Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acquisition Strategies for Fat/Water Separated MRI

This thesis focuses on new ways to more efficiently acquire the signal for fat/water separated MRI, also known as Dixon methods. In paper I, the concept of dual bandwidths was introduced to improve SNR efficiency by removing dead times in a spin echo PROPELLER sequence. By correcting for the displacement of fat, we were able to improve the motion correction. This required additional considerations during reconstruction in order to avoid noise amplification, which was solved with a noise-whitening Tikhonov regularization. Paper II explores the combination of fat/water separation in k-space with partially acquired data, i.e. partial Fourier sampling. With reduced sampling coverage comes the ability of increased spatial resolution, which is often limited in fat/water imaging, particularly in gradient echo sequences. A modified POCS routine was also developed with real-valued estimates, exploiting Hermitian symmetry to improve the inverse problem conditioning in the fully sampled region. A single-TR dual-bandwidth RARE (fast/turbo spin echo) sequence without dead times was developed in Paper III, which uses partial Fourier sampling with late and early echoes to improve the chemical shift encoding. The proposed sequence can acquire images with 0.5 mm in-plane resolution without dead times, with image quality exceeding current state-of-the-art techniques. An automated selection of gradient waveforms based on Cramér-Rao bounds was implemented on the scanner. In Paper IV, the dual-bandwidth concept was generalized to continuous bandwidths. Instead of the conventional shift of a trapezoidal readout gradient, we describe a new method of encoding chemical shift by using asymmetric readout waveforms. Asymmetric readouts were implemented in a RARE sequence to completely remove dead times from multi-TR acquisitions, with typical scan time reductions of 25 %. The developed methods enable fat/water imaging with reduced scan times and increased spatial resolution, which has previously limited their use.
Optimal transport couplings of Gibbs samplers on partitions for unbiased estimation

Computational couplings of Markov chains provide a practical route to unbiased Monte Carlo estimation that can utilize parallel computation. However, these approaches depend crucially on chains meeting after a small number of transitions. For models that assign data into groups, e.g. mixture models, the obvious approaches to couple Gibbs samplers fail to meet quickly. This failure owes to the so-called"label-switching"problem; semantically equivalent relabelings of the groups contribute well-separated posterior modes that impede fast mixing and cause large meeting times. We here demonstrate how to avoid label switching by considering chains as exploring the space of partitions rather than labelings. Using a metric on this space, we employ an optimal transport coupling of the Gibbs conditionals. This coupling outperforms alternative couplings that rely on labelings and, on a real dataset, provides estimates more precise than usual ergodic averages in the limited time regime. Code is available at github.com/tinnguyen96/coupling-Gibbs-partition.
Self-Regulation amongst Married Students Participating in E-Learning Activities at IAIN Madura

This study aims to identify and understand the self-regulation of married students involved in online learning. The study employs a qualitative approach with a phenomenological perspective. The research subjects were selected using purposeful sampling technique and the data collected using interview and observation. The results showed that the research subjects used cognitive regulation, motivation regulation, behavior regulation, and context regulation. Self-regulation carried out by the subject in online learning influenced by the situation and the characteristic of each individual. A further significant factor was the level of social support. Keywords: Self-regulation in online learning, students, multiple roles
PROBABILISTIC ERROR ANALYSIS FOR SEQUENTIAL SUMMATION OF REAL FLOATING POINT NUMBERS∗

Abstract. We derive two probabilistic bounds for the relative forward error in the floating point summation of n real numbers, by representing the roundoffs as independent, zero-mean, bounded random variables. The first probabilistic bound is based on Azuma’s concentration inequality, and the second on the Azuma-Hoeffding Martingale. Our numerical experiments illustrate that the probabilistic bounds, with a stringent failure probability of 10, can be 1-2 orders of magnitude tighter than deterministic bounds. We performed the numerical experiments in Julia by summing up to n = 10 single precision (binary32) floating point numbers, and up to n = 10 half precision (binary16) floating point numbers. We simulated exact computation with double precision (binary64). The bounds tend to be tighter when all summands have the same sign.
Influence of Hostility on 24-Hour Diastolic Blood Pressure Load in Hypertension Patients with Depressive Disorders

Background Hostility in hypertension patients combined with depressive disorders indicates a worse outcome for hypertension management. This study was designed to explore the influence of hostility on 24-h diastolic blood pressure in hypertension patients who also had depressive disorders. Material/Methods A total of 130 people with primary hypertension and depressive disorders were collected through unstructured psychiatric interview by a professional psychiatrist and ambulatory blood pressure monitor in this cross-sectional study. During the study, dynamic blood pressure was examined for 24 h by ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to the hostility level. Hostility was defined by hostile factors of the Symptom Checklist 90. The association between hostility and 24-h dynamic blood pressure was analyzed by multivariable logistic regression. Results 30.8% (40 of 130) patients had a high level of 24-h dynamic blood pressure load (>30%), in which 14.6% was for male and 16.2% for female respectively. In male, the proportion of high 24 h DBP load (>30%) in highest hostility group was greater than that of low hostility group and median hostility group significantly (p=0.03). No significant differences were revealed among 3 groups in female. The age-adjusted odds-ratio (OR) 95% confidence interval of diastolic blood pressure across the categories of hostility were: in males, 1.44 (0.60, 3.47) (1 for reference), and in females, 5.86 (0.58, 59.06) (P for trend=0.04). Conclusions Our results showed that hostility may be a risk factor for increased 24-h diastolic blood pressure in hypertension patients who also have depressive disorders, especially in males. The clinical meaning of the study is that hypertension management should contain psychological interventions for better effects.
Implications of using an extended lactation to change from a spring-calving to an autumn- calving farm system in South Taranaki

Recent changes to pasture-supply curves in South Taranaki, and the availability of winter milk premiums have increased farmer interest in changing from a spring-calving to an autumn-calving farm system. One approach to changing the season of calving from spring to autumn is to extend the calving interval (CI) by delaying the mating period by ~8 months, so that they next calve in autumn and undertake an extended lactation [>305 days in milk (DIM)]. A large-scale farmlet experiment was established in South Taranaki to investigate the production and reproduction responses of cows using this approach. In June 2017, 602 springcalving cows were allocated to two farmlets. In one farmlet (SPR) 301 cows were mated in October to maintain a 12-month CI spring-calving pattern. In the other farmlet (AUT, n=301 cows), mating was delayed for eight months, and cows underwent an extended lactation (mean DIM, 488; max DIM, 577) to calve next in autumn 2019. The experiment analysed two lactations for the AUT farmlet and two and a half lactations for the SPR farmlet. Across the total experimental period, milksolids (MS) production was similar between farmlets (1,194 vs. 1,174 kg MS/cow), however, cows in the AUT farmlet were fed more supplementary feed [2,371 vs. 1,951 kg dry matter (DM)/cow]. The extended lactation changed the relationship between feed supply and herd demand, which led to excessive BCS gain and ryegrass staggers for AUT farmlet cows. Further research is required to examine grazing management during extended lactations and to assess the economic implications of this approach.
Preparation and Characterization of [5‐13C]‐(2S,4R)‐Leucine and [4‐13C]‐(2S,3S)‐Valine − Establishing Synthetic Schemes to Prepare Any Site‐Directed Isotopomer of L‐Leucine, L‐Isoleucine and L‐Valine

In this paper a chemo-enzymatic method has been developed that gives access to any isotopomer of the essential amino acids isoleucine and valine. The method gives the correct introduction of the second chiral center in (2S,3S)-isoleucine and allows for discrimination between the two prochiral methyl groups in valine as shown by the preparation of (2S,3S)-[4-13C] valine. For the preparation of (2S)-leucine in any isotopomeric form, the O’Donnell method to prepare optically active amino acids has been used. The protected glycine scaffold used in this method has been prepared by a strategy that allows access to any isotopomeric form. The preparation of [5-13C]-(2S,4R)-leucine shows that the O’Donnell method in combination with the Evans method to obtain chiral 2-methylpropyl iodide leads to a good discrimination between the two prochiral methyl groups. The O’Donnell strategy for the preparation of α-amino acids is preferred over other methods since the reaction conditions are mild, the chiral auxiliary can be easily recovered and the optically active product can be easily separated. For the preparation of isotopically enriched valine and isoleucine the O’Donnell method is not suitable, because the alkyl substituents involved have a secondary halide substituent which is sterically too hindered to give an effective reaction with the protected glycine. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2003)
A case of bisalbuminemia associated with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug-induced nephrotic syndrome

The hereditary form is permanent whereas the acquired bisalbuminemia is transient and usually observed during treatment with beta-lactams, acute pancreatitis, rupture of pancreatic pseudocysts and monoclonal gammopathies. We report the case of a 49-year-old female, who was recently diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, is admitted to the service of Internal Medicine at the Moulay Ismaïl Military Hospital of Meknes after having presented anasarca, oliguria and nausea following treatment with antiInflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for diffuse polyarthritis. Biological assessment showed nephrotic syndrome (ND) without renal insufficiency, and the electrophoresis performed on Capillarys® (Sebia) revealed a bisalbuminemia. Moreover, the renal biopsy showed a Glomerular Tip Lesion (GTL).
A Multiple Criteria Satisfaction Analysis tool for measuring patients’ satisfaction with Portuguese secondary care: the case of inpatient services

Healthcare is a multidimensional, challenging, fast-changing and complex sector. In an increasingly competitive market of healthcare industries, and with the central goal of improving patients’ quality of life, it is paramount to achieve high, or excellent, ratings on patient satisfaction. The present study’s objective is to evaluate patients’ satisfaction concerning the Portuguese secondary healthcare within the NHS, in particular, the inpatient service. More specifically, this study aims at determining which attributes patients value the most in this service valence, at classifying each satisfaction criterion (featuring the hospital attributes), at discovering patients’ demanding nature and, lastly, at identifying potential improvements, priorities and opportunities for the Amato Lusitano hospital to improve its performance. To do so, a Multicriteria Satisfaction Analysis (MUSA) method is employed. The main advantage of this linear-programming based model is that it fully considers the qualitative form of customers’ judgements and preferences, as they are expressed in the satisfaction questionnaires. Results have shown that the auxiliaries are the most important service feature for hospitalized patients, especially in terms of their readiness and availability. Furthermore, aspects such as the number of visits, the information on patient’s clinical status and health advising and teaching have been pointed out as first priorities within the considered service. However, larger samples of patients must be considered for further research and the possible extensions of MUSA must be explored.
FEEDING MARINE FISH LARVAE WITH LIPID SOURCES ALTERNATIVE TO FISH OIL

Despite global production of fish oil has been stagnant for the last decade, its demand as a source of n-3 PUFAs for aquafeeds has been continuously increasing. In marine fish larvae, fish oil replacement levels by vegetable oils will depend on the use of live preys or microdiets. The high content of lipids in enrichments for live preys may allow a high percentage of fish oil substitution, depending on the requirements of each species but also on the utilization of enrichment lipids by rotifers or Artemia. In microdiets, despite larvae have high EFA requirements, the high protein at this stage of development impose high dietary protein contents which in turn provide additional sources of EFA. Complete substitution of fish oil by vegetable oils in enrichments for seabream larvae reduces growth and affects larval normal behaviour. But fish oil replacement by vegetable oils in microdiets for seabream, did not affected growth and survival. Moreover, feeding larvae with vegetable oils increased up to 6 times the relative expression of delta 6 desaturase like gene in larvae fed rapeseed and soybean oils. Since the lack of essential fatty acids for marine fish constrains the use of vegetable oils in larval feeds, alternative EFA sources are being developed, such as marine micro algae which constitute a well recognized “single cell oil source” high in PUFA. Substitution of either fish oil or booster oils in microdiets for seabream by homogenized C. cohnii promotes good growth and survival, particularly in very young larvae, whereas substitution by Phaeodactilum tricornutum at this larval stage damages intestine epithelia and reduces survival. Finally, substitution by Schyzotrichium sp. slightly reduces larval seabream growth. Importance of fish oil as the main lipid source in aquafeeds and larval nutrition Due to its high digestibility and elevated content on essential fatty acids, fish oil has been traditionally used as a main lipid source in fish diets. But fish oil production is dependant on fisheries which constitute a declining natural resource seriously endangered and its continue exploitation is linked to detrimental environmental consequences (Tonon et al., 2002). Hence, global production of fish oil has been stagnant around 1.2 millions tons/year for the last decade. Besides, the demand for fish oil as a source of n-3 PUFAs is increasing together with the fast development of aquaculture and its use in food and pharmacy. At present more than 70% of the fish oil production is consumed by aquafeeds (Tuominen and Esmark, 2003) and it is expected world fish oil supply will not be enough to cover completely the lipid sources demand for aquaculture within the next ten years. Thus, further development of aquaculture seems to be dependant on the availability of other lipid sources alternative to fish oil (Bell et al., 2003). Moreover, competition for fish oil for its inclusion in human nutritional supplements and agricultural feeds other than for aquaculture will soon make fish oil a highly prized commodity (Harel et al., 2002). In addition,
Super Resolution Methods for Depth Estimation in Light Sheet Light Field Microscopy

—In this Master’s Thesis we explore enhanced depth estimation in light ﬁelds acquired with microscopes. We propose a neural network architecture for the production of novel angular views. We evaluate the performance of our method by comparing the precision of depth estimation in the HCI Light Field Benchmark of its state of the art algorithm when receiving regular vs. upsampled light ﬁelds. We demonstrate reductions in the error of depth estimation by up to 12-35 percentage points. Complementarily, we present an approach to increase angular resolution in light ﬁeld microscopy by providing optical sectioning of the sample with light sheets from a digital micromirror device. We also present a Fourier optics model of pattern projection from the DMD to the sample by a tube lens and a microscope objective.
Early Childhood Reading in Rural China and Obstacles to Caregiver Investment in Young Children: A Mixed-Methods Analysis

Studies have shown that nearly half of rural toddlers in China have cognitive delays due to an absence of stimulating parenting practices, such as early childhood reading, during the critical first three years of life. However, few studies have examined the reasons behind these low levels of stimulating parenting, and no studies have sought to identify the factors that limit caregivers from providing effective early childhood reading practices (EECRP). This mixed-methods study investigates the perceptions, prevalence, and correlates of EECRP in rural China, as well as associations with child cognitive development. We use quantitative survey results from 1748 caregiver–child dyads across 100 rural villages/townships in northwestern China and field observation and interview data with 60 caregivers from these same sites. The quantitative results show significantly low rates of EECRP despite positive perceptions of early reading and positive associations between EECRP and cognitive development. The qualitative results suggest that low rates of EECRP in rural China are not due to the inability to access books, financial or time constraints, or the absence of aspirations. Rather, the low rate of book ownership and absence of reading to young children is driven by the insufficient and inaccurate knowledge of EECRP among caregivers, which leads to their delayed, misinformed reading decisions with their young children, ultimately contributing to developmental delays.
PROCESS OPTIMIZATION & QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF DATE JAM ENRICHED WITH ALMOND GUM POWDER

Date fruit (Phoenix dactylifera) is believed to be a "superfood"and has nutritional properties for human welfare. The production of a value-added product from the date is the prime objective of this study. The jam was formulated using the almond gum powder and RSM-CCRD was applied to optimize the processing conditions for jam. Almond gum powder (3-10 g), date pulp (200-300 g) and water (100-150 mL) were considered as the independent variables. At the same time, TPC, DPPH free radical scavenging activity, firmness and syneresis were decided as responses. The resulting optimized recipe had a formulation consisting of 10 g almond gum, 200 mL water and 289.45 g date pulp which gave the most desirable results having 6.34 mg GAE/g, 82.98% free radical scavenging activity, 16.83% of syneresis and 6.93 N of firmness at a desirability level of 0.89. The physicochemical analysis revealed that jam had TSS of 67.48°Brix, titratable acidity of 1.17%, pH of 4.28 and 33.59% moisture content. The findings of sensory properties concluded that the developed jam using almond gum powder exhibited greater acceptability. Textural properties including hardness, adhesiveness, gumminess and chewiness were 240.62, -11.19, 159.61 and 336.74, respectively indicating the acceptable texture.
Botulinum toxin A in the treatment of dystonia

Botulotoxin A je v léčbě dystonie používán od konce osmdesátých let minulého století a představuje nejúčinnější metodu léčby fokální a segmentální dystonie. S úspěchem je ale používán i v léčbě dalších neurologických onemocnění, manifestujících se mimovolnými svalovými kontrakcemi či hypertonem. Práce uvádí souhrn aktuálních poznatků o dystonii – fenomenologii, patofyziologii, klinickém obrazu, klasifikaci a možnostech terapeutického využití botulotoxinu A se zaměřením na léčbu nejčastějších forem dystonie. Klíčová slova: dystonie, botulotoxin A, cervikální dystonie.
Image Shadow Removal Based on Generative Adversarial Networks

Accurate detection of shadows and removal in the image are complicated tasks, as it is difficult to un - derstand whether darkening or gray is the cause of the shadow. This paper proposes an image shadow re - moval method based on generative adversarial networks. Our approach is trained in unsupervised fashion which means it does not depend on time-consuming data collection and data labeling. This together with training in a single end-to-end framework significantly raises its practical relevance. Taking the existing method for unsupervised image transfer between different domains, we have re - searched its applicability to the shadow removal problem. Two networks have been used. Тhe first network is used to add shadows in images and the second network for shadow removal. ISTD dataset has been used for evaluation clarity because it has ground truth shadow free images as well as shadow masks. For shadow removal we have used root mean squared error between generated and real shadow free images in LAB color space. Evaluation is divided into region and global where the former is applied to shadow regions while the latter to the whole images. Shadow detection is evaluated with the use of Intersection over Union, also known as the Jaccard index. It is computed between the generated and ground-truth binary shadow masks by dividing the area of overlap by the union of those two. We selected random 100 images for valida - tion purposes. During the experiments multiple hypotheses have been tested. The majority of tests we con - ducted were about how to use an attention module and where to localize it. Our network produces better results compared to the existing approach in the field. Analysis showed that attention maps obtained from auxiliary classifier encourage the networks to concentrate on more distinctive regions between domains. However, generative adversarial networks demand more accurate and consistent architecture to solve the problem in a more efficient way.
Exploring The Phonetic And Phonological Nature of Neutralisation

Neutralisation is a phonological term referring to the conditioned limitation on the distribution of a system's contrastive values. It involves the dynamic reduction and / or the static limitation of contrastive values within lexical form. The notion of neutralisation is important . It's importance concerns the status of the phonemic principle . And once we established the status of phonemic principle, then we have to confront the fact that two (or more) sounds are in parallel distribution and of different phonemes .
The Characterization of Photoinduced Chirality in a Liquid-Crystalline Azo Polymer on Irradiation with Circularly Polarized Light

In this study, an achiral liquid-crystalline azo polymer is irradiated with circularly polarized light, and the transmitted polarization data show evidence of photoinduced chirality. When the polarization of the laser is switched from left- to right-handed, the chirality of the polymer film is switched as well. In a more revealing experiment, the handedness of the laser is fixed and the evolution of the ordering is monitored. Two models are described to interpret this result, one based on a uniaxial arrangement with the observed circular anisotropy included on a phenomenological level; the other based on a helical arrangement of chromophores. These models were used to fit the polarization data in order to determine the anisotropic optical constants that characterize the structural arrangement. It was noticed that during the irradiation, the sense of the circular anisotropy switches. This is also discussed in relation to both models presented.