Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of the Colonization Ability of Autochthonous and Allochthonous Strains of Lactobacilli in the Human Gastrointestinal Tract

Bacteria of the genus Lactobacillus are widely used as oral probiotics due to their putative health benefits. In this study, we compared the colonization ability of two Lactobacillus strains that were identified as autochthonous to the human gastrointestinal tract (Lactobacillus reuteri ATCC PTA 6475 (MM4-1a) and Lactobacillus mucosae FSL-04) with that of an allochthonous strain (Lactobacillus acidophilus DDS-1). Colonization ability was tested in a single-blinded, cross-over study, with twelve human subjects. The test strains were quantified in fecal samples by two independent methods, selective plating and molecular typing and quantitative real time PCR. The study revealed that the two autochthonous strains (L. reuteri ATCC PTA 6475 and L. mucosae FSL-04) reached higher population levels in fecal samples and were recovered more frequently from subjects compared to the allochthonous strain (L. acidophilus DDS-1). All three strains became undetectable 8 days after the end of consumption with one exception, showing that persistence of all three strains remains short term in most individuals. In conclusion, this study showed that autochthonous Lactobacillus strains can be established more efficiently, albeit temporarily, in the human gastrointestinal tract, suggesting that evolutionary and ecological characteristics could be valuable criteria for the selection of probiotic strains.
Three-Dimensional X-Ray Diffraction Microscopy: Mapping Polycrystals and their Dynamics

Introduction. - Methods for Meso-scale Structural Characterization. - Geometric Principles. - GRAINDEX and Related Analysis. - Orientation Mapping. - Combining 3DXRD and Absorption Contrast Tomography. - Multi-grain Crystallography. - The 3DXRD Microscope. - Applications. - Alternative Approaches. - Concluding Remarks.
Molecular Basis for Agonist Selectivity and Activation of the Orphan Bombesin Receptor Subtype 3 Receptor

Bombesin receptor subtype (BRS)-3, a G-protein-coupled orphan receptor, shares 51% identity with the mammalian bombesin (Bn) receptor for gastrin-releasing peptide. There is increasing interest in BRS-3 because it is important in energy metabolism, glucose control, motility, and tumor growth. BRS-3 has low affinity for all Bn-related peptides; however, recently synthetic high-affinity agonists, [d-Tyr6/d-Phe6,βAla11,Phe13,Nle14]Bn-(6–14), were described, but they are nonselective for BRS-3 over other Bn receptors. Based on these peptides, three BRS-3-selective ligands were developed: peptide 2, [d-Tyr6(R)-3-amino-propionic acid11,Phe13,Nle14]Bn(6–14); peptide 3, [d-Tyr6,(R)-Apa11,4Cl-Phe13,Nle14]Bn(6–14); and peptide 4, acetyl-Phe-Trp-Ala-His-(tBzl)-piperidine-3 carboxylic acid-Gly-Arg-NH2. Their molecular determinants of selectivity/high affinity for BRS-3 are unknown. To address this, we used a chimeric/site mutagenesis approach. Substitution of extracellular domain 2 (EC2) of BRS-3 by the comparable gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) domain decreased 26-, 4-, and 0-fold affinity for peptides 4, 3, and 2. Substitution of EC3 decreased affinity 4-, 11-, and 0-fold affinity for peptides 2 to 4. Ten-point mutations in the EC2 and adjacent transmembrane regions (TM2) 2 and 3 of BRS-3 were made. His107 (EC2-BRS-3) for lysine (H107K) (EC2-GRPR) decreased affinity (25- and 0-fold) for peptides 4 and 1; however, it could not be activated by either peptide. Its combination with Val101 (TM2), Gly112 (EC2), and Arg127 (TM3) resulted in complete loss-of-affinity of peptide 4. Receptor-modeling showed that each of these residues face inward and are within 4 Å of the binding pocket. These results demonstrate that Val101, His107, Gly112, and Arg127 in the EC2/adjacent upper TMs of BRS-3 are critical for the high BRS3 selectivity of peptide 4. His107 in EC2 is essential for BRS-3 activation, suggesting amino-aromatic ligand/receptor interactions with peptide 4 are critical for both binding and activation. Furthermore, these result demonstrate that even though these three BRS-3-selective agonists were developed from the same template peptide, [d-Phe6,βAla11,Phe13,Nle14]Bn-(6–14), their molecular determinants of selectivity/high affinity varied considerably.
A Survey on Image-Based Approaches of Synthesizing Objects

Synthesizing virtual objects into real scenes is an important process in augmented reality. Illumination consistency is the key problem of expressing the photorealistic rendering result. Consequently, a wide range of solutions for illumination estimation are proposed, such as capturing real scenes and estimation from single image. Because of its convenience, image based methods have become a popular way to synthesize virtual objects gradually. This paper provides a survey on state-of-art image-based methods for illumination estimation. As for a special case, outdoor illumination is discussed separately because of different assumptions and process. Through discussion of advantages and shortcoming of existing methods, main challenges and future work are explained at last.
Answering regular path queries using views

Query answering using views amounts to computing the answer to a query having information only on the extension of a set of views. This problem is relevant in several fields, such as information integration, data warehousing, query optimization, mobile computing, and maintaining physical data independence. We address query answering using views in a context where queries and views are regular path queries, i.e., regular expressions that denote the pairs of objects in the database connected by a matching path. Regular path queries are the basic query mechanism when the database is conceived as a graph, such as in semistructured data and data on the Web. We study algorithms for answering regular path queries using views under different assumptions, namely, closed and open domain, and sound, complete, and exact information on view extensions. We characterize data, expression, and combined complexity of the problem, showing that the proposed algorithms are essentially optimal. Our results are the first to exhibit decidability in cases where the language for expressing the query and the views allows for recursion.
USING MULTISCALE CARBON FIBER / CARBON NANOTUBES COMPOSITES FOR DAMPING APPLICATIONS

A novel technique to grow carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the surface of carbon fibers in a controlled fashion using simple lab set up is developed. Growing CNTs on the surface of carbon fibers will eliminate the problem of dispersion of CNTs in polymeric matrices. The employed synthesis technique retains the attractive feature of uniform distribution of the grown CNTs, low temperature of CNTs’ formation, i.e. 550 °C, via cheap and safe synthesis setup and catalysts. A protective thermal shield of thin ceramic layer and subsequently nickel catalytic particles are deposited on the surface of the carbon fiber yarns using magnetron sputtering. A simple tube furnace setup utilizing nitrogen, hydrogen and ethylene (C2 H4 ) were used to grow CNTs on the carbon fiber yarns. Scanning electron microscopy revealed a uniform areal growth over the carbon fibers where the catalytic particles had been sputtered. The structure of the grown multiwall carbon nanotubes was characterized with the aid of transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Dynamical mechanical analysis (DMA) was employed to measure the loss and storage moduli of the hybrid composite together with the reference raw carbon fiber composite and the composite for which only ceramic and nickel substrates had been deposited on. The DMA tests were conducted over a frequency range of 1–40 Hz. Although the storage modulus remained almost unchanged over the frequency range for all samples, the loss modulus showed a frequency dependent behavior. The hybrid composite obtained the highest loss modulus among other samples with an average increase of approximately 25% and 55% compared to composites of the raw and ceramic/nickel coated carbon fibers, respectively. This improvement occurred while the average storage modulus of the hybrid composite declined by almost 9% and 15% compared to the composites of reference and ceramic/nickel coated samples, respectively. The ultimate strength and elastic moduli of the samples were measured using standard ASTM tensile test. Results of this study show that while the addition of the ceramic layer protects the fibers from mechanical degradation it abolishes the mechanisms by which the composite dissipates energy. On the other hand, with almost no compromise in weight, the hybrid composites are good potential candidate for damping applications. Furthermore, the addition of CNTs could contribute to improving other mechanical, electrical and thermal properties of the hybrid composite.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
Synthesis of silver nanoparticles: chemical, physical and biological methods

Silver nanoparticles (NPs) have been the subjects of researchers because of their unique properties (e.g., size and shape depending optical, antimicrobial, and electrical properties). A variety of preparation techniques have been reported for the synthesis of silver NPs; notable examples include, laser ablation, gamma irradiation, electron irradiation, chemical reduction, photochemical methods, microwave processing, and biological synthetic methods. This review presents an overview of silver nanoparticle preparation by physical, chemical, and biological synthesis. The aim of this review article is, therefore, to reflect on the current state and future prospects, especially the potentials and limitations of the above mentioned techniques for industries.
Aggregate Static Power Load Modeling in Coalmine

-In order to overcome the defects of the traditional static load modeling in coalmine, a new modeling method is proposed in this paper. First, a new clustering method based on improved PSO algorithm is presented to classify the load data in order to reduce the number of load model before modeling. Second, RBF neural network based on improved PSO algorithm is put forward to establish aggregate load model. Finally, verified by an example, the method in this paper can greatly improve the accuracy of the model compared with traditional static load model. Key-Words:-aggregate static load model; particle swarm clustering algorithm; subtractive clustering algorithm; K-means clustering algorithm; radial basis neural network; power grid in coalmine
The Rôle of Object-Oriented Temporal Databases in Information Systems

Many information systems already use databases to maintain information, but traditional databases do not support the concept of time. This paper examines some of the features and advantages of temporal databases in the context of information systems and explores the potential of object-oriented temporal databases. The research in progress to develop an object-oriented temporal database is described. This will be used as part of a medical information system to test its semantic richness. The Rôle of Object-Oriented Temporal Databases in Information Systems
Improved Dempster and Shafer theory to fuse region and edge based level set for endocardial contour detection

Data fusion is an important tool for improving the performance of a detection system when more than one classifier is available. The reasoning logic of Dempster-Shafer evidence theory for fusion is similar to that of humans. This paper discusses application of a data fusion method which is based on improvements to the Dempster-Shafer theory, to echocardiographic images in order to increase the detection accuracy of the endocardial contours. In this paper, edge and region based level sets are implemented. The Improved Dempster-Shafer evidence fusion algorithm is applied to combine the detected contours resulting in promising results as shown by computational experiments.
On detonation wave front structure of consensed high explosives

The present report describes detonation front particle velocity profile measurements for three high explosives (HE). Two were plasticized compositions based on PETN, HMX, and the third a TNT/RDX 50/50 mixture. Measurements were carried out using laser interferometry techniques with few nanosecond time resolution. Particle velocity profiles were recorded at HE-window (lithium fluoride [LiF]) interfaces. The detonation waves were diverging since they developed from a single initiation point. Recorded maximum particle velocities at the LiF window interfaces for PETN, HMX, and TNT/RDX mixture were 2.7 mm/μs, 3.15 mm/μs and 2.6 mm/μs, respectively. Duration of chemical reaction zone for HEs based on PETN and HMX were determined. The results of linear extrapolation of recorded particle velocity to zero time are presented, leading to estimates of von Neumann spike parameters for the PETN and HMX compositions.
ZoneTag's Collaborative Tag Suggestions: What is This Person Doing in My Phone?

We describe ZoneTag, a camera phone application that allows users to capture, annotate, and share photos directly from their phone. We describe the simple mechanism for deriving tag suggestions and the ensuing interaction design for presenting these suggestions to the user. We also discuss quantitative and qualitative results from an 18-months deployment of ZoneTag, emphasizing the way people use and understand tag suggestions. In addition, we highlight several emerging issues that could play an important role in the collaborative tagging for multimedia as well as other resources. While the quantitative study on the use of the suggested tags feature implies clear benefits for tag suggestions, a set of qualitative studies imply that while tag suggestions are helpful, there are multiple issues that arise and require careful consideration.
Web Log based Analysis of User's Browsing Behavior

The increasing craze of internet has geared a number of modern firms for using web technology in their day to day lives. A remarkable ability to analyze web log data is provided to them by the web mining technology, that are putatively full of information, but frequently lacking with meaningful information. This signifies the need to the development of an inference mechanism which is advanced and that draws out richer implication from mining's output. This paper presents a web mining algorithm that aims at amending the interpretations of the draft's output of association rule mining. This algorithm is being tremendously used in web mining. The results obtained prove robustness of the algorithm proposed in this paper. KeywordsInterest Estimation, Web log, data mining, Apriori algorithm.
Aurora A phosphorylation of TACC3/maskin is required for centrosome-dependent microtubule assembly in mitosis

Centrosomes act as sites of microtubule growth, but little is known about how the number and stability of microtubules emanating from a centrosome are controlled during the cell cycle. We studied the role of the TACC3–XMAP215 complex in this process by using purified proteins and Xenopus laevis egg extracts. We show that TACC3 forms a one-to-one complex with and enhances the microtubule-stabilizing activity of XMAP215 in vitro. TACC3 enhances the number of microtubules emanating from mitotic centrosomes, and its targeting to centrosomes is regulated by Aurora A–dependent phosphorylation. We propose that Aurora A regulation of TACC3 activity defines a centrosome-specific mechanism for regulation of microtubule polymerization in mitosis.
Constructive, robust and adaptive OS-ELM in human action recognition

We introduce a constructive, robust, and adaptive OS-ELM (Online Sequential Extreme Machine Learning) that combines learning strategies of Constructive Enhancement OSELM and Robust OS-ELM, and add adaptive capability to receive a new target class requirement during sequential learning and applied in human action recognition. The overall strategy is aimed to deal against parameters tuning and new requirements drift problem in the sequential learning process that commonly happened in human action recognition. Our proposed method has an automatic and systematic approach for determining input weight and bias value when the hidden nodes need to be increased to handle a larger training data size and to adjust the output weight when the new target class label is presented during sequential learning. We demonstrated the capability using 2013 Challenge on Multi modal Gesture Recognition open dataset (Chalearn 2013) with uni modal features (skeleton data) only. Our experiments using skeletons of upper body joints features with normalized euclidean distance and projection angle position coordinates to shoulder center and hip center, clustering analysis with k-means for pose based generation and Bag of Pose (BoP) for temporal sequential information. We developed the training sequence scenario to introduce the partial action classes in the initial training and the rest of training data with all classes in the next sequences to simulate the condition when the OS-ELM received new target class requirement drift. Our proposed method gives better accuracy plus adaptive capability compared with SUMO method which is the best uni modal method for chalearn data and still maintain a reasonably small computation time.
Effects of long-term potentiation in the human visual cortex: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Applying functional magnetic resonance imaging techniques, hemodynamic responses elicited by slowly flashing checkerboards (0.25 Hz) were measured both before and after a block of rapidly presented checkerboards (9 Hz – a ‘photic tetanus’) was delivered. It has been shown previously, using electroencephelography, that this photic tetanus potentiates components of the visual-evoked potential. In the present study, hemodynamic responses in the extrastriate visual cortex were significantly increased to checkerboards presented at a low frequency after the administration of the photic tetanus. These results support the idea that long-term potentiation can be demonstrated non-invasively within the human visual cortex and provide evidence that the plastic changes are localized within the secondary visual cortex.
The Correlation of Non-Destructive Measurements and Toughness Changes in Adhesive Joints during Environmental Attack

Abstract Normal-incidence ultrasonic scans have been conducted on two- and three-layer adhesive-joint specimens exposed to water at 50°C for periods of up to 18 months. The joints consisted of aluminium-alloy adherends which were subjected to one of four different surface pretreatments prior to being coated (for the two-layer specimens) or bonded (for the three-layer specimens) with an epoxy polymer. The four commonly used pretreatments which were investigated were a grit-blast, a chromic-acid etch (CAE), a chromic-acid anodise (CAA) and a phosphoric-acid anodise (PAA). Techniques have been developed to measure the fracture toughness, Gc, of the specimens before and after water exposure such that fracture toughness maps could be ascertained, where the measured values of Gc may be assigned to spatially discrete positions within the specimens. The relative performance of the different pretreatments used in the present work followed that expected from the literature: the chromic-acid anodised (CAA) surface pretreatment giving the most durable two- and three-layer specimens and the grit-blasting pretreatment giving the least durable. In the two-layer specimens, the ultrasonic inspections detected two main types of defects: corrosion-driven edge-disbonds and micro-defects. The edge-disbonding mechanism usually started at an unsealed flush edge, and was initiated by a region of corrosion which developed on the edge of the specimen and which undercut the epoxy layer. Edge-disbonds were easily and accurately detected ultrasonically. Micro-defects were detected in regions remote from the edges and these small-scale, isolated defects took several forms. In the case of the three-layer joint specimens, only edge-disbonds could be detected ultrasonically. Nevertheless, in some of the three-layer joints which were attacked and weakened by ingressing water, the failure surfaces suggested that micro-defects were present. For both the two- and the three-layer specimens, the results from the ultrasonic scans have been correlated with the values of the fracture toughness of the specimens, before and after water exposure. Whilst the ultrasonic scans detected the presence of micro-defects in the two-layer specimens, which appeared to correlate with the extent of interphase toughness loss upon water exposure, the scans clearly failed to detect any changes in the interphase regions which would indicate the general loss of interphase toughness seen with the three-layer grit-blast and PAA specimens.
Demographic Influences on Antibiotic Prescribing for Pediatric Acute Otitis Media

Objective. To understand the epidemiologic antibiotic treatment patterns and the potential impact of race and insurance status on the medical management of acute otitis media (AOM). Study Design. Cross-sectional analysis of a national database. Setting. National ambulatory care setting. Methods. Cases of isolated AOM in children ≤16.0 years were extracted from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (2006-2008). The frequency and type of antibiotic prescribed were extracted. A multivariate logistic regression model incorporating age, sex, race, ethnicity, and insurance type was used to determine the influence of these demographic variables on antibiotic prescribing patterns. Results. A total of 15.8 ± 1.5 million cases of AOM were studied (mean age, 3.6 ± 0.3 years; 55.1% ± 2.9% male). Of the children, 15.0% ± 2.8% were Hispanic and 10.4% ± 3.1% were black. Medicaid/State Children’s Health Insurance Program and private insurance covered 30.6% ± 4.4% and 69.4% ± 4.4% of children, respectively. Overall, 83.1% ± 2.2% of children received an antibiotic prescription. The most commonly prescribed antibiotics were amoxicillin (6.5 ± 0.9 million), beta-lactamase inhibitors (2.6 ± 0.4 million), and third-generation cephalosporins (2.3 ± 0.4 million prescriptions). On multivariate analysis, insurance status, ethnicity, race, age, and sex did not influence the likelihood of an antibiotic being prescribed during the visit (P = .884, .909, .849, .102, and .931 respectively). Conclusions. Most children receiving medical treatment for AOM receive an antibiotic prescription during their visit. Ethnicity, race, and insurance type do not significantly influence antibiotic prescribing rates for AOM, and nearly all patients have medical insurance.
Regularized dictionary learning for sparse approximation

Sparse signal models approximate signals using a small number of elements from a large set of vectors, called a dictionary. The success of such methods relies on the dictionary fitting the signal structure. Therefore, the dictionary has to be designed to fit the signal class of interest. This paper uses a general formulation that allows the dictionary to be learned form the data with some a priori information about the dictionary. In this formulation a universal cost function is proposed and practical algorithms are presented to minimize this cost under different constraints on the dictionary. The proposed methods are compared with previous approaches using synthetic and real data. Simulations highlight the advantages of the proposed methods over other currently available dictionary learning strategies.