Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integrating Remotely Sensed and Meteorological Observations to Forecast Wheat Powdery Mildew at a Regional Scale

The prevalence of powdery mildew (PM) in winter wheat field has a severe impact on crop production. An effective and timely forecast of the disease at a regional scale is necessary to control and prevent it. In this study, both meteorological and remotely sensed observations associated with crop characteristics and habitat traits were integrated for modeling the PM occurrence probability. With an effective feature selection procedure, four meteorological factors, including precipitation, temperature, sun radiation, humidity, and two remotely sensed features including reflectance of red band (RR) demonstrate that the disease risk maps were able to depict the approximately spatial distribution of PM and its temporal dynamic in the study area. Compared with the model constructed with meteorological data only, the integrated model constructed with both remote sensing and meteorological data has produced a higher accuracy (increasing overall accuracy from 69% to 78%) of forecasting the PM occurrence. This suggests that there would be a great potential for predicting the PM occurrence probability by integrating both meteorological and remote sensing data at a regional scale. In the future, multiple forms of information (e.g., Web sensors networks data) are expected to be incorporated in the disease-forecasting model to further improve its performance for forecasting the disease occurrence (e.g., PM) at a regional scale.
Marx’s reproduction schemes and multi-sector growth models

Abstract This paper provides a critical discussion of Marx’s analysis of simple reproduction, of reproduction on an extended scale, and of the transition from simple to extended reproduction. It challenges various interpretations of Marx’s analysis based on steady-state growth models. By referring to Marx’s original manuscripts on the reproduction schemes, the paper shows that Marx, due to erroneous calculations, never arrived at schemes of reproduction on an extended scale that exhibit steady-state growth. Moreover, it is suggested that Marx identified reproduction on an extended scale with an expansion path of undisturbed capital accumulation, irrespective of whether the latter proceeds in a steady or non-steady manner.
Prognostic value of echocardiography after acute myocardial infarction

Echocardiography is useful for risk stratification and assessment of prognosis after myocardial infarction, which is the focus of this review. Various traditional echocardiographic parameters have been shown to provide prognostic information, such as left ventricular volumes and ejection fraction, wall motion score index, mitral regurgitation and left atrial volume. The introduction of tissue Doppler imaging and speckle-tracking strain imaging has resulted in additional prognostic parameters, such as left ventricular strain (rate) and dyssynchrony. Also, (myocardial) contrast echocardiography provides valuable information, particularly about myocardial perfusion (as a marker of myocardial viability), which is strongly related to prognosis after myocardial infarction. Stress echocardiography provides information on ischaemia and viability, coronary flow reserve can be obtained by Doppler imaging of the coronary arteries, and finally, three-dimensional echocardiography provides optimal information on left ventricular volumes, function and sphericity, which are also important for long-term outcome.
Interference-Driven Antenna Selection for Massive Multiuser MIMO

Low-complexity linear precoders are known to be close to optimal for massive multiple-input multiple-output (M-MIMO) systems. However, the large number of antennas at the transmitter imposes a high computational burden and high hardware overloads. In line with this, in this paper, we propose a low-complexity antenna selection (AS) scheme that selects the antennas that maximize constructive interference between the users. Our analyses show that the proposed AS algorithm, in combination with a simple matched-filter (MF) precoder at the transmitter, is able to achieve better performances than systems equipped with a more complex channel inversion (CI) precoder and computationally expensive AS techniques. First, we give an analytical definition of constructive and destructive interference, based on the phase of the received signals from phase-shift-keying-modulated transmissions. Then, we introduce the proposed AS algorithm, which identifies the antenna subset with the highest constructive interference, maximizing the power received by the user. In our study, we derive the computational burden of the proposed technique with a rigorous and thorough analysis, and we identify a closed-form expression of the upper bound received power at the user side. In addition, we evaluate in detail the power benefits of the proposed transmission scheme by defining an efficiency metric based on the achieved throughput. The results presented in this paper prove that AS and green radio concepts can be jointly used for power-efficient M-MIMO, as they lead to significant power savings and complexity reductions.
Portfolio Selection Using New Factors Based on Firm Characteristics

In this paper, we apply a new factor model to portfolio-selection problems and compare its portfolio investment performance with those of other popular portfolio-selection methods. The new factors are formed from a well-characterized subset of the asset universe based on firm characteristics and exhibit better asset-pricing performance than popular extant asset-pricing factors. The performance comparison shows that the new factors exhibit better portfolio investment performance than alternative methods for various test portfolios and various periods.
External validation of the Revised Cardiac Risk Index and update of its renal variable to predict 30-day risk of major cardiac complications after non-cardiac surgery: rationale and plan for analyses of the VISION study

Introduction The Revised Cardiac Risk Index (RCRI) is a popular classification system to estimate patients' risk of postoperative cardiac complications based on preoperative risk factors. Renal impairment, defined as serum creatinine >2.0 mg/dL (177 µmol/L), is a component of the RCRI. The estimated glomerular filtration rate has become accepted as a more accurate indicator of renal function. We will externally validate the RCRI in a modern cohort of patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery and update its renal component. Methods and analysis The Vascular Events in Non-cardiac Surgery Patients Cohort Evaluation (VISION) study is an international prospective cohort study. In this prespecified secondary analysis of VISION, we will test the risk estimation performance of the RCRI in ∼34 000 participants who underwent elective non-cardiac surgery between 2007 and 2013 from 29 hospitals in 15 countries. Using data from the first 20 000 eligible participants (the derivation set), we will derive an optimal threshold for dichotomising preoperative renal function quantified using the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-Epi) glomerular filtration rate estimating equation in a manner that preserves the original structure of the RCRI. We will also develop a continuous risk estimating equation integrating age and CKD-Epi with existing RCRI risk factors. In the remaining (approximately) 14 000 participants, we will compare the risk estimation for cardiac complications of the original RCRI to this modified version. Cardiac complications will include 30-day non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal cardiac arrest and death due to cardiac causes. We have examined an early sample to estimate the number of events and the distribution of predictors and missing data, but have not seen the validation data at the time of writing. Ethics and dissemination The research ethics board at each site approved the VISION protocol prior to recruitment. We will publish our results and make our models available online at http://www.perioperativerisk. com. Trial registration number ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00512109.
Safety and immunogenicity of the killed bivalent (O1 and O139) whole-cell cholera vaccine in the Philippines

ABSTRACT The killed bivalent (O1 and O139) whole cell oral cholera vaccine (OCV) (Shanchol™) was first licensed in India in 2009 and World Health Organization pre-qualified in 2011. We assessed the safety and immunogenicity of this OCV in the Philippines. This was a phase IV, single-arm, descriptive, open-label study. We recruited 336 participants from 2 centers: 112 participants in each age group (1–4, 5–14 and ≥ 15 years). Participants received 2 OCV doses 14 d apart. Safety was monitored throughout the trial. Blood samples were collected at baseline (pre-vaccination) and 14 d after each dose. Serum vibriocidal antibody titers to V. cholerae O1 (El Tor Inaba and El Tor Ogawa) and O139 strains were assessed, with seroconversion defined as ≥ 4-fold increase from baseline in titers. No immediate unsolicited systemic adverse events/reactions were observed. Unsolicited systemic adverse events were mostly grade 1 intensity. One serious adverse event occurred after the first dose, but was unrelated to vaccination. High seroconversion rates (range 69–92%) were achieved against the O1 serotypes with a trend toward higher rates in the 1–4 y (86–92%) and 5–14 y (86–88%) age groups than the ≥ 15 y age group (69–83%). Lower seroconversion rates were achieved against the O139 serotype (35–70%), particularly in those aged ≥ 15 y (35–42%). The 2-dose regimen of the killed bivalent whole cell OCV was well-tolerated in this study conducted in the Philippines, a cholera-endemic country. Robust immune responses were observed even after a single-dose.
Aging and lung injury repair: A role for bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells

The incidence of lung fibrosis increases with age. Aging is associated with modifications in the intracellular and extracellular environment including alteration of the extracellular matrix, imbalance of the redox state, accumulation of senescent cells and potential alteration of the recruitment of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. The combination of these senescence‐related alterations in the lung and in bone marrow progenitor cells might be responsible of the higher susceptibility to lung fibrosis in elderly individuals. The understanding of these age related changes must be considered in the rationale for the development of therapeutic interventions to control lung injury and fibrosis. J. Cell. Biochem. 105: 641–647, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Omnidirectional vision based surveillance with the spincopter

The goal of the Spincopter project was to design an energy efficient aircraft capable of autorotation glide that could be used for both indoor and outdoor surveillance. This paper demonstrates how to utilize the self-rotating capability of the spincopter in order to acquire a 3D image of its environment. The omnidirectional capabilities of such an UAV extends the otherwise very limited field of view of conventional cameras usually used for aerial photography and surveillance. The paper presents the theoretical background and the actual implementation of such a system. It presents the resulting images and offers a brief survey of the image quality.
Wide-Band Single-Side Band Subharmonic Mixer Constructed With Re-Entrant Couplers and Lumped-Element Coupler

This work presents a new configuration of single-side band (SSB) harmonically pumped mixer implemented by using two kinds of wide-band quadrature couplers to achieve the characteristics of wide operation bandwidth, high side band suppression and compact circuit size. A new type of 3 dB re-entrant microstrip coupler, which is easy to integrate with the surface-mounted devices, is adopted to achieve the required quadrature phase shifts of the radio frequency (RF) and local oscillation signals. The lump-element type of intermediate frequency coupler is not only able to have broadband characteristics and compact circuit size, but also provide the low-pass filtering function to eliminate the low-pass filter of the mixer in the conventional design. An experimental prototype of the proposed SSB mixer was manufactured. The measured conversion losses of the prototype, which includes the losses caused by couplers, are lower than 13 dB. It also shows greater than 20 dB side-band suppression over the RF frequency range of 2.2 to 2.85 GHz and the measured side-band suppression at some RF frequencies are up to 45 dB. The size of the S-band prototype fabricated on FR4 PCB is only about 40 x 45 mm2.
Wastewater Treatment Effluent Reduces the Abundance and Diversity of Benthic Bacterial Communities in Urban and Suburban Rivers

ABSTRACT In highly urbanized areas, wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent can represent a significant component of freshwater ecosystems. As it is impossible for the composition of WWTP effluent to match the composition of the receiving system, the potential exists for effluent to significantly impact the chemical and biological characteristics of the receiving ecosystem. We assessed the impacts of WWTP effluent on the size, activity, and composition of benthic microbial communities by comparing two distinct field sites in the Chicago metropolitan region: a highly urbanized river receiving effluent from a large WWTP and a suburban river receiving effluent from a much smaller WWTP. At sites upstream of effluent input, the urban and suburban rivers differed significantly in chemical characteristics and in the composition of their sediment bacterial communities. Although effluent resulted in significant increases in inorganic nutrients in both rivers, surprisingly, it also resulted in significant decreases in the population size and diversity of sediment bacterial communities. Tag pyrosequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes revealed significant effects of effluent on sediment bacterial community composition in both rivers, including decreases in abundances of Deltaproteobacteria, Desulfococcus, Dechloromonas, and Chloroflexi sequences and increases in abundances of Nitrospirae and Sphingobacteriales sequences. The overall effect of the WWTP inputs was that the two rivers, which were distinct in chemical and biological properties upstream of the WWTPs, were almost indistinguishable downstream. These results suggest that WWTP effluent has the potential to reduce the natural variability that exists among river ecosystems and indicate that WWTP effluent may contribute to biotic homogenization.
Requirement of Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase Activation and Calcium Influx for Leukotriene B4-induced Enzyme Release*

Leukotriene B4(LTB4) is a potent lipid mediator involved in host defense and inflammatory responses. It causes chemotaxis, generation of reactive oxygen species, and degranulation. However, only little is known of the molecular mechanisms by which LTB4 induces these biological activities. To analyze the intracellular signaling pathways to mediate lysosomal enzyme release through the cloned LTB4 receptor (BLT1), we transfected BLT1 to rat basophilic leukemia cells (RBL-2H3). LTB4 dose-dependently released β-hexosaminidase, and the release was mostly inhibited when the cells were pretreated with pertussis toxin, indicating that the degranulation is mediated by Gi proteins. LTB4activated phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K) through Gi, and inhibition of PI3-K by wortmannin or LY290042 inhibited degranulation. Granulocytes from PI3-Kγ-deficient mice showed reduced LTB4-induced degranulation, suggesting that this isozyme of PI3-K is involved in the degranulation. LTB4 also caused calcium release from intracellular stores and calcium influx from the outside milieu through Gi, but only the calcium influx is critical for the lysosomal enzyme release. Calcium influx and PI3-K activation are both downstream events of Gi, since they were inhibited by pertussis toxin. These two events are in essence independent each other, because calcium depletion did not affect PI3-K, and inhibition of PI3-K did not attenuate calcium influx significantly. Thus, our results have clearly shown that LTB4 binds BLT1 and activates Gi-like protein, and both PI3-Kγ activation and a sustained calcium elevation by calcium influx are necessary for enzyme release in these cells.
Targeting Type III Secretion in Yersinia pestis

ABSTRACT Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, utilizes a plasmid-encoded type III secretion system (T3SS) to aid it with its resistance to host defenses. This system injects a set of effector proteins known as Yops (Yersinia outer proteins) into the cytosol of host cells that come into contact with the bacteria. T3SS is absolutely required for the virulence of Y. pestis, making it a potential target for new therapeutics. Using a novel and simple high-throughput screening method, we examined a diverse collection of chemical libraries for small molecules that inhibit type III secretion in Y. pestis. The primary screening of 70,966 compounds and mixtures yielded 421 presumptive inhibitors. We selected eight of these for further analysis in secondary assays. Four of the eight compounds effectively inhibited Yop secretion at micromolar concentrations. Interestingly, we observed differential inhibition among Yop species with some compounds. The compounds did not inhibit bacterial growth at the concentrations used in the inhibition assays. Three compounds protected HeLa cells from type III secretion-dependent cytotoxicity. Of the eight compounds examined in secondary assays, four show good promise as leads for structure-activity relationship studies. They are a diverse group, with each having a chemical scaffold not only distinct from each other but also distinct from previously described candidate type III secretion inhibitors.
A Study of Job Satisfaction Among High School Principals in Pennsylvania

A Study of Job Satisfaction Among High School Principals in Pennsylvania The purpose of this study was to determine the overall job satisfaction of high school principals in Pennsylvania. The Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire long form was the instrument used for this study. The study used a proportional random sampling to survey the four hundred and twenty six high school principals in Pennsylvania. The study surveyed two hundred and twenty five male high school principals and eighty female high school principals. The study determined the level of intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction and determined the relationship of selected factors of gender; age; ethnicity; levels of education; salary level; years of experience; number of assistant principals; years in current school district; school socio-economic level; and school size. This study explored the relationship between general job satisfaction and ten demographic variables. The study asked the question does the independent variable ( demographic variable) affect the levels of the dependent variable (general job satisfaction). Analysis of variance showed that only one demographic variable (age) had an effect on the general job satisfaction levels of high school principals. The mean score for the general job satisfaction scale is 79.8623 with a standard deviation of 9.4569. Using the normative data for employed non­ disab led the mean score of 79. 8623 falls between the 5 s" and 60111 percentile. This would indicate that as a group high school principals in Pennsylvania have an average level of general job satisfaction. The mean score for the intrinsic satisfaction scale is 50.0507 with a standard deviation of 5 . 5412 . Using the normative data for engineers the mean score of 50.0507 falls between the 55 and 60 percentile. This would indicate that as a group high school principals in Pennsylvania have an average level of intrinsic satisfaction. The mean score for the extrinsic satisfaction scale is 2 1 . 7554 with a standard deviation of 4 . 3453 . Using the normative data for engineers the mean score of 2 1 . 7 5 54 falls between the 45 and 55111 percentile. This would indicate that as a group high school principals in Pennsylvania have an average level of extrinsic satisfaction. As a group, high school principals scored higher on the intrinsic scales.
Identification of Pasteurella multocida virulence genes in a septicemic mouse model using signature-tagged mutagenesis.

P. multocida is the causative agent of several economically significant veterinary diseases occurring in numerous species worldwide. Signature-tagged mutagenesis (STM) is a powerful genetic technique used to simultaneously screen multiple transposon mutants of a pathogen for their inability to survive in vivo. We have designed an STM system based on a mini-Tn10 transposon, chemiluminescent detection and semi-quantitative analysis and have identified transposon insertions into genes of Pasteurella multocida that attenuate virulence in a septicemic mouse model. A bank of 96 transposons containing strongly-hybridizing tags was used to create 19 pools of P. multocida transposon mutants containing approximately 70-90 mutants/pool. A total of 62 mutants were attenuated when checked individually, and 25 unique single transposon insertion mutations were identified from this group. The sequence of the disrupted ORF for each attenuated mutant was determined by either cloning or PCR-amplifying and sequencing the flanking regions. The attenuated mutants contained transposon insertions in genes encoding biosynthetic enzymes, virulence factors, regulatory components and unknown functions. This study should contribute to an understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms by which P. multocida and other pathogens in the Pasteurellaceae family cause disease and identify novel live vaccine candidates and new potential antibiotic targets.
The normal squamocolumnar junction is circumferentially even and minimal irregularities are manifestations of gastroesophageal acid reflux

Abstract Background: The macroscopic appearance of the normal squamocolumnar junction (SCJ) is often described as serrated with short projections of columnar mucosa that extend into the esophagus. As studies of the normal SCJ are sparse, the aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that the normal SCJ is even and that irregularities are manifestations of acid reflux. Method: Fifty asymptomatic subjects and 149 patients with symptoms suggestive of gastroesophageal reflux disease underwent endoscopy and 48-h pH monitoring with a pH electrode positioned immediately above the SCJ. The shape of the SCJ was assessed according to the Z-line appearance classification and correlated with clinical characteristics and the degree of esophageal acid exposure in the most distal esophagus. Results: Even SCJs without irregularities were significantly more common in asymptomatic subjects compared with patients (50% versus 10%, p < .001) and were never found in patients with erosive esophagitis. The median degree of distal esophageal acid exposure in individuals with an even SCJ was within normal limits. With increasing degree of irregularity of the SCJ, the frequency and duration of reflux episodes, the degree of distal esophageal acid exposure, and the prevalence of abnormal acid exposure increased progressively and significantly. Conclusion: The shape of the normal SCJ is even and also minimal irregularities are a consequence of acid reflux, likely due to the formation of small areas of metaplastic columnar mucosa.