Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Joint Preparation and Ray Shortening in Arthroscopic Versus Open First Metatarsophalangeal Fusion: A Cadaver Study

Purpose This study compares the amount of joint preparation and first ray shortening following first metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint fusion utilizing open conical reaming versus arthroscopic technique. Methods Ten below-knee cadaver specimens were randomly assigned to undergo either open or arthroscopic first MTP fusion. Following fixation, first ray length measurements were obtained from pre-operative and post-operative radiographs and were used to determine first ray shortening. Additionally, the ratio of first ray length to second ray length was calculated both pre-operatively and post-operatively and compared between the two approaches. All ankles were then completely dissected, and prepared surface areas were demarcated. ImageJ photo analysis software (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA) was used to calculate the percentage of prepared and unprepared cartilage of each articular surface of each specimen. Results Overall, the open approach resulted in 99.3% ± 1.6% joint surface preparation, whereas the arthroscopic approach yielded 92.9% ± 7.2% (p = 0.089). On average, the head of the first metatarsal was significantly more prepared with the use of the open approach (99.5% ± 1.1%) than with the arthroscopic approach (96.6% ± 1.5%) (p = 0.008). However, with respect to the base of the phalanx, the average difference in preparation between the arthroscopic approach and the open approach was not statistically significant (90.0% ± 12.8% vs. 99.0% ± 2.2%; p = 0.160). The average amount of first ray shortening in the arthroscopic approach was 2.2 ± 1.8 mm compared to 2.1 ± 3.2 mm in the open approach (p = 0.934). The average change in the first to second ray length ratio was 0.02 for both approaches (p = 0.891). Conclusion Arthroscopic first MTP fusion can be used to achieve joint preparation comparable to open technique while maintaining first ray length.
Challenges for Adult Undocumented Immigrants in Accessing Primary Care: A Qualitative Study of Health Care Workers in Los Angeles County

Purpose: Amid increasingly restrictive federal immigration and health care policies in the United States, access to health care for undocumented immigrants is highly dependent on the extent to which local and state policies and programs address the needs of this population. In Los Angeles County (LA County), home to the nation's largest undocumented immigrant population, supportive policies are in place, yet little is known about how undocumented immigrants navigate available services. Methods: To gain insight into how federal, state, and local policies overlay and contribute to the experience of health care seeking among undocumented immigrants in LA County, we interviewed 19 key informant health care workers involved in the delivery of health care services, using a purposive snowball sampling approach. Results: Three key themes emerged: (1) health care workers at all clinics sampled reported primary care appointments are readily available for undocumented immigrants; however, primary care services remain underutilized; (2) fear, misinformation, and misperceptions of coverage and immigration policies—most commonly related to the revised Public Charge Rule—may reduce program enrollment and access; and (3) frontline health care workers feel ill-equipped to address patient fears and misinformation. Conclusion: Although county programs were perceived to improve access by covering health care costs and ensuring appointment availability, new restrictive immigration policies, such as the revised Public Charge Rule, and widespread misinformation present challenges that threaten the success of these programs. Future study to improve undocumented immigrant access to care should focus on addressing barriers resulting from these policies.
Characterizing the Role of RhoGAP19D in Drosophila Epithelial Development

The establishment and maintenance of epithelial polarity is dependent on polarity regulators. One such polarity regulatory is Bazooka (Baz). Baz is located around the apical circumference, serving as a cytosplasmic scaffold to assemble adherens junctions. In vitro analyses presented RhoGAP19D as a potential Baz-interacting protein. RhoGAP19D’s homologs have been linked to the actin cytoskeleton and the PAR complex through the RhoGTPase CDC42. To study RhoGAP19D’s functions, a GFP-tagged RhoGAP19D was made. This construct was expressed in the Drosophila embryonic ectoderm and follicular epithelium. It localized to the apical circumference with enrichment at Baz-puncta and actin-rich locations, but its main localization mechanism appears to be independent of Baz. Gain-of-function and loss-of-function analyses for RhoGAP19D revealed phenotypes consistent with it being an inhibitor of the PAR complex and the actin cytoskeleton. Thus, I hypothesize that RhoGAP19D regulates Drosophila epithelial polarity by inhibiting the PAR complex and the actin cytoskeleton by inhibiting
MAPPING CROP CONDITION USING QUICKBIRD-2 AND WORLDVIEW-1 SATELLITE IMAGES AND DERIVED PRODUCTS. A PRECISION AGRICULTURE CASE STUDY FOR PART OF ZHITEN TEST SITE IN NORTHEAST BULGARIA

The purpose of this article is to investigate the possibilities of mapping crop condition using high resolution (HR) satellite images for Zhiten test site situated in Northeast Bulgaria. The chosen satellite images are acquired from multispectral QuickBird-2 and panchromatic WorldView-1 sensors on 31/05/2009 and 30/11/2011, respectively. The methodology of this article includes the following working stages: 1) applying arable mask from CORINE 2006 land-cover database; 2) conducting per-pixel supervised classification using the Maximum Likelihood Classifier (MLC) algorithm for crop identification; 3) applying accuracy assessment tool in ERDAS Imagine and deriving accuracy totals and Kappa statistics; 4) mapping crop condition using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Renormalized Difference Vegetation Index (RDVI) and Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) indices. The overall classification accuracy for the QuickBird-2 image is 90.86 % and overall Kappa statistics is 0.8538, while for the WorldView-1 image is 86.71 % and overall Kappa statistics is 0.7721. The SAVI shows better sensitivity for the spring crops cultivars with less than 40 % vegetation cover. Meanwhile, the NDVI gives good results for winter crops, but saturates at high vegetation dencity and gives generalized results for values less than 0.40. Overall RDVI gives better crop condition results for winter crops at flowering and grain filling phenophases and spring crops at vegetative phase compared to NDVI and SAVI.
An Improved Machine Learning-Based Short Message Service Spam Detection System

— The use of Short Message Services (SMS) as a mechanism of communication has resulted to loss of sensitive information such as credit card details, medical information and bank account details (user name and password). Several Machine learning-based approaches have been proposed to address this problem, but they are still unable to detect modified SMS spam messages more accurately. Thus, in this research, a stack-ensemble of four machine learning algorithms consisting of Random Forest (RF), Logistic Regression (LR), Multilayer Perceptron (MLP), and Support Vector Machine (SVM), were employed to detect more accurately SMS spams. The simulation was carried out using Python Scikit-learn tools. The performance evaluation of the proposed model was carried out by benchmarking it with an existing model. The evaluation results showed that the proposed model has an increase of 3.03% of accuracy, 8.94% of Recall, 2.17% of F-measure; and a decrease of 4.55% of Precision over the existing model. This indicates that the proposed model reduces the false alarm rate and thus detects spams more accurately. In conclusion, the ensemble method performed better than any individual algorithms and
Islamic equity market and macroeconomic variables: evidence from the UK

The recent turbulent environment in the UK has given rise to Islamic finance as an alternative diversification investment class. Linked to this fact we tend to investigate the relationship of UK Islamic stock market with the given set of macroeconomic variables. Quarterly data are obtained for GDP, Dow Jones Islamic UK (DJIUK), Exchange rate, Interest rate and CPI. Due to the lack of empirically proven Islamic market theories, time series techniques have been applied to gauge the long run relation and causality between the variables. Using Johansen and ARDL tests we confirm the cointegration between the variables. Interest rate is the weakest variable due to the equity capital structure of Islamic stock and sector weightage of Dow Jones Islamic UK. GDP is found to be the leader, as equity markets respond to GDP movement more than conventional bond market and given the fact that Islamic stocks are based on equity relationship, policymakers should always strive to maintain a stable GDP. This research hopes to contribute to the existing framework of Islamic financial stock market used by asset managers and policy makers.
Multi View Cluster Approach to Explore Multi Objective Attributes based on Similarity Measure for High Dimensional Data

Data retrieval is an aggressive concept in data mining with different attributes based on relations present in overall data from different web data sources. In data mining, clustering is an approach to explore data representation based on expressive attributes from large data sources. Clustering with attribute selection from overall data source, traditionally proposed Enhanced Feature Selection based Clustering (EFSC) to evaluate efficiency to form sub set of features with respect to quality assurance for sub set of features. All these clustering methods mainly focused to assume cluster relation based on different features among different objects. Similarity between pair of objects is either outside data relations i.e explicitly or inside data relations i.e implicitly. So that improves multi objective data relations with different attributes for data retrieval from data sources is aggressive and important concept to view data relations in different dimensions. Traditional approach is only support to single data view based on different attributes. In this paper, we propose Enhanced Multi View Voronoi based Clustering (EMVVC) approach which is extension to EFSC for multi object attributes relations. In multi view Voronoi clustering, most informative multi-object attribute similarity could be achieved, theoretical and empirical study is conducted to support this problem for different attribute relations. This approach mainly proposes on documents to retrieve multi objective attribute relations on multi view of data representation. Our experimental outcome shows coherent multi-view cluster results for multi-objects with respect to different attribute relations from different data sources.
Tracking And Understanding Public Reaction During COVID-19: Saudi Arabia As A Use Case

The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) has had a huge impact on economies and societies around the world. While governments are taking extreme measures to reduce the spread of the virus, people are being affected by these new measures. With restrictions like lockdowns and social distancing, it has become important to understand the emotional response of the public towards the pandemic. In this paper, we study the reaction of Saudi Arabian citizens towards the pandemic. We utilize a collection of Arabic tweets that were sent during 2020, primarily through hashtags that originated in Saudi Arabia. Our results showed that people had maintained a positive reaction towards the pandemic. This positive reaction was at its highest at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis and started to decline as time passed. Overall, the results showed that people were highly supportive of each other through this pandemic. This research can help researchers and policymakers in understanding the emotional effect of a pandemic on societies.
5TH WORKSHOP OF ALPINE GEOLOGICAL STUDIES FIELD TRIP GUIDE E6 TECTONICS, METAMORPHISM AND MAGMA GENERATION BETWEEN PERIADRIATIC LINEAMENT AND TAUERN WINDOW (Vals Valley, close to TRANSALP Traverse)

The Adriatic-African-plate motion during Oligocene-Miocene times released combined transpression and extrusion between the southwestern margin of the Tauern Window and the Periadriatic Lineament. Major structural elements include subvertical foliations and subhorizontal east-west oriented stretching lineations. These structures are related to coeval activity of shear deformation within an eastward widening wrench corridor and backthrusting of Penninic Tauern Window units to the south onto the Austro-Alpine block. Oligocene shear deformation was accompanied by intrusion of magmatic bodies, namely the Rensen and Rieserferner magmatic bodies (Müller et al., 2000, BorsiI et al., 1978). Succession of magmatic and solid state structures within the Vals Area include: 1) emplacement of the Rensen Pluton coeval with sinistral shear deformation within mid-crustal levels; 2) shift from distributed sinistral shear towards localised dextral shear during progressive pluton cooling and emplacement of late magmatic dykes.
Laterally asymmetrical cell number in a sexually dimorphic nucleus in the gerbil hypothalamus is correlated with vocal emission rates

A lateralized relationship between the total volume of a discrete area in a hypothalamic, sexually differentiated nucleus (SDApc) and stereotyped vocalization exists in male Mongolian gerbils. In this present study, using unbiased stereological methods, two cytoarchitectural estimates of the SDApc's structure, neuron number, and nuclear volume were found to be sexually differentiated and also laterally asymmetrical in adult males. In ovariectomized females receiving exogenous testosterone, no cytoarchitectural component was asymmetrical. Significantly, the estimate of neuron number, but not nuclear volume, in the left SDApc of males was correlated with vocal emission rate. The authors conclude that a specific, sex-related cytoarchitectural SDApc parameter shows left-right asymmetry, suggesting the SDApc has an intimate role in mediating hemispheric specialization rather than just being an end point index of individual structural variability.
Rapid genomic changes in newly synthesized amphiploids of Triticum and Aegilops. II. Changes in low-copy coding DNA sequences

We recently reported that formation of allopolyploid wheat was accompanied by rapid nonrandom changes in low-copy noncoding DNA sequences. In this report we show that following allopolyploidization, changes also occurred in coding sequences. Genomic DNA of nine different newly synthesized amphiploids of different ploidy levels and their parental lines was digested with five restriction enzymes and probed with 43 coding sequences. The sequences, 19 genomic and 24 cDNA sequences, are group (homoeologous) specific and represent the proximal and distal regions of the short and long arms of the seven homoeologous groups of the Triticeae. We revealed three types of changes: disappearance of a parental hybridization fragment(s), appearance of a novel fragment(s), and simultaneous disappearance of a parental fragment(s) and appearance of a novel fragment(s). No elimination of sequences took place, since in every sequence studied the parental hybridization fragments were present in at least one of the enzyme digests. Variations in pattern among individual plants of the same amphiploid, as well as between several synthetic and natural amphiploids, indicated that at least some of the genomic changes occurred at random. Intergenomic recombination was not the cause of the observed changes. Evidence was obtained, however, that changes were also brought about by DNA methylation. Methylation may cause inactivation of genes or modify their expression levels in some of the newly synthesized amphiploid plants, leading to genetic diploidization and gene-dosage compensation and thus increasing variation among individuals.
Immunocompetence of nestling barn swallows in relation to brood size and parental effort

1. Intra-brood competition and parental feeding effort are considered important determinants of survival of offspring in altricial bird species because they affect accumulation of fat reserves by nestlings. However, the causal relationship between rearing conditions and post-fledging survival might also be mediated by other mechanisms ; for example, the amount and quality of food provided by parents to each nestling might affect development of immune system organs and functions and, hence, the ability of offspring to cope with parasites and pathogens. 2. The hypothesis that parental feeding effort, food quality and brood size affect immunocompetence of nestlings was tested for the first time in the barn swallow, Hirundo rustica, Linnaeus. 3. The intensity of T-lymphocyte cell-mediated immune responsiveness was evaluated after intradermal inoculation of a lectin (phytohaemagglutinin) in a large sample of nestlings from unmanipulated broods and broods whose size had been manipulated immediately after hatching. 4. In unmanipulated broods, immune response, body mass and body condition were correlated negatively with brood size and positively with the rate of parental feeding to each offspring. Nestlings in enlarged broods had smaller immune response and body mass, and received less food per capita than those in reduced broods. 5. Broods artificially provisioned with a food rich in proteins showed larger immune response, but not larger body mass, as compared to unprovisioned controls. 6. We conclude that T-lymphocyte cell-mediated immune response as well as body mass is influenced by the level of parental investment and brood size, perhaps via its effect on competition for food. Since T-lymphocytes are fundamental components of avian immunity, and parasites are known to affect survival of their avian hosts, our results suggest a new pathway through which rearing conditions might influence offspring survival.
Compactness and conceptual complexity of conventionalized and creative metaphors in Italian.

In many cultures, metaphors are used for describing persons, their appearance, attitudes, and personality. The use of figurative language can sometimes reflect the need to maintain standards of politeness, especially when a negative appraisal about someone's behavior, attitudes, or personality is intended. This chapter reports the results of a set of experiments concerning the use of conventionalized and innovative metaphors in persons description. Persons description provides a very interesting field for testing the compactness hypothesis proposed by Ortony. The chapter concludes that the more promising way to operationalize the notion of compactness is in terms of conceptual complexity: people tend to use fairly conventionalized metaphors for describing the behavior, personality, or appearance of someone because they allow the expression of a bundle of different properties in a condensed, single-word format. It lists acknowledgements, references, and notes. Keywords: compactness hypothesis; conceptual complexity; figurative language; metaphors
EYED CAVE FISH IN A KARST WINDOW

Caballo Moro, a karst window cave in northeastern Mexico, supports a mixed population of cave Astyanax mexicanus: eyed and eyeless. The relationships of these sub-populations to one another and to other populations of Mexican tetras were examined using RAPD DNA fingerprint markers. The eyed tetras of Caballo Moro Cave are genetically closer to blind tetras from Caballo Moro and other caves in the region than they are to eyed tetras from the surface. The two forms are not genetically identical, however, and may represent distinct sub-populations. Eyed and eyeless fish have a distributional bias in the cave, with eyed fish preferentially in the illuminated area and blind fish in the dark zone. Aggression of eyed towards blind fish in the illuminated area contributes to this bias and may serve to stabilize the eye-state polymorphism. We considered four hypotheses for the origin of Caballo Moro eyed cave fish. The RAPD data rule out that the mixed population represents a transitional stage of evolution, or that the eyed fish are unmodified surface immigrants. We cannot rule out that the eyed fish are the direct descendants of surface fish that have acquired markers from blind fish by hybridization, although the apparent distinctness of the two sub-populations suggests otherwise. An alternative hypothesis, that the eyed fish of the cave are direct descendants of blind cave fish that re-acquired eyes with the opening of the karst window, is consistent with the data and tentatively accepted.
Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics

An numerical model is presented for B-scan images of weakly-scattering,lossy media, based on ultrasound array beam patterns calculated analytically under the Fresnel approximation. Given these beam patterns and a 3D analytic or numerical tissue model, this method yields beamformed A-line signals from which B-scan images are constructed. This approach is further employed to model echo decorrelation imaging, a method for quantitatively mapping transient heat-induced changes in pulse-echo ultrasound images. In echo decorrelation imaging, a normalized decorrelation parameter is computed between A-line signals separated by milliseconds. Maps of this parameter comprise echo decorrelation images, which are potentially useful for monitoring of local tissue coagulation during thermal ablation treatments for cancer therapy. Following previous studies in which scattering cross section has been related to spatial-frequency spectra of tissue sound speed, density, and impedance variations, echo decorrelation is related quantitatively to the local decoherence of these spatial-frequency spectra. Decoherence estimates are validated by simulations employing analytic array beam patterns and random-media models for ablated tissue, and are further applied to quantify tissue structure changes caused by thermal coagulation during in-vitro radiofrequency ablation.