cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Jackknife Empirical Likelihood for the Variance in the Linear Regression Model
Creators: name: Lin, Hui-Ling
Publisher: name: Georgia State University
Year: 2013

description: The variance is the measure of spread from the center. Therefore, how to accurately estimate variance has always been an important topic in recent years. In this paper, we consider a linear regression model which is the most popular model in practice. We use jackknife empirical likelihood method to obtain the interval estimate of variance in the regression model. The proposed jackknife empirical likelihood ratio converges to the standard chi-squared distribution. The simulation study is carried out to compare the jackknife empirical likelihood method and standard method in terms of coverage probability and interval length for the confidence interval of variance from linear regression models. The proposed jackknife empirical likelihood method has better performance. We also illustrate the proposed methods using two real data sets.
A Memory-Efficient Dynamic Image Reconstruction Method using Neural Fields
Creators: name: Lozenski, Luke
name: Anastasio, Mark A.
name: Villa, Umberto
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Image and Video Processing (eess.IV)
subject: FOS: Electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering
subject: 68T07, 65K10, 94A08,

description: Dynamic imaging is essential for analyzing various biological systems and behaviors but faces two main challenges: data incompleteness and computational burden. For many imaging systems, high frame rates and short acquisition times require severe undersampling, which leads to data incompleteness. Multiple images may then be compatible with the data, thus requiring special techniques (regularization) to ensure the uniqueness of the reconstruction. Computational and memory requirements are particularly burdensome for three-dimensional dynamic imaging applications requiring high resolution in both space and time. Exploiting redundancies in the object's spatiotemporal features is key to addressing both challenges. This contribution investigates neural fields, or implicit neural representations, to model the sought-after dynamic object. Neural fields are a particular class of neural networks that represent the dynamic object as a continuous function of space and time, thus avoiding the burden of storing a full resolution image at each time frame. Neural field representation thus reduces the image reconstruction problem to estimating the network parameters via a nonlinear optimization problem (training). Once trained, the neural field can be evaluated at arbitrary locations in space and time, allowing for high-resolution rendering of the object. Key advantages of the proposed approach are that neural fields automatically learn and exploit redundancies in the sought-after object to both regularize the reconstruction and significantly reduce memory storage requirements. The feasibility of the proposed framework is illustrated with an application to dynamic image reconstruction from severely undersampled circular Radon transform data.
description: 13 pages, 10 figures
Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer Reactions with Photometric Bases Reveal Free Energy Relationships for Proton Transfer
Creators: name: Dempsey, Jillian L.
name: Eisenhart, Thomas T.
name: Howland, William C.
Publisher: name: American Chemical Society (ACS)
Year: 2016

description: The proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) oxidation of p-aminophenol in acetonitrile was initiated via stopped-flow rapid-mixing and spectroscopically monitored. For oxidation by ferrocenium in the presence of 7-(dimethylamino)quinoline proton acceptors, both the electron transfer and proton transfer components could be optically monitored in the visible region; the decay of the ferrocenium absorbance is readily monitored (λmax = 620 nm), and the absorbance of the 2,4-substituted 7-(dimethylamino)quinoline derivatives (λmax = 370-392 nm) red-shifts substantially (ca. 70 nm) upon protonation. Spectral analysis revealed the reaction proceeds via a stepwise electron transfer-proton transfer process, and modeling of the kinetics traces monitoring the ferrocenium and quinolinium signals provided rate constants for elementary proton and electron transfer steps. As the pKa values of the conjugate acids of the 2,4-R-7-(dimethylamino)quinoline derivatives employed were readily tuned by varying the substituents at the 2- and 4-positions of the quinoline backbone, the driving force for proton transfer was systematically varied. Proton transfer rate constants (kPT,2 = (1.5-7.5) × 10(8) M(-1) s(-1), kPT,4 = (0.55-3.0) × 10(7) M(-1) s(-1)) were found to correlate with the pKa of the conjugate acid of the proton acceptor, in agreement with anticipated free energy relationships for proton transfer processes in PCET reactions.
Linear Free Energy Relationships in the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction: Kinetic Analysis of a Cobaloxime Catalyst
Creators: name: Rountree, Eric S.
name: Dempsey, Jillian L.
name: Martin, Daniel J.
name: McCarthy, Brian D.
Publisher: name: American Chemical Society (ACS)
Year: 2016

description: Kinetic analysis of hydrogen production catalyzed by Co­(dmgBF2)2(CH3CN)2 (dmgBF2 = difluoroboryl-dimethylglyoxime) was performed in acetonitrile with a series of para-substituted anilinium acids. It was determined that the mechanism of hydrogen evolution is governed by three elementary steps; two are acid concentration and pK a dependent, whereas the third was shown to be intrinsic to the catalyst, likely reflecting either H–H bond formation or H2 release. The kinetics of the first proton transfer step, the protonation of the singly reduced catalyst, were evaluated using foot-of-the-wave analysis, as well as current–potential analysis for voltammograms displaying total catalysis behavior. Analysis of the total catalysis peak shift required the empirical determination of a new equation for the ECEC′ catalytic mechanism using digital simulations. The kinetics of the second proton transfer stepassigned to protonation of the doubly reduced, singly protonated speciesand the acid-independent step were determined by analyzing the plateau current of the catalytic wave over a range of acid concentrations. Both proton transfer steps follow linear free energy relationships of log­(k) vs acid pK a. These linear relationships give slopes of −0.94 and −0.77 for the first and second proton transfers, respectively, indicating that both steps become faster with increasing acid strength.
Radiative first-order phase transitions to next-to-next-to-leading order
Creators: name: Ekstedt, Andreas
name: Gould, Oliver
name: Löfgren, Johan
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We develop new perturbative tools to accurately study radiatively-induced first-order phase transitions. Previous perturbative methods have suffered internal inconsistencies and been unsuccessful in reproducing lattice data, which is often attributed to infrared divergences of massless modes (the Linde problem). We employ a consistent power counting scheme to perform calculations, and compare our results against lattice data. We conclude that the consistent expansion removes many previous issues, and indicates that the infamous Linde problem is not as big a factor in these calculations as previously thought.
description: 7 pages, 3 figures; typo fixed in v3
Challenges managing individuals with hereditary defects of the teeth
Creators: name: Wright, John Timothy
Publisher: name: Elsevier
Year: 2016

description: Developmental defects of the dentition are diverse in their etiologies and clinical presentations. There can be alterations in the number, position, eruption, structure, and composition of the teeth creating unique treatment challenges. Optimal management of developmental dental defects is predicated on establishing a diagnosis and often requires a team approach due to the diversity of the clinical manifestations. It is increasingly likely that the molecular etiologies of developmental defects of the dentition are known and having this information is helpful in predicting prognosis, identifying appropriate and emerging therapies, and ensuring patients receive appropriate information regarding their condition. Many developmental defects of the dentition are associated with systemic manifestations further adding to the importance of establishing a correct diagnosis.Orthodontic management of individuals with developmental defects of the dentition will be highly varied and will be predicated on the diagnosis and clinical manifestations. Individuals with missing teeth may require space closure while people who have supernumerary teeth associated with cleidocranial dysplasia may require alignment as well as forced eruption of the succedaneous teeth. Developmental defects of the dentition are often associated with jaw abnormalities such as clefts that occur with many syndromes, skeletal open bite as occurs in cases of amelogenesis imperfecta and mid-face deficiency as seen in conditions such as ectodermal dysplasia. Collectively, developmental defects of teeth are relatively common in the population and will challenge the diagnostic and clinical skills of the practitioner who strives to achieve optimal function and facial and dental esthetics for their patients.
Using ecological momentary assessment to assess the temporal relationship between sleep quality and cravings in individuals recovering from substance use disorders
Creators: name: Freeman, Lindsey K.
name: Gottfredson, Nisha C.
Publisher: name: Elsevier
Year: 2017

description: INTRODUCTION: The causal direction of the relationship between sleep disturbance and drug cravings is unknown. Based on resource depletion literature, we hypothesized that sleep difficulties lead to cravings. We tested whether sleep quality predicts craving at the within- or between-person level, with perceived willpower as a multilevel mediator.
METHODS: We used ecological momentary assessments (EMA) to compare two models of temporal precedence. Participants in addiction treatment (N=122) were sent four surveys each day for three weeks. Participants rated previous night's sleep quality and level of cravings and willpower.
RESULTS: The between- (β=-0.18, SE=0.06) and within-person (β=-0.02, SE=0.02) effects of maximum daily craving on sleep quality were significant, as were the between- (β=-0.33, SE=0.08) and within-person (β=-0.08; SE=0.03) effects of daily sleep quality on maximum daily cravings. In the mediation analysis of the indirect effect of sleep quality on cravings via willpower, both the indirect effect for the between-person pathway (β=-0.27, SE=0.07) and the indirect within-person pathway (β=-0.01, SE=0.01) were significant.
CONCLUSIONS: EMA methodology allowed for disentanglement of the temporal relationship between sleep and cravings. We found support for the resource depletion hypothesis, operationalized by linking sleep quality to cravings via willpower. However, the magnitude of the association between sleep quality and cravings was stronger at the between-person level, suggesting a potentially cumulative effect of poor sleep on cravings. These results suggest that clinicians should ask patients about chronic sleep problems, as these may pose a risk for relapse.
Jackknife Empirical Likelihood Inference for the Absolute Mean Deviation
Creators: name: meng, xueping
Publisher: name: Georgia State University
Year: 2013

description: In statistics it is of interest to find a better interval estimator of the absolute mean deviation. In this thesis, we focus on using the jackknife, the adjusted and the extended jackknife empirical likelihood methods to construct confidence intervals for the mean absolute deviation of a random variable. The empirical log-likelihood ratio statistics is derived whose asymptotic distribution is a standard chi-square distribution. The results of simulation study show the comparison of the average length and coverage probability by using jackknife empirical likelihood methods and normal approximation method. The proposed adjusted and extended jackknife empirical likelihood methods perform better than other methods for symmetric and skewed distributions. We use real data sets to illustrate the proposed jackknife empirical likelihood methods.
Perspectives of users for a future interactive wearable system for upper extremity rehabilitation following stroke : a qualitative study
Creators: name: Yang, Chieh-Ling
name: Chui, Rochelle
name: Mortenson, W. Ben
name: Servati, Peyman
name: Servati, Amir
name: Tashakori, Arvin
name: Eng, Janice
Publisher: name: BioMed Central
Year: 2023

description: Background: Wearable sensor technology can facilitate diagnostics and monitoring of people with upper extremity (UE) paresis after stroke. The purpose of this study is to investigate the perspectives of clinicians, people living with stroke, and their caregivers on an interactive wearable system that detects UE movements and provides feedback. Methods This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews relating to the perspectives of a future interactive wearable system including a wearable sensor to capture UE movement and a user interface to provide feedback as the means of data collection. Ten rehabilitation therapists, 9 people with stroke, and 2 caregivers participated in this study. Results Four themes were identified (1) “Everyone is different” highlighted the need for addressing individual user’s rehabilitation goal and personal preference; (2) “The wearable system should identify UE and trunk movements” emphasized that in addition to arm, hand, and finger movements, detecting compensatory trunk movements during UE movements is also of interest; (3) “Both quality and amount of movements are necessary to measure” described the parameters related to how well and how much the user is using their affected UE that participants envisioned the system to monitor; (4) “Functional activities should be practiced by the users” outlined UE movements and activities that are of priority in designing the system. Conclusions Narratives from clinicians, people with stroke, and their caregivers offer insight into the design of interactive wearable systems. Future studies examining the experience and acceptability of existing wearable systems from end-users are warranted to guide the adoption of this technology.
Jackknife Empirical Likelihood-Based Confidence Intervals for Low Income Proportions with Missing Data
Creators: name: YIN, YANAN
Publisher: name: Georgia State University
Year: 2013

description: The estimation of low income proportions plays an important role in comparisons of poverty in different countries. In most countries, the stability of the society and the development of economics depend on the estimation of low income proportions. An accurate estimation of a low income proportion has a crucial role for the development of the natural economy and the improvement of people's living standards. In this thesis, the Jackknife empirical likelihood method is employed to construct confidence intervals for a low income proportion when the observed data had missing values. Comprehensive simulation studies are conducted to compare the relative performances of two Jackknife empirical likelihood based confidence intervals for low income proportions in terms of coverage probability. A real data example is used to illustrate the application of the proposed methods.
Genetic and epigenetic mechanisms underlying arsenic-associated diabetes mellitus: a perspective of the current evidence
Creators: name: Stblo, Miroslav
name: Martin, Elizabeth M.
name: Fry, Rebecca C
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2017

description: Chronic exposure to arsenic has been associated with the development of diabetes mellitus (DM), a disease characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from dysregulation of glucose homeostasis. This review summarizes four major mechanisms by which arsenic induces diabetes, namely inhibition of insulin-dependent glucose uptake, pancreatic β-cell damage, pancreatic β-cell dysfunction and stimulation of liver gluconeogenesis that are supported by both in vivo and in vitro studies. Additionally, the role of polymorphic variants associated with arsenic toxicity and disease susceptibility, as well as epigenetic modifications associated with arsenic exposure, are considered in the context of arsenic-associated DM. Taken together, in vitro, in vivo and human genetic/epigenetic studies support that arsenic has the potential to induce DM phenotypes and impair key pathways involved in the regulation of glucose homeostasis.
Backbones-Review: Feature Extraction Networks for Deep Learning and Deep Reinforcement Learning Approaches
Creators: name: Elharrouss, Omar
name: Akbari, Younes
name: Almaadeed, Noor
name: Al-Maadeed, Somaya
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (cs.CV)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: To understand the real world using various types of data, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the most used technique nowadays. While finding the pattern within the analyzed data represents the main task. This is performed by extracting representative features step, which is proceeded using the statistical algorithms or using some specific filters. However, the selection of useful features from large-scale data represented a crucial challenge. Now, with the development of convolution neural networks (CNNs), the feature extraction operation has become more automatic and easier. CNNs allow to work on large-scale size of data, as well as cover different scenarios for a specific task. For computer vision tasks, convolutional networks are used to extract features also for the other parts of a deep learning model. The selection of a suitable network for feature extraction or the other parts of a DL model is not random work. So, the implementation of such a model can be related to the target task as well as the computational complexity of it. Many networks have been proposed and become the famous networks used for any DL models in any AI task. These networks are exploited for feature extraction or at the beginning of any DL model which is named backbones. A backbone is a known network trained in many other tasks before and demonstrates its effectiveness. In this paper, an overview of the existing backbones, e.g. VGGs, ResNets, DenseNet, etc, is given with a detailed description. Also, a couple of computer vision tasks are discussed by providing a review of each task regarding the backbones used. In addition, a comparison in terms of performance is also provided, based on the backbone used for each task.
Generalized Confidence Intervals for Partial Youden Index and its Corresponding Optimal Cut-Off Point
Creators: name: Li, Chenxue
Publisher: name: Georgia State University
Year: 2013

description: In the field of diagnostic test studies, the accuracy of a diagnostic test is essential in evaluating the performance of the test. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the area under the curve (AUC) are widely used in such evaluation procedures. Meanwhile, the Youden index is also introduced into practice to measure the accuracy of the diagnostic test from another aspect. The Youden index maximizes the sum of sensitivity and specificity, assuring decent true positive and negative rates. It draws one's attention due to its merit of finding the optimal cut-off points of biomarkers. Similar to Partial ROC, a new index, called "Partial Youden index" can be defined as an extension of Youden's Index. It is more meaningful than regular Youden index since the regular one is just a special case of the Partial Youden Index. In this thesis, we focus on construction of generalized confidence intervals for the Partial Youden Index and its corresponding optimal cut-off points. Extensive simulation studies are conducted to evaluate the finite sample performances of the new intervals.
Sex and Adolescent Ethanol Exposure Influence Pavlovian Conditioned Approach
Creators: name: Robinson, Donita L.
name: Madayag, Aric C.
name: Boettiger, Charlotte A.
name: Reissner, Kathryn J.
name: Stringfield, Sierra J.
Publisher: name: Wiley
Year: 2017

description: BACKGROUND: Alcohol use among adolescents is widespread and a growing concern due to long-term behavioral deficits, including altered Pavlovian behavior, that potentially contribute to addiction vulnerability. We tested the hypothesis that adolescent intermittent ethanol (AIE) exposure alters Pavlovian behavior in males and females as measured by a shift from goal-tracking to sign-tracking. Additionally, we investigated GLT-1, an astrocytic glutamate transporter, as a potential contributor to a sign-tracking phenotype.
METHODS: Male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to AIE (5 g/kg, intragastric) or water intermittently 2 days on and 2 days off from postnatal day (P) 25 to 54. Around P70, animals began 20 daily sessions of Pavlovian conditioned approach (PCA), where they learned that a cue predicted noncontingent reward delivery. Lever pressing indicated interaction with the cue, or sign-tracking, and receptacle entries indicated approach to the reward delivery location, or goal-tracking. To test for effects of AIE on nucleus accumbens (NAcc) excitatory signaling, we isolated membrane subfractions and measured protein levels of the glutamate transporter GLT-1 after animals completed behavior as a measure of glutamate homeostasis.
RESULTS: Females exhibited elevated sign-tracking compared to males with significantly more lever presses, faster latency to first lever press, and greater probability to lever press in a trial. AIE significantly increased lever pressing while blunting goal-tracking, as indicated by fewer cue-evoked receptacle entries, slower latency to receptacle entry, and lower probability to enter the receptacle in a trial. No significant sex-by-exposure interactions were observed in sign- or goal-tracking metrics. Moreover, we found no significant effects of sex or exposure on membrane GLT-1 expression in the NAcc.
CONCLUSIONS: Females exhibited enhanced sign-tracking compared to males, while AIE decreased goal-tracking compared to control exposure. Our findings support the hypothesis that adolescent binge ethanol can shift conditioned behavior from goal- to cue-directed in PCA, especially in females.
Jackknife Empirical Likelihood Inferences for the Skewness and Kurtosis
Creators: name: Zhang, Yan
Publisher: name: Georgia State University
Year: 2014

description: Skewness and kurtosis are measures used to describe shape characteristics of distributions. In this thesis, we examine the interval estimates about the skewness and kurtosis by using jackknife empirical likelihood (JEL), adjusted JEL, extended JEL, traditional bootstrap, percentile bootstrap, and BCa bootstrap methods. The limiting distribution of the JEL ratio is the standard chi-squared distribution. The simulation study of this thesis makes a comparison of different methods in terms of the coverage probabilities and interval lengths under the standard normal distribution and exponential distribution. The proposed adjusted JEL and extended JEL perform better than the other methods. Finally we illustrate the proposed JEL methods and different bootstrap methods with three real data sets.
Alleviating the cosmological constant problem from particle production
Creators: name: Belfiglio, Alessio
name: Giambò, Roberto
name: Luongo, Orlando
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We explore a toy model mechanism of geometric cancellation, alleviating the (classical) cosmological constant problem. To do so, we assume at primordial times that vacuum energy fuels an inflationary quadratic hilltop potential nonminimally coupled to gravity through a standard Yukawa-like interacting term, whose background lies on a perturbed Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric. We demonstrate how vacuum energy release transforms into geometric particles, adopting a quasi-de Sitter phase where we compute the expected particle density and mass ranges. Perturbations are introduced by means of the usual external-field appproximation, so that the back-reaction of the created particles on the geometry is not considered here. We discuss the limitations of this approach and we also suggest possible refinements. We then propose the most suitable dark matter candidates, showing under which circumstances we can interpret dark matter as constituted by geometric quasiparticles. We confront our predictions with quantum particle production and constraints made using a Higgs portal. In addition, the role of the bare cosmological constant is reinterpreted to speed up the universe today. Thus, consequences on the standard $Λ$CDM paradigm are critically highlighted, showing how both coincidence and fine-tuning issues can be healed requiring the Israel-Darmois matching conditions between our involved inhomogeneous and homogeneous phases.
description: 23 pages; 7 figures; 2 tables
Influence Function-based Empirical Likelihood Inferences for Lorenz Curve
Creators: name: Liu, Bing
Publisher: name: Georgia State University
Year: 2014

description: In this thesis, an empirical likelihood method based on influence function is developed and used to construct confidence intervals for the Lorenz ordinates. This method is defined under the simple random sampling and the limiting distribution of the proposed empirical likelihood ratio statistic is a standard Chi-square distribution. Extensive simulation studies are conducted to evaluate the proposed empirical likelihood-based confidence intervals for the Lorenz ordinates. Finally, this method is used on a real income data as an application.
Trichromia pandera Schaus 1896
Creators: name: Vincent, Benoît
name: Laguerre, Michel
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Erebidae
Trichromia
Trichromia pandera

description: Trichromia pandera Schaus, 1896
Trichromia pandera Schaus, 1896b: 137.
Paranerita ampla Dognin, 1911c: 14. — Type locality: French Guiana, Saint Laurent du Maroni. — Type specimen: Lectotype male no. 30492 designated by Watson (1975: 12) (USNM).
TYPE LOCALITY. — Venezuela, [Aragua], Aroa.
TYPE SPECIMEN. — Lectotype female no. 11 107 designated by Watson (1971: 69) (USNM).
description: Published as part of Vincent, Benoît & Laguerre, Michel, 2014, Catalogue of the Neotropical Arctiini Leach, [1815] (except Ctenuchina Kirby, 1837 and Euchromiina Butler, 1876) (Insecta, Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae), pp. 137-533 in Zoosystema 36 (2) on page 198, DOI: 10.5252/z2014n2a1, http://zenodo.org/record/5395344
Edge Determining Sets and Determining Index
Creators: name: McAvoy, Sean
name: Cockburn, Sally
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Combinatorics (math.CO)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: 05C25 05C70

description: A graph automorphism is a bijective mapping of the vertices that preserves adjacent vertices. A vertex determining set of a graph is a set of vertices such that the only automorphism that fixes those vertices is the identity. The size of a smallest such set is called the determining number, denoted Det$(G)$. The determining number is a parameter of the graph capturing its level of symmetry. We introduce the related concept of an edge determining set and determining index, Det$'(G)$. We prove that Det$'(G) \le \text{Det}(G) \le 2\text{Det}'(G)$ when Det$(G) \neq 1$ and show both bounds are sharp for infinite families of graphs. Further, we investigate properties of these new concepts, as well as provide the determining index for several families of graphs.
description: 24 pages, 8 figures
The Cardiovascular Health of Young Adults: Disparities along the Urban-Rural Continuum
Creators: name: Hummer, Robert A
name: Lawrence, Elizabeth
name: Harris, Kathleen Mullan
Publisher: name: SAGE Publications
Year: 2017

description: U.S. young adults coming of age in the early 21st Century are the first cohort to grow up during the obesity epidemic; justifiably, there is much concern about their cardiovascular health. To date, however, no research has examined the extent to which there are disparities in young adult cardiovascular health across the urban-rural continuum. We examine this topic using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. We find that young adults who live in metropolitan core areas exhibit more favorable cardiovascular health than individuals who live in smaller types of communities, and that population density largely accounts for this association. Further, individuals living in more densely populated areas in young adulthood relative to adolescence have better cardiovascular health than those who live in areas similar or less dense than their adolescent residence. Our results strongly suggest that the physical and social features of communities represent important contexts for young adult cardiovascular health.
MRI Signal Intensity Analysis of Novel Protein-based MRI Contrast Agents
Creators: name: Qian, Yan
Publisher: name: Georgia State University
Year: 2014

description: Contrast agents are of great importance in clinical applications of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to improve the contrast of internal body structures and to obtain tissue-specific image. However, current approved contrast agents still have limitations including low relaxivity, low specificity and uncontrolled blood circulation time, which motivated researchers to develop novel contrast agents with higher relaxivity, improved targeting abilities and optimal retention time. This thesis uses animal experimental data from Dr. Jenny J. Yang?s lab at the Department of Chemistry in Georgia State University to study effects of a class of newly designed protein-based MRI contrast agents (ProCAs). Models for the longitudinal data on MRI intensity are constructed to evaluate the efficiency of different MRI contrast agents. Statistically significant results suggest that ProCA1B14 has the great potential to be a tumor specific contrast agent and ProCA32 could be a promising MRI contrast agent for the liver imaging in clinical applications.
Psychiatric Care of the Radiation Oncology Patient
Creators: name: Park, Eliza M.
name: Holmes, Emily G.
name: Holmes, Jordan A.
Publisher: name: Elsevier
Year: 2017

description: BACKGROUND: In recent decades, psychiatrists have become increasingly involved in the care of patients with cancer. Psychiatrists are often less familiar with the field of radiation oncology than with other medical specialties.
OBJECTIVE: Therefore, it is beneficial for consulting psychiatrists to be familiar with the basic principles of radiation therapy (RT) and its potential neuropsychiatric sequelae.
METHODS: We performed a PubMed search to identify articles describing neuropsychiatric symptoms resulting from RT, including anxiety, claustrophobia, posttraumatic stress disorder, and neurocognitive impairment. We also searched for other sequelae of RT that may produce psychiatric symptoms, such as radiation necrosis and endocrinopathies. We provide a basic introduction to the delivery of RT.
RESULTS: Psychiatrists may be involved in the treatment of patients before, during, or after RT, and each phase of treatment produces unique considerations. Anxiety about the treatment, especially the need for immobilization with a mask, can be treatment-limiting. Adverse effects from treatment, including cognitive impairment and endocrinopathies, can result in psychiatric symptoms.
CONCLUSIONS: Consulting psychiatrists should be familiar with the basic principles of RT and the neuropsychiatric sequelae that may result from the treatment. Further research is needed to identify strategies to help patients tolerate RT and to identify additional preventive and therapeutic options for RT-induced cognitive impairment.
Classification of Genotype and Age by Spatial Aspects of RPE Cell Morphology
Creators: name: Boring, Michael
Publisher: name: Georgia State University
Year: 2014

description: Age related macular degeneration (AMD) is a public health concern in an aging society. The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) layer of the eye is a principal site of pathogenesis for AMD. Morphological characteristics of the cells in the RPE layer can be used to discriminate age and disease status of individuals. In this thesis three genotypes of mice of various ages are used to study the predictive abilities of these characteristics. The disease state is represented by two mutant genotypes and the healthy state by the wild-type. Classification analysis is applied to the RPE morphology from the different spatial regions of the RPE layer. Variable reduction is accomplished by principal component analysis (PCA) and classification analysis by the k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) algorithm. In this way the differential ability of the spatial regions to predict age and disease status by cellular variables is explored.
A Comparison of Two Modeling Techniques in Customer Targeting For Bank Telemarketing
Creators: name: Tang, Hong
Publisher: name: Georgia State University
Year: 2014

description: Customer targeting is the key to the success of bank telemarketing. To compare the flexible discriminant analysis and the logistic regression in customer targeting, a survey dataset from a Portuguese bank was used. For the flexible discriminant analysis model, the backward elimination of explanatory variables was used with several rounds of manual re-defining of dummy variables. For the logistic regression model, the automatic stepwise selection was performed to decide which explanatory variables should be left in the final model. Ten-fold stratified cross validation was performed to estimate the model parameters and accuracies. Although employing different sets of explanatory variables, the flexible discriminant analysis model and the logistic regression model show equally satisfactory performances in customer classification based on the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves. Focusing on the predicted ?right? customers, the logistic regression model shows slightly better classification and higher overall correct prediction rate.
Jackknife Empirical Likelihood Inference For The Pietra Ratio
Creators: name: Su, Yueju
Publisher: name: Georgia State University
Year: 2014

description: Pietra ratio (Pietra index), also known as Robin Hood index, Schutz coefficient (Ricci-Schutz index) or half the relative mean deviation, is a good measure of statistical heterogeneity in the context of positive-valued data sets. In this thesis, two novel methods namely "adjusted jackknife empirical likelihood" and "extended jackknife empirical likelihood" are developed from the jackknife empirical likelihood method to obtain interval estimation of the Pietra ratio of a population. The performance of the two novel methods are compared with the jackknife empirical likelihood method, the normal approximation method and two bootstrap methods (the percentile bootstrap method and the bias corrected and accelerated bootstrap method). Simulation results indicate that under both symmetric and skewed distributions, especially when the sample is small, the extended jackknife empirical likelihood method gives the best performance among the six methods in terms of the coverage probabilities and interval lengths of the confidence interval of Pietra ratio; when the sample size is over 20, the adjusted jackknife empirical likelihood method performs better than the other methods, except the extended jackknife empirical likelihood method. Furthermore, several real data sets are used to illustrate the proposed methods.
Constraints on spin-0 dark matter mediators and invisible Higgs decays using ATLAS 13 TeV pp collision data with two top quarks and missing transverse momentum in the final state
Creators: name: ATLAS Collaboration
Publisher: name: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Year: 2023

description: This paper presents a statistical combination of searches targeting final states with two top quarks and invisible particles, characterised by the presence of zero, one or two leptons, at least one jet originating from a b-quark and missing transverse momentum. The analyses are searches for phenomena beyond the Standard Model consistent with the direct production of dark matter in pp collisions at the LHC, using 139 fb−1 of data collected with the ATLAS detector at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The results are interpreted in terms of simplified dark matter models with a spin-0 scalar or pseudoscalar mediator particle. In addition, the results are interpreted in terms of upper limits on the Higgs boson invisible branching ratio, where the Higgs boson is produced according to the Standard Model in association with a pair of top quarks. For scalar (pseudoscalar) dark matter models, with all couplings set to unity, the statistical combination extends the mass range excluded by the best of the individual channels by 50 (25) GeV, excluding mediator masses up to 370 GeV. In addition, the statistical combination improves the expected coupling exclusion reach by 14% (24%), assuming a scalar (pseudoscalar) mediator mass of 10 GeV. An upper limit on the Higgs boson invisible branching ratio of 0.38 (0.30+0.13 −0.09) is observed (expected) at 95% confidence level.
Variation in neoadjuvant chemotherapy utilization for epithelial ovarian cancer at high volume hospitals in the United States and associated survival
Creators: name: Boggess, John F.
name: Stitzenberg, Karyn B.
name: Gehrig, Paola A.
name: Dusetzina, Stacie B.
name: Garrett, Joanne M.
name: Rossi, Emma C.
name: Barber, Emma L.
Publisher: name: Elsevier
Year: 2017

description: OBJECTIVE: To estimate variation in the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy by high volume hospitals and to determine the association between hospital utilization of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and survival.
METHODS: We identified incident cases of stage IIIC or IV epithelial ovarian cancer in the National Cancer Database from 2006 to 2012. Inclusion criteria were treatment at a high volume hospital (>20 cases/year) and treatment with both chemotherapy and surgery. A logistic regression model was used to predict receipt of neoadjuvant chemotherapy based on case-mix predictors (age, comorbidities, stage etc). Hospitals were categorized by the observed-to-expected ratio for neoadjuvant chemotherapy use as low, average, or high utilization hospitals. Survival analysis was performed.
RESULTS: We identified 11,574 patients treated at 55 high volume hospitals. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy was used for 21.6% (n=2494) of patients and use varied widely by hospital, from 5%-55%. High utilization hospitals (n=1910, 10 hospitals) had a median neoadjuvant chemotherapy rate of 39% (range 23-55%), while low utilization hospitals (n=2671, 14 hospitals) had a median rate of 10% (range 5-17%). For all ovarian cancer patients adjusting for clinical and socio-demographic factors, treatment at a hospital with average or high neoadjuvant chemotherapy utilization was associated with a decreased rate of death compared to treatment at a low utilization hospital (HR 0.90 95% CI 0.83-0.97 and HR 0.85 95% CI 0.75-0.95).
CONCLUSIONS: Wide variation exists in the utilization of neoadjuvant chemotherapy to treat stage IIIC and IV epithelial ovarian cancer even among high volume hospitals. Patients treated at hospitals with low rates of neoadjuvant chemotherapy utilization experience decreased survival.
Trichromia leucoplaga
Creators: name: Vincent, Benoît
name: Laguerre, Michel
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Erebidae
Trichromia
Trichromia leucoplaga

description: Trichromia leucoplaga (Hampson, 1905)
Neritos leucoplaga Hampson, 1905: 444.
TYPE LOCALITY. — French Guiana, Cayenne, Saint Laurent [du] Maroni.
TYPE SPECIMENS. — Described from 1 male and undisclosed number of female syntypes (BMNH; the male syntype labeled TYPE).
description: Published as part of Vincent, Benoît & Laguerre, Michel, 2014, Catalogue of the Neotropical Arctiini Leach, [1815] (except Ctenuchina Kirby, 1837 and Euchromiina Butler, 1876) (Insecta, Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae), pp. 137-533 in Zoosystema 36 (2) on page 199, DOI: 10.5252/z2014n2a1, http://zenodo.org/record/5395344
The role of the microbiome in cancer development and therapy
Creators: name: Redinbo, Matthew R.
name: Bultman, Scott J.
name: Bhatt, Aadra P.
Publisher: name: Wiley
Year: 2017

description: The human body harbors enormous numbers of microbiota that influence cancer susceptibility, in part through their prodigious metabolic capacity and their profound influence on immune cell function. Microbial pathogens drive tumorigenesis in 15% to 20% of cancer cases. Even larger numbers of malignancies are associated with an altered composition of commensal microbiota (dysbiosis) based on microbiome studies using metagenomic sequencing. Although association studies cannot distinguish whether changes in microbiota are causes or effects of cancer, a causative role is supported by rigorously controlled preclinical studies using gnotobiotic mouse models colonized with one or more specific bacteria. These studies demonstrate that microbiota can alter cancer susceptibility and progression by diverse mechanisms, such as modulating inflammation, inducing DNA damage, and producing metabolites involved in oncogenesis or tumor suppression. Evidence is emerging that microbiota can be manipulated for improving cancer treatment. By incorporating probiotics as adjuvants for checkpoint immunotherapy or by designing small molecules that target microbial enzymes, microbiota can be harnessed to improve cancer care.
A Mathematical Model For Population Dynamics of Antibiotic Treatment
Creators: name: tian, siyu
Publisher: name: Georgia State University
Year: 2014

description: The objective of the thesis is to model the behavior of the reaction between two species of bacteria and antibiotics by building an ordinary differential equation (ODE) system under a list of assumptions. With the ODE, we analyze equilibrium points and the stability of these equilibrium points to forecast the trend of each species of bacteria and antibiotics. We test the validity of the model assumptions. Based on these outcomes, we show that: 1. Both equilibrium points and eigenvalues differ in orders of magnitude.  2. Some figures which were generated using different initial values do not make any sense.  3. There were abnormal values of the variables sensitivity.
Suitability of Magnetic Microbolometers based on Paramagnetic Temperature Sensors for CMB Polarization Measurements
Creators: name: Geria, Juan Manuel
name: Hampel, Matias Rolf
name: Kempf, Sebastian
name: Bonaparte, Juan Jose
name: Ferreyro, Luciano Pablo
name: Redondo, Manuel Elías García
name: Almela, Daniel Alejandro
name: Salum, Juan Manuel
name: Müller, Nahuel
name: Bonilla-Neira, Jesus David
name: Fuster, Alan Ezequiel
name: Platino, Manuel
name: Etchegoyen, Alberto
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det)
subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: High resolution maps of polarization anisotropies of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) are in high demand, since the discovery of primordial B-Modes in the polarization patterns would confirm the inflationary phase of the Universe that would have taken place before the last scattering of the CMB at the recombination epoch. Transition Edge Sensors (TES) and Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKID) are the predominant detector technologies of cryogenic detector array based CMB instruments that search for primordial B-Modes. In this paper we propose another type of cryogenic detector to be used for CMB survey: A magnetic microbolometer (MMB) that is based on a paramagnetic temperature sensor. It is an adaption of state-of-the-art metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) that are meanwhile a key technology for high resolution $α$, $β$, $γ$ and X-ray spectroscopy as well as the study of neutrino mass. The effort to adapt MMCs for CMB surveys is triggered by their lack of Johnson noise associated with the detector readout, the possibility of straightforward calibration and higher dynamic range given it possesses a broad and smooth responsivity dependence with temperature and the absence of Joule dissipation which simplifies the thermal design. A brief proof of concept case study is analyzed, taking into account typical constraints in CMB measurements and reliable microfabrication processes. The results show that MMBs provide a promising technology for CMB polarization survey as their sensitivity can be tuned for background limited detection of the sky while simultaneously maintaining a low time response to avoid distortion of the point-source response of the telescope. As the sensor technology and its fabrication techniques are compatible with TES based bolometric detector arrays, a change of detector technology would even come with very low cost.
description: 20 pages, 11 figures. Published in SPIE's Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments and Systems (JATIS)
Immunization effects of a communication intervention to promote preteen HPV vaccination in primary care practices
Creators: name: Diehl, Sandra J.
name: Coyne-Beasley, Tamera
name: Cates, Joan R.
name: Crandell, Jamie L.
Publisher: name: Elsevier
Year: 2017

description: OBJECTIVES: HPV vaccination at the recommended ages of 11-12 is highly effective yet has stalled well below the goal of 80% of the population. We evaluated a statewide practice-based communication intervention (tools: brochures, posters, online training for providers and resources for parents, video game for preteens) to persuade parents, preteens and providers to vaccinate against HPV. The 9-month intervention started May 1, 2015.
METHODS: We compared vaccine initiation and completion rates over three 9-month periods (baseline, intervention, post-intervention) between practices enrolled in the intervention and a comparable comparison group. All practices reported to the North Carolina Immunization Registry (NCIR) and had at least 100 11- and 12-year-olds who had not completed the HPV vaccine series. Of 175 eligible practices, the 14 intervention practices included 19,398 individuals and the 161 comparison practices included 127,896 individuals. An extended Cox model was used to test the intervention effect.
RESULTS: The intervention had a significant effect on both initiation and completion during the intervention and post-intervention periods; the estimated hazard ratio (HR) for initiation was 1.17 (p = .004) during the intervention and 1.11 (p = .005) post-intervention. Likewise, completion during the intervention period was 17% higher in intervention practices, after controlling for baseline differences. This effect increased in the post-intervention period to 30% higher (p = .03).
CONCLUSIONS: Individuals in the intervention practices were 17% more likely to initiate and complete HPV vaccination than in the comparison practices during the intervention period and the effect was sustained post-intervention. This intervention is promising for increasing rates of HPV vaccination at ages 11-12.
'Big Data’ education through the NIH BD2K program
Creators: name: Horn, John Darrell Van
name: Jose-Luis Ambite
name: Lerman, Kristina
name: Taylor, Michael
name: Barardo, John
name: Tractenberg, Rochelle E.
Publisher: name: F1000Research
Year: 2016

description: In our rapidly evolving information era, methods for handling large quantities of data obtained in biomedical research have emerged as powerful tools for confronting critical research questions, having significant impacts in diverse domains ranging from genomics to health informatics to environmental research. As such, the NIH's Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) Training Coordinating Center (TCC) to empower current and future generations of researchers with a comprehensive understanding of the data science ecosystem: the ability to explore, prepare, analyze, visualize, and interpret Big Data.