Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CiprofloxQcin Iontophoresis for Aminoglycoside-Resistant Pseudomonol Kerafifis

Studies using ciprofloxacin for the therapy of experimental aminoglycoside-resistant keratitis caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa were conducted using transcorneal iontophoresis as the drug-delivery system. Corneas infected with P. aeruginosa ATCC 27853/pMG6 were treated 22 hours postinfection with ciprofloxacin delivered by iontophoresis (0.8 mA X 10 min), mock iontophoresis (eyecup with no current), or frequently applied topical drops. Iontophoresis of 10 mg/ml or 25 mg/ml of ciprofloxacin significantly reduced the number of viable bacteria per cornea by more than 5 log units compared with untreated controls (P < 0.0001). Five hours after the initiation of treatment, mock iontophoresis (10 mg/ml or 25 mg/ml) or 11 applications of topical ciprofloxicin drops (7.5 mg/ml) decreased the viable bacteria relative to the untreated controls by 5 log units (P < 0.0001). One treatment with an eyecup was as effective as 11 treatments with topical drops (P > 0.75). One hour after treatment with iontophoresis or mock iontophoresis of 10 mg/ml of ciprofloxacin, aqueous humor concentrations were 83.75 ± 8.85 Mg/ml and 24.87 ± 4.0 Mg/ml (mean ± standard error of the mean), respectively. One hour after the last of five applications of 7.5 mg/ml of ciprofloxacin (every 15 min for 1 hr) the aqueous humor concentration was 4.2 ± 1.14 Mg/ml. These results show the value of ciprofloxacin in treating aminoglycoside-resistant infections caused by P. aeruginosa and suggest that ciprofloxacin can be efficiently delivered by iontophoresis. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 31:1940-1944,1990
Molecular Phylogeny of Polyporales from Bafut Forest, Cameroon and Their Importance to Rural Communities

The polyporales are a large order of pore fungi within the Basidiomycota (Kingdom Fungi). They are mostly found on decay wood with some edible and medicinal species and others causing diseases of trees. In Cameroon, the knowledge on the phylogeny of polyporales is limited, their historical uses as food, medicine, source of income and the sociological impacts are apparently threatened due to slow ethnomycology research drive. The aim of this study was to identify and determine the phylogenetic relationship of polyporales in the Bafut forest and document its uses to the local communities. DNA was extracted using CTAB method and amplified using primers ITS 1 and ITS4. Their identities were determined in GeneBank using BLAST and a phylogenetic analysis was done using MEGA version 7. For ethnomycological studies, a total of 180 semi structured questionnaires were used to collect information on traditional knowledge in four communities around the Bafut forest. Results from phylogenetic studies showed that, ten species were identified and belonged to seven genera comprising of the Microporus, Hexagonia, Ganoderma, Trametes, Favolus, Steccherinum and Cymatoderma which formed 7 independent monophyletic groups. Ethnomycological findings revealed that, polypores are used as food and medicine within these communities. Microporus xanthopus and Microporus vernicipes were used as food and medicine while all Trametes species were reported to be only medicinal. The Bafut people commonly called mushrooms “Boh” and those that grow on wood “Boh ti”. They usually differentiate the edible and nonedible mushroom using the term “yi kworu” and “yi tekworu”. Thus “Boh yi kworu” and “Boh yi tekworu” respectively. This study represents the first on the identification, phylogeny and uses of polyporales to the communities around the Bafut forest reserves and helps in their conservation.
Aggressive Behavior as a Predictor of Self-Concept: A Study with a Sample of Spanish Compulsory Secondary Education Students

This study analyzed the relationship between aggressive behavior and self-concept in a sample of 2,022 Spanish students (51.09% males) of Compulsory Secondary Education, ranging in age from 12 to 16 years. Aggressive behavior was assessed using the Teenage Inventory of Social Skills (TISS), and selfconcept was assessed with the Self-Description Questionnaire II (SDQ-II). Logistic regression analyses showed that adolescents with aggressive behavior were more likely to perceive their relationship with their parents as negative, show little interest in verbal activities, be less sincere, and have lower self-esteem than their non-aggressive peers. Furthermore, despite models varied according to sex and grade, in most cases adolescents with high aggressive behavior also showed a higher probability of perceiving their relation with peers of the same sex in a negative way, being less interested in school domains and showing higher emotional instability than their non-aggressive counterparts. Non-expected results were obtained regarding the perceptions about interactions with peers of the opposite sex and physical appearance. Results are discussed attending to their practical implications.
A catalogue of dense cores and young stellar objects in the Lupus complex based on Herschel Gould Belt Survey observations

Context. How the diffuse medium of molecular clouds condenses in dense cores and how many of these cores will evolve in protostars is still a poorly understood step of the star formation process. Much progress is being made in this field, thanks to the extensive imaging of star-forming regions carried out with the Herschel Space Observatory. Aims. The Herschel Gould Belt Survey key project mapped the bulk of nearby star-forming molecular clouds in five far-infrared bands with the aim of compiling complete census of prestellar cores and young, embedded protostars. From the complete sample of prestellar cores, we aim at defining the core mass function and studying its relationship with the stellar initial mass function. Young stellar objects (YSOs) with a residual circumstellar envelope are also detected. Methods. In this paper, we present the catalogue of the dense cores and YSOs/protostars extracted from the Herschel maps of the Lupus I, III, and IV molecular clouds. The physical properties of the detected objects were derived by fitting their spectral energy distributions. Results. A total of 532 dense cores, out of which 103 are presumably prestellar in nature, and 38 YSOs/protostars have been detected in the three clouds. Almost all the prestellar cores are associated with filaments against only about one third of the unbound cores and YSOs/protostars. Prestellar core candidates are found even in filaments that are on average thermally subcritical and over a background column density lower than that measured in other star-forming regions so far. The core mass function of the prestellar cores peaks between 0.2 and 0.3 M⊙, and it is compatible with the log-normal shape found in other regions. Herschel data reveal several, previously undetected, protostars and new candidates of Class 0 and Class II with transitional disks. We estimate the evolutionary status of the YSOs/protostars using two independent indicators: the α index and the fitting of the spectral energy distribution from near- to far-infrared wavelengths. For 70% of the objects, the evolutionary stages derived with the two methods are in agreement. Conclusions. Lupus is confirmed to be a very low-mass star-forming region, in terms of both the prestellar condensations and the diffuse medium. Noticeably, in the Lupus clouds we have found star formation activity associated with interstellar medium at low column density, usually quiescent in other (more massive) star-forming regions.
Investment Behavior, Observable Expectations, and Internal Funds: A Comment on Cummins, Hasset, and Oliner

Cummins, Hasset, and Oliner(American Economic Review, 2006) construct a new measure of fundamentals, and show that the positive cash flow effects typically found in investment-Q models disappear when traditional Q is replaced with their new measure. Their results are not robust to small changes in their specification or in the dataset used to estimate their model. The explanatory power of cash flow does not disappear when replacing traditional Q with their new measure of Q; it is never there to begin with. Investment's lack of sensitivity to cash flow may be because their data is biased towards firms with positive cash flow (it is negative for only 242 observations of 11431). This bias and our results mute their argument that the positive cash-flow effects obtained in such models may reflect a failure to control properly for fundamentals rather than the presence of financial constraints.
Case based Reasoning Approach for Re-use Activities

The development of software applications is partly or entirely based on the re-use of software units. For software engineers, this leads to the problem that it is not possible to know all processes, technologies and supporting applications and the alternatives needed for the re-use of a software unit. As a result software engineers are not able to employ the most optimal solution known. Based on case based reasoning this paper outlines a way to use the stored knowledge of a specific re-use activity in order to give software engineers assistance if they want to perform similar activities. This solution consists of a proposal system for a re-use activity information system. The publication concludes with the result that it is possible to re-use, within a given an environment, specific knowledge for other integration activities.
Centre manifold reduction approach for the lubrication equation

The goal of this study is the reduction of the lubrication equation, modelling thin film dynamics, onto an approximate invariant manifold. The reduction is derived for the physical situation of the late phase evolution of a dewetting thin liquid film, where arrays of droplets connected by an ultrathin film of thickness ε undergo a slow-time coarsening dynamics. With this situation in mind, we construct an asymptotic approximation of the corresponding invariant manifold, that is parametrized by a family of droplet pressures and positions, in the limit when ε → 0. The approach is inspired by the paper by Mielke and Zelik (2009 Mem. Am. Math. Soc. 198 1–97), where the centre manifold reduction was carried out for a class of semilinear systems. In this study this approach is considered for quasilinear degenerate parabolic PDEs such as lubrication equations. While it has previously been shown by Glasner and Witelski (2003 Phys. Rev. E 67 016302), that the system of ODEs governing the coarsening dynamics can be obtained via formal asymptotic methods, the centre manifold reduction approach presented here pursues the rigorous justification of this asymptotic limit.
Differences in the Modal and Structural Parameters of Resonance and Non-Resonance Wood of Spruce ({ em Picea abies} L.)

Results of modal analysis and evaluation of cyclic inhomogeneity of wood and cell wall ultrastructure of a resonance and non-resonance spruce wood (Picea abies L.) are presented. The resonance wood came from a tree from Istebna, while the non-resonance wood came from a tree from the vicinity of Olsztyn. Modal analysis was made by a pulse excitation. The resonance and non-resonance wood di er in the fundamental modal parameters as well as in the number of vibrational modes. Macrostructural parameters of the wood samples were also measured. The angles of cellulose micro brils in tangent walls of tracheids (micro bril angles or MFA) within individual annual rings were measured. The resonance wood was found to show high cyclic homogeneity of macroand ultrastructural features.
Dynamics of the feeding ecology of selected fish species from the Okavango River delta, Botswana

Background. This study contributes to the understanding of the potential impact of changes in flooding patterns and (potential) fish production as a consequence of upstream developments in floodplain systems. Therefore, stomachs of eight fish species from the Okavango Delta were analysed to evaluate the feeding ecology of floodplain fish (and the effect of seasonal flooding), using the delta as a case study. Materials and methods. In total, 2101 fish stomachs of eight species, representing six families, were collected (in all seasons) from the delta using experimental fishing nets, from 2004 to 2009. Frequency of occurrence, Levin’s diet breadth index, Pianka’s overlap index, trophic levels, and Bray–Curtis similarities were used to evaluate feeding preferences. Detrended correspondence analysis was used to study temporal variations in diet. Multiple linear regressions were used to determine the influence of flooding on diet. ANOVA and MANOVA were used to determine the level of significance among variables, while LSD post hoc analysis revealed the source of significance. Results. Cluster analysis and Pianka’s index highlighted interand intra-specific competition for food among different species and age classes, ANOVA highlighted dynamic changes in interand intra-specific trophic level partitioning, while detrended analysis showed that the terrestrial environment is subsidizing the aquatic environment. Regression analysis showed that Schilbe intermedius diet was driven by discharge (F = 7.03; P = 0.045; R2 = 0.58) while that of Marcusenius macrolepidotus was driven by water depth (F = 25.88; P = 0.04; R2 = 0.93). Conclusion. The terrestrial–aquatic ecotone is important in fish growth of seasonal floodplains. Energy uptake is optimised through cannibalism to ensure species survival. Furthermore, species inter-relations are dynamic due to variations in food availability driven by seasonal flooding, which shortens and lengthens the food chain periodically. This dynamic relation is pronounced at low floods when predation and competition increases within the fish community. The evidence from this study has shown that predation, cannibalism, interand intra-specific competition are regulating factors in floodplain fish communities, driven by seasonal flooding.
Asymptotic analysis of the initial boundary value problem for the thermoelastic system in a perforated domain

We study the initial boundary value problem for the system of thermoelasticity in a sequence of perforated cylindrical domains Q T , s = 1, 2, . We prove that as s→∞, the solution of the problem converges in appropriate topologies to the solution of a limit initial boundary value problem of the same type but containing some additional terms which are expressed in terms of quantities related to the geometry of Q T . We give an explicit construction of that limit problem.
A landscape approach for the study of calcareous grassland plant communities

Une approche paysagere pour l’etude des communautes vegetales des pelouses calcaires. La fragmentation des habitats est la menace principale pour la biodiversite des habitats semi-naturels. Les consequences de la fragmentation sur la biodiversite peuvent etre etudiees dans le contexte de l’ecologie du paysage. Dans ce contexte trois paradigmes permettent de poser les hypotheses sur l’evolution de la biodiversite des habitats fragmentes : le paradigme de la biogeographie insulaire, le paradigme des petites populations et le paradigme des metapopulations. L’examen de deux cas d’etude montre que les pelouses calcaires en Belgique ont subi une fragmentation tres importante. La taille des taches d’habitat est le facteur principal qui determine a la fois la richesse des communautes, la composition specifique des taches d’habitats et la probabilite de presence d’especes caracteristique dans un systeme de pelouses calcaires fragmentees en Calestienne, Belgique.
Identification and Quantitation of Melamine in Milk by Near-Infrared Spectroscopy and Chemometrics

Melamine is a nitrogen-rich substance and has been illegally used to increase the apparent protein content in food products such as milk. Therefore, it is imperative to develop sensitive and reliable analytical methods to determine melamine in human foods. Current analytical methods for melamine are mainly chromatography-based methods, which are time-consuming and expensive and require complex pretreatment and well-trained technicians. The present paper investigated the feasibility of using near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and chemometrics for identifying and quantifying melamine in liquor milk. A total of 75 samples were prepared. Uninformative variable elimination-partial least square (UVE-PLS) and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) were used to construct quantitative and qualitative models, respectively. Based on the ratio of performance to standard deviate (RPD), UVE-PLS model with 3 components resulted in a better solution. The PLS-DA model achieved an accuracy of 100% and outperformed the optimal reference model of soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA). Such a method can serve as a potential tool for rapid screening of melamine in milk products.
Convergences and divergences between neurolinguistic and psycholinguistic data in the study of phonological and phonetic encoding: a parallel investigation of syllable frequency effects in brain-damaged and healthy speakers

Theories of speech production suggest that phonetic encoding involves an access to stored syllable-sized articulatory plans. Both neurolinguistic and psycholinguistic investigations have reported an effect of the frequency of use of syllabic units, respectively on accuracy and errors in brain-damaged (BD) speakers and on production latencies in nonbrain-damaged speakers. Beyond these convergent results, the fact that the same effects have been reported with BD patients with and without impairment ascribed at the level of phonetic encoding challenges the architecture of speech production models and the interpretation of patients' behaviour. Here we carry out a fully parallel neurolinguistic and psycholinguistic investigation to address whether previous diverging results can be accounted for by methodological differences between neurolinguistic and psycholinguistic studies. We analysed production accuracy in 14 BD speakers and production latencies in 24 non brain-damaged speakers using the same pseudo-word stimuli, same reading and repetition tasks, and same multiple regression approach. Results replicate evidence from previous neurolinguistic and psycholinguistic studies on an influence of syllable frequency independently of other sublexical variables in both populations. In addition, the effect of syllable frequency on production accuracy was not limited to BD patients with impaired phonetic encoding. We suggest that these results are best accounted for by postulating interaction between phonological and phonetic encoding.
The mechanisms of activation of the single chain cytokine receptors: Preformed and ligand-induced dimerization

Despite intensive studies, the mechanisms of cytokine receptor activation are still not completely understood. Historically two models have been proposed: early studies suggested a mechanism involving ligand-induced dimerization of the receptors which results in the activation of downstream signaling pathways, whereas, in the absence of ligands, the receptors are thought to be in a monomeric inactive state; later studies uncovered evidence for the existence of many receptors as inactive preformed dimers, which upon ligand binding undergo conformational changes and/or relative rotation of the receptor molecules. Here we focus on the dimerization status of the single chain cytokine receptors, which are involved in the regulation of hematopoiesis. © Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, NAS of Ukraine, 2014.
Decorrelation of the Light-emitting-Diode Internal-quantum-Efficiency Components - Studies of the Electron-hole Concentration-ratio at the Active-region Edge

GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have strongly emerged, especially since the last decade, as a very promising white-light source, enabling them to enter many lighting applications and even further. Those applications mostly required the LEDs to function at a high-current regime. However, LEDs still suffer a critical internal-quantum-efficiency (IQE) loss, known as “droop”. Their IQE falls drastically at high current-injection after reaching a peak value at usually relatively low current-densities (Krames et al., 2007; Morkoç, 2008), degrading the radiative-recombination rate and the output power (Cabalu et al., 2006; M.-H. Kim et al., 2007), a behavior that can be described as a sublinear increase in light-emission intensity with increasing diode current-density. The efficiency droop was first observed in GaN-based LEDs by (Krames et al., 2000) and (Mukai et al., 1999). The loss’ main mechanism still remains an important topic that has raised intense debate by many reasons. First, the knowledge about the wurtzite GaN is not complete as several parameters still suffer from uncertainty, such as the recombination coefficients or the carrier mobility. The Auger-recombination coefficients obtained from numerical calculations and curve-fitting can largely differ from each other, even though it is related to one of the widelyaccepted droop-inducing processes. The carriermobility variation in GaN is noticed to be different from that in the well-understood Si, yet only one model for electron mobility was proposed (Turin, 2005). Second, though theoretically explained, the internal mechanisms, especially the recombination, cannot be separately evaluated by characterization, or at least in an easy way. Their discrimination is critical as they can replace each other as the main loss-inducing mechanism in respect to the LED functioning-regimes. It has been attempted several times but the results are still under discussion. The aforementioned difficulties hinder the droop reducing but the research activities are still ongoing. However, in addition to the applied methods, it may be suggested that new approaches be proposed.
Characteristics of the H-mode pedestal in improved confinement scenarios in ASDEX Upgrade, DIII-D, JET and JT-60U

Pedestal and global plasma parameters are compared in conventional ELMy H-modes and improved confinement discharges from ASDEX Upgrade (AUG), DIII-D, JET and JT-60U with varying net input power. Both electron and ion pedestal pressures are studied. The pedestal top pressure pPED increases moderately with power in all tokamaks, in broad agreement with the power dependence of the IPB98(y, 2) scaling. Higher pedestal pressures are observed in AUG improved H-modes and in JT-60U high βpol discharges at q95 ∼ 6.5 and high triangularity. For all machines and all scenarios a robust correlation between the total and the pedestal thermal stored energy is observed, with the ratio of the two varying between ∼0.3 and 0.5. However the relative importance of pedestal and core confinement varies from regime to regime. In AUG the confinement improvement with respect to the IPB98(y, 2) scaling is due to improved pedestal confinement in improved H-modes with early heating and to both improved pedestal and core confinement in improved H-modes with late heating. In DIII-D hybrid discharges the increase in confinement factor compared with conventional H-modes is due to improved confinement in the plasma core. JT-60U reversed shear H-modes have strong internal transport barriers and thus improved core performance. In all four tokamaks improved edge stability is correlated with increasing total βpol and H98(y,2) increases with pedestal βpol. The analysed multimachine data set supports a scaling expression for the pedestal stored energy derived under the assumption that the dominant loss term for the pedestal is by thermal conduction in the edge transport barrier region.