Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of Oenococcus oeni and Brettanomyces bruxellensis on Aged Wine Microbial Taxonomic and Functional Profiles

In the wine making process, the interactions between lactic acid bacteria (LAB), yeast and other wine microflora have an impact on the wine quality. In this study, we investigate the influence of the LAB Oenococcus oeni and the spoilage yeast Brettanomyces bruxellensis on the microbial community of a Cabernet Sauvignon wine. We generated metagenomic datasets from inoculations of three strains of B. bruxellensis, in combination with two O. oeni strains, one with and one without cinnamoyl esterase activity. This esterase activity releases hydroxycinnamic acids (HCAs) that can subsequently be processed by some B. bruxellensis strains able to generate off-flavor compounds. We evaluated the influence of the O. oeni and B. bruxellensis on the microbial taxonomic and functional potential profile, particularly regarding off-flavor formation due to HCAs. We found that the effect on the microbial profiles depends on i) the O. oeni and B. bruxellensis strains being combined and ii) the abundance they reach in the final wine, which depends on certain unidentified conditions. We confirmed that the potential of B. bruxellensis to produce off-flavor compounds from HCAs depends on the strain. Interestingly, the samples without microbial inoculants also had this potential, suggesting that native grape microbiota could also influence the levels of HCA. We also found that the presence of B. bruxellensis does not interfere with the malolactic fermentation of the evaluated O. oeni strains, which leads to a less acidic taste. We show that metagenomic approaches can help uncover the complex wine microbial community traits, such as flavor, impacted by the simultaneous presence of O. oeni and B. bruxellensis.
Questionnaire Studies of Paramenstrual Symptoms

A number of formal questionnaires have been devised to study paramenstrual symptomatology. It has been suggested that women's responses to these questionnaires are vulnerable to forgetting and contaminated by culturally induced expectations. Nevertheless, concurrent reports of experienced symptoms may correlate highly with retrospective judgments, even when the relevance of the menstrual cycle is disguised. They also differentiate between women with and without a self-reported history of premenstrual symptoms, although concurrent reports across several menstrual cycles are impractical to collect and may be inconsistent between successive cycles. A number of methodological criticisms have been directed toward the most commonly used device, the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire. In principle, however, retrospective questions offer a reliable and accurate indication of women's experience during the normal menstrual cycle.
The Boder Test of Reading-Spelling Patterns: A Diagnostic Screening Test for Subtypes of Reading Disability

Despite the enormous amount of scientific and professional attention that has been paid to it, developmental dyslexia is still a puzzle to clinicians and educators. The research literature abounds with contradictory empiric findings, and consequently, no convincing theoretic formulations of the nature and determinants of the disorder have been developed. Many workers in the field now suspect that at least one reason for this impasse may be that dyslexia, even when it is fairly strictly defined, is not a single entity but instead a label for a number of more homogeneous syndromes, each with its own distinctive characteristics and etiology. In line with this thinking, a number of classifications based on diverse criteria have been proposed. One such classification, based on the qualitative characteristics of the child's reading performance, postulates two types of disability: an "audiophonic" or "phonetic" type and a "visuoperceptive" or "eidetic" type. The "dysphonetic" dyslexic has a
Estimates and standard errors for ratios of normalizing constants from multiple Markov chains via regeneration

In the classical biased sampling problem, we have k densities π1(·), … ,πk(·) , each known up to a normalizing constant, i.e., for l=1, …,k, πl(·)=νl(·)/ml , where νl(·) is a known function and ml is an unknown constant. For each l, we have an independent and identically distributed sample from πl , and the problem is to estimate the ratios ml/ms for all l and all s. This problem arises frequently in several situations in both frequentist and Bayesian inference. An estimate of the ratios was developed and studied by Vardi and his co‐workers over two decades ago, and there has been much subsequent work on this problem from many perspectives. In spite of this, there are no rigorous results in the literature on how to estimate the standard error of the estimate. We present a class of estimates of the ratios of normalizing constants that are appropriate for the case where the samples from the πl s are not necessarily independent and identically distributed sequences but are Markov chains. We also develop an approach based on regenerative simulation for obtaining standard errors for the estimates of ratios of normalizing constants. These standard error estimates are valid for both the independent and identically distributed samples case and the Markov chain case.
Development of an expert system for the integration of biomarker responses in mussels into an animal health index

Abstract Biomarkers on sentinel organisms are utilised worldwide in biomonitoring programs. However, the lack of effective interpretational capacity has hampered their uptake for use for assessment of risk in environmental management. The aim of the present study was to develop and test an objective decision-support or expert system capable of integrating biomarker results into a five-level health-status index. The expert system is based on a set of rules derived from available data on responses to natural and contaminant-induced stress of marine mussels. Integration of parameters includes: level of biological organization; biological significance; mutual inter-relationship; and qualitative trends in a stress gradient. The system was tested on a set of biomarker data obtained from the field and subsequently validated with data from previous studies. The results demonstrate that the expert system can effectively quantify the biological effects of different levels of pollution. The system represents a simple tool for risk assessment of the harmful impact of contaminants by providing a clear indication of the degree of stress syndrome induced by pollutants in mussels.
Correction: CleavPredict: A Platform for Reasoning about Matrix Metalloproteinases Proteolytic Events

In the Funding statement, the name of the second funder should be “Russian Foundation for Basic Research. ” The correct Funding statement is: “This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant R01GM098835 (PC) and by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research grant: 15-04-06861a and Russian Academy of Sciences via program "Molecular and Cellular Biology" (MK). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. ”
Practical elimination of near-duplicates from web video search

Current web video search results rely exclusively on text keywords or user-supplied tags. A search on typical popular video often returns many duplicate and near-duplicate videos in the top results. This paper outlines ways to cluster and filter out the near-duplicate video using a hierarchical approach. Initial triage is performed using fast signatures derived from color histograms. Only when a video cannot be clearly classified as novel or near-duplicate using global signatures, we apply a more expensive local feature based near-duplicate detection which provides very accurate duplicate analysis through more costly computation. The results of 24 queries in a data set of 12,790 videos retrieved from Google, Yahoo! and YouTube show that this hierarchical approach can dramatically reduce redundant video displayed to the user in the top result set, at relatively small computational cost.
An energy injection inverter for switched-mode inductive power transfer application

There is a conflict between the energy transfer efficiency and maximum transferred power in conventional inductive power transfer (IPT) systems, and the energy transfer efficiency is only 50% when maximum power is transferred. To solve this problem, a new topology which is operated at switched-mode is proposed in this paper. The high frequency current of the topology is generated by the free oscillation of the transmitting resonator and a fly-back converter is utilized to inject the energy into the resonator. The energy transfer process is discrete, thus decoupling the load with transmitting (TX) and receiving (RX) coils. The transferred power and energy transfer efficiency are increasing with the coupling monotonously at all coupling region. The operation modes of the topology is analyzed and the experimental results indicate that the topology is effective due to the soft switching operation, low switching frequency and high resonant frequency.
HOW IS THE CONCEPT OF EXPERIENCE DEFINED IN CONSUMER CULTURE THEORY? DISCUSSING DIFFERENT FRAMES OF ANALYSIS

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the notion of experience in the context of consumer culture theory. The analytical research question is the following: How is the notion of experience defied in consumer culture theory? In this paper I aim to capture the notion of experience by discussing three different frames used to theorize experience in the field of consumer culture theory. I have named these frames as 1) humanistic frame (experience as a subjective and inner phenomenon), 2) extraordinariness frame 1 (experience as a special and particular phenomenon) and 3) marketplace frame (experience as marketplace
Network Topology Inference Based on End-to-End Measurements

We consider using traceroute-like end-to-end measurement to infer the underlay topology for a group of hosts. One major issue is the measurement cost. Given N hosts in an asymmetric network without anonymous routers, traditionally full N(N-1) traceroutes are needed to determine the underlay topology. We investigate how to efficiently infer an underlay topology with low measurement cost, and propose a heuristic called Max-Delta. In the heuristic, a server selects appropriate host-pairs to measure in each iteration so as to reveal the most undiscovered information on the underlay. We further observe that the presence of anonymous routers significantly distorts and inflates the inferred topology. Previous research has shown that obtaining both exact and approximate topology in the presence of anonymous routers under certain consistency constraints is intractable. We hence propose fast algorithms on how to practically construct an approximate topology by relaxing some constraints. We investigate and compare two algorithms to merge anonymous routers. The first one uses Isomap to map routers into a multidimensional space and merges anonymous routers according to their interdistances. The second algorithm is based on neighbor router information, which trades off some accuracy with speed. We evaluate our inference algorithms on Internet-like and real Internet topologies. Our results show that almost full measurement is needed to fully discover the underlay topology. However, substantial reduction in measurements can be achieved if a little accuracy, say 5%, can be compromised. Moreover, our merging algorithms in the presence of anonymous routers can efficiently infer an underlay topology with good accuracy
Types of Influence Goals in Personal Relationships

This study was designed to address three issues: (1) What types of influence goals do people see as typical in their close relationships? (2) How can these goals best be interpreted empirically and theoretically? (3) How do different types of influence goals correspond to action? Cluster analytic methods were applied to a sample of goals generated by people who were asked to recall their goal in an interpersonal influence event of their own initiation. A six-group solution was retained whose clusters were labeled Give Advice (Lifestyle), Gain Assistance, Share Activity, Change Political Stance, Give Advice (Health), and Change Relationship. These clusters differed significantly on each of nine variables used to validate the cluster solution. In addition, goal types were differentially associated with three aspects of compliance-gaining messages. These results provide some of the foundational material that is prerequisite to the development of theory in the area of interpersonal influence in personal relationships.
Racial/ethnic differences in healthcare use among patients with uncontrolled and controlled diabetes

ABSTRACT Objectives: To examine racial/ethnic differences in healthcare use among patients classified as having controlled and uncontrolled diabetes. Design: Data from the Carolinas HealthCare System electronic data warehouse were used. Glycemic control was defined as glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) < 8% (64 mmol/mol) in 2012 (n = 9996). Patients with HbA1c ≥ 8% (64 mmol/mol) in 2012 were classified as uncontrolled (n = 2576). Race and ethnicity were jointly classified as non-Hispanic Black, non-Hispanic White or Other. Separate mixed effects negative binomial models estimated the independent effect of race/ethnicity on the number of emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations and physician office visits in 2013, in each patient group, adjusting for significant confounding variables. Results: Rates of diabetes-related ED visits were two to three times higher for non-Hispanic Blacks compared to non-Hispanic Whites (uncontrolled rate ratio [RR]: 3.41 95% CI: 1.41–8.22; controlled RR: 2.95; 95% CI: 1.78–4.91). Similar differences were observed for all-cause ED visits (uncontrolled RR: 1.83, 95% CI: 1.50–2.24; controlled RR: 2.45, 95% CI: 2.17–2.77). Non-Hispanic Blacks with controlled and uncontrolled diabetes also had lower rates of all-cause physician office visits when compared to non-Hispanic Whites (uncontrolled RR: 0.84, 95% CI: 0.77–0.91; controlled RR: 0.81, 95% CI: 0.78–0.84). Conclusion: Notable racial/ethnic disparities exist in the use of emergency services and physician offices for diabetes care. Strategies such as patient education and care delivery changes that address healthcare access issues in racial/ethnic minorities should be considered to offer better diabetes management and address diabetes disparities.
Associations of Lifestyle, Medication, and Socio-Demographic Factors with Disability in People with Multiple Sclerosis: An International Cross-Sectional Study

Objective Emerging evidence links modifiable lifestyle risk factors to disease progression in multiple sclerosis (MS). We sought further evidence around this hypothesis through detailed analysis of the association with disability of lifestyle behaviours of a large international sample of people with MS. Materials and Methods A total of 2469 people with MS from 57 countries provided self-reported data via cross-sectional online survey on lifestyle (mostly with validated tools) and the primary outcome measure, disability (Patient Determined Disease Steps), categorised from 8 steps into 3 categories, mild, moderate and major disability. Multinomial logistic regression modelling derived relative risk ratios (RRRs) for disability categories. Results RRRs of having moderate vs mild disability were: diet (per 30 points on 100 point scale) 0.72 (95%CI 0.52–0.98), ever smoking 1.32 (1.06–1.65), exercise (moderate/high vs low) 0.35 (0.28–0.44), latitude (per degree from the equator) 1.02 (1.01–1.04), and number of comorbidities (2 vs none) 1.43 (1.04–1.95), (3 vs none) 1.56 (1.13–2.16). RRRs of having major vs mild disability were: exercise (moderate/high vs low) 0.07 (0.04–0.11), alcohol consumption (moderate vs low) 0.45 (0.30–0.68), plant-based omega 3 supplementation 0.39 (0.18–0.86), and disease-modifying medication use 0.45 (0.29–0.70). Conclusions Healthier lifestyle has strong associations with disability in our large international sample of people with MS, supporting further investigation into the role of lifestyle risk factors in MS disease progression.
Comparison of cone beam CT scans with enhanced photostimulated phosphor plate images in the detection of root fracture of endodontically treated teeth.

OBJECTIVES Two-dimensional intraoral radiography is the most common tool for diagnosing root fractures (RFs). Cone beam CT (CBCT) is widely used to depict RFs in endodontically treated teeth. Beam hardening and other artefacts caused by gutta percha may result in an incorrect diagnosis when using CBCT only. A comparison of two CBCT machines with photostimulated phosphor (PSP) plate images enhanced with the equalization tool was carried out to detect RFs in endodontically treated teeth. METHODS 66 roots were collected, decoronated and treated endodontically using the same technique with gutta percha. 33 of these roots were randomly selected and fractured; the 2 root fragments were glued together with 1 layer of methyl methacrylate and placed randomly in 8 prepared beef rib fragments. Large fields of view (FOVs) were acquired with one CBCT unit and small FOVs with the second CBCT unit. Periapical radiographs (using intraoral PSP plates) were also acquired. A contrast enhancement tool was used when evaluating the PSP plate images. RESULTS Small FOV images had significantly higher accuracy (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve) and sensitivity in detecting RFs than PSP plates and large FOV images. The specificity of the enhanced PSP images was higher than, although not significantly higher than, the small FOV images and was significantly higher than the large FOV images. CONCLUSIONS CBCT small FOVs should be acquired for depicting RFs of endodontically treated teeth. Images obtained using PSP plates had the lowest rate of false-positive results and their use can save the patient a radiation dose.
iMap: Automatic inference of indoor semantics exploiting opportunistic smartphone sensing

Indoor environment inference is of great importance to mobile and pervasive computing. As high-level metadata of indoor environment, floor maps contain rich information and are widely required in many pervasive systems. However, despite significant research progress, automatic inference of indoor maps has been less studied. In this paper, we present iMap, a smartphone-based opportunistic sensing system that automatically constructs the indoor maps by merging crowdsourced walking trajectories from smart-phone users. Most importantly, indoor semantics, such as stairs, escalators, elevators and doors are also automatically detected and annotated to the constructed map in the same inference process. The evaluation result shows that iMap can accurately detect different indoor semantics and be applied to different indoor environments. With the capability of generating semantic-annotated indoor maps without requiring any prior knowledge of the indoor environment, iMap has the potential to be widely deployed in practice.
Empirical Evaluation of Character Classification Schemes

In this paper, we empirically study the performance of a set of pattern classification schemes for character classification problems. We argue that with a rich feature space, this class of problems can be solved with reasonable success using a set of statistical feature extraction schemes. Experimental validation is done on a data set (of more than 500000 characters) collected and annotated from books printed primarily in Malayalam. Scope of this study include (a) applicability of a spectrum of classifiers and features (b) scalability of classifiers (c) sensitivity of features to degradation (d) generalization across fonts and (e) applicability across scripts.
A Variation on Algorithms for Pairwise Global Alignments

Alignment algorithms normally generate only a single optimal alignment. No information about possible alternative alignments or the reliability of the result is provided. We address this problem by calculating match probabilities and by generating a fairly distributed ensemble of optimal and suboptimal alignments. The partition function of all possible alignments of two sequences is computed by means of a dynamic programming algorithm incorporating affine gap models. The algorithm is designed to avoid redundant solutions by determining the order of gaps in regions were gaps in one sequence are adjacent to gaps in the other sequence. This is important to avoid combinatorial explosion trough the generation of duplicate or non-canonical solutions. The partition function can be used to determine the probability of an alignment as well as the probability of each possible match between two sequence positions. To obtain the probability of each match between positions i and j of the two sequences, respectively, the partition function over all alignments, which contain this match, is divided by the partition function over all possible alignments of the two sequences. For the calculation of match probabilities a detailed derivation of the recursion relations for partition functions of alignments of subsequences is needed. Furthermore the partition function is used for stochastic backtracking generating a properly weighted ensemble of optimal and suboptimal alignments. In this way one acquires an overview of the alignment landscape and the entropy of the ensemble of stochastic alignments, that is a measure of the variety of the optimal and suboptimal alignments generated. These methods were used to implement a program in C.
When and why frail elderly people give up independent living: The Netherlands as an example

As yet the determinants of the need for nursing homes and old age homes are not clearly understood. This may be due to the fact that care facilities providing different levels of care may yield different predictors of use. Moreover, the absence of theory and ignorance of the problems with ‘use‘ as the dependent variable, may be responsible for this. In this study these issues are addressed explicitly. The study focuses on the need for living in an old age home and a theoretical model predicts under what circumstances frail elderly people will express the need for living in such a home. Findings show that, as hypothesised, loss of comfort and affection are among the main predictors of a strong orientation towards living in an old age home. Resources to counter the loss of comfort and affection – a spouse, income, home adaptations, private help, informal and formal home care – were only partly effective in their hypothesised function of deterring orientation towards living in an old age home. Pressure from others to apply for an old age home had the strongest effect. The findings are discussed and some implications for policy are considered.
Methods to enhance laser speckle imaging of high-flow and low-flow vasculature

The objective of this paper is to present two methods to extend the response range of laser speckle imaging (LSI). We report on the use of two methods (image exposure time control and magnetomotive actuation of exogenous contrast agents) to enhance characterization of high- and low-flow vasculature, respectively. With an exposure time of 10 and 0.01 ms, the linear response range extended to 10 and 280 mm/s, respectively. With application of an AC magnetic field to a solution of stagnant SPIO particles, an apparent increase of ~3× in speckle flow index was induced.