Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Socio-economic profile of street food vendors and microbiological quality of ready-to-eat salads in Lomé.

Rapid urbanization leads many inhabitants of our young cities to adopt collective food for their daily nutritional needs. This situation may be a risk for consumers due to microbial contamination from street environment and bad practices related to hygiene. The present study aimed to correlate socioeconomic profile of street food vendors and the microbiological quality of ready-to-eat (RTE) vegetable salads served by food shops in Lomé. The data were gathered from 45 food shops owners using semi structured questionnaires. The microbiological quality of 69 RTE vegetable salads purchased from food shops was also assessed using the standardized routine methods adopted in the West African Economic and Monetary Union countries. The results showed that the street food sector is dominated by females, and 71.11% of them attended school. They lacked training on food hygienic and sanitary practice, and personal hygiene was not observed. Salmonella spp. was not detected in any of the samples evaluated, but almost 25% of the samples were contaminated by S. aureus. The percentage of samples positive for indicator of food safety lack germs like Total aerobic bacteria, Total coliforms, Thermotolerant coliforms were 100, 100 and 37.68 respectively; corresponding to conformity rates of 14.49, 11.59 and 81.16 respectively. As for Aerobic sulfite reducing bacteria, Yeast and Mould, the percentages were respectively 11.59, 78.26 and 72.46 with conformity: 92.75, 68.11 and 94.20. The level of the microbial contamination of the RTE salads collected from collective eating places in Lomé may present a potential health hazard to consumer. In this regards, regular inspections of food premises and education of food vendors has been recognised as one of the measures to ensure improvement of the quality of street foods.
Effects of supplemental copper and chromium on the serum and egg traits of laying hens

1. This study investigated the effects of supplemental copper and chromium on the serum and egg traits of laying hens using 144 forty-five-week-old White Leghorn layers. The hens were randomly assigned into 9 groups to conduct this 3 copper (0, 125 and 250 mg/kg as copper sulphate) × 3 chromium (0, 800 and 1600 µg/kg as chromium picolinate) factorial trial. 2. Egg yolk cholesterol was significantly reduced by supplementary copper (Cu) and chromium (Cr) and there was an interaction between Cu and Cr supplementation. Egg production, egg weight, eggshell strength and eggshell thickness were not influenced by Cu or Cr supplementation. 3. Serum cholesterol concentration was decreased by Cu supplementation and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) was reduced markedly by both Cu and Cr. On the other hand, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) was significantly increased by Cu and Cr. Interaction occurred between Cu and Cr in the VLDL and HDL parameters. Supplmentary Cu also reduced VLDL-cholesterol (VLDL-C) and enhanced HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), while supplemental Cr had a contrary effect on these two parameters. 4. If minimum egg cholesterol content is the criterion, this study suggests that 125 mg/kg of Cu together with 800 to 1600 µg/kg of Cr provide adequate supplementary concentrations for laying hens.
The Effect of Feeding Calcium Phosphate Salts with Different Solubilities on Dental Caries, the Composition of the Saliva, and the Femurs of Rats

PRESENT research suggests that partial control of human dental caries is possible by two completely different mechanisms: (1) developmentally, and, (2) post-developmentally. As an illustration of the former, one may cite the reduction in caries afforded by the fluoride ion when incorporated into the developing tooth. The caries reduction resulting from the topical application of fluorides to the erupted tooth is an example of the post-developmental effect. However, when considering the maximum benefit as well as the duration of effectiveness derived individually from each of the two suggested anticariogenic mechanisms, it is clear that the effects of the developmental factor are much more significant. It appears that our best hope for a pronounced caries reduction will result from developing a sound tooth instead of attempting to make a developmentally unsound tooth less prone to decay after eruption. The single disadvantage to this concept is that it carries with it the necessity of cooperation of every parent and child in making constantly available to the young child the anticariogenic agent. Since this is impossible, even with such simple procedures as communal fluoridation, since all communities will never fluoridate, the practical aspect of caries control must be such that the maximum use is made of post-developmental cariogenic factors. One such possible post-developmental factor deserving consideration is the modification of the composition of saliva which, if properly understood, would result in less dental caries. The purpose of this study is then twofold, in providing answers to the following questions: (1) can the salivary calcium-phosphorus content of rat saliva be modified by feeding calcium phosphate salts and, (2) what is the effect of different inorganic calcium phosphate salts with varying solubilities on the dental caries experience in the rat? This latter point is of interest, since unpublished evidence from our laboratories suggests that, if a soluble calcium-phosphorus salt is ingested along with the daily dietary constituents, this soluble salt is preferentially solubilized instead of the soluble constituents of the tooth. Moreover, this study will make it possible to correlate changes in salivary calcium-phosphorus content with the dietary calcium-phosphorus content and the dental caries experience in the rat.
Globally optimal segmentation of interacting surfaces with geometric constraints

Efficient detection of globally optimal surfaces representing object boundaries in volumetric datasets is important and remains challenging in many medical image analysis applications. We have developed an optimal surface detection method that is capable of simultaneously detecting multiple interacting surfaces, in which the optimality is controlled by the cost functions designed for individual surfaces and several geometric constraints defining the surface smoothness and interrelations. The method solves the surface detection problems by transforming them into computing minimum s-t cuts in the derived edge-weighted directed graphs. The proposed algorithm has low-order polynomial complexity and is computationally efficient. The method has been validated on over 100 computer generated volumetric images and 96 CT-scanned datasets of different-sized plexiglas tubes, yielding highly accurate results (mean signed error of the measured inner- and outer-diameters of the plexiglas tubes was 0.21 /spl plusmn/ 3.20%). Our approach can be readily extended to higher dimensional image segmentation.
Keratinocyte Growth Factor Acts as a Mesenchymal Factor That Promotes Ovarian Primordial to Primary Follicle Transition

Abstract An important but poorly understood process in ovarian biology is the transition of the developmentally arrested primordial follicle to the developing primary follicle. Interactions between the epithelial and mesenchymal cells of the follicle are critical for the coordination of ovarian follicle development. The mesenchymal growth factor keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) (i.e., fibroblast growth factor-7) and the epithelial growth factor kit ligand (KITL) are known to interact to coordinate the growth of later-stage antral follicles. The hypothesis tested in the current study is that KGF acts as a mesenchymal factor to promote the primordial to primary follicle transition. A postnatal 4-day-old rat ovary organ culture system was used to investigate the actions of KGF. KGF treatment promoted 65% of follicles to undergo the primordial to primary follicle transition, but only 45% underwent development in control ovaries. Neutralizing antibody for KGF was found to attenuate the stimulatory action of KITL, but neutralizing antibody for KITL was not able to attenuate the stimulatory action of KGF. Further analysis demonstrated that KGF was found to stimulate the expression of KITL (i.e., mRNA levels) by granulosa cells. KITL in turn was found to stimulate the expression of KGF to create a positive feedback loop. Interestingly, KGF expression was localized to selected mesenchymal cells (i.e., precursor theca cells) surrounding the developing primordial follicle. Observations suggest that developing granulosa cells of the primordial follicles produce KITL, which helps recruit precursor theca cells to the follicle; the thecal cells then produce KGF, which acts on the granulosa to amplify KITL expression and support primordial follicle development. KGF appears to be a mesenchymal factor that promotes the primordial to primary follicle transitions.
Comparison of the effect of heparin and citrate on platelet aggregation

When whole blood was passed through a column of glass beads, heparinized and native blood gave similar results. With citrated blood far fewer platelets were lost on the column. Thus citrate inhibits this test and heparin has no effect. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) was prepared from citrated and heparinized blood and the responses in a number of aggregation tests were compared. With added adenosine diphosphate and adrenaline (first wave), the response in heparin PRP was greater than that in citrate PRP and was proportional to the amount of free calcium ions. With added collagen and adrenaline (second wave) the response was worse in heparin than in citrate platelet-rich plasma. It is concluded that heparin has no effect on the adhesive forces but inhibits the release mechanism. This may be of therapeutic importance.
Design, fabrication of through silicon vias based on suspended photoresist thin film and its application in silicon interposer

This paper presents a novel fabrication method of through silicon vias (TSVs) based on suspended photoresist thin film. The AZ5214 photoresist thin film is self-assembled on the deionized (DI) water surface, then the film is transferred onto the wafer surface and patterned by photolithography to form the cover plates on the through-vias. After a Cu seed layer is deposited and the photoresist film is chemically removed, the through-vias are filled by Cu electroplating. The process steps, characterization and the feasibility are analyzed in our experiment. According to this approach, one of its applications in silicon interposer is provided and the processes are discussed.
An analysis of critical factors for quantitative immunoblotting

Sample preparation, detection scheme, and normalization approach affect the quantification of protein abundance and modification state by immunoblotting. Best practices for immunoblotting Immunoblotting, also known as Western blotting, is a common technique used by cell and molecular biologists to detect the presence of proteins, changes in protein abundance, and the presence and changes in abundance of posttranslational modifications. Unfortunately, many factors influence reproducibility and the ability to produce quantitative results with this technique. Janes provides a detailed analysis of how variations in sample preparation, detection scheme, and normalization approach affect the reliability, reproducibility, and quantitative value of proteins evaluated by immunoblotting. Immunoblotting (also known as Western blotting) combined with digital image analysis can be a reliable method for analyzing the abundance of proteins and protein modifications, but not every immunoblot-analysis combination produces an accurate result. I illustrate how sample preparation, protocol implementation, detection scheme, and normalization approach profoundly affect the quantitative performance of immunoblotting. This study implemented diagnostic experiments that assess an immunoblot-analysis workflow for accuracy and precision. The results showed that ignoring such diagnostics can lead to pseudoquantitative immunoblot data that markedly overestimate or underestimate true differences in protein abundance.
From perfect to fractal transmission in spin chains (7 pages)

Perfect state transfer is possible in modulated spin chains [Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 187902 (2004)], imperfections, however, are likely to corrupt the state transfer. We study the robustness of this quantum communication protocol in the presence of disorder both in the exchange couplings between the spins and in the local magnetic field. The degradation of the fidelity can be suitably expressed, as a function of the level of imperfection and the length of the chain, in a scaling form. In addition the time signal of fidelity becomes fractal. We further characterize the state transfer by analyzing the spectral properties of the Hamiltonian of the spin chain.
Global Tracking Control of Underactuated Ships With Input and Velocity Constraints Using Dynamic Surface Control Method

This paper proposes a global tracking control method for underactuated ships with input and velocity constraints using the dynamic surface control (DSC) method, where the control structure is formed in a modular way that cascaded kinematic and dynamic linearizations can be achieved similarly as in the backstepping method. First, the first step linearization of the kinematics determines the pseudo (or auxiliary) surge velocity and yaw angle, which are used as the commands for the second-step linearization. Then, in the second-step linearization of dynamics, the actual torque inputs are designed to make the actual surge velocity and yaw angle follow these pseudo commands to achieve the position and yaw angle tracking. By employing the dynamic surface control method in the design of each kinematic and dynamic linearization law, we can obtain a control structure that is much simpler than the previous backstepping-based controllers such that it is beneficial from the practical application viewpoint. In addition, it is possible to track general reference trajectories, i.e., the reference yaw velocity need not be persistently exciting and there is no restriction on the initial yaw tracking error. In particular, global tracking control is achieved even in the presence of input and velocity constraints, unlike the DSC method which introduces the several filters in the backstepping design procedure to avoid the model differentiation and make it easier to be implemented and usually has semiglobal tracking performance. Finally, the stability analysis and numerical simulations are performed to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
Experimental Staphylococcus aureus intramammary challenge in late lactation dairy cows: quarter and cow effects determining the probability of infection.

The purpose of this study was to identify factors at the quarter and cow level that determine whether a quarter remains infected after an intramammary challenge with Staphylococcus aureus Newbould 305. A total of 135 cows were studied. Information on animal characteristics, cow-conformation, cow somatic cell count (SCC), and bacteriology, blood vitamin E levels, serology for retro-viral infections, bovine leukocyte adhesion deficiency-carrier status, and the presence of bovine lymphocyte antigens class I alleles was collected on each animal. All quarters of all cows were then challenged with Staphylococcus aureus Newbould 305. The challenge with S. aureus Newbould 305 resulted in 28 cows (20.7%) that did not establish infection in any of the quarters, 21 (15.6%) cows had 1 quarter infected, 35 (25.9%) had 2 quarters infected, 24 (17.8%) had 3 quarters infected, and 27 (20.0%) had all quarters infected. A higher prechallenge SCC decreased the risk of infection. An infection with Corynebacterium bovis prior to challenge decreased the risk of S.aureus infection. Of the bovine lymphocyte antigen alleles, the presence of the W20A allele proved to be significantly associated with a decreased risk of infection. No other factors proved to be significant.
People with dementia and carer preferences for home support services in early-stage dementia

ABSTRACT Objectives: To examine people with dementia and carer preferences for home support attributes in early-stage dementia, building on the paucity of evidence in this area. Method: Preferences from 44 people with dementia and 103 carers, recruited through memory clinics and an online questionnaire, were assessed with a Discrete Choice Experiment survey, with attributes informed by an evidence synthesis and lay consultation. A conditional logit model was used to estimate preference weights for the attributes within a home support ‘package’. Results: The most preferred attributes were support with personal feelings and concerns, provided by a trained counsellor at home (coefficient 0.67, p = <0.001) and information on coping with dementia, provided by an experienced worker at home (coefficient 0.59, p = <0.001). However, for people with dementia, opportunities for social and recreational activities were considered the most important (coefficient 0.48, p = <0.001). Conclusions: These preferences concur with emerging evidence on psychosocial interventions in dementia. Support with personal feelings, information and social engagement are important components. Additionally, knowledge of preferences of people with dementia and their carers can identify other attributes that may be important to effectiveness in ‘living well’ but for which there remains limited evidence.
Accuracy and Reliability of Automated Gray Matter Segmentation Pathways on Real and Simulated Structural Magnetic Resonance Images of the Human Brain

Automated gray matter segmentation of magnetic resonance imaging data is essential for morphometric analyses of the brain, particularly when large sample sizes are investigated. However, although detection of small structural brain differences may fundamentally depend on the method used, both accuracy and reliability of different automated segmentation algorithms have rarely been compared. Here, performance of the segmentation algorithms provided by SPM8, VBM8, FSL and FreeSurfer was quantified on simulated and real magnetic resonance imaging data. First, accuracy was assessed by comparing segmentations of twenty simulated and 18 real T1 images with corresponding ground truth images. Second, reliability was determined in ten T1 images from the same subject and in ten T1 images of different subjects scanned twice. Third, the impact of preprocessing steps on segmentation accuracy was investigated. VBM8 showed a very high accuracy and a very high reliability. FSL achieved the highest accuracy but demonstrated poor reliability and FreeSurfer showed the lowest accuracy, but high reliability. An universally valid recommendation on how to implement morphometric analyses is not warranted due to the vast number of scanning and analysis parameters. However, our analysis suggests that researchers can optimize their individual processing procedures with respect to final segmentation quality and exemplifies adequate performance criteria.
Chiral Rings and Phases of Supersymmetric Gauge Theories

We solve for the expectation values of chiral operators in supersymmetric U(N) gauge theories with matter in the adjoint, fundamental and anti-fundamental representations. A simple geometric picture emerges involving a description by a meromorphic one-form on a Riemann surface. The equations of motion are equivalent to a condition on the integrality of periods of this form. The solution indicates that all semiclassical phases with the same number of U(1) factors are continuously connected.
The Recovery Manager of the System R Database Manager

The recovery subsystem of an experimental data management system is described and evaluated. The transactmn concept allows application programs to commit, abort, or partially undo their effects. The DO-UNDO-REDO protocol allows new recoverable types and operations to be added to the recovery system Apphcation programs can record data m the transaction log to facilitate application-specific recovery. Transaction undo and redo are based on records kept in a transaction log. The checkpoint mechanism is based on differential fries (shadows). The recovery log is recorded on disk rather than tape.
Collective Tuning Initiative

Computing systems rarely deliver best possible performance due to ever increasing hardware and software complexity and limitations of the current optimization technology. Additional code and architecture optimizations are often required to improve execution time, size, power consumption, reliability and other important characteristics of computing systems. However, it is often a tedious, repetitive, isolated and time consuming process. In order to automate, simplify and systematize program optimization and architecture design, we are developing open-source modular plugin-based Collective Tuning Infrastructure (CTI, this http URL) that can distribute optimization process and leverage optimization experience of multiple users. CTI provides a novel fully integrated, collaborative, "one button" approach to improve existing underperfoming computing systems ranging from embedded architectures to high-performance servers based on systematic iterative compilation, statistical collective optimization and machine learning. Our experimental results show that it is possible to reduce execution time (and code size) of some programs from SPEC2006 and EEMBC among others by more than a factor of 2 automatically. It can also reduce development and testing time considerably. Together with the first production quality machine learning enabled interactive research compiler (MILEPOST GCC) this infrastructure opens up many research opportunities to study and develop future realistic self-tuning and self-organizing adaptive intelligent computing systems based on systematic statistical performance evaluation and benchmarking. Finally, using common optimization repository is intended to improve the quality and reproducibility of the research on architecture and code optimization.
How well do online forums facilitate discussion and collaboration among novice animation programmers?

Animation programming is a widely-respected approach for helping students to learn programming skills, and online forums are a widely-used approach for helping students to interact with one another. But in what ways, if any, does combining animation programming with online forums lead to useful discussion and collaboration among learners? To answer this question, we analyzed online forum discussions among people who were learning to create animation programs using the Scratch programming environment. We discovered that specific kinds of online posts were more likely than others to be followed by discussion, and we found that the ensuing collaboration often involved the exchange of design ideas and feedback within small groups of users. These findings reveal opportunities for enhancing online forums and surrounding tools so they more effectively facilitate discussion, collaboration, and ultimately development of programming skills.