Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Mycobacterium tuberculosis High-Affinity Iron Importer, IrtA, Contains an FAD-Binding Domain

ABSTRACT Iron is an essential nutrient not freely available to microorganisms infecting mammals. To overcome iron deficiency, bacteria have evolved various strategies including the synthesis and secretion of high-affinity iron chelators known as siderophores. The siderophores produced and secreted by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, exomycobactins, compete for iron with host iron-binding proteins and, together with the iron-regulated ABC transporter IrtAB, are required for the survival of M. tuberculosis in iron deficient conditions and for normal replication in macrophages and in mice. This study further characterizes the role of IrtAB in M. tuberculosis iron acquisition. Our results demonstrate a role for IrtAB in iron import and show that the amino terminus domain of IrtA is a flavin-adenine dinucleotide-binding domain essential for iron acquisition. These results suggest a model in which the amino terminus of IrtA functions to couple iron transport and assimilation.
Duotone surfaces

In this paper, we present a method to divide any given surface into two regions with two properties: (1) they are visually interlocked since the boundary curve covers the whole surface by meandering over it and (2) the areas of these two regions are approximately the same. We obtain the duotone surfaces by coloring these regions with two different colors. We show that it is always possible to obtain two such regions for any given mesh surface. Our approach is based on a useful property of vertex insertion schemes such as Catmull-Clark subdivision: If such a vertex insertion scheme is applied to a mesh, the vertices of resulting quadrilateral mesh are always two colorable. Using this property, we can always classify vertices of meshes that are obtained by a vertex insertion scheme into two groups. We show that it is always possible to create a single curve that covers the whole surface such that all vertices in the first group are on one side of the curve while the other group of vertices are on the other side of the same curve. This single curve serves as a boundary that defines two regions in the surface. If the initial distribution of the vertices on the surface is uniform, the areas of the two regions are approximately the same. We have implemented this approach by appropriately mapping textures on each quadrilateral. The resulting textured surfaces look aesthetically pleasing since they closely resemble planar TSP (traveling salesmen problem) art and Truchet-like curves.
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) An analysis of XQuery benchmarks

This paper presents a survey and an analysis of the XQuery benchmark publicly available in 2006 — XMach-1, XMark, X007, the Michigan benchmark, and XBench — from different perspectives. We address three simple questions about these benchmarks: How are they used? What do they measure? What can one learn from using them? One focus of our analysis is to determine whether the benchmarks can be used for micro-benchmarking. Our conclusions are based on an usage analysis, on an in-depth analysis of the benchmark queries, and on experiments run on four XQuery engines: Galax, SaxonB, Qizx/Open, and MonetDB/XQuery.
Caveats of mesenchymal stem cell therapy in solid organ transplantation

In the past decade, therapeutic use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has increased dramatically. The weight of existing evidence supports that the short‐term application of MSCs is safe and feasible; however, concerns remain over the possibility of unwanted long‐term effects. One fundamental difference between MSCs and pharmacotherapy is that, once applied, the effects of cell products cannot be easily reversed. Therefore, a carefully considered decision process is indispensable before cell infusion. In addition to unwanted interactions of MSCs with the host immune system, there are concerns that MSCs may promote tumor progression or even give rise to cancer themselves. As animal models and first‐in‐man clinical studies have provided conflicting results, it is challenging to estimate the long‐term risk of individual patients. In addition, most animal models, especially rodents, are ill‐suited to adequately address questions over long‐term side effects. Based on the available evidence, we address the potential pitfalls for the use of MSCs as a therapeutic agent to control alloimmune effects. The aim of this review was not to discourage investigators from clinical studies, but to raise awareness of the intrinsic risks of MSC therapy.
How Different Types of IS Assets Account for Synergy-Enabled Value in Multi-Unit Firms: Mapping of Critical Success Factors and Key Performance Indicators

Rooted in a longstanding tradition, research and practice strives to determine how to derive business value from IT investments. This applies particularly to the neglected research area of multi-unit firms, where there is still a high potential to enhance IT synergies. Our study addresses important research gaps in IT business value research. First, we investigate how different of types of IS assets, i.e., infrastructural, transactional, and strategic IS, account for cross-unit synergies to create business value. Second, we map critical success factors and key performance indicators of this value creation process in order to open the “grey box” in IT business value research. An explorative multiple-case study methodology with five case sites is applied. Our results reveal that these different types of IS assets account for a different degree of cost and value synergies, support diverse critical success factors, and require distinct measurement approaches in the form of KPIs.
16S rRNA Mutation Associated with Tetracycline Resistance in a Gram-Positive Bacterium

ABSTRACT A genetic basis for tetracycline resistance in cutaneous propionibacteria was suggested by comparing the nucleotide sequences of the 16S rRNA genes from 16 susceptible and 21 resistant clinical isolates and 6 laboratory-selected tetracycline-resistant mutants of a susceptible strain. Fifteen clinical isolates resistant to tetracycline were found to have cytosine instead of guanine at a position cognate with Escherichia coli 16S rRNA base 1058 in a region important for peptide chain termination and translational accuracy known as helix 34. Cytosine at base 1058 was not detected in the laboratory mutants or the tetracycline-susceptible strains. The apparent mutation was recreated by site-directed mutagenesis in the cloned E. coli ribosomal operon, rrnB, encoded by pKK3535. E. coli strains carrying the mutant plasmid were more resistant to tetracycline than those carrying the wild-type plasmid both in MIC determinations and when grown in tetracycline-containing liquid medium. These data are consistent with a role for the single 16S rRNA base mutation in clinical tetracycline resistance in cutaneous propionibacteria.
The interplay of knowledge innovation and academic power: Lessons from “isolation” in twentieth-century Italian accounting studies

Accounting scholars investigate the role of academia in the process of knowledge production, highlighting how paradigms may produce negative effects on knowledge innovations, nourish academic elites, and limit fruitful debates. The current article extends this debate by investigating the cultural isolation experienced by Italian accounting scholars during the twentieth century, when accounting academia supported and protected the Italian paradigm of Economia Aziendale. Drawing on a Foucauldian genealogy perspective, this story of Italian accounting studies demonstrates that isolation results from an interplay of broad paradigmatic content and a recruitment policy focused on professors aligned with this paradigm. The Foucauldian perspective helps interpret knowledge innovation, thus enriching the debate about knowledge production, paradigm innovation, and the role of elites in accounting research.
Moving House, Creating Home: Exploring Residential Mobility

This paper begins with a review of the residential mobility literature that arose out of housing and planning policy aimed at decreasing the negative effects of urban transience. The literature identified the range of factors influencing residential mobility, but Rossi's (1955) claim that mobility was a 'natural' outcome of life stage changes became the basis for the majority of this work. Most of this literature arose out of quantitative research approaches but writers drew attention to the inability of these approaches to capture the increasing complexity of family life and residential mobility. Drawing on data from the Christchurch, New Zealand, house and home study, this study argues that the qualitative ethnographic method used provides a more holistic approach to, and understanding of, the events and issues which influence household mobility over time. Within this context, the paper presents excerpts from interview data framed as ontological narratives and related stories embedded in social and economic contexts. Some of the themes identified are those of identity, home and place attachment, change and social differentiation, and the impact of gender relations on mobility decisions and experiences. These findings, like those in previous literature, are relevant to housing and planning policy making given the increasing diversity of residential developments and issues of access to social, financial and environmental resources. Understanding how individuals and families establish relationships between themselves and the places in which they live is important given increasingly divided and differentiated experiences of contemporary urban life.
Implementation of the domain-specific language EasyTime using a LISA compiler generator

A manually time-measuring tool in mass sporting competitions cannot be imagined nowadays because many modern disciplines, such as IronMan, take a long time and, therefore, demand additional reliability. Moreover, automatic timing devices, based on RFID technology, have become cheaper. However, these devices cannot operate stand-alone because they need a computer measuring system that is capable of processing the incoming events, encoding the results, assigning them to the correct competitor, sorting the results according to the achieved times, and then providing a printout of the results. In this article, the domain-specific language EasyTime is presented, which enables the controlling of an agent by writing the events in a database. In particular, we are focused on the implementation of EasyTime with a LISA tool that enables the automatic construction of compilers from language specifications using Attribute Grammars. By using of EasyTime, we can also decrease the number of measuring devices. Furthermore, EasyTime is universal and can be applied to many different sporting competitions in practice.
Classification Accuracy of Personal Identification Based on Joint Motions Using 2D Information

This paper evaluates the classification accuracy of personal identification by a classification scheme with feature extraction based on joint motions using only two-dimensional information. Experimental results show that the feature extraction based on joint motions can achieve moderate classification accuracy when feature vectors are constructed from only two-dimensional information in an image plane. In addition, the results include interesting knowledge: the classification accuracy is not degraded drastically even if a gait is measured from right in front. In the best case, the classification accuracy becomes 78.95% in the experiment and it is 75.44% in the worst case.
The challenge of dermatopathological diagnosis of composite tissue allograft rejection: a review

Advances in immunosuppressive treatments and microsurgical techniques have rendered allotransplantation of composite tissues (i.e. heterogeneous, non‐organ tissues) possible in humans. Most of these allografts (hands, face and abdominal wall) contain skin that may be the target of rejection, the diagnosis of which relies mainly on clinicopathological monitoring of the skin. Rejection of allografted skin manifests with changes that are characteristic but not very specific. Although composite tissue allografts are still in their infancy, they have opened a new era in the field of transplantation surgery and pathology, so that (dermato) pathologists may occasionally be faced with the challenge of diagnosing skin rejection of a composite tissue allograft. The diagnostic difficulties that may be encountered in the pathological evaluation of skin in this setting are discussed in this review.
The routines and needs of grandparents and parents for grandparent-grandchild conversations over distance

A variety of systems have been designed to support communication between distance-separated grandparents and grandchildren. Yet there are few studies of the actual conversational routines of these groups as well as the social challenges that might arise as a result of technology usage. To address this gap, we conducted an interview and diary study that explores the conversational practices of distance-separated grandparents and young grandchildren (aged 3-10) from the perspective of the grandparents and parents of the children. Our results describe the focus of grandparent-grandchild conversations and show that grandparent-grandchild communication is not without its challenges: grandparents sometimes feel self-conscious, perceive that parents or children will be annoyed if they ask too many questions, and do not want to interfere too much in their grandchildren's lives. The implication is that designs should attempt to support the conversation routines and needs of grandparents and grandchildren while attempting to mitigate the social challenges.
K-Nearest Neighbor Search using the Pyramid Technique

A k-nearest neighbor search algorithm for the Pyramid technique is presented. The Pyramid technique divides d-dimensional data space into 2d pyramids. Given a query point q, we initialize the radius of a range query to be the furthest distance of the k candidate nearest neighbors from q in the pyramid which q is in, then examine the rest of the pyramids one by one. After one pyramid is checked, the radius of the range query decreases or remains the same. We compared the knearest neighbor performance of the Pyramid technique with the k-d tree, the R∗-tree and naive search. Experimental results show that our decreasing radius Pyramid k-nearest neighbor search algorithm is efficient when d ≤ log2 n.
Germ line MLH1 and MSH2 mutations in Taiwanese Lynch syndrome families: characterization of a founder genomic mutation in the MLH1 gene

This multicenter study evaluated the mutation spectrum and frequencies of the MLH1 and MSH2 genes and determined the occurrence of large genomic deletions in 93 unrelated Taiwanese families that fulfilled the Amsterdam criteria II by denaturing high‐performance liquid chromatography analysis, DNA sequencing for aberrant chromatograms, and multiplex ligation‐dependent probe amplification analysis. In total, 38 pathogenic mutations (10 large deletions and 28 point mutations or small deletion/insertions) in the MSH2 or MLH1 gene were identified in 61 of the 93 families (66%). Three of the 10 large deletions and 14 of the 28 point mutations or small insertions/deletions have not been reported elsewhere. Three mutations in the MLH1 gene, the MLH1c. 1846_1848delAAG (5 families), deletion exons 11–15 (4 unrelated families), and MLH1c.793C>T (13 unrelated families), accounted for 35% of all cases with pathogenic mutations. Haplotype analysis indicated that mutant c.793C>T alleles were derived from two distinct common founders that might be inherited from a single ancestor of presumably Chinese origin. As a mutation detection strategy for Taiwanese Lynch syndrome patients, we recommend that diagnosis starts with screening for large genomic deletions and continues by screening for common mutations in exons 10 and 16 of the MLH1 gene prior to searching for small mutations in the remaining exons.
Imag[in]ing accounting and accountability

Purpose - This paper aims to set out several of the key issues and areas of the inter-disciplinary field of visual perspectives on accounting and accountability, and to introduce the papers that compose this Design/methodology/approach - This takes the form of a discussion paper, exploring several key issues related to visual perspectives on accounting and accountability. Findings - The paper suggests that there has been some myopia with regard to the importance of the visual in accounting and accountability, and introduces a variety of theoretical, methodological and empirical approaches. Research limitations/implications - It is hoped that the issues and approaches explored in this paper, together with those of the various papers of this Practical implications - The analyses of the ways in which the visual is implicated in accounting are of interest to accounting researchers, practitioners, trainees and auditors. Originality/value - The paper surveys past work on visual perspectives in accounting and organization studies, provides an overview of challenges in the area, and sets an agenda for future research.
Randomized, Double-Blind Comparison of Oral Cefpodoxime and Parenteral Ceftriaxone in Hospitalized Adults with Community-Acquired Pneumonia

• Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of oral cefpodoxime compared with parenteral ceftriaxone in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) requiring hospitalization. • Design: Prospective, randomized, double-blind, multicenter trial. • Patients and setting: Patients aged 18 years or older with acute signs and symptoms of CAP requiring hospitalization at 10 U.S. medical centers and private practices. • Interventions: Oral cefpodoxime 200 mg twice daily and placebo infusion of 0.9% sodium chloride or parenteral (intravenous or intramuscular) ceftriaxone 1 g daily and oral placebo for 7 to 14 days. • Main outcome measures: Bacteriologic and clinical response rates at end of therapy. • Results: Of the 85 patients enrolled in the trial, 44 received oral cefpodoxime and 41 received parenteral ceftriaxone. Bacterial eradication rates were 100% in both treatment groups. Fifty-nine of the 85 patients (69%) were considered clinically assessable. Of the 33 clinically assessable patients in the cefpodoxime group, 20 (60.6%) were clinically cured, 8 (24.2%) were improved, and 5 (15.2%) were failures. Of the 26 clinically assessable patients in the ceftriaxone group, 15 (57.7%) were clinically cured, 6 (23.1%) were improved, and 5 (19.2%) were failures. A total of 45.5% of patients in the cefpodoxime group and 46.3% of those in the ceftriaxone group reported adverse events, most of which were mild. Drug-related diarrhea occurred in 6 ceftriaxone patients but not in the cefpodoxime group. Three patients treated with cefpodoxime and 2 receiving ceftriaxone withdrew from the study because of adverse events. • Conclusion: Oral cefpodoxime is as safe and effective as parenteral ceftriaxone in the treatment of CAP requiring hospitalization. Introduction Each year, approximately 12 of every 1000 adults in the United States contract pneumonia, amounting to nearly 4 million cases of pneumonia annually [1]. More than 600,000 of these patients require hospitalization at a treatment cost of $23 billion [1]. Immediate parenteral therapy with an antibiotic is the usual treatment regimen for hospitalized patients. Many physicians prescribe intravenous (IV) therapy for 7 to 10 days; some switch to oral drugs after the patient has been stabilized to complete the course [2]. The average length of stay for patients with pneumonia is 8.3 days [3]. Pressures to contain costs combined with the availability of newer, more potent oral agents has led to a growing interest in oral therapy for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Recently, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) endorsed oral therapy for those patients who can tolerate it, noting that there are no studies showing superior outcomes of parenteral administration compared with the oral route [4]. In addition, oral medications are more easily administered, less costly, and may permit earlier discharge from the hospital.
Innate and learned preferences for sweet taste during childhood

Purpose of reviewIn nature, carbohydrates are a source of energy often equated with sweetness, the detection of which is associated with powerful hedonic appeal. Intakes of processed carbohydrates in the form of added sugars and sugar-sweetened beverages have risen consistently among all age groups over the last two decades. In this review, we describe the biological underpinnings that drive the consumption of sweet-tasting foods among pediatric populations. Recent findingsScientific literature suggests that children's liking for all that is sweet is not solely a product of modern-day technology and advertising but reflects their basic biology. In fact, heightened preference for sweet-tasting foods and beverages during childhood is universal and evident among infants and children around the world. The liking for sweet tastes during development may have ensured the acceptance of sweet-tasting foods, such as mother's milk and fruits. Moreover, recent research suggests that liking for sweets may be further promoted by the pain-reducing properties of sugars. SummaryAn examination of the basic biology of sweet taste during childhood provides insight, as well as new perspectives, for how to modify children's preferences for and intakes of sweet foods to improve their diet quality.
Voice Quality Dependent Speech Recognition

Voice quality conveys both linguistic and paralinguistic information, and can be distinguished by acoustic source characteristics. We label objective voice quality categories based on the spectral and temporal structure of speech sounds, specifically the harmonic structure (H1-H2) and the mean autocorrelation ratio of each phone. Results from a classification experiment using a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier show that allophones that differ from each other regarding voice quality can be classified as distinct using input features in speech recognition. Among different possible ways to incorporate voice quality information in speech recognition, we demonstrate that by explicitly modeling voice quality variance in the acoustic phone models using hidden Markov modeling, we can improve word recognition accuracy.