Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The added value to global model projections of climate change by dynamical downscaling: A case study over the continental U.S. using the GISS‐ModelE2 and WRF models

[1] Dynamical downscaling is being increasingly used for climate change studies, wherein the climates simulated by a coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model (AOGCM) for a historical and a future (projected) decade are used to drive a regional climate model (RCM) over a specific area. While previous studies have demonstrated that RCMs can add value to AOGCM-simulated climatologies over different world regions, it is unclear as to whether or not this translates to a better reproduction of the observed climate change therein. We address this issue over the continental U.S. using the GISS-ModelE2 and WRF models, a state-of-the-science AOGCM and RCM, respectively. As configured here, the RCM does not effect holistic improvement in the seasonally and regionally averaged surface air temperature or precipitation for the individual historical decades. Insofar as the climate change between the two decades is concerned, the RCM does improve upon the AOGCM when nudged in the domain proper, but only modestly so. Further, the analysis indicates that there is not a strong relationship between skill in capturing climatological means and skill in capturing climate change. Though additional research would be needed to demonstrate the robustness of this finding in AOGCM/RCM models generally, the evidence indicates that, for climate change studies, the most important factor is the skill of the driving global model itself, suggesting that highest priority should be given to improving the long-range climate skill of AOGCMs.
Short Duration High-Intensity Interval Training Improves Aerobic Conditioning of Female College Soccer Players

International Journal of Exercise Science 5(3) : 232-238, 2012. We hypothesized that High-intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is comparable to traditional endurance training for improving aerobic capacity over a 5-week training period. A VO2max test and Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery 1 test (Yo-Yo) were conducted by the HIIT group (Sprint Training (SPR); 5 maximal sprint efforts with 30 seconds of stimulus and 4.5 minutes of active recovery, twice weekly) and the endurance group (END; 40-min run at 80% of VO2max, twice weekly) before and after intervention. Following initial testing, female NCAA D-III level soccer players were matched for VO2max and randomly assigned to SPR (n=7) or END (n=6) groups. Between-group (END vs. SPR) and between-condition (pre- vs. post- training) comparisons were made using repeated measures ANOVA (α=0.05) with a Tukey post-hoc analysis. The Yo-Yo test revealed significant team preand post- training differences (1680±480 m vs. 1895±524 m respectively, p=0.002), also true for SPR (1857±423 m vs. 2131±436 m, p=0.001) and END groups (1473±494 m vs. 1613±510 m, p=0.042). There were no differences between groups for the pre-test (p=0.108) or the post-test (p=0.076). The training program resulted in significant improvements in team VO2max values (50.66±3.52 ml∙kg-1 ∙min-1 vs. 52.71±3.24 ml∙kg-1 ∙min-1 respectively, p=0.002), with no differences between the two groups for the pre- (p=0.493) and post- tests (p=0.362). The mean VO2max improved by 2.36 ml∙kg -1 ∙min -1 (4.73%) for SPR and 1.66 ml∙kg -1 ∙min -1 (3.42%) for END. Performing HIIT as little as twice per week offers an adequate aerobic training stimulus at considerable time savings.
Data Skepticism in Practice Online Anomaly Detection over Big Data Streams

Data quality is a challenging problem in many application domains. For Big Data, and in particular for high-velocity data streams, data quality testing is fundamentally different from previous approaches devised for relational data. This thesis describes and empirically evaluates the design and implementation of a framework for data quality testing over real-world streams in a large-scale telecommunication network. Our approach satisfies two conditions: generality—by using general-purpose measures borrowed from information theory and statistics that are applicable to various domains and data types—and scalability—through efficient and effective anomaly detection pipelines that are executed in a distributed setting. We propose two measures for dynamically detecting anomalies: relative entropy for detecting changes in the users’ activity over time and Pearson correlation for detecting anomalies affecting individual data streams. Our implementation leverages state-of-the-art streaming infrastructures, namely Kafka queues and Spark Streaming, as well as large-scale batch processing components such as HDFS and Spark. By combining both real-time and batch processing, we are able to detect anomalies at different temporal scales. By leveraging the spatial information given by the telecommunications network, we are also able to detect anomalies at different spatial scales. We empirically evaluate our system and discuss its merits and limitations by comparing it to existing methods, showing its high accuracy and efficiency. Furthermore, we show that our system scales gracefully with larger volumes of data as it is able to parallelize its operations across large numbers of nodes in a cluster.
Imaging breast with implants – a Swedish perspective

Background: Today, the most common cancer among women in Sweden is breast cancer. To detect and treat cancer at an early stage, women between 40-74 years are offered mammographic screening. However, it is becoming more common with women having breast implants, which causes some difficulties in meeting the image criteria in mammographic screening. Therefore, Eklund’s technique is preferred to optimize the detection of breast cancer for women with breast implants. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to report and describe the screening protocol of several mammography clinics for imaging breasts with implants. Method: A survey with four open questions was distributed, and then interpreted and reported in a quantitative manner. Out of 28 contacted mammography clinics, 24 responded. Result: The results of the study show that most of the participating clinics were using Eklund´s pushback technique without knowing it. There were significant differences in the selection of projection and compression pressure for the mammographic screening. Conclusion: The results of the study indicate that guidelines are recommended to ensure that every clinic in Sweden is working evidence-based and that women can be offered equal care.
An Uncovering of Bad Smell in Software Refactoring

This paper discusses refactoring, which is one of the techniques to keep software maintainable. However, refactoring itself will not bring the full benefits, if we do not understand when refactoring needs to be applied. To make it easier for a software developer to decide whether certain software needs refactoring or not, Fowler & Beck (Fowler & Beck 2000) give a list of bad code smells. Bad smells are signs of potential problems in code. Detecting and resolving bad smells, however, remain time-consuming for software engineers despite proposals on bad smell detection and refactoring tools. Numerous bad smells have been recognized, yet the sequences in which the detection and resolution of different kinds of bad smells are performed are rarely discussed because software engineers do not know how to optimize sequences or determine the benefits of an optimal sequence. To this end, we propose a detection and resolution sequence for different kinds of bad smells to simplify their detection and resolution. We highlight the necessity of managing bad smell resolution sequences with a motivating example, and recommend a suitable sequence for commonly occurring bad smells. We evaluate this recommendation on two nontrivial open source applications, and the evaluation results suggest that a significant reduction in effort ranging from 17.64 to 20 percent can be achieved when bad smells are detected and resolved using the proposed sequence.
Development of Colorimetric Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Assay for Rapid Detection of the Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus

Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay is a novel technique for amplifying DNA under constant temperature, with high specificity, sensitivity, rapidity and efficiency. We applied a rapid detection protocol, for the first time, which utilizes colorimetric loop-mediated isothermal amplification for detection of Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl virus. In this regard, all four LAMP primers (i.e. F3, B3, FIP and BIP,) together with PCR primers (F and R) were designed on the basis of the SF gene of the DNA sequences of TYLCV. Even though DAS-ELISA, PCR and LAMP assays could successfully detect positive infected samples, considering the time, safety, sensitivity, cost and simplicity, the last one was overall superior. Meanwhile, among five different visual dyes to accurately detect LAMP products, both hydroxynaphthol blue and GeneFinderTM could produce long stable color change and brightness in a close tube-based approach to prevent cross-contamination risk, concluded eventually as the best ones. All the results, overall, indicated that the LAMP offers an interesting novel and convenient assay format for the rapid, sensitive, cost-effective, and fairly user friendly diagnostic tool of recognition of Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl virus and therefore presents an alternative to PCR-based assays.
Multiple positive solutions for Schrödinger problems with concave and convex nonlinearities

In this paper, we consider the multiplicity of positive solutions for a class of Schrödinger equations involving concave-convex nonlinearities in the whole space. With the help of the Nehari manifold, Ekeland variational principle and the theory of Lagrange multipliers, we prove that the Schrödinger equation has at least two positive solutions, one of which is a positive ground state solution.
TÜRKİYE’DE ASGARİ ÜCRET VE ORTALAMA ÜCRET İLİŞKİSİ: BİR KOENTEGRASYON VE HATA DÜZELTME ANALİZİ

Yasal asgari ucretlerin is piyasasindaki ozel-sektor ortalama ucretlerle olan iliskisi Turkiyedeki arastirmalarda pek uzerinde durulan bir konu olmamistir. Bu calisma, esbutunleme yontemini kullanarak asgari ucretlerle ozel-sektor ortalama ucretleri arasinda uzun-donem bir iliskinin oldugunu ortaya koymaktadir. Soz konusu iliskinin kisa donemde gosterdigi ozellikler ise ‘hata duzeltme’ modeli kullanilarak analiz edilmistir. Sonuclar degiskenler arasinda cift yonlu isleyen bir Granger-nedenselliginin bulundugunu gostermektedir. Elde edilen bulgulara gore, asgari ucretlerin ozellikle ozel sektordeki ortalama ucretler vasitasiyla ekonomideki makro deskenleri onemli olcude etkileme potansiyeli tasidigini soylemek mumkundur
A Study of Calorie Estimation in Pictures of Food

Background: Software designed to accurately estimate food calories from still images could help users and health professionals more efficiently identify dietary patterns and food choices associated with health and health risks. However, calorie estimation from images is difficult, and no publicly available software can do so accurately while minimizing the burden associated with data collection and analysis. Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the accuracy of crowdsourced annotations of calorie content in food images, and to identify and quantify sources of bias and noise as a function of respondent characteristics and food qualities (e.g., energy density). Methods: We invited adult social media users to provide calorie estimates for 20 food images (for which ground truth calorie data were known) using a custom-built webpage that administers an online quiz. The images were selected to provide a range of food types and energy density. Participants optionally provided age range, gender, and their height and weight. Additionally, five nutrition experts provided annotations for the same data to form a basis of comparison. We examined estimate accuracy on the basis of expertise, demographic data, and food qualities using linear mixed effects models with participant and image index as random variables. We also analyzed the advantage of aggregating nonexpert estimates. Results: 2028 respondents agreed to participate in the study (males: 770 [38%], mean body mass index: 27.5). Average accuracy was 5 out of 20 correct guesses, where “correct” was defined as a number within 20% of the ground truth. Even a small crowd of 10 individuals achieved an accuracy of 7, exceeding the average individual's and expert annotator’s accuracy of 5. Women were more accurate than men (P<.001), and younger people were more accurate than older people (P<.001). The calorie content of energy-dense foods was overestimated (P=.024). Participants performed worse when images contained reference objects, such as credit cards, for scale (P=.014). Conclusions: Our findings provide new information about how calories are estimated from food images, which can inform the design of related software and analyses.
Optimization of ultrasound assisted extraction of phenolic compounds and antioxidants from grape peel through response surface methodology

Functional components from Campbell Early grape peel were extracted by ultrasound-assisted extraction technology. The experiments were carried out according to a five level, three variable central composite rotatable design. The best possible combinations of extraction variables were obtained for the maximum phenolic compounds and antioxidant activities of grape peel extracts using response surface methodology. The optimal conditions include 53.14% ethanol, 46.03°C temperature and 24.03 min time for the maximum total phenolic compounds (6.70 mg GAE/ 100 mL) and 53.06% ethanol, 50.65°C temperature and 25.58 min time for the maximum antioxidant activity (555.90 mg/L). Under these conditions, the experimental total phenolics were 6.67 mg GAE/100 mL and antioxidant activity was 554.84 mg/L of the grape peel extract, which is well matched with the predicted values.
Effects of Free-Access Feeding and Milk Replacer Acidification on Calf Performance and Development of Digestive Anatomy

Conventional milk feeding strategies have traditionally provided milk or milk replacer to calves at a rate of 8 to 10% of body weight, usually distributed over two meals per day. There is, however, a growing body of research indicating that calves are motivated to consume much higher volumes of milk, as much as 20% of body weight, without negatively affecting health (Appleby et al., 2001; Jasper and Weary, 2002; Khan et al., 2007; Borderas et al., 2009). Furthermore, feeding higher or ad libitum volumes of milk supports significantly greater body weight gain (Appleby et al., 2001; Jasper and Weary, 2002; Khan et al., 2007) and is associated with reduced behavioural signs of hunger, including fewer calf contacts and displacements, and increased lying time (De Paula, Vieira et al., 2008; Borderas et al., 2009). A system of implementing free-access acidified milk feeding for calves has recently been proposed, and gained widespread adoption in Ontario (Anderson, 2008). Nevertheless, there has been little controlled research conducted to evaluate the effects of this novel milk feeding program. The aim of this research was to examine the effects of free-access feeding and milk replacer acidification on calf performance and development of digestive anatomy.
An MBoC Favorite: TOR controls translation initiation and early G1 progression in yeast

Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells treated with the immunosuppressant rapamycin or depleted for the targets of rapamycin TOR1 and TOR2 arrest growth in the early G1 phase of the cell cycle. Loss of TOR function also causes an early inhibition of translation initiation and induces several other physiological changes characteristic of starved cells entering stationary phase (G0). A G1 cyclin mRNA whose translational control is altered by substitution of the UBI4 5' leader region (UBI4 is normally translated under starvation conditions) suppresses the rapamycin-induced G1 arrest and confers starvation sensitivity. These results suggest that the block in translation initiation is a direct consequence of loss of TOR function and the cause of the G1 arrest. We propose that the TORs, two related phosphatidylinositol kinase homologues, are part of a novel signaling pathway that activates eIF-4E-dependent protein synthesis and, thereby, G1 progression in response to nutrient availability. Such a pathway may constitute a checkpoint that prevents early G1 progression and growth in the absence of nutrients.
Considerations Regarding Age at Surgery and Fistula Incidence Using One- and Two-stage Closure for Cleft Palate

Abstract Introduction: Although cleft lip and palate (CLP) is one of the most common congenital malformations, occurring in 1 in 700 live births, there is still no generally accepted treatment protocol. Numerous surgical techniques have been described for cleft palate repair; these techniques can be divided into one-stage (one operation) cleft palate repair and two-stage cleft palate closure. The aim of this study is to present our cleft palate team experience in using the two-stage cleft palate closure and the clinical outcomes in terms of oronasal fistula rate. Material and methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on medical records of 80 patients who underwent palate repair over a five-year period, from 2008 to 2012. All cleft palate patients were incorporated. Information on patient’s gender, cleft type, age at repair, one- or two-stage cleft palate repair were collected and analyzed. Results: Fifty-three (66%) and twenty-seven (34%) patients underwent two-stage and one-stage repair, respectively. According to Veau classification, more than 60% of them were Veau III and IV, associating cleft lip to cleft palate. Fistula occurred in 34% of the two-stage repairs versus 7% of one-stage repairs, with an overall incidence of 24%. Conclusions: Our study has shown that a two-stage cleft palate closure has a higher rate of fistula formation when compared with the one-stage repair. Two-stage repair is the protocol of choice in wide complete cleft lip and palate cases, while one-stage procedure is a good option for cleft palate alone, or some specific cleft lip and palate cases (narrow cleft palate, older age at surgery)
Perceived Stress, Optimism and Social Appearance Anxiety in Patients with Skin Diseases: A Comparative Study

Background : Skin disease is often considered to be ‘only cosmetic’ by many medical professionals and lay-people alike but unlike most internal illnesses, skin disease is often immediately visible to others and therefore people suffering from dermatological conditions may suffer serious social and emotional consequences. Aim : The purpose of this research was to compare patients suffering from acne, alopecia areata (AA) and melanosis on perceived stress, optimism and social appearance anxiety. Materials and Methods : The study included 120 patients (acne = 40, AA = 40, melanosis = 40) ages ranging from 15 to 25 years. Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) and Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS) were administered to the patients. Analytical evaluation was done by Kruskal Wallis and ANOVA-tests. Analyses : The results of the present study clearly revealed that perceived stress and social appearance anxiety were found highest in patients with AA followed by acne patients and found least in patients with melanosis. However, no significant difference was found in patients with melanosis, acne and AA in regard to optimism. This study is an attempt to stimulate professionals working in the field of dermatology and mental health to explore their supportive communication and increase awareness regarding the difficulties that patients with skin diseases can face.
A Novel Double-Loop Vector Control Strategy for PMSMs Based on Kinetic Energy Feedback

A novel vector control strategy for a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) based on the kinetic energy stored in the rotor is proposed in this paper. The novel strategy is composed of two closed loops, in which the current loop is the inner loop, and the kinetic energy serves as the outer loop. The theoretical basis and the design procedure of the two loops are given. The feasibility of the proposed control strategy is verified by experimental results. When compared with traditional vector control strategies, the proposed vector control strategy based on energy feedback has better dynamic performance. In addition, an effective estimation solution for the load variation is put forward.
Diet during pregnancy : dietary patterns and weight gain rate among Finnish pregnant women

Proper nutrition and optimal weight status in pregnancy are important for both the mother and her child. The present study was aimed at assessment of maternal food and nutrient intake, dietary supplement use, dietary patterns, and weight during pregnancy. Additionally, associations between maternal weight, socio-demographic and perinatal factors and advanced beta cell autoimmunity in the offspring were examined. The results from a one-year cohort of mothers entering the ongoing Type 1 Diabetes Prediction and Prevention (DIPP) study in 1998–99 (n = 797) suggested that healthy food choices were positively correlated with maternal age and education. Dietary supplements were used by 85% of the women. However, the intake of vitamin D did not meet the recommendation and folic acid intake was inadequate in 44% of the pregnant women when both food and supplementation intakes were taken into account. Seven dietary patterns were identified in 3730 pregnant women who entered the DIPP study between 1997 and 2002. The ‘healthy’, the ‘low-fat foods’ and the ‘alcohol and butter’ dietary patterns were positively associated with maternal age and education. The ‘fast food’ dietary pattern was positively associated and the ‘alcohol and butter’ pattern was inversely associated with the rate of maternal weight gain during pregnancy. Altogether, 4093 children and their mothers comprised the study population in which the relationships between maternal initial body mass index, weight gain rate, and the development of beta cell autoimmunity in the offspring were examined. Maternal weight status during pregnancy was not related to the risk of advanced beta cell autoimmunity. A higher level of maternal education was significantly associated with a decreased risk of advanced beta cell autoimmunity in children. More attention should be paid to nutritional guidance among Finnish pregnant women, especially as regards young and less well educated women. Dietary patterns may be useful for risk group identification and they may offer a framework for further research concerning diet and health outcomes among mothers and their children.