Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Textual context analysis for information retrieval

We &. 9dx? b WPbUkSU3ofQUESCOT, a program whkh analyacs and quantifies textual amtexta in doaunenta with reference to the WordNet databae. and hence awemina the dominance oftopics inadocument. 0uranaly3ia ia baaedon previous work in lexical cobeaim, a feature of texts which contributes to theif functioning aa a cuhaent unit. The applications arc diverse, but all pertain to infurmatian retrieval. Whilatour resulta auggeat that QuEXO’ria notwellauitedto word aenae diaambiguatkm and text segmentation, our ~~~_u@3Q~~ =~* Lxqonent produces premising results. We also used QUESM representationsto automaticallygenerate a resourceto aupplememt WerdNet, baaed on collocatkal relations between conceptsin a document collection. We conclude that QLrEsxrr is auitcd to applications based on document-level descriptions, where the degreeof granularityallowsinaccuraciesto be smoothedout.
Modeling and validating genotype knowledge: The case of periodontal disease

The article presents a procedure that supports modeling and validation of genotype knowledge, used in conjunction with phenotype information to support medical decision making. The proposed procedure is based on inductive learning and classification. A concrete case study, related to periodontal disease manifestation and diagnosis is employed to support rationale of suggested procedure. The case study draws from the Periodontitis Data Warehouse of the Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA). Specific results are presented and concluding remarks draw the roadmap for procedure generalization.
Abnormalities of internally generated saccades in obsessive–compulsive disorder

Background. We aimed to utilize tests of saccadic function to investigate whether cognitive abnormalities in obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) arise from a dysfunction of inhibitory processes or whether they reflect a more general difficulty in guiding behaviour on the basis of an internal representation of task goal. Methods. Twelve patients with OCD and 12 matched controls performed a visually-guided saccade task, a volitional prosaccade task and an antisaccade task. The latency and gain of saccades was compared between groups for the three saccade tasks. The number of antisaccade errors was also calculated and compared between groups. Results. There was no difference for antisaccade error rates between the groups. The latency of visually guided saccades did not differ between groups, however the latency of both volitional prosaccades and antisaccades was significantly slower in the patients with OCD than in controls. The difference in latency between volitional prosacades and antisaccades, however, was equal between groups. Conclusions. These results suggest that patients with OCD have an abnormality in guiding behaviour on the basis of an internal representation of the task goal, rather than a problem with inhibiting reflexive behaviour.
Brain targeting and glomerulus formation of two olfactory neuron populations expressing related receptor types

Olfactory sensory neurons expressing different members of the mOR37 odourant receptor subfamily send their axons to distinct glomeruli located in the immediate vicinity in the olfactory bulb [Strotmann, J., Conzelmann, S. , Beck, A. , Feinstein, P., Breer, H. & Mombaerts, P. (2000) J. Neurosci. , 20, 6927–6938]. In this study, the potential of transgenic mouse lines was used to explore the onset of receptor expression, the outgrowth of axons as well as the glomerulus formation for two neuron populations expressing different mOR37 subtypes. The data indicate a synchronous time course of these features for both neuron populations. From E15 until the day of birth, the axons of the two mOR37 populations terminate in a common, small area of the presumptive olfactory bulb. During a short postnatal phase, the two axon populations segregate into distinct, protoglomerular structures; some aberrant fibers can still be observed during this period.
Leukotriene B4 Protects Latently Infected Mice against Murine Cytomegalovirus Reactivation following Allogeneic Transplantation1

Human CMV is often associated with transplant rejection and opportunistic infections such as pneumonia in immunosuppressed patients. Current anti-CMV therapies, although effective, show relatively high toxicity, which seriously limits their long-term use. In this study, we provide evidence that leukotriene B4 (LTB4) plays an important role in the fight against murine CMV (MCMV) infection in vivo. Intravenous administration of 50 and 500 ng/kg/day of LTB4 to mice infected with a lethal dose of MCMV significantly increases their survival (50 and 70%, respectively), compared with the placebo-treated group (10% of survival). In mice infected with a sublethal dose of MCMV and treated daily with 50 ng/kg/day of LTB4, the salivary gland viral loads were found to be reduced by 66% compared with the control group. Furthermore, using an allogeneic bone marrow transplantation mouse model, the frequency of MCMV reactivation from latently infected mice was much lower (38%) in LTB4 (500 ng/kg)-treated mice than in the placebo-treated group (78%). Finally, in experiments using 5-lipoxygenase-deficient mice, MCMV viral loads in salivary glands were found to be higher in animals unable to produce leukotrienes than in the control groups, supporting a role of endogenous 5-lipoxygenase products, possibly LTB4, in host defense against CMV infection.
Post-operative Blood Salvage and Retransfusion in Total Hip and Knee Arthroplasty

This retrospective study evaluated the safety and efficacy of post-operative blood salvage and retransfusion in 430 patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty and 530 patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty. Volumes of autologous blood retransfused (mean ± SD) were 525 ± 75 and 660 ± 95 ml in the hip and knee replacement groups, respectively. Overall, 230 patients (24%) also required allogeneic blood transfusion. In a subgroup of 150 randomly selected patients, the values of free haemoglobin in the allogeneic, autologous and patients' blood at the time of surgery were 0.568 ± 0.112, 0.272 ± 0.067 and 0.032 ± 0.011 g/l, respectively. On the first and third post-operative days, the levels in patients' blood were 0.092 ± 0.039 and 0.057 ± 0.028 g/l, respectively. There were no major complications; transient chills and fever were reported in 99 (10.3%) and 115 patients (12.0%), respectively. In conclusion, post-operative blood salvage and retransfusion is a safe way to reduce the need for allogeneic blood transfusion in patients undergoing elective orthopaedic surgery.
Biopolymers production by " Halomonas boliviensis " in an integrated biorefinery

The main aim of this Thesis is to develop processes that allow the integrated production of biopolymers into biorefineries, using feedstocks from first and second generation as raw materials. Climate change, the decrease of the fossil fuel resources and the rapid increase of the world population trigger the development of new processes based on the utilization of renewable raw materials for the replacement of the processes based on the petrochemical synthesis. Moreover, the generation of plastics residues is turning into an important environmental problem due to the recalcitrant feature of the plastics derived from petrol. Biopolymers, biodegradable and/or biobased plastic-like materials, are an environmentally sustainable alternative to the use of petroleum-based plastics. Among the several types of biopolymers, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) stand out. PHA is a type of thermopolyester, biobased and biodegradable, produced by certain microorganisms as a storage material. Nevertheless, despite the benefits presented by the biopolymers, the industrial production of PHA is threatened by production costs higher than that of the petroleum-based plastics. The reduction of the PHA production costs depends on the development and application of new fermentation strategies, downstreams processes, the microorganism and carbon source used for its production. The halophilic bacterium Halomonas boliviensis was used in this Thesis as PHA producer organism due to its capacity to accumulate PHA in high amounts. Firstly, experiments were carried out in order to determine the basic nutritional requirements for growth and PHA accumulation with this microorganism. Besides, an analytical methodology based on flow cytometry was developed for a faster quantification of the PHA content. Then, two different substrates from first generation feedstocks, cereal and sugarcane juice, were evaluated as carbon source for PHA production by H. boliviensis. A novel process configuration was implemented and evaluated, based on the strategy of simultaneous saccharification and fermentation, for the PHA production from cereal mash. Finally, the utilization of volatile fatty acids, derived from residual streams, was evaluated as carbon source. This allowed to upgrade the biorefinery concept. To sum up, the results of this Thesis provide different routes for the formulation of processes that allow the integration of the biopolymers production into a biorefinery and, particularly, information about the general PHA accumulation capacity of H. boliviensis and its specific performance growing on complex carbon sources.
Spatial and temporal variation of precipitation trends in Andhra Pradesh, India

Long-term samples of meteorological data are periodically necessary to assess the long standing effects of future hydrological changes. The evaluations are repeatedly undertaken using deterministic statistical analyze which requires daily weather data as input. Andhra Pradesh had experienced frequent disasters like cyclones, floods, droughts etc. The frequency and intensity of the hazardous events has been significantly increasing in there cent decades due to climatic changes and global warming. This model is being applied to all the districts of the state to evaluate the results of abnormally low rainfall and to evaluate possible adjustment polices. The final results shows that the lack of rainfall has larger influence on the living society and the major adaptation sustained by irrigation and the ecosystem which illustrates the potential of hydrological modelling for multiple dimensions of water resources. No significant trend has been detected for annual and seasonal precipitation in the entire state, some of the district’s annual and monsoon precipitation has decreased, and has increased during post monsoon and winter seasons.
Weighted sum rate maximization of MISO interference broadcast channels via difference of convex functions programming: A large system analysis

The weighted sum rate (WSR) maximizing linear precoding algorithm is studied in large correlated multiple-input single-output (MISO) interference broadcast channels (IBC). We consider an iterative WSR design via difference of convex functions (DC) programming as in [1], [2] and [3], focusing on the version in [3]. We propose an asymptotic approximation of the signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) at every iteration.
Antibacterial Activity and Synergistic Antibacterial Potential of Biosynthesized Silver Nanoparticles against Foodborne Pathogenic Bacteria along with its Anticandidal and Antioxidant Effects

Silver nanoparticles plays a vital role in the development of new antimicrobial substances against a number of pathogenic microorganisms. These nanoparticles due to their smaller size could be very effective as they can improve the antibacterial activity through lysis of bacterial cell wall. Green synthesis of metal nanoparticles using various plants and plant products has recently been successfully accomplished. However, few studies have investigated the use of industrial waste materials in nanoparticle synthesis. In the present investigation, synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was attempted using the aqueous extract of corn leaf waste of Zea mays, which is a waste material from the corn industry. The synthesized AgNPs were evaluated for their antibacterial activity against foodborne pathogenic bacteria (Bacillus cereus ATCC 13061, Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 19115, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 49444, Escherichia coli ATCC 43890, and Salmonella Typhimurium ATCC 43174) along with the study of its synergistic antibacterial activity. The anticandidal activity of AgNPs were evaluated against Candida species (C. albicans KACC 30003 and KACC 30062, C. glabrata KBNO6P00368, C. geochares KACC 30061, and C. saitoana KACC 41238), together with the antioxidant potential. The biosynthesized AgNPs were characterized by UV-Vis spectrophotometry with surface plasmon resonance at 450 nm followed by the analysis using scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The AgNPs displayed moderate antibacterial activity (9.26–11.57 mm inhibition zone) against all five foodborne pathogenic bacteria. When AgNPs were mixed with standard antibacterial or anticandidal agent, they displayed strong synergistic antibacterial (10.62–12.80 mm inhibition zones) and anticandidal activity (11.43–14.33 mm inhibition zones). In addition, the AgNPs exhibited strong antioxidant potential. The overall results highlighted the potential use of maize industrial waste materials in the synthesis of AgNPs and their utilization in various applications particularly as antibacterial substance in food packaging, food preservation to protect against various dreadful foodborne pathogenic bacteria together with its biomedical, pharmaceutical based activities.
An Optimized K-Nearest Neighbor Algorithm for Large Scale Hierarchical Text Classification

In this paper, an optimized k nearest neighbor algorithm for the 2nd edition of the Large Scale Hierarchical Text Classification Pascal Challenge was summarized. Firstly, we perform k-NN algorithm on the datasets to obtain the top-k nearest neighbors for each testing documents. Secondly, several critical category-neighbors features were identified and the impact of each of those features were estimated through cross-validation. Finally, the categories prediction algorithm utilizes the optimal parameters for the category-neighbors features to predict the categories for the testing documents. The experiments performed on the three datasets for the challenge show that the classifier can get high accuracy.
Conserving Connectivity: Ecological Determinants of Gene Flow in Plants at the Landscape Scale

With intensifying global pressures of habitat loss and fragmentation, there is an increasing need to manage landscapes in a way that maintains gene flow among previously continuous populations. This requires a detailed understanding of the scale of gene flow in nature and of how aspects of the landscape support or inhibit movement. In plants, gene flow occurs through both pollen and seed, each of which may be carried by multiple vectors. This makes it challenging to characterize, and as a consequence, our understanding of the local and landscape drivers of gene flow are limited in plants compared to animals. My thesis addresses this deficiency by quantifying the contributions of landscape structure, individual plant characteristics, and directed seed dispersal to gene flow of plants in fragmented landscapes. First, I used simulations to test if models of pollen flow could be improved by incorporating individual plant characteristics that affect attractiveness to pollinators. The results showed that interindividual variation in attractiveness explained significantly more variation than intermate distance. Second, I took advantage of a network of calcareous grasslands in Germany to quantify the determinants of pollen and seed-mediated gene flow in a
Oxidative stress, perturbed calcium homeostasis, and immune dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease

Although Alzheimer’s disease (AD) may not involve a transmissible agent, it does involve a pathogenic process similar to that of transmissible prion disorders (both involve a protein that adopts an abnormal pathogenic conformation in which it self-aggregates, forming amyloid deposits in and surrounding neurons) and viral dementias such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) encephalitis. The clinical presentation of patients with AD is dominated by cognitive deficits and emotional disturbances that result from dysfunction and degeneration of neurons in the limbic system and cerebral cortex. The pathogenic process in the brain involves deposition of insoluble aggregates of amyloid β-peptide, oxidative stress and calcium dysregulation in neurons, and activation of inflammatory cytokine cascades involving microglia. However, AD patients also exhibit alterations in immune function. Studies of lymphocytes and lymphoblast cell lines from AD patients and age-matched normal control patients have documented alterations in cytokine and calcium signaling and increased levels of oxidative stress in immune cells from the AD patients. Studies of the pathogenic actions of mutations in presenilins and amyloid precursor protein that cause early-onset familial AD have established central roles for perturbed cellular calcium homeostasis and oxidative stress in the neurodegenerative process. Presenilin and amyloid precursor protein (APP) mutations also increase oxidative stress and perturb calcium signaling in lymphocytes in ways that alter their production of cytokines that are critical for proper immune responses. Immune dysfunction occurs prior to clinical symptoms in mouse models of AD, and brain cytokine responses to immune challenge are altered in presenilin mutant mice, suggesting a causal role for altered immune function in the disease process. Interestingly, immunization of AD mice with amyloid β-peptide can stimulate the immune system to remove amyloid from the brain and can ameliorate memory deficits, suggesting that it may be possible to prevent AD by bolstering immune function.
General equation for the differential pathlength factor of the frontal human head depending on wavelength and age

Abstract. Continuous-wave near-infrared spectroscopy and near-infrared imaging enable the measurement of relative concentration changes in oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin and thus hemodynamics and oxygenation. The accuracy of determined changes depends mainly on the modeling of the light transport through the probed tissue. Due to the highly scattering nature of tissue, the light path is longer than the source–detector separation (d). This is incorporated in modeling by multiplying d by a differential pathlength factor (DPF) which depends on several factors such as wavelength, age of the subject, and type of tissue. In the present work, we derive a general DPF equation for the frontal human head, incorporating dependency on wavelength and age, based on published data. We validated the equation using different data sets of experimentally determined DPFs from six independent studies.
Single view modeling of free-form scenes

This paper presents a novel approach for reconstructing free-form, texture-mapped, 3D scene models from a single painting or photograph. Given a sparse set of user-specified constraints on the local shape of the scene, a smooth 3D surface that satisfies the constraints is generated This problem is formulated as a constrained variational optimization problem. In contrast to previous work in single view reconstruction, our technique enables high quality reconstructions of free-form curved surfaces with arbitrary reflectance properties. A key feature of the approach is a novel hierarchical transformation technique for accelerating convergence on a non-uniform, piecewise continuous grid. The technique is interactive and updates the model in real time as constraints are added, allowing fast reconstruction of photorealistic scene models. The approach is shown to yield high quality results on a large variety of images.
New cleroid beetles from the Middle-Late Jurassic of China

Four specimens of fossil beetles recorded from the Middle and Late Jurassic boundary beds of Inner Mongolia, China are assigned to the melyrid lineage of Cleroidea. Three of them are described as Sinomelyris praedecessor gen. et sp. nov. and constitute the earliest known representatives of the family Melyridae. The new species habitually resembles some extant beetles of the subfamily Melyrinae but it is distinctly smaller and possesses four elytral carinae, the pronotum without a pair of the dorsolateral carinae, and the tarsal claw simple. The fourth specimen Juraniscus majeri gen. et sp. nov., is classified as Cleroidea incertae sedis. The new species has the symmetrical antennomeres including three terminal ones, the tarsomeres 1–4 with the lobes, the tarsal claw simple, and the aedeagus with the separated parameres. It is considered to be a member of the melyrid lineage and its relations to the relevant families Mauroniscidae, Rhadalidae, Dasytidae, and Malachiidae are discussed. A complete list of fossil species in the melyrid lineage described to date is provided.
Structural evidence for direct interaction between the molecular components of the transverse tubule/sarcoplasmic reticulum junction in skeletal muscle

The architecture of the junctional sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) and transverse tubule (T tubule) membranes and the morphology of the two major proteins isolated from these membranes, the ryanodine receptor (or foot protein) and the dihydropyridine receptor, have been examined in detail. Evidence for a direct interaction between the foot protein and a protein component of the junctional T tubule membrane is presented. Comparisons between freeze-fracture images of the junctional SR and rotary-shadowed images of isolated triads and of the isolated foot protein, show that the foot protein has two domains. One is the large hydrophilic foot which spans the junctional gap and is composed of four subunits. The other is a hydrophobic domain which presumably forms the SR Ca2+-release channel and which also has a fourfold symmetry. Freeze-fracture images of the junctional T tubule membranes demonstrate the presence of diamond-shaped clusters of particles that correspond exactly in position to the subunits of the feet protein. These results suggest the presence of a large junctional complex spanning the two junctional membranes and intervening gap. This junctional complex is an ideal candidate for a mechanical coupling hypothesis of excitation-contraction coupling at the triadic junction.
Validity of the new American College of Rheumatology criteria for neuropsychiatric lupus syndromes: a population-based evaluation.

OBJECTIVE To assess the validity of the recently developed American College of Rheumatology (ACR) nomenclature for neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE). METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional, population-based study covering an area with 440,000 people. A total of 46 patients aged 16 to 65 years fulfilled the criteria for a definite diagnosis of SLE. One control for each patient matched by age, sex, education, and place of residence was randomly identified from the population register. All patients and controls underwent a clinical neurologic examination and neuropsychological testing. The data were analyzed using conditional logistic regression methods. RESULTS Forty-two patients (91%) and 25 controls (56%) fulfilled at least one of the ACR NPSLE criteria, which gave an odds ratio (OR) of 9.5 (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.2-40.8) but low specificity (0.46). Cognitive dysfunction was the most common syndrome detected in 37 patients (80%). A revised set of 16 criteria excluding the syndromes without evidence for neuronal damage resulted in improved specificity (OR 7.0, 95% CI 2.1-23.5, specificity 0.93). CONCLUSION The proposed 19 ACR criteria did not differentiate SLE patients from controls, nor NPSLE patients from other SLE patients. The revised NPSLE criteria proposed by us performed well in our population but should be evaluated in a larger patient population.