Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Veränderung von Humusform, -vorrat und -verteilung im Zuge von Waldumbau-Maßnahmen im Nordostdeutschen Tiefland

Zusammenfassung:Der Beitrag befasst sich mit den Auswirkungen von Waldumbau-Maßnahmen auf die Humusökologie im nordostdeutschen Tiefland. Untersuchungsobjekt ist eine Chronosequenz bestehend aus einem 84-jährigen Kiefern-Reinbestand (K 75 R), zwei Kiefernbeständen mit unterschiedlich altem Buchen-Voranbau (K 74 Mi und K 75 Mi) und einem 91-jährigen Buchenbestand (K 86). Entlang von Transekten wurden auf allen vier Standorten Humusprofile angelegt, bei denen über 400 Humusziegel (Auflage und A-Horizont) freigelegt und mittels feldbodenkundlicher Methoden charakterisiert wurden. Horizontspezifisch wurden bis 1,60 m Bodentiefe zudem die Tiefengradienten der Verteilung organischer Substanz analysiert. Bei gleichzeitiger Abnahme der Humusauflagen-Mächtigkeit (Tab. 2) innerhalb der Chronosequenz lässt sich ein Wandel von moderartigen Humusformen hin zu mullartigen Humusformen belegen (Abb. 1). Darüber hinaus nehmen bei zunehmendem Umbaualter die Humusvorräte kontinuierlich ab (Abb. 3). Hervorzuheben ist neben dem Humusvorrat dessen prozentuale Verteilung zwischen Auflage und Mineralboden. Die Reinbestände zeigen diesbezüglich ähnliche Größenordnung. Demgegenüber charakterisiert die Mischbestände eine nach Waldumbau initiale Humusakkumulation in der Auflage, was auf eine vorübergehende räumliche und zeitliche Entkopplung des C-Kreislaufs deutet. Humusformenwandel und C-Vorräte werden im Literaturvergleich diskutiert. Schließlich werden denkbare Szenarien mit Blick auf die vertikale Humusverteilung im Boden für weitere im Untersuchungsgebiet praxisrelevante Umbau-Baumarten aufgezeigt (Abb. 5). Summary:The purpose of the present survey was to describe the effects of forest transformation on humus ecology in north-eastern lowlands of Germany. A chronosequence was developed from four stands: one pure Scots pine experimental plot (K 75 R, 84 years old), two Scots pine stands with a beech understory (K 74 Mi, 34 years old and K 75 Mi, 57 years old) and a beech stand (K 86) with an age of 91 years. Sections were set up at each site along which more than 400 humus bricks were characterized. Additionally, the carbon content in the mineral soil horizon was analyzed down to a depth of 1.6 m. Within the chronosequence the humus layer decreased in thickness and the humus form shifted from mor to mor-like mull and oligomull. Furthermore, a continuous decrease in humus stock and in the vertical distribution of soil organic matter between the storage in the litter layer and the storage in the mineral soil was observed. The phenomena were also found in the pure stands in similar dimensions. In contrast, the stands with the beech understorey show an initial humus accumulation in the litter layer. This phenomenon seems to indicate temporal variation and spatial heterogeneity in humus disintegration in the transformed mixed stands.The causes of the changes in humus form and humus stock are discussed. Scenarios are postulated for vertical soil organic matter distribution when by different tree species are planted during forest transformation.
Analysis of Trace Elements in Teeth by ICP-MS: Implications for Caries

Teeth are good indicators of environmental exposure to heavy metals and of nutritional status. Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to compare the content of trace elements in primary and permanent teeth. For this purpose, primary teeth were collected from 64 children and 112 permanent teeth were collected from 40- to 60-year-old adults. The data were assessed statistically using t-tests. We found that, in comparison to primary teeth, permanent teeth contained significantly higher concentrations of Na, Mg, Al, Fe, Ni, Cu, Sr, Cd, Ba, Pb and U and significantly lower concentrations of Mn, Co, As, Se, Mo and Bi. In addition, a comparison of the concentrations of trace elements in the pulps of individuals with healthy vs. carious teeth showed that the mean concentrations of Na, Al, Cr, Mn, Co, Cu, Zn, Mo, Ag, Bi and U were lower in those with carious teeth. However, the concentrations of Mg, Cd and Pb in the pulps were higher in individuals with carious teeth than in those with healthy teeth.
Helicobacter pylori seroprevalence in patients with lung cancer.

AIM To assess Helicobacter pylori (H pylori) seroprevalence in a cohort of Greek patients with lung cancer. METHODS Seventy-two lung cancer patients (55 males and 17 females, aged 58.2+/-11.7 years) and 68, age and gender-matched, control subjects were enrolled. All subjects underwent an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay IgG serologic test for H pylori diagnosis. RESULTS A correlation between age and H pylori IgG level was detected for both lung cancer patients (r = 0.42, P = 0.004) and controls (r = 0.44, P = 0.004). Seropositivity for H pylori did not differ significantly between patients with lung cancer and controls (61.1% vs 55.9%, P>0.05). Concerning the mean serum concentration of IgG antibodies against H pylori, no significant difference between the two groups was detected (32.6+/-19.1 vs 27.4+/-18.3 U/mL, P>0.05). CONCLUSION No significant association between H pylori infection and lung cancer was found.
Automatic Feature Generation for Handwritten Digit Recognition

An automatic feature generation method for handwritten digit recognition is described. Two different evaluation measures, orthogonality and information, are used to guide the search for features. The features are used in a backpropagation trained neural network. Classification rates compare favorably with results published in a survey of high-performance handwritten digit recognition systems. This classifier is combined with several other high performance classifiers. Recognition rates of around 98% are obtained using two classifiers on a test set with 1000 digits per class.
[Medicolegal identification : teeth and blood groups (author's transl)].

The absorption-elution technique may be used to give adequate grouping in 85% of cases of ABO groups from dental tissue, the results being specific for amounts of 20 to 100 mg of fine powder. ABO antigens are better preserved in the tooth itself, dried, but also to a lesser extent (83% of positive results) in Bouin's fluid whilst formol destroys the ABO antigens of the tooth. Antigenic substances are progressively broken down in relation to the duration and method of preservation. These parameters must therefore be borne in mind for the group O (false "O"). The dental pulp has the same ABO specificities as the tooth and dry or moist preservation better preserves the characteristics. By contrast, areas of caries or damaged teeth result in a high number of errors due to foreign antigens borne by bacteria. With the identification factors which may be provided by study of the odontogram and dental are by Gustafson's method on the one hand, and studies of blood group using powdered tooth or even old dental pulp, the expert may make a medicolegal identification in more than 90% of cases.
Cortical activation associated with asterixis in manifest hepatic encephalopathy

Severe hepatic encephalopathy gives rise to asterixis, a striking motor symptom also called flapping tremor, which is characterized by a sudden ceasing of muscle tone in all muscles of a limb. In this study, we aimed at scrutinizing the cortical activation associated with asterixis and unraveling the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms.
Species distribution of coagulase-positive staphylococci in animals

A total of 268 isolates of coagulase-positive staphylococci from a variety of animal species, including dogs, horses, cats, monkeys, goats, and cows, were assigned to species on the basis of the API Staph- Ident system (Analytab Products, Inc., Plainview , N.Y.). Of 195 isolates from dogs, 179 (91.8%) were Staphylococcus intermedius, as were 9 of 25 (36%) isolates from horses, 7 of 15 (46.6%) isolates from cats, and 4 of 6 (66.6%) isolates from goats. Only 1 of 10 isolates from monkeys and none of 7 isolates from cows were S. intermedius. Of the remaining 68 cultures, 63 were identified as Staphylococcus aureus and 5 as Staphylococcus hyicus. The latter identifications were rendered doubtful on the basis of conventional tests. Identification appeared to be more certain in the S. aureus sample than in the S. intermedius sample. Distribution of biotypes within the two bacterial species as represented by different API profile numbers and reactivity on test substrates showed no significant variations among the host species, except for the S. aureus biotypes in dogs. Both Staphylococcus species were represented about equally among samples from different tissues and lesions, apart from skin-related infections in dogs, which were associated exclusively with S. intermedius (P less than 0.01). Differences between S. aureus and S. intermedius in antimicrobial susceptibility patterns, prevalence of clumping factor, and occurrence of beta-toxin were found to be not significant.
Taming Underlying Design for Energy Efficient Distributed Source Coding in Multirate Wireless Sensor Network

Signal processing applications such as Distributed Source Coding (DSC) in Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) are often multirate in nature, which provide additional significant opportunities in WSN design for achieving energy efficiency. In this paper, we analyze the DSC traffic for signal processing applications in multirate WSN and propose a novel rate oriented approach with MAC and PHY cross layer utilization to achieve high energy efficiency. Simulation results show that the proposed approach achieves significant energy efficiency by a factor of three while maintaining the transmission quality in WSN. This approach can be easily extended to other WSN MAC and PHY designs, providing multirate service to application layer to allow achieving higher energy efficiency
New Representations for the Gaussian Class Multivariate Weibull Distribution with Constant Correlation and Applications

Novel single-integral representations for the multivariate probability density functions (PDFs) and cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) of the Gaussian class Weibull distribution are derived. The solutions are expressed in terms of familiar mathematical functions which are available in common mathematical software. The well known equal (constant) correlation model is considered. A special linear transformation of independent Gaussian random variables is used to generate correlated Weibull random variables. The advantage of the new representation is that only a single integral computation is needed to compute a N-dimensional distribution. The new representation of the CDF is used for the performance evaluation of a selection diversity combiner operating in equally correlated Weibull fading channels. The new PDF representation is also used for an analysis of the moments of the output signal-to-noise ratio of an equal-gain diversity combiner operating in equally correlated Weibull fading channels.
Effect of Chlorhexidine Bathing Every Other Day on Prevention of Hospital-Acquired Infections in the Surgical ICU: A Single-Center, Randomized Controlled Trial*

Objective:To test the hypothesis that compared with daily soap and water bathing, 2% chlorhexidine gluconate bathing every other day for up to 28 days decreases the risk of hospital-acquired catheter-associated urinary tract infection, ventilator-associated pneumonia, incisional surgical site infection, and primary bloodstream infection in surgical ICU patients. Design:This was a single-center, pragmatic, randomized trial. Patients and clinicians were aware of treatment-group assignment; investigators who determined outcomes were blinded. Setting:Twenty-four–bed surgical ICU at a quaternary academic medical center. Patients:Adults admitted to the surgical ICU from July 2012 to May 2013 with an anticipated surgical ICU stay for 48 hours or more were included. Interventions:Patients were randomized to bathing with 2% chlorhexidine every other day alternating with soap and water every other day (treatment arm) or to bathing with soap and water daily (control arm). Measurements and Main Results:The primary endpoint was a composite outcome of catheter-associated urinary tract infection, ventilator-associated pneumonia, incisional surgical site infection, and primary bloodstream infection. Of 350 patients randomized, 24 were excluded due to prior enrollment in this trial and one withdrew consent. Therefore, 325 were analyzed (164 soap and water versus 161 chlorhexidine). Patients acquired 53 infections. Compared with soap and water bathing, chlorhexidine bathing every other day decreased the risk of acquiring infections (hazard ratio = 0.555; 95% CI, 0.309–0.997; p = 0.049). For patients bathed with soap and water versus chlorhexidine, counts of incident hospital-acquired infections were 14 versus 7 for catheter-associated urinary tract infection, 13 versus 8 for ventilator-associated pneumonia, 6 versus 3 for incisional surgical site infections, and 2 versus 0 for primary bloodstream infection; the effect was consistent across all infections. The absolute risk reduction for acquiring a hospital-acquired infection was 9.0% (95% CI, 1.5–16.4%; p = 0.019). Incidences of adverse skin occurrences were similar (18.9% soap and water vs 18.6% chlorhexidine; p = 0.95). Conclusions:Compared with soap and water, chlorhexidine bathing every other day decreased the risk of acquiring infections by 44.5% in surgical ICU patients.
IMPACT OF POVERTY REDUCTION PROGRAMS ON MULTIDIMENSIONAL POVERTY IN RURAL NIGERIA

Tolulope Olayemi Oyekale Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria ABSTRACT Poverty reduction is the goal of all rural development programs embarked upon by Nigerian government. This is important because poverty is a critical problem in Nigeria and the rural areas are mostly affected. This study examined the impact of government programs on the multidimensional poverty of rural Nigeria by using the 2006 Core Welfare Indicator Survey (CWIQ) data. Fuzzy set approach was used to compute the multidimensional poverty index of rural Nigeria. Tobit regression was used to examine the impact of poverty alleviation programs on multidimensional poverty index of rural Nigeria. The results show that the multidimensional poverty index for rural Nigeria is 0.3796. It is also reflected that some development programs had negative impact on multidimensional poverty index of rural Nigeria. Household head in the South South region were multidimensionally poor than those in other regions. The government should intensify efforts on programs that had positive impact on multidimensional poverty index of rural Nigeria. Also, it should be ensured that government programs get to the targeted people
Species differences in disposition of benzo[a]pyrene.

Comparison of disposition of benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) among Sprague-Dawley rats, Gunn rats, hamsters, and guinea pigs was performed. [3H]B[a]P was administered intratracheally to animals, and the rate of excretion of radioactivity into bile, types of metabolites of B[a]P in bile, and distribution of radioactivity among tissues were determined. In Sprague-Dawley rats, Gunn rats, and guinea pigs, the rate of excretion of radioactivity was dependent upon the administered dose. Excretion and tissue distribution of radioactivity were qualitatively similar among these species although quantitative differences were observed. In hamsters, the rate of excretion was essentially independent of dose at the concentrations examined (0.16 and 350 micrograms). The major difference between hamsters and the other species was that increased amounts of radioactivity were retained in lungs of hamsters at the lower dose with a proportional decrease in the amount of radioactivity excreted into bile. The types and relative amounts of conjugated and nonconjugated metabolites of B[a]P were similar in bile of Sprague-Dawley rats and hamsters. Smaller amounts of glucuronides and larger amounts of sulfate conjugates were detected in bile of Gunn rats than in bile of Sprague-Dawley rats or hamsters. Metabolites in bile of guinea pigs were markedly different from those in the other species in that approximately 90% of the metabolites were thioether conjugates. Buthionine sulfoxime was used to reduce tissue levels of glutathione in Sprague-Dawley rats. When liver and lung glutathione levels were reduced to 30% and 82% of control levels, respectively, the amount of radioactivity excreted into bile was not significantly different from controls. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Influence of controlled hypoxia and radical scavenging agents on erythropoietin and malondialdehyde concentrations in humans.

UNLABELLED The present study was carried out to evaluate a model of a hypoxic stimulus of erythropoietin (EPO) production in humans and to investigate the role of free oxygen radicals in human EPO production. The study was conducted as an open, randomized, parallel, placebo-controlled trial. Thirty-six healthy male volunteers received a hypoxic treatment (13% O(2)) with a respiration mask for 6 h. During the period of hypoxia, the volunteers received as a short-term treatment either 1200 mg thioctic acid, or N-acetylcysteine 600 mg or placebo (0.9% sodium chloride). The EPO concentration in plasma increased up to 290% of the baseline level in all three groups. No statistically significant differences of AUC(EPO(0-48 h)) could be demonstrated between the groups. The malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration in plasma increased significantly (P < 0.001) 2 h after termination of hypoxia (mean 129.8 +/- 6.8% of the baseline) in all three groups. CONCLUSIONS Taken together, our in-vivo results do not support a gross modulatory effect of a short-term treatment with radical scavenging agents on EPO-production during or after hypoxia in humans, as derived from the detected changes of MDA-concentrations in peripheral plasma.
Identification and Characterization of a Flagellin Gene from the Endosymbiont of the Hydrothermal Vent TubewormRiftia pachyptila

ABSTRACT The bacterial endosymbionts of the hydrothermal vent tubewormRiftia pachyptila play a key role in providing their host with fixed carbon. Results of prior research suggest that the symbionts are selected from an environmental bacterial population, although a free-living form has been neither cultured from nor identified in the hydrothermal vent environment. To begin to assess the free-living potential of the symbiont, we cloned and characterized a flagellin gene from a symbiont fosmid library. The symbiont fliC gene has a high degree of homology with other bacterial flagellin genes in the amino- and carboxy-terminal regions, while the central region was found to be nonconserved. A sequence that was homologous to that of a consensus ς28 RNA polymerase recognition site lay upstream of the proposed translational start site. The symbiont protein was expressed in Escherichia coli, and flagella were observed by electron microscopy. A 30,000-Mrprotein subunit was identified in whole-cell extracts by Western blot analysis. These results provide the first direct evidence of a motile free-living stage of a chemoautotrophic symbiont and support the hypothesis that the symbiont of R. pachyptila is acquired with each new host generation.
Transmission and dynamics of tuberculosis on generalized households.

Tuberculosis (TB) transmission is enhanced by systematic exposure to an infectious individual. This enhancement usually takes place at either the home, workplace, and/or school (generalized household). Typical epidemiological models do not incorporate the impact of generalized households on the study of disease dynamics. Models that incorporate cluster (generalized household) effects and focus on their impact on TB's transmission dynamics are developed. Detailed models that consider the effect of casual infections, that is, those generated outside a cluster, are also presented. We find expressions for the Basic Reproductive Number as a function of cluster size. The formula for R0 separates the contributions of cluster and casual infections in the generation of secondary TB infections. Relationships between cluster and classical epidemic models are discussed as well as the concept of critical cluster size.
Multiscale numerical analysis of airflow in CT-based subject specific breathing human lungs

An imaging-based computational framework for simulation of airflow in subject specific breathing human lungs is established. The three-dimensional (3D) airways of up to 9 generations and lobes are segmented and reconstructed from computed tomography (CT) images. Beyond the CT-resolved 3D airways, a volume filling method is applied to generate the one-dimensional (1D) conducting airway tree that bridges the central airway with the lung parenchyma. Through 3D-1D airway coupling, a novel image-registrationbased boundary condition (BC) is proposed to derive physiologically-consistent regional ventilation for the whole lung and provide flow-rate fractions needed for the 3D airway model via the 1D-tree connectivity and the mass conservation. The in-house parallel finite-element large-eddy simulation (LES) code enables to capture genuinely complex airflow characteristics in a computationally-efficient manner. The 3D-1D coupling framework is multiscale because it can not only predict detailed flows in the 3D central airways at a local level, but also yields subject-specific physiologically-consistent regional ventilation at the whole lung level. The framework has been applied to investigate pulmonary airflow and lung physiology. For example, the study of intraand inter-subject variability provides insight into the effect of airway geometry on airflow structure. The relations between airflow structure, energy dissipation, and airway resistance under normal breathing condition have also been studied, showing similarity behaviors for inspiratory and expiratory flows. In the study of high-frequency oscillatory ventilation, we have compared counter-flow structures near flow reversal (namely phase change between inspiration and expiration) and quantified associated convective mixing in both idealized and CT-based airway models. Furthermore, the image-registration-derived displacement field is used to deform 3D-1D airway models for breathing lung simulation and estimate diameter changes of 1D airway segments during deformation. In conjunction with an arbitrary Lagrangian
An eye-movement analysis of the refutation effect in reading science text

In this study, we used eye-tracking methodology for deeper understanding of the refutation text effect on online text comprehension. A refutation text acknowledges the reader's alternative conceptions about a phenomenon, refutes them and presents the correct conceptions. We tested two hypotheses about its facilitation effect: the coherence hypothesis (refutation text is more coherent than standard text, thus facilitating comprehension) and the elaboration hypothesis (refutation text involves deeper processing, thus facilitating comprehension). Forty university students read one refutation text and one non-refutation text about two science topics. Offline data confirmed that refutation text readers recall more scientific facts than non-refutation text readers. Online eye-tracking measures revealed both an increase and a decrease in reading time in response to the refutation statements. Topic-medial text sentences with the correct science facts were fixated for a shorter time when first encountered in the refutation text. Refutation statements, however, increased integrative processing at the end of each text paragraph, as indexed by longer look-back fixation times on topic-final sentences with the science concepts, as well as longer look-back fixation times directed to the refutation statements. These findings support the elaboration hypothesis and are discussed in the light of current accounts of the refutation effect for theory development and educational practice.