Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Improved Method for Cultivation of Mycobacterium Paratuberculosis from Bovine Fecal Samples and Comparison to Three Other Methods

A new method (NADC) for isolation of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis from fecal samples is described and evaluated using fecal samples from a known paratuberculosis-infected herd of cattle. The NADC method includes centrifugation of the total fecal sample supernatant and use of a 2-step decontamination protocol. The growth rate of M. paratuberculosis and contamination rate of cultures when using this method are compared to 3 other published methods: sedimentation, centrifugation, and Cornell. Sensitivity was lowest for the Cornell method precluding detection of some low shedders; however, contamination was not observed for this method. Contamination was the most severe in samples processed by the centrifugation method but was also high for the sedimentation method, resulting in unreadable culture tubes for some fecal samples. The NADC method was 10-fold more sensitive for detection of M. paratuberculosis colonies and contamination was significantly reduced compared to other 3 methods.
Design of two-channel IIR linear phase PR filter banks

This paper proposes a novel method for designing two-channel biorthogonal perfect reconstruction (PR) filter banks with exact linear phase using IIR filters. Since the structurally PR implementation is adopted, the proposed filter banks are guaranteed to be PR even when all filter coefficients are quantized. From the viewpoint of wavelets, design of IIR linear phase filter banks with an additional flatness condition is considered. The proposed design method is based on the formulation of a generalized eigenvalue problem using the Remez exchange algorithm. Therefore, the filter coefficients can be obtained by solving the eigenvalue problem, and the optimal solution with an equiripple magnitude response is easily obtained through a few iterations. The proposed procedure is computationally efficient, and the flatness condition can be arbitrarily specified.
A pseudoinverse update algorithm for rank-reduced covariance matrices from 2-D data

A number of algorithms have a higher resolution than the common beamformer. These often require the calculation of a pseudoinverse of a matrix, which makes the algorithm very slow for repeated applications. We consider updating the pseudoinverse for window motions either in time or in space for two-dimensional (2-D) data taken from a linear array. Our results are shown to reduce the computational complexity of the multiple sidelobe canceller (MSC), for example, by more than 75% for a downward window movement (with time) and more than 55% for a sideways window movement (across traces).
Formation of Carbon Fibres in High-Voltage Low-Current Electrical Discharges

A novel method to synthesize carbon fibres using low-current electrical-discharge plasma in hydrocarbon vapours is presented in the paper. The low-current arc discharge of positive polarity was generated between a stainless steel needle, and a nickel alloy plate, over a voltage range from 2 kV to 30 kV. The discharge was stabilised by a high series resistance (1 – 12.5 M'). The experiments were carried out in an argon atmosphere at normal temperature and atmospheric pressure. The arc discharge of current in the range of 1 to 4 milliamps was found to be a potentially effective method for the production of carbon fibres. The diameter of the fibres varied from about 20 to 120 μm with a growth rate of about 0.5 mm/s.
Thulium Silicate Interfacial Layer for Scalable High-k/Metal Gate Stacks

Interfacial layer (IL) control in high-k/metal gate stacks is crucial in achieving good interface quality, mobility, and reliability. A process is developed for the formation of a thulium silicate IL that can be integrated as a replacement for conventional chemical oxide ILs in gate-last high-k/metal gate CMOS process. A straightforward process integration scheme for thulium silicate IL is demonstrated, based on self-limiting silicate formation in inert gas atmosphere and with good selectivity of the etching step. The thulium silicate IL is shown to provide 0.25±0.15 nm equivalent oxide thickness of the IL while preserving excellent electrical quality of the interface with Si. An interface state density ~0.7-2×1011 cm-2eV-1 was obtained at flat-band condition, and the nFET and pFET subthreshold slopes were 70 mV/dec. The inversion layer mobility was 20% higher than for the reference SiOx/HfO2 gate stack. Specifically, the measured mobility values were 230 cm2/Vs for nFET and 60 cm2/Vs for pFET devices, at an inversion charge density of 1013 cm-2 and at a total capacitance equivalent thickness of 1.6 nm.
XPC and human homologs of RAD23: intracellular localization and relationship to other nucleotide excision repair complexes

The xeroderma pigmentosum syndrome complementation group C (XP-C) is due to a defect in the global genome repair subpathway of nucleotide excision repair (NER). The XPC protein is complexed with HHR23B, one of the two human homologs of the yeast NER protein, RAD23 (Masutani at al. (1994) EMBO J. 8, 1831-1843). Using heparin chromatography, gel filtration and native gel electrophoresis we demonstrate that the majority of HHR23B is in a free, non-complexed form, and that a minor fraction is tightly associated with XPC. In contrast, we cannot detect any bound HHR23A. Thus the HHR23 proteins may have an additional function independent of XPC. The fractionation behaviour suggests that the non-bound forms of the HHR23 proteins are not necessary for the core of the NER reaction. Although both HHR23 proteins share a high level of overall homology, they migrate very differently on native gels, pointing to a difference in conformation. Gel filtration suggests the XPC-HHR23B heterodimer resides in a high MW complex. However, immunodepletion studies starting from repair-competent Manley extracts fall to reveal a stable association of a significant fraction of the HHR23 proteins or the XPC-HHR23B complex with the basal transcription/repair factor TFIIH, or with the ERCC1 repair complex. Consistent with a function in repair or DNA/chromatin metabolism, immunofluorescence studies show all XPC, HHR23B and (the free) HHR23A to reside in the nucleus.
The Anatomy and Facets of Dynamic Policies

Information flow policies are often dynamic, the security concerns of a program will typically change during execution to reflect security-relevant events. A key challenge is how to best specify, and give proper meaning to, such dynamic policies. A large number of approaches exist that tackle that challenge, each yielding some important, but unconnected, insight. In this work we synthesise existing knowledge on dynamic policies, with an aim to establish a common terminology, best practices, and frameworks for reasoning about them. We introduce the concept of facets to illuminate subtleties in the semantics of policies, and closely examine the anatomy of policies and the expressiveness of policy specification mechanisms. We further explore the relation between dynamic policies and the concept of declassification.
Joint Scheduling and Power Allocation Using Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access in Directional Beam-Based WLAN Systems

Proliferation of all forms of low-cost smart devices have boosted the dense deployment of wireless local area networks, which causes a number of forms of interference to occur. To mitigate the effects of interference among users in a single cell network, we consider a service based on smart antennae using non-orthogonal multiple access, in which two users can be served simultaneously, and a non-overlapping beam pattern enables the reuse of spatial resources. However, the joint optimization of a non-orthogonal multiple access scheme and a smart-antenna-based beam allocation system has high computational complexity in terms of its practical application. We herein propose a heuristic scheduling and power allocation scheme. Evaluation of the performance of the proposed scheme shows that it can achieve high average user throughput in highly dense networks.
Study of tribological behaviour of fresh mortar against a rigid plane wall

The interaction between a fresh cement-based material and a solid wall represents a considerable consumption of energy during an extrusion proces. In this article, the tribological behaviour of extrudible mortar and rigid wall friction is studied using a tribometer especially developed in the laboratory. Dynamic friction coefficient is highlighted. For fixed wall roughness, the friction velocity effect is analysed. Then, for fixed friction velocity, the roughness effect is analysed. Finally, the material structure evolution near the wall and the material erosion are analysed. L,interaction de matériaux à base cimentaire frais et une paroi solide représente une consommation énergétique importante dans les procédés d,extrusion. Dans cet article, le comportement tribologique d,un mortier extrudable et d,une paroi rigide est étudié au moyen d,un tribomètre développé et mis au point au laboratoire. Dans les travaux, le coefficient de frottement dynamique est tout d,abord mis en évidence. Pour une paroi de rugosité fixée, l,effet de la vitesse de frottement est ensuite analysé. Dans une partie suivante, à vitesse de frottement fixée, l,effet de la rugosité de la paroi est analysé. Enfin, l,évolution de la structure du matériau au voisinage de la paroi est présentée et discutée ainsi que l,érosion.
A review of optical coherence tomography in breast cancer

Abstract Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a medical imaging modality that opens up new opportunities for imaging in breast cancer. It provides two- and three-dimensional micro-scale images of tissue structure from bulk tissue, in vivo or freshly excised without labeling or staining, is capable of video-rate acquisition speeds, and is compatible with compact imaging probes. In this paper, the authors briefly describe OCT technology and describe in detail its capabilities for imaging breast cancer. Potential applications identified in current research are discussed, particularly in the assessment of excised breast tumors. It is concluded that OCT shows promise for margin assessment and biopsy guidance but that much more research and validation is required to confirm its level of utility.
Simulating the minimum core for hydrophobic collapse in globular proteins

To investigate the nature of hydrophobic collapse considered to be the driving force in protein folding, we have simulated aqueous solutions of two model hydrophobic solutes, methane and isobutylene. Using a novel methodology for determining contacts, we can precisely follow hydrophobic aggregation as it proceeds through three stages: dispersed, transition, and collapsed. Theoretical modeling of the cluster formation observed by simulation indicates that this aggregation is cooperative and that the simulations favor the formation of a single cluster midway through the transition stage. This defines a minimum solute hydrophobic core volume. We compare this with protein hydrophobic core volumes determined from solved crystal structures. Our analysis shows that the solute core volume roughly estimates the minimum core size required for independent hydrophobic stabilization of a protein and defines a limiting concentration of nonpolar residues that can cause hydrophobic collapse. These results suggest that the physical forces driving aggregation of hydrophobic molecules in water is indeed responsible for protein folding.
Construction of J-variate distribution functions and applications to discrete decision models

The construction of J-variate distribution functions, introducing dependences among J random variables and keeping fixed the J marginal distribution functions, is important in the development of theoretical and empirical statistical analysis. Here, a method for generating such distribution functions is developed. Characteristics of the resulting distribution functions are discussed. An application to discrete regression models is presented. The latter is specialized to model choice of mode od transportation by travelers.
An Algorithm for Unsupervised Transliteration Mining with an Application to Word Alignment

We propose a language-independent method for the automatic extraction of transliteration pairs from parallel corpora. In contrast to previous work, our method uses no form of supervision, and does not require linguistically informed preprocessing. We conduct experiments on data sets from the NEWS 2010 shared task on transliteration mining and achieve an F-measure of up to 92%, outperforming most of the semi-supervised systems that were submitted. We also apply our method to English/Hindi and English/Arabic parallel corpora and compare the results with manually built gold standards which mark transliterated word pairs. Finally, we integrate the transliteration module into the GIZA++ word aligner and evaluate it on two word alignment tasks achieving improvements in both precision and recall measured against gold standard word alignments.
3D Face Recognition using Gaussian Hermite Moments

recognition is an interesting issue in pattern recognition. In this paper, we propose a method for face recognition using 3D depth information. The goal is to get minimum features and produce a good recognition rates. We extract 3D clouds points from 3d vrml face Database, then the nose tip for each sample is detected and considered as new origin of the coordinate system, Gaussian Hermite Moments are applied to characterize each individual and Back propagation neural network is applied for the recognition task. Experimental results shows that Gaussian Hermite moments with global depth information perform significantly better than another method based on local depth information, in this study we consider the case of using ratios of distances and angles between manually selected facial fiducial points.
Cell type of origin as well as genetic alterations contribute to breast cancer phenotypes

Breast cancer is classified into different subtypes that are associated with different patient survival outcomes, underscoring the importance of understanding the role of precursor cell and genetic alterations in determining tumor subtypes. In this study, we evaluated the oncogenic phenotype of two distinct mammary stem/progenitor cell types designated as K5+/K19− or K5+/K19+ upon introduction of identical combinations of oncogenes-mutant H-Ras (mRas) and mutant p53 (mp53), together with either wild-type ErbB2(wtErbB2) or wild-type EGFR (wtEGFR). We examined their tumor forming and metastasis potential, using both in-vitro and in-vivo assays. Both the combinations efficiently transformed K5+/K19− or K5+/K19+ cells. Xenograft tumors formed by these cells were histologically heterogeneous, with variable proportions of luminal, basal-like and claudin-low type components depending on the cell types and oncogene combinations. Notably, K5+/K19− cells transformed with mRas/mp53/wtEGFR combination had a significantly longer latency for primary tumor development than other cell lines but more lung metastasis incidence than same cells expressing mRas/mp53/wtErbB2. K5+/K19+ cells exhibit shorter overall tumor latency, and high metastatic potential than K5+/K19− cells, suggesting that these K19+ progenitors are more susceptible to oncogenesis and metastasis. Our results suggest that both genetic alterations and cell type of origin contribute to oncogenic phenotype of breast tumors.
The Open University ’ s repository of research publications and other research outputs The decline in irradiation from the white dwarf in oldnovae

Aims. We have investigated how a flux ratio analysis of the light curves of cataclysmic variables can be used to calculate the luminosity irradiating the secondary star in the classical novae QU Vul, V Per, DD Cir, DN Gem, V1432 Aql, and WY Sge. Methods. We undertook phase-resolved, near-infrared K band photometry of QU Vul and V Per. Using data from QU Vul we show how flux ratios taken between fiducial orbital phases in the light curves of irradiated CVs can be used to measure the degree of heating of the secondary star. We compared the heating effect obtained from flux ratio analysis with more formal modelling, or by measurements taken from the literature, and found good agreement. We used the results to determine how irradiation changes with time since the nova outburst. Results. The light curve of QU Vul shows the presence of two maxima in the K band, which are displaced from phase 0.25 towards the 0.5 phase position, as would be expected from heating of the inner face of the secondary star by radiation from hot primary. Nova V Per, on the other hand shows evidence for a hot spot on the accretion disc, and it would appear that heating of the inner face is not occurring. The results of the flux ratio analysis of the objects examined are plotted as a function of time since the nova explosions occurred. There is marginal evidence for a decline in flux with time since the outburst, superimposed on considerable scatter, which is likely to be caused by the different temperature reached in each nova explosion. The decline is consistent with the declines others have seen. We conclude that it is the decline in reprocessed irradiation from the cooling white dwarf alone, rather than a decline in mass transfer rate, that could be the cause of the decrease in optical brightness seen in old novae.
The odometry error of a mobile robot with a synchronous drive system

This paper presents an error modeling of an odometry system for a synchronous-drive system and a possible strategy for evaluating this error. The odometry error is modeled by introducing four parameters characterizing its systematic and nonsystematic components (translational and rotational). The nonsystematic errors are expressed in terms of a covariance matrix, which depends on both the previous four parameters and the path followed by the mobile robot. In contrast to previous approaches which require assuming a particular path (straight or circular) in order to compute this covariance matrix, the general formulas are derived. We suggest a possible strategy for simultaneously estimating the four model parameters. It is shown that our strategy only requires measuring the change in the orientation and position between the initial and final configurations of the robot, related to suitable robot motions. In other words, it is unnecessary to know the actual path followed by the robot. We illustrate the proposed strategy by discussing the accuracy of the parameters estimation, and present some of the experimental results obtained with the mobile robot Nomad 150.
Batch Job Profiling and Adaptive Profile Enforcement for Virtualized Environments

Data center management is driven by high-level performance goals, and it is the responsibility of a management middleware to ensure that those goals are met using dynamic resource allocation. The performance delivered by the heterogeneous setoff applications running in a virtualized enterprise data center must be predicted to make resource allocation decisions. For some of these applications, it is required to produce accurate profiles based on previous executions: that is thecae of batch jobs.In this paper we propose a methodology to produce resource consumption profiles for batch applications running inside of virtual machines and a technique to enforce and adapt the profiles to actual execution conditions and application performance. For this purpose we have developed a testing prototype. The enforcement technique observes the fact that management middleware usually run in control cycles in which the system can be reconfigured, what imposes a tradeoff between the accuracy of the profiles and their applicability in real deployments.The novel contribution of this work is the study of the trade off between accuracy and applicability of workload profiles, what is a necessary step to enable existing management middleware with the performance prediction mechanisms required to perform effective dynamic resource allocation.
Improved Utilization of Preventive Services Among Patients Following Team-Based Annual Wellness Visits

BACKGROUND The Annual Wellness Visit was designed to enhance preventive services utilization among Medicare beneficiaries; Annual Wellness Visits are underutilized with sparse documented effectiveness. Patients of 3 community-based and 2 retirement community outpatient clinics in western North Carolina had team-based Annual Wellness Visits over a 20-month program, with the goal of improving the uptake and delivery of the Annual Wellness Visit. A clinical pharmacist saw high-complexity patients (≥5 medications) and a licensed practical nurse saw low-complexity patients. We examined the effectiveness of team-based Annual Wellness Visits on patients' use of preventive services. METHOD We conducted a retrospective chart review on a random sample of 500 patients for 12 months post-Annual Wellness Visit. Change over time in use of preventive services was assessed using McNemar's test. Adjusted relative risks of use within 6 months were calculated using generalized linear models with the Poisson loglinear function. RESULTS Overall, utilization of Annual Wellness Visit increased from 14% at baseline to 44% after the 20-month program. The percentage of patients up-to-date with all recommended services increased from 17.4% at the Annual Wellness Visit to 42% within 6 months. Age-appropriate preventive screens and vaccines demonstrated the most improvement (55.8% to 75.4% and 36% to 52.2%, respectively). Community-based patients were less likely to obtain recommended services (RR = 0.618; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.442-0.865), while patients with supplemental insurance (RR = 1.484; 95% CI, 1.023-2.153), patients seen in subsequent Annual Wellness Visits (RR = 1.405; 95% CI, 1.062-1.858), and patients who were men (RR = 1.422; 95% CI, 1.053-2.041) were more likely to obtain recommended services. LIMITATIONS Generalization is limited by the pre-/post design of one organizational model. CONCLUSION Team-based Annual Wellness Visits with a clinical pharmacist or an LPN, who were supervised by physicians, were associated with significantly improved utilization of preventive services. Use will likely continue to improve as more patients access team-based Annual Wellness Visits yearly.
Probabilistic Omnidirectional Path Loss Models for Millimeter-Wave Outdoor Communications

This letter presents a probabilistic omnidirectional millimeter-wave path loss model based on real-world 28 GHz and 73 GHz measurements collected in New York City. The probabilistic path loss approach uses a free space line-of-sight propagation model, and for non-line-of-sight conditions uses either a close-in free space reference distance path loss model or a floating-intercept path loss model. The probabilistic model employs a weighting function that specifies the line-of-sight probability for a given transmitter-receiver separation distance. Results show that the probabilistic path loss model offers virtually identical results whether one uses a non-line-of-sight close-in free space reference distance path loss model, with a reference distance of 1 meter, or a floating-intercept path loss model. This letter also shows that site-specific environmental information may be used to yield the probabilistic weighting function for choosing between line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight conditions.