LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Effects of an Infectious Fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, on Amphibian Predator-Prey Interactions

The effects of parasites and pathogens on host behaviors may be particularly important in predator-prey contexts, since few animal behaviors are more crucial for ensuring immediate survival than the avoidance of lethal predators in nature. We examined the effects of an emerging fungal pathogen of amphibians, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, on anti-predator behaviors of tadpoles of four frog species. We also investigated whether amphibian predators consumed infected prey, and whether B. dendrobatidis caused differences in predation rates among prey in laboratory feeding trials. We found differences in anti-predator behaviors among larvae of four amphibian species, and show that infected tadpoles of one species (Anaxyrus boreas) were more active and sought refuge more frequently when exposed to predator chemical cues. Salamander predators consumed infected and uninfected tadpoles of three other prey species at similar rates in feeding trials, and predation risk among prey was unaffected by B. dendrobatidis. Collectively, our results show that even sub-lethal exposure to B. dendrobatidis can alter fundamental anti-predator behaviors in some amphibian prey species, and suggest the unexplored possibility that indiscriminate predation between infected and uninfected prey (i.e., non-selective predation) could increase the prevalence of this widely distributed pathogen in amphibian populations. Because one of the most prominent types of predators in many amphibian systems is salamanders, and because salamanders are susceptible to B. dendrobatidis, our work suggests the importance of considering host susceptibility and behavioral changes that could arise from infection in both predators and prey.
Cloud Computing: State of the Art and Security Issues

Cloud Computing is the fastest growing technology in the IT industry. It helps in providing services and resources with the help of internet. Resources are always provided by the Cloud Service Provider. Resources may be servers, storage, applications and networks. Keeping Resources in the cloud environment can be helpful in saving infrastructure cost and time for the user. Transferring the entire information of the enterprise onto the cloud contains lots of security issues and threats. This paper focuses on the various concepts related to cloud computing, its various business and service models and its entities along with several issues and challenges related to it.
Improving injection accuracy of the elbow, knee, and shoulder: does injection site and imaging make a difference? A systematic review.

BACKGROUND
Joint injections and aspirations are used to reduce joint pain and decrease inflammation. The efficacy of these injections is diminished when they are placed inadvertently in the wrong location or compartment. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the use of varying sites or imaging techniques affects the rate of accurate needle placement in aspiration and injection in the shoulder, elbow, and knee.


HYPOTHESES
(1) Accuracy rates of different joint injection sites will demonstrate variability. (2) Injection accuracy rates will be improved when performed with concomitant imaging.


STUDY DESIGN
Systematic review of the literature.


METHODS
Studies reporting injection accuracy based on image verification were identified through a systematic search of the English literature. Accuracy rates were compared for currently accepted injection sites in the shoulder, elbow, and knee. In addition, accuracy rates with and without imaging of these joints were compared.


RESULTS
In the glenohumeral joint, there is a statistically higher accuracy rate with the posterior approach when compared with the anterior approach (85% vs 45%). Injection site selection did not affect accuracy for the subacromial space, acromioclavicular joint, elbow, or knee. The use of imaging improved injection accuracy in the glenohumeral joint (95% vs 79%), subacromial space (100% vs 63%), acromioclavicular joint (100% vs 45%), and knee (99% vs 79%).


CONCLUSION
Injection accuracy rates are significantly higher for the posterior approach compared with the anterior approach for the glenohumeral joint. Similarly, the accuracy rates are also higher when imaging is used in conjunction with injection of the glenohumeral joint, subacromial space, acromioclavicular joint, and knee.
Esophageal dysphagia and reflux symptoms before and after oral IQoro(R) training.

AIM
To examine whether muscle training with an oral IQoro(R) screen (IQS) improves esophageal dysphagia and reflux symptoms.


METHODS
A total of 43 adult patients (21 women and 22 men) were consecutively referred to a swallowing center for the treatment and investigation of long-lasting nonstenotic esophageal dysphagia. Hiatal hernia was confirmed by radiologic examination in 21 patients before enrollment in the study (group A; median age 52 years, range: 19-85 years). No hiatal hernia was detected by radiologic examination in the remaining 22 patients (group B; median age 57 years, range: 22-85 years). Before and after training with an oral IQS for 6-8 mo, the patients were evaluated using a symptom questionnaire (esophageal dysphagia and acid chest symptoms; score 0-3), visual analogue scale (ability to swallow food: score 0-100), lip force test (≥ 15 N), velopharyngeal closure test (≥ 10 s), orofacial motor tests, and an oral sensory test. Another twelve patients (median age 53 years, range: 22-68 years) with hiatal hernia were evaluated using oral IQS traction maneuvers with pressure recordings of the upper esophageal sphincter and hiatus canal as assessed by high-resolution manometry.


RESULTS
Esophageal dysphagia was present in all 43 patients at entry, and 98% of patients showed improvement after IQS training [mean score (range): 2.5 (1-3) vs 0.9 (0-2), P < 0.001]. Symptoms of reflux were reported before training in 86% of the patients who showed improvement at follow-up [1.7 (0-3) vs 0.5 (0-2), P < 0.001). The visual analogue scale scores were classified as pathologic in all 43 patients, and 100% showed improvement after IQS training [71 (30-100) vs 22 (0-50), P < 0.001]. No significant difference in symptom frequency was found between groups A and B before or after IQS training. The lip force test [31 N (12-80 N) vs 54 N (27-116), P < 0.001] and velopharyngeal closure test values [28 s (5-74 s) vs 34 s (13-80 s), P < 0.001] were significantly higher after IQS training. The oral IQS traction results showed an increase in mean pressure in the diaphragmatic hiatus region from 0 mmHg at rest (range: 0-0 mmHG) to 65 mmHg (range: 20-100 mmHg).


CONCLUSION
Oral IQS training can relieve/improve esophageal dysphagia and reflux symptoms in adults, likely due to improved hiatal competence.
Automatic detection of fruits in coffee crops from aerial images

A big challenge in the precision agriculture is the detection of fruits in coffee crops on agricultural environments. This paper presents a comparison of four features set to detect the red fruits (mature) in Coffee plants. An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is used to obtain high-resolution RGB images of a coffee hall. The proposed methodology enables the extraction of visual features from image regions and uses supervised Machine Learning (ML) techniques to classify areas as coffee fruits and non-fruits (e.g. branches and leaves). Several ML methods were compared using the test data achieved from a Coffee plantation. Experimental results show that the ANN model is more reliable than other ML methods for accurately identifying coffee fruits.
Diagnostic utility of flexible bronchoscopy in elderly patients.

BACKGROUND
In the elderly population, diagnosis and initial treatment should be considered as soon as possible because of high disease incidence and complications. We aimed to evaluate the findings of flexible bronchoscopy (FB) and determine the diagnostic utility of FB in patients 65 years old and older.


METHOD
We retrospectively evaluated FB results. Demographic data, clinical and bronchoscopic findings, diagnostic procedures during FB and incidence of accurate diagnosis with FB both in patients 65 years old and older and in younger patients were determined.


RESULTS
A total of 745 patients [younger patients (<65 years, n = 378, F/M: 120/258) and older patients (≥65 years, n = 367, F/M: 88/279)] who underwent FB at our clinic between 2009 and 2012 were included. The mean age of older patients was 72.6 ± 5.8 years, while the mean age of younger patients was 50.9 ± 11.7 years. Overall, 188 older patients (51.2%) had an accurate diagnosis with the procedures used during bronchoscopy, and 179 younger patients (47.3%) had a final diagnosis with these procedures. The diagnostic utility of FB did not differ significantly between study groups (P = 0.291). During FB, 326 older patients (88.8%) had no complication, and 343 younger patients (90.7%) had no complications. No statistically significant difference was found between older and younger patients in terms of complications during FB (P = 0.389).


CONCLUSION
The results of this study indicate the high diagnostic value of FB together with low complication rates in patients aged 65 years and older.
Knowledge and practices related to menstruation among tribal (Gujjar) adolescent girls.

The present study was undertaken to assess the knowledge and practices related to menstruation among tribal (Gujjar) adolescent girls. The sample for the study comprised of 200 girls in the age group 13-15 years. Both nomadic and semi-nomadic Gujjars were included. A combination of snowball and random sampling technique was used for selection of the sample group from various areas of Jammu district of Jammu and Kashmir State. Interview guide was developed and used to study the knowledge and practices related to menstruation among adolescent girls. Along with the Interview guide, the menstrual history of the sample group was recorded by the medical experts in the proforma devised for the purpose. The results revealed that sample girls lacked conceptual clarity about the process of menstruation before they started menstruating due to which they faced several gynaecological problems. The most common source of information about menstruation for the majority (83%) of the sample girls were friends. There were several socio-cultural taboos related to menstruation. The level of personal hygiene and management of menstruation was found to be quite unsatisfactory. 98% of the girls believed that there should be no regular bath during menstrual cycle. All the girls reported following these cultural practices without much questioning. The results hold implications for professionals involved in improvement of adolescent reproductive health in particular.
Walking the bridge: Nursing students' learning in clinical skill laboratories.

Despite an increasing focus on simulation as a learning strategy in nursing education, there is limited evidence on the transfer of simulated skills into clinical practice. Therefore it's important to increase knowledge of how clinical skills laboratories (CSL) can optimize students' learning for development of professional knowledge and skills, necessary for quality nursing practice and for patient safety. Thus, the aim was to describe nursing students' experiences of learning in the CSL as a preparation for their clinical practice. Interviews with 16 students were analysed with content analysis. An overall theme was identified - walking the bridge - in which the CSL formed a bridge between the university and clinical settings, allowing students to integrate theory and practice and develop a reflective stance. The theme was based on categories: conditions for learning, strategies for learning, tension between learning in the skills laboratory and clinical settings, and development of professional and personal competence. The CSL prepared the students for clinical practice, but a negative tension between learning in CSL and clinical settings was experienced. However, this tension may create reflection. This provides a new perspective that can be used as a pedagogical approach to create opportunities for students to develop their critical thinking.
Strategic Research Action Plans 2016-2019

EPA's six research priorities: Air, Climate, Energy; Chemical Safety for Sustainability, Homeland Security, Human Health Risk Assessment, Sustainable and Healthy Communities, Safe and Sustainable Water Resources.
Active accident avoidance case study: Integrating drowsiness monitoring system with lateral control and speed regulation in passenger vehicles

This study proposes architecture for integrating intelligent control systems into vehicles, with special consideration to include the human-driver in the control loop. As a case study of the proposed architecture, drowsiness monitoring system is combined with an adaptive and robust lateral controller. Drowsiness is considered to be related to the uncertainty in steering wheel commands for the vehicle lateral movement. Using a robust control theory scheme, the uncertainties from road-vehicle forces and driver inputs are addressed resulting in a lateral controller. The controller is able to re-shape the frequency response of the vehicle in both lateral acceleration and side-slip angle, shifting the response into more stable areas in Nyquist diagram. An additional speed reduction finalizes the complete stabilization of the vehicle-driver system. The stabilization in lateral dynamics of the car and speed reduction addresses the characteristics of the road accident patterns including drowsy/sleepy drivers.
Real-Time System for Adaptive Video Streaming Based on SVC

This paper presents the integration of scalable video coding (SVC) into a generic platform for multimedia adaptation. The platform provides a full MPEG-21 chain including server, adaptation nodes, and clients. An efficient adaptation framework using SVC and MPEG-21 digital item adaptation (DIA) is integrated and it is shown that SVC can seamlessly be adapted using DIA. For protection of packet losses in an error prone environment an unequal erasure protection scheme for SVC is provided. The platform includes a real-time SVC encoder capable of encoding CIF video with a QCIF base layer and fine grain scalable quality refinement at 12.5 fps on off-the-shelf high-end PCs. The reported quality degradation due to the optimization of the encoding algorithm is below 0.6 dB for the tested sequences.
The progressive elevation of alpha fetoprotein for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with liver cirrhosis

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common cause of primary liver neoplasms and is one of the main causes of death in patients with liver cirrhosis. High Alpha fetoprotein serum levels have been found in 60–70% of patients with Hepatocellular carcinoma; nevertheless, there are other causes that increase this protein. Alpha fetoprotein levels ≥200 and 400 ng/mL in patients with an identifiable liver mass by imaging techniques are diagnostic of hepatocellular carcinoma with high specificity. We analysed the sensitivity and specificity of the progressive increase of the levels of alpha fetoprotein for the detection of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with liver cirrhosis. Seventy-four patients with cirrhosis without hepatocellular carcinoma and 193 with hepatic lesions diagnosed by biopsy and shown by image scans were included. Sensitivity and specificity of transversal determination of alpha fetoprotein ≥ 200 and 400 ng/mL and monthly progressive elevation of alpha fetoprotein were analysed. Areas under the ROC curves were compared. Positive and negative predictive values adjusted to a 5 and 10% prevalence were calculated. For an elevation of alpha fetoprotein ≥ 200 and 400 ng/mL the specificity is of 100% in both cases, with a sensitivity of 36.3 and 20.2%, respectively. For an alpha fetoprotein elevation rate ≥7 ng/mL/month, sensitivity was of 71.4% and specificity of 100%. The area under the ROC curve of the progressive elevation was significantly greater than that of the transversal determination of alpha fetoprotein. The positive and negative predictive values modified to a 10% prevalence are of: 98.8% and 96.92%, respectively; while for a prevalence of 5% they were of 97.4% and 98.52%, respectively. The progressive elevation of alpha fetoprotein ≥7 ng/mL/month in patients with liver cirrhosis is useful for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients that do not reach αFP levels ≥200 ng/mL. Prospective studies are required to confirm this observation.
A Field Guide to Genetic Programming

The latest book on Genetic Programming, Poli, Langdon and McPhee’s (with contributions from John R. Koza) A Field Guide to Genetic Programming represents an exciting landmark with the authors choosing to make their work freely available by publishing using a form of the Creative Commons License[1]. In so doing they have created a must-read resource which is, to use their words, ’aimed at both newcomers and old-timers’. The book is freely available from the authors companion website [2] and Lulu.com [3] in both pdf and html form. For those who desire the more traditional page turning exercise, inexpensive printed copies can be ordered from Lulu.com. The Field Guides companion website also provides a link to the TinyGP code printed over eight pages of Appendix B, and a Discussion Group centered around the book. The book is divided into four parts with fourteen chapters and two appendices. Part I introduces the basics of Genetic Programming, Part II overviews more advanced topics, Part III highlights some of the real world applications and discusses issues facing the GP researcher or practitioner, while Part IV contains two appendices, the first introducing some key resources and the second appendix describes the TinyGP code. The pdf and html forms of the book have an especially useful feature, providing links to the articles available on-line at the time of publication, and to bibtex entries of the GP Bibliography. Following an overview of the book in chapter 1, chapter 2 introduces the basic concepts of GP focusing on the tree representation, initialisation, selection, and the search operators. Chapter 3 is centered around the preparatory steps in applying GP to a problem, which is followed by an outline of a sample run of GP on a simple instance of symbolic regression in Chapter 4. Overall these chapters provide a compact and useful introduction to GP. The first of the Advanced GP chapters in Part II looks at alternative strategies for initialisation and the search operators for tree-based GP. An overview of Modular, Grammatical and Developmental GP is provided in Chapter 6. While the chapter title
Nonredundant roles of TIRAP and MyD88 in airway response to endotoxin, independent of TRIF, IL-1 and IL-18 pathways

Inhaled endotoxins induce an acute inflammatory response in the airways mediated through Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88). However, the relative roles of the TLR4 adaptor proteins TIRAP and TRIF and of the MyD88-dependent IL-1 and IL-18 receptor pathways in this response are unclear. Here, we demonstrate that endotoxin-induced acute bronchoconstriction, vascular damage resulting in protein leak, Th1 cytokine and chemokine secretion and neutrophil recruitment in the airways are abrogated in mice deficient for either TIRAP or MyD88, but not in TRIF deficient mice. The contribution of other TLR-independent, MyD88-dependent signaling pathways was investigated in IL-1R1, IL-18R and caspase-1 (ICE)-deficient mice, which displayed normal airway responses to endotoxin. In conclusion, the TLR4-mediated, bronchoconstriction and acute inflammatory lung pathology to inhaled endotoxin critically depend on the expression of both adaptor proteins, TIRAP and MyD88, suggesting cooperative roles, while TRIF, IL-1R1, IL-18R signaling pathways are dispensable.
Adapting to drought in the Sahel: lessons for climate change

The Sahel’s experience of adapting to changes in rainfall on a scale at least comparable to that of climate change scenarios, between the 1960s and the 1990s, suggests that lessons can be learnt that may have a wider utility for policy in the future. The Sahel is a major global agroecological region and its success in adaptation will influence the achievement of the global Millennium Development Goals. From simple typologies of adaptation strategies, our understanding of adaptive capacity has evolved over time (with accumulating observations) into a contextual model which places drought management at the center of a development process. Climate change impacts in future are very uncertain. Policies and interventions should therefore aim to build on the platform of past achievements and existing local knowledge to enable flexibility and diversity and the protection of assets of small-scale farmers and herders .  2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. WIREs Clim Change 2010 1 134–143
A new approach to wafer sawing: stealth laser dicing technology

Stealth Dicing (SD) technology has high potential to replace the conventional blade sawing and laser grooving. The dicing method has been widely researched since 2005 [1-3] especially for thin wafer (⇐ 12 mils). SD cutting has good quality because it has dry process during laser cutting, extremely narrow scribe line and multi-die sawing capability. However, along with complicated package technology, the chip quality demands fine and accurate pitch which conventional blade saw is impossible to achieve. This paper is intended as an investigation in high performance SD sawing, including multi-pattern wafer and DAF dicing tape capability. With the improvement of low-K substrate technology and min chip scale size, SD cutting is more important than other methods used before. Such sawing quality also occurs in wafer level chip scale package. With low-K substrate and small package, the SD cutting method can cut the narrow scribe line easily (15 um), which can lead the WLCSP to achieve more complicated packing method successfully.
Insitu Mucoadhesive Nasal Gels of Metoclopramide Hydrochloride : Preformulation and Formulation Studies

The prolonged residence of drug formulation in the nasal cavity is of utmost importance for intranasal drug delivery. The objective of the present investigation was to develop a mucoadhesive in situ gel with reduced nasal mucocilliary clearance in order to improve the bioavailability of the antiemetic drug, metoclopramide hydrochloride. The in situ gelation upon contact with nasal mucosa was conferred via the use of the thermogelling Pluronic flake 127 whereas mucoadhesion and drug release enhancement were modulated via the use of sodium alginate and polyethylene glycol polymers respectively. The results revealed that the mucoadhesive polymer increased the gel viscosity but reduced its sol gel transition temperatures and the drug release. The inclusion of polyethylene glycol polymer counteracted the effect of mucoadhesive polymer where by it decreased the gel consistency and increased the sol gel transition as well as in vitro drug diffusion. The in vitro tests performed for mucoadhesive strength and drug diffusion showed that nasal in situ gelling formulations prepared are having good mucoadhesive strength with nearly100% drug diffusion within 4 hours. So this study points to the potential of mucoadhesive in situ nasal gel in terms of ease of administration, accuracy of dosing, prolonged nasal residence and improved nasal bioavailability.