Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Discrepancies in tuberculin skin test results with two commercial products in a population of intravenous drug users.

Screening for tuberculosis (using the Mantoux test) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was conducted among intravenous drug users (IVDUs) recruited from a San Francisco Bay Area neighborhood. Of 178 IVDUs skin-tested with one commercial purified protein derivative (PPD) preparation, a reaction of > or = 5 mm of induration occurred in 62 (47%) of 133 HIV-negative and 13 (29%) of 45 HIV-positive IVDUs (P = .037). Forty-two IVDUs with an initial PPD reaction > or = 5 mm were retested with a second commercial preparation; 11 (26%) had no reaction (0 mm) on retesting. These 11 were 5 (56%) of 9 HIV-positive and 6 (18%) of 33 HIV-negative persons (P = .038). These discrepancies may be unique to specific lots of product or may reflect more general differences. A degree of caution in evaluating unexpected tuberculin skin test results may be indicated. Response to different tuberculin products by HIV status should be further evaluated.
Understanding Disparities in Service Seeking Following Forcible Versus Drug- or Alcohol-Facilitated/Incapacitated Rape

Victims of drug- or alcohol-facilitated/incapacitated rape (DAFR/IR) are substantially less likely to seek medical, rape crisis, or police services compared with victims of forcible rape (FR); however, reasons for these disparities are poorly understood. The current study examined explanatory mechanisms in the pathway from rape type (FR vs. DAFR/IR) to disparities in post-rape service seeking (medical, rape crisis, criminal justice). Participants were 445 adult women from a nationally representative household probability sample who had experienced FR, DAFR/IR, or both since age 14. Personal characteristics (age, race, income, prior rape history), rape characteristics (fear, injury, loss of consciousness), and post-rape acknowledgment, medical concerns, and service seeking were collected. An indirect effects model using bootstrapped standard errors was estimated to examine pathways from rape type to service seeking. DAFR/IR-only victims were less likely to seek services compared with FR victims despite similar post-rape medical concerns. FR victims were more likely to report fear during the rape and a prior rape history, and to acknowledge the incident as rape; each of these characteristics was positively associated with service seeking. However, only prior rape history and acknowledgment served as indirect paths to service seeking; acknowledgment was the strongest predictor of service seeking. Diminished acknowledgment of the incident as rape may be especially important to explaining why DAFR/IR victims are less likely than FR victims to seek services. Public service campaigns designed to increase awareness of rape definitions, particularly around DAFR/IR, are important to reducing disparities in rape-related service seeking.
A 300 GHz imaging radar for standoff anomaly detection

We have developed a 3D high-resolution radar at 300 GHz with a cell resolution of 1×1.6×1.6 cm3 at a standoff distance of 8 m for security applications. The radar's antenna design allows single-pixel imaging at a frame rate of 2 frames per second.
Energy optimization for electric vehicles using dynamic programming

Electric vehicles (EVs) are one of the key technolgies for a sustainable mobility, reducing fuel consumption and traffic related emissions. Until today the energy density of the traction battery is low compared to fossil fuels, resulting in a limited range of EVs. Therefore, an optimization of the overall energy consumption of an electric vehicle is crucial. This paper proposes an optimized velocity planning methodology able to find the best trajectory with minimal energy consumption for a desired driving route. To perform this optimization a simplified vehicle model and dynamic programming algorithm is implemented. A prescribed driving route is divided into equidistant steps and a range of acceptable speed is defined. The algorithm determines the optimal speed for each step, minimising an optimal control criterion regarding energy-consumption under constrains on the battery state and travelling time.
Design and implementation of a scanning SQUID microscope

A cryogenic two-dimensional magnetic imaging system that incorporates a sensitive DC superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) detector is described. In this instrument, which is called the scanning SQUID microscope, a flux transformer coupled to the SQUID is scanned over the surface of a planar sample by a room-temperature, stepping-motor-controlled manipulator with a positional resolution of about 2 mu m. With the present input coil, spatial resolution of 20 mu m and a flux sensitivity at the sample of 10/sup -5/ Phi /sub 0//Hz/sup 1/2/ is attainable. This system has been designed specifically to image the vortex structure and dynamics of weakly coupled superconductor arrays. <<ETX>>
DIET OPTIMIZATION FOR DR IN DROSOPHILA Copyright 2007 by The Gerontological Society of America Optimization of Dietary Restriction Protocols in Drosophila

Dietary restriction (DR) extends life span in many organisms, through unknown mechanisms that may or may not be evolutionarily conserved. Because different laboratories use different diets and techniques for implementing DR, the outcomes may not be strictly comparable. This complicates intraand interspecific comparisons of the mechanisms of DR and is therefore central to the use of model organisms to research this topic. Drosophila melanogaster is an important model for the study of DR, but the nutritional content of its diet is typically poorly defined. We have compared fly diets composed of different yeasts for their effect on life span and fecundity. We found that only one diet was appropriate for DR experiments, indicating that much of the published work on fly ‘DR’ may have included adverse effects of food composition. We propose procedures to ensure that diets are suitable for the study of DR in Drosophila.
Topical fluorometholone reduces stromal inflammation after photorefractive keratectomy.

To examine the effectiveness of topical steroids in decreasing corneal stromal inflammation induced by photorefractive keratectomy, four rabbits underwent uniocular corneal deepithelialization, or deepithelialization followed by photorefractive keratectomy. Topical fluorometholone acetate 0.5% was applied topically to half of the eyes after photorefractive keratectomy. Polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) were counted 24 hours after surgery. The number of PMNs in the corneal stroma was significantly higher after photorefractive keratectomy than after deepithelialization alone (P = .001) and than in normal unoperated corneas; fluorometholone treatment significantly reduced PMN accumulation (P = .001). Photorefractive keratectomy in rabbits induces an intense inflammation of the superficial stroma that can be effectively treated with topical fluorometholone. A short course of topical corticosteroids may, therefore, be appropriate after excimer laser surgery in humans.
Haemophilus influenzae: Genetic Variability and Natural Selection To Identify Virulence Factors

The evolutionary processes of natural selection govern the nucleotide sequences of bacterial genes such that during replication over many generations, bacterial virulence factor genes change and their products become diverse. This diversity, which both facilitates and reflects an organism's ability to survive in a variety of ecologic niches and under different environmental conditions, occurs through two general strategies—variation in gene expression, which is driven by mechanisms governing gene transcription or translation, and variation in gene content, which is driven by either vertical or horizontal evolution. In this regard, vertical evolution refers to the passage of genetic material from parent to offspring through cell division, with its attendant mutations resulting from mistakes in replication such as point mutations, gene inversions, or spontaneous deletions. Horizontal evolution in bacterial cells occurs by the acquisition of new genetic material from transformation of native DNA, transduction by phages, or conjugation by plasmids; this new genetic material is then passed on to subsequent generations through vertical evolution. Until recently, bacterial pathogens were characterized solely by their phenotypic characteristics, which describe only gross strain-to-strain differences. While extremely useful, these techniques are limited in their ability to identify unique members of widely variable bacterial populations. Recent advances in bacterial genomics, furthered by the availability of complete genomic sequences from a growing number of organisms, suggest that some “clonal” designations may be misguided, given the high level of genetic diversity of bacterial strains from the same species. For example, sequence comparisons have shown up to 25% differences in gene content among strains of Neisseria meningitidis, Helicobacter pylori, and Escherichia coli (5). While individual fitness characteristics of bacteria foster the survival of individual organisms, the population dynamics of bacteria encompass fitness characteristics that foster the survival of the group. As in all populations, not every member of a bacterial population needs to succeed in all possible environments; rather, the sum of the specialized fitnesses of individual bacteria ensures the survival of the population in variable environments. Thus, gene products required for bacterial survival in one environmental niche may not be required in another niche. Over time and under the influence of natural selection, the gene contents of organisms from the same species living in different niches will be altered to reflect the necessity for certain genes and the dispensability of others. Bacterial factors that are highly diverse are most susceptible to this process of selection. In this paper we describe how the results of evolutionary processes, as reflected by bacterial population characteristics, may be used to identify potential bacterial virulence factors. We use Haemophilus influenzae, whose known virulence factors are highly variable, as an example.
The implementation of the 'International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health' (ICF) in daily practice of neurorehabilitation: an interdisciplinary project at the Kantonsspital of Lucerne, Switzerland

Purpose : The current paper describes the implementation of ICF as a standard language and framework for description of human functioning and disability for common use in every day work by the multiprofessional team. Method : An interdisciplinary project team involving all rehabilitation specialities was constituted. The extensive original document of ICF was broken down to a simplified raster for body functions and structures, activities and participation, as well as for contextual factors. These rasters had to cover the most important aspects concerning the patients treated on our unit. Checklists on the basis of these rasters were worked out for use by the different specialized teams. Using these checklists, rehabilitation conferences, form and language of interdisciplinary communication, goal setting and documentation were introduced newly in every day work for the interdisciplinary rehabilitation team, structured strictly based on the ICF-criteria. Results : Since April 2002 the ICF-based processes are implemented in routine work for all members of the rehabilitation staff. First experiences show good acceptance by the team members, improvements in communication and documentation as well as substantial gains in content and handling of rehabilitation conferences. As a result of the implementation we observed, that participation, context and domiciliary interventions gained quite more influence in every day work at the unit. Conclusion : Implementation improved considerably the quality of interdisciplinary work processes and contributed to a more systematic approach to rehabilitation tasks by the team members.
Intelligence analysis of Tay Twitter bot

The aim of this paper is to provide a framework to understand and analyse the intelligence of chat-bots. With the ever increasing number of chat-bots available, we have considered intelligence analysis to be a functional parameter to determine the usefulness of a bot. For our analysis, we consider Microsoft's Twitter bot Tay released for online interaction in March 2016. We perform various natural language processing tasks on the tweets tweeted by and tweeted at Tay and discuss the implications of the results. We perform classification, text categorization, entity extraction, latent Dirichlet allocation analysis, frequency analysis and model the vocabulary used by the bot using a word2vec system to achieve this goal. Using the results from our analysis we define a metric called the bot intelligence score to evaluate and compare the intelligence of bots in general.
LYMPHOCYTE POPULATIONS IN MOUSE BONE MARROW: QUANTITATIVE KINETIC STUDIES IN YOUNG, PUBERTAL AND ADULT C3H MICE

Continuous 3H‐thymidine infusion was used to characterize two kinetic subpopula‐tions of small lymphocytes in mouse bone marrow during normal growth and development. Young (4 wk), pubertal (8 wk) and mature (16 wk) C3H mice were infused subcutaneously with 3H‐thymidine for periods up to 10 days. Femoral marrow was then examined in radioautographic smears. During the first 3 days the proportion of marrow small lymphocytes labelled by 3H‐thymidine showed a rapid exponential increase to 93%, 81% and 72% in 4 wk, 8 wk and 16 wk mice respectively. The rate of appearance of labelled small lymphocytes then declined markedly but remained higher in younger than in older animals. The labelling curves were found to represent the summation of two exponential curves from which the proportions and renewal rate of corresponding cell populations were calculated. Most marrow small lymphocytes comprised a rapidly renewing population but in mice of increasing age the relative incidence of these cells fell (93‐3% at 4 wk; 88‐0% at 8 wk; 78‐5% at 16 wk) and their half‐renewal time (T½) lengthened (14 hr at 4 wk; 18 hr at 8 wk; 24 hr at 16 wk). The remaining small lymphocytes were slowly renewing with mean T½ of 4, 7 and 14 days in 4, 8 and 16 wk mice, respectively. Some heavily labelled small lymphocytes persisted in the marrow up to 10 wk after fourteen daily 3H‐thymidine injections in 10–12 wk mice. The numbers of rapidly renewing cells decreased from 604 times 103 to 228 times 103 per mm3 of marrow from 4 wk to 16 wk, respectively, while slowly renewing cells increased from 44 times 103 to 61 times 103 per mm3. The total number of nucleated marrow cells per femur increased from 4 wk to 16 wk but the rapidly renewing small lymphocytes per femur fell in numbers by 36% and in renewal rate by 63%. The results demonstrate a selective change in bone marrow small lymphocytes with age; rapidly renewing cells decline in number and renewal rate while the number of slowly renewing cells increases. The concept of bone marrow as a primary lymphoid organ is discussed.
Throughput performance on IEEE802.11ac based massive MIMO considering calibration errors

This paper describes the effectiveness of calibration technique for implicit beamforming which enables the transmission without the channel state information (CSI) feedback in massive MIMO system. First, we address the calibration technique using the circulation of self transmit signal. The effectiveness of calibration method is next verified by using 16-element testbed for the massive MIMO system. Finally, the throughput performance by the IEEE802.11ac based massive MIMO transmission with and without CSI feedback is verified when considering calibration errors which are obtained by the testbed.
Relational Knowledge Transfer for Zero-Shot Learning

General zero-shot learning (ZSL) approaches exploit transfer learning via semantic knowledge space. In this paper, we reveal a novel relational knowledge transfer (RKT) mechanism for ZSL, which is simple, generic and effective. RKT resolves the inherent semantic shift problem existing in ZSL through restoring the missing manifold structure of unseen categories via optimizing semantic mapping. It extracts the relational knowledge from data manifold structure in semantic knowledge space based on sparse coding theory. The extracted knowledge is then transferred backwards to generate virtual data for unseen categories in the feature space. On the one hand, the generalizing ability of the semantic mapping function can be enhanced with the added data. On the other hand, the mapping function for unseen categories can be learned directly from only these generated data, achieving inspiring performance. Incorporated with RKT, even simple baseline methods can achieve good results. Extensive experiments on three challenging datasets show prominent performance obtained by RKT, and we obtain 82.43% accuracy on the Animals with Attributes dataset.
Acquired lysosomal storage caused by frequent plasmapheresis procedures with hydroxyethyl starch

BACKGROUND: Hydroxyethyl starch (HES) solutions have largely replaced conventional plasma expanders such as human albumin and colloidal fluids. Only a few side effects have been reported and mainly concern pruritus or blood coagulation disorders. Excessive HES exposure can result in diffuse tissue storage and accumulation with foamy appearing macrophages which produce the enzyme chitotriosidase (CT). In case of massive tissue storage, this enzyme activity can reach levels comparable to those of Gaucher disease.
ECT-Signal Calculation of Cracks Near Fastener Holes Using an Integral Equation Formalism With Dedicated Green’s Kernel

Simulation of flaw detection by eddy-current testing requires the calculation of the eddy-current signal due to the presence of the flaw. In this paper, the surface integral method (SIM) is applied for the calculation of the crack signal in the workpieces composed of a conducting plate with a borehole. The adopted approach makes use of Green's operator that takes into account the effect of the borehole, and thus, the integral formalism is restricted to the crack surface only. The truncated region eigenfunction expansion method is followed for the construction of Green's operator. Comparisons of the computed crack signal with numerical simulations carried out using a hybrid volume integral method-SIM approach and experimental results show excellent agreement.
In vitro synthesis of beta-galactosidase with ilv-lac fusion deoxyribonucleic acid as template

An in vitro protein-synthesizing system has been developed to study the mechanism of induction of ilvC gene in Escherichia coli strain K-12. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from a lambda phage carrying an ilvC-lac fusion was employed as a template for the in vitro synthesis of beta-galactosidase under the control of the ilvC promoter. The use of this template allowed an investigation of the components required for induction of the ilvC gene and the kinetics of the induction. The in vitro synthesis of beta-galactosidase under the control of the ilvC promoter was found to be DNA, acetohydroxy acid, and guanosine-3'-diphosphate-5'-diphosphate dependent, and sensitive to rifampin, actinomycin D, and chloramphenicol. Uncoupling experiments indicate that the inducer, acetohydroxybutyrate, acts at the transcriptional level. Investigation of a proposed noninducible ilvC regulatory mutant has shown normal induction in vitro. It was also observed that an intact ilvA gene is not required for the induction of the ilvC gene.
Causal Effects in Social Networks

This paper reviews the current literature on the estimation of causal peer effects. After a discussion of causality in general, I introduce the standard peer effect model in networks and illustrate the reflection problem. I then present approaches to causal inference with observational data before introducing experimental approaches. I review estimation issues arising from measurement and sampling errors, and discuss how they affect causal inference in network and peer effect experiments. The last section of the paper broadens the discussion to encompass dynamic peer effects and link formation and illustrates the different meanings that causality can take in the estimation of peer effects.
Multi-scale entropy analysis of single-point wind speed in outdoor near-surface environments

Odor/gas dispersion in atmospheric boundary layer is mainly controlled by airflow. The analysis of the wind speed/direction properties is helpful for understanding the odor/gas dispersion mechanism. Twenty groups of wind speed/direction time series are measured using an ultrasonic anemometer. Multi-scale entropies of wind-speed series in along-wind and across-wind directions are analyzed. The results indicate that the entropy of wind speed in outdoor near-surface environments is larger than zero, and the entropy increases with an increase in scales. In general, high mean wind speed corresponds to large entropy, which is more obviously reflected in across-wind direction. The further analysis indicates that the entropy decreases with an increase in the kurtosis of wind speed under different scales. This shows that the stronger intermittency of wind speed results in the more regular wind-speed series.
Reaction force control on accelerator pedal and steering wheel basaed on tire-road friction forces

These days, electric vehicles are developing rapidly. Electric vehicles are expected to be alternative to the conventional gasoline engine vehicles and many researchers have studied motion control of electric vehicle. In this paper, to assist the vehicle driver using an accelerator pedal and a steering wheel is considered. In addition to steer-by-wire system, haptic pedal system which uses a motor set in an accelerator pedal is proposed as an interface between a vehicle driver and driving environment. Using these systems, a method how to control the reaction force on the accelerator pedal and the steering wheel for vehicle stability is proposed. Moreover an observer which estimates the tire-road friction forces is proposed to achieve the control. The stabilization control of the vehicle is performed as the system which included the operation of the vehicle driver. Simulation results are shown to verify the effect of the proposed method.
Selective enrichment in human megakaryocyte progenitors by the B203.13 surface differentiation antigen

The B203.13 monoclonal antibody specifically recognizes a subset (8–18.5%) of human CD34+ haemopoietic progenitors, which are significantly (P < 0.05) enriched in megakaryocyte progenitors (CFU‐meg). Moreover, B203.13 expression was progressively lost as maturation proceeded along the megakaryocytic lineage. In fact: (i) CFU‐meg derived from CD34+/B203.13+ showed a greater number of cells/colony with respect to CD34+/B203.13−; (ii) after 10 d of liquid cultures with 100 ng/ml of thrombopoietin, only a minority of CD34‐derived cells positive for CD41 coexpressed B203.13; (iii) in situ immunocytochemical staining revealed that B203.13 was expressed exclusively on immature megakaryoblasts; (iv) circulating platelets did not express B203.13.