Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prospective evaluation of magnetic resonance imaging and physical examination findings in patients with greater trochanteric pain syndrome.

OBJECTIVE This study examined patients with greater trochanteric pain syndrome (GTPS) to determine the prevalence of gluteus medius pathology by utilizing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and to evaluate the presence of Trendelenburg's sign, pain on resisted hip abduction, and pain on resisted hip internal rotation as predictors of a gluteus medius tear in this group of patients. METHODS Twenty-four subjects with clinical features consistent with GTPS were recruited. A standard physical assessment was performed at study entry, including assessment of the 3 specific physical signs. Following this initial assessment, MRI of the affected hip was performed. A 1.5T whole body MRI system was utilized, with T1 and T2 fast spin-echo sequences performed in the coronal and axial planes. All MR images were reviewed in random order by a single radiologist. In 12 patients, the 3 physical signs were assessed at study entry and at 2 months by the same observer and the intraobserver reliability for each of the signs was calculated. RESULTS All subjects were women (median age 58 years, range 36-75 years). The median duration of symptoms was 12 months (range 12-60 months). MRI findings were as follows: 11 patients (45.8%) had a gluteus medius tear, 15 patients (62.5%) had gluteus medius tendinitis (pure tendinitis in 9 patients and tendinitis with a tear in 6 patients), 2 patients had trochanteric bursal distension, and 1 patient had avascular necrosis of the femoral head. Trendelenburg's sign was the most accurate of the 3 physical signs in predicting a tendon tear, with a sensitivity of 72.7% and a specificity of 76.9%. Moreover, Trendelenburg's sign was the most reliable measure, with a calculated intraobserver kappa of 0.676 (95% confidence interval 0.270-1.08). CONCLUSION The results support the hypothesis that gluteus medius tendon pathology is important in defining GTPS. In this series, trochanteric bursal distension was uncommon and did not occur in the absence of gluteus medius pathology. The physical findings suggest that Trendelenburg's sign is the most sensitive and specific physical sign for the detection of gluteus medius tears, with an acceptable intraobserver reliability. Further delineation with MRI, especially in patients with a positive Trendelenburg's sign, is recommended prior to any consideration of surgery in this group of patients. Finally, with the pathology of this condition defined, the challenge will be to devise and assess, by randomized controlled trial, an appropriate treatment strategy for this group of patients.
When underwater imagery analysis meets deep learning: A solution at the age of big visual data

Underwater imagery processing is in great demand, while the research is far from enough. The unrestricted natural environment makes it a challenging task. On the other hand, prior to the advent of cabled observatories, the majority of deep-sea video data was acquired by remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), and was analyzed and annotated manually. In contrast, seafloor cabled observatories such as the NEPTUNE and VENUS observatories offer a 24/7 presence, resulting in unprecedented volumes of visual data. The analysis of underwater imagery imposes a series of unique challenges, which need to be tackled by the computer vision community in collaboration with biologists and ocean scientists. In this paper, we introduce how deep learning, the state-of-the-art machine learning technique, can benefit underwater imagery understanding at the age of big data.
THE EVOLUTION OF VIRULENCE IN A PLANT VIRUS

Abstract The evolution of virulence is a rapidly growing field of research, but few reports deal with the evolution of virulence in natural populations of parasites. We present here an observational and experimental analysis of the evolution of virulence of the plant virus Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) during an epidemic on tomato in eastern Spain. Three types of CMV isolates were found that caused in tomato plants either a systemic necrosis (N isolates), stunting and a severe reduction of leaf lamina (Y isolates), or stunting and leaf curl (A isolates). These phenotypes were due to the presence of satellite RNAs (satRNAs) necrogenic (in N isolates) or attenuative (in A isolates) of the symptoms caused by CMV without satRNA (Y isolates). For these three types of isolates, parameters of virulence and transmission were estimated experimentally. For virulence the ranking of isolates was N > Y > A, for transmissibility, Y > A > N. The predictions of theoretical models for the evolution of virulence were analyzed with these parameters and compared with observations from the field. A single-infection model predicted adequately the observed long-term evolution of the CMV population to intermediate levels of virulence. A coinfection model that considered competition between isolates with an effect on transmission explained the invasion of the CMV population by N isolates at the beginning of the epidemic, and its predictions also agreed with field data on the long-term evolution of the CMV population. An important conclusion from both models was that the density of the aphid vector's population is a major factor in the evolution of CMV virulence. This may be relevant for the design of control strategies for CMV-induced diseases.
Institutional repositories, aggregator services and collection development

Institutional repositories are managed collections of the intellectual output of university and other research-based institutions. This report introduces collection development issues from two distinct perspectives. Firstly, it highlights issues that may need to be addressed by institutional repositories as OAI data providers. For example, repositories may need to make decisions on the type, quality and format of content, on submission workflows, rights management, access, sustainability and evaluation. Secondly, the report will consider similar issues from the perspective of third party service providers like ePrints UK that harvest selective metadata from institutional repositories. The concluding section will provide some recommendations on best practice for repositories to support such harvesting.
Topographic stress and rock fracture: a two‐dimensional numerical model for arbitrary topography and preliminary comparison with borehole observations

Theoretical calculations indicate that elastic stresses induced by surface topography may be large enough in some landscapes to fracture rocks, which in turn could influence slope stability, erosion rates, and bedrock hydrologic properties. These calculations typically have involved idealized topographic profiles, with few direct comparisons of predicted topographic stresses and observed fractures at specific field sites. We use a numerical model to calculate the stresses induced by measured topographic profiles and compare the calculated stress field with fractures observed in shallow boreholes. The model uses a boundary element method to calculate the stress distribution beneath an arbitrary topographic profile in the presence of ambient tectonic stress. When applied to a topographic profile across the Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory in central Pennsylvania, the model predicts where shear fractures would occur based on a Mohr–Coulomb criterion, with considerable differences in profiles of stresses with depth beneath ridgetops and valley floors. We calculate the minimum cohesion required to prevent shear failure, Cmin, as a proxy for the potential for fracturing or reactivation of existing fractures. We compare depth profiles of Cmin with structural analyses of image logs from four boreholes located on the valley floor, and find that fracture abundance declines sharply with depth in the uppermost 15 m of the bedrock, consistent with the modeled profile of Cmin. In contrast, Cmin increases with depth at comparable depths below ridgetops, suggesting that ridgetop fracture abundance patterns may differ if topographic stresses are indeed important. Thus, the present results are consistent with the hypothesis that topography can influence subsurface rock fracture patterns and provide a basis for further observational tests. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Community Effort in Online Groups: Who Does the Work and Why?

As in any social organization, people need to invest effort in the health of their online groups. Listservs and other such groups need people to maintain the technology infrastructure, carry out social management tasks, and recruit new members. Members must read and contribute to discussion. Here, we ask why people do this. In many online groups, preexisting social ties and material benefits for contributions are weak or nonexistent. In this chapter, we consider how the formal leadership role, personal and community benefits, and community characteristics influence the effort members put into helping their online groups. Results from a survey of Internet listserv owners and other members suggest that though owners, who have a formal leadership role, do more of the effortful community building work than do regular members, other members also take on some of the work. Moreover, members who value different benefits are likely to contribute to the development on an online community in different ways.
An RGB-D based Augmented Reality 3D Reconstruction System for Robotic Environmental Inspection of Radioactive Areas

Preparing human intervention in hazardous, unknown and unstructured environments is a difficult task. The intervention should focus on the optimization of the operations in order to reduce the personnel exposure to hazards. Optimizing these operations is not always possible, due to a lack of information about the intervention environment: such information can be collected through a robotic inspection before the preparation of the intervention. The data collected during this inspection, such as radiation, temperature and oxygen level, must be accurate and precisely positioned in the environment in order to optimize the humans approaching path and their stay in the intervention area. In this paper we present a robotic system for collecting physical quantities, precisely positioned in the environment, which is easy to use by the robot operator and it is seamlessly integrated in the robot control. The operator is helped by the system in finding the most dangerous zones, which collects all the sensor readings while building a 3D model of the environment. Preliminary results are presented using CERN’s accelerators facilities as testing area.
Type 1 (insulin‐dependent) versus Type 2 (non‐insulin‐dependent) diabetes mellitus: characterization of serum lipoprotein alterations

Abstract. Serum lipoprotein lipids and apolipoproteins A‐I, B, and E were investigated in Type 1 (insulin‐dependent) diabetics, Type 2 (non‐insulin‐dependent) diabetics, and two control groups, twenty subjects each. Lipoproteins were separated and analysed by common methods, apolipoproteins were measured by endpoint immunonephelometry. Compared with controls, Type 2 diabetics had increased serum apolipo‐protein E levels (0·116 pL 0·020 vs. 0·079 pL 0·014 g l‐1, P < 0·01) together with an increased content of cholesteryl ester‐enriched very low‐density lipoproteins. Furthermore, Type 2 diabetics had higher apolipoprotein B concentrations (1·06 pL 0·21 vs. 0·85 pL 0·21 g l‐1P < 0·01), but lower high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations than the controls. Conversely, Type 1 diabetics had elevated serum apolipoprotein A‐I values vs. controls and Type 2 diabetics (1·70 pL 0·33 vs. 1·49 pL 0·22 and 1·43 pL 0·21 g l‐1, P < 0·01). It is concluded that Type 2 diabetics, like other groups at risk for atherosclerotic diseases, are characterized by an increased concentration of partly catabolized very low‐density lipoproteins. Sufficiently insulinized Type 1 diabetics have, on the other hand, an increased number of high‐density lipoprotein particles.
[Linkage of familial combined hyperlipidemia to chromosome 1q21-23 in Chinese and German families].

OBJECTIVE To examine familial combined hyperlipidemia (FCHL) families from nonisolated regions in China and Germany to see if we could corroborate support for a chromosome 1q FCHL locus in more general populations. METHODS We recruited 24 German families with 133 members and 12 Chinese families with a total of 81 members in China. The markers ApoA2, D1S1677, D1S104, and D1S194 were examined by multipoint linkage analysis. RESULTS Multipoint linkage analysis allowing for heterogeneity gave a maximum LOD score (HLOD) of 1.97 right over D1S194, estimating the proportion of linked families at 17%. This marker was adjacent to D1S104. The evidence for linkage was roughly the same both in the German (13%, HLOD(D1S194) = 1.08) and Chinese families (proportion of linked families 26%, HLOD(D1S194) = 0.97). CONCLUSION In the light of the relatively small numbers and the heterogeneity our populations represent, we interpret our observations as encouraging support for the recent findings indicating the presence of linkage for FCHL on chromosome 1q21-23.
Using Pattern Recognition Techniques for Server Overload Detection

One of the key factors in customer satisfaction is application performance. To be able to guarantee good performance, it is necessary to take appropriate measures before a server overload occurs. While in small systems it is usually possible to predict server overload using a subjective human expert, an automated overload prediction mechanism is important for ultra-large scale systems, such as multi-tenant Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) systems. An automated prediction mechanism would be an initial step towards self-adaptiveness of such systems, a property which leads to less human intervention during maintenance, resulting in less errors and better quality of service. In order to provide such a prediction mechanism, it is important to have a solid overload detection approach, which is (1) a first step towards automated prediction and (2) necessary for automated testing of a prediction mechanism. In this paper we propose a number of steps which help with the design and optimization of a statistical pattern classifier for server overload detection. Our approach is empirically evaluated on a synthetic dataset.
Optimal Control of Semilinear Parabolic Equations by BV-Functions

Optimal control problems for semilinear parabolic equations with control costs involving the total bounded variation seminorm are analyzed. This choice of control cost favors optimal controls which are piecewise constant and it penalizes the number of jumps. It is an appropriate choice if a simple structure of the optimal controls is desired, which, however, is still sufficiently flexible so that good tracking properties can be maintained. Existence of optimal controls, necessary and sufficient optimality conditions, and sparsity properties of the derivatives are obtained. Convergence of a finite element approximation is analyzed and numerical examples illustrating structural properties of the optimal controls are provided.
Complex Systems, International Capital Flows and New 'Learning' Business Models for the Credit Rating Agency Industry

Rating agencies are prone to various problems that arise from their regulation and the methods by which they are compensated . Ratings Agencies often actively participate in the structuring of securities, instead of passively rating securities – this represents a major conflict of interest – the conduct of ratings agencies in the ratings process meets the definition of "underwriter". The International Organization of Securities Commissions has issued statements and proposed codes for Credit rating Agencies. The European Commission has also debated regulation of Credit Rating Agencies. This Chapter introduces some solutions to the conflicts of interest inherent in rating agencies.
Transport Layer Security (TLS) Session Hash and Extended Master Secret Extension

The Transport Layer Security (TLS) master secret is not cryptographically bound to important session parameters such as the server certificate. Consequently, it is possible for an active attacker to set up two sessions, one with a client and another with a server, such that the master secrets on the two sessions are the same. Thereafter, any mechanism that relies on the master secret for authentication, including session resumption, becomes vulnerable to a man-in-the-middle attack, where the attacker can simply forward messages back and forth between the client and server. This specification defines a TLS extension that contextually binds the master secret to a log of the full handshake that computes it, thus preventing such attacks.
An Extended Performance Reporting Framework for the Italian Healthcare Industry

Recent accounting scandals in the private and public sectors have drawn increasing attention to the shortcomings of traditional financial reporting. In an attempt to respond to these limitations, various reporting frameworks have been developed. The paper proposes a comprehensive Extended Performance Reporting (EPR) framework which integrates three different approaches, namely Intellectual Capital (IC), Balanced Scorecard (BSC) and Social and Environmental Reporting (SER). Further, this research study argues that there is a need for such an EPR framework to address industry-specific variables; in fact, most of the literature on EPR tends to be of a generalized nature and does not address specific organisational or industry-related issues.Thus, the paper develops a 'prototype' EPR framework for the Italian healthcare industry, by reviewing the different kinds of documents issued by organisations and governments and identifying the specific issues and objectives related to Italian healthcare industry.The proposed healthcare EPR framework is useful for healthcare organisations in order to consolidate and integrate SER, ICR and BSC within a comprehensive model of EPR. At the same time pilot studies in different kind of organisations within the Italian healthcare system (Public and Private Hospitals, Local Healthcare Units) are required in order to identify and test the metrics suitable for monitoring the elements included in the proposed framework.
Inhibition of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 and 2 Infection by Peptide-1 Derivatized Dendrimers 2 3

1 Department of Public Health and Microbiology, University of Turin, Turin; 2 Spider Biotech S.r. l. , 7 Colleretto Giacosa, Turin, Italy. 8 9 10 Running title: Inhibition of HSV attachment by new peptide dendrimers 11 12
Decision making for distribution centres location in CEP sector: a case study

Abstract This study aims to suggest critical factors to support the decision making about the continuity/closing of a distribution Centre in the CEP (Courrier, Express and Parcel) sector according to location analysis. To reach this, a qualitative approach with a case study about a CEP Portuguese company is presented. Beyond personal interviews with the CEO of the company’s operations management a set of data were collected from company’s internal documents, publications, reports and studies of the CEP sector. The data analysis shows that the Distribution Centre (DC) in question presents a more positive performance than others when compared with the global DC network, so it should continue with its operations. These findings suggest also that CEO’s of CEP Sector need to pay attention to a set of critical factors in the decision making about the best choice to a DC location. The qualitative analysis engages the following factors suggested by the literature review: proximity to the customers, distribution costs, and implementation costs. The results support also the necessity to identify other critical factors of multiple levels to help in the decision of a DC location. There is a lack of researches that include a qualitative approach on choice of a DC location and in particular about CEP sector. This research can be seen as a further step to provide an alternative approach to the study and development of the enterprises decision making on DC location.
The conformal manifold in 2 d N = ( 2 , 2 ) SCFTs

The space of conformal field theories admits a Riemannian-manifold-like structure. Often, especially when there is supersymmetry involved, the manifold has more structure: complex and Kähler structures arise in well-studied examples. Simultaneously, a technique called localization has been used to compute quantities on the conformal manifold exactly (non-perturbatively). In this paper, we review these results in the two-dimensional N = (2, 2) case, providing more complete versions of proofs that exist in the literature.
Reducing livestock emissions from cattle farming Mini-paper-Opportunities to reduce emissions in dairy cattle by animal breeding

Dairy cattle farming significantly contributes to environmental emissions of methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and ammonia (NH3). Reduction targets defined by governments and/or production chain partners are likely to create incentives for cattle producers to reduce emissions at farm level, especially in situations with increasing total milk production. One option to reduce emissions is to improve production efficiency. Higher gross efficiency (converting feed into product) reduces emissions in two ways: (1) higher milk yield generally dilutes the maintenance cost of the productive animals and (2) total milk production can be achieved with fewer higher yielding animals and their followers (Wall et al., 2010b). Although dairy farmers hardly considered emission levels in the past, efficiency improvements did also result in largely reduced emissions per kg of product (e.g., Genesis Faraday, 2008; Capper et al., 2009). These efficiency improvements have been the result of improved herd management as well as genetic selection. With the ongoing efforts of dairy breeders to select for improved economic efficiency, emissions are expected to reduce further. This is illustrated by simulation studies predicting that current breeding programmes in the UK and Australia reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 0.6-0.9%/year (Bell et al., 2013 and 2015). With emerging incentives to reduce emissions, breeding strategies that also explicitly consider emissions may better suit future production situations (Berry, 2013). More information on optimising breeding opportunities to reduce emissions will facilitate economical farming while meeting environmental demands. The aim of this paper is therefore to discuss opportunities for animal breeding strategies to further reduce CH4, N2O and NH3 emissions in dairy cattle.
Tracking uncertain moving objects using dynamic track management in Multiple Hypothesis Tracking

Laser range finder (LRF) has been widely used for detecting and tracking moving objects. In autonomous navigation, LRF provides reliable data of moving objects surrounding the vehicle for obstacle avoidance. Data association is a crucial process for a successful moving objects tracking. In urban area, objects tend to move in various directions, thus increasing the possibility of incorrect data associations. In this paper, a reliable dynamic track management (DTM) based on Multiple Hypothesis Tracking (MHT) method is proposed. The Interacting Multiple Model (IMM) with Kalman filter provides extra information for track management process which increases the performance of data association. Simulations and real time experiment were conducted to evaluate the proposed track management in various scenarios to deal with the creation of new track, track deletion and detection of cross track. The results suggested that the proposed method produced acceptable results, reflecting the accuracy of object identification for all moving objects in all tested scenarios.