Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Efficacy of Knowledge Sharing in Centralized and Self-Organizing Online Communities: Weblog Networks vs. Discussion Forums

Knowledge sharing has emerged as a miracle cure to the negative impacts of constant fluxes of workforce and demographics, such as rapidly aging baby-boomer workforce. As a result, increasingly more organizations are focusing on real time knowledge sharing and collaboration. This paper explores the impact of collaborative software on an online community's control structure and subsequently on knowledge sharing in that community.Using a framework comprising theories of Legitimate Peripheral Participation and Weak-ties, we analyzed self-organizing online communities (e.g., weblog networks) and centralized online communities (e.g., discussion forums communities) with respect to the efficacy of knowledge sharing in these communities. Findings of this study indicate that self-organizing communities of practice facilitate more weak-ties among their members than centralized communities. These findings suggest that self-organizing communities would facilitate greater dissemination of knowledge among their members than centralized communities. Abundance of weak-ties in the self-organizing communities also makes these communities better environments for the discovery of new information.
Performance of blind discrete source separation

The aim of this paper is two-fold. In a first part, we investigate the ultimate performances of source separation in the case of BPSK and 4-PSK sources. These ultimate bounds are computed by looking first for the most favourable mixing matrices, for various SNRs, number of sources and number of sensors, and then by calculating the associated error probabilities. In a second part, we compare the behaviour of two 4-QAM source separation algorithms. One is based on the Constant Modulus (CM) property of these sources, and the other is based on the Constance of their fourth power. The goal here is to see what kind of improvement brings the knowledge of the source distribution.
Connecting: the Semantic HCI Textbook and Cross-Institutional Learning Analytics

Open education materials related to the author's HCI textbook were released in 2013 as a MOOC, published on interactiondesign.org, and used for flipped classroom teaching. Work is in progress to link these free open educational resources including substantial video and quizzes (some tutor-only) together with the (paid-for but open-to-all) book, to create a 'semantic textbook'. The author is also interested in the way learning-analytics can be used to create actionable insights, at the appropriate time for the academic. Bringing these together offers the potential for analytics using rich relationships across different educators and institutions use of the same material.
Standardization of platelet‐derived microparticle counting using calibrated beads and a Cytomics FC500 routine flow cytometer: a first step towards multicenter studies?

Summary. Background: Platelet microparticles (PMPs) have proved useful to identify patients with vascular risk. However, PMP counting, which is currently done by flow cytometry (FCM), needs to be standardized. Objectives: The objectives were (i) to standardize FCM settings for PMP counts on a routine instrument (Cytomics FC500) using size‐calibrated fluorescent beads; (ii) to determine intra‐instrument and interinstrument reproducibility; and (iii) to establish PMP values in healthy subjects. Methods: Using a blend of size‐calibrated fluorescent beads (0.5 and 0.9 μm) in a fixed numerical ratio (Megamix), we gated PMPs in a restricted size window. To test intra‐instrument and inter‐instrument reproducibility, annexin V and CD41 coexpression were used to count PMPs in frozen aliquots of the same platelet‐free plasma (PFP) over 4 months and in PFP from 10 healthy subjects on three independent flow cytometers. Results: This calibrated‐bead strategy allowed full long‐term control of the FCM‐based microparticle protocol and reproducible PMP counts over time [coefficient of variation (CV) < 10%]. Optimal settings were easily transferred from one instrument to another, using Megamix as a stable template. Similar PMP counts (CV < 12%) were obtained using the three instruments. With such a standardized FCM protocol, PMP values were established in healthy subjects (n = 60) with significantly higher levels in women than in men [median (1st quartile to 3rd quartile): 1775 μL−1 (1014–3039 μL−1) vs. 656 μL−1 (407–962 μL−1)]. Conclusions: The present strategy provides a new option for PMP count standardization and thus opens the way for multicenter studies.
Perinatal Factors Affecting Expression of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in Children and Adolescents

Objective: To examine whether adverse perinatal experiences of children are associated with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) in youth. Methods: Subjects were 130 children and adolescents with OCD recruited from a family genetic study of pediatric OCD and 49 matched controls from a contemporaneous family case-control study of attention-deficit/hy-peractivity disorder (ADHD). Subjects were comprehensively assessed in multiple domains of function. A systematic history of pregnancy, delivery, and infancy complications was obtained. Results: Compared to normal controls, children with OCD had mothers with significantly higher rates of illness during pregnancy requiring medical care ( (cid:2) 2 (cid:2) 8.61, p (cid:2) 0.003) and more birth difficulties (induced labor, forceps delivery, nuchal cord, or prolonged labor) ( (cid:2) 2 (cid:2) 7.51, p (cid:2) 0.006). Among the OCD-affected children, we found several significant associations between adverse perinatal experiences and earlier age at onset, increased OCD severity, and increased risk for comorbid ADHD, chronic tic disorder, anxiety disorder, and major depressive disorder. Conclusion: Although exploratory, our analyses found that children with OCD had higher rates of several adverse perinatal experiences compared with controls. Among OCD-affected children, comorbid psychopathology was predicted by specific perinatal risk factors. Prospective studies of perinatal adverse events that mini-mize potential recall bias and type I errors are needed.
Reduction of Turgor Is Not the Stimulus for the Sensor Kinase KdpD of Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT Stimulus perception by the KdpD/KdpE two-component system of Escherichia coli is still controversial with respect to the nature of the stimulus that is perceived by the sensor kinase KdpD. Limiting potassium concentrations in the medium or high osmolality leads to KdpD/KdpE signal transduction, resulting in kdpFABC expression. It has been hypothesized that changes in turgor are sensed by KdpD through alterations in the physical state of the cytoplasmic membrane. However, in this study the quantitative determination of expression levels of the kdpFABC operon revealed that the system responds very effectively to K+-limiting conditions in the medium but barely and to various degrees to salt and sugar stress. Since the current view of stimulus perception calls for mainly intracellular parameters, which might be sensed by KdpD, we set out to test the cytoplasmic concentrations of ATP, K+, Na+, glutamate, proline, glycine, trehalose, putrescine, and spermidine under K+-limiting conditions. As a first result, the determination of the cytoplasmic volume, which is a prerequisite for such measurements, revealed that a transient shrinkage of the cytoplasmic volume, which is indicative of a reduction in turgor, occurred only under osmotic upshift but not under K+-limiting conditions. Furthermore, the intracellular ATP concentration significantly increased under osmotic upshift, whereas only a slight increase occurred after a potassium downshift. Finally, the cytoplasmic K+ concentration rose severalfold only after an osmotic upshock. For the first time, these data indicate that stimulus perception by KdpD correlates neither with changes in the cytoplasmic volume nor with changes in the intracellular ATP or K+ concentration or those of the other solutes tested. In conclusion, we propose that a reduction in turgor cannot be the stimulus for KdpD.
Sodium‐calcium exchange during the action potential in guinea‐pig ventricular cells.

1. Slow inward tail currents attributable to electrogenic sodium‐calcium exchange can be recorded by imposing hyperpolarizing voltage clamp pulses during the normal action potential of isolated guinea‐pig ventricular cells. The hyperpolarizations return the membrane to the resting potential (between ‐65 and ‐88 m V) allowing an inward current to be recorded. This current usually has peak amplitude when repolarization is imposed during the first 50 ms after the action potential upstroke, but becomes negligible once the final phase of repolarization is reached. The envelope of peak current tail amplitudes strongly resembles that of the intracellular calcium transient recorded in other studies. 2. Repetitive stimulation producing normal action potentials at a frequency of 2 Hz progressively augments the tail current recorded immediately after the stimulus train. Conversely, if each action potential is prematurely terminated at 0.1 Hz, repetitive stimulation produces a tail current much smaller than the control value. The control amplitude of inward current is only maintained if interrupted action potentials are separated by at least one full ‘repriming’ action potential. These effects mimic those on cell contraction (Arlock & Wohlfart, 1986) and suggest that progressive changes in tail current are controlled by variations in the amplitude and time course of the intracellular calcium transient. 3. When intracellular calcium is buffered sufficiently to abolish contraction, the tail current is abolished. Substitution of calcium with strontium greatly reduces the tail current. 4. The inward tail current can also be recorded at more positive membrane potentials using standard voltage clamp pulse protocols. In this way it was found that temperature has a large effect on the tail current, which can change from net inward at 22 degrees C to net outward at 37 degrees C. The largest inward currents are usually recorded at about 30 degrees C. It is shown that this effect is attributable predominantly to the temperature sensitivity of activation of the delayed potassium current, iK, whose decay can then mask the slow tail current at high temperatures. 5. Studies of the relationship between the tail current and the membrane calcium current, iCa, have been performed using a method of drug application which is capable of perturbing iCa in a very rapid and highly reversible manner. Partial block of iCa with cadmium does not initially alter the size of the associated inward current tail. When iCa is increased by applying isoprenaline, the percentage augmentation of the associated tail current is much greater but occurs more slowly. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Limited Open Repair of Achilles Tendon Ruptures: A Technique with a New Instrument and Findings of a Prospective Multicenter Study

Background: Controversy persists regarding the ideal surgical technique for repair of a ruptured Achilles tendon. We propose a limited open procedure with use of an instrument that provides the advantage of an open repair but avoids the soft-tissue problems with which open repair has been associated.Methods: We first performed a cadaver study in order to develop an instrument and a technique for a limited open repair and then, using this procedure in conjunction with an early functional rehabilitation protocol, we began a prospective multicenter study. We are reporting on the first eighty‐seven patients consecutively treated with the new instrument and followed for an average of twenty‐six months (range, eighteen to forty‐two months). All patients were assessed clinically and with an enhanced American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) rating score. In addition, all fifty patients who had been followed for at least twenty-four months were further evaluated with isokinetic dynamometry.Results: Four patients were lost to follow‐up and one patient died, which left eighty‐two patients for evaluation. There were no problems with wound-healing, and there were no infections. No patient noted a sensory disturbance in the sural nerve distribution. All patients returned to their previous professional or sporting activities. The mean AOFAS score was 96 points (range, 85 to 100 points). Isokinetic dynamometry showed no significant difference in strength between the injured and uninjured limbs of the fifty patients who were tested. Complications occurred in three patients. Two of them were noncompliant and removed the orthosis, so that the repair was disrupted by a new injury within the first three weeks postoperatively. One patient fell twelve weeks after the surgery and sustained a rerupture. All three new injuries were repaired with an open surgical procedure.Conclusions: This new procedure allows the surgeon to precisely visualize and control the tendon ends while avoiding excessive dissection and disturbance of local vascularity and minimizing nerve and wound-healing problems. Such a technique, along with an early functional rehabilitation program, allowed us to achieve a high rate of successful results with minimal morbidity.
Unrepeatered Transmission of  $10\times 400\text{G}$  Over 370 km via Amplification Map Optimization

We demonstrate unrepeatered transmission of 10 × 400-Gb/s PM-16QAM Nyquist wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) dual-carrier superchannels (75-GHz flexigrid) at the SE = 5.33 b/s/Hz, where each superchannel is coherently detected by a single wideband receiver. A 350-km transmission is achieved by using optimized amplification map to efficiently design remote optically pumped amplifier and hybrid amplifiers. Additional digital domain nonlinear compensation allows to increase the transmission distance up to 370 km.
Genome sequence of Wickerhamomyces anomalus DSM 6766 reveals genetic basis of biotechnologically important antimicrobial activities.

The ascomycetous yeast Wickerhamomyces anomalus (formerly Pichia anomala and Hansenula anomala) exhibits antimicrobial activities and flavoring features that are responsible for its frequent association with food, beverage and feed products. However, limited information on the genetic background of this yeast and its multiple capabilities are currently available. Here, we present the draft genome sequence of the neotype strain W. anomalus DSM 6766. On the basis of pyrosequencing, a de novo assembly of this strain resulted in a draft genome sequence with a total size of 25.47 Mbp. An automatic annotation using RAPYD generated 11 512 protein-coding sequences. This annotation provided the basis to analyse metabolic capabilities, phylogenetic relationships, as well as biotechnologically important features and yielded novel candidate genes of W. anomalus DSM 6766 coding for proteins participating in antimicrobial activities.
Chronic kidney disease stage in renal transplantation classification using cystatin C and creatinine-based equations.

BACKGROUND Current clinical guidelines recommend that renal transplant recipients (RTRs) be classified into chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage using a creatinine-based estimate of glomerular filtration rate (GFR). However, creatinine-based equations are inaccurate in RTRs leading to frequent CKD stage misclassification. It is not known whether the classification of CKD stage would be improved using a cystatin C-based estimate of GFR. METHODS We measured (99m)Tc-DTPA GFR, cystatin C and creatinine in 198 stable RTRs. GFR was estimated using cystatin C-based equations (Filler, Le Bricon and Rule) and four creatinine-based equations. We determined the proportion, overall and by CKD stage, that were classified correctly by each equation as compared to the (99m)Tc-DTPA GFR. RESULTS The Filler equation correctly classified 76% of patients compared to only 65% with the abbreviated modification of diet in renal disease (MDRD) equation and 69% with the Cockcroft-Gault equation. In CKD stages two and four, the Filler equation correctly classified 77% and 60% of patients whereas the abbreviated MDRD equation correctly classified 46% and 93% of patients. The area under the curve by receiver operating curve analysis for overall stage classification was uniformly poor for all equations (0.52-0.56). CONCLUSIONS The cystatin C-based Filler and Le Bricon GFR estimates classified slightly more patients into the correct CKD stage than the standard creatinine-based equations in stable RTRs although the overall diagnostic accuracies were similar. The differences are modest and prospective studies will be needed to determine if the adoption of these equations for classification would lead to improved recognition of CKD complications or patient care.
Continuous depth-of-interaction measurement in a single-layer pixelated crystal array using a single-ended readout

We propose a depth-of-interaction (DOI)-encoding method to extract continuous DOI information using a single-layer scintillation crystal array with single-ended readout for cost-effective high-resolution positron emission tomography (PET). DOI information is estimated by different light dispersions along the x- and y-directions tailored by the geometric shape of reflectors around the crystals. The detector module comprised a 22 × 22 array of unpolished LGSO crystals (2.0 × 2.0 × 20 mm3). A multi-anode photomultiplier tube with 64 anodes measured light dispersion in the crystal array. Gain non-uniformity of each anode was corrected by an analogue gain compensation circuit. DOI information was determined from peaks in the x and y anode-signal distributions normalized by the total energy of the distribution. Average DOI resolution (full width at half maximum, FWHM) over all crystals and depths was estimated to be 4.2 mm. Average energy resolution from the 2 to 18 mm DOI positions was 11.3% ± 0.79%, with 13% difference in photo-peak positions. Average time resolutions (FWHM) were 320–356 ps. Energy, time and DOI resolutions were uniform over all crystal positions except at the array's edge. This DOI-PET detector shows promise for applications that require high resolution and sensitivity at low cost.
An innovative method for fetal health monitoring based on artificial neural network using cardiotocography measurements

This work proposes an ANN based method for fetal heart rate monitoring. Various measurements are taken and given as input to the ANN based classifier to detect fetal health such as ‘Normal’, ‘Suspect’ and ‘Pathologic’. All the design and simulation works are carried out with MATLAB software. ANN based classifier is trained with data from various recordings of cardiotocography. After the network is trained it is tested with various test cases. Performance of the network is checked in terms of percentage accuracy. The proposed method is found to be 99.9% accurate in detecting the fetal health. Hence the proposed ANN based method can be used effectively for fetal health monitoring.
Using protein-protein interaction network information to predict the subcellular locations of proteins in budding yeast.

The information of protein subcellular localization is vitally important for in-depth understanding the intricate pathways that regulate biological processes at the cellular level. With the rapidly increasing number of newly found protein sequence in the Post-Genomic Age, many automated methods have been developed attempting to help annotate their subcellular locations in a timely manner. However, very few of them were developed using the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network information. In this paper, we have introduced a new concept called "tethering potential" by which the PPI information can be effectively fused into the formulation for protein samples. Based on such a network frame, a new predictor called Yeast-PLoc has been developed for identifying budding yeast proteins among their 19 subcellular location sites. Meanwhile, a purely sequence-based approach, called the "hybrid-property" method, is integrated into Yeast-PLoc as a fall-back to deal with those proteins without sufficient PPI information. The overall success rate by the jackknife test on the 4,683 yeast proteins in the training dataset was 70.25%. Furthermore, it was shown that the success rate by Yeast- PLoc on an independent dataset was remarkably higher than those by some other existing predictors, indicating that the current approach by incorporating the PPI information is quite promising. As a user-friendly web-server, Yeast-PLoc is freely accessible at http://yeastloc.biosino. org/.
Enzyme Replacement Therapy in Mucopolysaccharidosis I: Altered Distribution and Targeting of α-l-Iduronidase in Immunized Rats

Abstract Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) has been developed and trialed for the treatment of human lysosomal storage disorder patients. The viability of ERT for the treatment of these severe multiple pathology disorders has subsequently been established. However, in both animal model studies and human clinical trials, some individuals have been shown to develop an immune response to the replacement protein. This potential complication for treatment has been investigated by the infusion of recombinant human α- l -iduronidase (rh-α- l -iduronidase) into nonimmune and immunized rats to simulate mucopolysaccharidosis type I ERT in the presence of different levels of antibody. In rats with high antibody titers to rh-α- l -iduronidase (titer 1,024,000) there was evidence of altered organ distribution and subcellular targeting when compared to either lower titer immunized rats (titers less than 64,000) or nonimmune rats (titers 512–1024). In addition, hypersensitivity reactions were observed for high titer rats (titer 1,024,000) during rh-α- l -iduronidase infusion, but not for the other two treatment groups. A rat with an antibody titer of 64,000 had only minor changes in subcellular targeting and organ distribution when infused with rh-α- l -iduronidase. This implied that a high level of antibody was required to effect changes in α- l -iduronidase enzyme targeting and distribution. Notably, in the high titer rats, the antibody produced appeared to increase the tissue and subcellular level of rh-α- l -iduronidase specific activity. This suggested that antibody production may not always result in an adverse effect on ERT.