Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Candida Score: a Predictor of Mortality in Patients with Candidemia.

BACKGROUND Candida score has been developed and used for identifying patients at risk for developing Candida infections. However, its usefulness in predicting outcome of patients with candidemia has not been evaluated. We aimed to determine the risk factors for mortality in patients with candidemia admitted to an Indian medical intensive care unit (ICU). METHODS We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of 56 patients with candidemia presented in 18 months duration. Baseline patient characteristics, ICU course and outcome were noted and Candida score was calculated. We conducted analysis based on the primary outcome measure of ICU mortality. RESULTS Out of 3,142 ICU admissions, the incidence of candidemia was 17.8/1,000 admissions. The mean interval between ICU admission and candidemia was 12.9 ± 14.4 days. C. tropicalis was the commonest species isolated from 28.6% isolates, followed by Candida albicans (21.4%) and C. glabrata (12.5%). The mean length of ICU stay was 22.9 ± 28 days and hospital stay was 30.1 ± 30.2 days. Crude ICU mortality was 33.93%. There was no statistically significant difference between mortality of patients with albicans and non-albicans candidemia (p=0.732). On multivariate analysis, only two factors, previous antifungal therapy (p=0.004, OR=101.4, 95% CI=4.52-227.7) and Candida score >3 (p=0.028, OR=13.2, 95% CI=1.3-125) were found to be independently predicting mortality. CONCLUSION Candida infection is generally late-onset and is associated with a prolonged ICU and hospital stay, and a high mortality. Candida non-albicans infection was more common but there was no difference in mortality among patients with C. albicans and non-albicans infection. Previous antifungal therapy and Candida score were found to be independently predicting mortality.
New Interpretative Scales for Lichen Bioaccumulation Data: The Italian Proposal

The interpretation of lichen bioaccumulation data is of paramount importance in environmental forensics and decision-making processes. By implementing basic ideas underlying previous interpretative scales, new dimensionless, species-independent “bioaccumulation scales” for native and transplanted lichens are proposed. Methodologically consistent element concentration datasets were populated with data from biomonitoring studies relying on native and transplanted lichens. The scale for native lichens was built up by analyzing the distribution of ratios between element concentration data and species-specific background concentration references (B ratios), herein provided for Flavoparmelia caperata and Xanthoria parietina (foliose lichens). The scale for transplants was built up by analyzing the distribution of ratios between element concentration in exposed and unexposed samples (EU ratio) of Evernia prunastri and Pseudevernia furfuracea (fruticose lichens). Both scales consist of five percentile-based classes; namely, “Absence of”, “Low”, “Moderate”, “High”, and “Severe” bioaccumulation. A comparative analysis of extant interpretative tools showed that previous ones for native lichens suffered from the obsolescence of source data, whereas the previous expert-assessed scale for transplants failed in describing noticeable element concentration variations. The new scales, based on the concept that pollution can be quantified by dimensionless ratios between experimental and benchmark values, overcome most critical points affecting the previous scales.
Causes and consequences of variation in the energy expenditure in grey seals (Halichoerus grypus)

Oxygen consumption of captive grey seals was measured over a period of 2.5 years at the captive facility of the Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of St Andrews. The conditions under which in-water resting metabolic rate (RMR) was measured had a significant effect on the resulting estimates. RMR was highest when seals were at the surface breathing periodically. Surface apnoea and periodic submergence reduced RMR estimates by 25 and 35% respectively. There was significant seasonal variation in RMR's of adult females, with rates being highest in the spring and declining throughout the summer months. This variation was unrelated to changes in water temperature. Changes in mass explained some of this variation but this seasonality was still evident when rates were expressed mass-specifically. RMR ofjuvenile grey seals increased with age, as did lean body mass, although there was no relationship between age and total body mass. Diving metabolic rate (DMR) was measured while seals were voluntarily diving in a quasinatural setting. Overall DMR was lower than RMR measured in the same animals. Mean DMR was 1.6 times predicted BMR. Average DMR decreased with dive duration and increased swimming activity during dives increased DMR. A model was developed that predicts DMR given information on the behaviour during the dive. This model was used to predict the at-sea metabolic rate of 5 wild grey seals from telemetry data. Overall, predicted at-sea metabolic rates were similar to DMR of the captive seals. Travelling dives had a higher energetic cost than foraging dives. Feeding during diving caused DMR to be increased 1.4-1.6 times pre-feeding levels. Metabolic rate data was incorporated into a population energy flux model. Energy requirements of different components of the population were estimated on a quarterly basis and all these were summed to produce an estimate ofpopulation annual energy requirements. Error in input parameters were used to calculate confidence limits in these estimates.
Intermediate resolution Hβ spectroscopy and photometric monitoring of 3C 390.3 I. Further evidence of a nuclear accretion disk

We have monitored the AGN 3C 390.3 between 1995 and 2000. A historical B-band light curve dating back to 1966 shows a large increase in brightness during 1970{1971, followed by a gradual decrease down to a minimum in 1982. During the 1995{2000 lapse the broad H emission and the continuum flux varied by a factor of 3. Two large amplitude outbursts, of dierent duration, in continuum and H light were observed i.e.: in October 1994 a brighter flare that lasted1000 days and in July 1997 another one that lasted700 days were detected. The response time lag of the emission lines relative to flux changes of the continuum has been found to vary with time i.e. during 1995{1997 a lag of about 100 days is evident, while during 1998{1999 a double valued lag of100 days and35 days is present in our data. The flux in the H wings and line core vary simultaneously, a behavior indicative of predominantly circular motions in the BLR. Important changes of the H emission proles were detected: at times, we found proles with prominent asymmetric wings, like those normaly seen in Sy1s, while at other times, we observe proles with weak, almost symmetrical wings, similar to those of Sy1.8s. We further dismiss the hypothesis that the double peaked H proles in this object originate in a massive binary BH. Instead, we found that the radial velocity dierence between the red and blue bumps is anticorrelated with the light curves of H and continuum radiation. This implies that the zone that contributes most of the energy to the emitted line changes in radius within the disk. The velocity dierence increases, corresponding to smaller radii, as the continuum flux decreases. When the continuum flux increases the hump velocity dierence decreases. These transient phenomena are expected to result from the variable accretion rate close to the central source. The optical continuum and the H flux variations might be related to changes in X-ray emission modulated by a variable accretion rate, changing the surface temperature of the disk, as a result of a variable X-ray irradiation (Ulrich 2000). Theoretical H proles were computed for an accretion disk, the observed proles are best reproduced by an inclined disk (25) whose region of maximum emission is located roughly at 200 Rg . T he mass of the black hole in 3C 390.3, estimated from the reverberation analysis is Mrev 2:1 10 9 M, 5 times larger than previous
Silviculture of southwestern ponderosa pine: The status of our knowledge

Describes the status of our knowledge of ponderosa pine silviculture in the southwestern states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. Economic value, impact on other uses, and the timber resource are discussed first, followed by ecological background, site quality, growth and yield, and silviculture and management. Relevant literature is discussed along with observations, experience, and results of unpublished research. Treatise is intended to serve as a reference tool for guidance in making management decisions and prescribing silvicultural treatments. Research needs are also considered.
Kyusei nature farming and environmental management through effective microorganisms - the past, present and future.

Introduction The basis of agriculture from ancient times has been the production of food for humankind. The origin of this was based on the way people lived, it was a philosophy and a way of life. With time, the demand for food grew at a faster rate than the supply. This was overcome to some extent by the green revolution of the 1960’s, especially in the poorer nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America While those who developed the technologies of the green revolution was rewarded with honors and medals, the farmers who adopted the concepts turned the green revolution to one of greed revolution. They tried to extract as much as possible from the ecosystems, and today these resource poor farmers are facing problems of sustainability, loss of diversity and of productivity. Therefore, at present, scientists state while the green revolution saved millions from starvation, it is now threatening the worlds food security’. This is the scenario in most agricultural systems producing food in the developing countries, where food is required to the greatest extent. What caused this problem? Looking back at the technologies of the green revolution, one can see the excessive use of agrochemicals, which destroy the soils. Productivity as envisaged by the green revolution is totally dependant on chemicals and high inputs. The soil and its life were not cared for, as the latter was not seen. Hence the loss of sustainability and declining productivity can be attributed to this loss of soil quality, which is the key factor in maintaining arable agricultural production. Looking at all possible alternatives to this problem, one is reminded of the statement “ Before renovation of an old house, one must clean its rubbish. ” This can also be applied to the poor soils of the tropics, destroyed by the green revolution. Thus scientists are looking at possibilities of developing soils through microbial applications, which are a key factor in maintaining soil productivity. It is in this context that organic farming, which nurtures the soil becomes important. Amongst the many methods of organic farming that are present in this world, Kyusei Nature Farming, advocated by Mokichi Okada in the 1930’s and promoted by the International Nature Farming Research Center, Atami, Japan plays an important role. This is because of its five conceptsnamely
Nitrogen Loading Sources and Eutrophication of the Neuse River Estuary, North Carolina: Direct and Indirect Roles of Atmospheric Deposition

A multi-year (1990-1993) field survey and in situ bioassay study was undertaken to examine trophic and biogeochemical impacts of nutrient loading events at 3 representative oligohaline and mesohaline locations in the Neuse River Estuary North Carolina. Additional data were evaluated from an earlier study (1987-1990) at a mesohaline location. Previous studies showed the estuary as being nitrogen-limited throughout much of th year. In addition there is evidence and concern that recent increases in nitrogen loading have led to spatial and temporal expansion of phytoplankton blooms, indicating accelerating eutrophication. Accordingly, we examined the roles of significant nitrogen (N) inputs on the eutrophication process.
EWMA Chart and Measurement Error

Measurement error is a usually met distortion factor in real-world applications that influences the outcome of a process. In this paper, we examine the effect of measurement error on the ability of the EWMA control chart to detect out-of-control situations. The model used is the one involving linear covariates. We investigate the ability of the EWMA chart in the case of a shift in mean. The effect of taking multiple measurements on each sampled unit and the case of linearly increasing variance are also examined. We prove that, in the case of measurement error, the performance of the chart regarding the mean is significantly affected.
Space Weather Effects in the Ionosphere and their impact on positioning

RESUME The ionosphere region plays an active role in the complex space weather relationships. So a permanent monitoring of the ionospheric state on global scale is required. The world-wide use of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as GPS and GLONASS offer the unique chance for a permanent monitoring of the total ionization (Total Electron Content TEC) of the global ionosphere/plasmasphere up to about 20000 km height. On the other hand, accuracy and reliability of GNSS suffer from the ionospheric impact on navigation signals. The talk discusses several space weather effects in the ionosphere detected by 30smeasurements in the GPS tracking network of the International GPS Service (IGS). A direct correlation between space weather events and phase degradation of GNSS signals for positioning has been found. The ionosphere impact on GNSS navigation signals is demonstrated by analyzing 1 Hz sample rate data of GPS and GLONASS measured on 6 August 2000. The derived signal phase irregularities that degrade navigation and positioning applications indicate highly variable horizontal structures. The discussion of ionospheric irregularities is completed by several simulation scenarios showing their influence on positioning. A close correlation of TEC fluctuations with geostationary satellite particle flux data was detected too.
A study of nitrification in lakes of the English Lake District

Nitrification became the dominant nitrogen transformation in a number of lakes which accumulated ammonium, in hypolimnetic water, under aerobic conditions. The timing and duration of this activity varied between lakes but was characterized by decreasing ammonium, and increasing nitrate, concentrations. In Grasmere lake this phase was found to be due to the activity of planktonic chemolithotrophic nitrifying bacteria. The observed nitrate concentration increased during this phase and accounted for up to 15% of the total oxygen deficit of the hypolimnion. At similar in situ temperatures nitrification rates and nitrifying bacterial populations were greater in oxidised sediments than in the water column. Littoral sediments were more important than profundal sediments as sites of nitrification due to higher temperatures and the persistance of oxidising conditions to greater depths into these deposits. Within the littoral zone the physical characteristics of the sediment were important with organic rich deposits sustaining greater rates of nitrification than sandy sediments. Nitrate reduction was the primary determining factor of nitrate concentrations in sediment interstitial waters. Some observations on the culture of chemolithotrophic nitrifying bacteria from lakewater were discussed. Reviews of the methodology for nitrification research and nitrification in the lacustrine environment are presented.
Asymmetric exchange rate policy in inflation targeting developing countries

In the last decades, many developing countries abandoned their existing policy regimes and adopted inflation targeting (IT) by which they aimed to control inflation through the use of policy interest rates. During the period before the crisis, most of these countries experienced large appreciations in their currencies. Given that appreciation helps central banks curb inflationary pressures, we ask whether central banks in developing countries have different policy stances with respect to depreciation and appreciation in order to hit their inflation targets. To that end, we analyze central banks’ interest rate decisions by estimating a nonlinear monetary policy reaction function for a set of IT developing countries using a panel threshold model. Our findings suggest that during the period under investigation (2002-2008), central banks in developing countries implementing IT tolerated appreciation by remaining inactive in case of appreciation, but fought against depreciation pressures beyond some threshold. We are unable to detect a similar asymmetric response for IT advanced countries suggesting that asymmetric policy stance is peculiar to IT developing countries. Although there is a vast literature on asymmetric responses of various central banks to changes in inflation and output, asymmetric stance with regards to exchange rate has not been analyzed yet in a rigorous way especially within the context of IT developing countries. In this sense, our study is the first in the literature and thus is expected to fill an important gap.
Simulation of the Indian and East-Asian summer monsoon in the ECMWF model: Sensitivity to horizontal resolution

The ability of the ECMWF model (Cycle 33) to simulate the Indian and East Asian summer _,onsoon is evaluated at four different horizontal resolutions: T21, T42, T63, and T106. Generally, with respect to the large scale features of the circulation, the largest differences among the simulations occur at T42 relative to T21. However, on regional scales, important differences among the high frequency temporal variability serve as a further critical test of the model's ability to simulate the monsoon. More generally, the results indicate the importance of evaluating high frequency time scales as a component of the climate system. T106 best captures both the spatial and temporal characteristics of the Indian and East Asian Monsoon, while T42 fails to correctly simulate the sequence and development of synoptic scale milestones that characterize the monsoon flow. In particular, T106 is superior at simulating the development and migration of the monsoon trough over the Bay of Bengal. In the T42 simulation, the development of the monsoon occurs one month earlier than typically observed. At this time the trough is incorrectly located adjacent to the east coast of India which results in an underestimate of precipitation over the Burma/Thailand region. This early establishment of the monsoon trough affects the evolution of the East-Asian monsoon and yields excessive preseason rainfall over the Mei-yu region. EOF analysis of precipitation over China indicates that T106 best simulates the Mei-yu mode of variability associated with an oscillation of the rainband that gives rise to periods of enhanced rainfall over the Yangtze River Valley. The coarse resolution ofT21 precludes simulation of the aforementioned regional scale monsoon flows.
Constraining marine carbon fluxes in the ocean interior

The uptake of dissolved CO2 by phytoplankton in the surface ocean and its delivery to the deep ocean via the remineralisation of sinking particles, the biological pump, is an important control on the exchange of CO2 between the ocean and the atmosphere. Ocean biogeochemical models suggest that atmospheric CO2 is sensitive to changes in the depth at which the majority of particles have been remineralised in the ocean interior. However, the key mechanisms involved are not well understood. The function of the biological pump in the past and future is a large uncertainty for the carbon cycle. This thesis uses observations and modelling to further constrain our mechanistic understanding of the biological pump. Geographically Weighted Regression is applied to an updated sediment trap dataset to explore the spatial variability in statistical relationships between organic matter and CaCO3 that are the basis for the ballast hypothesis. No uniform strong relationship at smaller spatial scales and patterns consistent with surface biogeochemistry suggests ecosystem processes may be important. In response to the limited sampling of particulate uxes analysis explored whether annual average uxes could be estimated from a PO4 climatology using modelled ocean transport rates in the form of a transport matrix. The Earth System Model GENIE was used to create a synthetic dataset to test this approach, finding significant sources of uncertainty from errors in the observations, the use of modelled transport rates and the assumption that remineralisation is from particles only. The transport matrix formed a basis for a steady-state phosphorus-only model used to find optimal solutions of spatially varying remineralisation using a 600 member Latin Hypercube ensemble and observed [PO4]. Modelled [PO4] was predominantly sensitive to global mean remineralisation depths although some spatial variability could be constrained. This has implications for using nutrient distributions to validate mechanistic parameterisations in models.
Collections for people: museums' stored collections as a public resource

Collections in UK museums grew enormously in the latter half of the 20th century yet museum collections, mostly maintained at public expense, are perceived as an underused resource. The Museums Association’s 2005 report, Collections for the Future1, together with press comments and books such as Treasures on Earth (2002)2 and Fragments of the World (2005)3, brought this issue into sharp focus. Collections for People set out to understand the scale of museum stored collections, and the main parameters of their access and use: • What is the size and nature of collections as a resource? How are they distributed, geographically and among different types of museum? • How much are different types of collection used by people other than museum staff? What sort of people use collections? What do they use them for: research, teaching and learning, creative activities, visits for enjoyment such as store tours? • How do users perceive this service? Do museums actively market collections access? Do they publicise what is in their collections? • How do museums facilitate collections use? What are the factors associated with greater use of collections? What do museums see as the barriers to more use?