Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Common occurrence of plasmid DNA and vancomycin resistance in Leuconostoc spp

Resistance to vancomycin permitted detection, in a culture of Streptococcus cremoris 290PC, of a contaminant gram-positive coccus. Morphological and physiological characteristics indicated that this bacterium was a strain of Leuconostoc sp. , designated PO184. This strain contained four plasmid species, which were distinct from those harbored by S. cremoris 290PC. Antibiotic disk susceptibility tests indicated that Leuconostoc sp. strain PO184 was also resistant to sulfathiazole and trimethoprim and susceptible to 17 other antimicrobials. The MIC of vancomycin for this strain was greater than 2,000 micrograms/ml, and resistance did not depend on drug inactivation. Leuconostoc sp. strain PO184 produced a substance which was inhibitory to S. cremoris U134, but not to S. lactis ATCC 11454. Five other leuconostocs produced substances with antibacterial activity. Of 18 strains of Leuconostoc sp. , 14 were resistant to at least 500 micrograms of vancomycin per ml, including four L. oenos strains which harbored no plasmid DNA in the 1- to 76-megadalton range. Twelve Leuconostoc sp. strains contained at least one plasmid species in this mass range. These findings are discussed from the physiological, taxonomical, and ecological standpoints and with regard to their potential applications.
Boundary Work: Becoming Middle Class in Suburban Dar es Salaam

Suburban space provides a useful window onto contemporary class practices in Africa, where it is difficult to identify social classes on the basis of income or occupation. In this article I argue that the middle classes and the suburbs are mutually constitutive in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam. Using interviews with residents and local government officials in the city's northern suburbs, I discuss the material and representational practices of middle-class boundary work in relation to land and landscape. If the middle classes do not presently constitute a coherent political-economic force, they are nevertheless transforming the city's former northern peri-urban zones into desirable suburban residential neighbourhoods.
Abdominal fat deposition is associated with increased inflammation, protein-energy wasting and worse outcome in patients undergoing haemodialysis.

OBJECTIVE The role of obesity in promoting or preventing the complications of haemodialysis patients remains unclear, with several studies suggesting that obesity may even be beneficial. We tested the hypothesis that abdominal fat deposition in HD patients is a risk factor associated with both increased inflammation and protein-energy wasting (PEW), as well as elevated mortality risk. METHODS A cross-sectional study with mortality follow-up [median 41 (interquartile range 25-47) months] of haemodialysis patients [n = 173, 100 men, aged 65 (51-74) years]. Abdominal fat deposition was assessed by means of a conicity index (Ci), which estimates fat accumulation in the abdomen as the deviation of body shape from a cylindrical towards a double-cone shape (i.e. two cones with a common base at the waist level). The Ci was studied with regard to baseline inflammatory, anthropometric and nutritional markers, including subjective global assessment (SGA). RESULTS Across increasing tertiles of the Ci, patients were older, fatter and more inflamed (P < 0.01 for all). At the same time, they presented a higher prevalence of PEW (SGA >1), reduced handgrip strength and lower S-creatinine (P < 0.01 for all). An increased abdominal fat deposition was associated with worse outcome independently of age, sex, comorbidities and dialysis vintage [Cox HR 1.93 (95% CI = 1.06-3.49)], but the predictive value disappeared following adjustment for interleukin-6 (IL-6) and PEW. CONCLUSION Abdominal fat deposition in haemodialysis patients is linked to both inflammation and PEW, resulting in an increased mortality risk. Our results support the idea that regional differences in adiposity accumulation may have diverse implications on patient outcome.
One-Shot Neural Cross-Lingual Transfer for Paradigm Completion

We present a novel cross-lingual transfer method for paradigm completion, the task of mapping a lemma to its inflected forms, using a neural encoder-decoder model, the state of the art for the monolingual task. We use labeled data from a high-resource language to increase performance on a low-resource language. In experiments on 21 language pairs from four different language families, we obtain up to 58% higher accuracy than without transfer and show that even zero-shot and one-shot learning are possible. We further find that the degree of language relatedness strongly influences the ability to transfer morphological knowledge.
Increased risk of leukemia relapse with high-dose cyclosporine A after allogeneic marrow transplantation for acute leukemia.

Eighty-one patients with acute myeloid leukemia (ANLL, n = 44) or acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL, n = 37), aged 10 to 50 years were randomized to receive 1 mg/kg per day (n = 41, group A) or 5 mg/kg per day (n = 40, group B) of cyclosporine A (CyA) from day -1 to day +20 after bone marrow transplant (BMT). All patients received CyA orally thereafter. All patients were prepared with cyclophosphamide (CY) 120 mg/kg and fractionated total body irradiation (TBI), and received unfractionated BM from an HLA-identical sibling. The two groups were comparable for diagnosis, disease status, French-American-British (FAB) classification, WBC count at diagnosis, cytogenetic abnormalities, extramedullary disease before BMT, donor/recipient age and sex, number of cells infused, and number of days with intravenous (IV) CyA. Median follow-up for surviving patients in group A was 983 v 632 days in group B. Patients in group A had lower serum levels of CyA (295 v 686 ng/mL, P = .004), lower bilirubin levels (1.9 v 2.6 mg/dL, P = .07), lower creatinine levels (0.9 v 1.4 mg/dL, P = .06), and a lower proportion of CD8+ cells in the peripheral blood (PB) within day +21 (19% v 28%, P = .07). First day to 0.5 x 10(9)/L neutrophils was comparable in the two groups (13 v 14 days; P = .1). In a Cox model, the actuarial risk of acute graft-v-host disease (GVHD) grade II+, after stratification for age (less than 20 years greater than) was significantly lower in group B patients (0.54, P = .04). The actuarial risk of developing chronic GVHD was comparable (P = .9). Actuarial transplant-related mortality (TRM) at 240 days was 28% and 26% (P = .8) in group A and B: the major cause of death was GVHD in group A (P = .02) and multiorgan toxicity in group B (P = .07). The actuarial risk of relapse at 2 years overall was 20% in group A and 52% in group B (P = .001); it was 9% v 43%, respectively, for patients in first remission (P = .0001) and 48% v 63% for patients in non-first complete remission (CR) (P = .1). Actuarial 2-year disease-free survival (DFS) in group A and B was 58% v 32% (P = .02) for all patients, 71% v 35% (P = .01), in first remissions, and 30% v 23% (P = .2) in advanced disease. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Critical Factors that Foster Local Self-Governance of Common-Pool Resources : The Role of Heterogeneity

Paper to be delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Resilience Alliance to be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, August, 16-18 2001 and at a Conference on Inequality, Collective Action, and Environmental Sustainability, to be held at the Sante Fe Institute, September 21-23, 2001. Support of the Resilience Alliance, the National Science Foundation and the European Union (contract nr. IST-2000-26016) is gratefully acknowledged.
Alternativa para determinação de altitudes normais-ortométricas na Amazônia Legal Brasileira

El presente trabajo tiene por objetivo desarrollar una metodología alternativa para predicciones de altitudes normales-ortométricas a lo largo de la Amazonia Legal Brasileña, región que impone dificultades logísticas-operacionales para trabajos de campo y en la que hay considerable precariedad en la Red Altimétrica Fundamental Brasileña (RAFB), evidenciando necesidades de mejora de las redes en cuestión para una completa alineación a las actuales recomendaciones y esfuerzos para la consecución de una Red Internacional de Referencia Altimétrica. Una estrategia alternativa se basa en observaciones GNSS y en la utilización de modelos globales y geopotenciales (MGGs); alternativamente se utiliza el modelo geoidal nacional MAPGEO2015. Para ello, se utiliza un enfoque de comparación de tres variantes distintas: a) utilización de métodos absolutos o relativos para determinación altimétrica, b) utilización de extractos de los MGGs obtenidos en diferentes grados de desarrollo y del MAPGEO2015, y c) utilización de las funcionalidades altitud geoidal y anomalía de altitud para modelado de altitud normal-geoidal. Datos referentes a observaciones GNSS son extraídos de las estaciones de la rede SAT-GPS en coincidencia con estaciones RAFB, dotadas de información de altitudes elipsoidal y normal-ortométricas; los extractos de los MGG se obtienen punto a punto para los principales MGG combinados de la actualidad. En vistas de la baja precisión media de datos en el área de estudio y su baja vinculación con la RAFB, se adopta un área de prueba—el estado de Paraná— que se comporta mejor para la elaboración y consolidación de estrategias para aplicar posteriormente en el área de estudio. De los estudios realizados en el área de estudio, se verifica una incuestionable ventaja de utilización del método relativo sobre el absoluto aliado a los MGG, siendo en promedio un 72% mejores para extractos desarrollados hasta grados 2190 y 720; o MAPGEO2015 como una excepción a los resultados, no habiendo
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LABORATORY and CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL AND COMPUTATIONAL LEARNING DEPARTMENT OF BRAIN AND COGNITIVE SCIENCES

We present a framework for learning in hidden Markov models with distributed state representations. Within this framework, we derive a learning algorithm based on the Expectation{Maximization (EM) procedure for maximum likelihood estimation. Analogous to the standard Baum-Welch update rules, the M-step of our algorithm is exact and can be solved analytically. However, due to the combinatorial nature of the hidden state representation, the exact E-step is intractable. A simple and tractable mean eld approximation is derived. Empirical results on a set of problems suggest that both the mean eld approximation and Gibbs sampling are viable alternatives to the computationally expensive exact algorithm. Copyright c Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1994 This report describes research done at the Center for Biological and Computational Learning and the Arti cial Intelligence Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Support for the Center is provided in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation under contract ASC{9217041. This project was supported in part by a grant from the McDonnell-Pew Foundation, by a grant from ATR Human Information Processing Research Laboratories, by a grant from Siemens Corporation, and by grant N00014-94-1-0777 from the O ce of Naval Research.
Physiological Normoxia and Absence of EGF Is Required for the Long-Term Propagation of Anterior Neural Precursors from Human Pluripotent Cells

Widespread use of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) to study neuronal physiology and function is hindered by the ongoing need for specialist expertise in converting hPSCs to neural precursor cells (NPCs). Here, we describe a new methodology to generate cryo-preservable hPSC-derived NPCs that retain an anterior identity and are propagatable long-term prior to terminal differentiation, thus abrogating regular de novo neuralization. Key to achieving passagable NPCs without loss of identity is the combination of both absence of EGF and propagation in physiological levels (3%) of O2. NPCs generated in this way display a stable long-term anterior forebrain identity and importantly retain developmental competence to patterning signals. Moreover, compared to NPCs maintained at ambient O2 (21%), they exhibit enhanced uniformity and speed of functional maturation, yielding both deep and upper layer cortical excitatory neurons. These neurons display multiple attributes including the capability to form functional synapses and undergo activity-dependent gene regulation. The platform described achieves long-term maintenance of anterior neural precursors that can give rise to forebrain neurones in abundance, enabling standardised functional studies of neural stem cell maintenance, lineage choice and neuronal functional maturation for neurodevelopmental research and disease-modelling.
Vertical Implementation

We investigate criteria to relate specifications and implementations belonging to conceptually different levels of abstraction. For this purpose, we introduce the generic concept of a vertical implementation relation, which is a family of binary relations indexed by a refinement function that maps abstract actions onto concrete processes and thus determines the basic connection between the abstraction levels. If the refinement function is the identity, the vertical implementation relation collapses to a standard (horizontal) implementation relation. As desiderata for vertical implementation relations we formulate a number of congruence-like proof rules (notably a structural rule for recursion) that offer a powerful, compositional proof technique for vertical implementation. As a candidate vertical implementation relation we propose vertical bisimulation. Vertical bisimulation is compatible with the standard interleaving semantics of process algebra; in fact, the corresponding horizontal relation is rooted weak bisimulation. We prove that vertical bisimulation satisfies the proof rules for vertical implementation, thus establishing the consistency of the rules. Moreover, we define a corresponding notion of abstraction that strengthens the intuition behind vertical bisimulation and also provides a decision algorithm for finite-state systems. Finally, we give a number of small examples to demonstrate the advantages of vertical implementation in general and vertical bisimulation in particular.
N-Gram-Based User Behavioral Model for Continuous User Authentication

We posit that each of us is unique in our use of computer systems. It is this uniqueness that we leverage in this paper to “continuously authenticate users” while they use web software. We build an n-gram model of each user’s interactions with software. This probabilistic model essentially captures the sequences and sub-sequences of user actions, their orderings, and temporal relationships that make them unique. We therefore have a model of how each user typically behaves. We then continuously monitor each user during software operation; large deviations from “normal behavior” can indicate malicious behavior. We have implemented our approach in a system called Intruder Detector (ID) that models user actions as embodied in the web logs generated in response to the actions. Our experiments on a large fielded system with web logs of approximately 320 users show that (1) our model is indeed able to discriminate between different user types and (2) we are able to successfully identify deviations from normal behavior. Keywords–behavioral modeling; continuous authentication; software security; n-grams.
Multi-scale and upscale interaction of mesoscale convective systems in the United Kingdom and France

Mesoscale convective systems (MCS) are difficult to forecast due to their inherent unpredictability and small scale. Here the impact of model resolution on MCS structure and downstream forecast evolution are determined. Four case analyses of European MCSs using output from a 12-km grid-spacing model reveal a consistent potential vorticity (PV) structure with a positive PV anomaly in the mid troposphere (5 PVU) and negative PV anomalies above and to either side of it (-1 PVU). Convection-permitting models produce stronger MCS PV anomalies than convection-parametrizing models in a case study from July 2012. These differences persist after coarse graining to 100-km grid spacing and are largest in the upper troposphere. The effect of poor representation of MCSs on forecasts is investigated by adding MCS perturbations, calculated as differences from coarse-grained convection-permitting (4.4- km grid spacing) model output, to convection-parametrizing (25-km grid spacing) deterministic and six-member ensemble (with operational initial condition perturbations) model forecasts. Upper-level MCS perturbations have more impact than those at middle levels, though using all levels yields the greatest impact. For the first 30 hours differences grow on the convective scale related to the MCS and a developing UK cyclone, despite perturbation damping. Subsequently, differences grow rapidly onto the synoptic-scale and by five days impact the entire northern hemisphere. The MCS perturbations systematically affect the ensemble forecasts though the differences are smaller than those generated by the initial condition perturbations. MCS perturbations slow the eastward movement of Rossby waves due to ridge amplification. A downstream cyclone deepens by up to 3 hPa after five days and forecast errors (compared to analysis) in mean-sealevel pressure are reduced in most members (by up to 2%). Thus, perturbing convection-parametrizing models to include PV anomalies associated with MCSs produces alternative realisations to those generated by initial condition perturbations and so could be useful operationally.
Variation of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type-1 Reverse Transcriptase within the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Genome of RT-SHIV

RT-SHIV is a chimera of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) containing the reverse transcriptase (RT)-encoding region of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) within the backbone of SIVmac239. It has been used in a non-human primate model for studies of non-nucleoside RT inhibitors (NNRTI) and highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). We and others have identified several mutations that arise in the "foreign" HIV-1 RT of RT-SHIV during in vivo replication. In this study we catalogued amino acid substitutions in the HIV-1 RT and in regions of the SIV backbone with which RT interacts that emerged 30 weeks post-infection from seven RT-SHIV-infected rhesus macaques. The virus set points varied from relatively high virus load, moderate virus load, to undetectable virus load. The G196R substitution in RT was detected from 6 of 7 animals at week 4 post-infection and remained in virus from 4 of 6 animals at week 30. Virus from four high virus load animals showed several common mutations within RT, including L74V or V75L, G196R, L214F, and K275R. The foreign RT from high virus load isolates exhibited as much variation as that of the highly variable envelope surface glycoprotein, and 10-fold higher than that of the native RT of SIVmac239. Isolates from moderate virus load animals showed much less variation in the foreign RT than the high virus load isolates. No variation was found in SIVmac239 genes known to interact with RT. Our results demonstrate substantial adaptation of the foreign HIV-1 RT in RT-SHIV-infected macaques, which most likely reflects selective pressure upon the foreign RT to attain optimal activity within the context of the chimeric RT-SHIV and the rhesus macaque host.
HDM—a model-based approach to hypertext application design

Hypertext development should benefit from a systematic, structured development, especially in the case of large and complex applications. A structured approach to hypertext development suggests the notion of authoring-in-the-large. Authoring-in-the-large allows the description of overall classes of information elements and navigational structures of complex applications without much concern with implementation details, and in a system-independent manner. The paper presents HDM (Hypertext Design Model), a first step towards defining a general purpose model for authoring-in-the-large. Some of the most innovative features of HDM are: the notion of perspective; the identification of different categories of links (structural links, application links, and perspective links) with different representational roles; the distinction between hyperbase and access structures; and the possibility of easily integrating the structure of a hypertext application with its browsing semantics. HDM can be used in different manners: as a modeling device or as an implementation device. As a modeling device, it supports producing high level specifications of existing or to-be-developed applications. As an implementation device, it is the basis for designing tools that directly support application development. One of the central advantages of HDM in the design and practical construction of hypertext applications is that the definition of a significant number of links can be derived automatically from a conceptual-design level description. Examples of usage of HDM are also included.
Predictors of Academic Achievement of Student ICT Teachers with Different Learning Styles

— The main purpose of this study was to determine the predictors of academic achievement of student Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) teachers with different learning styles. Participants were 148 student ICT teachers from Ankara University. Participants were asked to fill out a personal information sheet, the Turkish version of Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory, Weinstein’s Learning and Study Strategies Inventory, Schommer's Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire, and Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire. Stepwise regression analyses showed that the statistically significant predictors of the academic achievement of the accommodators were attitudes and high school GPAs; of the divergers was anxiety; of the convergers were gender, epistemological beliefs, and motivation; and of the assimilators were gender, personality, and test strategies. Implications for ICT teaching-learning processes and teacher education are discussed.
Low Immune Response to Hepatitis B Vaccine among Children in Dakar, Senegal

HBV vaccine was introduced into the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in Senegal and Cameroon in 2005. We conducted a cross-sectional study in both countries to assess the HBV immune protection among children. All consecutive children under 4 years old, hospitalized for any reason between May 2009 and May 2010, with an immunisation card and a complete HBV vaccination, were tested for anti-HBs and anti-HBc. A total of 242 anti-HBc-negative children (128 in Cameroon and 114 in Senegal) were considered in the analysis. The prevalence of children with anti-HBs ≥10 IU/L was higher in Cameroon with 92% (95% CI: 87%–97%) compared to Senegal with 58% (95% CI: 49%–67%), (p<0.001). The response to vaccination in Senegal was lower in 2006–2007 (43%) than in 2008–2009 (65%), (p = 0.028). Our results, although not based on a representative sample of Senegalese or Cameroonian child populations, reveal a significant problem in vaccine response in Senegal. This response problem extends well beyond hepatitis B: the same children who have not developed an immune response to the HBV vaccine are also at risk for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (DTwP) and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib). Field biological monitoring should be carried out regularly in resource-poor countries to check quality of the vaccine administered.