Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dissemination of metallo‐β‐lactamase in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates in Egypt: mutation in blaVIM‐4

This study was designed to investigate the prevalence of metallo‐β‐lactamase (MBL) in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates collected from Suez Canal University Hospital in Ismailia, Egypt. Antibiotic susceptibility testing and phenotypic and genotypic screening for MBLs were performed on 147 isolates of P. aeruginosa. MICs were determined by agar dilution method for carbapenem that was ≥2 μg/mL for meropenem. MBL genes were detected by multiplex and monoplex PCR for P. aeruginosa‐harbored plasmids. Mutation profile of sequenced MBL genes was screened using online software Clustal Omega. Out of 147 P. aeruginosa, 39 (26.5%) were carbapenem‐resistant isolates and 25 (64%) were confirmed to be positive for MBLs. The susceptibility rate of P. aeruginosa toward polymyxin B and norfloxacin was 99% and 88%, respectively. Identification of collected isolates by API analysis and constructed phylogenetic tree of 16S rRNA showed that the isolates were related to P. aeruginosa species. The frequency of blaGIM‐1, blaSIM‐1, and blaSPM‐1 was 52%, 48%, and 24%, respectively. BlaVIM and blaIMP‐like genes were 20% and 4% and the sequences confirm the isolate to be blaVIM‐1, blaVIM‐2, blaVIM‐4, and blaIMP‐1. Three mutations were identified in blaVIM‐4 gene. Our study emphasizes the high occurrence of multidrug‐resistant P. aeruginosa‐producing MBL enzymes.
A Neural Dynamic Model Generates Descriptions of Object-Oriented Actions

Describing actions entails that relations between objects are discovered. A pervasively neural account of this process requires that fundamental problems are solved: the neural pointer problem, the binding problem, and the problem of generating discrete processing steps from time-continuous neural processes. We present a prototypical solution to these problems in a neural dynamic model that comprises dynamic neural fields holding representations close to sensorimotor surfaces as well as dynamic neural nodes holding discrete, language-like representations. Making the connection between these two types of representations enables the model to describe actions as well as to perceptually ground movement phrases-all based on real visual input. We demonstrate how the dynamic neural processes autonomously generate the processing steps required to describe or ground object-oriented actions. By solving the fundamental problems of neural pointing, binding, and emergent discrete processing, the model may be a first but critical step toward a systematic neural processing account of higher cognition.
Research on algorithm of extracting micro-blog's hot topics

Because of a large number of micro-blog's junk posts, how to instantly browse hot topics in micro-blog is faced with severe challenges. We propose a new extraction algorithm of hot topics to remove the false hot topics. The algorithm sets a group of parameters what is a determine condition. Parameters contain word frequency, users' number, occurrence number, users' discrete degrees, and time distribution of release or forward posts. The preliminary results show that the new algorithm can effectively extract hot topics from micro-blog and remove the false hot topics at the same time.
Moral Conscience through the Ages: Fifth Century BCE to the Present

Introduction 1. Sharing knowledge with oneself of a defect: five centuries from the Greek playwrights and Plato to St. Paul and first century pagans 2. Christian appropriation and Platonist developments, 3rd to 6th centuries CE 3. Early Christianity and freedom of religion, 200-400 CE 4. Doubled conscience and double-bind: a medieval insight and a 12th century misconstrual? 5. Penitence for bad conscience in pagans and Christians, 1st to 13th centuries 6. Protesters and Protestants: 'terrorisation' of conscience and two senses of freedom of conscience, 14th-16th centuries 7. Advice on particular moral dilemmas: casuistry, mid-16th to mid-17th centuries 8. Freedom of conscience and the individual in 17th century England 9. Four rehabilitations of conscience and connexion with sentiment: 18th century 10. Critics and champions of conscience and its continuing re-secularisation: 19th to 20th centuries 11. Freedom of conscience, religion and speech: different balances in different legislations 12. Retrospect: Nature and value of conscience Index
An Empirical Study of Uniform and Differential Pricing in the Movie Theatrical Market

Movies vary widely in appeal, star power, cost, and other elements, and therefore, each might be expected to charge a different price. Multiplexes, however, typically charge the same price for all movies, except for such premium formats as 3D, a choice that has puzzled managers and researchers. Because of data limitations, minimal empirical work has directly addressed this issue. In Hong Kong, however, prices vary both within and across multiplexes. Using daily ticket prices and attendance by theater and movie, the authors empirically examine the potential gains from differentiated movie-specific pricing as well as the increasingly common two-tier (2D/3D) uniform pricing, as compared with a full uniform pricing strategy in which a theater charges the same price for all its movies. Their results show that differential pricing leads to higher profits than the two-tier uniform pricing practice, but that the improvement is limited. In contrast, the gains are substantial when compared with the full uniform pricing strategy, suggesting that only minimal differentiation (2D/3D) may obtain most of the gains available from fully differentiated prices.
Distribution of msDNAs among serotypes of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli strains

A genetic element, called a retron, is present in certain Escherichia coli strains. It consists of genes for the production of a covalently linked DNA‐RNA compound and a reverse transcriptase. The presence of a retron can be detected by testing for a satellite DNA band by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. This DNA band consists of the DNA portion of the DNA–RNA compound and is called msDNA (multicopy single‐stranded DNA). In a survey of intestinal E. coli isolates we detected msDNAs in classical enteropathogenic (EPEC) strains and in strains with aggregative adherence to tissue‐culture cells (AA), but not in enteroinvasive (EIEC) and enterotoxigenic (ETEC) strains. Among 76 EPEC strains belonging to 14 different serotypes, msDNA was found to be present in 7 serotypes. In total, five different types of msDNA were found, although within each serotype, the msDNAs were the same. These results suggest that different retrons are clonally inherited.
The “next day, free delivery” myth unravelled

PurposeCurrently, it is unclear how omnichannel retailers can create a last mile offer that is both attractive and sustainable from an economic and environmental point of view. The purpose of this paper is to explore to which extent consumers are willing to adopt last mile options that are more sustainable and how these options should be composed to remain attractive.Design/methodology/approachTo this end, the authors surveyed a representative sample of Belgian consumers, using choice-based conjoint experiments, and analysed their preferences structures.FindingsConsumers’ preference goes out to free, next day delivery to an address of choice, on regular office hours during the week. However, when free delivery and return are offered, consumers are willing to collect their orders themselves or wait longer for their orders to arrive.Practical implicationsThe research findings are important for retailers that (plan to) operate an omnichannel model. For omnichannel retailers with a dense store network, the results indicate that consumers accept their store network as pick-up and return locations, allowing retailers to create a more efficient and sustainable supply chain in which their online and offline activities can be combined.Originality/valueThe research findings contribute to current literature and practice by combining “planet” and “profit” components of sustainability in last mile transport and applying it in the novel omnichannel environment.
An intelligent model for trustworthiness evaluation in semantic web applications

The development and the advances of the World Wide Web from its first inception resulted in numerous diverse amounts of data and webpages on the web which motivates to greater demand for managing this data in an effective manner. Therefore, novel tools and techniques are required to effectively manage these data. Such tools are assumed to support interoperability and warehousing between the multiple data sources and extracting information from the different trusted databases on the web. Subsequently, the web is evolving into what is now called the Semantic Web aims to alleviate users from the burden of integrating different information sources as well as to perform searches. However, one needs to examine the trust issue of the searching results from any Semantic Web application. This paper investigates trust policies and mechanisms in semantic web applications and introduces an intermediary step to classify the relevant web services via intelligent model based on NN.
Model of Culture for Innovation

In the current economic panorama, innovation is considered to be an important source of sustainable competitive advantage. The literature indicates that organizational culture is one of the most important factors in innovation stimulation, given that influencing employee behavior promotes the acceptance of innovation as a fundamental organizational value and employee commitment to it. As such, organizations should concentrate on promoting an innovative culture that permits the institutionalization of innovation, which may occur by way of planned action or by means controlled by leaders or indirect mechanisms, such as structures, procedures, or institutional policy declarations. The importance of an innovative culture model which serves as a basis for cultural transformation emerges therefrom. Previous investigations have addressed innovative culture models focused on cultural traits and/or cultural determinants. The present study offers a holistic innovative culture model that in addition to addressing cultural traits and their determinants, as is done in other models, and takes into account management competencies and organizational capacities that are required to conform to cultural traits, to achieve innovative behavior on the part of the individuals of the organization.
An online collaboration framework for small and medium sized enterprises in the United Kingdom construction sector

More than 99% of the UK construction sector includes businesses that are defined within the category of SMEs (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises). Of these, most are categorised as micro-businesses that have less than ten employees (Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, Business Population Estimates for UK and the Regions, 2015). Therefore, it is an essential part of the construction sector that requires attention. A large part of their business depends on collaboration and partnering with other businesses. Online technologies are the latest trend to achieve innovative collaboration. Such technologies could improve the collaboration methods within construction SMEs and make them more competitive in the marketplace. By minimising the cost of their hardware and software systems, this will provide them with greater security and accessibility, thereby helping construction SMEs to focus more towards their core business and enhance productivity. This research has sought to achieve the aim of developing a collaboration framework specifically for construction SMEs based on online technologies. The objectives that were followed included reviewing the associated literature with regards to differences between SMEs and larger enterprises in the construction industry, assessment and evaluation of the related literature in connection with success factors in the construction industry, observation and inspection of the attributes of exiting online technologies and their prospective advantages for collaboration working, identification and recognition of the current collaboration issues occurred within the construction industry, examining the key requirements pertaining to effective collaboration within construction SMEs and, finally, to develop a collaboration framework for construction SMEs based on online technologies. A total of 17 interviews were carried out and the interviewees were selected carefully from several different construction SMEs, ensuring that a variety of SME sizes were selected to identify various associated issues that may occur within the construction SMEs regardless of their sizes. The extracted information from all interviews confirmed numerous aspects that caused similar issues within the associated companies regardless of their sizes. The gathered data, along with the related literature review, helped to achieve the aim and objectives of this research and to develop the final framework.
A Hierarchical Transactive Control Architecture for Renewables Integration in Smart Grids: Analytical Modeling and Stability

In this paper, we propose a hierarchical transactive control architecture that combines market transactions at the higher levels with inter-area and unit-level control at the lower levels. A model of this architecture is introduced, with dynamics at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. With a goal of ensuring frequency regulation using optimal allocation of resources in the presence of uncertainties in renewables and load, a hierarchical control methodology is presented. Global asymptotic stability of the overall system is established in the presence of uncertainties at all three time-scales. An IEEE 30-bus as well as simulations of practical examples of realistic sizes are used to validate the approach where it is shown that the proposed control architecture has the potential to reduce cost of reserves and to increase social welfare.
Population Differentiation and Natural Selection for Water‐Use Efficiency in Impatiens capensis (Balsaminaceae)

In xeric environments, water‐use efficiency (WUE) is likely to be a target of natural selection. Higher WUE is expected to confer a fitness advantage in drought conditions, but this prediction has rarely been tested. To examine the relationships between WUE and fitness, two common garden experiments were conducted. Inbred lines of Impatiens capensis derived from wet and relatively dry sites were planted into dry field conditions in an open and a woodland site. The lines from the dry population increased their instantaneous WUE in response to the dry conditions of the field to a greater degree than lines from the wet population. High instantaneous WUE also conferred a fitness advantage in the stressful conditions of the field. Thus, WUE may be an important trait for I. capensis populations in adapting to drier conditions.
Evidence that hepatocyte turnover is required for rapid clearance of duck hepatitis B virus during antiviral therapy of chronically infected ducks

Duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) DNA synthesis in congenitally infected ducks is inhibited by 2'-deoxycarbocyclic guanosine (2'-CDG). Three months of therapy reduces the number of infected hepatocytes at least 10-fold (W.S. Mason, J. Cullen, J. Saputelli, T.-T. Wu, C. Liu, W.T. London, E. Lustbader, P. Schaffer, A.P. O'Connell, I. Fourel, C.E. Aldrich, and A.R. Jilbert, Hepatology 19:393-411, 1994). The present study was performed to determine the kinetics of disappearance of infected hepatocytes and to evaluate the role of hepatocyte turnover in this process. Essentially all hepatocytes were infected before drug therapy. Oral treatment with 2'-CDG resulted in a prompt reduction in the number of infected hepatocytes. After 2 weeks, only 30 to 50% appeared to still be infected, and less than 10% were detectably infected after 5 weeks of therapy. To assess the possible role of hepatocyte turnover in these changes, 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BUdR) was administered 8 h before liver biopsy to label host DNA in hepatocytes passing through S phase, and stained nuclei were detected in tissue sections by using an antibody reactive to BUdR. The extent of nuclear labeling after 5 weeks was the same as that before therapy (ca. 1%). However, biopsies taken after 2 weeks of therapy showed a ca. 10-fold elevation in the number of nuclei labeled with BUdR. This result suggested that a rapid clearance of infected hepatocytes by 2'-CDG was caused not just by the inhibition of viral replication but also by an acceleration of the rate of hepatocyte turnover. To test this possibility further, antiviral therapy was carried out with another strong inhibitor of DHBV DNA synthesis, 5-fluoro-2',3'-dideoxy-3'-thiacytidine (524W), which did not accelerate hepatocyte turnover in ducks. 524W administration led to a strong inhibition of virus production but to a slower rate of decline in the number of infected hepatocytes, so that ca. 50% (and perhaps more) were still infected after 3 months of therapy. In addition, histopathologic evaluation of 2'-CDG-treated ducks revealed liver injury, especially at the start of therapy. No liver damage was observed during 524W therapy. These results imply that clearance of infected hepatocytes from the liver is correlated with hepatocyte turnover. Thus, in the absence of immune clearance or other sources for the accelerated elimination of infected hepatocytes, inhibitors of virus replication would have to be administered for a long period to substantially reduce the burden of infected hepatocytes in the liver.
Characterizing the Landscape of Musical Data on the Web: state of the art and challenges

Musical data can be analysed, combined, transformed and exploited for diverse purposes. However, despite the proliferation of digital libraries and repositories for music, infrastructures and tools, such uses of musical data remain scarce. As an initial step to help fill this gap, we present a survey of the landscape of musical data on the Web, available as a Linked Open Dataset: the musoW dataset of catalogued musical resources. We present the dataset and the methodology and criteria for its creation and assessment. We map the identified dimensions and parameters to existing Linked Data vocabularies, present insights gained from SPARQL queries, and identify significant relations between resource features. We present a thematic analysis of the original research questions associated with surveyed resources and identify the extent to which the collected resources are Linked Data-ready.
Epidermal biofuel cells: energy harvesting from human perspiration.

The healthcare industry has recently experienced a major paradigm shift towards wearable biomedical devices. [1] Such devices have the ability to monitor vital physiological parameters, such as heart rate or blood pressure. [2] Particular recent attention has been directed towards skin-worn electronic devices fabricated by novel hybrid techniques for the measurement of these vital signs. [3] Despite dramatic technological advances, further progress in the arena of on-body biomedical devices has been hindered by the lack of effective wearable power sources able to scavenge sufficient energy from the wearer. Major efforts have thus been directed towards the identification of a suitable wearable power source that offers conformal integration with the wearer(cid:2)s body. This activity has resulted in the development of flexible thin-film batteries, piezoelectric nanogenerators, wearable solar cells, mircosupercapacitors, and endocochlear-potential-based bio-batteries. [4] Nevertheless, new body-worn conformal power sources able to extract biochemical energy from the wearer(cid:2)s body (and his/her epidermis, in particular) are still highly desired. Herein we demonstrate the ability to generate substantial levels of electrical power from human perspiration in a non-invasive and continuous fashion through the use of epidermal biofuel cells based on temporary transfer tattoos (tBFCs). Enzymatic BFCs
Subunit change in cytochrome c oxidase: identification of the oxygen switch in Dictyostelium

Cytochrome c oxidase (COX) has a complex modular structure in eukaryotes. Depending on growth conditions, interchangeable isoforms of selected subunits are synthesized and combined to the evolutionarily conserved catalytic core of the enzyme. In Dictyostelium this structural make‐up is regulated by oxygen and involves two forms of the smallest subunit, termed VIIe and VIIs. Here we show that, in spite of a considerable sequence divergency, they are encoded by adjacent genes, linked ‘tail to head’ by only 800 bp. Deletion analyses reveal the presence of a short intergenic segment acting as an oxygen transcriptional switch. This structural organization and the different stability of the two subunit isoforms offer a molecular explanation for the extraordinary sensitivity to oxygen of the switching mechanism.
A review of hybrid manufacturing processes – state of the art and future perspectives

Today, hybrid manufacturing technology has drawn significant interests from both academia and industry due to the capability to make products in a more efficient and productive way. Although there is no specific consensus on the definition of the term ‘hybrid processes’, researchers have explored a number of approaches to combine different manufacturing processes with the similar objectives of improving surface integrity, increasing material removal rate, reducing tool wear, reducing production time and extending application areas. Thus, hybrid processes open up new opportunities and applications for manufacturing various components which are not able to be produced economically by processes on their own. This review paper starts with the classification of current manufacturing processes based on processes being defined as additive, subtractive, transformative, joining and dividing. Definitions of hybrid processes from other researchers in the literature are then introduced. The major part of this paper reviews existing hybrid processes reported over the past two decades. Finally, this paper attempts to propose possible definitions of hybrid processes along with the authors’ classification, followed by discussion of their developments, limitations and future research needs.
Alinhamento entre Ontologias de Topo e de Domínio Usando WordNet(Top-level and Domain Ontologies Alignment via WordNet)

Matching domain and top-level ontologies is an important task but still an open problem in the ontology matching field, particularly due to their different levels of abstraction. In this paper we propose an approach for matching domain and top ontologies that exploits the background knowledge from WordNet as an intermediate layer. We evaluate our approach using two well-known top-level ontologies, namely DOLCE and SUMO, and one domain ontology from the OAEI conference data set.