Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Emergence of a Virulent Clade of Vibrio vulnificus and Correlation with the Presence of a 33-Kilobase Genomic Island

ABSTRACT Vibrio vulnificus is a ubiquitous inhabitant of the marine coastal environment, and an important pathogen of humans. We characterized a globally distributed sample of environmental isolates from a range of habitats and hosts and compared these with isolates recovered from cases of human infection. Multilocus sequence typing data using six housekeeping genes divided 63 of the 67 isolates into the two main lineages previously noted for this species, and this division was also confirmed using the 16S rRNA and open reading frame VV0401 markers. Lineage I was comprised exclusively of biotype 1 isolates, whereas lineage II contained biotype 1 and all biotype 2 isolates. Four isolates did not cluster within either lineage: two biotype 3 and two biotype 1 isolates. The proportion of isolates recovered from a clinical setting was noted to be higher in lineage I than in lineage II. Lineage I isolates were also associated with a 33-kb genomic island (region XII), one of three regions identified by genome comparisons as unique to the species. Region XII contained an arylsulfatase gene cluster, a sulfate reduction system, two chondroitinase genes, and an oligopeptide ABC transport system, all of which are absent from the majority of lineage II isolates. Arylsulfatases and the sulfate reduction system, along with performing a scavenging role, have been hypothesized to play a role in pathogenic processes in other bacteria. Our data suggest that lineage I may have a higher pathogenic potential and that region XII, along with other regions, may give isolates a selective advantage either in the human host or in the aquatic environment or both.
A psychometric evaluation of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale in cardiac patients: addressing factor structure and gender invariance.

OBJECTIVES The present study examined the factor structure of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and tested measurement invariance between genders in a representative sample of cardiac patients across 2 years. DESIGN Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equational modelling were used to assess the factor structure, measurement, and structural invariance of the HADS. METHODS Eight hundred and one cardiac patients completed the HADS at baseline, 6, 12, and 24 months. RESULTS Confirmatory factor analysis consistently supported a three-factor structure of the HADS, with the best fitting model comprised of negative affect, autonomic anxiety, and depression. Structural equation modelling showed that the HADS was invariant by gender among cardiac patients. CONCLUSIONS The HADS can be appropriately used with both male and female cardiac patients to assess three domains of psychological distress. Future investigations should consider the predictive validity and relevance of the HADS subscales with respect to diagnostic distinctions and clinical outcomes among cardiac patients and other clinical populations.
Unemployment and Development

We draw on household survey data from countries of all income levels and document that average unemployment rates increase with GDP per capita. This is accounted for almost entirely by low-rather than high-educated workers. We interpret these facts in a model with frictional labor markets, a traditional self-employment sector, skill-biased productivity differences across countries, and unemployment benefits that become more generous with development. A calibrated version of the model does well in explaining the cross-country patterns we document. Counterfactual exercises point to skill-biased productivity differences as the most important factor in explaining the cross-country unemployment patterns.
Throughput Analysis of WLANs in Saturation and Non-Saturation Heterogeneous Conditions with Airtime Concept

This paper presents an analytical model for network throughput of WLANs, taking into account heterogeneous conditions, namely network nodes transmit different length frames with various offered load individually. The airtime concept, which is often used in multihop network analyses, is firstly applied for WLAN analysis. The proposed analytical model can cover the situation that there are saturation and nonsaturation nodes in the same network simultaneously, which is the first success in the WLAN analyses. This paper shows the network throughput characteristics of four scenarios. Scenario 1 considers the saturation throughputs for the case that one or two length frames are transmitted at the identical offered load. Scenarios 2 and 3 are prepared for investigating the cases that all network nodes transmit different length frames at the identical offered load and identical length frames at the different offered loads, respectively. The heterogeneous conditions for not only frame length but also offered load are investigated in Scenario 4. key words: WLAN, throughput, analysis, frame length, offered load, heterogeneous conditions
Information Logistics as a Conceptual Foundation for Enterprise-Wide Decision Support

Traditional decision support approaches (data warehousing or business intelligence) are limited because they focus on certain analysis techniques, user groups, or usage scenarios. This reduces their potential as integrated foundation for enterprise-wide decision support. The concept of information logistics (IL) is proposed to overcome these shortcomings. IL involves planning, implementing, and controlling cross-unit data flows and storing and providing decision-relevant data. It covers strategy, process organisation and IS implementation in an integrated manner, and focuses on enterprise-wide information delivery. In this paper, the concept of IL is presented. An action research project documents the formulation, implementation, and roll-out process of an IL framework in a large company over several years. The applicability, feasibility, and utility of the IL concept is demonstrated.
Eating, Drinking, and Cycling. A Controlled Tour de France Simulation Study, Part 1*

Sustained exhausting exercise is thought to depress appetite and food intake. The aim of the present investigation was to study the effect of intensive cycling exercise, with an energy expenditure comparable to values derived from the Tour de France, on food and fluid intake, energy balance, nitrogen balance, and nutrient oxidation. Thirteen highly trained cyclists consuming a normal carbohydrate (CHO)-rich diet (60 En%) were studied during a 7-day stay in a respiration chamber. Two preparation days were followed by a standardized resting day (3), after which the subjects completed two exhausting exercise days (4-5). On day 6 the standardized resting day was repeated. Food and fluid intake were measured by weighed procedure. Energy expenditure was calculated from continuous gas analysis. Energy and nitrogen losses were calculated from all measured excretes. The results showed that energy balance (EB) and nitrogen balance (NB) were positive on the first resting day and became negative on the exercise days. EB was positive again on the recovery day whereas NB remained negative. Nitrogen losses almost balanced N intakes (1.7 g.kg-1) indicating an increased protein requirement. CHO oxidation exceeded CHO intake indicating endogenous CHO depletion. Contribution of CHO to energy exchange decreased from 51.4% +/- 3.1% on day 4 to 40.6% +/- 3.4% on day 5; this decrease was compensated by an increased fat oxidation. The food consumption pattern during days 4 and 5 was not different from days 2 and 6. In-between meal consumption accounted for 30.5%-34.3% of total energy intake. Fluid consumption was adequate to compensate for the losses. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Rapid serial visual presentation: An approach to design

A familiar action in the physical world is the riffling of a book’s pages in order to gain, in a very short time, some idea about its content. That action is appropriately termed rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP). A computational embodiment of RSVP can provide such a variety of possible image presentation modes and flexibility of control as to offer a powerful tool to support a wide range of tasks involving the presentation of a collection of images. Those images can be conventional pictures (e.g. the Mona Lisa), the current image of a television channel, a frame of a video recording, the layout of a letterhead or page, a line drawing, a logo or the layout and shape of some text as in a motorway sign. Although our understanding of RSVP is not complete, sufficient experimental evidence and application experience is now available to lead to a useful set of guidelines for the interaction designer interested in exploiting its potential. These guidelines relate to six specific areas of design: the design style, the rate at which images are presented, image size on screen, the value of user control, image density on screen and image overlap. In this paper those guidelines are presented and justified by experimental evidence, much of it, unsurprisingly, emerging from the nature of human visual processing. In formulating the guidelines we fully acknowledge the importance, in a practical application, of aesthetic considerations; likewise, we take account of the need to minimise constraints on the creativity of the interaction designer. While RSVP addresses a specific class of tasks, we suggest that the principles discussed in this paper will have a broader relevance to image presentation techniques.
Integration of PSoC technology with educational robotics

To keep up with the wide-ranging, fast-moving robotics field, education must be adaptive and multidisciplinary. In this paper, integration of PSoC technology with educational robotics is presented. Both of the advantage: flexibility in hardware for PSoC and modularized robot components are fused. This integration balances research and implementation fundamentals by reinforcing course work with intensive projects focused on robotics technology. This education fostered students' teamwork skills, while project completion and competition success greatly enhanced the students' self-confidence.
Establishing a perimeter position: speciation around the Indian Ocean Basin

Historical biological interactions among peripheral landmasses on the periphery of the Indian Ocean Basin (IOB) are generally poorly understood. While interactions based on early Gondwanan vicariance have been used to explain present day lineage distributions, several recent studies have instead inferred dispersal across the IOB. This inference is often advanced because lineages under study have species inhabiting IOB islands. Here we examine the roles of continental vicariance vs. trans‐IOB dispersal in the distribution of an avian genus found around the perimeter of the IOB. A molecular phylogeny does reveal evidence of a relationship that would require the inference of trans‐IOB dispersal between eastern Africa and Sri Lanka. However, molecular clock data, ancestral area analyses and paleoclimatic reconstructions suggest that vicariance related to tropical forest expansion and retraction is more likely to have facilitated African–Asian interchange, with an initial colonization of Africa from Asia quickly followed by a recolonization of Asia. Subsequent dispersal from Asia to Sri Lanka and islands east of the Sunda Shelf are inferred; these latter islands were colonized in a stepping‐stone fashion that culminated in colonization of the Sunda Shelf, and a recolonization of mainland Asia. We propose that circum‐IOB distributions, which post‐date early Gondwanan breakup, are most likely the result of continent‐based vicariant events, particularly those events related to large‐scale habitat alterations, and not trans‐IOB dispersals.
Barriers to Cancer Care, Perceived Social Support, and Patient Navigation Services for Korean Breast Cancer Patients

The present study aimed to examine the relationships among barriers to cancer care, perceived social support, and patient navigation services (PNS) for Korean breast cancer patients. For Korean breast cancer patients, PNS are comprised of five services, including emotional, financial, information, transportation, and disease management. The study findings demonstrated that transportation and disease management barriers were directly associated with PNS, whereas emotional and financial barriers were indirectly associated with PNS through perceived social support. The current study provides a preliminary Korean patient navigation model to identify how barriers to cancer care can be reduced through social support and PNS.
Application of filtering fusion for FOG based on improved RBF Neural Network

In order to improve the precision of filtering for FOG signals, many filtering algorithms have been studied. In this paper, a brief description of several traditional filtering algorithms is given, such as LMS algorithm, wavelet algorithm, wavelet packet algorithm. And a new method using fusion algorithm for FOG signals based on RBF Neural Network is proposed. However, the structure of traditional RBF neural network is very complex, in order to simplify the network, subtractive clustering algorithm is introduced. The simulation results are analyzed and compared, the comparison showed that the proposed method has a better performance in filtering than traditional methods.
A Series-Connected Photovoltaic Distributed Generator Capable of Enhancing Power Quality

Design of a series-connected photovoltaic generator (SPVG) capable of enhancing power quality is investigated. Analysis of the SPVG operations under disturbance conditions shows explicitly how achievable network voltage quality is affected by the SPVG injected power and its apparent power rating, and that voltage quality can be significantly improved even with a modest level of energy storage capacity incorporated in the SPVG. A control system for the SPVG is also proposed. Both simulation and laboratory tests confirm the efficacy of the distributed generator system.
Nitrate-Dependent Control of Shoot K Homeostasis by the Nitrate Transporter1/Peptide Transporter Family Member NPF7.3/NRT1.5 and the Stelar K+ Outward Rectifier SKOR in Arabidopsis1[OPEN]

A nitrate transporter and a potassium channel act synergistically in nitrate-dependent root-to-shoot translocation of potassium in Arabidopsis. Root-to-shoot translocation and shoot homeostasis of potassium (K) determine nutrient balance, growth, and stress tolerance of vascular plants. To maintain the cation-anion balance, xylem loading of K+ in the roots relies on the concomitant loading of counteranions, like nitrate (NO3−). However, the coregulation of these loading steps is unclear. Here, we show that the bidirectional, low-affinity Nitrate Transporter1 (NRT1)/Peptide Transporter (PTR) family member NPF7.3/NRT1.5 is important for the NO3−-dependent K+ translocation in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Lack of NPF7.3/NRT1.5 resulted in K deficiency in shoots under low NO3− nutrition, whereas the root elemental composition was unchanged. Gene expression data corroborated K deficiency in the nrt1.5-5 shoot, whereas the root responded with a differential expression of genes involved in cation-anion balance. A grafting experiment confirmed that the presence of NPF7.3/NRT1.5 in the root is a prerequisite for proper root-to-shoot translocation of K+ under low NO3− supply. Because the depolarization-activated Stelar K+ Outward Rectifier (SKOR) has previously been described as a major contributor for root-to-shoot translocation of K+ in Arabidopsis, we addressed the hypothesis that NPF7.3/NRT1.5-mediated NO3− translocation might affect xylem loading and root-to-shoot K+ translocation through SKOR. Indeed, growth of nrt1.5-5 and skor-2 single and double mutants under different K/NO3− regimes revealed that both proteins contribute to K+ translocation from root to shoot. SKOR activity dominates under high NO3− and low K+ supply, whereas NPF7.3/NRT1.5 is required under low NO3− availability. This study unravels nutritional conditions as a critical factor for the joint activity of SKOR and NPF7.3/NRT1.5 for shoot K homeostasis.
Acoustic band structure of periodic elastic composites.

We present the first cull band-structure calculations for periodic, elastic composites. For transverse polarization of the vibrations we obtain a «phononic» band gap which extends throughout the Brillouin zone. A complete acoustic gap or a low density of states should have important consequences for the suppression of zero-point motion and for the localization of phonons, and may lead to improvements in transducers and in the creation of a vibrationless environment
Multi-core CPU or GPU-accelerated Multiscale Modeling for Biomolecular Complexes

Abstract Multi-scale modeling plays an important role in understanding the structure and biological functionalities of large biomolecular complexes. In this paper, we present an efficient computational framework to construct multi-scale models from atomic resolution data in the Protein Data Bank (PDB), which is accelerated by multi-core CPU and programmable Graphics Processing Units (GPU). A multi-level summation of Gaussian kernel functions is employed to generate implicit models for biomolecules. The coefficients in the summation are designed as functions of the structure indices, which specify the structures at a certain level and enable a local resolution control on the biomolecular surface. A method called neighboring search is adopted to locate the grid points close to the expected biomolecular surface, and reduce the number of grids to be analyzed. For a specific grid point, a KD-tree or bounding volume hierarchy is applied to search for the atoms contributing to its density computation, and faraway atoms are ignored due to the decay of Gaussian kernel functions. In addition to density map construction, three modes are also employed and compared during mesh generation and quality improvement to generate high quality tetrahedral meshes: CPU sequential, multi-core CPU parallel and GPU parallel. We have applied our algorithm to several large proteins and obtained good results.
Wavelet packet modulation for orthogonally multiplexed communication

Utilizing multidimensional signaling techniques, a generalized multirate wavelet-based modulation format for orthogonally multiplexed communication systems is presented. Wavelet packet modulation (WPM) employs the basis functions from an arbitrary pruning of a dyadic tree structured filter bank as orthogonal pulse shapes for conventional quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) symbols. This generalized framework affords an entire library of basis sets with increased flexibility in time-frequency (T-F) partitioning. The bandwidth efficiency and power spectral density figures of merit for the general signal are derived and shown to be that of standard QAM.
Performance of ILC applied to a flexible mechanical system

ILC is traditionally applied to systems where the controlled variable is the measured variable. However, in standard industrial robots the motor angles are measured, while the control objective is to follow a tool path. Assuming that the mechanical flexibilities of a modern robot are concentrated to the joints (elastic gearboxes), a flexible two-mass model can describe a single joint. A P-ILC algorithm is applied to the two-mass model, based on only measured angle of the first mass (motor angle) or estimated angle of the second mass (tool angle). Robustness of the algorithm and performance when model errors are introduced are discussed considering the tool-angle error. First, it can be concluded for a flexible system that the motor-angle reference characteristics are essential for the performance when the tool angle cannot be measured. Second, using a tool-angle estimate instead of the explicit motor angle in the ILC update reduces the tool-angle error significantly.
Genotype-phenotype correlation in 2 Indian families with severe granular corneal dystrophy.

OBJECTIVES To determine genotypes in 2 Indian families with severe granular corneal dystrophy, to document clinical and histopathologic features, and to attempt a genotype-phenotype correlation. METHODS Mutation analysis of exon 12 of the TGFBI gene was carried out in 9 individuals from 2 families. RESULTS A C-->T mutation at residue 1710 of TGFBI complementary DNA, corresponding to an Arg555Trp mutation in keratoepithelin, was found in affected members of both families. In 5 patients, this mutation was homozygous, and it was heterozygous in the other 4. Clinical examination revealed a severe form of granular corneal dystrophy with early onset and superficial lesions in the homozygous individuals and a milder phenotype in the heterozygous individuals. Histopathologic evaluation of corneal specimens from 2 homozygous patients confirmed the presence of superficial granular deposits. CONCLUSIONS To our knowledge, this is the first molecular and clinical characterization of severe granular corneal dystrophy in India. Genotype-phenotype correlation and comparison with earlier reports on this entity highlight the uniform expressivity of the Arg555Trp allele in homozygous individuals. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Homozygous granular corneal dystrophy has a severe phenotype and can be recognized based on clinical and histopathologic features, especially in association with consanguinity or inbreeding.
Scale‐up and optimization of an acoustic filter for 200 L/day perfusion of a CHO cell culture

Acoustic cell retention devices have provided a practical alternative for up to 50 L/day perfusion cultures but further scale‐up has been limited. A novel temperature‐controlled and larger‐scale acoustic separator was evaluated at up to 400 L/day for a 107 CHO cell/mL perfusion culture using a 100‐L bioreactor that produced up to 34 g/day recombinant protein. The increased active volume of this scaled‐up separator was divided into four parallel compartments for improved fluid dynamics. Operational settings of the acoustic separator were optimized and the limits of robust operations explored. The performance was not influenced over wide ranges of duty cycle stop and run times. The maximum performance of 96% separation efficiency at 200 L/day was obtained by setting the separator temperature to 35.1°C, the recirculation rate to three times the harvest rate, and the power to 90 W. While there was no detectable effect on culture viability, viable cells were selectively retained, especially at 50 L/day, where there was a 5‐fold higher nonviable washout efficiency. Overall, the new temperature‐controlled and scaled‐up separator design performed reliably in a way similar to smaller‐scale acoustic separators. These results provide strong support for the feasibility of much greater scale‐up of acoustic separations. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 80: 438–444, 2002.
A low power CMOS Bluetooth transceiver with a digital offset canceling DLL-based GFSK demodulator

A 0.18/spl mu/m CMOS Bluetooth IC consumes 33mA in RX mode and 25mA in TX mode. The IC has a DLL-based GFSK demodulator with frequency offset cancellation. The receiver has -78dBm sensitivity at 0.1% BER, and the transmitter delivers a nominal 0dBm power level with 20dB control.
Target Site Selection by Tn7:attTn7 Transcription and Target Activity

ABSTRACT The bacterial transposon Tn7 inserts at high frequency into a specific site called attTn7, which is present in the chromosomes of many bacteria. We show here that transcription of a nearby gene, glmS, decreases the frequency of Tn7 insertion intoattTn7, thus providing a link between Tn7 transposition and host cell metabolism.