cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Peroxisome Proliferator–Activated Receptor γ Level Contributes to Structural Integrity and Component Production of Elastic Fibers in the AortaNovelty and Significance
Creators: name: Maeda, Nobuyo
name: Jiang, Meei-Jyh
name: Teng, Shih-Hua
name: Chen, Ju-Yi
name: Lin, Shih-Chieh
name: Tai, Haw-Chih
name: Wang, Kuan-Chieh
name: Wu, Hua-Lin
name: Lai, Chao-Han
name: Chang, Alice Y.W.
name: Tsai, Yau-Sheng
name: Tsai, Pei-Jane
name: Li, Yi-Heng
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2016

description: Loss of integrity and massive disruption of elastic fibers are key features of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) has been shown to attenuate AAA through inhibition of inflammation and proteolytic degradation. However, its involvement in elastogenesis during AAA remains unclear. PPARγ was highly expressed in human AAA within all vascular cells, including inflammatory cells and fibroblasts. In the aortas of transgenic mice expressing PPARγ at 25% normal levels (PpargC/− mice), we observed the fragmentation of elastic fibers and reduced expression of vital elastic fiber components of elastin and fibulin-5. These were not observed in mice with 50% normal PPARγ expression (Pparg+/− mice). Infusion of a moderate dose of angiotensin II (AngII) (500 ng/kg/min) did not induce AAA but Pparg+/− aorta developed flattened elastic lamellae, while PpargC/− aorta showed severe destruction of elastic fibers. After infusion of AngII at 1000 ng/kg/min, 73% of PpargC/− mice developed atypical suprarenal aortic aneurysms: superior mesenteric arteries were dilated with extensive collagen deposition in adventitia and infiltrations of inflammatory cells. Although matrix metalloproteinase inhibition by doxycycline somewhat attenuated the dilation of aneurysm, it did not reduce the incidence nor elastic lamella deterioration in AngII-infused PpargC/− mice. Furthermore, PPARγ antagonism down-regulated elastin and fibulin-5 in fibroblasts, but not in vascular smooth muscle cells. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assay demonstrated PPARγ binding in the genomic sequence of fibulin-5 in fibroblasts. Our results underscore the importance of PPARγ in AAA development though orchestrating proper elastogenesis and preserving elastic fiber integrity.
Visit-to-Visit Variability in Blood Pressure Is Related to Late-Life Cognitive DeclineNovelty and Significance
Creators: name: Edwards, Lloyd J.
name: Viera, Anthony J.
name: Plassman, Brenda L.
name: Muntner, Paul
name: Mendez, Michelle A.
name: Qin, Bo
name: Popkin, Barry M.
name: Adair, Linda S.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2016

description: The association between visit-to-visit variability of blood pressure (BP) and cognitive decline over time remains incompletely understood in a general population of older adults. We assessed the hypothesis that higher visit-to-visit variability in BP, but not mean BP, would be associated with faster decline in cognitive function among community-dwelling older adults. This prospective cohort study comprised 976 adults who had 3 or 4 visits with BP measurements as part of the China Health and Nutrition Survey from 1991, up to their first cognitive tests, and completed cognitive screening tests at 2 or more visits in 1997, 2000 or 2004. Visit-to visit BP variability was expressed as the standard deviation (SD), coefficient of variation or as the variation independent of mean BP across visits conducted at a mean interval of 3.2y. Mean (SD) age at the first cognitive test was 64 (6)y. Using multivariable-adjusted linear mixed-effects models, we found higher visit-to-visit variability in systolic BP, but not mean systolic BP, was associated with a faster decline of cognitive function (adjusted mean difference [95% CI] for high vs. low tertile of SD variability: standardized composite scores −0.038 standardized units (SU)/y [−0.066, −0.009] and verbal memory −0.041 SU/y [−0.075 to −0.008]). Higher visit-to-visit variability in diastolic BP was associated with a faster decline of cognitive function, independent of mean diastolic BP, among adults 55–64y but not those ≥ 65y. Our results suggest that higher long-term BP visit-to-visit variability is associated with a faster rate of cognitive decline among older adults.
String Theory Realizations of the Nilpotent Goldstino
Creators: name: Kallosh, Renata
name: Quevedo, Fernando
name: Uranga, Angel M.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We describe in detail how the spectrum of a single anti-D3-brane in four-dimensional orientifolded IIB string models reproduces precisely the field content of a nilpotent chiral superfield with the only physical component corresponding to the fermionic goldstino. In particular we explicitly consider a single anti-D3-brane on top of an O3-plane in warped throats, induced by $(2,1)$ fluxes. More general systems including several anti-branes and other orientifold planes are also discussed. This provides further evidence to the claim that non-linearly realized supersymmetry due to the presence of antibranes in string theory can be described by supersymmetric theories including nilpotent superfields. Implications to the KKLT and related scenarios of de Sitter moduli stabilization, to cosmology and to the structure of soft SUSY-breaking terms are briefly discussed.
description: 33 pages, 8 figures. v2: reference added, minor changes
The Observed Distribution of Spectroscopic Binaries from the Anglo-Australian Planet Search
Creators: name: Jenkins, James S.
name: Díaz, Matias
name: Jones, Hugh R. A.
name: Butler, R. Paul
name: Tinney, Chris G.
name: O'Toole, Simon J.
name: Carter, Brad D.
name: Wittenmyer, Robert A.
name: Pinfield, David J.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We report the detection of sixteen binary systems from the Anglo-Australian Planet Search. Solutions to the radial velocity data indicate that the stars have companions orbiting with a wide range of masses, eccentricities and periods. Three of the systems potentially contain brown-dwarf companions while another two have eccentricities that place them in the extreme upper tail of the eccentricity distribution for binaries with periods less than 1000 d. For periods up to 12 years, the distribution of our stellar companion masses is fairly flat, mirroring that seen in other radial velocity surveys, and contrasts sharply with the current distribution of candidate planetary masses, which rises strongly below 10MJ. When looking at a larger sample of binaries that have FGK star primaries as a function of the primary star metallicity, we find that the distribution maintains a binary fraction of ~43$\pm$4% between -1.0 to +0.6 dex in metallicity. This is in stark contrast to the giant exoplanet distribution. This result is in good agreement with binary formation models that invoke fragmentation of a collapsing giant molecular cloud, suggesting this is the dominant formation mechanism for close binaries and not fragmentation of the primary star's remnant proto-planetary disk.
description: 42 pages, 11 figures, and 3 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS
Pesticides, crop choices and changes in well-being
Creators: name: Gios, Geremia
name: Farinelli, Stefano
name: Kheiraoui, Flavia
name: Martini, Fabrizio
name: Orlando, Jacopo Gabriele
name: Gios, Geremia
name: Farinelli, Stefano
name: Kheiraoui, Flavia
name: Martini, Fabrizio
name: Orlando, Jacopo Gabriele
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Agricultural and Food Policy
subject: Pesticides
subject: impact indicators
subject: TEIQ
subject: pesticide externalities

description: This study investigates how Pesticide Risk Indicators (PRIs) can be applied to help develop sound economic policies. We modified one of the numerous PRIs proposed over the years, the Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ), originally devel-oped for the fruit industry, to consider co-formulants and adjuvants. The new formula includes three components representing the externalities of farm worker risk, consum-er risk, and ecological risk. It also considers the potential externalities of the use of pesticides on residents living near the farms where these products are used. We applied the modified EIQ to two areas located in central Italy (the Chiana Valley in Tuscany and the Tiber and Upper Tiber Valleys in Tuscany/Umbria), surveying a sample of farms to determine the quantity and types of pesticides used on five crops: durum wheat, soft wheat, corn, tobacco, and olives. After calculating the impact quotient, we used data from a survey conducted in a different Italian region regarding the willing-ness to pay (WTP) for a pesticide-free environment and determined the WTP for even minimal changes in that quotient. Using those results, we simulated the changes in welfare (calculated as changes in willingness to pay) that would result from modifying the amount of land used for each crop. Our findings indicate that the proposed WTP indicator may have broad utility and that its application may lead to enhanced aware-ness of the consequences of pesticide use in farming.
Magnetic and Plasmonic Contrast Agents in Optical Coherence Tomography
Creators: name: Sierchio, Justin M.
name: Oldenburg, Amy L.
name: Blackmon, Richard L.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2016

description: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has gained widespread application for many biomedical applications, yet the traditional array of contrast agents used in incoherent imaging modalities do not provide contrast in OCT. Owing to the high biocompatibility of iron oxides and noble metals, magnetic and plasmonic nanoparticles, respectively, have been developed as OCT contrast agents to enable a range of biological and pre-clinical studies. Here we provide a review of these developments within the past decade, including an overview of the physical contrast mechanisms and classes of OCT system hardware addons needed for magnetic and plasmonic nanoparticle contrast. A comparison of the wide variety of nanoparticle systems is also presented, where the figures of merit depend strongly upon the choice of biological application.
Towards a full spectrum of societal engagement: science communication in open science
Creators: name: Schmitz, Frederike
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: science communication
open science
societal engagement

description: Presentation at the Open Science Festival in Amsterdam 2022. On behalf of SciCom NL (scicom.nl)- association for everybody involved in or interested in science communication in the Netherlands. A call to formally include science communication in open science, from dissemination, to dialogue to citizen science.
Phenomenology of dark energy: general features of large-scale perturbations
Creators: name: Perenon, Louis
name: Piazza, Federico
name: Marinoni, Christian
name: Hui, Lam
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present a systematic exploration of dark energy and modified gravity models containing a single scalar field non-minimally coupled to the metric. Even though the parameter space is large, by exploiting an effective field theory (EFT) formulation and by imposing simple physical constraints such as stability conditions and (sub-)luminal propagation of perturbations, we arrive at a number of generic predictions. (1) The linear growth rate of matter density fluctuations is generally suppressed compared to $Λ$CDM at intermediate redshifts ($0.5 \lesssim z \lesssim 1$), despite the introduction of an attractive long-range scalar force. This is due to the fact that, in self-accelerating models, the background gravitational coupling weakens at intermediate redshifts, over-compensating the effect of the attractive scalar force. (2) At higher redshifts, the opposite happens; we identify a period of super-growth when the linear growth rate is larger than that predicted by $Λ$CDM. (3) The gravitational slip parameter $η$ - the ratio of the space part of the metric perturbation to the time part - is bounded from above. For Brans-Dicke-type theories $η$ is at most unity. For more general theories, $η$ can exceed unity at intermediate redshifts, but not more than about $1.5$ if, at the same time, the linear growth rate is to be compatible with current observational constraints. We caution against phenomenological parametrization of data that do not correspond to predictions from viable physical theories. We advocate the EFT approach as a way to constrain new physics from future large-scale-structure data.
description: 24 pages, 7 figures
The Color Discriminant Variable and Scalar Diquarks at the LHC
Creators: name: Chivukula, R. Sekhar
name: Ittisamai, Pawin
name: Mohan, Kirtimaan
name: Simmons, Elizabeth H.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The LHC is actively searching for narrow dijet resonances corresponding to physics beyond the Standard Model. Among the many resonances that have been postulated (e.g., colored vectors, scalars, and fermions) one that would have a particularly large production rate at the LHC would be a scalar diquark produced in the s-channel via fusion of two valence quarks. In previous work, we introduced a color discriminant variable that distinguishes among various dijet resonances, drawing on measurements of the dijet resonance mass, total decay width and production cross-section. Here, we show that this model-independent method applies well to color-triplet and color-sextet scalar diquarks, distinguishing them clearly from other candidate resonances. We also introduce a more transparent theoretical formulation of the color discriminant variable that highlights its relationship to the branching ratios of the resonance into incoming and outgoing partons and to the properties of those partons. While the original description of the color discriminant variable remains convenient for phenomenological use upon discovery of a new resonance, the new formulation makes it easier to predict the value of the variable for a given class of resonance.
description: 22 pages, 11 pdf figures. One reference added, one updated. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1406.2003
Static Response of Neutron Matter
Creators: name: Buraczynski, Mateusz
name: Gezerlis, Alexandros
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas)
subject: Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We generalize the problem of strongly interacting neutron matter by adding a periodic external modulation. This allows us to study from first principles a neutron system that is extended and inhomogeneous, with connections to the physics of both neutron-star crusts and neutron-rich nuclei. We carry out fully non-perturbative microscopic Quantum Monte Carlo calculations of the energy of neutron matter at different densities, as well as different strengths and periodicities of the external potential. In order to remove systematic errors, we examine finite-size effects and the impact of the wave function ansatz. We also make contact with energy-density functional theories of nuclei and disentangle isovector gradient contributions from bulk properties. Finally, we calculate the static density-density linear response function of neutron matter and compare it with the response of other physical systems.
description: 5+ pages, 3 figures; v2 corresponds to the published version
Stochastic Extended LQR for Optimization-Based Motion Planning Under Uncertainty
Creators: name: Alterovitz, Ron
name: Sun, Wen
name: Van Den Berg, Jur
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2016

description: We introduce a novel optimization-based motion planner, Stochastic Extended LQR (SELQR), which computes a trajectory and associated linear control policy with the objective of minimizing the expected value of a user-defined cost function. SELQR applies to robotic systems that have stochastic non-linear dynamics with motion uncertainty modeled by Gaussian distributions that can be state- and control-dependent. In each iteration, SELQR uses a combination of forward and backward value iteration to estimate the cost-to-come and the cost-to-go for each state along a trajectory. SELQR then locally optimizes each state along the trajectory at each iteration to minimize the expected total cost, which results in smoothed states that are used for dynamics linearization and cost function quadratization. SELQR progressively improves the approximation of the expected total cost, resulting in higher quality plans. For applications with imperfect sensing, we extend SELQR to plan in the robot's belief space. We show that our iterative approach achieves fast and reliable convergence to high-quality plans in multiple simulated scenarios involving a car-like robot, a quadrotor, and a medical steerable needle performing a liver biopsy procedure.
Figure S1 Relationships between ECV, body size, and age at death; Figure S2 Sex differences in phenotypic variance and its components across relative ECV, absolute ECV, and body size; Figure S3 Sex differences in residual variance across relative ECV, absolute ECV, and body size; Figure S4 Sex-specific range size distributions from Greater variability in rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) endocranial volume among males than females
Creators: name: Colby, Abigail E.
name: DeCasien, Alex R.
name: Cooper, Eve B.
name: Higham, James P.
Publisher: name: The Royal Society
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Evolutionary Biology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences

description: Linear relationships between ECV and age at death (A), body size and age at death (B), and ECV and body size (C) within each sex.; Density plots of the posterior distributions of phenotypic (A-C), additive genetic (D-F), and residual (G-I) variance for relative ECV (A, D, G), absolute ECV (B, E, H), and body size (C, F, I) in males (green) and females (blue) from generalized linear mixed models (in which both the additive genetic and residual terms were partitioned into their effects for males and females separately). Dashed lines indicate sex-specific means and dotted lines indicate 68% HPD intervals for these means.; A-C) Histograms of permuted male-to-female residual variance ratios from generalized linear mixed models (in which both the additive genetic and residual terms were partitioned into their effects for males and females separately) for relative ECV (A), absolute ECV (B), and body size (C). Observed values are indicated by dashed lines. D-F) Median-matched (0 = median for each sex) density plots of male (green) and female (blue) residual distributions from generalized linear mixed models (in which both the additive genetic and residual terms were partitioned into their effects for males and females separately) for relative ECV (D), absolute ECV (E), and body size (F).; Range size distributions for ECV (A) and body size (B) suggest our sample sizes are sufficient to capture population variation for males (green) and females (purple).
Automatic Craniomaxillofacial Landmark Digitization via Segmentation-Guided Partially-Joint Regression Forest Model and Multiscale Statistical Features
Creators: name: Wang, Li
name: Shen, Dinggang
name: Tang, Zhen
name: Xia, James J.
name: Gao, Yaozong
name: Zhang, Jun
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2016

description: The goal of this paper is to automatically digitize craniomaxillofacial (CMF) landmarks efficiently and accurately from cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images, by addressing the challenge caused by large morphological variations across patients and image artifacts of CBCT images.
Introduzione all'approccio economico aziendale alle cure infermieristiche di famiglia e di comunità
Creators: name: Travaglini, Claudio
Publisher: name: Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
Year: 2022
Subjects: SECS-P/07 Economia aziendale

description: Il contributo a finalità didattiche introduce gli strumenti di economico-aziendali per analisi e riprogettazione dei servizi infermieristici rivolti alla famiglia ed alla comunità partendo dall'analisi delle aziende sanitarie, delle loro combinazioni economiche, dei loro assetti organizzativi e delle relazioni fiduciarie. Si introduce il modello di dei servizi secondo personale di contatto, destinatari-coproduttori, l'ambiente fisico Si introduce medicina di iniziativa e presa in carico delle popolazioni. Si analizzano i Piani Diagnostici Terapeutico Assistenziali (PDTA) e le valutazioni di efficacia gestionale, efficienza gestionale ed impatto complessivo e i sistemi informativi necessari per la gestione dei sistemi
Safety apps
Creators: name: Harrison, Steve
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2022
Subjects: Uncategorized

description: AllsWell Alert personal safety app combines the panic button functionality with inactivity monitoring, enabling the app to send your emergency contact an alert with your location even when you’re unable to press a button. It is a personal safety & emergency alert app for people living, commuting, or traveling alone.
 AllsWell Alert App uses your smartphone to determine whether you’re active and notifies loved ones if there’s an emergency. No buttons to wear or home installation are required. AllsWell LLC was founded in 2017 by Stefan Benn (Founder, CEO) and Christophe Tournigand (M.D. Ph.D. , the head of a Medical Department in a major hospital).
Figure S1 Relationships between ECV, body size, and age at death from Greater variability in rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) endocranial volume among males than females
Creators: name: Colby, Abigail E.
name: DeCasien, Alex R.
name: Cooper, Eve B.
name: Higham, James P.
Publisher: name: The Royal Society
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Evolutionary Biology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences

description: Linear relationships between ECV and age at death (A), body size and age at death (B), and ECV and body size (C) within each sex.
Inherent Structure-Based Multiview Learning With Multitemplate Feature Representation for Alzheimer's Disease Diagnosis
Creators: name: Liu, Mingxia
name: Zhang, Daoqiang
name: Adeli, Ehsan
name: Shen, Dinggang
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2016

description: Multi-template based brain morphometric pattern analysis using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been recently proposed for automatic diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and its prodromal stage (i.e., mild cognitive impairment or MCI). In such methods, multi-view morphological patterns generated from multiple templates are used as feature representation for brain images. However, existing multi-template based methods often simply assume that each class is represented by a specific type of data distribution (i.e., a single cluster), while in reality the underlying data distribution is actually not pre-known. In this paper, we propose an inherent structure based multi-view leaning (ISML) method using multiple templates for AD/MCI classification. Specifically, we first extract multi-view feature representations for subjects using multiple selected templates, and then cluster subjects within a specific class into several sub-classes (i.e., clusters) in each view space. Then, we encode those sub-classes with unique codes by considering both their original class information and their own distribution information, followed by a multi-task feature selection model. Finally, we learn an ensemble of view-specific support vector machine (SVM) classifiers based on their respectively selected features in each view, and fuse their results to draw the final decision. Experimental results on the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database demonstrate that our method achieves promising results for AD/MCI classification, compared to the state-of-the-art multi-template based methods.
Tunable frequency-up/down conversion in gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fibers
Creators: name: Saleh, Mohammed F.
name: Biancalana, Fabio
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Optics (physics.optics)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Based on the interplay between photoionization and Raman effect in gas-filled photonic crystal fibers, we propose a new optical device to control frequency-conversion of ultrashort pulses. By tuning the input-pulse energy, the output spectrum can be either down-converted, up-converted, or even frequency-shift compensated. For low input energies, Raman effect is dominant and leads to a redshift that increases linearly during propagation. For larger pulse energies, photoionization starts to take over the frequency conversion process, and induces a strong blueshift. We have found also that the fiber-output pressure can provide an additional degree of freedom to control the spectrum shift.
Multiatlas-Based Segmentation Editing With Interaction-Guided Patch Selection and Label Fusion
Creators: name: Gao, Yaozong
name: Park, Sang Hyun
name: Shen, Dinggang
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2016

description: We propose a novel multi-atlas based segmentation method to address the segmentation editing scenario, where an incomplete segmentation is given along with a set of existing reference label images (used as atlases). Unlike previous multi-atlas based methods, which depend solely on appearance features, we incorporate interaction-guided constraints to find appropriate atlas label patches in the reference label set and derive their weights for label fusion. Specifically, user interactions provided on the erroneous parts are first divided into multiple local combinations. For each combination, the atlas label patches well-matched with both interactions and the previous segmentation are identified. Then, the segmentation is updated through the voxel-wise label fusion of selected atlas label patches with their weights derived from the distances of each underlying voxel to the interactions. Since the atlas label patches well-matched with different local combinations are used in the fusion step, our method can consider various local shape variations during the segmentation update, even with only limited atlas label images and user interactions. Besides, since our method does not depend on either image appearance or sophisticated learning steps, it can be easily applied to general editing problems. To demonstrate the generality of our method, we apply it to editing segmentations of CT prostate, CT brainstem, and MR hippocampus, respectively. Experimental results show that our method outperforms existing editing methods in all three data sets.
Analytical and exact critical phenomena of $d$-dimensional singly spinning Kerr-AdS black holes
Creators: name: Wei, Shao-Wen
name: Cheng, Peng
name: Liu, Yu-Xiao
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: In the extended phase space, the $d$-dimensional singly spinning Kerr-AdS black holes exhibit the van der Waals's phase transition and reentrant phase transition. Since the black hole system is a single characteristic parameter thermodynamic system, we show that the form of the critical point can be uniquely determined by the dimensional analysis. When $d=4$, we get the analytical critical point. The coexistence curve and phase diagrams are obtained. The result shows that the fitting form of the coexistence curve in the reduced parameter space is independent of the angular momentum. When $d=5$---$9$, the exact critical points are numerically solved. It demonstrates that when $d\geq6$, there are two critical points. However, the small one does not participate in the phase transition. Moreover, the exact critical reentrant phase transition points are also obtained. All the critical points are obtained without any approximation.
description: 16 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables
Scalable High-Performance Image Registration Framework by Unsupervised Deep Feature Representations Learning
Creators: name: Shen, Dinggang
name: Wu, Guorong
name: Kim, Minjeong
name: Munsell, Brent C.
name: Wang, Qian
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2016

description: Feature selection is a critical step in deformable image registration. In particular, selecting the most discriminative features that accurately and concisely describe complex morphological patterns in image patches improves correspondence detection, which in turn improves image registration accuracy. Furthermore, since more and more imaging modalities are being invented to better identify morphological changes in medical imaging data,, the development of deformable image registration method that scales well to new image modalities or new image applications with little to no human intervention would have a significant impact on the medical image analysis community. To address these concerns, a learning-based image registration framework is proposed that uses deep learning to discover compact and highly discriminative features upon observed imaging data. Specifically, the proposed feature selection method uses a convolutional stacked auto-encoder to identify intrinsic deep feature representations in image patches. Since deep learning is an unsupervised learning method, no ground truth label knowledge is required. This makes the proposed feature selection method more flexible to new imaging modalities since feature representations can be directly learned from the observed imaging data in a very short amount of time. Using the LONI and ADNI imaging datasets, image registration performance was compared to two existing state-of-the-art deformable image registration methods that use handcrafted features. To demonstrate the scalability of the proposed image registration framework image registration experiments were conducted on 7.0-tesla brain MR images. In all experiments, the results showed the new image registration framework consistently demonstrated more accurate registration results when compared to state-of-the-art.
Fish functional diversity is modulated by small-scale habitat complexity in a temperate ecosystem
Creators: name: Sgarlatta, Maria Paula
name: Ramirez-Valdez, Arturo
name: Ladah, Lydia B.
name: Calderon-Aguilera, Luis E.
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: 60202 Community Ecology (excl. Invasive Species Ecology)
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: 60299 Ecology not elsewhere classified
subject: Marine Biology
subject: 60308 Life Histories
subject: Zoology
subject: Ecology
subject: 50102 Ecosystem Function
subject: FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences
subject: 40501 Biological Oceanography
subject: Oceanography

description: Rocky reefs and kelp forests form conspicuous habitats that promote species diversity and support livelihoods in coastal communities. However, a taxonomic approach represents disregards biological identity and differences between species. In this study, we explore the relationship between functional diversity of fish communities and habitat complexity in temperate reefs and test if greater habitat complexity, such as rugosity, or kelp three-dimensional structure, would result in higher functional diversity. We conducted fish surveys using SCUBA at four sites where both a rocky reef with no kelp and a kelp forest existed nearby. Although rocky reefs and kelp forests had different habitat complexity, there were no significant differences in taxonomic or functional diversity found between the two habitat types. However, we did find differences at smaller spatial scales in the kelp forest sites, where number of stipes, stipes diameter, and kelp density influenced functional richness, but not species richness, highlighting the importance of functional approaches. These differences found among kelp forests may be linked with small-scale spatiotemporal oceanographic drivers of productivity such as upwelling exposure or nutrient availability. We recommend considering small-scale spatial drivers when aiming to understand how habitat characteristics link with functional diversity.
Subspace Regularized Sparse Multitask Learning for Multiclass Neurodegenerative Disease Identification
Creators: name: Zhu, Xiaofeng
name: Lee, Seong-Whan
name: Suk, Heung-Il
name: Shen, Dinggang
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2016

description: The high feature-dimension and low sample-size problem is one of the major challenges in the study of computer-aided Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) diagnosis. To circumvent this problem, feature selection and subspace learning have been playing core roles in literature. Generally, feature selection methods are preferable in clinical applications due to their ease for interpretation, but subspace learning methods can usually achieve more promising results. In this paper, we combine two different methodological approaches to discriminative feature selection in a unified framework. Specifically, we utilize two subspace learning methods, namely, Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and Locality Preserving Projection (LPP), which have proven their effectiveness in a variety of fields, to select class-discriminative and noise-resistant features. Unlike previous methods in neuroimaging studies that mostly focused on a binary classification, the proposed feature selection method is further applicable for multi-class classification in AD diagnosis. Extensive experiments on the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) dataset show the effectiveness of the proposed method over other state-of-the-art methods.
The “Fingerprint” of Cancer Extends Beyond Solid Tumor Boundaries: Assessment With a Novel Ultrasound Imaging Approach
Creators: name: Rao, Sneha R.
name: Shelton, Sarah E.
name: Dayton, Paul A.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2016

description: Abnormalities of microvascular morphology have been associated with tumor angiogenesis for more than a decade, and are believed to be intimately related to both tumor malignancy and response to treatment. However, the study of these vascular changes in-vivo has been challenged due to the lack of imaging approaches which can assess the microvasculature in 3-D volumes non-invasively. Here, we use contrast-enhanced “acoustic angiography” ultrasound imaging to observe and quantify heterogeneity in vascular morphology around solid tumors.
Development and Implementation of a C++ Inverse Kinematics Library for Highly Redundant Robots
Creators: name: Rodrigo Pérez, Laura
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Robotics
Inverse Kinematics
CLIK
Redundant manipulator

description: Abstract
 The main objective of the following project is the development of an efficient kinematics library for highly redundant robots. It is focused on the inverse kinematics problem and redundancy resolution of a 11 degree of freedom robot for the Future Circular Collider. The entirety of this thesis is developed at CERN and it is implemented in C++ adapting within the CERN Robotic Framework (CRF). The library is written in a modular and generic way, such that it can be used for the entire robotic fleet at CERN. First of all, this report describes the main methods used nowadays to solve the inverse kinematics problem and explains why the
 Closed Loop Inverse Kinematics (CLIK) algorithm, based on the Jacobian, is chosen for the given robotic system. The next step is the implementation of the CLIK algorithm following a modular structure in order to enable future users to easily extend the library. For this, the main code of the algorithm, and other complementary programs that are called by it, have been written, forming a kinematics library. Finally, the report exposes the results of the algorithm tests performed in simulation as well as on a real system using a Universal Robot UR10e.
 Keywords: Robotics, Inverse Kinematics, CLIK, Redundant manipulator
 UNESCO codes: 3311.01, 3311.02, 3399 (Robotics)
 Resumen
 El objetivo principal de este proyecto es el desarrollo de una librería de cinemática eficiente para robots hiper-redundantes. Se centra en el problema de cinemática inversa y la resolución de la redundancia de un robot de 11 grados de libertad para el Future Circular Collider. Todo el TFM está desarrollado en el CERN y está implementado en C++ adaptándose al entorno del CERN Robotic Framework (CRF). La librería está escrita de forma modular y genérica, de modo que pueda utilizarse para toda la flota robótica del CERN. En primer lugar, este informe describe los principales métodos utilizados hoy en día para resolver el problema de cinemática inversa y explica por qué se elige el algoritmo de cinemática inversa de lazo cerrado (CLIK), basado en el jacobiano, para el sistema robótico dado. El siguiente paso es la implementación del algoritmo CLIK siguiendo una estructura modular para permitir a los futuros usuarios ampliar fácilmente la biblioteca. Para ello, se ha escrito el código principal del algoritmo, y otros programas complementarios que son llamados por el mismo, formando una librería cinemática. Finalmente, el informe expone los resultados de las pruebas de algoritmos realizadas tanto en simulación como en un sistema real utilizando un robot UR10e de
 Universal Robots.
 Palabras clave: Robótica, Cinemática Inversa, CLIK, Manipulador Redundante
 Códigos UNESCO: 3311.01, 3311.02, 3399 (Robótica)
Temporally Constrained Group Sparse Learning for Longitudinal Data Analysis in Alzheimer's Disease
Creators: name: Liu, Mingxia
name: Zhang, Daoqiang
name: Liu, Jun
name: Shen, Dinggang
name: Jie, Biao
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2017

description: Sparse learning has been widely investigated for analysis of brain images to assist the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and its prodromal stage, i.e., mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, most existing sparse learning-based studies only adopt cross-sectional analysis methods, where the sparse model is learned using data from a single time-point. Actually, multiple time-points of data are often available in brain imaging applications, which can be used in some longitudinal analysis methods to better uncover the disease progression patterns. Accordingly, in this paper we propose a novel temporally-constrained group sparse learning method aiming for longitudinal analysis with multiple time-points of data. Specifically, we learn a sparse linear regression model by using the imaging data from multiple time-points, where a group regularization term is first employed to group the weights for the same brain region across different time-points together. Furthermore, to reflect the smooth changes between data derived from adjacent time-points, we incorporate two smoothness regularization terms into the objective function, i.e., one fused smoothness term which requires that the differences between two successive weight vectors from adjacent time-points should be small, and another output smoothness term which requires the differences between outputs of two successive models from adjacent time-points should also be small. We develop an efficient optimization algorithm to solve the proposed objective function. Experimental results on ADNI database demonstrate that, compared with conventional sparse learning-based methods, our proposed method can achieve improved regression performance and also help in discovering disease-related biomarkers.
Probing microscopic conformational dynamics in folding reactions by measuring transition paths
Creators: Hoffer, Noel Q
Woodside, Michael T
Publisher: name: University of Alberta Library
Year: 2019

Transition paths comprise those parts of a folding trajectory where the molecule passes through the high-energy transition states separating folded and unfolded conformations. The transition states determine the folding kinetics and mechanism but are difficult to observe because of their brief duration. Single-molecule experiments have in recent years begun to characterize transition paths in folding reactions, allowing the microscopic conformational dynamics that occur as a molecule traverses the energy barriers to be probed directly. Here we review single-molecule fluorescence and force spectroscopy measurements of transition-path properties, including the time taken to traverse the paths, the local velocity along them, the path shapes, and the variability within these measurements reflecting differences between individual barrier crossings. We discuss how these measurements have been related to theories of folding as diffusion over an energy landscape to deduce properties such as the diffusion coefficient, and how they are being combined with simulations to obtain enhanced atomistic understanding of folding. The richly detailed information available from transition path measurements holds great promise for improved understanding of microscopic mechanisms in folding.
Generalized Stieltjes Transforms of Compactly-Supported Probability Distributions: Further Examples
Creators: name: Demni, Nizar
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Classical Analysis and ODEs (math.CA)
subject: Probability (math.PR)
subject: FOS: Mathematics

description: For two families of beta distributions, we show that the generalized Stieltjes transforms of their elements may be written as elementary functions (powers and fractions) of the Stieltjes transform of the Wigner distribution. In particular, we retrieve the examples given by the author in a previous paper and relating generalized Stieltjes transforms of special beta distributions to powers of (ordinary) Stieltjes ones. We also provide further examples of similar relations which are motivated by the representation theory of symmetric groups. Remarkably, the power of the Stieltjes transform of the symmetric Bernoulli distribution is a generalized Stietljes transform of a probability distribution if and only if the power is greater than one. As to the free Poisson distribution, it corresponds to the product of two independent Beta distributions in $[0,1]$ while another example of Beta distributions in $[-1,1]$ is found and is related with the Shrinkage process. We close the exposition by considering the generalized Stieltjes transform of a linear functional related with Humbert polynomials and generalizing the symmetric Beta distribution.
Multi-Level Canonical Correlation Analysis for Standard-Dose PET Image Estimation
Creators: name: Adeli, Ehsan
name: Ma, Guangkai
name: An, Le
name: Shi, Feng
name: Wang, Yan
name: Lin, Weili
name: Lalush, David S.
name: Shen, Dinggang
name: Zhang, Pei
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2016

description: Positron emission tomography (PET) images are widely used in many clinical applications such as tumor detection and brain disorder diagnosis. To obtain PET images of diagnostic quality, a sufficient amount of radioactive tracer has to be injected into a living body, which will inevitably increase the risk of radiation exposure. On the other hand, if the tracer dose is considerably reduced, the quality of the resulting images would be significantly degraded. It is of great interest to estimate a standard-dose PET (S-PET) image from a low-dose one in order to reduce the risk of radiation exposure and preserve image quality. This may be achieved through mapping both standard-dose and low-dose PET data into a common space and then performing patch based sparse representation. However, a one-size-fits-all common space built from all training patches is unlikely to be optimal for each target S-PET patch, which limits the estimation accuracy. In this paper, we propose a data-driven multi-level Canonical Correlation Analysis (mCCA) scheme to solve this problem. Specifically, a subset of training data that is most useful in estimating a target S-PET patch is identified in each level, and then used in the next level to update common space and improve estimation. Additionally, we also use multi-modal magnetic resonance images to help improve the estimation with complementary information. Validations on phantom and real human brain datasets show that our method effectively estimates S-PET images and well preserves critical clinical quantification measures, such as standard uptake value.
The Segal--Bargmann transform for odd-dimensional hyperbolic spaces
Creators: name: Hall, Brian C.
name: Mitchell, Jeffrey J.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
subject: Differential Geometry (math.DG)
subject: Representation Theory (math.RT)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: 81S30, 22E30, 35K08

description: We develop isometry and inversion formulas for the Segal--Bargmann transform on odd-dimensional hyperbolic spaces that are as parallel as possible to the dual case of odd-dimensional spheres.
description: To appear in Mathematics
Accurate Segmentation of CT Male Pelvic Organs via Regression-Based Deformable Models and Multi-Task Random Forests
Creators: name: Gao, Yaozong
name: Chen, Ronald C.
name: Shen, Dinggang
name: Lian, Jun
name: Shao, Yeqin
name: Wang, Andrew Z.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2016

description: Segmenting male pelvic organs from CT images is a prerequisite for prostate cancer radiotherapy. The efficacy of radiation treatment highly depends on segmentation accuracy. However, accurate segmentation of male pelvic organs is challenging due to low tissue contrast of CT images, as well as large variations of shape and appearance of the pelvic organs. Among existing segmentation methods, deformable models are the most popular, as shape prior can be easily incorporated to regularize the segmentation. Nonetheless, the sensitivity to initialization often limits their performance, especially for segmenting organs with large shape variations. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to guide deformable models, thus making them robust against arbitrary initializations. Specifically, we learn a displacement regressor, which predicts 3D displacement from any image voxel to the target organ boundary based on the local patch appearance. This regressor provides a nonlocal external force for each vertex of deformable model, thus overcoming the initialization problem suffered by the traditional deformable models. To learn a reliable displacement regressor, two strategies are particularly proposed. 1) A multi-task random forest is proposed to learn the displacement regressor jointly with the organ classifier; 2) an auto-context model is used to iteratively enforce structural information during voxel-wise prediction. Extensive experiments on 313 planning CT scans of 313 patients show that our method achieves better results than alternative classification or regression based methods, and also several other existing methods in CT pelvic organ segmentation.