Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How to tell the difference between a cat and a dog?

The aim of this work is to present a method in computer vision for model‐based object recognition by integration of texture, color, and partial silhouette matching cues. As a test problem, a challenging task of distinguishing between cats and dogs are proposed. No condition is imposed on the images. In spite of high intraclass variability of two classes (especially dogs), accuracy rate of over 92% is achieved. A novel method for integration of color information to textures is also presented. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 16, 234–239, 2006
New Acquisition Protocol of 18F-Choline PET/CT in Prostate Cancer Patients: Review of the Literature about Methodology and Proposal of Standardization

Purpose. (1) To evaluate a new acquisition protocol of 18F-choline (FCH) PET/CT for prostate cancer patients (PC), (2) to review acquisition 18F-choline PET/CT methodology, and (3) to propose a standardized acquisition protocol on FCH PET/CT in PC patients. Materials. 100 consecutive PC patients (mean age 70.5 years, mean PSA 21.35 ng/mL) were prospectively evaluated. New protocol consisted of an early scan of the pelvis immediately after the injection of the tracer (1 bed position of 4 min) followed by a whole body scan at one 1 hour. Early and 1 hour images were compared for interfering activity and pathologic findings. Results. The overall detection rate of FCH PET/CT was 64%. The early static images of the pelvis showed absence of radioactive urine in ureters, bladder, or urethra which allowed a clean evaluation of the prostatic fossae. Uptake in the prostatic region was better visualized in the early phase in 26% (7/30) of cases. Other pelvic pathologic findings (bone and lymph nodes) were visualized in both early and late images. Conclusion. Early 18F-choline images improve visualization of abnormal uptake in prostate fossae. All pathologic pelvic deposits (prostate, lymph nodes, and bone) were visualized in both early and late images.
Scale, Composition, and Technology

Scale (gross domestic product), composition (goods and services), and technology (impacts per unit of goods and services) in combination are the proximate determinants in an economy of the resources used, wastes generated, and land transformed. In this article, we examine relationships among these determinants to understand better the contribution that changes in each have made in the past, and might in the future, to reduce the burden placed on the environment by the economy. Using the IPAT equation we assess quantitatively historical changes in scale, composition, and technology in Canada and their respective contributions to changes in environmental impact. The Kaya equation provides a similar framework for a more in-depth consideration of the changes in scale, composition, and technology required to achieve a substantial reduction in global emissions of carbon dioxide. We conclude that it is essential to address scale as part of the solution.
Increased Adiponectin Secretion by Highly Purified Eicosapentaenoic Acid in Rodent Models of Obesity and Human Obese Subjects

Objectives—Fish oil rich in n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) or n-3 PUFAs have been shown to reduce the incidence of coronary heart disease. Here we investigated the effect of highly purified eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) on production of adiponectin, the only established antiatherogenic and antiinflammatory adipocytokine, in rodent models of obesity and human obese subjects. Methods and Results—We demonstrated that EPA increases adiponectin secretion in genetically obese ob/ob mice and high-fat diet–induced obese mice. In the in vitro coculture of adipocytes and macrophages, EPA reversed the coculture-induced decrease in adiponectin secretion at least in part through downregulation of tumor necrosis factor-&agr; in macrophages. We also showed significant increase in plasma adiponectin concentrations in human obese subjects after a 3-month treatment with EPA (1.8 g daily). Multivariate regression analysis revealed that EPA treatment is the only independent determinant of plasma adiponectin concentrations. Conclusion—This study demonstrates that EPA increases adiponectin secretion in rodent models of obesity and human obese subjects, possibly through the improvement of the inflammatory changes in obese adipose tissue. Because EPA has reduced the risk of major coronary events in a large-scale, prospective, randomized clinical trial, this study provides important insight into its therapeutic implication in obesity-related metabolic sequelae.
A preliminary analysis of the receipt of mental health services consistent with national standards among children in the child welfare system.

OBJECTIVES We sought to examine the extent to which children in the child welfare system receive mental health care consistent with national standards. METHODS We used data from 4 waves (3 years of follow-up) of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, the nation's first longitudinal study of children in the child welfare system, and the Area Resource File to examine rates of screening, assessment, and referral to mental health services among 3802 youths presenting to child welfare agencies. Weighted population-averaged logistic regression models were used to identify variables associated with standards-consistent care. RESULTS Only half of all children in the sample received care consistent with any 1 national standard, and less than one tenth received care consistent with all of them. Older children, those exhibiting externalizing behaviors, and those placed in foster care had, on average, higher odds of receiving care consistent with national standards. CONCLUSIONS Adverse consequences of childhood disadvantage cannot be reduced unless greater collaboration occurs between child welfare and mental health agencies. Current changes to Medicaid regulations that weaken entitlements to screening and assessment may also worsen mental health disparities among these vulnerable children.
Go Red for Women cardiovascular health-screening evaluation: the dichotomy between awareness and perception of cardiovascular risk in the community.

BACKGROUND Cardiovascular (CV) disease is the leading cause of death in U.S. women. Although women are becoming more aware of CV disease, there remains a dichotomy between awareness and perceived risk. We sought to characterize this dichotomy in women attracted to a CV health-screening event, in order to improve strategies to reduce CV risk. METHODS During CV health events held in Rochester, Minnesota, from 2007 through 2011, 294 women underwent screening for blood chemistry, body mass index, and blood pressure. Participants also completed surveys about knowledge of CV disease, risk factors, and perceived risk. Risk level was determined from the 2011 American Heart Association Effectiveness-Based Guidelines for Women. RESULTS Among participants (age, mean [standard deviation], 53 [15.3] years; white, 98%), 99% were aware that CV disease is the leading cause of death in women. Almost half (47%) perceived themselves to be at personal risk, although 65% were determined to be "at risk" and 12% to be at "high risk" according to guidelines, while 22% were uncategorized. Of the 228 participants "at risk" or "high risk," 48% and 21%, respectively, did not perceive themselves to be at any risk. CONCLUSIONS Women attracted to CV health events were aware that CV disease is the leading cause of death for women. However, the magnitude of awareness did not directly translate into perception or understanding of actual personal risk. To decrease the rate of CV disease in women, continued efforts are needed to personalize the importance of, and the methods for reducing, CV risk factors.
State Party Competition and Citizens’ Political Engagement†

Abstract Is living in a politically competitive state beneficial for democratic citizenship? Given citizens’ generally limited information about state politics, we argue that the most effective method of evaluating this question is by examining the degree to which the two parties generally compete for control of state government. Using data on citizens’ political attitudes and participation from the American National Election Studies and the Ranney measure of state party competition, we investigate the relationship between state party competition and citizen engagement from 1952 to 2008. Our analysis reveals that citizens report more interest in politics and participate at higher rates when there is greater competition between the two parties in their state. We also find that the relationship between competition and engagement has varied over time and that it is the strongest among citizens with lower levels of education and income. These findings suggest that vigorous competition for control of state government has important implications for citizens’ political engagement and, ultimately, the quality of democracy in the American states.
The Petri net as a modeling tool

The Petri net model is presented as a modeling tool for coordination of asynchronous processes. The Petri net is defined and shown to be both flexible in representing concurrency and easy to comprehend. An extended Petri net model is introduced, and its greater flexibility for coordination modeling is demonstrated. The Cigarette Smokers' Problem is modeled with a Petri net, and a Producer - Consumer Problem is solved with the extended Petri net. The net is briefly evaluated with mention of results of an experimental high-level language simulation of the extended Petri net.
An Evidence-Based Structured Review to Assess the Results of Common Peroneal Nerve Repair

Background: When is common peroneal nerve repair worthwhile? What is the effect of delayed repair? What is the maximum length of graft that can be used? This study aimed to address these questions by assessing the current literature and ascertaining the predictors of outcome that would guide peripheral nerve surgeons in determining the correct treatment of common peroneal nerve injury. Methods: After an extensive literature review, 28 studies (1577 repairs) were assessed. The authors evaluated outcomes, using the British Medical Research Council grading for motor recovery, where M4 or above was considered a good outcome, and related them to delay, graft length, mechanism of injury, and age. Results: Good outcomes (M4 and M5) were obtained in 45 percent of cases; more specifically, 80 percent for neurolysis, 37 percent for direct suture, and 36 percent for nerve graft. Excluding neurolysis, good outcomes were obtained in 44 percent of repairs performed within 6 months but in only 12 percent of repairs performed after 12 months (p = 0.0046), and in 64 percent of repairs using grafts shorter than 6 cm but in only 11 percent of repairs using grafts longer than 12 cm (p = 0.0002). Age did not influence outcome (p = 0.2750). Conclusions: Common peroneal nerve repair was worthwhile in approximately half of all cases. The authors suggest that the results of common peroneal nerve repair will be suboptimal if surgery is performed more than 12 months after injury or if a graft of more than 12 cm is required.
Throughput performance of V-BLAST-enabled wireless ad hoc networks

This paper studies the throughput performance of wireless ad hoc networks when nodes are equipped with the Vertical Bell Labs Layered Space-Time (V-BLAST) system. To accomplish this task, we present an implementation of V-BLAST in the ns-3 network simulator that is based on the original work of Loyka and Gagnon, who have developed analytical expressions for the average bit error rate of V-BLAST. Such an implementation consists of simple modifications to the IEEE 802.11b that include not only aspects related to SINR and BER computation, but also how clear channel assessment is performed and how the four-way handshake mechanism is set for V-BLAST transmissions. We investigate the average network throughput for random topologies not fully connected under different antenna configurations. Simulation results show that, depending on the antenna configuration, significant quasi-linear network throughput gains can be achieved, especially if the diversity gains of V-BLAST are also exploited.
Listening to Estuary English in Singapore.

In Singapore, many people are not familiar with Estuary English (EE), the variety of English becoming popular in much of southern England. In the current study, when students listened to interviews with EE speakers and were asked to transcribe orthographically what they heard, most of them had severe problems. Features of pronunciation that contributed to the difficulties included th-fronting, t-glottalling, and fronting of close back vowels, and in many cases even the context of the conversation did not help to resolve the confusion, for example, when three was pronounced with an initial [f]. This article suggests that some exposure to nonstandard accents such as EE would be valuable for students of English because they are quite likely to encounter EE speakers.
Bat Accelerated Regions Identify a Bat Forelimb Specific Enhancer in the HoxD Locus

The molecular events leading to the development of the bat wing remain largely unknown, and are thought to be caused, in part, by changes in gene expression during limb development. These expression changes could be instigated by variations in gene regulatory enhancers. Here, we used a comparative genomics approach to identify regions that evolved rapidly in the bat ancestor but are highly conserved in other vertebrates. We discovered 166 bat accelerated regions (BARs) that overlap H3K27ac and p300 ChIP-seq peaks in developing mouse limbs. Using a mouse enhancer assay, we show that five Myotis lucifugus BARs drive gene expression in the developing mouse limb, with the majority showing differential enhancer activity compared to the mouse orthologous BAR sequences. These include BAR116, which is located telomeric to the HoxD cluster and had robust forelimb expression for the M. lucifugus sequence and no activity for the mouse sequence at embryonic day 12.5. Developing limb expression analysis of Hoxd10-Hoxd13 in Miniopterus natalensis bats showed a high-forelimb weak-hindlimb expression for Hoxd10-Hoxd11, similar to the expression trend observed for M. lucifugus BAR116 in mice, suggesting that it could be involved in the regulation of the bat HoxD complex. Combined, our results highlight novel regulatory regions that could be instrumental for the morphological differences leading to the development of the bat wing. Author Summary The limb is a classic example of vertebrate homology and is represented by a large range of morphological structures such as fins, legs and wings. The evolution of these structures could be driven by alterations in gene regulatory elements that have critical roles during development. To identify elements that may contribute to bat wing development, we characterized sequences that are conserved between vertebrates, but changed significantly in the bat lineage. We then overlapped these sequences with predicted developing limb enhancers as determined by ChIP-seq, finding 166 bat accelerated sequences (BARs). Five BARs that were tested for enhancer activity in mice all drove expression in the limb. Testing the mouse orthologous sequence showed that three had differences in their limb enhancer activity as compared to the bat sequence. Of these, BAR116 was of particular interest as it is located near the HoxD locus, an essential gene complex required for proper spatiotemporal patterning of the developing limb. The bat BAR116 sequence drove robust forelimb expression but the mouse BAR116 sequence did not show enhancer activity. These experiments correspond to analyses of HoxD gene expressions in developing bat limbs, which had strong forelimb versus weak hindlimb expression for Hoxd10-11. Combined, our studies highlight specific genomic regions that could be important in shaping the morphological differences that led to the development of the bat wing.
Autocrine Signaling Contributes to Persistent HER 2 Activation ThatDrivesMalignant Progression andDrug Resistance in Breast Cancer

ERBB receptor transmodulation by heterologous G-protein–coupled receptors (GPCR) generates functional diversity in signal transduction. Tachykinins are neuropeptides and proinflammatory cytokines that promote cell survival and cancer progression by activating several GPCRs. In this work, we found that the pain-associated tachykinin Substance P (SP) contributes to persistent transmodulation of the ERBB receptors, EGFR andHER2, in breast cancer, acting to enhance malignancy and therapeutic resistance. SP and its high-affinity receptor NK-1R were highly expressed in HER2þ primary breast tumors (relative to the luminal and triple-negative subtypes) and were overall correlated with poor prognosis factors. In breast cancer cell lines and primary cultures derived from breast cancer samples, we found that SP could activate HER2. Conversely, RNA interference-mediated attenuation of NK-1R, or its chemical inhibition, or suppression of overall GPCR-mediated signaling, all strongly decreased steady-state expression of EGFR and HER2, establishing that their basal activity relied upon transdirectional activation by GPCR. Thus, SP exposure affected cellular responses to anti-ERBB therapies. Our work reveals an important oncogenic cooperation betweenNK-1R andHER2, thereby adding a novel link between inflammation and cancer progression thatmay be targetable by SP antagonists that have been clinically explored. Cancer Res; 73(21); 6424–34. 2013 AACR.
Perceptual Implicit Memory for Trauma-related Information in Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

We used a perceptual identification paradigm to investigate whether Vietnam combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), compared to healthy combat veterans, exhibit an implicit memory bias for trauma-related information. Subjects viewed a series of trauma, positive, and neutral words, and subsequently saw these "old" words intermixed with an equivalent number of "new" distractor words of the same types. During this test phase, each word appeared for 100 milliseconds and was replaced by a visual mask. Although both groups exhibited implicit memory by accurately identifying more old words than new words, this priming effect was not enhanced for trauma words in the PTSD group. Tasks that primarily tap perceptual implicit memory may be relatively insensitive to emotional variables.
Consultant and client - working together

Examines both consultant and client perceptions of the consulting relationship, focusing on internal process consultants and a sample of their clients. Employs a procedure based on repertory grid technique to elicit dimensions of client‐consultant relationships from 22 consultants and 16 of their clients within a major UK company. Develops a questionnaire in order to determine the importance and frequency of these dimensions, and also to investigate any perceived differences between the views of clients and consultants. Dimensions fell within four broad categories: clients’ skills and behaviours; consultants’ skills and behaviours; contract details or the logistics of the project; and dimensions focusing specifically on the client‐consultant relationship. Clients focused particularly on the contract details, placing less emphasis on the importance of either their own skills and behaviours or the relationship they formed with the consultant. Consultants, on the other hand, viewed relationship building as most important. Makes recommendations for establishing and enhancing client‐consultant relationships.
Classifying types of gesture and inferring intent

In order to infer intent from gesture, a rudimentary classi_cation of types of gestures into _ve main classes is introduced. The classi_cation is intended as a basis for incorporating the understanding of gesture into human-robot interaction (HRI). Some requirements for the operational classi_cation of gesture by a robot interacting with humans are also suggested.
Exploring Attitudes Towards Tourism Australia’s ‘Where the Bloody Hell Are You?’ Campaign

It is well known that tourism makes extensive use of national identities to help build brand images, and that such use can result in significant negative impacts to peoples and their cultures. Until recent times, the dominant themes for much of Australia’s international tourism advertising campaigns have been based upon male character types, Indigenous culture and landscape. The 2006 ‘Australian Invitation’ campaign which featured a young female model and use of the term ‘bloody hell’ created a media controversy. The research reported in this paper found that the majority of respondents liked and approved of the campaign, but a cluster analysis distinguished a group of approximately one third of the respondents who held negative attitudes towards it.
Corporate Structure and Performance Feedback: Aspirations and Adaptation in M-Form Firms

In this study, we examine how business units of multidivisional M-form firms adapt their activities in response to poor performance at the corporate and business unit levels. By linking performance feedback theory with theories of attention and M-form organizations, we show that corporate structure influences the relationship between performance below aspirations and business unit adaptation. Because corporate structure vertically differentiates performance goals and problemistic search, solutions to performance problems vary across corporate and business unit levels, with divergent implications for business unit adaptation. We examine business unit adaptation empirically through new product introductions in the global mobile device industry, finding that poor performance at the business unit level leads to greater new product introductions. In contrast, corporate-level responses to performance problems have a negative cross-level effect on new product introductions. We also find that these negative effects are attenuated for strategically significant business units, which have more input into corporate responses. By linking structural and behavioral drivers of action, this paper contributes to the knowledge and understanding of adaptive behavior in multidivisional firms.
Clinical Ophthalmology Dovepress Dovepress

hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms Pushed monocanalicular intubation versus probing as a primary management for congenital nasolacrimal obstruction emad abdelaal elsawaby rania assem el essawy sameh hassan abdelbaky Yomna Magdy ismail Purpose: Evaluation of efficiency, complications, and advantages of pushed monocanalicular intubation using Masterka ® tube versus simple probing in patients with congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction (CNLDO). Patients and methods: This is a case-controlled study that included 60 eyes (of 53 patients); 30 eyes underwent probing and 30 eyes intubation using the Masterka tube as a primary treatment for CNLDO. The children were aged between 6 months and 36 months at the time of surgery, with no previous nasolacrimal surgical procedure, and had one or more of the following clinical signs of nasolacrimal duct obstruction: epiphora, mucous discharge, and/or increased tear lake. Results: We defined success by absence of epiphora, mucous discharge, or increased tear lake 1 month after tube removal. The overall success rate in the probing group was 80%, while it was 83.3% in the intubation group. Conclusion: Pushed monocanalicular intubation is an effective method for treatment of CNLDO; it requires only mask inhalation anesthesia and could be considered as an appropriate alternative procedure with imperceptible complications.