Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evolution and Diversity of Clonal Bacteria: The Paradigm of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

BACKGROUND Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex species display relatively static genomes and 99.9% nucleotide sequence identity. Studying the evolutionary history of such monomorphic bacteria is a difficult and challenging task. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We found that single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis of DNA repair, recombination and replication (3R) genes in a comprehensive selection of M. tuberculosis complex strains from across the world, yielded surprisingly high levels of polymorphisms as compared to house-keeping genes, making it possible to distinguish between 80% of clinical isolates analyzed in this study. Bioinformatics analysis suggests that a large number of these polymorphisms are potentially deleterious. Site frequency spectrum comparison of synonymous and non-synonymous variants and Ka/Ks ratio analysis suggest a general negative/purifying selection acting on these sets of genes that may lead to suboptimal 3R system activity. In turn, the relaxed fidelity of 3R genes may allow the occurrence of adaptive variants, some of which will survive. Furthermore, 3R-based phylogenetic trees are a new tool for distinguishing between M. tuberculosis complex strains. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE This situation, and the consequent lack of fidelity in genome maintenance, may serve as a starting point for the evolution of antibiotic resistance, fitness for survival and pathogenicity, possibly conferring a selective advantage in certain stressful situations. These findings suggest that 3R genes may play an important role in the evolution of highly clonal bacteria, such as M. tuberculosis. They also facilitate further epidemiological studies of these bacteria, through the development of high-resolution tools. With many more microbial genomes being sequenced, our results open the door to 3R gene-based studies of adaptation and evolution of other, highly clonal bacteria.
Growth hormone: does it have a therapeutic role in fracture healing?

Background: The role of growth hormone (GH) in augmenting fracture healing has been postulated for over half a century. GH has been shown to play a role in bone metabolism and this can be mediated directly or indirectly through IGF-I. Objectives: The use of GH was evaluated as a possible therapeutic agent in augmenting fracture healing. Method: A literature search was undertaken on GH and its effect on bone fracture healing primarily using MEDLINE/OVID (1950 to January 2009). Key words and phrases including ‘growth hormone’, ‘insulin like growth factor’, ‘insulin like growth factor binding protein’, ‘insulin like growth factor receptor’, ‘fracture repair’, ‘bone healing’, ‘bone fracture’, ‘bone metabolism’, ‘osteoblast’ and ‘osteoclast’ were used in different combinations. Manual searches of the bibliography of key papers were also undertaken. Results: Current evidence suggests a positive role of GH on fracture healing as demonstrated by in vitro studies on osteoblasts, osteoclasts and the crosstalk between the two. Animal studies have demonstrated a number of factors influencing the effect of GH in vivo such as dose, timing and method of administration. Application of this knowledge in humans is limited but clearly demonstrates a positive effect on fracture healing. Concern has been raised in the past regarding the safety profile of the pharmacological use of GH when used in critically ill patients. Conclusion: The optimal dose and method of administration is still to be determined, and the safety profile of this novel use of GH needs to be investigated prior to establishing its widespread use as a fracture-healing agent.
Full‐Scale Assessment of the Nutrient Removal Capabilities of Membrane Bioreactors

Operating results from two full‐scale membrane bioreactors (MBRs) practicing biological and chemical phosphorus and biological nitrogen removal to meet stringent effluent nutrient limits are analyzed. Full‐scale results and special studies conducted at these facilities resulted in the development of guidelines for the design of MBRs to achieve stringent effluent nutrient concentrations—as low as 0.05 mg/L total phosphorus and 3 mg/L total nitrogen. These guidelines include the following: (1) direct the membrane recirculation flow to the aerobic zone, (2) provide intense mixing at the inlets of the anaerobic and anoxic zones, (3) maintain internal recirculation flowrates to maintain the desired mixed liquor suspended solids distribution, and (4) carefully control supplemental metal salt addition in proportion to the phosphorus remaining after biological removal is complete. Staging the various process zones and providing effective dissolved oxygen control also enhances nutrient removal performance. The results demonstrated that process performance can be characterized by the International Water Association (London, United Kingdom) (IWA) activated sludge model number 2d (ASM2d) and the Water Environment Federation (Alexandria, Virginia) chemical phosphorus removal model. These models subsequently were used to develop unique process configurations that are currently under design and/or construction for several full‐scale nutrient removal MBRs.
Lessons from Giant-Scale Services

Web portals and ISPs such as AOL, Microsoft Network, and Yahoo have grown more than tenfold in the past five years (1996-2001). Despite their scale, growth rates, and rapid evolution of content and features, these sites and other "giant-scale" services like instant messaging and Napster must be always available. Many other major Web sites such as eBay, CNN, and Wal-Mart, have similar availability requirements. The article looks at the basic model for such services, focusing on the key real-world challenges they face (high availability, evolution, and growth), and developing some principles for attacking these problems. Few of the points made in the article are addressed in the literature, and most of the conclusions take the form of principles and approaches rather than absolute quantitative evaluations. This is due partly to the author's focus on high-level design, partly to the newness of the area, and partly to the proprietary nature of some of the information (which represents 15-20 very large sites). Nonetheless, the lessons are easy to understand and apply, and they simplify the design of large systems.
Appendix to Accompany “ Winter Blues : A SAD Stock Market Cycle ”

In this Appendix, we provide the entire set of additional robustness checks mentioned throughout, but not included within, the original paper. The order in which the tables are presented corresponds to the order in which the results are mentioned in the original paper, with the exception of the table containing returns to various trading strategies, Table A10, which appears last and has its own notes. Notes to Tables A1-A9: There are multiple parts and multiple pages to each table. In all cases, figures in parentheses are robust standard errors. Estimates marked with one, two, or three asterisks are significant at the 10 percent, 5 percent, or 1 percent level respectively. In Panel B of Table A3, we report the value of the log-likelihood function, the p-value from a χ2 test for autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (ARCH) up to 10 lags, and the p-value from a χ2 test for residual autocorrelation up to 10 lags. In Panel B of other tables we report the R2 for each regression as well as the p-value from a χ2 test for residual autocorrelation up to 10 lags. (Note that for some small-cap or equal-weighted indices, we were unable to eliminate evidence of residual autocorrelation with the simple model specifications adopted here. Likewise, with the maximum likelihood estimation, for some indices we were unable to eliminate evidence of ARCH or residual autocorrelation over the full samples.)
L'espai públic com a escenari d'esdeveniments

La recollida d'emergencies produides a l'espai public permet estudiar la fragilitat de l'ordre public i com s'empren estrategies per controlar i evitar situacions de crisi.El treball etnografic desenvolupat a Barcelona, Hospitalet de Llobregat i Lloret de Mar recollint aquest tipus d'emergencies, i en els dos ultims municipis esmentats concretament les emergencies abordades per la policia, ha permes observar fins a quin punt les emergencies critiques mostren el risc de fractura, pero igualment, l'esforc que els membres de la comunitat fan per que aquest no es trenqui, i aixi poder mantenir les seves legitimes expectatives envers l'assoliment de les fites de la seva quotidianitat.Tambe, mitjancant el paper de la majoria davant l'emergencia, que pot passar per ignorar-la, observar-la des de la distancia, estudiar-la amb deteniment i recollir la possible informacio que es desprengui del seu desenvolupament o participar-ne en considerar que cal activar xarxes socials de recolzament o solidaritat, es possible entendre fins a quin punt es fa pales que per la societat, com diu Isaac Joseph citant a Erving Goffman, es mes important restablir l'ordre social, vehicle i via per poder continuar amb el que fem, que aturar o neutralitzar als contraventors. Es visibilitza tambe fins a quin punt, sabedors de la nostra major vulnerabilitat en l'arena social jugada en l'espai public, per una part prenem mesures de defensa en forma de distancies, fugides, canvis de ritme, observacions a distancia, xarxes instantanies de solidaritat, i recollim experiencies i informacio sobre emergencies per una altra, per tal que aquest bagatge ens ajudi en el moment en que nosaltres siguem subjectes actius de l'emergencia.Tanmateix, es possible albirar a traves de la resposta de la policia davant l'emergencia, la intencio del Poder, que es fonamenta tant en mirar de garantir aquestes expectatives de "via expedita" social que les persones exigeixen dels responsables de la gestio social, com de minimitzar la poderosa evidencia que la seguretat no es pot garantir, aixi com d'invisibilitzar fins a quin punt es de flexible i poros l'ordre social i, per tant, quant subjecte esta el seu canvi a la voluntat i accio de cadascun dels membres de la comunitat.S'ha visibilitzat tambe com tot el que es relaciona amb l'emergencia es ubicat apart per la societat, sense reconeixer que es una faceta mes de la dimensio social, nomes que des de la vessant opaca i de la que se'n reclama una antropologia que s'hi dediqui. Ans al contrari, es demonitza tot el que s'hi relaciona, ja siguin autors d'emergencies, com victimes de les mateixes o els llocs on aquestes es produeixen i, tambe, a aquells qui hi estan en contacte, com la policia i els i les agents de policia. A mes, aquests son estigmatitzats i ubicats per la majoria en el costat opac i son considerats font de risc, problemes i conflicte en mateixa o semblant mesura a l'emergencia i els seus autors.
A low-power bioamplifier with a new active DC rejection scheme

We present a bioamplifier suitable for massive integration in implantable recording medical devices. This amplifier achieves reduced size and lower power consumption, compared to previous designs, by means of a novel DC rejection scheme. DC rejection is achieved by an active integrator located in the feedback loop of the bioamplifier. It places a highpass cutoff frequency within the transfer function, which is set by a small capacitor and a MOS-Bipolar equivalent resistor. This configuration rejects large DC offset and drift that exist at the electrode-electrolyte interface without the need for input RC networks or area consuming capacitors feedback networks, thus preserving the bioamplifier's high input impedance and small size. The proposed bioamplifier, designed in a 0.18-mum CMOS process, provides a midband gain of 53 dB, passes the neural signal from 105 Hz to 9.2 kHz and achieves an input-referred noise of 5 muVrms. It occupies less than 0.064 mm2 and dissipates 8.4muW
The Theory of Schizophrenic Negativism

Preparing the books to read every day is enjoyable for many people. However, there are still many people who also don't like reading. This is a problem. But, when you can support others to start reading, it will be better. One of the books that can be recommended for new readers is the theory of schizophrenic negativism. This book is not kind of difficult book to read. It can be read and understand by the new readers.
Biased Discriminant Euclidean Embedding for Content-Based Image Retrieval

With many potential multimedia applications, content-based image retrieval (CBIR) has recently gained more attention for image management and Web search. A wide variety of relevance feedback (RF) algorithms have been developed in recent years to improve the performance of CBIR systems. These RF algorithms capture user's preferences and bridge the semantic gap. However, there is still a big room to further the RF performance, because the popular RF algorithms ignore the manifold structure of image low-level visual features. In this paper, we propose the biased discriminative Euclidean embedding (BDEE) which parameterises samples in the original high-dimensional ambient space to discover the intrinsic coordinate of image low-level visual features. BDEE precisely models both the intraclass geometry and interclass discrimination and never meets the undersampled problem. To consider unlabelled samples, a manifold regularization-based item is introduced and combined with BDEE to form the semi-supervised BDEE, or semi-BDEE for short. To justify the effectiveness of the proposed BDEE and semi-BDEE, we compare them against the conventional RF algorithms and show a significant improvement in terms of accuracy and stability based on a subset of the Corel image gallery.
Optimal Scheduling for Multi-Radio Multi-Channel Multi-Hop Cognitive Cellular Networks

Due to the emerging various data services, current cellular networks have been experiencing a surge of data traffic and are already overloaded; thus, they are not able to meet the ever exploding traffic demand. In this study, we first introduce a multi-radio multi-channel multi-hop cognitive cellular network (M<inline-formula><tex-math>$^3$</tex-math> <alternatives><inline-graphic xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="huang-ieq1-2314107.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>C<inline-formula> <tex-math>$^2$</tex-math><alternatives><inline-graphic xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="huang-ieq2-2314107.gif"/></alternatives> </inline-formula>N) architecture to enhance network throughput. Under the proposed architecture, we then investigate the minimum length scheduling problem by exploring joint frequency allocation, link scheduling, and routing. In particular, we first formulate a maximal independent set based joint scheduling and routing optimization problem called original optimization problem (OOP). It is a mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) and generally NP-hard problem. Then, employing a column generation based approach, we develop an <inline-formula><tex-math>$\epsilon$ </tex-math><alternatives><inline-graphic xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="huang-ieq3-2314107.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>-bounded approximation algorithm which can obtain an <inline-formula><tex-math>$\epsilon$</tex-math><alternatives> <inline-graphic xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="huang-ieq4-2314107.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>-bounded approximate result of OOP. Noticeably, in fact we do not need to find the maximal independent sets in the proposed algorithm, which are usually assumed to be given in previous works although finding all of them is NP-complete. We also revisit the minimum length scheduling problem by considering uncertain channel availability. Simulation results show that we can efficiently find the <inline-formula><tex-math>$\epsilon$</tex-math><alternatives> <inline-graphic xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="huang-ieq5-2314107.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>-bounded approximate results and the optimal result as well, i.e., when <inline-formula><tex-math>$\epsilon =0\%$</tex-math><alternatives> <inline-graphic xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="huang-ieq6-2314107.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> in the algorithm.
An application of the theory of planned behaviour to predict intention to consume African indigenous foods in Kenya

Purpose – African indigenous foods (AIFs) have a special place and role in many African cultures for the sustenance of life and provisions food substances and health. However, it has been observed that consumption of these foods is declining. The purpose of this paper is to establish the determinants of consumption intentions of AIFs in Kenya using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Design/methodology/approach – A stratified random sample of 319 respondents drawn from Nairobi County was surveyed using a self-completion instrument. Partial least squares analysis was used to test the hypotheses regarding the relationship between the predictor constructs (namely; personal attitude towards AIFs, subjective norm, and perceived behaviour control) and consumption intentions. Findings – All the predictor constructs were found to positively influence consumption intention and collectively explained 62.3 per cent of the variance in consumption intention for AIFs. There is a discrepancy between our findings on i.
Detection of HCN Direct l-Type Transitions Probing Hot Molecular Gas in the Proto-Planetary Nebula CRL 618

We report the detection of direct l-type transitions toward the proto-planetary nebula CRL 618 during a study of vibrationally excited carbon chains. The J = 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 ΔJ = 0 transitions of HCN in its first excited bending mode v2 = 1 were detected in absorption against the continuum of the central H II region, making use of the Effelsberg 100 m telescope and the Very Large Array. In addition, the J = 9 direct l-type transition was detected in emission, presumably indicating a weak maser. All lines are blueshifted with respect to the systemic velocity of CRL 618, indicating that the lines originate from a hot, expanding circumstellar envelope. The HCN column density along the line of sight in front of the continuum is 2 × 1018 cm-2.
Phasic exercises for cervical rehabilitation after "whiplash" trauma.

OBJECTIVE To assess whether "phasic" exercises, including rapid eye-head-neck-arm movements, can benefit patients with chronic cervical injuries. DESIGN A randomized, controlled, double blind study involving 30 chronic patients, who were allocated to either group 1 or group 2. The study period was for 8 wk. SETTING The study was conducted in a private practice. PATIENTS Thirty chronic motor vehicle accident patients who continued to experience increased pain/soreness/stiffness of the cervical musculature with sports/activities requiring rapid head neck movements were selected for the study. INTERVENTION Group 1 patients (n = 15) had standard exercises (stretching/isometric/isokinetic) and chiropractic therapy. Group 2 patients (n = 15) had "phasic" exercises and chiropractic therapy. Patients in both groups exercised for a minimum of four times weekly, for 8 wk. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Pre and Post Pain and Disability Index was administered to both groups. RESULTS Group 1, which had standard exercises and chiropractic therapy, improved by 7.4% (p > .05). Group 2, which had "phasic" exercises and chiropractic therapy, improved by 48.3% (p > .001). Confounders were identified, which explains the minimal improvement of group 1 and the remarkable results of group 2. CONCLUSIONS It would appear that any rehabilitation program for chronic neck-injured patients should involve exercises that address the following: eye-head-neck-arm coordinated movements, coordination of the entire vertebral column,/ and return the "phasic" component of the musculature to functional levels. Additional studies will address the effect of these exercises on the strength, range of motion and pain improvement of the cervical spine in normal, acute and chronic patients.
Sorting on Clusters of SMPs * (Extended Abstract)

We introduce an eficient algorithm for sorting on clusters of symmetric multiprocessors (SMPs). This algorithm relies on a novel scheme for stably sorting on a single SMP coupled with balanced regular communication on the cluster: Our SMP algorithm seems to be asymptotically faster than any of the published algorithms. The algorithms were implemented in C using POSIX threads and the SIMPLE library of communication primitives and run on a cluster of DEC Alphaserver 2100A systems. Our experimental results verifr the scalability and eficiency of our proposed solution and illustrate the importance of considering both memory hierarchy and the overhead of shifting to multiple nodes.
TERPS: the embedded reliable processing system

TERPS is a fault-tolerant computer design that significantly reduces the threat of electromagnetic interference (EMI), using hardware checkpoint/rollback-recovery. TERPS tolerates EMI by periodically checkpointing processor state into a special safe-storage device. The detection of EMI invokes rollback, which recovers processor state from a previously check-pointed state and resumes normal execution. Rollback results in loss of performance dictated by the EMI duration; TERPS ensures forward progress of the system provided EMI events are separated by some minimum time interval (e.g., at least 5.12/spl mu/s for our prototype processor running at 100MHz). The performance overhead of our mechanism is reasonable: 5-6% overhead when checkpointing every 128 processor cycles.
Clinical application of measurement of hippocampal atrophy in degenerative dementias

Hippocampal atrophy is a characteristic and early feature of Alzheimer's disease. Volumetry of the hippocampus using T1‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been used not only to assess hippocampal involvement in different neurodegenerative diseases as a potential diagnostic biomarker, but also to understand the natural history of diseases, and to track changes in volume over time. Assessing change in structure circumvents issues surrounding interindividual variability and allows assessment of disease progression. Disease‐modifying effects of putative therapies are important to assess in clinical trials and are difficult using clinical scales. As a result, there is increasing use of serial MRI in trials to detect potential slowing of atrophy rates as an outcome measure. Automated and yet reliable methods of quantifying such change in the hippocampus would therefore be very valuable. Algorithms capable of measuring such changes automatically have been developed and may be applicable to predict decline to a diagnosis of dementia in the future. This article details the progress in using MRI to understand hippocampal changes in the degenerative dementias and also describes attempts to automate hippocampal segmentation in these diseases. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.