Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Household clustering of gastroenteritis

SUMMARY Surveillance for gastroenteritis rarely detects small, intra-familial outbreaks. This study examined intra-household transmission of gastroenteritis using prospectively collected data from 2811 participants (600 households) in a community-based study. There were 258 household clusters of gastroenteritis during the 15 months of observation involving 774 residents (28% of total). Age <6 years and attendance at a day care/kindergarten were associated with increased likelihood of inclusion in a cluster. The reach of illness into the household was extensive, with 63% of household members affected by symptoms during clusters. Simultaneous and secondary transmission of gastroenteritis appeared equally common. In only 20% of clusters did more than one member submit a faecal specimen. Of clusters where two or more specimens were submitted, concordance in laboratory confirmation of pathogens was 18·8%. Our results show that clustering of gastrointestinal symptoms within households occurs commonly, but reliance on pathogen notification data will substantially underestimate the true frequency of gastroenteritis clusters.
Application of dynamic subgrid‐scale concepts from large‐eddy simulation to modeling landscape evolution

Landscapes share important similarities with turbulence: both systems exhibit scale invariance (self‐similarity) over a wide range of scales, and their behavior can be described using comparable dynamic equations. In particular, modified versions of the Kardar‐Parisi‐Zhang (KPZ) equation (a low‐dimensional analog to the Navier‐Stokes equations) have been shown to capture important features of landscape evolution. This suggests that modeling techniques developed for turbulence may also be adapted to landscape simulations. Using a “toy” landscape evolution model based on a modified 2‐D KPZ equation, we find that the simulated landscape evolution shows a clear dependence on grid resolution. In particular, mean longitudinal profiles of elevation at steady state and bulk erosion rates both have an undesirable dependence on grid resolution because the erosion rate increases with resolution as increasingly small channels are resolved. We propose a new subgrid‐scale parameterization to account for the scale dependence of the sediment fluxes. Our approach is inspired by the dynamic procedure used in large‐eddy simulation of turbulent flows. The erosion coefficient, assumed exactly known at the finest resolution, is multiplied by a scale dependence coefficient, which is computed dynamically at different time steps on the basis of the dynamics of the resolved scales. This is achieved by taking advantage of the self‐similarity that characterizes landscapes over a wide range of scales. The simulated landscapes obtained with the new model show very little dependence on grid resolution.
A prospective study of tumor markers CA 125 and CA 19.9 in patients with epithelial ovarian carcinomas.

In a prospective study, CA 125 and CA 19.9 serum levels were measured in 229 patients with ovarian cancer [121 with active disease, 108 in complete remission (CR)], and in 20 patients with other malignancies. Abnormal levels of CA 125 were found in 90% of patients with active ovarian cancer, in 1.8% of those in CR and in 38% of cases with other malignancies. Abnormal CA 19.9 serum levels were found in 36, 9 and 48% of these groups, respectively. Serum levels of both tumor markers were related to tumor stage and histological type. The highest levels of CA 125 were found in serous adenocarcinoma and the lowest in the mucinous type (p < 0.0001). In contrast, significantly higher CA 19.9 values were found in mucinous carcinoma than in other histologies (p < 0.0001). CA 125 and CA 19.9 were useful for monitoring disease activity in 88.3 and 32%, respectively, while one or other tumor marker was useful in 92% of patients. At the time of the second-look operation, abnormal CA 125 serum levels were found in 32% (6/19) of patients with active disease and in none of those with CR (0/38). CA 125 sensitivity was 83% (5/6) in those patients with residual tumor > 2 cm and in 8% (1/13) in those with tumor < 2 cm. CA 19.9 values were abnormally high in 16% of cases with persistent disease and in 11% of CR patients. In conclusion, our results confirm that CA 125 is a useful marker in ovarian carcinoma. CA 19.9 improves the results obtained with CA 125 alone only in mucinous adenocarcinomas.
Stereological reconstruction of polycrystalline materials

Laguerre tessellations are suitable models for many polycrystalline materials. In this work, we present a reconstruction‐based approach to fit a spatial Laguerre tessellation model to a plane section of a cellular material under the condition that one section of the model resembles the observed section of the material. To account for this special requirement, we introduce a novel Euclidean distance‐based criterion for the model fitting. The model fitting itself is based on Simulated Annealing. If the structure under consideration is a Laguerre tessellation, we found a nearly perfect reconstruction of its spatial cell characteristics in the model. Even for a real sample of a sintered alumina the observed section is captured quite well by the model.
Axoplasm enriched in a protein mobilized by nerve injury induces memory- like alterations in Aplysia neurons

Axon regeneration after injury and long-term alterations associated with learning both require protein synthesis in the neuronal cell body, but the signals that initiate these changes are largely unknown. Direct evidence that axonal injury activates molecular signals in the axon was obtained by injecting axoplasm from crushed or uncrushed nerves into somata of sensory neurons with uncrushed axons. Those injected with crush axoplasm behaved as if their axons had been crushed, exhibiting increases in both repetitive firing and spike duration, and a decrease in spike afterhyperpolarization 1 d after injection. Because similar changes occur in the same cells after learning, these data suggest that some of the long-lasting adaptive changes that occur after injury and learning may be induced by common axoplasmic signals. Since the signals in axoplasm must be conveyed to the cell soma, we have begun to test the hypothesis that at least some of these signals are proteins containing a nuclear localization signal (NLS). Axoplasmic proteins at the crush site and those that accumulated at a ligation proximal to the crush were probed with an antibody to an amino acid sequence (sp) containing a NLS that provides access to the retrograde transport/nuclear import pathway. One protein, sp97, displayed properties expected of an axonal injury signal: it responded to injury by undergoing an anterograde-to-retrograde change in movement and, when the ligation was omitted, it was transported to the cell bodies of the injured neurons.
Extractable Heavy Metal Concentrations in Bottom Ash from Incineration of Wood-Based Residues in a BFB Boiler Using Artificial Sweat and Gastric Fluids

The highest extractable concentration in the artificial sweat fluid was observed for Ba (120mg/kg; d.w.). The highest extractable concentration in the artificial gastric fluid was observed for Al (9030mg/kg; d.w.). Furthermore, the extractable concentrations of Ba (550mg/kg; d.w.) and Zn (400mg/kg: d.w.) in the bottom ash using artificial gastric fluid were elevated. The extractable concentrations of all heavy metals in the artificial gastric fluid were higher than those in the artificial sweat fluid. These results are reasonable in the light of the fact that the pH of the artificial gastric fluid was extremely acidic both before (pH 1.54) and after (pH 1.94) extraction, whereas the pH of the artificial sweat fluid was slightly alkaline before (pH 6.50) and after extraction (pH 8.51). Keywords—Ash, artificial fluid, heavy metals, in vitro, waste.
Why are teleworkers stressed? An empirical analysis of the causes of telework-enabled stress

Despite the wide dissemination and acceptance of teleworking, there are negative effects for employees. Literature shows that these negative effects of telework lead to undesired outcomes for teleworkers such as telework- exhaustion. The present research, however, goes one step further by identifying three significant telework-characteristics and hypothesising the relationship be- tween telework-characteristics and telework-enabled stressors. By doing so, one can understand the reason why telework-enabled stressors are perceived and identify the source of these stressors, which can then be counteracted to main- tain the advantages of teleworking. Therefore, this research investigates the in- fluence of the following telework-characteristics - information undersupply, au- tonomy, and isolation - on telework-enabled stressors and accordingly on tele- work-exhaustion and on the intention to continue teleworking. Results of an analysis on 310 teleworkers show that telework-characteristics influence tele- work-enabled stressors and accordingly increase the extent of telework- exhaustion and decrease the intention to continue teleworking.
The Propeller Regime of Disk Accretion to a Rapidly Rotating Magnetized Star

The propeller regime of disk accretion to a rapidly rotating magnetized star is investigated here for the first time by axisymmetric 2.5-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations. An expanded, closed magnetosphere forms in which the magnetic field is predominantly toroidal. A smaller fraction of the star's poloidal magnetic flux inflates vertically, forming a magnetically dominated tower. Matter accumulates in the equatorial region outside magnetosphere and accretes to the star quasi-periodically through elongated funnel streams that cause the magnetic field to reconnect. The star spins down owing to the interaction of the closed magnetosphere with the disk. For the considered conditions, the spin-down torque varies with the angular velocity of the star (ω*) as ~-ω for a fixed mass accretion rate. The propeller stage may be important in the evolution of X-ray pulsars, cataclysmic variables, and young stars. In particular, it may explain the present slow rotation of the classical T Tauri stars.
The RNA-binding protein Squid is required for the establishment of anteroposterior polarity in the Drosophila oocyte

The heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) Squid (Sqd) is a highly abundant protein that is expected to bind most cellular RNAs. Nonetheless, Sqd plays a very specific developmental role in dorsoventral (DV) axis formation during Drosophila oogenesis by localizing gurken (grk) RNA. Here, we report that Sqd is also essential for anteroposterior (AP) axis formation. We identified sqd in a screen for modifiers of the Protein Kinase A (PKA) oogenesis polarity phenotype. The AP defects of sqd mutant oocytes resemble those of PKA mutants in several ways. In both cases, the cytoskeletal reorganization at mid-oogenesis, which depends on a signal from the posterior follicle cells, does not produce a correctly polarized microtubule (MT) network. This causes the posterior determinant, oskar (osk) RNA, to localize to central regions of the oocyte, where it is ectopically translated. Additionally, MT-dependent anterior movement of the oocyte nucleus and the grk-dependent specification of posterior follicle cells are unaffected in both mutants. However, in contrast to PKA mutants, sqd mutants do not retain a discrete posterior MT organizing center (MTOC) capable of supporting ectopic posterior localization of bicoid (bcd) RNA. sqd mutants also display several other phenotypes not seen in PKA mutants; these probably result from the disruption of MT polarity in earlier stages of oogenesis. Loss of Sqd does not affect polarity in follicle cells, wings or eyes, indicating a specific role in the determination of MT polarity within the germline.
Contiguous hemizygous deletion of TBX5, TBX3, and RBM19 resulting in a combined phenotype of Holt‐Oram and ulnar‐mammary syndromes

Wiktor Borozdin, Ana M. Bravo-Ferrer Acosta, Eva Seemanova, Michael Leipoldt, Michael J. Bamshad, Sheila Unger, and Jürgen Kohlhase* Institut für Humangenetik und Anthropologie, Universität Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany Institute for Biology and Medical Genetics, 2nd Medical Faculty, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic Department of Pediatrics, Division of Genetics & Developmental Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington
Raised cortisol:DHEAS ratios in the elderly after injury: potential impact upon neutrophil function and immunity

The detrimental effect of stress on the immune response increases with age, though the mechanisms responsible are not fully understood. The physiological response to stress is regulated in part by the adrenocortical system. Adrenal hormones dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS) and cortisol have opposing effects on the innate immune system, DHEAS enhances while cortisol suppresses immunity and the molar ratio of cortisol to DHEAS increases with age. We found that elderly hip fracture patients produced a robust neutrophilia after injury, but circulating neutrophils showed an impaired antibacterial response. We therefore proposed that adrenocortical hormones mediate the heightened immunosuppression seen in the elderly after injury. We examined neutrophil function and adrenocortical hormone levels in elderly (> 65 years) hip fracture patients and age‐matched healthy controls. Thirteen out of 35 elderly patients acquired infections following hip fracture. Neutrophil superoxide production was lower in elderly hip fracture patients compared with controls (P < 0.005) and lower in patients who acquired infection following injury compared with those who did not (P < 0.05). Serum cortisol:DHEAS ratio was higher in elderly hip fracture patients (0.56 ± 0.38) compared with either age‐matched controls (0.36 ± 0.21; P < 0.05) or young fracture patients (0.087 ± 0.033; P < 0.0001). Moreover, cortisol: DHEAS was increased in elderly patients who succumbed to infection compared with those who did not (0.803 ± 0.42 vs. 0.467 ± 0.28; P < 0.02). In vitro cortisol significantly decreased neutrophil superoxide generation (P < 0.05) and this was prevented by coincubation with DHEAS. We propose that increased cortisol:DHEAS ratios may contribute to reduced immunity following physical stress in the elderly.
Improving on Human’s Movement Time Model for Pointing Task - Introducing the Target Position Factor into Fitts’ Law

The experiments were aimed at determining the effect of target position on movement time when performing a target pointing movement task. 21 subjects performed pointing movements with 72 conditions of various target position. The movement time data were collected. It was shown that the starting point position and target position greatly affect the movement time. As a result, the movement times were not explained satisfactorily by the conventional Fitts’ model. The conventional model was improved by introducing the target position factor into. Compared with the conventional Fitts’ model, the new model could describe the data better, both in term of contribution value (r2) and the standard error of the residual between the predicted value by model fit and the measured movement time.
Application of electron optical techniques to the study of amorphous materials

Despite the sub-angstrom resolution capability of modern transmission electron microscopes, elucidation of the structure of amorphous materials by direct-imaging methods is still challenged by problems of projection and data presentation identified over 20 years ago. Classical diffraction analysis, leading to the radial distribution function not only retains its essential importance but has been extended to deal with small scattering volumes in inhomogeneous samples by the use of focused electron probe illumination but retaining orientation averaging. Fluctuation microscopy provides a significant advance in the detection and statistical representation of medium-scale spatial variations in amorphous structure. Issues of scattering coherence are crucial in both these approaches. Further opportunities for use of focused probes include the study of angular correlations in nanodiffraction patterns as well as fine structure in energy loss spectra. Finally, there may be a return to the direct imaging approach thanks to recent advances in electron tomography and in aberration-corrected depth sectioning.
On Brooks' Theorem for Sparse Graphs

Let G be a graph with maximum degree Δ(G). In this paper we prove that if the girth g(G) of G is greater than 4 then its chromatic number, χ(G), satisfies where o(l) goes to zero as Δ(G) goes to infinity. (Our logarithms are base e.) More generally, we prove the same bound for the list-chromatic (or choice) number: provided g(G) < 4.
DAMAGE DETECTION IN CONCRETE USING DIFFUSE ULTRASOUND MEASUREMENTS

Heterogeneities in concrete caused by the random distribution of aggregate in the cement‐paste matrix lead to strong scattering of ultrasonic waves at wavelengths on the order of the aggregate. Use of these high frequencies is necessary to detect damage at an early stage, something that is not possible with conventional ultrasonic methods. The ultrasound energy density in that regime can be described by the diffusion equation. The objective of this research is to develop a quantitative understanding of the effects of additional scattering sources, such as small cracks in the cement‐paste matrix, on the parameters of the diffusion equation; these parameters are the diffusion and the dissipation coefficients. Applying diffusion theory, the diffusivity and dissipation coefficients are experimentally determined as functions of frequency using ultrasonic waves. The cuboid shaped samples employed are made of a Portland cement‐paste matrix and regular aggregate, such as gravel and sand. The results provide a bas.
Assessing the impact on chronic disease of incorporating the societal cost of greenhouse gases into the price of food: an econometric and comparative risk assessment modelling study

Objectives To model the impact on chronic disease of a tax on UK food and drink that internalises the wider costs to society of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to estimate the potential revenue. Design An econometric and comparative risk assessment modelling study. Setting The UK. Participants The UK adult population. Interventions Two tax scenarios are modelled: (A) a tax of £2.72/tonne carbon dioxide equivalents (tCO2e)/100 g product applied to all food and drink groups with above average GHG emissions. (B) As with scenario (A) but food groups with emissions below average are subsidised to create a tax neutral scenario. Outcome measures Primary outcomes are change in UK population mortality from chronic diseases following the implementation of each taxation strategy, the change in the UK GHG emissions and the predicted revenue. Secondary outcomes are the changes to the micronutrient composition of the UK diet. Results Scenario (A) results in 7770 (95% credible intervals 7150 to 8390) deaths averted and a reduction in GHG emissions of 18 683 (14 665to 22 889) ktCO2e/year. Estimated annual revenue is £2.02 (£1.98 to £2.06) billion. Scenario (B) results in 2685 (1966 to 3402) extra deaths and a reduction in GHG emissions of 15 228 (11 245to 19 492) ktCO2e/year. Conclusions Incorporating the societal cost of GHG into the price of foods could save 7770 lives in the UK each year, reduce food-related GHG emissions and generate substantial tax revenue. The revenue neutral scenario (B) demonstrates that sustainability and health goals are not always aligned. Future work should focus on investigating the health impact by population subgroup and on designing fiscal strategies to promote both sustainable and healthy diets.
IZA DP No . 1907 Specialization , Outsourcing and Wages

Specialization, Outsourcing and Wages This paper studies the impact of outsourcing on individual wages. In contrast to the standard approach in the literature, we focus on domestic outsourcing as well as foreign outsourcing. By using a simple theoretical model, we argue that, if outsourcing is associated with specialization gains arising from an increase in the division of labor, domestic outsourcing tends to increase wages for both unskilled and skilled labor. We use a panel data set of workers in Danish manufacturing industries to show that domestic and foreign outsourcing affect wages as predicted by the theory. JEL Classification: F16, J31, C23
Narrative Collage of Image Collections by Scene Graph Recombination

A narrative collage is an interesting image editing method for summarizing the main theme or storyline behind an image collection. We present a novel method to generate narrative images with plausible semantic scene structures. To achieve this goal, we introduce a layer graph and a scene graph to represent the relative depth order and semantic relationship between image objects, respectively. We first cluster the input image collection to select representative images, and then we extract a group of semantic salient objects from each representative image. Both layer graphs and scene graphs are constructed and combined according to our specific rules for reorganizing the extracted objects in every image. We design an energy model to appropriately locate every object on the final canvas. The experimental results show that our method can produce competitive narrative collage results and that it performs well on a wide range of image collections.
Migration and Remittances: A Strategic Tool for Socio-economic Development in Ikpoba-Okha LGA, Southern Nigeria

For reasons which border on the search for greener pastures and survival, man has been a migratory species since the earliest of times. Underlying all patterns of migration is the basic search for systematic reward, material and non-material to their homeland. This paper discusses the issue of international migration and its impact on the point of origin of migrants. Two theoretical approaches, the Todaro migration model and the Functionalist model, are considered in our analysis of 450 Nigerian migrants’ families in two communities in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government area of Edo State with money and the values of goods as referents. Our findings show that although home remittances do not have a uniform impact on the communities and families of migrants, they are however significant and appreciated. There appears to be an emerging pattern of family solidarity and communal expectations from migrants who may be said to be living up the challenge. We conclude that there is an emerging relationships arising from the impact of home remittances from Nigerian migrants in Europe. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2015. v5n2p29
Analysis of Performance Parameters in Wireless Networks by using Game Theory for the non Cooperative Slotted Aloha Enhanced by ZigZag Decoding Mechanism

In wireless communication networks, when the workload increases, sources become more aggressive at the equilibrium in the game setting in comparison with the team problem by using slotted Aloha mechanism. Consequently, more packets are in collision and are lost. To reduce these phenomena and to enhance the performance of the networks, we propose to combine ZigZag decoding approach with non cooperative slotted Aloha mechanism. This approach was introduced in our previous work based on the cooperative slotted Aloha mechanism. The obtained results showed that this approach has significantly improved the cooperative slotted Aloha mechanism and gave best results for the throughput and delay. In this paper, we analyze the impact of combining non cooperative slotted Aloha and ZigZag Decoding. We model the system by a two dimensional Markov chain that integrates the effect of ZigZag decoding. The states of the Markov chain describe the number of backlogged packets among the users. We use a stochastic game to achieve our objective; we evaluate and compare the performances parameters of the proposed approach with those of a simple slotted Aloha mechanism. All found results show that our approach improves the performance parameters of the system.