Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dark Spot Detection in SAR Images of Oil Spill Using Segnet

Damping Bragg scattering from the ocean surface is the basic underlying principle of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) oil slick detection, and they produce dark spots on SAR images. Dark spot detection is the first step in oil spill detection, which affects the accuracy of oil spill detection. However, some natural phenomena (such as waves, ocean currents, and low wind belts, as well as human factors) may change the backscatter intensity on the surface of the sea, resulting in uneven intensity, high noise, and blurred boundaries of oil slicks or lookalikes. In this paper, Segnet is used as a semantic segmentation model to detect dark spots in oil spill areas. The proposed method is applied to a data set of 4200 from five original SAR images of an oil spill. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated through the comparison with fully convolutional networks (FCN), an initiator of semantic segmentation models, and some other segmentation methods. It is here observed that the proposed method can not only accurately identify the dark spots in SAR images, but also show a higher robustness under high noise and fuzzy boundary conditions.
Pattern of Ametropia, Presbyopia, and Barriers to the Uptake of Spectacles in Adult Patients Attending a General Hospital in Kaduna State

Aim: The aim of the study was to assess the pattern of ametropia, presbyopia, and the barriers to the uptake of spectacles among adult patients attending Hajiya Gambo Sawaba General Hospital (HGSGH), Zaria, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: This study was a descriptive hospital-based study. The study population was selected by systematic sampling over a 3-month period (July–September, 2016). A questionnaire was administered for sociodemographic data, patients’ history, and refraction. Patients with visual acuity less than 6/12 or who required at least +1.00DS to read N8 were given spectacle prescriptions and assessed after 2 months to confirm if they purchased the spectacles. Results: Two hundred and nine patients were assessed: 124 (59.3%) females and 85 (40.7%) males. The age ranged from 18 to 75 years with a mean of 45.5. One hundred and seventy-five (83.7%) had ametropia, 100 (47.8%) had presbyopia, and patients having both were 66 (31.6%). Astigmatism was the most common ametropia, 118 (67.4%), followed by hypermetropic astigmatism 33 (18.9%) and myopia 24 (13.7%). Only 97 (46.6%) patients purchased their spectacles, and 92 of them were using their spectacles. One hundred and twelve (52.2%) patients did not buy their spectacles, with cost being most common barrier to the uptake of spectacles. Conclusion: There is a high burden of ametropia and presbyopia among patients attending HGSGH, Zaria. Cost of spectacles and ‘no felt need’ were found to affect spectacle uptake. Health information and availability of low-cost spectacles are important strategies in reducing the burden of uncorrected ametropia and presbyopia in Kaduna State.
Dose-time and Source-dependent Analysis of Intraoperative Radiotherapy-treated Seroma on Breast Cancer Cell Types: A Pilot Study

Background: Intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) is a novel approach to breast cancer (BC) treatment. Objectives: In this study, we compared the cellular and molecular effects of IORT-treated post-lumpectomy wound fluid (seroma) at the point of IOeRT versus IOxRT on the BC cell line. Methods: Immortalized human BC cell lines: MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, and MCF10 were incubated with seroma from 3 groups of patients (as a pilot study). The first group received Intraoperative electron radiation therapy (IOeRT, Boost dose=12Gy), the second one received IOeRT (Radical dose=21Gy), and the third group was prescribed Intraoperative x-ray radiation therapy (IOxRT, X-ray=20Gy). Cellular and molecular tests were used to investigate how cells are influenced by the IORT-treated seroma. Results: We evaluated the effects of dose-time and source-dependent IORT-treated seroma on BC cell lines. In this study, we observed that IOxRT-treated seroma has the most significant effects on the reduction of proliferation, induced cell cycle arrest, and apoptosis. Furthermore, inhibited migration and invasion of BC cell lines were compared to IOeRT -treated seroma. Conclusions: Although this is a pilot study, we suggest that at 24 h, the IORT (specifically IOxRT)-treated seroma may play an important protective role in the breast tumor bed, which is followed by local recurrence decreases.
Adding Theoretical Grounding to Grounded Theory: Toward Multi-Grounded Theory

The purpose of this paper is to challenge some of the cornerstones of the grounded theory approach and propose an extended and alternative approach for data analysis and theory development, which the authors call multi-grounded theory (MGT). A multi-grounded theory is not only empirically grounded; it is also grounded in other ways. Three different grounding processes are acknowledged: theoretical, empirical, and internal grounding. The authors go beyond the pure inductivist approach in GT and add the explicit use of external theories. A working procedure of theory development in MGT is presented, which can be seen as an extension of the grounded theory approach.
Hepatocellular carcinoma-derived exosomal miRNA-761 regulates the tumor microenvironment by targeting the SOCS2/JAK2/STAT3 pathway.

BACKGROUND Exosomes and exosomal microRNAs have been implicated in tumor occurrence and metastasis. Our previous study showed that microRNA-761 (miR-761) is overexpressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues and that its inhibition affects mitochondrial function and inhibits HCC metastasis. The mechanism by which exosomal miR-761 modulates the tumor microenvironment has not been elucidated. METHODS Exosomal miR-761 was detected in six cell lines. Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and transwell migration assays were performed to determine the function of exosomal miR-761 in HCC cells. The luciferase reporter assay was used to analyze miR-761 target genes in normal fibroblasts (NFs). The inhibitors AZD1480 and C188-9 were employed to determine the role of the Janus kinase 2/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (JAK2/STAT3) signaling pathway in the transformation of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). RESULTS In this study, we characterized the mechanism by which miR-761 reprogrammed the tumor microenvironment. We found that HCC-derived exosomal miR-761 was taken up by NFs. Moreover, HCC exosomes affected the tumor microenvironment by activating NFs via suppressor of cytokine signaling 2 (SOCS2) and the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway. CONCLUSIONS These results demonstrated that exosomal miR-761 modulated the tumor microenvironment via SOCS2/JAK2/STAT3 pathway-dependent activation of CAFs. Our findings may inspire new strategies for HCC prevention and therapy.
From Data and Model Levels: Improve the Performance of Few-Shot Malware Classification

Existing malware classification methods cannot handle the open-ended growth of new or unknown malware well because it only focuses on pre-defined malware classes with sufficient training data. Due to the superiority of the visualization method, some researchers use it for solving few-shot malware classification. However, the malware images generated by existing visualization methods contain insufficient semantic information. At the same time, existing few-shot models tend to converge to sharp minima resulting in poor generalization performance. By synthesizing the observations, we think that accurate and effective few-shot malware classification methods are affected by generated malware images and classification models, which can be called data and model levels, respectively. To solve the above problems, we propose a novel method from the Data and Model levels, which is used to classify new or unknown malware well, called DMMal. More specifically, we propose a multi-channel malware image generation method based on multi-view so that malware images can contain more prosperous information at the data level. In addition, we investigated adaptive sharpness-aware minimization in a few-shot scenario from the perspective of model optimization at the model level to minimize the loss value and sharpness simultaneously. This enhances the generalization ability of the model and improves the ability of the model to classify new or unknown classes. Experiments on two few-shot malware classification datasets show that the method proposed can improve the performance of few-shot malware classification from the data and model levels.
LAPROSCOPIC CHOLECYSTECTOMY AND RELATED COMPLICATIONS AT MAYO HOSPITAL LAHORE

: Objective: The aim of this research work was to find out the difficulties of surgical removal of the gall bladder from laparoscopy and related reasons at Mayo Hospital Lahore. Methodology: This research work was carried out from July 2015 to June 2017 in the duration of two years. The information of all the participants who were going under the surgical removal of the gall bladder from laparoscopy during the period of this research work & satisfying the selection standards was gathered and its analysis carried out retrospectively. Results: There were two hundred and sixteen patients who underwent the surgical removal of the gall bladder from laparoscopy. Females were greater in number than male patients. The total rate of complication was five percent. Some of the complications are bleeding in four patients from cystic artery & gall bladder, infection of port site was also in four patients, injury of bile duct in two patients & colonic injuries in only one patient. The most frequent reasons of these difficulties were unintentional damage to cystic artery, leakage of the bile which is infected and put a cut on the bile duct in error. Conclusions: Haemorrhage and infection of port site were the most frequent difficulties with the least common complications of injuries of bile duct & colonic wounds. The most frequent reason of bleeding was the injury to the cystic artery, whereas the most common reason of the infection in the port site was the gross spillage of the bile which was infectious.
Validation of a genotype-based algorithm that identifies individuals with low, intermediate, and high serum CA19-9 levels in cancer-free individuals and in patients with colorectal cancer

Background Serum levels of Carbohydrate antigen CA19-9 are determined by the genotype of fucosyltransferases 2 and 3. To validate, possibly modify, and improve a grouping algorithm based on these genotypes. Methods CA19-9 levels genotypes and of fucosyltransferase 2 and 3 were analyzed in cancer-free and colorectal cancer patients. Patients were assigned to groups with low (group A), intermediate (B), or high (C) CA19-9 biosynthetic activity based on a previously developed grouping algorithm based on genotype of fucosyltransferases 2 and 3. Results Three hundred thirty-eight patients were included (n=177 cancer-free). Of cancer-free patients 7.9%, 75.7%, and 16.4% were assigned to groups A, B, and C, respectively. In colorectal cancer patients it 7.5%, 77.0%, and 15.5%, respectively. There were significant differences between median CA19-9 levels in the three groups (P<0.001) in both cohorts. The T59G single-nucleotid polymorphism in fucosyltransferase 3 had a significant influence on CA19-9 levels in cancer-free group B patients, which led to establishment of subgroups B1 and B2. However, no difference in CA19-9 levels between these subgroups was found in colorectal cancer patients. A receiver-operating characteristic showed similar areas under the curve for original group B as well as for subgroups B1 and B2. Conclusions The grouping algorithm based on genotype of fucosyltransferases 2 and 3, which defines groups with distinct CA19-9 serum levels, was validated in cancer-free patients and in colorectal cancer patients. No clinically relevant improvement to the grouping algorithm was identified.
Two dimensional acoustic propagation through oceanic internal solitary waves weak scattering theory and numerical simulation

Abstract : Internal solitary waves, or solitons, are often generated in coastal or continental shelf regions when tidal currents advect stratified water over bathymetric relief, creating an internal tide which non-linearly evolves into one or more solitons. A major consequence of solitons in a stratified environment is the vertical displacement of water parcels which can lead to sound speed variability of order 10m/s with spatial scales of order 100 meters and timescales of order minutes. Thus significant variations in sonar performance on both surface based ships and submarines can be expected. An understanding into the nature of acoustic propagation through these waves is vital for future development of sonar prediction systems. This research investigates acoustic normal mode propagation through solitons using a 2D parabolic equation simulation and weak acoustic scattering theory whose primary physics is a single scatter Bragg mechanism. To simplify the theory, a Gaussian soliton model is developed that compares favorably to the results from a traditional sech(exp 2) soliton model. The theory of sound through a Gaussian soliton was then tested against the numerical simulation under conditions of various acoustic frequency, source depths, soliton position relative to the source and soliton number. The theoretical results compare favorably with numerical simulations at 75, 150 and 300-Hz. Higher frequencies need to be tested to determine the limits of the first order theory. Higher order theory will then be needed to address even higher frequencies and to deal with weakly excited modes. This research is the first step in moving from a state of observing acoustic propagation through solitons, to one of predicting it.
A controlled local-global theorem for simplicial complexes

In this paper we prove that a simplicial map of finite-dimensional locally finite simplicial complexes has contractible point inverses if and only if it is an $\epsilon$-controlled homotopy equivalence for all $\epsilon>0$ if and only if $f\times \mathrm{id}_\mathbb{R}$ is a bounded homotopy equivalence measured in the open cone over the target. This confirms for such a space $X$ the slogan that arbitrarily fine control over $X$ corresponds to bounded control over the open cone $O(X_+)$. For the proof a one parameter family of cellulations $\{X_\epsilon^\prime\}_{0<\epsilon<\epsilon(X)}$ is constructed which provides a retracting map for $X$ which can be used to compensate for sufficiently small control.
The complete mitogenome of the Asian lung fluke Paragonimus skrjabini miyazakii and its implications for the family Paragonimidae (Trematoda: Platyhelminthes)

Abstract Abstract The complete circular mitogenome of Paragonimus skrjabini miyazakii (Platyhelminthes: Paragonimidae) from Japan, obtained by PacBio long-read sequencing, was 17 591 bp and contained 12 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 mitoribosomal RNA and 22 transfer RNA genes. The atp8 gene was absent, and there was a 40 bp overlap between nad4L and nad4. The long non-coding region (4.3 kb) included distinct types of long and short repeat units. The pattern of base usage for PCGs and the mtDNA coding region overall in Asian and American Paragonimus species (P. s. miyazakii, P. heterotremus, P. ohirai and P. kellicotti) and the Indian form of P. westermani was T > G > A > C. On the other hand, East-Asian P. westermani used T > G > C > A. Five Asian and American Paragonimus species and P. westermani had TTT/Phe, TTG/Leu and GTT/Val as the most frequently used codons, whereas the least-used codons were different in each species and between regional forms of P. westermani. The phylogenetic tree reconstructed from a concatenated alignment of amino acids of 12 PCGs from 36 strains/26 species/5 families of trematodes confirmed that the Paragonimidae is monophyletic, with 100% nodal support. Paragonimus skrjabini miyazakii was resolved as a sister to P. heterotremus. The P. westermani clade was clearly separate from remaining congeners. The latter clade was comprised of 2 subclades, one of the East-Asian and the other of the Indian Type 1 samples. Additional mitogenomes in the Paragonimidae are needed for genomic characterization and are useful for diagnostics, identification and genetic/ phylogenetic/ epidemiological/ evolutionary studies of the Paragonimidae.
Which are the limitations of ICT tools for collaborative design with suppliers

New Product Development (NPD) is increasingly relying on Information and Communication technologies (ICT) to support collaborative activities conducted by NPD actors. On the other hand, companies growingly integrate suppliers into their NPD process in order to enhance their innovation capability. The purpose of this paper is to explore the limitations of ICTs usage in the context of collaborative design with suppliers. To address this question, we propose to analyze usage drawing upon a functional classification of ICT tools. The framework will allow us to highlight the limitations according to each main functionality supported by ICTs. In this respect, three case studies are conducted with insight at the company level. The results show that for knowledge management and project and resource management functionalities, limitations will differ according to the use or not of a shared tool to collaborate. The study also shows that for cooperative work functionalities, some ICTs incompatibility issues might occur. Our conclusions pointed out some customer-supplier relationship specificities that condition ICT usage, like trust, and power and dependence factors.
KUALITAS LABA DAN BETA TERHADAP BIAYA MODAL EKUITAS

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menguji pengaruh langsung kualitas laba dan beta terhadap biaya modal ekuitas. Sampel penelitian ditentukan dengan metode purposive sampling, yaitu perusahaan manufaktur yang terdaftar di Bursa Efek Indonesia tahun 2007 sampai dengan tahun 2013. Perusahaan melaporkan laporan keuangan audit berturut-turut dari 2007-2013 untuk informasi piutang, aktiva tetap, laba bersih, total aset, total kewajiban. Berdasarkan kriteria tersebut diperoleh 23 perusahaan selama 6 tahun atau sebanyak 138 observasi. Analisis data menggunakan analisis regresi berganda dengan menggunakan program aplikasi IBM SPSS Statistics 21. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kualitas laba dan beta terbukti secara empiris signiﬁ kan mempengaruhi biaya modal ekuitas. Variabel kontrol yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini yaitu leverage dan ukuran perusahaan secara signiﬁ kan menjadi pertimbangan investor dalam menentukan biaya modal ekuitas. Sementara variabel market-to-book tidak mempengaruhi atau tidak menjadi pertimbangan investor dalam keputusan investasi dan biaya modal ekuitas.indo
Brown Swiss x Holstein crossbreds compared to pure Holsteins for production in first two lactations

Brown Swiss x Holstein crossbreds (BSH, n = 55) were compared to pure Holsteins (HOL, n = 50) during the first two lactations for milk, fat, protein production and SCS at the experimental station in Iden, Germany. Cows calved from September 2005 to November 2007 and were housed in the same environment under the same management conditions. All animals originated from a designed experiment. The data used was based on weekly test days. The model used was analogous to the model used in national evaluations in Germany. Fixed regressions were based on the Wilmink function. Fixed regression coefficients were estimated within breed group. Random regressions were third order Legendre polynomials. The fixed effects of breed group, age of first calving, and test day were included. All parameters were estimated with SAS (Proc Mixed). In addition, three intervals for days in milk (DIM) I1 = 5 – 100 DIM, I2 = 101 – 200 DIM and I3 = 201 – 300 DIM were defined. No significant differences (P 0.05) between BSH and HOL were found in I1 (-2.00 kg), I2 (-0.54 kg) and I3 (0.70 kg). Differences between BSH and HOL tended to be smaller from first to second lactation. BSH had more capacity in production at the end of each lactation. However, BSH had lower milk production level in early (I1) and mid (I2) lactation.
Investigation on carbon nanoparticle (CNP)-polymer sensors for fatigue monitoring of fiber-reinforced composites

Abstract Carbon nanoparticle (CNP)-polymer sensors are good candidates for monitoring structural damage. A combined numerical-analytical approach with considering the stiffness degradation of composite is proposed to calculate the resistance variations with the cyclic loads. The electro-mechanical behavior of the sensor can be simulated through the finite element analysis of a random representative volume element model and the equivalent resistance calculation of microcircuit. Then, taking the glass fiber-reinforced composite coated with the CNP-epoxy resin as example, its electro-mechanical behavior under tension-tension cyclic loading is investigated experimentally and numerically. Furthermore, by microscopic analysis, the fatigue damage monitoring mechanism of the sensor is revealed.
Isometric Quadriceps Exercises for Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Knee Joint Position Flexion versus Extension

Objective To compare the effect of quadriceps isometric exercises performed in two different positions in addition to the combined physical therapy program on pain, stiffness, and physical function in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Methods A total of 30 patients with OA (age range 45 to 70 years) who were admitted to Istanbul Private Ekotom Medical Center, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Outpatient Clinic, were included. The patients were randomly divided into two groups according to the type of performing the quadriceps isometric exercises as group 1 (performing in knee extension, n = 14) and group 2 (performing in knee flexion, n = 15). All patients also received a combined physical therapy program. Exercise protocols were applied six days a week for four weeks. The pain was evaluated using a 10 cm visual analog scale for pain (VAS) in rest and activity; pain, joint stiffness, and physical function were assessed using the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC). Results A significant difference was found in the VAS and WOMAC scores of both groups in group comparisons (p < 0.05). When the groups were compared in terms of change values, a significant difference was found in the WOMAC stiffness score in favor of group I (p < 0.05). Discussion. It is possible to obtain positive results with quadriceps isometric exercises to reduce pain and joint stiffness and increase physical function in patients with knee OA. However, exercises performed in knee extension were found to be more effective in reducing joint stiffness.