Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modification effects of physical activity and protein intake on heritability of body size and composition.

BACKGROUND The development of obesity is still a poorly understood process that is dependent on both genetic and environmental factors. OBJECTIVE The objective was to examine how physical activity and the proportion of energy as protein in the diet modify the genetic variation of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and percentage body fat. DESIGN Twins from Denmark (756 complete pairs) and Finland (278 complete pairs) aged 18-67 and 21-24 y, respectively, participated. The proportion of energy as protein in the diet was estimated by using food-frequency questionnaires. The participants reported the frequency and intensity of their leisure time physical activity. Waist circumference and BMI were measured. Percentage body fat was assessed in Denmark by using a bioelectrical impedance method. The data were analyzed by using gene-environment interaction models for twin data with the Mx statistical package (Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA). RESULTS High physical activity was associated with lower mean values, and a high proportion of protein in the diet was associated with higher mean BMI, waist circumference, and percentage body fat and a reduction in genetic and environmental variances. Genetic modification by physical activity was statistically significant for BMI (-0.18; 95% CI: -0.31, -0.05) and waist circumference (-0.14; 95% CI: -0.22, -0.05) in the merged data. A high proportion of protein in the diet reduced genetic and environmental variances in BMI and waist circumference in Danish men but not in women or in Finnish men. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that, in physically active individuals, the genetic variation in weight is reduced, which possibly suggests that physical activity is able to modify the action of the genes responsible for predisposition to obesity, whereas the protein content of the diet has no appreciable effect.
Learning textual entailment from examples

In this paper we present a novel approach for learning entailment relations from positive and negative examples. We define a similarity between two text-hypothesis pairs based on a syntactic and lexical information. We experimented our model within the RTE 2006 challenge obtaining the accuracy of 63.88% and 62.50% for the two submissions.
Structural characterization of an iron–sulfur cluster assembly protein IscU in a zinc‐bound form

Introduction. Iron–sulfur (Fe-S) clusters are simple inorganic prosthetic groups widely distributed in nature. Proteins that contain Fe-S clusters play essential roles in diverse biological processes including electron transfer, gene regulation, environmental sensing, and substrate activation. Although it is possible to assemble Fe-S clusters into proteins from inorganic sulfide and iron in vitro, the biogenesis of Fe-S cluster in vivo, however, appears to be facilitated by proteins rather than spontaneous formation. Recent studies have led to the discovery that a highly conserved gene cluster iscSUA-hscBA-fdx is essential for the biogenesis of Fe-S cluster proteins in bacteria. Proteins encoded by this gene cluster include: IscS, IscU, IscA, HscA, HscB, and Ferredoxin (Fd). Homologies of these proteins have also been identified in eukaryotic organisms, indicating a conserved mechanism for the biogenesis of Fe-S proteins. Further biochemical studies have revealed detailed roles of these Fe-S cluster proteins. IscS, a homolog of NifS, is a homodimeric pyridoxal phosphate-dependent cysteine desulfurase. It catalyzes the desulfurization of L-cysteine to L-alanine and provides S to IscU for Fe-S cluster assembly. IscU provides a scaffold for the assembly of a nascent iron– sulfur cluster prior to its delivery to apo Fe-S proteins. IscA is proposed to function as an alternative scaffold for Fe-S cluster assembly, but the exact role of this protein is still not determined. HscA and HscB are molecular chaperones that can selectively bind IscU and assist in the biogenesis of Fe-S proteins. The detailed roles of these molecular chaperones are also not clear. Sequence comparisons suggest IscU is a highly conserved protein and is homologous to the N-terminal domain of NifU (nNifU), an essential protein for nitrogen fixation. IscU/nNifU contains three strictly conserved cysteine residues. Site-directed mutagenesis data suggest that all three cysteine residues are essential for the function of IscU/nNifU proteins. Biochemical assay showed IscS can form a covalent complex with IscU through residue Cys328 in IscS and residue Cys63 in IscU in Escherichia coli. Characterization of Fe-S cluster assembly on IscU or ISU (eukaryotic IscU) from several organisms including Azotobacter vinelandii, E. coli, Thermotoga maritima (Tm) and human have been carried out. In presence of IscS/NifS, D-cysteine, Fe and reducing agent, IscU/nNifU is able to assemble a transient [Fe2S2] 2
Structure Elucidation of Ozonated Olive Oil

Ozonated olive oil was prepared by bubbling ozone-oxygen gas through olive oil until it solidified. Hand C-NMR spectra of the ozonated oil showed that all C-C double bonds in triacyglycerols were converted to ozonide. The spectra also showed no other structural change and the absence of degraded products of ozonide such as aldehydes and carboxylic acids. HPLC chromatogram of the oil showed three main peaks, two of which were due to ozonides derived from triolein, the major triacylglycerol (45%) in olive oil. These results indicate that main components of the ozonated olive oil are triolein triozonides.
Model Predictive Control for Signal Temporal Logic Specification

We present a mathematical programming-based method for model predictive control of cyber-physical systems subject to signal temporal logic (STL) specifications. We describe the use of STL to specify a wide range of properties of these systems, including safety, response and bounded liveness. For synthesis, we encode STL specifications as mixed integer-linear constraints on the system variables in the optimization problem at each step of a receding horizon control framework. We prove correctness of our algorithms, and present experimental results for controller synthesis for building energy and climate control.
Higher dimensional numerical relativity: Code comparison

The nonlinear behavior of higher dimensional black hole spacetimes is of interest in several contexts, ranging from an understanding of cosmic censorship to black hole production in high-energy collisions. However, nonlinear numerical evolutions of higher dimensional black hole spacetimes are tremendously complex, involving different diagnostic tools and “dimensional reduction methods. ” In this work we compare two different successful codes to evolve Einstein’s equations in higher dimensions, and show that the results of such different procedures agree to numerical precision, when applied to the collision from rest of two equal-mass black holes. We calculate the total radiated energy to be E_rad/M=(9.0±0.5)×10^(−4) in five dimensions and E_rad/M=(8.1±0.4)×10^(−4) in six dimensions.
Quorum-sensing regulation in rhizobia and its role in symbiotic interactions with legumes

Legume-nodulating bacteria (rhizobia) usually produce N-acyl homoserine lactones, which regulate the induction of gene expression in a quorum-sensing (or population-density)-dependent manner. There is significant diversity in the types of quorum-sensing regulatory systems that are present in different rhizobia and no two independent isolates worked on in detail have the same complement of quorum-sensing genes. The genes regulated by quorum sensing appear to be rather diverse and many are associated with adaptive aspects of physiology that are probably important in the rhizosphere. It is evident that some aspects of rhizobial physiology related to the interaction between rhizobia and legumes are influenced by quorum sensing. However, it also appears that the legumes play an active role, both in terms of interfering with the rhizobial quorum-sensing systems and responding to the signalling molecules made by the bacteria. In this article, we review the diversity of quorum-sensing regulation in rhizobia and the potential role of legumes in influencing and responding to this signalling system.
The Prevalence of Species and Strains in the Human Microbiome: A Resource for Experimental Efforts

Experimental efforts to characterize the human microbiota often use bacterial strains that were chosen for historical rather than biological reasons. Here, we report an analysis of 380 whole-genome shotgun samples from 100 subjects from the NIH Human Microbiome Project. By mapping their reads to 1,751 reference genome sequences and analyzing the resulting relative strain abundance in each sample we present metrics and visualizations that can help identify strains of interest for experimentalists. We also show that approximately 14 strains of 10 species account for 80% of the mapped reads from a typical stool sample, indicating that the function of a community may not be irreducibly complex. Some of these strains account for >20% of the sequence reads in a subset of samples but are absent in others, a dichotomy that could underlie biological differences among subjects. These data should serve as an important strain selection resource for the community of researchers who take experimental approaches to studying the human microbiota.
Comparison of Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory approaches

Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory (GLOSA) systems provide drivers with speed advices that allow them to pass traffic lights during green interval. In this article we compare performance of single- and multi-segment GLOSA approaches. In a single-segment GLOSA traffic signals are considered independently, i.e. the system provides vehicles with the optimal speed for the segment ahead of the nearest traffic signals. In a multi-segment GLOSA several signals in a sequence on a vehicle's route are taken into account, that is, vehicles receive speed advices for a set of segments ahead of the vehicle. Traveling time and fuel efficiency are used as performance measures. We demonstrate that as long as traffic conditions allow drivers selecting a wide range of speed (e.g. during free-flow) a multi-segment GLOSA results in much better performance when compared with a single-segment approach.
N-Acetylglutamate Synthetase: Enzyme Assay in Human Liver

In the context of diagnostic procedures for congenital hyperammonaemias a methods is described for the determination of N-acetylglutamate synthetase in human liver tissue homogenates. The method uses [14C-U] glutamate and acetyl CoA as substrates. The reaction product, N-acetylglutamate is separated from the substrate L-glutamate by chromatography on Extrelut. In a subsequent step on ITLC-SG ready plates N-acetylglutamate is separated from other labeled metabolites such as Krebs cycle intermediates. The recovery of N-acetylglutamate was 97.8%. The precision within run and between days was 8.5% (CV) and 9.6% (CV) respectively. Reference values were established for adult human liver.
A Cross-National Comparison of Youth Risk Behaviors in Latino Secondary School Students Living in El Salvador and the USA

Objectives. As Latin Americans’ exposure to the USA increases through migration patterns and US political and economic ties to their countries of origin, they become susceptible to adopting not only the cultural expressions of the USA such as fashion, but also the health-related behaviors of the US population. In assessing potential health risks for Salvadoran youth that may result from the connection between Latin Americans and the USA, this study compared the prevalence of health risk behaviors from four behavior domains (aggression and victimization, depression and suicidal ideation, substance use, and sexual behavior) between Salvadoran and US Latino secondary school students aged 14–17 years. Design. A secondary analysis was performed on two 1999 cross-sectional survey data. In the USA, results were based on 1,063 Latino high school students who answered the nationally representative Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In El Salvador, results were based on 793 public secondary school students who answered a local YRBS survey conducted in coordination with the Ministry of Education of El Salvador. Results. The prevalence rates for aggression/victimization and for depression and suicidal ideation behaviors were similar between Salvadoran and US Latino adolescents. Substance use prevalence, however, was 10–40% higher for US Latino adolescents. While the prevalence of sexual intercourse was higher among US Latino youth (between 13 and 27% higher, depending on age), the prevalence of condom use was lower among sexually active Salvadoran youth (between 11 and 42% lower, depending on age). Conclusions. In the context of the transnationalization of the Salvadoran population, with potential for increased influence of the USA in Salvadoran culture, these differences in risk behavior are important for targeting effective interventions for Latino adolescents in El Salvador and in the USA.
Mechanical computation for passive force control

It is shown that a passive robotic wrist, of fixed mechanical design, can be programmed to execute a wide range of force control laws useful in automated assembly. A systematic characterization of the range of control laws (given by accommodation matrices) implementable by passive programmable hydraulic devices carried out. The authors use electrical network theory results to identify the accommodation matrices that are available in the joint-space of the wrist. These matrices are projected onto the task-space, and the range of task-space matrices is compared with a known class of matrices in an attempt to quantify the usefulness of passive devices. For simplicity, hydraulic networks consisting of tunable dampers are considered. It is shown that a broad range of accommodation matrices may be synthesized by passive devices with programmable parameters. <<ETX>>
Optimal Train Dispatching by Benders'-Like Reformulation

Train movements on railway lines are generally controlled by human dispatchers. Because disruptions often occur, dispatchers make real-time scheduling and routing decisions in an attempt to minimize deviations from the official timetable. This optimization problem is called train dispatching. We represent it as a mixed integer linear programming model, and solve it with a Benders'-like decomposition within a suitable master/slave scheme. Interestingly, the master and the slave problems correspond to a macroscopic and microscopic representation of the railway, recently exploited in heuristic approaches to the problem. The decomposition, along with some new modeling ideas, allowed us to solve real-life instances of practical interest to optimality. Automatic dispatching systems based on our macro/micro decomposition-in which both master and slave are solved heuristically-have been in operation in several Italian lines since 2011. The exact approach described in this paper outperforms such systems on our test bed of real-life instances. Furthermore, a system based on another version of the exact decomposition approach has been in operation since February 2014 on a line in Norway.
Treatment of optic neuritis by plasma exchange (add-on) in neuromyelitis optica.

OBJECTIVE To assess the contribution of plasma exchange (PE) in association (add-on) with pulsed intravenous corticosteroids in acute optic neuritis of neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and limited forms of NMO. METHODS Thirty-six patients with optic neuritis were treated from January 1, 1995, through December 31, 2010, with pulsed intravenous corticosteroids and 16 with pulsed intravenous corticosteroids plus PE. The ophthalmologic examination was performed at least 6 months after optic neuritis treatment. Visual acuity and visual field assessed with the Snellen scale and the logarithmic scale of the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study were measured using standard automated perimetry and frequency doubling technology perimetry. Retinal peripapillary fiber thickness was measured using optical coherence tomography. RESULTS Final visual acuity was 20/400 in the corticosteroid group and 20/50 in the PE group (P=.04). The gain in visual acuity was 20/200 in the corticosteroid group and 20/30 in the PE group (P=.01). A poor final visual acuity outcome (≤20/200) was found in 19 of 36 patients (53%) in the corticosteroid group and 2 of 16 patients (13%) in the PE group (P=.008). Mean (SD) thickness of peripapillary retinal nervous fibers was 63.1 (20.4) μm in the corticosteroid group and 70.3 (20.3) μm in the PE group (P=.16). The mean (SD) thickness in the temporal quadrant was 38.5 (14.1) μm in the corticosteroid group and 44.5 (12.7) μm in the PE group (P=.02). In multivariate analysis, PE treatment was the only independent factor associated with a visual acuity greater than 20/200. CONCLUSION In optic neuritis associated with NMO, sequential treatment with pulsed intravenous corticosteroids and PE is more effective than standard monotherapy with corticosteroids on visual acuity outcome.
EFFECT OF THE ADDITION OF DEFATTED DATE SEEDS ON WHEAT DOUGH PERFORMANCE AND BREAD QUALITY

Defatted palm date seeds (date seed fiber concentrate: DSFC) of two varieties, Allig and Deglet Nour, were milled into two fractions: fine (particle size ≤ 280 µm) and coarse (280 µm < particle size ≤ 600 µm). DSFC was used to replace wheat flour in bread at 1 and 3% replacement levels. Dough and bread evaluation revealed that the addition of DSFC with fine size caused the decrease of bread volume, the change of crumb color and slightly increase bread crumb firmness. On the other hand, the addition of DSFC with a coarse size affected the mixing characteristics, decreased significantly the specific volume exceptionally at 3% and the bread crumb firmness (P < 0.05). An enrichment of bread with DSFC at 1 or 3% increased the dietary fiber contents in bread with lightly adverse effects on bread quality. PARACTICAL APPLICATION Tunisia is considered to be one of the dates-producing countries. The mean annual yield of date fruits is about 125,000 tons. From this, around 12,500 tons of date seeds could be collected. This by-product of date processing industries could be regarded as an excellent source of dietary fiber with interesting technological functionality and many beneficial effects on human health. Then, date seeds could present a value addition by extraction and use of date seed fiber concentrate in bread formulation.
Integrating 'context' in e-learning systems design

Whilst there is a common agreement on the need to design e-learning systems able to take into account more explicitly the 'context' in which learners operate within organizations in order to achieve higher levels of customization (personalized interaction) and impact, many different perspectives exist related to the characterization of which 'context' has to be integrated in the design process, and how to accomplish it. The objective of this paper is to report on insights generated within an EU-funded research project - LIP (Learning In Process) - aimed at providing highly contextualized e-learning systems addressing the needs of knowledge intensive organizations.
Self-esteem and risky decision-making: An ERP study

Self-esteem, a value one places on oneself, influences one's cognitive, emotional and behavioral responses across various situations. In the case of risky decision-making, high self-esteem (SE) individuals rely on their positive self-views and tend to be less defensive in response to a risky task; low SE individuals, on the contrary, tend to have fewer accessible positive resources and thus, are more prone to risk-aversion. While past studies have provided evidence for a link between self-esteem and a behaviorally-risky response, no study has explored the relation between self-esteem and the electrophysiological correlates of risky response. Therefore, the current study investigated the correlates of risky decision-making in high SE compared to low SE participants using event-related potentials (ERP) technology in 28 undergraduate students playing a blackjack game. The results showed that there was no difference between the high SE participants and the low SE participants with respect to the behavioral assessments of the risk-taking decision-making. However, for the electrophysiological data, we observed that the amplitude of P2 (150–300 ms) was more positive in the high SE participants compared to the low SE participants over the central-posterior scalp region. Dipole source analysis indicated that this positive component was generated in posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). These findings suggest that the high SE participants experienced more emotional signals than the low SE participants during decision-making.
High Q and low resonant frequency micro electret energy harvester for harvesting low amplitude harmonic of vibration

In this paper, we present the design, fabrication and testing of a micro electret power generator harvesting low frequency and low amplitude vibration sources by the aid of its high quality factor of the device. Conventional polymer, LDPE, is used as electret material in the power generator. Silicon inward S-springs with high spring constant ratios are proposed and incorporated into the device design. Resonant frequency of 97 Hz is achieved in the device testing with small volume of 0.26 cm3. High quality factor of 88.2 of the resonant system enables the power generator to output appreciable current when it harvests the low amplitude harmonic of vibration.
Control Measurements of Crane Rails Performed by Terrestrial Laser Scanning

This article presents a method for measuring the geometry of crane rails with terrestrial laser scanning (TLS). Two sets of crane rails were divided into segments, their planes were adjusted, and the characteristic rail lines were defined. We used their profiles to define the positional and altitude deviations of the rails, the span and height difference between the two rails, and we also verified that they complied with the Eurocode 3 standard. We tested the method on crane rails at the hydroelectric power plant in Krško and the thermal power plant in Brestanica. We used two scanning techniques: “pure” TLS (Riegel VZ-400) and “hybrid” TLS (Leica MS50) scanning. This article’s original contribution lies in the detailed presentation of the computations used to define the characteristic lines of the rails without using the numeric procedures from existing software packages. We also analysed the influence of segment length and point density on the rail geometry results, and compared the two laser scanning techniques. We also compared the results obtained by terrestrial laser scanning with the results obtained from the classic polar method, which served as a reference point for its precision.