Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Testing and application of simple semi-analytical models for soil temperature estimation and prediction in environmental assessments

ABSTRACT The ability of various semi-analytical models to predict soil temperature profiles in an experimental plot during a 16-year monitoring study for soil depths up to 120 cm is evaluated. The models are developed from an analytical model by replacing the steady-state soil temperature with easily obtained hourly and daily average temperature values. Such values include the hourly air temperature, the daily average air temperature, the hourly soil temperature of selected soil depths from three daily observations, the daily average of the soil temperature profile and the hourly soil temperature for the bottom depth. The performance evaluation results show that, in principle, all models exhibit high correlation (R2 values in the range 0.85–0.97), indicating a very good agreement between measured and predicted values. In addition, error statistics reveal that the best performance in terms of Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) is the model based on the daily average of the soil temperature profile with MAE values in the range of 0–0.4°C and RMSE values in the range of 0.1–1.5°C.
Physiotherapy in cystic fibrosis.

Major advances over the past 15 years in the management of cystic fibrosis (CF) have resulted in dramatic improvements in longevity and quality of life for many patients. However, respiratory dysfunction remains responsible for much of the morbidity and mortality associated with the disorder. Physiotherapy has long played an important role in the respiratory management of the disease and has had to adapt to the changes in disease pattern from infancy to adulthood. The role of the physiotherapist is not limited to airway clearance but also includes encouragement and advice on exercise, posture and mobility, inhalation therapy and, in the later stages of the disease process, non-invasive respiratory support. It is generally felt that the use of chest physiotherapy in CF has lacked good scientific basis and the current call for evidence-based medicine requires physiotherapists to scrutinize their practice closely. A series of systematic reviews of the existing data on airway clearance techniques in CF is currently being undertaken by the Cochrane CF group and the results of these are awaited with interest. At the present time many questions regarding the long term efficacy and application of the various airway clearance regimens remain unanswered.
Clustering-based SAR image denoising by sparse representation with KSVD

Speckle existed in SAR image is an undesirable product of specific imaging principle which influences SAR image interpretation and processing. In this paper, a new SAR image denoising algorithm has been proposed combining cluster with sparse representation under the non-local methodology. Due to the similar clustered patches, the sparsity coding of clustered patches is sparser. And clustered patches with similar structure could have the same constraint condition defined by the center of clustering. Thus, the non-local patches are clustered and filtered as a whole with shrinked sparsity coding. This algorithm has preferable denoising results on both simulated images and real SAR images. Experiments show prospects with speckle of different degrees compared with state-of-the-art despeckling methods. Proposed algorithm performs well both in noise reduction and detail preservation.
Mycoplasma meleagridis-Induced Lesions in the Tarsometatarsal Joints of Turkey Embryos

Abstract Mycoplasma meleagridis (MM) has the ability to cause bone deformity in turkey poults. However, few pathological lesions have been described and no evidence of MM-induced damage to the bones has been shown. In this study, 17-day-old turkey embryos were inoculated with MM into the allantoic cavity. On the 27th day, eight of the 22 embryos presented with curved toes. Scanning electron microscopy of the tarsometatarsal joints showed fissures in the cartilage. Histological sections of the joints revealed only the infiltration of cells with eosinophilic granules. Immunohistochemical staining (IHS) showed the presence of MM in the aggregates of the bone marrow cells and the cells with eosinophilic granules. Some of these cells were harvested by laser capture microdissection (LCM), lysed, and used as template DNA. With a pair of MM-specific primers in a conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a gene product was amplified, and it comigrated with the MM DNA, which indicates that these captured cells contained MM DNA. Thus, this research shows that inoculation of MM into the turkey embryos produced joint lesions and caused cellular infiltration within the bones.
Performance‐Based Biped Control using a Consumer Depth Camera

We present a technique for controlling physically simulated characters using user inputs from an off‐the‐shelf depth camera. Our controller takes a real‐time stream of user poses as input, and simulates a stream of target poses of a biped based on it. The simulated biped mimics the user's actions while moving forward at a modest speed and maintaining balance. The controller is parameterized over a set of modulated reference motions that aims to cover the range of possible user actions. For real‐time simulation, the best set of control parameters for the current input pose is chosen from the parameterized sets of pre‐computed control parameters via a regression method. By applying the chosen parameters at each moment, the simulated biped can imitate a range of user actions while walking in various interactive scenarios.
Secretion and expression of the Pasteurella haemolytica Leukotoxin

The Pasteurella haemolytica leukotoxin gene cluster (lktCABD) is homologous to the Escherichia coli hemolysin locus (hlyCABD). Since the cloned leukotoxin (LktA) is not secreted from E. coli cells, a heteroplasmid complementation system was developed that permits secretion of the leukotoxin from cells expressing the hemolysin transport proteins HlyB and HlyD. We observed that the secreted leukotoxin protein had weak hemolytic activity when activated by either the HlyC or LktC proteins and that LktC expressed in E. coli could confer weak hemolytic activity upon hemolysin. Thus, it appears that the accessory proteins of the leukotoxin and hemolysin gene clusters are functionally similar, although their expression in E. coli is not equivalent. Northern (RNA) blot analysis of the P. haemolytica leukotoxin gene cluster revealed a major 3.5-kilobase transcript that includes the lktC and lktA genes. The start site for this transcript mapped to a cytosine residue 30 nucleotides upstream from the putative start of lktC; a similar initiation site was observed in E. coli, although adjacent cytosine and adenine residues were also utilized. The 3.5-kilobase transcript terminated near the rho-independent terminator structure between lktA and lktB, but transcription may continue, via antitermination or de novo transcription initiation, into the downstream lktB and lktD genes. We propose that the lack of LktB and LktD function in E. coli is a result, at least in part, of poor lktBD transcription and suggest that a P. haemolytica-specific regulator is required for optimal expression of the leukotoxin genes.
Étude du comportement d'orientation d'espèces pélagiques tropicales vis-à-vis d'attracteurs

Cette these s'interesse au comportement d'orientation d'especes pelagiques tropicales vis-a-vis d'attracteurs. Le chapitre 1 presente les concepts d'attracteurs et d'orientation, decrit le milieu marin et propose une revue methodologique. Le chapitre 2 concerne le comportement d'orientation du thon a nageoires jaunes (Thunnus albacares) et de la dorade coryphene (Coryphaena hippurus) vers des dispositifs de concentration de poissons (DCP). Des trajets naturels de thons et des deplacements experimentaux de coryphenes montrent que les thons s'orientent vers les DCP a une distance d'au moins 7 km et les coryphenes a une distance maximale de 815 m. Le chapitre 3 concerne l'orientation a grande distance chez la tortue verte (Chelonia mydas). Des deplacements experimentaux revelent qu'elles ne compensent pas la derive due aux courants. Des indices geomagnetiques interviennent dans leur orientation. Les tortues ne necessitent pas d'informations olfactives issues de leur site de ponte pour y revenir
Correlation between p21(waf1) and p16(INK4a) expression in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: The cyclin dependent kinase p21(waf1) plays a crucial role in the regulation of cell cycle. The family of p53 proteins has the ability to induce p21(waf1), whereas p16(INK4a) modulates post-transcriptionally the expression of p21(waf1). Methods: Total 36 hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) and 24 paired adjacent liver tissues were evaluated for the following: (1) expression of p21(waf1) and p16(INK4a); (2) that of p21(waf1), p73 and p63 mRNAs; (3) genomic mutations and the loss of heterozygosity of p73 and p53; and (4) frequency of methylation in the 5'CpG promoter region of p16(INK4a). Results: In HCCs compared with the adjacent non-cancerous liver tissues, the expression of p21(waf1) and p16(INK4a) was reduced. Indeed, p21(waf1) was not detected in 36% (8/22) of HCCs in spite of the presence of p21(waf1) mRNA: among them, mutations of p53 gene were found in 50%, whereas a lack of p16(INK4a) expression in all of them. p21(waf1) and p16(INK4a) were reduced in proportion to the degree of methylation in p16(INK4a) gene. p73 did not mutated, and p63 did not expressed in HCCs. Conclusion: Methylation status of p16(INK4a) gene will play a part for reducing constitutive expression of p16(INK4a) and of p21(waf1) coordinately in HCCs.
dsRNA-Dependent Protein Kinase PKR and its Role in Stress, Signaling and HCV Infection

The double-stranded RNA-dependent protein kinase PKR plays multiple roles in cells, in response to different stress situations. As a member of the interferon (IFN)‑Stimulated Genes, PKR was initially recognized as an actor in the antiviral action of IFN, due to its ability to control translation, through phosphorylation, of the alpha subunit of eukaryotic initiation factor 2 (eIF2α). As such, PKR participates in the generation of stress granules, or autophagy and a number of viruses have designed strategies to inhibit its action. However, PKR deficient mice resist most viral infections, indicating that PKR may play other roles in the cell other than just acting as an antiviral agent. Indeed, PKR regulates several signaling pathways, either as an adapter protein and/or using its kinase activity. Here we review the role of PKR as an eIF2α kinase, its participation in the regulation of the NF-κB, p38MAPK and insulin pathways, and we focus on its role during infection with the hepatitis C virus (HCV). PKR binds the HCV IRES RNA, cooperates with some functions of the HCV core protein and may represent a target for NS5A or E2. Novel data points out for a role of PKR as a pro-HCV agent, both as an adapter protein and as an eIF2α-kinase, and in cooperation with the di-ubiquitin-like protein ISG15. Developing pharmaceutical inhibitors of PKR may help in resolving some viral infections as well as stress-related damages.
PCR Assay for Species-Specific Identification ofBacteroides thetaiotaomicron

ABSTRACT Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron is the second most frequently encountered species of the anaerobes isolated from clinical specimens. We developed a PCR-based assay for the rapid identification of B. thetaiotaomicron. Specific primers were based on shared amplicons of about 1.2 kb generated from B. thetaiotaomicron by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA. This 1.2-kb fragment was sequenced and then used to design a set of PCR amplification primers. This PCR generated an amplification product of 721 bp, which was unique to all 65 isolates of B. thetaiotaomicron tested. There was no amplification with isolates of other bacterial species. Restriction enzyme digestion of the amplification product and dot blot hybridization further verified the specificity of the assay. These results suggest that this PCR assay targets a nucleotide sequence that is strongly conserved in B. thetaiotaomicron. This simple and rapid PCR assay provides a rapid and accurate method for identification of B. thetaiotaomicron and shows promise for the detection of B. thetaiotaomicron in clinical samples.
Differences in male coloration are predicted by divergent sexual selection between populations of a cichlid fish

Female mating preferences can influence both intraspecific sexual selection and interspecific reproductive isolation, and have therefore been proposed to play a central role in speciation. Here, we investigate experimentally in the African cichlid fish Pundamilia nyererei if differences in male coloration between three para-allopatric populations (i.e. island populations with gene flow) of P. nyererei are predicted by differences in sexual selection by female mate choice between populations. Second, we investigate if female mating preferences are based on the same components of male coloration and go in the same direction when females choose among males of their own population, their own and other conspecific populations and a closely related para-allopatric sister-species, P. igneopinnis. Mate-choice experiments revealed that females of the three populations mated species-assortatively, that populations varied in their extent of population-assortative mating and that females chose among males of their own population based on different male colours. Females of different populations exerted directional intrapopulation sexual selection on different male colours, and these differences corresponded in two of the populations to the observed differences in male coloration between the populations. Our results suggest that differences in male coloration between populations of P. nyererei can be explained by divergent sexual selection and that population-assortative mating may directly result from intrapopulation sexual selection.
Maternal perceptions of children ’ s weight statuscch

*Research Centre on Child Studies (CIEC), Institute of Education, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal †Research Centre for Physical Activity, Health and Leisure (CIAFEL), Faculty of Sports Science, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal ‡Research Center in Sports Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development (CIDESD), Department of Sports Science of Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Bragança, Portugal
The Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS): A Simple Method for the Assessment of Palliative Care Patients

We describe a simple method for the assessment of symptoms twice a day in patients admitted to a palliative care unit. Eight visual analog scales (VAS) 0–100 mm are completed either by the patient alone, by the patient with nurse's assistance, or by the nurses or relatives at 10:00 and 18:00 hours, in order to indicate the levels of pain, activity, nausea, depression, anxiety, drowsiness, appetite, and sensation of well-being. The information is then transferred to a graph that contains the assessments of up to 21 days on each page. The sum of the scores for all symptoms is defined as the symptom distress score. The Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) was carried out for 101 consecutive patients for the length of their admission to our unit. Of these, 84% were able to make their own assessment sometime during their admission. However, before death 83% of assessments were completed by a nurse or relative. Mean symptom distress score was 410±95 during day 1 of the admission, versus 362±83 during day 5 (p<0.01). Mean symptom distress scores throughout the hospitalization were 359±105, 374±93, 359±91 and 406±81 when the ESAS was completed by the patient alone, patient with nurse's assistance (p=N.S.), nurse alone (p=N.S.), or relative (p<0.01) respectively. We conclude that this is a simple and useful method for the regular assessment of symptom distress in the palliative care setting.
Knowledge Gradient Exploration in Online Least Squares Policy Iteration

We compare empirically the knowledge gradient exploration policy with the e-greedy one in online leastsquares policy iteration on a testbed of 2 infinite horizon Markov decision problems. It is shown that the knowledge gradient, although it does not have parameters to be tuned, performs as well as a well-tuned egreedy exploration policy.
OLINDA/EXM: the second-generation personal computer software for internal dose assessment in nuclear medicine.

UNLABELLED The OLINDA/EXM version 1.0 personal computer code was created as a replacement for the widely used MIRDOSE3.1 code. This paper documents the basic function of the code and how it is similar to and different from the MIRDOSE software. METHODS After creation of the code and alpha- and beta-testing phases, a premarket notification submission (510(k)) was filed with the Food and Drug Administration to permit marketing of the code. Permission was granted in June 2004, and the code is currently being distributed through Vanderbilt University. Not all of the technical details of the dosimetry methods have been shown here, as they have been previously documented. RESULTS Agreement of doses between the MIRDOSE3.1 and OLINDA/EXM codes was good, within 1%-2% in most cases. CONCLUSION The extensive testing of the OLINDA/EXM code, based on comparison with literature-established dose calculations and with the widely tested and accepted MIRDOSE3.1 code, should give users confidence in its output. The OLINDA/EXM code should be easy for MIRDOSE users to adopt and for new users to understand. It will be useful in standardizing and automating internal dose calculations, assessing doses in clinical trials with radiopharmaceuticals, making theoretic calculations for existing pharmaceuticals, teaching, and other purposes.
Point-of-care screening for left ventricular hypertrophy and concentric geometry using hand-held cardiac ultrasound in hypertensive patients.

BACKGROUND The introduction of the hand-held cardiac ultrasound (HCU) may potentially increase detection of LV hypertrophy in hypertensive patients. However, whether point-of-care screening for LV hypertrophy and concentric LV geometry by HCU in hypertensive patients is feasible and comparable to that of standard state-of-the-art echocardiography (SE) evaluation remains to be elucidated. METHODS AND RESULTS Accordingly, one hundred consecutive patients (66 female, mean age=58±13 years, 32% African-American, mean body mass index=31±8 kg/m(2)) with the diagnosis of hypertension underwent both HCU and SE examinations in tandem. A cardiology fellow-in-training performed the HCU exam while a cardiac sonographer performed the SE. 37% of hypertensive patients had electrocardiographic LV hypertrophy by Sokolow-Lyon or Cornell voltage criteria. Mean LV mass was 210±42 g with the HCU and 209±40 g with SE. Mean relative wall thickness was 0.45±0.05 by the HCUD and 0.44±0.05 by SE. There was excellent correlation between LV mass and relative wall thickness measurements by HCU and SE (r=0.985, SEE=6.8 g and r=0.762, SEE=0.33, respectively, both p<0.001). The prevalence of LV hypertrophy using prognostically-validated partition values for LV mass/height(2.7) of 46.7 and 49.2 g/m(2.7) in women and men, respectively was 76% by HCU and 78% by SE (p=NS), with excellent agreement (92%, κ=0.774, p<0.001). Agreement for detection of concentric LV geometry (relative wall thickness>0.43) was also excellent (88%, κ =0.756, p<0.001). Agreement for LV hypertrophy and concentric geometry detection between the cardiology fellow-in-training and sonographer was excellent (κ =0.786, p<0.001). CONCLUSION Point-of-care screening for LV hypertrophy and concentric LV geometry by HCU is feasible and correlates very well with that of SE. HCU may allow for immediate point-of-care assessment and treatment of cardiac target organ damage in hypertensive patients.
Modelo de Análise de Interacções para comunidades de prática online.

O presente texto apresenta um estudo de investigacao realizado em torno das interacoes em comunidades de pratica online. Para este efeito foi desenhada, implementada, dinamizada e estudada a comunidade @rcaComum (www.arcacomum.pt-endereco principal). Esta comunidade de pratica online ibero-americana nasceu em Setembro de 2006, e inclui participantes da America Latina, Portugal e Espanha, sendo dirigida a profissionais de educacao da infância. Este ambiente virtual recorre a varias plataformas para a sua divulgacao e dinamizacao, exclusivamente online (http://www.arcacomum.pt/comunidade; http://www.facebook.com/arcacomum; https://twitter.com/arcacomum; http://www.youtube.com/user/arcacomum e https://arcacomum.wordpress.com). Apos seis anos de funcionamento, o objectivo principal continua a ser a construcao conjunta de uma pratica comum e troca de concepcoes sobre a educacao da infância. Com o intuito de divulgar parte do estudo, mostramos um modelo de analise de interaccoes que foi desenvolvido para esta investigacao, com base em modelos ja existentes e aplicados a outro tipo de comunidades, tais como comunidades de aprendizagem e comunidades virtuais. Parece-nos que o contributo desta nossa proposta se revela importante, devido a inexistencia de um modelo especifico para comunidades de praticaonline. Este modelo permite uma analise das interaccoes em varios niveis, que devem ser consolidados para a afirmacao e criacao de identidade deste tipo de comunidades. Revela-se fulcral a dimensao da colaboracao e lideranca, sendo estes factores de sustentabilidade para ambientes virtuais (Miranda-Pinto 2009).
Dynamic Sensor Selection in Heterogeneous Sensor Network

Various types of sensors have been embedded in smartphones such that a mobile user can easily conduct some sensing tasks. The mobile users conducting the sensing task with their sensor-equipped smartphones have their own unique features, thus can be efficiently complementary to stationary sensors which are deployed at specific locations. In this paper, we consider a heterogeneous sensor network composed of stationary sensors and mobile sensors (i.e., mobile users with sensor-equipped smartphones), in which a key question is how the service provider selects the sensors to conduct the sensing task considering the heterogeneity of sensors in terms of location, mobility pattern, energy constraint, and sensing cost. We propose a greedy algorithm GSSA to reduce the computational complexity. Simulation results show the nice performance of the proposed algorithms compared with the optimal sensor selection algorithm using dynamic programming. In specific, the proposed GSSA improves the achieved social welfare by 32.3% and 35.6% with the time period T=20 for high mobility and low mobility patterns, respectively, compared with the random selection.
Comments on 'On the shift property of DCTs and DSTs'

In the abovementioned correspondence P. Yip and K.R. Rao (see ibid., vol.ASSP-35, p.404-6, Mar.1987) presented a shift property for even discrete cosine transforms (EDCT) and sine transforms (EDST). The commenter points out that the odd counterparts (ODCT and ODST) also exist in the family. He extends Yip and Rao's results to these odd triangular transforms and makes several corrections to their work. >
A Novel Network Architecture Support for Fast Reconfiguration

The aim of this paper is to present a novel reconfigurable architecture support which provides efficient access to noncontiguous locations in an array-like structure, whether it be memories or configurable logic blocks (Claw) in reconfigurable systems. This distribution tree (distTree) architecture serves as a mean of address resolution so that no addressing information is required externally or explicitly. It not only reduces the amount of information transferred but also reduces the time for address resolution significantly. A software and a hardware simulators were developed to test the correctness, performance, and hardware resources required for distTree. We found from our simulators that the run-time overhead for address resolution is close to none in most cases while occupying a reasonable amount of hardware area.