Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Soil water storage in Poland over the years 2000-2015 in response to precipitation variability as retrieved from GLDAS Noah simulations

This study assesses the soil water storage in Poland over the years 2000-2015. Soil water storage (SWS) data were acquired from the GLDAS Noah model simulations. The specific objectives were to provide a quantitative assessment of the SWS in the soil layer of 0-50 cm depth to detect extreme stages of SWS, and to provide an insight into the effects of precipitation deficit or surplus on the stage of SWS. Extremely low SWS was detected to occur in August 2003, July 2006, and September 2015. Contrasting high SWS stages appeared in May and June 2010, caused by excessive precipitation.
The Role of Retinoic Acid in Planarian Regeneration

Planarians serve as a good model organism for studying regeneration. They regenerate by utilizing a subset of cells called neoblasts. Neoblasts are recruited to the site of injury to form the blastema. Retinoic acid (RA) is a small Vitamin A derivative. It is important in several regenerating animals. This study looks specifically at its role in planarian regeneration. To begin, we examined at the expression pattern of Raldh-2, the rate-limiting enzyme in RA metabolism. We found it expressed distinctly around the digestive tract. Using the drug DEAB, known to inhibit Raldh-2, we eliminated the production of RA acid and studied the effect on regeneration. We found that regeneration was disrupted in DEAB-treated animals. The drug exhibited an asymmetric affect, affecting the anterior portions more. In fragmented animals, the anterior-facing blastemas were malformed. Additionally, the pre-pharyngeal fragments died at a higher rate than the post-pharyngeal.
Identification of Frequency Hopping Communications

: - A method to detect and characterize a frequency hopping (FH) signal is proposed. The context is Spectrum Surveillance. Hence, no a priori information is available: the parameters of the modulation must be automatically determined. Spread spectrum (SS) modulations are well-known for their low probability of interception (LPI). Nevertheless the aim of this paper is to show that, using a time–frequency representation and ad-hoc eigenanalysis techniques, it is possible to characterize such signal, even in realistic conditions (low SNR). Once characterized, the signal can be demodulated. Many tools are used for this characterization, in particular a precise definition of characteristic parameters and mathematical methods, such as data compression, 3D rotations and principal components analysis (PCA).
Family Ties, Incentives and Development: A Model of Coerced Altruism

We analyze the effects of family ties on the incentives for production of effort, where family ties are defined as a mixture of true and coerced altruism between family members. We model families as pairs of siblings. Each sibling exerts effort in order to obtain output under uncertainty. A social norm dictates that a sibling with a high output must share a specified amount of this output with his sibling, if the latter's output is low. Siblings may be truly altruistic towards each other, but not to a larger degree than dictated by the social norm. We compare such informal family insurance with actuarially fair formal insurance. We show that coerced family altruism reduces individual efforts in equilibrium. However, individuals always benefit ex ante from living in families with coerced altruism, as compared with living in autarky. We show that a certain degree of coerced family altruism is robust as a social norm in a society of selfish individuals. Finally, we show that if family members are sufficiently altruistic to each other, then informal family insurance by way of coerced altruism may outperform actuarially fair insurance programs.
Effect of body weight and behavioural factors on caries severity in Mexican rural and urban adolescents.

OBJECTIVES To investigate if, in Mexican adolescents, body weight and caries severity are associated, and if this association differs between rural and urban populations. METHODS Adolescents from the rural area of Tepancan and the city of Veracruz were enrolled. Caries was recorded using the International Caries Detection and Assessment System and the body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Oral habits (toothbrushing, flossing, dental check-ups) and dietary patterns (sweets intake) were assessed. A dummy variable between BMI and living area (BMI/Area) was generated. Data were analysed using STATA and a multinomial logistic regression model was run, using caries severity as the dependent variable. RESULTS Four-hundred and sixty-four subjects, 12-15 years of age, participated (rural = 240; urban = 224). The BMI and area of residence were significantly associated (χ2 = 12.59, P < 0.01). Area was also associated with caries severity (χ2 = 24.23, P < 0.01), with the highest number of caries in dentine recorded in participants from the rural area. The dummy variable BMI/Area was related to caries severity (χ2 = 27.47, P < 0.01): overweight adolescents with caries in dentine were most frequently found in the rural area. A higher prevalence of caries in enamel and a lower prevalence of caries in dentine (P < 0.01) were recorded in adolescents from the urban area, where better oral habits, but higher sweets intake (P = 0.04), were encountered. According to the multinomial logistic regression model, BMI/Area was significantly associated with caries severity (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Overweight was not associated with caries severity in the overall population, but it became a statistically significant risk indicator in adolescents living in the rural area.
Fine Specificity and Molecular Competition in SLAM Family Receptor Signalling

SLAM family receptors regulate activation and inhibition in immunity through recruitment of activating and inhibitory SH2 domain containing proteins to immunoreceptor tyrosine based switch motifs (ITSMs). Binding of the adaptors, SAP and EAT-2 to ITSMs in the cytoplasmic regions of SLAM family receptors is important for activation. We analysed the fine specificity of SLAM family receptor phosphorylated ITSMs and the conserved tyrosine motif in EAT-2 for SH2 domain containing signalling proteins. Consistent with the literature describing dependence of CRACC (SLAMF7) on EAT-2, CRACC bound EAT-2 (KD = 0.003 μM) with approximately 2 orders of magnitude greater affinity than SAP (KD = 0.44 μM). RNA interference in cytotoxicity assays in NK92 cells showed dependence of CRACC on SAP in addition to EAT-2, indicating selectivity of SAP and EAT-2 may depend on the relative concentrations of the two adaptors. The concentration of SAP was four fold higher than EAT-2 in NK92 cells. Compared with SAP, the significance of EAT-2 recruitment and its downstream effectors are not well characterised. We identified PLCγ1 and PLCγ2 as principal binding partners for the EAT-2 tail. Both PLCγ1 and PLCγ2 are functionally important for cytotoxicity in NK92 cells through CD244 (SLAMF4), NTB-A (SLAMF6) and CRACC. Comparison of the specificity of SH2 domains from activating and inhibitory signalling mediators revealed a hierarchy of affinities for CD244 (SLAMF4) ITSMs. While binding of phosphatase SH2 domains to individual ITSMs of CD244 was weak compared with SAP or EAT-2, binding of tandem SH2 domains of SHP-2 to longer peptides containing tandem phosphorylated ITSMs in human CD244 increased the affinity ten fold. The concentration of the tyrosine phosphatase, SHP-2 was in the order of a magnitude higher than the adaptors, SAP and EAT-2. These data demonstrate a mechanism for direct recruitment of phosphatases in inhibitory signalling by ITSMs, while explaining competitive dominance of SAP and EAT-2.
Factor analysis of the Parenting Stress Index‐Short Form with parents of young children with autism spectrum disorders

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the underlying factor structure of the Parenting Stress Index‐Short Form (PSI‐SF) in a large cohort of parents of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A secondary goal was to examine relationships between PSI‐SF factors and autism severity, child behavior problems, and parental mental health variables that have been shown to be related to parental stress in previous research. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to examine the three‐factor structure described in the PSI‐SF manual [Abidin, 1995 ]: parental distress, parent–child dysfunctional interaction, and difficult child. Results of the CFA indicated that the three‐factor structure was unacceptable when applied to the study sample. Thus, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted and suggested a six‐factor model as the best alternative for the PSI‐SF index. Spearman's correlations revealed significant positive correlations with moderate to large effect sizes between the revised PSI‐SF factors and autism severity, externalizing and internalizing child behaviors, and an index of parent mental health. The revised factors represent more narrowly defined aspects of the three original subscales of the PSI‐SF and might prove to be advantageous in both research and clinical applications. Autism Res 2011,4:336–346. © 2011 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Burden of asymptomatic malaria, anemia and relationship with cotrimoxazole use and CD4 cell count among HIV1-infected adults living in Gabon, Central Africa

Abstract Objective : This study determined the prevalence of asymptomatic Plasmodium (P.) falciparum infection and anemia in adults living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) and compared malaria prevalence between 858 HIV-infected (PLHIV) and 272 uninfected individuals in Gabon where such information are lacking. Factors influencing malaria and anemia were also investigated. Patients and Methods: Participants were screened for malaria. Available hemoglobin level, socio-demographic and use of prevention or treatment data were compared between both groups. Results: The prevalence of asymptomatic parasitemia was 13.5%, lower in PLHIV (7.1%) than uninfected individuals (33.8%) (p<0.01). Among the PLHIV, females (p<0.01), those aged below 25 years old (p=0.03), those with primary education (p=0.03) and those with a CD4 cell count below 200/mm3 (p=0.03) had a higher median parasitemia. Cotrimoxazole use was associated with a lower prevalence of malaria (p<0.01). Age below 25 years was independently associated with malaria in PLHIV (p<0.01). Anemia prevalence was 42.1% among the PLHIV, higher in the youngest and those with low CD4 cell count (p<0.01). P.falciparum-infected PLHIV aged below 25 years old, not under ART, with low CD4 cell count and under cotrimoxazole had the lowest median hemoglobin level. Conclusion: The prevalence of asymptomatic malaria is low among the PLHIV while the burden of anemia is considerable. Age below 25 years and CD4 cell count are associated factors. The cotrimoxazole use reduces the frequency of malaria.
Frequency of Inappropriate Medication Prescription in Hospitalized Elderly Patients in Italy

Background Older people often need comprehensive treatment, including many medications, and polypharmacy is common. The aims of this cross-sectional investigation were to examine the potentially inappropriate medication during the hospitalization and to identify the factors that may influence such inappropriateness among elderly in Italy. Methods A sample of 605 individuals aged 65 years and older admitted in non-academic public acute care hospitals was randomly selected. Prescription of inappropriate medications were evaluated during the period from the day of admission to a randomly preselected day (index day). Beers Criteria were used to evaluate appropriateness. Results At least one potentially inappropriate medication prescription from the day of hospital admission to the index day has been observed in 188 patients (31.1%), and respectively 84.1% and 15.9% of them had received one or two inappropriate medications. A total of 15 medications was prescribed inappropriately to these 188 patients, for 215 times with a total of 1143 doses. The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the significant predictors for having at least one potentially inappropriate medication prescription during the hospitalization were: patients having an elementary education level, a lower pre-admission performance-based measure of basic activities of daily living, having received an inappropriate drug before the hospitalization, a hospital stay in the general and in the specialties surgical wards, a longer length of hospital stay from the admission to the index day, and having received a higher number of drugs from the day of the hospital admission to the index day. The most prevalent inappropriate medications administered were ketorolac (27.4%), amiodarone (19.1%), and clonidine (11.2%). Conclusions This study supports the need for clinical guidelines implementation to assist physicians in choosing the most appropriate drugs for the elderly and for effective education of all physicians.
Large-area forest assessment and monitoring using disparate lidar datasets

Generating accurate and unbiased wall-to-wall canopy height maps from airborne lidar data for large regions is useful to forest scientists and natural resource managers. However, mapping large areas often involves using lidar data from different projects, with varying acquisition parameters. In this work, we address the important question of whether one can accurately model canopy heights over large areas of the Southeastern US using a very heterogeneous dataset of small-footprint, discrete-return airborne lidar data (with 76 separate lidar projects). A unique aspect of this effort is the use of nationally uniform and extensive field data (~1800 forested plots) from the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the US Forest Service. Preliminary results are quite promising: Over all lidar projects, we observe a good correlation between the 85th percentile of lidar heights and field-measured height (r = 0.85). We construct a linear regression model to predict subplot-level dominant tree heights from distributional lidar metrics (R2 = 0.74, RMSE = 3.0 m, n = 1755). We also identify and quantify the importance of several factors (like heterogeneity of vegetation, point density, the predominance of hardwoods or softwoods, the average height of the forest stand, slope of the plot, and average scan angle of lidar acquisition) that influence the efficacy of predicting canopy heights from lidar data. For example, a subset of plots (coefficient of variation of vegetation heights <0.2) significantly reduces the RMSE of our model from 3.0–2.4 m (~20% reduction). We conclude that when all these elements are factored OPEN ACCESS Remote Sens. 2015, 7 11037 into consideration, combining data from disparate lidar projects does not preclude robust estimation of canopy heights.
FACTORIZATION SYSTEMS

These notes were written to accompany a talk given in the Algebraic Topology and Category Theory Proseminar in Fall 2008 at the University of Chicago. We first introduce orthogonal factorization systems, give a few examples, and prove some basic theorems. Next, we turn to weak factorization systems, which play an important role in the theory of model categories, a connection which we make explicit. We discuss what it means for a weak factorization system to be functorial and observe that functoriality does not guarantee the existence of natural lifts. This leads us, naturally one might say, to the definition of a natural weak factorization system, which is where we conclude these notes. The reader is assumed to have some familiarity with category theory — functors, limits and colimits, naturality, monads and comonads, comonoids, 2-categories, and some basic categorical terminology; [9] is a good reference for any concepts that may be unfamiliar. 1. Orthogonal Factorization Systems Definition 1.1. An orthogonal factorization system in a category K is a pair (L,R) of distinguished class of morphisms such that (I) L and R contain all isomorphisms and are closed under composition. (II) Every f ∈ mor K can be factored as f = me with e ∈ L and m ∈ R. (III) This factorization is functorial, i.e., given the solid diagram (1.2) · u //
A Flexible Approach to Natural Language Generation for Disabled Children

Natural Language Generation (NLG) is a way to automatically realize a correct expression in response to a communicative goal. This technology is mainly explored in the fields of machine translation, report generation, dialog system etc. In this paper we have explored the NLG technique for another novel application-assisting disabled children to take part in conversation. The limited physical ability and mental maturity of our intended users made the NLG approach different from others. We have taken a flexible approach where main emphasis is given on flexibility and usability of the system. The evaluation results show this technique can increase the communication rate of users during a conversation.
Spatiotemporal characteristics of motor actions by blind long jump athletes

Background Blind people depend on spatial and temporal representations to perform activities of daily living and compete in sport. Objective The aim of this study is to determine the spatiotemporal characteristics of long jumps performed by blind athletes and compare findings with those reported for sighted athletes. Methods We analysed a sample of 12 male athletes competing in the F11 Long Jump Finals at the Paralympic Games in London 2012. Performances were recorded using four high-speed cameras, and speeds were measured using a radar speed gun. The images were processed using validated image analysis software. Results The long jump run-up is shorter in blind athletes than in sighted athletes. We observed statistically significant differences for body centre of mass velocity and an increase in speed over the last three strides prior to take-off, contrasting with reports for sighted athletes and athletes with less severe visual impairment, who maintain or reduce their speed during the last stride. Stride length for the last three strides was the only spatial characteristic that was not significantly associated with effective jump distance. Blind long jumpers extend rather than shorten their last stride. Contact time with the take-off board is longer than that reported for sighted athletes. Conclusion The actions of blind long jumpers, unlike those without disabilities, do not vary their leg actions during the final runway approach for optimal placement on the take-off board.
In Vitro Antimicrobial Activity and Effect on Biofilm Production of a White Grape Juice (Vitis vinifera) Extract

Background. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the antimicrobial effect of a white grape juice extract (WGJe) against a range of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, yeasts, and the fungus Aspergillus niger. WGJe was also tested on the production of bacterial biofilms in vitro. Results. WGJe inhibited in vitro most Gram-positive bacteria tested, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538P being the most sensitive strain (MIC values of 3.9 μg/mL). The effect was bactericidal at the concentration of 500 μg/mL. Amongst the Gram-negative bacteria, Escherichia coli was the only susceptible strain (MIC and MBC of 2000 μg/mL). No effect on the growth of Candida sp. and the fungus Aspergillus niger was detected (MIC values > 2000 μg/mL). WGJe inhibited the biofilms formation of E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa with a dose-dependent effect. Conclusions. WGJe exerted both bacteriostatic and bactericidal activity in vitro. The presented results could be used to develop novel strategies for the treatment of skin infections and against potential respiratory pathogens.
Non-smooth mutants of Salmonella typhimurium: differentiation by phage sensitivity and genetic mapping.

SUMMARY: Non-smooth mutants of Salmonella typhimurium strain LT2 with known lipo-polysaccharide (LPS) defects were tested for sensitivity to smooth-specific phages (P22 and P22h and a newly isolated phage, 9NA, active on P22 lysogens); Felix O phage; and several rough-specific phages including C21. Smooth strains were sensitive only to the smooth-specific and Felix O phages. Six rfb mutants (unable to make O chains) were sensitive to Felix O and all the rough-specific phages except C21 (pattern R-sens). Of nine rfa mutants (presumed to have LPS core defects) four were R-sens, six were resistant to Felix O and some rough-specific phages (pattern R-res-1), and one was also resistant to phage Br2 (pattern R-res-2). The phage sensitivity of phosphomannoisomerase (pmi) mutants was the same as that of rfb mutants, except that they were partly sensitive to P22h. UDPgalactose-epimerase-negative mutants were sensitive to C21 and various rough-specific phages in-cluding Br2 (pattern Epi-i). An rfc mutant (unable to polymerize O repeat units) was sensitive only to Felix O and P221 (pattern Zsr). A part-rough mutant of class D (with abnormally few O chains) was incompletely resistant to smooth-specific phages, resistant to Felix O but sensitive to all rough-specific phages except C21 (pattern D-i). Spontaneous and mutagen-induced non-smooth mutants were isolated from lt2 strains with appropriate markers by selection with Felix O and/or P22 phage. (One parent strain used was non-lysogenic for Fels 2, for which lt2 wild-type is lysogenic. Lysogeny for Fels 2 did not affect sensitivity to the other phages.) Some mutants gave new sensitivity patterns. Mutants of these and of previously unmapped classes were crossed with smooth Hfr strains. The rfc loci of two mutants and pmi loci of two others were located in the gal-trp segment. Three mutants of pattern R-sens yielded O-specific hapten but mapped near his; they are believed to be unable to transfer O chains from antigen carrier lipid to the LPS core as a result of mutation at rfbT. Six mutants of pattern R-sens were smooth in cultural and serological properties; they mapped near his and are probably leaky rfb mutants. Many mutants had the class D part-rough phenotype, divisible by phage sensitivities into patterns D-1, D-2 and D-3. Mutants of all three classes mapped near xyl; they are likely to be rfa mutants, perhaps leaky, with LPS core defects which hinder but do not prevent attachment of O chains. Two classes were sensitive to C21 (WilkinsonS and rfaG mutants, resistant to Br2 (pattern Epi-2), unable to add the proximal glucose unit. Both loci mapped in or near the strA-xyl-metA segment. Several non-smooth mutants did not grow in the presence of bile-salts. Three mutants (rfaF) made LPS deficient of the distal heptose unit; one mutant (rfaE) was unable to add the proximal heptose unit. Both these loci mapped in or near the strA-metA segment.