Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reproductive characteristics of male mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) inhabiting a small southeastern U.S. river receiving treated domestic sewage effluent

A population of western mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) living below a wastewater treatment plant in the vicinity of Birmingham (AL, USA) was studied for evidence of exposure to estrogens. Mosquitofish are sexually dimorphic live‐bearing fish. Males have an elongated and modified anal fin, called a gonopodium, used in mating. It has been hypothesized that exposure to estrogens and/or anti‐androgens in treated wastewater might inhibit the androgen‐dependent development of the gonopodium. The population in this study showed no evidence of having been exposed to endocrine‐disrupting chemicals. The difference in adjusted (for overall fish size via analysis of covariance) mean gonopodium length between effluent‐exposed and control populations was not significant. No detectable levels of vitellogenin were observed in the blood of any of the male mosquitofish, either from the effluent‐exposed or the control population. Testes and livers were weighed and examined histologically. The fish exposed to treated wastewater effluent had significantly larger adjusted mean weights for both testis and liver, but no histological changes indicating exposure to estrogens were observed.
John Edwin Scarff (1898-1978) and endoscopic choroid plexus coagulation: A historical vignette

John Edwin Scarff (1898-1978) was one of the pioneers of neuroendoscopy and the head of the Department of Neurological Surgery at Columbia University in New York from 1947 to 1949. In this article, we highlight the pioneering and longstanding efforts of John E. Scarff in support of endoscopic choroid plexus coagulation. These efforts represent an important part of the rich history of neuroendoscopy and a legacy to which the current procedure owes a great credit.
Monitoring Airport Service Quality: A Complementary Approach to Measure Perceived Service Quality using Online Reviews

Based on 42,063 airport reviews collected from Google Maps, we conducted a sentiment analysis and a topic modeling. We showed that the sentiment scores computed from textual reviews are good estimates of their paired star-ratings (r=0.63, p <0.01). Next, using the LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation), we extracted latent topics from the textual reviews and compared them with the standard categories utilized in the Airport Service Quality survey (ASQ). The topics extracted from reviews correspond well with the categories used in ASQ. We, in turn, compared the online ratings with the ratings annually updated by ASQ. While online reviews discuss almost identical topics with those of ASQ, the correlation between the ratings from two was weak ( r =0.2). We suggest that the text mining approach using online reviews not only provides an inexpensive, dynamic, and locally customizable means of monitoring airport quality but also complements the standard survey by offering an alternative metric.
Rhizosphere Communities of Genetically Modified Zeaxanthin-Accumulating Potato Plants and Their Parent Cultivar Differ Less than Those of Different Potato Cultivars

ABSTRACT The effects of genetically modified (GM), zeaxanthin-accumulating potato plants on microbial communities in the rhizosphere were compared to the effects of different potato cultivars. Two GM lines and their parental cultivar, as well as four other potato cultivars, were grown in randomized field plots at two sites and in different years. Rhizosphere samples were taken at three developmental stages during plant growth and analyzed using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) fingerprints of Bacteria, Actinobacteria, Alpha- and Betaproteobacteria, Bacillus, Streptomycetaceae, Pseudomonas, gacA, Fungi, and Ascomycetes. In the bacterial DGGE gels analyzed, significant differences between the parental cultivar and the two GM lines were detected mainly for Actinobacteria but also for Betaproteobacteria and Streptomycetaceae, yet these differences occurred only at one site and in one year. Significant differences occurred more frequently for Fungi, especially Ascomycetes, than for bacteria. When all seven plant genotypes were compared, DGGE analysis revealed that different cultivars had a greater effect on both bacterial and fungal communities than genetic modification. The effects of genetic modification were detected mostly at the senescence developmental stage of the plants. The site was the overriding factor affecting microbial community structure compared to the plant genotype. In general, the fingerprints of the two GM lines were more similar to that of the parental cultivar, and the differences observed did not exceed natural cultivar-dependent variability.
A modified Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm for Public Verifiability with Data dynamics in Cloud Computing

Cloud storage is considered to be the most critical factor in decision making for users as it largely scales down the infrastructure in terms of size, cost and design. Considering factors such as local storage c ost, maintenance a single server model can support multi ple users on a needed basis. This raises concerns f or integrity verification i.e., assuring the correctne ss of the data stored available in cloud. The propo sed auditing algorithm suggests and investigates digita l signature for integrity verification. A Modified Version of Elliptic curve digital Signature Algorit hm is proposed for auditing the task. The main focu s of this study is to address problems such as privacy p reserving, public auditing. In addition, the perfor mance of the auditing task is optimized. Data dynamics ha ve been modeled through various data operations suc h as block insertion, deletion and block modification . Extensive theoretical and experimental analysis presented in the paper shows that security, perform ance of the proposed algorithm are improved in term s of verification time of the auditing process.
Analysis of a Voltage-fed Full Bridge DC-DC Converter in Fuel Cell Systems

Fuel cells at moderate power levels have a high output current and low output voltage. In order to make them usable for applications with a higher voltage demand, a DC-DC converter with large voltage gain is needed. This paper deals with a voltage-fed full bridge converter that is designed to reach a high voltage gain. Analytical calculations are given, completely describing the operating behaviour of the converter. Herewith, the impact of the output inductor choke, the transformer's winding ratio and its leakage inductance on the operating behaviour and the value of the output voltage is analysed. For both, the output inductor and the transformer, design considerations are given. All results are verified by simulations and experimental results taken from a 1.2 kW prototype.
Analysis and simulation of MAC layer misbehavior in mobile ad-hoc networks

This work presents an analysis and simulation of the MAC layer misbehavior of the IEEE 802.11 standard, whose the principle is cheating at the protocol level to increase the transmission rate by greedy nodes to the detriment of other honest nodes. First the standard and its MAC layer are recalled. Secondly, a state of art on the research undertaken on misbehavior of the IEEE 802.11 Standard are presented. Then the results of simulation on a critical type of deterministic cheating (no Backoff) are given and analysed. We simulate the impact of the problem of greedy behavior on receiving, and analyze two crucial metrics of this misbehavior which can be adopted for the development of a detection/reaction strategy.
Reductive formation of carbon monoxide from CCl4 and FREONs 11, 12, and 13 catalyzed by corrinoids.

In an earlier publication, we reported that corrinoids catalyze the sequential reduction of CCl4 to CHCl3, CH2Cl2, CH3Cl, and CH4 with titanium(III) citrate as electron donor [Krone, U. E. , Thauer, R. K. , & Hogenkamp, H. P. C. (1989) Biochemistry 28, 4908-4914]. However, the recovery of these products was less than 50%, indicating that other products were formed. We now report that, under the same experimental conditions, CCl4 is also converted to carbon monoxide. These studies were extended to include FREONs 11, 12, 13, and 14. Corrinoids were found to catalyze the reduction of CFCl3, CF2Cl2, and CF3Cl to CO and, in the case of CFCl3, to a lesser extent, to formate. CF4 was not reduced. The rate of CO and formate formation paralleled that of fluoride release. Both rates decreased in the series CFCl3, CF2Cl2, CCl4, and CF3Cl. The reduction of CFCl3 gave, in addition to CO and formate, CHFCl2, CH2FCl, CH3F, C2F2Cl2, and C2F2Cl4. The product pattern indicates that the corrinoid-mediated reduction of halogenated C1-hydrocarbons involves the intermediacy of dihalocarbenes, which may be a reason why these compounds are highly toxic for anaerobic bacteria.
Video analysis using spatiotemporal descriptor and kernel extreme learning machine for lip reading

Abstract. Lip-reading techniques have shown bright prospects for speech recognition under noisy environments and for hearing-impaired listeners. We aim to solve two important issues regarding lip reading: (1) how to extract discriminative lip motion features and (2) how to establish a classifier that can provide promising recognition accuracy for lip reading. For the first issue, a projection local spatiotemporal descriptor, which considers the lip appearance and motion information at the same time, is utilized to provide an efficient representation of a video sequence. For the second issue, a kernel extreme learning machine (KELM) based on the single-hidden-layer feedforward neural network is presented to distinguish all kinds of utterances. In general, this method has fast learning speed and great robustness to nonlinear data. Furthermore, quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization with binary encoding is introduced to select the appropriate feature subset and parameters for KELM training. Experiments conducted on the AVLetters and OuluVS databases show that the proposed lip-reading method achieves a superior recognition accuracy compared with two previous methods.
Conceptual Framework of Interorganizational Cost Management: a Critical Analysis

Interorganizational relationships are enriched by the theoretical concepts based on the theories of firm. Some of these theoretical models are also relevant for interorganizational cost management and provide theoretical foundation for interorganizational cost management. Theoretical models such as transaction cost economics, resource-based view, agency theory, actor network theory, contingency theory, industrial network approach, and structuration theory are some examples. In the market based approach, the relationship of organizations is seen as a dyadic relationship and proposes some mechanisms of governance. The single relationship is seen as part of larger organized structure in an organized-structure approach. By combing both approaches we propose another approach - interfirm cost management theory deals interorganizational relationship in a hybrid form and combine the dyadic and network relation with more flexibility and formal and informal communication. To support the interfirm cost management theory, the principal theories such as resource-based view, industrial network approach, and transaction cost economics got more focus.
Non-invasive positive pressure ventilation in patients with stable hypercapnic COPD: light at the end of the tunnel?

Eighteen years ago in this journal, Elliott and coworkers reported on the feasibility of non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV) to improve blood gases, total sleep time and sleep efficiency in 7 of 12 patients with stable hypercapnic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who continued NPPV for 1 year.1 However, a meta-analysis summarising four subsequent randomised controlled trials conducted in the 1990s clearly showed that 3 months of NPPV in patients with stable COPD did not improve lung function, gas exchange or sleep efficiency.2 Moreover, descriptive long-term follow-up of patients receiving home NPPV showed that patients with thoracic restrictive and neuromuscular disorders had a favourable long-term outcome, but not patients with COPD.3 In addition, two subsequent randomised controlled trials from the beginning of the last decade demonstrated that long-term survival did not improve when NPPV was added to long-term oxygen treatment (LTOT) compared with those patients only receiving LTOT.4 5 Therefore, among the potentially beneficial treatment options for chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure arising from COPD, the use of NPPV remains open to question owing to a lack of convincing evidence in the literature. One major problem in the majority of the early studies was that NPPV either did not (or was not confirmed to) improve alveolar ventilation as measured by the arterial carbon dioxide tension (Paco2). In most randomised controlled studies, assisted forms of NPPV using low inspiratory pressures airway pressures (IPAP) ranging from 10 cm H2O to 18 cm H2O have been used.2 4 5 Despite this observation, the most recent randomised controlled trial on the long-term outcome of 144 patients with stable hypercapnic COPD receiving home NPPV published in this journal, which is the largest study to date, again used …
Sparse Time–Frequency Decomposition and Some Applications

In this paper, time-frequency (TF) decomposition (TFD) is studied in the framework of sparse regularization theory. The short-time Fourier transform is first formulated as a convex constrained optimization where a mixed l1-l2 norm of the coefficients is minimized subject to a data fidelity constraint. Such formulation leads to a novel invertible decomposition with adjustable TF resolution. Then, a fast and efficient algorithm based on the alternating split Bregman technique is proposed to carry out the optimization with computational complexity [N2 log(N)]. Window length is a key parameter in windowed Fourier transform which affects the TF resolution; a novel method is also presented to determine the optimum window length for a given signal resulting to maximum compactness of energy in the TF domain. Numerical experiments show that the proposed sparsity-based TFD generates high-resolution TF maps for a wide range of signals having simple to complicated patterns in the TF domain. The performance of the proposed algorithm is also shown on real oil industry examples, such as ground roll noise attenuation and direct hydrocarbon detection from seismic data.
Probability of fixation and mean fixation time of an overdominant mutation.

The probability of fixation of an overdominant mutation in a finite population depends on the equilibrium gene frequency in an infinite population (m) and the product (A) of population size and selection intensity. If m < 0.5 (disadvantageous overdominant genes), the probability is generally much lower than that of neutral genes; but if m is close to 0.5 and A is relatively small, it becomes higher. If m > 0.5 (advantageous overdominant genes), the probability is largely determined by the fitness of heterozygotes rather than that of mutant homozygotes. Thus, overdominance enhances the probability of fixation of advantageous mutations. The average number of generations until fixation of an overdominant mutation also depends on m and A. This average time is long when m is close to 0.5 but short when m is close to 0 or 1. This dependence on m and A is similar to that of Robertson's retardation factor.
Readmission after treatment of Grade 3 and 4 renal injuries at a Level I trauma center: Statewide assessment using the Comprehensive Hospital Abstract Reporting System

BACKGROUND One criticism of the existing renal trauma research is the limited outpatient follow-up after index hospitalization. We assessed readmission rates following treatment for American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) Grade 3 and 4 renal injury using the Comprehensive Hospital Abstract Reporting System (CHARS). METHODS We evaluated all patients with AAST Grade 3 and 4 renal injuries admitted to Harborview Medical Center (HMC) between 1998 and 2010, the only Level 1 trauma center in Washington state. Grade 4 renal injuries were stratified by collecting system laceration (CSL) or segmental vascular injury. Data were abstracted from the CHARS database for readmissions to any Washington state hospital within 6 months of renal injury. Clinical variables, diagnoses, and procedures were queried based on DRG International Classification of Diseases—9th Rev. codes. RESULTS A total of 477 Grade 3 and 159 Grade 4 renal injuries were initially treated at HMC. On admission, 111 patients required intervention: 75 (16%) of 477 Grade 3 and 36 (23%) of 159 Grade 4 injuries. Within 6 months of index hospitalization, 86 (18%) of 477 Grade 3 and 38 (24%) of 159 Grade 4 patients were readmitted to any Washington state hospital. Eighty percent of Grade 3 injuries and 66% of Grade 4 injuries returned to HMC compared with secondary hospitals (p = 0.08). At readmission, 19 (22%) of 86 Grade 3 and 16 (42%) of 38 Grade 4 injuries had a urologic diagnosis. Subsequent procedural intervention was required on readmission in 6 (7%) of 86 Grade 3 and 5 (13%) of 38 Grade 4 renal injuries (all CSL injuries). CONCLUSION A subset of patients treated for Grade 3 and 4 renal trauma will be readmitted for further management. While urologic diagnoses and additional procedures may be low overall, readmission to outside hospitals may preclude accurate determination of renal trauma outcomes. Based on these data, patients with Grade 4 CSL injuries seem to be at the highest risk for readmission and to require a subsequent urologic procedure. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Prognostic/epidemiologic study, level III.
Development of a lactococcal integration vector by using IS981 and a temperature-sensitive lactococcal replication region

A vector (pKMP10) capable of Campbell-like integration into the Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis LM0230 chromosome via homologous recombination with chromosomal IS981 sequences was constructed from the replication region of lactococcal plasmid pSK11L, an internal fragment of IS981, and the erythromycin resistance gene and Escherichia coli replication origin of pVA891. The pSK11L replication region is temperature sensitive for maintenance in L. lactis subsp. lactis LM0230, resulting in loss of unintegrated pKMP10 during growth at greater than 37 degrees C. pKMP10 integrants made up 8 to 75% of LM0230(pKMP10) erythromycin-resistant cells following successive growth at 25 degrees C with selection, 39 degrees C without selection, and 39 degrees C with selection. pKMP10 integrants were also isolated from L. lactis subsp. lactis MG1363(pKMP10) but at a 10-fold-lower frequency (4%). No integrants were isolated form L. lactis subsp. lactis MMS368(pKMP10) (a Rec-deficient strain) or LM0230(pKMP1-E) (the corresponding plasmid lacking the IS981 fragment). Examination of 17 LM0230 integrants by Southern hybridization revealed pKMP10 integration into five different chromosomal sites. Four of the integration sites appeared to be chromosomal IS981 sequences, while one was an uncharacterized chromosomal sequence. The four IS981 integrants seemed to have pKMP10 integrated in a tandem repeat structure of undetermined length. Integrated pKMP10 was more stable (0 to 2% plasmid loss) than unintegrated pKMP10 (100% plasmid loss) when grown for 100 generations at 32 degrees C without selection.
Subfield‐specific immediate early gene expression associated with hippocampal long‐term potentiation in vivo

It is not known whether NMDA receptor‐dependent long‐term potentiation (LTP) is mediated by similar molecular mechanisms in different hippocampal areas. To address this question we have investigated changes in immediate early gene and protein expression in two hippocampal subfields following the induction of LTP in vivo and in vitro. In granule cells of the dentate gyrus, LTP induced in vivo by tetanic stimulation of the perforant path was followed by strong induction of the immediate early genes (IEGs) Zif268, Arc and Homer. The increase in Zif268 mRNA was accompanied by an increase in protein expression. In contrast, we were unable to detect modulation of the IEGs Zif268, Arc, Homer and HB‐GAM following induction of LTP by high‐frequency stimulation of the commissural projection to CA1 pyramidal cells in vivo. In this pathway, we also failed to detect modulation of Zif268 protein levels. Zif268, Arc and Homer can be modulated in CA1 pyramidal cells approximately twofold after electroshock‐induced maximal seizure, which demonstrates potential responsiveness to electrical stimuli. When LTP was induced in vitro neither CA1 pyramidal cells nor granule cells showed an increase in Zif268, Arc or Homer mRNA. However, in the slice preparation, granule cells have a different transcriptional state as basal IEG levels are elevated. These results establish the existence of subfield‐specific transcriptional responses to LTP‐inducing stimulation in the hippocampus of the intact animal, and demonstrate that in area CA1‐enhanced transcription of Zif268, Arc and Homer is not required for the induction of late LTP.
Induced moulting issues and alternative dietary strategies for the egg industry in the United States

The United States (U.S.) poultry industry continues to implement induced moulting to extend egg production in commercial laying flocks. Achieving an optimal moult requires dietary manipulation to cause a complete regression of the reproductive organs and cessation of egg production. This is followed by rejuvenation and initiation of an additional egg laying cycle. Currently feed withdrawal is the primary means to initiate moult and is regarded as an optimal approach for achieving post-moult performance. However, removal of feed can lead to potential physiological stress in laying hens as well as an increased susceptibility to Salmonella enteritidis colonization and invasion. To retain the ecological benefits of induced moult will require development, testing and implementation of alternative dietary approaches that minimizes these problems and increase the egg production and egg quality benefits associated with the additional egg laying cycles. Strategies for accomplishing this are discussed.
Immunization with Porphyromonas (Bacteroides) gingivalis fimbriae protects against periodontal destruction

Adhesive fimbriae from Porphyromonas gingivalis are cell surface structures which may be important in the virulence of this oral pathogen and thus may serve as a critical or target antigen. Immunization with highly purified 43-kDa fimbrial protein protected against periodontal tissue destruction when tested in the P. gingivalis-infected gnotobiotic rat model. A similarly highly purified 75-kDa cell surface component did not provide protection. Heat-killed whole-cell and sonicated cell surface extracts which contain the 43-kDa protein as well as the 75-kDa component were protective also. This study indicates that the fimbrial protein may serve as a model for the development of effective vaccines against periodontitis, a major human oral disease.
Residual Energy Prediction Scheme for Wireless Sensor Devices

Because sensor nodes have very limited resources, energy efficiency is thought to be one of the most essential parts of wireless sensor networks. Many schemes including routing and MAC protocols have been proposed which attempt to make the operation of sensor networks more energy-efficient. However, while most of these schemes assume that precise amount of residual energy is already known, it is never easy to find out remaining life of sensor nodes in reality. In this paper, we investigate the problem and propose a scheme to predict the remaining energy of sensor nodes properly.