Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multiple Antibiotic Resistance in Clinical Strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae Isolated in South Carolina

Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values for penicillin G, tetracycline, amoxicillin, and actinomycin D were determined for 81 strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolated from patients attending public health clinics in the Piedmont region of South Carolina. Gonococcal isolates were also screened for highlevel resistance to streptomycin. Significant positive correlations (r ≥ 0.45, P ≤ 0.01) were found between all possible pairs of the antibiotics penicillin G, tetracycline, and amoxicillin. The MIC values of actinomycin D showed no significant positive correlations with the MIC values of the other antibiotics. Gonococcal strains that were resistant to streptomycin tended to be resistant to penicillin G, tetracycline, and amoxicillin. Of the 81 isolates, 18.5% were multiply resistant to penicillin G, tetracycline, amoxicillin, and streptomycin. Spontaneous mutants with reduced antibiotic susceptibility, selected for decreased susceptibility to penicillin G, displayed small decreases in susceptibility to tetracycline, amoxicillin, and actinomycin D. Spontaneous mutants selected for decreased susceptibility to actinomycin D displayed small losses in susceptibility to penicillin G. The results show that multiple antibiotic resistance occurs in clinically isolated gonococcal strains in South Carolina. The results further suggest the presence of a common genetic mechanism determining antibiotic resistance in N. gonorrhoeae.
Do Authoritarian Attitudes or Authoritarian Personalities Reflect Mental Illness?

It is pointed out that authoritarian attitudes and authoritarian behaviour are generally not associated. The few studies that have been made of authoritarian behaviour directly are reviewed. In studies of Nazi Germany, of police and army personnel and of educational methods, no evidence is found that authoritarian behaviour is psychopathological. Ray's (1976) Directiveness scale measuring authoritarian behaviour and a balanced F-scale were presented to a random sample of 95 Sydney people in a doorstep survey. The authoritarian personality as measured by the Directiveness scale was found to go with better mental health as measured by the Eysenck Neuroticism scale. There was no significant correlation between the balanced F-scale and neuroticism. The study made use of extensive controls against acquiescent response set and social desirability response set.
Subcategories of Patients with King-Kopetzky Syndrome

Abstract King-Kopetzky syndrome (Obscure Auditory Dysfunction, OAD) has been recognized as a clinically distinct condition in audiological and ENT clinics. It is characterized by normal hearing thesholds on pure tone audiometry (PTA) but complaints of difficulties in understanding speech in the presence of background noise. In a study on 110 consecutive patients with King-Kopezky syndrome referred to the Welsh Hearing Insitute, subjects were subdivided into seven subcategories based on sensitized measures of auditory dysfunction and on psychological assessment. These were: (1) middle ear dysfunction; (2) mild cochlear pathology; (3) central/medial olivocochlear efferent system (MOCS) auditory dysfunction; (4) purely psychological problems; (5) multiple auditory pathologies; (6) combined auditory dysfunction and psychological problems and (7) unknown. Different subgroups may represent different pathogenic and aetiological factors. Thus, subcategorization provides further understanding of the basis of King-Kopetzky syndrome, and hence may guide the rehabilitative management of these patients.
3DTV at home

Stereoscopic 3D (S3D) movies have become widely popular in the movie theaters, but the adoption of S3D at home is low even though most TV sets support S3D. It is widely believed that S3D with glasses is not the right approach for the home. A much more appealing approach is to use automulti-scopic displays that provide a glasses-free 3D experience to multiple viewers. A technical challenge is the lack of native multiview content that is required to deliver a proper view of the scene for every viewpoint. Our approach takes advantage of the abundance of stereoscopic 3D movies. We propose a real-time system that can convert stereoscopic video to a high-quality multiview video that can be directly fed to automultiscopic displays. Our algorithm uses a wavelet-based decomposition of stereoscopic images with per-wavelet disparity estimation. A key to our solution lies in combining Lagrangian and Eulerian approaches for both the disparity estimation and novel view synthesis, which leverages the complementary advantages of both techniques. The solution preserves all the features of Eulerian methods, e.g., subpixel accuracy, high performance, robustness to ambiguous depth cases, and easy integration of inter-view aliasing while maintaining the advantages of Lagrangian approaches, e.g., robustness to large disparities and possibility of performing non-trivial disparity manipulations through both view extrapolation and interpolation. The method achieves real-time performance on current GPUs. Its design also enables an easy hardware implementation that is demonstrated using a field-programmable gate array. We analyze the visual quality and robustness of our technique on a number of synthetic and real-world examples. We also perform a user experiment which demonstrates benefits of the technique when compared to existing solutions.
Reconstruction of electrical impedance tomography images using chaotic self-adaptive ring-topology differential evolution and genetic algorithms

The exposition of living tissues to ionizing radiation can result on several health problems, increasing the probability of cancer. Efforts from both academy and industry to develop and improve non-invasive methods have been increasing since the 1990's. Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) is a noninvasive imaging technique that offers a vast field of possibilities for imaging diagnostics, once it is a low cost, portable, and safe of handling technology. Nevertheless, EIT image reconstruction is an ill-posed problem: there are no unique mathematical solutions to solve the Equation of Poison. Herein this work we present an EIT reconstruction method based on the finite-element method and the optimization of the relative error of reconstruction using Self-Adaptive Ring-Topology Differential Evolution (SRDE) and its modified version using chaotic mutation factor (CSRDE). Our proposal was compared with genetic algorithms and classical differential evolution strategies, considering initial populations of 100 individuals. CSRDE-based experiments were ran using 70 agents evolving by SRDE and 30 chaotic mutated agents generated from the 30 worst agents. Results were quantitatively evaluated with ground-truth images using the relative mean squared error, demonstrating that our results using CSRDE reached considerably low error magnitudes. Qualitative evaluation also indicated that our results were anatomically consistent.
Oxidative Stress and Mitochondrial Functions in the Intestinal Caco-2/15 Cell Line

Background Although mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress are central mechanisms in various pathological conditions, they have not been extensively studied in the gastrointestinal tract, which is known to be constantly exposed to luminal oxidants from ingested foods. Key among these is the simultaneous consumption of iron salts and ascorbic acid, which can cause oxidative damage to biomolecules. Methodology/Principal Findings The objective of the present work was to evaluate how iron-ascorbate (FE/ASC)-mediated lipid peroxidation affects mitochondrion functioning in Caco-2/15 cells. Our results show that treatment of Caco-2/15 cells with FE/ASC (0.2 mM/2 mM) (1) increased malondialdehyde levels assessed by HPLC; (2) reduced ATP production noted by luminescence assay; (3) provoked dysregulation of mitochondrial calcium homeostasis as evidenced by confocal fluorescence microscopy; (4) upregulated the protein expression of cytochrome C and apoptotic inducing factor, indicating exaggerated apoptosis; (5) affected mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes I, II, III and IV; (6) elicited mtDNA lesions as illustrated by the raised levels of 8-OHdG; (7) lowered DNA glycosylase, one of the first lines of defense against 8-OHdG mutagenicity; and (8) altered the gene expression and protein mass of mitochondrial transcription factors (mtTFA, mtTFB1, mtTFB2) without any effects on RNA Polymerase. The presence of the powerful antioxidant BHT (50 µM) prevented the occurrence of oxidative stress and most of the mitochondrial abnormalities. Conclusions/Significance Collectively, our findings indicate that acute exposure of Caco-2/15 cells to FE/ASC-catalyzed peroxidation produces harmful effects on mitochondrial functions and DNA integrity, which are abrogated by the powerful exogenous BHT antioxidant. Functional derangements of mitochondria may have implications in oxidative stress-related disorders such as inflammatory bowel diseases.
A fuzzy logic controller for an ABS braking system

Anti-blocking system (ABS) brake controllers pose unique challenges to the designer: a) For optimal performance, the controller must operate at an unstable equilibrium point, b) Depending on road conditions, the maximum braking torque may vary over a wide range, c) The tire slippage measurement signal, crucial for controller performance, is both highly uncertain and noisy, d) On rough roads, the tire slip ratio varies widely and rapidly due to tire bouncing, and e) The braking system contains transportation delays which limit the control system bandwidth. A digital controller design was chosen which combines a fuzzy logic element and a decision logic network. The controller identifies the current road condition and generates a command braking pressure signal, based on current and past readings of the slip ratio and brake pressure. The controller detects wheel blockage immediately and avoids excessive slipping. The ABS system performance is examined on a quarter vehicle model with nonlinear elastic suspension. The parallelity of the fuzzy logic evaluation process ensures rapid computation of the controller output signal, requiring less time and fewer computation steps than controllers with adaptive identification. The robustness of the braking system is investigated on rough roads and in the presence of large measurement noise. This paper describes design criteria, and the decision and rule structure of the control system. The simulation results present the system's performance on various road types and under rapidly changing road conditions.
Author's Personal Copy Infant Behavior and Development Do Production Patterns Influence the Processing of Speech in Prelinguistic Infants?

In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: Keywords: Infant speech perception Infant speech production Headturn preference paradigm The articulatory filter Babbling Vocal motor schemes a b s t r a c t The headturn preference procedure was used to test 18 infants on their response to three different passages chosen to reflect their individual production patterns. The passages contained nonwords with consonants in one of three categories: (a) often produced by that infant ('own'), (b) rarely produced by that infant but common at that age ('other'), and (c) not generally produced by infants. Infants who had a single 'own' consonant showed no significant preference for either 'own' (a) or 'other' (b) passages. In contrast, infants' with two 'own' consonants exhibited greater attention to 'other' passages (b). Both groups attended equally to the passage featuring consonants rarely produced by infants of that age (c). An analysis of a sample of the infant-directed speech ruled out the mothers' speech as a source of the infant preferences. The production-based shift to a focus on the 'other' passage suggests that nascent production abilities combine with emergent perceptual experience to facilitate word learning.
Talin and vinculin play distinct roles in filopodial motility in the neuronal growth cone

Filopodial motility is critical for many biological processes, particularly for axon guidance. This motility is based on altering the F-actin-based cytoskeleton, but the mechanisms of how this occurs and the actin-associated proteins that function in this process remain unclear. We investigated two of these proteins found in filopodia, talin and vinculin, by inactivating them in subregions of chick dorsal root ganglia neuronal growth cones and by observing subsequent behavior by video-enhanced microscopy and quantitative morphometry. Microscale chromophore-assisted laser inactivation of talin resulted in the temporary cessation of filopodial extension and retraction. Inactivation of vinculin caused an increased incidence of filopodial bending and buckling within the laser spot but had no effect on extension or retraction. These findings show that talin acts in filopodial motility and may couple both extension and retraction to actin dynamics. They also suggest that vinculin is not required for filopodial extension and retraction but plays a role in the structural integrity of filopodia.
Value of an Additional Review for Eosinophil Quantification in Esophageal Biopsies

ABSTRACT Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) requires a peak count of 15 eosinophils per high-power field (hpf). Herein, the peak eosinophil count specified by a pathologist was compared with the second review of a research assistant. Of 477 biopsies, 106 had a peak count between 1 and 14 eosinophils/hpf cited in the pathology report, and 23/106 (22%) had ≥15 eosinophils/hpf on second review. The pathology report detected potential EoE with 99% specificity, but 80% sensitivity. As such, an additional review of esophageal biopsies yields higher eosinophil counts in ∼5% of cases. We propose that biopsies with a count between 1 and 14 eosinophils/hpf require further investigation because ∼22% may yield a potential EoE diagnosis.
Aptness Predicts Metaphor Preference in the Lab and on the Internet

ABSTRACT Experimental studies have suggested that variables such as aptness (Chiappe & Kennedy, 2001) or conventionality (Gentner & Bowdle, 2008) are predictors of people’s preference for expressing a particular topic–vehicle pair (e.g., “time–money”) as either a metaphor (“TIME IS MONEY”) or a simile (“TIME IS LIKE MONEY”). In the present study, we investigated if such variables would also be predictive within a more naturalistic context, where other variables, such as the intention to include an explanation (Roncero, Kennedy, & Smyth, 2006), may also influence people’s decision. Specifically, we investigated the production of metaphor and simile expressions on the Internet via the Google search engine and checked for accompanying explanations, as well as the properties they expressed, to examine whether ratings such as aptness, conventionality, as well as participants’ own stated preference or the intention to produce an explanation, would predict which topic–vehicle pairs appeared more often as metaphors. We found that participants’ stated preference predicted metaphor dominance on the Internet, and that apt topic–vehicles occurred more often as metaphors. The explanations collected, however, occurred 82% of the time after similes, and familiar expressions were the most explained. Finally, comparing the properties expressed in these explanations to normed property lists, we found that simile explanations typically expressed a novel conception of the topic–vehicle relationship. Therefore, we found that Internet posters use metaphors to convey an apt relationship, as found in previous laboratory studies, but prefer using a simile frame when they want to express a relationship that readers will find novel.
Atherosclerosis and Current Anti-Oxidant Strategies for Atheroprotection

The pathophysiological mechanisms of atherosclerosis are complicated and the integrated picture of the disease process is not yet complete, so currently is largely investigated. It is widely recognized that oxidative stress, lipid deposition, inflammation, Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) differentiation and endothelial dysfunction play a critical role in the formation, progression and eventually rupture of the atherosclerotic plaque [4]. Multiple risk factors have been associated with the development of atherosclerotic lesions; these include diabetes mellitus, hypertension, obesity and tobacco smoking. The risk factors are influenced by genetic predisposition, but also by environmental factors, particularly diet. Moreover, ag‐ ing promotes physiological changes, such as oxidative stress, inflammation and endothelial dysfunction strictly associated with the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis [5].
Assessment of Essential Obstetric Care Services in Health Care Facilities in Benin City, Edo State

Background: In Africa healthcare service delivery is a huge challenge. This is compounded by inadequate health care facilities, poor distribution and citing of health care facilities, lack of equipments and drugs to mention a few. This study was conducted to assess the level of health care facility preparedness to render basic and comprehensive essential obstetric care services to pregnant women, with view to encourage health facility deliveries and care. Methodology: A descriptive cross sectional study design was conducted involving 114 selected Health facilities using a health facility audit tool adapted from JHPIEGO safe mother hood questionnaire. The data collected was analyzed using SPSS 16.0 statistical software with statistical significance set at p<0.05. Results: One hundred and fourteen health care facilities were assessed, comprising 36(31.6%) public and 78(68.2%) private health care facilities. Eighty eight (77.2%) of these health care facilities were well prepared, 14(12.3%), partially prepared and 12(10.5%) not prepared respectively for basic essential obstetric services while 88 (70.2%) well prepared, 30 (26.3%) partially prepared and 4(3.5%) not prepared respectively to render comprehensive essential obstetric care services. Private owned health care facilities compared to public health care facilities were significantly better prepared to render both basic essential obstetric care and comprehensive obstetric care (OR=0.111; p=0.002 and OR=0.082; p=0.01 respectively), with availability of skilled staff identified a significant predictor for basic (OR=0.042; p=0.0001) and comprehensive essential obstetric care (OR=0.015; p=0.001) respectively. Conclusion: Majority of health care facilities studied were well prepared to render essential obstetric care services but a lot more needs to be done to improve these services at the public health care facility level especially in relation to twenty four hour coverage and skilled man power needed to help improve maternal health outcome.
Electromagnetic field measurements using personal exposimeters

The goal of this brief communication is to call the attention of researchers to possible pit falls when using personal exposimeters (PEM) in epidemiological field studies. One example of problematic handling of PEMs is presented in detail, whereas other possible error sources and other aspects to be considered using such devices are outlined only briefly. Bioelectromagnetics 29:160–162, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A statistical study of the location and motion of the HF radar cusp

The large-scale and continuous monitoring of the ionospheric cusp region offered by HF radars has been ex- ploited in order to examine the statistical location and motion of the equatorward edge of the HF radar cusp as a function of the upstream IMF BZ component. Although a consid- erable scatter is seen, both parameters have a clear influence from the north-south component of the IMF. Excellent agree- ment is achieved with previous observations from low alti- tude spacecraft data. The HF radar cusp region is seen to mi- grate equatorward at a rate of 0.02 min 1 nT 1 under IMF BZ south conditions, but remains static for IMF BZ north. The motion of the cusp implies an addition of magnetic flux of 2 ◊ 10 4 Wb s 1 nT 1 under IMF BZ south conditions, equivalent to a reconnection voltage of 20 kV nT 1 , which is consistent with previous estimates from case studies on both the dayside and nightside regions.
‘While I'm Retraining, I Get the Full Whack’: Illuminating Narratives of Career Change

This article considers four interviews conducted with French citizens by a team of researchers as part of the research project ‘Learning for Career and Labour Market Transitions: individual biographies’. Funded by the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop), this study sought to contribute to the development of a comprehensive model that would accommodate the different ways in which learning can support labour market transitions. The research approach drew on what can be depicted broadly as narrative and or biographical methods modified through the lens of relevant career theory, the better to focus on career-relevant episodes rather than the individual's entire lifespan. Drawing on relevant theory of career adaptability and of personal agency within a changing European labour market, this article shares four distinct life stories, and depicts a French quartet making use of active labour market policy through individual application to their unique set of circumstances.
Pelatihan Pembentukan Tim untuk Meningkatkan Kohesivitas Tim pada Kopertis V Yogyakarta

Currently, employee cohesiveness is a very important factor in determining achievement of an institution’s work plan. Cohesiveness or team cohesively is one factor that determines the effectiveness of a team work within an institution. One way to improve team cohesiveness is by training. This quasi-experimental study aimed to determine the role of training in enhancing team building cohesiveness of employees in Kopertis V. Experiment subjects are 50 employees in KOPERTIS V. As treatment, team building training is assumed will increase employee cohesiveness. Measurement of team cohesiveness was performed before and after training. Team cohesiveness scale is measuring instrument which responded to complaints based on the rating of the team members. The measured data were analyzed using the statistical analysis inferensial paired samples t test. Measured data were analyzed using inferential statistical analysis, paired sample t test.
Limits to Arbitrage and Hedging: Evidence from Commodity Markets

We build an equilibrium model of commodity markets in which speculators are capital constrained, and commodity producers have hedging demands for commodity futures. Increases in producers' hedging demand or speculators' capital constraints increase hedging costs via price-pressure on futures. These in turn affect producers' equilibrium hedging and supply decision inducing a link between a financial friction in the futures market and the commodity spot prices. Consistent with the model, measures of producers' propensity to hedge forecasts futures returns and spot prices in oil and gas market data from 1979 to 2010. The component of the commodity futures risk premium associated with producer hedging demand rises when speculative activity reduces. We conclude that limits to financial arbitrage generate limits to hedging by producers, and affect equilibrium commodity supply and prices.