Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Novel Betaproteobacterial Agent of Gill Epitheliocystis in Seawater Farmed Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar)

Epitheliocystis, a disease characterised by cytoplasmic bacterial inclusions (cysts) in the gill and less commonly skin epithelial cells, has been reported in many marine and freshwater fish species and may be associated with mortality. Previously, molecular and ultrastructural analyses have exclusively associated members of the Chlamydiae with such inclusions. Here we investigated a population of farmed Atlantic salmon from the west coast of Norway displaying gill epitheliocystis. Although ‘Candidatus Piscichlamydia salmonis’, previously reported to be present in such cysts, was detected by PCR in most of the gill samples analysed, this bacterium was found to be a rare member of the gill microbiota, and not associated with the observed cysts as demonstrated by fluorescence in situ hybridization assays. The application of a broad range 16 S rRNA targeted PCR assay instead identified a novel betaproteobacterium as an abundant member of the gill microbiota. Fluorescence in situ hybridization demonstrated that this bacterium, tentatively classified as ‘Candidatus Branchiomonas cysticola’, was the cyst-forming agent in these samples. While histology and ultrastructure of ‘Ca. B. cysticola’ cysts revealed forms similar to the reticulate and intermediate bodies described in earlier reports from salmon in seawater, no elementary bodies typical of the chlamydial developmental cycle were observed. In conclusion, this study identified a novel agent of epitheliocystis in sea-farmed Atlantic salmon and demonstrated that these cysts can be caused by bacteria phylogenetically distinct from the Chlamydiae.
Towards explaining child day care policy variations amongst the local authorities

This paper offers preliminary findings from an ESRC-funded research project focusing on child day care policy and policy-making in the British local authorities. The original, rather brave, description of the project for ESRC cataloguing purposes was that it “seeks to identify the principal determinants of child day care policy over the last 20 years within the local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales”. Methodologically this was to be achieved in two main ways. First there would be a quantitative analysis of childcare provision and relevant local authority characteristics. The second approach was more qualitative, comprising of visits to a number of local authorities to acquire a more ‘in-depth’ understanding of the kinds of factors and processes influencing local childcare policy, drawing primarily on interviews and relevant council documentation. In the event, Vicky Randall undertook case studies of six English local authorities the two London boroughs of Barnet, and Kensington and Chelsea; three metropolitan districts, Leeds, Manchester, and North Tyneside, and the county of Oxfordshire. This author also gathered more general information about Scotland, focusing in particular on two former regional authorities Strathclyde and Fife and about Wales, including a visit to Chwarae Teg. Child day care provision, and especially public provision, has been minimal in Britain, as compared in particular with a number of European countries. Until last year, there was no attempt to draw up a national childcare strategy. In the absence of a positive policy lead or dedicated funding from the centre, local authorities have had day to day responsibility for the administration of services. But despite these shared constraints and disincentives, there has been remarkable variation between local authorities in terms of the levels, forms and sources of child day care provision. Thus
Identification of brain activity by fractal scaling analysis of functional MRI data

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a powerful tool for studying brain function, especially related to disease and aging. One of the major tasks of fMRI data analysis is to find a few specific regions involved in certain functionality by studying huge but noisy 3-dimensional spatial plus 1-dimensional temporal data. Therefore, developing simple and reliable signal/image processing algorithms for fMRI data analysis is very important. In this paper, we systematically study how fractal scaling analysis can help us reliably detect brain activity through fMRI data analysis. We examine two types of fractal analysis, the fluctuation analysis (FA) and detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). We show that while FA is able to readily distinguish active brain regions from inactive ones, it fails to robustly recognize which active regions in the brain are truly involved in a certain task. On the other hand, we show that DFA is very effective for this task.
Design Optimization of Induction Motor by Genetic Algorithm and Comparison with Existing Motor

This paper presents an optimal design method to optimize three-phase induction motor in manufacturing process. The optimally designed motor is compared with an existing motor having the same ratings. The Genetic Algorithm is used for optimization and three objective functions namely torque, efficiency, and cost are considered. The motor design procedure consists of a system of non-linear equations, which imposes induction motor characteristics, motor performance, magnetic stresses and thermal limits. Computer simulation results are given to show the effectiveness of the proposed design process.
Heterogeneous parallel algorithms to solve epistatic problems

We propose parallel heterogeneous metaheuristics (PHM) to solve a kind of epistatic problem (NK-Landscape). The main feature of our heterogeneous algorithms is the utilization of multiple search threads using different configurations to guide the search process. We propose an operator-based PHM, where each search thread uses a different combination of recombination and mutation operators. We compare the performance of our heterogeneous proposal against an homogeneous algorithm (multiple threads with the same parameter configuration) in a numerical and real time ways. Our experiments show that the heterogeneity could help to design powerful and robust optimization algorithms on high dimensional landscapes with an additional reduction in execution times.
Changes, Defects and Polymorphism: Is There Any Correlation?

Source code is better than concrete code when it comes to reduced change likelihood. Trying to provide empirical evidence for this assumption, we investigate if there are any correlations between the usage of partially polymorphic calls in classes and their change and defect likelihood. Based on the provided evidence, practitioners are advised about the potential impact of polymorphism at the source code level.
Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse (ARFI)--a new modality for the evaluation of liver fibrosis.

AIM to assess the accuracy of transient elastography (TE) and Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse (ARFI) for liver fibrosis assessment, as compared to percutaneous liver biopsy (LB) in patients with chronic hepatitis. PATIENTS AND METHODS Our study included 71 patients (P) (54 with HCV and 17 with HBV chronic hepatitis) in which we compared TE and ARFI to the LB (evaluated according to the Metavir scoring system). RESULTS On LB, from the 71P, 6P (8.4%) had F1, 25P (35.2%) had F2, 24P (33.8%) had F3 and 16P (22.5%) had F4. A direct, strong, linear correlation (Spearman r=0.707) was found between TE measurements and fibrosis (p<0.0001) and a weaker one, between ARFI and fibrosis (rho=0.469; p<0.0001). TE measurements were also correlated with ARFI measurements r=0.532, p<0.0001. By comparing the AUROC curves, TE and ARFI had similar predictive values for the presence of significant fibrosis (F greater or equal to 2 Metavir): AUROC ARFI=0.649, AUROC TE=0.731 (p=0.476); and cirrhosis (F=4 Metavir): AUROC ARFI=0.868, AUROC TE= 0.936 (p=0.294) CONCLUSION LS measurements assessed by means of TE correlate better than those assessed by means of ARFI to the histological fibrosis in patients with HBV and HCV chronic hepatitis. Both methods have excellent predictive values for the presence of cirrhosis.
Localized quality of service multi-path routing in VoIP networks

Abstruct-The localized QoS routing techniques were proposed to achieve acceptable performance without exchanging global state information over the network. In such techniques the source nodes can estimate the network state and make the routing decision locally, hence reducing the signaling traffic at core routers and other network elements. However, using only locally collected information to make routing decision is not a completely reliable technique to achieve trusted QoS performance. The Localized Multi-Path Selection (LMPS) approach is proposed in this paper to overcome the common drawbacks of the localized techniques. The LMPS technique is a multi-path selection algorithm, which selects paths that are capable of satisfying the bandwidth requirement of the call, while at the same time trying to avoid the overloaded links to minimize the overall blocking ratio in the network.
Problem decomposition for minimum interference frequency assignment

This paper applies a problem decomposition approach in order to solve hard Frequency Assignment Problem instances with standard meta-heuristics. The proposed technique aims to divide the initial problem into a number of easier subproblems, which can then be solved either independently or in sequence respecting the constraints between them. Finally, partial subproblems solutions are recomposed into a solution of the original problem. Our results focus on the COST-259 MI-FAP instances, for which some good assignments produced by local search meta-heuristics are widely available. However, standard implementations do not usually produce the best performance and, in particular, no good results have been previously obtained using evolutionary techniques. We show that problem decomposition can improve standard heuristics, both in terms of solution quality and runtime. Furthermore, genetic algorithms seem to benefit more from this approach, showing a higher percentage improvement, therefore reducing the gap with other local search methods.
Digital image self-recovery using unequal error protection

In this paper, an unequal error protection (UEP)-based scheme is presented to generate tamper-proof images, in which the lost content of the original image is recoverable despite the malicious tampering. For this purpose, a representation of the original image is embedded into itself, after being protected by the proper channel coding. Since better protection is considered for the more important bits of the image representation through a dynamic programming (DP) optimization scheme, they survive higher tampering rates than the less important image information. As a result, the quality of the restored image degrades with respect to the true tampering rate.
Keck Telescope Constraint on Cosmological Variation of the Proton-to-Electron Mass Ratio

Molecular transitions recently discovered at redshift z(abs) = 2.059 towards the bright background quasar J2123-0050 are analysed to limit cosmological variation in the proton-to-electron mass ratio, mu equivalent to m(p)/m(e). Observed with the Keck telescope, the optical echelle spectrum has the highest resolving power and largest number (86) of H-2 transitions in such analyses so far. Also, (seven) HD transitions are used for the first time to constrain mu-variation. These factors, and an analysis employing the fewest possible free parameters, strongly constrain mu's relative deviation from the current laboratory value: delta mu/mu = (+5.6 +/- 5.5(stat) +/- 2.9(sys)) x 10-6, indicating an insignificantly larger mu in the absorber. This is the first Keck result to complement recent null constraints from three systems at z(abs) > 2.5 observed with the Very Large Telescope. The main possible systematic errors stem from wavelength calibration uncertainties. In particular, distortions in the wavelength solution on echelle order scales are estimated to contribute approximately half the total systematic error component, but our estimate is model dependent and may therefore under or overestimate the real effect, if present. To assist future mu-variation analyses of this kind, and other astrophysical studies of H-2 in general, we provide a compilation of the most precise laboratory wavelengths and calculated parameters important for absorption-line work with H-2 transitions redwards of the hydrogen Lyman limit.
Edge-Enhancement - An Algorithm for Real-Time Non-Photorealistic Rendering

In this paper, we propose an algorithm for enhancing edges of real-time non-photorealistic renderings. It is based on the edge map, a 2D texture that encodes visually important edges of 3D scene objects, and includes silhouette edges, border edges, and crease edges. The edge map allows us to derive and augment a wide range of nonphotorealistic rendering styles. Furthermore, the algorithm is designed to be orthogonal to complementary realtime rendering techniques. The implementation is based on multipass rendering: First, we extract geometrical properties of 3D scene objects generating image-space data similar to G-buffers. Next, we extract discontinuities in the image-space data using common graphics hardware to emulate image-processing operations. In subsequent rendering passes, the algorithm applies texture mapping to combine the edge map with 3D scene objects.
Therapeutic Argentine Tango Dancing for People with Mild Parkinson’s Disease: A Feasibility Study

Background Individuals living with Parkinson’s disease (PD) can experience a range of movement disorders that affect mobility and balance and increase the risk of falls. Low health-related quality of life, depression, and anxiety are more common in people with PD than age-matched comparisons. Therapeutic dance is a form of physical activity believed to facilitate movement and therapy uptake. As well as being enjoyable, dancing is thought to improve mobility, balance, and well-being in some people living with PD. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and safety of a 4-week Argentine tango dance program for people with PD. Methods Six community dwelling individuals with mild to moderate PD were recruited from Parkinson’s support groups, movement disorder clinics, and the PD association in Australia. To minimize falls risk, participants were required to be <75 years of age and physically independent (Hoehn and Yahr stages I–III). They were also required to speak English. Participants attended a 1-hour dance class at a dance studio twice per week for 4 weeks. A professional dance instructor led and choreographed the Argentine tango dance classes. Physiotherapists were present to assist participants during the class and served as dance partners as necessary. The primary outcome was feasibility, which was determined by measures of recruitment, adherence, attrition, safety (falls, near misses and adverse events), and resource requirements. Secondary measures included the Beck Depression Inventory and the Euroqol-5D, administered at baseline and post intervention. Therapy outcomes pre- and post-intervention were analyzed descriptively as medians and interquartile ranges and using Wilcoxon matched pair signed-rank tests. Results The Argentine tango dance intervention was shown to be safe, with no adverse events. Adherence to the dance program was 89%. Depression scores improved after intervention (p = 0.04). Some challenges were associated with the need to quickly recruit participants and physiotherapists to act as dance partners during classes and to monitor participants. Conclusion The 4-week, twice weekly Argentine tango dancing program was shown to be feasible and safe for people with mild-to-moderately severe PD.
What Drives WTP for Energy Efficiency When Moving? Evidence from a Germany-Wide Household Survey

The political discussion on energy efficiency is focusing more and more on the building sector due to its susceptibility to potential market failures like the negative external pollution effects of CO2 emission. Using a discrete choice approach, this paper aims at deriving factors which increase the willingness to pay (WTP) for energy efficiency in the case of an upcoming move. A multinominal logit model is used to analyse micro data of a survey among more than 200 German households. The estimation results suggest that the WTP is not mainly determined by socioeconomic attributes like household income or formal education, but rather by environmental concerns and energy awareness. Although there is evidence for similarities to research on WTP for green daily consumer goods, the building sector is not clearly perceived as an essential possibility to contribute to climate protection.
Dietary Intake and Serum Levels of Iron in Relation to Oxidative Stress in Breast Cancer Patients

Iron may induce oxidative stress via production of reactive oxygen species, facilitating mammary carcinogenesis. This study investigated the role of iron in relation to oxidative stress as a potential risk factor in the development of breast cancer (BC). BC patients (n = 121) and healthy age-matched controls (n = 149) were entered into the study. Iron and antioxidant vitamins intakes were estimated using a quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Thirty one subjects from each group provided blood samples for measurement of serum iron, plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) and ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP). Total and non-heme iron intake of BC patients were lower than those of the controls. However, the serum iron level was significantly higher in BC patients. Plasma MDA levels were also significantly higher in BC patients whereas no significant difference in FRAP values were observed between the two groups. Log-transformed serum iron concentration showed no significant correlation with MDA or FRAP. These results suggest that serum iron overload may be a breast cancer risk factor possibly due to increased oxidative stress.
Highlights of " Immersive Sciences " Research in the U . S . A . : Augmented / Virtual Reality and Human Surrogates

award, 3DUI 2016). To explore this idea, the researchers carried out a controlled experiment comprising stationary users wearing a stereoscopic head-worn display that did or did not (two conditions) incorporate FOV-modifying capabilities. The researchers’ results suggest that by “strategically and automatically” manipulating the FOV one can reduce the occurrences or severity of sickness without decreasing their perceived level of presence, with minimal awareness of the FOV-modifying intervention.
A Terabit Multi-service Switch with Quality of Service Support

The Yuni switch architecture,which will be available in silicon later this year, enablesa scalableswitchingplatform frommulti-gigabitsto multi-terabitspersecond.The solutionconsistsof six customintegratedcircuits which utilizesstandard CMOStechnology, aswell ascommercially available SRAM’s and high-speedSERDES (serializer/deserializer) chips. TheYuni architectureprovides the wire-speedschedulingcapability necessaryto supporttheQualityof Servicefor eightclassesof service, includingTDM (Time Division Multiplexing), andthousandsof flows per port. Additionally, the Yuni solution architectureutilizes emerging low-costVCSEL (Vertical Cavity SurfaceEmitting Laser)technologyfor backplane interconnectbetweentheswitchingelements.
Spectrum Sensing and Power Efficiency Trade-off in Cognitive Radio Networks over Fading Channels

Multiple secondary users can cooperate to increase the reliability of spectrum sensing in cognitive radio networks. However, the total transmission power grows approximately linearly with the number of cooperative secondary users. This paper proposes a new approach to optimize the trade-off between sensing reliability and power efficiency in cooperative cognitive radio networks over fading channels. We assume K cooperative secondary users each collect N samples during the sensing time. The proposed approach is based on dividing the spectrum sensing into two phases. In the first phase, we use only n of N samples, (n ≤ N) to check the channels state, then k of K cooperative secondary users, (k ≤ K) which are in deeply faded channels are discarded. We call this n a check point of the sensing time. The spectrum sensing with relatively less-faded channels are continued during the second phase. Therefore, there is a check point at which the sensing time can be optimized in order to maximize the probability of detection and the power efficiency. Several experiments are carried out to test the performance of the proposed approach in terms of detection probability and power efficiency. The obtained results show that the proposed approach enhances the detection probability as well as it shortened the optimal sensing time. Moreover, it improves the overall power efficiency. Key-Words: cognitive radio, cooperative spectrum sensing, power efficiency.
A conceptual model for event-sourced graph computing

Systems for highly interconnected application domains are increasingly taking advantage of graph-based computing platforms. Existing platforms employ a batch-oriented computing model and neglect near-realtime processing or temporal analysis. We suggest an extended conceptual model for event-driven computing on graphs. It takes into account the evolution of a graph and enables temporal analyses, processing on previous graph states, and retroactive modifications.
I dirigenti d’azienda tra management e fattore umano. Una ricerca esplorativa con focus group

Management and human factors. Exploratory Research with Focus Groups The paper analyses the training needs of managers belonging to some public and private companies in the Region of Sicily (Italy), using focus groups. 52 managers took part in the research, 32 executives and 20 employees with intermediate positions in collaboration with senior management. This is a qualitative research with explorative purposes whose approach is part of the symbolic interactionism paradigm. Data analysis, supported by the Atlas.ti software, have permitted to code the meanings underlying the text of the narratives and identifying four “codes families” as key themes of the observed reality. It emerges a managerial profile that moving between critical and resources, shows an awareness of the need to refine skills that take into account the human factor, semantic category that is present across all the thematic areas addressed and on which should think and plan a specific management training.
“ Endogenous ” Relative Concerns : The Impact of Workers ’ Characteristics on Status , Profits and Diversity in the Firm ∗

This paper shows that it is individually rational for agents in a firm to develop and exhibit status concerns. Workers are, by their choices of status concerns, able to transfer surplus from the the firm to themselves. As expected, relative concerns are shaped by the relative strengths and weaknesses of the workers in the firm. Surprisingly, a firm’s profit is reduced relative to the benchmark moralhazard model; workers design their social preferences in a way that exploits the substitutability of status and explicit contracts in their favor. An implication of the relative nature of status concerns is that a firm would want to hire a homogeneous workforce if and only if it could hire workers of high ability. JEL Classifications: M52, M51, D86, L14, Z13