Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Two copies of Shiga-like toxin II-related genes common in enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli strains are responsible for the antigenic heterogeneity of the O157:H- strain E32511

Thirty-two clinical isolates of Shiga-like toxin (SLT)-producing Escherichia coli associated with single cases or outbreaks of bloody diarrhea, hemorrhagic colitis, the hemolytic uremic syndrome, or edema disease of swine were examined for multiple copies of genes belonging to the slt-I or slt-II toxin families. Five of 19 strains that were known to produce SLT-II or to hybridize to slt-II-specific probes by colony blot were found by Southern hybridization to contain two copies of toxin genes related to slt-II. The genes for two toxins closely related to slt-II were cloned from one of the isolates, Escherichia coli O157:H- strain E32511. One copy of the operon was found to be essentially identical to slt-II; it differed from slt-II by only one nucleotide base. This single nucleotide difference did not affect the predicted amino acid sequence. The predicted amino acid sequence of the A subunit of the second operon was identical to that of SLT-II, but the predicted amino acid sequence of the B subunit was identical to that of the B2F1 toxin VT2ha. We designated this second operon slt-IIc. Neutralization assays using several monoclonal antibodies and polyclonal antiserum prepared against SLT-II showed that SLT-IIc was antigenically related to but distinct from SLT-II.
Knowledge spillovers and FDI ownership

We model knowledge spillovers as a function of absorptive ability, ownership and the number of host country rms. This results in a curvilinear relationship between ownership and knowledge spillovers, which we use to derive the levels of ownership at which MNEs are willing to participate in FDI ventures. We nd that MNEs typically choose for either high or low degrees of ownership (integration) of FDI when knowledge spillovers matter. Only when their activities are su¢ ciently subsidized, or when the absorptive ability of local rms is very low, will MNEs opt for more equally owned foreign ventures. We also present some empirical evidence to support our theoretical
Transferring critically ill patients out of hospital improves the standardized mortality ratio: a simulation study.

BACKGROUND Transferring critically ill patients to other acute care hospitals may artificially impact benchmarking measures. We sought to quantify the effect of out-of-hospital transfers on the standardized mortality ratio (SMR), an outcome-based measure of ICU performance. METHODS We performed a cohort study and Monte Carlo simulation using data from 85 ICUs participating in the acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) clinical information system from 2002 to 2003. The SMR (observed divided by expected hospital mortality) was calculated for each ICU using APACHE IV risk adjustment. A set number of patients was randomly assigned to be transferred out alive rather than experience their original outcome. The SMR was recalculated, and the mean simulated SMR was compared to the original. RESULTS The mean (+/- SD) baseline SMR was 1.06 +/- 0.19. In the simulation, increasing the number of transfers by 2% and 6% over baseline decreased the SMR by 0.10 +/- 0.03 and 0.14 +/- 0.03, respectively. At a 2% increase, 27 ICUs had a decrease in SMR of > 0.10, and two ICUs had a decrease in SMR of > 0.20. Transferring only one additional patient per month was enough to create a bias of > 0.1 in 27 ICUs. CONCLUSIONS Increasing the number of acute care transfers by a small amount can significantly bias the SMR, leading to incorrect inference about ICU quality. Sensitivity to the variation in hospital discharge practices greatly limits the use of the SMR as a quality measure.
Regression-Based Feature Selection on Large Scale Human Activity Recognition

In this paper, we present an approach for regression-based feature selection in human activity recognition. Due to high dimensional features in human activity recognition, the model may have over-fitting and can’t learn parameters well. Moreover, the features are redundant or irrelevant. The goal is to select important discriminating features to recognize the human activities in videos. R-Squared regression criterion can identify the best features based on the ability of a feature to explain the variations in the target class. The features are significantly reduced, nearly by 99.33%, resulting in better classification accuracy. Support Vector Machine with a linear kernel is used to classify the activities. The experiments are tested on UCF50 dataset. The results show that the proposed model significantly outperforms state-of-the-art methods.
A Novel Single-Fault Detection Technique of Digital Micro-Fluidic Biochip

— A novel, efficient, single fault detection technique of a digital microfluidic based biochip is presented in this paper. The proposed methodology is based on parallel scanning of the microfluidic biochip by using multiple droplets. The traversal of micro-array is carried out by scanning the intermediate rows, columns and the boundaries in parallel. This technique allows us to traverse all the cells as well as all edges for detecting fault in the Digital Microfluidic Biochip (DMFB). Correctness and Dependability are the important attribute for Digital Microfluidic Biochips that are used for safety-critical applications like point-of-care health assessment, massive parallel DNA analysis, automated drug discovery, air-quality monitoring, and food-safety testing. Therefore, these devices must be tested after manufacturing and during bioassay operations. The experimental result suggests that the proposed approach is an efficient one and show significant improvement in fault detection.
RF Transistors: Performance Trends Versus ITRS Targets

This paper provides an overview of the frequency performance required for future RF transistors specified as targets in the 2005 issue of the ITRS. The targets are compared to the performance of state of the art RF transistors and problems to achieve the targets are discussed. Special emphasis is given to Si-based RF transistors, i.e., Si RF MOSFETs and SiGe HBTs, but some information on III-V transistors is also included
Getting published well requires fulfilling editors' and reviewers' needs and desires

Publication in international scientific journals provides an unparalleled opportunity for authors to showcase their work. Where authors publish affects how the community values the work. This value directly determines the impact of the work on the field—papers must be read and cited to advance the field, and because the scientific literature is vast, only a subset of the literature is widely read and cited. Moreover, the value placed on the work also affects the authors' scientific reputation and career advancement. Consequently, it is essential that manuscripts receive the recognition they deserve by being published in one of the “best” journals that the scientific findings allow. Several factors determine where a paper is published: how well the topic of the paper fits the scope of the journal, the quality of the study and the manuscript describing it, the advance the paper makes in its field, the importance of the advance, and the extent to which the paper impacts the broader community of science. As scientists, we assume that our papers will be assessed objectively using only well defined scientific standards, but editors and reviewers also view papers subjectively, having biases of what defines a high‐quality publication based on Western standards. Therefore, scientists trained in other parts of the world can be significantly disadvantaged in getting their papers published in the best journals. Here, I present concrete suggestions for improving the perception of a paper in the reader's minds, increasing the likelihood that it will get published well.
Olfactory Cues From Romantic Partners and Strangers Influence Women’s Responses to Stress

The scent of another person can activate memories, trigger emotions, and spark romantic attraction; however, almost nothing is known about whether and how human scents influence responses to stress. In the current study, 96 women were randomly assigned to smell one of three scents (their romantic partner’s, a stranger’s, or a neutral scent) and exposed to an acute stressor (Trier Social Stress Test). Perceived stress and cortisol were measured continuously throughout the study (5 and 7 times, respectively). Perceived stress was reduced in women who were exposed to their partner’s scent. This reduction was observed during stress anticipation and stress recovery. Cortisol levels were elevated in women who were exposed to a stranger’s scent. This elevation was observed throughout stress anticipation, peak stress, and stress recovery. The current work speaks to the critical role of human olfactory cues in social communication and reveals that social scents can impact both psychological and physiological reactions to stress.
Weissella uvarum sp. nov., isolated from wine grapes.

Two bacterial strains (B18BM42(T) and B18NM6) were recovered during a study of bacterial diversity on wine grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) from the Nemea region in Greece. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences placed the two strains within the genus Weissella, and found them to be most closely related to Weissella minor NRIC 1625(T) followed by Weissella viridescens NRIC 1536(T) (99.1 and 98.9% sequence similarity, respectively). The level of DNA-DNA relatedness between strains B18NM42(T) and W. minor NRIC 1625(T) or W. viridescens NRIC 1536(T) was 31.9 and 35.0%, respectively. The two novel strains could be genetically differentiated from their closest relatives by REA-PFGE (restriction enzyme analysis-pulse field gel electrophoresis), RAPD (randomly amplified polymorphic DNA) and rep-PC R analyses (repetitive sequence-based PCR). Physiological examination showed that the novel strains can be distinguished from phylogenetically related species by their ability to grow at 42 °C and by certain carbohydrate fermentations. Based on the evidence above, the affiliation of the two strains to a novel species with the proposed name Weissella uvarum sp. nov. is suggested. The type strain is B18NM42(T) ( =DSM 28060(T) =NCCB 100484(T)).
Study of Queuing Systems with a Generalized Departure Process

This paper deals with a full accessibility loss system and a single server delay system with a Poisson arrival process and state dependent exponentially distributed service time. We use the generalized service flow with nonlinear state dependence mean service time. The idea is based on the analytical continuation of the Binomial distribution and the classic M/M/n/0 and M/M/1/k system. We apply techniques based on birth and death processes and state-dependent service rates. We consider the system M/M(g)/n/0 and M/M(g)/1/k (in Kendal notation) with a generalized departure process Mg. The output intensity depends nonlinearly on the system state with a defined parameter: “peaked factor p”. We obtain the state probabilities of the system using the general solution of the birth and death processes. The influence of the peaked factor on the state probability distribution, the congestion probability and the mean system time are studied. It is shown that the state-dependent service rates changes significantly the characteristics of the queueing systems. The advantages of simplicity and uniformity in representing both peaked and smooth behaviour make this queue attractive in network analysis and synthesis.
A Comparison of Vocabulary Based Vector Quantization Methods

Since the early 2000’s, application of the bag of words model (BoW) to vision problems has led to dramatic increases in performance and is now a widespread practice for classification and image retrieval. The technique itself is not novel outside of computer vision; it has a long tradition in information retrieval and natural language processing. The most basic approach is to extract invariant features at multiple detected keypoints in an image and map them to codewords in a vocabulary defined over the feature space. Images are then represented as frequency histograms over the vocabulary and are used to train a classifier or similarity metric. This basic approach is typified by Csurka et al. [2] in which SIFT [5] features are extracted at features points and then clustered using k-means to produce a vocabulary. Features are mapped to codewords by an exact nearest neighbor algorithm and the resulting histograms are used to train a linear support vector machine. Many other approaches have been proposed to improve upon each part of this basic process including approximate algorithms for nearest neighbor search [7] and alternative vocabulary generation schemes [6, 8]. This report investigates four more recent approaches, comparing them in a binary classification scenario.
Simultaneous localization and map construction method using omnidirectional stereoscopic information

This paper deals with the localization and map building paradigm in an unknown indoor environment. We propose an exploration method based on the use of the sensorial data provided by an omnidirectional stereoscopic vision system. First, we link the problem of sensorial model construction with two omnidirectional images. We propose an approach based on the fusion of several criteria, which is realized according to Dempster-Shafer rules. We then deal with the matching problem of the stereo sensorial model with an environment map integrating all the previous primitive observations. We propose two matching approaches based on different selection criteria: the Hausdorff distance and the cumulated Cartesian distance. We also present our incremental map building paradigm based on the hypothesis of a non a priori knowledge. Finally, we deal with the problem of allowing a robot to localize itself and to construct concurrently a representation of its environment.
Recommended Joint and Meta‐Analysis Strategies for Case‐Control Association Testing of Single Low‐Count Variants

In genome‐wide association studies of binary traits, investigators typically use logistic regression to test common variants for disease association within studies, and combine association results across studies using meta‐analysis. For common variants, logistic regression tests are well calibrated, and meta‐analysis of study‐specific association results is only slightly less powerful than joint analysis of the combined individual‐level data. In recent sequencing and dense chip based association studies, investigators increasingly test low‐frequency variants for disease association. In this paper, we seek to (1) identify the association test with maximal power among tests with well controlled type I error rate and (2) compare the relative power of joint and meta‐analysis tests. We use analytic calculation and simulation to compare the empirical type I error rate and power of four logistic regression based tests: Wald, score, likelihood ratio, and Firth bias‐corrected. We demonstrate for low‐count variants (roughly minor allele count [MAC] < 400) that: (1) for joint analysis, the Firth test has the best combination of type I error and power; (2) for meta‐analysis of balanced studies (equal numbers of cases and controls), the score test is best, but is less powerful than Firth test based joint analysis; and (3) for meta‐analysis of sufficiently unbalanced studies, all four tests can be anti‐conservative, particularly the score test. We also establish MAC as the key parameter determining test calibration for joint and meta‐analysis.
A model of psychosocial work environment, stress, and satisfaction among dental students in Sweden.

Dental students are often described as stressed. The stress has, among other things, been connected to stressors in their psychosocial environment and inconsistent feedback. The hypothesis of this study was that the psychosocial work environment in dental schools leads to stress and affects the satisfaction of dental students and that tolerance for ambiguity shields students from stress. A web-based survey was sent to the entire Swedish dental student population in clinical training (N=805); the response rate was 40 percent. Structural equation modeling used in the analyses contains four main constructs: psychosocial work environment, tolerance for ambiguity, perceived stress, and student satisfaction (χ(2)=267.437, d.f. =174, p<0.001, Normed χ(2)=1.537, RMSEA= 0.041, CFI=0.98). Psychosocial work environment influenced both perceived stress and satisfaction: it accounted for almost all of the explained variance in perceived stress for women, while about half of the variance for the men was explained by tolerance for ambiguity. This study concluded that about 40 percent of the total perceived stress of these female dental students was related to their psychosocial work environment. Tolerance for ambiguity shielded men but not women from stress. An improved psychosocial work environment in dental schools would decrease the stress of both male and female dental students.
Surface-initiated polymerization on self-assembled monolayers: amplification of patterns on the micrometer and nanometer scale.

The layer thickness was adjusted through the amountofsilaneprecursorandthereactiontime.Subsequentpumpingonthereaction chamber at 0.01hPa assisted in removing side products aswellasgivingahighlycondensedsilicanetwork.Theorganictemplatewas removed by calcination at 5008C in air. As known from earlierstudies of the deposition on silicon wafers, silane can be replaced bythe less pyrophoric methylsilane to give silica containing only a verysmall amountof organic groups.
PKU_ICST at TREC 2011 Microblog Track

This paper describes the PKU_ICST participation in the TREC 2011 Microblog track. In the first year of Microblog track, we designed a group of experiments to verify whether external resources and future resources would improve the performance of our system. Moreover, given that microblog track is a real ⴀ૰‐ȁ time adhoc task, we explored an approach making use of the temporal evidence. To obtain a better performance , we emp loyed different strategies to generate final results.
Identification and characterization of the dominant lactobacilli isolated from koumiss in China.

sequences. In this study, a total of 46 koumiss samples were aseptically collected from nomadic families of Xinjiang, Qinghai and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. The pH values of samples were measured with a pH meter (pH100, Extech, USA). Samples (10 ml) of each product were mixed with 90 ml of 0.85% (w/v) sterile physiological saline. Decimal dilution of milk samples were made in sterile 0.85% NaCl solution. Se-rial dilutions of samples (10 ­ 1 (cid:514) 10 ­ 8 ) were plated in trip-licate on the appropriate media. Plate count
Underweight, weight loss and related risk factors among older adults in sheltered housing--a Swedish follow-up study.

BACKGROUND Underweight and weight loss are important factors in detecting malnutrition. OBJECTIVE To describe underweight, weight loss and related nutritional factors after 12 months among individuals 75 years or older and living in sheltered housing. A further aim was to identify possible risk factors associated with underweight and weight loss. DESIGN This is a part of a cross-sectional follow-up study from a county in Sweden, examining the disabilities, resources and needs of 719 older adults in sheltered housing units. Data were collected twice, with a 12-month interval using the Resident Assessment Instrument. RESULTS Among the 503 remaining chronically ill individuals with cognitive and functional disabilities, 35% were classified as underweight at the initial assessment and 38% at the second, a non-significant difference. A further analysis showed 39% had decreased weight, 27% remained stable and 28% gained weight. A weight loss of 5% occurred in 27% of the older adults and a loss of 10% occurred in 14%. Risk factors associated with being underweight and weight loss, using scales derived from the instrument were cognitive and functional decline. Dementia and Parkinson's disease, eating dependencies and constipation were the strongest risk factors when analyzed as single items. CONCLUSION A high percentage was underweight or exhibited weight loss and several risk factors were identified. Ensuring adequate nutritional status in individuals with a variety of diseases and declining health status is challenging. Increased combined efforts using a wide range of measures, nutritional programs and routines need to be regularly implemented.
Thrombin Receptors on Human Platelets

Platelet responses to thrombin are at least partly mediated by a G-protein-coupled receptor whose NH2 terminus is a substrate for thrombin. In the present studies we have examined the location of thrombin receptors in resting platelets and followed their redistribution during platelet activation. The results reveal several new aspects of thrombin receptor biology. 1) On resting platelets, approximately two-thirds of the receptors were located in the plasma membrane. The remainder were present in the membranes of the surface connecting system. 2) When platelets were activated by ADP or a thromboxane analog, thrombin receptors that were initially in the surface connecting system were exposed on the platelet surface, increasing the number of detectable receptors by 40% and presumably making them available for subsequent activation by thrombin. 3) Platelet activation by thrombin rapidly abolished the binding of the antibodies whose epitopes are sensitive to receptor cleavage and left the platelets in a state refractory to both thrombin and the agonist peptide, SFLLRN. This was accompanied by a 60% decrease in the binding of receptor antibodies directed COOH-terminal to the cleavage site irrespective of whether the receptors were activated proteolytically by thrombin or nonproteolytically by SFLLRN. 4) The loss of antibody binding sites caused by thrombin was due in part to receptor internalization and in part to the shedding of thrombin receptors into membrane microparticles, especially under conditions in which aggregation was allowed to occur. However, at least 40% of the cleaved receptors remained on the platelet surface. 5) Lacking the ability to synthesize new receptors and lacking an intracellular reserve of preformed receptors comparable to that found in endothelial cells, platelets were unable to repopulate their surface with intact receptors following exposure to thrombin. This difference underlies the ability of endothelial cells to recover responsiveness to thrombin rapidly while platelets do not, despite the presence on both of the same receptor for thrombin.
Identification of faulty DTI-based sub-networks in autism using network regularized SVM

Neural imaging studies of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have consistently demonstrated deficits in connectivity. In this paper, we propose a new network regularized support vector machines (SVM) method to identify the faulty subnetworks associated with ASD using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). After constructing the brain connectivity network of each subject using DTI, the SVM-recursive feature elimination (RFE) algorithm is adopted to identify the faulty sub-networks in order to distinguish ASD from typical developing (TD) controls. Since connections in the network are not independent of each other, their topological proximities are incorporated as the network regularization of SVM-RFE by using the graph Laplacian to obtain robust sub-networks. Experiments on both simulated and clinical datasets showed a better performance of the proposed method in faulty sub-network identification, compared with the traditional SVM-RFE method.