Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Changes in Listeria monocytogenes Membrane Fluidity in Response to Temperature Stress

ABSTRACT Listeria monocytogenes is a food-borne pathogen that has been implicated in many outbreaks associated with ready-to-eat products. Listeria adjusts to various stresses by adjusting its membrane fluidity, increasing the uptake of osmoprotectants and cryoprotectants, and activating the σB stress factor. The present work examines the regulation of membrane fluidity through direct measurement based on fluorescent anisotropy. The membrane fluidities of L. monocytogenes Scott A, NR30, wt10403S, and cld1 cells cultured at 15 and 30°C were measured at 15 and 30°C. The membrane of the cold-sensitive mutant (cld1) was more rigid than the membranes of the other strains when grown at 30°C, but when grown at 15°C, it was able to adjust its membrane to approach the rigidity of the other strains. The difference in rigidities, as determined at 15 and 30°C, was greater in liposomes than in whole cells. The rates of fluidity adjustment and times required for whole cells to adjust to a different temperature were similar among strains but different from those of liposomes. This suggests that the cells had a mechanism for homeoviscous adaptation that was absent in liposomes.
A Multi-Tooth Fault-Tolerant Flux-Switching Permanent-Magnet Machine With Twisted-Rotor

Flux-switching permanent-magnet (FSPM) machines have high torque density, high efficiency, and robust rotor structure. In order to achieve a high level of fault-tolerant capability and torque capability simultaneously, a multi-tooth 6-stator pole, 19-rotor pole fault-tolerant FSPM machine with twisted-rotor (MTFTFSPM-TR) is investigated and its design specifications including rotor pole numbers and gap width between the stator tooth and the fault-tolerant tooth are analyzed in this paper. Compared with a 12-stator pole, 14-rotor pole alternate poles wound fault-tolerant FSPM (FTFSPM) machine, the MTFTFSPM-TR shows higher torque density, better capability to inhibit short-circuit current, and lower cogging torque. Moreover, the twisted-rotor structure can achieve a symmetric and high sinusoidal back-electromotive force in each armature coil without the value reduction. Electromagnetic performance of the MTFTFSPM-TR has been verified experimentally on a prototype machine.
A mixture model for population codes of Gabor filters

Population coding is a coding scheme which is ubiquitous in neural systems, and is also of more general use in coding stimuli, for example in vision problems. A population of responses to a stimulus can be used to represent not only the value of some variable in the environment, but a full probability distribution for that variable. The information is held in a distributed and encoded form, which may in some situations be more robust to noise and failures than conventional representations. Gabor filters are a popular choice for detecting edges in the visual field for several reasons. They are easily tuned for a variety of edge widths and orientations, and are considered a close model of the edge filters in the human visual system. In this paper, we consider population codes of Gabor filters with different orientations. A probabilistic model of Gabor filter responses is presented. Based on the analytically derived orientation tuning function and a parametric mixture model of the filter responses in the presence of local edge structure with single or multiple orientations a probability density function (pdf) of the local orientation in any point (x, y) can be extracted through a parameter estimation procedure. The resulting pdf of the local contour orientation captures not only angular information at edges, corners or T-junctions but also describes the certainty of the measurement which can be characterized in terms of the entropy of the individual mixture components.
A frequency switchable antenna based on MEMS technology

This work presents a suitable topology of a reconfigurable microstrip patch antenna using RF-MEMS devices. The RF-MEMS devices are activated with a bias voltage applied through RF feeding port. The antenna is designed for switching between two frequency bands of 5.25 GHz and 5.6 GHz. These are the frequency bands of the IEEE 802.11a standard in Europe and in the USA. A good matching is obtained in both configurations. The antenna realized using only two lithographic steps, what significantly reduces production costs. It is important for the fabrication of an integrated antenna system on the chip (SoC).
Salient object detection by combing eye fixation prediction and semantic segmentation

Salient object detection is a significant part of a great deal of vision tasks and a large number of saliency detection measures have been presented of late, and omong them are complementary reciprocally. A majority of the works in computer vision concentrates on the next two particular assignments of saliency: eye fixation prediction and salient object segmentation. In this paper, we divides saliency detection into two sub tasks: salient object localization and segmentation, which can achieve more precise results of significant object detection, and also can obtain more accurate segmentation results directly. The results are validated on publicly available ECSSD and PASCAL datasets, which are superior to current state-of-the-art methods.
The use of the hyperbolic smoothing clustering algorithm in taxonomy of macroalgae

This work proposes a new methodological approach for grouping data in taxonomy. Macroalgae of the genus Caulerpa were selected as a study model on basis of their remarkable morphological plasticity, and of the difficulty in identifying those algae using the traditional systematical methods. The results obtained from the application of the hyperbolic smoothing algorithm demonstrate the feasibility of its use in biological taxonomy. The new methodology herein proposed may be used isolatedly or in association with other methodologies already proven, not only in phycology, but also in other areas of biology.
An approach based on fuzzy inference system and ant colony optimization for improving the performance of routing protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks

The Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are composed of small sensor nodes capable of sensing (collecting), processing and transmitting data related to some phenomenon in the environment. However, the sensor nodes have severe constraints, such as: low network bandwidth, short wireless communication range, and limited CPU processing capacity, memory storage and power supply. Therefore, maximizing the benefits of limited resources in WSNs have become one relevant and challenging issue. One of the most relevant problem is related with the energy consumption during data transmission, since, sensor nodes are battery-powered and recharging or replacing batteries, in most cases, is infeasible. Communication in WSN consumes more energy than sensing and processing performed by the network nodes. The strategy proposed in this paper, to reduce the energy consumption, consists in optimizing the operations of routing protocols. The WSN routing protocols must have self configuration features in order to find out which is the best route for communication, thus increasing delivery assurance and decreasing the energy consumption between nodes that comprise the network. This paper presents a proposal for estimating the quality of routes using fuzzy systems to assist the Directed Diffusion routing protocol. The fuzzy system is used to estimate the degree of the route quality, based on the number of hops and the energy level of the nodes that compose a route. An Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm is used to adjust, in an automatic way, the rule base of the fuzzy system in order to improve the classification strategy of routes, hence increasing the energy efficiency of the network. The simulations showed that the proposal is effective from the point of view of three metrics: packet loss rate, message delay to the sink node and time of death of the first sensor node.
The myeloproliferative disorders.

The discovery of an identical mutation (V617F) of the JAK2 gene in patients with polycythemia vera, essential thrombocythemia, and myelofibrosis — the principal Philadelphia chromosome–negative myeloproliferative disorders — has greatly advanced our understanding of these conditions. This article reviews the legacy of this discovery and how it has changed our view of the origins, interrelations, and management of the myeloproliferative disorders.
Motstånd och konformitet : Om manliga yrkeselevers liv och identitetsskapande i relation till kärnämnena

Denna studie bygger pa en faltstudie i tva klasser pa gymnasieskolans Byggprogram. Intresset ar riktat mot hur ett antal ungdomar, vilka samtliga ar pojkar och i varierande grad ar ointresserade av .
A Grapheme Based Speech Recognition System for Russian

With the increasing availability and deployment of speech recognition technology in real world environments fast and affordable adaptation of speech recognition systems to new languages and/or domains becomes more and more important. One of the most expensive components of a recognition system is the pronunciation dictionary that maps the orthography of the words in the search vocabulary onto a sequence of sub-units. Often phonemes act as such sub-units. Human expert knowledge is usually required for crafting the pronunciation dictionary, thus making it an expensive and time consuming task. Even automatic tools for creating such dictionaries often require hand labeled amounts of training material and rely on manual revision. In order to address the problem of creating a dictionary in a time and cost efcient way we have examined recognition systems at our lab that rely soly on graphemes rather than phonemes as subunits. The mapping in the dictionary thus becomes trivial, since now every word is simply segmented into its letters. Therefore no expert knowledge is needed anymore. Our experiments on different languages have shown that the quality of the resulting recognizer significantly depends on the grapheme-to-phoneme relation of the underlying language. Since Russian is a language with an alphabetic script with a fairly close graphemeto-phoneme relation it is very well suited to be a candidate for this approach. In this paper we present our results on creating a grapheme based Russian recognizer trained on the GlobalPhone corpus that covers fteen different languages. We compare the performance of the resulting system to a phoneme based recognition system that was trained in the course of the GlobalPhone project, and compare the performance of two grapheme based systems whose context-dependent models were clustered with two different procedures.
Female praying mantids use sexual cannibalism as a foraging strategy to increase fecundity

Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the evolution of sexual cannibalism. The foraging strategy hypothesis states that sexual cannibalism may arise as an adaptive foraging strategy, providing females with the nutrients to increase future fecundity. Yet, very few studies have found that nourishment through cannibalism translates into increased fecundity. One explanation for this may be that most of these investigations have concentrated on sexually dimorphic spider species with tiny males that do not significantly increase female body mass on consumption. The current study focuses on the praying mantid, Pseudomantis albofimbriata, a moderately size dimorphic species with relatively large males. Cannibalistic females of such species may be more likely to gain nutritional benefits from male consumption, which translate into increased fecundity. Here, cannibalistic females substantially improved their body condition and subsequently produced heavier egg cases than their noncannibalistic counterparts. An additional prediction of the foraging strategy hypothesis is that sexual cannibalism will increase with decreasing female condition. We found that the prevalence of sexual cannibalism in this system was indeed affected by female body condition; females in poor condition were more likely to consume their potential mates than females in good condition. Additional analysis of the data refuted the relevance of each of the remaining hypotheses for this species, providing clear evidence for the foraging strategy hypothesis as an explanation for the maintenance of sexual cannibalism in this species. Copyright 2008, Oxford University Press.
Reduced-Order Robust Superdirective Beamforming With Uniform Linear Microphone Arrays

Sensor arrays for audio and speech signal acquisition are generally required to have frequency-invariant beampatterns to avoid adding spectral distortion to the broadband signals of interest. One way to obtain frequency-invariant beampatterns is via superdirective beamforming. However, traditional superdirective beamformers may cause significant white noise amplification (particularly at low frequencies), making them sensitive to uncorrelated white noise. To circumvent the problem of white noise amplification, a method was developed to find the superdirective beamforming filter with a constraint on the white noise gain (WNG), leading to the so-called WNG-constrained superdirective beamformer. But this method damages the frequency invariance of the beampattern. In this paper, we develop a flatness-constrained robust superdirective beamformer. We divide the overall beamformer into two subbeamformers, which are convolved together: one subbeamformer forms a lower order superdirective beampattern while the other attempts to improve the WNG. We show that this robust approach can improve the WNG while limiting the frequency dependency of the beampattern at the same time.
Proof of concept for low-dose molecular breast imaging with a dual-head CZT gamma camera. Part II. Evaluation in patients.

PURPOSE Molecular breast imaging (MBI) has shown promise as an adjunct screening technique to mammography for women with dense breasts. The demonstration of reliable lesion detection with MBI performed at low administered doses of Tc-99 m sestamibi, comparable in effective radiation dose to screening mammography, is essential to adoption of MBI for screening. The concept of performing low-dose MBI with dual-head cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) gamma cameras has been investigated in phantoms in Part I. In this work, the objectives were to evaluate the impact of the count sensitivity improvement methods on image quality in patient MBI exams and to determine if adequate lesion detection could be achieved at reduced doses. METHODS Following the implementation of two count sensitivity improvement methods, registered collimation optimized for near-field imaging and energy acceptance window optimized for CZT, MBI exams were performed in the course of clinical care. Clinical image count density (counts/cm(2)) was compared between standard MBI [740 MBq (20 mCi) Tc-99 m sestamibi, standard collimation, standard energy window] and low-dose MBI [296 MBq (8 mCi) Tc-99 m sestamibi, optimized collimation, wide energy window] in a cohort of 50 patients who had both types of MBI exams performed. Lesion detection at low doses was evaluated in a separate cohort of 32 patients, in which low-dose MBI was performed following 296 MBq injection and acquired in dynamic mode, allowing the generation of images acquired for 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10 min/breast view with proportionately reduced count densities. Diagnostic accuracy at each count density level was compared and kappa statistic was used to assess intrareader agreement between 10 min acquisitions and those at shorter acquisition durations. RESULTS In patient studies, low-dose MBI performed with 296 MBq Tc-99 m sestamibi and new optimal collimation/wide energy window resulted in an average relative gain in count density of 4.2 ± 1.3 compared to standard MBI performed with 740 MBq. Interpretation of low-dose 296 MBq images with count densities corresponding to acquisitions of 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10 min/view and median lesion size of 1.4 cm resulted in similar diagnostic accuracy across count densities and substantial to near-perfect intrareader agreement between full 10 min-views and lower count density views. CONCLUSIONS Review of patient studies showed that registered optimized collimation and wide energy window resulted in a substantial gain in count sensitivity as previously indicated by phantom results. This proof of concept work indicates that MBI performed at administered doses of 296 MBq Tc-99 m sestamibi with the applied count sensitivity improvements permits the detection of small breast lesions in patients. Findings suggest that further reductions in acquisition duration or administered dose may be achievable.
Breakpoints at l l q 2 3 in Infant Leukemias With the t(11;19)(q23;p13) Are Clustered

We have analyzed a series of nine infant leukemias that carry a t(11;19)(q23;p13). They had the morphologic features of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and expressed markers typical of B-cell progenitor ALL or pre-6 ALL; one coex-pressed myeloid markers in addition to lymphoid markers (biphenotypic). Two probes (PIS4 and 98.40) subcloned from a yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) known to span the breakpoint in the t(4;ll) were used to investigate DNA Abbreviations: GL, germline; ND, not determined; R, R1, or R2: Rearranged bands in addition to germline band. If more than one rearranged band is observed they are distinguished as R1 and R2. Cytogenetic investigations were performed according to standard protocols and have been previously reported for seven of the patients. * The other two patients (cases 2 and 10) had the karyotype 46, XX, t(11;19)(q23;p13) in 54% or 60%, respectively, of the BM metaphases examined. Restriction enzyme analysis was performed using standard protocols on DNA prepared from stored mononu- clear cell preparations obtained from either BM or peripheral blood from patients at presentation. Single-copy probes centro- meric (98.40) and telomeric (P/S4) to the RS411 cell line breakpoint were isolated from lambda sub-clones of the yB22B2 YAC (P.D., manuscript in preparation). The localization of the probes is shown in Fig 1 together with a restriction map of the area. Southern analysis.
Identification of LncRNAs/mRNAs related to endometrium function regulated by Homeobox A10 in Ishikawa cells

As a well‐known transcription factor, Homeobox A10 (HOXA10) regulates a large number of downstream target genes, leading to the proper function development of endometrium for embryo implantation. The change of HOXA10 gene expression level can alter the expressions of many other genes, including coding and noncoding transcripts. In our study, mRNA and LncRNA expression profiles screening was performed by microarray when the HOXA10 gene expression level increased in Ishikawa cells. A total of 907 mRNAs and 1,026 LncRNAs were identified as differentially expressed transcripts (Fold Change ≥2, P‐value <0.05, and Q‐value <0.05) between HOXA10 overexpressed and control Ishikawa cells. Further analysis identified that these mRNAs participated in various biological processes, such as blood vessel development, cell adhesion, cell cycle, etc. Also, 14 enhancer‐like LncRNAs and 108 LincRNAs with their nearby mRNAs were identified as coregulated transcripts. Our results showed that the mRNA and LncRNA expression profiles differed significantly between the two groups and provided useful information for further studying the molecular mechanisms of HOXA10 in endometrium.
Reconsidering grades as data for decision making: more than just academic knowledge

Purpose – Much of the recent research on data‐driven decision making in US schools has focused on standardized test scores while other forms of data in schools have gone largely unexamined as useful data, such as teacher‐assigned grades. Based on the literature, the theory outlined in this paper is that grades, as data historically overlooked in schools, are a useful multidimensional assessment for decision making by educational leaders. This paper aims to address these issues.Design/methodology/approach – Using multidimensional scaling, grades, and standardized test scores are compared for 195 students in grades 9‐12 from two US school districts. The relationship between these assessments is visualized between grades in core subjects, such as Mathematics and English, non‐core subjects, such as Art and Physical Education, and standardized test scores, such as the ACT.Findings – Two significant dimensions appear to be embedded within grades; assessment of academic knowledge and an assessment of a student's.
Candida orthopsilosis and Candida metapsilosis spp. nov. To Replace Candida parapsilosis Groups II and III

ABSTRACT Two new species, Candida orthopsilosis and C. metapsilosis, are proposed to replace the existing designations of C. parapsilosis groups II and III, respectively. The species C. parapsilosis is retained for group I isolates. Attempts to construct a multilocus sequence typing scheme to differentiate individual strains of C. parapsilosis instead revealed fixed DNA sequence differences between pairs of subgroups in four genes: COX3, L1A1, SADH, and SYA1. PCR amplicons for sequencing were obtained for these four plus a further seven genes from 21 group I isolates. For nine group II isolates, PCR products were obtained from only 5 of the 11 genes, and for two group III isolates PCR products were obtained from a different set of 5 genes. Three of the PCR products from group II and III isolates differed in size from the group I products. Cluster analysis of sequence polymorphisms from COX3, SADH, and SYA1, which were common to the three groups, consistently separated the isolates into three distinct sets. All of these differences, together with DNA sequence similarities <90% in the ITS1 sequence, suggest the subgroups should be afforded species status. The near absence of DNA sequence variability among isolates of C. parapsilosis and relatively high levels of sequence variability among isolates of C. orthopsilosis suggest that the former species may have evolved very recently from the latter.
Structure and Culture in African American Adolescent Violence: A Partial Test of the “Code of the Street” Thesis

Researchers studying the race–violence relationship have tended to focus on either structural or cultural explanations. Although both explanations are important, they tend to be incomplete. We draw on Anderson’s “code of the street” thesis, which combines structural and cultural explanations to explain the high rates of violence among African American adolescents. Anderson argues that the street code, which supports the use of violence, is a cultural adaptation to negative neighborhood structural conditions, as well as family characteristics and racial discrimination. Using two waves of data from 720 African American adolescents from 259 neighborhoods, we investigated whether neighborhood context, family type, and discrimination influenced adoption of the street code. We also assessed whether the street code mediated the effects of neighborhood context, family characteristics, and racial discrimination on violent delinquency. Consistent with Anderson’s hypotheses, neighborhood structural characteristics, living in a street family, and discrimination significantly predicted adopting the street code. Moreover, the street code mediated about one fifth of neighborhood effects on violent delinquency, about one fifth of the effect of racial discrimination, and about 4 percent of the effect of family characteristics on violent delinquency. Overall, the results suggest that neighborhood context, family characteristics, and racial discrimination directly influence adopting the street code, and partially influence violence indirectly through the street code.