Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ultrasound elastography for imaging tendons and muscles

Ultrasound elastography is a recently developed ultrasound-based method which allows the qualitative or quantitative evaluation of the mechanical properties of tissue. Strain (compression) ultrasound elastography is the commonest technique performed by applying mild compression with the hand-held transducer to create real-time strain distribution maps, which are color-coded and superimposed on the B-mode images. There is increasing evidence that ultrasound elastography can be used in the investigation of muscle, tendon and soft tissue disease in the clinical practice, as a supplementary tool to conventional ultrasound examination. Based on preliminary data, potential clinical applications include early diagnosis, staging, and guiding interventions musculotendinous and neuromuscular disease as well as monitoring disease during rehabilitation. Ultrasound elastography could also be used for research into the biomechanics and pathophysiology of musculotendinous disease. Despite the great interest in the technique, there is still limited evidence in the literature and there are several technical issues which limit the reproducibility of the method, including differences in quantification methods, artefacts, limitations and variation in the application of the technique by different users. This review presents the published evidence on musculoskeletal applications of strain elastography, discusses the technical issues and future perspectives of this method and emphasizes the need for standardization and further research.
Learning the Impact and Behavior of Syntactic Structure: A Case Study in Semantic Textual Similarity

We present a case study on the role of syntactic structures towards resolving the Semantic Textual Similarity (STS) task. Although various approaches have been proposed, the research of using syntactic information to determine the semantic similarity is a relatively under-researched area. At the level of syntactic structure, it is not clear how significant the syntactic structure contributes to the overall accuracy of the task. In this paper, we analyze the impact of syntactic structure towards the overall performance and its behavior in different score ranges of the STS seman-
GA Based Winner Determination in Combinatorial Reverse Auction

Combinatorial auction provides efficient resource allocations than traditional auction mechanisms in multi-item auctions, where the valuation of the items are not additive. However, solving winner determination problem so as to minimize procurement cost in combinatorial auction is Incomplete. In this paper, we consider a procurement scenario where the buyer wants to procure single unit of multiple items from a set of suppliers using single round sealed bid auction. The suppliers provide XOR bids for all the combinations of items. We propose Genetic Algorithm for solving winner determination problem for combinatorial allocation. A concept of repairing infeasible solution is used during the solution. We show that the algorithm is able to solve the problem within reasonable time.
Intraocular Gene Transfer of Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor Prevents Death and Increases Responsiveness of Rod Photoreceptors in theretinal degeneration slow mouse

Several mutations causing both photoreceptor degeneration and malfunction have been identified in humans and animals. Although intraocular injection of trophic factors has been shown to reduce photoreceptor death in a few conditions of rapid photoreceptor loss, it is unclear whether long-term beneficial changes in functional properties of affected photoreceptors can be obtained by treatment with these factors. The rds/rds mouse is a spontaneous mutant bearing a null mutation in the rds/peripherin gene, which is linked to many forms of dominant retinal degenerations in humans. Here, we report that intraocular adenovirus-mediated gene transfer of ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) in this mutant reduces photoreceptor loss, causes a significant increase in the length of photoreceptor segments, and results in a redistribution and an increase in the retinal content of the photopigment rhodopsin. These effects are accompanied by a significant increase in the amplitude of the a- and b-waves of the scotopic electroretinogram. These results suggest that continuous administration of CNTF could potentially be useful for the treatment of some forms of retinal degeneration.
Accurate and Eecient Technique to Calculate Sensitivities of Power to Uncertainties in Primary Inputs

Recently, several power estimation techniques have been proposed. Some of them can be used to accurately estimate power dissipation provided that the exact signal probability (probability of a signal being logic ONE) and signal activity (probability of signal switching) of primary inputs are known. In general, very accurate speciication of primary input signal probability and activity may not be available. This in turn may result in uncertainties in average power estimation. In this paper we present a novel and eecient technique to estimate the sensitivity of average power dissipation to input signals using a symbolic estimation technique. Results for benchmark circuits show that power sensitivities can vary widely for diierent primary inputs of a circuit. Hence, in order to accurately estimate average power dissipation, the sensitive inputs of a circuit have to be speciied accurately. We have also developed a Monte-Carlo based technique to estimate power sensitivity which also acts as a gure of merit for the symbolic technique.
Acquired Cooperation in Finite-Horizon Games

When a prisoner's dilemma-like game is repeated any finite number of times, the only equilibrium outcome is the one in which all players defect in all periods. However, if cooperation among the players changes their perception of the game by making defection increasingly less attractive, then players may be willing to cooperate in late periods in which unilateral defection has become unprofitable. In this case, cooperation may also be attainable in the first period, since defection then can effectively be punished by cessation of cooperation by all the other players. In this paper, we explore this possibility, and consider conditions guaranteeing the players' willingness to cooperate also in the middle periods, in which defection is more profitable than later on, and, at the same time, punishments are less effective than at the beginning. These conditions are sufficient for the existence of an equilibrium in which players cooperate in all periods.
Semantic Mobility Channel (SMC): Ubiquitous and Mobile Computing Meets the Semantic Web

� Abstract— With the advent of emerging personal computing paradigms such as ubiquitous and mobile computing, Web contents are becoming accessible from a wide range of mobile devices. Since these devices do not have the same rendering capabilities, Web contents need to be adapted for transparent access from a variety of client agents. Such content adaptation is exploited for either an individual e lement or a set of consecutive elements in a Web document and results in better rendering and faster delivery to the client device. Nevertheless, Web content adaptation sets new challenges for semantic markup. This paper presents an advanced components platform, called SMC, enabling the development of mobility applications and services according to a channel model based on the principles of Services Oriented Architecture (SOA). It then goes on to describe the potential for integration with the Semantic Web through a novel framework of external semantic annotation that prescribes a scheme for representing semantic markup files and a way of associating Web documents with these external annotations. The role of semantic annotation in this framework is to describe the contents of individual documents themselves, assuring the preservation of the semantics during the process of adapting content rendering. Semantic Web content adaptation is a way of adding value to Web contents and facilitates repurposing of Web contents (enhanced browsing, Web Services location and access, etc).
Selection in Reported Epidemiological Risks: An Empirical Assessment

Background Epidemiological studies may be subject to selective reporting, but empirical evidence thereof is limited. We empirically evaluated the extent of selection of significant results and large effect sizes in a large sample of recent articles. Methods and Findings We evaluated 389 articles of epidemiological studies that reported, in their respective abstracts, at least one relative risk for a continuous risk factor in contrasts based on median, tertile, quartile, or quintile categorizations. We examined the proportion and correlates of reporting statistically significant and nonsignificant results in the abstract and whether the magnitude of the relative risks presented (coined to be consistently ≥1.00) differs depending on the type of contrast used for the risk factor. In 342 articles (87.9%), ≥1 statistically significant relative risk was reported in the abstract, while only 169 articles (43.4%) reported ≥1 statistically nonsignificant relative risk in the abstract. Reporting of statistically significant results was more common with structured abstracts, and was less common in US-based studies and in cancer outcomes. Among 50 randomly selected articles in which the full text was examined, a median of nine (interquartile range 5–16) statistically significant and six (interquartile range 3–16) statistically nonsignificant relative risks were presented (p = 0.25). Paradoxically, the smallest presented relative risks were based on the contrasts of extreme quintiles; on average, the relative risk magnitude was 1.41-, 1.42-, and 1.36-fold larger in contrasts of extreme quartiles, extreme tertiles, and above-versus-below median values, respectively (p < 0.001). Conclusions Published epidemiological investigations almost universally highlight significant associations between risk factors and outcomes. For continuous risk factors, investigators selectively present contrasts between more extreme groups, when relative risks are inherently lower.
Exploiting semantics for improving clinical information retrieval

Clinical information retrieval (IR) presents several challenges including terminology mismatch and granularity mismatch. One of the main objectives in clinical IR is to fill the semantic gap among the queries and documents and go beyond keywords matching. To address these issues, in this paper we attempt to use semantic information to improve the performance of clinical IR systems by representing queries in an expressive and meaningful context. To model a query context initially we model and develop query domain ontology. The query domain ontology represents concepts closely related with query concepts. Query context represents concepts extracted from query domain ontology and weighted according to their semantic relatedness to query concept(s). The query context is then exploited in query expansion and patients records re-ranking for improving clinical retrieval performance. We evaluate our approach on the TREC Medical Records dataset. Results show that our proposed approach significantly improves the retrieval performance compare to classic keyword-based IR model.
An Investigation of Relationship between Test Preparation and Test Performance of Iranian EFL learners on Listening Skill in TOEFL

Teaching English especially as a foreign Language has become the concern of many lecturers, practitioners, and specialists. How to help the EFL Iranian learners improve their listening skill in English is of high importance. The aim of this study was to see whether formal education is sufficient to equip the EFL learners with this skill or not. The findings showed that Iranian English major students without test preparation got lower scores in listening than non major English students who were prepared for TOEFL.
‘But’ Implicatures: A Study of the Effect of Working Memory and Argument Characteristics

This study aimed to investigate the possible cognitive costs involved in processing the implicatures from but and the conclusion introducing words so and nevertheless. Adult participants were asked to indicate the conclusion that the person in the story would make, based on ‘p but q’ sentences constructed as indirect distancing contrasts. Additionally, while performing this task, participants’ working memory was burdened with a secondary dot recall task in four conditions ranging from no working memory load to high load. The results showed that working memory load did not influence participants’ performance on the implicature task. This finding might be interpreted to suggest that working memory is not involved in inferring the implicatures from but, so, and nevertheless. We also found that the content of the arguments played a very important role. Whenever a strong argument is combined with a weak argument, participants mostly base their conclusion on the strong argument and consequently ignore the conventional interpretation of but (and so and nevertheless). Additionally, we found an effect of axiological value, which is in line with the positive–negative asymmetry theory.
Union Wage Differentials, Product Market Influences And The Division Of Rents

This paper examines the circumstances which enable trade unions to establish wage differentials. Union wage differentials are created by the capturing of rents and the paper considers the circumstances in which rents exist to be captured and when unions are able to do so. In line with theoretical predictions, differentials are found to be very different in establishments facing competitive product market conditions and in those with some degree of product market power. In the former, high union coverage of the industry and the union strength given by a pre-entry closed shop are found to be dominant requirements, with only a very small minority of establishments satisfying even these. In contrast there is found to be considerably greater scope for unions in firms with market power and neither of the above conditions are a requirement for the existence of a differential in this case. Unions are found to be unable to create differentials in establishments which operate primarily in international markets.
CALIBRATION OF GROUND WEATHER RADAR SYSTEMS FROM TRMM PRECIPITATION RADAR OBSERVATIONS : APPLICATION TO THE S-BAND RADAR IN BAURU , BRAZIL

This research uses a newly developed methodology to evaluate ground weather radar (GR) calibration biases from coincident Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR) observations. The method matches GR and PR observations in a common earth parallel three-dimensional Cartesian grid. The data matching is performed in a way that minimizes uncertainties associated with the type of weather seen by the radars, grid resolution, and differences in radar sensitivities, sampling volumes, viewing angles, and radar frequencies. We present application of the method to the S-band Doppler Radar in Bauru, Brazil. Reflectivity difference statistics derived from the matched GR-PR data reveal systematic differences around 6 dB, which is attributed to GR calibration bias. Temporal analysis of the GR-PR systematic differences reveals fluctuations of less than 1 dB, which is around the calibration stability of the PR. The proposed scheme can be a useful tool to radar engineers for the systematic monitoring of their radar system calibration.
Structure and electrical properties of 0.07Pb(Mn1/3Sb2/3)O3-(0.93-X)BiScO3-xPbTiO3 piezoelectric ceramics

A ternary piezoelectric ceramic series of 0.07Pb(Mn<inf>1/3</inf>Sb<inf>2/3</inf>)O<inf>3</inf>-(0.93-x)BiScO<inf>3</inf>-xPbTiO<inf>3</inf> (PMS-BS-xPT, x=0.52∼0.72) were synthesized by conventional solid-state method. The phase, microstructure, dielectric, piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties were studied. X-ray diffraction (XRD) shows a change in symmetry from rhombohedral to tetragonal phase at the composition of x=0.6. And the increase in c/a ratio with PbTiO<inf>3</inf> (PT) content was observed. Dielectric studies reveal that PMS modification suppressed the Curie temperature (T<inf>c</inf>) of the ceramics. Sample with 0.6 mol of PT concentration presents a remarkable decrease in dielectric loss tanδ and a significant increase in mechanical quality factor (Q<inf>m</inf>), indicating that doping of PMS improves the “hard” piezoelectric characteristics of the ceramics. The polarization-electric field (P-E) loops presented pinched shapes at low electric fields and the distortions disappeared at high electric fields. The maximal Q<inf>m</inf> of 1291 and highest T<inf>c</inf> of 415 °C were obtained at the optimized composition of x=0.72.
Human Resource Management, Employee Attitudes and Workplace Performance: An Examination of the Linkages Using the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey

Acknowledgements Material from the Workplace Employee Relations Survey (2004) has been made available by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) through the UK Data Archive. We would also like to acknowledge the financial assistance of BERR. None of these bodies is responsible for the views expressed in the paper. The views expressed in this report are the authors' and do not necessarily reflect those of BERR or the Government. The Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS 2004) is a nationally representative survey of British workplaces employing five or more employees and covering all sectors of the economy except agriculture, fishing, mining and quarrying. More information on the survey can be found here: For further information please refer to the main published outputs from WERS 2004: the first findings booklet (Kersley et al, 2005), a report on small and medium-sized enterprises (Forth et al, 2006), and the 400-page sourcebook of detailed findings (Kersley et al, 2006). The sourcebook is published by Routledge, while the first two reports are available free from Summary of Main Findings The study explores the link between human resource management (HRM), employee attitudes and workplace performance using the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey. It finds an association between a composite measure of HRM and workplace performance and between a composite measure of employee attitudes and workplace performance. But, in contrast to most previous research, there is no association between HRM and employee attitudes and a negative association between HRM and employee well-being. Aims and objectives This study explores some key issues concerning the relation between human resource management (HRM) and performance. These include the way in which we conceptualise and measure HRM, the nature of performance and the process whereby HRM and performance might be linked. The main focus is on the way HRM and performance might be linked and in particular a core assumption in many models that HRM has its impact through its effect on workers attitudes and behaviour. The 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey provides an opportunity to address these issues. Methods and analysis We used four overlapping measures of HRM, reflecting different conceptual standpoints. These are (1) Individual practices such as selection and communication. (2) Combined bundles of practices designed to achieve employee competence, motivation, opportunity to contribute and commitment. (3) Interactions between bundles to explore the impact of an HR system. (4) An additive count of the number of HR practices in place …
Parametric binaural rendering utilizing compact microphone arrays

The spatial capture patterns according to head-related transfer-functions (HRTFs) can be approximated using linear beamforming techniques. However, assuming a fixed spatial aliasing frequency, with reduction of the number of sensors and thus the array size, the linear approach leads to an excessive amplification of the microphone noise, unless the beam patterns are made broader than determined by the HRTFs. An adaptive technique is proposed that builds upon the assumption that the binaural perception is largely determined by a set of short-time inter-aural parameters in frequency bands. The parameters are estimated from the noisy HRTF beam pattern signals as a function of time and frequency. As a result of temporal averaging, the effect of the noise is mitigated while the perceptual spatial information is preserved. Signals with higher SNR from broader patterns are adaptively processed to obtain the parameters from the estimation stage by means of least-squares optimized mixing and decorrelation. Listening tests confirmed the perceptual benefit of the proposed approach with respect to linear techniques.
THE EFFECT OF BUDGETARY PARTICIPATION, ASSYMETRY INFORMATION, BUDGET EMPHASIS AND COMITMENT ORGANIZATION TO BUDGETARY SLACK AT SKPD GOVERNMENTAL OF BENGKULU CITY

The objective of this research is to know the effect of Budgetary Participation, Asymmetry Information, Budget Emphasis and Comitment Organization to budgetary slack at SKPD govermental of Bengkulu City. This research used Quesioner in data collection. The sampling method used in this study is porposive sampling of structural echelon III and IV in unit of government of Bengkulu city that are certainly involved in the budgeting process. The result showed that at the beginning of the study hypothesis was rejected because of budgetary participation has a positive effect on budgetary slack. This means more higher budgeting participation in govermental of Bengkulu city, budgetary slack is also will be increasing. As for the other hypothesis is accepted, because the second hyphothesis research results showed the information asymmetry has a positive effect on budgetary slack. Similary for the third hypothesis is also accepted, where the budget emphasis has a positive impact on budgetary slack. The fourth hypothesis is accepted, because the results showed that comitment organization has negative on budgetary slack. Based on F test the fifth hypothesis is also accepted which are budgetary participation, asymmetry information, budget emphasis and comitment organization are simultaneous effect on budgetary slack.
High Prevalence and Putative Lineage Maintenance of Avian Coronaviruses in Scandinavian Waterfowl

Coronaviruses (CoVs) are found in a wide variety of wild and domestic animals, and constitute a risk for zoonotic and emerging infectious disease. In poultry, the genetic diversity, evolution, distribution and taxonomy of some coronaviruses have been well described, but little is known about the features of CoVs in wild birds. In this study we screened 764 samples from 22 avian species of the orders Anseriformes and Charadriiformes in Sweden collected in 2006/2007 for CoV, with an overall CoV prevalence of 18.7%, which is higher than many other wild bird surveys. The highest prevalence was found in the diving ducks—mainly Greater Scaup (Aythya marila; 51.5%)—and the dabbling duck Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos; 19.2%). Sequences from two of the Greater Scaup CoV fell into an infrequently detected lineage, shared only with a Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) CoV. Coronavirus sequences from Mallards in this study were highly similar to CoV sequences from the sample species and location in 2011, suggesting long-term maintenance in this population. A single Black-headed Gull represented the only positive sample from the order Charadriiformes. Globally, Anas species represent the largest fraction of avian CoV sequences, and there seems to be no host species, geographical or temporal structure. To better understand the eitiology, epidemiology and ecology of these viruses more systematic surveillance of wild birds and subsequent sequencing of detected CoV is imperative.