Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Wideband microwave imaging system for brain injury diagnosis

I Publications during candidature.IV Publications included in this thesis . VIII Acknowledgements.XVI List of Figures . XXIII List of Tables. XXXII List of Abbreviations.XXXIII Chapter 1 Introduction. 1 1.1 Background and Motivation . 1 1.2 Wideband Microwave Imaging – Advantages and Applications . 2 1.3 Aim of the Thesis.3 1.4 Original Contributions of the Thesis . 3 1.5 Thesis Organization . 5 Chapter 2 Overview of the Microwave-based Systems for Head Imaging . 7 2.1 Existing Brain Injury Diagnosis Techniques and Limitations . 7 2.2 Existing Microwave-based Head Imaging Systems . 8 2.2.1 Microwave Tomography Imaging . 10 2.2.2 Wideband Microwave Imaging.11 2.3 Challenges of Wideband Microwave Imaging . 12 2.4 Conclusion . 14 Chapter 3 Compact Wideband Antennas for Microwave Imaging Systems . 15 3.1 Challenges of Designing an Effective Antenna for Head Imaging Systems and Literature Review.15 3.2 Utilization of Plane of Symmetry and Compact Omni-directional Antennas.17 3.2.1 Boundary Conditions in a Typical Symmetrical Dipole Antenna . 17 3.2.2 Performance Enhancement of Monopole Antennas.21 3.2.3 Characteristic Mode Analysis . 23 3.2.3.1 Eigenvalue Analysis.23 3.2.3.2 Modal Significance Analysis.25 3.2.3.3 Characteristic Angle Analysis . 26 3.2.3.4 Eigencurrent Analysis.27 3.2.3.5 Correlation between eigencurrents and radiation patterns . 29
Impact of Tobacco Smoking on Outcomes of Radiotherapy: A Narrative Review

The carcinogenic role of tobacco smoking is well recognized, but the detrimental effects of continued smoking after a cancer diagnosis have been underestimated. Radiotherapy is among the main treatment modalities for cancer. We reviewed the literature data concerning the impact of tobacco smoking on treatment outcomes in radiotherapy-managed patients with various malignancies. Most of the analyzed studies demonstrated the detrimental effect of smoking on overall survival, tumor control, quality of life, treatment toxicity, and the incidence of second primary malignancies. Healthcare professionals should use the cancer diagnosis and treatment as a teachable moment and recommend their patients to immediately cease smoking. Wherever possible, cancer patients should undergo an intensive smoking-cessation program, including behavioral and pharmacologic therapy.
An analytical approximation formula for European option prices under a liquidity-adjusted non-affine stochastic volatility model

In this paper, we investigate the pricing of European options under a liquidity-adjusted non-affine stochastic volatility model. An analytical European option pricing formula is successfully derived with the COS method, based on an approximation for the characteristic function of the underlying log-asset price. Numerical analysis reveals that our results are very efficient and of reasonable accuracy, and we also present some sensitivity analysis to demonstrate the effects of different parameters on option prices.
Mixed-modulated linear frequency modulated radar-communications

Increasing congestion of the electromagnetic spectrum has spurred investigation into approaches that provide more efficient spectrum use. While many approaches focus on some type of orthogonality in time, frequency, or coding, another less explored option is mixed modulation of two complementary signals through intentional modulation of pulse. This study discusses intentional modulation of a linear frequency modulated (LFM) chirp radar pulse with a communications signal in order to conduct complementary activities with a combined signal. In order to reduce cross-interference between the signals, the communications message employs spread-spectrum encoding (binary M-sequences) and new modulation scheme with reduced phase change to modulate the LFM waveform. Preferred pair of M-sequences exhibit excellent auto-correlation and low cross-correlation properties that lend themselves to simultaneous transmission of channelised communication signals. The proposed approach is to modulate a radar signal with preferred pair M-sequences using binary reduced phase shift keying modulation that provides a low throughput, communications signal that could be used for administrative or navigation purposes. To measure effect on radar performance, comparison of the radar ambiguity function for the LFM signal is contrasted with combined radar-communication signal.
LONGL-Net: temporal correlation structure guided deep learning model to predict longitudinal age-related macular degeneration severity

Abstract Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the principal cause of blindness in developed countries, and its prevalence will increase to 288 million people in 2040. Therefore, automated grading and prediction methods can be highly beneficial for recognizing susceptible subjects to late-AMD and enabling clinicians to start preventive actions for them. Clinically, AMD severity is quantified by Color Fundus Photographs (CFP) of the retina, and many machine-learning-based methods are proposed for grading AMD severity. However, few models were developed to predict the longitudinal progression status, i.e. predicting future late-AMD risk based on the current CFP, which is more clinically interesting. In this paper, we propose a new deep-learning-based classification model (LONGL-Net) that can simultaneously grade the current CFP and predict the longitudinal outcome, i.e. whether the subject will be in late-AMD in the future time-point. We design a new temporal-correlation-structure-guided Generative Adversarial Network model that learns the interrelations of temporal changes in CFPs in consecutive time-points and provides interpretability for the classifier's decisions by forecasting AMD symptoms in the future CFPs. We used about 30,000 CFP images from 4,628 participants in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study. Our classifier showed average 0.905 (95% CI: 0.886–0.922) AUC and 0.762 (95% CI: 0.733–0.792) accuracy on the 3-class classification problem of simultaneously grading current time-point's AMD condition and predicting late AMD progression of subjects in the future time-point. We further validated our model on the UK Biobank dataset, where our model showed average 0.905 accuracy and 0.797 sensitivity in grading 300 CFP images.
Attitudes, Security, and Perceived Ease of Use Influence The Consumers' Decision to Use An E-payment System

This study aims to verify a complete model of customers' intention to utilise an electronic payment system (EPS). It employs the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with constructs of efficiency, convenience, security, trust, and traceability. Structural equation modelling (SEM) is employed to build a prediction model of attitudes toward the EPS. Individuals' attitudes and intentions to use EPS, which merges card, internet, and mobile banking, were gathered and evaluated using several criteria modified from TAM via web-based online survey questions. According to the findings, customers' attitudes, security, and perceived utility are significant antecedents to their propensity to use EPS. Furthermore, the mediation study reveals that perceived ease of use mediates the relationship between efficiency and perceived usefulness. As a result, the findings imply that while building EPS to promote customers' desire to use cards, the internet and mobile banking must consider factors such as attitude, security, and perceived ease of use.
Exercise Electrocardiogram Testing in Asymptomatic Patients with Diabetes and Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction

Objectives: The main objective of the study is to find the exercise electrocardiogram testing in asymptomatic patient with Type-II diabetes and left ventricular diastolic dysfunction. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was conducted Fatima Jinnah Hospital, Lahore during January 2019 to November 2019. The data was collected from 50 patients of type II DM. These all patients has normal electrocardiogram (ECG) and normal systolic function. Results: The data was collected from 50 patients of both genders. The mean age of the patients was 47.83±5.61 years. After getting data the results were divided into two parts. There were 25 patients in group A and 25 patients group B. The mean duration of diabetes is 2.5±5.61 years. There were 20 males and 30 females in this data. There were no significant difference of fasting blood sugar in both groups. There was no statically significant difference between two groups regarding left atrial dimension, aortic root dimension, LV end-diastolic dimension, ejection and LV mass. Conclusion: It is concluded that It is concluded that coronary supply route sicknesses is a typical issue in DM, with diastolic brokenness and increment uniquely in patients with positive pressure practice electrocardiography.
New series parallel switched multilevel inverter for a three phase induction motor

The paper develops a new topology for a three phase multilevel inverter with a view to reduce the number of switches in the path of the current. It encompasses a mechanism to reach the desired target voltage and in turn enable the three phase induction motor to operate at the specified speed. The formulation incorporates the theory of an appropriate pulse width modulation strategy to ensure the elimination of higher frequency components of the output voltage. The use of relatively smaller number of carriers in the process of generating the switching pulses serves to enhance the output voltage spectrum. The intriguing merits of the phase disposition over the other modulation schemes enable to arrive at a nearly sinusoidal voltage. The performance obtained from the prototype substantiate the MATLAB based simulation results and establish the ability of the series parallel switched multilevel inverter topology to offer an improved performance for the induction motor.
Vitamin B12 Testing in People With Suspected Vitamin B12 Deficiency

Findings from 3 diagnostic accuracy studies indicate that individual tests are insufficient to diagnose vitamin B12 deficiency, and a testing strategy that uses homocysteine and methylmalonic acid should be used in individuals suspected or at risk of vitamin B12 deficiency. This is supported by a health technology assessment that concluded that the current evidence does not provide enough information to determine the most appropriate test, or combination of tests to use in these patients. The patient populations varied in the primary studies included in the systematic reviews and in the primary studies identified in this review, which may impact the generalizability of the results. Reference standards and cut-off values (i.e., thresholds) used to diagnose vitamin B12 deficiency varied in the primary studies. Presentation of units (e.g., pg/mL, pmol/L) also varied, making it difficult to compare results across studies. No studies were identified that evaluated the clinical utility of vitamin B12 testing in people with suspected vitamin B12 deficiency. No studies were identified that evaluated the cost-effectiveness of vitamin B12 testing in people with suspected vitamin B12 deficiency. No evidence-based guidelines were identified regarding the use of vitamin B12 testing in people with suspected vitamin B12 deficiency.
A Deep-Learning-Powered Near-Real-Time Detection of Railway Track Major Components: A Two-Stage Computer-Vision-Based Method

A deep-learning-powered two-stage method for automating the inspection of railway track major components is developed in this article. Rails and two types of fasteners: 1) bolts and 2) clippers, are considered as major targeted objects in this study. Based on railway images, the developed method realizes the accurate railway track inspection via two stages: 1) the initial detection and 2) the detection calibration. At stage I, a squeeze and excitation participated YOLOv3 model is developed to generate initial detection results. A domain-logic-based hybrid model (DLHM) developed with the domain knowledge is introduced to enhance the detection performance at stage II. The DLHM consists of two modules: 1) a module for the problematic region calibration and 2) another module for the symmetric region calibration. The developed DLHM offers a high probability on inspecting overlooked or misclassified interested objects generated from stage I. The effectiveness of the proposed method for detecting railway tracks is validated with field collected railway images. An overall 95.2% mAP can be achieved via the proposed method. Four state-of-the-art deep-learning-based methods are considered as benchmarks to verify advantages of the proposed method. Via a deep comparative analytics, we show that the proposed method offers a state-of-the-art performance in the railway track major component inspection task.
Relationship Between ABO Blood Group and the Risk of Colorectal Cancer: A Retrospective Multicenter Study

Background Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the fourth deadliest cancer, with approximately 900,000 deaths annually. CRC is a multifactorial disease in which a set of factors, including environmental, hereditary, and genetic factors, are integrated into cancer development. Studies have suggested an association between hereditary antigens in the human blood group system and the risk of different cancers. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between blood groups and CRC risk. Methods A record-based retrospective study was performed between January 2017 and August 2021. This study targeted patients diagnosed with CRC during the study period. Data of patients who agreed to participate were collected using a pre-structured checklist. The extracted data included patients’ demographic blood groups and risk factors, including history of inflammatory bowel disease or CRC. Results A total of 199 patients, aged 22 to 96 years (mean age: 61.6 ± 14.7 years), were included. The blood groups of 101 (50.8%), 59 (29.6%), 26 (13.1%), and 13 (6.5%) patients were O, A, B, and AB, respectively. Colon cancer was the most frequently reported cancer (155/199, 77.9%) across all blood groups and showed the highest frequency among patients with blood group O (74/155, 47.7%), without statistical significance (P = 0.111). Conclusion Our study showed a statistically significant relationship between AB and non-O blood types and colon cancer compared to the O blood group.
Automatic Command Mode Transition Strategy of Direct Power Control for PMSG MV Offshore Wind Turbines

In this study, an automatic command mode transition strategy of direct power control (DPC) is proposed for permanent magnet synchronous generators (PMSGs) medium-voltage (MV) offshore wind turbines (WTs). Benchmarking against the control methods are performed based on a three-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) back-to-back type voltage source converter (VSC). The ramping rate criterion of complex power is utilized to select the switching vector in DPC for a three-level NPC converter. With a grid command and an MPPT mode transition strategy, the proposed control method automatically controls the generated output power to satisfy a grid requirement from the hierarchical wind farm controller. The automatic command mode transition strategy of DPC is confirmed through PLECS simulations based on Matlab. The simulation result of the automatic mode transition strategy shows that the proposed control method of VOC and DPC achieves a much shorter transient time of generated output power than the conventional control methods of MPPT and VOC under a step response. The proposed control method helps provide a good dynamic performance for PMSGs MV offshore WTs, thereby generating high quality output power.
In vitro induced pluripotency from urine-derived cells in porcine

BACKGROUND The generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) has been a game-changer in translational and regenerative medicine; however, their large-scale applicability is still hampered by the scarcity of accessible, safe, and reproducible protocols. The porcine model is a large biomedical model that enables translational applications, including gene editing, long term in vivo and offspring analysis; therefore, suitable for both medicine and animal production. AIM To reprogramme in vitro into pluripotency, and herein urine-derived cells (UDCs) were isolated from porcine urine. METHODS The UDCs were reprogrammed in vitro using human or murine octamer-binding transcription factor 4 (OCT4), SRY-box2 (SOX2), Kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF4), and C-MYC, and cultured with basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) supplementation. To characterize the putative porcine iPSCs three clonal lineages were submitted to immunocytochemistry for alkaline phosphatase (AP), OCT4, SOX2, NANOG, TRA1 81 and SSEA 1 detection. Endogenous transcripts related to the pluripotency (OCT4, SOX2 and NANOG) were analyzed via reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in different time points during the culture, and all three lineages formed embryoid bodies (EBs) when cultured in suspension without bFGF supplementation. RESULTS The UDCs were isolated from swine urine samples and when at passage 2 submitted to in vitro reprogramming. Colonies of putative iPSCs were obtained only from UDCs transduced with the murine factors (mOSKM), but not from human factors (hOSKM). Three clonal lineages were isolated and further cultured for at least 28 passages, all the lineages were positive for AP detection, the OCT4, SOX2, NANOG markers, albeit the immunocytochemical analysis also revealed heterogeneous phenotypic profiles among lineages and passages for NANOG and SSEA1, similar results were observed in the abundance of the endogenous transcripts related to pluripotent state. All the clonal lineages when cultured in suspension without bFGF were able to form EBs expressing ectoderm and mesoderm layers transcripts. CONCLUSION For the first time UDCs were isolated in the swine model and reprogrammed into a pluripotent-like state, enabling new numerous applications in both human or veterinary regenerative medicine.
“The Ugliness of It Seeps into Me”: Experiences of Vicarious Trauma among Female Psychologists Treating Survivors of Sexual Assault

The current study explores the lived experiences of female psychologists who provide psychological treatment to women survivors of sexual assault. These practitioners are a population of special interest due to the frequency of their exposure to narratives and graphic images of sexual trauma. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 female South African psychologists. The data, which were analyzed using an interpretative phenomenological approach, revealed experiences characteristic of vicarious traumatization. Participants reported having an enhanced sense of personal vulnerability to sexual assault and heightened awareness of the betrayals of trust that women experience from male figures, which has led to increased mistrust of men and hypervigilance regarding the safety of their daughters. Internalization of feelings of helplessness experienced by the victim evoked self-blame for practitioners and appraisals of being complicit in abuse. Practitioners also experienced survivor guilt about being spared from harm. Symptoms of intrusive re-experiencing of client trauma and cognitive and behavioral disengagement were evident. These findings have important implications for clinical practice and underscore the necessity for clinicians to cultivate an awareness of the impact of treating sexual trauma and working in ways that are self-protective.
Selective Formation of Intramolecular Hydrogen-Bonding Palladium(II) Complexes with Nucleosides Using Unsymmetrical Tridentate Ligands

Three palladium(II) complexes with amino-amidato-phenolato-type tridentate ligands were synthesized and characterized by 1H NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. The strategic arrangement of a hydrogen-bond donor and acceptor adjacent to the substitution site of the PdII complex allowed the selective coordination of nucleosides. Among two pyrimidine-nucleosides, cytidine and 5-methyluridine, cytidine was successfully coordinated to the PdII complex while 5-methyluridne was not. On the other hand, both purine-nucleosides, adenosine and guanosine, were coordinated to the PdII complex. As purines have several coordination sites, adenosine afforded three kinds of coordination isomers expected from the three different donors. However, guanosine afforded a sole product according to the ligand design such that the formation of double intramolecular hydrogen-bond strongly induced the specific coordination by N1-position of guanine moiety. Furthermore, the preference of the nucleosides was evaluated by scrambling reactions. It was found that the preference of guanosine is nearly twice as high as adenosine and cytidine, owing to the three-point interaction of a coordination bond and two hydrogen bonds. These results show that the combination of a coordination and hydrogen bonds, which is reminiscent of the Watson–Crick base pairing, is an effective tool for the precise recognition of nucleosides.
Extreme mechanics of colloidal polymers under compression: Buckling, creep, and break-up

Self-assembling patchy colloidal particles form a promising platform to create designer soft materials. To dress such systems with mechanical functionality, one can take inspiration from biological structures such as the cell’s cytoskeleton, which consists of semiﬂexible ﬁlaments, whose mechanical behavior give the cell its unique mechanical properties. Here we present mechanical experiments on analogs of biological ﬁbers, semiﬂexible “colloidal polymers” made from bonded patchy colloidal particles. We use optical tweezers to probe their extreme mechanics under increasingly high compressions and we reveal a rich nonlinear mechanical response involving buckling, viscoelastic creep, and ultimately break-up. We characterize and model this response using elastic and viscoelastic models involving Euler buckling and stress relaxation. This allows us to identify the critical Euler buckling force, and relate the critical bending at break-up to the ﬁnite patch size of the colloids. These results demonstrate the crucial role of the patch-patch interactions in the mechanics of self-assembled colloidal materials, and they provide mechanical relationships that are essential to design functional colloidal architectures inspired by nature.