Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
3-D geometry calibration and markerless electromagnetic tracking with a mobile C-arm

The design of mobile X-ray C-arm equipment with image tomography and surgical guidance capabilities involves the retrieval of repeatable gantry positioning in three-dimensional space. Geometry misrepresentations can cause degradation of the reconstruction results with the appearance of blurred edges, image artifacts, and even false structures. It may also amplify surgical instrument tracking errors leading to improper implant placement. In our prior publications we have proposed a C-arm 3D positioner calibration method comprising separate intrinsic and extrinsic geometry calibration steps. Following this approach, in the present paper, we extend the intrinsic geometry calibration of C-gantry beyond angular positions in the orbital plane into angular positions on a unit sphere of isocentric rotation. Our method makes deployment of markerless interventional tool guidance with use of high-resolution fluoro images and electromagnetic tracking feasible at any angular position of the tube-detector assembly. Variations of the intrinsic parameters associated with C-arm motion are measured off-line as functions of orbital and lateral angles. The proposed calibration procedure provides better accuracy, and prevents unnecessary workflow steps for surgical navigation applications. With a slight modification, the Misalignment phantom, a tool for intrinsic geometry calibration, is also utilized to obtain an accurate 'image-to-sensor' mapping. We show simulation results, image quality and navigation accuracy estimates, and feasibility data acquired with the prototype system. The experimental results show the potential of high-resolution CT imaging (voxel size below 0.5 mm) and confident navigation in an interventional surgery setting with a mobile C-arm.
Impact of the Supramolecular Organisation of Pyrene – Quinoline Conjugates on their Interaction with ds – DNA

Two novel pyrene – quinoline conjugates differing in the linker flexibility between aryls were prepared. In comparison with referent pyrene derivative, both conjugates showed intramolecular pyrene – quinoline stacking in aqueous medium, much more efficient for rigid conjugate. Consequently, only rigid conjugate showed excimer fluorescence with exceptionally strong bathochromic shift (+ 55 nm) of emission maximum in respect to referent pyrene analogue and flexible conjugate. All studied compounds showed similar, 10 μmol dm−3 affinity toward ds – DNA, characterised in general by fluorescence quenching. The flexible conjugate showed at large excess of DNA over dye formation of pyrene – quinoline excimer, while rigid conjugate retained excimer emission throughout all DNA concentrations. Lack of significant thermal stabilisation of ds – DNA by studied compounds and minor changes in CD spectrum of DNA supported non – specific agglomeration of both conjugates and referent pyrene analogue within hydrophobic DNA grooves as the dominant binding mode.
Improving the ergonomics of hand tracking inputs to VR HMDs

This study improves the ergonomics of using the Leap Motion hand tracking device with an Oculus Rift. The improvements were realised through the use of a 3D printed mount that angled the Leap Motion down by 30 degrees. This allowed for users to interact with a virtual environment in which their arms may be held in a biomechanically less stressful location, rather than up and in front of their face. To validate the configuration, 15 participants completed a specially designed task which involved pressing virtual buttons in a given location. The button pressing task was performed in three configurations that compared the angled mount against the standard forward facing mount. Results indicate that the angled mount eliminates tracking loses, whilst producing comparable accuracy against the control condition and allowing the participant to interact in a more natural arm posture.
A New Class of First Order Displacement Convex Functionals

New displacement convex functionals on $S^1$ are presented, and a novel Eulerian extension of the Otto calculus is developed. The proof of the displacement convexity of these functionals relies on this Eulerian calculus, which extends the Otto calculus from a purely Riemannian setting to general Lagrangians and provides a systematic way to compute displacement Hessians of functionals involving derivatives of densities. This resolves, in the special cases of $\mathbb{R}$ and $S^1$, a problem posed by Villani in Open Problem 15.11 of [Optimal Transport: Old and New, Grundlehren Math. Wiss. 338, Springer, Berlin, 2009].
USE OF PGF 2 α IN OVARIAN AND UTERINE PATHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF BOVINE : A THERAPEUTIC APPROACH

The use of PGF 2α is based on its luteolytic effect causing regression of corpus luteum and allows development of dominant follicle on the ovary that result in estrus and ovulation in 72 to 96 hours after its administration. Moreover, the PGF 2α also causes relaxation of cervix and smooth muscle contractions of uterus. The use of PGF 2α may provide microbial resistance in uterine environment, on one hand and can favour and enhance body defense mechanism / phagocytic activity on the other hand. PGF 2α is widely used to get rid of from the conditions like luteal cystic ovarian disease, persistent corpus luteum, endometritis, abnormal pregnancy, pyometra, retention of placenta and mummification. It has been now in vogue to administer PGF 2α or its analogue in early postpartum cows and buffaloes in order to hasten early resumption of cyclic ovarian activity and thereby to increase the reproductive efficiency.
A method to quantify genotoxicity of malathion in rainbow trout using the weighted averaging

Abstract DNA breakage has been frequently used as a biomarker of the pesticide toxicity. The present study introduced a method to quantify the DNA breakage in Oncorhynchus mykiss exposed to the pesticide malathion. Specimens were exposed to different concentrations of malathion for 1–9 days and their gill and liver were sampled. DNA was extracted and electrophoresed using agarose gel. The pixel density curves were obtained from the gel smears. The area under the curves was arbitrarily divided from three up to seven segments using a Java macro in the software ImageJ. Some weighted averaging methods were used to calculate DNA breakage in each gel lane. Akaike information criterion (AIC) was used to find the best analysis of variance. The liver was more sensitive than the gill showing a larger number of significant differences among the specimens exposed to various concentrations of malathion. The geometric weighted averaging on the data extracted from the seven-segment pixel density curve resulted to the lowest AIC. The double-strand DNA breakage of O. mykiss was able to detect malathion in freshwater in concentrations over 0.05 mg L−1.
The Condition Number of Join Decompositions

The join set of a finite collection of smooth embedded submanifolds of a mutual vector space is defined as their Minkowski sum. Join decompositions generalize some ubiquitous decompositions in multilinear algebra, namely tensor rank, Waring, partially symmetric rank and block term decompositions. This paper examines the numerical sensitivity of join decompositions to perturbations; specifically, we consider the condition number for general join decompositions. It is characterized as a distance to a set of ill-posed points in a supplementary product of Grassmannians. We prove that this condition number can be computed efficiently as the smallest singular value of an auxiliary matrix. For some special join sets, we characterized the behavior of sequences in the join set converging to the latter's boundary points. Finally, we specialize our discussion to the tensor rank and Waring decompositions and provide several numerical experiments confirming the key results.
Taxonomy and Notation of Spatialization

The SSMN Spatial Taxonomy and its symbols libraries, which are the corner stone of the Spatialization Symbolic Music Notation (SSMN) project, emanates from research into composers’ attitudes in this domain. It was conceived as the basis for the development of dedicated notation and rendering tools within the SSMN project. The taxonomy is a systematic representation of all relevant features necessary to specify sound spatiality: shape and acoustic quality of the space, structure, position and movement of sound sources. It is based on single descriptors that can be combined in order to define complex spatial configurations. Descriptors can be transformed locally and globally and can be the object of structural and behavioral operations. The SSMN Spatial Taxonomy proposes a corresponding graphic symbolic representation of descriptors, operations and other functional elements facilitating the communication of creative ideas to performers and technical assistants. This paper focuses on the presentation of the taxonomy and the symbols. Additionally it describes the workflow proposed for using symbols inside a notation software prototype developed within the project. Finally, further aspects concerning the actual and future developments of SSMN are mentioned.
Working Beyond Retirement in Europe: An Investigation of Individual and Societal Determinants Using Share

One of the solutions that could be used to resource the needs of an aging population is the encouragement of individuals to extend their working lives beyond retirement, often referred to as ‘bridge’ employment. Although previous studies provide important insights on the relationship between individual attributes and bridge employment, there is scant research on the extent to which differences across countries and between genders may exist and how these might be explained by economic and societal differences in the pension context. Therefore, we investigate the determinants of participation in bridge employment among male and female retirees in 16 European countries. Multilevel models are estimated based on data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe project. We found that where there is high expenditure on pensions there is a lower likelihood of retirees, particularly women, participating in bridge jobs, while strong norms that support working past retirement are positively associated with bridge employment.
Biphasic predators provide biomass subsidies in small freshwater habitats: A case study of spring and cave pools

Summary There is increasing attention on how biomass exchanges determine linkages between ecosystems. However, there is limited information on the factors determining the direction and overall magnitude of energy flow, especially in systems where primary producers are limited. In this study we compared two aquatic ecosystems (cave and spring pools) using the biomass exchanges driven by a biphasic predator, the fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra). Between 2013 and 2014, we monitored 21 fire salamander breeding sites (12 cave pools and 9 spring pools) and we quantified the larval biomass input–export. The balance between input and export was related to different abiotic and biotic variables. Salamandra salamandra larvae constituted a major component of the animal biomass in both cave and spring pools, and were the most abundant top predator. Light was the most important parameter in constraining predator biomass; biomass export was lowest in the sites that received less light. In cave pools, the biomass balance was negative, while it was positive in spring pools. Our study demonstrates that cave pools are a system with much lower productivity than springs, and their functioning strongly depends on the input of external resources. Predator occurrence may constitute a major trophic subsidy in poorly productive environments. Gradients of abiotic variables such as light incidence can constrain population size of predators and determine a large variation in their biomass balance.
Flexible Multi-Numerology Systems for 5G New Radio

The physical layer of 5G cellular communications systems is designed to achieve better flexibility in an effort to support diverse services and user requirements. OFDM waveform parameters are enriched with flexible multi-numerology structures. This paper describes the differences between Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems and new radio (NR) from the flexibility perspective. Research opportunities for multi-numerology systems are presented in a structured manner. Finally, inter-numerology interference (INI) results as a function of guard allocation and multi-numerology parameters are obtained through simulation.
Aperiodic points in $\mathbb Z^2$-subshifts

We consider the structure of aperiodic points in $\mathbb Z^2$-subshifts, and in particular the positions at which they fail to be periodic. We prove that if a $\mathbb Z^2$-subshift contains points whose smallest period is arbitrarily large, then it contains an aperiodic point. This lets us characterise the computational difficulty of deciding if an $\mathbb Z^2$-subshift of finite type contains an aperiodic point. Another consequence is that $\mathbb Z^2$-subshifts with no aperiodic point have a very strong dynamical structure and are almost topologically conjugate to some $\mathbb Z$-subshift. Finally, we use this result to characterize sets of possible slopes of periodicity for $\mathbb Z^3$-subshifts of finite type.
Prognostic value of plasma miR-638 in patients with acute myeloid leukemia

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in many human diseases including cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the plasma expression level of miR-638 and explore its prognostic significance in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to examine plasma miR-638 expression level in the participants. Then the association between plasma miR-638 and clinical features of AML was analyzed. Our results demonstrated that plasma miR-638 was significantly reduced in AML patients compared to the healthy controls, and its level was increased in patients with complete remission. In addition, plasma miR-638 has a high accurate discrimination of the blood samples from AML patients and healthy volunteers. Plasma miR-638 expression level was significantly associated with various clinicopathological parameters including blast percentage and cytogenetics. Moreover, AML patients in the low plasma miR-638 expression group suffered statistically significant worse overall survival. Taken together, plasma miR-638 might be a promising biomarker useful to improve the clinical outcome of AML.
Blending Data of FLT 3-ITD Mutation and Nucleophosmin Gene Mutations Detection Showed Significant Results in Comparison to Separate Mutation Detection in 32 Iraqi Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients

Background: FLT3-ITD mutation and NPM1 mutations dual detection has been proved to be significant in AML patients throughout the world. Objectives: this study was designed to shed light on the significance of dual detection of FLT3-ITD mutation and NPM1 mutations in Iraqi AML patients for the first time. Design and settings: this is a prospective study at a general community hospital in Baghdad (Baghdad Teaching Hospital) during the period from October 2010 till November 2011. Patients and Methods: thirty two adult AML patients were enrolled within the study, in addition to 33 healthy adult chosen randomly as control group. FLT3-ITD mutation was detected using conventional PCR, whereas NPM1 mutations were detected using single strand confirmatory polymorphism-RT-PCR. Results: about 47% of AML patients showed positive NPM1 mutations and 21.88 had FLT3ITD mutation. 42.86% of patients with FLT3-ITD mutation had in addition NPM1 mutations. Patients who had both mutations constitute 20% of all NPM1 mutated cases (3/15), (P=.097). The largest number of patients were found in group one (FLT3-ITD_ve/NPM1_ve), American Journal of Research Communication www.usa-journals.com Al-Husseinawi, et al., 2014: Vol 2(8) 88 ajrc.journal@gmail.com 40.6%, and the least number were of group four (FLT3-ITD+ve/NPM1+ve), 9.4%. Significantly the lowest mean age of adult AML patients was found in patients group two who had FLT3-ITD mutation only, (P=.021). The mean WBC count and blast cell percent was highest in patients with FLT3-ITD mutation than other groups. The mean platelet count in patients who had NPM1 mutations was significantly highest when compared to other groups, and it was significantly lowest in patients with FLT3-ITD mutations (P=.03). Finally, 3/3(100%) of patients harbor both NPM1 & FLT3-ITD mutations had not achieved complete hematological remission whereas 5/12(41.7%) of patients with NPM1 mutations only had achieved complete hematological remission, (P=.180). Conclusions: FLT3-ITD mutations had been found in 20% NPM1 mutated cases. Good prognostic parameters were found in patients who had NPM1 mutations only, whereas bad prognostic parameters were found in patients who had FLT3-ITD mutation with or without NPM1 mutations. Good prognostic implications of NPM1 mutations status are superseded in FLT3-ITD positive cases which have a consistently poor prognosis.
Illustrations and supporting texts for sound standing waves of air columns in pipes in introductory physics textbooks

In our pilot studies, we found that many introductory physics textbook illustrations with supporting text for sound standing waves of air columns in open-open, open-closed, and closed-closed pipes inhibit student understanding of sound standing wave phenomena due to student misunderstanding of how air molecules move within these pipes. Based on the construct of meaningful learning from cognitive psychology and semiotics, a quasiexperimental study was conducted to investigate the comparative effectiveness of two alternative approaches to student understanding: a traditional textbook illustration approach versus a newly designed air molecule motion illustration approach. Thirty volunteer students from introductory physics classes were randomly assigned to two groups of 15 each. Both groups were administered a presurvey. Then, group A read the air molecule motion illustration handout, and group B read a traditional textbook illustration handout; both groups were administered postsurveys. Subsequently, the procedure was reversed: group B read the air molecule motion illustration handout and group A read the traditional textbook illustration handout. This was followed by a second postsurvey along with an exit research questionnaire. The study found that the majority of students experienced meaningful learning and stated that they understood sound standing wave phenomena significantly better using the air molecule motion illustration approach. This finding provides a method for physics education researchers to design illustrations for abstract sound standing wave concepts, for publishers to improve their illustrations with supporting text, and for instructors to facilitate deeper learning in their students on sound standing waves.
The Anticancer Effect of Metformin, the Most Commonly Used Anti-Diabetes Drug

Metformin as the first line therapy for type 2 diabetes mellitus has its unique attraction for its weight loss and possible macrovascular benefit. In addition, recent accumulating epidemiological and clinical evidence suggests metformin maybe a potential anticancer medication as an adjuvant therapy or a chemoprevention given the increased prevalence of obesity and diabetes mellitus in cancer patients and the low cost and safety of the drug. Metformin may work through multiple pathways to inhibit cancer cell growth and proliferation. Epidemiological and clinical data were summarized in this review. More carefully designed longer and larger randomized controlled trials in selected cancer population in the future are needed.
Coal tar dissolution in water-miscible solvents : experimental evaluation

Coal tar, a dense nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL), is a common subsurface contaminant at sites of former manufactured gas plants. A proposed remediation technology is water-miscible solvent extraction, which requires understanding of the effect of water-miscible solvents on the solubility of coal tar. This study investigated this effect and the extent to which multicomponent coal tar could be represented as a pseudocomponent in thermodynamic modeling. The coal tar used in this study showed a predominance of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons nvith no single compound accounting for more than 4% (nvt). The bulk solubility of coal tar in water was estimated to be 16 mg/L using composition data and Raoult's law assumption for aqueous solubility
Accelerating stochastic kernel SOM

Analyzing non vectorial data has become a common trend in a number of real-life applications. Various prototype-based methods have been extended to answer this need by means of kernalization that embed data into an (implicit) Euclidean space. One drawback of those approaches is their complexity, which is commonly of order the square or the cube of the number of observations. In this paper, we propose an efficient method to reduce complexity of the stochastic kernel SOM. The results are illustrated on large datasets and compared to the standard kernel SOM. The approach has been implemented in the last version of the R package SOMbrero.
Arbeitslosigkeit und Steuerpolitik

Die Beschaftigungswirkungen von Steuersenkungen und Anderungen der Steuerprogression werden in Modellen mit Lohnverhandlungen und Effizienzlohnen untersucht. Es zeigt sich, das die betrachteten Standardmodelle die positiven Effekte einer steileren Steuerprogression uberzeichnen; Steuererhohungen, die gleichzeitig die Progression verstarken, fuhren zu sinkenden Arbeitslosenzahlen.
Ischemic segment detection using the support vector domain description

Myocardial perfusion Magnetic Resonance (MR) imaging has proven to be a powerful method to assess coronary artery diseases. The current work presents a novel approach to the analysis of registered sequences of myocardial perfusion MR images. A previously reported active appearance model (AAM) based segmentation and registration of the myocardium provided pixel-wise signal intensity curves that were analyzed using the Support Vector Domain Description (SVDD). In contrast to normal SVDD, the entire regularization path was calculated and used to calculate a generalized distance, which is used to discriminate between ischemic and healthy tissue. The results corresponded well to the ischemic segments found by assessment of the three common perfusion parameters; maximum upslope, peak and time-to-peak obtained pixel-wise.
UC Berkeley Latin American and Caribbean Law and Economics Association ( ALACDE ) Annual Papers

In recent decades, many countries around the world have institutionalized judicial councils of some sort. These institutions are designed to maintain an appropriate balance between judicial independence and accountability. However, they differ in attributes and competences across the world. Our paper has two aims. First, we provide an economic theory of the formation of judicial councils and identify some of the dimensions along which they differ. Second, we test the extent to which different designs of judicial council affect judicial quality. We find that there is little relationship between councils and quality. We also offer a positive explanation for why judicial councils nevertheless remain attractive institutions. Finally, we discuss several experiences from the perspective of our theory.
Evidence Brief : Oral Appliances for Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders

 The evidence reviewed in this brief consists of a 2015 clinical practice guideline from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine/American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine (AASM/AADSM, based on a systematic review and meta-analysis), as well as a 2015 consensus guideline co-authored by dental sleep medicine societies in Italy; 6 randomized trials of oral appliances (OAs) published since the last literature search date of the 2015 AASM/AADSM guideline and that were not already included in the guideline; a 2015 review of systematic reviews; and 8 systematic reviews/meta-analyses published in 2015/2016, two of which were focused on pediatric populations.