Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Taxonomy of Armillaria in the Patagonian forests of Argentina

The taxonomy of Armillaria in southern South America has received little attention since the work of Singer and others. In this study we examine the morphological traits and cultural features for taxa representing the lineages revealed based on molecular phylogeny, and we link them to previously described taxa based on morphology. Lineages I–IV were identified as Armillaria novaezelandiae, A. montagnei, A. umbrinobrunnea comb. nov. and A. sparrei respectively. They could be differentiated morphologically based on dimension, features of the epicutis, annulus, stipe, hymenophoral trama and flavor and characteristics in culture. Furthermore there was no evidence of host preference for the species recognized. This is the first study integrating the phylogeny and morphology of Armillaria species from Patagonia, and it provides a foundation for future research on these fungi in South America.
Aperture Efficiency of Amplitude Weighting Distributions for Array Antennas

Array antennas offer a wide range of opportunities in the variation of their directivity patterns through amplitude and phase control. Peak sidelobe levels may be reduced via amplitude control or weighting across the array aperture. Several authors have made significant contributions in detailing processes for synthesizing these aperture amplitude distributions for the purpose of sidelobe level control. One of the basic trade-offs when implementing amplitude weighting functions is that a trade between low sidelobe levels and a loss in main beam directivity always results. Some of the commercially available pattern calculation programs that can implement sidelobe level control do not provide calculations of the aperture efficiencies given different amplitude weightings. Calculation of the aperture efficiency can be somewhat confusing, particularly with regards to the difference between tapering via attenuation versus redistribution. The purpose of this paper is to define these terms, to provide a review of the proper normalization technique that is important in obtaining accurate aperture efficiency estimation. Descriptions of the amplitude tapers and their utility will be presented. A design example will be presented which will compare theoretical efficiencies with those obtained via finite element method simulation.
An Empirical Analysis on the Level of Urban Housing Security

Housing security is one of the main content of public services. According to performance every area of our country, the way and level of housing security has nothing in common with each other. In this paper, the factor analysis model is established to identify the key factors of the level of urban housing security. And then, cluster analysis model is constructed to research the regional difference of urban housing security in China. Finally, a case study of 25 cities of China is developed. The result shows that both urban fiscal capability and the capability of purchasing house have an important effect on the level of housing security. The research herein has offered the reference for decision of the governments. For the local governments, the level of urban housing security should be decided by one's own financial ability and the real demand of housing security.
Minimized transient and steady-state cross regulation in 55nm CMOS single-inductor dual-output (SIDO) step-down DC-DC converter

A single-inductor dual-output (SIDO) step-down converter with continuous conduction mode (CCM) control is proposed for high efficiency system-on-a-chip (Soc) integration. The cross regulation in steady-state output voltage ripple, which is rarely mentioned, is effectively reduced as well as in transient response. The low-voltage energy distribution controller (LV-EDC) circuit guarantees good voltage regulation and low output voltage ripple simultaneously. In addition, within the allowable output voltage ripple, the automatic energy bypass (AEB) mechanism can reduce the number of energy delivery path to decrease the switching loss. Two outputs are operated with the load-dependent energy path for improving the power conversion efficiency. The chip fabricated in 55 nm CMOS achieves 91 % peak efficiency, low output voltage ripple, and excellent load transient response.
The Role of Affect in the WT A / WTP Disparity

Four studies demonstrated robust withinand between-subject differences in willingness-to-pay (WTP) and willingness-to-accept (WTA) measures of the value of lottery tickets. Buyers and sellers attended to different numerical cues and interpreted the same numbers differently when setting these two kinds of monetary values. Affective infiuences appeared to guide the valuation process. Buyers with stronger positive feelings about owning a ticket were willing to pay more for a ticket; sellers with stronger negative feelings about no longer having a ticket required a greater minimum payment in exchange for their ticket. In addition, the WTA/WTP disparity tended to be greater for more affectively-laden lottery tickets. The results suggest that WTA and WTP prices are constructed using salient numerical cues and affective feelings. Copyright @ 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Nurse education in Jordan: history and development.

AIM This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the development of nurse education and practice in Jordan. THE PROBLEM Several types and levels of nurse education have been established influenced, in particular, by Northern American and British models of nurse education and practice. New colleges with new programmes are being introduced at all levels, with a continuing growth in the number of students graduating from nursing programmes, demonstrating the extent to which the status of nursing is changing in Jordan. However, the development of nurse education in Jordan is not wholly congruent with the development of nursing practice. The majority of nursing activities are embedded within a medical model of care or relate to carrying out medical orders, giving rise to task-oriented care delivery. Jordanian nurses are faced with many challenges in terms of their education and practice. METHODS There are few published papers that provide a description of this development. The extant literature on nursing history in Jordan comprises descriptions by university academics, official websites of nursing's regularity body, in addition to anecdotal accounts and conference presentations. CONCLUSION Nurse education in Jordan has evolved over a relatively short period of time. Collaboration between academics and healthcare providers is vital in order to shape the role of nurses and nursing in the future. Insights gained from this development may benefit nurses globally who are working towards restructuring their nurse education and practice.
Mapping learning and game mechanics for serious games analysis

Although there is a consensus on the instructional potential of Serious Games (SGs), there is still a lack of methodologies and tools not only for design but also to support analysis and assessment. Filling this gap is one of the main aims of the Games and Learning Alliance (http://www.galanoe.eu) European Network of Excellence on Serious Games, which has a focus upon pedagogy-driven SGs. This paper relies on the assumption that the fundamental aspect of SG design consists in the translation of learning goals/practices into mechanical element of gameplay, serving to an instructional purpose beside that of play and fun. This paper proposes the Learning Mechanics–Game Mechanics (LM-GM) model, which supports SG analysis and design by allowing reflection on the various pedagogical and game elements in an SG. The LM-GM model includes a set of pre-defined game mechanics and pedagogical elements that we have abstracted from literature on game studies and learning theories. Designers and analysts can exploit these mechanics to draw the LM-GM map for a game, so as to identify and highlight its main pedagogical and entertainment features, and their interrelations. The tool may also be useful for teachers to evaluate the effectiveness of a given game and better understand how to implement it in educational settings. A case study is reported to illustrate the framework's support in determining how gameplay and pedagogy intertwine in an SG. Finally, the paper presents the results of two comparative user tests demonstrating the advantages of the proposed model with respect to a similar state-of-the-art framework.
Adaptive motion control of arm rehabilitation robot based on impedance identification

SUMMARY There is increasing interest in using rehabilitation robots to assist post-stroke patients during rehabilitation therapy. The motion control of the robot plays an important role in the process of functional recovery training. Due to the change of the arm impedance of the post-stroke patient in the passive recovery training, the conventional motion control based on a proportional-integral (PI) controller is difficult to produce smooth movement of the robot to track the designed trajectory set by the rehabilitation therapist. In this paper, we model the dynamics of post-stroke patient arm as an impedance model, and propose an adaptive control scheme, which consists of an adaptive PI control algorithm and an adaptive damping control algorithm, to control the rehabilitation robot moving along predefined trajectories stably and smoothly. An equivalent two-port circuit of the rehabilitation robot and human arm is built, and the passivity theory of circuits is used to analyze the stability and smoothness performance of the robot. A slide Least Mean Square with adaptive window (SLMS-AW) method is presented for on-line estimation of the parameters of the arm impedance model, which is used for adjusting the gains of the PI-damping controller. In this paper, the Barrett WAM Arm manipulator is used as the main hardware platform for the functional recovery training of the post-stroke patient. Passive recovery training has been implemented on the WAM Arm, and the experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and potential of the proposed adaptive control strategies.
A global and high-resolution assessment of the green, blue and grey water footprint of wheat

The aim of this study is to estimate the green, blue and grey water footprint of wheat in a spatially-explicit way, both from a production and consumption perspective. The assessment is global and improves upon earlier research by taking a high-resolution approach, estimating the water footprint of the crop at a 5 by 5 arc minute grid. We have used a grid-based dynamic water balance model to calculate crop water use over time, with a time step of one day. The model takes into account the daily soil water balance and climatic conditions for each grid cell. In addition, the water pollution associated with the use of nitrogen fertilizer in wheat production is estimated for each grid cell. We have used the water footprint and virtual water flow assessment framework as in the guideline of the Water Footprint Network. The global wheat production in the period 1996–2005 required about 108 billion cubic meters of water per year. The major portion of this water (70%) comes from green water, about 19% comes from blue water, and the remaining 11% is grey water. The global average water footprint of wheat per ton of crop was 1830 m3/ton. About 18% of the water footprint related to the production of wheat is meant not for domestic consumption but for export. About 55% of the virtual water export comes from the USA, Canada and Australia alone. For the period 1996–2005, the global average water saving from international trade in wheat products was 65 Gm3/yr. A relatively large total blue water footprint as a result of wheat production is observed in the Ganges and Indus river basins, which are known for their water stress problems. The two basins alone account for about 47% of the blue water footprint related to global wheat production. About 93% of the water footprint of wheat consumption in Japan lies in other countries, particularly the USA, Australia and Canada. In Italy, with an average wheat consumption of 150 kg/yr per person, more than two times the word average, about 44% of the total water footprint related to this wheat consumption lies outside Italy. The major part of this external water footprint of Italy lies in France and the USA.
Adverse Drug Reactions— A Computer-assisted Application of Correspondence Analysis for Automatic Causality Assessment

Summary An assessment forra comprising 27 questions relating to adverse drug reactions and causal relationship was completed for 204 subjects. Questions providing no information were disregarded and answers to the remaining questions recorded and subjected to a correspondence analysis. The correspondence analysis returned a set of mappings together with new quantitative variables to which discriminant analysis was applied aiming at a future allocation of individuals to causality groups. Results of the analysis, based on data from the 204 subjects, demonstrated that in 61.3% of cases assessment of causality obtained with discriminant analysis was identical with the assessment made by a medical evaluator. The allocation rule was subsequently applied to data from 100 new case reports and, in a similar percentage (60%) of cases, allocation to the causality groups coincided with the evaluator’s assessment.
Gliadin‐Specific T Cell Responses in Peripheral Blood of Healthy Individuals Involve T Cells Restricted by the Coeliac Disease Associated DQ2 Heterodimer

Coeliac disease (CD) is probably caused by an abnormal immune response towards wheat gliadin in the small intestine. We found that gliadin‐specific T cells from the small intestinal mucosa of HLA‐DQ2 positive CD patients were almost exclusively restricted by the disease‐associated DQ2 molecule. In the peripheral blood of CD patients, a large proportion of gliadin‐specific T cells were found to be restricted by DQ molecules, including DQ2, but many were instead restricted by DR or DP molecules of the patient. We have now investigated gliadin‐specific T cell responses in peripheral blood from healthy individuals. Four of 20 persons tested had strong in vitro responses and were used as donors for gliadin‐specific T cell clones. We found gliadin‐specific T cells restricted by the CD‐associated DQ2 molecule in peripheral blood for two of these four individuals. It is the presence of such T cells also in the small intestinal mucosa which seems typical of CD.
Atypical Helicobacter canadensis Strains Associated with Swine

ABSTRACT Forty-two Helicobacter isolates were isolated from swine feces in The Netherlands and Denmark. All 12 isolates sequenced (16S rRNA gene) formed a robust clade with Helicobacter canadensis (∼99% similarity). Species-specific PCR indicated that all of the isolates were H. canadensis isolates. Although the appearance of the porcine isolates was similar to the appearance of H. canadensis, only one of these isolates was able to hydrolyze indoxyl acetate, a cardinal characteristic of this taxon. Examination of the 23S rRNA and hsp60 genes revealed high levels of similarity between the porcine isolates and H. canadensis. However, amplified fragment length polymorphism genomic typing showed that isolates recovered from swine feces were genetically distinct from H. canadensis strains obtained from humans and geese.
Secure configuration schemes for FPGA-based systems with simple key management

The growing evolution in field programmable gate array (FPGA) performances appeals to embedded systems designers to expansively incorporate FPGA devices in their systems. This expanding use makes FPGA-based systems more attractive to several attackers and hence vulnerable to a number of threats. In this paper, we propose two protection schemes against design theft, for SRAM-based FPGA devices, considering the key management issue at the customer facility. The first scheme proposes some improvements to a pre-reported scheme for reducing its implementation cost. The second proposition is distinct from others by combining both symmetric and asymmetric encryption. An evident comparison shows that our proposed schemes are more advantageous over other works and present the best tradeoff between hardware, security and key management, making good use of different cryptography features.
Microbial composition, including the incidence of pathogens, of goat milk from the Bergamo region of Italy during a lactation year

Sixty samples of raw goat milk intended for Caprino cheese-making were collected from ten farms in the Bergamo area over a 6-month period. Analyses of main microbial groups, somatic cell count (SCC) and pH were performed to determine the effect of origin (farm) and lactation period (April – September) on microbial composition and the incidence of pathogens in milk. Overall mean values were: standard plate count (SPC), 5.0×104 cfu/ml; yeasts, 2.5×102 cfu/ml; coliforms, 9.1×102 cfu/ml; Escherichia coli, 2.9 cells/ml; enterococci, 1.1×102 cfu/ml; lactococci, 3.4×103 cfu/ml; lactobacilli, 3.0×103 cfu/ml; halotolerant bacteria, 8.2×103 cfu/ml; spores of mesophilic aerobic bacteria, 11 cfu/ml; SSC, 9.9×105 cells/ml; pH, 6.63. Moulds and spores of sulphite-reducing clostridia were found intermittently. Neither Salmonella spp. nor Listeria monocytogenes was detected, while Esch. coli O157[ratio ]H7 was isolated from one milk sample (an incidence of 1.7%). Staphylococcus aureus was discovered at a level >102 cfu/ml in 26 samples (43%) with an overall mean of 1.2×103 cfu/ml, whereas coagulase-negative staphylococci were found in 54 samples (90%) with an overall mean of 1.3×103 cfu/ml. Of Staph. aureus strains, 23% proved to be enterotoxinogenic with a prevalence of enterotoxin C producers. Staph. caprae was the coagulase-negative species most frequently isolated; none of the coagulase-negative staphylococci strains synthesized any of the enterotoxins tested for. Sample source was the major factor affecting the microbial composition of goat milk: significant differences (P<0.01) were observed among samples from different farms for SPC, coliforms, lactococci, lactobacilli and halotolerant bacteria. Period of lactation had a significant effect (P<0.025) on SCC and pH. SPC correlated well with coliforms, lactococci and lactobacilli; SSC did not reveal positive interactions with any microbial groups or pH.
Does Minority Status Increase the Effect of Disability Status on Elementary Schoolchildren’s Academic Achievement?

We investigated whether children’s reading and mathematics growth trajectories from kindergarten to fifth grade inter-related, and to what extent disability and minority status interacted to predict their achievement trajectories. We conducted secondary data analysis based on a nationally representative sample of 6,446 U.S. schoolchildren from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K). Results indicated that children’s reading and mathematics achievement were highly correlated in both initial status and growth. Being disabled or a racial/ethnic minority independently predicted lower academic achievement. However, and contrary to what might be expected from prior research on minority children’s special education experiences, disability status was associated with similar academic disadvantages for minority and White students from kindergarten to fifth grade. Growth mixture models identified a group of children with lower and lagging achievement in both reading and mathematics from kindergarten until fifth grade.
Muscle responses to transcranial stimulation in man depend on background oscillatory activity

Muscle responses to transcranial stimulation show high sweep‐to‐sweep variability, which may reflect an underlying noise process in the motor system. We examined whether response amplitude correlated with the level of prestimulus background EMG, and network oscillations. Transcranial magnetic or electrical stimulation was delivered to primary motor cortex whilst human subjects performed a precision grip task known to promote beta‐band (∼20 Hz) cortical oscillations. Responses were recorded from two intrinsic hand muscles. Response magnitude correlated significantly with the level of background EMG (mean r2= 0.20). Using a novel wavelet method, we quantified the amplitude and phase of oscillations in prestimulus sensorimotor EEG. Surprisingly, response magnitude showed no significant correlation with EEG oscillations at any frequency. However, oscillations in the prestimulus EMG were significantly correlated with response size; the correlation coefficient had peaks around 20 Hz. When oscillations in one muscle were used to predict response amplitude in a different muscle, correlations were substantially smaller. Finally, for each recording, we calculated the best possible prediction of response size obtainable from up to 20 measures of prestimulus EEG and EMG oscillations. Such optimal predictions had low correlation coefficients (mean r2= 0.2; 76% were below 0.3). We conclude that prestimulus oscillations, mainly in the beta‐band, do explain some of the variability in responses to transcranial stimulation. Oscillations may likewise increase the noise of natural motor processing, explaining why this form of network activity is usually suppressed prior to dynamic movements. However, the majority of the variation is determined by other factors, which are not accessible by noninvasive recordings.
The later growth of the brain and its vulnerability.

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in a new kind of vulnerability of the developing brain which is concerned with disturbances and distortion of its later growth program, rather than with gross morphological anomaly, destructive lesions, or metabolic error. Thus there has grown up the concept of heightened sensitivity of the brain to growth retardation during its "growth spurt," a period arbitrarily defined as the time when the brain is passing through its most rapid phase of growth. The following remarks represent a personal view of the present situation and are amplified fled elsewhere. Almost all the evidence for the special vulnerability of the brain growth spurt comes from experimental animals, usually rats, in whom nutritional growth restriction has been imposed during gestational, suckling and postweaning periods, or selectively in any one or two of these.
The Problem of Persistent Platelet Activation in Acute Coronary Syndromes and Following Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Platelets play a central role in the atherosclerotic inflammatory response, thrombotic vascular occlusion, microembolization, vasoconstriction, and plaque progression. Persistent platelet activation poses a serious problem among patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and those who have undergone percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), placing them at risk for ischemic events and subacute stent thrombosis. Patients undergoing PCI are at risk for further ischemic events because of procedure‐related platelet activation as well as the inherent persistent platelet hyperreactivity and enhanced thrombin generation associated with ACS. Persistent platelet activation following an acute coronary event and/or PCI supports incorporating antiplatelet strategies into the standard medical management of such patients. In this clinical setting, antiplatelet therapies are capable of improving outcomes. Aspirin, thienopyridines, and glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors, the 3 major pharmacologic approaches to persistent platelet activation, target various levels of the hemostatic pathways and thrombus formation. Copyright © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.