Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rebuilding soil carbon in degraded steppe soils of Eastern Europe: The importance of windbreaks and improved cropland management

Long‐term cultivation of steppe soils in a nonsustainable way caused severe soil degradation and reduced agricultural productivity in Eastern Europe, one of the world's most important areas for cereal production. In order to combat soil erosion and maintain yields, a widespread system of tree windbreaks was introduced in the 1950s, accompanied by improved agricultural practices in recent years. However, information on the effectiveness of such measures to rebuild soil organic carbon (SOC) is scarce. The objective of this study was to estimate the OC storage potential of the fine mineral fraction of degraded arable steppe soils in Moldova and to quantify SOC sequestration rates under (a) windbreaks, (b) cropland with improved crop rotation/manure application, and (c) cropland with cover cropping. Natural grassland relicts served as a reference to estimate the SOC saturation potential. Our results revealed a low SOC saturation of 50% under conventional agricultural use due to high SOC losses, indicating a high potential for SOC sequestration. Relatively high SOC sequestration rates were determined for topsoils (0–30 cm) under windbreaks (0.9 t ha−1 yr−1), improved crop rotation/manure application (1.3 t ha−1 yr−1), and cover cropping (1.9 t ha−1 yr−1). In this regard, sequestration rates derived from OC changes of the fine fraction may be more reliable than total SOC‐based rates, particularly for windbreaks with high proportions of labile SOC. We conclude that implementation of improved agricultural management together with the maintenance of windbreaks is a promising strategy to rebuild SOC, reduce widespread soil erosion and compaction, and secure Moldova's agricultural productivity.
Improved Version Of Apriori Algorithm Using Top Down Approach

As with the advancement of the IT technologies, the amount of accumulated data is also increasing. It has resulted in large amount of data stored in databases, warehouses and other repositories. Thus the Data mining comes into picture to explore and analyze the databases to extract the interesting and previously unknown patterns and rules known as association rule mining. In data mining, Association rule mining becomes one of the important tasks of descriptive technique which can be defined as discovering meaningful patterns from large collection of data. Mining frequent item set is very fundamental part of association rule mining . As in retailer industry many transactional databases contain same set of transactions many times, to apply this thought, in this thesis present an improved Apriori algorithm that guarantee the better performance than classical Apriori algorithm.
Mechanisms of Hepatitis C Viral Resistance to Direct Acting Antivirals

There has been a remarkable transformation in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C in recent years with the development of direct acting antiviral agents targeting virus encoded proteins important for viral replication including NS3/4A, NS5A and NS5B. These agents have shown high sustained viral response (SVR) rates of more than 90% in phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials; however, this is slightly lower in real-life cohorts. Hepatitis C virus resistant variants are seen in most patients who do not achieve SVR due to selection and outgrowth of resistant hepatitis C virus variants within a given host. These resistance associated mutations depend on the class of direct-acting antiviral drugs used and also vary between hepatitis C virus genotypes and subtypes. The understanding of these mutations has a clear clinical implication in terms of choice and combination of drugs used. In this review, we describe mechanism of action of currently available drugs and summarize clinically relevant resistance data.
The Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities national program.

In 2007, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced a bold and unprecedented commitment of $500 million to reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity by 2015, especially in communities at greatest risk based on income, race, ethnicity, and geographic location. To support this work, the foundation launched an array of complementary initiatives aimed at building the evidence base, testing advocacy approaches, and supporting on-the-ground action to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic. Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities (HKHC), a 5-year $33.4 million national program, was one of the foundation's earliest such investments. Building on previous successes, HKHC was designed to address the policies, systems, and environments that make it easier for low-income children and their families to engage in physical activity and play and to access healthy food in their communities. As part of its strategy, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded 50 multidisciplinary partnerships across the country, with a special focus on 15 southern states where health disparities were most significant. The selection of Active Living By Design to lead the HKHC National Program Office and Transtria, LLC, to lead the evaluation leveraged these organizations' experience in addressing the systemic issues that contribute to physical inactivity and unhealthy eating, using a broader healthy community lens. Key elements of HKHC included funding, ongoing technical assistance and consultation, a peer learning network, and participatory evaluation. The successes of the HKHC grant program are well documented in this journal as well as through case studies and case reports, spotlights, leadership profiles, and other products available at www.healthykidshealthycommunities. org and http://www.transtria. com/hkhc.php.
Power games in MIMO interference systems

We consider a multi-link and multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) interference system in which each link wishes to minimize its own power by choosing its own signal vector subject to an information theoretic Quality-of-Service (QoS) requirement. Our setup leads to a multi-link game, referred to as a “power game”, in which the feasible strategy set of an individual link depends on the strategies of the other links. We characterize the rates for which an equilibrium solution exists in a power game in terms of the equilibria of “capacity games” introduced in our earlier work [1]. We provide an example where the set of equilibrium rates is properly contained in the set of achievable rates. We provide a conservative estimate of the region of equilibrium rates using a minmax approach. We discuss the uniqueness of equilibrium as well as the convergence of best response dynamics (a.k.a. iterative water-filling) for all rates when the interference is sufficiently small and some other mild conditions are met. Finally, we extend our results to the case where the QoS requirements are softened.
ApproxEye: Enabling approximate computation reuse for microrobotic computer vision

Aiming at real-life problems, microrobotic systems have gained more and more attention. However, limited achievable performance of microrobotic system prevents it from carrying out complex tasks. Current research work propose customize designs for different applications and incorporate dedicated accelerator for high energy efficiency. However, not only such techniques require significant manual effort and expertise for specified applications, but also the accelerator itself dictates unnegligible amount of chip resources. So in this paper we propose ApproxEye, a partial approximate computation reuse framework to accelerate microrobotic computer vision. Leveraging computation locality, ApproxEye reuses previous “similar” computations to reduce redundant computations. To squeeze every piece of computation reuse opportunity, ApproxEye proposes to 1) heuristically define optimal reuse granularity and 2) apply adaptive reuse requirements for different computations. Moreover, to reduce latency of computation reuse, ApproxEye tailors a parallel implemented search scheme for approximate computation reuse. Experimental results show ApproxEye could effectively exploit the potential of computation reuse and achieve 57.05% speedup on average.
The Relative Competitive Ability Of Biofuel, Feral And Cultivated Biotypes OfMiscanthus

ii Dedication . iv Vita . v List of Tables . vii List of Figures . viii Chapter 1: The Relative Competitive Ability of Miscanthus spp. 1 References . 24 Appendix A: Miscanthus sacchariflorus Clonal Competition Experiment . 28
Biometric Authentication Technology : From the Movies to Your Desktop by

A door silently opens, activated by a video camera and a face recognition system. Computer access is granted by checking a fingerprint. Access to a security vault is allowed after an iris check. Are these scenes from the latest Hollywood spy thriller? Perhaps, but soon it could be in your office or on your desktop. Biometric authentication technologies such as face, finger, hand, iris and speaker recognition are commercially available today and are already coming into wide use. Recent advances in reliability and performance and cost drops make these technologies attractive solutions for many computer and network access, protection of digital content and physical access control problems.
Virulence factors of Escherichia coli O157 and other Shiga toxin‐producing E. coli

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli 0157 are important enteropathogens causing outbreaks of haemorrhagic colitis and haemolytic uraemic syndrome. Strains of E. coli belonging to other serogroups also produce Shiga toxins but are less frequently isolated from cases of diarrhoeal illness despite humans having greater exposure to these organisms in food and the environment. It is generally considered that E. coli O157 is more virulent than these other Shiga toxin-producing E. coli. The question of which factors make toxigenic E. coli 0157 more virulent is unanswered. In this review the various virulence properties of E. coli 0157 and their incidence in non-0157 Shiga toxin-producing E. coli are described. The most important factors for E. coli 0157 are the production of Shiga toxin 2 and the adhesin intimin. The role of some of the other virulence factors, such as enterohaemolysin, a serine protease (EspP) and a catalase/peroxidase (Katp), in infection may be low. Uncharacterized virulence properties such as a clostridial-like toxin and haemoglobin uptake require further study and it is likely that other virulence properties remain to be discovered.
El Niño–Like Physical and Biogeochemical Ocean Response to Tropical Eruptions

The oceanic response to recent tropical eruptions is examined in Large Ensemble (LE) experiments from two fully coupled global climate models, the Community Earth System Model (CESM) and the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Earth System Model (ESM2M), each forced by a distinct volcanic forcing dataset. Following the simulated eruptions of Agung, El Chichón, and Pinatubo, the ocean loses heat and gains oxygen and carbon, in general agreement with available observations. In both models, substantial global surface cooling is accompanied by El Niño–like equatorial Pacific surface warming a year after the volcanic forcing peaks. A mechanistic analysis of the CESM and ESM2M responses to Pinatubo identifies remote wind forcing from the western Pacific as a major driver of this El Niño–like response. Following eruption, faster cooling over the Maritime Continent than adjacent oceans suppresses convection and leads to persistent westerly wind anomalies over the western tropical Pacific. These wind anomalies excite equatorial downwelling Kelvin waves and the upwelling of warm subsurface anomalies in the eastern Pacific, promoting the development of El Niño conditions through Bjerknes feedbacks a year after eruption. This El Niño–like response drives further ocean heat loss through enhanced equatorial cloud albedo, and dominates global carbon uptake as upwelling of carbon-rich waters is suppressed in the tropical Pacific. Oxygen uptake occurs primarily at high latitudes, where surface cooling intensifies the ventilation of subtropical thermocline waters. These volcanically forced ocean responses are large enough to contribute to the observed decadal variability in oceanic heat, carbon, and oxygen.
Invasion of mouse erythrocytes by the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum

Plasmodium falciparum malaria merozoites require erythrocyte sialic acid for optimal invasion of human erythrocytes. Since mouse erythrocytes have the form of sialic acid found on human erythrocytes (N-acetyl neuraminic acid), mouse erythrocytes were tested for invasion in vitro. The Camp and 7G8 strains of P. falciparum invaded mouse erythrocytes at 17-45% of the invasion rate of human erythrocytes. Newly invaded mouse erythrocytes morphologically resembled parasitized human erythrocytes as shown on Giemsa-stained blood films and by electron microscopy. The rim of parasitized mouse erythrocytes contained the P. falciparum 155-kD protein, which is on the rim of ring- infected human erythrocytes. Camp but not 7G8 invaded rat erythrocytes, indicating receptor heterogeneity. These data suggest that it may be possible to adapt the asexual erythrocytic stage of P. falciparum to rodents. The development of a rodent model of P. falciparum malaria could facilitate vaccine development.
Targeted Disruption of ROCK1 Causes Insulin Resistance in Vivo*

Insulin signaling is essential for normal glucose homeostasis. Rho-kinase (ROCK) isoforms have been shown to participate in insulin signaling and glucose metabolism in cultured cell lines. To investigate the physiological role of ROCK1 in the regulation of whole body glucose homeostasis and insulin sensitivity in vivo, we studied mice with global disruption of ROCK1. Here we show that, at 16–18 weeks of age, ROCK1-deficient mice exhibited insulin resistance, as revealed by the failure of blood glucose levels to decrease after insulin injection. However, glucose tolerance was normal in the absence of ROCK1. These effects were independent of changes in adiposity. Interestingly, ROCK1 gene ablation caused a significant increase in glucose-induced insulin secretion, leading to hyperinsulinemia. To determine the mechanism(s) by which deletion of ROCK1 causes insulin resistance, we measured the ability of insulin to activate phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and multiple distal pathways in skeletal muscle. Insulin-stimulated phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activity associated with IRS-1 or phospho-tyrosine was also reduced ∼40% without any alteration in tyrosine phosphorylation of insulin receptor in skeletal muscle. Concurrently, serine phosphorylation of IRS-1 at serine 632/635, which is phosphorylated by ROCK in vitro, was also impaired in these mice. Insulin-induced phosphorylation of Akt, AS160, S6K, and S6 was also decreased in skeletal muscle. These data suggest that ROCK1 deficiency causes systemic insulin resistance by impairing insulin signaling in skeletal muscle. Thus, our results identify ROCK1 as a novel regulator of glucose homeostasis and insulin sensitivity in vivo, which could lead to new treatment approaches for obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Construct Validity of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index–3 in Clinical Samples

Using two clinical samples of patients, the presented studies examined the construct validity of the recently revised Anxiety Sensitivity Index–3 (ASI-3). Confirmatory factor analyses established a clear three-factor structure that corresponds to the postulated subdivision of the construct into correlated somatic, social, and cognitive components. Participants with different primary clinical diagnoses differed from each other on the ASI-3 subscales in theoretically meaningful ways. Specifically, the ASI-3 successfully discriminated patients with anxiety disorders from patients with nonanxiety disorders. Moreover, patients with panic disorder or agoraphobia manifested more somatic concerns than patients with other anxiety disorders and patients with nonanxiety disorders. Finally, correlations of the ASI-3 scales with other measures of clinical symptoms and negative affect substantiated convergent and discriminant validity. Substantial positive correlations were found between the ASI-3 Somatic Concerns and body vigilance, between Social Concerns and fear of negative evaluation and socially inhibited behavior, and between Cognitive Concerns and depression symptoms, anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, and subjective complaints. Moreover, Social Concerns correlated negatively with dominant and intrusive behavior. Results are discussed with respect to the contribution of the ASI-3 to the assessment of anxiety-related disorders.
The need for treatment interruption studies and biomarker identification in the search for an HIV cure.

AIDS 2015, 29:1429–1432 Role of antiretroviral treatment interruption studies in HIV cure research The evaluation of new therapies to achieve an antiretroviral therapy (ART)-free remission of HIV infection will require demonstration of efficacy through ART interruption studies. However, there are concerns about stopping ART, including patient safety, selection of HIV drug resistance and increased risk for HIV transmission. In this article, we highlight the importance of identifying biomarkers of ART-free remission for cure research and present an updated approach to treatment interruption that should identify predictive markerswhile minimizing negative consequences for participants. The proposed approach, termed an intensely monitored antiretroviral pause (MAP), has the potential to accelerate progress towards an HIV cure.
Regulation of Hemin Binding Proteins by a Novel Transcriptional Activator in Porphyromonas gingivalis

ABSTRACT One of the features of the periodontal pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis is the presence of complex iron acquisition systems that include an hmuYRSTUV locus. HmuY and HmuR are hemin binding proteins required for P. gingivalis growth. Previous studies have demonstrated that expression of the hmu locus is regulated in response to environmental changes, such as growth phases. However, the mechanisms involved in hmu gene regulation are poorly understood. Here we report that a novel transcriptional activator, PG1237, is required for the expression of humY and humR, but not other iron acquisition-related genes, such as fetB and tlr, which also encode hemin binding proteins. Real-time reverse transcription-PCR analysis revealed that a mutation in the pg1237 gene decreased expression of hmuY and hmuR 149- and 25-fold, respectively, compared to that observed in the wild-type strain. In addition, differential expression of hmuY, hmuR, and the pg1237 gene was found to be quorum-sensing dependent, such that higher expression levels of these genes were observed when P. gingivalis was grown at a lower cell density, such as that seen during the early exponential growth phase. This work demonstrates the involvement of a novel transcriptional activator, PG1237, in expression of the hmu operon in a cell density-dependent fashion.
Therapeutic Ultrasound and Pain in Degenerative Diseases of Musculoskeletal System

INTRODUCTION Therapeutic ultrasound is a physical modality which is constantly expanding range of indications. Analgesic effect of ultrasound is still under discussion. Regardless the extensive application of pulsed ultrasound of low intensity, continuous ultrasound has a better analgesis effect, which is explained by its mechanism of action. AIMS The main research objective of this study was to determine the effect of continuous ultrasound to pain caused by degenerative diseases of the musculoskeletal system in the intensity and duration of ultrasound treatment. Other objectives are entailed determining the correlation between the degree of pain reduction with: location of pain, age, gender and body mass index (BMI). MATERIAL AND METHODS The study included 68 patients with chronic pain localized in the region of the spine or major joints of the extremities, depending on the localization of the degenerative changes. Patients are divided into two groups. The first group was treated with 10 applications of continuous ultrasound with frequency of 1 MHz, intensity 0.4 W/cm2 for 8 minutes, and the other group with 10 applications of ultrasound with frequency of 1 MHz, intensity 0.8 W/cm 2 for 4 minutes. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Pain intensity was assessed before and after ultrasound therapy performed by subjective visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain, numbered from 0-10, where 0 is the rating for the state of no pain, and 10 grades for severe pain. The average VAS improvement in the first group was 3.97, and 4.74 in second one. The results of F (1.66) = 2.93, p = 0.09 analysis of variance showed no significance difference between the average improvement of two groups. Correlation between the degree of pain reduction showed significance only with BMI, or that higher BMI is associated with a lower degree of pain reduction. The results of this study showed that application of continuous ultrasound in patients with chronic pain, caused by degenerative changes in the musculoskeletal system, led to a significant reduction in pain. Different intensity and duration of ultrasound application showed no significant effect on the degree of pain reduction. Body mass index showed significant negative correlation with the degree of pain reduction, but age, gender and location of pain did not show significant correlation.
Decision tree strategy for web service composition in WeSCo _ CBR approach

Composing web services by using prior cases within a case base to provide value-added services has not been as much studied. In this paper, we present an approach called WeSCo_CBR based on case based reasoning (CBR) to compose web services. In our proposal, web services are organized into service classes while prior cases are classified into case classes. Web services within the same service class have the same functionality when prior cases belonging the same case class are the most similar. Moreover, we use CBR techniques for selecting the related web service composition experiences according to the user query. Therefore, the decision tree is utilized for browsing the case base to find the case class containing the most similar cases to user query.
Body Mass Index and Risk of Incident Hypertension Over the Life Course: The Johns Hopkins Precursors Study

Background— The obesity-hypertension link over the life course has not been well characterized, although the prevalence of obesity and hypertension is increasing in the United States. Methods and Results— We studied the association of body mass index (BMI) in young adulthood, into middle age, and through late life with risk of developing hypertension in 1132 white men of The Johns Hopkins Precursors Study, a prospective cohort study. Over a median follow-up period of 46 years, 508 men developed hypertension. Obesity (BMI ≥30 kg/m2) in young adulthood was strongly associated with incident hypertension (hazard ratio, 4.17; 95% confidence interval, 2.34–7.42). Overweight (BMI 25 to <30 kg/m2) also signaled increased risk (hazard ratio, 1.58; 95% confidence interval, 1.28–1.96). Men of normal weight at age 25 years who became overweight or obese at age 45 years were at increased risk compared with men of normal weight at both times (hazard ratio, 1.57; 95% confidence interval, 1.20–2.07), but not men who were overweight or obese at age 25 years who returned to normal weight at age 45 years (hazard ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.43–1.92). After adjustment for time-dependent number of cigarettes smoked, cups of coffee taken, alcohol intake, physical activity, parental premature hypertension, and baseline BMI, the rate of change in BMI over the life course increased the risk of incident hypertension in a dose-response fashion, with the highest risk among men with the greatest increase in BMI (hazard ratio, 2.52; 95% confidence interval, 1.82–3.49). Conclusions— Our findings underscore the importance of higher weight and weight gain in increasing the risk of hypertension from young adulthood through middle age and into late life.