Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
3D Vascular Decomposition and Classification for Computer-Aided Detection

In this study, we propose a weighted approximate convex decomposition (WACD) and classification methodology for computer-aided detection (CADe) and analysis. We start by addressing the problem of vascular decomposition as a cluster optimization problem and introduce a methodology for compact geometric decomposition. The classification of decomposed vessel sections is performed using the most relevant eigenvalues obtained through feature selection. The method was validated using presegmented sections of vasculature archived for 98 aneurysms in 112 patients. We test first for vascular decomposition and next for classification. The proposed method produced promising results with an estimated 81.5% of the vessel sections correctly decomposed. Recursive feature elimination was performed to find the most compact and informative set of features. We showed that the selected subset of eigenvalues produces minimum error and improved classifier precision. The method was also validated on a longitudinal study of four cases having internal cerebral aneurysms. Volumetric and surface area comparisons were made between expert-segmented sections and WACD classified sections containing aneurysms. Results suggest that the approach is able to classify and detect changes in aneurysm volumes and surface areas close to that segmented by an expert.
Linking Injury to Outcome in Acute Kidney Injury: A Matter of Sensitivity

Current consensus definitions of Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) utilise thresholds of change in serum or plasma creatinine and urine output. Biomarkers of renal injury have been validated against these definitions. These biomarkers have also been shown to be independently associated with mortality and need for dialysis. For AKI definitions to include these structural biomarkers, there is a need for an independent outcome against which to judge both markers of functional change and structural markers of injury. We illustrate how sensitivity to need for dialysis and death can be used to link functional and structural (biomarker) based definitions of AKI. We demonstrated the methodology in a representative cohort of critically ill patients, in which an increase of plasma creatinine of >26.4 µmol/L in 48 hours or >50% in 7 days (Functional-AKI) had a sensitivity of 62% for death or dialysis within 30 days. In a development sub-cohort the urinary neutrophil-gelatinase-associated-lipocalin threshold with a 62% sensitivity for death or dialysis was 140 ng/ml (Structural-AKI). Using these thresholds in a validation sub-cohort, the risk of death or dialysis relative to those with no AKI by either definition was, for combined Structural-AKI and Functional-AKI 3.11 (95% Confidence interval: 2.53 to 3.55), for those with Structural-AKI but not Functional-AKI 1.51 (1.26 to 1.62), and for those with Functional-AKI but not Structural-AKI 1.34 (1.16 to 1.42). Linking functional and structural biomarkers via sensitivity for death and dialysis is a viable method by which to define thresholds for novel biomarkers of AKI.
Planar Meander Monopole Antenna With Parasitic Strips and Sleeve Feed for DVB-H/LTE/GSM850/900 Operation in the Mobile Phone

The design and wideband performance of a planar meander monopole antenna in the mobile phone is presented. By using parasitic strips and a sleeve feed, wideband impedance characteristics are achieved. A measured impedance bandwidth for VSWR<formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$\,\leq$</tex></formula>3 of about 101.7% ranging from 440 to 1350 MHz is obtained. It is very suitable for DVB-H, LTE 13, GSM850, and GSM900 applications in the mobile phone.
Objective Video Quality Assessment - Towards Large Scale Video Database Enhanced Model Development

SUMMARY The current development of video quality assessment algorithms suffers from the lack of available video sequences for training, verification and validation to determine and enhance the algorithm’s application scope. The Joint Effort Group of the Video Quality Experts Group (VQEG-JEG) is currently driving efforts towards the creation of large scale, reproducible, and easy to use databases. These databases will contain bitstreams of recent video encoders (H.264, H.265), packet loss impairment patterns and impaired bitstreams, pre-parsed bitstream information into files in XML syntax, and well-known objective video quality measurement outputs. The database is continuously updated and enlarged using reproducible processing chains. Currently, more than 70,000 sequences are available for statistical analysis of video quality measurement algorithms. New research questions are posed as the database is designed to verify and validate models on a very large scale, testing and validating various scopes of applications, while subjective assessment has to be limited to a comparably small subset of the database. Special focus is given on the principles guiding the database development, and some results are given to illustrate the practical usefulness of such a database with respect to the detailed new
Fast estimation of polarization power spectra using correlation functions

We present a fast method for estimating the cosmic microwave background polarization power spectra using unbiased estimates of heuristically weighted correlation functions. This extends the O(N 3/2 pix) method of Szapudi et al. to polarized data. If the sky coverage allows the correlation functions to be estimated over the full range of angular separations, they can be inverted directly with integral transforms and clean separation of the electric (E) and magnetic (B) modes of polarization is obtained exactly in the mean. We assess the level of E-B mixing that arises from apodized integral transforms when the correlation function can only be estimated for a subset of angular scales, and show that it is significant for small-area observations. We introduce new estimators to deal with this case on the spherical sky that preserve E-B separation; their construction requires an additional integration of the correlation functions but the computational cost is negligible. We illustrate our methods with application to a large-area survey with parameters similar to Planck, and the small-area Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization experiment. In both cases we show that the errors on the recovered power spectra are close to theoretical expectations.
Combination of terrestrial Laser Scanning with high resolution panoramic Images for Investigations in Forest Applications and tree species recognition

The management and planning of forests presumes the availability of up-to-date informaion on their current state. The relevant parameters like tree species, diameter of the bowl in defined heights an positions are usually represented by a forest inventory. In order to allow the collection of these inventory parameters, an approach aiming on the integration of a terrestrial laser scanner and a high resolution panoramic camera has been developed. The integration of these sensors provides geometric information from distance measurement and high resolution radiometric information from the panoramic images. In order to enable a combined evaluation, in the first processing step a soregistration of both data sets is required. Afterwards geometric quantities like position an diameter of trees can be derived from the LIDAR data, where as texture parameters as derived from the high resolution panoramic imagery can be applied for tree species recogition.
Into the unknown: expression profiling without genome sequence information in CHO by next generation sequencing

The arrival of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies has led to novel opportunities for expression profiling and genome analysis by utilizing vast amounts of short read sequence data. Here, we demonstrate that expression profiling in organisms lacking any genome or transcriptome sequence information is feasible by combining Illumina’s mRNA-seq technology with a novel bioinformatics pipeline that integrates assembled and annotated Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) sequences with information derived from related organisms. We applied this pipeline to the analysis of CHO cells which were chosen as a model system owing to its relevance in the production of therapeutic proteins. Specifically, we analysed CHO cells undergoing butyrate treatment which is known to affect cell cycle regulation and to increase the specific productivity of recombinant proteins. By this means, we identified sequences for >13 000 CHO genes which added sequence information of ∼5000 novel genes to the CHO model. More than 6000 transcript sequences are predicted to be complete, as they covered >95% of the corresponding mouse orthologs. Detailed analysis of selected biological functions such as DNA replication and cell cycle control, demonstrated the potential of NGS expression profiling in organisms without extended genome sequence to improve both data quantity and quality.
An architectural evaluation of SDN controllers

With the recent interest in Software Defined Networking, many OpenFlow controllers have been released for research and commercial use. However, little public knowledge exists about the architectural choices that allow one controller to outperform another in production environments. In this paper, we aim to identify key performance bottlenecks and good architectural choices for designing OpenFlow-based SDN controllers. With this aim in mind, we evaluate the performances of four prominent open-source OpenFlow controllers: NOX [1], Beacon [2], Maestro [3] and Floodlight [4]. Since these controllers support multi-threading, we deploy them on shared memory multicore machines and benchmark their key architectural components under different metrics including thread scalability, switch scalability and latency in a custom cluster testbed. Our results lead to important architectural guidelines that can be used to improve the scalability of existing controllers or to design new ones. We follow these guidelines to implement an OpenFlow controller which outperforms existing controllers on assorted scalability metrics.
Precoding Performance with Codebook Feedback in a MIMO-OFDM System

Limited feedback precoding is part of the LTE standard. Despite standardization, important fundamental questions, especially relating to the performance due to the use of codebooks and receiver processing techniques, remain to be explored. In order to understand these questions, we consider a single user in a single cell employing single or multi-stream transmission using a variety of codebooks and a choice of different receiver types. We derive expressions for capacity loss relative to perfect feedback due to the limited size of codebook. When multistream transmission is deployed, we show that codebook feedback manifests itself as inter-stream interference resulting in a capacity loss for all receiver types. In the case of SVD receivers, this interference results in a capacity floor. We define a precoding matrix index (PMI) coherence time and bandwidth and show how these parameters are respectively related to channel coherence time and bandwidth. The PMI coherence parameters shed new light on how often feedback is required, both in time and frequency domains, and help us to determine the capacity penalty if feedback is delayed beyond the coherence parameters. Finally, we show the distribution of PMI and also show that this is environment dependent. This supports the need for codebooks that are adaptable to different environments and are not strictly tied to i.i. d. channels.
The stolen generations- Canada and Australia. The legacy of assimilation

Comparison of issues regarding the policy of Australian and Canadian governments of removing aboriginal children from their families and placing them in institutions - some Canadian claimantThis article provides a comparative overview of issues pertaining to the stolen generation in Canada and Australia. It includes a historical overview of the removal and detaining of aboriginal children in Canada and Australia. As a consequence of the revelations of this past practice, litigation has been undertaken by members of the stolen generations in both Canada and Australia. The article includes a summary of the key cases in Canada and Australia. Unlike in Australia, some Canadian aboriginal claimants have successfully brought actions for compensation against the federal Canadian government for the damages stemming from their experiences in the aboriginal residential schools. In the course of this discussion, the various causes of actions relied upon by the plaintiffs are examined While the plaintiffs in these leading Canadian cases were ultimately successful under at least one of their heads of claim, the approaches in these cases in regard to the Crown's liability for breaching fiduciary duties, the duty of care, and non-delegable duties is inconsistent. Thus even in regard to the Canadian jurisprudence key legal issues pertaining to the Crown's liability for the aboriginal residential school experience continues to be unresolved.
Ralstonia solanacearum Needs Motility for Invasive Virulence on Tomato

ABSTRACT Ralstonia solanacearum, a widely distributed and economically important plant pathogen, invades the roots of diverse plant hosts from the soil and aggressively colonizes the xylem vessels, causing a lethal wilting known as bacterial wilt disease. By examining bacteria from the xylem vessels of infected plants, we found thatR. solanacearum is essentially nonmotile in planta, although it can be highly motile in culture. To determine the role of pathogen motility in this disease, we cloned, characterized, and mutated two genes in the R. solanacearum flagellar biosynthetic pathway. The genes for flagellin, the subunit of the flagellar filament (fliC), and for the flagellar motor switch protein (fliM) were isolated based on their resemblance to these proteins in other bacteria. As is typical for flagellins, the predicted FliC protein had well-conserved N- and C-terminal regions, separated by a divergent central domain. The predicted R. solanacearum FliM closely resembled motor switch proteins from other proteobacteria. Chromosomal mutants lackingfliC or fliM were created by replacing the genes with marked interrupted constructs. Since fliM is embedded in the fliLMNOPQR operon, the aphAcassette was used to make a nonpolar fliM mutation. Both mutants were completely nonmotile on soft agar plates, in minimal broth, and in tomato plants. The fliC mutant lacked flagella altogether; moreover, sheared-cell protein preparations from the fliC mutant lacked a 30-kDa band corresponding to flagellin. The fliM mutant was usually aflagellate, but about 10% of cells had abnormal truncated flagella. In a biologically representative soil-soak inoculation virulence assay, both nonmotile mutants were significantly reduced in the ability to cause disease on tomato plants. However, the fliC mutant had wild-type virulence when it was inoculated directly onto cut tomato petioles, an inoculation method that did not require bacteria to enter the intact host from the soil. These results suggest that swimming motility makes its most important contribution to bacterial wilt virulence in the early stages of host plant invasion and colonization.
Nano-LC-MS/MS for Quantification of Lyso-Gb3 and Its Analogues Reveals a Useful Biomarker for Fabry Disease

Biomarkers useful for diagnosis and evaluation of treatment for patients with Fabry disease are urgently needed. Recently, plasma globotriaosylsphingosine (lyso-Gb3) and lyso-Gb3-related analogues have attracted attention as promising biomarkers of Fabry disease. However, the plasma concentrations of lyso-Gb3 and its analogues are extremely low or below the detection limits in some Fabry patients as well as in healthy subjects. In this paper, we introduce the novel application of a nano-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (nano-LC-MS/MS) system to the measurement of lyso-Gb3 and its analogues in plasma. Nano-LC-MS/MS requires smaller amounts of samples and is more sensitive than conventional techniques. Using this method, we measured the plasma concentrations of lyso-Gb3 and its analogues in 40 healthy subjects, 5 functional variants (males with E66Q), and various Fabry patients (9 classic Fabry males/9 mutations; 7 later-onset Fabry males/5 mutations; and 10 Fabry females/9 mutations). The results revealed that the mean lyso-Gb3 and lyso-Gb3(-2) concentrations in all the Fabry patient subgroups were statistically higher, especially in the classic Fabry males, than those in the functional variants and healthy subjects. The plasma concentrations of lyso-Gb3 and its analogues in healthy subjects, functional variants, and some Fabry patients with specific mutations (R112H and M296I) that cannot be established by conventional techniques were successfully determined by means of nano-LC-MS/MS. The lyso-Gb3 and lyso-Gb3(-2) concentrations in male patients with these mutations were lower than those in most Fabry patients having other mutations, but higher than those in the functional variants and healthy subjects. This new method is expected to be useful for sensitive determination of the plasma concentrations of lyso-Gb3 and its analogues. This study also revealed that not only lyso-Gb3 but also lyso-Gb3(-2) in plasma is a useful biomarker for the diagnosis of Fabry disease.
Mutant Huntingtin Fragments Form Oligomers in a Polyglutamine Length-dependent Manner in Vitro and in Vivo*

Huntington disease (HD) is caused by an expansion of more than 35–40 polyglutamine (polyQ) repeats in the huntingtin (htt) protein, resulting in accumulation of inclusion bodies containing fibrillar deposits of mutant htt fragments. Intriguingly, polyQ length is directly proportional to the propensity for htt to form fibrils and the severity of HD and is inversely correlated with age of onset. Although the structural basis for htt toxicity is unclear, the formation, abundance, and/or persistence of toxic conformers mediating neuronal dysfunction and degeneration in HD must also depend on polyQ length. Here we used atomic force microscopy to demonstrate mutant htt fragments and synthetic polyQ peptides form oligomers in a polyQ length-dependent manner. By time-lapse atomic force microscopy, oligomers form before fibrils, are transient in nature, and are occasionally direct precursors to fibrils. However, the vast majority of fibrils appear to form by monomer addition coinciding with the disappearance of oligomers. Thus, oligomers must undergo a major structural transition preceding fibril formation. In an immortalized striatal cell line and in brain homogenates from a mouse model of HD, a mutant htt fragment formed oligomers in a polyQ length-dependent manner that were similar in size to those formed in vitro, although these structures accumulated over time in vivo. Finally, using immunoelectron microscopy, we detected oligomeric-like structures in human HD brains. These results demonstrate that oligomer formation by a mutant htt fragment is strongly polyQ length-dependent in vitro and in vivo, consistent with a causative role for these structures, or subsets of these structures, in HD pathogenesis.
Impact of Parental Psychiatric Disorder and Physical Illness

This chapter reviews research linking the intergenerational transmission of parent psychiatric disorder and physical illness to psychological outcomes for children. A conceptual model is presented to guide an understanding of the mechanisms of transmission. A review of the main psychiatric and physical disorders and the associations with different child outcomes is provided. Relevant mediating and moderating variables are presented within this section. Key lessons for clinical practice are discussed including guidance for assessment and the use of relevant interventions. The need for health care professionals to be aware of the risks of parental psychiatric and physical disorders for children is emphasised while noting that the effects are not inevitable. The relative lack of appropriate treatment trials in many areas is noted. The need for additional research in low and middle income countries is urgently needed. © 2015 by JohnWiley & Sons, Ltd. All rights reserved.
Swarming of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Is a Complex Adaptation Leading to Increased Production of Virulence Factors and Antibiotic Resistance

ABSTRACT In addition to exhibiting swimming and twitching motility, Pseudomonas aeruginosa is able to swarm on semisolid (viscous) surfaces. Recent studies have indicated that swarming is a more complex type of motility influenced by a large number of different genes. To investigate the adaptation process involved in swarming motility, gene expression profiles were analyzed by performing microarrays on bacteria from the leading edge of a swarm zone compared to bacteria growing in identical medium under swimming conditions. Major shifts in gene expression patterns were observed under swarming conditions, including, among others, the overexpression of a large number of virulence-related genes such as those encoding the type III secretion system and its effectors, those encoding extracellular proteases, and those associated with iron transport. In addition, swarming cells exhibited adaptive antibiotic resistance against polymyxin B, gentamicin, and ciprofloxacin compared to what was seen for their planktonic (swimming) counterparts. By analyzing a large subset of up-regulated genes, we were able to show that two virulence genes, lasB and pvdQ, were required for swarming motility. These results clearly favored the conclusion that swarming of P. aeruginosa is a complex adaptation process in response to a viscous environment resulting in a substantial change in virulence gene expression and antibiotic resistance.
Explanation in Linguistics

The aim of the present paper is to understand what the notions of explanation and prediction in contemporary linguistics mean, and to compare various aspects that the notion of explanation encompasses in that domain. The paper is structured around an opposition between three main styles of explanation in linguistics, which I propose to call ‘grammatical’, ‘functional’, and ‘historical’. Most of this paper is a comparison between these different styles of explanations and their relations (Sections 3, 4, 7, and 8). A second, more methodological aspect this paper seeks to clarify concerns the extent to which linguistic explanations can be viewed as predictive, rather than merely descriptive (Sections 2, 5, and 6), and the problem of whether linguistic explanations ought to be causal, rather than noncausal (Section 6). I argue that the notion of prediction is equally applicable in linguistics as in other empirical sciences. The extent to which the computational model of generative syntax can be viewed as providing a causal or psychologically realist model of language is more controversial (Sections 5–9).
Design development & performance analysis of high speed comparator for reconfigurable ΣΔ ADC with 180 nm TSMC technology

Comparator design has a crucial influence on the overall performance that can be achieved by Analog to Digital Converter (ADC). The need for programmable analog parts is in research from several years. The ADC's being mixed signal in nature requires novel architectures to achieve programmability by digital means. The work being carried out aims to bring out architecture of differential pin, which can give better performance when configured as comparator for reconfigurable Sigma Delta ΣΔ ADC, which fulfil an important role in today's mostly digital mixed-mode systems as interface circuits between the analog world and the powerful digital signal processing. This comparator for a ΣΔ ADC is designed using CMOS 180nm TSMC technology. The simulation is carried out with h-SPICE tool and results prove the circuit operates maximum up to 400 MHz clock speed with gain of 110K. The layout simulation results running up to 250MHz with a gain of 74K agree with the parasitic overhead.