Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
European Journal of Research in Dentistry

Aim: Evaluating the relation between wear resistance and microhardness of composite blocks, hybrid block, and resin composite to provide convenient argument for clinical application. Methods: A conventional resin composite (IPS Empress Direct, Ivoclar Vivadent, Liechtenstein), a hybrid ceramic block (Enamic, Vita, Germany), and composite blocks (Lava Ultimate, 3M, USA; Hc block, Shofu, Japan; Brilliant Crios, Coltene, Switzerland; Cerasmart, GC Corp., Japan) were investigated. Specimens (n=12 for each) were loaded in a chewing simulator (Dent Ar-Ge, Analitik Medical, Turkey) for thermal cycling (49 N force, 240.000 cycles, 1.5 mm lateral movement, 1.7 Hz frequency) and worn sufaces were scanned with Las-20 (Laser scanner, SDMechatronic, Germany), and Vickers microhardness (VHN) values were determined (200 grf/10 sec). Statistical analysis was performed using Spearman Correlation Coefficient, KolmogorovSmirnov, Mann-Whitney U, Friedman and Kruskal-Wallis tests (p<0.05). Results: Significant correlation was detected between microhardness and wear resistance for all composite Cad/Cam blocks (p<0.001), whereas no correlation was observed for hybrid block and resin composite material (p≥0.05). Vita Enamic showed the highest VHN value and wear resistance among all the materials (p<0.001). Conclusion: Within the limitations of this in vitro study, a significant correlation between microhardness and wear resistance was observed only for composite Cad/Cam blocks which varied among the brands used in this study.
Title : Development Detection and Elimination of Verticillium Dahliae in Mint Shoot Cultures and Effects of Bacterial Cultures and Bacterization on the Growth and Disease Development

approved:' Barbara M. Reed Roots of greenhouse-grown peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) and spearmint (Mentha spicata L.) plants and in vitro-grown shoot cultures were inoculated with Verticillium dahliae conidial suspensions to study symptom development, detection, and elimination of the V. dahliae. There were significant differences in the symptom expression of control and infected shoot cultures at each conidia concentration for the four mint cultivars tested. Disease symptom ratings were proportional to the V. dahliae innoculum density. Shoot cultures were stunted when inoculated with > 10 conidia^mT. V. dahliae was re-isolated from shoot cultures at all levels of innoculum, but not from any control cultures. Verticilliuw infections were easily detected by plating mint stems on potato dextrose agar. Shoot tips (0.5 to 15 mm diameter) from inoculated in vitro and greenhouse-grown plants were isolated and screened for V. dahliae. A meristem diameter of 3 to 5 mm was the most effective size for fungus elimination. Shoot tips from inoculated greenhouse plants at 10 conidia'mL" produced Verticillium-free cultures from 79% of 'Black Mitcham' and 90% of 'Todd's Mitcham' plants. Shoot tips isolated from in-vitro spearmint cultivars infected at 10 and 10 conidia'mL" were 100% Verticillium free, but only 42% of 'Black Mitcham' and 54% of 'Todd's Mitcham' shoot tips were free of the disease at 10 conidia'mL' and none at higher inoculum concentrations. These results indicate the utility of testing for Verticillium and the utility of micropropagated mint shoots for certified planting stock programs. Endogenous bacteria were tested for inhibition of V. dahliae. Of the 34 endogenous bacterial strains screened for inhibition of V. dahliae in vitro, 10 produced a zone of inhibition around colonies of V. dahliae on PDA and one strain (Pseudomonas fluorescens (Pf-5)) produced a zone on KB medium as well. No significant effect on plant growth (height) was observed for in vitro-grown Scotch spearmint culture bacterized with Pseudomonas fluorescens (Pf-5). The bacterized plants showed no significant biological control effects when inoculated with V. dahliae. However, bacterization appeared to provide protection against Verticillium wilt during the early stages of plant growth but the effects were not lasting. Protocols for certification of Verticillium-free mint in-vitro cultures were developed based on this study. Development, Detection and Elimination of Verticillium Dahliae in Mint Shoot Cultures and Effects of Bacterial Cultures and Bacterization on the Growth and Disease Development
Work done in the margins: A comparative study of mental health literacy in pre-service teacher education in Australia and in Scotland

Publisher Rights Statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Armstrong, D. , Macleod, G. and Brough, C. (2019), Work done in the margins: A comparative study of mental health literacy in preservice teacher education in Australia and in Scotland. J Res Spec Educ Needs. doi:10.1111/1471-3802.12452, which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley. com/doi/full/10.1111/1471-3802.12452. This article may be used for noncommercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.
A Manifesto for Future Generation Cloud Computing: Research Directions for the Next Decade. ACM Computing Surveys, 51(5), [105]. A Manifesto for Future Generation Cloud Computing: Research Directions for the Next Decade

The Cloud computing paradigm has revolutionized the computer science horizon during the past decade and has enabled the emergence of computing as the fifth utility. It has captured significant attention of academia, industries and government bodies. Now, it has emerged as the backbone of modern economy by offering subscription-based services anytime, anywhere following a pay-as-you-go model. This has instigated (1) shorter establishment times for start-ups, (2) creation of scalable global enterprise applications, (3) better cost-to-value associativity for scientific and high performance computing applications, and (4) different invocation/execution models for pervasive and ubiquitous applications. The recent technological developments and paradigms such as serverless computing, software-defined networking, Internet of Things, and processing at network edge are creating new opportunities for Cloud computing. However, they are also posing several new challenges and creating the need for new approaches and research strategies, as well as the re-evaluation of the models that were developed to address issues such as scalability, elasticity, reliability, security, sustainability, and application models. The proposed manifesto addresses them by identifying the major open challenges in Cloud computing, emerging trends and impact areas. It then offers research directions for the next decade, thus helping in the realisation of Future Generation Cloud Computing.
A Manifesto for Future Generation Cloud Computing: Research Directions for the Next Decade. ACM Computing Surveys, 51(5), [105].

The Cloud computing paradigm has revolutionized the computer science horizon during the past decade and has enabled the emergence of computing as the fifth utility. It has captured significant attention of academia, industries and government bodies. Now, it has emerged as the backbone of modern economy by offering subscription-based services anytime, anywhere following a pay-as-you-go model. This has instigated (1) shorter establishment times for start-ups, (2) creation of scalable global enterprise applications, (3) better cost-to-value associativity for scientific and high performance computing applications, and (4) different invocation/execution models for pervasive and ubiquitous applications. The recent technological developments and paradigms such as serverless computing, software-defined networking, Internet of Things, and processing at network edge are creating new opportunities for Cloud computing. However, they are also posing several new challenges and creating the need for new approaches and research strategies, as well as the re-evaluation of the models that were developed to address issues such as scalability, elasticity, reliability, security, sustainability, and application models. The proposed manifesto addresses them by identifying the major open challenges in Cloud computing, emerging trends and impact areas. It then offers research directions for the next decade, thus helping in the realisation of Future Generation Cloud Computing.
The association between daily physical activity and plasma B-type natriuretic peptide in patients with glucose intolerance: a cross-sectional study

Objectives In spite of accumulating evidences suggesting an inverse association between insulin resistance and plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels, the effect of daily physical activity on plasma BNP in individuals with glucose intolerance remains unknown. We investigated the association of physical activity level (PAL) with plasma BNP in patients with impaired fasting glucose, impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Outpatients visiting the National Center for Global Health and Medicine Kohnodai Hospital. Participants A total of 60 patients with glucose intolerance who did not take any hypoglycaemic agents, cholesterol-lowering agents and antihypertensive agents were recruited. Patients who were diagnosed as having heart failure and renal impairment, engaged in sports-like exercise and resistance training were excluded. Primary outcome measures PAL was objectively measured by a triaxial accelerometer. The association between PAL and plasma BNP levels was assessed by multiple regression analysis. Results PAL was positively correlated with plasma BNP levels (r=0.296, p=0.021). PAL was still significantly correlated with plasma BNP levels after adjustment for age (β=0.290, p=0.014), and adjustment for age and body mass index (β=0.282, p=0.018). Plasma BNP levels were inversely correlated with serum insulin levels (r=−0.350, p=0.006) and homeostasis model assessment-estimated insulin resistance (HOMA-IR; r=−0.363, p=0.004). Serum insulin levels (mean±SD, 8.1±6.4 μU/mL) and HOMA-IR (2.4±1.9) in the high-BNP group were significantly lower than those (11.2±7.4 μU/mL and 3.7±3.0, respectively) in the low-BNP group. Conclusions Our findings propose the possibility that plasma BNP may be increased by daily physical activity and BNP is associated with insulin resistance.
Using certification trails to achieve software fault tolerance

A technique for achieving fault tolerance in hardware and software systems is introduced. When used for software fault tolerance, this technique uses time and software redundancy and can be outlined as follows. In the initial phase, a program is run to solve a problem and store the results. In addition, this program leaves behind a trail of data, called a certification trail. In the second phase, another program is run, and it solves the original problem again. This program, however, has access to the certification trail left by the first program. Because of the availability of the certification trail, the second phase can be performed by a less complex program and can execute more quickly. In the final phase, the two results are compared, and if they agree, the results are accepted as correct; otherwise, an error is indicated. Cases in which the second phase can be run concurrently with the first and act as a monitor are discussed. <<ETX>>
Robust Bayesian Pitch Tracking Based on the Harmonic Model

Fundamental frequency is one of the most important characteristics of speech and audio signals. Harmonic model-based fundamental frequency estimators offer a higher estimation accuracy and robustness against noise than the widely used autocorrelation-based methods. However, the traditional harmonic model-based estimators do not take the temporal smoothness of the fundamental frequency, the model order, and the voicing into account as they process each data segment independently. In this paper, a fully Bayesian fundamental frequency tracking algorithm based on the harmonic model and a first-order Markov process model is proposed. Smoothness priors are imposed on the fundamental frequencies, model orders, and voicing using first-order Markov process models. Using these Markov models, fundamental frequency estimation and voicing detection errors can be reduced. Using the harmonic model, the proposed fundamental frequency tracker has an improved robustness to noise. An analytical form of the likelihood function, which can be computed efficiently, is derived. Compared to the state-of-the-art neural network and nonparametric approaches, the proposed fundamental frequency tracking algorithm has superior performance in almost all investigated scenarios, especially in noisy conditions. For example, under 0 dB white Gaussian noise, the proposed algorithm reduces the mean absolute errors and gross errors by 15% and 20% on the Keele pitch database and 36% and 26% on sustained /a/ sounds from a database of Parkinson's disease voices. A MATLAB version of the proposed algorithm is made freely available for reproduction of the results.11An implementation of the proposed algorithm using MATLAB may be found in https://tinyurl.com/yxn4a543.
Adoption as a gosling strategy to obtain better parental care? Experimental evidence for gosling choice and age-dependency of adoption in greylag geese

Adoptions of unrelated young by successful breeders are a form of alloparental care which has been observed in many species of geese. Depending on costs and benefits to the parents, adoptions might represent an inter-generational conflict or a mutually beneficial strategy. Although most studies of wild populations suggest benefits of large brood sizes, incidental observations mostly report aggressive behaviour of parents towards lone goslings. No studies have investigated mechanisms and behaviour during adoptions in order to test whether adoptions are driven by parents or goslings. To test whether goslings might use adoption as a strategy to obtain better parental care, we carried out an experiment where lone greylag goose (Anser anser) goslings could choose between a dominant and a subordinate foster family. In a second experiment we also tested whether adoption was age-dependent. Except for one case, all lone goslings (N = 16) chose the dominant family. Parents showed very little aggression towards lone goslings at three days after hatch, but aggression increased until 9 days and remained high thereafter. At the same time as aggression increased, the chance of successful adoption decreased. In the first five weeks of life, goslings which had been adopted were no further away from parents than original goslings during grazing. These results show that goslings might choose foster families according to dominance. The fact that with increasing gosling age parents are less willing to adopt could be due to improved individual recognition and reflect decreasing benefits of gaining an additional family member. More detailed studies on state-dependent costs and benefits of adoptions are required to determine whether adoptions in geese represent conflict or mutualism, and why this changes with gosling age.
Fusion of digital map and computer vision data for automotive safety applications

When driving in bad weather conditions on rural roads, it is very helpful for the driver to know which way the road turns within the next 120 meters. A technical system with topographic knowledge can provide this information for the driver. The next step is then an obstacle detection and warning system. In order to decide whether a detected object is on the road and thus of immediate importance it is essential to know the course of the road. Neither map nor camera information alone are sufficient for this task. Digital map systems alone will fail, because without expensive additional sensors the car's position and orientation are not measured accurately, whereas image sensors alone are restricted to visibility up to 50 meters. A novel approach of fusing map and image information is presented. The digital map is used to calculate the shape of the road, an ego motion estimator and the image data are used to determine the vehicle's heading and position. For the covering abstract see E134653.
Dual oxidase gene Duoxand Toll-like receptor 3 gene TLR3 in the Toll pathway suppress zoonotic pathogens through regulating the intestinal bacterial community homeostasis in Hermetia illucens L

Black soldier fly (BSF; Hermetia illucens L.) larvae can convert fresh pig manure into protein and fat-rich biomass, which can then be used as livestock feed. Currently, it is the only insect approved for such purposes in Europe, Canada, and the USA. Pig manure is rich in zoonotic pathogens (e.g., Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella spp.). BSF larvae inhibit these zoonotic pathogens; however, the mechanism is unclear. We employed RNAi, qRT-PCR, and Illumina MiSeq bacterial 16S rDNA high-throughput sequencing molecular techniques to study the interaction between the two immune genes (Duox in Duox-reactive oxygen species ROS immune system and TLR3 in the Toll signaling pathway) and zoonotic pathogens to determine the mechanisms resulting in pathogen suppression. Results Results indicated that BsfDuox-TLR3 RNAi increased bacterial load but decreased the relative abundance of Providencia and Dysgonomonas intestinal symbionts . Concurrently, BsfDuox-TLR3 RNAi inactivated the NF-kB signaling pathway, downregulated the expression of antimicrobial peptides, and diminished inhibitory effects on zoonotic pathogen. The resulting dysbiosis stimulated an immune response by activating BsfDuox and promoting ROS, which regulated the composition and structure of the gut bacterial community. A colony of BSF (Wuhan strain) used in this study was taken from the State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology of HZAU. H. illucens larvae were reared for 10 days at 27 °C and 70%-80% relative humidity on artificially sterilized feed (75 g of bran, 75 g of corn flour, and 350 g of water). Third instars were surface-sterilized. After 70 % of the ethanol washed once, it is washed three times in sterile water. Approximately 60 larvae from each experiment were dissected in a sterile distilled water with a sterilized tweezers under a stereomicroscope[36]. The dissected guts were transferred to a sterile PBS test tube and homogenized. The homogenate was used for different experiments.
Hares in Corsica: high prevalence of and hybridization with introduced and

The Italian hare, Lepus corsicanus , was first described in Corsica more than 100 years ago, but the knowledge on the status of the species in this island remains scarce. Moreover, frequent introductions of thousands of individuals from other hare species, namely Lepus europaeus and Lepus granatensis , into Corsica are known to have occurred and an updated assessment of the prevalence of L. corsicanus in Corsica is therefore of utmost importance. Here, to estimate the relative prevalence of the hare species present in Corsica, we conducted a molecular analysis on 67 samples collected by hunters between 2002 and 2007 in 36 Corsican communes. Sequencing of portions of the nuclear gene transferrin and of the control region of the mitochondrial DNA allowed classifying most of the collected samples as belonging to L. corsicanus (70.1%). Of the sampled Corsican communes, 86.1% contained this species, while only in 11.1%, L. europaeus was present. Three of the analyzed specimens showed an inconsistent molecular assignment between markers suggesting a hybrid origin: L. corsicanus × L. europaeus , L. corsicanus × L. granatensis , and L. euro-paeus × L. granatensis . The first two cases of hybridization had never been described in nature, even in studies focusing on hares from Italy where L. corsicanus and L. europaeus are often sympatric. These results stress the real risk of corrosion of the native gene pool of L. corsicanus via hybridization with introduced species. We highlight the need of urgently rethinking the management plan of hare populations in Corsica.
Trends in Permanent Pacemaker Implantation in the United States From 1993 to 2009 Increasing Complexity of Patients and Procedures

Methods We queried the Nationwide Inpatient Sample to identify permanent pacemaker implants between 1993 and 2009 using the International Classification of Diseases-Ninth Revision-Clinical Modification procedure codes for dual-chamber (DDD), single-ventricular (VVI), single-atrial (AAI), or biventricular (BiV) devices. Annual permanent pacemaker implantation rates and patient demographics were analyzed.
A Predictive Logistic Regression Model of World Conflict Using Open Source Data

Abstract : Nations transitioning into conflict is an issue of national interest. This study considers various data for inclusion in a statistical model that predicts the future state of the world where nations will either be in a state of violent conflict or not in violent conflict based on available historical data. Logistic regression is used to construct and test various models to produce a parsimonious world model with 15 variables. Further analysis shows that nations differ significantly by geographical area. Therefore six sub-models are constructed for differing geographical areas of the world. The dominant variables for each sub-model vary, suggesting a complex world that cannot be modeled as a whole. Insights and conclusions are gathered from the models, a best model is proposed, and predictions are made for the state of the world in 2015. Accuracy of predictions via validation surpasses 80%. Eighty-five nations are predicted to be in a state of violent conflict in 2015, seventeen of them are new to conflict since the last published list in 2013. A prediction tool is created to allow war-game subject matter experts and students to identify future predicted violent conflict and the responsible variables.
Physical and hydrological characterization of three sandy millet fields in Niger

To improve methods of soil and water management for pearl millet production in the Sudano-Sahelian zone, soil physical and hydrological data are required from representative millet fields. The objectives of this paper are to report results of physical and hydrological soil measurements taken from millet fields near three Nigerien villages, and to compare calculated hydraulic conductivity values to those measured in situ. Physical and hydrological properties were measured using standard methods of soil analysis. Hydraulic conductivity was calculated from a soil moisture retention curve obtained in situ and steady-state infiltration rate. Results are as follows: soil clay and sand content are about 5% and 92%, respectively, and only change slightly with depth. Bulk densities range from 1.65 Mg m" 3 to as low as 1.40 Mg m" 3 at depths associated with termite activity. Steady state infiltration rates range from 6.9 x 10"5 m s" 1 to 8.3 x 10"5 m s1. "Field capacity," estimated in situ from neutron probe and tensiometer data, ranged from 0.12 to 0.16 m3 m"3, corresponding to a pressure potential of -5.0 kPa. At "field capacity," "plant available water" is linearly related to depth. Hydraulic conductivity as a function of water content can be accurately calculated from soil water retention curves obtained in situ and values were in excellent agreement with those obtained using the more laborious instantaneous profile method. Physically and hydrologically, these soils are similar to those previously described in Niger and Senegal.