Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A mixed methods inquiry into the determinants of traditional food consumption among three Cree communities of Eeyou Istchee from an ecological perspective

Background The Aboriginal nations of Canada have higher incidences of chronic diseases, coinciding with profound changes in their environment, lifestyle and diet. Traditional foods can protect against the risks of chronic disease. However, their consumption is in decline, and little is known about the complex mechanisms underlying this trend. Objective To identify the factors involved in traditional food consumption by Cree Aboriginal people living in 3 communities in northern Quebec, Canada. Design A mixed methods explanatory design, including focus group interviews to interpret the results of logistic regression. Methods This study includes a secondary data analysis of a cross-sectional survey of 3 Cree communities (n=374) and 4 focus group interviews (n=23). In the first, quantitative phase of the study, data were collected using a food-frequency questionnaire along with a structured questionnaire. Subsequently, the focus group interviews helped explain and build on the results of logistic regressions. Results People who consume traditional food 3 days or more weekly were more likely to be 40 years old and over, to walk 30 minutes or more per day, not to have completed their schooling, to live in Mistissini and to be a hunter (p<0.05 for all comparisons). The focus group participants provided explanations for the quantitative analysis results or completed them. For example, although no statistical association was found, focus group participants believed that employment acts as both a facilitator and a barrier to traditional food consumption, rendering the effect undetectable. In addition, focus group participants suggested that traditional food consumption is the result of multiple interconnected influences, including individual, family, community and environmental influences, rather than a single factor. Conclusions This study sheds light on a number of factors that are unique to traditional foods, factors that have been understudied to date. Efforts to promote and maintain traditional food consumption could improve the overall health and wellbeing of Cree communities.
Table-comparison prefetching in VIA-based parallel file system

Abstract : A parallel file system is normally used to support excessive file requests from parallel applications in a cluster system, whereas prefetching is useful for improving the file system performance. This paper proposes a table-comparison prefetching policy that is particularly suitable for parallel scientific applications and multimedia web services in a VIA-based parallel file system. VIA relieves the communi-cation overhead of traditional communication protocols, such as TCP/IP. The proposed policy introduces a table-comparison method to predict data for prefetching. In ad-dition, it includes an algorithm to determine whether and when prefetching is performed using the current available I/O bandwidth. Experimental results confirmed that the use of the proposed prefetching policy in a VIA-based parallel file system produced a higher file system performance.
Salience based hierarchical fuzzy representation for object recognition

Object recognition is one of the most popular tasks in computer vision. Various works have been reported in recent years. Bag of visual words (BOVW) is shown to be an effective model for this task. BOVW extracts features or visual words from the whole image. However, we know there are two kinds of information in an image: objects and background. Obviously, the features in the objects and background are not equivalently important for recognizing the object. In this paper, we propose a novel solution to considering the different regions. Intuitively speaking, the object in an image is more salient than the background. Based on this observation, we use a salience detection technique to divide an image into three regions: objects, boundary and background. Then we extract features from these regions, respectively. The features are finally integrated with an multi-kernel SVM classifier. We conduct experiments on some datasets, and the results show that our approach outperforms the traditional BOVW and weighted BOVW.
Implications of data quality for spreadsheet analysis

This paper examines the impact of deficiencies in data quality on the results generated for spreadsheet applications. The purpose is to describe a framework which can be systematically used to determine the relative importance of potential errors in operational and judgmental data. Special emphasis is placed on analyzing the implications of deficiencies in data quality on projected spreadsheet results.
Visualizing the Knowledge Domain of Nanoparticle Drug Delivery Technologies: A Scientometric Review

The scientific literature of nanoparticle drug delivery technologies (NDDT) between 2005 and 2014 was reviewed. The visualized co-citation network of its knowledge domain was characterized in terms of thematic concentrations of co-cited references and emerging trends of surging keywords and citations to references through a scientometric review. The combined dataset of 25,171 bibliographic records were constructed through topic search and citation expansion to ensure adequate coverage of the field. While research in gold nanoparticle and magnetic nanoparticle remains the two most prominent knowledge domains in the NDDT field, research related to clinical and therapeutic applications has experienced a considerable growth. In particular, clinical and therapeutic developments in NDDT have demonstrated profound connections with the mesoporous silica nanoparticle research and microcrystal research. A rapid adaptation of mesoporous silica-based nanomaterials and rare earth fluoride nano-/microcrystal in NDDT is evident. Innovative strategies have been employed to exploit the multicomponent, chemical synthesis, surface modification, and controlled release imparting functionalized targeting capabilities. This study not only facilitated the connection of authors and research themes in the NDDT community, but also demonstrated how research interests and trends evolve over time, which greatly contributes to our understanding of the NDDT knowledge domains.
Wide Distribution of O157-Antigen Biosynthesis Gene Clusters in Escherichia coli

Most Escherichia coli O157-serogroup strains are classified as enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), which is known as an important food-borne pathogen for humans. They usually produce Shiga toxin (Stx) 1 and/or Stx2, and express H7-flagella antigen (or nonmotile). However, O157 strains that do not produce Stxs and express H antigens different from H7 are sometimes isolated from clinical and other sources. Multilocus sequence analysis revealed that these 21 O157:non-H7 strains tested in this study belong to multiple evolutionary lineages different from that of EHEC O157:H7 strains, suggesting a wide distribution of the gene set encoding the O157-antigen biosynthesis in multiple lineages. To gain insight into the gene organization and the sequence similarity of the O157-antigen biosynthesis gene clusters, we conducted genomic comparisons of the chromosomal regions (about 59 kb in each strain) covering the O-antigen gene cluster and its flanking regions between six O157:H7/non-H7 strains. Gene organization of the O157-antigen gene cluster was identical among O157:H7/non-H7 strains, but was divided into two distinct types at the nucleotide sequence level. Interestingly, distribution of the two types did not clearly follow the evolutionary lineages of the strains, suggesting that horizontal gene transfer of both types of O157-antigen gene clusters has occurred independently among E. coli strains. Additionally, detailed sequence comparison revealed that some positions of the repetitive extragenic palindromic (REP) sequences in the regions flanking the O-antigen gene clusters were coincident with possible recombination points. From these results, we conclude that the horizontal transfer of the O157-antigen gene clusters induced the emergence of multiple O157 lineages within E. coli and speculate that REP sequences may involve one of the driving forces for exchange and evolution of O-antigen loci.
Optimal Monetary Policy under Commitment with a Zero Bound on Nominal Interest Rates

We determine optimal monetary policy under commitment in a forwardlooking New Keynesian model when nominal interest rates are bounded below by zero. The lower bound represents an occasionally binding constraint that causes the model and optimal policy to be nonlinear. A calibration to the U.S. economy suggests that policy should reduce nominal interest rates more aggressively than suggested by a model without lower bound. Rational agents anticipate the possibility of reaching the lower bound in the future and this amplifies the effects of adverse shocks well before the bound is reached. While the empirical magnitude of U.S. mark-up shocks seems too small to entail zero nominal interest rates, shocks affecting the natural real interest rate plausibly lead to a binding lower bound. Under optimal policy, however, this occurs quite infrequently and does not imply positive average inflation rates in equilibrium. Interestingly, the presence of binding real rate shocks alters the policy response to (non-binding) markup shocks.
Two-path successive relaying with threshold-based opportunistic zero-forcing beamforming

Two-path successive relaying scheme is designed to restore the spectral inefficiency due to a half-duplex constraint. When not operating in orthogonal channels, the relay pair used in successive relaying scheme interferes each other. This inter-relay interference degrades the outage performance of the successive relaying scheme significantly. So, the zero forcing beamforming (ZFB) has been proposed to remove the inter-relay interference. But using ZFB (U-ZFB) does not always guarantee better performance than not using ZFB (N-ZFB) due to a loss of diversity gain. In this paper, we propose the two-path successive relaying with threshold-based opportunistic ZFB where only inter-relay interference channel information is available and switching-decision is made by comparing the inter-relay interference with a threshold to be determined. We provide optimal thresholds at each relay. Numerical results show that the outage probability of the proposed two-path successive relaying with threshold-based opportunistic ZFB is better than the outage probabilities of U-ZFB only and N-ZFB only and give insights.
Hypermethylation of CpG islands in the mouse asparagine synthetase gene: relationship to asparaginase sensitivity in lymphoma cells. Partial methylation in normal cells

We have sequenced the promoter region of the murine asparagine synthetase gene and examined its methylation profile in the CpG islands of L-asparaginase-sensitive 6C3HED cells (asparagine auxotrophs) and resistant variants (prototrophs). In the former, complete methylation of the CpG island is correlated with failure of expression of mRNA: cells of the latter possess both methylated and unmethylated alleles, as do cells of the intrinsically asparagine-independent lines L1210 and EL4. A similar phenomenon was seen in normal splenic cells of adult mice. This was age related: no methylation was found in weanlings, but up to 45% of gene copies in animals 18 weeks or older were methylated. It was also tissue related, with methylation occurring rarely in liver cells. The relationship of these changes to oncogenesis is considered. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer. com
A Basic Computational Theory of Structure-Mapping in Analogy and Transitive Inference

The purpose of this project was to develop a psychologically realistic model of the way people construct a mapping between base and target domains in analogies. It was assumed that the mapping process was not based on an exhaustive search of possibilities, but that correspondences were rst recognized between segments of each domain, then checked for consistency with the remainder of each domain. The size of segments that are initially mapped is de ned by three mapping rules; element (object) maps, relational maps, and system maps. A program based on these rules was shown to be able to recognize complex analogies from the literature, and its output was congruent with empirical ndings.
The development of an in-pipe minirobot for various pipe sizes

This paper presents a new pipeline inspection minirobot with linkage type mechanisms whose operation range allows good mobility inside the pipes having different diameters, from 50 mm to 70 mm. Our research group made efforts towards development of a prototype of the minirobot. The preliminary experimental research emphasizes the operation in accordance with the presented theoretical concepts.
Kinesin Motor Transport is Altered by Macromolecular Crowding and Transiently Associated Microtubule-Associated Proteins

Intracellular transport of vesicular cargos, organelles, and other macromolecules is an essential process to move large items through a crowded, and inhomogeneous cellular environment. In an effort to dissect the fundamental effects of crowding and an increasingly complex cellular environment on the transport of individual motor proteins, we have performed in vitro reconstitution experiments with single kinesin-1 motors walking on microtubules in the presence of crowding agents and transient microtubule-associated proteins that more closely emulate the cellular environment. Macromolecular crowding due to inert polymers caused enhanced run lengths of motors, but displayed an increased tendency for non-specific motor association and diffusion, most likely due to depletion interactions. We found that transiently bound associated proteins slowed forward motion, but did not drastically affect the association times, in opposition to previously reported obstacle properties of stably associated microtubule-associated proteins, such as the neuronal protein tau. Such studies of the transport properties of molecular motors in increasingly complex reconstituted environments are important to illuminate the fundamental biophysical principles underlying the essential process of intracellular cargo transport.
Spiraling down the river continuum: stream ecology and the U-shaped curve

Abstract The spiraling concept provides an explicit approach to modeling the longitudinal linkages within a river continuum. I developed a spiraling-based model for particulate organic C dynamics in the Little Tennessee River to synthesize existing data and to illustrate our current understanding of ecosystem processes in river ecosystems. The Little Tennessee River is a medium-sized river flowing ∼100 km through the southern Appalachian Mountains of northern Georgia and western North Carolina (USA). Across this distance, allochthonous inputs decrease and autochthonous production increases, resulting in a U-shaped curve of energy input. The model was set up as an advecting seston compartment interacting with 3 benthic compartments: coarse benthic organic matter, fine benthic organic matter, and autotrophs. Model-estimated ecosystem respiration was consistently lower than measured values, suggesting a need to evaluate our measurements of whole-stream metabolism. Also, model-predicted seston concentrations were generally lower than measured values, reflecting a need to consider additional sources of organic C in the model. For the whole river system, leaves accounted for 19% of inputs, primarily near the headwaters, and the remaining input was from instream primary production in the lower reaches of the river. Almost ½ of the input was respired, 28% by autotrophic respiration and 21% by heterotrophic respiration, and the remaining 51% was transported downstream. Ecosystem efficiency was ∼50% along the length of the river, and turnover length increased from several hundred meters at the headwaters to >100 km downstream. Based on various measures, the transition from heterotrophy to autotrophy ranged from 25 to >100 km downstream from the headwaters. As this model illustrates, a consequence of downstream transport is that much of the particulate C in streams is metabolized a considerable distance downstream from where it enters the stream. This longitudinal linkage is essential to our understanding of stream ecosystems.
Choosing 'buy none' in food choice analysis: the role of utility balance

Stated choice analysis is now a widely used and accepted methodology for exploring food choice. In stated choice experiments respondents are asked to make a choice between two or more alternatives, one of which typically takes the form of a ‘buy none’ option. It is widely recognised that respondents often perceive this option differently from the other alternatives and various reasons for this have been offered. Nevertheless, the role that utility balance among the experimentally designed options plays on the propensity of respondent’s choosing ‘buy none’ has largely been overlooked. Using a non-linear representation of utility we show that the ‘buy none’ choices are sensitive to utility balance. We further show how accommodating this provides an additional insight into choice behaviour and has a bearing on welfare calculations
Reduction of Adenosine-5′-Phosphosulfate Instead of 3′-Phosphoadenosine-5′-Phosphosulfate in Cysteine Biosynthesis by Rhizobium meliloti and Other Members of the Family Rhizobiaceae

ABSTRACT We have cloned and sequenced three genes from Rhizobium meliloti (Sinorhizobium meliloti) that are involved in sulfate activation for cysteine biosynthesis. Two of the genes display homology to the Escherichia coli cysDN genes, which code for an ATP sulfurylase (EC 2.7.7.4 ). The third gene has homology to the E. coli cysH gene, a 3′-phosphoadenosine-5′-phosphosulfate (PAPS) reductase (EC 1.8.99.4 ), but has greater homology to a set of genes found in Arabidopsis thaliana that encode an adenosine-5′-phosphosulfate (APS) reductase. In order to determine the specificity of the R. meliloti reductase, the R. meliloti cysH homolog was histidine tagged and purified, and its specificity was assayed in vitro. Like the A. thaliana reductases, the histidine-tagged R. meliloti cysH gene product appears to favor APS over PAPS as a substrate, with a Kmfor APS of 3 to 4 μM but a Km for PAPS of >100 μM. In order to determine whether this preference for APS is unique to R. meliloti among members of the familyRhizobiaceae or is more widespread, cell extracts fromR. leguminosarum, Rhizobium sp. strain NGR234,Rhizobium fredii (Sinorhizobium fredii), andAgrobacterium tumefaciens were assayed for APS or PAPS reductase activity. Cell extracts from all four species also preferentially reduce APS over PAPS.
Measuring the effects of OCR errors on similarity linking

The vector-space model offers an easy and robust model for Information Retrieval. Thereby, the similarities between queries and documents as well as the similarities between documents themselves are of importance. Document similarities may be used in order to generate links between documents that lead users from one document to related ones. Studies have shown that the vector-space model is robust in the context of OCR-processing if manually constructed queries are used. However it is not clear whether this model, if used for hypertext construction, is robust with regard to data corruption as caused by OCR engines. In this paper, we describe the performance of automatic hypertext construction, based on the vector-space model, with regard to three different measures: the number of overtakings within the used rankings, the accumulated distance of a document's position within the rankings and a comparison based on recall-precision graphs.
Understanding the Health of Refugee Women in Host Countries: Lessons from the Kosovar Re-Settlement in Canada

Abstract Introduction: Refugees from Kosovo arrived in several Canadian cities after humanitarian evacuations in 1999. Approximately 500 arrived in Hamilton, Canada. Volunteer sponsors from community organizations assisted the families with settlement, which included providing them access to healthcare services. Hypothesis/Problem: It was anticipated that women, in particular, would have unmet health needs relating to trauma and a lack of healthcare access after experiencing forced migration. Methods: This study describes the results of a self-administered survey regarding women's health issues and experiences with health services after the arrival of refugees. It also describes the sponsor group's experience related to women's health care. The survey was administered to a random sample of 85 women refugees, and focus groups with 14 sponsors.Women self-completed questionnaires about their health, which included the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and use of preventive health services. Sponsor groups participated in a focus group discussing healthcare needs and experiences of their assigned refugee families. Themes pertaining to women's issues were identified from the focus groups. Results: Preventive screening rates were low, only 1/19 (5.3%) women ≥50- years-old had ever received a mammogram; 34.1% (28/82) had ever received a Pap test); and PTSD was prevalent (25.9%, 22/85). Sponsor groups identified challenges relating to prenatal care needs, finding family physicians, language barriers to health care services, cultural influences of women's healthcare decision-making, mental health concerns, and difficulties accessing dental care, eye care, and prescriptions. Conclusions: Many women refugees from Kosovo had unmet health needs. Culturally appropriate population level screening campaigns and integration of language and interpretation services into the healthcare sector on a permanent basis are important policy actions to be adequately prepared for newcomers and women in displaced situations. These needs should be anticipated during the evacuation period by host countries to aid in planning the provision of health resources more efficiently for refugees and displaced people going to host countries.
Identification of authors of documents based on offline signature recognition

Handwritten signature is used in various applications on daily basis. Whether one signs a contract, work documents, petition, or wants to approve a check payment, one will use personal signature to do all those things. In this paper we use this daily based biometric characteristic for identification and classification of students' papers and various exam documents used at University of Mostar. In this paper we used OpenCV library as an image processing tool for feature extraction. As regards to classification method, we used Support Vector Machine.
DT-DT: Top-down Human Activity Analysis for Interactive Surface Applications

As environmental and multi-display configurations become more common, HCI research is becoming increasingly concerned with actions around these displays. Tracking human activity is challenging, and there is currently no single solution that reliably handles all scenarios without excessive instrumentation. In this paper we present a novel tracking and analysis approach using a top-down 3D camera. Our hierarchical tracking approach models local and global affinities, scene constraints and motion patterns to find and track people in space, and a novel salience occupancy pattern (SOP) is used for action recognition. We present experiences applying our approach to build a proxemics-aware tabletop display prototype, and to create an exhibit combining a large vertical display with an interactive floor-projection.