Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New Concepts in the Evaluation of Biodegradation/Persistence of Chemical Substances Using a Microbial Inoculum

The European REACH Regulation (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization of CHemical substances) implies, among other things, the evaluation of the biodegradability of chemical substances produced by industry. A large set of test methods is available including detailed information on the appropriate conditions for testing. However, the inoculum used for these tests constitutes a “black box. ” If biodegradation is achievable from the growth of a small group of specific microbial species with the substance as the only carbon source, the result of the test depends largely on the cell density of this group at “time zero. ” If these species are relatively rare in an inoculum that is normally used, the likelihood of inoculating a test with sufficient specific cells becomes a matter of probability. Normally this probability increases with total cell density and with the diversity of species in the inoculum. Furthermore the history of the inoculum, e.g., a possible pre-exposure to the test substance or similar substances will have a significant influence on the probability. A high probability can be expected for substances that are widely used and regularly released into the environment, whereas a low probability can be expected for new xenobiotic substances that have not yet been released into the environment. Be that as it may, once the inoculum sample contains sufficient specific degraders, the performance of the biodegradation will follow a typical S shaped growth curve which depends on the specific growth rate under laboratory conditions, the so called F/M ratio (ratio between food and biomass) and the more or less toxic recalcitrant, but possible, metabolites. Normally regulators require the evaluation of the growth curve using a simple approach such as half-time. Unfortunately probability and biodegradation half-time are very often confused. As the half-time values reflect laboratory conditions which are quite different from environmental conditions (after a substance is released), these values should not be used to quantify and predict environmental behavior. The probability value could be of much greater benefit for predictions under realistic conditions. The main issue in the evaluation of probability is that the result is not based on a single inoculum from an environmental sample, but on a variety of samples. These samples can be representative of regional or local areas, climate regions, water types, and history, e.g., pristine or polluted. The above concept has provided us with a new approach, namely “Probabio. ” With this approach, persistence is not only regarded as a simple intrinsic property of a substance, but also as the capability of various environmental samples to degrade a substance under realistic exposure conditions and F/M ratio.
Location-Aided Opportunistic Forwarding in Multirate and Multihop Wireless Networks

Routing in multihop wireless networks is challenging, mainly due to unreliable wireless links/channels. Geographic opportunistic routing (GOR) was proposed to cope with the unreliable transmissions by exploiting the broadcast nature of the wireless medium and the spatial diversity of the network topology. Previous studies on GOR have focused on networks with a single channel rate. The capability of supporting multiple channel rates, which is common in current wireless systems, has not carefully been studied for GOR. In this paper, we carry out a study on the impacts of multiple rates, as well as candidate selection, prioritization, and coordination, on the performance of GOR. We propose a new local metric, i.e., the opportunistic effective one-hop throughput (OEOT), to characterize the tradeoff between one-hop packet advancement and packet forwarding time. We further propose a local rate adaptation and candidate-selection algorithm to approach the optimum of this metric. The simulation results show that the multirate GOR (MGOR) incorporating the rate adaptation and candidate-selection algorithm achieves higher throughput and lower delay than the corresponding single-rate and multirate traditional geographic routing and single-rate opportunistic routing protocols.
From Play-In Scenarios to Code: An Achievable Dream

The article presents a general, rather sweeping development scheme for complex reactive systems, combining ideas that have been known for a long time with more recent ones. The scheme makes it possible to go from a high-level user-friendly requirements capture method, which is called play-in scenarios, via a rich language for describing message sequencing to a full model of the system, and from there to final implementation. A cyclic process of verifying the system against requirements and synthesizing system parts from the requirements is central to the proposal. The article puts special emphasis on the languages, methods, and computerized tools that allow smooth but rigorous transitions between the various stages of the scheme. In contrast to database systems, the article focuses on systems that have a dominant reactive, event-driven facet. For these systems, modeling and analyzing behavior is the most crucial and problematic issue.
New Cerebral Lesions at Magnetic Resonance Imaging after Carotid Artery Stenting Versus Endarterectomy: An Updated Meta-Analysis

Background Carotid endarterectomy (CEA) or stenting (CAS) are associated with a relatively low rate of clinical events, but diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is increasingly being used to compare the incidence of new ischemic lesions. Therefore, we conducted an updated meta-analysis on the occurrence of post-procedural new DWI lesions after CAS versus CEA. Methods and Results MEDLINE, Cochrane, ISI Web of Science and SCOPUS databases were searched and 20 studies (2 randomized and 18 non-randomized) with a total of 2104 procedures (CAS = 989; CEA = 1115) were included. The incidence of new DWI cerebral lesions was significantly greater after CAS than CEA (40.3% vs 12.2%; 20 studies; 2104 patients; odds ratio [OR] 5.17; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.31-8.06; p<0.00001). Also peri-procedural stroke (17 studies; 1833 patients; OR 2.01; 95% CI, 1.14-3.55; p=0.02) and stroke or TIA (17 studies; 1833 patients; OR 2.40; 95% CI, 1.42-4.08; p=0.001) were significantly increased after CAS. This latter clinical advantage in the CEA group over CAS was tempered when CEA procedures were performed with shunting in all instead of selective shunting or when CAS was performed with only closed cell stents instead of both closed and open cell stents, however, no significant differences between subgroups emerged. Conclusions CAS is associated with an increased incidence of post-procedural brain DWI lesions. This greater amount of ischemic burden may also reflect a higher rate of cerebral events after CAS. However, whether recent technical advances mainly for CAS could potentially reduce these ischemic events still remains to be evaluated.
Color and Contrast in E-Learning Design: A Review of the Literature and Recommendations for Instructional Designers and Web Developers

Judicious choice of color for text and backgrounds of web and e-learning tools can increase the readability of on-screen text and have the added benefits of minimizing extraneous cognitive load and boosting learning retention. A review of empirical research on color and contrast identifies a set of recommendations for establishing luminance contrast between on-screen text and backgrounds that will inform instructional design and web development practices. Visual cueing, as an element of multimedia theory, and web page complexity also play important roles in maximizing readability. Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) and Section 508 guidelines for making web pages usable by individuals with physical and/or visual impairments are not uniformly applied to current design practices; this review uses color blindness to as an example and recommends several online tools to select appropriate page background and text colors, two areas that receive limited attention in current WAI guidelines. Suggestions for future research on the intersection between color and contrast and how it can improve readability for all users, including individuals with visual impairments such as color blindness, and multimedia cognitive load theory are proposed.
Nucleolin Interacts with US11 Protein of Herpes Simplex Virus 1 and Is Involved in Its Trafficking

ABSTRACT Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection induces profound nucleolar modifications at the functional and organizational levels, including nucleolar invasion by several viral proteins. One of these proteins is US11, which exhibits several different functions and displays both cytoplasmic localization and clear nucleolar localization very similar to that of the major multifunctional nucleolar protein nucleolin. To determine whether US11 interacts with nucleolin, we purified US11 protein partners by coimmunoprecipitations using a tagged protein, Flag-US11. From extracts of cells expressing Flag-US11 protein, we copurified a protein of about 100 kDa that was further identified as nucleolin. In vitro studies have demonstrated that nucleolin interacts with US11 and that the C-terminal domain of US11, which is required for US11 nucleolar accumulation, is sufficient for interaction with nucleolin. This association was confirmed in HSV-1-infected cells. We found an increase in the nucleolar accumulation of US11 in nucleolin-depleted cells, thereby revealing that nucleolin could play a role in US11 nucleocytoplasmic trafficking through one-way directional transport out of the nucleolus. Since nucleolin is required for HSV-1 nuclear egress, the interaction of US11 with nucleolin may participate in the outcome of infection.
Dating violence and associated sexual risk and pregnancy among adolescent girls in the United States.

OBJECTIVES To assess the annual prevalence of physical violence from dating partners among a representative sample of sexually experienced adolescent girls attending US public and private high schools, as well as sexual risk behaviors and pregnancy among this population. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, AND MEASURES Female students (9th through 12th grade) (N = 6864) participating in the 2001 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey completed measures of physical dating violence during the previous year, as well as assessments of health risk behaviors. Annual rates of physical dating violence were estimated for sexually experienced (n = 3085) and inexperienced girls. Multiple logistic regression models were constructed to assess whether physical dating violence in the previous year was associated with sexual health risks and pregnancy, after controlling for effects of potentially confounding demographic features and risk behaviors. RESULTS Slightly less than 1 of 5 sexually experienced US adolescent girls (17.7%) reported being intentionally physically hurt by a date in the previous year, and approximately 1 of 25 girls (3.7%) who reported no sexual experience reported such violence. Dating violence among sexually experienced adolescent girls was related to increased risks for both sexual risk behaviors (eg, recent multiple sexual partners: odds ratio: 2.0; 95% confidence interval: 1.3-3.1) and pregnancy (odds ratio: 1.8; 95% confidence interval: 1.3-2.4). CONCLUSIONS Dating violence is prevalent among US adolescent girls, especially those reporting having had sexual intercourse. Adolescent girls intentionally hurt by a date in the previous year are more likely to experience sexual health risks, including those increasing vulnerability to human immunodeficiency virus infection and other sexually transmitted infections, and to have been pregnant. Dating violence should be integrated into sexual health and pregnancy prevention programs, and greater efforts to identify girls experiencing dating violence are needed among those providing care related to adolescent sexual and reproductive health.
Production and characterisation of mechanical properties of Ti–Nb–Ta–Mn alloys foams for biomedical applications

Development of titanium foams with low Young's modulus as a potential implant material has attracted significant attention. In this work, the effect of manganese on the mechanical properties in compression of Ti–13Ta–30Nb–xMn foams (x = 2–6 wt-%) has been studied. Titanium based alloys produced by mechanical alloying were processed to obtain foams using ammonium hydrogen carbonate with a mean particle size of 35 μm (50% v/v) as a space-holder. Powders and space-holder were mixed and uniaxially pressed to form compacts. The space holder was removed by heating the green compacts to 180°C for 1.5 h before sintering at 1300°C for 4 h in Ar. The Young's modulus of the foam was lower than that of pure Ti, and the yield strength increased with the Mn addition. The Gibson–Ashby, Meyer and Nielsen models were applied to predict the mechanical properties of the titanium foams.
Innate Immune Response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing and Other Genotypes

Background As a species, Mycobacterium tuberculosis is more diverse than previously thought. In particular, the Beijing family of M. tuberculosis strains is spreading and evoluating throughout the world and this is giving rise to public health concerns. Genetic diversity within this family has recently been delineated further and a specific genotype, called Bmyc10, has been shown to represent over 60% of all Beijing clinical isolates in several parts of the world. How the host immune system senses and responds to various M. tuberculosis strains may profoundly influence clinical outcome and the relative epidemiological success of the different mycobacterial lineages. We hypothesised that the success of the Bmyc10 group may, at least in part, rely upon its ability to alter innate immune responses and the secretion of cytokines and chemokines by host phagocytes. Methodology/Principal Findings We infected human macrophages and dendritic cells with a collection of genetically well-defined M. tuberculosis clinical isolates belonging to various mycobacterial families, including Beijing. We analyzed cytokine and chemokine secretion on a semi-global level using antibody arrays allowing the detection of sixty-five immunity-related soluble molecules. Our data indicate that Beijing strains induce significantly less interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF), IL-10 and GRO-α than the H37Rv reference strain, a feature that is variously shared by other modern and ancient M. tuberculosis families and which constitutes a signature of the Beijing family as a whole. However, Beijing strains did not differ relative to each other in their ability to modulate cytokine secretion. Conclusions/Significance Our results confirm and expand upon previous reports showing that M. tuberculosis Beijing strains in general are poor in vitro cytokine inducers in human phagocytes. The results suggest that the epidemiological success of the Beijing Bmyc10 is unlikely to rely upon any specific ability of this group of strains to impair anti-mycobacterial innate immunity.
jmpi and a Performance Instrumentation Analysis and Visualization Tool for jmpi

jmpi is a 100% Java-based implementation of the Message-Passing Interface (MPI-1) standard. jmpi comes with a consistent MPI object model suitable for Java. Its Application Programming Interface (API) is similar to the standard C bindings of MPI. jmpi is integrated with a performance instrumentation, analysis, and visualization system called JPVS, that is also implemented in Java. Instrumented jmpi routines generate execution trace files in Pablo’s SDDF format. These trace files are processed by the JPVS and processorand communication-oriented static and dynamic performance displays are generated to help jmpi users to observe the behavior of their programs. We give sample displays from the JPVS along with some early performance results of a set of jmpi benchmark codes on a cluster of SUN UltraSparc workstations.
Young Adult Kidney Transplant Recipients: Nonadherent and Happy

Background The aim of this study was to investigate (a) the extent to which age at first renal replacement therapy, achievement of developmental milestones, satisfaction of psychological needs, and coping were related to subjective well-being and medication adherence among young adult kidney transplant recipients; and (b) the relationship between subjective well-being and immunosuppressive medication adherence. Methods A cross-sectional, interview study was conducted among renal transplant patients aged 20 to 30 years. In addition to sociodemographic and medical characteristics, concepts measured were: subjective well-being (Positive And Negative Affect Schedule; Satisfaction With Life Scale), medication adherence (Basel Assessment of Adherence to Immunosuppressive Medication Scale), dispositional coping (Brief COPE), achievement of developmental milestones (Course of Life Questionnaire), and satisfaction of psychological needs (Basic Psychological Needs Scale). Results Sixty-two patients participated (66% men; mean age, 26 years). Sixty-five percent were classified as nonadherent in the past month. In contrast, subjective self-rated overall adherence was high. None of the variables measured were related to nonadherence. Higher feelings of competence and autonomy, and timely achievement of social and psychosexual developmental milestones were related to higher subjective well-being. Well-being and adherence did not differ according to age at diagnosis or first renal replacement therapy. Conclusions Two thirds of participants were classified as nonadherent which conflicts with participants’ own high rating of medication adherence. This emphasizes the need for continued adherence support among young adult transplant recipients; however, no targets for interventions were found in this study. Potential targets for interventions aimed at improving well-being include competence and autonomy.
A Test Method for Assessment of Shear Properties of Thick Composites

Transverse stress—strain constitutive relations are required for structural analysis of thick-section composites. A standard technique for assessment of transverse shear properties is the V-notched beam method. Such technique is based on strain gage measurements, which require a large specimen thickness for strain gage placement and impose tight geometry tolerances to minimize variations of strain at the gage location. A full-field strain measurement capability could enable simpler test specimen designs. A method for assessment of shear stress—strain relations using a short-beam shear (SBS) test and a digital image correlation (DIC) technique is presented in this work. The DIC technique is based on quantifying locations of a random texture on a surface to measure surface shape and deformation. V-notched-beam and SBS test results are compared for a glass/epoxy tape composite. To illustrate accuracy of SBS stress calculations, finite element results are obtained. Highly nonlinear interlaminar stress—strain relations are documented.
Effect of rapid solidification on structure and mechanical properties of Al-6Mn-3Mg alloy

Purpose: Experiments on rapidly solidified (RS) and industrially manufactured (IM) Al-6Mn-3Mg alloy were performed to test the effect of RS on the structure and mechanical properties of the material. Design/methodology/approach: Annealing of as-extruded RS and IM samples was performed at 500°C in order to test the stability of structural components and related hardness of the materials. Mechanical properties of as-extruded RS and IM materials as well as the samples preliminarily annealed at 500°C / 6 h were tested by compression at 20°C-500°C. Structural investigations were performed using analytical transmission electron microscopy techniques. Findings: The flow stress for RS-samples was found to be about 240 MPa higher at 293 K than that for IM material. However, the difference between the flow stress values observed for RS and IM samples was remarkably reduced at higher deformation temperatures. Annealing at 500°C was found to result in reduction of the RS-material hardness due to the recovery process and slightly marked coarsening of Al6Mn particles. The particles observed in both as extruded and RS-samples annealed 500°C / 7 days were at least 10-times smaller than that for the industrial material. Practical implications: Due to refined structure and the negligible particle coarsening at high annealing temperatures, the products made from RS Al-6Mn-3Mg alloy can be used at high service temperature applications. Originality/value: Hardening of non-heat-treatable Al-6Mn-3Mg alloy is possible due to effective refining of Al6Mn particles using the rapid solidification and adequate consolidation procedure of RSpowders. The highest flow stress was observed for RS samples tested at room temperature. However, increasing deformation temperature was found to result in reduced difference between the flow stress values received for RS and IM materials.
The Emergency Department: A Useful Site for CGA?

Comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) programs have been shown to lead to improvement in important health care outcomes among frail older persons in several locations, including hospital inpatient geriatric units, consultation teams, and home visit services.1,2 Demonstrated benefits include improved patient function, reduced mortality, and decreased use of institutional services. While there is still uncertainty and debate as to how CGA achieves these benefits, as a result of its multifaceted nature and its highly variable interactions with heterogeneous patients, there are several likely contributing factors. These include improvement in diagnostic accuracy, improved care planning and referral, and, ultimately, better treatment and follow-up, all of which are part and parcel of CGA programs. Although studies have been published about older adults in the hospital emergency department (ED), until now no controlled trial has examined the value of a CGA-type intervention in that setting. In several ways, the ED should be an ideal place for a CGA program. Emergency departments harbor steady streams of frail older persons at points of acute clinical deterioration, the acute nature of which often masks their more longstanding geriatric problems. The ED should be a sea of geriatric icebergs! On the other hand, the high tech, high cost, and frenzied ED has not been the most amenable place to perform CGA. In the ED, time is always of ~he essence, and interdisciplinary teams, where they exist, are usually limited to acute care specialists. The ED deals primarily with episodic care; continuity and comprehensiveness, while talked about, is rarely given priority. The goal in the ED is usually to stabilize patients, evaluate and provide immediate treatment for the acute problem at hand, and move patients on to the next level of care as soon as possible. Interrupting this pattern by providing a CGA intervention just might be very effective.
Simulation of Contact Deformation Property of Digital Hand Skin and its Experimental Verifications

The contact deformation of human skin is a significant factor in the virtual ergonomic assessment of handheld products, but previous works have neglected it or dealt with it in a simple way. In this paper, we propose a physical model of the contact deformation of human skin and, based on this model, present an efficient contact solving method to simulate the physical contact of the Digital Hand with product surfaces. The realistic contact deformation effect was realized, and we experimentally verified the estimated contact area, contact force and pressure distribution, and found the estimation results by the proposed model and the contact solving method well fit with the experimental data and the past data from the literature.