Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aggregate Size and Architecture Determine Microbial Activity Balance for One-Stage Partial Nitritation and Anammox

ABSTRACT Aerobic ammonium-oxidizing bacteria (AerAOB) and anoxic ammonium-oxidizing bacteria (AnAOB) cooperate in partial nitritation/anammox systems to remove ammonium from wastewater. In this process, large granular microbial aggregates enhance the performance, but little is known about granulation so far. In this study, three suspended-growth oxygen-limited autotrophic nitrification-denitrification (OLAND) reactors with different inoculation and operation (mixing and aeration) conditions, designated reactors A, B, and C, were used. The test objectives were (i) to quantify the AerAOB and AnAOB abundance and the activity balance for the different aggregate sizes and (ii) to relate aggregate morphology, size distribution, and architecture putatively to the inoculation and operation of the three reactors. A nitrite accumulation rate ratio (NARR) was defined as the net aerobic nitrite production rate divided by the anoxic nitrite consumption rate. The smallest reactor A, B, and C aggregates were nitrite sources (NARR, >1.7). Large reactor A and C aggregates were granules capable of autonomous nitrogen removal (NARR, 0.6 to 1.1) with internal AnAOB zones surrounded by an AerAOB rim. Around 50% of the autotrophic space in these granules consisted of AerAOB- and AnAOB-specific extracellular polymeric substances. Large reactor B aggregates were thin film-like nitrite sinks (NARR, <0.5) in which AnAOB were not shielded by an AerAOB layer. Voids and channels occupied 13 to 17% of the anoxic zone of AnAOB-rich aggregates (reactors B and C). The hypothesized granulation pathways include granule replication by division and budding and are driven by growth and/or decay based on species-specific physiology and by hydrodynamic shear and mixing.
The Factorization Method Applied to the Complete Electrode Model of Impedance Tomography

The factorization method is a tool for recovering inclusions inside a body when the Neumann-to-Dirichlet operator, which maps applied currents to measured voltages, is known. In practice this information is never at hand due to the discreteness and physical properties of the measurement devices. The complete electrode model of impedance tomography includes these physical characteristics but leads to a finite-dimensional data set, called the resistivity matrix. The main result of this work is an approximation link relating the resistivity matrix to the Neumann-to-Dirichlet operator in the $L^2$-operator norm. This result allows us to extend the factorization method to the framework of real-life electrode measurements using a regularized series criterion which is easy to implement in practice. The truncation index of the sequence criterion, which represents the stopping index of the regularization scheme, can be computed solely from the measured, perturbed, and finite-dimensional data. The functionality of .
Headache in Acute Cerebrovascular Disease: A Prospective Clinical Study in 240 Patients

To evaluate the clinical features of headache in stroke, a prospective study was carried out in 240 consecutive patients with acute stroke who had intact expressive function. Headache occurred in 38%: 32% of 195 patients with ischemic stroke and 64.5% of 45 patients with hemorrhagic stroke (p < 0.0001). Headache patients were younger (mean age 62 ± 15 vs 67 ± 11.5 years) than non-headache patients (p < 0.01). A history of previous vascular or tension-type headache was found in 40.5% of the headache group, but in only 23.5% of the non-headache group (p < 0.01). In ischemic stroke, headache was observed in 41% of thrombotic infarcts, in 39% of cardioembolic infarcts, in 23% of lacunar infarcts and in 26% of TIA. Headache was significantly more common in thrombotic than lacunar infarcts (p < 0.05). In hemorrhagic stroke, headache was observed in all subarachnoid hemorrhages and in 58% of intraparenchymal hemorrhages. In ischemic stroke, the mean duration of the headache was 25 ± 28 h and in hemorrhagic stroke 64.5 ± 36.5 h (p < 0.00001). In ischemic stroke the headache was focal in 74% and mild or moderate in intensity in 74%. In hemorrhagic stroke, it was diffuse in 52% and the pain intensity was incapacitating in 70%. Headache was more common in vertebrobasilar stroke (59%), in comparison with carotid stroke (26%) or stroke of unclear vascular topography (33%) (p < 0.00001). Fifty-six and a half percent of patients with cortical stroke had headaches, as opposed to only 26.5% of patients with subcortical stroke (p < 0.005). Ten percent of the patients presented with sentinel headache.
Levels of Salivary Antioxidant Vitamins and Lipid Peroxidation in Patients with Oral Lichen Planus and Healthy Individuals

Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory mucosal disease of unknown etiology. Many studies have implicated the protective role of antioxidants in such diseases. The aim of this study was to compare salivary total antioxidant capacity (TAC and malondialdehyde (MDA) and antioxidant vitamin (vitamin s A, C and E) levels in patients with erosive OLP and healthy individuals. Thirty six patients with OLP (14 males, 22 females) and 36 control subjects (15 males, 21 females), matched for age and sex were enrolled in this case control study. The salivary levels of MDA, TAC, and antioxidant vitamin levels were measured in both case and control groups. The salivary level of MDA was significantly higher (p<0.001) in patients than in controls. In patients with OLP, the TAC of saliva was significantly lower than that in healthy subjects (p<0.001). Compared with controls, the levels of salivary antioxidant vitamins were significantly decreased in patients with OLP (p<0.001). In addition, a positive correlation was found between the decrease in the salivary amount of vitamin C and that in vitamin E in patients and controls. In addition to the lower salivary levels of antioxidant vitamins and the lower TAC, the higher level of MDA in patients with OLP suggests that free radicals and the resulting oxidative damage may be important in the pathogenesis of OLP lesions.
Truncated Max-of-Convex Models

Truncated convex models (TCM) are a special case of pair-wise random fields that have been widely used in computer vision. However, by restricting the order of the potentials to be at most two, they fail to capture useful image statistics. We propose a natural generalization of TCM to high-order random fields, which we call truncated max-of-convex models (TMCM). The energy function of TMCM consists of two types of potentials: (i) unary potential, which has no restriction on its form, and (ii) high-order potential, which is the sum of the truncation of the m largest convex distances over disjoint pairs of random variables in an arbitrary size clique. The use of a convex distance function encourages smoothness, while truncation allows for discontinuities in the labeling. By using m 1, TMCM provides robustness towards errors in the definition of the cliques. In order to minimize the energy function of a TMCM over all possible labelings, we design an efficient st-mincut based range expansion algorithm. We prove the accuracy of our algorithm by establishing strong multiplicative bounds for several special cases of interest. Using synthetic and standard real datasets, we demonstrate the benefit of our high-order TMCM over pairwise TCM, as well as the benefit of our range expansion algorithm over other st-mincut based approaches.
The impact of attentional, linguistic, and visual features during object naming

Object detection and identification are fundamental to human vision, and there is mounting evidence that objects guide the allocation of visual attention. However, the role of objects in tasks involving multiple modalities is less clear. To address this question, we investigate object naming, a task in which participants have to verbally identify objects they see in photorealistic scenes. We report an eye-tracking study that investigates which features (attentional, visual, and linguistic) influence object naming. We find that the amount of visual attention directed toward an object, its position and saliency, along with linguistic factors such as word frequency, animacy, and semantic proximity, significantly influence whether the object will be named or not. We then ask how features from different modalities are combined during naming, and find significant interactions between saliency and position, saliency and linguistic features, and attention and position. We conclude that when the cognitive system performs tasks such as object naming, it uses input from one modality to constraint or enhance the processing of other modalities, rather than processing each input modality independently.
Paediatric myelodysplastic syndromes and juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia in the UK: a population‐based study of incidence and survival

Summary. We aimed to identify and classify cases of paediatric myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) occurring in Britain to estimate the incidence of this rare group of diseases, investigate the results of therapy and identify prognostic risk factors. Patients aged below 15 years at diagnosis were collected from England, Scotland and Wales, inclusively between 1990 and 1999. One hundred and thirty‐five patients were accepted as de novo MDS or juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia (JMML). The incidence for this period was 1·35 per million (age standardized rate) which is below that reported outside the UK. The overall survival was 45%[standard error (SE) = 4%] at 5 years: 40% (SE = 6%) for JMML and 50% (SE = 6%) for other MDS. Significant adverse prognostic factors for JMML were a platelet count < 40 × 109/l, raised fetal haemoglobin, FPC score and age above 2 years at diagnosis, for other MDS only monosomy 7 was significant. To conclude, the incidence of MDS/JMML in children in the UK appears to be lower than that reported outside the UK. This may be either a real difference in incidence or variation in reporting. Monosomy 7 is associated with poor outcome in MDS other than JMML. The prognosis of JMML depends on age, platelet count and fetal haemoglobin.
Psychoactive Drugs and Quality of Life

This study was performed on a representative sample of the Danish population in order to investigate the connection to the use of psychoactive drugs and quality of life (QOL) by way of a questionnaire-based survey. The questionnaire was mailed in February 1993 to 2,460 persons aged between 18 and 88, randomly selected from the CPR (Danish Central Register), and 7,222 persons from the Copenhagen Perinatal Birth Cohort 1959—61.A total of 1,501 persons between the ages 18 and 88 years and 4,626 persons between the ages 31 and 33 years returned the questionnaire (response rates of 61.0% and 64.1%, respectively). Variables investigated in this study were ten different psychotropic drugs and quality of life.Our study showed that over half the Danish population had used illegal psychotropic drugs. The most commonly used was cannabis (marijuana) though experience of this drug appeared not to co-vary with QOL to any significant extent. Cocaine, amphetamine, and psilocybin had been used by 1.2 to 3.3% of the population and this varied with QOL to a clear albeit small extent. LSD has been used by 1.2% of the population and the users had a QOL score 10% lower than those who had never used psychotropic drugs. The group with the lowest quality of life was found to be persons who had used heroin, morphine, methadone, and a mixture of alcohol and tranquilizers (10—20% below the group with the highest quality of life).
STRUCTURAL, POTENTIOMETRIC AND THERMODYNAMIC STUDIES OF RHODANINE AZODYES AND THEIR METAL COMPLEXES

A Rhodanine azodyes (HLI and HLII) have been prepared and characterized by elemental analyses, P P H NMR and IR spectra. The IR spectral data indicate that, the compounds can exist in two resonance structures. The molecular structures of the investigated compounds (HLI and HLII) are optimized. Moreover, energy of HOMO & LUMO, HOMO–LUMO energy gap and electronic charge were calculated. In addition, absolute electronegativities, chemical potentials, and absolute hardness have been calculated. The influence of substituents on the dissociation and stability constants was examined on the basis of the electron repelling property. Proton-ligand dissociation constants of rhodanine azodyes and metal-ligand stability constant of their complexes with bivalent (Mn P
Teaching Reading to Learning Disabled Students: A Review of Research-Supported Procedures.

According to a model presented by Graham (1985), several factors can jointly or independently affect students' pursuits during learning. The most important of these is the student's entry behavior. The knowledge, skills, motivation, and so forth that students bring to the task can have a powerful impact on learning. A student's classroom peers also can have a direct influence (either positive or negative) on pupil pursuits. In co'operative learning situations, for example, peers can affect a student's pursuits through encouragement or by offering assistance. The student's teacher represents a third and powerful factor that can directly affect a pupil's pursuits. Teachers can (a) direct and support the actions of students through the external provisions of the lesson; (b) attempt to change the student's entry behaviors into more preferred ones; and (c) develop arrangements that promote mutual assistance among students during learning. Although Graham's model only briefly mentioned the role of the family, the actions of a child's parents or guardians also can have a strong impact on student learning. This article focuses primarily on the effects of teacher behaviors and activities. First, it examines research-based teacher-directed activities administered before, during, or after the lesson (or any combination of these). Next, it presents procedures that teachers can use to change students_' entry behaviors (both reading skills and strategic behaviors). Finally, it discusses teachers' arrangement of peers and the impact of the student's family.
Translating and adapting measurement instruments for cross-linguistic and cross-cultural research: a guide for practitioners.

The psychometric instruments used in cross-linguistic or cross-cultural research are typically developed in one language and then translated into another.The authors address methodological problems that arise in the translation process and that compromise data interpretation, using concrete examples to illustrate these problems.They point out and describe the relevance of lexical semantics in item translation.The authors make recommendations for avoiding common pitfalls in the use of translated measurement instruments or in the translation or adaptation of such instruments.This paper is intended for researchers who are planning to develop or use translated instruments. Measurement is integral to nursing practice. It is used to facilitate the diagnosis of physical and psychological health problems and in the assessment of pain as well as physical and cognitive functioning. It can also serve a useful purpose in the assessment of self-reported health status, knowledge or attitudes about illness, and health services or policies. Measurement instruments may take a variety of forms, including questionnaires, tests, rating scales, and self-reports.The choice depends largely on the purpose of the research that is undertaken.Psychometric measures typically hinge upon a focal theme or concept. For instance, a performance test may be designed to assess a cognitive ability such as attention or memory. An attitudinal scale may quantify individuals’ disposition towards smoking or their impression of services dispensed by a healthcare institution.A questionnaire may serve to assess older persons’ quality of life.All themes or concepts generally involve various facets, which are measured using different questions or items.The potential range of applications of such measures is open-ended. CJNR 2003,Vol. 35 No 2, 127–142
Serological diagnosis of pertussis: evaluation of IgA against whole cell and specific Bordetella pertussis antigens as markers of recent infection

In Australia, notification of pertussis cases in older children or adults has increased significantly in recent years. In most cases, laboratory diagnosis is based only on a positive serological test for IgA antibody against whole cell Bordetella pertussis. During a 3-month period, 318 consecutive sera submitted for diagnosis of pertussis were tested for IgA antibody against whole cell (WC) sonicated B. pertussis, pertussis toxin (PT), filamentous haemagglutinin (FHA) and pertactin (PRN). Results of one or more of these tests were positive in sera from 175 subjects and clinical information was obtained by telephone interview from 90 subjects. Using a clinical case definition as the reference standard, the sensitivities of the four IgA assays were variable but quite low (24–64%), but the specificities were high (93–98%). For diagnosis of pertussis in subjects with a compatible clinical illness, these and other findings support the use of serological testing for IgA antibody.
HYBRIDIZED DISCONTINUOUS GALERKIN METHODS FOR LINEARIZED SHALLOW WATER EQUATIONS

We present a systematic and constructive methodology to devise various hybridized discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) methods for linearized shallow water equations. At the heart of our development is an upwind HDG framework obtained by hybridizing the upwind flux in the standard discontinuous Galerkin (DG) approach. The chief idea is to first break the uniqueness of the upwind flux across element boundaries by introducing a single-valued new trace unknowns on the mesh skeleton, and then re-enforce the uniqueness via algebraic conservation constraints. The beauty of this approach is that the actual globally coupled unknowns are those newly introduced trace unknowns, and hence the resulting matrix is substantially smaller and sparser. In particular, the usual DG unknowns can be solved for in an element-by-element manner, completely independent of each other, once the trace unknowns are computed. Essentially, the HDG framework is a redesign of the standard DG approach to reduce the number of coupled unknowns. The framework is first established for a general linear system of partial differential equations, and then applied to linearized shallow water systems. An upwind and three others HDG methods are constructed and analyzed. Rigorous stability and convergence analysis for both semi-discrete and fully discrete systems are provided. We extend the upwind HDG method to a family of penalty HDG schemes and rigorously analyze their well-posedness, stability, and convergence rates as well. Numerical results for linear standing wave and Kelvin wave for oceanic shallow water systems are presented to verify our theoretical developments.
The Third International Workshop on Mining Ubiquitous and Social Environments

Structuring is one of the fundamental activities needed to understand data. Human structuring activity lies behind many of the datasets found on the Internet that contain grouped instances, such as file or email folders, tags and bookmarks, ontologies and linked data. Understanding the dynamics of large-scale structuring activities is a key prerequisite for theories of individual behaviour in collaborative settings as well as for applications such as recommender systems. In particular, a key question is to what extent the “structurer” – be it human or machine – is driven by his/its own prior structures, and to what extent by the structures created by others such as one’s communities. In this paper, we propose a methodology for identifying these dynamics. The methodology relies on dynamic conceptual clustering, and it simulates an intellectual structuring process operating over an extended period of time. The development of a grouping of dynamically changing items follows a dynamically changing and collectively determined “guiding grouping”. The analysis of a real-life dataset of a platform for literature management suggests that even in such a typical “Web 2.0” environment, users are guided somewhat more by their own previous behaviour than by their peers.
HIV-1 genetic diversity.

BACKGROUND HIV-1 evolves by rapid mutation and by recombination, both processes actively contributing to its genetic diversity. Most of the multiple genetic subtypes and intersubtype recombinations of HIV-1 that comprise the global pandemic have not been characterized by full genome sequencing. METHODS DNA from primary virus cultures on donor peripheral blood mononuclear cells was used as template for long polymerase chain reaction amplification, molecular cloning, and automated sequencing of virtually full-length HIV-1 genomes from subtypes A, C, E, G and A/D recombinant forms. Standard phylogenetic analysis methods were employed, and some were modified for the detection and mapping of recombinant breakpoints. RESULTS Subtypes A, B, C and D are largely, if not entirely, distinguishable throughout the genome and show no clear evidence of intersubtype recombination. In contrast, all available sequences of subtypes E and G are recombinant with subtype A. Full-length sequences of subtypes F, H, I and J are still unavailable. Subtype E and G, and some A/D recombinant HIV, have retained the cytoplasmic domain of gp41 from subtype A. Some recombinants possess the matrix and core of one subtype and the outer envelope of another, resembling pseudotypes. Certain pairs of subtypes may have recombined more often than others. CONCLUSION Recombinant HIV-1 have already established a global reservoir and are largely responsible for the rapidly expanding subtype E epidemic in Southeast Asia. Recombination may have played a key role in the evolution of HIV-1 and the geographic intermixing of subtypes, which is increasing, may foster the emergence of a even greater variety of recombinant strains.
Clinical Presentation, Long-Term Follow-Up, and Outcomes of 1001 Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia/Cardiomyopathy Patients and Family Members

Background—Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy (ARVD/C) is a progressive cardiomyopathy. We aimed to define long-term outcome in a transatlantic cohort of 1001 individuals. Methods and Results—Clinical and genetic characteristics and follow-up data of ARVD/C index-patients (n=439, fulfilling of 2010 criteria in all) and family members (n=562) were assessed. Mutations were identified in 276 index-patients (63%). Index-patients presented predominantly with sustained ventricular arrhythmias (268; 61%). During a median follow-up of 7 years, 301 of the 416 index-patients presenting alive (72%) experienced sustained ventricular arrhythmias. Sudden cardiac death during follow-up occurred more frequently among index-patients without an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (10/63, 16% versus 2/335, 0.6%). Overall, cardiac mortality and the need for cardiac transplantation were low (6% and 4%, respectively). Clinical characteristics and outcomes were similar in index-patients with and without mutations, as well as in those with familial and nonfamilial ARVD/C. ARVD/C was diagnosed in 207 family members (37%). Symptoms at first evaluation correlated with disease expression. Family members with mutations were more likely to meet Task Force Criteria for ARVD/C (40% versus 18%), experience sustained ventricular arrhythmias (11% versus 1%), and die from a cardiac cause (2% versus 0%) than family members without mutations. Conclusions—Long-term outcome was favorable in diagnosed and treated ARVD/C index-patients and family members. Outcome in index-patients was modulated by implantable cardioverter-defibrillator implantation, but not by mutation status and familial background of disease. One third of family members developed ARVD/C. Outcome in family members was determined by symptoms at first evaluation and mutations.