Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of shockwave coupling on efficacy of extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy.

PURPOSE To evaluate the impact of a slow gated treatment rate on the efficacy of extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (SWL). PATIENTS AND METHODS From August 1990 to July 2002, 40,462 SWL procedures were performed using the slow frequency electrocardiography (ECG)-gated lithotripter (82.5%) and fast frequency ECG-ungated (17.5%) modes for the Medstone STS lithotripter. Treatment characteristics, including the mode of SWL, location and size of the stone, re-treatment status, auxiliary procedures required, perioperative complications, and treatment outcomes, were recorded. The stone-free rate was reported by the treating physician on the basis of the finding of no residual stone fragments on a plain radiographic image. RESULTS The treatment rate for the slow mode was a mean of 79.6 shocks/min, while the rate for the fast mode was 120/min. The total procedure time was 47.0 minutes for the slow mode and 40.6 minutes for the fast. The overall stone-free rate was higher for slow (66.9%) than fast (63.6%) procedures (P < 0.001). The stone-free rate for 1- to 10-mm stones was higher for the slow procedures (75.7%) than the fast procedures (70.7%; P < 0.001). Upper-ureteral stones responded better to slow treatment in terms of stone-free rate (79.5% v 72.6%; P < 0.001), re-treatment rate (6.5% v 8.0%, P = 0.05), auxiliary-procedure rate (6.1% v 8.9%; P = 0.01), and efficiency quotient (71 and 62). There was no significant difference in complication rates overall between slow and fast treatment. CONCLUSIONS With a minimal increase in procedure time, greater efficacy can be obtained for the treatment of radiopaque stones with a slower shock-delivery rate. In particular, upper-ureteral calculi and calculi <10 mm benefit from a slower treatment rate.
Efficient Algorithms for a Robust Modularity-Driven Clustering of Attributed Graphs

Clustering methods based on modularity are wellestablished and widely used for graph data. However, today’s applications store additional attribute information for each node in the graph. This attribute information may even be contradicting with the graph structure, which raises a major challenge for the simultaneous mining of both information sources. For attributed graphs it is essential to be aware of such contradicting effects caused by irrelevant attributes and highly deviating attribute values of outlier nodes. In this work, we focus on the robustness of graph clustering w.r. t. irrelevant attributes and outliers. We propose a modularity-driven approach for parameter-free clustering of attributed graphs and several efficient algorithms for its computation. The efficiency is achieved by our incremental calculation of attribute information within these modularity-driven algorithms. In our experiments, we evaluate our modularity-driven algorithms w.r. t. the new challenges in attributed graphs and show that they outperform existing approaches on large attributed graphs.
Knowledge within small and medium-sized firms: a systematic review of the evidence

This paper provides a systematic review of the literature on how SMEs use and acquire knowledge. The review was undertaken as part of the Economic and Social Research Council’s Evolution of Business Knowledge Programme. The paper describes the systematic review protocol and provides a detailed explanation of the methods used. From the review it is evident that SME knowledge research primarily concentrates on the acquisition and use of knowledge, treating it as an asset that is transferred by routines. The findings suggest that research is focused in three main areas. First, focusing on the influence and abilities of the entrepreneur to extract, use and develop knowledge resources. Secondly, research that explores the firm-wide systems and human capital that facilitate knowledge exploration and exploitation. Thirdly, study that examines the institutional context and which is primarily focused on the effectiveness of Government policy. There are also a handful of studies reviewed that reflect a concern with the socially constructed nature of knowledge. From a practical perspective, the review concludes that regeneration policies need to be more flexible and sensitive to the often complex contexts within which knowledge is constructed. From a research perspective, and given the flexible, opportunity-oriented and often novel nature of SMEs identified in these studies, there is a need to consider the relational and embedded qualities of knowledge by which these characteristics are framed; qualities that resist conceptualisation as some form of separable, material asset.
Common Visual Pattern Discovery via Directed Graph

A directed graph (or digraph) approach is proposed in this paper for identifying all the visual objects commonly presented in the two images under comparison. As a model, the directed graph is superior to the undirected graph, since there are two link weights with opposite orientations associated with each link of the graph. However, it inevitably draws two main challenges: 1) how to compute the two link weights for each link and 2) how to extract the subgraph from the digraph. For 1), a novel n-ranking process for computing the generalized median and the Gaussian link-weight mapping function are developed that basically map the established undirected graph to the digraph. To achieve this graph mapping, the proposed process and function are applied to each vertex independently for computing its directed link weight by not only considering the influences inserted from its immediately adjacent neighboring vertices (in terms of their link-weight values), but also offering other desirable merits-i.e., link-weight enhancement and computational complexity reduction. For 2), an evolutionary iterative process for solving the non-cooperative game theory is exploited to handle the non-symmetric weighted adjacency matrix. The abovementioned two stages of processes will be conducted for each assumed scale-change factor, experimented over a range of possible values, one factor at a time. If there is a match on the scale-change factor under experiment, the common visual patterns with the same scale-change factor will be extracted. If more than one pattern are extracted, the proposed topological splitting method is able to further differentiate among them provided that the visual objects are sufficiently far apart from each other. Extensive simulation results have clearly demonstrated the superior performance accomplished by the proposed digraph approach, compared with those of using the undirected graph approach.
Anomaly Detection in Hyperspectral Images of Complex Scenes

The aim of anomaly detection in hyperspectral image process ing i to detect pixels in the hyperspectral datacube that exhibit sp ectral signatures that are exceptional in the investigated scene. The current paper in v stigates the detection of anomalies in complex environments, i.e. urban and indust rial cenes. The classical anomaly detection consists of a local measurement of dif ferences between the spectral signature of the pixel and the average spectral sig nature of its surroundings. In complex environments such an approach is not adequate bec aus of the high spatial variation of the background spectral features. App roaches based on global image segmentation have already been proposed in literatur . This paper proposes a two-level segmentation based approach. In the first step of the method a scanning window is moved over the image. At each position a few cha racteristic spectra are determined. This is done either by spectral clusteri ng or end-member selection methods. Then the image tile, defined by the curent posit ion of the scanning window, is classified using the determined spectra and only t he spectra to which at least a given percentage of the image tile’s pixels is assi gned, are stored. At the end of the process the most characteristic spectra are searc hed within the collected set of spectra. This is again done by clustering or endmember sel ction. The final anomaly detection result is determined using a distance cla ssifier or by spectral unmixing, based on the selected characteristic spectra. Th e method is tested and evaluated on three hyperspectral scenes with diverse compl exity and acquired by three different airborne sensors. For evaluation puposes, th proposed methods are compared to two existing global image segmentation approac hes and to the local Reed Xiaoli (RX) detector.
To extend or not to extend: Agile Masking Instructions for PQC

Splitting up sensitive data into multiple shares – termed masking – has proven an effective countermeasure against various types of Side-Channel Analysis (SCA) on cryptographic implementations. However, in software this approach not only leads to dramatic performance overheads for non-linear operations, but also suffers from microarchitectural leakage, which is hard to avoid. Both problems can be addressed with one solution: masked hardware accelerators. In this context, Gao et al. [GGM + 21] presented a RISC-V Instruction Set Extension (ISE) with masked Boolean and arithmetic instructions to accelerate masked software implementations of block ciphers. In this work, we demonstrate how this ISE can be applied to and extended for Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) components, forming a crypto-agile solution. We provide masked implementations based on three different ISE constellations for multiple highly relevant components, including Cumulative Distribution Table (CDT) sampling and polynomial rotation, which, to the best of our knowledge, have not been masked before. With the masked instructions, we measure speedups of more than one order of magnitude compared to sophisticated bitsliced implementations and even up to two orders of magnitude for non-bitsliced implementations. We assert the first-order security of our implementation with a practical evaluation.
The myofibroblast matrix: implications for tissue repair and fibrosis

Myofibroblasts, and the extracellular matrix (ECM) in which they reside, are critical components of wound healing and fibrosis. The ECM, traditionally viewed as the structural elements within which cells reside, is actually a functional tissue whose components possess not only scaffolding characteristics, but also growth factor, mitogenic, and other bioactive properties. Although it has been suggested that tissue fibrosis simply reflects an ‘exuberant’ wound‐healing response, examination of the ECM and the roles of myofibroblasts during fibrogenesis instead suggest that the organism may be attempting to recapitulate developmental programmes designed to regenerate functional tissue. Evidence of this is provided by the temporospatial re‐emergence of embryonic ECM proteins by fibroblasts and myofibroblasts that induce cellular programmatic responses intended to produce a functional tissue. In the setting of wound healing (or physiological fibrosis), this occurs in a highly regulated and exquisitely choreographed fashion which results in cessation of haemorrhage, restoration of barrier integrity, and re‐establishment of tissue function. However, pathological tissue fibrosis, which oftentimes causes organ dysfunction and significant morbidity or mortality, likely results from dysregulation of normal wound‐healing processes or abnormalities of the process itself. This review will focus on the myofibroblast ECM and its role in both physiological and pathological fibrosis, and will discuss the potential for therapeutically targeting ECM proteins for treatment of fibrotic disorders.
Nonlinear distortion cancellation using LINC transmitters in OFDM systems

The LInear amplification using Nonlinear Components (LINC) technique is a well-known power amplifier linearization method to reduce out-of-band interferences in a nonconstant envelope modulation system, such as Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) system, which is based on a very sensitive to nonlinear distortions OFDM modulation scheme. The major drawback of LINC transmitters is the inherited sensitivity to gain and phase imbalances between the two amplifier branches. In this paper, a novel full-digital base band method, which corrects any gain and phase imbalances in LINC transmitters mainly due to the un-matching of the two amplifier paths, is described. Amplifiers are characterized by a level-dependent complex gain using a memoryless model. The method uses adaptive signal processing techniques to obtain the optimal complex coefficients to correct gain and phase imbalances. Its main advantage is the ability to track the input signal variations and adapt to the changes of amplifier nonlinear characteristics. Other effects are included in the analysis such as quadrature modulator and demodulator impairments. A computer simulation has been carried out to verify method functionality.
Strength of the geomagnetic field in the Cretaceous Normal Superchron: New data from submarine basaltic glass of the Troodos Ophiolite

We present here new paleointensity data from 39 sampling sites collected from the quenched margins of pillow lavas and dikes exposed within the Troodos Ophiolite (∼92 Ma), formed during the Cretaceous Normal Superchron (CNS), a period of approximately 40 million years when the geomagnetic field reversed extremely infrequently if at all. Monte Carlo simulations suggest that a minimum of 25 estimates are necessary for a reasonably robust estimate for the average field strength. Our data suggest a dipole strength equivalent to the present field or nearly twice the post‐CNS average. The mean and standard deviation of the dipole moment (81 ± 43 ZAm2; Z = 1021) from the 57 data points compiled here agree remarkably well with those predicted from the long paleointensity record derived from DSDP Site 522. The new data set for the CNS suggests a picture of a strong and stable field during the period of time when it stopped reversing. Moreover, the similarity of the CNS data with the present geomagnetic field suggests that it is presently in a state of unusual polarity stability.
Quantifying the e ﬀ ects of urbanization on ﬂ oods in a changing environment to promote water security — A case study of two adjacent basins in Texas ☆

The increased occurrence of ﬂ ood events resulting from urbanization and global climate change is a great threat to water security. To systematically evaluate the impacts of urbanization on ﬂ oods, we applied a paired catch-ments approach to two adjacent river basins in south-central Texas — the San Antonio River Basin (SARB), with fast urbanization; and the Guadalupe River Basin (GRB), with little land cover change. A physics-based distributed hydrological model — the Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model, embedded with a multi-purpose reservoir module (DHSVM-Res) — was used to simulate stream ﬂ ow and reservoir storage. The simulations were conducted under di ﬀ erent land cover scenarios, including a newly developed continuous land cover series (CLCS). Holistic analyses were then conducted for the paired basins using three methods: analyzing the selected ﬂ ood events, detecting change points (CP) of monthly ﬂ oods, and testing the elasticity of long-term ﬂ ood regimes. The results suggest that: (1) urbanization may reduce lag time and elevate ﬂ ood peaks signi ﬁ cantly by
World Wide Web Cache Consistency

The bandwidth demands of the World Wide Web continue to grow at a hyper-exponential rate. Given this rocketing growth, caching of web objects as a means to reduce network bandwidth consumption is likely to be a necessity in the very near future. Unfortunately, many Web caches do not satisfactorily maintain cache consistency. This paper presents a survey of contemporary cache consistency mechanisms in use on the Internet today and examines recent research in Web cache consistency. Using trace-driven simulation, we show that a weak cache consistency protocol (the one used in the Alex ftp cache) reduces network bandwidth consumption and server load more than either time-to-live fields or an invalidation protocol and can be tuned to return stale data less than 5% of the time.
Vascularized Composite Allograft Transplant Survival in Miniature Swine: Is MHC Tolerance Sufficient for Acceptance of Epidermis?

Background We have previously reported that Massachusetts General Hospital miniature swine, which had accepted class I–mismatched kidneys long-term after 12 days of high-dose cyclosporine A, uniformly accepted donor-major histocompatibility complex (MHC)–matched kidneys without immunosuppression but rejected donor MHC-matched split-thickness skin grafts by day 25, without changes in renal graft function or antidonor in vitro responses. We have now tested whether this “split tolerance” would also be observed for the primarily vascularized skin of vascularized composite allografts (VCAs). Methods Group 1 animals (n=3) received donor MHC-matched VCAs less than 70 days after primary kidney transplant (KTx). Group 2 animals (n=3) received a second donor-matched kidney transplant followed by a donor-matched VCA more than 200 days after primary KTx. Results Animals in Group 1 lost the epidermis on days 28, 30, and 40, with all other components of the VCAs remaining viable. Histology showed cellular infiltration localized to dermal-epidermal junction. One of three recipients of VCAs in Group 2, accepted all components of the VCA, including epidermis (>200 days). The other two recipients lost only the epidermis on days 45 and 85, with survival of the remainder of the VCA long-term. Conclusions All tissues of a VCA are accepted long-term on animals tolerant of class I–mismatched kidneys, with the exception of epidermis, the survival of which is markedly prolonged compared with split-thickness skin grafts but not indefinite. Exposure of tolerant animals to second donor-matched kidneys before VCA increases the longevity of the VCA epidermis, suggesting an increase in the immunomodulatory mechanisms associated with tolerance of the kidney.
International Journal of Food Engineering Power Ultrasound Enhanced One-Step Soaking and Gelatinization for Rough Rice

The conventional parboiling of rough rice is a lengthy process that takes 24-28 h to complete. It would be beneficial to the industry if the processing time could be reduced. The objective of this study was to develop an ultrasound based one-step protocol for soaking and gelatinization during rice parboiling. The gelatinization temperature was measured by alkali (KOH) degradation and found to be 72°C. The combined soaking and gelatinization was conducted at 75°C with or without sonication (control). The moisture content during soaking was measured following the AOAC oven method. Starch gelatinization was evaluated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Moisture content after 3 h of ultrasonic soaking (48.6% w.b.) was equivalent to 10 h conventional soaking (44.0% w.b.), indicating that ultrasound reduced some 70% of soaking time. DSC showed that the retrogradation peaks (Tr) values for 80°C soaking and ultrasonic horn (US.horn) soaking, which were accomplished during 4 h, was 53.8°C and 53.5°C, respectively. This showed that US.horn soaked samples at 75°C partially gelatinized at the same time frame (4 h) with the samples soaked at 80°C. This study showed the feasibility of ultrasound to enhance the rice parboiling by reducing processing time.
Integrated Approach of Dynamic Human Eye Movement Recognition and Tracking in Real Time

The states and movements of human eyes contain a lot of useful information, in which can be applied in real-time HCI systems. This paper introduces an integrated human eye movement recognition and tracking approach. The threshold based eye recognition method identifies eye elements, such as iris and pupils of human eyes. In addition, the eye movement tracking method is present by analyses motion feature of eyes including translation and velocity. In experiments, real-time tests of different people's eyes recognition and tracking are present, and NUI based application scenarios is designed to show the potential application of eye interaction systems.
Diversification of gene function: homologs of the floral regulator FLO/LFY control the first zygotic cell division in the moss Physcomitrella patens

After fertilization, the zygote undergoes dynamic changes in chromosomal and cytoplasmic organization, and begins the cell cycles that eventually lead to formation of the multicellular embryo. Specific transcription factors that initiate this cascade of events in land plants have not been identified. We have identified two FLO/LFY genes, PpLFY1 and PpLFY2, that regulate the first cell division after formation of the zygote in the moss Physcomitrella patens. The deduced amino acid sequences of the two PpLFY genes are 94.8% identical to each other and show similar expression patterns. While fertilization occurred in the PpLFY disruptants, the development of double disruptant zygotes was arrested at the single-cell stage. When the double disruptants, as the female parent, were crossed with the wild type, as the male parent, normal sporophytes were formed, supporting the notion that the PpLFY genes function after fertilization to regulate the first mitotic cell division in zygotes. The rare sporophytes that formed on the PpLFY double disruptants showed mostly normal organogenesis, but had abnormalities in the pattern of cell division, supporting a role of PpLFY genes in regulating cell division. The FLO/LFY genes in angiosperms are conserved master regulators of floral identity without any obvious effects on cell division. By contrast, our study suggests that FLO/LFY genes have functions throughout sporophyte development in the basal land plant lineages.
A Method for Mapping Future Urbanization in the United States

Cities are poised to absorb additional people. Their sustainability, or ability to accommodate a population increase without depleting resources or compromising future growth, depends on whether they harness the efficiency gains from urban land management. Population is often projected as a bulk national number without details about spatial distribution. We use Landsat and population data in a methodology to project and map U.S. urbanization for the year 2020 and document its spatial pattern. This methodology is important to spatially disaggregate projected population and assist land managers to monitor land use, assess infrastructure and distribute resources. We found the U.S. west coast urban areas to have the fastest population growth with relatively small land consumption resulting in future decrease in per capita land use. Except for Miami (FL), most other U.S. large urban areas, especially in the Midwest, are growing spatially faster than their population and inadvertently consuming land needed for ecosystem services. In large cities, such as New York, Chicago, Houston and Miami, land development is expected more in suburban zones than urban cores. In contrast, in Los Angeles land development within the city core is greater than in its suburbs.
ay 2 00 1 Discrete Symmetries in Translation Invariant Cosmological Models

In this paper we investigate a class of (d+1) dimensional cosmological models with a cosmological constant possessing an R simply transitive symmetry group and show that it can be written in a form that manifests the effect of a permutation symmetry. We investigate the solution orbifold and calculate the probability of a certain number of dimensions that will expand or contract. We use this to calculate the probabilities up to dimension d = 5.