Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pathological, immunohistochemical, and molecular findings in commercial laying hens and in backyard chickens naturally infected with the infectious laryngotracheitis virus

Seventy-eight chickens from a very high poultry density (approximately eight million) region and twelve backyard chickens from neighboring areas were analyzed by histopathology and additional techniques for the presence of the infectious laryngotracheitis virus. The virus distribution was determined in different tissues using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The disease was histopathologically diagnosed in 41.0% (32/78) of the commercial layers. Lesions were mainly characterized by syncytial cells with eosinophilic intranuclear inclusion body formed from the hyperplastic epithelium of the upper respiratory tract, primary and secondary bronchi, and conjunctiva. IHC showed 70% (21/30) positive signal in the larynx/trachea and, 53.8% (14/26) in the lungs, either in epithelial cells or syncytia. In the turbinates and paranasal sinuses, 29.6% (8/27) of samples showed positive signal. PCR detected the following gallid herpesvirus 1-positive percentages: conjunctiva 63.2% (31/49), lungs 57.6% (30/52), turbinates and paranasal sinuses 56% (28/50), and larynx/trachea 50% (39/78). IHC showed to be a useful additional tool for definitive ILT diagnosis, especially during the subacute phase of the disease when syncytial cells with intranuclear inclusion bodies are no longer observed. PCR using specific primers from ICP4 gene, generating a product of 237 base pairs, was sensitive for ILT diagnosis, and very useful for rapid detection of GaHV-1 in chickens. Fixed tissues allowing histopatological examination and detection of GaHV-1 by PCR, are a good option in areas where farms are located several hundred kilometers away from a diagnostic center, reducing problems with conservation of fresh samples and the risk of virus spread.
Impact of sepsis on levels of plasma cystatin C in AKI and non-AKI patients.

BACKGROUND Cystatin C is a marker of acute kidney injury (AKI). However, systemic inflammation associated with sepsis, a common AKI-trigger, may affect cystatin C. We studied the impact of sepsis on cystatin C levels in plasma. Furthermore, we investigated whether the presence of sepsis affects the predictive properties of cystatin C. METHODS Three hundred and twenty-seven intensive care unit (ICU) patients were categorized as having: neither AKI nor sepsis (n = 151), sepsis without AKI (n = 80), AKI without sepsis (n = 24) or AKI and sepsis (n = 72) during their first week in the ICU. Changes in cystatin C and creatinine over time in patients with and without sepsis or AKI were analysed using repeated measures analysis of variance. The performance of cystatin C on admission to predict sustained AKI, worsened AKI or death was assessed from the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC) in septic and non-septic patients separately. RESULTS In non-AKI patients, cystatin C increased and creatinine decreased significantly over the first week. The change in cystatin C or creatinine did not differ significantly between septic and non-septic patients without AKI. Even in AKI patients, the cystatin C change did not differ significantly between septic and non-septic patients. The AUC-ROCs for prediction of the composite outcome were 0.80 and 0.78 in patients with and without sepsis, respectively, and did not differ significantly (P = 0.76). CONCLUSION The inflammatory response induced by sepsis has no impact on the levels of cystatin C in plasma during the first week in the ICU.
The attraction-similarity hypothesis among cross-sex friends: Relationship satisfaction, perceived similarities, and self-serving perceptions

Individuals often project their own attitudes, behaviors, or relationship views onto close others. These perceptions may or may not be accurate but they influence relationship judgments. Based on the attraction-similarity hypothesis, three studies examine the role of friendship satisfaction in perceptions of similarity in terms of relationship beliefs, traits, and behaviors among cross-sex friends. Study 1 found that college students perceived their cross-sex friends to be similar to themselves. Interclass correlations indicated that these perceptions reflected a belief in the partner’s similarity to the self rather then being an accurate assessment. Supporting the attraction-similarity hypothesis, Studies 2 and 3 found that greater friendship satisfaction predicted greater perceived friend-self similarity for traits and behaviors. Finally, these perceptions were made in a self-enhancing fashion.
Regional Wages , Skill Prices and College Wage Premia in the U

The dramatic increase in the returns to college during the 1980s triggered a vast literature aimed at explaining the evolution of the college wage premium. A simple supply-demand framework introduced by Katz and Murphy (1992) has been extensively used to explain changes in the wage structure in the U.S. This canonical model uses exogenous supplies determined by educational attainment and time trends to proxy the evolution of relative demand for college labour. It is natural to ask whether this simple framework can explain regional evolutions in the college wage premia. The college wage premia move more or less similarly across the regions, but the time patterns for the college-high school relative supply differ considerably across the regions after the early 1980s. Using the standard approach in the literature, I find that elasticities of substitution between college and high school labour and trends in relative demand for college labour differ significantly across the regions. The standard approach arbitrarily separates skills from prices by assuming all workers of an education group have the same skill over time, so all wage movements are assumed to be driven by changes in skill prices alone. I examine whether the differences in elasticities and trends still remain when a careful distinction between prices and wages is made. First, I find that although patterns in regional college wage premia are similar, the college-high school relative skill prices move very differently. Second, estimated elasticities of substitution between college and high school labour are similar across regions, but there are differences in trends in relative demand for college labour across regions, especially during the 1960s and 1970s with the South and West having the highest rates of growth. The rates of change in relative demand converge over time among regions other than the South, which saw considerable deceleration in skill-biased technological change. The South remains to have the lowest rates of growth in relative demand for college labour during the later years of the 1963-2008 period. ∗Department of Economics, University of Western Ontario (email: ebozkurt@uwo.ca). I am deeply indebted to Lance Lochner and Chris Robinson for their guidance and support throughout this project.
In Vivo Survival and Homeostatic Proliferation of Natural Killer Cells

While the specificity and development of natural killer (NK) cells have been intensely studied, little is known about homeostasis of the mature NK population. Here we show that mouse NK cells undergo homeostatic proliferation when transferred into NK-deficient Rag−/− γC−/− hosts. Normal NK functional activity is maintained during this process, although there are some changes in NK phenotype. Using cell sorting, we demonstrate that mature (Mac-1hi) NK cells undergo homeostatic proliferation in an NK-deficient environment, yet immature (Mac-1lo) NK cells also proliferate in such hosts. We find that mature NK cells survive but do not proliferate in hosts which possess an endogenous NK pool. However, we go on to show that mature NK survival is critically dependent on interleukin (IL)-15. Surprisingly, NK survival is also compromised after transfer of cells into IL-15Rα−/− mice, implying that IL-15 responsiveness by bystander cells is critical for NK maintenance. These data imply that, similar to T cells, homeostasis of the NK pool is much more dynamic than previously appreciated and this may be relevant to manipulation of NK cells for therapeutic purposes.
An exact analysis of the multistage model explaining dose-response concavity.

The traditional multistage (MS) model of carcinogenesis implies several empirically testable properties for dose-response functions. These include convex (linear or upward-curving) cumulative hazards as a function of dose; symmetric effects on lifetime tumor probability of transition rates at different stages; cumulative hazard functions that increase without bound as stage-specific transition rates increase without bound; and identical tumor probabilities for individuals with identical parameters and exposures. However, for at least some chemicals, cumulative hazards are not convex functions of dose. This paper shows that none of these predicted properties is implied by the mechanistic assumptions of the MS model itself. Instead, they arise from the simplifying "rare-tumor" approximations made in the usual mathematical analysis of the model. An alternative exact probabilistic analysis of the MS model with only two stages is presented, both for the usual case where a carcinogen acts on both stages simultaneously, and also for idealized initiation-promotion experiments in which one stage at a time is affected. The exact two-stage model successfully fits bioassay data for chemicals (e.g., 1,3-butadiene) with concave cumulative hazard functions that are not well-described by the traditional MS model. Qualitative properties of the exact two-stage model are described and illustrated by least-squares fits to several real datasets. The major contribution is to show that properties of the traditional MS model family that appear to be inconsistent with empirical data for some chemicals can be explained easily if an exact, rather than an approximate model, is used. This suggests that it may be worth using the exact model in cases where tumor rates are not negligible (e.g., in which they exceed 10%). This includes the majority of bioassay experiments currently being performed.
Dependence of tetrachloroethylene dechlorination on methanogenic substrate consumption by Methanosarcina sp. strain DCM

Tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene, PCE) is a suspected carcinogen and a common groundwater contaminant. Although PCE is highly resistant to aerobic biodegradation, it is subject to reductive dechlorination reactions in a variety of anaerobic habitats. The data presented here clearly establish that axenic cultures of Methanosarcina sp. strain DCM dechlorinate PCE to trichloroethylene and that this is a biological reaction. Growth on methanol, acetate, methylamine, and trimethylamine resulted in PCE dechlorination. The reductive dechlorination of PCE occurred only during methanogenesis, and no dechlorination was noted when CH4 production ceased. There was a clear dependence of the extent of PCE dechlorination on the amount of methanogenic substrate (methanol) consumed. The amount of trichloroethylene formed per millimole of CH4 formed remained essentially constant for a 20-fold range of methanol concentrations and for growth on acetate, methylamine, and trimethylamine. These results suggest that the reducing equivalents for PCE dechlorination are derived from CH4 biosynthesis and that the extent of chloroethylene dechlorination can be enhanced by stimulating methanogenesis. It is proposed that electrons transferred during methanogenesis are diverted to PCE by a reduced electron carrier involved in methane formation.
Coverability Problems for Jumping Petri Nets

In this paper we extend some decidability results concerning the coverability problem and a related one, the quasi-liveness problem, from jumping Petri nets with finite jumps to the larger class of reduced-computable jumping Petri nets.Also, as future work, we discuss some ideas for parallel implementations of the decision procedures for these problems.
Multidisciplinary Consensus on Assessment of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms: Proposal of an International Research Group

Background and Purpose— To address the increasing need to counsel patients about treatment indications for unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UIA), we endeavored to develop a consensus on assessment of UIAs among a group of specialists from diverse fields involved in research and treatment of UIAs. Methods— After composition of the research group, a Delphi consensus was initiated to identify and rate all features, which may be relevant to assess UIAs and their treatment by using ranking scales and analysis of inter-rater agreement (IRA) for each factor. IRA was categorized as very high, high, moderate, or low. Results— Ultimately, 39 specialists from 4 specialties agreed (high or very high IRAs) on the following key factors for or against UIA treatment decisions: (1) patient age, life expectancy, and comorbid diseases; (2) previous subarachnoid hemorrhage from a different aneurysm, family history for UIA or subarachnoid hemorrhage, nicotine use; (3) UIA size, location, and lobulation; (4) UIA growth or de novo formation on serial imaging; (5) clinical symptoms (cranial nerve deficit, mass effect, and thromboembolic events from UIAs); and (6) risk factors for UIA treatment (patient age and life expectancy, UIA size, and estimated risk of treatment). However, IRAs for features rated with low relevance were also generally low, which underlined the existing controversy about the natural history of UIAs. Conclusions— Our results highlight that neurovascular specialists currently consider many features as important when evaluating UIAs but also highlight that the appreciation of natural history of UIAs remains uncertain, even within a group of highly informed individuals.
Hardened Flow-Sensitive Trace Formula for Fault Localization

In formula-based fault localization methods, a program under test, which is unrolled to a certain bound, is encoded in a trace formula (TF). The efficiency and precision of the fault localization algorithm depend highly on the way this formula is encoded. The full flow-sensitive TF can cover all potential root causes, but is usually large and scalability problems remain. We propose a new encoding, the hardened flow-sensitive trace formula (HFTF), which reduces the complexity of the formula but does not lose essential control flow graph (CFG) information required for localizing faults. The HFTF is constructed using a concolic execution method that generates both failing and successful executions and uses the coverage information from these executions to simplify the trace formula.
Performance analysis of UDP with energy efficient link layer on Markov fading channels

In this paper, we analyze the throughput and energy efficiency performance of user datagram protocol (UDP) using linear, binary exponential, and geometric backoff algorithms at the link layer (LL) on point-to-point wireless fading links. Using a first-order Markov chain representation of the packet success/failure process on fading channels, we derive analytical expressions for throughput and energy efficiency of UDP/LL with and without LL backoff. The analytical results are verified through simulations. We also evaluate the mean delay and delay variation of voice packets and energy efficiency performance over a wireless link that uses UDP for transport of voice packets and the proposed backoff algorithms at the LL. We show that the proposed LL backoff algorithms achieve energy efficiency improvement of the order of 2-3 dB compared to LL with no backoff, without compromising much on the throughput and delay performance at the UDP layer. Such energy savings through protocol means will improve the battery life in wireless mobile terminals.
Processes Not Plans Are the Key to Strategic Development

more commonly known as school improvement planning. This has resulted in high quality short-term planning taking place in most schools which has been given added urgency by the requirements of the new Ofsted framework. Linda Ellison and I put forward the view (Davies and Ellison 1999, 2003) that this short-term planning must also be set in the context of a strategic perspective and futures thinking. While attention is now moving to the strategic dimension the danger is to associate strategy with the mechanistic structures of the strategic planning approach. Headteachers repeat to me conversations
Si3N4/SiO2 dielectric stacks for high reliable capacitive RF MEMS switch

SiO2/Si3N4 double-layer dielectric stacks, instead of single dielectric layer, have been investigated to mitigate charge accumulation in the dielectric for the purpose of high reliable capacitive microelectromechanical switch. Two kinds of double-dielectric-layers with different thickness ratios are structured, and SiO2 single-layer dielectric structure is also fabricated for comparison. The charge injection kinetics in the dielectric layer has been investigated by performing C-V measurements on metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) capacitor structure instead of an actual switch. The experiment results generally show that low charge accumulation has been achieved by using double-layer dielectric stacks. More in detail, the experiment results further show that the charge accumulation behaviors varied greatly with the different thickness ratio of Si3N4 to SiO2. With same positive dc bias voltage for charge injection, we found that net negative charge accumulated in the thin-oxide MNOS structure and net positive charge accumulated in the thick-oxide MNOS structure as the electron injection is suppressed by the thick oxide. It can be anticipated that the charge accumulation in the switch dielectric can be minimized by optimizing the thickness ratio of double-layer dielectric.
Collapsing a Perfect Superposition to a Chosen Quantum State without Measurement

Given a perfect superposition of states on a quantum system of qubits. We propose a fast quantum algorithm for collapsing the perfect superposition to a chosen quantum state without applying any measurements. The basic idea is to use a phase destruction mechanism. Two operators are used, the first operator applies a phase shift and a temporary entanglement to mark in the superposition, and the second operator applies selective phase shifts on the states in the superposition according to their Hamming distance with . The generated state can be used as an excellent input state for testing quantum memories and linear optics quantum computers. We make no assumptions about the used operators and applied quantum gates, but our result implies that for this purpose the number of qubits in the quantum register offers no advantage, in principle, over the obvious measurement-based feedback protocol.
Speaking Authoritatively: On the Modality and Factuality of Expert Talk in Greek Television Studio Discussion Programs

Abstract Taking Hunston's (1994) model of evaluation in written academic discourse as a point of departure, this paper explores the ways in which experts in Greek television studio discussion programs evaluate the ‘status’ of their statements on-line in terms of the truth and reliability ascribed to them. Analytically, the evaluation of status is examined by studying the type of statements (factual vs. nonfactual) and modal elements (absent, high, low) used in expert turns. Through both qualitative analysis and quantitative findings, it is shown that experts modulate the factuality and modality design of their talk so as to attend to an important aspect of the mediated context at hand: the institutional goals of communication aimed at by different programs. More specifically, in the adversarial context of debates, experts recurrently draw on factual statements, specific types of nonfactual statements, and high modality, thus constructing credible versions of reality and shaping their identity as authoritative and knowledgeable public speakers. By contrast, in informational discussions, experts use nonfactual statements and low modal elements much more often and, in this way, orient to the supportive environment of talk and the preference for consensus.
Scheduling Tasks over Multicore machines enhanced with acelerators: a Runtime System's Perspective

Multicore machines equipped with accelerators are becoming increasingly popular in the High Performance Computing ecosystem. Hybrid architectures provide significantly improved energy efficiency, so that they are likely to generalize in the Manycore era. However, the complexity introduced by these architectures has a direct impact on programmability, so that it is crucial to provide portable abstractions in order to fully tap into the potential of these machines. Pure offloading approaches, that consist in running an application on regular processors while offloading predetermined parts of the code on accelerators, are not sufficient. The real challenge is to build systems where the application would be spread across the entire machine, that is, where computation would be dynamically scheduled over the full set of available processing units. In this thesis, we thus propose a new task-based model of runtime system specifically designed to address the numerous challenges introduced by hybrid architectures, especially in terms of task scheduling and of data management. In order to demonstrate the relevance of this model, we designed the StarPU platform. It provides an expressive interface along with flexible task scheduling capabilities tightly coupled to an efficient data management. Using these facilities, together with a database of auto-tuned per-task performance models, it for instance becomes straightforward to develop efficient scheduling policies that take into account both computation and communication costs. We show that our task-based model is not only powerful enough to provide support for clusters, but also to scale on hybrid manycore architectures. We analyze the performance of our approach on both synthetic and real-life workloads, and show that we obtain significant speedups and a very high efficiency on various types of multicore platforms enhanced with accelerators.
A Direct Product Theorem for Discrepancy

Discrepancy is a versatile bound in communication complexity which can be used to show lower bounds in randomized, quantum, and even weakly-unbounded error models of communication. We show an optimal product theorem for discrepancy, namely that for any two Boolean functions f, g, disc(f odot g)=thetas(disc(f) disc(g)). As a consequence we obtain a strong direct product theorem for distributional complexity, and direct sum theorems for worst-case complexity, for bounds shown by the discrepancy method. Our results resolve an open problem of Shaltiel (2003) who showed a weaker product theorem for discrepancy with respect to the uniform distribution, discUodot(fodotk)=O(discU(f))k/3. The main tool for our results is semidefinite programming, in particular a recent characterization of discrepancy in terms of a semidefinite programming quantity by Linial and Shraibman (2006).
Evaluating Plans, Processes and Results

This paper describes the design of an evaluation methodology—the Plan-Process-Results (PPR) approach—and its application to the municipal urban plans currently in force in the two largest Portuguese cities, Lisbon and Oporto. After the identification of the main contributions from a literature review, the fundamental elements of this methodology are characterised. Each case study is appraised according to rationality, performance and conformance, and a number of planning proposals are presented to improve planning practice in each of these cities. Finally, the main similarities and differences between both case studies, as well as the main reasons for these, are identified.