Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Isolation and Evaluation of Antibiotic Resistivity Pattern of Faecal Coliforms Bacteria Isolated From River Wudil Kano, Nigeria

Water is one of the most essential natural resources needed by every living thing. Whether it is used for drinking, bathing, food production or recreational purposes, portable and accessible water supply is crucial for public health [1]. Water is the commonest solvent for many substances and it rarely occurs in its pure nature. Water can be obtained from a number of sources, among which are streams, lakes, rivers, ponds, rain, springs and wells [2]. Drinking water has always been a major issue in many countries, especially in developing countries like Nigeria. In Nigeria, majority of the rural populace do not have access to potable water and therefore, depend on well, stream and river water for domestic use [3]. Contaminated water sources are vehicles for the transmission of waterborne diseases such as cholera, shigellosis, and Campylo bacteriosis [4]. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that about 1.1 billion people globally drink unsafe water and the vast majority of diarrheal diseases in the world (88%) are attributable to unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene. Approximately 3.1% of annual deaths (1.7 million) and 3.7% of the annual health burden worldwide (54.2 million) are attributable to unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene [5].
Static output feedback control of switched systems with dwell time constraints or arbitrary switching

This paper addresses the problem of determining static output feedback controllers for stabilizing continuous-time switched linear systems with either dwell time constraints or arbitrary switching. This problem is addressed by searching for a family of homogeneous polynomial Lyapunov functions (HPLFs) parameterized by the sought controller that prove stability for the considered set of switching rules. In order to conduct this search, polynomials are introduced for approximating the matrix exponential and for quantifying the feasibility of the Lyapunov inequalities. It is shown that there exists a stabilizing controller if and only if a condition built solving three convex optimization problems with linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) holds for polynomials of degree sufficiently large.
FemtoCaching: Wireless video content delivery through distributed caching helpers

We suggest a novel approach to handle the ongoing explosive increase in the demand for video content in wireless/mobile devices. We envision femtocell-like base stations, which we call helpers, with weak backhaul links but large storage capacity. These helpers form a wireless distributed caching network that assists the macro base station by handling requests of popular files that have been cached. Due to the short distances between helpers and requesting devices, the transmission of cached files can be done very efficiently. A key question for such a system is the wireless distributed caching problem, i.e., which files should be cached by which helpers. If every mobile device has only access to a exactly one helper, then clearly each helper should cache the same files, namely the most popular ones. However, for the case that each mobile device can access multiple caches, the assignment of files to helpers becomes nontrivial. The theoretical contribution of our paper lies in (i) formalizing the distributed caching problem, (ii) showing that this problem is NP-hard, and (iii) presenting approximation algorithms that lie within a constant factor of the theoretical optimum. On the practical side, we present a detailed simulation of a university campus scenario covered by a single 3GPP LTE R8 cell and several helpers using a simplified 802.11n protocol. We use a real campus trace of video requests and show how distributed caching can increase the number served users by as much as 400 - 500%.
Adapting Models to Model Checkers, A Case Study : Analysing AADL Using Time or Colored Petri Nets

The verification of High-Integrity Real-Time systems combines heterogeneous concerns: preserving timing con- straints, ensuring behavioral invariants, or specific execu- tion patterns. Furthermore, each concern requires specific verification techniques; and combining all these techniques require automation to preserve semantics and consistency.Model-based approaches focus on the definition of rep- resentation of a system, and its transformation to equivalent representation for further processing, including verification and are thus good candidates to support such automation.In this paper, we show there is a strong requirement to automatically map high-level models to abstractions that are dedicated to specific analysis techniques taking full ad- vantage of tools. We discuss this requirement on a case study: validating some aspects of AADL models using both coloured and time Petri Nets.
Procedural Factors That Affect Psychophysical Measures of Spatial Selectivity in Cochlear Implant Users

Behavioral measures of spatial selectivity in cochlear implants are important both for guiding the programing of individual users’ implants and for the evaluation of different stimulation methods. However, the methods used are subject to a number of confounding factors that can contaminate estimates of spatial selectivity. These factors include off-site listening, charge interactions between masker and probe pulses in interleaved masking paradigms, and confusion effects in forward masking. We review the effects of these confounds and discuss methods for minimizing them. We describe one such method in which the level of a 125-pps masker is adjusted so as to mask a 125-pps probe, and where the masker and probe pulses are temporally interleaved. Five experiments describe the method and evaluate the potential roles of the different potential confounding factors. No evidence was obtained for off-site listening of the type observed in acoustic hearing. The choice of the masking paradigm was shown to alter the measured spatial selectivity. For short gaps between masker and probe pulses, both facilitation and refractory mechanisms had an effect on masking; this finding should inform the choice of stimulation rate in interleaved masking experiments. No evidence for confusion effects in forward masking was revealed. It is concluded that the proposed method avoids many potential confounds but that the choice of method should depend on the research question under investigation.
Tolerant Testers of Image Properties

We initiate a systematic study of tolerant testers of image properties or, equivalently, algorithms that approximate the distance from a given image to the desired property. Image processing is a particularly compelling area of applications for sublinear-time algorithms and, specifically, property testing. However, for testing algorithms to reach their full potential in image processing, they have to be tolerant, which allows them to be resilient to noise. We design efficient approximation algorithms for the following fundamental questions: What fraction of pixels have to be changed in an image so it becomes a half-plane? A representation of a convex object? A representation of a connected object? More precisely, our algorithms approximate the distance to three basic properties (being a half-plane, convexity, and connectedness) within a small additive error ε, after reading poly(1/ε) pixels, independent of the image size. We also design an efficient agnostic proper PAC learner of convex sets (continuous and discrete) in two dimensions under the uniform distribution. Our algorithms require very simple access to the input: uniform random samples for the half-plane property and convexity, and samples from uniformly random blocks for connectedness. However, the analysis of the algorithms, especially for convexity, requires many geometric and combinatorial insights. For example, in the analysis of the algorithm for convexity, we define a set of reference polygons Pε such that (1) every convex image has a nearby polygon in Pε and (2) one can use dynamic programming to quickly compute the smallest empirical distance to a polygon in Pε.
Comparative Reproducibility and Validity of Systems for Assessing Cardiovascular Functional Class: Advantages of a New Specific Activity Scale

Reproducibility and validity are prerequisites for a useful clinical scale. We therefore prospectively tested the reproducibility and validity of the New York Heart Association criteria and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society criteria for the assessment of cardiac functional class and compared these criteria with a new Specific Activity Scale based on the metabolic costs of specific activities. The New York Heart Association estimates made by two physicians had a reproducibility of only 56%, and only 51% of the estimates agreed with treadmill exercise performance. Functional estimates based on the Canadian Cardiovascular Society criteria were significantly more reproducible (73%), but not significantly more valid. The Specific Activity Scale was as reproducible as the Canadian Cardiovascular Society criteria, and its 68% validity was significantly higher than the validities of the other systems. The easily administered Specific Activity Scale was equally reproducible and valid when used by a nonphysician. It was especially better than the other systems for the evaluation of true class II patients and was significantly less likely to underestimate treadmill performance. Although no set of questions can perfectly predict exercise tolerance, the Specific Activity Scale deserves wider prospective testing.
Assessment of Ex Vivo Transport Function in Isolated Rodent Brain Capillaries

The blood‐brain barrier plays an important role in neuroprotection; however, it can be a major obstacle for drug delivery to the brain. This barrier primarily resides in the brain capillaries and functions as an interface between the brain and peripheral blood circulation. Several anatomical and biochemical elements of the blood‐brain barrier are essential to regulate the permeability of nutrients, ions, hormones, toxic metabolites, and xenobiotics into and out of the brain. In particular, high expression of ATP‐driven efflux transporters at the blood‐brain barrier is a major obstacle in the delivery of CNS pharmacotherapeutics to the brain. The complete understanding of these elements can offer insights on how to modulate barrier functions for neuroprotection against CNS drug toxicity and to enhance drug delivery to the brain. In the literature, preclinical models of the blood‐brain barrier are widely utilized to predict drug pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics properties in the brain. In addition, these models are essential tools to investigate cellular mechanisms and novel interventions that alter barrier function and permeability. This unit presents procedures to isolate fresh and viable rodent brain capillaries for the assessment of ex vivo transport activity at the blood‐brain barrier. © 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Comparison of Interpolating Methods for Image Resampling

When resampling an image to a new set of coordinates (for example, when rotating an image), there is often a noticeable loss in image quality. To preserve image quality, the interpolating function used for the resampling should be an ideal low-pass filter. To determine which limited extent convolving functions would provide the best interpolation, five functions were compared: A) nearest neighbor, B) linear, C) cubic B-spline, D) high-resolution cubic spline with edge enhancement (a = -1), and E) high-resolution cubic spline (a = -0.5). The functions which extend over four picture elements (C, D, E) were shown to have a better frequency response than those which extend over one (A) or two (B) pixels. The nearest neighbor function shifted the image up to one-half a pixel. Linear and cubic B-spline interpolation tended to smooth the image. The best response was obtained with the high-resolution cubic spline functions. The location of the resampled points with respect to the initial coordinate system has a dramatic effect on the response of the sampled interpolating function¿the data are exactly reproduced when the points are aligned, and the response has the most smoothing when the resampled points are equidistant from the original coordinate points. Thus, at the expense of some increase in computing time, image quality can be improved by resampled using the high-resolution cubic spline function as compared to the nearest neighbor, linear, or cubic B-spline functions.
Rupture of the Indian Slab in the 2011 Mw 6.9 Sikkim Himalaya Earthquake and Its Tectonic Implications

Unlike the other Himalayan plate boundary segments, the eastern Nepal to Bhutan Himalayan region is not known to have generated prominent shallow thrust faulting earthquakes, typical of the ongoing convergence. This region features strike‐slip earthquakes over the depth ranges of 40–120 km, indicating intraslab deformation. Here we present for the first time a slip distribution model for the largest recorded intraslab strike‐slip earthquake in this region, the Mw 6.9 Sikkim event that occurred on 18 September 2011. Relying on kinematic source process modeling, our results indicate a NE‐SW trending, steeply dipping sinistral source zone within the underthrusting Indian slab. The rupture propagated radially, with a low rupture velocity of 1.7 km/s, breaking a large asperity of 20 × 20 km2 with a maximum slip of 1.6 m. The rupture nucleated at a depth of 45 km and reached upper mantle depths. The computed coseismic stress drop value is 13.6 MPa. We suggest that most of the aftershocks occurred on the conjugate plane, possibly due to stress triggering. Stress inversion of focal mechanisms indicates a transpressive stress regime throughout the crust and pure strike‐slip regime in the upper mantle. We observed a unimodal distribution of earthquakes beneath the Higher Himalaya. This indicates a strong, brittle Indian slab and unravels a scenario of an eventual breakup of the lithosphere; the key trigger might be variation in the convergence rates along the Himalayan arc.
What Makes Online Collectible Card Games Fun to Play?

Online Collectible Card Games is a relatively new genre of games that allow the players to collect cards, combine them into decks, and play the decks against opponents through the Internet. Players get engaged in all these three levels of the game, and we relate these levels to the theories of what makes a computer game fun to play. The Eye of Judgment (EoJ) is taken as an example of such a game, and we compare the theoretical study to the results of interviews with former EoJ players to validate the models.
Development of Pattern Visual Evoked Potentials: Longitudinal Measurements in Human Infants

Purpose. This experiment used longitudinal testing to trace the emergence of the major components of pattern visual evoked potentials (VEPs) in infants, using two paradigms: large-checkerboard pattern reversal and low spatial frequency pattern onset. Methods. Testing with both pattern-reversal and pattern-onset stimuli was performed on the same infants. Testing was conducted at weekly intervals during the first three postnatal months, and at intervals of 2 weeks to 1 month thereafter. Results. The pattern-reversal and early pattern-onset responses recorded within individual subjects showed remarkably systematic developmental sequences. The broad, positive component seen at 200 to 250 ms in infants could be traced readily through the developmental sequence, to become the more sharply tuned positive component seen at about 100 ms in adults. Responses to low spatial frequency pattern onsets in infants were larger and more reliable than those in adults. The late components of the pattern-onset response, generally attributed to pattern offset, emerged later and with more complex changes. In all cases, response amplitude was much more variable than response latency, both within and between subjects. Conclusions. Frequent VEP recording in a longitudinal design can reveal systematic and detailed transitions of wave-form during development.
How are pharmacists in Ontario adapting to practice change? Results of a qualitative analysis using Kotter’s change management model

Background: The pace of practice change in community pharmacy over the past decade has been significant, yet there is little evidence documenting implementation of change in the profession. Methods: Kotter’s change management model was selected as a theoretical framework for this exploratory qualitative study. Community pharmacists were interviewed using a semistructured protocol based on Kotter’s model. Data were analyzed and coded using a constant-comparative iterative method aligned with the stages of change management outlined by Kotter. Results: Twelve community pharmacists were interviewed. Three key themes emerged: 1) the profession has successfully established the urgency to, and created a climate conducive for, change; 2) the profession has been less successful in engaging and enabling the profession to actually implement change; and 3) legislative changes (for example, expansion of pharmacists’ scope of practice) may have occurred prematurely, prior to other earlier stages of the change process being consolidated. Interpretation: As noted by most participants, allowing change is not implementing change: pharmacists reported feeling underprepared and lacking confidence to actually make change in their practices and believe that more emphasis on practical, specific implementation tactics is needed. Conclusions: Change management is complex and time and resource intensive. There is a need to provide personalized, detailed, context-specific implementation strategies to pharmacists to allow them to take full advantage of expanded scope of practice.
Image Restoration by Developing an HDR Image for Minimizing the Blur in Image

It is the age of fast and good quality Digital images, those are subject to blurring due to many hardware limitations, such as atmospheric trouble, apparatus noise and poor focus quality. A high quality image restoration is done by making a High dynamic range (HDR). The (HDR) image generation had been studied in past years. Due to the expense and lack of HDR cameras, a lot of works try to generate HDR images using several low dynamic range (LDR) images with different exposure setting. To ensure high-class HDR image generation and details of the scene should be retained in different LDR images and the exposure parameters of LDR image should be chosen carefully. In this paper our proposed work focuses on the tone mapping techniques with a practice to dynamically determine the suitable exposure parameter for LDR images agreeing to the property of each scene to be seized. The proposed method provides approximately 10% improvement in UIQI in comparison to C.S. Vijay method. Simulation results reveal that better HDR images are always generated with the LDR images held by the determined exposure, compared to those produced by the method with fixed exposures.
Random-Selection-Based Anomaly Detector for Hyperspectral Imagery

Anomaly detection in hyperspectral images is of great interest in the target detection domain since it requires no prior information and makes full use of the spectral differences revealed in hyperspectral images. The current anomaly detection methods are susceptible to anomalies in the processing window range or the image scope. In addition, for the local anomaly detection methods themselves, it is difficult to determine the window size suitable for processing background statistics. This paper proposes an anomaly detection method based on the random selection of background pixels, the random-selection-based anomaly detector (RSAD). Pixels are randomly selected from the image scene to represent the background statistics; the random selections are performed a sufficient number of times; blocked adaptive computationally efficient outlier nominators are used to detect anomalies each time after a proper subset of background pixels is selected; finally, a fusion procedure is employed to avoid contamination of the background statistics by anomaly pixels. In addition, the real-time implementation of the RSAD is also developed by random selection from updating data and QR decomposition. Several hyperspectral data sets are used in the experiments, and the RSAD shows a better performance than the current hyperspectral anomaly detection algorithms. The real-time version also outperforms its real-time counterparts.
The complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Garrulax poecilorhynchus (Aves, Passeriformes, Timaliidae)

Abstract The entire mitochondrial genome of Garrulax poecilorhynchus consists of 17 814 bp and containe 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, two rRNA genes, and two control regions. The nucleotide composition of the mitogenome of G. poecilorhynchus is A = 5342 (29.99%), T = 4314 (24.22%), G = 2480 (13.92%), and C = 5678 (31.87%). The genome has an overall A + T content of 54.21%, which has a similar value among known genus Garrulax mitogenomes. All the tRNA genes display a typical clover-leaf structure. Garrulax poecilorhynchus share the closest relationship with other two species, G. perspicillatus and G. sannio. These data could serve to enrich the resource of genus Garrulax in systematic, population genetic, and evolutionary biological studies.
Decomposition width - a new width parameter for matroids

We introduce a new width parameter for matroids called decomposition width and prove that every matroid property expressible in the monadic second order logic can be computed in linear time for matroids with bounded decomposition width if their decomposition is given. Since decompositions of small width for our new notion can be computed in polynomial time for matroids of bounded branch-width represented over finite fields, our results include recent algorithmic results of Hlineny [J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 96 (2006), 325-351] in this area and extend his results to matroids not necessarily representable over finite fields.
Endogenous Anabolic and Catabolic Steroid Hormones in Male and Female Athletes During Off Season

Peripheral serum hormone levels during the off season were analysed in 10 male and 10 female athletes, all belonging to the Swedish national teams in skiing and orienteering and in age matched sedentary controls (15 males, 13 females). No clinical signs of overuse strain were observed in any of the athletes. No significant differences in hormone variables were found between male athletes and controls. The female athletes had significantly higher levels of cortisol and significantly lower ratios between total testosterone and cortisol, between non-SHBG-bound testosterone and cortisol and between 4-androstene-3, 17-dione and cortisol than the sedentary controls. The increased levels of cortisol found in the female athletes probably reflect an adaptation to several years of hard training. A decrease of the free T/cortisol ratio has earlier been shown to indicate an overuse distress. One may speculate that the low androgen/cortisol ratios found in the female athletes in contrast to the males could indicate that the female athletes might need longer time to recover from hard exercise than male athletes, or could suggest an insufficient dietary intake.