Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quantification and optimization of Candida albicans DNA in blood samples using Real- Time PCR.

BACKGROUND Candida albicans (C. albicans) is a major cause of candidaemia in people with impaired immunity. Blood culture is a "gold standard" for candidaemia detection but is time-consuming and relatively insensitive. We established a real-time PCR assay for C. albicans detection in blood by LightCycler PCR and melting curve analysis. METHODS Five milliliter blood samples from healthy volunteers were spiked with 10(0)-10(6) C. albicans cells to determine the detection limit of our method. DNA was extracted from whole blood using glass beads and the QIAamp DNA Blood Mini Kit (Qiagen, Hilden Germany). DNA from C. albicans isolates were ampliﬁed with primers and inserted into Escherichia coli (E. coli) DH5α. 1 cells with the TA cloning vector (Invitrogen). The plasmid was used for standardization and optimization. A quantitative PCR assay with the LightCycler amplification and detection system based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) with two different specific probes was established. To assess the precision and reproducibility of real-time PCR the intra-assay precision was determined in six consecutive assays. RESULTS No cross-reactivity of the hybridization probes with the DNA of non-C. albicans species or human genomic DNA was observed, which confirmed its 100% specificity. The minimum limit detected was one C. albicans cell or 10(0) CFU/ml (10 fg) per PCR reaction. The real-time PCR efficiency rate for Candida was high (E = 1.95). Melting curve analysis of C. albicans showed a specific melting peak temperature of 65.76 °C. CONCLUSION The real-time PCR assay we developed is highly specific and sufficiently sensitive to detect the fungal load for early diagnosis of invasive candidiasis.
Canadian Adverse Events Following Immunization Surveillance System (CAEFISS): Annual report for vaccines administered in 2012.

Background To describe the adverse event following immunization (AEFI) reporting profile for vaccines administered in Canada during 2012 and surveillance trends relative to reports for vaccines administered from 2005 through 2011. Methods Analysis of data based on AEFI reports received by the Public Health Agency of Canada by April 30, 2013, for vaccines marketed in Canada and administered from January 1, 2005, through December 31, 2012. Results The AEFI reporting rate was 10.1 per 100,000 population in Canada for vaccines administered in 2012 and was inversely proportional to age. There was a trend of declining rates from 2005 (14.8) to 2012 overall and by age group. The vast majority of reports (94%-95%) were non-serious involving reactions at or near the vaccination site, rash and febrile events. Conclusion Canada has a strong pharmacovigilance system for vaccines with one of the highest AEFI reporting rates in developed countries. Vaccines marketed in Canada have a very good safety profile. This report enables comparisons across jurisdictions in Canada and globally.
Perceptions of leadership across cultures: a study of French and German managers and their employees in both their domestic and host environments

The phenomenon of globalisation has contributed greatly to the increasing interest in investigating cross-cultural leadership in recent years (Avolio, Walumbwa and Weber, 2009). To date cross-cultural leadership research has mainly involved comparative studies between countries at manager level (e.g. House et al., 2004) and has focused on potential cultural effects on leadership styles. The aim of this crosscultural study is to address the gap of neglecting employees’ views on leadership by investigating leadership perceptions both from the perspective of managers and employees in their domestic and host environments. This study explores leadership perceptions in the specific context of France and Germany, using a mixed methods approach. Based on implicit leadership theories and connectionist theory (Hanges et al., 2006; Lord et al., 2001), the similarities and differences that exist between the structure and the content of cognitive leadership schemas of French and German managers and employees regarding their perceptions of effective leadership are compared. This study shows that the application of connectionist theory to the field of cross-cultural leadership research provides a meaningful lens to investigate the relationship between culture and leadership. It found that despite the spread of globalisation and an often assumed concomitant convergence of cultures, differences in the approaches to leadership in a French and German business context still persist and should, therefore, be considered by companies planning foreign operations or secondments.
The Radon Gas in Underground Buildings in Clay Soils. The Plaza Balmis Shelter as a Paradigm

In healthy buildings, it is considered essential to quantify air quality. One of the most fashionable indicators is radon gas. To determine the presence of this element, which is harmful to health, in the environment, the composition of the soil is studied. The presence of radon gas within a building depends both on the terrain in which it is located and on the composition of the materials of which it is composed, and not as was previously believed, only by the composition of the soil (whether granitic or not). Many countries are currently studying this phenomenon, including Spain where the building regulations regarding the accumulation of radon gas, do not list in their technical codes, the maximum dose that can a building can hold so that it is not harmful to people and the measures to correct excessive accumulation. Therefore, once the possible existence of radon in any underground building has been verified, regardless of the characteristics of the soil, the importance of defining and unifying the regulations on different levels of radon in all architectural constructions is evident. Medical and health science agencies, including the World Health Organization, consider that radon gas is a very harmful element for people. This element, in its gaseous state, is radioactive and it is present in almost soils in which buildings are implanted. Granitic type soils present higher levels of radon gas. Non-granitic soils have traditionally been considered to have very low radon levels. However, this paper demonstrates the relevant presence of radon in non-granitic soils, specifically in clayey soils, by providing the results of research carried out in the underground air raid shelter at Balmis Square in Alicante (Spain). The results of the measurements of radon accumulation in the Plaza Balmis shelter are five times higher than those obtained in a similar ungrounded building. This research addresses the constructive typology of an under-ground building and the radon presence in its interior obtained using rigorous measurement techniques.
Bacterial Community Response in Deep Faroe-Shetland Channel Sediments Following Hydrocarbon Entrainment With and Without Dispersant Addition

Deep sea oil exploration is increasing and presents environmental challenges for deep ocean ecosystems. Marine oil spills often result in contamination of sediments with oil; following the Deepwater Horizon (DwH) disaster up to 31% of the released oil entrained in the water column was deposited as oily residues on the seabed. Although the aftermath of DwH was studied intensely, lessons learned may not be directly transferable to other deep-sea hydrocarbon exploration areas, such as the Faroe-Shetland Channel (FSC) which comprises cold temperatures and a unique hydrodynamic regime. Here, transport of hydrocarbons into deep FSC sediments, subsequent responses in benthic microbial populations and effects of dispersant application on hydrocarbon fate and microbial communities were investigated. Sediments from 1000 m in the FSC were incubated at 0 °C for 71 days after addition of a 20-hydrocarbon component oil-sediment aggregate. Dispersant was added periodically from day 4. An additional set of cores using sterilised and homogenised sediment was analysed to evaluate the effects of sediment matrix modification on hydrocarbon entrainment. Sediment layers were independently analysed for hydrocarbon content by gas chromatography with flame ionisation detection and modelled with linear mixed effects models. Oil was entrained over 4 cm deep into FSC sediments after 42 days and dispersant effectiveness on hydrocarbon removal from sediment to the water column decreased with time. Sterilising and homogenising sediment resulted in hydrocarbon transport over 4 cm into sediments after 7 days. Significant shifts in bacterial populations were observed (DGGE profiling) in response to hydrocarbon exposure after 42 days and below 2 cm deep. Dispersant application resulted in an accelerated and modified shift in bacterial communities. Bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequencing of oiled sediments revealed dominance of Colwellia and of Fusibacter when dispersant was applied over oiled sediments. The increased relative abundance of anaerobic hydrocarbon degraders through time suggests creation of anoxic niches due to smothering. The study showed that hydrocarbons can entrain deep sediments to over 4 cm in a short time and that FSC indigenous bacteria are able to respond to a contamination event, even at a low temperature, reflecting the in situ conditions.
Antecedents of Concession Bargaining in the Great Recession: Evidence from Ireland

Concession or ‘give back’ bargaining involves firms seeking changes in pay and conditions of employment from trade unions in return for pledges of enhanced job security and sometimes other forms of reciprocation. Several distinct modes of concession bargaining are distinguishable in the literature, and three modes of concession bargaining have been identified in Ireland during the Great Recession: integrative, distributive and minimal engagement. Deploying qualitatively informed quantitative data on the conduct of collective bargaining during the Great Recession, this article examines a series of antecedent influences on the choices firms make in conducting concession bargaining with unions.
Anaerobic degradation of tetrachloroethylene using different co-substrates as electron donors.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the biodegradation of tetrachloroethylene (PCE) by acclimated anaerobic sludge using different co-substrates, i.e., glucose, acetate, and lactate as electron donors. METHODS HP-6890 gas chromatograph (GC) in combination with auto-sampler was used to analyze the concentration of PCE and its intermediates. Results PCE could be degraded by reductive dechlorination and the degradation reaction conformed to the first-order kinetic equation. The rate constants are k(lactate) > k(glucose) > k(acetate). The PCE degradation rate was the highest in the presence of lactate as an electron donor. CONCLUSION Lactate is the most suitable electron donor for PCE degradation and the electron donors supplied by co-metabolic substrates are not the limiting factors for PCE degradation.
Using Deep Convolutional Neural Network Architectures for Object Classification and Detection Within X-Ray Baggage Security Imagery

We consider the use of deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) with transfer learning for the image classification and detection problems posed within the context of X-ray baggage security imagery. The use of the CNN approach requires large amounts of data to facilitate a complex end-to-end feature extraction and classification process. Within the context of X-ray security screening, limited availability of object of interest data examples can thus pose a problem. To overcome this issue, we employ a transfer learning paradigm such that a pre-trained CNN, primarily trained for generalized image classification tasks where sufficient training data exists, can be optimized explicitly as a later secondary process towards this application domain. To provide a consistent feature-space comparison between this approach and traditional feature space representations, we also train support vector machine (SVM) classifier on CNN features. We empirically show that fine-tuned CNN features yield superior performance to conventional hand-crafted features on object classification tasks within this context. Overall we achieve 0.994 accuracy based on AlexNet features trained with SVM classifier. In addition to classification, we also explore the applicability of multiple CNN driven detection paradigms, such as sliding window-based CNN (SW-CNN), Faster region-based CNNs (F-RCNNs), region-based fully convolutional networks (R-FCN), and YOLOv2. We train numerous networks tackling both single and multiple detections over SW-CNN/ F-RCNN/R-FCN/YOLOv2 variants. YOLOv2, Faster-RCNN, and R-FCN provide superior results to the more traditional SW-CNN approaches. With the use of YOLOv2, using input images of size $544\times 544$ , we achieve 0.885 mean average precision (mAP) for a six-class object detection problem. The same approach with an input of size $416\times 416$ yields 0.974 mAP for the two-class firearm detection problem and requires approximately 100 ms per image. Overall we illustrate the comparative performance of these techniques and show that object localization strategies cope well with cluttered X-ray security imagery, where classification techniques fail.
Education and work-related mental health - higher educated employees are worse off

This paper analyzes the relationship between work-related mental health and education in the German working population using cross sectional survey data from 2006 and 2012. Low education is associated with lower mild health problems, higher education with increased mild and medium severe problems. In the Job Demands and Resources model, work-related mental health problems arise from an imbalance between job demands and resources. Low education is significantly associated with lower job demands and resources but not with a different stress perception of missing resources. Higher educated have significantly higher demands and resources and perceive high job demands as more stressful. Education is also associated with less job satisfaction but there is suggestive evidence for monetary and some non-monetary compensation.
Foot and ankle joint movements of dancers and non-dancers: a comparative study

Abstract Ballerinas use their ankle joints more extremely and sustain injuries on the ankle joint more frequently than non-dancers. Therefore, the ankle movement of dancers is important and should be studied to prevent injuries. Measuring ankle joint range of motion (ROM) using radiographs could demonstrate the contribution to motion of each joint. The aim of this study was to analyse and compare ankle joint movements and the ratio of each joint’s contribution during movement between dancers and non-dancers, using radiographic images. Dancers have lower dorsiflexion (26.7 ± 6.2°), higher plantarflexion (74.3 ± 7.1°) and higher total (101.1 ± 10.8°) ROMs than non-dancers (33.9 ± 7.0°, 57.2 ± 6.8° and 91.1 ± 9.3°, respectively) (p < 0.05). Although the ROMs were different between the two groups, the ratios of each joint movement were similar between these two groups, in all movements. Regarding total movement, the movement ratio of the talocrural joint was almost 70% and other joints accounted for almost 30% of the movement role in both dancers and non-dancers. Therefore, the differences in ROM between dancers and non-dancers were not a result of a specific joint movement but of all the relevant joints’ collaborative movement.
Management and research applications of real-time and archival passive acoustic sensors over varying temporal and spatial scales

Defining the appropriate scale over which to conduct a study in the marine environment is critical to achieving appropriate scientific, management, mitigation and conservation objectives. This paper focuses on applications of passive acoustic technologies over a range of spatial and temporal scales. It is divided into sections dealing with archival and real-time passive acoustic sensor applications. Each section assesses the principles behind using the respective technology and pro- vides recent examples of research and management applications for marine mammals and fish. The section on archival sensors highlights the need for continued development of automated acoustic detectors to assess large data sets. Case studies are presented of detectors developed for determining seasonal occurrence and distribution of haddock sounds and humpback whale vocalizations. Also presented are studies of other applications using archival sensors: tracking singing humpback whales in Brazil, using vocalizations to assess the reproductive strategies of Arctic bearded seals and assessing regional variability in call patterns for North Atlantic right whales. The section on real-time passive acoustic sensors focuses on real-time buoys and towed arrays. Case studies presented include a real-time buoy system used for monitoring endangered North Atlantic right whales and a station- ary autonomous array providing real-time access to Antarctic acoustic data. The value of using towed arrays for real-time applications is also assessed, and a case study is provided on the use of towed arrays to improve abundance estimates of North Pacific cetaceans and to better understand vocaliza- tion behaviors.
Building Intelligence Into an Autopilot -- Using Qualitative Simulation to Support Global Decision Making

This paper represents an addendum to an earlier paper published by the same research group in SIMULATION in 1989. In the earlier paper, a crisp inductive reasoner had been employed to qualitatively reason about the behavior of a quantitatively simulated B- 747 aircraft, to determine when a structural malfunction occurs, to hypothesize about the nature of this malfunction, and to decide upon a global strategy that allows operation of the quantitative aircraft model under the modified flying conditions. In the addendum, the formerly crisp inductive reasoner has been replaced by a fuzzy inductive reasoner. The paper demonstrates the enhanced discriminatory power and the improved forecasting capability of the modified reasoning scheme. In addition, the fuzzy inductive reasoner allows prediction of a quasi-continuous response spectum, whereas the crisp inductive reasoner was able to predict discrete (class) values only.
The prognostic relevance of psychological factors with regard to participation and success in table-tennis

ABSTRACT This study examined the prognostic relevance of self-determined motivation, coping, burnout, perceived stress and recovery experienced by 159 youth table-tennis players involved in intensive training centers with regard to their participation and success six years later. Results of ANCOVAs showed that players who still practiced at time 2 (T2; six years later; n = 130) reported lower time 1 (T1; while they were involved in intensive training centers) amotivation (large effect), disengagement-oriented coping, sport devaluation and reduced accomplishment (moderate effects) than their counterparts who dropped out at T2 (n = 29). Results of ANCOVAs also showed that international (n = 18) and/or national players (n = 86) at T2 reported significantly lower T1 amotivation (large effect), disengagement-oriented coping and sport devaluation (moderate effects) in comparison to regional (n = 26) players at T2. Finally results of correlational analyses showed that T2 performance and/or six-year performance progress were significantly and weakly correlated with introjected and external regulations, perceived stress and perceived recovery, and significantly and moderately correlated with amotivation, disengagement-oriented coping, sport devaluation, and reduced accomplishment. Overall, this study provided insights into the role played by self-determined motivation, coping, burnout, perceived stress and recovery in the table-tennis players’ dropout and performance level six years later.
Performance analysis of IEEE 802.15.4 real-time enhancement

The IEEE 802.15. 4e amendment provides different modalities over which Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) can be deployed, even with strict requirements in terms of latency and determinism; still, there seems to be room for improvement. This paper proposes two enhancements for IEEE 802.15. 4e LLDN mode: (1) allowing a reduced and more predictable configuration time and (2) focusing on the worst-case latency for high-priority traffic. A comparison with standard LLDN is then performed and evaluated, either through Monte Carlo simulations or analytically.
Interplay of cell–cell contacts and RhoA/MRTF‐A signaling regulates cardiomyocyte identity

Cell–cell and cell–matrix interactions guide organ development and homeostasis by controlling lineage specification and maintenance, but the underlying molecular principles are largely unknown. Here, we show that in human developing cardiomyocytes cell–cell contacts at the intercalated disk connect to remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton by regulating the RhoA‐ROCK signaling to maintain an active MRTF/SRF transcriptional program essential for cardiomyocyte identity. Genetic perturbation of this mechanosensory pathway activates an ectopic fat gene program during cardiomyocyte differentiation, which ultimately primes the cells to switch to the brown/beige adipocyte lineage in response to adipogenesis‐inducing signals. We also demonstrate by in vivo fate mapping and clonal analysis of cardiac progenitors that cardiac fat and a subset of cardiac muscle arise from a common precursor expressing Isl1 and Wt1 during heart development, suggesting related mechanisms of determination between the two lineages.
The Role of Nonmarket Valuation in Hydropower Relicensing: An Application of a Pattern Modeling Approach

Requests for economic analysis in environmental policy decisions are increasing. Many professional economists have responded by crafting benefit-cost guidelines for monetizing people's preferences for environmental services. The nonmarket valuation literature, which includes such techniques as contingent valuation (CV), hedonic price models, and travel cost methods, often explicitly rests on the premise that monetizing environmental amenities is a precondition for environmental interests to be adequately reflected in policy decisions. For example, a well-known CV practitioner recently asserted "failure to quantify ecosystem values in commensurate terms with opportunity costs often results in an implicit value of zero being placed on ecosystem services (Loomis et al. 2000, 104). Increasingly, ecologists are also calling for use of nonmarket valuation techniques in environmental policy making. One highly publicized effort to quantify the value of the world's ecosystems justified the effort on the premise that "because ecosystem services are not fully 'captured' in commercial markets or adequately quantified in terms comparable with economic services and manufactured capital, they are often given too little weight in policy decisions" (Costanza et al. 1997, 253). However, surprisingly little systematic research has been conducted into whether and how nonmarket valuation analysis is used in environmental policy making and whether the absence of such valuation does result in "an implicit value of zero" being placed on ecosystem services. It is simply not known whether participants involved in