Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization and Identification ofPediococcus Species Isolated from Forage Crops and Their Application for Silage Preparation

ABSTRACT Pediococcus species isolated from forage crops were characterized, and their application to silage preparation was studied. Most isolates were distributed on forage crops at low frequency. These isolates could be divided into three (A, B, and C) groups by their sugar fermentation patterns. Strains LA 3, LA 35, and LS 5 are representative isolates from groups A, B, and C, respectively. Strains LA 3 and LA 35 had intragroup DNA homology values above 93.6%, showing that they belong to the species Pediococcus acidilactici. Strain LS 5 belonged to Pediococcus pentosaceus on the basis of DNA-DNA relatedness. All three of these strains and strain SL 1 (Lactobacillus casei, isolated from a commercial inoculant) were used as additives to alfalfa and Italian ryegrass silage preparation at two temperatures (25 and 48°C). When stored at 25°C, all of the inoculated silages were well preserved and exhibited significantly (P < 0.05) reduced fermentation losses compared to that of their control in alfalfa and Italian ryegrass silages. When stored at 48°C, silages inoculated with strains LA 3 and LA 35 were also well preserved, with a significantly (P < 0.05) lower pH, butyric acid and ammonia-nitrogen content, gas production, and dry matter loss and significantly (P < 0.05) higher lactate content than the control, but silages inoculated with LS 5 and SL 1 were of poor quality. P. acidilactici LA 3 and LA 35 are considered suitable as potential silage inoculants.
The effect of disease prevalence on positive predictive value: a simple model

Dear Editor, We are grateful to Mr Evered for his interesting comments. The primary purpose of the paper, however, was to assess the value of nuclear to cytoplasmic ratios quantitatively in the classification of squamous cell dyskaryosis and in particular in relation to that published by the British Society for Clinical Cytology. Findings relating to absolute nuclear and cytoplasmic area differences in liquid-based cytology preparations between the two commercial companies was a secondary study observation. The information was published only to highlight that differences had been identified and that this potentially vital observation must be given much serious consideration in gynaecological cytology classification, quantification and training. It was also hoped the information would act as a catalyst for more research in the field. The requirement to use only single or small groups of cells which were suitable for area measurements will, by necessity, have resulted in a degree of unavoidable selection. In particular, we acknowledge that threedimensional groups would have been under-represented in our measurements, due to the difficulty in obtaining accurate area measurements in this specific type of sample. All evidence indicated our sample size was statistically robust for the study.
This Paper Is Included in the Proceedings of the 12th Usenix Symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation (osdi '16). Coordinated and Efficient Huge Page Management with Ingens Coordinated and Efficient Huge Page Management with Ingens

Modern computing is hungry for RAM, with today's enormous capacities eagerly consumed by diverse workloads. Hardware address translation overheads have grown with memory capacity, motivating hardware manufacturers to provide TLBs with thousands of entries for large page sizes (called huge pages). Operating systems and hypervi-sors support huge pages with a hodge-podge of best-effort algorithms and spot fixes that made sense for architectures with limited huge page support, but the time has come for a more fundamental redesign. Ingens is a framework for huge page support that relies on a handful of basic primitives to provide transparent huge page support in a principled, coordinated way. By managing contiguity as a first-class resource and by tracking utilization and access frequency of memory pages, Ingens is able to eliminate a number of fairness and performance pathologies that plague current systems. Experiments with our prototype demonstrate fairness improvements , performance improvements (up to 18%), tail-latency reduction (up to 41%), and reduction of memory bloat from 69% to less than 1% for important applications like Web services (e.g., the Cloudstone benchmark) and the Redis key-value store.
Common Variation in the WNK1 Gene and Blood Pressure in Childhood: The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children

WNK1 gene variants have been associated with adult blood pressure. We aimed to investigate relationships between WNK1 variants and blood pressure, as well as blood pressure change with age, in a longitudinal childhood study. Associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms in WNK1 and blood pressure and the rate of blood pressure change between 7 and 11 years were examined in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parent and Children Study (n=5326 for systolic blood pressure at 11 years). We observed associations (P<0.05) with diastolic blood pressure gradient with age for 33 of 82 typed and imputed polymorphisms, including polymorphisms in exons 4, 10, and 11 (rs10774466, rs1012729, and rs9804992). The minor allele (G) of rs1012729 (frequency: 25.6%) was associated with a gender-adjusted change in a diastolic blood pressure gradient of −0.11 mm Hg/y (95% CI: −0.20 to −0.03 mm Hg/y; P=0.0054). No associations were shown with the systolic blood pressure gradient. At age 11 years, 30 polymorphisms showed association (P<0.05) with systolic blood pressure, including variants in exons 4 and 10 (rs10774466 and rs1012729). Only 3 polymorphisms were associated with diastolic blood pressure at 11 years. In exploration of polymorphism-dietary cation interactions on systolic blood pressure at 11 years, 59 reached significance (P<0.05; 12.3 expected by chance), mostly (n=33) related to dietary calcium. The findings show that common intronic and exonic WNK1 variants are associated with diastolic blood pressure gradient from 7 to 11 years and with systolic blood pressure at 11 years. Our study suggests that previously reported effects of WNK1 variants on blood pressure are mediated via effects on the gradient of blood pressure change with age.
Mathematics achievement in high- and low-achieving secondary schools

This paper identifies the amount of variance in mathematics achievement in high- and low-achieving schools that can be explained by school-level factors, while controlling for student-level factors. The data were obtained from 2679 Iranian eighth graders who participated in the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. Of the total sample, 1422 and 1257 students were from high- and low-achieving schools, respectively. Two-level hierarchical linear modelling was applied. The results indicated that of the total variance in mathematics achievement, 27.95 and 6.70% were due to between-school differences in the high- and low-achieving schools, respectively. Controlling for the school-level factors, the better-performing students were those with a higher level of confidence in learning mathematics in both samples. After controlling for the student-level factors, inadequacies in school resources and school type yielded the strongest link to achievement in the high- and low-achieving schools, respectively.
Effects of different water storage procedures on the dissolved Fe concentration and isotopic composition of chemically contrasted waters from the Amazon River Basin.

RATIONALE Although recent studies have investigated the Fe isotopic composition of dissolved, colloidal and particulate phases from continental and oceanic natural waters, few efforts have been made to evaluate whether water sample storage and the separation of different pore-size fractions through filtration can cause any change to the Fe isotopic compositions. The present study investigates the possible biases introduced by different water storage conditions on the dissolved Fe concentration and isotopic composition of chemically different waters. METHODS Water samples were collected from an organic-rich river and from mineral particulate-rich rivers. Filtered and unfiltered water samples were stored either at room temperature or frozen at -18°C in order to assess possible biases due to (i) different water storage temperature, and (ii) storage of bulk (unfiltered) vs filtered water. Iron isotope measurements were performed by Multicollector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry with a Thermo Electron Neptune instrument, after Fe purification using anion-exchange resins. RESULTS Our data reveal that bulk water storage at room temperature without filtration produces minor changes in the dissolved Fe isotopic composition of mineral particulate-rich waters, but significant isotopic composition changes in organic-rich waters. In both cases, however, the impact of the different procedures on the Fe concentrations was strong. On the other hand, the bulk water stored frozen without filtration produced more limited changes in the dissolved Fe concentrations, and also on isotopic compositions, relative to the samples filtered in the field. The largest effect was again observed for the organic-rich waters. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that a time lag between water collection and filtration may cause isotopic exchanges between the dissolved and particulate Fe fractions. When it is not possible to filter the samples in the field immediately after collection, the less detrimental approach is to freeze the bulk water sample until filtration, to reduce isotopic artifacts.
How Forgetting Fosters Heuristic Inference

The notion that forgetting serves an adaptive function has repeatedly been put forth in the history of the analysis of human memory. Bjork and Bjork (1996), for instance, have argued that it prevents obsolete information from interfering with the recall of more current information. Here we explore functions that forgetting may play in memory-based inference strategies. To this end, we bring together two research programs—the program on fast and frugal heuristics (Gigerenzer, Todd, & the ABC research group, 1999) and the ACT-R research program (Anderson & Lebiere, 1998). Specifically, we implement in ACT-R the recognition heuristic (RH) (Goldstein & Gigerenzer, 2002), and the fluency heuristic (FH), each of which exploit fundamental memory retrieval processes.
STRESS RESPONSES IN LAMBS TO DIFFERENT TAIL DOCKING METHODS

A study was conducted to assess the stress associated with different tail docking techniques using plasma cortisol concentrations as a physiological indicator, and to determine whether the responses are ameliorated by analgesic treatments. Tails were docked by the application of rubber Elastrator rings, the use of a sharp “cold” knife or a gas-heated “hot” knife. Analgesic treatments involved administration of epidural local anaesthetic or intramuscularly administered methadone. There were significant increases (P c 0.05) in plasma cortisol concentrations in response to tail docking in the 60 minute period following the procedure. Furthermore, lambs tailed with the cold knife had significantly higher (P < 0.05) cortisol concentrations than lambs tailed with the other 2 techniques. The administration of methadone significantly lowered (P < 0.05) cortisol concentrations in contrast with epidural anaesthesia which failed to influence the cortisol responses to tail docking.
Nonlinear robust regulation using the satisficing paradigm

We use the recently introduced concept of satisficing decision theory to develop robustly stabilizing state-feedback control strategies for nonlinear systems subject to unknown disturbances. The result is a point-wise "input-to-state satisficing" set of control options from which a continuous feedback strategy can be selected. We show that every input-to-state satisficing control also defines a universal formula in the sense defined by Y. Lin and E. Sontag (1995).
Sporting a new view: Team member schema similarity in sports

Abstract Researchers in sport psychology have focused little attention on the role of cognition in teams. However, in industrial/organizational psychology cognitive variables in work teams have been shown to be related to team performance and to psychological outcomes such as team viability. One purpose of the present article was to describe one conceptualization of cognition in teams, team member schema similarity (TMSS), and to highlight several issues in studying team member schemata. A second purpose was to explore how TMSS may be applied to the study of sport teams. Various forms and contents of team member schema similarity are described
Perceptron Learning for Chinese Word Segmentation

We explored a simple, fast and effective learning algorithm, the uneven margins Perceptron, for Chinese word segmentation. We adopted the character-based classification framework and transformed the task into several binary classification problems. We participated the close and open tests for all the four corpora. For the open test we only used the utf-8 code knowledge for discrimination among Latin characters, Arabic numbers and all other characters. Our system performed well on the as, cityu and msr corpora but was clearly worse than the best result on the pku corpus.
K-BestMatch Reconstruction and Comparison of Trajectory Data

In this paper we propose a map matching method to overcoming the limitations of standard best-match reconstruction strategies. We use a more flexible approach which consider the k-optimal alternative paths to reconstruct the trajectories from the GPS raw data. The preliminary results, obtained on a real dataset of car users in Milan area, suggest that our method leads to beneficial effects on the successive analysis to be performed such as KNN and clustering.
The regulatory loop of COMP1 and HNF-4-miR-150-p27 in various signaling pathways

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short regulatory RNAs that negatively modulate protein expression at the post-transcriptional level. Additionally, they have been associated with the pathogenesis of a number of types of cancer. In the current study, two target sites for miR-150 were determined within the 3′-untranslated region of p27Kip1 (hereafter referred to as p27) mRNA, and it was determined that ectopic overexpression of miR-150 led directly to p27 downregulation in cancer cells. These findings indicate that miR-150 may be a novel regulator of p27 expression. In the databases of the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) and Match online, two common transcription factors were identified for miR-150 and p27: Cooperates with myogenic proteins 1 (COMP1) and hepatocyte nuclear factor-4 (HNF-4). Using the Database for Annotation, Visualization, and Integrated Discovery (DAVID), it was determined that p27 is involved in pathways regulated by the target genes of miR-150. Therefore, these results suggest that there may be a regulatory loop between COMP1 and HNF-4-miR-150-p27. Additional functional studies are required to understand the molecular basis for the formation of this circuit loop, and provide an insight into the development of innovative therapies targeting specific tumor markers.
Vigabatrin-associated Visual Field Loss

Vigabatrin is a selective, irreversible g-aminobutyric acid transaminase inhibitor that was synthesized specifically as an antiepileptic medication in the 1980s and 1990s. It is used as adjunctive therapy for adult patients with refractory complex partial seizures and as monotherapy for infants with infantile spasms (West syndrome). A recent Cochrane Database review of 11 prospective studies of vigabatrin versus placebo for patients with refractory partial seizures illustrated that vigabatrin-treated adult patients were significantly more likely to achieve seizure reduction. A retrospective review of vigabatrin in pediatric patients illustrated control of refractory seizures in 34% of patients with partial seizures. Vigabatrin is particularly effective when infantile spasms are associated with tuberous sclerosis complex. It is now licensed in >60 countries and has received ‘‘fast track’’ designation from the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of cocaine and methamphetamine dependence. Because of the clinical uncertainties concerning the visual field loss associated with vigabatrin, this medication was approved in the United States only on August 21, 2009, after almost 2 decades of debate. Before approval, patients and families in need of this medication ‘‘imported’’ vigabatrin from Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. Lack of definitive data regarding the prevalence, incidence, onset, severity, and natural history of the peripheral visual field constriction associated with vigabatrin led the US Food and Drug Administration to institute a risk evaluation mitigation strategy program to help to ensure safe use of the medication. Use of vigabatrin demands a continuous risk/benefit analysis for the patients, families, caregivers, and clinicians. Epilepsy is a life-threatening disease with sudden unexpected death in epilepsy always a possibility, especially in patients with refractory seizures. Many patients and families will risk a subtle, asymptomatic visual field defect in exchange for better
Very efficient spin polarization analysis (VESPA): new exchange scattering-based setup for spin-resolved ARPES at APE-NFFA beamline at Elettra

The VESPA new setup for spin-resolved angular-resolved photoemission spectroscopy is fully operational at the APE-NFFA beamline at the Elettra synchrotron, being a high-demand tool for the advanced investigation of the magnetic properties of materials, as well as the spin texture of complex non-magnetic low-dimensional systems (surfaces and nanostructures). Detailed descriptions of the detector and its characterization are reported.
The Legitimacy of Social Entrepreneurship: Reflexive Isomorphism in a Pre–Paradigmatic Field

Following Kuhn, this article conceptualizes social entrepreneurship as a field of action in a pre–paradigmatic state that currently lacks an established epistemology. Using approaches from neo–institutional theory, this research focuses on the microstructures of legitimation that characterize the development of social entrepreneurship in terms of its key actors, discourses, and emerging narrative logics. This analysis suggests that the dominant discourses of social entrepreneurship represent legitimating material for resource–rich actors in a process of reflexive isomorphism. Returning to Kuhn, the article concludes by delineating a critical role for scholarly research on social entrepreneurship in terms of resolving conflicting discourses within its future paradigmatic development.
Network coding in convergecast of wireless sensor networks: Friend or foe?

Convergecast is probably the most common communication style in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). And network coding (NC) is a promising concept to improve throughput or reliability of convergecast. Most of the existing works have mainly focused on exploiting these benefits without considering its potential adverse effect. In this paper, we argue that network coding may not always benefit convergecast. This viewpoint is discussed within four scenarios: The network-coding-aided (NC-aided) and the none-network-coding (none-NC) convergecast schemes with or without automatic repeat request (ARQ) mechanisms. The most concerned performance metrics, including packet collection rate, energy consumption and end-to-end delay, are investigated. Theoretical analyses and simulation results show that the way network coding operates, i.e., conscious overhearing and the prerequisite of successfully decoding, could naturally diminish its advantages in convergecast. And NC-aided convergecast schemes may even be inferior to none-NC ones when the wireless link delivery ratio is high enough. The conclusion drawn in this paper casts a new light on how to effectively apply network coding to practical WSNs.
A Chitin Synthase and Its Regulator Protein Are Critical for Chitosan Production and Growth of the Fungal Pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans

ABSTRACT Chitin is an essential component of the cell wall of many fungi. Chitin also can be enzymatically deacetylated to chitosan, a more flexible and soluble polymer. Cryptococcus neoformans is a fungal pathogen that causes cryptococcal meningoencephalitis, particularly in immunocompromised patients. In this work, we show that both chitin and chitosan are present in the cell wall of vegetatively growing C. neoformans yeast cells and that the levels of both rise dramatically as cells grow to higher density in liquid culture. C. neoformans has eight putative chitin synthases, and strains with any one chitin synthase deleted are viable at 30°C. In addition, C. neoformans genes encode three putative regulator proteins, which are homologs of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Skt5p. None of these three is essential for viability. However, one of the chitin synthases (Chs3) and one of the regulators (Csr2) are important for growth. Cells with deletions in either CHS3 or CSR2 have several shared phenotypes, including sensitivity to growth at 37°C. The similarity of their phenotypes also suggests that Csr2 specifically regulates chitin synthesis by Chs3. Lastly, both chs3Δ and the csr2Δ mutants are defective in chitosan production, predicting that Chs3-Csr2 complex with chitin deacetylases for conversion of chitin to chitosan. These data suggest that chitin synthesis could be an excellent antifungal target.
How safe is the use of chlorpyrifos: Revelations through its effect on layer birds

Aim: The present study was aimed to investigate the immunological competence of chlorpyrifos (CPF) insecticide after oral administration in layer chickens. Materials and Methods: A total of 20 White Leghorn birds were given CPF in drinking water at 0.3 ppm/bird/day (no observable effect level dose) for a period of 3-month. Immune competence status of layer birds and chicks hatched from CPF-treated birds were estimated at 15 days interval in layer birds and monthly interval in chicks using immunological and biochemical parameters. Results: There was a significant decrease in values of total leukocytes count, absolute lymphocyte count, absolute heterophil count, total serum protein, serum albumin, serum globulin, and serum gamma globulin in the birds treated with CPF as compared to control. Similarly, immune competence tests such as lymphocyte stimulation test, oxidative burst assay, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay tests indicated lower immunity in birds treated with CPF as compared to control. Subsequently, chicks produced from CPF-treated birds were also examined for immune competence, but no significant difference was observed between chicks of both the groups. Conclusion: The exposure to CPF produced hemo-biochemical and other changes that could be correlated with changes in the immunological profile of layer chickens suggesting total stoppage of using CPF in poultry sheds.
Bilateral teleoperation of a dual arms surgical robot with passive virtual fixtures generation

The paper describes a passivity based approach to the generation of virtual fixtures for robotic teleoperation schemes involving multiple masters and multiple slaves. Virtual fixtures considered in the paper aim to guide the user towards a geometric path, which is assumed to be collision-free by design, describing a desired execution of a given task. To preserve safe distance from obstacles and at the same time suggest the user a preferred direction to progress along the path, the virtual fixtures are generated by arbitrarily redirecting assistive forces obtained by summation of attractive and repulsive potential fields. The main result of the paper is the definition of a passivity preserving condition for this redirection, so that the behavior of the teleoperated systems remains safe and stable. The proposed assisted mode of teleoperation has been tested on a surgical robot prototype with dual arms configuration, since robotic surgery represents a suitable application domain for such control schemes.