Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Forensic Assessment of Metal Contaminated Rivers in the 21st Century Using Geochemical and Isotopic Tracers

Documentation of contaminant source and dispersal pathways in riverine environments is essential to mitigate the potentially harmful effects of contaminants on human and ecosystem health, and is required from a legal perspective (particularly where the polluter pays principle is in effect) in assessing site liability. Where multiple natural and/or anthropogenic sources exist, identification of contaminant provenance has proven problematic, and estimated contributions from a specific source are often the subject of judicial debate. The past, current, and future use of geochemical and isotopic tracers in environmental forensic investigations of contaminant provenance, transport, and fate are analyzed herein for sediment-associated trace metals in riverine environments, particularly trace metals derived from mining and refining operations. The utilized methods have evolved significantly over the past four decades. Of primary significance has been the growing integration of geomorphic and stratigraphic techniques with the use of an increasing number of geochemical tracers including stable isotopes. The isotopes of Pb have been particularly well studied, and have been applied to a wide range of environmental media. Advances in analytical chemistry since the early 1990s have allowed for the precise characterization of other non-traditional stable isotopic systems within geological materials. The potential for using these non-traditional isotopes as tracers in river systems has yet to be adequately explored, but a number of these isotopes (e.g., Cd, Cu, Cr, Hg, Sb, and Zn) show considerable promise. Moreover, some of these isotopes (e.g., those of Cu, Cr, and Hg) may provide important insights into biogeochemical cycling processes within aquatic environments. This review suggests that future environmental forensic investigations will be characterized by an interdisciplinary approach that combines the use of multiple geochemical tracers with detailed stratigraphic, geomorphic, and hydrologic data, thereby yielding results that are likely to withstand the scrutiny of judicial review.
Comparison of three decontamination methods for Mycobacterium bovis isolation

Sixty samples of tissue fragments with lesions suggestive of tuberculosis from bovine abattoirs, kept in saturated solution of sodium borate, were subjected to four treatments: 4% NaOH (Petroff Method), 12 % H2SO4 and 1.5% HPC (1-Hexadecylpyridinium Chloride) decontamination, and physiological saline solution (control). The HPC method showed the lowest contamination rate (3%) when compared to control (88%, p<0.001), NaOH (33%, p<0.001) and H2SO4 (21.7%, p<0.002). Regarding the isolation success, the HPC method was better (40%) than the control (3%, p<0.001), NaOH (13%, p=0.001) and H2SO4 (1.7%, p<0.001) methods. These results indicate that HPC is an alternative to the Petroff method.
Surveillance for Lyme disease--United States, 1992-1998.

PROBLEM/CONDITION Lyme disease is caused by infection with the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi and is the most commonly reported vector-borne disease in the United States. Borrelia burgdorferi is transmitted to humans by infected Ixodes scapularis and I. pacificus ticks. Lyme disease is typically evidenced in its early stage by a characteristic rash (erythema migrans), accompanied by nonspecific symptoms (e.g., fever, malaise, fatigue, headache, myalgia, and arthralgia). Lyme disease can usually be treated successfully with standard antibiotic regimens. REPORTING PERIOD 1992-1998. DESCRIPTION OF SYSTEM Lyme disease surveillance data are reported to CDC through the National Electronic Telecommunication System for Surveillance, a computerized public health database for nationally notifiable diseases. During 1992-1998, data regarding reported cases of Lyme disease included county and state of residence, age, sex, and date of onset. Descriptive analyses were performed, and cumulative incidence by state, county, age group, and sex were calculated. RESULTS During 1992-1998, a total of 88,967 cases of Lyme disease was reported to CDC by 49 states and the District of Columbia, with the number of cases increasing from 9,896 in 1992 to 16,802 in 1998. A total of 92% of cases was reported from eight northeastern and mid-Atlantic states and two north-central states. Children aged 5-9 years and adults aged 45-54 years had the highest mean annual incidence. INTERPRETATION Lyme disease is a highly focal disease, with the majority of reported cases occurring in the northeastern and north-central United States. The number of reported cases of Lyme disease increased during 1992-1998. Geographic and seasonal patterns of disease correlate with the distribution and feeding habits of the vector ticks, I. scapularis and I. pacificus. PUBLIC HEALTH ACTION The results presented in this report will help clinicians evaluate the prior probability of Lyme disease and provide the framework for targeting human Lyme disease vaccine use and other prevention and treatment interventions.
A fully integrated low-power class-E power amplifier for short range communication

This paper presents the advantages and drawbacks of designing different power amplifier types. The study also compares the drain efficiencies of the current-source and switch-type power amplifiers. The appropriate power amplifier needs to be chosen for low-power short range data communication. A fully integrated low-power class-E power amplifier at 869 MHz for short range communication is designed. The power amplifier is integrated using a 0.18 μm CMOS technology. Post-layout simulation results show the effectiveness of the power amplifier. The power amplifier consumes only 487.2 μW at 0.2 V supply voltage. The drain efficiency of the power amplifier is 55% at -5.8 dBm output power for 50 Ω load.
Search for patents using treatment and causal relationships

An interesting area of research in information retrieval is that of relationship extraction. The ability to scan an article or set of articles and extract relationships such as "X treats Y" or "A happens because of B" is key to retrieving articles of interest to a large population. In this paper, we describe our method of identifying and extracting treatment and causal relationships from medical patent documents. We use a medical patent corpus to show that using relationship patterns to retrieve medical patent documents helps improving the recall of the system immensely. We also show that expanding our search to look for a broader set of relationships and including causal relationships along with treatment relationships, addresses a larger range of patent documents thereby improving the recall of the system significantly.
A Low-Cost Positioning System for Location-Aware Applications in Smart Homes

Location-aware services for private use such as GPS-based navigation systems and GSM-based offerings have become quite a success for outdoor applications, while indoor positioning systems are still mainly employed for professional use only. The main reasons are cost issues and the complexity of setup and maintenance of those systems. In this paper we present CaMPTrack (Camera-based Multiple Person Tracker), a prototype of a webcam-based positioning system and discuss its application and development challenges.
Mediating Turf Battles! Prioritizing Shared Modules in Locating Multiple Features

Dynamic feature location techniques (DFLTs), which use execution profiles of scenarios that trigger a feature, are a promising approach to locating features in the source code. A sufficient set of scenarios is key to obtaining highly accurate results, however, its preparation is laborious and difficult in practice. In most cases, a scenario exercises not only the desired feature but also other features. We focus on the relationship between a module and multiple features that can be calculated with no extra scenarios, to improve the accuracy of locating the desired feature in the source code. In this paper, we propose a DFLT using the odds ratios of the multiple relationships between modules and features. We use the similarity coefficient, which is used in fault localization techniques, as a relationship. Our DFLT better orders shared modules compared with an existing DFLT. To reduce developer costs in our DFLT, we also propose a filtering technique that uses formal concept analysis. We evaluate our DFLT on the features of an open source software project with respect to developer costs and show that our DFLT outperforms the existing approach, the average cost of our DFLT is almost half that of the state-of-the-art DFLT.
Understanding Change of Direction Performance: A Technical Analysis of a 180° Ground-Based Turn and Sprint Task

This study aimed to identify the key technical features that are consistently present in superior 180° ground-based change of direction performances (180gbCOD), but lacking in lesser skilled performances. Twenty-two national under 21 level netball players performed three trials of a 180° turn from a static start, followed by a 2.5 m straight sprint. High-speed video of the movement was recorded for each trial. A qualitative analytic approach was used to analyze the technical strategies employed by players throughout the movement task. Five key technical features were identified that were consistently observed in superior 180gbCOD performances (first foot ground contact was parallel to the new direction): 1) shallow squat combined with backward-moving centre of mass; 2) head leading the body through the turn; 3) arms and legs close to the body through the turn; 4) full extension of the takeoff leg (trail leg) at first takeoff; and, 5) large takeoff distance (distance from the foot of the trail leg to the center of mass) at first takeoff. These features provide coaches with valuable insight into the technical cues that appear to contribute to a superior 180gbCOD performance.
Erythrocyte sodium concentration and 86Rb uptake in weanling Dahl rats.

Alterations in Na, K ATPase pump activity as well as erythrocyte (RBC) intracellular sodium concentration (Nai) have been demonstrated in humans and rats with established hypertension. The contribution of hypertension itself to these changes is unclear. Accordingly, we investigated RBC ion transport and plasma ouabain-like factor (OLF) in four- to five-week old normotensive Dahl salt-sensitive (DS) and salt-resistant (DR) rats on low salt diet. Although both strains were normotensive, systolic blood pressure (SBP) of DS (123 +/- 2 mm Hg) was higher than that of DR (116 +/- 1 mm Hg). No interstrain difference was evident in RBC pump activity measured as ouabain-sensitive 86rubidium (86Rb) uptake (DS = 0.277 +/- .030 and DR = 0.271 +/- .029 mumol/10(9)RBC/h) even though RBC Nai was greater in DS than DR (14.9 +/- 2.0 v 10.7 +/- 1.0 mEq/L; P less than 0.05). Plasma OLF was higher in DS than DR (28.9 +/- 4.7 v 16.5 +/- 2.3 pmol/mL; P less than 0.05), but did not correlate with RBC pump activity in either strain. RBC Nai was directly correlated with pump activity in DS (r = 0.84, P less than 0.01) and demonstrated a trend to correlate in DR (r = 0.71, P = 0.07). RBC Nai was also directly correlated with SBP in DR (r = 0.73, P less than 0.05) and DS (r = 0.70, P = 0.05). We conclude that RBC Nai is genetically determined in Dahl rats and is elevated in normotensive DS who are at risk for hypertension development. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Anti-Expressions: Artificial Control Stimuli for the Visual Properties of Emotional Facial Expressions

The perceptual cognitive processing for emotional facial expressions is effective compared to that for neutral facial expressions. To investigate whether this effectiveness can be attributed to the expression of emotion or to the visual properties of the facial expressions, we used computer morphing to develop a form of control stimuli. These “anti-expressions” changed the features in emotional facial expressions in the opposite direction from neutral expressions by amounts equivalent to the differences between emotional and neutral expressions. To examine if anti-expressions are usable as emotionally neutral faces, 35 participants were asked to categorize and rate the valence and arousal dimensions of six basic emotions for normal and anti-expressions. The results indicate that anti-expressions were assessed as neutral for anger, disgust, fear, and happiness, and these can be used as control stimuli in emotional facial expressions regarding visual properties.
PLTO: A Link-Time Optimizer for the Intel IA-32 Architecture

This paper describes PLTO, a link-time instrumentation and optimization tool we have developed for the Intel IA-32 architecture. A number of characteristics of this architecture complicate the task of link-time optimization. These include a large number of op-codes and addressing modes, which increases the complexity of program analysis; variable-length instructions, which complicates disassembly of machine code; a paucity of available registers, which limits the extent of some optimizations; and a reliance on using memory locations for holding values and for parameter passing, which complicates program analysis and optimization. We describe how PLTO addresses these problems and the resulting performance improvements it is able to achieve.
Impact of P-Site tRNA and Antibiotics on Ribosome Mediated Protein Folding: Studies Using the Escherichia coli Ribosome

Background The ribosome, which acts as a platform for mRNA encoded polypeptide synthesis, is also capable of assisting in folding of polypeptide chains. The peptidyl transferase center (PTC) that catalyzes peptide bond formation resides in the domain V of the 23S rRNA of the bacterial ribosome. Proper positioning of the 3′ –CCA ends of the A- and P-site tRNAs via specific interactions with the nucleotides of the PTC are crucial for peptidyl transferase activity. This RNA domain is also the center for ribosomal chaperoning activity. The unfolded polypeptide chains interact with the specific nucleotides of the PTC and are released in a folding competent form. In vitro transcribed RNA corresponding to this domain (bDV RNA) also displays chaperoning activity. Results The present study explores the effects of tRNAs, antibiotics that are A- and P-site PTC substrate analogs (puromycin and blasticidin) and macrolide antibiotics (erythromycin and josamycin) on the chaperoning ability of the E. coli ribosome and bDV RNA. Our studies using mRNA programmed ribosomes show that a tRNA positioned at the P-site effectively inhibits the ribosome's chaperoning function. We also show that the antibiotic blasticidin (that mimics the interaction between 3′–CCA end of P/P-site tRNA with the PTC) is more effective in inhibiting ribosome and bDV RNA chaperoning ability than either puromycin or the macrolide antibiotics. Mutational studies of the bDV RNA could identify the nucleotides U2585 and G2252 (both of which interact with P-site tRNA) to be important for its chaperoning ability. Conclusion Both protein synthesis and their proper folding are crucial for maintenance of a functional cellular proteome. The PTC of the ribosome is attributed with both these abilities. The silencing of the chaperoning ability of the ribosome in the presence of P-site bound tRNA might be a way to segregate these two important functions.
MARK HANCOCK, English Pronunciation in Use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Pp. 200. ISBN: 0–521-00185–4

kinds, the identification of phonetic segments and the concept of minimal pairs, and, finally, syllable structure. All of these modules can be accessed in a random order, and each module contains a tutorial and interactive practice exercises with feedback. At various points, there is the possibility of recording one’s own attempts at reproducing certain features. As students work through the three levels of text difficulty, they are presented with correspondingly more detailed information for each phonetic topic. Thus, to take the example of the topic ‘Sounds’ (because of its interest for readers of this journal), the tutorial at level one introduces the IPA, its applications and importance, the convention of slant brackets, and the division of sounds into vowels and consonants. Level two carries on with schwa, diphthongs, syllable structure and the role schwa plays in stress patterning. Level three works further with primary and secondary stress and the use of phonetic script in pronunciation dictionaries. A wealth of analyses and phonetic detail on English is thus gradually built up. It would have been interesting to take the phonetic analysis even further and examine in detail some of the accent variation which is represented by the different speakers, but CS does not do this. Perhaps this could be incorporated in future, as, in my experience, able learners of EFL do find sociolinguistic variation accessible and, importantly, interesting to discuss. The present reviewer also found it interesting to see just what range of sociolinguistic variation would be used to exemplify British English. While the accents can be identified as, for example, clearly southern English, clearly Midlands English, or clearly Irish, these are mostly supra-local accented speakers. In these post-modern times, if this material is representative, regionality as an important aspect of modern British English features prominently. However, and quirkily enough in this context, the ‘instructor’ voice is a more markedly RP one; that accent’s past hegemony still has a presence even in 2005. My basis for writing this review is my experience of teaching undergraduate phonetics to speakers of English as a Foreign Language studying in Denmark. The aim of such teaching is for the students to acquire insight into phonetic theory and its application to the English language, and the extent to which they can acquire this is obviously predicated somewhat on the level of English proficiency they come to the class with. I find that the material in CS has the potential to bridge any gap there may be between varying levels of oral English proficiency and the ability to observe and analyse English phonetic phenomena. CS is moreover is a lively and attractively designed piece of software which admirably introduces students to pronunciation and, through focus on pronunciation for learners of English, the concepts of phonetics. Connected Speech is eminently suited to the task and can be highly recommended.
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support can extend the duration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation*

Objectives:To evaluate the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in prolonged cardiopulmonary resuscitation and to estimate how long cardiopulmonary resuscitation can be extended with acceptable results. Design:Review of consecutive adult in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation patients without return of spontaneous circulation in 10 mins and with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation rescue, and analysis of the relationship between outcome and cardiopulmonary resuscitation duration and possible etiologies. The data were collected following the Utstein style guidelines on in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Two organ dysfunction scores were incorporated into the analysis for outcome prediction. Setting:A university-affiliated tertiary referral medical center and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation center. Patients:An observational cohort study in 135 consecutive adult in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation patients without return of spontaneous circulation who received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Main Results:The average cardiopulmonary resuscitation duration was 55.7 ± 27.0 mins and 56.3% of patients received subsequent interventions to treat underlying etiologies. The successful weaning rate was 58.5% and the survival-to-discharge rate was 34.1%. The majority of survivors (89%) had an acceptable neurologic status on discharge. Risk factors for hospital mortality included longer cardiopulmonary resuscitation duration, etiology of acute coronary syndrome, and a higher organ dysfunction score in the first 24 hrs. Logistic regression analysis revealed the probability of survival was approximately 0.5, 0.3, or 0.1 when the duration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation was 30, 60, or 90 mins, respectively. Conclusion:Assisted circulation might extend the presently accepted duration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in adult in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation patients.
Children's Attitudes to Television Advertisements: A Factorial Perspective

Summary This study assesses children's attitudes to television advertisements. Five hundred and forty-five middle-class white boys and girls (average age = 10.67 years) completed a 28-item scale after viewing a TV commercial; initial analysis resulted in one item being omitted. Factor analysis of the remaining 27 items yielded two interpretable factors, labelled Entertainment and Irritation-Boredom. Two issues emerge: First, children's and adult's attitudes to TV advertisements differ somewhat. Second, children view television advertisements almost entirely in terms of their entertainment function. This has important ethical implications. Children's purchase behavior may not be manipulated by such advertisements because (a) their perception of these advertisements may not be consistent with the advertisers' primary intentions and (b) children are less entertained and more irritated and bored with such advertisements as they grow older.
Age and gender invariance of self‐concept factor structure: An investigation of a newly developed Chinese self‐concept instrument

A new instrument, the Chinese Adolescent Self-Esteem Scales (CASES), was developed to measure the self-concepts of the young people in Hong Kong in seven aspects: social, academic, appearance, moral, family, physical/sport, and general selfesteem. LISREL procedures were utilized to test the extent of factorial invariance for age and gender based on the responses to CASES of 551 Hong Kong adolescents. It was found that CASES possesses the necessary invariance properties for between-group measurement in terms of the number and pattern of the underlying factors, item factor loadings, and inter-factor relations, but not in terms of item uniqueness. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the use of CASES and of empirical support for the equivalence of self-concept factor structure for age and gender groups for both Western and non-Western adolescents. Dans cet etude, un nouvel instrument, le CASES (Chinese Adolescent Self-Esteem Scales), est developpe pour mesurer sept aspects du concept de s.
Peer Feedback Marking: Developing Peer Assessment

SUMMARY Some studies of peer assessment in higher education are reviewed, and found to focus on either assessment of a product such as an examination script, or of the performance of a particular skill, often in a medical or dental setting. Classroom performance studies focus mainly on interpersonal skills or group dynamics. Many examples where mean peer assessments resembled lecturer assessments were found, and the overwhelming view seems to be that peer assessment is a useful, reliable and valid exercise. Student evaluations of peer assessment suggest that they also perceive it to be beneficial. However, some students expressed a dislike of awarding a grade to their peers, particularly in the context of a small, well established group. A study which attempted to capitalize on the benefits of peer assessment while minimizing the problems is described. In this study, the emphasis was on critical feedback, rather than on the awarding of a grade, though this was required also. Results indicated a close corr.
SIGACT News Online Algorithms Column 30: 2016 in review

In this column, I will discuss some recent papers in online algorithms that appeared in 2016. Quite a number of papers on online algorithms appeared during the year, and I have had to make a selection; I am sure to have overlooked some papers. If I have unaccountably missed your favorite paper and you would like to write about it or about any other topic in online algorithms, please don't hesitate to contact me!