Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of traditional processing methods on the nutritional composition of lack turtle bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) grown in Nigeria.

Investigating the effect of different processing methods on nutritional composition of a lesser known crop (black turtle bean) was carried out with a view to providing adequate information towards effective utilization of this crop in various food applications in Africa and other parts of the world. The seeds of black turtle bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) were collected from Bokkos town of Plateau State, Nigeria and processed into raw dried, boiled, cooked, roasted, sprouted and fermented flours. Proximate, mineral and amino acid compositions were investigated using standard analytical techniques. The processing methods showed deviations in nutrients from the raw seeds. Crude protein was found to be enhanced by cooking (13.5%), roasting (4.64%) and sprouting (14.35%) methods while all the processing methods were found to reduce the contents of crude fat, fatty acids and metabolizable energy. Processing significantly (p < 0.05) affected the content of some minerals in Phaseolus vulgaris seeds. All the processing methods (boiling, cooking, roasting, sprouting and fermenting) increased magnesium, zinc and manganese contents by 44.16, 121.43 and 130.00%; 25.85, 100.00 and 150.00%; 35.54, 74.83 and 70.00%; 31.76, 107.14 and 110.00%; 31.28, 128.57 and 120.00%, respectively whereas sprouting decreased calcium and iron contents by 14.26 and 4.76%, respectively. Generally, raw and processed Phaseolus vulgaris seeds were found to be good sources of essential minerals and harmful lead was not at the detectable range of AAS. The amino acid profile revealed that all the processing methods increased the concentrations of total amino acid (TAA) while only cooking and roasting methods increased the concentrations of total essential amino acid (TEAA) with histidine by 1.46 and 1.95% compared with the raw value. The limiting amino acids (LAA) for both the raw and processed samples were either Met + Cys, Ile or Val. Sufficient proportions of the essential amino acids were retained after processing of the black turtle bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) to meet FAO/WHO dietary requirement.
Can we apply the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel definition of the metabolic syndrome to Asians?

OBJECTIVE Limited information is available about the metabolic syndrome in Asians. Furthermore, the definition of central obesity using waist circumference may not be appropriate for Asians. The objectives of this study were to determine the optimal waist circumference for diagnosing central obesity in Asians and to estimate the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in an Asian population. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We used data from the 1998 Singapore National Health Survey, a cross-sectional survey involving 4,723 men and women of Chinese, Malay, and Asian-Indian ethnicity aged 18-69 years. Receiver operating characteristic analysis suggested that waist circumference >80 cm in women and >90 cm in men was a more appropriate definition of central obesity in this population. The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was then determined using the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III) criteria with and without the modified waist circumference criteria. RESULTS In Asians, decreasing waist circumference increased the crude prevalence of the metabolic syndrome from 12.2 to 17.9%. Using the modified Asian criteria, the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome increased from 2.9% in those aged 18-30 years to 31.0% in those aged 60-69 years. It was more common in men (prevalence 20.9% in men versus 15.5% in women; P < 0.001) and Asian Indians (prevalence 28.8% in Asian-Indians, 24.2% in Malays, and 14.8% in Chinese; P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS NCEP ATP III criteria, applied to an Asian population, will underestimate the population at risk. With a lower waist circumference cutoff, the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome is comparable to that in Western populations. Ethnic differences are likely to exist between populations across Asia.
Rado: A Randomized Auction Approach for Data Offloading via D2D Communication

Despite the growing deployment of 4G networks, the capacity of cellular networks is still insufficient to satisfy the ever-increasing bandwidth demand of mobile applications. Given the common interest of mobile users, Device-to-Device (D2D) communication has emerged as a promising solution to offload cellular traffic and enable proximity-based services. One of the main detriments for D2D communication is the lack of incentive for mobile users to share their content, since such sharing inevitably consumes limited resources and potentially jeopardizes user privacy. In this paper, we study the incentive problem in D2D communications. Specifically, we model the incentive in offloading scenario as an auction game. A trading network is constructed between an eNB and users, in which auctions are conducted to group offloading users and determine proper rewards. We further design a randomized auction mechanism to guarantee system efficiency and truthfulness. Extensive experiments verify the effectiveness of our mechanism in that it achieves a significant performance gain in comparison with baseline methods.
SEXUAL EXPLOITATION VIA ONLINE PUBLIC CHATROOMS

Significant numbers of scholars perceive the Internet as a superior medium in comparison to the conventional media, which is very much exclaimed by the fact that ‘it is almost impossible to be controlled’. Parallel to such notion the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Act 1998 enacted that ‘nothing in this Act shall be construed as allowing censorship’. Significantly the internet has been widely utilized for multiple functions, not merely on communication but has been extended to business, library data, educational, religious matters, multicultural relation, acculturation, entertainment and socialization. The public can significantly employ and being subtly forced to employ the internet for many of their daily chores and such phenomenon has created a generation of information and idea sharing. Chat rooms are seen to be one of the most popular platforms despites debates and critical insights on its misuse or otherwise abuse. In line to that, the Internet, with its lack of restrictions makes sexual inclination communication and related behavior more significant between users and strangers. With a click of a button, users may transmit, manipulate, and even manufacture pornography that includes child pornography or specifically pedophilia. Open sexual discussions with strangers will potentially lead to more serious results such as dating and sexual intercourse. When these people (chatters) involved in free sex, there are certain consequences that would crop up, such as illegitimate babies, baby dumping, abortions and worst to that, suicidal acts of the victims. This study, with the aid of two major communication theories, social learning theory and uses and gratification theory outlines the happenings and conversation patterns of public chat rooms’ users focusing on sexual conversation. In regards to the methodology, this research employs both quantitative and qualitative approaches based on analysis of textually recorded content from purposive samples selected all over Malaysia. It is found that thirty (30%) percent of the total Malaysian samples commenced webcam chatting with sexual intention, eleven (11%) percent initiated face to face meeting with sex intention, forty six (46%) percent of the total conversation are sexual-involved dialogues. This study recommends that sex education is vital in Malaysian education system as the social problems pertaining sexual intercourse has increased these few years. The statistics of cases on baby dumping and abortion are worrisome. Malaysians’ mentality needs to be widened and broaden as sex education can help children and the public to understand human sexuality and more to that, sexual exploitation via the Internet.
CMS software and computing for LHC Run 2

The CMS offline software and computing system has successfully met the challenge of LHC Run 2. In this presentation, we will discuss how the entire system was improved in anticipation of increased trigger output rate, increased rate of pileup interactions and the evolution of computing technology. The primary goals behind these changes was to increase the flexibility of computing facilities where ever possible, as to increase our operational efficiency, and to decrease the computing resources needed to accomplish the primary offline computing workflows. These changes have resulted in a new approach to distributed computing in CMS for Run 2 and for the future as the LHC luminosity should continue to increase. We will discuss changes and plans to our data federation, which was one of the key changes towards a more flexible computing model for Run 2. Our software framework and algorithms also underwent significant changes. We will summarize the our experience with a new multi-threaded framework as deployed on our prompt reconstruction farm for 2015 and across the CMS WLCG Tier-1 facilities. We will discuss our experience with a analysis data format which is ten times smaller than our primary Run 1 format. This "miniAOD" format has proven to be easier to analyze while be extremely flexible for analysts. Finally, we describe improvements to our workflow management system that have resulted in increased automation and reliability for all facets of CMS production and user analysis operations.
The COBRA Family of Putative GPI-Anchored Proteins in Arabidopsis. A New Fellowship in Expansion1

Identification of regulatory molecules that determine the extent and direction of expansion is necessary to understand how cell morphogenesis is controlled in plants. We recently identifiedCOB (COBRA) as a key regulator of the orientation of cell expansion in the root. Analysis of the Arabidopsis genome sequence indicated that COB belongs to a multigene family consisting of 12 members, all predicted to encode glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins. All but two of theCOBL (COB-like) genes are expressed in most organs examined, suggesting possible redundancy. Sequence comparisons, phylogenetic analyses, and exon-intron positions revealed that the COB family is composed of two main subgroups sharing a common architecture, one subgroup being characterized by an additional N-terminal domain. Identification of expressed sequence tags corresponding to potential orthologs in other plant species suggested that COB-related functions are required in all vascular plants. Together, these results indicate that COB family members are likely to be important new players at the plasma membrane-cell wall interface.
Managing Query Compilation Memory Consumption to Improve DBMS Throughput

While there are known performance trade-offs between database page buffer pool and query execution memory allocation policies, little has been written on the impact of query compilation memory use on overall throughput of the database management system (DBMS). We present a new aspect of the query optimization problem and discuss a solution implemented in Microsoft SQL Server 2005. The solution provides stable throughput for a range of workloads even when memory requests outstrip the ability of the hardware to service those requests.
SDUDPHWULF HVWLPDWHV XVLQJ WKH DYHUDJH RXWFRPH RI ZRPHQ KDYLQJ DERUWLRQV LQ WKH ILUVW WULPHVWHU DV WKH DYHUDJH RXWFRPH

This paper continues research on female labor supply, in particular the literature on the costs of childbearing to a woman’s later labor market and marital outcomes. Hotz, Mullin, and Sanders (1997) use miscarriage as an instrument for birth, concluding that delaying birth might actually worsen outcomes for pregnant teenage girls. I demonstrate that while miscarriages might be randomly assigned given a woman’s smoking, drinking, and contraceptive behavior, observed miscarriages are still not a valid instrument. It turns out that more than one out of every two women wanting the pregnancy to end in an abortion will never have an assigned miscarriage, and this likely creates a bias that underestimates the true costs of teenage childbearing. I consider various estimators that correct the IV estimates for this censoring problem and employ a data set better suited to measure pregnancy outcomes – the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth. After implementing these new estimators, I find in contrast to the existing literature that that teenage childbearing significantly reduces the probability of high school completion, but only for girls in high school. Moreover, there is some evidence of a causal link between teenage childbearing and labor market outcomes and weak evidence of a link to marital outcomes later in life.
Parameter adaptation for differential evolution with design of experiments

Optimal settings for control parameters of the Differential Evolution algorithm depend on the considered optimization problem and may also change during an optimization run. In this work an approach is suggested that adaptively controls the parameters F and CR that influence the mutation and recombination processes in Differential Evolution. By application of Design of Experiments methods significant differences in performance due to different parameter settings can be detected during an optimization run. Additionally, interaction effects of the parameters are discovered. By changing the parameter settings on the basis of these results, feedback from the current state of the optimization run is taken into account. The method is tested using a constrained single-objective optimization problem. A comparison with another study using the same problem with tuned fixed parameter values shows promising results.
Structural Variations of the Cell Wall Precursor Lipid II and Their Influence on Binding and Activity of the Lipoglycopeptide Antibiotic Oritavancin

ABSTRACT Oritavancin is a semisynthetic derivative of the glycopeptide antibiotic chloroeremomycin with activity against Gram-positive pathogens, including vancomycin-resistant staphylococci and enterococci. Compared to vancomycin, oritavancin is characterized by the presence of two additional residues, a hydrophobic 4′-chlorobiphenyl methyl moiety and a 4-epi-vancosamine substituent, which is also present in chloroeremomycin. Here, we show that oritavancin and its des-N-methylleucyl variant (des-oritavancin) effectively inhibit lipid I- and lipid II-consuming peptidoglycan biosynthesis reactions in vitro. In contrast to that for vancomycin, the binding affinity of oritavancin to the cell wall precursor lipid II appears to involve, in addition to the d-Ala-d-Ala terminus, other species-specific binding sites of the lipid II molecule, i.e., the crossbridge and d-isoglutamine in position 2 of the lipid II stem peptide, both characteristic for a number of Gram-positive pathogens, including staphylococci and enterococci. Using purified lipid II and modified lipid II variants, we studied the impact of these modifications on the binding of oritavancin and compared it to those of vancomycin, chloroeremomycin, and des-oritavancin. Analysis of the binding parameters revealed that additional intramolecular interactions of oritavancin with the peptidoglycan precursor appear to compensate for the loss of a crucial hydrogen bond in vancomycin-resistant strains, resulting in enhanced binding affinity. Augmenting previous findings, we show that amidation of the lipid II stem peptide predominantly accounts for the increased binding of oritavancin to the modified intermediates ending in d-Ala-d-Lac. Corroborating our conclusions, we further provide biochemical evidence for the phenomenon of the antagonistic effects of mecA and vanA resistance determinants in Staphylococcus aureus, thus partially explaining the low frequency of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) acquiring high-level vancomycin resistance.
Virtual Private LAN Service ( VPLS ) Interoperability with Customer Edge ( CE ) Bridges

One of the main motivations behind Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) is its ability to provide connectivity not only among customer routers and servers/hosts but also among customer IEEE bridges. VPLS is expected to deliver the same level of service that current enterprise users are accustomed to from their own enterprise bridged networks or their Ethernet Service Providers. When customer edge (CE) devices are IEEE bridges, then there are certain issues and challenges that need to be accounted for in a VPLS network. The majority of these issues have been addressed in the IEEE 802.1ad standard for provider bridges and they can be leveraged for VPLS networks. This document extends the provider edge (PE) model described in RFC 4664 based on IEEE 802.1ad bridge module, and it illustrates a clear demarcation between the IEEE bridge module and IETF LAN emulation module. By doing so, it shows that the majority of interoperability issues with CE bridges can be delegated to the 802.1ad bridge module, thus removing the burden on the IETF LAN emulation module within a VPLS PE. Sajassi, et al. Informational [Page 1] RFC 6246 VPLS Interop with CE Bridges June 2011
A robust global linear method for structure from motion

A technique for building consistent 3D reconstructions from unordered large image sets based on a global linear method is presented. When views are treated incrementally, this external calibration can be subjected to drift, contrary to global methods that distribute residual errors evenly. We propose a combined global linear method based on computing consistent measurements in three views. First, all global camera rotations are computed from relative rotation estimates of pairwise image matches. Second, we minimize an approximate geometric error and projection error of feature points to find a linear relationship in camera triplets. This step can efficiently remove incorrect triplets which is very important for global reconstruction. Third, these triplets can be directly scaled up to register multiple cameras which can serve as a good initialization for final bundle adjustment. The performance of the proposed method is tested on several well-known image sets and the result is accurate and robust.
Dirty Work at the Intersections of Gender, Class, and Nation: Liberian Market Women in Post-Conflict Times

This study explored how market women rework meanings of dirty work and gender, class, and nation in post-conflict Liberia. I used African feminist theory as a lens, which nuances a simplistic and Western-centered reading of market women's empowerment. In this study, the notion of empowerment is connected to the principle of negotiation or the ability to compromise and strategically capitalize on situations. The women used three main strategies to rework market work: appropriating stigmatizing features, aligning with the oppositional discourse, and creating new meanings. The study contributes to dirty work scholarship by debunking the idea that meanings of dirty work have inherently positive or negative impacts on workers’ agency. Instead, my African feminist lens foregrounds the importance of situation and how workers leverage positive or negative meanings in different contexts. This intersectional framework allows us to reframe dirty work as a culturally situated concept by considering nation alongside gender and class.
DHX15 is associated with poor prognosis in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and regulates cell apoptosis via the NF-kB signaling pathway

The role of DHX15, a newly identified DEAH-box RNA helicase, in leukemogenesis remains elusive. Here, we identified a recurrent mutation in DHX15 (NM_001358:c.664C>G: p.(R222G)) in one familial AML patient and 4/240 sporadic AML patients. Additionally, DHX15 was commonly overexpressed in AML patients and associated with poor overall survival (OS) (P=0.019) and relapse-free survival (RFS) (P=0.032). In addition, we found a distinct expression pattern of DHX15. DHX15 was highly expressed in hematopoietic stem cells and leukemia cells but was lowly expressed in mature blood cells. DHX15 was down-regulated when AML patients achieved disease remission or when leukemia cell lines were induced to differentiate. DHX15 silencing greatly inhibited leukemia cell proliferation and induced cell apoptosis and G1-phase arrest. In contrast, the restoration of DHX15 expression rescued cell viability and reduced cell apoptosis. In addition, we found that DHX15 was down-regulated when cell apoptosis was induced by ATO (arsenic trioxide); overexpression of DHX15 caused dramatic resistance to ATO-induced cell apoptosis, suggesting an important role for DHX15 in cell apoptosis. We further explored the mechanism of DHX15 in apoptosis and found that overexpression of DHX15 activated NF-kB transcription. Knockdown of DHX15 inhibited the nuclear translocation and activation of the NF-kB subunit P65 in leukemia cells. Several downstream targets of the NF-kB pathway were also down-regulated, and apoptosis-associated genes CASP3 and PARP were activated. In conclusion, this study represents the first demonstration that DHX15 plays an important role in leukemogenesis via the NF-kB signaling pathway and may serve as an independent prognostic marker for AML.
The Value of Training Volunteers

In 'The use of volunteer leaders to support older adults in physically active leisure', by Patterson, Bartlett, Marshall and Mitchell (2007), part of the researchers' investigation was to ascertain how important training was to volunteer leaders in a pilot study. Volunteer leaders in the study assisted and supported participants aged 65 years and older to participate in community-based physical leisure activities. This article by Hazel Maynard takes one component of this research, training, and considers from a personal and professional viewpoint the implications and impact of training volunteers on the individuals, not-for-profit organisations and the community.
Convergence of human brain mapping tools: Neuronavigated TMS Parameters and fMRI activity in the hand motor area

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) are well‐established tools for investigating the human motor system in‐vivo. We here studied the relationship between movement‐related fMRI signal changes in the primary motor cortex (M1) and electrophysiological properties of the hand motor area assessed with neuronavigated TMS in 17 healthy subjects. The voxel showing the highest task‐related BOLD response in the left hand motor area during right hand movements was identified for each individual subject. This fMRI peak voxel in M1 served as spatial target for coil positioning during neuronavigated TMS. We performed correlation analyses between TMS parameters, BOLD signal estimates and effective connectivity parameters of M1 assessed with dynamic causal modeling (DCM). The results showed a negative correlation between the movement‐related BOLD signal in left M1 and resting as well as active motor threshold (MT) obtained for left M1. The DCM analysis revealed that higher excitability of left M1 was associated with a stronger coupling between left supplementary motor area (SMA) and M1. Furthermore, BOLD activity in left M1 correlated with ipsilateral silent period (ISP), i.e. the stronger the task‐related BOLD response in left M1, the higher interhemispheric inhibition effects targeting right M1. DCM analyses revealed a positive correlation between the coupling of left SMA with left M1 and the duration of ISP. The data show that TMS parameters assessed for the hand area of M1 do not only reflect the intrinsic properties at the stimulation site but also interactions with remote areas in the human motor system. Hum Brain Mapp, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.