Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multigrid Bilateral Filtering

The bilateral filter (BF) is a nonlinear and low-pass filter which can smooth an image while preserving detail structures. However, the filer is time consuming for real-time processing. In this paper, we bring forward a fresh idea that bilateral filtering can be accelerated by a multigrid (MG) scheme. Our method is based on the following two facts. a) The filtering result by a BF with a large kernel size on the original resolution can be approximated by applying a small kernel sized (3×3) version on the lower resolution many times on the premise of visual acceptance. Early work has shown that a BF can be viewed as nonlinear diffusion. The desired filtering result is actually an intermediate status of the diffusion process. b) Iterative linear equation techniques are sufficiently mature to cope with the nonlinear diffusion equation, which can be accelerated by the MG scheme. Experimental results with both simulated data sets and real sets are provided, and the new method is demonstrated to achieve almost twice the speed of the state-of-the-art. Compared with previous efforts for finding a generalized representation to link bilateral filtering and nonlinear diffusion by adaptive filtering, a novel relationship between nonlinear diffusion and bilateral filtering is explored in this study by focusing attention on numerical calculus. key words: bilateral filter, multigrid, nonlinear diffusion
Association of Myocarditis with High Viral Load of Porcine Circovirus Type 2 in Several Tissues in Cases of Fetal Death and High Mortality in Piglets. A Case Study

During a period of 1.5 months, a newly established pig herd experienced a high number of mummifications and stillbirths, a high neonatal mortality rate, and many piglets with congenital tremors or hind leg ataxia. After clinical and histological investigations, the submitted animals were divided into 4 groups: mummified or stillborn (N = 6), live born with myocarditis (N = 5) (average age 22.8 days), live born without myocarditis (N = 14) (average age 20.0 days), and control animals from a different herd (N = 5) (newborn). Statistically significant differences were observed in the mean porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) load among the 4 groups in the liver (P < 0.0001). The presence of PCV2 antigen within the myocardial lesions was confirmed by immunohistochemistry. A high load of PCV2 DNA was observed in myocardium, liver, and spleen from mummified or stillborn piglets (>1 × 107 copies per 500 ng DNA), lower in piglets with myocarditis (>1 × 105 copies per 500 ng DNA), and even further lower in pigs without myocarditis (<1 × 105 copies per 500 ng DNA), whereas no PCV2 DNA was detected in the control animals. Myocardium, liver, and spleen were well suited for routine testing of fetuses and young piglets by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Neither porcine parvovirus nor encepaholomyocarditis virus was detected. These results indicate that the PCV2 infection might have been of etiological importance for the fetal deaths and piglet mortality observed in this herd.
Glycemic Control in Diabetic Patients on Long-Term Maintenance Dialysis

The epidemiology of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) varies considerably worldwide. In Thailand, the incidence of ESRD on renal replacement therapy (RRT) increased from 78.9 per million populations in 1999 to 552.8 per million populations in 2009. The yearly incidence of all RRT modalities increased by an average of 34.8% from 2007 to 2009 [1]. According to the estimation by the International Diabetes Foundation, by the year 2025 the frequency of diabetes is expected to increase threefold worldwide [2]. Diabetic nephropathy is the most common cause of ESRD [3], representing 30-47% of the United States and Asian populations undergoing long-term maintenance hemodialysis [4, 5]. Disparities in the incidence of ESRD due to diabetes among ethnic groups have existed for many years, but the magnitude may be increasing.
Combination Treatment of Invasive Fungal Infections

SUMMARY The persistence of high morbidity and mortality from systemic fungal infections despite the availability of novel antifungals points to the need for effective treatment strategies. Treatment of invasive fungal infections is often hampered by drug toxicity, tolerability, and specificity issues, and added complications often arise due to the lack of diagnostic tests and to treatment complexities. Combination therapy has been suggested as a possible approach to improve treatment outcome. In this article, we undertake a historical review of studies of combination therapy and also focus on recent studies involving newly approved antifungal agents. The limitations surrounding antifungal combinations include nonuniform interpretation criteria, inability to predict the likelihood of clinical success, strain variability, and variations in pharmacodynamic/pharmacokinetic properties of antifungals used in combination. The issue of antagonism between polyenes and azoles is beginning to be addressed, but data regarding other drug combinations are not adequate for us to draw definite conclusions. However, recent data have identified potentially useful combinations. Standardization of assay methods and adoption of common interpretive criteria are essential to avoid discrepancies between different in vitro studies. Larger clinical trials are needed to assess whether combination therapy improves survival and treatment outcome in the most seriously debilitated patients afflicted with life-threatening fungal infections.
Loss of spatial coherence by a single spontaneous emission.

We have demonstrated the loss of transverse spatial coherence of an atomic wave function after a single spontaneous emission. He· atoms were both diffracted and excited by a standing light wave with a variable period. After the interaction. the excited atoms decay by a single spontaneously emitted photon. By changing the period of the standing light wave, we have mapped the loss of spatial coherence as a function of the transverse coordinate. By detecting the emitted photon one could "erase" the position information available and recover the transverse coherence in a correlation experiment, or realize a Heisenberg microscope.
Potential Gains from Capital Flight Repatriation for Sub-Saharan African Countries

Despite the recent increase in capital flows to Sub-Saharan Africa, the region remains largely marginalized in financial globalization and chronically dependent on official development aid. And with the potential decline in the level of official development assistance in a context of global financial crisis, the need to increase domestic resources mobilization as well as non-debt generating external resources is critical now more than ever before. However, the debate on resource mobilization has overlooked an important untapped source of funds consisting of the massive stocks of private wealth stashed in Western financial centers, a substantial part of which left the region in the form of capital flight. This paper argues that the repatriation of flight capital should take a more prominent place in this debate from a moral standpoint and for clear economic reasons. On the moral side, the argument is that a large proportion of the capital flight legitimately belongs to the Africans and therefore must be restituted to the legitimate claimants. The economic argument is that repatriation of flight capital will propel the sub-continent on a higher sustainable growth path while preserving its financial stability and without mortgaging the welfare of its future generations through external borrowing. The analysis in the paper demonstrates quantitatively that the gains from repatriation are large and dominate the expected benefits from other sources such as debt relief. It is estimated that if only a quarter of the stock of capital flight was repatriated to Sub-Saharan Africa, the region would go from trailing to leading other developing regions in terms of domestic investment, thus initiating a big-push-led sustainable long-term economic growth. The paper proposes some strategies for inducing capital flight repatriation, but cautions that the success of this program is contingent on strong political will on the part of African and Western governments and effective coordination and cooperation at the global level.
Acute Respiratory Disease in US Army Trainees 3 Years after Reintroduction of Adenovirus Vaccine

The 1999 cessation of vaccination against adenovirus types 4 and 7 among US Army trainees resulted in reemergence of acute respiratory disease (ARD) outbreaks. The 2011 implementation of a replacement vaccine led to dramatic and sustained decreases in ARD cases, supporting continuation of vaccination in this population at high risk for ARD.
Role of Radioprotectors in the Inhibition of DNA Damage and Modulation of DNA Repair After Exposure to Gamma-Radiation

Radiation has been considered an enigma to the general public and the use of radiation for therapeutic and other uses has always been associated with some skepticism. Presently, ionizing radiation is being used in a large number of therapeutic, industrial and other applications apart from for the generation of nuclear power, developing new varieties of high-yielding crops and enhancing storage period of food materials. Radiation treatment is an important therapeutic option for a number of malignancies, but its use is frequently limited due to adverse effects on normal tissues because it generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as hydroxyl radical (·OH), superoxide radicals (O2-.), singlet oxygen and peroxyl radicals (ROO.) in irradiated tissue that induce several pathophysiological changes in the body. The goal of most cancer treatments is to maximize the antineoplastic effect while minimizing harmful side effects for the patient. Due to the increased use of ionizing radiation in various aspects of human life, there is a need to develop an effective and non-toxic radioprotector. Radioprotectors are compounds that are designed to reduce the damage in normal tissues caused by radiation. These compounds are often antioxidants and must be present before or at the time of radiation for their effectiveness. Other agents, termed mitigators, may be used to minimize toxicity even after radiation has been delivered. Many natural and synthetic chemicals have been investigated in the recent past for their efficacy to protect against radiation-induced damage in biological systems (Maurya et al. 2006). Though a large number of compounds have been shown to be promising as radioprotectors in laboratory studies, few could pass the transition from bench to bedside. In fact, no radioprotective agent is now available, either alone or in combination to meet all the requisites of an ideal radioprotector. Amifostine is the only one that is currently in use having good radioprotection, even though there are reports about contraindications in some cases. Different radioprotectors offer protection to cellular molecules by different mechanisms (Maurya et al. 2006). Some of these compounds protect the target molecules because of their antioxidant mechanism by neutralizing the free radical, some enhances the cellular DNA repair (Maurya et al. 2005a; Maurya et al. 2005b), some modified the signaling pathways, some modulate the immune system and some contribute to a combination of all above mentioned mechanisms.
Transgenic Pm3b wheat lines show resistance to powdery mildew in the field.

Plant resistance (R) genes are highly effective in protecting plants against diseases, but pathogens can overcome such genes relatively easily by adaptation. Consequently, in many cases R genes do not confer durable resistance in agricultural environments. One possible strategy to make the use of R genes more sustainable depends on the modification of R genes followed by transformation. To test a possible transgenic use of R genes, we overexpressed in wheat the Pm3b resistance gene against powdery mildew under control of the maize ubiquitin promoter. Four independent transgenic lines were tested in the greenhouse and the field during 3 years. The four lines showed a five- to 600-fold transgene overexpression compared with the expression of the endogenous Pm3b gene in the landrace 'Chul'. Powdery mildew resistance was significantly improved in all lines in the greenhouse and the field, both with naturally occurring infection or after artificial inoculation. Under controlled environmental conditions, the line with the strongest overexpression of the Pm3b gene showed a dramatic increase in resistance to powdery mildew isolates that are virulent on the endogenous Pm3b. Under a variety of field conditions, but never in the greenhouse, three of the four transgenic lines showed pleiotropic effects on spike and leaf morphology. The highest overexpressing line had the strongest side effects, suggesting a correlation between expression level and phenotypic changes. These results demonstrate that the successful transgenic use of R genes critically depends on achieving an optimal level of their expression, possibly in a tissue-specific way.
Antimicrobial susceptibility pattern and serotyping of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolated from Kanti Children Hospital in Nepal.

BACKGROUND Invasive pneumococcal disease is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and it is a major cause for childhood deaths in Nepal. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to establish the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of Streptococcus pneumoniae and perform serotype responsible for pneumococcal disease in Nepal. MATERIALS AND METHODS All together 3774 children from 2 to 60 months who fulfilled the enrollment criteria for suspect of bacterial pneumonia, sepsis or meningitis were enrolled for etiologic studies of severe illness. During the study period 60 isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae were isolated and the antimicrobial susceptibility testing and serotyping were performed. RESULTS The study showed that 24 (52. 17%) isolates were resistant to Cotrimoxazole, 3 (6. 5%) isolates were intermediately resistant to Penicillin but no Penicillin resistant strains were isolated. The 1 (2. 17%) isolate was recorded as Erythromycin and Chloramphenicol resistant and only 1 (2. 17%) isolate was found intermediately resistant to Cefotaxime. Of the 60 isolates, serotyping result was available only for 46 isolates. The most common serotypes were serotype 1 (27. 65%) followed by serotype 5 (19. 14%) and serotype 4 (8. 5%) respectively followed by serotype 39, 23F, 7F, 19B, 12A, 14, 18F, 6B, 32, 16, 19F and 25F. CONCLUSIONS Alarming level of Cotrimoxazole resistance demands revision of pneumonia treatment policy in Nepal and rising tendency of other drug resistance against Streptococcus pneumoniae showed use of these drugs for the treatment of meningitis, pneumonia and other serious infections needs extended research. The common serotype 1, 5 and 4 need to be incorporated in pneumococcal vaccine to immunise children in Nepal.
Determinants of maternal health care services in Kenya

xi CHAPTER ONE:INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 Background . 1 1.2 Trends of Maternal mortality across regions . 5 1.3 Problem Statement . 7 1.4 Objectives of the study. 8 1.5 Significance of the study . 8 1.6 Organization of the study . 9 CHAPTER TWO:LITERATURE REVIEW . 10 2.1 Theoretical Literature Review . 10 2.2 Empirical Literature Review . 12 2.3 Overview of Literature . 16 CHAPTER THREE:METHODOLOGY . 18 3.1 Theoretical model . 18 3.2 Econometric model . 20 3.2.1 Model specification . 20 3.2.2 Binary probit model . 20 3.3 Data source. 22 CHAPTER FOUR:FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS . 23 4.
Toward Understanding Non-coding RNA Roles in Intracranial Aneurysms and Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Abstract Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a common and frequently life-threatening cerebrovascular disease, which is mostly related with a ruptured intracranial aneurysm. Its complications include rebleeding, early brain injury, cerebral vasospasm, delayed cerebral ischemia, chronic hydrocephalus, and also non neurological problems. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), comprising of microRNAs (miRNAs), small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), play an important role in intracranial aneurysms and SAH. Here, we review the non-coding RNAs expression profile and their related mechanisms in intracranial aneurysms and SAH. Moreover, we suggest that these non-coding RNAs function as novel molecular biomarkers to predict intracranial aneurysms and SAH, and may yield new therapies after SAH in the future.
Le contrôle temporel des consonnes occlusives de l’alsacien et du français parlé en Alsace

Les Alsaciens ont, quand ils parlent francais, un accent caracteristique. Ce phenomene peut etre considere, au niveau de la production de la parole, comme une perturbation qui engendre un certain nombre de variations des formes phonetiques attendues en francais, notamment au niveau de la gestion temporelle des consonnes occlusives. Dans une lecture fondee sur l’importance du geste en tant qu’unite de base en production de la parole, il est possible d’analyser la plasticite de la gestion temporelle des sujets parlants, specifiquement dans le cadre du bilinguisme. En effet, les gestes sont accomplis dans le but d’atteindre des cibles, avec neanmoins un certain degre de liberte et de variabilite visible tant au niveau articulatoire qu’acoustique. Il s’agit de respecter certaines contraintes, permettant de considerer le systeme de production / perception de la parole comme un ensemble ayant pour objectif l’emergence de solutions linguistiquement viables. Nous avons mene trois experiences, concernant la gestion temporelle des occlusives. Differents indices acoustiques ont ete analyses, propres a l’alsacien, au francais parle en Alsace et a la parole de locuteurs imitant l’accent des Alsaciens. Les resultats obtenus sont analyses dans le cadre de la Theorie de la Viabilite, qui permet de mettre au jour le fonctionnement du systeme de production / perception de la parole, entre perturbation et reajustement.
Challenges to Assessing Usability in the Wild: A Case Study

This article describes one part of a human factors study conducted over 3 months in a petro-chemical manufacturing plant in Australia. The project had two purposes, namely, to identify issues to be included in a training course for plant operators and to identify low-level usability-related software issues that might be rectifiable prior to system implementation. After interviewing 28 operators and eight managers, the operators were observed on the job while interacting with the old system. Finally, the 3-part usability assessment comprising 2 expert inspections and a user-based quasi-walkthrough was conducted. As the study took place shortly before a new, off-the-shelf automated manufacturing system was implemented, it was not possible to test an interactive version, relying instead exclusively on static screens. This made it impossible to provide user performance data, which could have helped to convince management of the seriousness of certain problems. One of these proved so severe that an engineer had to be present 24/7 in the control room for 6 months following system cutover because the operators were unable to achieve the required product quality. Based on the data, suggestions are made for expanding the usability construct to include assessment of perceived technology usefulness and to refine the concept of attitude in mandatory settings.
Influence of Malolactic Fermentation on the Quality of Riesling Wine

SUMMARY The composition and sensory properties in Riesling wines of suppressed, natural and induced malolactic fermentation (MLF) were investigated. A Riesling wine from the vintage 1998 was produced by the usual technology for white wines. After completion of alcoholic fermentation, wine was racked and divided into 35 L glass bottles for different treatments. The first treatment was suppressed MLF with SO 2 and storage at 10 0 C. The second one included natural MLF and the third MLF was induced with starter culture Oenococcus oeni. After the MLF of the wines was completed, the wines were analysed and sensory tested. The analysis of the organic acids were performed by HPLC and the concentrations of volatile compounds were determined by gas chromatography. Malic acid decomposition was completed in wines of all MLF treatments and the result was a significant decrease of total acidity up to 1.3 g/L and an increase of the pH value of 0.1 units. No differences in the concentrations of volatile acidity and ethyl acetate were detected between the wines of suppressed, natural and induced MLF. MLF was not accompanied by tartaric acid degradation. The citric acid concentration was reduced by up to 42 %. The concentrations of 1-propanol, isobutanol, isoamyl alcohol and 2-phenylethanol remained unchanged after malolactic fermentation. The concentrations of isoamyl acetate, isobutyl acetate, ethyl butyrate and ethyl caproate were lower in the MLF wines. These wines contained more ethyl lactate and diethyl succinate. Higher quantities of ethyl caprylate, ethyl caprate, caproic, caprylic and capric acids were determined in the MLF wines. Wines of suppressed MLF were of inferior quality compared with malolactic fermented wines, while wines of natural MLF were significantly better.
Phagocytic and Bactericidal Activity of Granulocytes in Diabetic Children

Phagocytic and bactericidal activity of granulocytes were estimated in granulocytes of normal and diabetic children. The influence of candidai, tuberculin antigens, and staphylococcal antitoxin on these parameters was also tested. Thirty diabetic and forty healthy children made up the study group. Their ages were 6–18 yr. The disease duration was from 1 to 12 yr. Granulocytes from diabetic children demonstrated a normal ability to absorb staphylococcus. On the other hand, the capacity for intercellular killing of bacteria by granulocytes of diabetic children was decreased.
A school nurse-delivered intervention for overweight and obese adolescents.

BACKGROUND Models are needed for implementing weight management interventions for adolescents through readily accessible venues. This study evaluated the feasibility and efficacy of a school nurse-delivered intervention in improving diet and activity and reducing body mass index (BMI) among overweight and obese adolescents. METHODS Six high schools were randomized to either a 6-session school nurse-delivered counseling intervention utilizing cognitive-behavioral techniques or nurse contact with provision of information. Eighty-four overweight or obese adolescents in grades 9 through 11 completed behavioral and physiological assessments at baseline and 2- and 6-month follow-ups. RESULTS At 2 months, intervention participants ate breakfast on more days/week (difference = 1.01 days; 95% CI: 0.11, 1.92), and had a lower intake of total sugar (difference = -45.79 g; 95% CI: -88.34, -3.24) and added sugar (difference = -51.35 g; 95% CI: -92.45, -10.26) compared to control participants. At 6 months, they were more likely to drink soda ≤ one time/day (OR 4.10; 95% CI: 1.19, 16.93) and eat at fast food restaurants ≤ one time/week (OR 4.62; 95% CI: 1.10, 23.76) compared to control participants. There were no significant differences in BMI, activity, or caloric intake. CONCLUSION A brief school nurse-delivered intervention was feasible, acceptable, and improved selected obesogenic behaviors, but not BMI.