Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
VULNERABILITY OF WATERBORNE DISEASES TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN CANADA: A REVIEW

This project addresses two important issues relevant to the health of Canadians: the risk of waterborne illness and the health impacts of global climate change. The Canadian health burden from waterborne illness is unknown, although it presumably accounts for a significant proportion of enteric illness. Recently, large outbreaks with severe consequences produced by E. coli O157:H7 and Cryptosporidium have alarmed Canadians and brought demands for political action. A concurrent need to understand the health impacts of global climate changes and to develop strategies to prevent or prepare for these has also been recognized. There is mounting evidence that weather is often a factor in triggering waterborne disease outbreaks. A recent study of precipitation and waterborne illness in the United States found that more than half the waterborne disease outbreaks in the United States during the last half century followed a period of extreme rainfall. Projections of international global climate change scenarios suggest that, under conditions of global warming most of Canada may expect longer summers, milder winters, increased summer drought, and more extreme precipitation. Excess precipitation, floods, high temperatures, and drought could affect the risk of waterborne illness in Canada. The existing scientific information regarding most weather-related adverse health impacts and on the impacts of global climate change on health in Canada is insufficient for informed decision making. The results of this project address this need through the investigation of the complex systemic interrelationships between disease incidence, weather parameters, and water quality and quantity, and by projecting the potential impact of global climate change on those relationships.
The Role of Technology at the Interface Between Salespeople and Consumers

Research examining technology and the sales force has a long, developed history that spans several decades. From initial research reviewing sales force laptop usage to more recent studies investigating the effects of advanced customer relationship management applications, much insight has been garnered regarding technology and sales. However, much of this investigation has occurred in business-to-business environments, leaving what we believe to be a considerable gap in knowledge on technology in business-to-consumer settings. In this paper, we briefly review some areas of research that we believe have seen abundant investigation and offer other fruitful avenues for research. We conclude that in businessto-consumer sales interactions, technology takes on a varying role and often enables a salesperson to complete a sale successfully, but seldom replaces the human interaction necessary to further develop the relationship.
DCT-Based Complexity Regularization for EM Tomographic Reconstruction

This paper introduces a simple algorithm for tomographic reconstruction based on the use of a complexity regularization term. The regularization is formulated in the discrete cosine transform (DCT) domain by promoting a low-noise reconstruction having a high sparsity in the frequency domain. The resulting algorithm simply alternates between a maximum-likelihood (ML) expectation-maximization (EM) update and a decreasing sparsity constraint in the DCT domain. Applications to SPECT reconstruction and comparisons with a classical estimator using the best available regularization terms are given in order to illustrate the potential of our reconstruction technique.
Phospholipase D Is a Negative Regulator of Proline Biosynthesis in Arabidopsis thaliana*

Accumulation of proline has been observed in a large number of plant species in response to drought and salt stresses, suggesting a key role of this amino acid in plant stress adaptation. Upstream components of the proline biosynthesis signal transduction pathways are still poorly defined. We provide experimental evidence that phospholipase D (PLD) is involved in the regulation of proline metabolism in Arabidopsis thaliana. The application of primary butyl alcohols, which divert part of PLD-derived phosphatidic acid by transphosphatidylation, stimulated proline biosynthesis even without hyperosmotic constraints. Moreover, application of primary butyl alcohols enhanced the proline responsiveness of seedlings to mild hyperosmotic stress. These data indicate that some PLDs are negative regulators of proline biosynthesis and that plants present a higher proline responsiveness to hyperosmotic stress when this regulator is abolished. We clearly demonstrate that PLD signaling for proline biosynthesis is similar to RD29A gene expression and different from the abscisic acid-dependent RAB18 gene expression. Our data reveal that PLDs play positive and negative roles in hyperosmotic stress signal transduction in plants, contributing to a precise regulation of ion homeostasis and plant salt tolerance.
Fuzzy Commitment for Function Based Signature Template Protection

In this paper we propose a biometric cryptosystem able to provide security and renewability to a function based on- line signature representation. A novel reliable signature traits selection procedure, along with a signature binarization algorithm, are introduced. Experimental results, evaluated on the public MCYT signature database, show that the proposed protected on-line signature recognition system guarantees recognition rates comparable with those of unprotected approaches, and outperforms already proposed protection schemes for signature biometrics.
A meta-discursive analysis of online comments of Chinese netizens on Huang Xiaoming's appropriation of English

This paper explores the ideologies of English in China through a meta-discursive analysis of Chinese netizens' comments on the performance of English by Huang Xiaoming, a famous Chinese actor. By applying Park and Wee's framework for analysing ideological evaluations of appropriation (i.e. ideologies of allegiance, competence, and authenticity) to online comments, this paper reveals that the ideological complex of English is in circulation in the Chinese society where people treat English as a language of the Other and themselves as illegitimate and incompetent users of English.
Community Energy: A Social Architecture for an Alternative Energy Future

Community energy based on a mix of distributed technologies offers a serious alternative to the current energy system. The nature of community energy and the role that such initiatives might play in the general fabric of civic life is not, however, well understood. Community energy initiatives might involve only those citizens who prefer to be actively and continuously involved in intense, democratic debate. A more robust conceptualization of community energy might, on the other hand, be guided by Benjamin Barber’s notion of “strong democracy,” in which community energy initiatives would draw upon a much broader citizen base, involving people from many walks of life and from quarters not generally presumed to be part of a sustained democratic process. The history of community energy is explored and a number of case studies are presented to illustrate the problems, prospects, and limitations of a socially and technologically decentralized energy system.
Grasping the Intentions of Others with One's Own Mirror Neuron System

Understanding the intentions of others while watching their actions is a fundamental building block of social behavior. The neural and functional mechanisms underlying this ability are still poorly understood. To investigate these mechanisms we used functional magnetic resonance imaging. Twenty-three subjects watched three kinds of stimuli: grasping hand actions without a context, context only (scenes containing objects), and grasping hand actions performed in two different contexts. In the latter condition the context suggested the intention associated with the grasping action (either drinking or cleaning). Actions embedded in contexts, compared with the other two conditions, yielded a significant signal increase in the posterior part of the inferior frontal gyrus and the adjacent sector of the ventral premotor cortex where hand actions are represented. Thus, premotor mirror neuron areas—areas active during the execution and the observation of an action—previously thought to be involved only in action recognition are actually also involved in understanding the intentions of others. To ascribe an intention is to infer a forthcoming new goal, and this is an operation that the motor system does automatically.
Life Satisfaction in the Young and the Old

The Life Satisfaction Index A (LSIA) was administered to a group of 101 elderly persons (Mage — 77.6) and a group of college students (Mage, = 20.1). The mean LSIA score of approximately 12 for both groups indicated no difference in degree of life satisfaction. An analysis of the responses of both groups to each of the 20 items of the LSIA, however, showed significant differences in the sources of satisfaction for each group. The old seemed more satisfied with their past, while the young seemed more apprehensive about the present and more optimistic about the future. The following hypothesis was offered: Life satisfaction, rather than being merely a reflection of a person's current level of goal achievement, is more like a set or orientation to one's environment which is acquired fairly early and remains moderately stable throughout life.
A proof-of-concept study evaluating the effect of ADX10059, a metabotropic glutamate receptor-5 negative allosteric modulator, on acid exposure and symptoms in gastro-oesophageal reflux disease

Background: In preclinical models, antagonism of metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) reduces transient lower oesophageal sphincter relaxations (TLOSRs) and increases LOS pressure. This study evaluated the effect of ADX10059, a potent, selective, negative allosteric modulator of mGluR5, on oesophageal pH-metry and clinical symptoms in GORD. Methods: Two groups of patients with GORD (n = 12 per group) underwent 24-h oesophageal pH-metry on two sequential treatment days. The patients received oral placebo three times daily (tds) 30 min before a high-fat meal on Day 1 and oral ADX10059 50 mg (Group 1) or 250 mg (Group 2) tds 30 min before a high-fat meal on Day 2. The primary variable was acid exposure (%time pH<4). Secondary variables included number and duration of reflux episodes, number and duration of symptomatic episodes and symptoms recorded in diaries. Comparisons were made for Day 2 (active) versus Day 1 (placebo) treatment and for Group 1 versus Group 2. Results: ADX10059 250 mg tds significantly decreased the percentage of time with pH<4 from 7.2% to 3.6% (p = 0.01). ADX10059 250 mg tds reduced pH-metry-measured oesophageal acid exposure, throughout the 24 h period, nocturnally and postprandially, and significantly reduced the number and duration of symptomatic reflux episodes (p = 0.03). ADX10059 50 mg tds was not significantly superior to placebo. ADX10059 was generally well tolerated. Conclusion: The mGluR5 negative allosteric modulator ADX10059 reduced acid reflux which was associated with improvement in clinical symptoms in patients with GORD. ADX10059 appears to have a potential role in the clinical management of GORD.
Critical Points of Neural Networks: Analytical Forms and Landscape Properties

Due to the success of deep learning to solving a variety of challenging machine learning tasks, there is a rising interest in understanding loss functions for training neural networks from a theoretical aspect. Particularly, the properties of critical points and the landscape around them are of importance to determine the convergence performance of optimization algorithms. In this paper, we provide full (necessary and sufficient) characterization of the analytical forms for the critical points (as well as global minimizers) of the square loss functions for various neural networks. We show that the analytical forms of the critical points characterize the values of the corresponding loss functions as well as the necessary and sufficient conditions to achieve global minimum. Furthermore, we exploit the analytical forms of the critical points to characterize the landscape properties for the loss functions of these neural networks. One particular conclusion is that: The loss function of linear networks has no spurious local minimum, while the loss function of one-hidden-layer nonlinear networks with ReLU activation function does have local minimum that is not global minimum.
IV. Sex and Gender: Same or Different?

Along the primrose path of childhood children learn something fundamental. At a most basic level they incorporate that Dads and Moms are designations with very different implications. Up front, it is accepted that Dads are men and Moms are women; that Dads and Moms do different things at home and elsewhere. Simultaneously children learn that boys play rough and girls play nice and they usually like to do different things. Then kids learn that boys grow up to be Dads and girls grow up to be Moms.
The effect of rock composition on cyanobacterial weathering of crystalline basalt and rhyolite

The weathering of volcanic rocks contributes significantly to the global silicate weathering budget, effecting carbon dioxide drawdown and long‐term climate control. The rate of chemical weathering is influenced by the composition of the rock. Rock‐dwelling micro‐organisms are known to play a role in changing the rate of weathering reactions; however, the influence of rock composition on bio‐weathering is unknown. Cyanobacteria are known to be a ubiquitous surface taxon in volcanic rocks. In this study, we used a selection of fast and slow growing cyanobacterial species to compare microbial‐mediated weathering of bulk crystalline rocks of basaltic and rhyolitic composition, under batch conditions. Cyanobacterial growth caused an increase in the pH of the medium and an acceleration of rock dissolution compared to the abiotic controls. For example, Anabaena cylindrica increased the linear release rate ( R i l ) of Ca, Mg, Si and K from the basalt by more than fivefold (5.21–12.48) and increased the pH of the medium by 1.9 units. Although A. cylindrica enhanced rhyolite weathering, the increase in R i l was less than threefold (2.04–2.97) and the pH increase was only 0.83 units. The R i l values obtained with A. cylindrica were at least ninefold greater with the basalt than the rhyolite, whereas in the abiotic controls, the difference was less than fivefold. Factors accounting for the slower rate of rhyolite weathering and lower biomass achieved are likely to include the higher content of quartz, which has a low rate of weathering and lower concentrations of bio‐essential elements, such as, Ca, Fe and Mg, which are known to be important in controlling cyanobacterial growth. We show that at conditions where weathering is favoured, biota can enhance the difference between low and high Si‐rock weathering. Our data show that cyanobacteria can play a significant role in enhancing rock weathering and likely have done since they evolved on the early Earth.
Scalability and Robustness of Time-Series Databases for Cloud-Native Monitoring of Industrial Processes

Today's industrial control systems store large amounts of monitored sensor data in order to optimize industrial processes. In the last decades, architects have designed such systems mainly under the assumption that they operate in closed, plant-side IT infrastructures without horizontal scalability. Cloud technologies could be used in this context to save local IT costs and enable higher scalability, but their maturity for industrial applications with high requirements for responsiveness and robustness is not yet well understood. We propose a conceptual architecture as a basis to designing cloud-native monitoring systems. As a first step we benchmarked three open source time-series databases (OpenTSDB, KairosDB and Databus) on cloud infrastructures with up to 36 nodes with workloads from realistic industrial applications. We found that at least KairosDB fulfills our initial hypotheses concerning scalability and reliability.
Psychopathological Dimensions of Harassment in the Workplace (Mobbing)

Aims: This study (a) evaluates the subjective perception and the psychopathological effects on workers subjected to harassment at the workplace, (b) examines the pathogenic relation between workplace harassment and psychiatric aspects, and (c) assesses the correlation between socio-demographic variables and the pathogenic extent of this phenomenon. Method: The study was carried out with the participation of 733 workers who approached the Work Psychopathology Medical Centre of the Department of Mental Health of Naples (Italy); 533 (73 percent) completed the diagnostic trial. Diagnoses were made in accord to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edition, revised) criteria. Each individual was graded on an empirical scale to quantify the correlation between diagnosis and harassment at the workplace. Two groups, with the highest and the lowest degrees of working pathogenesis, were compared. Statistical analysis was carried out to study the correlation between diagnoses and working pathogenesis. Results: The greatest subjective perception of mobbing is found among workers of high (managers, officials, etc.) and medium (employees, white-collar workers, etc.) work level and the highest care demand is experienced by workers in the fields of public administration, health-care, social work, commerce, and industry. Adjustment disorders, mood disorders (mainly major depression), anxiety disorders (mainly posttraumatic stress disorder; PTSD) are the more frequent diagnoses. We also found a limited sample of individuals suffering from schizophrenic- and psychotic-spectrum disorders. The correlation between diagnosis and working pathogenesis degree shows that the more significant correlation is found with mood and anxious disorders. Conclusion: Depression and PTSD are the more frequent psychiatric diseases related to harassment at the workplace, mainly when the pathogenic effect of mobbing is highly relevant. The greatest incidence of pathogenic work conflicts is observed in men, and the risk increases with aging, high work, and high education levels.
Serum parathyroid hormone concentrations are increased in women with polycystic ovary syndrome.

BACKGROUND The present study was designed to investigate the effects of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and of obesity on serum parathyroid hormone (RhoTauEta), 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OH-vitamin D), and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25-(OH)2-vitamin D] concentrations and the possible associations of the above calciotropic hormones with the hormonal and metabolic characteristics of the syndrome. METHODS We studied 58 obese [body mass index (BMI)>30 kg/m2] women with PCOS, 64 overweight (BMI, 25-30 kg/m2) women with the syndrome, 169 normal-weight (BMI<25 kg/m2) women with PCOS, 29 obese controls (ovulatory women without clinical or biochemical hyperandrogenemia), 14 overweight controls, and 70 normal-weight controls. Blood samples were collected (at 0900 after an overnight fast) between the 3rd and 6th days of a menstrual cycle in the control groups and during a spontaneous bleeding episode in the PCOS groups. Circulating concentrations of luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), prolactin (PRL), testosterone, Delta4-androstenedione, 17alpha-hydroxyprogesterone, sex-hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), insulin, glucose, PTH, 25-OH-vitamin D, and 1,25-(OH)2-vitamin D were measured. RESULTS Both PCOS and increased body weight had a significant positive effect on serum PTH values. PTH concentrations were significantly correlated with age, BMI, glucose, PRL, SHBG, and testosterone. Only the correlations with testosterone and PRL were BMI-independent. The effect of PCOS on PTH concentrations remained significant after adjustment for BMI, but not after adjustment for testosterone concentration. Increased body weight also had a significant negative effect on 25-OH- and 1,25-(OH)2-vitamin D concentrations, but no association with the syndrome was observed. CONCLUSIONS The results of the present study are in agreement with previous data supporting an association of increased PTH and decreased vitamin D metabolite concentrations with obesity. Moreover, the present findings indicate, for the first time, that PTH probably is also linked to PCOS-associated hyperandrogenism.
Effects of Speech Stimuli and Dysarthria Severity on Intelligibility Scores and Listener Confidence Ratings for Speakers with Cerebral Palsy

This study examined differences among transcription intelligibility scores and listener confidence ratings for three different types of speech stimuli – single words, unrelated sentences, and sentences forming a narrative – all produced by speakers with dysarthria. Twelve speakers with dysarthria of varying severity secondary to cerebral palsy and 144 listeners participated in this study. Results showed that both intelligibility scores and confidence ratings were differentially affected by both stimuli and severity. For speakers with mild, moderate, and severe dysarthria, intelligibility scores were higher for narratives than for either of the other two types of speech stimuli. For speakers with mild dysarthria, sentences were substantially more intelligible than single words. However, for speakers with moderate, severe, and profound dysarthria, the difference in intelligibility scores for sentences and single words was small or nonsignificant. Confidence ratings did not follow the same pattern as intelligibility data, suggesting a mismatch between listeners’ perception of their performance and their actual performance on intelligibility tasks.