Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ADAPTIVE PARTICLE FILTER FOR STRUCTURAL SYSTEM IDENTIFICATION

A self adaptive particle filter method for structural system identification is presented in this paper. Such an adaptive technique that uses statistical methods to adapt the number of particles at each iteration. This method improves the efficiency of state estimation by adapting the size of sample sets during the estimation process through KLD-Sampling. Within this adaptation process the number of samples is increased if the state uncertainty is high and decreased if the density distribution is focused on a small part of the state space. Simulation results of system identification for tracking the dynamic parameter changes are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Association of Perinuclear Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibodies and Anti–Saccharomyces cerevisiae Antibodies With Vienna Classification Subtypes of Crohn's Disease

BackgroundThe Vienna classification of Crohn's disease (CD) subdivides patients according to their age at diagnosis (A), disease location (L), and disease behavior (B). AimThe aim of this study was to test whether perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (pANCAs) or anti–Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies (ASCAs) correlate to subtypes of CD according to this classification. MethodspANCA, ASCA–immunoglobulin (Ig) A, and ASCA-IgG were detected by indirect immunofluorescence in 120 sera of patients with CD and compared with their Vienna classification. ResultsPatients with diagnosis of CD at an age of 40 years or older (A2) were more frequently pANCA-positive than those whose disease started at a younger age (A1) (19% vs. 5%, p < 0.05). pANCA-positive patients almost exclusively belonged to the nonpenetrating disease groups (B1 and B2); only one patient had penetrating disease (B3) (B3 vs. non-B3: p = 0.02). There was a cluster of pANCA-positive patients within the A1 B2 L3 subgroup (B2: stricturing disease; L3: ileocolonic involvement). Only 7.5% of ASCA-IgA–positive patients presented with CD that was limited to the colon (L2). ASCA-IgA and ASCA-IgG were more frequently found in patients with upper gastrointestinal disease (L4) (ASCA-IgA: 66.7% vs. 31.5% in non-L4, p < 0.05; ASCA-IgG: 44.4% vs. 27.9%, p < 0.05). ConclusionpANCA and ASCA may be useful in predicting subtypes of CD. They therefore may be helpful in developing subtype-specific disease management strategies.
Disambiguating coordinations using word distribution information

In this paper we present some heuristics for resolving coordination ambiguities. This type of ambiguity is one of the most pervasive and challenging. We test the hypothesis that the most likely reading of a coordination can be predicted using word distribution information from a generic corpus. The measures that we use are: the relative frequency of the coordination in the corpus, the distributional similarity of the coordinated words, and the collocation frequency between coordinated words and their modifiers. The heuristics that we present based on these measures have varying but useful predictive power. They also take into account our view that many ambiguities cannot be effectively dissambiguated, since human perceptions vary widely.
AN IMPROVED STRIPPING TECHNIQUE FOR LIGHTLY ARMORED DINOFLAGELLATES 1

Identification of armored heterotrophic dinoflagellates relies, in part, on plate tabulations obtained by SEM. Currently, two methods are used to visualize plate morphology and develop plate tabulations: swelling the sutures between the cellulose plates of intact organisms or stripping off the outer membranes with ethanol to expose the underlying cellulose plates. Both approaches are problematic with lightly armored dinoflagellates because sutures do not consistently swell to enable visualization, and the outer membranes are not consistently stripped. Further, generic and species differences necessitate frequent modification of these protocols to obtain reliable results. We describe an improved membrane stripping technique using the detergent Triton X‐100. Our method provides a more consistent standardized approach to removing the outer membranes of lightly armored dinoflagellates, including Pfiesteria shumwayae Glasgow & Burkholder, a taxon that has, until now, proven very difficult to strip with currently published methods. This method allows visualization of the sulcus, a region previously difficult to observe, and will greatly facilitate taxonomic studies of the lightly armored forms.
Relationships between anthropometry, cardiorespiratory fitness indices and physical activity levels in different age and sex groups in rural Senegal (West Africa)

Background: A high level of activity is commonplace in traditional subsistence societies. Physiological characteristics of individuals, including body composition and physical fitness, could be limiting factors when performing daily tasks. Objectives: The study investigated the relationships between cardiorespiratory fitness, nutritional status and physical activity patterns, so as to test the hypothesis that these relationships are less straightforward in children than in adults. Study design: Four different groups of individuals from rural Senegal were investigated: 99 10–13-year-old children of both sexes (11.1 ± 1.5 years old) from two settings in Senegal (Lambaye and Podor), 43 adolescent girls (15.5 ± 0.5 years), and 30 adult women (17–40 years). Methods: Subjects undertook a step test, and anthropometric measurements were collected. Continuous heart rate (HR) monitoring was performed for 8–12 h. The flex-HR method was used to estimate levels of activity (per cent of time spent under or over the flex-HR). Results: Ten to 13-year-old children and adolescent girls presented slight degrees of malnutrition. Adult women were apparently not nutritionally deprived. Differences in cardiorespiratory fitness were found among 10–13-year-old children, while adult women performed better than adolescent girls. Children from Lambaye had a higher level of activity than children from Podor. Similarly, adult women were more active than adolescent girls. No relationships were found between cardiorespiratory or anthropometric measurements and per cent of time spent above the flex-HR (>flex-HR) in 10–13-year-old children. In contrast, in adult women and adolescent girls, body composition and cardiorespiratory indices were significant predictors of activity levels. Conclusion: Our data support the hypothesis that activity levels are less dependent upon physiological characteristics in children than in adults in traditional subsistence societies.
Parametric macromodeling of high-speed modules from frequency-domain data using Loewner Matrix based method

Recently, Loewner Matrix (LM) based algorithms were introduced for generating time-domain macromodels based on frequency-domain data. These methods were shown to be very efficient and accurate for systems with large number of ports. Traditional LM method can handle only single variable frequency-domain data i.e. the data depending on frequency only. Multivariate data (data depends on frequency and other parameters as well) needs to be handled for parametric macromodeling. In this paper, we showed the difficulty of obtaining the parametric macromodels using the standard LM method, and propose a LM based algorithm that is suitable for parameterization.
Microdiversity shapes the traits, niche space, and biogeography of microbial taxa.

With rapidly improving sequencing technologies, scientists have recently gained the ability to examine diverse microbial communities at high genomic resolution, revealing that both free-living and host-associated microbes partition their environment at fine phylogenetic scales. This 'microdiversity,' or closely related (> 97% similar 16S rRNA gene) but ecologically and physiologically distinct sub-taxonomic groups, appears to be an intrinsic property of microorganisms. However, the functional implications of microdiversity as well as its effects on microbial biogeography are poorly understood. Here, we present two theoretical models outlining the evolutionary mechanisms that drive the formation of microdiverse 'sub-taxa. ' Additionally, we review recent literature and reveal that microdiversity influences a wide range of functional traits across diverse ecosystems and microbes. Moving to higher levels of organization, we use laboratory data from marine, soil, and host-associated bacteria to demonstrate that the aggregated trait-based response of microdiverse sub-taxa modifies the fundamental niche of microbes. The correspondence between microdiversity and niche space represents a critical tool for future studies of microbial ecology. By combining growth experiments on diverse isolates with examinations of environmental abundance patterns, researchers can better quantify the fundamental and realized niches of microbes and improve understanding of microbial biogeography and response to future environmental change.
Microbial Communities and Fecal Indicator Bacteria Associated with Cladophora Mats on Beach Sites along Lake Michigan Shores

ABSTRACT A high biomasses of Cladophora, a filamentous green alga, is found mainly during the summer along the shores of Lake Michigan. In this study, the abundance and persistence of the fecal indicator bacterium Escherichia coli and sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) on Cladophora mats collected at Lake Michigan beaches were evaluated using both culture-based and molecular analyses. Additionally, 16S rRNA gene cloning and sequencing were used to examine the bacterial community composition. Overall, E. coli was detected in all 63 samples obtained from 11 sites, and the average levels at most beaches ranged from 2,700 CFU/100 g (wet weight) of Cladophora to 7,500 CFU/100 g of Cladophora. However, three beaches were found to have site average E. coli densities of 12,800, 21,130, and 27,950 CFU/100 g of Cladophora. The E. coli levels in the lake water collected at the same time from these three sites were less than the recommended U.S. Environmental Protection Agency limit, 235 CFU/100 ml. E. coli also persisted on Cladophora mats in microcosms at room temperature for more than 7 days, and in some experiments it persisted for as long as 28 days. The SRB densities on Cladophora mats were relatively high, ranging from 4.4 × 106 cells/g (6.64 log CFU/g) to 5.73 × 106 cells/g (6.76 log CFU/g) and accounting for between 20% and 27% of the total bacterial counts. Partial sequences of the 16S rRNA gene clones revealed a phylogenetically diverse community, in which the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides cluster and the low-G+C-content gram-positive bacteria were the dominant organisms, accounting for 40% and 12.8%, respectively, of the total clone library. These results further reveal the potential public health and ecological significance of Cladophora mats that are commonly found along the shoreline of Lake Michigan, especially with regard to the potential to harbor microorganisms associated with fecal pollution and odor-causing bacteria.
What's Distinctive about a Distinctive Face?

In this study we examine the relationship between objective aspects of facial appearance and facial “distinctiveness”. Specifically, we examine whether the extent to which a face deviates from “average” correlates with rated distinctiveness and measures of memorability. We find that, provided the faces are rated with hair concealed, reasonable correlations can be achieved between their physical deviation and their rated distinctiveness. More modest correlations are obtained between physical deviation and the extent to which faces are remembered, either correctly or falsely, after previous study. Furthermore, memory ratings obtained to “target” faces when they have been previously seen (i.e. “hits”) do not show the expected negative correlation with the scores obtained to the same faces when acting as distractors (i.e. “false positives”), though each correlates with rated distinctiveness. This confirms the theory of Vokey and Read (1992) that the typicality/distinctiveness dimension can be broken down into two orthogonal components: “memorability” and “context-free familiarity”.
Evaluation of three ancillary treatments in the management of equine grass sickness

Brotizolam, acetylcysteine and aloe vera gel were evaluated as ancillary treatments for 29 cases of equine grass sickness. None of the treatments had any significant beneficial effect on the survival of the horses. However, 11 of 13 horses with mild chronic grass sickness survived solely with intensive nursing care.
Improving sentiment rating of movie review comments for recommendation

People usually ask for advices before making decisions, for example, watching movies. It's convenient if user opinions can be automatically aggregated and analyzed. To obtain an exact rating of a movie, sentiment rating can be formulated as a regression problem. Since our goal is only an overall suggestion of worthwhile or not, lexicon-based sentiment classification is used in this paper. To facilitate efficient movie recommendation, we propose to adjust sentiment lexicons for improving the sentiment classification accuracy in movie reviews. Also, we compare several methods of opinion rating aggregation for movie recommendation. In our experiments on Chinese movies, we can obtain high accuracy for the top-rated movies using our proposed approach. Further investigation is needed to evaluate the performance in larger scale.
Real Decreto 110/2015, de 20 de febrero, sobre residuos de aparatos eléctricos y electrónicos: Análisis del nuevo modelo de responsabilidad ampliada del productor

El RD 110/2015, de 20 de febrero, sobre residuos de aparatos electricos y electronicos, transpone a nuestro ordenamiento las obligaciones derivadas de la nueva Directiva europea sobre estos residuos, pero incorpora tambien novedades no exigidas por dicha Directiva, que se justifican por la consecucion de una gestion pretendidamente «mas eficaz y eficiente». En este analisis se abordan los aspectos clave de esta importante reforma, entre los que destaca la configuracion de un nuevo modelo de responsabilidad ampliada del productor, que permite atribuir responsabilidades directas sobre la recogida y gestion de los residuos de aparatos electricos y electronicos a otros agentes economicos diferentes a los productores, si bien, en contraste con esta liberalizacion de la actividad de gestion, el cumplimiento de los objetivos de recogida separada (los mas problematicos), sigue recayendo, de facto, unicamente sobre los productores.
Overview of Australian R&D in mine imaging

The Australian program in mine imaging was carried out under the Capability and Technology Demonstrator Program. The work on mine imaging was carried out by Midspar Systems in collaboration with DSTO. The aim of the program was to integrate advances in wide band technology to develop a system capable of detecting, localizing and classifying all mine types including stealth mines both on the sea floor and buried. The program ran from 1999 until 2006.
An Arabidopsis VPS 45 p Homolog Implicated in Protein Transport to the Vacuole 1

The Sec1p family of proteins is required for vesicle-mediated protein trafficking between various organelles of the endomembrane system. This family includes Vps45p, which is required for transport to the vacuole in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). We have isolated a cDNA encoding a VPS45 homolog from Arabidopsis thaliana (AtVPS45). The cDNA is able to complement both the temperature-sensitive growth defect and the vacuolar-targeting defect of a yeast vps45 mutant, indicating that the two proteins are functionally related. AtVPS45p is a peripheral membrane protein that associates with microsomal membranes. Sucrose-density gradient fractionation demonstrated that AtVPS45p co-fractionates with AtELP, a potential vacuolar protein sorting receptor, implying that they may reside on the same membrane populations. These results indicate that AtVPS45p is likely to function in the transport of proteins to the vacuole in plants.
Caregiver Quality of Life in Pediatric Asthma

Objective. To examine caregiver quality of life (QOL) related to pediatric asthma among families from Latino, African American, and non-Latino white (NLW) backgrounds. Methods. In all, 94 children with persistent asthma (6-15 years) and their primary caregivers completed interview-administered questionnaires. Results. Overall QOL and subscale scores differed across race/ethnicity, with NLW caregivers reporting higher QOL. Caregivers who expressed more concerns about their child’s medications and more beliefs in the necessity of asthma medications had lower QOL. In African American and Latino families, caregiver QOL mediated the association between beliefs about the necessity of asthma medications and child emergency department (ED) use. Conclusions. Caregiver beliefs and concerns related to child asthma medications may begin to explain differences in caregiver QOL across NLW, Latino, and African American caregivers. Caregiver QOL may be a mechanism by which caregiver beliefs and concerns about asthma medications are associated with child ED use.
A paradox from randomization-based causal inference

Under the potential outcomes framework, causal effects are defined as comparisons between potential outcomes under treatment and control. To infer causal effects from randomized experiments, Neyman proposed to test the null hypothesis of zero average causal effect (Neyman's null), and Fisher proposed to test the null hypothesis of zero individual causal effect (Fisher's null). Although the subtle difference between Neyman's null and Fisher's null has caused lots of controversies and confusions for both theoretical and practical statisticians, a careful comparison between the two approaches has been lacking in the literature for more than eighty years. We fill in this historical gap by making a theoretical comparison between them and highlighting an intriguing paradox that has not been recognized by previous researchers. Logically, Fisher's null implies Neyman's null. It is therefore surprising that, in actual completely randomized experiments, rejection of Neyman's null does not imply rejection of Fisher's null for many realistic situations, including the case with constant causal effect. Furthermore, we show that this paradox also exists in other commonly-used experiments, such as stratified experiments, matched-pair experiments, and factorial experiments. Asymptotic analyses, numerical examples, and real data examples all support this surprising phenomenon. Besides its historical and theoretical importance, this paradox also leads to useful practical implications for modern researchers.
Throughput performance of wireless LANs operating at 2.4 and 5 GHz

The throughput performance of IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs has been evaluated in relation to overhead. Sources of overhead are gap time, preamble, header fields for the PHY (physical) and the MAC (medium access control) layer, ACK (acknowledgement) frames, the TCP (transmission control protocol). The impact of this overhead can be modeled. After measuring the net throughput with 2.4 GHz products and detailed monitoring of actual exchange of frames, this modeling has been refined. The close fit between the results of measuring and of modeling for currently available 2.4 GHz product allows an accurate prediction for enhanced 2.4 GHz versions and new 5 GHz products.
Identification of enteroaggregative Escherichia coli in infants with acute diarrhea based on biofilm production in Manipal, south India.

BACKGROUND Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) is an emerging enteric pathogen that causes persistent diarrhea among infants, both in developing and industrialized countries. The EAEC strains adhere to epithelial cell surface, to the glass substratum and to each other in a distinctive stacked brick-formation. Thus, gold standard for identification of EAEC remains the HEp-2 cell adherence test, which is time consuming and requires specialized facilities. AIM To evaluate the usefulness of quantitative biofilm assay to screen for EAEC from children with acute diarrhea. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 100 E. coli strains were collected from acute diarrheal cases from December 2005 to November 2006. The strains were screened for biofilm production using microtiter plate method. The biofilm in the microtiter plate was visualized after staining with crystal violet and was quantified using enzyme immunosorbent assay plate reader. The Aggregative plasmid and Heat stable toxin genes were evaluated by a multiplex polymerase chain reaction. The strains were identified as EAEC with an optical density at 570 nm (OD570)>0.2. RESULTS Of the total 100 Escherichia coli strains, 28 were positive by Polymerase Chain Reaction for two genes, AggR and EAST. Of the 28 PCR-positive strains screened for biofilm, 25 (89.2%) showed positive results by microtiter plate method. CONCLUSION The quantitative biofilm assay using microtiter plate is convenient and economical and can be used as a screening method to screen E. coli isolates from acute diarrheal cases. The best use of this test is to screen large number of isolates quickly, and if positive this can be confirmed by multiplex PCR for AggR and EAST genes. This assay may contribute to demonstrating the true incidence of EAEC with and without AggR among clinically isolated E. coli strains, which can cause acute diarrhea.
Perceived Physical Ability as a Function of Race and Racial Comparison

Recent research efforts have clearly demonstrated that the strength and quality of students' achievement efforts are closely linked to their beliefs about their own competence (Nicholls, 1984). Attempts to understand what influences learning and how learning occurs from teaching have explored the mediating role of the selfand its influence on perceptions of ability and competence (Cross & Markus, 1994). Using the theoretical framework ofself-schema (Markus, 1977), race has emerged as a determining factor in developing selfschemata and competence-related perceptions (Harrison, Lee, & Belcher, 1999; Smith & Lewis, 1985). Markus (1977) defined self-schema as affective and cognitive structures that provide individuals with knowledge about their abilities and allow them to use those abilities effectively. Self-schemata can be thought ofas the cognitive consequences of the social forces that shape us. Race and gender are theorized to be universal or core self-schemata (Harrison, 1995), because the attributes associated with these constructs are always available for social comment and are distinguishable early in life. It is important to note that in this paper, racial groups are viewed as individuals who share common social, political, historical, and philosophical backgrounds along with common geographical descent (LaVeist, 1996). Research on racial influences in sport and physical activity selection and participation indicates that racial groups exhibit varying preferences for and perceptions