Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetic Analysis of Spirochete Flagellin Proteins and Their Involvement in Motility, Filament Assembly, and Flagellar Morphology

ABSTRACT The filaments of spirochete periplasmic flagella (PFs) have a unique structure and protein composition. In most spirochetes, the PFs consist of a core of at least three related proteins (FlaB1, FlaB2, and FlaB3) and a sheath of FlaA protein. The functions of these filament proteins remain unknown. In this study, we used a multidisciplinary approach to examine the role of these proteins in determining the composition, shape, and stiffness of the PFs and how these proteins impact motility by using the spirochete Brachyspira (formerly Treponema, Serpulina) hyodysenteriae as a genetic model. A series of double mutants lacking combinations of these PF proteins was constructed and analyzed. The results show the following. First, the diameters of PFs are primarily determined by the sheath protein FlaA, and that FlaA can form a sheath in the absence of an intact PF core. Although the sheath is important to the PF structure and motility, it is not essential. Second, the three core proteins play unequal roles in determining PF structure and swimming speed. The functions of the core proteins FlaB1 and FlaB2 overlap such that either one of these proteins is essential for the spirochete to maintain the intact PF structure and for cell motility. Finally, linear elasticity theory indicates that flagellar stiffness directly affects the spirochete's swimming speed.
Effect of lead on root growth

Lead (Pb) is one of the most widespread heavy metal contaminant in soils. It is highly toxic to living organisms. Pb has no biological function but can cause morphological, physiological, and biochemical dysfunctions in plants. Plants have developed a wide range of tolerance mechanisms that are activated in response to Pb exposure. Pb affects plants primarily through their root systems. Plant roots rapidly respond either (i) by the synthesis and deposition of callose, creating a barrier that stops Pb entering (ii) through the uptake of large amounts of Pb and its sequestration in the vacuole accompanied by changes in root growth and branching pattern or (iii) by its translocation to the aboveground parts of plant in the case of hyperaccumulators plants. Here we review the interactions of roots with the presence of Pb in the rhizosphere and the effect of Pb on the physiological and biochemical mechanisms of root development.
Modeling and analysis of electrothermal effects on global ULSI interconnects

In high-performance integrated circuits, electrothermal effects have important implications for both performance and reliability. This paper presents a detailed modeling and analysis of the electrothermal effects of global interconnects. Interconnect Joule heating increases the line temperature whereas the rise of the temperature decreases the power dissipation due to the increase of the line resistance. Therefore, the interconnect temperature profile will be stable when it reaches steady state. Based on these electrothermal coupling effects, an iterative method is proposed to analyze the temperature profile and signal response of global interconnects. The proposed method is proven to be convergent, with accuracy above 98% with respect to 3D solver COMSOL, which uses finite element analysis. It is also shown that neglecting electrothermal coupling will overestimate interconnect temperature and propagation delay.
Performance improvement of join queries through algebraic signatures

Evaluation of distributed join queries in large scale environments often deals with large data volumes, network with low bandwidth and high number of data sources. Several techniques were proposed to improve join query performances. We propose to combine algebraic signatures with known hash join techniques. Algebraic signatures combined to a semi join based join technique are also very useful for reducing the volume of inter-site transmitted data. We discuss impacts of CPU, I/O and communication costs reductions on the total multi-join query performance improvements. The performance study of our technique shows the reduction of both memory requirements and processing costs especially when the join attribute is a long string. Performances of the semi join based join technique are also significantly improved. We experiment with simple, medium and complex queries in both centralised and distributed environments. Algebraic signatures provide improved performances to reduce significantly communication costs, often the dominant factor in distributed environments.
Distributed, object-based programming systems

The development of distributed operating systems and object-based programming languages makes possible an environment in which programs consisting of a set of interacting modules, or objects, may execute concurrently on a collection of loosely coupled processors. An object-based programming language encourages a methodology for designing and creating a program as a set of autonomous components, whereas a distributed operating system permits a collection of workstations or personal computers to be treated as a single entity. The amalgamation of these two concepts has resulted in systems that shall be referred to as distributed, object-based programming systems. This paper discusses issues in the design and implementation of such systems. Following the presentation of fundamental concepts and various object models, issues in object management, object interaction management, and physical resource management are discussed. Extensive examples are drawn from existing systems.
Generalized Dimension of Modulation Signals Using Morphological Covering Method

Automatic modulation recognition has become an important issue in various application areas such as civil and military domains. Feature extraction is a key step in modulation recognition tasks. In this work, we present a novel feature extraction scheme for modulation recognition by utilizing the generalized dimension based on the morphological covering method. Four typical modulation signals, mean the ASK, PSK, FSK and QAM signals, are simulated to verify the effectiveness of the presented method. Experimental results have revealed that the generalized dimension calculated by morphological covering can satisfactorily distinguish the four modulation types.
Mining Technical Topic Networks from Chinese Patents

Patents are one of the most important innovative resources. It is a challenge and useful to discover technical topics and their relations from patents. A process framework is proposed to mine technical topics and construct their relation network from Chinese patents. The process consists of four stages. First, techni cal terms are extracted from patent texts and the equivalence index is selected to measure the link strength between them. Then, a clustering algorithm is used to group terms into topic clust ers, in which terms are connected by internal links, and topic clusters are connected by external links. Afterwards, all topics are cla ssified into three categories: isolated, principal and secondary. Finally, a technical topic network is created by using topic clusters a s nodes, external links as edges and the number of external links as weights. Experimental results on Chinese fuel cell patents show the method is effective in mining technical topics and mapping their relations, and the constructed network is helpful for technology innovation.
Interspecific transmission of endosymbiotic Spiroplasma by mites

The occurrence of closely related strains of maternally transmitted endosymbionts in distantly related insect species indicates that these infections can colonize new host species by lateral transfer, although the mechanisms by which this occurs are unknown. We investigated whether ectoparasitic mites, which feed on insect haemolymph, can serve as interspecific vectors of Spiroplasma poulsonii, a male-killing endosymbiont of Drosophila. Using Spiroplasma-specific primers for PCR, we found that mites can pick up Spiroplasma from infected Drosophila nebulosa females and subsequently transfer the infection to Drosophila willistoni. Some of the progeny of the recipient D. willistoni were infected, indicating successful maternal transmission of the Spiroplasma within the new host species. However, the transmission rate of the infection from recipient flies to their offspring was low, perhaps due to low Spiroplasma density in the recipient flies.
Doing it Tough: Factors Impacting on Local e-Government Maturity

As growing numbers of citizens seek to use the Internet to do business, governments across the world have moved into the area of electronic service delivery. For the last decade significant advancements have been made in the area of e-Government. Today, e-Government is often assumed to be wellestablished. However, ongoing support is often missing, particularly at the local government level. The multi-level nature of government often means that citizens are frustrated when accessing services that span many levels of bureaucracy. This paper describes an empirical study which explores the factors influencing local egovernment maturity and identifies the barriers, enablers, priorities and objectives that impact on local e-government maturity in Australia. It concludes by presenting a model that describes both the internal and external factors that impact on local government maturity.
L-selectin and leukocyte function in skeletal muscle reperfusion injury.

HYPOTHESIS Treatment with anti-L-selectin monoclonal antibody will reduce venular neutrophil-endothelial rolling (flux and velocity) and adhesion associated with ischemia reperfusion injury in rat skeletal muscle. DESIGN Prospective, randomized experimental trials. SETTING Basic science research laboratory. MATERIALS Male Wistar rats weighing 109 +/- 5 g (mean +/- SEM). INTERVENTIONS Gracilis pedicle muscle flaps were elevated and microcirculation was observed by intravital microscopy. Two groups were evaluated: (1) the control group, which received 4 hours of global ischemia, and (2) the experimental group, which received 4 hours of global ischemia, plus treatment with anti-L-selectin monoclonal antibody 30 minutes before reperfusion. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The number of rolling and adherent leukocytes in postcapillary venules were counted in the 2 groups at baseline and at 1 through 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 45, and 60 minutes of reperfusion. RESULTS Treatment with the monoclonal antibody to L-selectin significantly reduced the number of rolling leukocytes (flux) at 2 through 5, 20, 30, 45, and 60 minutes of reperfusion compared with controls (P<.05). Use of the monoclonal antibody significantly reduced the number of adherent neutrophils at 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 45, and 60 minutes of reperfusion (P<.05). There was no significant difference in leukocyte velocity. CONCLUSION L-Selectin plays a significant role in leukocyte rolling and adherence to venular endothelium in rat skeletal muscle ischemia reperfusion injury.
A Review of Current Evidence of Olmesartan Medoxomil Mimicking Symptoms of Celiac Disease

Objective: To review the evidence of an association between olmesartan medoxomil and symptoms mimicking celiac disease. Data Sources: Literature was searched in PubMed (1965-November 2013) using the key words or MeSH terms olmesartan, enteropathy, celiac disease, sprue, and diarrhea. References from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Dipiro’s Pharmacotherapy eighth edition textbook were also reviewed. Data Synthesis: There have been recent implications of olmesartan medoxomil being linked to symptoms mimicking celiac disease. Investigators first identified the association in 22 patients who presented with presumed refractory celiac disease. Upon further evaluation, it was discovered that these symptoms improved when olmesartan was discontinued. In response to this report, additional case studies have been published. DeGaetani et al also further analyzed patients with seronegative villous atrophy from the Celiac Disease Center and found that olmesartan accounted for 22% of previously unclassified sprue cases. Conversely, the authors of the ROADMAP trial, which compared olmesartan to placebo, found no significant differences in the incidence of gastrointestinal adverse effects. Conclusions: There is growing evidence supporting the association between olmesartan and sprue-like symptoms; however, further research is warranted. These symptoms can be life threatening and clinicians should be aware of the potential association.
Prognostic Impact of Age in Children and Adolescents with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Data from the Trials ALL-BFM 86, 90, and 95

Large progress has been made in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) of childhood and adolescence over the past 30 years. Eighty percent of the patients can be cured, but clinical subgroups with a dismal outcome can still be identified. In this study, we investigated the association of age with prognosis in 5 181 patients with ALL under 18 years (y) of age enrolled in the three consecutive treatment trials ALL-BFM 86, 90 and 95 in more than 80 centers. Event-free survival (pEFS) of the total group was significantly associated with age. The most unfavorable outcome was found in infancy and the best results were achieved at toddler and pre-school age. Beyond 5 y of age, survival probability decreased (pEFS at 8 y: < 1 y = 0.45; 1-5 y = 0.82; 6-9 y = 0.75; 10-14 y = 0.63; > or = 15 y = 0.59). The proportion of T-ALL as compared to precursor B-cell ALL (pB-ALL) was lower in younger children, due to an incidence peak of pB-ALL in toddlers and at pre-school age compared to a constant incidence of T-ALL. Within the T-ALL group, no correlation of age with sex, initial white blood cell count, CNS disease, or early treatment response was found. Children under 10 y of age had a slightly lower relapse rate compared to older patients. Within pB-ALL patients, the proportion as well as the absolute incidence of TEL/AML1 rearrangement and DNA index of > or = 1.16 was higher in the younger children. A lower proportion of BCR/ABL-positive ALL was observed in the age group of < 6 y when compared to patients aged > or = 6 y, but the absolute incidence was constant across the age groups after the first year of life. More than half of the infants had a CD10-negative pB-ALL. The incidence was constant after a peak in the first year of life, yet the percentage of CD10 negativity increased with rising age in this subgroup. Adolescents with pB-ALL had a significantly higher proportion of prednisone poor-responders. Accordingly, outcome was worse in older patients. This pattern was also evident in the biologically heterogeneous group of patients with a DNA index of > or = 1.16. In contrast, no significant age-related outcome differences could be shown within TEL/AML1- or BCR/ABL-positive patients, as well as within CD10-negative pB-ALL beyond infant age. Analysis of the pB-ALL group in a Cox's regression model including age and the above-listed biological factors revealed age < 1 year and > or = 10 years as independent risk factors. This is in line with the poorer prognosis of these age groups in the pB-ALL subgroup without specific biological characteristics. This subgroup also had an incidence peak at toddler age, presumably containing other favorable biological subsets. An independent prognostic impact of age in pediatric ALL cannot be excluded by this study. However, our analyses show that the age-associated different prognosis in childhood ALL is at least partly related to the different distribution of relevant prognostic subgroups between the age groups.
Mechanism and suppression countermeasure of voltage oscillation for full bridge converter

A phase-shift full-bridge zero voltage switching (ZVS) pulse-width-modulated (PWM) converter with commutation capacitor and LC auxiliary circuit is proposed. This converter contains the advantages of small rectifier voltage oscillation as well as no duty cycle loss, and realizes ZVS for all primary switches over a wide load range. In this paper, the mechanism of the rectifier voltage oscillation is discussed in detail. The operation principle of the circuit is described and design considerations of the converter are discussed. Finally, the experimental results from a 650W/28 V, 100 kHz prototype are given to confirm the operation, validity, and features of the proposed converter.
Unsupervised feature selection based on non-parametric mutual information

We present a novel filter approach to unsupervised feature selection based on the mutual information estimation between features. Our feature selection approach does not impose a parametric model on the data and no clustering structure is estimated. Instead, to measure the statistical dependence between features, we employ a mutual information criterion, which is computed by using a non-parametric method, and remove uncorrelated features. Numerical experiments on synthetic and real world tasks show that the performance of our algorithm is comparable to previously suggested state-of-the-art methods.
Isolated tricuspid valve infective endocarditis in young drug abusers

Isolated tricuspid valve infective endocarditis (TVIE) is a rare clinical condition. Thus, there is no common consensus for the treatment options for TVIE. Vege-tectomy and valvulectomy, valve repair, and valve replacement, which are controversial in regard to hemodynamic consequences in right-sided low-pressure system and long-term prognosis. We present 2 young intravenous drug users with TVIE and our surgical strategy.
Optimal batch process admission control in tandem queueing systems with queue time constraint considerations

In this paper, a dynamic control method for two-stage queueing systems with process queue time (PQT) constraints is presented. This queueing system consists of an upstream batch process machine and a downstream single process machine. The waiting time of each job in the downstream queue is constrained by an upper limit. Violation of this upper limit causes scrap of the job. A batch machine poses a problem for the two-stage system under PQT constraints. After completion of batch process, a large quantity of work-in-process (WIP) moves into the downstream queue with PQT constraints. This increases the variance of downstream queue length and the probability of scrap. In this research, we incorporate dynamic programming algorithm in batch process admission control (BPAC) model. The performance of BPAC model is verified by simulation. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed BPAC model outperforms other methods in every key system performance indices.
Research on fault recognition method based on variable-risk SVM

Because the tradition methods of fault pattern recognition can not distinguish the different loss by different misjudgments, the variable-risk support vector machines (SVM) is proposed in this paper. Then, the optimal classification face is redesigned and expert's experience is integrated when using an actual data to recognize the fault, which makes the result more reliable. Finally, this method has already applied in the diesel engine fault diagnosis successfully.
County and Township Government in 1941

With national defense problems paramount in the public mind, it is not surprising that developments in rural local government during 1941 revealed, more than in normal times, the imprint of national and world conditions. State legislatures, though their sessions preceded Pearl Harbor, devoted much attention to defense problems and assigned to local governmental units an important rôle in defense organization and activities. Various steps were taken to foster coöperation in the defense effort by government at all levels; and, in view of the necessity for large national expenditures for defense purposes, additional emphasis was placed upon the need for local economy. Concurrent with the various defense-related developments was a continuation of normal peace-time efforts to improve the organization and operation of rural local government. As in former years, the events of 1941 will be summarized under the following headings: (1) areas; (2) organization and personnel; (3) functions; (4) finance; (5) optional charters and home rule; and (6) intergovernmental relations.
Characterization of Multiple-Antimicrobial-Resistant Salmonella Serovars Isolated from Retail Meats

ABSTRACT A total of 133 Salmonella isolates recovered from retail meats purchased in the United States and the People's Republic of China were assayed for antimicrobial susceptibility, the presence of integrons and antimicrobial resistance genes, and horizontal transfer of characterized antimicrobial resistance determinants via conjugation. Seventy-three (82%) of these Salmonella isolates were resistant to at least one antimicrobial agent. Resistance to the following antibiotics was common among the United States isolates: tetracycline (68% of the isolates were resistant), streptomycin (61%), sulfamethoxazole (42%), and ampicillin (29%). Eight Salmonella isolates (6%) were resistant to ceftriaxone. Fourteen isolates (11%) from the People's Republic of China were resistant to nalidixic acid and displayed decreased susceptibility to ciprofloxacin. A total of 19 different antimicrobial resistance genes were identified in 30 multidrug-resistant Salmonella isolates. The blaCMY-2 gene, encoding a class A AmpC β-lactamase, was detected in all 10 Salmonella isolates resistant to extended-spectrum β-lactams. Resistance to ampicillin was most often associated with a TEM-1 family β-lactamase gene. Six aminoglycoside resistance genes, aadA1, aadA2, aacC2, Kn, aph(3)-IIa, and aac(3)-IVa, were commonly present in the Salmonella isolates. Sixteen (54%) of 30 Salmonella isolates tested had integrons ranging in size from 0.75 to 2.7 kb. Conjugation studies demonstrated that there was plasmid-mediated transfer of genes encoding CMY-2 and TEM-1-like β-lactamases. These data indicate that Salmonella isolates recovered from retail raw meats are commonly resistant to multiple antimicrobials, including those used for treating salmonellosis, such as ceftriaxone. Genes conferring antimicrobial resistance in Salmonella are often carried on integrons and plasmids and could be transmitted through conjugation. These mobile DNA elements have likely played an important role in transmission and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance determinants among Salmonella strains.