Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Orange Juice Formulation on Prebiotic Functionality Using an In Vitro Colonic Model System

A three-stage continuous fermentative colonic model system was used to monitor in vitro the effect of different orange juice formulations on prebiotic activity. Three different juices with and without Bimuno, a GOS mixture containing galactooligosaccharides (B-GOS) were assessed in terms of their ability to induce a bifidogenic microbiota. The recipe development was based on incorporating 2.75g B-GOS into a 250 ml serving of juice (65°Brix of concentrate juice). Alongside the production of B-GOS juice, a control juice – orange juice without any additional Bimuno and a positive control juice, containing all the components of Bimuno (glucose, galactose and lactose) in the same relative proportions with the exception of B-GOS were developed. Ion Exchange Chromotography analysis was used to test the maintenance of bimuno components after the production process. Data showed that sterilisation had no significant effect on concentration of B-GOS and simple sugars. The three juice formulations were digested under conditions resembling the gastric and small intestinal environments. Main bacterial groups of the faecal microbiota were evaluated throughout the colonic model study using 16S rRNA-based fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Potential effects of supplementation of the juices on microbial metabolism were studied measuring short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) using gas chromatography. Furthermore, B-GOS juices showed positive modulations of the microbiota composition and metabolic activity. In particular, numbers of faecal bifidobacteria and lactobacilli were significantly higher when B-GOS juice was fermented compared to controls. Furthermore, fermentation of B-GOS juice resulted in an increase in Roseburia subcluster and concomitantly increased butyrate production, which is of potential benefit to the host. In conclusion, this study has shown B-GOS within orange juice can have a beneficial effect on the fecal microbiota.
Internet-Based Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Tinnitus Patients Delivered in a Regular Clinical Setting: Outcome and Analysis of Treatment Dropout

Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) can reduce tinnitus distress but is not available for most patients. Therapist guided, internet-based CBT (ICBT) increase availability and has been shown to be effective. However, the initial positive results need to be replicated in larger samples, and treatment dropout has not been thoroughly studied. Moreover, it has not been evaluated if a low-intensity version of ICBT without therapist contact could be an alternative for patients who do not need or are able to manage the full ICBT-program. This study evaluated two parallel interventions delivered in regular care: ICBT for tinnitus distress (n = 293) and a low-intensity version of ICBT (n = 81) for patients with lower levels of tinnitus distress. We also explored predictors of dropout from ICBT and if dropout influences outcome. Tinnitus Reaction Questionnaire (Wilson, Henry, Bowen, & Haralambous, 1991) was used as the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes were measures of depression, anxiety, sleep, and sound sensitivity. Significant reductions following ICBT were found on all measures after treatment and also at a three-month follow-up. Patients receiving low-intensity ICBT showed a significant reduction in distress, even when they had low levels of distress initially. Treatment dropout was preceded by an increase in days spent at each treatment step but not by an increased distress. Early dropout was related to worse outcome. ICBT can be used in a regular clinical setting to reduce tinnitus distress. Early dropouts may need additional management. For help-seeking patients with lower distress, a low-intensity version of ICBT can be used.
Video deblurring for hand-held cameras using patch-based synthesis

Videos captured by hand-held Cameras often contain significant camera shake, causing many frames to be blurry. Restoring shaky videos not only requires smoothing the camera motion and stabilizing the content, but also demands removing blur from video frames. However, video blur is hard to remove using existing single or multiple image deblurring techniques, as the blur kernel is both spatially and temporally varying. This paper presents a video deblurring method that can effectively restore sharp frames from blurry ones caused by camera shake. Our method is built upon the observation that due to the nature of camera shake, not all video frames are equally blurry. The same object may appear sharp on some frames while blurry on others. Our method detects sharp regions in the video, and uses them to restore blurry regions of the same content in nearby frames. Our method also ensures that the deblurred frames are both spatially and temporally coherent using patch-based synthesis. Experimental results show that our method can effectively remove complex video blur under the presence of moving objects and other outliers, which cannot be achieved using previous deconvolution-based approaches.
Blade Loading Effects on Axial Turbine Tip Leakage Vortex Dynamics and Loss

Numerical simulations have been carried out to define the loss generation mechanisms associated with tip leakage in un-shrouded axial turbines. Tip clearance vortex dynamics are a dominant feature of two mechanisms important in determining this loss: (i) decreased swirl velocity due to vortex line contraction in regions of decreasing axial velocity, i.e., adverse pressure gradient and (ii) vortex breakdown and reverse flow in the vortex core. The mixing losses behave differently from the conventional view of flow exiting a turbine tip clearance. More specifically, it is shown, through both control volume arguments and computations, that as a swirling leakage flow passes through a pressure rise, such as in the aft portion of the suction side of a turbine blade, the mixed-out loss can either decrease or increase. For turbines the latter typically occurs if the deceleration is large enough to initiate vortex breakdown, and it is demonstrated that this is the case in modern turbines. The effect of blade pressure distribution on clearance losses is illustrated through computational examination of two turbine blades, one with forward loading at the tip and one with aft loading. A 15% difference in leakage loss is found between the two, due to lower clearance vortex deceleration (lower core static pressure rise) with forward loading, and hence lower vortex breakdown loss. Additional computational experiments, carried out to define the effects of blade loading, incidence, and solidity, are found to be consistent with the proposed ideas linking blade pressure distribution, vortex breakdown and turbine tip leakage loss. © 2012 ASME
Characterization of Two Homologous Disulfide Bond Systems Involved in Virulence Factor Biogenesis in Uropathogenic Escherichia coli CFT073

ABSTRACT Disulfide bond (DSB) formation is catalyzed by disulfide bond proteins and is critical for the proper folding and functioning of secreted and membrane-associated bacterial proteins. Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) strains possess two paralogous disulfide bond systems: the well-characterized DsbAB system and the recently described DsbLI system. In the DsbAB system, the highly oxidizing DsbA protein introduces disulfide bonds into unfolded polypeptides by donating its redox-active disulfide and is in turn reoxidized by DsbB. DsbA has broad substrate specificity and reacts readily with reduced unfolded proteins entering the periplasm. The DsbLI system also comprises a functional redox pair; however, DsbL catalyzes the specific oxidative folding of the large periplasmic enzyme arylsulfate sulfotransferase (ASST). In this study, we characterized the DsbLI system of the prototypic UPEC strain CFT073 and examined the contributions of the DsbAB and DsbLI systems to the production of functional flagella as well as type 1 and P fimbriae. The DsbLI system was able to catalyze disulfide bond formation in several well-defined DsbA targets when provided in trans on a multicopy plasmid. In a mouse urinary tract infection model, the isogenic dsbAB deletion mutant of CFT073 was severely attenuated, while deletion of dsbLI or assT did not affect colonization.
Scholarlycommons Psc Working Paper Series Population Studies Center Eliciting Maternal Subjective Expectations about the Technology of Cognitive Skill Formation Eliciting Maternal Subjective Expectations about the Technology of Cognitive Skill Formation Eliciting Maternal Subjective Expectations abo

In this paper, we formulate a model of early childhood development in which mothers have subjective expectations about the technology of skill formation. The model is useful for understanding how maternal knowledge about child development affects the maternal choices of investments in the human capital of children. Unfortunately, the model is not identified from data that are usually available to econometricians. To solve this problem, we conduct a study where mothers were interviewed to elicit maternal expectations about the technology of skill formation. We interviewed a sample of socioeconomically disadvantaged African‐American women. We find that the median subjective expectation about the elasticity of child development with respect to investments is between 4% and 19%. In comparison, when we estimate the technology of skill formation from the CNLSY/79 data, we find that the elasticity is between 18% and 26%. We use the model and our unique data to answer a simple but important question: What would happen to investments and child development if we implemented a policy that moved expectations from the median to the objective estimates that we obtain from the CNLSY/79 data? According to our estimates, maternal investments would go up by between 4% and 24% and the stocks of cognitive skills at age 24 months would subsequently increase between 1% and 5%. Needless to say, the impacts of such a policy would be even higher for mothers whose expectations were below the median. Abstract In this paper, we formulate a model of early childhood development in which mothers have subjective expectations about the technology of skill formation. The model is useful for understanding how maternal knowledge about child development affects the maternal choices of investments in the human capital of children. Unfortunately, the model is not identified from data that are usually available to econometricians. To solve this problem, we conduct a study where mothers were interviewed to elicit maternal expectations about the technology of skill formation. We interviewed a sample of socioeconomically disadvantaged African‐American women. We find that the median subjective expectation about the elasticity of child development with respect to investments is between 4% and 19%. In comparison, when we estimate the technology of skill formation from the CNLSY/79 data, we find that the elasticity is between 18% and 26%. We use the model and our unique data to answer a simple but important question: What would happen to investments and child development if we implemented …
Second language attainment and first language attrition: The case of VOT in immersed Dutch–German late bilinguals

Speech of late bilinguals has frequently been described in terms of cross-linguistic influence (CLI) from the native language (L1) to the second language (L2), but CLI from the L2 to the L1 has received relatively little attention. This article addresses L2 attainment and L1 attrition in voicing systems through measures of voice onset time (VOT) in two groups of Dutch–German late bilinguals in the Netherlands. One group comprises native speakers of Dutch and the other group comprises native speakers of German, and the two groups further differ in their degree of L2 immersion. The L1-German–L2-Dutch bilinguals (N = 23) are exposed to their L2 at home and outside the home, and the L1-Dutch–L2-German bilinguals (N = 18) are only exposed to their L2 at home. We tested L2 attainment by comparing the bilinguals’ L2 to the other bilinguals’ L1, and L1 attrition by comparing the bilinguals’ L1 to Dutch monolinguals (N = 29) and German monolinguals (N = 27). Our findings indicate that complete L2 immersion may be advantageous in L2 acquisition, but at the same time it may cause L1 phonetic attrition. We discuss how the results match the predictions made by Flege’s Speech Learning Model and explore how far bilinguals’ success in acquiring L2 VOT and maintaining L1 VOT depends on the immersion context, articulatory constraints and the risk of sounding foreign accented.
Permutation Tests for Analysing Cospeciation in Multiple Phylogenies: Applications in Tri-trophic Ecology

There is a need for a reliable statistical test which is appropriate for assessing cospeciation of more than two phylogenies. We have developed an algorithm using a permutation method that can be used to test for and infer tri-trophic evolutionary relationships of organisms given both their phylogenies and pairwise interactions. An overall statistic has been developed based on the dominant eigenvalue of a covariance matrix, and compared to values of the statistic computed when tree labels are permuted. The resulting overall p-value is used to test for the presence or absence of cospeciation in a tri-trophic system. If cospeciation is detected, we propose new test statistics based on partial correlations to uncover more details about the relationships between multiple phylogenies. One of the strengths of our method is that it allows more parasites than hosts or more hosts than parasites, with multiple associations and more than one parasite attached to a host (or one parasite attached to multiple hosts). The new method does not require any parametric assumptions of the distribution of the data, and unlike the old methods, which utilise several pairwise steps, the overall statistic used is obtained in one step. We have applied our method to two published datasets where we obtained detailed information about the strength of associations among species with calculated partial p-values and one overall p-value from the dominant eigenvalue test statistic. Our permutation method produces reliable results with a clear procedure and statistics applied in an intuitive manner. Our algorithm is useful in testing evidence for three-way cospeciation in multiple phylogenies with tri-trophic associations and determining which phylogenies are involved in cospeciation.
Anatomical origin of forefoot varus malalignment.

BACKGROUND Forefoot varus malalignment is clinically defined as a nonweightbearing inversion of the metatarsal heads relative to a vertical bisection of the calcaneus in subtalar joint neutral. Although often targeted for treatment with foot orthoses, the etiology of forefoot varus malalignment has been debated and may involve an unalterable bony torsion of the talus. METHODS Forty-nine feet from 25 cadavers underwent bilateral measurement of forefoot alignment using adapted clinical methods, followed by dissection and measurement of bony talar torsion. The relationship between forefoot alignment and talar torsion was determined using the Pearson correlation coefficient. RESULTS Mean ± SD forefoot alignment was -0.9° ± 9.8° (valgus) and bony talar torsion was 32.8° ± 5.3° valgus. There was no association between forefoot alignment and talar torsion (r = 0.18; 95% confidence interval, -0.11 to 0.44; P = .22). CONCLUSIONS These findings may have implications for the treatment of forefoot varus since they suggest that the source of forefoot varus malalignment may be found in an alterable soft-tissue deformity rather than in an unalterable bony torsion of the talus.
Learning a Classification-based Glioma Growth Model Using MRI Data

Gliomas are malignant brain tumors that grow by invading adjacent tissue. We propose and evaluate a 3D classification-based growth model, CDM, that predicts how a glioma will grow at a voxel-level, on the basis of features specific to the patient, properties of the tumor, and attributes of that voxel. We use Supervised Learning algorithms to learn this general model, by observing the growth patterns of gliomas from other patients. Our empirical results on clinical data demonstrate that our learned CDM model can, in most cases, predict glioma growth more effectively than two standard models: uniform radial growth across all tissue types, and another that assumes faster diffusion in white matter. We thoroughly study CDM results numerically and analytically in light of the training data we used, and we also discuss the current limitations of the model. We finally conclude the paper with a discussion of promising future research directions.
PRESSURE AND OPPORTUNITY AS DRIVERS OF FRAUDULENT FINANCIAL REPORTING INTENTION: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menguji dan mendapatkan bukti empiris pengaruh tekanan dan kesempatan yang dihadapi individu manajer keuangan terhadap terjadinya kecurangan laporan keuangan. Kesempatan dan tekanan mendasarkan pada Fraud Triangle Theory, dan niat individu untuk melakukan kecurangan mendasarkan pada Theory of Planned Behaviour. Kedua teori tersebut digunakan untuk memprediksi dan menjelaskan perilaku individu dalam penelitian ini. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode eksperimen antar subjek dengan dua kelompok partisipan yaitu 132 mahasiswa Program Pendidikan Profesi Akuntansi dan 124 karyawan Badan Usaha Milik Negara. Hasil penelitian mengungkapkan bahwa terdapat perbedaan signifikan yang ditunjukkan oleh partisipan yang berada di bawah tekanan dan yang tidak, serta partisipan yang memiliki kesempatan untuk melakukan kecurangan dan yang tidak. Kedua kelompok partisipan menunjukkan hasil yang sama yaitu berniat untuk melakukan kecurangan. Implikasi praktis dari penelitian ini adalah manajemen perusahaan dapat meminimalisir terjadinya kecurangan dengan membangun pengendalian internal yang lebih efektif, menciptakan budaya organisasi yang lebih baik dan meningkatkan kesejahteraan para karyawan.
Effect of a supplementation with myo-inositol plus melatonin on oocyte quality in women who failed to conceive in previous in vitro fertilization cycles for poor oocyte quality: a prospective, longitudinal, cohort study

Background. Several factors can affect oocyte quality and therefore pregnancy outcome in assisted reproductive technology (ART) cycles. Recently, a number of studies have shown that the presence of several compounds in the follicular fluid positively correlates with oocyte quality and maturation (i.e., myo-inositol and melatonin). Aim. In the present study, we aim to evaluate the pregnancy outcomes after the administration of myo-inositol combined with melatonin in women who failed to conceive in previous in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles due to poor oocyte quality. Materials and methods. Forty-six women were treated with 4 g/day myo-inositol and 3 mg/day melatonin (inofolic® and inofolic® Plus, Lo.Lipharma, Rome) for 3 months and then underwent a new IVF cycle. Results. After treatment, the number of mature oocytes, the fertilization rate, the number of both, total and top-quality embryos transferred were statistically higher compared to the previous IVF cycle, while there was no difference in the number of retrieved oocyte. After treatment, a total of 13 pregnancies occurred, 9 of them were confirmed echographically; four evolved in spontaneous abortion. Conclusion. The treatment with myo-inositol and melatonin improves ovarian stimulation protocols and pregnancy outcomes in infertile women with poor oocyte quality.
Reading between the lines: Object localization using implicit cues from image tags

Current uses of tagged images typically exploit only the most explicit information: the link between the nouns named and the objects present somewhere in the image. We propose to leverage “unspoken” cues that rest within an ordered list of image tags so as to improve object localization. We define three novel implicit features from an image's tags — the relative prominence of each object as signified by its order of mention, the scale constraints implied by unnamed objects, and the loose spatial links hinted by the proximity of names on the list. By learning a conditional density over the localization parameters (position and scale) given these cues, we show how to improve both accuracy and efficiency when detecting the tagged objects. We validate our approach with 25 object categories from the PASCAL VOC and LabelMe datasets, and demonstrate its effectiveness relative to both traditional sliding windows as well as a visual context baseline.
Genome-Wide Scan of Gastrointestinal Nematode Resistance in Closed Angus Population Selected for Minimized Influence of MHC

Genetic markers associated with parasite indicator traits are ideal targets for study of marker assisted selection aimed at controlling infections that reduce herd use of anthelminthics. For this study, we collected gastrointestinal (GI) nematode fecal egg count (FEC) data from post-weaning animals of an Angus resource population challenged to a 26 week natural exposure on pasture. In all, data from 487 animals was collected over a 16 year period between 1992 and 2007, most of which were selected for a specific DRB1 allele to reduce the influence of potential allelic variant effects of the MHC locus. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) based on BovineSNP50 genotypes revealed six genomic regions located on bovine Chromosomes 3, 5, 8, 15 and 27; which were significantly associated (-log10 p=4.3) with Box-Cox transformed mean FEC (BC-MFEC). DAVID analysis of the genes within the significant genomic regions suggested a correlation between our results and annotation for genes involved in inflammatory response to infection. Furthermore, ROH and selection signature analyses provided strong evidence that the genomic regions associated BC-MFEC have not been affected by local autozygosity or recent experimental selection. These findings provide useful information for parasite resistance prediction for young grazing cattle and suggest new candidate gene targets for development of disease-modifying therapies or future studies of host response to GI parasite infection.
Ductal spread in prostatic carcinoma

The histologic appearances of ductal invasion were studied in 139 cases of prostatic adenocarcinoma diagnosed in the Department of Pathology, Howard University Hospital, during the period January 1980 through October 1983. Intraductal spread was found in almost half (48%) of the prostatic glands examined. Ductal spread was associated with the local extent (P < 0.001) rather than with the grade of the tumor (P < 0.01). Three distinct patterns of ductal penetration were recognized. The duct wall was completely destroyed in microinvasion. In foci of ductal permeation the integrity of the basement membrane was generally preserved, and the duct wall was infiltrated mainly by solitary tumor cells. When the tumor spread was by extension in continuity within the duct wall, the neoplastic cells appeared to grow between the pre‐existing epithelial layers. It was concluded that prostatic carcinoma cells have the ability to penetrate the wall of benign ducts and progressively replace the normal epithelial elements. In this process the general framework of the affected duct appears to be preserved. Cancer 56: 1566‐1573, 1985.