Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In vitro evaluation of antibiotic synergy for NDM-1-producing Enterobacteriaceae.

OBJECTIVES To analyse the in vitro activity of colistin, fosfomycin and tigecycline alone or in combination against enterobacterial NDM-1 producers. METHODS MIC values of colistin, fosfomycin and tigecycline were determined for 28 NDM-1-producing enterobacterial isolates. In vitro synergy combination testing was performed for eight clinical isolates and one Escherichia coli transconjugant (six being susceptible to the three antibiotics) using microdilution and chequerboard techniques. RESULTS MICs of colistin, fosfomycin and tigecycline were determined, showing that one-third of NDM-1-producing isolates were resistant or intermediate to at least one of the three drugs. Nevertheless, in vitro synergistic activity was observed for colistin plus fosfomycin and colistin plus tigecycline in very rare cases. CONCLUSIONS Synergistic activity was observed for colistin and fosfomycin, and colistin and tigecycline in rare cases, most of the interactions being indifferent.
ON-LINE NONLINEAR PROCESS MONITORING OF A PILOT-SCALE SEQUENCING BATCH REACTOR

This article describes the application of on-line nonlinear monitoring of a sequencing batch reactor (SBR). Three-way batch data of SBR are unfolded batchwisely, and then a nonlinear multivariate monitoring method is used to capture the nonlinear characteristics of normal batches. The approach is successfully applied to an 80L SBR for biological wastewater treatment, where the SBR poses an interesting challenge in view of process monitoring since it is characterized by nonstationary, batchwise, multistage, and nonlinear dynamics. In on-line batch monitoring, the developed nonlinear process monitoring method can effectively capture the nonlinear relationship among process variables of a biological process in a SBR. The results of this pilot-scale SBR monitoring system using simple on-line measurements clearly demonstrated that the nonlinear monitoring technique showed lower false alarm rate and physically meaningful, that is, robust monitoring results.
Identification of follicular vitellogenesis stage by monitoring of plasma calcium and estradiol-17β concentrations in the cultured Caspian brown trout, Salmo trutta caspius Kessler, 1877

To identify a simple indicator for detection of follicular vitellogenesis stage of cultured Caspian brown trout, the changes of plasma calcium and estradiol-17β along with ovarian histology were investigated over a reproductive cycle. For this purpose, the blood and gonad samples were taken monthly over a six months period. According to results, the concentrations of plasma calcium increased significantly during October and November but then declined steadily until the end of experiment. Estradiol-17β concentrations were low throughout the experiment, a clear peak was observed in October. Histological observations showed that all examined females were in vitellogenesis when the peak of plasma calcium and estradiol-17β were observed. Also, significant positive relationship was found between plasma calcium and estradiol. The good fitness of plasma calcium and estradiol-17β peak with histological observations suggests that plasma calcium could be a good and simple indicator for detection of follicular vitellogenesis stage in the cultured Caspian brown trout.
A user-centric approach for event-driven summarization of surveillance videos

In this paper, a user-centric approach for video summarization is introduced. The method produces meaningful video summaries, by fusing low-level visual information, extracted by processing consecutive frames, with high-level information derived from detected events. The video summaries are presented to the user in the form of most representative frames, while an intuitive user interface allows the user to adjust the level of granularity of the presented summaries.
Dances with worms: the ecological and evolutionary impacts of deworming on coinfecting pathogens

SUMMARY Parasitic helminths are ubiquitous in most host, including human, populations. Helminths often alter the likelihood of infection and disease progression of coinfecting microparasitic pathogens (viruses, bacteria, protozoa), and there is great interest in incorporating deworming into control programmes for many major diseases (e.g. HIV, tuberculosis, malaria). However, such calls are controversial; studies show the consequences of deworming for the severity and spread of pathogens to be highly variable. Hence, the benefits of deworming, although clear for reducing the morbidity due to helminth infection per se, are unclear regarding the outcome of coinfections and comorbidities. I develop a theoretical framework to explore how helminth coinfection with other pathogens affects host mortality and pathogen spread and evolution under different interspecific parasite interactions. In all cases the outcomes of coinfection are highly context-dependent, depending on the mechanism of helminth-pathogen interaction and the quantitative level of helminth infection, with the effects of deworming potentially switching from beneficial to detrimental depending on helminth burden. Such context-dependency may explain some of the variation in the benefits of deworming seen between studies, and highlights the need for obtaining a quantitative understanding of parasite interactions across realistic helminth infection ranges. However, despite this complexity, this framework reveals predictable patterns in the effects of helminths that may aid the development of more effective, integrated management strategies to combat pathogens in this coinfected world.
Hysteresis current controlled active power filter for power quality improvement in three phase four wire electrical distribution system

Three-phase four-wire (3P4W) electrical distribution systems are extensively utilized in commercial and industrial sectors. These electrical distribution systems are facing severe power quality issues such as current harmonics, reactive power, and load unbalancing, excessive neutral current. This paper presents the analysis, design and digital simulation of a hysteresis current controller (HCC) based active power filter (APF) to improve the power quality in a 3P4W electrical distribution system. In the present work APF is implemented with a 4-leg voltage source inverter (VSI) which is connected in shunt to the 3P4W electrical distribution system. The VSI switching signals are generated through a hysteresis current controller (HCC), which has good current tracking accuracy, unconditioned stability and easy implementation. The proposed HCC based APF compensates current harmonics, reactive power, and load unbalancing and neutral current in 3P4W electric distribution system feeding nonlinear and unbalanced loads. The performance of the HCC based APF is demonstrated using MATLAB© simulation.
Prospective Teachers' Perceptions, Beliefs, and Dispostions toward Students' Family, Community, and Culture.

Research has repeatedly documented that teachers are underprepared to teach mathematics effectively in diverse classrooms. We believe critical aspect of learning to be an effective mathematics teacher for diverse learners is developing knowledge, dispositions, and practices that support capitalizing on children’s cultural, linguistic, and community-based knowledge and experiences in mathematics instruction. This study examined beginning perceptions, beliefs, and dispositions of prospective teachers (PSTs) toward students’ family, community, and culture. Results indicate that PSTs hold a range of beliefs based on how they see the resources and supports available to students in the home and community, how they compare and contrast themselves with their students and the students with each other, and how they see the nature of the relationships that can and should be formed by teachers with students and families.
Rethinking mechanically repetitive behaviour: a post-human attempt via Merleau-Ponty, Grandin and Hearne

ABSTRACT One of the most intriguing phenomena, mechanically repetitive behaviour could be viewed as a pathological manifestation in the non- or less-human or regarded as a stringent effort to achieve certain goals. In this article, I would venture to draw a parallel between training and stereotypy to redraw the relationship between animality and humanity through a post-human perspective. The mechanically repetitive behaviour manifest in both stereotypy and animal training will be treated as a pivotal location where animality, mechanicality and humanity converge. Merleau-Ponty’s discussion of learning in The Structure of Behavior will be employed to re-examine this phenomenon, in the hope that the mind/matter dualism in traditional metaphysics can be bypassed. The writings of the autistic scholar Temple Grandin and dog/horse trainer Vicki Hearne will be analysed to examine the convergence of animality, mechanicality and humanity.
Highway proximity and black carbon from cookstoves as a risk factor for higher blood pressure in rural China

Significance Air pollution is a leading health risk factor and important contributor to regional climate change in China and other parts of Asia. China’s particulate matter (PM) air pollution dramatically exceeds health guidelines and is impacted by industrial emissions, motor vehicles, and household use of biomass and coal fuels. Black carbon (BC) from biomass and fossil fuel burning is a major climate-forcing component of PM. We found that BC exposure from biomass smoke is more strongly associated with blood pressure than total PM mass, and that coexposure to motor vehicle emissions may strengthen BC’s impact. Air pollution mitigation efforts focusing on reducing combustion pollution are likely to have major benefits for climate and human health. Air pollution in China and other parts of Asia poses large health risks and is an important contributor to global climate change. Almost half of Chinese homes use biomass and coal fuels for cooking and heating. China’s economic growth and infrastructure development has led to increased emissions from coal-fired power plants and an expanding fleet of motor vehicles. Black carbon (BC) from incomplete biomass and fossil fuel combustion is the most strongly light-absorbing component of particulate matter (PM) air pollution and the second most important climate-forcing human emission. PM composition and sources may also be related to its human health impact. We enrolled 280 women living in a rural area of northwestern Yunnan where biomass fuels are commonly used. We measured their blood pressure, distance from major traffic routes, and daily exposure to BC (pyrolytic biomass combustion), water-soluble organic aerosol (organic aerosol from biomass combustion), and, in a subset, hopane markers (motor vehicle emissions) in winter and summer. BC had the strongest association with systolic blood pressure (SBP) (4.3 mmHg; P < 0.001), followed by PM mass and water-soluble organic mass. The effect of BC on SBP was almost three times greater in women living near the highway [6.2 mmHg; 95% confidence interval (CI), 3.6 to 8.9 vs. 2.6 mmHg; 95% CI, 0.1 to 5.2]. Our findings suggest that BC from combustion emissions is more strongly associated with blood pressure than PM mass, and that BC’s health effects may be larger among women living near a highway and with greater exposure to motor vehicle emissions.
A multi-domain framework for modelling educational games: Towards the effective development in perspective of learning theories

Game-based learning systems or educational games have highly influenced the learning industry over the past decade. The development of an effective educational game has been a challenge for game developers to understand the depth and relationships between learning theories, game environment, rules and regulations, and the learner's achievement to precisely recognize the goal embedded in the educational game. Thus, the authors have proposed a multi-domain framework with extracted relationships through systematic literature review. These relationships are verified through qualitative interviews with eight (8) game-based learning experts to validate the relationships. This paper presents eleven (11) implicit relationships based on learning theories domain and discusses their relevancy with game environment, game play (rule and regulations), and subject-matter (learners, teachers) by applying interpretive hermeneutic approach of qualitative study. Consequently, this paper concludes eleven explicit relationships for game developers to reflect on during the development process of educational games.
/4 Bps Dyoninc Calorons

We explore the 1/4 BPS configurations of the supersymmetric gauge theories on R × S. The BPS bound for energy and the BPS equations are obtained and the characteristics of the BPS solutions are studied. These BPS configurations describe electrically charged calorons, which are constituted of dyons and carry linear momentum along the compact direction. We carry out various approaches to the single caloron case in the theory of SU(2) gauge group. klee@kias.re. kr, shyi@phya.snu. ac.kr
LQ cooperative distributed MPC to protect two connected buildings from seismic activities

In this paper, we study a linear quadratic (LQ) cooperative distributed MPC based on LQ cooperative game theory and apply it to reduce the vibration of two connected buildings caused by seismic activities. Two connected buildings is a systemwide contains two subsystems connected by a bridge. Dynamics of this systemwide can be written as a composite model that is the combination of decentralized model and interaction model between subsystems. The control purpose is reducing the vibration or regulating the displacements of buildings from their origin. The optimal control action of the LQ cooperative distributed MPC is determined by finding Pareto solution. We simulate this control design to view the response of the system from seismic activities. From the simulation results, the controller reduces the vibration of the system and brings the states to the origin faster than uncontrolled system.
Altered functional connectivity density in primary angle-closure glaucoma patients at resting-state.

Background Primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) is a neurodegenerative disease. Previous structural and functional studies of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have demonstrated widespread dysfunction of spontaneous activity in the PACG brain. In this study, we applied a data-driven graph theory approach of functional connectivity density (FCD) mapping to investigate the altered local and global functional connectivity (FC) of the cortex in PACG. Methods Forty-five PACG patients (53.28±10.79 years, 17 males/28 females) and 46 well-matched healthy controls (HCs) (52.67±11.01 years,18 males/28 females) received resting-state fMRI scans. All PACG patients finished complete ophthalmologic examinations, including retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT), intraocular pressure (IOP), average cup to disc ratio (A-C/D), and vertical cup to disc ratio (V-C/D). We calculated the between-group FCD difference for short-range and long-range in each voxel. Then, we generated the intrinsic FC of the seed region with the whole brain. Finally, correlations were investigated between FCD value of the altered regions and clinical variables. Results PACG patients showed increased short-range FCD in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG)/insula/parahippocampal gyrus and right IFG/insula (P<0.05, corrected), compared with the HCs. Simultaneously, the decreased regions in short-range FCD map were the occipital/cuneus/precuneus/superior parietal/postcentral lobe (P<0.05, corrected). In the PACG groups, decreased long-range FCD was observed in the left middle frontal gyrus compared to the HC (P<0.05, corrected). RNFLT was positively correlated with decreased short-range FCD value of the occipital/cuneus/precuneus/superior parietal/postcentral lobes, and the A-C/D was negatively correlated with the increased short-range FCD value of the left IFG/insula/parahippocampal gyrus, and the right IFG/insula. Conclusions Our findings suggest that PACG can induce extensive brain dysfunction, and showed different spatial distribution in short- and long-range FCD.
Blended, Not Bossy: Ethics Roles, Responsibilities and Expertise in Design

What are the best ways for design teams attend to issues of power, inequity, trust and other ethical concerns as they arise in design? Literature on value-sensitive design (VSD) and technology ethics has advocated for a range of design methods that propose different roles and responsibility for ethics during technology development. This paper explores four provocations that imagine different roles and responsibilities for moral and ethical reasoning on design teams: participatory design (in which diverse stakeholders may represent their own values in the design process), values advocates (introducing experts to lead values discussions or conduct ethics interventions), embedding values discussions within design and encouraging ‘moral exemplars’ within design. Each of these posits different logistical arrangements as well as different levels of expertise in ethical practice. The paper uses examples from the VSD and computer ethics literatures as well as the authors’ ethnographic work to explore the advantages, challenges and consequences of each approach. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS (i) Analysis of the ethical and practical impact of contrasting value-sensitive design models. (ii) Discussion of the responsibility of users, ethicists, social scientists and technologists for design ethics.
A Comparative Study of Named Entity Recognition for Hindi Using Sequential Learning Algorithms

Through this paper we present a comparative study of two sequential learning algorithms viz. Conditional Random Fields (CRF) and Static Vector Machine (SVM) applied to the task of Named Entity Recognition in Hindi. Since the features used are language independent hence the same procedure can be applied to tag the named entities for other Indian languages like Telgu, Bengali, Marathi etc. We have used CRF++ for implementing CRF algorithm and Yamcha for implementing SVM algorithm. The results show a superiority of CRF over SVM and are just a little lower than the highest results achieved for this task which is due to the non-usage of any pre-processing and post-processing steps. The system makes use of the contextual information of words along with various language independent features to label the Named Entities (NEs). We first present the two systems (CRF and SVM) and then compare their results for the same data.
Improved Precision of iTRAQ and TMT Quantification by an Axial Extraction Field in an Orbitrap HCD Cell

Improving analytical precision is a major goal in quantitative differential proteomics as high precision ensures low numbers of outliers, a source of false positives with regard to quantification. In addition, higher precision increases statistical power, i.e., the probability to detect significant differences. With chemical labeling using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) or tandem mass tag (TMT) reagents, quantification is based on the extraction of reporter ions from tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) spectra. We compared the performance of two versions of the LTQ Orbitrap higher energy collisional dissociation (HCD) cell with and without an axial electric field with regard to reporter ion quantification. The HCD cell with the axial electric field was designed to push fragment ions into the C-trap and this version is mounted in current Orbitrap XL ETD and Orbitrap Velos instruments. Our goal was to evaluate whether the purported improvement in ion transmission had a measurable impact on the precision of MS/MS based quantification using peptide labeling with isobaric tags. We show that the axial electric field led to an increased percentage of HCD spectra in which the complete set of reporter ions was detected and, even more important, to a reduction in overall variance, i.e., improved analytical precision of the acquired data. Notably, adequate precision of HCD-based quantification was maintained even for low precursor ion intensities of a complex biological sample. These findings may help researchers in their design of quantitative proteomics studies using isobaric tags and establish HCD-based quantification on the LTQ Orbitrap as a highly precise approach in quantitative proteomics.
Serine 15 phosphorylation stimulates p53 transactivation but does not directly influence interaction with HDM2

The p53 tumour suppressor protein is a labile transcription factor that is activated and stabilized in response to a wide range of cellular stresses, through a mechanism involving disruption of its interaction with MDM2, a negative regulatory partner. Induction of p53 by DNA damage additionally involves a series of phosphorylation and acetylation modifications, some of which are thought to regulate MDM2 binding. Here we report the effects of introducing mutations at several known or putative N‐terminal phosphorylation sites on the transactivation function of p53. These studies highlight phosphorylation of Ser15, a key phosphorylation target during the p53 activation process, as being critical for p53‐dependent transactivation. Biochemical data indicate that the mechanism by which phosphorylation of Ser15 stimulates p53‐dependent transactivation occurs through increased binding to the p300 coactivator protein. The data also indicate that Ser15‐dependent regulation of transactivation is independent of any involvement in modulating MDM2 binding, and that Ser15 phosphorylation alone is not sufficient to block the p53–MDM2 interaction.
2 0 F eb 2 00 8 Classification Constrained Dimensionality Reduction

Dimensionality reduction is a topic of recent interest. In this paper, we present the classification constrained dimensionality reduction (CCDR) algorithm to account for label information. The algorithm can account for multiple classes as well as the semi-supervised setting. We present an out-of-sample expressions for both labeled and unlabeled data. For unlabeled data, we introduce a method of embedding a new point as preprocessing to a classifier. For labeled data, we introduce a method that improves the embedding during the training phase using the out-of-sample extension. We investigate classification performance using the CCDR algorithm on hyper-spectral satellite imagery data. We demonstrate the performance gain for both local and global classifiers and demonstrate a 10% improvement of the k-nearest neighbors algorithm performance. We present a connection between intrinsic dimension estimation and the optimal embedding dimension obtained using the CCDR algorithm.
Query Independent Sentence Scoring approach to DUC 2006

The task in Document Understanding Conferences (DUC 1 ) 2006 is to generate a fixed length, user oriented, multi document summary, which remains same as that of DUC 2005. We have used two features to score the sentences based. The sentences are picked to form the summary based on the calculated score. The first feature is a query dependent scoring of a sentence which is an improvement over the HAL feature. The second feature is based on the observation that sentence importance, which is independent of the query, needs to be captured in the current approaches. We have explored the use of web in scoring the sentences in a query independent manner. Experiments show a performance gain of 6-7% over HAL feature by the inclusion of two new features. Our summarization system was ranked 1 st in all automatic evaluations with significant margin from second best system, 5 th in responsiveness and 9 th in linguistic quality evaluations in DUC 2006. Relatively lower performance in linguistic quality can be attributed to the stripped off sentences at the end of summary, when the summary length is exceeding 250 words.