Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Controlling methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Time to return to more stringent methods of control in the United Kingdom? Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major cause of hospital acquired infection worldwide, posing a growing threat to public health. It belongs to a species of ubiquitous and versatile organisms that are continually adapting to new antimicrobial and environmental challenges, often through gene transfers even from distantly related organisms such as vertebrates. Why is MRSA important? Some strains are eminently transmissible, resulting in large numbers of infections in hospitals. Bacteraemia data for England and Wales show that MRSA as a proportion of total Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemias rose from under 2% in 1990 to 42% in 20001 2—one of the highest reported rates in Europe. Methicillin resistance was first reported in 1961 shortly after the introduction of methicillin (similar to flucloxacillin), the first penicillin resistant to destruction by staphylococcal β -lactamase. The discovery of methicillin was an important development as many hospital strains of S aureus had become penicillin resistant in the 1950s through the production of β -lactamase.w1 Some European countries experienced problems with MRSA in the 1960s, but this was followed by …
A model that predicts the attachment behavior of Ulva linza zoospores on surface topography

A predictive model for the attachment of spores of the green alga Ulva on patterned topographical surfaces was developed using a constant refinement approach. This ‘attachment model’ incorporated two historical data sets and a modified version of the previously-described Engineered Roughness Index. Two sets of newly-designed surfaces were used to evaluate the effect of two components of the model on spore settlement. Spores attached in fewer numbers when the area fraction of feature tops increased or when the number of distinct features in the design increased, as predicted by the model. The model correctly predicted the spore attachment density on three previously-untested surfaces relative to a smooth surface. The two historical data sets and two new data sets showed high correlation (R 2 = 0.88) with the model. This model may be useful for designing new antifouling topographies.
Autonomous Personal Filtering Improves Global Spam Filter Performance

Using two email streams, we show that a personal filter trained exclusively on user feedback substantially outperforms (p ≈ 0.000) three industry-leading global spam filters not using feedback. We show that autonomous personal filters, trained on the output from a global spam filter rather than user feedback, substantially outperform (p ≈ 0.000) the global filter, if by a somewhat smaller factor than userfeedback-trained personal filters. To our knowledge, no controlled quantitative study addressing these questions has previously been reported.
Soft immobilized pH gradient gels in proteome analysis: A follow‐up

As a follow‐up of a previous work on two‐dimensional map analysis utilizing soft (< 4%T) immobilized pH gradient (IPG) matrices in the first dimension (Candiano et al., Electrophoresis 2002, 23, 292–297), we have further optimized the preparation of such dilute IPG gels. One important step for obtaining an even reswelling of the entire IPG strip along the pH 3–10 interval is a washing step in 100 mM citric acid. It appears as though after rinsing off the excess acid in distilled water, a gradient of this tricarboxylic acid remains trapped into the IPG matrix, from almost nil at the acidic gel region to substantially higher amounts in its basic counterpart. This gradient helps in obtaining a uniform reswelling of the IPG strip, since carboxyl groups are more heavily hydrated than amino groups. The combined effects of uniform reswelling and of diluting the gel matrix favor penetration of large macromolecules (> 200 kDa) and allow for better spot resolution and for the display of a substantially higher number of spots also in the 30–60 000 Da region. A delipidation step in tri‐n‐butylphosphate:acetone:methanol (1:12:1) appears to substantially improve spot focusing and greatly diminish streaking and smearing of spots in all regions of the pH gradient.
Flow-injection chemiluminescence method to detect a β2 adrenergic agonist.

A new method for the detection of β2 adrenergic agonists was developed based on the chemiluminescence (CL) reaction of β2 adrenergic agonist with potassium ferricyanide-luminol CL. The effect of β2 adrenergic agonists including isoprenaline hydrochloride, salbutamol sulfate, terbutaline sulfate and ractopamine on the CL intensity of potassium ferricyanide-luminol was discovered. Detection of the β2 adrenergic agonist was carried out in a flow system. Using uniform design experimentation, the influence factors of CL were optimized. The optimal experimental conditions were 1 mmol/L of potassium ferricyanide, 10 µmol/L of luminol, 1.2 mmol/L of sodium hydroxide, a flow speed of 2.6 mL/min and a distance of 1.2 cm from 'Y2 ' to the flow cell. The linear ranges and limit of detection were 10-100 and 5 ng/mL for isoprenaline hydrochloride, 20-100 and 5 ng/mL for salbutamol sulfate, 8-200 and 1 ng/mL for terbutaline sulfate, 20-100 and 4 ng/mL for ractopamine, respectively. The proposed method allowed 200 injections/h with excellent repeatability and precision. It was successfully applied to the determination of three β2 adrenergic agonists in commercial pharmaceutical formulations with recoveries in the range of 96.8-98.5%. The possible CL reaction mechanism of potassium ferricyanide-luminol-β2 adrenergic agonist was discussed from the UV/vis spectra.
Reducing the electrical anisotropy in unidirectional CFRP materials for wind turbine blade applications

The incorporation of composite CFRP in wind turbine blades while to allows for longer and lighter blades challenges the efficiencyectiveness of their lightning protection system. The electrical anisotropy of these CFRP materials is a key factor and affects their performance. The present study investigates the influence of adding Graphene Oxide (GO) nanoparticles in to CFRP as a means to improve their electrical conductivity in the transverse and through thicknessthrough-thickness directions. Epoxy resin containing GO in filler contents of 5wt% and 6wt% was prepared and infused in unidirectional (UD) laminates. The GO nanofiller was dispersed in the epoxy resin prior to the infusion by means of speed mixing. The sample morphology was examined by means of optical microscopy. DC electrical resistance measurements were conducted in the transverse and through thicknessthrough-thickness directions to quantify the influence of the nanofiller. In For both filler volume contents loadings an increase was observed for both the transverse and through thicknessthrough-thickness directions compared to the neat CFRP.
A two-stage CMA-based receiver for blind joint equalization and multiuser detection in high data-rate DS-CDMA systems

The paper deals with the problem of blind mitigation of intersymbol interference (ISI) as well as multiple-access interference (MAI) in asynchronous high data-rate direct-sequence code-division multiple-access systems. A blind adaptive multiuser receiver based on the constant-modulus algorithm (CMA) is proposed, which demodulates each desired user by exploiting only the knowledge of its spreading code, without requiring estimation of the users's channels and timings. In order to overcome the CMA interference capture problem, which arises in a multiuser scenario, a two-stage adaptive receiver is adopted: In the first stage, partial MAI and ISI suppression is blindly achieved by exploiting the desired user signature structure properties; in the second stage, the residual MAI and the ISI are removed by using the CMA, and the information symbols of the desired user are reliably recovered. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that the first stage is an effective blind adaptive strategy which allows the CMA detector in the second stage to lock on the desired-user symbol, at a particular delay. The proposed blind receiver achieves a significant performance gain in comparison with existing blind methods.
Design, Synthesis and Study of Thermomechanically Active Polymer Networks Based on Latent Crosslinking of Semicrystalline Polymers

Demand has arisen rapidly for smart materials in the world of the need to develop and understand new functional products like plastics, rubber, adhesives, fibers, and coatings. Such products are essentially composed of polymers, large molecules of high molecular weight with homogeneous or various repeating units, which researchers term “macromolecules” that engender specific structural, morphological, and physical and mechanical properties. Those polymers with the capacity to change their configuration in accordance with environmental alteration are specifically referred to as shape memory polymers (SMPs), attracting much interest of study both academically and industrially. Herein, this dissertation aims at design, fabrication, and characterization of novel crosslinkable semicrystalline polymeric materials utilizing different techniques and mechanisms in order to explore their special thermomechanical features as well as the possibilities for potential industrial application based on shape memory (SM) effects. Key aspects include use of modern polymer synthesis to tailor thermal and shape memory properties and the adoption of electrospinning processing techniques to form continuous, fine fibers that allow unique molecular modifications, study of enzymatic degradation behavior involving physical form and microstructural state, and unprecedented approaches of making new kinds of shape memory assisted self-healing (SMASH) materials and thermal-responsive self-reversible actuators that require no human intervention. In the following is described the dissertation scope and
Minimising buffer requirements of synchronous dataflow graphs with model checking

Signal processing and multimedia applications are often implemented on resource constrained embedded systems. It is therefore important to find implementations that use as little resources as possible. These applications are frequently specified as synchronous data flow graphs. Communication between actors of these graphs requires storage capacity. In this paper, we present an exact method to determine the minimum storage capacity required to execute the graph using model-checking techniques. This can be done for different measures of storage capacity. The problem is known to be NP-complete and because of this, existing buffer minimisation techniques are heuristics and hence not exact. Modern model-checking tools are quite efficient and they have been successfully applied to scheduling-related problems. We study the feasibility of this approach with examples.
Transmissive Nanohole Arrays for Massively-Parallel Optical Biosensing

A high-throughput optical biosensing technique is proposed and demonstrated. This hybrid technique combines optical transmission of nanoholes with colorimetric silver staining. The size and spacing of the nanoholes are chosen so that individual nanoholes can be independently resolved in massive parallel using an ordinary transmission optical microscope, and, in place of determining a spectral shift, the brightness of each nanohole is recorded to greatly simplify the readout. Each nanohole then acts as an independent sensor, and the blocking of nanohole optical transmission by enzymatic silver staining defines the specific detection of a biological agent. Nearly 10000 nanoholes can be simultaneously monitored under the field of view of a typical microscope. As an initial proof of concept, biotinylated lysozyme (biotin-HEL) was used as a model analyte, giving a detection limit as low as 0.1 ng/mL.
No impairment of endothelial function or insulin sensitivity with 4 weeks of the HIV protease inhibitors atazanavir or lopinavir-ritonavir in healthy subjects without HIV infection: a placebo-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND Dyslipidemia alone does not fully explain the increase in cardiovascular events among patients receiving protease inhibitor (PI)-based treatment for human immunodeficiency virus infection. Some PIs, such as indinavir, directly induce endothelial dysfunction, an effect that may mediate that portion of the increase in cardiovascular events that is not attributable to dyslipidemia. METHODS Endothelium-dependent vasodilation, insulin-mediated vasodilation, and whole-body and leg glucose uptake during use of a 1-h euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp (insulin infusion, 40 mU/m(2)/min) were measured in healthy men before and after 4 weeks of treatment with placebo (12 men), with 400 mg atazanavir per day (9 men), or with 400 mg lopinavir and 100 mg ritonavir twice per day (9 men). RESULTS Median age (36 years) and mean body mass index SD (23.4+/-2.6; calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters) did not differ between groups. Endothelium-dependent vasodilation, expressed as the percentage change in the leg blood flow response to intrafemoral artery infusion of 15 microg/min of the endothelium-dependent vasodilator methacholine, did not change after 4 weeks of treatment in any group:mean percentage change +/- SD, 154+/-102 from baseline and 242+/-254 at week 4 with atazanavir (P=.36), 76+/-62 and 86+/-79, respectively, with lopinavir-ritonavir (P=.68), and 111+/-86 and 127+/-153, respectively,with placebo (P=.63; for between-group differences, P=.55). The response to the endothelium-independent vasodilator nitroprusside was not different at week 4 for any group, nor was insulin-mediated vasodilation or leg or whole-body insulin-mediated glucose uptake (all within-group P values were 1.1). CONCLUSIONS Unlike the dramatic impairment seen with indinavir, the newer PIs atazanavir and lopinavir-ritonavir do not induce endothelial dysfunction in healthy subjects. Thus, endothelial dysfunction does not appear to be a PI drug class effect. The cause of the non-lipid-mediated increase in cardiovascular events that are reported with PIs remains unclear.
Antioxidant Activity Assessment of Plants Used in Huastec Traditional Medicine , Mexico

The antioxidant capacity of Ocotea tampicensis (Meissner) Hemsley, Bursera simaruba (L.) Sarg, Pseudobombax ellipticum (Kunth) Dugand, Hamelia patens Jaqc and Croton reflexifolius Kunth was evaluated. Ethanolic and aqueous extractions were performed at concentrations of 15, 30, 60, 120 and 240 mg / 100ml. Colorimetric tests ABTS, DPPH and FRAP were used. The results were expressed as equivalent antioxidant capacity ascorbic acid (AEAC) and percentage capture of free radicals. The aqueous extracts of O. tampicensis and B. simaruba showed the higher percentage capture of free radicals at a concentration of 240mg / 100ml. We hypothesize that the ability to capture free radicals of the species mentioned, are partly responsible for the analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity of these plants used in Huastec traditional medicine. Keyword: Antioxidants; free radicals; inflammation; traditional medicine
A Simple and Economical Device to Process Ti Cylinders with Elongated Porosity by Freeze-Casting Techniques: Design and Manufacturing

Nowadays, the development of materials with gradient porosity is an important aim for many applications, especially in the field of bone tissue replacement. This research work shows the design and manufacture of a simple and economical device to process Ti cylinders with elongated and high interconnected porosity by freeze-casting techniques. The influence of the vessel material on the internal lamellar structure of the porous Ti samples is also studied. The device has been validated with: (i) a thermal gradient from-10 °C at the cold surface to 20 °C at the hot surface; and (ii) a cylindrical vessel with 12 mm diameter of alumina or Teflon. These working conditions have allowed maintaining the freezing conditions during the full process (alumina vessel: 30 minutes; Teflon vessel: 3 hours). After the solidification of the Ti aqueous suspension, the ice is sublimated (24 hours at-50 °C and 0.070 mbar). Then, the resulting powder is sintered (1150 °C for 5 h at high vacuum ~ 10-5 mbar), obtaining the porous Ti sample with the final structural strength. Finally, a detailed study of the most relevant porosity features is performed: porosity ratio and interconnectivity degree by Archimedes’ method, and size and shape of the pores by image analysis at three different zones along the longitudinal cross section. The results indicate the viability of the device to enhance the directional freezing and thus, the elongated porosity. Teflon vessel present the best results, with an average porosity ratio and porosity size of 39.5 % and 123.3 μm, respectively. This suggests an optimal biomechanical and bifunctional balance of this porous material.
Genetic variation in UGT genes modify the associations of NSAIDs with risk of colorectal cancer: Colon cancer family registry

The use of non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is associated with reduced risk of colorectal neoplasia. Previous studies have reported that polymorphisms in NSAID‐metabolizing enzymes central to NSAID metabolism including UDP‐glucuronosyltransferases (UGT) and cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2C9 may modify this protective effect. We investigated whether 35 functionally relevant polymorphisms within CYP2C9 and UGT genes were associated with colorectal cancer risk or modified the protective effect of NSAIDs on colorectal cancer susceptibility, using 1,584 colorectal cancer cases and 2,516 unaffected sibling controls from the Colon Cancer Family Registry. A three‐SNP genotype in UGT1A6 (G–A–A; Ala7–Thr181–Arg184) and the Asp85 variant in UGT2B15 increased the risk of colorectal cancer (OR 3.87; 95% CI 1.04–14.45 and OR 1.34; 95% CI 1.10–1.63, respectively). We observed interactions between UGT1A3 Thr78Thr (A>G) and NSAID use (P‐interaction = 0.02), a three‐SNP genotype within UGT2B4 and ibuprofen use (P‐interaction = 0.0018), as well as UGT2B15 Tyr85Asp (T>G) and aspirin use (P‐interaction = 0.01). The interaction with the UGT2B4 and the UGT2B15 polymorphisms were noteworthy at the 25% FDR level. This study highlights the need for further pharmacogenetic studies to identify individuals who might benefit from NSAID use as part of developing effective strategies for prevention of colorectal neoplasia. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
SHOULD FINLAND AND SWEDEN FORM A MONETARY UNION ? Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance , No . 224 February 1998

This paper surveys the future exchange rate policy of Finland and Sweden using the theory of optimal currency areas as a framework for the analysis. We examine which countries are most suitable to form a currency union with Finland and Sweden. The Finnish and Swedish economies display great similarities regarding industrial structure, business cycle patterns, migration and the design of economic policies. There are substantial differences between on the one hand Finland and Sweden, and on the other, many EU countries which are potential members of a future EMU. Our calculations give support for of a Finnish-Swedish currency union and put a Finnish-Swedish membership of the EMU into question. Our results stress the importance of Finnish-Swedish co-operation in monetary matters. This could take many forms, of which a monetary union is one. JEL classifications: F33
Cue Phrase Classification Using Machine Learning

Cue phrases may be used in a discourse sense to explicitly signal discourse structure, but also in a sentential sense to convey semantic rather than structural information. Correctly classifying cue phrases as discourse or sentential is critical in natural language processing systems that exploit discourse structure, e.g., for performing tasks such as anaphora resolution and plan recognition. This paper explores the use of machine learning for classifying cue phrases as discourse or sentential. Two machine learning programs (cgrendel and C4.5) are used to induce classification models from sets of pre-classified cue phrases and their features in text and speech. Machine learning is shown to be an effective technique for not only automating the generation of classification models, but also for improving upon previous results. When compared to manually derived classification models already in the literature, the learned models often perform with higher accuracy and contain new linguistic insights into the data. In addition, the ability to automatically construct classification models makes it easier to comparatively analyze the utility of alternative feature representations of the data. Finally, the ease of retraining makes the learning approach more scalable and flexible than manual methods.
Analyzing capacity of cooperative MIMO using beamforming in measured channel data

This paper focuses on capacity in cooperative base stations MIMO in a realistic MIMO channel measurement. Two widely separated base stations have been assumed in this work and measurement has been done simultaneously from both base stations to four users. The effect of beamforming on capacity in different scenarios in this novel measurement setup has been investigated. The results shows great increase in capacity after cooperation consideration and optimization applied.
The Organisation of Ebola Virus Reveals a Capacity for Extensive, Modular Polyploidy

Background Filoviruses, including Ebola virus, are unusual in being filamentous animal viruses. Structural data on the arrangement, stoichiometry and organisation of the component molecules of filoviruses has until now been lacking, partially due to the need to work under level 4 biological containment. The present study provides unique insights into the structure of this deadly pathogen. Methodology and Principal Findings We have investigated the structure of Ebola virus using a combination of cryo-electron microscopy, cryo-electron tomography, sub-tomogram averaging, and single particle image processing. Here we report the three-dimensional structure and architecture of Ebola virus and establish that multiple copies of the RNA genome can be packaged to produce polyploid virus particles, through an extreme degree of length polymorphism. We show that the helical Ebola virus inner nucleocapsid containing RNA and nucleoprotein is stabilized by an outer layer of VP24-VP35 bridges. Elucidation of the structure of the membrane-associated glycoprotein in its native state indicates that the putative receptor-binding site is occluded within the molecule, while a major neutralizing epitope is exposed on its surface proximal to the viral envelope. The matrix protein VP40 forms a regular lattice within the envelope, although its contacts with the nucleocapsid are irregular. Conclusions The results of this study demonstrate a modular organization in Ebola virus that accommodates a well-ordered, symmetrical nucleocapsid within a flexible, tubular membrane envelope.
Existence Conditions and Properties of the Frequency Response Operators of Continuous-Time Periodic Systems

The definition of the frequency response operator via the steady-state analysis in finite-dimensional linear continuous-time periodic (FDLCP) systems is revisited. It is shown that the frequency response operator is guaranteed to be well defined only densely on the linear space l2, which is different from the usual understanding. Fortunately, however, it turns out that this frequency response operator can have an extension onto l2 so that the equivalence between the time-domain H2 norm (respectively, the L2-induced norm) and the frequency-domain H2 norm (respectively, the $H_{\infty}$ norm of the frequency response operator) is recovered. Under some stronger assumptions, it is also shown that the frequency response operator can be viewed as a bounded operator from l1 to l1, which can also be established via the steady-state analysis.