Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deciphering metabolic traits of the fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus: redundancy vs. essentiality

Incidence rates of infections caused by environmental opportunistic fungi have risen over recent decades. Aspergillus species have emerged as serious threat for the immunecompromised, and detailed knowledge about virulence-determining traits is crucial for drug target identification. As a prime saprobe, A. fumigatus has evolved to efficiently adapt to various stresses and to sustain nutritional supply by osmotrophy, which is characterized by extracellular substrate digestion followed by efficient uptake of breakdown products that are then fed into the fungal primary metabolism. These intrinsic metabolic features are believed to be related with its virulence ability. The plethora of genes that encode underlying effectors has hampered their in-depth analysis with respect to pathogenesis. Recent developments in Aspergillus molecular biology allow conditional gene expression or comprehensive targeting of gene families to cope with redundancy. Furthermore, identification of essential genes that are intrinsically connected to virulence opens accurate perspectives for novel targets in antifungal therapy.
Personality psychology as a truly behavioural science

Personality psychology has been accused of neglecting behaviour—of devoting insufficient attention to what people actually do. The current paper addresses four important issues regarding the study of behaviour as separate from other important psychological responses—the definition of behaviour, the importance of studying behaviour, the strengths and weaknesses of core methods through which behaviour is studied and the degree to which behaviour actually has been studied in personality psychology over the past 15 years (along with information about the use of specific methods of studying behaviour). Analysis of publication trends indicates that behaviour is not studied to the degree it merits; furthermore, it indicates that, when behaviour is studied, it is usually studied at a very generalized level relying on relatively weak methods. The current paper is offered as a starting point for focused discussion of these important issues, potentially enhancing the field's standing as a truly behavioural science. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Comparative In Vitro Activities of Ciprofloxacin, Gemifloxacin, Grepafloxacin, Moxifloxacin, Ofloxacin, Sparfloxacin, Trovafloxacin, and Other Antimicrobial Agents against Bloodstream Isolates of Gram-Positive Cocci

ABSTRACT The in vitro activity of gemifloxacin against 316 bloodstream isolates of staphylococci, pneumococci, and enterococci was compared with the activities of six fluoroquinolones and three other antimicrobial agents. Of the antimicrobial agents tested, gemifloxacin was the most potent against penicillin-intermediate and -resistant pneumococci, methicillin-susceptible and -resistantStaphylococcus epidermidis isolates, and coagulase-negative staphylococci.
Determinism in new-dialect formation and the genesis of New Zealand English

In this paper we use an extensive archive of early New Zealand speakers, together with comparisons with the other Southern Hemisphere varieties of English, to argue that dialect mixture and new-dialect formation are not haphazard processes. We demonstrate that, given sufficient linguistic information about the dialects which contribute to a mixture, and sufficient demographic information about the proportions of speakers of the different dialects, it is possible to make predictions about what the outcome of the mixture will be. We also argue that we have arrived at a probabilistic solution to the problem of randomness in the transmission of dialect features from one generation to another in such situations.
High glycemic index and glycemic load are associated with moderately increased cancer risk.

SCOPE To obtain an up-to-date quantification of the association between dietary glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) and the risk of cancer. METHODS AND RESULTS We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies updated to January 2015. Summary relative risks (RRs) were derived using random effects models. Seventy-five reports were evaluated in the systematic review (147,090 cases), and 72 were included in the meta-analyses by cancer site. Considering hormone-related cancers, summary RRs comparing the highest versus the lowest GI and GL intake were, respectively, 1.05 and 1.07 for breast, 1.13 and 1.17 for endometrial, 1.11 and 1.19 for ovarian, and 1.06 and 1.04 for prostate cancers. Considering digestive-tract cancers, summary RRs for GI and GL were, respectively, 1.46 and 1.25 for esophageal (squamous cell carcinoma), 1.17 and 1.10 for stomach, 1.16 (significant) and 1.10 for colorectal, 1.11 and 1.14 for liver, and 1.10 and 1.01 for pancreatic cancers. In most of these meta-analyses, significant heterogeneity among studies was observed. In subgroup analyses, case-control studies and studies from Europe tended to estimate higher RRs. CONCLUSION High-GI and high-GL diets are related to moderately increased risk of cancer at several common sites.
The Role of Depression in the Relationship Between Psychological and Physical Intimate Partner Violence

Physical and psychological intimate partner violence (IPV) are significant public health concerns often associated with negative consequences for individuals, families, and society. Because IPV occurs within an interpersonal relationship, it is important to better understand how each partner’s depressive symptoms, marital satisfaction, and psychological and physical IPV are interlinked. The purpose of this study was to identify actor and partner effects in a dyadic data analysis association between marital satisfaction and depressive symptoms, its links to psychological IPV, and then to physical IPV. Guided by the social information processing model, this study has implications for understanding the processes leading to various types of IPV in people seeking couples therapy. Using cross-sectional data from 126 heterosexual couples, we conducted an actor–partner interdependence model (APIM) to test actor and partner effects. Indirect actor and partner effects were also assessed. More depressive symptoms were associated with lower marital satisfaction. More depressive symptoms were generally linked with increased perpetration of psychological and physical IPV. Psychological IPV was associated with an individual’s use of physical IPV. Effect sizes were moderate to large in magnitude. Four specific indirect effects were identified from depressive symptoms to psychological IPV to physical IPV. Depressive symptoms may be an important factor related to psychological and physical IPV for males and females. Implications include assessing for and treating depression in both partners, and discussing preferred ways of supporting each other that do not include psychological or physical IPV.
Inoculation of Human Interleukin-17 Gene-Transfected Meth-A Fibrosarcoma Cells Induces T Cell-Dependent Tumor-Specific Immunity in Mice

Objective: The biological activities of interleukin-17 (IL-17), a newly cloned cytokine, have not been fully elucidated. The present study was designed to assess the in vitro and in vivo effect of transfecting the IL-17 gene into tumor cells. Methods: A complementary DNA (cDNA) encoding human IL-17 (hIL-17) was obtained by polymerase chain reaction amplification from the human CD4+ T cell cDNA library and inserted into the plasmid pRc/cytomegalovirus to construct an expression vector for the hIL-17 gene. Murine Meth-A fibrosarcoma cells were transfected with the hIL-17 gene using the lipofectin method. The hIL-17 gene-expressing clone (Meth-A/IL-17) was selected and analyzed for cytokine expression by Northern blot. Results: There was no significant difference in the in vitro proliferation rate among parent Meth-A, cells transfected with vector alone and Meth-A/IL-17 cells. When the tumor cells were transplanted subcutaneously into BALB/c nude (nu+/nu+) mice, there was no difference in in vivo growth rates among the three cell lines. Challenge with tumor cells in conventional BALB/c mice, however, resulted in the rejection of Meth-A/IL-17 cells, but the other two lines did grow. After immunization with Meth-A/IL-17 cells, the mice were rechallenged by parent Meth-A or syngeneic MOPC-104E plasmacytoma cells; the immunized mice rejected the Meth-A cells, but not the MOPC-104E cells. Injecting the anti-thy 1,2 (CD90), anti-CD4 or anti-CD8 monoclonal antibody into conventional BALB/c mice resulted in the resumption of in vivo growth of Meth-A/IL-17 cells, but injecting the anti-asialo GM1 antibody did not. Furthermore, flow cytometric analysis demonstrated a significant increase in the expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and class II antigens and lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 on Meth-A/IL-17 cells. Conclusion: Meth-A cells transfected with the hIL-17 gene can induce tumor-specific antitumor immunity by augmenting the expression of MHC class I and II antigens, and both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells may play important roles in inducing antitumor immunity, suggesting the possibility of developing a tumor vaccine incorporating IL-17-transfected tumor cells.
Vocabulary growth in second language among immigrant school-aged children in Greece

ABSTRACT The goal of the study was to assess differences between native Greek and bilingual, immigrant children of Albanian descent learning Greek as a second language on a receptive vocabulary measure. Vocabulary measures were obtained at five time points, 6 months apart, from 580 children attending Grades 2–4. Individual variability on both initial performance (intercept) and growth rate (slope) was assessed using hierarchical linear modeling, which included linguistic/ethnic group, parental education (as a socioeconomic status [SES] indicator), gender, and a measure of nonverbal cognitive ability as time-invariant predictors of vocabulary growth. Results indicated that linguistic/ethnic group, parental education, and baseline nonverbal cognitive ability were significant predictors of initial vocabulary scores, whereas only linguistic/ethnic group and nonverbal ability accounted for significant variability in vocabulary growth rates. Additional analyses confirmed that linguistic/ethnic group remained a significant predictor of receptive vocabulary knowledge at both the intercept and the slope levels even after controlling for the initial differences between groups on parental education and block design subtest scores.
Risk for Femoral Fractures in Parkinson’s Disease Patients with and without Severe Functional Impairment

Background Impaired balance is a major problem in patients with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD) resulting in an increased risk of falls and fall-related fractures. Most studies which analyzed the risk of femoral fractures in patients with idiopathic PD were performed either in specialized centers or excluded very frail patients. The current study used a large population-based dataset in order to analyze the risk of femoral fractures in patients with idiopathic PD. Methods Data from more than 880.000 individuals aged 65 years or older and insured between 2004 and 2009 at a large German health insurance company were used for the analyses. Persons with idiopathic PD were identified by the dispensing of Parkinson-specific medication and by hospital diagnoses, if available. People without PD served as the reference group. Incident femoral fractures were obtained from hospital diagnoses. Analyses were stratified by gender and information on severe functional impairment (care need) as provided by reimbursement claims. Results Compared with the reference group, persons with idiopathic PD had a more than doubled risk to sustain a femoral fracture. The risk was higher in men (HR = 2.61; 95%-CI: 2.28–2.98) than in women (HR = 1.79; 95%-CI: 1.66–1.94). The increased risk was only observed in people without severe functional impairment. The sensitivity analysis using a refined definition of idiopathic PD patients yielded similar results. Conclusion The findings confirm the increased risk of femoral fractures in patients with idiopathic PD. The relative risk is particularly high in male PD patients and in patients without severe functional impairment.
Investigation of hot-carrier-injection assisted TDDB and multi-stage hot-hole induced leakage current in BCD HV NMOS

With continuous improvement of the figure-of-merit (RdSon vs. BVdss) in high-voltage device, HCI induced device burnout emerged. In this work, we showed that the mechanism of burnout is due to HCI assisted TDDB (HA-TDDB) as evident from various Vg and temperature dependence characterization. We demonstrated that hot-hole assisted TDDB can be initiated by a 3-stage hot-hole induced leakage current (HHLC), i.e. interface traps generation at initial stage, oxide traps at 2nd stage and oxide breakdown after percolation path formation in last stage, which is different compared to hot-electron assisted TDDB. Furthermore, oblique percolation path accounted for the large Weibull slope. Negligible area-dependence at high Vd bias is ascribed to self-heating effect which mitigates impact-ionization. TCAD simulation and junction temperature at different Vd bias were performed to support the hypotheses. After thoroughly understanding the mechanism, HA-TDDB lifetime was significantly improved via process and design rule optimization.
The Reliability and Validity of Curriculum-based Measurement Readiness Probes for Kindergarten Students

Abstract A series of group-administered curriculum-based measurement (CBM) probes were developed to assist in the identification of kindergarten students exhibiting deficient readiness skills. The technical adequacy of the readiness probes was assessed in two suburban, public kindergarten centers. Reliability was assessed in three ways with 107 kindergarten students. Alternate forms reliability was assessed via administration of parallel forms of probes. Source reliability was assessed via independent scorer agreement. Item reliability was assessed via Cronbach's alpha. A random sample of 31 students participated in the validity phase of the study. Concurrent, predictive, and social validity were assessed. Acceptable reliability and validity estimates were obtained for three of the kindergarten probe measures. The use of kindergarten CBM probes as a potential screening device to fit within a larger framework of functional academic assessment and early intervention is proposed.
Importance-Aware Semantic Segmentation for Autonomous Driving System

Semantic Segmentation (SS) partitions an image into several coherent semantically meaningful parts, and classifies each part into one of the predetermined classes. In this paper, we argue that existing SS methods cannot be reliably applied to autonomous driving system as they ignore the different importance levels of distinct classes for safedriving. For example, pedestrians in the scene are much more important than sky when driving a car, so their segmentations should be as accurate as possible. To incorporate the importance information possessed by various object classes, this paper designs an “Importance-Aware Loss” (IAL) that specifically emphasizes the critical objects for autonomous driving. IAL operates under a hierarchical structure, and the classes with different importance are located in different levels so that they are assigned distinct weights. Furthermore, we derive the forward and backward propagation rules for IAL and apply them to deep neural networks for realizing SS in intelligent driving system. The experiments on CamVid and Cityscapes datasets reveal that by employing the proposed loss function, the existing deep learning models including FCN, SegNet and ENet are able to consistently obtain the improved segmentation results on the pre-defined important classes for safe-driving.
Examining Relationships Between Perceived Psychological Need Satisfaction and Behavioral Regulations in Exercise

The purpose of this study was to examine the proposition that psychological need satisfaction plays a role in the motives regulating exercise behavior. Participants completed self-report instruments assessing perceived psychological need satisfaction and exercise regulation at the outset and end of a 12-week structured exercise class. Greater perceived psychological need satisfaction predicted endorsement of more self-determined exercise regulations in the structural equation modeling analysis. Change score analyses revealed that increased perceived need fulfillment was positively correlated with more self-determined exercise regulations, although this pattern was most prominent for competence and autonomy. Collectively, these findings indicate perceptions of competence and autonomy—and to a lesser extent relatedness—and represent important factors shaping exercise motivation. Continued investigation of basic psychological need fulfillment via exercise appears justified.
Obstacle avoidance using stereo-based generic obstacle tracking

Obstacle detection and tracking is a fundamental task for several Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and self-driving cars. Several approaches have been presented in the literature in the last years and many of them are based on visual sensors. In this paper we propose an approach that uses only stereo cameras to detect and track obstacles and compute visual odometry to get the vehicle's ego-velocity. This information is used to compute a safe velocity to travel avoiding collisions with any detected objects. This is an ongoing work and its main contribution is not requiring a full dense disparity map to detect and track obstacles, improving efficiency. It also does not require a previous training step.
Closing the blood pressure gap: an affordable proposal to save lives worldwide

### Summary box Thanks to aggressive action over the past 15 years, death and disease from HIV and AIDS has steadily declined,1 and with new evidence that treating HIV also prevents transmission, discussions of the ‘end of AIDS’ grow louder.2 Support for HIV/AIDS control programmes such as the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria and the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is near-universal among both donor countries and private sector sponsors. Asked about doubling HIV medication access through PEPFAR in 2016, US President Donald Trump remarked that he ‘believe[s] so strongly in that…we’re …
Synthesizing Minimum Qualifications Using an Occupational Area Job Analysis Questionnaire

Determining minimum qualifications is largely an impressionistic process loosely related to training and education ratings of individuals. In determining and publishing minimum qualifications, the hiring official essentially delegates the authority for individual assessment of competency to external agencies. Minimum qualifications are, at best, a surrogate estimate of an individual's potential to perform the target job duties based on inferred knowledge, skills and abilities and competencies required for effective performance. Also, this requires the additional inferential leap backward in time to the individual's experience. Validation research on minimum qualifications has been limited, and, in application, the procedure is supported by a very impressionistic and global judgment process. The project described employs a systematic procedure linking the knowledge, skills and abilities and the competency content for an occupational area to the typical education, training and experience activities judged as required to achieve functional competence. Minimum qualifications for any single target position can then be synthetically derived from the database.
Multi-section semiconductor lasers: Their design can serve multiple applications and open possibilities for new applications

Multi-section, semiconductor lasers have traditionally been designed and optimized for a single type of output. For example: narrow linewidth, cw; or, short duration pulses at high repetition frequency, including mode-locked pulses; or, broadband, high dimensional chaotic output have been achieved. Herein we discuss how recent results from high resolution mapping of the nonlinear dynamics of a multi-section laser suggests new thinking on the design of such multi-section laser sources. They can be designed to provide several types of output in different regions of a parameter space for a device. Thus, a single design has the potential to support several different applications. This also presents an opportunity to the photonics and optoelectronics community to think creatively about what new and significant applications might benefit from sources with multiple types of output. Also, such a motivation can focus thinking on what functions can be added to the library of "sections" that can be integrated into multi-section devices, and how these functions can be further tailored using different materials and fabrication methods.
Saussure: Signs, System and Arbitrariness

Preface Introduction 1. Saussure's work: its context and significance 2. The distinction between langue and parole 3. Language as a system of signs, I: signs, arbitrariness, linearity, and change 4. Language as a system of signs, II: diachronic and synchronic linguistics 5. Language as a system of signs, III: identities, system, and relations 6. Language as a system of signs, IV: values, differences, and reality 7. Successes and failures Notes Bibliography Index.
Voicing Relationships: A Dialogic Perspective

Preface 1. Introduction Evaluation of RDT as a Theory Reworkings: Alternative Framings of Interpersonal Communication Overview of the Chapters 2. Mikhail Bakhtin, Dialogism, and RDT Bakhtin's Life and Selected Key Works Bakhtin's Dialogism 1919-1924 Bakhtin's Dialogism Post-1924 Locating Bakhtin's Theory of Dialogism in Communication Research Locating RDT in Bakhtin's Dialogism 3. Discursive Struggles of Culture The Utterance Chain Distal Already-Spokens of Culture The Discursive Struggle of Integration The Discursive Struggle of Expression Conclusion 4. Discursive Struggles of Relational History, Otherness, and Normative Evaluation The Proximal Already-Spoken: Discursive Struggles of Relational History The Proximal Not-Yet-Spoken: Discursive Struggles of Otherness The Distal Not-Yet-Spoken: Discursive Struggles of Normative Evaluation Conclusion 5. Centripetal-Centrifugal Struggle Foregrounding Power in Centripetal-Centrifugal Struggle The Interplay of Discourses Communication Genres of Discursive Struggle Conclusion 6. Doing Contrapuntal Analysis Selecting Texts in Contrapuntal Analysis Identifying Competing Discourses Identifying the Interplay of Competing Discourses A Sample Contrapuntal Analysis: A "Dear Birth Mother" Letter Conclusion References Index About the Author
Fluid–structure interactions of skeleton-reinforced fins: performance analysis of a paired fin in lift-based propulsion

SUMMARY We investigate the thrust generation capacity of a thin foil consisting of a membrane strengthened by embedded rays that is geometrically, structurally and kinematically similar to pectoral fins of bony fishes during lift-based labriform locomotion. Our numerical model includes a fully nonlinear Euler–Bernoulli beam model of the skeleton and a boundary-element model of the surrounding flow field. The fin undergoes a dorso–ventral flapping activated by rotations of the rays. Both the trailing edge vortices (TEV) and the leading edge vortices (LEV) are accounted for and modeled as shear layers. The thrust generation and propulsion efficiency are examined and documented. Our results show that synchronization of rays is pivotal to the performance of the system. A primary factor that determines the performance of the fin is phase lags between the rays, which create variations of the effective angle of attack at the leading edge as well as shape changes throughout the fin surface. Structural flexibility of the rays leads to passive deformations of the fin, which can increase the thrust generation and the propulsion efficiency.