Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of changing the amount and type of fat and carbohydrate on insulin sensitivity and cardiovascular risk: the RISCK (Reading, Imperial, Surrey, Cambridge, and Kings) trial1234

BACKGROUND Insulin sensitivity (Si) is improved by weight loss and exercise, but the effects of the replacement of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) with monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) or carbohydrates of high glycemic index (HGI) or low glycemic index (LGI) are uncertain. OBJECTIVE We conducted a dietary intervention trial to study these effects in participants at risk of developing metabolic syndrome. DESIGN We conducted a 5-center, parallel design, randomized controlled trial [RISCK (Reading, Imperial, Surrey, Cambridge, and Kings)]. The primary and secondary outcomes were changes in Si (measured by using an intravenous glucose tolerance test) and cardiovascular risk factors. Measurements were made after 4 wk of a high-SFA and HGI (HS/HGI) diet and after a 24-wk intervention with HS/HGI (reference), high-MUFA and HGI (HM/HGI), HM and LGI (HM/LGI), low-fat and HGI (LF/HGI), and LF and LGI (LF/LGI) diets. RESULTS We analyzed data for 548 of 720 participants who were randomly assigned to treatment. The median Si was 2.7 × 10(-4) mL · μU(-1) · min(-1) (interquartile range: 2.0, 4.2 × 10(-4) mL · μU(-1) · min(-1)), and unadjusted mean percentage changes (95% CIs) after 24 wk treatment (P = 0.13) were as follows: for the HS/HGI group, -4% (-12.7%, 5.3%); for the HM/HGI group, 2.1% (-5.8%, 10.7%); for the HM/LGI group, -3.5% (-10.6%, 4.3%); for the LF/HGI group, -8.6% (-15.4%, -1.1%); and for the LF/LGI group, 9.9% (2.4%, 18.0%). Total cholesterol (TC), LDL cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B concentrations decreased with SFA reduction. Decreases in TC and LDL-cholesterol concentrations were greater with LGI. Fat reduction lowered HDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein A1 and B concentrations. CONCLUSIONS This study did not support the hypothesis that isoenergetic replacement of SFAs with MUFAs or carbohydrates has a favorable effect on Si. Lowering GI enhanced reductions in TC and LDL-cholesterol concentrations in subjects, with tentative evidence of improvements in Si in the LF-treatment group. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as ISRCTN29111298.
Free and open source software adoption framework for Swiss small and medium sized tourist enterprises

Swiss small and middle size tourism enterprises (SMTEs) are disadvantaged due to their meager presence in the global tourism value chain (OECD 2008). Further, Switzerland? s tourism industry is witnessing increased competition because of reduced demand, an increase in new tourism destinations, globalisation and revision in tourism policies worldwide (OECD 2006). While, ICT based innovations are advocated for improving SMTEs? competitiveness, there appears to be a lack in research initiatives regarding SMTEs? intent towards ICT adoption. Consequently, the aim of this study is to propose a framework to establish relevant factors. In the context of service industry and specific ICT, such as Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), the framework regards performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions and community participation as the determinants of FOSS usage intent.
Sub-aquatic response of a scintillator, fibre optic and silicon photomultiplier based radiation sensor

We describe here, the sub-aquatic response of the RadLine® detector (a small, novel, remotely operated radiation detection instrument) when irradiated with gamma doses between 6 and 400 Svhr-1. The National Nuclear Laboratory's (NNL, UK) RadLine® consists of an inorganic scintillating crystal coupled to a fibre optic cable which transports scintillation photons to a detector at the other end. A CCD camera is normally used for photon collection, however in this paper we trial a newer technology; the silicon photomultiplier (SiPM), namely SensL's MiniSL. SiPMs have performance characteristics similar to photomultiplier tubes (PMT), whilst benefiting from the practical advantages of solid-state technology which include; low operating voltage, robustness, compactness, insensitivity to magnetic fields and over-exposure to light. The MiniSL was chosen as its peak photon wavelength is well matched to the output from the scintillation crystal, as well as its fast recovery time (within the nano-second range). We use a clinical radiotherapy linear accelerator (linac) machine which produces x-rays by accelerating elections onto a target which then emits x-rays by Bremsstrahlung. The linac is rated at 6MeV in energy, with a peak of approximately 2MeV. The machine is capable of generating a highly precise dose at known distances between treatment head and scintillation crystal. Analysing the data gathered we were also able consider how the RadLine® might perform in larger aquatic environments for example First Generation Magnox Storage Ponds (FGMSP). Built in the 1950's they were originally intended to hold spent nuclear fuel for reprocessing, however now parts of the spent fuel have corroded; some of which are buried under a layer of sediment. Removal is not a trivial task due to elevated radiation levels, and the complexity of the environment. RadLine® has the potential to be of significant use for this and in other similar situations.
Effects of husbandry parameters on the life-history traits of the apple snail, Marisa cornuarietis: effects of temperature, photoperiod, and population density

These experiments are part of a larger study designed to investigate the influence of husbandry parameters on the life history of the apple snail, Marisa cornuarietis. The overall objective of the program is to identify suitable husbandry conditions for maintaining multi-generation populations of this species in the laboratory for use in ecotoxicological testing. In this article, we focus on the effects of photoperiod, temperature, and population density on adult fecundity and juvenile growth. Increasing photoperiod from 12 to 16 h of light per day had no effect on adult fecundity or egg hatching and relatively minor effects on juvenile growth and development. Rearing snails at temperatures between 22°C and 28°C did not influence the rates of egg production or egg clutch size. However, the rates of growth and development (of eggs and juveniles) increased with increasing temperature in this range, and when temperatures were reduced to 22°C egg-hatching success was impaired. Juvenile growth and development were more sensitive to rearing density than adult fecundity traits. On the basis of the present results, we conclude that rearing individuals of M. cornuarietis at a temperature of 25°C, a photoperiod of 12L:12D, and a density of <0.8 snails L−1 (with lower densities for juvenile snails) should provide favorable husbandry conditions for maintaining multi-generation populations of this species.
When a Patch Goes Bad: Exploring the Properties of Vulnerability-Contributing Commits

Security is a harsh reality for software teams today. Developers must engineer secure software by preventing vulnerabilities, which are design and coding mistakes that have security consequences. Even in open source projects, vulnerable source code can remain unnoticed for years. In this paper, we traced 68 vulnerabilities in the Apache HTTP server back to the version control commits that contributed the vulnerable code originally. We manually found 124 Vulnerability-Contributing Commits (VCCs), spanning 17 years. In this exploratory study, we analyzed these VCCs quantitatively and qualitatively with the over-arching question: "What could developers have looked for to identify security concerns in this commit? " Specifically, we examined the size of the commit via code churn metrics, the amount developers overwrite each others' code via interactive churn metrics, exposure time between VCC and fix, and dissemination of the VCC to the development community via release notes and voting mechanisms. Our results show that VCCs are large: more than twice as much code churn on average than non-VCCs, even when normalized against lines of code. Furthermore, a commit was twice as likely to be a VCC when the author was a new developer to the source code. The insight from this study can help developers understand how vulnerabilities originate in a system so that security-related mistakes can be prevented or caught in the future.
Infant Pupil Diameter Changes in Response to Others' Positive and Negative Emotions

It has been suggested that infants resonate emotionally to others' positive and negative affect displays, and that these responses become stronger towards emotions with negative valence around the age of 12-months. In this study we measured 6- and 12-month-old infants' changes in pupil diameter when presented with the image and sound of peers experiencing happiness, distress and an emotionally neutral state. For all participants the perception of another's distress triggered larger pupil diameters. Perceiving other's happiness also induced larger pupil diameters but for shorter time intervals. Importantly, we also found evidence for an asymmetry in autonomous arousal towards positive versus negative emotional displays. Larger pupil sizes for another's distress compared to another's happiness were recorded shortly after stimulus onset for the older infants, and in a later time window for the 6-month-olds. These findings suggest that arousal responses for negative as well as for positive emotions are present in the second half of the first postnatal year. Importantly, an asymmetry with stronger responses for negative emotions seems to be already present at this age.
Adaptation, Anticipation-Bias and Optimal Income Taxation

Adaptation is omnipresent but people systematically fail to correctly anticipate the degree to which they adapt. This leads individuals to make inefficient intertemporal decisions. This paper concerns optimal income taxation to correct for such anticipation-biases in a framework where consumers adapt to earlier consumption levels through a habit-formation process. The analysis is based on a general equilibrium OLG model with endogenous labor supply and savings where each consumer lives for three periods. Our results show how a paternalistic government may correct for the effects of anticipation-bias through a combination of time-variant marginal labor income taxes and savings subsidies. Furthermore, the optimal policy mix remains the same, irrespective of whether consumers commit to their original life-time plan for work hours and savings decided upon in the first period of life or re-optimize later on when realizing the failure to adapt.
Amendment Voting with Incomplete Preferences ∗

This paper studies the outcome of the amendment voting procedure based on a potentially incomplete binary relation. We assume that the decision-maker evaluates candidates in a list and iteratively updates her choice by comparing the status-quo to the next candidate. With a complete binary relation, it is known that the final selected candidate belongs to the “top cycle. ” In reality however, not all pairs of candidates are directly comparable. To accommodate this concern, we allow for any transitive binary relations and suppose that the DM favors the status-quo whenever incomparability arises. Our main contribution under this general framework is to characterize all mappings from lists to final votes that are consistent with the amendment procedure. We also discuss to what extent the underlying preference can be recovered from observed votes. JEL Classification: D11
Ectodomain Shedding Generates Neoepitopes on Collagen XVII, the Major Autoantigen for Bullous Pemphigoid

As a type II transmembrane protein in basal keratinocytes, collagen XVII provides stable adhesion between epidermis and dermis in the skin. Its ectodomain can be shed from the cell surface, and autoantibodies in certain blistering diseases preferentially recognize the shed form. Major epitopes of collagen XVII are clustered within the juxtamembranous noncollagenous 16th A domain, and ectodomain shedding occurs within this region, suggesting that cleavage generates neoepitopes. However, the candidate cleavage sites have been controversial, and the mechanism of neoepitope generation is unclear. In this study, we investigated cleavage sites in the noncollagenous 16th A domain to understand the generation of neoepitopes and their pathological role. Polyclonal Abs recognizing the stretch Leu524-Gly532 preferentially reacted with the shed ectodomain, but not with the full-length form, indicating that a neoepitope was localized at this site. The neoepitope-specific Ab fixed complement and induced granulocyte-dependent dermal-epidermal separation in cryosections of normal human skin. The physiological cleavage sites were identified using mass spectrometry. N termini were found at Asp514, Leu524, Glu525, and Gly526, among which Asp514 and Glu525 were blocked by acetylation and pyroglutaminate. In silico prediction of B cell epitopes indicated that the antigenicity of the Leu524-Gly532 region increased substantially after shedding, regardless of the cleavage sites. Correspondingly, neoepitopes were found in the skin and blister fluids of patients with bullous pemphigoid, and bullous pemphigoid sera reacted with the peptide Leu524-Gly532. Taken together, these data demonstrate that physiological shedding of collagen XVII generates neoepitopes, which may serve as a target of blister-inducing autoantibodies.
User interaction with novel web search interfaces

Search result organisation and presentation is an important component of a Web search system, it can have a substantial impact on the ability of users to find useful information. In this study we compare the effectiveness of three publicly available search interfaces for supporting navigational search tasks. The three interfaces vary primarily in the proportion of visual versus textual cues that are used to display a search result. Our analysis shows that users' search completion time varies greatly among interfaces, and an appropriate combination of textual and visual information leads to shortest search completion time and the least number of wrong answers.
Determination of salivary glucose in healthy adults.

OBJECTIVES Our aim in this study was to determine the concentration of salivary glucose in healthy individuals and to compare it with the capillary glycemia. STUDY DESIGN Samples of unstimulated whole saliva were collected from 63 non-diabetic patients. The concentration of salivary glucose and capillary blood was measured in all of the patients. The salivary glucose was determined by enzymatic method and spectrophotometry. The data was then analyzed using the Spearman correlation test, considering values of p<0.05 to be significant. RESULTS The whole sample consisted of 47.6% males and 52.4% women, with an average age of 37.5+/-15.7 years old. The average rates of unstimulated salivary flow were 0.41+/-0.21 ml/min among males and 0.31+/-0.15 ml/min among females. No significant difference was found based on these results (p=0.078). The average blood glucose among the males studied was 100.05+/-13.51 mg/dL, and among females, it was 99.5+/-13.9 mg/dL. The average salivary glucose for the whole sample was 5.97+/-1.87 mg/dL, with 5.91+/-2.19 mg/dL among males and 5.97+/-1.56 mg/dL among females, respectively, without presenting any significant differences (p=0.908). The concentration of salivary glucose did not present any statistically significant correlation with the capillary glycemia (p=0.732). CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that the concentration of salivary glucose is not dependent on capillary glycemia and that the concentration of salivary glucose does not present significant differences between the measurements for males and females.
The effects of prebiotic, probiotic and synbiotic supplementation on intestinal microbial ecology and histomorphology of broiler chickens -

A study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of prebiotic, probiotic and synbiotic supplementation on intestinal microflora and histomorphology of broilers. One-day-old Avian 48 chicks (n=100) were randomly assigned to 4 treatments (25 birds/treatment) for 6 week experiment. Each treatment consisted of 3 replicates (two replicate of 8 birds and one with 9 birds). Treatment groups were as follow: 1. Basal diet (control); 2. Basal diet plus MannanOligosaccharide (MOS) at levels of 2 g /kg of the starter diets and 0.5 g/kg of the grower diets); 3. Basal diet plus probiotic (3 g/kg diet, Saccharomyces cerevisiae ); and 4. Basal diet plus the combination of pre and probiotics (synbiotic). On d 21 and 42, 3 birds per treatment were sacrificed to evaluate gut morphology and microbiology. Duodenum, jejunum, ileum, and cecum microflora composition and intestinal histomorphology were determined. The final body weight (BW), weight gain, feed conversion efficiency were significantly (p 0.05) decreased in duodenum and ileum in synbiotic supplemented broilers. In addition, the age had significant effect on intestinal histomorphology. Moreover, the interaction between dietary treatment and age did not affect (p > 0.05) any of the intestinal histomorphological
The Distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud Cluster Reticulum from the K-Band Period-Luminosity-Metallicity Relation of RR Lyrae Stars

We present new and accurate near-infrared J- and Ks-band data of the Large Magellanic Cloud cluster Reticulum. Data were collected with SOFI at the New Technology Telescope and covered an area of approximately 5′ × 5′ around the center of the cluster. Current data allowed us to derive accurate mean K-band magnitudes for 21 fundamental (RRab) and 9 first-overtone (RRc) RR Lyrae stars. On the basis of the semiempirical K-band period-luminosity-metallicity (PLZK) relation we have recently derived, we find that the absolute distance to this cluster is 18.52 ± 0.005 (random) ±0.117 (systematic). Note that the current error budget is dominated by systematic uncertainty affecting the absolute zero-point calibration and the metallicity scale.
First Insights into the Evolution of Streptococcus uberis: a Multilocus Sequence Typing Scheme That Enables Investigation of Its Population Biology

ABSTRACT Intramammary infection with Streptococcus uberis is a common cause of bovine mastitis throughout the world. Several procedures to differentiate S. uberis isolates have been proposed. However, all are prone to interlaboratory variation, and none is suitable for the description of the population structure. We describe here the development of a multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme for S. uberis to help address these issues. The sequences of seven housekeeping gene fragments from each of 160 United Kingdom milk isolates of S. uberis were determined. Between 5 and 17 alleles were obtained per locus, giving the potential to discriminate between 1.3 × 107 sequence types. In this study, 57 sequence types (STs) were identified. Statistical comparisons between the maximum-likelihood trees constructed by using the seven housekeeping gene fragments showed that the congruence was no better than that between each tree and trees of random topology, indicating there had been significant recombination within these loci. The population contained one major lineage (designated the ST-5 complex). This dominated the population, containing 24 STs and representing 112 isolates. The other 33 STs were not assigned to any clonal complex. All of the isolates in the ST-5 lineage carried hasA, a gene that is essential for capsule production. There was no clear association between ST or clonal complex and disease. The S. uberis MLST system offers researchers a valuable tool that allows further investigation of the population biology of this organism and insights into the epidemiology of this disease on a global scale.
FUSE search for 10 5 -10 6 K gas in the rich clusters of galaxies Abell 2029 and Abell 3112

Recent Chandra and XMM X-ray observations of rich clusters of galaxies have shown that the amount of hot gas which is cooling below ~1 keV is generally more modest than previous estimates. Yet, the real level of the cooling flows , if any, remains to be clarified by making observations sensitive to different temperature ranges. As a follow-up of the FUSE observations reporting a positive detection of the Ovi doublet at 1032, 1038 A in the cluster of galaxies Abell 2597, which provided the first direct evidence for ~$3\times 10^5$ K gas in a cluster of galaxies, we have carried out sensitive spectroscopy of two rich clusters, Abell 2029 and Abell 3112 ($z \sim 0.07$) located behind low HI columns. In neither of these clusters could we detect the Ovi doublet, yielding fairly stringent limits of ~27 $M_\odot$ yr -1 (Abell 2029) and ~25 $M_\odot$ yr -1 (Abell 3112) to the cooling flow rates using the $10^5{-}10^6$ K gas as a tracer. The non-detections support the emerging picture that the cooling-flow rates are much more modest than deduced from earlier X-ray observations.
Qualitative Properties of Saddle-Shaped Solutions to Bistable Diffusion Equations

We consider the elliptic equation − Δu = f(u) in the whole ℝ2m , where f is of bistable type. It is known that there exists a saddle-shaped solution in ℝ2m . This is a solution which changes sign in ℝ2m and vanishes only on the Simons cone 𝒞 = {(x 1, x 2) ∈ ℝ m × ℝ m : |x 1| = |x 2|}. It is also known that these solutions are unstable in dimensions 2 and 4. In this article we establish that when 2m = 6 every saddle-shaped solution is unstable outside of every compact set and, as a consequence has infinite Morse index. For this we establish the asymptotic behavior of saddle-shaped solutions at infinity. Moreover we prove the existence of a minimal and a maximal saddle-shaped solutions and derive monotonicity properties for the maximal solution. These results are relevant in connection with a conjecture of De Giorgi on 1D symmetry of certain solutions. Saddle-shaped solutions are the simplest candidates, besides 1D solutions, to be global minimizers in high dimensions, a property not yet established.
Authentic appreciation creates a winning workforce

Purpose – Emphasizes the importance of keeping staff happy and feeling appreciated and reveals how best to do this. Design/methodology/approach – Shows what happens when employees do not feel valued and explains how best to correct this. Findings – Claims that when employees do not feel valued, staff dissatisfaction, tension in the office, more errors, poor customer service and higher staff turnover may follow. Practical implications – Describes how team members feel appreciated when appreciation is: communicated regularly; in the language and actions important to the recipient; delivered individually and is about him or her personally; and when the appreciation is viewed as being authentic. Social implications – Reveals that almost 80 per cent of people who quit their jobs cite not feeling valued as a key reason. Originality/value – Shows how communicating appreciation effectively can help to transform the workplace.