Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin recovered from camels By

E ight Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates were recovered from a total of 53 pneumonic lung samples of camels in a percentage of 15.1%. Application of the salt aggregation test showed that 75% of the isolates were hydrophobic. Results of bacterial survival test in camel serum showed that 87.5% of the recovered isolates survived in camel serum. β-galactosidase activity of the isolates ranged from 401-840 Miller unit. Results of intradermal injections of P. aeruginosa crude exotoxins in guinea pigs induced increase in skin thickness at the site of injection that varied from moderate to severe skin reactions. P. aeruginosa prepared exotoxin induced significant morphological changes in Vero cells. Sera collected from mice immunized with P. aeruginosa crude exotoxin demonstrated increase in antibody level (measured with ELISA) as compared to the non immunized mice. Administration of gentamicin with the vaccine was associated with reduction of antibody production, whereas norfloxacin have no effect on antibody formation.
On the nature of high X-ray luminosities in Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies

Surveys have revealed a class of object displaying both high X-ray luminosities (LX > 10 42 erg s −1 ) and a lack of a discernible active galactic nucleus (AGN) in the optical band. If these sources are powered by star formation activity alone, they would be the most extreme X-ray luminosity star-forming galaxies known. We have investigated the mechanism driving the X-ray luminosities of such galaxies by studying the X-ray emission of three moderate redshift (z ∼ 0.1) examples of this class, selected from a cross-correlation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 5 (SDSS-DR5) and XMM–Newton serendipitous survey (2XMMp-DR0) catalogues. X-ray spatial and long-term variability diagnostics of these sources suggest that they are compact X-ray emitters. This result is supported by the detection of rapid short-term variability in an observation of one of the sources. The X-ray spectra of all three sources are best fitted with a simple absorbed power-law model, thus betraying no significant signs of star formation. These results indicate that the X-ray emission is powered by AGN activity. But why do these sources not display optical AGN signatures? We show that the most likely explanation is that the optical AGN emission lines are being diluted by star formation signatures from within their host galaxies.
EFFECTS OF A FACEBOOK PROFILE DEVOTED TO DRUG USE IN PREGNANCY ON THE DISCOVERY OF INAPPROPRIATE DRUG USE BY PREGNANT FEMALES IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLICS

Background. Although online social networking is increasingly used for medical purposes, studies investigating drug use among pregnant females by means of online networks are lacking. Objective. Th e aim of our study was to investigate the extent of inappropriate drug use among pregnant women by creating a Facebook profi le and using it as a tool for interacting with pregnant women. Methods. A Facebook profi le titled “Preserve babies from drugs” was created and maintained by a group of fourth-year pharmacy students for 3 months. Introductory educational material about the principles of drug use in pregnancy, information about health facilities off ering counselling about pregnancy, information about a clinical pharmacology department that off ered counselling and an open-ended questionnaire were posted in the “Notes” section of the Facebook profi le. Results. Of 239 registered pregnant “friends” of the profi le who received the questionnaire from the investigators, 93 responded (39%). Among the respondents, 50 pregnant women (53.8%) reported taking medication(s) during their current pregnancy, and 42 of the respondents reported using one or more drugs improperly. Th e most frequently used drugs were multivitamin and multi-mineral preparations, oral antibiotics, parenteral progesterone and benzodiazepines. Conclusions. Th e Facebook profi le devoted to drug use in pregnancy could be a useful adjunct to eff orts by offi cial health care institutions to identify inappropriate drug use and educate pregnant women appropriately.
Genetic diversity in Nepalese population of Swertia chirayita (Roxb. Ex Fleming) H. Karst based on inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) markers

Swertia chirayita is a highly valued but vulnerable medicinal plant species of Nepal. Its populations are declining in natural habitats due to over exploitation. Twenty-seven inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) primers were used to assess the genetic diversity and population genetic structure of 42 genotypes representing six natural populations of S. chirayita, from Nepal. Of the total 479 bands amplified by 27 ISSR primers, 473 (98.18%) were polymorphic, indicating very high level of genetic diversity at species level. Percentage polymorphism value for different primers ranged from 83.3 to 100% with an average of 98.18%. Polymorphism information content (PIC) value ranged from 0.88 to 0.93 with an average of 0.91. Cluster analysis performed with NTSYS pc statistical package using Jaccard’s similarity coefficients generated from ISSR binary data matrix showed that, all 27 ISSR primers separated 42 individuals into two major clusters and six sub clusters at the similarity level of 0.24. The average value of Nei’s genetic diversity (H) and Shannon’s information index (I) equaled 0.276 and 0.423, respectively at species level. The coefficient of genetic differentiation (GST) amongst populations of S. chirayita was found to be high (0.548) with restricted gene flow (Nm=0.4829). Analysis of molecular variance showed that genetic diversity within populations is slightly higher (50.9%) than among populations (47.6%). The present genetic diversity assessment of S. chirayita populations has been of immense importance to understand the cause of its vulnerability and has furnished valuable insights for its conservation and sustainable utilization. Key words: Polymerase chain reaction, inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR), genetic diversity, polymorphism, population genetics.
Obesity as a predictor of falls among older women

In older people’s falls often lead to hospitalisation and lengthy recovery in health care institutions and this may be conducive to financial strain on health care systems. The propensity or risk of falling rises as the individual gets older and frailer. Fear of falling, previous history of falling, poor mobility, limitations in Activities of Daily Living (ADL), side effects of medications, hazardous environment, poor vision and hearing, poor postural balance and gaits impairment are among the frequent factors that give rise to falls amongst older people. However, studies focused on obesity as a risk factor for falls are rarer. The aim of this study was to find out whether obesity increases the risk of falls among older women. The association between indoor and outdoor falls and obesity among older women was examined. The data for this study were obtained from the Finnish Twin Study on Ageing (FITSA). A total of 434 women aged 63 to 76 years old took part in the studies. The women were twins but their data were analyzed as individuals. Information on falls was recorded for 12 months of follow-up using a fall calendar. The study design was prospective. 129 women had BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 at baseline and were categorised as obese. Altogether 199 participants reported 434 falls. Fifty-seven participants experienced 81 indoor falls and 132 participants experienced 213 outdoor falls. Obesity increased the incidence of falls among older women. Among the obese group, half of them had reported at least one fall and one quarter reported recurrent falls. The obese group had more indoor falls than the non-obese group (24% vs. 9%). Women with indoor falls were over three times more likely to be obese as compared to women who did not fall indoors. Outdoor falls did not correlate with obesity. This study showed that obesity is a forecaster for falls among older women. Women with indoor falls were over three times more likely to be obese as compared to women who did not fall indoors. The results of this study enhance the etiology and relative importance of risk factors for falls, obesity, indoor and outdoor falls.
Notes on building performance simulation and the role of IBPSA

This paper presents several notes and remarks on the current state of building performance simulation and the role of the International Building Performance Simulation Association - IBPSA. Within this context, the paper also summarizes some of the research by the authors. The main conclusions are that building performance simulation has the potential to deliver, direct or indirect, substantial benefits to many building stakeholders and to the environment; and that IBPSA and its regional organizations, such as IBPSA-Brazil- can/ should play a major role in promoting correct application and further development of this technology. 1. On the current state In his editorial "Building performance simulation: the now and the not yet" Spitler (2006) states that "simulation of building thermal performance using digital computers has been an active area of investigation since the 1960s, with much of the early work (see eg Kusuda 1999) focusing on load calculations and energy analysis. Over time, the simulation domain has grown richer and more integrated, with available tools integrating simulation of heat and mass transfer in the building fabric, airflow in and through the building, daylighting, and a vast array of system types and components. At the same time, graphical user interfaces that facilitate use of these complex tools have become more and more powerful and more and more widely used. " As stated earlier (Augenbroe and Hensen, 2004), over the past two decades the building simulation discipline has matured into a field that offers unique expertise, methods and tools for building performance evaluation. When used appropriately it has the potential to improve competitiveness, productivity, quality and efficiency in buildings and in the construction industry as well as facilitating future innovation and technological progress.
Ambient-pressure synthesis of single-crystal MgB2 and their superconducting anisotropy

We synthesized single crystalline ${\mathrm{MgB}}_{2}$ under ambient pressure by using conventional materials and equipment. The single crystals of ${\mathrm{MgB}}_{2}$ were of good quality, where the crystal structure refinements were successfully converged with $R=0.020. $ The measurements of the magnetic properties yielded a sharp superconducting transition at 38 K with transition width $\ensuremath{\Delta}{T}_{c}=0.8\mathrm{K}. $ The upper critical field for applied field parallel to the ab plane ${(H}_{c2}^{\mathrm{ab}})$ reveals a positive curvature, while ${H}_{c2}$ parallel to the c axis ${(H}_{c2}^{c})$ increases linearly in temperature dependence, which yields a temperature dependence of the superconducting anisotropy ratio of $\ensuremath{\gamma}{=H}_{c2}^{\mathrm{ab}}{/H}_{c2}^{c}$ with $\ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{\sim}1$ near ${T}_{c}$ and 4.0 at 25 K.
Corporate Social Responsibility and the Impacts of Product Recall Strategies on Firm Value

Although a firm may intend to convey positive signals by voluntarily recalling the products, prior evidence show voluntary recalls do not experience better abnormal returns than involuntary recalls. This paper investigates the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on stock market reactions to the announcement of voluntary and involuntary product recalls. We argue that a voluntary recall may be associated with greater information uncertainty than involuntary recalls because it involves various incentives and the latitude in recall process allows a firm to act strategically. The engagement in CSR activities certifies the information conveyed by voluntary recalls, and reduces the information uncertainty for investors, and the effect is expected to be stronger for voluntary recalls. Our empirical evidence suggests that firms with good CSR performance receive significantly greater firm value change than those with poor CSR performance upon the announcements of voluntary recalls. On the contrary, the effect of CSR is not significant for involuntary recalls. In addition, we find the effect of CSR is mainly driven by the engagement in technical CSR activities. The evidence suggests that the important contingent effect of CSR in investors' perception of product recall announcements.
Determinants of immature brood and nest recognition in a stenogastrine wasp (Hymenoptera Vespidae)

Parischnogaster mellyi is a common species of hover wasp which lives in the Oriental Region. In this research we wanted to achieve a deeper understanding of some aspects of its social biology and chemical ecology considering the composition of colonies, the reproductive potential of the female nest-mates, the chemical similarities between the adult cuticular hydrocarbons, the nest paper, the Dufour's gland secretion of the females and the pap placed on the eggs as a support for larval development. We were able to assess with nest exchange experiments that this species is capable of immature brood recognition. Neither the pap placed on eggs, nor the nest odour are used in this recognition process, despite the potential discrimination cues shown by chemical analyses.
Direct Imaging discovery of a second planet candidate around the possibly transiting planet host CVSO 30

We surveyed the 25 Ori association for direct-imaging companions. This association has an age of only few million years. Among other targets, we observed CVSO 30, which has recently been identified as the first T Tauri star found to host a transiting planet candidate. We report on photometric and spectroscopic high-contrast observations with the Very Large Telescope, the Keck telescopes, and the Calar Alto observatory. They reveal a directly imaged planet candidate close to the young M3 star CVSO 30. The JHK-band photometry of the newly identified candidate is at better than 1 sigma consistent with late-type giants, early-T and early-M dwarfs, and free-floating planets. Other hypotheses such as galaxies can be excluded at more than 3.5 sigma. A lucky imaging z' photometric detection limit z'= 20.5 mag excludes early-M dwarfs and results in less than 10 MJup for CVSO 30 c if bound. We present spectroscopic observations of the wide companion that imply that the only remaining explanation for the object is that it is the first very young (< 10 Myr) L-T-type planet bound to a star, meaning that it appears bluer than expected as a result of a decreasing cloud opacity at low effective temperatures. Only a planetary spectral model is consistent with the spectroscopy, and we deduce a best-fit mass of 4-5 Jupiter masses (total range 0.6-10.2 Jupiter masses). This means that CVSO 30 is the first system in which both a close-in and a wide planet candidate are found to have a common host star. The orbits of the two possible planets could not be more different: they have orbital periods of 10.76 hours and about 27000 years. The two orbits may have formed during a mutual catastrophic event of planet-planet scattering.
International migration and wages

Understanding the determinants of migration patterns and the selection of migrants is of paramount importance in a world in which over 240 million people have migrated and many more are considering doing so. This paper adds to the literature on this topic by (i) using micro-level wage data for a large number of source and destination countries, and (ii) identifying the impact of bilateral variables, e.g. distance, and source and destination country characteristics using a two-step estimation strategy that allows for estimation over a full matrix of migration corridors and better addresses the issue of multilateral resistance to migration. The results highlight how geography (distances, contiguity and country size) and wage differentials matter for determining migration flows and the differential selection of low and high skilled migrants.JEL Codes: F22, F66, J61.
The Restorative Effects of Redesigning the Schoolyard

Contact with nature can have numerous beneficial effects for children. As the school is a place where children spend a lot of time, the physical environment of the school has considerable potential to influence children. This study investigated the influence of a redesign (greening) of a schoolyard on pupils’ physiological stress, psychological well-being, and executive functioning. A pre–post, quasi-experimental design with a multimethod approach was applied. One-hundred thirty-three middle school pupils (M = 14.4 years) of three middle schools in a rural area in Austria were assessed. The renovated schoolyard significantly diminished pupils’ physiological stress levels and enhanced their psychological well-being. Pupils in the renovated schoolyard setting also perceived the environment as more restorative following the redesign. However, it did not affect executive functioning as hypothesized. Limitations of the study and future research opportunities are discussed.
Conventions: A Corpus Study of Eight Disciplines

Research articles are clearly influenced by the discipline of the research being reported. Just as disciplinary conventions place constraints on, for example, the moves and language use of abstracts and introductions, they also provide a set of options for title design. This study attempts to identify the title conventions of eight disciplines by focusing on various features that play a part in title design: the use of multiple-unit titles (those with subtitles); the use of noun phrases to form the title; and ’a’ or ’the’ in initial position. The length of titles is investigated, as is the proportion of substantive words. Data is based on a 3,200-title corpus of titles from research articles published in prestigious journals in four disciplines in the hard sciences (botany, fluid engineering, geology, and medicine) and four in the soft sciences (economics, education, history, and sociology). The data is presented in a visual form that compares title features by discipline, to demonstrate title conventions and to help novice writers understand the features and options available.
Exploiting Kernel Sparsity and Entropy for Interpretable CNN Compression

Compressing convolutional neural networks (CNNs) has received ever-increasing research focus. However, most existing CNN compression methods do not interpret their inherent structures to distinguish the implicit redundancy. In this paper, we investigate the problem of CNN compression from a novel interpretable perspective. The relationship between the input feature maps and 2D kernels is revealed in a theoretical framework, based on which a kernel sparsity and entropy (KSE) indicator is proposed to quantitate the feature map importance in a feature-agnostic manner to guide model compression. Kernel clustering is further conducted based on the KSE indicator to accomplish high-precision CNN compression. KSE is capable of simultaneously compressing each layer in an efficient way, which is significantly faster compared to previous data-driven feature map pruning methods. We comprehensively evaluate the compression and speedup of the proposed method on CIFAR-10, SVHN and ImageNet 2012. Our method demonstrates superior performance gains over previous ones. In particular, it achieves 4.7× FLOPs reduction and 2.9× compression on ResNet-50 with only a top-5 accuracy drop of 0.35% on ImageNet 2012, which significantly outperforms state-of-the-art methods.
Structure and rifting evolution of the northern Newfoundland Basin from Erable multichannel seismic reflection profiles across the southeastern margin of Flemish Cap

We present the results from processing and interpreting five lines from the 1992 Erable multichannel seismic reflection experiment extending from the southeastern margin of Flemish Cap into the northern Newfoundland Basin. These profiles reveal significant along strike variations in the rifting styles experienced by Flemish Cap. In the southwest, a 100-km-wide transition zone is identified between thinned continental crust and thin oceanic crust. Similar to the conjugate Galicia Bank and Iberian margins, this transition zone contains a section of deep basement adjacent to a series of shallower ridges and is interpreted as exhumed serpentinized mantle. Along strike towards the northeast, this transition zone pinches out completely within 100 km and is replaced by thin oceanic crust directly adjacent to thinned continental crust. By interpreting nearby seismic profiles and profiles on the conjugate margins using the same classification criteria, we construct regional maps of the distribution of crustal domains on both sides of the North Atlantic. These maps reveal significant variations in rifting style on the conjugate margins and along strike of each margin and also highlight the role of ancient transfer zones in compartmentalizing these rifting variations into four distinct regions. We propose that the limited localization of shallow topographically high serpentinized peridotite ridges on the Newfoundland-Iberia and Flemish Cap-Galicia Bank conjugate margins, was directly related to an increase in the rate of extension following the separation of Flemish Cap and Galicia Bank which exhumed deeper, less serpentinized mantle.
Seismic Tomography of the Arabian-Eurasian Collision Zone and Surrounding Areas

Abstract : The objectives of this study are to determine P- and S-wave velocity structures in the crust and upper mantle and to characterize seismic wave propagation in the Arabian-Eurasian collision zone and surrounding areas, including Iran, Arabia, Eastern Turkey, and the Caucasus. The Arabian-Eurasian plate boundary is a complex tectonic zone shaped by continent-continent collision processes. In recent years the number of seismic stations has increased greatly in the region because of expanded seismic networks in Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iran, and the Gulf countries. Unfortunately, the phase readings and waveform data cannot be obtained from a single data center. We are collecting the data through cooperation with individual network operators and the countries. The travel-time tomography is carried out in three steps. First, obtain Pn and Sn velocities using local and regional arrival time data. Second, obtain the 3-D crustal P and S velocity models. Third, extend the model into the upper mantle and transition zone by combining local, regional, and teleseismic data and crust model constraints. We obtained the regional Pn velocity tomograms using 160,000 arrival times (including data from Iran) from 850 stations and 18,000 earthquakes. For Sn tomography, 75,000 phase readings were used. The Pn and Sn velocity variations agree quite well with some local differences. Pn velocities are very low under eastern Anatolia, northwest Iran, and the Lesser Caucasus. There are localized low-velocity anomalies. Velocities are low under the Iranian plateau. Pn velocities are high under the Arabian Platform, the Gulf, and the Zagros. In the north, high Pn velocities extend from the Black Sea to the Caspian and east to the Kara Kum Basin. The upper mantle tomograms show the images of the subducted Neotethys slab. The slab geometry is quite complex, reflecting the history of the changes in plate motions and collision processes.