Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Methane and protein production from animal feedlot wastes

The technical and economic feasibility of recovering methane and protein from animal feedlot wastes was assessed. Studies on the kinetics of methane fermentation showed maximum specific growth rates were highest at about 42/sup 0/C for mesophilic bacteria and 62/sup 0/C for thermophilic bacteria. Inhibition of methane fermentation started at an influent volatile solids (VS) concentration of 80 g VS/l and increased rapidly as the influent VS concentration increased above 80 g VS/l. Simulations based on experimentally derived kinetic constants showed that the optimum influent VS concentration was about 80 g VS/l. Total annual costs were calculated for feedlots ranging from 1,000 to 100,000 head. The total annual costs decreased from $100/head/yr for the 1,000-head feedlot to $16.1/head/yr for the 100,000-head feedlot. The value of the net energy production was $7.1/head/yr. The value of the fermentor effluent as a protein supplement was estimated to be $82.9/head/yr, assuming complete recovery and usage as feed. Based upon these figures, the feedlot size at which the credits equal the total annual costs ranged between 1,000 to 2,000 head. Areas requiring technological development or refinement to make the anaerobic fermentation system more widely applicable and/or acceptable were discussed.
Efficient implementation of the multigrid preconditioned conjugate gradient method on distributed memory machines

A multigrid preconditioned conjugate gradient (MGCG) method, which uses the multigrid method as a preconditioner for the conjugate gradient method, has a good convergence rate even for problems on which the standard multigrid method does not converge efficiently. This paper considers a parallelization of the MGCG method and proposes an efficient parallel MGCG method on distributed memory machines. For a good convergence rate of the MGCG method, several difficulties in parallelizing the multigrid method are successfully settled. It is also shown that the parallel MGCG method has high performance on the Fujitsu AP1000 multicomputer, and it is more than 10 times faster than the scaled conjugate gradient (SCG) method. <<ETX>>
Comparison of the effects of intravitreal bevacizumab and triamcinolone acetonide in the treatment of macular edema secondary to central retinal vein occlusion

Aim: To compare the effects of intravitrealbevacizumab (IVB) and intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide (IVT) in the treatment of macular edema (ME) secondary to central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO). Materials and Methods: There were 20 patients treated with IVB (1.25 mg/0.05 mL) and 16 treated with IVT (4 mg/0.1 mL). The two groups were compared with regard to best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central macular thickness (CMT) on optical coherence tomography (OCT), slit-lamp biomicroscopy and fundus fluorescein angiography results, intraocular pressure (IOP), numbers of injections, and adverse events. Results: The mean follow-up times in the IVB and IVT groups were 17.45±8.1 months (range: 8–33 months) and 19.94±10.59 months (range: 6–40 months), respectively (P = 0.431). Visual acuity increased and CMT decreased significantly within both groups, but no differences were observed between the groups (P = 0.718). The percentages of patients with increased IOP and iatrogenic cataracts were significantly higher in the IVT group than in the IVB group. Conclusions: Treatment with IVB and IVT both resulted in significant improvement in visual acuity and a decrease in CMT in patients with ME secondary to non-ischemic CRVO, with no difference between the two treatments. The incidence of adverse events, however, was significantly greater in the IVT group than in the IVB group. IVB may be preferred over IVT for the treatment of ME in patients with non-ischemic CRVO.
Monetary reward speeds up voluntary saccades

Past studies have shown that reward contingency is critical for sensorimotor learning, and reward expectation speeds up saccades in animals. Whether monetary reward speeds up saccades in human remains unknown. Here we addressed this issue by employing a conditional saccade task, in which human subjects performed a series of non-reflexive, visually-guided horizontal saccades. The subjects were (or were not) financially compensated for making a saccade in response to a centrally-displayed visual congruent (or incongruent) stimulus. Reward modulation of saccadic velocities was quantified independently of the amplitude-velocity coupling. We found that reward expectation significantly sped up voluntary saccades up to 30°/s, and the reward modulation was consistent across tests. These findings suggest that monetary reward speeds up saccades in human in a fashion analogous to how juice reward sped up saccades in monkeys. We further noticed that the idiosyncratic nasal-temporal velocity asymmetry was highly consistent regardless of test order, and its magnitude was not correlated with the magnitude of reward modulation. This suggests that reward modulation and the intrinsic velocity asymmetry may be governed by separate mechanisms that regulate saccade generation.
Server Assignment Policies for Maximizing the Steady-State Throughput of Finite Queueing Systems

For a system of finite queues, we study how servers should be assigned dynamically to stations in order to obtain optimal (or near-optimal) long-run average throughput. We assume that travel times between different service facilities are negligible, that each server can work on only one job at a time, and that several servers can work together on one job. We show that when the service rates depend only on either the server or the station (and not both), then all nonidling server assignment policies are optimal. Moreover, for a Markovian system with two stations in tandem and two servers, we show that the optimal policy assigns one server to each station unless that station is blocked or starved (in which case the server helps at the other station), and we specify the criterion used for assigning servers to stations. Finally, we propose a simple server assignment policy for tandem systems in which the number of stations equals the number of servers, and we present numerical results that show that our policy appears to yield near-optimal throughput under general conditions.
Building the next generation of personal digital Assistants

Voice-based digital Assistants such as Apple's Siri and Google's Now are currently booming. Yet, despite their promise of being context-aware and adapted to a user's preferences and very distinct needs, truly personal assistants are still missing. In this paper we highlight some of the challenges in building personalized speech-operated assistive technology and propose a number of research and development directions we have undertaken in order to solve them. In particular we focus on natural language understanding and dialog management aspects as we believe that these parts of the technology pipeline require the biggest amount of augmentation.
Three modalities on common bile duct exploration

Abstract Background Choledocholithiasis can be managed by transcystic (TC) and transduct (TD) stone extraction or using cholangioscopy through the left hepatic duct orifice (LHD). Objective The aim of this study is to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of common bile duct exploration through the TC approach, TD approach, and LHD approach for choledocholithiasis, with a specific emphasis on the TC and LHD approaches versus the TD approach. Methods Between January 2011 and June 2014, a total of 172 choledocholithiasis patients accompanied by cholecystitis and/or left intrahepatic gallstones were scheduled for laparoscopic or open common bile duct (CBD) exploration using cholangioscopy through the CBD (TD group: n = 72), cystic duct (TC group: n = 63), or LHD orifice (LHD group: n = 37). T-tube insertion was performed in selected patients. Patients were regularly followed up at bimonthly intervals or more frequently in presence of any symptom. Primary outcomes measures included overall operative time, length of hospital stay, and postoperative bile leaks. Results Successful bile duct clearance was 100 % in the TD group, 93.6 % in the TC group, and 90.9 % in the LHD group. Sixteen cases in the TD group had T-tube placement in contrast to no cases in the TC and LHD groups. There were more bile leaks after TD stone extraction (12.5 %) than TC (3.2 %) and LHD stone extraction (0 %), which prolonged hospitalization in the TD group more than in the TC and LHD groups. For choledocholithiasis patients accompanied by cholecystitis, 2 groups (TC and TD groups) were comparable in operative time. However, for choledocholithiasis patients accompanied by left intrahepatic gallstones, the LHD group had a significantly shorter operative time than the TD group (121.1 ± 16.9 minutes vs. 149.3 ± 42.8 minutes, p < 0.05). Conclusion The TD group had a higher stone clearance rate but was associated with a higher risk of bile leaks. TC and LHD stone extraction, which seems to be the more effective approach with lower complication rates, is an accessible technique that simplifies the operation procedure by avoiding choledochotomy and subsequent T-tube insertion.
End-to-end and network-internal measurements of real-time traffic to residential users

Little performance data currently exists for streaming high-quality Internet video to residential users. Data on streaming performance will provide valuable input to the design of new protocols and applications, such as congestion control and error-correction schemes, and sizing playout buffers in video receivers. This paper presents measurements of streaming real-time UDP traffic to a number of residential users, and discusses the basic characteristics of the data.
One-pill once-a-day HAART: a simplification strategy that improves adherence and quality of life of HIV-infected subjects

Objective: The aim of the ADONE (ADherence to ONE pill) study was to verify the effect of a reduced number of pills on adherence and quality of life (QoL) in HIV-infected patients on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Design: Prospective, multicenter, study. Methods: Patients chronically treated with emtricitabine (FTC) + tenofovir (TDF) + efavirenz (EFV) or lamivudine (3TC) +TDF +EFV and with a HIV-RNA < 50 copies/mL were switched to the single-pill fixed-dose regimen (FDR) of FTC +TDF +EFV. Data were collected with SF-36 using visual analog scales. Results of the final (6 months) primary as-treated analysis are reported. Results: 212 patients (77.4% males) of mean age 45.8 years were enrolled; 202 completed the study. One month post switch to FDR the adherence rate increased significantly to 96.1% from a baseline value of 93.8% (P < 0.01). The increase was steadily maintained throughout the study (96.2% at 6 months). QoL improved over time from 68.8% to 72.7% (P = 0.042) as well, and was significantly associated with the perception of health status, presence of adverse events (AEs) and number of reported AEs (P < 0.0001). QoL significantly influenced adherence (P < 0.0001). During FDR use the mean CD4 count increased from 556 to 605 cells/μL (P < 0.0001). At the end of follow-up 98% of patients maintained HIV-RNA level < 50 copies/mL and 100% <400 copies/mL. Four patients stopped therapy because they were lost to follow-up and 6 because of AEs (insomnia/nervousness 4, allergy 1, difficulties swallowing pills 1). Conclusion: By substituting a one-pill once-a-day HAART, we observed an improvement of both adherence and QoL while maintaining high virologic and immunologic efficacy. HAART simplicity is an added value that favors adherence and may improve long-term success.
New Streaming Algorithms for Fast Detection of Superspreaders

Abstract : High-speed monitoring of Internet traffic is an important and challenging problem, with applications to real-time attack detection and mitigation, traffic engineering, etc. However, packet-level monitoring requires fast streaming algorithms that use very little memory space and little communication among collaborating network monitoring points. In this paper, we consider the problem of detecting superspreaders, which are sources that connect to a large number of distinct destinations. We propose several new streaming algorithms for detecting superspreaders, and prove guarantees on their accuracy and memory requirements. We also show experimental results on real network traces. Our algorithms are substantially more efficient (both theoretically and experimentally) than previous approaches. We also provide several extensions to our algorithms -- we show how to identify superspreaders in a distributed setting, with sliding windows, and when deletions are allowed in the stream. More generally, our algorithms are applicable to any problem that can be formulated as follows: given a stream of (x,y) pairs, find all the x's that are paired with a large number of distinct y's. We call this the heavy distinct-hitters problem. There are many network security applications of this general problem. This paper discusses these and other applications, and for concreteness, focuses on the superspreader problem.
Spread of phasic muscle reflexes in normal and spastic subjects

When tendon jerks are elicited in patients with upper motor neurone lesions, and in some normal subjects with brisk reflexes, it is often observed that muscles remote from the point of percussion will contract, apparently simultaneously with the muscle whose tendon is percussed. A blow to the tendo Achillis frequently produces contraction of the hamstrings together with the triceps surae. Occasionally the quadriceps on the same side, or thigh adductors and knee flexors of the opposite side, may also respond. Lombard (1889) noted that the hamstrings muscles frequently contracted at the same time as the quadriceps when the knee jerk was obtained. In the upper limb, percussion of the radius commonly produces contraction of the biceps as well as the brachioradialis. The pectoralis major, triceps, and finger flexors may also contract in susceptible subjects. Similar multiple responses in the upper limb may be elicited by a blow to the pectoralis major insertion at the upper end of the humerus, to the ipsilateral clavicle and, rarely, to the sternum or contralateral clavicle. This irradiation or spread of reflexes has been accepted by clinicians as a manifestation of hyper-reflexia without its mechanism being generally understood, but a similar phenomenon in the spinal animal attracted the attention of Sherrington (1898). Sherrington found that the 'cross knee-jerk' and 'cross adductor' reflex persisted after complete longitudinal splitting of the spinal cord, but were abolished by section of the dorsal roots on the side of the reflex, i.e., the side contralateral to the blow given. He referred to the work of Waller and Prevost who, in 1881, suggested that transmission of mechanical vibration or 'jar' to the muscle or its motor nerve was responsible for such contralateral reflexes. Sherrington considered it more likely that the jar excited afferent nerve fibres of muscles at, or just peripheral to, the dorsal root ganglion. For purposes of description in this paper, we shall use the term 'direct' reflex when muscle contraction is caused by a blow to its own tendon, and 'in-
A flow-based model for internet backbone traffic

Our goal is to design a traffic model for uncongested IP backbone links that is simple enough to be used in network operation, and that is protocol and application agnostic in order to be as general as possible. The proposed solution is to model the traffic at the flow level by a Poisson shot-noise process. In our model, a flow is a generic notion that must be able to capture the characteristics of any kind of data stream. We analyze the accuracy of the model with real traffic traces collected on the Sprint IP backbone network. Despite its simplicity, our model provides a good approximation of the real traffic observed in the backbone and of its variation. Finally, we discuss three applications of our model to network design and management.
The significance of sodium chloride in studies of staphylococci.

The discovery by Koch (1942) that usually only staphylococci are able to grow on agar media containing 7.5 per cent NaCl has fundamental bearings on the problem of isolating and testing staphylococci. When 75 grams of NaCl are added to 1 liter of bacto phenol red mannitol agar and the sterilized and poured medium is inoculated with material containing staphylococci and then incubated 36 hours at 37 C, nearly all the organisms that grow luxuriantly are staphylococci that coagulate plasma, and almost all of them are surrounded by yellow zones. Nonpathogenic staphylococci, on the contrary, produce small colonies surrounded by red or purple zones. Experiments with a small series of cultures indicated that the sensitivity and accuracy of the method are superior to those of methods previously described (e.g., Chapman, 1944c). Moreover, other bacteria are so completely inhibited that it is possible to use a considerably heavier inoculum than was possible in former methods, and enterococci, which are about the only organisms that cause interference on tellurite-treated (Chapman, 1944a) alkaline bromthymol blue lactose agar (Chapman et al., 1937) rarely grow on 7.5 per cent NaCl phenol red mannitol agar. Aside from its excellent value in isolating staphylococci, 7.5 per cent NaCl has even deeper significance in biochemical tests of this organism. If stock cultures are carried on proteose lactose agar (Difco, formula of Chapman) to which has been added 75 grams of NaCl per liter, the following phenomena will be noted. Effect on chromogenesis. The chromogenic power of staphylococci is so enhanced that the most sensitive previous method for determining this property, viz., incubation at room temperature for 10 days on milk agar in conjunction with incubation on other media at 37 C (Chapman, 1943), rarely produces pigment with staphylococci that are not chromogenic on 7.5 per cent NaCl proteose lactose agar. However, cultures that do not produce pigment when grown 12 hours on 7.5 per cent NaCl proteose lactose agar at 37 C must still be incubated at room temperature up to 10 days on this medium. The differentiation between porcelain white and pigmented cultures is sharper than on any other medium tested, with the possible exception of milk agar, although it is advisable to gather the growth into a loop for best demonstration of the presence of pigment in the culture. Of 100 cultures isolated from 7.5 per cent NaCl phenol red mannitol agar, usually one from each nose, throat, or feces, culture, 75 were chromogenic on
Prevalence and Protein Specificity of Human Antibodies to Inkoo Virus Infection

ABSTRACT Inkoo virus (INKV), a member of the California serogroup orthobunyaviruses, is circulating widely in northern Europe. Although the virus was discovered over 40 years ago, the disease associations and immune responses in human infection are poorly characterized. We first developed an immunofluorescence assay (IFA) for the detection of INKV antibodies in humans, and then we studied a panel of 1,292 sera in patients with a febrile illness in Finland. We found four acute (immunoglobulin M [IgM] positive) INKV infections and an IgG seroprevalence of 51.3%. The data indicate that the infection has become more common than it was in the 1960s, especially in southern Finland. Two distinct IgG IFA fluorescence patterns were observed: a granular pattern in sera from patients with acute INKV infection and a diffuse pattern in those with long-standing immunity. Further analysis with a panel of INKV-positive sera (n = 18; verified by neutralization assay) of protein-specific responses, using immunoprecipitation and IFA based on baculovirus-expressed INK N, Gn, and Gc proteins, demonstrated a strong IgG response predominantly towards N protein in the acute phase. In contrast, in patients with long-standing immunity, the Gc response was more prominent and the N response was weaker. In conclusion, a diagnostic IgG IFA pattern distinguishing between acute infection and long-standing immunity was observed. N protein seems to be the optimal antigen for the serodiagnosis of acute infection, and the Gc protein could be appropriate for the serosurveillance of INKV.
Does cAMP Response Element-Binding Protein Have a Pivotal Role in Hippocampal Synaptic Plasticity and Hippocampus-Dependent Memory?

Previous studies addressing the role of the transcription factor cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) in mammalian long-term synaptic plasticity and memory by gene targeting were compromised by incomplete deletion of the CREB isoforms. Therefore, we generated conditional knock-out strains with a marked reduction or complete deletion of all CREB isoforms in the hippocampus. In these strains, no deficits could be detected in lasting forms of hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD). When tested for hippocampus-dependent learning, mutants showed normal context-dependent fear conditioning. Water maze learning was impaired during the early stages, but many mutants showed satisfactory scores in probe trials thought to measure hippocampus-dependent spatial memory. However, conditioned taste aversion learning, a putatively hippocampus-independent memory test, was markedly impaired. Our data indicate that in the adult mouse brain, loss of CREB neither prevents learning nor substantially affects performance in some hippocampus-dependent tasks. Furthermore, it spares LTP and LTD in paradigms that are sensitive enough to detect deficits in other mutants. This implies either a species-specific or regionally restricted role of CREB in the brain and/or a compensatory upregulation of the cAMP response element modulator (CREM) and other as yet unidentified transcription factors.
Paclitaxel-resistant cells have a mutation in the paclitaxel-binding region of β-tubulin (Asp26Glu) and less stable microtubules

Resistance to paclitaxel-based therapy is frequently encountered in the clinic. The mechanisms of intrinsic or acquired paclitaxel resistance are not well understood. We sought to characterize the resistance mechanisms that develop upon chronic exposure of a cancer cell line to paclitaxel in the presence of the P-glycoprotein reversal agent, CL-347099. The epidermoid tumor line KB-3-1 was exposed to increasing concentrations of paclitaxel and 5 μmol/L CL-347099 for up to 1 year. Cells grown in 15 nmol/L paclitaxel plus CL-347099 (KB-15-PTX/099) developed 18-fold resistance to paclitaxel and were dependent upon paclitaxel for maximal growth. They grew well and retained resistance to paclitaxel when grown in athymic mice. Cross-resistance (3- to 5-fold) was observed in tissue culture to docetaxel, the novel taxane MAC-321, and epothilone B. Collateral sensitivity (∼3-fold) was observed to the depolymerizing agents vinblastine, dolastatin-10, and HTI-286. KB-15-PTX/099–resistant cells did not overexpress P-glycoprotein nor did they have an alteration of [14C]paclitaxel accumulation compared with parental cells. However, a novel point mutation (T to A) resulting in Asp26 to glutamate substitution in class I (M40) β-tubulin was found. Based on an electron crystallography structure of Zn-stabilized tubulin sheets, the phenyl ring of C-3′ NHCO-C6H5 of paclitaxel makes contact with Asp26 of β-tubulin, suggesting a ligand-induced mutation. Optimized model complexes of paclitaxel, docetaxel, and MAC-321 in β-tubulin show a novel hydrogen bonding pattern for the glutamate mutant and rationalize the observed resistance profiles. However, a mutation in the paclitaxel binding pocket does not explain the phenotype completely. KB-15-PTX/099 cells have impaired microtubule stability as determined by a reduced percentage of tubulin in microtubules and reflected by less acetylated tubulin. These results suggest that a mutation in tubulin might affect microtubule stability as well as drug binding and contribute to the observed resistance profile. [Mol Cancer Ther 2006;5(2):270–8]