Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nitrate enrichment alters a Daphnia–microparasite interaction through multiple pathways

Nutrient pollution has the potential to alter many ecological interactions, including host–parasite relationships. One of the largest sources of nutrient pollution comes from anthropogenic alteration of the nitrogen (N) cycle, specifically the increased rate of nitrate (NO3-N) deposition to aquatic environments, potentially altering host–parasite relationships. This study aimed to assess the mechanisms through which nitrate may impact host–pathogen relationships using a fungal pathogen (Metschnikowia bicuspidata) parasitic to crustacean zooplankton (Daphnia dentifera) as a tractable model system. First, the influence of nitrate on host population dynamics was assessed along a gradient of nitrate concentrations. Nitrate decreased host population size and increased infection prevalence. Second, the influence of nitrate on host reproduction, mortality, and infection intensity was assessed at the individual host level by examining the relationship between pathogen dose and infection prevalence at ambient (0.4 mg NO3-N*L−1) and intermediate (12 mg NO3-N*L−1) levels of nitrate. Host fecundity and infection intensity both decreased with increasing pathogen dose, but increased nitrate levels corresponded to greater infection intensities. Nitrate had no effect on host growth rate, suggesting that hosts do not alter feeding behavior in nitrate-treated media compared with ambient conditions. This study suggests that nutrient enrichment may enhance disease through increased transmission and infection intensity, but that high levels of nitrate may result in smaller epidemics through reduced transmission caused by smaller population sizes and increased pathogen mortality.
MultitaskProtDB: a database of multitasking proteins

We have compiled MultitaskProtDB, available online at http://wallace.uab. es/multitask, to provide a repository where the many multitasking proteins found in the literature can be stored. Multitasking or moonlighting is the capability of some proteins to execute two or more biological functions. Usually, multitasking proteins are experimentally revealed by serendipity. This ability of proteins to perform multitasking functions helps us to understand one of the ways used by cells to perform many complex functions with a limited number of genes. Even so, the study of this phenomenon is complex because, among other things, there is no database of moonlighting proteins. The existence of such a tool facilitates the collection and dissemination of these important data. This work reports the database, MultitaskProtDB, which is designed as a friendly user web page containing >288 multitasking proteins with their NCBI and UniProt accession numbers, canonical and additional biological functions, monomeric/oligomeric states, PDB codes when available and bibliographic references. This database also serves to gain insight into some characteristics of multitasking proteins such as frequencies of the different pairs of functions, phylogenetic conservation and so forth.
Optically transparent fluoro-containing polyimide films with low dielectric permeability

Optical, dielectric, thermal, physico-mechanical properties of new fluoro-containing alicyclic polyimides were investigated. High optical transparency in visible and UV ranges of the films with thickness 10-25 μm, which lower boundary was registered at 125-260 nm; as well as reflectivity index being 1.492-1.515 were recorded. Dielectric permeability was characterized with low rates and stability up to 300 °С depending on chemical structure. Polyimides were stable with heating in air up to 320-380 °С. Prepared films show break tensile at 145 MPa with elongation up to 50% due to the excellent film-forming properties. Films based on polyimides with polyaniline composition demonstrates reflectivity index 1.60.
Effects of Healthy Ageing on Activation Pattern within the Primary Motor Cortex during Movement and Motor Imagery: An fMRI Study

The increase in older adults over the coming decades will be accompanied by a greater burden of chronic neurological diseases affecting the motor system. The motor system adapts to maintain motor performance with the primary motor cortex (BA4) emerging as a pivotal node within this neuroplastic process. Studies of ageing often consider BA4 a homogenous area but cytoarchitectonic studies have revealed two subdivisions, an anterior (BA4a) and posterior subdivision (BA4p). Here we focus upon the effects of ageing on the involvement of BA4a and BA4p during movement and motor imagery (MI). Thirty-one right-handed healthy volunteers were recruited and screened for their ability to perform imagery (5 subjects excluded). The sample was split into an older group (n = 13, mean age 56.4 SD 9.4) and a younger group (n = 13, mean age 27.4 SD 5.3). We used an fMRI block-design (auditory-paced [1 Hz] right hand finger-thumb opposition sequence [2,3,4,5, 2…]) with MI & rest and actual movement & rest. We explored the distribution-based clustering and weighted laterality index within BA4a and BA4p. The involvement of BA4p during MI (measured with distribution-based clustering) was significantly greater in the older group (p<0.05) than in the younger group. Hemispheric balance of BA4p decreased with age during MI (Spearman rho −0.371; p<0.05), whereas that of BA4a decreased with age during actual movement (Spearman rho = −0.458 p<0.01). Irrespective of age, we found BA4 is involved during motor imagery, strengthening the rationale for its potential use in older subjects. These findings suggest that the functions of the subdivisions of BA4 are differentially affected by ageing and have implications regarding how ageing affects the cognitive processes underlying motor functions.
Prevalence of Hematozoa in Falcons in the United Arab Emirates With Respect to the Origin of Falcon Hosts

ABSTRACT To determine the prevalence of blood parasites with regard to country of origin in a population of falcons kept in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), 432 falcons of 3 different species and 2 hybrid species originating from Asia, Europe, and the United States were examined. Birds were divided into 2 groups. Group 1 comprised 323 birds examined immediately after arrival in the UAE. Blood parasites were detected in 6.8% of birds. Group 2 comprised 109 birds kept longer than 5 months in the UAE; of these, 15.6% were positive for blood parasites. No hybrids (captive bred birds from the United States or Germany) were positive in group 1, whereas 18.2% of the gyrfalcon/saker and 5.9% of the gyrfalcon/peregrine hybrids in group 2 were infected with blood parasites. Wild-caught birds from Asia were positive in both groups. In total, 39 (9%) of the 432 falcons examined were infected with blood parasites. The blood parasites detected were identified as Haemoproteus tinnunculi (5.3%), Haemoproteus brachiatus (0.9%), Leucocytozoon toddi (0.9%), and rickettsia-like parasites (1.9%). This study appears to be the first to investigate the prevalence of blood parasites within the UAE with regard to the origin of the birds. Additionally, it is the first report of H brachiatus in a saker falcon (Falco cherrug). No correlations were found between infection with a blood parasite and clinical disease in the birds in this study.
Dependence of maximal flow-volume curves on time course of preceding inspiration in patients with chronic obstruction pulmonary disease.

Thirteen patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) performed forced vital capacity (FVC) maneuvers either immediately after a rapid inspiration (maneuver 1) or after a slow inspiration with a 4- to 6-s end-inspiratory pause (maneuver 2). Seated in a body plethysmograph, they breathed through a pneumotachograph. Inspirations were initiated from resting end-expiratory lung volume. Abdominal muscle activity was recorded by means of surface electrodes. With maneuver 1: (1) expiratory flows were 20 to 40% larger in the volume range 10 to 95% FVC; (2) peak expiratory flow was on average 30% higher; and (3) FEV1, expressed as percent of FVC, increased by about 8%. No substantial differences in the pattern of abdominal muscle activity occurred between maneuvers. The dependence of maximal flow-volume curves on the time course of the preceding inspiration is probably related in part to the viscoelastic elements present within the respiratory system, which, stretched during rapid inspirations, increase the effective elastic recoil during the FVC maneuver 1. This cannot occur with maneuver 2, because of stress relaxation of the viscoelastic elements during the 4- to 6-s breathhold preceding the FVC maneuver. Other factors (e.g., time constant inequality) might also be involved. In any case, the results imply that the inspiratory maneuver prior to FVC must be standardized.
Models for performance perturbation analysis

When performance measurements are made of program operation actual execution behavior can be perturbed. In general, the degree of perturbation depends on the intrusiveness and frequency of the instrument ation. If the perturbation effects of the instrumentation cannot be quantified by a perturbation model (and subsequently removed during perturbation analysis), detailed performance measurements could be inaccurate. Developing models of time and event perturbations that can recover actual execution performance from perturbed performance measurements is the topic of this paper. Time-based models can accurately capture execution time perturbations for sequential computations and concurrent computations with simple fork-join behavior. However, the performance of parallel computations generally depends on the relative ordering of dependent events and the assignment of computational resources. Event-based models must be used to quantify instrumentation perturbation in parallel performance measurements. The measurement and subsequent analysis of synchronization operations (e.g., barrier, semaphore, and advance/await synchronization) can produce accurate approximations to act Supported in pmt by the National Science Fm.mdation under Grants No. NSF MIP-88-07775 and No. NSF ASC-84-04556, and the NASA Ames Research Center Grant No. NCC-2-559. Current at the Department of Computer and Information Science, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403. $ Supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grants NSF CCR-86-57696, NSF CCR-87-06653 and NSF CDA87-22836 and by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under NASA Contract Number NAG-1-613. Permission to copy without fee all or part of this material is granted providad that the copies are not made or distributed for direct commercial advantage, the ACM copyright notice and the title of the publication and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of the Association for Computing Machinery. To copy otherwise, or to republish, requires a fee and/or specific permission. @ 1991 ACM 0-8,9791-457-01911001 1/0015 . $1 . 50 tual performance behavior. Unfortunately, event-based models are limited in their ability to fully capture perturbation effects in nondeterministic executions.
Biology of Porcine Parvovirus (Ungulate parvovirus 1)

Porcine parvovirus (PPV) is among the most important infectious agents causing infertility in pigs. Until recently, it was thought that the virus had low genetic variance, and that prevention of its harmful effect on pig fertility could be well-controlled by vaccination. However, at the beginning of the third millennium, field observations raised concerns about the effectiveness of the available vaccines against newly emerging strains. Subsequent investigations radically changed our view on the evolution and immunology of PPV, revealing that the virus is much more diverse than it was earlier anticipated, and that some of the “new” highly virulent isolates cannot be neutralized effectively by antisera raised against “old” PPV vaccine strains. These findings revitalized PPV research that led to significant advancements in the understanding of early and late viral processes during PPV infection. Our review summarizes the recent results of PPV research and aims to give a comprehensive update on the present understanding of PPV biology.
STUDY OF A GLOBAL DESIGN SPACE EXPLORATION METHOD FOR AEROSPACE VEHICLES

The preliminary design space exploration for large, interdisciplinary engineering problems is often a difficult and time-consuming task. General techniques are needed that efficiently and methodically search the design space. This work focuses on the use of parallel load balancing techniques integrated with a global optimizer to reduce the computational time of the design space exploration. The method is applied to the multidisciplinary design of a High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT). A modified Lipschitzian optimization algorithm generates large sets of design points that are evaluated concurrently using a variety of load balancing schemes. The load balancing schemes implemented in this study are: static load balancing, dynamic load balancing with a master-slave organization, fully distributed dynamic load balancing, and fully distributed dynamic load balancing via threads. All of the parallel computing schemes have high parallel efficiencies. When the variation in the design evaluation times is small, the computational overhead needed for fully distributed dynamic load balancing is substantial enough so that it is more efficient to use a master-slave paradigm. However, when the variation in evaluation times is increased, fully distributed load balancing is the most efficient. * Graduate Research Assistant, Dept. of Aerospace
Second Primary Cancer Following Laryngeal Cancer with Special Reference to Smoking Habits

The risk of developing a second primary cancer following laryngeal cancer was estimated by following‐up 472 male laryngeal cancer patients for an average of 8.6 years by means of record linkage to the Osaka Cancer Registry. Of these patients, 115 developed a second cancer other than laryngeal cancer, whereas the expected number derived from the incidence rates among Osaka residents was 51.4 (relative risk (RR) = 2.2, 95% confidence interval = 1.85 2.69). Cumulative risk of developing a second primary cancer was estimated to be 31.1% at 15 years after laryngeal cancer. By site, the risks were significantly increased for tobacco‐related cancers, RR = 24.5, 6.1 and 2.3 for cancers of the oral cavity & pharynx, esophagus and lung, respectively. Also, the risks were higher among heavy smokers for cancer of the oral cavity & pharynx and esophagus than among light smokers. No adverse effects of radiotherapy for laryngeal cancer on the development of thyroid cancer, lymphoma and leukemia were observed. The present study suggests the necessity of following‐up laryngeal cancer patients over a long period in order to enable the early detection of tobacco‐related cancer.
PIPES: a public infrastructure for processing and exploring streams

PIPES is a flexible and extensible infrastructure providing fundamental building blocks to implement a data stream management system (DSMS). It is seamlessly integrated into the Java library XXL [1, 2, 3] for advanced query processing and extends XXL's scope towards continuous data-driven query processing over autonomous data sources.
Body Mass Index, Surgery, and Risk of Venous Thromboembolism in Middle-Aged Women: A Cohort Study

Background— Obesity and surgery are known risk factors for venous thromboembolism (VTE), but there is limited information about the independent effects of obesity on the incidence of postoperative VTE. We linked questionnaire data from the Million Women Study with hospital admission and death records to examine the risk of VTE in relation to body mass index (BMI) both in the absence of surgery and in the first 12 weeks following an operation. Methods and Results— Overall, 1 170 495 women (mean age, 56.1 years) recruited in 1996 to 2001 through the National Health Service Breast Screening Programme in England and Scotland were followed for an average of 6 years, during which time 6438 were admitted to hospital or died of VTE. The adjusted relative risks of VTE increased progressively with increasing BMI and women with a BMI ≥35 kg/m2 were 3–4 times as likely to develop VTE as those with a BMI 22.5 to 24.9 (relative risk 3.45 [95% CI 3.09–3.86]). Overweight and obese women were more likely than lean women to be admitted for surgery and also to develop postoperative VTE. During a 12-week period without surgery, the incidence rates of VTE per 1000 women with a BMI <25 and ≥25 were 0.10 (0.09–0.10) and 0.19 (0.18–0.20); the corresponding rates in the 12 weeks following day and inpatient surgery were, respectively, about 4 and 40 times higher. Conclusions— VTE risk increases with increasing BMI and the associated excess risk is much greater after surgery than without surgery.
Vision Problems and Reduced Reading Outcomes in Queensland Schoolchildren.

PURPOSE To assess the relationship between vision and reading outcomes in Indigenous and non-Indigenous schoolchildren to determine whether vision problems are associated with lower reading outcomes in these populations. METHODS Vision testing and reading assessments were performed on 508 Indigenous and non-Indigenous schoolchildren in Queensland, Australia divided into two age groups: Grades 1 and 2 (6-7 years of age) and Grades 6 and 7 (12-13 years of age). Vision parameters measured included cycloplegic refraction, near point of convergence, heterophoria, fusional vergence range, rapid automatized naming, and visual motor integration. The following vision conditions were then classified based on the vision findings: uncorrected hyperopia, convergence insufficiency, reduced rapid automatized naming, and delayed visual motor integration. Reading accuracy and reading comprehension were measured with the Neale reading test. The effect of uncorrected hyperopia, convergence insufficiency, reduced rapid automatized naming, and delayed visual motor integration on reading accuracy and reading comprehension were investigated with ANCOVAs. RESULTS The ANCOVAs explained a significant proportion of variance in both reading accuracy and reading comprehension scores in both age groups, with 40% of the variation in reading accuracy and 33% of the variation in reading comprehension explained in the younger age group, and 27% and 10% of the variation in reading accuracy and reading comprehension, respectively, in the older age group. The vision parameters of visual motor integration and rapid automatized naming were significant predictors in all ANCOVAs (P < .01). The direction of the relationship was such that reduced reading results were explained by reduced visual motor integration and rapid automatized naming results. CONCLUSIONS Both reduced rapid automatized naming and visual motor integration were associated with poorer reading outcomes in Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. This is an important finding given the recent emphasis placed on Indigenous children's reading skills and the fact that reduced rapid automatized naming and visual motor integration skills are more common in this group.
A new flower pollination based task scheduling algorithm in cloud environment

Cloud Computing is in demand now a days as it provides reliable, scalable and economical IT operations. As the scale of the cloud computing is increasing the need of an efficient scheduling algorithm for an effecting management of resources is also becoming crucial. Scheduling problem in cloud is NP-hard problem. Meta-heuristic approaches have been very useful in providing near optimal solution to the scheduling problem. In this paper a new approach for Task Scheduling using Flower Pollination Algorithm (TSFPA) has been introduced to allocate resources to task. The objective of this proposed algorithm is to minimize the makespan. The performance of the proposed algorithm has been compared with genetic algorithm (GA), first come first serve (FCFS) and round robin (RR) approach of scheduling using Cloudsim toolkit. Simulation results showed that performance of TSFPA is better than GA, RR and FCFS in terms of makespan.
The Branch and Prune Algorithm for the Molecular Distance Geometry Problem with Inexact Distances

The Discretizable Molecular Distance Geometry Prob- lem (DMDGP) consists in a subclass of distance geometry instances (related to molecules) that can be solved by combinatorial optimiza- tion. A modified version of the Branch and Prune (BP) algorithm, previously proposed for solving these instances, is presented, where it is supposed that exact distances are not known, but rather intervals where the actual distances are contained. This assumption is realis- tic, because instances of this problem can be defined by applying experimental techniques, such as the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), that are subject to errors. Computational experiences show how inaccurate data can affect the quality and the number of solutions which are found by the modified version of the BP algorithm. Depending on the errors introduced in the data, less accurate solutions or a larger number of solutions is found. In the latter case, clusters containing the most similar conformations can be identified, and the cardinality of the solution set can be reduced.
Fading Two-Way Relay Channels: Physical-Layer Versus Digital Network Coding

In this paper, we consider three transmit strategies for the fading three-node two-way relay network, namely, physical-layer network coding (PNC), digital network coding (DNC), and codeword superposition (CW-Sup). The aim is to minimize the total average energy needed to deliver a given pair of required average rates. Full channel state information is assumed to be available at all transmitters and receivers. The optimization problems corresponding to the various strategies in fading channels are formulated, solved, and compared. For the DNC-based strategies, a simple time sharing of transmission of the network-coded message and the remaining bits of the larger message (DNC-TS) is considered first. We extend this approach to include a superposition strategy (DNC-Sup), in which the network-coded message and the remainder of the longer source message are superimposed before transmission. It is theoretically demonstrated that DNC-Sup outperforms DNC-TS and CW-Sup in terms of total average energy usage. More importantly, it is shown in the simulation that DNC-Sup performs better than PNC if the required rate is low and worse otherwise. Finally, an algorithm to select the optimal strategy in terms of energy usage subject to different rate pair requirements is presented.
Is Tougher Better? The Impact of Physical Prison Conditions on Inmate Violence

Physical conditions of prisons have been at the center of long-standing debates in correctional policy and research. Many argue prisons should be unpleasant to deter future offending and motivate prosocial change among inmates. Others believe harsh conditions inhibit effective treatment and, perhaps, make offenders worse. Little progress in these debates has emerged, primarily because few studies exist that have tested propositions coming from either camp. This study draws on survey data collected from a random sample of staff at each of the 114 federal prisons operating in 2007. Staff perceptions of noise, clutter, dilapidation, and privacy were combined to reflect physical conditions of each prison (aggregated to the prison level). Operational data measuring serious violence was used to create a count of serious assaults at each prison over the same time period referenced in the staff survey. Utilizing a Poisson framework, the data showed that poor physical conditions of prisons correspond to significantly higher rates of serious violence. Implications for theory and policy are discussed.