Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fungal Air Quality in Medical Protected Environments

Fungi are ubiquitous in indoor environments and are responsible for a wide range of diseases, from localized non-invasive pathologies to invasive and disseminated infections. These infections occur predominantly among highly immunosuppressed patients (patients with acute leukaemia, haematopoietic stem cell or solid organ transplantation) and can have devastating consequences. Aspergillus remains the most common mould to cause invasive infections, but other fungi are emerging as serious pathogens and threats in immunosuppressed patients. Most invasive fungal infections are acquired from air. It is therefore imperative to adopt, in clinical environments, preventive measures in order to reduce airborne fungal concentrations and, concomitantly, the risk for development of a fungal infection. At present, there are no methods and equipments that can completely eliminate fungi from indoor medical environments. Exposure to moulds in medical units is inevitable but the presence of air filtration systems, isolation, and adoption of environmental protective measures do mitigate patient exposure. Airborne mycological investigations should inform about indoor air quality and therefore should be routinely carried out in hospitals or other institutions where immunosuppressed individuals are treated. It is important to improve the methods already available to study indoor fungi in clean environments, and it is critical to define indicators of indoor air quality in medical environments. The present chapter deals with the biology of indoor fungi in medical environments, and the strategies and technical progresses that are at present available to prevent and control fungal diseases and to improve air quality in medical facilities.
Restriction enzyme mediated integration and FIV lentiviral transgenesis applied to amphibians

Restriction enzyme mediated integration (REMI) transgenesis and lentiviral transgenesis are effective methods of introducing transgenes into the genome of frogs. One aquatic amphibian species, Xenopus laevis, and one land dwelling species, Litoria caerulea, were chosen as subjects for transgenesis. REMI produced X. laevis that expressed the fluorescent protein DsRed. REMI was unsuccessful in producing transgenic Litoria. Therefore, lentiviral transgenesis was attempted. Hatchling Litoria tadpoles were exposed to replication defective lentiviral particles containing the coding sequence for DsRed. Histological evaluation revealed the presence of DsRed in brain, heart, liver, kidney, and muscle tissues. Therefore, lentiviral transgenesis appears to be a viable technique for producing transgenic land-dwelling frogs. Key words: DsRed, Xenopus laevis, Litoria caerulea, restriction enzyme mediated integration (REMI), Lentivirus.
Radio-AGN Feedback : When the Little Ones were Monsters

We present a study of the evolution of the fraction of radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGN) as a function of their host stellar mass. We make use of two samples of radio galaxies: one in the local universe, $0.01 10^{24}$ W/Hz at z ~ 1-2 while the radio-loud fraction for higher mass galaxies ($M_* > 10^{11.25}$ M$_{\odot}$) remains the same. We argue that this increase is driven largely by the increase in cold or radiative mode accretion with increasing cold gas supply at earlier epochs. The increasing population of low mass Radio-Loud AGN can thus explain the upturn in the Radio Luminosity Function (RLF) at high redshift which is important for understanding the impact of AGN feedback in galaxy evolution.
Organic and elemental carbon concentrations in carbonaceous aerosols during summer and winter sampling campaigns in Barcelona , Spain

Daily PM10 and PM2.5 samples were collected at an urban background monitoring site in Barcelona (Spain) in summer and winter 2004. The instrumentation used consisted of two high-volume (PM10 and PM2.5) and two low-volume samplers (PM2.5), one of them coupled to an annular diffusion denuder aiming to evaluate the influence of sampling artefacts related to the adsorption of volatile carbonaceous species. Quartz fibre filters of 15 cm and 47mm diameter were used as collection substrates (Schleicher & Schuell QF20 and Whatman QM-A, respectively). The resulting samples were analysed for organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC) and water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC). Total carbon (TC) was calculated as OC+EC. The present study aimed to (a) determine maximum (winter) and minimum (summer) OC/EC/ TC/WSOC levels in the study area, and (b) assess the magnitude and influence of positive sampling artefacts. Mean levels of TC in PM2.5 ranged from 4 to 5 mgm 3 in summer to 7–10mgm 3 in winter with the different samplers (5 and 8mgm , respectively, in PM10, one sampler); OC levels in PM2.5 were 3–4 mgm 3 in summer and 6–7mgm 3 in winter (4 and 6mgm 3 in PM10); EC levels in PM2.5 ranged from 1 to 2 mgm 3 in summer to 1–3 mgm 3 in winter (1 and 2 mgm 3 in PM10). Thus, OC/EC/TC winter levels were higher than summer levels by a factor of 1.7–2. WSOC levels were 1.6 mgm 3 in PM2.5 and PM10 in summer, and 2.1 mgm 3 (PM2.5) and 1.9 mgm 3 (PM10) in winter. The results indicate that positive artefacts for OC accounted for 0.5–0.7 mgm , representing 11–16% of the raw OC mass and 3% of the PM2.5 mass. Sampling artefacts for OC were slightly higher in summer. EC levels were similar for the low-volume samplers and unusually low for the high-volume samplers, suggesting that EC determination could be influenced by the filter type. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Extinction and dust properties in a clumpy medium

(abridged) The dust content of the universe is primarily explored via its interaction with stellar photons, producing interstellar extinction. However, owing to the physical extension of the observing beam, observations may detect scattered photons, resulting in a change in the observed (or effective) extinction, depending on the spatial distribution of the dust and the resolution of the instrument. We investigate the influence of clumpy dust distributions on effective extinction toward embedded sources and those in the diffuse ISM. We use Monte Carlo radiative transfer to examine effective extinction for various geometries. By varying the number, optical depth and volume-filling factor of clumps in models of spherical shells and the diffuse ISM, we explore the evolution of extinction. Depending on the number of scattering events in the beam, the extinction curve steepens in homogeneous media and flattens in clumpy media. As a result, clumpy dust distributions can to reproduce extinction curves with arbitrary R_v, the effective ratio of total-to-selective extinction. The flattening `washes out' the 2175 \AA bump and shifts the peak to shorter wavelengths. The mean R_v of a shell correlates with the optical depth of an individual clump and the wavelength at which a clump becomes optically thick. Similar behaviour is seen for edge-on discs or tori. However, at grazing inclinations the combination of extinction and strong forward scattering results in chaotic behaviour. Caution is therefore advised when measuring extinction in, for example, AGN tori or toward SNIa or GRB afterglows. In face-on discs, the shape of the scattered continuum changes with clumpiness, however, unlike absorption features, individual features in the scattering cross-sections are preserved. Finally, we show that diffuse interstellar extinction is not modified by scattering on scales of a few kpc.
A Bird's Eye View of Vertebrate Forebrain Development

Development of the vertebrate forebrain is a complex process involving the interplay of many different signaling pathways and their downstream effectors. Despite morphological differences among the forebrains of different vertebrate classes there is a remarkable degree of conservation in the basic molecular players and the mechanisms involved in its development. A large body of knowledge about this process has been built up over the years through studies carried out in diverse model systems ranging from fi shes to mammals. However, several important aspects of forebrain development remain unexplored till today. In this review we have summarized the information currently available on the molecular mechanisms involved in vertebrate forebrain development with particular emphasis on early events that pattern the forebrain along the anteriorposterior as well as the dorsal-ventral axis. We have highlighted the contribution of the developing chick embryo towards the understanding of mechanisms regulating forebrain development. We have also described the recent advances made in molecular techniques that have made the avian model system an attractive option for studying vertebrate forebrain development.
Rent Seeking and Corporate Finance: Evidence from Corruption Cases*

This study investigates the impact of political rent seeking on corporate financing behaviors in China – a country plagued by corruption problems and high corporate sector debt. Based on 23 high level government officer corruption cases, we identify a set of publicly traded companies whose senior managers engage in bribing the corrupt bureaucrats or are connected with the bureaucrats through prior job affiliations. We report significant decline in these companies’ leverage and debt maturity ratios relative to other unconnected firms subsequent to the arrest of the bureaucrats. These relations persist even if we only focus on the connected firms that are not involved in the corruption cases. This suggests that the weakened debt financing strength of the companies is not only attributable to the corruption cases per se, but also due to the lost connections with the bureaucrats. Our event study reveals that the relative decline in firm leverage are associated with negative stock market effects around the corruption events, reflecting the weakened financing capacity resulting from the lost political connections. An analysis of long-term performance corroborates this relation. We also examine a possibility that the rent seekers are efficient firms and hence corruption does not result in capital mis-allocation, but we fail to find such evidence. This study’s overall evidence highlight the importance of rent seeking in firm behaviors, and support recent cross-country studies’ findings that country-level institutional factors matter to corporate financing choices.
Predicting the success of MPharm graduates in the pharmacy twinning programme

Background: The twinning programme, an international collaborative education system with credit transfer scheme, is growing increasingly. Aims: To determine the association between academic banding classification on admission and the end-point academic achievement and to identify predictor(s) for the end-point academic achievement in the twinning programme. Method: A descriptive analysis of the database of 546 students in the twinning programme (2003-2007). Results: A significant positive association was found between the students’ banding classification on admission to the admiss ion university, International Medical University and their award on the first attempt at the degree-awarding university, University Strathclyde (UoS) in the United Kingdom ( r = .113, p = 0.009). The credit-mark average from semester 1 through semester 5 in the admission university was the only significant predictor of the likelihood of end-point success in the twining programme (Odds ratio, 3.9; p < 0.001). Conclusion: The academic performance in the pre-university institution and the admission institution were crucial for subsequent success in the twinning programme.
A Small Open Economy as a Limit Case of a Two-Country New Keynesian DSGE Model: A Bayesian Estimation With Brazilian Data

We build a two-country version of the DSGE model in Gali & Monacelli (2005), which extends for a small open economy the new Keynesain model used as tool for monetary policy analysis in closed economies. A distinctive feature of the model is that the terms of trade enters directly into the new Keynesian Phillips curve as a new pushing-cost variable feeding the inflation, so that there is no more the direct relationship between marginal cost and output gap that characterizes the closed economies. Unlike most part of the literature, we derive the small domestic open economy as a limit case of the two-coutry model, rather than assuming exogenous processes for the foreign variables. This procedure preserves the role played by foreign nominal frictions in the way as international monetary policy shocks are conveyed into the small domestic economy. Using the Bayesian approach, the small-economy case is estimated with Brazilian data and impulse-response functions are build to analyse the dynamic effects of structural shocks.
The mathematical principles and design of the NAIS – a spectrometer for the measurement of cluster ion and nanometer aerosol size distributions

Abstract. The paper describes the Neutral cluster and Air Ion Spectrometer (NAIS) – a multichannel aerosol instrument capable of measuring the distribution of ions (charged particles and cluster ions) of both polarities in the electric mobility range from 3.2 to 0.0013 cm2 V−1 s−1 and the distribution of aerosol particles in the size range from 2.0 to 40 nm. We introduce the principles of design, data processing and spectrum deconvolution of the instrument.
Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): The mechanisms for quiescent galaxy formation at z < 1

© 2016 The Authors. One key problem in astrophysics is understanding how and why galaxies switch off their star formation, building the quiescent population that we observe in the local Universe. From the Galaxy And Mass Assembly and VIsible MultiObject Spectrograph Public Extragalactic Redshift surveys, we use spectroscopic indices to select quiescent and candidate transition galaxies.We identify potentially rapidly transitioning post-starburst (PSB) galaxies and slower transitioning green-valley galaxies. Over the last 8Gyr, the quiescent population has grown more slowly in number density at high masses (M * > 10 11 M ⊙ ) than at intermediate masses (M * > 10 10.6 M ⊙ ). There is evolution in both the PSB and green-valley stellar mass functions, consistent with higher mass galaxies quenching at earlier cosmic times.At intermediatemasses (M * > 10 10.6 M ⊙ ), we find a green-valley transition time-scale of 2.6 Gyr. Alternatively, at z ~ 0.7, the entire growth rate could be explained by fast-quenching PSB galaxies, with a visibility time-scale of 0.5 Gyr. At lower redshift, the number density of PSBs is so low that an unphysically short visibility window would be required for them to contribute significantly to the quiescent population growth. The importance of the fast-quenching route may rapidly diminish at z 10 11 M ⊙ ), there is tension between the large number of candidate transition galaxies compared to the slow growth of the quiescent population. This could be resolved if not all high-mass PSB and green-valley galaxies are transitioning from star forming to quiescent, for example if they rejuvenate out of the quiescent population following the accretion of gas and triggering of star formation, or if they fail to completely quench their star formation.
Ecophysiological responses of Mediterranean pines to simulated sea aerosol polluted with an anionic surfactant: prospects for biomonitoring

Reponses ecophysiologiques de quelques pins mediterraneens a un aerosol marin pollue artificiellement avec un surfactant anionique: perspectives pour un biocontrole. Les embruns marins peuvent contenir des polluants. Dans le present travail ont ete etudies et compares les mecanismes ecophysiologiques lies a la sensibilite de trois pins mediterraneens traites avec de l'eau de mer polluee avec cinq concentrations (de 5 a 500 mg/L) de dioctyl sulfosuccinate de sodium. Malgre la reduction des surfactants dans l'eau de mer pendant les 20 dernieres annees, les pins mediterraneens ont encore des risques de deperissement a caue des concentrations qui atteignent le seuil de degât visible sur les aiguilles: 2 mg/L de surfactant depose sur les aiguilles. Le seuil de toxicite du chlore etait de 2 mg/g de poids sec des aiguilles; les valeurs mesurees ont depasse le seuil de toxicite lorsque l'eau de mer avait une concentration superieure a 30 mg/L de surfactants. Le polluant a endommage les tubes cireux epistomatiques et, par voie de consequence, a eu un effet sur le potentiel hydrique des aiguilles. L'effet toxique a augmente avec le temps, meme en l'absence d'expositions ulterieures des aiguilles au polluant (effet « action prolongee »). Dans la perspective d'un suivi par un biocontrole parmi les parametres etudies, le contenu en chlore des aiguilles semble etre mieux indique que les degâts stomatiques, la quantite des cires epicuticulaires, l'angle de contact de la goutte ou le potentiel hydrique. Les trois especes se sont montrees sensibles aux differentes concentrations de surfactant, selon l'ordre suivant: P. pinea > P. halepensis > P. pinaster.
Systematic analysis of equatorial noise below the lower hybrid frequency

Abstract. We report results of a systematic analysis of a large number of observations of equatorial noise between the local proton cyclotron frequency and the local lower hybrid frequency. The analysis is based on the data collected by the STAFF-SA instruments on board the four Cluster spacecraft. The data set covers their first two years of measurement in the equatorial magnetosphere at radial distances between 3.9 and 5 Earth radii. Inspection of 781 perigee passages shows that the occurrence rate of equatorial noise is approximately 60%. We identify equatorial noise by selecting data with nearly linearly polarized magnetic field fluctuations. These waves are found within 10° of the geomagnetic equator, consistent with the published past observations. Our results show that equatorial noise has the most intense magnetic field fluctuations among all the natural emissions in the given interval of frequencies and latitudes. Electric field fluctuations of equatorial noise are also more intense compared to the average of all detected waves. Equatorial noise thus can play a non-negligible role in the dynamics of the internal magnetosphere.
On the existence and radial symmetry of maximizers for functionals with critical exponential growth in $\Bbb R^2$

We investigate the problem of existence and symmetry of maximizers for S(α, 4π) = sup ‖u‖=1 Z B “ e 2 − 1 ” |x|dx, where B is the unit disk in R and α > 0, proposed by Secchi and Serra in [11]. Through the notion of spherical symmetrization with respect to a measure, we prove that supremum is attained for α small. Furthermore, we prove that S(α, 4π) is attained by a radial function.
Differential Responses of Independent and Interdependent People to Social Exclusion

To what extent is a person’s interpersonal network mustered after social exclusion? This was investigated in relation to self-construal: independent, or interdependent. We conducted two quasi-experimental questionnaire studies of university students (Study 1; N = 57, Study 2; N = 78). Results indicated that interdependent students lowered identification with their academic departments after remembering a time when they were socially excluded (Study 1). Their self-worth was also more highly contingent on relational harmony in the whole of their interpersonal networks (Study 2). In contrast, independent students did not exhibit these patterns. These results suggest that social exclusion caused interdependent (not independent) individuals make attempts to secure and value their entire networks, due to the possibility that such specific identification might actually serve to limit possible interpersonal networks (boundary effect). It is concluded that independent and interdependent students evidence dissimilar responses to social exclusion. The implications of this finding are discussed.
The new empirical magnitude conversion relations using an improved earthquake catalogue for Turkey and its near vicinity (1900-2012)

Empirical magnitude conversion relationships are one of the important parameters for not only seismological studies but also seismic hazard analysis and development of the attenuation relationships. Particularly, for seismic hazard analysis, conversion of various types of magnitudes to moment magnitude, which is the most reliable and common magnitude scale, is a key requirement. Within this scope, different magnitude conversion equations have been derived by various researchers in the literature. In this study, new empirical magnitude conversion formulas for conversion from m b , M L , M d , and M S to M w were derived by using a recently established earthquake catalogue. The most important feature of the new relationships is the use of the maximum data with respect to the literature. It is a well- known fact that having a greater number of data increases the sensitivity of the equations derived. Both orthogonal regression (OR) and ordinary least squares (OLS) were used to derive conversion equations, and the results obtained from these two methods were compared. In the derivation, 489 events with magnitudes in M w scale taken from the Harvard GCMT Catalogue were used. Residual graphs created for both methods showed that the OR method gives better results than OLS for conversion from M S to M w . On the other hand, the OLS method showed preferable performance for conversions from m b , M L , and M d to M w . The equations proposed in this study were also compared with other empirical relations in the literature.
The impact of dose of the St. Louis Healthy Start program and prenatal care adequacy on birth outcomes

The federal Healthy Start program began over 20 years ago to reduce disparities in infant mortality. Data on outcomes of the program, in particular related to the amount of exposure to Healthy Start, are lacking in the literature. This study was designed to assess the impact of dose of a Healthy Start program on prenatal care adequacy (defined using the Kotelchuck Index) and birth outcomes. Two hundred and thirty African American women were included in the study sample. Participants were women served by their local Healthy Start program between 2007 and 2012. Traditional multivariable logistic and linear regression analyses were employed to determine the impact of the Healthy Start program. Dose of Healthy Start (OR = 1.296, 95% CI [1.060, 1.585]) was found to be positively predictive of prenatal care adequacy. Because significant interaction effects were found between dose and prenatal care adequacy, the sample was then stratified by level of prenatal care adequacy, and dose was assessed as an independent variable on birth outcomes (infant birth weight and pre-term birth). Dose was negatively predictive of infant birth weight (β = -60.015, p < .10) among women with adequate plus prenatal care; dose was positively predictive of pre-term birth (OR = 1.427, 90% CI [1.104, 1.845]) among women with adequate plus prenatal care. Dose was found to be an important predictor of birth outcomes across varying categories of prenatal care adequacy and probably works synergistically through prenatal care. Future research should continue to explore these relationships at each level of prenatal care adequacy.