Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationships Between Lithospheric Structures and Rifting in the East African Rift System: A Rayleigh Wave Tomography Study

The East African Rift System (EARS) provides a unique location for exploring factors influencing the development and maturation of continental rifting. In particular, the geographical relationships between Cenozoic rifts and Pre‐Cambrian lithospheric structures suggest that such preexisting structures exert an influence on early‐stage rift geometry and behavior. This study uses Rayleigh wave phase velocity at periods of 20 to 100 s to study lateral variability in the lithospheric structures of rift segments and preexisting structures in the central and southern EARS. The model is constructed using records of 789 earthquakes, recorded by a composite station array of 235 stations from nonconcurrent seismic networks between 1994 and 2015. In the central EARS, we observe fast velocities beneath the Tanzania Craton, isolated low‐velocity regions along the Western Rift Branch, and low velocities in all resolved portions of the Eastern Rift Branch, consistent with previous regional surface wave studies. South of the Tanzania Craton, we observe linear low‐velocity zones trending both southeast and southwest from the Tanzania Divergence Zone, suggesting a southern bifurcation of the Eastern Rift Branch. In the southern portions of the Western Rift Branch, the Malawi Rift borders fast velocities associated with the Bangweulu Block and Irumide Belt. Anomalously fast velocities in these regions persist to long periods, confirming the existence of cratonic lithosphere inferred from previous studies. Fast velocities observed beneath the Irumide Belt extend across the southernmost portion of the Malawi Rift, suggesting that strong lithosphere in this region may hinder the southern propagation of the rift.
International Journal on Document Analysis and Recognition Manuscript No. Adaptive Classifiers for Multi-source Ocr

When patterns occur in large groups generated by a single source (style consistent test data), the statistics of the test data differ from those of the training data which consists of patterns from all sources. We present a Gaussian model for continuously distributed sources under which we develop adaptive classifiers that specialize to the statistics of style-consistent test data. On NIST handwritten digit data, the adap-tive classifiers reduce the error rate by more than 50% operating on one writer (≈10 samples/class) at a time.
Association Testing of the Mitochondrial Genome Using Pedigree Data

In humans, mitochondria contain their own DNA (mtDNA) that is inherited exclusively from the mother. The mitochondrial genome encodes 13 polypeptides that are components of oxidative phosphorylation to produce energy. Any disruption in these genes might interfere with energy production and thus contribute to metabolic derangement. Mitochondria also regulate several important cellular activities including cell death and calcium homeostasis. Aided by sharply declining costs of high‐density genotyping, hundreds of mitochondrial variants will soon be available in several cohorts with pedigree structures. Association testing of mitochondrial variants with disease traits using pedigree data raises unique challenges because of the difficulty in separating the effects of nuclear and mitochondrial genomes, which display different modes of inheritance. Failing to correctly account for these effects might decrease power or inflate type I error in association tests. In this report, we sought to identify the best strategy for association testing of mitochondrial variants when genotype and phenotype data are available in pedigrees. We proposed several strategies to account for polygenic effects of the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes and we performed extensive simulation studies to evaluate type I error and power of these strategies. In addition, we proposed two permutation tests to obtain empirical P values for these strategies. Furthermore, we applied two of the analytical strategies to association analysis of 196 mitochondrial variants with blood pressure and fasting blood glucose in the pedigree rich, Framingham Heart Study. Finally, we discussed strategies for study design, genotyping, and data cleaning in association testing of mtDNA in pedigrees.
Study on Sustainable Utilization Coupled Management Model for Water Resources in an Arid Irrigation District (China)

The quantity of available water resources have been recognized as limiting factors in development of most of the arid regions. Therefore, sustainable use of water resources is key problem for development of these areas. In the present paper, Hetao irrigation district, one of the largest irrigation districts in the Yellow River basin, is selected as the research area. The sustainable utilization coupled management model for water resources is established by dynamically coupling numerical simulated model for ground water with optimal allocation model. In the coupled model, the groundwater level is adopted as the constraint condition and the optimal conjunctive utilization quantity of surface water and groundwater is set as the objective function. Finally, the coupled model is applied to calculate the optimal water supply quantity of surface water and groundwater and optimal sustainable utilization scheme of water resources in 2020 and 2030 of Hetao irrigation district. The results indicate that the water imported from the Yellow River can be reduced to the national limited amount of 4.0 × 109 m3/a, with adjusting well-canal irrigated area and industry structure appropriately as well as using the ground water reasonably. The research result can offer a valuable reference to efficiently use water resources and prevent the salinization for other similar regions.
Evolution of the Stx2-Encoding Prophage in Persistent Bovine Escherichia coli O157:H7 Strains

ABSTRACT Escherichia coli O157:H7 is a human pathogen that resides asymptomatically in its bovine host. The level of Shiga toxin (Stx) produced is variable in bovine-derived strains in contrast to human isolates that mostly produce high levels of Stx. To understand the genetic basis for varied Stx production, chronological collections of bovine isolates from Wisconsin dairy farms, R and X, were analyzed for multilocus prophage polymorphisms, stx 2 subtypes, and the levels of stx 2 transcript and toxin. The E. coli O157:H7 that persisted on both farms were phylogenetically distinct and yet produced little to no Stx2 due to gene deletions in Stx2c-encoding prophage (farm R) or insertional inactivation of stx 2a by IS1203v (farm X). Loss of key regulatory and lysis genes in Stx2c-encoding prophage abolished stx 2c transcription and induction of the prophage and stx 2a::IS1203v in Stx2a-encoding prophage generated a truncated stx 2a mRNA without affecting phage production. Stx2-producing strains were transiently present (farm R) and became Stx2 negative on farm X (i.e., stx 2a::IS1203v). To our knowledge, this is the first study that details the evolution of E. coli O157:H7 and its Stx2-encoding prophage in a chronological collection of natural isolates. The data suggest the bovine and farm environments can be niches where Stx2-negative E. coli O157:H7 emerge and persist, which explains the Stx variability in bovine isolates and may be part of an evolutionary step toward becoming bovine specialists.
A comparative evaluation of the effectiveness of guided tissue regeneration by using a collagen membrane with or without decalcified freeze-dried bone allograft in the treatment of infrabony defects: A clinical and radiographic study

Background: The present, randomized, controlled clinical and radiographic study was undertaken to compare the effectiveness of guided tissue regeneration (GTR) by using a collagen membrane barrier with or without decalcified freeze-dried bone allograft (DFDBA) in the treatment of periodontal infrabony defects characterized by unfavorable architecture. Materials and Methods: Sixteen systemically healthy patients with 20 periodontal infrabony defects were selected for the study. Each patient had at least ≥ 5 mm clinical probing pocket depth (PPD) at the selected site and depth of intrabony component ≥ 3 mm as assessed by clinical and radiographic measurements. Baseline measurements included plaque index, papillary bleeding index, PPD, gingival recession, clinical attachment level and radiographic defect depth (DD). At the time of surgery, the defects were randomly assigned to either the test group (collagen membrane plus DFDBA) or the control group (collagen membrane only). Results: At the 6-month examination, PPPD reduction was significantly greater in the GTR + DFDBA group (4.06 ± 0.38 mm) compared with the GTR group (3.2 ± 0.74 mm). The mean gains of clinical attachment were 3.54 ± 0.36 mm in the test group and 2.50 ± 0.74 mm in the control group. Radiographic DD reduction was similarly greater in the GTR + DFDBA group (2.40 ± 0.51 mm) compared with the GTR group (1.60 ± 0.51 mm). Conclusions: The results of the present study indicate that the use of a GTR membrane with bone graft has significantly improved all clinical parameters tested as compared with the use of bioresorbable membrane alone in the treatment of infrabony defects characterized by unfavorable architecture.
Futher results on sequetially additive graphs

Given a graph G with p vertices, q edges and a positive integer k, a k-sequentially additive labeling of G is an assignment of distinct numbers k, k + 1, k + 2, . , k + p + q − 1 to the p + q elements of G so that every edge uv of G receives the sum of the numbers assigned to the vertices u and v. A graph which admits such an assignment to its elements is called a k-sequentially additive graph. In this paper, we give an upper bound for k with respect to which the given graph may possibly be k-sequentially additive using the independence number of the graph. Also, we prove a variety of results on k-sequentially additive graphs, including the number of isolated vertices to be added to a complete graph with four or more vertices to ∗Present address: School of ITMS, University of Ballarat, P.O. Box 663, Ballarat, Victoria 3353, Australia. The work reported in the paper was initiated when the first author was visiting School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Newcastle, Australia, during October-December, 2003. Partial travel assistance was given by International Mathematical Union (IMU). 252 S.M. Hegde and M. Miller be simply sequentially additive and a construction of an infinite family of k-sequentially additive graphs from a given k-sequentially additive graph.
The CXCL12 G801A Polymorphism Is Associated with Cancer Risk: A Meta-Analysis

Background CXCL12 is a small chemotactic cytokine belonging to the CXC chemokine family expressed in various organs. It contributes to the migration, invasion and angiogenesis of cancer cells. Recently, the CXCL12 G801A polymorphism was shown to be associated with an increased risk of various kinds of cancers, but the results were too inconsistent to be conclusive. Methods To solve the problem of inadequate statistical power and conflicting results, a meta-analysis of published case-control studies was performed, including 4,435 cancer cases and 6,898 controls. Odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to determine the strength of association between CXCL12 G801A polymorphism and cancer risk. Results A significant association between CXCL12 G801A polymorphism and cancer risk was found under all genetic models. Further, subgroup analysis stratified by ethnicity suggested a significant association between CXCL12 G801A polymorphism and cancer risk in the Asian subgroup under all genetic models. However, in the Caucasian subgroup, a significant association was only found under an additive genetic model and a dominant genetic model. The analysis stratified by cancer type found that CXCL12 G801A polymorphism may increase the risk of breast cancer, lung cancer, and “other” cancers. Based on subgroup stratified by source of controls, a significant association was observed in hospital-based studies under all genetic models. Conclusions The CXCL12 G801A polymorphism is associated with an increased risk of cancer based on current published data. In the future, large-scale well-designed studies with more information are needed to better estimate possible gene-gene or gene-environment interactions.
An Open-Source Java Platform for Automated Reaction Mapping

This article presents software applications that have been built upon a modular, open-source, reaction mapping library that can be used in both cheminformatics and bioinformatics research. We first describe the theoretical underpinnings and modular architecture of the core software library. We then describe two applications that have been built upon that core. The first is a generic reaction viewer and mapper, and the second classifies reactions according to rules that can be modified by end users with little or no programming skills.
Statistical language modeling for speech disfluencies

Speech disfluencies (such as filled pauses, repetitions, restarts) are among the characteristics distinguishing spontaneous speech from planned or read speech. We introduce a language model that predicts disfluencies probabilistically and uses an edited, fluent context to predict following words. The model is based on a generalization of the standard N-gram language model. It uses dynamic programming to compute the probability of a word sequence, taking into account possible hidden disfluency events. We analyze the model's performance for various disfluency types on the Switchboard corpus. We find that the model reduces the word perplexity in the neighborhood of disfluency events; however, overall differences are small and have no significant impact on the recognition accuracy. We also note that for modeling of the most frequent type of disfluency, filled pauses, a segmentation of utterances into linguistic (rather than acoustic) units is required. Our analysis illustrates a generally useful technique for language model evaluation based on local perplexity comparisons.
Determination and Quantification of Aflatoxin M1 in Fresh Milk Samples Obtained in Goats and Cattle in Selected Rural Areas of the Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract In this study, the Enzyme Linked Immuno-sorbent Assay (ELISA) was used to detect aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) detection in 118 milk samples from subsistence farms in selected rural areas in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. This was designed to evaluate the possible health risks on individuals who are exposed to this mycotoxin either through contact or consumption of milk that is contaminated. A further objective was to quantify the levels of AFM1 using the RIDASCREEN® kit and to assess the effect of climatic conditions on AFM1 contamination in milk from two areas—Nwanedi, which is relatively dry and hot compared to Mapate, which is a mountainous, hot and humid area. Results from this study showed that all the samples (100%) from cattle and goats in both Nwanedi and Mapate were contaminated with AFM1. In addition, it was noted that 90.6 percent and 62.1 percent of the milk samples from cattle and seventy-six percent and 53.8 percent of those obtained from goat’s milk in Mapate and Nwanedi respectively, had AFM1 concentrations ≥ 0.05 μg/l. These results show that animal nutrition did seriously influence the quality of milk in regard to AFM1 contamination. It was noted that animals that were poorly fed had highly contaminated milk as compared to other animals. In addition, climatic conditions did influence the quality of milk collected in both areas. Chronic exposure of the population and particularly children to this contaminated milk, would have negative impacts on their health.
Analogue filter tuning for antenna matching with multiple objective particle swarm optimization

This paper discusses and compares the methods of multiobjective genetic algorithm (MOGA), multiobjective simulated annealing (MOSA) and divided range multiobjective particle swarm optimization (DRMPSO) applied to LC filter tuning. Specifically, the paper is concerned with applying these methods to design an antenna tuning unit, providing the facility to adapt to changes in load impedance, temperature or environmental effects, ensuring maximum power transfer and harmonic rejection. A number of simulations were carried out to evaluate the relative performance of these algorithms. Our results indicate that the DRMPSO provides a substantial improvement over the two other algorithms
The effect of ovariectomy combined with hindlimb unloading and reloading on the long bones of mature Sprague-Dawley rats

Objective: To determine the effect of loss of ovarian function and mechanical loading (ie, inactivity) alone or in combination on bone mass and strength. Design: Mature (aged 6 mo) rats were ovariectomized to induce loss of ovarian function and bone. Hindlimb unloading (HLU) was used to determine the effect of mechanical unloading and reloading on bone mass and strength. Bone mass of the femur and tibia was determined using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Femoral and tibial bone strength was determined by a three-point bending test and by a torsion test. Results: Ovariectomy (OVX) alone decreased total bone mineral density (BMD) in the femur (−5.5%, P = 0.03) and tibia (−7.3%, P = 0.01) compared with that for sham-operated animals. HLU alone for 4 weeks had no significant effect on bone. Together OVX/HLU accentuated BMD loss in the femur (−10.5%, P < 0.01) compared with that for sham-operated animals. The femur was more sensitive than the tibia to the combination of OVX/HLU, indicated by the reduction (−5.3%, P < 0.05) of total BMD below that achieved by OVX alone. Torsion tests showed that OVX/HLU but not OVX or HLU alone reduced bone strength. There was a correlation between lower femoral total BMD (r2 = 0.65, P < 0.001) and reduced torque strength. Bone loss did not continue during the 2 weeks of reloading. Conclusions: OVX accompanied by mechanical unloading results in more rapid and severe bone loss than either OVX or unloading alone and therefore is associated with a greater likelihood of osteoporosis.
Effectiveness of reverse edges and uncertainty in PIN-TRUST for trust prediction

Recently, PIN-TRUST, a method to predict future trust relationships between users is proposed. PIN-TRUST out-performs existing trust prediction methods by exploiting all types of interactions between users and the reciprocation of ones. In this paper, we validate whether its consideration on the reciprocation of interactions is really effective in trust prediction. Furthermore, we consider a new concept, the "uncertainty" of untrustworthy users that is devised to reflect the difficulty on modeling the activities of untrustworthy users in PIN-TRUST. Then, we also validate the effectiveness this uncertainty concepts. Through the validation, we reveal that the consideration of the reciprocation of interactions is effective for trust prediction with PIN-TRUST, and it is necessary to regard the uncertainty of untrustworthy users same as that of other users.
Improving Face Recognition Performance Using Similarity Feature-Based Selection and Classification Algorithm

In this paper, we propose the effective similarity feature-based selection and classification algorithm to select similarity features on the training images and to classify face images in face recognition system. The experiments are conducted on The ORL Database of Faces, which consists of 400 images of 40 individuals. Two face recognition systems, one based on the histogram-based feature, and the other based on the feature which is the mean of pixel values in window with size of 4×4 (M4×4), are developed. Euclidean distance and Manhattan distance are taken as distance metrics for the classification method. The results indicated that the proposed algorithms not only reduce the dimensions of feature space, but also achieve a mean recognition accuracy that is 1.55% ± 11.31% better compared to conventional algorithms.
Mobile Music Touch: The effect of primary tasks on passively learning piano sequences

The Mobile Music Touch (MMT) system allows users to learn to reproduce piano note sequences while performing other tasks. The system consists of a mobile Bluetooth-enabled computing device and a fingerless glove with embedded vibrators corresponding to each finger and thumb. Melodies to be learned are played over the user's headphones repeatedly. As each note is played, the finger corresponding to the appropriate piano key is stimulated. Past experiments have shown that users could learn simple note sequences even though they were performing a reading comprehension test. Here, we investigate different primary tasks to determine which, if any, interfere with the Passive Haptic Learning (PHL) effect. In a 12 participant within-subject user study, no overall difference was observed in the number of passive sessions required to learn a random note sequence when users viewed a film, played a memory game, or followed a walking path as their primary task. However, individual differences in scores suggest that the type of primary task may have a greater or lesser effect for a given user.
SAVVY® (C31G) Gel for Prevention of HIV infection in Women: A Phase 3, Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial in Ghana

Objective The objective of this trial was to determine the effectiveness of 1.0% C31G (SAVVY) in preventing male-to-female vaginal transmission of HIV infection among women at high risk. Methodology/Principal Findings This was a Phase 3, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Participants made up to 12 monthly visits for HIV testing, adverse event reporting, and study product supply. The study was conducted between March 2004 and February 2006 in Accra and Kumasi, Ghana. We enrolled 2142 HIV-negative women at high risk of HIV infection, and randomized them to SAVVY or placebo gel. Main outcome measures were the incidence of HIV-1 and HIV-2 infection as determined by detection of HIV antibodies from oral mucosal transudate specimens and adverse events. We accrued 790 person-years of follow-up in the SAVVY group and 772 person-years in the placebo group. No clinically significant differences in the overall frequency of adverse events, abnormal pelvic examination findings, or abnormal laboratory results were seen between treatment groups. However, more participants in the SAVVY group reported reproductive tract adverse events than in the placebo group (13.0% versus 9.4%). Seventeen HIV seroconversions occurred; eight in participants randomized to SAVVY and nine in participants receiving placebo. The Kaplan-Meier estimates of the cumulative probability of HIV infection through 12 months were 0.010 in the SAVVY group and 0.011 in the placebo group (p = 0.731), with a hazard ratio (SAVVY versus placebo) of 0.88 (95% confidence interval 0.33, 2.27). Because of a lower-than-expected HIV incidence, we were unable to achieve the required number of HIV infections (66) to obtain the desired study power. Conclusions/Significance SAVVY was not associated with increased adverse events overall, but was associated with higher reporting of reproductive adverse events. Our data are insufficient to conclude whether SAVVY is effective at preventing HIV infection relative to placebo. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00129532