Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automated centreline extraction of neuronal dendrite from optical microscopy image stacks

In this work we present a novel vision-based pipeline for automated skeleton detection and centreline extraction of neuronal dendrite from optical microscopy image stacks. The proposed pipeline is an integrated solution that merges image stacks pre-processing, the seed points detection, ridge traversal procedure, minimum spanning tree optimization and tree trimming into to a unified framework to deal with the challenge problem. In image stacks preprocessing, we first apply a curvelet transform based shrinkage and cycle spinning technique to remove the noise. This is followed by the adaptive threshold method to compute the result of neuronal object segmentation, and the 3D distance transformation is performed to get the distance map. According to the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the Hessian matrix, the skeleton seed points are detected. Staring from the seed points, the initial centrelines are obtained using ridge traversal procedure. After that, we use minimum spanning tree to organize the geometrical structure of the skeleton points, and then we use graph trimming post-processing to compute the final centreline. Experimental results on different datasets demonstrate that our approach has high reliability, good robustness and requires less user interaction.
Blood-Brain Barrier-Associated Proteins Are Elevated in Serum of Epilepsy Patients

Blood–brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction emerges as one of the mechanisms underlying the induction of seizures and epileptogenesis. There is growing evidence that seizures also affect BBB, yet only scarce data is available regarding serum levels of BBB-associated proteins in chronic epilepsy. In this study, we aimed to assess serum levels of molecules associated with BBB in patients with epilepsy in the interictal period. Serum levels of MMP-9, MMP-2, TIMP-1, TIMP-2, S100B, CCL-2, ICAM-1, P-selectin, and TSP-2 were examined in a group of 100 patients who were seizure-free for a minimum of seven days and analyzed by ELISA. The results were compared with an age- and sex-matched control group. Serum levels of MMP-9, MMP-2, TIMP-1, TIMP-2 and S100B were higher in patients with epilepsy in comparison to control group (p < 0.0001; <0.0001; 0.001; <0.0001; <0.0001, respectively). Levels of CCL-2, ICAM-1, P-selectin and TSP-2 did not differ between the two groups. Serum levels of MMP-9, MMP-2, TIMP-1, TIMP-2 and S100B are elevated in patients with epilepsy in the interictal period, which suggests chronic processes of BBB disruption and restoration. The pathological process initiating epilepsy, in addition to seizures, is probably the factor contributing to the elevation of serum levels of the examined molecules.
M-PSK BCM using cyclic codes over elementary Abelian groups

Block coded modulation schemes using group codes over the additive group of GF(2/sup m/) which are also cyclic have been described by Issakson and Zetterberg (1993) for a fixed rate of m-1/m bits/symbol. We characterize group codes over the additive group of GF(p/sup m/) which are also cyclic for all possible rates using a generalization of DFT over elementary Abelian groups reported by Zain and Sundar Rajan (see Proc. ISIT'95, British Columbia, Canada, p.495, 1995).
The direct observation of imperfections in crystals

A review is given of the various methods which are now available for the direct observation of lattice imperfections in crystals. After a brief historical introduction a summary of some of the more important properties of lattice imperfections is given, with particular emphasis on properties which allow the imperfections to be made visible. Optical methods for revealing dislocations are described briefly, including studies on growth spirals, etching studies and internal decoration techniques. More detailed attention is given to the application of transmission electron microscopy, which is currently of such widespread interest. An outline is given of the basic diffraction mechanisms which give rise to image contrast, and various examples are given to illustrate the application of the technique. The treatment includes consideration of the formation and use of periodic images, which provide direct information on imperfections in the lattice periodicities. The various x-ray methods are described and compared with the electron microscope method. Finally, the potentialities of the field ion microscope for revealing lattice imperfections are considered, and a description is given of the manner in which dislocations are made visible by this technique.
Individually addressable vertically aligned carbon nanofiber-based electrochemical probes

In this paper we present the fabrication and initial testing results of high aspect ratio vertically aligned carbon nanofiber (VACNF)-based electrochemical probes. Electron beam lithography was used to define the catalytic growth sites of the VACNFs. Following catalyst deposition, VACNF were grown using a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition process. Photolithography was performed to realize interconnect structures. These probes were passivated with a thin layer of SiO2, which was then removed from the tips of the VACNF, rendering them electrochemically active. We have investigated the functionality of completed devices using cyclic voltammetry (CV) of ruthenium hexammine trichloride, a highly reversible, outer sphere redox system. The faradaic current obtained during CV potential sweeps shows clear oxidation and reduction peaks at magnitudes that correspond well with the geometry of these nanoscale electrochemical probes. Due to the size and the site-specific directed synthesis of the VACNFs, these .
Asymptotic testing theory for generalized linear models

Statistical inference in generalized linear models is based on the premises that the maximum likelihood estimator of unknown parameters is consistent and asymptotically normal, and that various test statistics have a limiting x2-distribution. FAHRMEIR and KAUFMANN (1985) present mild conditions which assure consistency and asymptotic normality of the maximum likelihood estimator. In this paper it is shown that under essentially tha same conditions the likelihood ration statistic, the Wald statistics and the score statistic are asymptotically equivalent, i.e. they have the same limiting x2-distributions under the general linear hypothesis as well as under suitable sequences of alternatives. Thus, statistical inference in generalized linear models is asymptotically justified under rather weak requirements.
Stability of flow past cylinder cascade

The global stability analysis of the two–dimensional incompressible unsteady flow past a circular clinder cascade is studied using linear stability analysis. A new numerical technique is used to find the value of critical Reynolds number that causes the flow to undergo Hopf bifurcation. An attempt has also been made to study the blockage effect on critical Reynolds number and associated Strouhal number. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Odor Source Localization in Obstacle Regions Using Switching Planning Algorithms with a Switching Framework

Odor source localization (OSL) robots are essential for safety and rescue teams to overcome the problem of human exposure to hazardous chemical plumes. However, owing to the complicated geometry of environments, it is almost impossible to construct the dispersion model of the odor plume in practical situations to be used for probabilistic odor source search algorithms. Additionally, as time is crucial in OSL tasks, dynamically modifying the robot’s balance of emphasis between exploration and exploitation is desired. In this study, we addressed both the aforementioned problems by simplifying the environment with an obstacle region into multiple sub-environments with different resolutions. Subsequently, a framework was introduced to switch between the Infotaxis and Dijkstra algorithms to navigate the agent and enable it to reach the source swiftly. One algorithm was used to guide the agent in searching for clues about the source location, whereas the other facilitated the active movement of the agent between sub-environments. The proposed algorithm exhibited improvements in terms of success rate and search time. Furthermore, the implementation of the proposed framework on an autonomous mobile robot verified its effectiveness. Improvements were observed in our experiments with a robot when the success rate increased 3.5 times and the average moving steps of the robot were reduced by nearly 35%.
Intensity distribution inside scatterers with negative‐real permittivity and permeability

The electric field distribution inside a cylindrical or spherical scatterer with negative‐real permittivity and permeability is investigated. For large‐size parameters, intensity tends to focus on the main axis at a location shifted from the center towards the front surface. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 36: 150–154, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.10705
Poly-microbial Clostridium cadaveris bacteremia in an immune-compromised patient

ABSTRACT Clostridium cadaveris (C. cadaveris), a strict anaerobic gram-positive rod, is rarely reported in clinical specimens. Since its detection in 1899, it has always been linked to the decay of dead bodies. C. cadaveris is considered non-pathogenic to humans, however infrequently it can cause severe infections including bacteremia. The latter was typically associated with gastro-intestinal pathologies. We report the first case of C. cadaveris invasive infection at Sultanate Oman. The source was most probably an infected decubitus ulcer.
Study of Lithium-Extraction Systems Based on Benzo-15-Crown-5 Ether and Alkylimidazolium-Based Ionic Liquid

The extraction of lithium from aqueous solutions of LiNTf2 and LiCl salts using benzo-15-crown-5 ether (B15C5) as an extractant in [C8mim][NTf2] ionic liquid was studied. The transition of the extractant into the aqueous phase and the distribution of Cl− ions during lithium extraction from LiCl solutions were determined. LiNTf2 complexes with B15C5 with different LiNTf2:B15C5 ratios were isolated for the first time and characterized via X-ray diffraction and IR spectroscopy. Differences in the extraction process of LiCl and LiNTf2 were determined via an infrared spectroscopic study of the extraction systems.
Detection of Vegetable Oil Adulteration in Pre-Grated Bovine Hard Cheeses via 1H NMR Spectroscopy

Adulteration of food products is a widespread problem of great concern to society and dairy products are no exception to this. Due to new methods of adulteration being devised in order to circumvent existing detection methods, new detection methods must be developed to counter fraud. Bovine hard cheeses such as Asiago, Parmesan, and Romano are widely sold and consumed in pre-grated form for convenience. Due to being processed products, there is ample opportunity for the introduction of inexpensive adulterants and as such, there is concern regarding the authenticity of these products. An analytical method was developed using a simple organic extraction to verify the authenticity of bovine hard cheese products by examining the lipid profile of these cheeses via proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. In this study, 52 samples of pre-grated hard cheese were analyzed as a market survey and a significant number of these samples were found to be adulterated with vegetable oils. This method is well suited to high throughput analysis of these products and relies on ratiometrics of the lipids in the samples themselves. Genuine cheeses were found to have a very consistent lipid profile from sample to sample, improving the power of this approach to detect vegetable oil adulteration. The method is purely ratiometric with no need for internal or external references, reducing sample preparation time and reducing the potential for the introduction of error.
Extension-induced dispersion of multi-walled carbon nanotube in non-Newtonian fluid

In this study, we devised an extension-induced mixer to disperse carbon nanotube (CNT) clumps into individual tubes by imposing extensional stress continuously and periodically. The rheological behavior of the CNT-dispersed suspension was investigated to examine whether the hydrodynamic dragging induces the dispersion of individual CNT from strongly entangled CNT by van der Waals force between adjacent tubes. When CNT clumps were subjected to a continuous extensional flow for a prolonged time, the optical microscopic and cryo-transmission electron microscopy studies showed that the CNT agglomerates were effectively dispersed and some of the individual nanotubes were disentangled from the CNT clump. Shear viscosity of the dispersion increased when the CNT-Boger fluid suspension was subjected to the continuous and periodic extensional flow for a prolonged time, indicating the dispersion of the individual tubes by the extensional flow. Under shear flows, however, aggregated CNT clumps formed larger, weakly b.
The problem of convexity of Chebyshev sets

Contents Introduction §1. Definitions and notation §2. Reference theorems §3. Some results Chapter I. Characterization of Banach spaces by means of the relations between approximation properties of sets §1. Existence, uniqueness §2. Prom approximate compactness to 'sun'-property §3. From 'sun'-property to approximate compactness §4. Differentiability in the direction of the gradient is sufficient for Frechet and Gâteaux differentiability §5. Sets with convex complement Chapter II. The structure of Chebyshev and related sets §1. The isolated point method §2. Restrictions of the type §3. The case where M is locally compact §4. The case where W lies in a hyperplane §5. Other cases Chapter III. Selected results §1. Some applications of the theory of monotone operators §2. A non-convex Chebyshev set in pre-Hilbert space §3. The example of Klee (discrete Chebyshev set) §4. A survey of some other results Conclusion Bibliography
Seismic analysis of Multi storey Building on Sloping Ground and Flat Ground by using ETABS

Due to urbanization and industrialization, which paved the door for the development of tall, multi-story structures on mountainous terrain, land is scarce in emerging nations like India. Buildings built on hilly terrain differ from those built on flat terrain due of their uneven and asymmetrical vertical and horizontal structures. These buildings are also significantly more vulnerable to earthquake pressures when located in mountainous terrain. The primary goal of the current endeavor is to investigate how structures behave on level and sloping terrain. Hilly places require different construction configurations than level areas. Hill structures vary from those on lowlands in that they are torsionally linked, highly irregular, and asymmetrical in both the horizontal and vertical planes. As a result, they are vulnerable to severe damage when an earthquake strikes. The behavior of a multi-story structure with two distinct slope angles was attempted to be studied in this paper, and a comparison with flat ground was made. by taking Earthquake Zone II into account. Buildings on level ground and buildings on slanted ground are compared. The models are created with the aid of the structural analysis program ETABS. Response spectrum analysis is used for analysis. The analysis’s findings, including storey shear, storey drifts, moments, and displacement, are tabulated and examined.
Schechter Methods of Interpolation and Commutators

We study the relationship between Schechter's methods of complex interpolation and the so called commutator estimates. We obtain new commutator theorems and prove characterizations of the Domain and Range spaces associated with the corresponding quasilogarithmic operator. Our methods also provide a new approach to known results, including the higher order commutator theorems for the complex method recently obtained by R. Rochberg.
Strain‐induced ripples in graphene nanoribbons with clamped edges

Molecular dynamics is employed to study the mechanical behavior of graphene nanoribbons with clamped edges under in‐plane strain. Buckling of nanoribbons results in the appearance of periodic ripples whose orientation, wavelength, and amplitude can be controlled by varying strain components and nanoribbon width. This study shows a way of controlling physical properties of nanoribbons by introducing strain‐induced ripples.
Asymptotic exponentiality of the tail of the waiting-time distribution in a Ph/Ph/C queue

It is shown that, in a multiserver queue with interarrival and service-time distributions of phase type (PH/PH/c), the waiting-time distribution W(x) has an asymptotically exponential tail, i.e., 1 – W(x) ∽ Ke–c kx . The parameter k is the unique positive number satisfying T*(ck) S*(–k) = 1, where T*(s) and S*(s) are the Laplace–Stieltjes transforms of the interarrival and the service-time distributions. It is also shown that the queue-length distribution has an asymptotically geometric tail with the rate of decay η = T*(ck). The proofs of these results are based on the matrix-geometric form of the state probabilities of the system in the steady state. The equation for k shows interesting relations between single- and multiserver queues in the rates of decay of the tails of the waiting-time and the queue-length distributions. The parameters k and η can be easily computed by solving an algebraic equation. The multiplicative constant K is not so easy to compute. In order to obtain its numerical value we have to solve the balance equations or estimate it from simulation.
Testing the VLT AO facility with ASSIST

The testing and verification of ESO Very Large Telescope Adaptive Optics Facility (VLT-AOF) requires new and innovative techniques to deal with the absence of an intermediate focus on the telescope. ASSIST, The Adaptive Secondary Setup and Instrument STimulator, was developed to provide a testing facility for the ESO AOF and will allow off-telescope testing of three elements of the VLT Adaptive Optics Facility; the Deformable Secondary Mirror (DSM) and the AO systems for MUSE and HAWK-I (GALACSI and GRAAL). ASSIST will provide a full testing environment which includes an interferometric testing mode for the DSM, an on-axis testing mode with a single wavefront sensor and full operation testing modes for both the AO systems. Both natural as well as laser guide stars will be simulated under various asterisms and a realistic turbulent atmosphere will be provided for varying atmospheric conditions. ASSIST passed its final design review and is now being manufactured, integrated and tested and will be operational in mid 2011, in time for first testing with the DSM.
A Powerful Portmanteau Test of Lack of Fit for Time Series

A new portmanteau test for time series, more powerful than the tests of Ljung and Box and Monti, is proposed. The test is based on the mth root of the determinant of the mth autocorrelation matrix. It is shown that the proposed statistic is a function of all of the squared multiple correlation coefficients of the regressions of the residuals on their lags when the number of lags goes from 1 to m. It can also be written as a function of the first m partial autocorrelation coefficients. The asymptotic distribution of the test statistic is a linear combination of chi-squared distributions and can be approximated by a gamma distribution. It is shown, depending on the model and sample size, that this test can be up to 50% more powerful than the Ljung and Box and Monti tests. The test is applied to the detection of several types of nonlinearity by using the autocorrelation matrix of the squared residuals, and it is shown that, in general, the new test is more powerful than the test of McLeod and Li. An example is presented in which this test finds nonlinearity in the residuals of the sunspot series.
Electrostatic microencapsulation of living cells

Microencapsulation of different biologically active material for diverse applications have received increasing interest over the last 20 years. Microencapsulation of living cells seems to be a very promising and prospective technology, especially useful in biotechnology and medical applications. One of the most convenient and precise method for this purpose is an electrostatic technique. Electrostatic droplet generation could be performed using single- or multi-nozzle devices, signiﬁcantly improving efﬁciency of the process. The usage of an impulse voltage generator allows to manufacture spherical and uniform microbeads with sizes from 0.2 to 3.0 mm of very narrow size distribution. Proposed two-liquid droplet electrostatic formation technique provides preparation of core/shell microbeads, where all cells are immobilized deeply inside a matrix and surrounded with cell-free polysaccharide layer. Such a solutiuon prevents from cell protrusion out of the capsule. Applied electrostatic ﬁeld is safe for encapsulated living cells and does not cause any cell dysfunction.Keywords: microencapsulation of cells, alginate beads, electrostatic droplet generator
The association between academic pressure and adolescent mental health problems: A systematic review

Background: Academic pressure is a potential contributor to adolescent mental health problems, but international evidence on this association has never been synthesised. Methods: We conducted the first systematic review on the association between academic pressure and adolescent depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicidality, suicide attempts and suicide. We searched MEDLINE, PsycINFO, ERIC and Web of Science (core collection) up to November 24, 2022, for studies of school-going children or adolescents, which measured academic pressure or timing within the school year as the exposure and depression, anxiety, self-harm, or suicidal ideation, attempts or suicide as outcomes. Risk of bias was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. We used narrative synthesis to summarise the evidence. The review was prospectively registered with PROSPERO (CRD42021232702). Results: We included 52 studies primarily from Asia (n=26) and Europe (n=20). Most studies assessed mixed anxiety and depressive symptoms (n=20) or depressive symptoms (n=19). Forty-eight studies found evidence of a positive association between academic pressure or timing within the school year and at least one mental health outcome. Limitations: Most studies were cross-sectional (n=39), adjusted for a narrow range of confounders or had other limitations which limited the strength of causal inferences. Conclusions: We found evidence that academic pressure is a potential candidate for public health interventions which could prevent adolescent mental health problems. Large population-based cohort studies are needed to investigate whether academic pressure is a causal risk factor that should be targeted in school- and policy-based interventions.