Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inhibitory effects of raw carrots on Listeria monocytogenes

The survival and growth of two strains of Listeria monocytogenes on raw and cooked carrots stored at 5 and 15 degrees C and in carrot juice media at 30 degrees C were investigated. The influence of shredding, chlorine treatment, and packaging under an atmosphere containing 3% O2 and 97% N2 on the behavior of L. monocytogenes and naturally occurring microflora was determined. Populations of viable L. monocytogenes decreased upon contact with whole and shredded raw carrots but not cooked carrots. Viable populations also decreased in cell suspensions in which raw carrots were dipped. Small populations of L. monocytogenes detected on whole carrots immediately after dipping were essentially nondetectable after 7 days of storage at 5 or 15 degrees C. After a lag of 7 days at 5 degrees C, significant (P less than or equal to 0.05) increases in populations were detected on shredded carrots after 24 days of storage. Carrots stored at 5 or 15 degrees C spoiled before L. monocytogenes grew. Populations of mesophilic aerobes, psychrophiles, and yeasts and molds increased throughout storage at 5 and 15 degrees C. Cutting treatment (whole or shredded carrots), chlorine treatment, and modified-atmosphere packaging had no effect on the survival or growth of L. monocytogenes or naturally occurring microflora. The presence of raw carrot juice in tryptic phosphate broth at a concentration as low as 1% substantially reduced the maximum population of L. monocytogenes reached after 24 h at 30 degrees C. The anti-Listeria effect of carrots was essentially eliminated when the carrots were cooked. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Paternity skew in seven species of honeybees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Apis)

Honeybees (Apis) show an extremely polyandrous mating system. In general honeybee queens mate with at least ten drones. The reproductive success of the drones is usually biased giving rise to speculations of a first or last male advantage. Especially for A. andreniformis and A. florea a first male advantage was hypothesized due to the peculiar anatomy of their male genitalia. We reanalyzed data from the literature by using a sample size calibration method to survey the differences and similarities in paternity skew among species in the genus Apis. The paternity skew among seven honeybee species differed significantly, particularly due to the rare patrilines. The sorting algorithm, i.e. the ranking of the patrilines, had, however, a considerable effect on the paternity skew pattern. The frequent patrilines appeared to be similarly distributed in all tested species. As a consequence the proposed first male advantage in the dwarf honeybees is not supported by empirical data.
Roll waves simulation using shallow water equations and Weighted Average Flux method

The weighted average flux method is used to represent trough 1-D shallow water equations the development of natural roll waves in rectangular channels. The method is reformulated in such a way that all source terms are incorporated into the local Riemann problem by means of a useful transformation of the equations, maintaining second-order accuracy of the solution. A code based on this method has been developed and results of numerical applications to a Venturi channel and to the attenuation of waves are presented to check for well known situations how accurately the source terms are evaluated. The code is applied to reproduce Brock's experiments on roll waves performed in a rectangular laboratory channel. The numerical solution accurately represents roll waves evolution due to uniform flow instability as well as wave intensity increase due to instability and wave coalescence. A sensitivity analysis of the numerical solution to changes of computational parameters is performed, in order to explain the discrepancies among computed and experimental values.
Beyond deterrence: Behavioral decision theory and tax compliance.

Deterrence models generally predict compliance patterns based solely on the subjective probability and utility of outcomes associated with alternative actions. Yet recent work in behavioral decision theory suggests that compliance decisions may also be affected by how the risks of noncompliance are described and how the decisionmaker's preferences are expressed. We report five experiments that examine how the cognitive heuristics evoked by these descriptive and procedural variables affect tax compliance. Using tax decision problems involving how to choose a tax professional, whether to take a questionable deduction, and how to approach an impending tax audit, we find that taxpayer preferences are significantly influenced by descriptive and procedural variables that traditional expected utility models ignore. We discuss the implications of these results for (1) extending compliance theory to understand a broader range of compliance behavior and (2) utilizing cognitive heuristics to predict the consequences of various enforcement policies.
Analysis of some predictive factors of quality of life among type 2 diabetic patients

Introduction: Considering the chronic nature of diabetes and its significant effect on quality of life of patients, the present study was conducted to evaluate predictors of quality of life in these patients in order to facilitate planning health promotion intervention programs. Materials and Methods: The present study was designed as a cross-sectional study on 140 type 2 diabetic patients of Om-ol-Banin Diabetes Center of Isfahan. Data collection tool was a multidimensional questionnaire including demographic and disease related data (12 items), the standard scale for diabetes distress (17 items), the standard scale for self-efficacy in diabetic patients (8 items), and standard scale for specific quality of life of diabetic patients (15 items). Collected data were evaluated by SPSS version 11.5 using the Chi-square test, Independent T-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation and multivariate regression analysis. Results: Results showed that the quality of life of diabetic patients had a statistically significant correlation with diabetes distress variable (P < 0.001) and self-efficacy variable (P < 0.001). In this study R2 (predictive power) was 0.66. Multivariate regression model indicated diabetes distress (β = -0.277, P = 0.01) and self-efficacy (β = -0.161, P < 0.001) as variables influencing adjusted self-management for other variables. Conclusion: The result of the present study urges that in planning health promotion interventions in the field of diabetes, more attention be paid to self-efficacy and diabetes distress variables in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the interventions carried out.
An Unreasoned Approach: A Critique of Research on Reasoning and Delusions

The possibility that reasoning abnormalities may be implicated in schizophrenic delusions has been investigated in recent research. Although some researchers have found evidence for such problems (e.g. Garety, Hemsley, & Wessely, 1991) and others have not (e.g. Bentall & Young, 1996), there is a common assumption that the nature of reasoning in one domain is at least indicative of reasoning across domains and, furthermore, that a reasoning abnormality can be reliably demonstrated. We propose that these are misleading assumptions and provide arguments from several different areas-the fractionation of abilities, whether ''normative'' criteria for good and poor reasoning actually exist, content-specific effects in reasoning, the limitations of ''neutral'' tests and findings from the field of social cognition and research on the self. By applying findings from research in the field of normal cognition, we conclude that reasoning is heterogeneous and question whether a cognitive-neuropsychological approach to .
Local osmotic gradients drive the water flux associated with Na+/glucose cotransport

It recently was proposed [Loo, D. D. F. , Zeuthen, T. , Chandy, G. & Wright, E. M. (1996) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93, 13367–13370] that SGLT1, the high affinity intestinal and renal sodium/glucose cotransporter carries water molecules along with the cosubstrates with a strict stoichiometry of two Na+, one glucose, and ≈220 water molecules per transport cycle. Using electrophysiology together with sensitive volumetric measurements, we investigated the nature of the driving force behind the cotransporter-mediated water flux. The osmotic water permeability of oocytes expressing human SGLT1 (Lp ± SE) averaged 3.8 ± 0.3 × 10−4 cm⋅s−1 (n = 15) and addition of 100 μM phlorizin (a specific SGLT1 inhibitor) reduced the permeability to 2.2 ± 0.2 × 10−4 cm⋅s−1 (n = 15), confirming the presence of a significant water permeability closely associated with the cotransporter. Addition of 5 mM α-methyl-glucose (αMG) induced an average inward current of 800 ± 10 nA at −50 mV and a water influx reaching 120 ± 20 pL cm−2 ⋅s−1 within 5–8 min. After rapidly inhibiting the Na+/glucose cotransport with phlorizin, the water flux remained significantly elevated, clearly indicating the presence of a local osmotic gradient (Δπ) estimated at 16 ± 2 mOsm. In short-term experiments, a rapid depolarization from −100 to 0 mV in the presence of αMG decreased the cotransport current by 94% but failed to produce a comparable reduction in the swelling rate. A mathematical model depicting the intracellular accumulation of transported osmolytes can accurately account for these observations. It is concluded that, in SGLT1-expressing oocytes, αMG-dependent water influx is induced by a local osmotic gradient by using both endogenous and SGLT1-dependent water permeability.
A Diagnostic Study of Waves on the Tropopause

The spatial structure and phase velocity of tropopause disturbances localized around the subpolar jet in the Southern Hemisphere are investigated using 6-hourly European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts reanalysis data covering 15 yr (1979–93). The phase velocity and phase structure of the tropopause disturbances are in good agreement with those of an edge wave vertically trapped at the tropopause. However, the vertical distribution of the ratio of potential to kinetic energy exhibits maxima above and below the tropopause and a minimum around the tropopause, in contradiction to edge wave theory for which the ratio is unity throughout the troposphere and stratosphere. This difference in vertical structure between the observed tropopause disturbances and edge wave theory is attributed to the effects of a finite-depth tropopause together with the next-order corrections in Rossby number to quasigeostrophic dynamics.
Learning Parities with Structured Noise

In the learning parities with noise problem —well-studied in learning theory and cryptography— we have access to an oracle that, each time we press a button, returns a random vector a ∈ GF(2) together with a bit b ∈ GF(2) that was computed as a ·u+η, where u ∈ GF(2) is a secret vector, and η ∈ GF(2) is a noise bit that is 1 with some probability p. Say p = 1/3. The goal is to recover u. This task is conjectured to be intractable. Here we introduce a slight (? ) variation of the model: upon pressing a button, we receive (say) 10 random vectors a1, a2, . , a10 ∈ GF(2), and corresponding bits b1, b2, . , b10, of which at most 3 are noisy. The oracle may arbitrarily decide which of the 10 bits to make noisy. We exhibit a polynomial-time algorithm to recover the secret vector u given such an oracle. We discuss generalizations of our result, including learning with more general noise patterns. We can also learn low-depth decision trees in the above structured noise model. We also consider the learning with errors problem over GF(q) and give (a) a 2 √ n) algorithm in our structured noise setting (b) a slightly subexponential algorithm when the gaussian noise is small.
Exergames for Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation: A Medium-term Situated Study of Motivational Aspects and Impact on Functional Reach

Exergames are increasingly considered as an exercise instruction modality in health applications. Studies are typically conducted in non-situated contexts and capture short-term effects. We present first results from a medium-scale study conducted over the course of 5 weeks and integrated into a normal rehabilitation program. The study features three groups, comparing manually adjustable exergames with the identical games in adaptive versions and manual physiotherapy interventions without games. The results indicate that the exergames and traditional therapy are comparable regarding measures of competence and enjoyment, while exergames led to significantly higher scores for autonomy, presence, and in a functional reach test. With traditional therapy, scores for tension-pressure and effort-importance were significantly higher. The initial results of the broader study presented in this paper deliver insights regarding motivational aspects of exergames and traditional therapy and point out which motivational aspects could be strengthened in future implementations.
Persuasion strategies: use of negative forces in scam e-mails

The 21 st century globalisation strongly influences the world as a result of highly improved technology and communications which made it possible for everyone involved to have equal access to a global market and information exchange via English. As a result, electronic communication has become part of the present-day multinational professionals of all fields who work daily in front of their digital monitors. At times, these professionals may receive Nigerian 419 scam e-mails in which fraudsters target victims to make advance payments for financial gains that do not materialise. In these e-mails, situations in which persuasion techniques are intertwined are well crafted. As a result, the victim who is susceptible to the offer is more likely to respond and be lured into losing money eventually. The present study, consequently, analysed a corpus of 50 Nigerian 419 scam e-mails through a textual analysis to examine language aspects in terms of persuasion strategies fraudsters used as a compelling force to achieve their communicative purposes of lures and deceits. The study has revealed two major types of deceptive techniques which are used in combination, namely framing-rhetoric triggers, disguised as the traditional genre of electronic communications and human weakness-exploiting triggers, intended as incitement of recipients' emotions. Finally, the paper includes not only pedagogical suggestions for business English teachers when implementing classroom activities, but also warnings for either pre-experienced or experienced business professionals in relation to interpreting the unknown e-mails' messages they receive with great caution.
Management control systems and research management in universities

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to examine the management control systems developed by universities and groups within them, to manage research within UK University Business and Management Schools. Specifically, the paper analyses how universities develop their internal management control systems in response to an externally imposed regulatory system. It also provides an agenda for future research. Design/methodology/approach - – The paper uses a middle range approach to consider the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) and the previous Research Assessment Exercises. It uses the language provided by a number of conceptual frames to analyse insights from the lived experience, and builds on previous literature that has recognised the perverse outcomes of such performance measurement systems. Findings - – The study finds that the internal management control systems developed by academics themselves amplify the controls imposed by the REF. These internal control systems are accepted by some academics although they encourage a movement away from previously held academic values. Originality/value - – This study contributes to debates about the dysfunctional impacts of the use of performance measures to manage research. Its originality lies in explaining that the management control systems developed to resist the imposition of external performance measurement systems may lead to symbolic violence where participants become involved with their own subjugation.
Systematic review of near-infrared spectroscopy determined cerebral oxygenation during non-cardiac surgery

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is used to monitor regional cerebral oxygenation (rScO2) during cardiac surgery but is less established during non-cardiac surgery. This systematic review aimed (i) to determine the non-cardiac surgical procedures that provoke a reduction in rScO2 and (ii) to evaluate whether an intraoperative reduction in rScO2 influences postoperative outcome. The PubMed and Embase database were searched from inception until April 30, 2013 and inclusion criteria were intraoperative NIRS determined rScO2 in adult patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery. The type of surgery and number of patients included were recorded. There was included 113 articles and evidence suggests that rScO2 is reduced during thoracic surgery involving single lung ventilation, major abdominal surgery, hip surgery, and laparoscopic surgery with the patient placed in anti-Tredelenburg's position. Shoulder arthroscopy in the beach chair and carotid endarterectomy with clamped internal carotid artery (ICA) also cause pronounced cerebral desaturation. A >20% reduction in rScO2 coincides with indices of regional and global cerebral ischemia during carotid endarterectomy. Following thoracic surgery, major orthopedic, and abdominal surgery the occurrence of postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) might be related to intraoperative cerebral desaturation. In conclusion, certain non-cardiac surgical procedures is associated with an increased risk for the occurrence of rScO2. Evidence for an association between cerebral desaturation and postoperative outcome parameters other than cognitive dysfunction needs to be established.
Smartphone-based transport mode detection for elderly care

Smartphones are everywhere, and they are a very attractive platform to perform unobtrusive monitoring of users. In this work, we use common features of modern smartphones to build a human activity recognition (HAR) system for elderly care. We have built a classifier that detects the transport mode of the user including whether an individual is inactive, walking, in bus, in car, in train or in metro. We evaluated our approach using over 24 hours of transportation data from a group of 15 individuals. Our tests show that our classifier can detect the transportation mode with over 90% accuracy.
Generalized Boosted Models: A guide to the gbm package

Boosting takes on various forms with different programs using different loss functions, different base models, and different optimization schemes. The gbm package takes the approach described in [2] and [3]. Some of the terminology differs, mostly due to an effort to cast boosting terms into more standard statistical terminology (e.g. deviance). In addition, the gbm package implements boosting for models commonly used in statistics but not commonly associated with boosting. The Cox proportional hazard model, for example, is an incredibly useful model and the boosting framework applies quite readily with only slight modification [5]. Also some algorithms implemented in the gbm package differ from the standard implementation. The AdaBoost algorithm [1] has a particular loss function and a particular optimization algorithm associated with it. The gbm implementation of AdaBoost adopts AdaBoost’s exponential loss function (its bound on misclassification rate) but uses Friedman’s gradient descent algorithm rather than the original one proposed. So the main purposes of this document is to spell out in detail what the gbm package implements.
Body Water Distribution and Risk of Cardiovascular Morbidity and Mortality in a Healthy Population: A Prospective Cohort Study

Background Early alterations in the cardiovascular structure and function may change normal body water distribution. The resulting fluid shifts may thus serve as an early marker for cardiovascular disease. However, studies examining this in healthy populations are absent. Objective This study examined the association between the proportion of total body water that is extracellular water and subsequent development of non-fatal or fatal cardiovascular disease in a healthy population. Method Bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy is an easy-to-use, non-invasive and relatively inexpensive technique to evaluate changes in body water distribution. A random subset (n = 2120) of Danes aged 41-71 years, examined in 1993–1994 for body water distribution by bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy was included. Cox-proportional hazard models and linear splines were performed. The ratio between resistance estimates from an infinite-frequency and from no-frequency (R∞/R0) was used as a surrogate measure of ratio between extracellular water and total body water. The outcome was 13.5 years of follow-up for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Results A high proportion of total body water that is extracellular water was associated with increased risk of incident cardiovascular disease. A threshold effect was evident, with greatly increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality above R∞/R0 = 0.68. Below the threshold there seemed to be no additional benefit of having a low ratio. Conclusion Our findings suggest that non-clinically evident oedema, measured as an increased proportion of total body water that is extracellular, above a threshold of 0.68, may be an early marker of pre-clinical cardiovascular disease. This simple, safe, cheap and easily obtainable measure of R∞/R0 from bioelectrical impedance may help the early identification of these otherwise clinically healthy individuals who are at an increased risk of future cardiovascular disease. However, more studies are needed before it can be concluded that bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy improves clinical risk prediction.
Partial hospitalization (day treatment) for psychiatrically ill elderly patients.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this paper is to present initial findings from a retrospective chart review of geriatric day treatment patients in order to focus attention on this potentially important area, add to the limited database in this area, and generate hypotheses for future investigations. METHOD Data were abstracted from the charts of 100 geriatric day treatment patients over a period of approximately 5 years (1985-1989). Descriptive, univariate, and multiple regression techniques were used to describe the patients and identify variables associated with their outcomes. RESULTS The typical patient in this program was a widowed white woman in her 70s who suffered from a depressive disorder. During the initial treatment period (usually approximately 3 months), 57% of the patients experienced some clinical improvement. Variables associated with a favorable outcome included diagnosis of a mood disorder rather than a psychotic disorder, better initial functional status, greater initial social support, fewer stressful events during treatment, and longer duration of treatment. CONCLUSIONS Geriatric day treatment can be effective and merits further study as a mode of treatment for psychiatrically ill elderly patients.