Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
antimicrobial resistance genes from on

Background: Drug resistance genes and their mobile genetic elements are frequently identified from environmental saprophytic organisms. It is widely accepted that the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry selects for drug resistant microorganisms, which are then spread from the farm environment to humans through the consumption of contaminated food products. We wished to identify novel drug resistance genes from microbial communities on retail food products. Here, we chose to study the microbial communities on retail spinach because it is commonly eaten raw and has previously been associated with outbreaks of bacterial infections. Results: We created metagenomic plasmid libraries from microbiota isolated from retail spinach samples. We identified five unique plasmids that increased resistance to antimicrobial drugs in the E. coli host. These plasmids were identified in E. coli that grew on plates that contained ampicillin (pAMP), aztreonam (pAZT), ciprofloxacin (pCIP), trimethoprim (pTRM), and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (pSXT). We identified open reading frames with similarity to known classes of drug resistance genes in the DNA inserts of all 5 plasmids. These drug resistance genes conferred resistance to fluoroquinolones, cephalosporins, and trimethoprim, which are classes of antimicrobial drugs frequently used to treat human Gram negative bacterial infections. These results show that novel drug resistance genes are found in microbiota on retail produce items. Conclusions: Here we show that microbiota of retail spinach contains DNA sequences previously unidentified as conferring antibiotic resistance. Many of these novel sequences show similarity to genes found in species of bacteria, which have previously been identified as commensal or saprophytic bacteria found on plants. We showed that these resistance genes are capable of conferring clinically relevant levels of resistance to antimicrobial agents. Food saprophytes may serve as an important reservoir for new drug-resistance determinants in human pathogens.
Edinburgh Research Explorer Bacterial size matters

Enterococcus faecalis is an opportunistic pathogen frequently isolated in clinical settings. This organism is intrinsically resistant to several clinically relevant antibiotics and can transfer resistance to other pathogens. Although E . faecalis has emerged as a major nosocomial pathogen, the mechanisms underlying the virulence of this organism remain elusive. We studied the regulation of daughter cell separation during growth and explored the impact of this process on pathogenesis. We demonstrate that the activity of the AtlA peptidoglycan hydrolase, an enzyme dedicated to septum cleavage, is controlled by several mechanisms, including glycosylation and recognition of the peptidoglycan substrate. We show that the long cell chains of E . faecalis mutants are more susceptible to phagocytosis and are no longer able to cause lethality in the zebrafish model of infection. cell chains, a distinctive property of E . faecalis , contributes to pathogenesis. We describe several mechanisms that control the activity of AtlA, the enzyme dedicated to septum cleavage during division. Using a combination of in vitro assays and flow cytometry analyses of E . faecalis mutants, we show that AtlA activity is regulated by several mechanisms. We reveal that during pathogenesis, AtlA activity is critical for overcoming the host immune response. In the absence of AtlA, the long cell chains of E . faecalis mutants are more susceptible to phagocytosis and can no longer cause lethality in the zebrafish model of infection, thus indicating that control of cell chain length is a novel virulence factor in E . faecalis . This work highlights a link between cell division and pathogenesis and suggests that cell separation represents a step that can be targeted to control bacterial infections.
LiDAR Odometry by Deep Learning-based Feature Points with LiDAR Odometry by Deep Learning-based Feature Points with Two-step Pose Estimation Two-step Pose Estimation

—An accurate ego-motion estimation solution is vital for autonomous vehicles. In this paper, a method is proposed to preform LiDAR odometry utilizing bird’s eye view of LiDAR data combined with deep learning-based feature point. Orthographic projection is applied to generate rasterized image by 3D point cloud. Then R2D2 neural network is employed to extract key points and compute their descriptors. Based on those key points and descrip- tors, a two-step matching and pose estimation method is utilized to keep them being tracked in a long distance with lower mismatch ratio compared with the conventional strategy. In the experiment, evaluation of the proposed algorithm on the KITTI training dataset demonstrates that the proposed LiDAR odometry can provide more accurate trajectories compared with handcrafted feature based SLAM algorithm. In addition, data collected by Velodyne VLP-16 is also evaluated by the proposed solution. Low-drift positioning RMSE of 4.70 m from about 5-km mileage shown in the result indicating that the proposed algorithm has generalization performace on low-resolution LiDAR.
Vivo Abdominal Using

Background- — The incidence of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) will signi ﬁ cantly increase during the next decade. Novel biomarkers, besides diameter, are needed for a better characterization of aneurysms and the estimation of the risk of rupture. Fibrin is a key protein in the formation of focal hematoma associated with the dissection of the aortic wall and the development of larger thrombi during the progression of AAAs. This study evaluated the potential of a ﬁ brin-speci ﬁ c magnetic resonance (MR) probe for the in vivo characterization of the different stages of AAAs. Methods and Results- — AAAs spontaneously developed in ApoE (cid:1) / (cid:1) mice following the infusion of angiotensin-II (Ang-II, 1 l g/ kg (cid:1) 1 (cid:3) per minute). An established ﬁ brin-speci ﬁ c molecular MR probe (EP2104R, 10 l mol/kg (cid:1) 1 ) was administered after 1 to 4 weeks following Ang-II infusion (n = 8 per group). All imaging experiments were performed on a clinical 3T Achieva MR system with a microscopy coil (Philips Healthcare, Netherlands). The development of AAA-associated ﬁ brin-rich hematoma and thrombi was assessed. The high signal generated by the ﬁ brin probe enabled high-resolution MR imaging for an accurate assessment and quanti ﬁ cation of the relative ﬁ brin composition of focal hematoma and thrombi. Contrast-to-noise-ratios (CNRs) and R1-relaxation rates following the administration of the ﬁ brin probe were in good agreement with ex vivo immunohistomorphometry ( R 2 = 0.83 and 0.85) and gadolinium concentrations determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy ( R 2 = 0.78 and 0.72). Conclusions- — The ﬁ brin-speci ﬁ c molecular MR probe allowed the delineation and quanti ﬁ cation of changes in ﬁ brin content in early and advanced AAAs. Fibrin MRI could provide a novel in vivo biomarker to improve the risk strati ﬁ cation of patients with aortic aneurysms. ( J Am Heart Assoc .2018;7:e007909. DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.117.007909) of elastic laminae can be clearly visualized on magni ﬁ ed images (B2). In between the dissection, a ﬁ brin-rich mural hematoma can be visualized (B2 – B4). It ’ s a strong signal from the ﬁ brin that antibody was measured at the location of the intramural hematoma (B4). No relevant formation of elastin or collagen ﬁ bers was measured in the hematoma on histologic sections (B1 – B3), indicating that no remodeling of the hematoma has occurred. aA indicates abdominal aorta; Gd-DTPA, gadopentetate dimeglumine; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; renal
Seismic Design and Qualification of All-Steel Buckling-Restrained Braced Frames for Canadian Applications

RESUME Les contreventements a diagonales ductiles confinees (DDC) sont devenus le systeme de contreventement standard pour les bâtiments et pont pour resister aux charges sismiques. Ce systeme integre un concept specifique de diagonales, appele, DDC, qui ne flambent pas en compression fournissant ainsi un mecanisme de dissipation d'energie stable. La capacite de dissipation de l'energie sismique des DDC est fortement reliee a la performance du mecanisme de retenue du flambement qui previent le noyau ductile interne de subir une deformation laterale excessive. La force transmise au systeme de confinement depend de plusieurs facteurs qui doivent evalues avec precision et integre lors de la conception. ----------ABSTRACT Buckling-Restrained Braced Frames (BRBF) have become one of the standard ductile lateral systems for building structures and bridges to resist the earthquake loads. This system incorporates special diagonal elements, called BRB, that do not buckle in compression hence providing a stable and nearly symmetrical hysteretic response in tension and compression with high seismic energy dissipation capacity. The energy dissipation capability of BRBs is strongly linked to the performance of buckling restraining mechanism that constrains the internal ductile core from undergoing excessive lateral deformation. The force demand on the restraining system depends on several factors that should be precisely estimated and implemented in design.
A B C h V i W O r i e n t e d - w for Machmmg

This paper describes a new approach for controlling an intelligent machining workstation. The control system is built in behavior achieving layers, which allows a machine tool to operate at increasing levels of competence. Each layer focuses on a specific simple control task for machining processes. Qualitative reasoning is used to augment the system at the highest layer, giving the system the ability to foresee patterns of behavior that lead to failure. We discuss how qualitative models can be selected, setup and used to adjust control parameters.
Gain variation and noise figure degradation in balanced amplifiers

GAIN VARIATION AND NOISE FIGURE DEGRADATION IN BALANCED AMPLIFIERS Akif Alperen Coşkun Ph.D. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering Advisor: Abdullah Atalar July 2017 Although using balanced amplifiers in modern wireless communication systems has many advantages, the output and the noise response of the balanced amplifiers may vary from the expected value considerably due to the imperfections in the amplifier and the divider/combiner sections. First, we analyze the variation in the total gain of the balanced amplifiers using 2-way 0◦ power dividers and 90◦ couplers. In this context, mathematical analyses are made and analytical expressions are obtained to compare the two topologies. Analytical expressions show that the uncertainty in the total gain is more if the 90◦ coupler is used in the balanced structure as opposed to a 2-way 0◦ power divider for the same return loss/isolation values. Then, we present exact and approximate analytical results for the noise figure and noise parameters of the balanced amplifier in divider topology by using the noise waves. By the help of the noise wave approach, the output noise powers generated by each element in the balanced amplifier are derived. Y-parameters are used to determine the noise waves and the correlation matrix of the divider whereas the noise parameters are used to write the noise waves of the amplifier. Balanced amplifiers suffer in the noise figure performance in comparison to a stand-alone amplifier even with an ideal input divider. The noise parameters degrade further with an imperfect divider. Not only the nonzero return loss and the isolation but also the ohmic loss, amplitude and phase imbalances are considered. Besides, non-zero optimal source impedance affects the noise parameters of the balanced amplifier. Measurement results are also presented as a verification.
asserting? Conflicting values and crosslinguistic in the of Confirming or asserting? Conflicting values and cross-linguistic influence

Yes and no allow an easy management of talk-in-interaction and, unlike other classes of discourse markers, occur from early stages of L2 acquisition onwards (Perdue 1993; Bernini 1996, 2000; Andorno 2008a for Italian L2). However, problems in their use can arise in replies to negative utterances such as “Didn’t you hear the news? ”, “You didn’t read the news, did you? ”, as in this case speakers have to choose one of the two conflicting values possibly encoded by the particles: either asserting a positive/negative polarity for the proposition at issue; or confirming/reversing the negative polarity conveyed by the previous speaker. Since Pope (1973), a distinction has been drawn between languages with polarity-oriented particles, such as English yes/no , and languages with agreement-oriented particles, such as Japanese hai / iie . The study compares the use of Italian sì/no and other routines - such as echo-constructions - in native speakers and L2 learners with either a polarity- or an agreement-oriented L1. Results show that crosslinguistic influence can affect the use of sì/no in L2, as pointed out for other domains of pragmatic competence (Gass & Selinker 1992; Kasper 1992; Jarvis & Pavlenko 2008). Furthermore, they show that, even when learners lack pragmalinguistic competence in the use of particles, they treat reversing and confirming replies differently, thus revealing a sociopragmatic sensitivity similar to native speakers in recognizing the markedness of disagreement replies.
Calculation of Equivalent Resistance for Ground Wires Twined with Armor Rods in Contact Terminals

Ground wire breakage accidents can destroy the stable operation of overhead lines. The excessive temperature increase arising from the contact resistance between the ground wire and armor rod in the contact terminal is one of the main reasons causing the breakage of ground wires. Therefore, it is necessary to calculate the equivalent resistance for ground wires twined with armor rods in contact terminals. According to the actual distribution characteristics of the contact points in the contact terminal, a three-dimensional electromagnetic field simulation model of the contact terminal was established. Based on the model, the current distribution in the contact terminal was obtained. Subsequently, the equivalent resistance of a ground wire twined with the armor rod in the contact terminal was calculated. The effects of the factors influencing the equivalent resistance were also discussed. The corresponding verification experiments were conducted on a real ground wire on a contact terminal. The measurement results of the equivalent resistance for the armor rod segment showed good agreement with the electromagnetic modeling results.
organizational commitment in global strategic partnerships: role Affective organizational commitment in global strategic partnerships: The role of individual-level microfoundations and social change

The roles and commitment of employees within global strategic partnerships are imperative to their success. Whilst previous studies have addressed certain individual-level microfoundations and social change in an interpretivist manner, this study first proposes a theoretical framework consists of individual-level microfoundations, social change and affective organizational commitment—interlinked with social identity theory. We then validate the 16-item scale for individual-level microfoundations and the 24-item scale for social change based on data collected from global strategic partnerships. For testing of our conceptualization, path modeling finally confirms significant relationships between the constructs. Our findings further present the partial mediating role of social change between individual-level microfoundations and affective organizational commitment. Therefore, the study provides a new pathway in advancing our understanding of global strategic partnerships. It also validates two new constructs directly relevant to managing global strategic partnerships. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of these linkages and contributions, and conclude by providing suggestions for future research.
Support for the predictive validity of the Multifactor Offender Readiness Model (MORM): forensic patients’ readiness and engagement with groupwork

Background Treatment non-engagement in forensic settings has ethical and economic implications. The Multifactor Offender Readiness Model (MORM) proposes a framework for assessing treatment readiness across person, programme and contexts. Research question: Are the internal factors of the MORM associated with whether forensic patients engage, complete, refuse or drop out of groupwork interventions? Method: In a retrospective design, associations between internal factors of the MORM, measured as part of assessment for group participation, and the outcomes of treatment refusal, treatment dropout and treatment completion were investigated. Results: 118 male high security hospital patients consecutively referred for group treatment agreed to participate. Internal factors of the MORM associated with treatment refusals included: psychopathic cognition, negative self-evaluation/affect and effective goal seeking strategies. Those associated with dropouts included emotional dysregulation, low competencies to engage and low levels of general distress. MORM factors associated with completion included: low motivation, ineffective goal seeking strategies, absence of psychopathic cognition, high levels of general distress and competency to engage. Conclusions: Internal factors of the MORM could be useful contributors to decisions about treatment readiness for hospitalised male offender-patients. Up to one in three programmes offered were refused, so clinical use of the MORM to aid referral decisions could optimise the most constructive use of resources for every individual.
in Mice against Acute Lipopolysaccharide Challenge Human C-Reactive Protein Does Not Protect

The physiological and pathophysiological functions of C-reactive protein (CRP), the classical acute-phase protein, are not well established, despite many reports of biological effects of CRP in vitro and in model systems in vivo. Limited, small scale experiments have suggested that rabbit and human CRP may both protect mice against lethal toxicity of Gram-negative bacterial LPS. However, in substantial well-controlled studies in C57BL/6 mice challenged with Escherichia coli O111:B4 LPS, we show in this work that signiﬁcant protection against lethality was conferred neither by an autologous acute-phase response to sterile inﬂammatory stimuli given to wild-type mice 24 h before LPS challenge, nor by human CRP, whether passively administered or expressed transgenically. Male mice transgenic for human CRP, which mount a major acute-phase response of human CRP after LPS injection, were also not protected against the lethality of LPS from either E. coli O55:B5 or Salmonella typhimurium . Even when the acute-phase human CRP response was actively stimulated in transgenic mice before LPS challenge, no protection against LPS toxicity was observed. Indeed, male mice transgenic for human CRP that were pretreated with casein to stimulate an acute-phase response 24 h before LPS challenge suffered signiﬁcantly greater mortality than unstimulated human CRP transgenic controls. Rather than being protective in this situation, human CRP may thus have pathogenic proinﬂammatory effects in vivo. The Journal of Immunology, 2003, 171: 6046–6051.
A Vision of a Radical Change Towards a Sustainable Future - Speculated and Applied

: In order to stay within planetary bound­ aries, it is said that we should change our societies in radical ways. In this paper, we propose and design an alternative future state, acknowledging such a radical change. Embodied as individual climate goals, we take a Speculative Research through Design approach, thereby positioning participants in such a radically different future system. To shape this speculative system, we engaged experts through interviews and a future vision­ and back­ casting workshop. We translated this vision of a radical change towards a sustainable future, into the concept Spilltime , in which a carbon budget is central. It consists of a CO2e pulse, a CO2e coach, an ambient interface and a CO2e reflection offering detailed information. Utilizing wearable technology, video tracking and a Wizard of Oz approach, we embedded the Spilltime concept in the lives of six participants. Thereby, we were able to provide high resolution real time CO2e feedback in relation to the activities the six participants engaged in. With this Speculative Research through Design approach, we managed to embody experiences of (radical) future states and enter a deeply reflective space to uncover stories of opportunity and despair around a carbon literacy.
Multi-Saliency Aggregation-Based Approach for Insulator Flashover Fault Detection Using Aerial Images

Accurate and timely detection of insulator flashover on power transmission lines is of paramount importance to power utilities. Most available solutions mainly focus on the exploitation of the flashover mechanism or the discharge area detection, rather than the identification of a damaged area due to flashovers using captured aerial images. To this end, this paper proposes a multi-saliency aggregation-based porcelain insulator flashover fault detection approach. The target area of the insulator is determined using the Faster-Pixelwise Image Saliency by Aggregating (F-PISA) algorithm based on the color and structural features. The color model can be established based on the color feature of the damaged areas on the insulator surface, and hence the damaged area can be identified. Based on the information obtained above, the contour information can be extracted. With the preceding process, the fault location can be confirmed with a good accuracy. The performance of the proposed detection approach is assessed through a comparative study with other available solutions. The numerical result demonstrates that the suggested solution can detect the insulator flashover with improved performance in terms of the average detection rate and average efficient detection rate. Additional analysis is carried out to evaluate its robustness and real-time performance, which confirms its deployment feasibility in practice.
Secure Computations on Handheld Devices with the Help of an Untrusted Server

Recently, handheld devices have become one of the most popular computing tools. Although handheld devices are able to perform anything that a PC can do, their lack of computing power makes it next to impossible to perform some heavy calculations. Hence it appears very useful to have a combination of a handheld with a PC, where the PC can perform heavy calculations to assist the handheld. However, we must be assured that the PC will not have learnt anything from the interaction. In this paper, we show two schemes which involve some server-aided computation where the server has not learnt anything from the interaction with the handheld device. The first scheme is to generate a strong prime number in a handheld, which can be used as a candidate for the RSA algorithm. The second scheme is to allow the server to behave as an authentication oracle on behalf of the hand-held. The handheld will prepare a message that needs to be authenticated by sending it to the server in a blinded form, so that the server will not learn about the message. On the other hand, the handheld will not learn about the server's secret. Disciplines Physical Sciences and Mathematics Publication Details This conference paper was originally published as Huang, J, Susilo, W and Seberry, J, Secure Computations on Handheld Devices with the Help of an Untrusted Server, in Callaos, N, Morgenstern, M, Zhang, J et al (eds), 7th World Multiconference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (SCI 2003), Orlando, 27-30 July 2003, 507-512. This conference paper is available at Research Online: http://ro.uow.edu.au/infopapers/302 Secure Computations on Handheld Devices with the Help of an Untrusted Server Jianyong Huang, Willy Susilo and Jennifer Seberry Centre for Computer Security Research School of Information Technology and Computer Science University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia Email: {jyh33, wsusilo, jennie}@uow.edu.au