization of ligninolytic enzyme using alginate was observed in this study for its efficiency to decolorize and decrease COD concentration of RBBR dye and Naphtol batik wastewater in different time periods (0, 2, 4, 6, 24, 48, 72 h) and growth conditions (static and agitated). The results show that the Lac, MnP, LnP activities of P. ostreatus are 200.43, 9.714, 12938.60 U/l, respectively. Static conditions within 48 hours exhibit the highest percentage of decolorization of dye. Ligninolytic immobilized from its condition has decolorized RBBR dye up to 75.88%, while the percentage of decolorization of agitated culture is 68.09%. This ligninolytic immobilized has decolorized about 94.867% of batik wastewater within 24 hours under a static condition. It is also able to decrease the COD level of the batik wastewater containing Naphtol dye (504 to 233 mg/l) within 24 hours under a shaking condition. Immobilization of enzyme has been a promising alternative for decolorization of dye and batik wastewater.
THERMAL PROCESSING EFFECTS ON THE MICROBIOLOGICAL, PHYSICOCHEMICAL, MINERAL, AND NUTRACEUTICAL PROPERTIES OF A ROASTED PURPLE MAIZE BEVERAGE

Thermal processing treatment of a roasted purple maize beverage was shown to be effective for reducing the microbiological growth since, after thermal treatment, microbial development was not detected. Physicochemical parameters, soluble solids, pH, and titratable acidity were not affected by the treatment, while L, a, b, C, and h chromatic parameters showed statistical differences. However, the visual aspects were not affected by the different thermal processing treatments. In terms of mineral content, the main effects were observed on Na, Mn, Cu and Zn concentrations. The thermal processing treatments resulted in higher contents of total phenols, total flavonoids, and total anthocyanins, while condensed tannins were not detected following any of the treatments. HPLC analysis detected ferulic acid in all treatments. On the other hand, chlorogenic acid was detected only in the control, while caffeic acid was detected in all thermal treatments, which means that caffeic acid is released from chlorogenic acid by thermal processing. The DPPH and FRAP antioxidant capacity levels were higher following thermal processing treatment, while the ABTS assay showed a contrasting behaviour.