Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparative Genomic Analysis of Rapid Evolution of an Extreme-Drug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Clone

The emergence of extreme-drug-resistant (EDR) bacterial strains in hospital and nonhospital clinical settings is a big and growing public health threat. Understanding the antibiotic resistance mechanisms at the genomic levels can facilitate the development of next-generation agents. Here, comparative genomics has been employed to analyze the rapid evolution of an EDR Acinetobacter baumannii clone from the intensive care unit (ICU) of Rigshospitalet at Copenhagen. Two resistant A. baumannii strains, 48055 and 53264, were sequentially isolated from two individuals who had been admitted to ICU within a 1-month interval. Multilocus sequence typing indicates that these two isolates belonged to ST208. The A. baumannii 53264 strain gained colistin resistance compared with the 48055 strain and became an EDR strain. Genome sequencing indicates that A. baumannii 53264 and 48055 have almost identical genomes—61 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were found between them. The A. baumannii 53264 strain was assembled into 130 contigs, with a total length of 3,976,592 bp with 38.93% GC content. The A. baumannii 48055 strain was assembled into 135 contigs, with a total length of 4,049,562 bp with 39.00% GC content. Genome comparisons showed that this A. baumannii clone is classified as an International clone II strain and has 94% synteny with the A. baumannii ACICU strain. The ResFinder server identified a total of 14 antibiotic resistance genes in the A. baumannii clone. Proteomic analyses revealed that a putative porin protein was down-regulated when A. baumannii 53264 was exposed to antimicrobials, which may reduce the entry of antibiotics into the bacterial cell.
Fermion tunneling beyond semiclassical approximation

Applying the Hamilton-Jacobi method beyond the semiclassical approximation prescribed in R. Banerjee and B. R. Majhi, J. High Energy Phys. 06 (2008) 095 for the scalar particle, Hawking radiation as tunneling of the Dirac particle through an event horizon is analyzed. We show that, as before, all quantum corrections in the single particle action are proportional to the usual semiclassical contribution. We also compute the modifications to the Hawking temperature and Bekenstein-Hawking entropy for the Schwarzschild black hole. Finally, the coefficient of the logarithmic correction to entropy is shown to be related with the trace anomaly.
Use of continuous positive airway pressure reduces airway reactivity in adults with asthma

Asthma is characterised by airway hyperreactivity, which is primarily treated with &bgr;-adrenergic bronchodilators and anti-inflammatory agents. However, mechanical strain during breathing is an important modulator of airway responsiveness and we have previously demonstrated in animal models that continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) resulted in lower in vivo airway reactivity. We now evaluated whether using nocturnal CPAP decreased airway reactivity in clinically-stable adults with asthma. Adults with stable asthma and normal spirometry used nocturnal CPAP (8–10 cmH2O) or sham treatment (0–2 cmH2O) for 7 days. Spirometry and bronchial challenges were obtained before and after treatment. The primary outcome was the provocative concentration of methacholine causing a 20% fall in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (PC20). The CPAP group (n=16) had a significant decrease in airway reactivity (change in (&Dgr;)logPC20 0.406, p<0.0017) while the sham group (n=9) had no significant change in airway reactivity (&Dgr;logPC20 0.003, p=0.9850). There was a significant difference in the change in airway reactivity for the CPAP versus the sham group (&Dgr;logPC20 0.41, p<0.043). Our findings indicate that chronic mechanical strain of the lungs produced using nocturnal CPAP for 7 days reduced airway reactivity in clinically stable asthmatics. Future studies of longer duration are required to determine whether CPAP can also decrease asthma symptoms and/or medication usage.
A comparison of statistical models for short categorical or ordinal time series with applications in ecology

We study two statistical models for short-length categorical (or ordinal) time series. The first one is a regression model based on generalized linear model. The second one is a parametrized Markovian model, particularizing the discrete autoregressive model to the case of categorical data. These models are used to analyze two data-sets: annual larch cone production and weekly planktonic abundance.
A 3-DOF Neuro-Adaptive Pose Correction System For Frameless and Maskless Cancer Radiotherapy

Precise patient positioning during treatment of cancers of the head and neck region is fundamental to a successful clinical removal of malignant tumors. We propose a 3-DOF soft-robot position correcting system to correct head deviations along 3 axes. The robot consists of inflatable air bladders to move the head while ensuring patient safety and comfort. The robot is controlled with an based off an adaptive neuro-controller consisting of a state feedback regulator, a command reference tracking component, and a function approximator that compensated for parametric and non-parametric system errors in real-time. Feedback is provided by a precise 3D stereo camera for surface imaging of the head. We implement the controller on a 3D printed head-and-neck simulator and demonstrate that our control exhibits real-time learning to correct positioning deviations.
Fuzziness and Ontology in Personalization of Selection Processes in the Semantic Web

A concept of the Semantic Web provides a frame-work for development of systems with higher levels of usability, operability and independence. One of the most intriguing ideas of this new paradigm is related to the vision of web systems requiring minimal involvement of humans in activities related to a pre-selection and eventually selection of most promising alternatives among all obtained options. In order to perform such a task, systems have to be able to mimic users' behaviour. To be more specific, such systems should know not only users' preferences but also users' levels of acceptance of alternatives that satisfy multiple criteria to a different degree. All this represents a challenge especially in the case when any information provided by any individuals is more likely to be vague than crisp. The approach proposed here aims at creating capability to mimic human acceptance patterns in order to make web systems more independent and human-like at the same time. To address these needs, the concepts of fuzziness and fuzzy reasoning are introduced as important aspects of systems supporting users in their selection processes. Architecture of such systems with ontologies representing fuzzy information and abilities to express vague acceptance levels of users is proposed and described. Feasibility of the presented approach is illustrated by a prototype of Semantic Web application - Hotel Reservation System.
Automated Selection of Rule Induction Methods Based on Recursive Iteration of Resampling Methods and Multiple Statistical Testing

One of the most important problems in rule induction methods is how to estimate which method is the best to use in an applied domain. While some methods are useful in some domains, they are not useful in other domains. Therefore it is very difficult to choose one of these methods. For this purpose, we introduce multiple testing based on recursive iteration of resampling methods for rule-induction (MULT-RECITE-R). This method consists of four procedures, which includes the inner loop and the outer loop procedures. First, original training samples(S0) are randomly split into new training samples(S1) and test samples(T1) using a resampling scheme. Second, S1 are again split into training sample(S2) and training samples(T2) using the same resampling scheme. Rule induction methods are applied and predefined metrics are calculated. This second procedure, as the inner loop, is repeated for 10000 times. Then, third, rule induction methods are applied to S1, and the metrics calculated by T1 are compared with those by T2. If the metrics derived by T2 predicts those by T1, then we count it as a success. The second and third procedures, as the outer loop, are iterated for 10000 times. Finally, fourth, the overall results are interpreted, and the best method is selected if the resampling scheme performs well. In order to evaluate this system, we apply this MULT-RECITE-R method to three UCI databases. The results show that this method gives the best selection of estimation methods statistically.
IDENTIFICA TION OF INTERACTING POWER SYSTEM DYNAMIC PHENOMENA VIA CONTINUATION OF INVARIANT SUBSPACES

This paper will focus on identifying the inter- acting dynamic phenomena in power systems by using con- tinuation of invariant subspaces (CIS). With this approach one can trace the trajectory of different oscillatory modes as system parameter changes. Many power system dynamic phenomena, such as strong resonance, subsynchronous reso- nance (SSR) et al., are related to the interaction of oscillatory modes. First, the eigenvalues corresponding to these modes are associated with their invariant subspaces. By applying the continuation method, eigenvalue trajectory with param- eter variation can be obtained from the CIS method. The numerical results on the New England system and IEEE SSR first benchmark model are illustrated in detail. Different in- teracting dynamic phenomena are identified. The interaction of the oscillatory modes will be demonstrated too.
Anti-obesity effect of resveratrol-amplified grape skin extracts on 3T3-L1 adipocytes differentiation

Resveratrol (3,4,5-trihydroxy-trans-stilbene), a phytoalexin found in grape skin, grape products, and peanuts as well as red wine, has been reported to have various biological and pharmacological properties. The purpose of this study was to investigate the anti-obesity effect of resveratrol-amplified grape skin extracts on adipocytes. The anti-obesity effects of grape skin extracts were investigated by measuring proliferation and differentiation in 3T3-L1 cells. The effect of grape skin ethanol extracts on cell proliferation was detected by the MTS assay. The morphological changes and degree of adipogenesis of preadipocyte 3T3-L1 cells were measured by Oil Red-O staining assay. Treatment with extracts of resveratrol-amplified grape skin decreased lipid accumulation and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase activity without affecting 3T3-L1 cell viability. Grape skin extract treatment resulted in significantly attenuated expression of key adipogenic transcription factors, including peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor, CCAAT/enhancer-binding proteins, and their target genes (FAS, aP2, SCD-1, and LPL). These results indicate that resveratrol-amplified grape skin extracts may be useful for preventing obesity by regulating lipid metabolism.
A Measurement of Text Emotion Complexity in Micro-blog

More and more people express their personal views and opinions to an event through micro-blog at the same time they also convey their emotions. The micro-blog can reflect the relationship between the event and people's interests, the degree of influence. The emotional complexity of a text is to measure the variety of people's emotional response in a text. In this paper the text is the whole micro-blog, including the micro-blog text and its comments. The emotional complexity of all micro-blog related an event can reflect the complexity and importance of the event itself. Monitoring the emotional strength and emotional complexity of all micro-blogs can help to know the development of the event and to determine the next action. Based on the relationship between basic emotions, a method of measuring the complexity of emotion is proposed. It can measure the complexity of emotional reaction to the event.
Xen on ARM: System Virtualization Using Xen Hypervisor for ARM-Based Secure Mobile Phones

Mobile phones security is becoming an important issue because they are being connected to an Internet through wireless modem technologies. System virtualization technology provides trusted computing capability by running isolated multiple virtual machines under hypervisor. In this paper, we propose a design of system virtualization for ARM CPU architecture and describe implementation of prototype called Xen on ARM using Xen hypervisor. Secure and nonsecure guest Linux virtual machines are executing under Xen on ARM isolated with each other and virtualization overhead is shown to be moderate compared to native Linux running on bare metal H/W.
Patellofemoral osteoarthritis coexistent with tibiofemoral osteoarthritis in a meniscectomy population

Objectives: To evaluate the frequency of patellofemoral osteoarthritis and its relevance to symptoms and function in a meniscectomy population. Methods: 317 patients with no cruciate ligament injury were evaluated (mean (SD) age, 54 (11) years). They had undergone meniscal resection 15 to 22 years earlier (follow up rate 70%). Standing tibiofemoral and skyline patellofemoral radiographs were graded according to the OARSI atlas. The Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) was used to quantify symptoms and function. Controls were 68 unoperated subjects identified from national population records. Results: Patellofemoral osteoarthritis (isolated or coexisting with tibiofemoral osteoarthritis) was present in 66 of 317 index knees (21%) and 21 of 263 unoperated contralateral knees (8%, p<0.001). In 57/66 (86%) of these index knees, tibiofemoral osteoarthritis was present (mixed osteoarthritis). In a model adjusted for age, sex, and body mass index, the odds ratio for patellofemoral osteoarthritis (alone or in combination with tibiofemoral osteoarthritis) was 2.6 (95% confidence interval, 1.1 to 6.6) after medial meniscectomy and 5.3 (1.9 to 15.0) after lateral meniscectomy, using controls as the reference. Individuals with a mixed knee osteoarthritis pattern had more symptoms, lower function in sports and recreation, and worse knee related quality of life than subjects with isolated tibiofemoral osteoarthritis. Conclusions: Mixed patellofemoral and tibiofemoral osteoarthritis is common in a meniscectomy population. Patellofemoral osteoarthritis is a contributing cause of knee symptoms and reduced knee related quality of life and is relevant to the management of knee complaints of this group of patients.
Let Architectural Reuse Guide Component Reuse : A Pattern for ReUse

There is a need for techniques that facilitate the (re)use of existing architectures, designs and code as the basis for developing new applications. Despite many efforts, the reuse of code has been largely limited to a few areas such as the ubiquitous data structures and mature domains such as graphical user interfaces (GUI). Techniques such as faceted classification[10] have been proposed to solve one of the critical obstacles to reuse, locating the code segments that will be reused.
Simultaneous parameter calibration, localization, and mapping for robust service robotics

Modern service robots are designed to be deployed by end-users and not to be monitored by experts during operation. Most service robotics applications require reliable navigation capabilities of the robot. The calibration parameters of a mobile robot play a substantial role in navigation tasks. Often these parameters are subject to variations that depend either on environmental changes or on the wear of the devices. In this paper, we propose an approach to simultaneously estimate a map of the environment, the position of the onboard sensors of the robot, and its kinematic parameters. Our method requires no prior knowledge about the environment and relies only on a rough initial guess of the platform parameters. The proposed approach performs on-line estimation of the parameters and it is able to adapt to non-stationary changes of the configuration. Our approach has been implemented and is used on the EUROPA robot, a service robot operating in urban environments. In addition to that, we tested our approach in simulated environments and on a wide range of real world data using different types of robotic platforms.
Handbook on Ontologies, Staab and Studer - Review Notes

The ”Handbook on Ontologies” is formed as a collection of papers written by different authors and covering different aspects of ontology engineering. As the editors claim in the preface of the book, it is supposed to provide a comprehensive overview of the state of the art and future perspectives in the field of ontologies. The term ontology is ambiguous. On the one hand it stands for a philosophical discipline studying existence; on the other hand it denotes a specific world description (conceptualisation). The Handbook speculates on the second meaning considering ontologies to be engineering artifacts. In a sense, it is an applied book destined mainly for information scientists. The Handbook is divided into four parts devoted to separate aspects of ontologies. Part 1, called Ontology Representation and Reasoning, mainly addresses formal languages and logics designed for representing and handling ontologies. The chapters of Part 2, Ontology Engineering, consider methodological aspects of ontology development and engineering. Part 3, entitled Ontology Infrastructure, mainly focuses on tools in support of the use and processing of ontologies. Finally, different application aspects are discussed in the last and largest Part 4 of the book Ontology Applications. Some of the volume’s parts contain heterogeneous information (especially concerning Parts 2 and 3). In this review we decided to outline the main topics covered in the book and to unify different chapters that are connected to this topics. We found such a perspective useful for analyzing completeness and relevance of the information provided in the volume.
Instantaneous Dimensional Changes of the Left Ventricle in Dogs

The cardiac cycle in dogs starts with an isovolumic period in which there is shortening of the base-to-apex length with an increase in cross-sectional area. Total shortening is about one-fourth of that in open-chest dogs. Minimal changes in base-to-apex length occur during the ejection phase, and there is a typical pattern of decrease in cross-sectional area. During isovolumic relaxation, the left ventricular base-to-apex length increases. Rapid filling is characterized by a sudden increase in cross-sectional area and is followed by a diastasis of varying lengths. Atrial systole is associated with a sudden significant increase in cross-sectional area and a decrease in base-to-apex length. The magnitude of change in cross-sectional area about the left ventricle during ejection may be used as an index of stroke volume. Our studies suggest that the ventricle contracts in an “eccentric manner,” and relaxes in a “concentric fashion. ” Simultaneous monitoring of the instantaneous changes in cross-sectional area and circumference about the middle of the left ventricle may be used as an index of its efficiency of contraction in awake, intact dogs.
Cognitive evolutionary psychology without representational nativism

A viable evolutionary cognitive psychology requires that specific cognitive capacities be (a) heritable and (b) ‘quasi-independent’ from other heritable traits. They must be heritable because there can be no selection for traits that are not. They must be quasi-independent from other heritable traits, since adaptive variations in a specific cognitive capacity could have no distinctive consequences for fitness if effecting those variations required widespread changes in other unrelated traits and capacities as well. These requirements would be satisfied by innate cognitive modules, as the dominant paradigm in evolutionary cognitive psychology assumes. However, those requirements would also be satisfied by heritable learning biases, perhaps in the form of architectural or chronotopic constraints, that operated to increase the canalization of specific cognitive capacities in the ancestral environment (Cummins and Cummins 1999). As an organism develops, cognitive capacities that are highly canalized as the result of heritable learning biases might result in an organism that is behaviourally quite similar to an organism whose innate modules come on line as the result of various environmental triggers. Taking this possibility seriously is increasingly important as the case against innate cognitive modules becomes increasingly strong.
Equal Value Principle in Recognition of Prior Learning: Concept Differently Perceived by Providers and Other Stakeholders in Higher Education

Abstract The recommendation of the Council of European Union of December 2012 introduced the concept of equal value of standards used to obtain qualifications through validation of non-formal and informal learning and standards used in formal education, with recommended implementation of such validation systems in all EU member states by 2018. This triggered policy development in a number of EU member states including Croatia in order to propose new legislation, quality assurance recommendations and support to such provision. This article presents the results of three quantitative research studies in higher education which involved a total of 2027 participants from different stakeholder groups relevant for the recognition of prior learning in higher education. The results reveal general support to the concept with lack of understanding of its full implications and significant differences in approaches and attitudes of higher education institutions and other stakeholders, especially users of validation, towards assessment standards, assessment methods and use of learning outcomes. This implies that changes in assessment concepts and more use of summative methods based on standards linked to national qualifications framework might be slower and harder to implement in Croatia than EU level policy makers might expect. Key words: assessment; framework; qualification; validation. --- Sažetak Preporuka Vijeca Europske unije iz prosinca 2012. uvela je koncept jednake vrijednosti standarda koji se koriste za stjecanje kvalifikacije putem vrednovanja neformalnog i informalnog ucenja i standarda koji se koriste u formalnom obrazovanju, s preporukom da se takvi sustavi vrednovanja implementiraju u svim zemljama clanicama EU do 2018. To je potaknulo razvoj politika u vise zemalja clanica EU, ukljucujuci i Hrvatsku, s ciljem donosenja prijedloga novih zakona, preporuka za osiguravanje kvalitete i pružanja potpore takvim odredbama. Ovaj clanak predstavlja rezultate triju kvantitativnih istraživanja u visokom obrazovanju koja su ukljucivala ukupno 2027 sudionika iz razlicitih interesnih skupina relevantnih u podrucju priznavanja prethodnog ucenja. Rezultati otkrivaju opcenito podupiranje koncepta, s nedostatkom razumijevanja njegovih cjelovitih implikacija, kao i znacajne razlicitosti u pristupima i stavovima visokoobrazovnih institucija i drugih dionika, posebno korisnika vrednovanja, prema standardima i metodama provjere znanja i upotrebi ishoda ucenja. Sve to implicira da ce se promjene vezane uz koncepte provjere znanja i vecu upotrebu sumativnih metoda utemeljenih na standardima vezanim uz nacionalni kvalifikacijski okvir potencijalno sporije i teže implementirati u Hrvatskoj nego sto to kreatori politika na razini EU ocekuju. Kljucne rijeci: provjera znanja; okvir; vrednovanje; kvalifikacija.