Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
[Analysis of the frequency of isolation and drug resistance of microorganisms isolated from the airways of adult CF patients treated in the Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease during 2008-2011].

INTRODUCTION Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common genetic autosomal recessive genetic disease. The most serious symptoms are observed in the lungs. Recurrent respiratory infections are the main causes of the hospitalizations and deaths of cystic fibrosis patients. Pathogens that commonly infect the airways of adult CF patients include Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The aim of this study was to analyse the microorganisms cultured from the airways of adult CF patients and to test the antimicrobial resistance of the most frequently isolated bacteria. MATERIAL AND METHODS In this study, 1422 isolates of 89 CF patients were collected during a 4-year period. The microorganisms were cultured and identified according to standard microbiological procedures. Identification and drug susceptibility were performed in an automatic system Phoenix (BD), Vitek2Compact (bioMérieux), and disk-diffusion method by Kirby-Bauer. RESULTS Among the 1422 strains the most frequent pathogens were Pseudomonas aeruginosa (55.6%) and Staphylococcus aureus (37.8%). A total of 482 (61.0%) strains of 790 isolates of P. aeruginosa, were identified as P. aeruginosa mucoid phenotype. The isolates with mucoid phenotypes were more susceptible to antibiotics than non-mucoid. Eighty-six strains of S. aureus showed resistance to methicillin (MRSA), which accounted for 16.0% of all strains of S. aureus. CONCLUSIONS The analysis of microbiological materials from adult CF patients treated in IGiChP allowed the determination of the prevalence of potentially pathogenic microorganisms. The data obtained are consistent with the literature.
Guidelines on diabetes, pre-diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases: executive summary

Authors/Task Force Members, Lars Rydén, Co-Chairperson (Sweden)*, Eberhard Standl, Co-Chairperson (Germany)*, Małgorzata Bartnik (Poland), Greet Van den Berghe (Belgium), John Betteridge (UK), Menko-Jan de Boer (The Netherlands), Francesco Cosentino (Italy), Bengt Jönsson (Sweden), Markku Laakso (Finland), Klas Malmberg (Sweden), Silvia Priori (Italy), Jan Östergren (Sweden), Jaakko Tuomilehto (Finland), Inga Thrainsdottir (Iceland)
Tagging Electronic Resources for Modules – A Case Study in Web 2.0 People and Technology

The aim of the TERM project Tagging (extra, external) Electronic Resources for Modules is to investigate the extent to which social bookmarking can be used to promote collaborative learning. The motivation for doing this is to enable students to get more value from the informal collections of on-line resources that they may gather to support their learning. The study has two main strands: identifying the barriers to sharing resources; and exploring potential solutions. The latter has focussed on exploiting both the social and technology opportunities provided by “Web 2.0”. The human side of sharing resources has been explored through qualitative surveys with both Computing and Art and Design students to understand the sources of information that they find most useful in their studies, how they currently record and manage references to on-line resources, and their attitudes to sharing this information. These were then reassessed following a pilot study on the use of social book marking. The technology associated with sharing resources has been explored through the use of the del.icio. us social book marking service. A range of options for using the service were evaluated for their practicality, usability and manageability. The options included individual versus group accounts, and stand-alone access versus integration with the institution’s VLE. This led to the development of a shared tagging system within the VLE, linked to a shared delicious account, which was then evaluated with one of the cohorts of students from the survey phase. Evaluation of the TERM VLE enhancement and its use by students raises a number of interesting but potentially conflicting findings relating to their attitudes, their actions, and the technology required to support them. The majority of students were positive about tagging and sharing, but a significant minority were still using technology that did not facilitate sharing. In addition, while the students wanted to be able to share their resources, they wanted to be able to do this outside of the VLE which provides a common platform for doing so. This highlights the tension between the development of shared taxonomies versus the desire for individual control and autonomy. The initial results of the study support the desirability of developing collaborative resource sharing, and of the use of web 2.0 platform technology in doing so. As such, they would be of interest to projects engaged in developing collaborative teaching and learning practice and the technological challenges associated with it.
Cause-Related Marketing: The Effect of Checkout Charity Requests on Consumer Donation Behavior

The aim of this research was to understand better consumer reactions to donation requests when making point of purchase decisions. A between-subjects full factorial design manipulated product type (goods/services), consumption experience (frivolous/practical), and product/cause fit (strong/weak). In line with prior research (e.g., Chang, 2008; Savary et al, 2015; Strahilevitz & Myers, 1998), a scenario-based approach was employed to assess responses to the CRM manipulations. A total of 241 subjects participated in the study. Our results mirror extant research evidence on the positive effects of pairing frivolous products with donation requests. In that, positive donation behavior largely results as consumers compensate for increased feelings of guilt associated with the frivolous purchase by behaving altruistically toward a needy cause. Moreover, this research is the first to realize a three-way interaction effect based on product type, consumption experience, and product/cause fit. Specifically, we find that the fit between the product and linked cause is more important for practical services and frivolous products than for frivolous services and practical goods. Implications and areas for future research are discussed.
Social Capital, Political Participation and Migration in Europe

consequences. Braude’s above characterisation of the Near East removes from view not only the racial dynamics of a variety of conflicts in the region, but also other forms of ethnic conflict. Indeed, Braude concludes by noting that what he calls the Armenian ‘conflict’ ‘cannot be blamed on racism’ (p. 60). He arrives at this idea through a narrow definition of racism as biologically conceived ‘hereditarian determinism’ (p. 43) and a resolutely ‘separatist’ view of global cultures. However, in the very next chapter Geulen explains that racism and cultural prejudice can no longer be conceived as discrete traditions. And in the essay following his, Barth’s ‘Racism and genocide,’ the Armenian genocide is used as a textbook example of how racial and cultural ideologies can combine to create the conditions for extermination. Braude is right to argue that racism should not just be projected back onto times and places where it is not a factor. However, the interactionist agenda need not and usually does not do anything of the sort. The volume’s remaining chapters are historical studies of various aspects of colonial racial history. In one, Dharampal-Frick and Götzen argue against any confusion between race and caste in India. A number of others are biographical studies (Bruns, Smith and Marx). There are also some interesting chapters on the adaptability of race in colonial situations (Kramer on the Philippines, Fischer-Tine on India, Zeuske on Cuba, Smither on the USA and Australia and Moses on Australia). However, at the heart of the book we find an important and fascinating conflict, between interactionist and separatist agendas.
Neuronal Autophagy: A Housekeeper or a Fighter in Neuronal Cell Survival?

Neurons have highly dynamic cellular processes for their proper functions such as cell growth, synaptic formation, or synaptic plasticity by regulating protein synthesis and degradation. Therefore, the quality control of proteins in neurons is essential for their physiology and pathology. Autophagy is a cellular degradation pathway by which cytosolic components are sequestered in autophagosomes and degraded upon their fusion with lysosomal components. Thus, the autophagic pathway may play important roles in neuronal cell survival and neuronal function under physiological condition and pathological conditions. Recent several findings suggest that the loss of basal autophagy or imbalance of autophagic flux leads to neurodegeneration. Autophagosomes accumulate abnormally in affected neurons of several neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Huntington's disease (HD), Parkinson's disease (PD), or Frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Thus, the understanding how autophagy is associated with several neurological diseases would be the first step for new therapeutic intervention in neurological disorders. In this review, I will discuss the molecular mechanism of autophagy in neurons and autophagy-associated neurodegenerative diseases.
Familial Risk for Depression and P3b Component as a Possible Neurocognitive Vulnerability Marker

Objective: Complex genetic mechanisms are involved in the vulnerability to depressive disorders and cognitive dysfunctions found in depression. This study was performed to explore the effect of the familial risk for depression on electrophysiological correlates of attentional functions as demonstrated by an event-related potential (ERP) go/no-go experiment. Methods: The component P3b as an indicator of target detection processing was investigated in two groups of healthy subjects with or without a family history of depression (n = 14 each). An electrophysiological source localization method (LORETA) was employed to allow a neuro-anatomical interpretation for the ERP data. Results: The group with a familial risk for depression showed a reduced P3b amplitude over left temporal areas in contrast to the control group. This two-dimensional effect was associated with a significantly reduced activation of the left middle temporal gyrus. Conclusions: The P3b amplitude decrement might represent a neurocognitive vulnerability marker for the development of depression.
ENVISION: the effectiveness of a dual‐level professional development model for changing teacher practice

The ENVISION professional development model uses active teacher involvement in inquiry and inquiry‐based teaching to enhance teachers' understandings about inquiry‐based study of local environmental problems and teaching science using inquiry. Teachers also design and implement professional development for their school‐based colleagues about teaching environmental science through inquiry. Therefore, professional development is conducted at two levels. ENVISION staff train teachers directly (called Level I participants) and these Level I participants in turn train their school colleagues (called Level II participants). The study reported here was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of this dual‐level professional development strategy. Results based on the first two years of the program revealed that: Level I participants enhanced their understanding of inquiry and inquiry teaching, with 25 out 30 (83%) changing their classroom practice; and that 21 out of 31 (68%) of Level II participants changed their classroom practice as a result of participating in Level I peer training. Peer training that involved modeling and practicing techniques and activities was particularly effective in producing change in practice for Level II teachers.
An Abstract Semantics for Inference of Types and Effects in a Multi-Tier Web Language

fgalletta,levigdi.unipi. it Types-and-effects are type systems, which allow one to express general semantic properties and to statically reason about program’s execution. They have been widely exploited to specify static analyses, for example to track computational side effects, exceptions and communications in concurrent programs. In this paper we adopt abstract interpretation techniques to reconstruct (following the Cousot’s methodology) a types-and-effects system developed to handle security problems of a multitier web language. Our reconstruction allows us to show that this types-and-effects system is not sound with respect to the semantics of the language. In addition, we correct the soundness issues in the analysis and systematically construct a correct analyser.
Coping with bullying in the workplace: the effect of gender, age and type of bullying

A study of bullying, victimisation and the coping strategies employed to tackle it is presented in the first study of bullying in the workplace conducted in Iceland. Participants were 398 members of a union of store and office workers and members of a national organisation of bank-employees. A factor analysis of bullying items identified two factors: general bullying and work-related bullying. Males score higher on both factors, but when asked directly if they have been bullied or not, no significant gender difference appears. A measure of coping strategies when faced with bullying is presented. A factor analysis and multidimensional scaling of these strategies identified four clusters: assertive response, seek help, avoidance and do nothing. These can be arranged on a passive vs. active dimension, which may reflect the severity or duration of the bullying situation. Multiple regressions indicate that males seek help less and use avoidance less than females, and males are more likely to use assertive strategies, confirming gender stereotypes about what constitutes appropriate behaviour. Increased bullying is also associated with the use of avoidance and passive response (do nothing). These results are mainly in accordance with findings from schools. It is suggested that active coping styles are employed during the initial stages of bullying but that victims resort to more passive coping strategies as the bullying becomes more serious. The need for a longitudinal design is proposed to understand the relationship between duration and severity of the bullying experience and the choice of coping strategies.
Operational Automatic Remote Sensing Image Understanding Systems: Beyond Geographic Object-Based and Object-Oriented Image Analysis (GEOBIA/GEOOIA). Part 1: Introduction

Abstract: According to existing literature and despite their commercial success, state-of-the-art two-stage non-iterative geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA) systems and three-stage iterative geographic object-oriented image analysis (GEOOIA) systems, where GEOOIA  GEOBIA, remain affected by a lack of productivity, general consensus and research. To outperform the degree of automation, accuracy, efficiency, robustness, scalability and timeliness of existing GEOBIA/GEOOIA systems in compliance with the Quality Assurance Framework for Earth Observation (QA4EO) guidelines, this methodological work is split into two parts. The present first paper provides a multi-disciplinary Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis of the GEOBIA/GEOOIA approaches that augments similar analyses proposed in recent years. In line with constraints stemming from human vision, this SWOT analysis promotes a shift of learning paradigm in the pre-attentive vision first stage of a remote sensing (RS) image understanding system (RS-IUS), from sub-symbolic statistical model-based (inductive) image segmentation to symbolic physical model-based (deductive) image preliminary classification. Hence, a symbolic deductive pre-attentive vision first stage accomplishes image sub-symbolic segmentation and image symbolic pre-classification simultaneously. In the second part of this work a novel hybrid (combined deductive and inductive) RS-IUS architecture featuring a symbolic deductive pre-attentive vision first stage is proposed and discussed in terms of: (a) computational theory (system design); (b) information/knowledge representation; (c) algorithm design; and
Service Member Need and Supportive Services Use by Military/Veteran Spouses

Spouse predisposing, enabling, and need factors and service member need variables were examined to explain number of supportive services used by spouses. Service use was analyzed with stagewise regression for 227 spouses. Spouses who used supportive services reported worse depression, anxiety, resilience, and general health, and more service member care difficulties. By themselves, spouse predisposing, enabling, and need variables did not significantly explain spouse service use. Service member need variables significantly explained 16.2% of spouse variance and 36.7% of service member variance. Spouses who were caregivers were more distressed, and they and their service members used more services. Targeted help with caregiving may be a needed addition to reintegration assistance.
Radiation-Induced Alterations in Mitochondria of the Rat Heart

Radiation therapy for the treatment of thoracic cancers may be associated with radiation-induced heart disease (RIHD), especially in long-term cancer survivors. Mechanisms by which radiation causes heart disease are largely unknown. To identify potential long-term contributions of mitochondria in the development of radiation-induced heart disease, we examined the time course of effects of irradiation on cardiac mitochondria. In this study, Sprague-Dawley male rats received image-guided local X irradiation of the heart with a single dose ranging from 3–21 Gy. Two weeks after irradiation, left ventricular mitochondria were isolated to assess the dose-dependency of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) opening in a mitochondrial swelling assay. At time points from 6 h to 9 months after a cardiac dose of 21 Gy, the following analyses were performed: left ventricular Bax and Bcl-2 protein levels; apoptosis; mitochondrial inner membrane potential and mPTP opening; mitochondrial mass and expression of mitophagy mediators Parkin and PTEN induced putative kinase-1 (PINK-1); mitochondrial respiration and protein levels of succinate dehydrogenase A (SDHA); and the 70 kDa subunit of complex II. Local heart irradiation caused a prolonged increase in Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and induced apoptosis between 6 h and 2 weeks. The mitochondrial membrane potential was reduced until 2 weeks, and the calcium-induced mPTP opening was increased from 6 h up to 9 months. An increased mitochondrial mass together with unaltered levels of Parkin suggested that mitophagy did not occur. Lastly, we detected a significant decrease in succinate-driven state 2 respiration in isolated mitochondria from 2 weeks up to 9 months after irradiation, coinciding with reduced mitochondrial levels of succinate dehydrogenase A. Our results suggest that local heart irradiation induces long-term changes in cardiac mitochondrial membrane functions, levels of SDH and state 2 respiration. At any time after exposure to radiation, cardiac mitochondria are more prone to mPTP opening. Future studies will determine whether this makes the heart more susceptible to secondary stressors such as calcium overload or ischemia/reperfusion.
Organizational commitment, knowledge management interventions, and learning organization capacity

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between organizational commitment and knowledge management initiatives in developing learning organization capacity (LOC). Design/methodology/approach – This is an empirical study based on a single case study, using partial least squares (PLS) analysis.Findings – The strategic importance of LOC and the role of knowledge sharing in developing LOC have been well documented. The effect of social and conversational technologies on LOC has also undergone investigation. The effect of individual factors (e.g. attitudes) towards such technologies has not been adequately described empirically. This paper links organizational commitment, a broad attitude domain, and technology aptitude, a narrow attitudinal facet, to knowledge sharing via a social and conversational technology.Originality/value – This research clarifies person‐related effects within these important workplace phenomena.
From Parent Training to Community Building

For low-income families, particularly, parent-training programs need to be broadened and offered in communities in order to reduce isolation and strengthen support networks of families. Such an approach will lead not only to better parenting and fewer child-behavior problems, but also to greater collaboration with schools and more community building on the part of parents and teachers. The author describes a parent-training program's evolution from an initial goal of improving parenting skills in order to reduce children's conduct problems and promote their social competence to the broader goals of strengthening parents' social support and increasing their school and community involvement. Community-building strategies and processes embedded in the program designed to promote group cohesiveness and support networks are highlighted.
Learning Latent Representations for Speech Generation and Transformation

An ability to model a generative process and learn a latent representation for speech in an unsupervised fashion will be crucial to process vast quantities of unlabelled speech data. Recently, deep probabilistic generative models such as Variational Autoencoders (VAEs) have achieved tremendous success in modeling natural images. In this paper, we apply a convolutional VAE to model the generative process of natural speech. We derive latent space arithmetic operations to disentangle learned latent representations. We demonstrate the capability of our model to modify the phonetic content or the speaker identity for speech segments using the derived operations, without the need for parallel supervisory data.
Estimating Human Dynamics On-the-fly Using Monocular Video For Pose Estimation

Human pose estimation using uncalibrated monocular visual inputs alone is a challenging problem for both the computer vision and robotics communities. From the robotics perspective, the challenge here is one of pose estimation of a multiply-articulated system of bodies using a single nonspecialized environmental sensor (the camera) and thereby, creating low-order surrogate computational models for analysis and control. In this work, we propose a technique for estimating the lowerlimb dynamics of a human solely based on captured behavior using an uncalibrated monocular video camera. We leverage our previously developed framework for human pose estimation to (i) deduce the correct sequence of temporally coherent gap-filled pose estimates, (ii) estimate physical parameters, employing a dynamics model incorporating the anthropometric constraints, and (iii) filter out the optimized gap-filled pose estimates, using an Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) with the estimated dynamicallyequivalent human dynamics model. We test the framework on videos from the publicly available DARPA Mind’s Eye Year 1 corpus [8]. The combined estimation and filtering framework not only results in more accurate physically plausible pose estimates, but also provides pose estimates for frames, where the original human pose estimation framework failed to provide one.