Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mahendra Trivedi | Antibiogram Typing and Biochemical Characterization of Klebsiella pneumoniae after Biofield Treatment

Antibiogram Typing and Biochemical Characterization of Klebsiella pneumoniae after Biofield Treatment Mahendra Kumar Trivedi1, Alice Branton1, Dahryn Trivedi1, Harish Shettigar1, Mayank Gangwar2 and Snehasis Jana2* 1Trivedi Global Inc., 10624 S Eastern Avenue Suite A-969, Henderson, NV 89052, USA 2Trivedi Science Research Laboratory Pvt. Ltd., Hall-A, Chinar Mega Mall, Chinar Fortune City, Hoshangabad Rd., Bhopal-462026, Madhya Pradesh, India
Remediation of petroleum hydrocarbon polluted systems: Exploiting the bioremediation strategies

The irrepressible quest for a cheap source of energy to meet the extensive global industrialization demand has expanded the frontiers of petroleum hydrocarbon exploration. These exploration activities amongst others often result in pollution of the environment, thus creating serious imbalance in the biotic and abiotic regimes of the ecosystem. Several remediation alternatives have been in use for the restoration of petroleum hydrocarbon polluted systems. In this paper, we present an overview of bioremediation alternative vis-a-vis other cleanup methods and its adaptations in various polluted systems.
Preliminary Evaluation of a Multiple-Generator Drive-Train Configuration for Wind Turbines: Preprint

The recent trend toward large wind turbines has led to very expensive gearboxes that hinder their feasibility. The gearboxes for these wind turbines are more expensive per kilowatt (kW) of rated power than for smaller turbines because the torque increases more quickly than the power when increasing the rotor diameter. Multiple-generator drivetrain configurations can reduce the drivetrain cost for large wind turbines while increasing the energy capture and reliability. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is reexamining the benefits of multiple-generator configurations through the Wind Partnership for Advanced Component Technology (WindPACT) program. This paper qualitatively compares a multiple-generator drivetrain configuration to a conventional drivetrain.
WHEN TO START HIV TREATMENT: EVIDENCE FROM A QUASI-EXPERIMENT

Early initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) may improve survival for people infected with HIV. To date, no experimental or quasi-experimental evidence exists on the survival impact of early vs. delayed ART in sub-Saharan Africa. Like many clinical therapies, ART is assigned based on a threshold rule, with eligibility determined by a patient’s CD4+ cell count being below a cut-off. We show that regression discontinuity designs are amenable to non-linear and survival models, which accommodate censoring. We estimate “fuzzy” RD treatment effects using flexible parametric survival models, which are robust to unobserved heterogeneity, treatment effect heterogeneity, and time-varying effects of the treatment. Using data on 4391 HIV patients from rural South Africa, we find that those presenting for care with a CD4+ count just below 200 cells/µL were 4.3% points (95% CI 0.6, 8.0) more likely to be alive at two years than patients presenting with a CD4+ count just above the cut-off, an advantage that persisted at five years. These effects imply a 14.9% point two-year survival advantage for patients who actually initiated ART because they had an eligible CD4+ count. Large, persistent gains in clinical retention and immune function were also observed among patients who were ART eligible. The additional medical care provided to ART-eligible patients implies a cost of $1967 per life year saved to
Experiences in Learning Problem-Solving through Computational Thinking

Computational Thinking (CT) represents a possible alternative for improving students’ academic performance in higher level degree related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). This work describes two different experimental proposals with the aim of introducing computational thinking to the problem solving issue. The first one was an introductory course in the Faculty of Physical, Mathematical and Natural Sciences (FCFMyN) in 2017, for students enrolled in computer science related careers. The other experience was a first attempt to introduce CT to students and teachers belonging to not computer related faculties at the National University of San Luis (UNSL). Both initiatives use CT as a mean of improving the problem solving process based on the four following elementary concepts: Decomposition, Abstraction, Recognition of patterns and Algorithm. The results of the experiences indicate the relevance of including CT in the learning problem solving issue in different fields. The experiences also conclude that a mandatory CT related course is necessary for those careers having computational problems solving and/or programming related subjects during the first year of their curricula. Part of this work was presented at the XXIII Argentine Congress of Computer Science (CACIC).
Ineficacia de los sistemas de gestión de calidad implementados según la norma ISO 9001

espanolLas organizaciones buscan resultados, por este motivo es cada vez mayor su preocupacion por implementar sistemas de gestion de calidad que les ayude a alcanzarlos, es decir eficaces. La norma ISO 9001, la mas reconocida a nivel mundial para implementar sistemas de gestion de calidad, propone beneficios a traves del cumplimiento de sus requisitos y la mejora continua. Sin embargo estos beneficios contrastan con la ineficacia de los sistemas de gestion de calidad implementados segun la norma ISO 9001 reportada por un numero cada vez mayor de organizaciones y que se ha manifestado en la creciente decepcion de sus directivos. En este articulo de revision se recogieron fundamentos teoricos acerca de los sistemas de gestion de calidad, la norma ISO 9001, los beneficios de implementarla; se identificaron sus principales cuestionamientos y se determinaron las causas de su ineficacia, las que podrian conducir a la perdida del prestigio de esta norma internacional. EnglishOrganizations are always looking for results, for this reason they are increasingly concerned about building quality management systems for achieving them. The ISO 9001 standard, the most recognized in the world, promotes benefits through compliance with requirements of this standard and the continuous improvement of the quality management system. However, these benefits contrast with the inefficacy of the quality management systems implemented according to the ISO 9001 standard reported by an increasing number of organizations and which has manifested itself in the growing disappointment of its managers. In this review paper, theoretical fundaments about quality management systems, ISO 9001, the benefits of implementing it were collect; its main controversies were identified and the causes of its inefficacy were determined, those that could lead to the loss of the prestige of this international standard.
University of Groningen On " new massive " 4 D gravity

We construct a four-dimensional (4D) gauge theory that propagates, unitarily, the five polarization modes of a massive spin-2 particle. These modes are described by a “dual” graviton gauge potential and the Lagrangian is 4th-order in derivatives. As the construction mimics that of 3D “new massive gravity”, we call this 4D model (linearized) “new massive dual gravity”. We analyse its massless limit, and discuss similarities to the Eddington-Schrödinger model.
ANTIMICROBIANA EM BIOFILMES DE Streptococcus mutans - EFEITO NA VIABILIDADE BACTERIANA E NA MATRIZ DE POLISSACARÍDEOS

In front of the emergence of strains resistant to traditional antimicrobial agents, photodynamic antimicrobial chemotherapy (PACT) arises as an alternative treatment to these agents. This study was divided into three chapters, whose objectives were: Chapter 1) compare the antimicrobial effect of PACT performed with the photosensitizer TBO and two different sources of red lights {Laserbeam (LB) or LumaCare (LC)} in S. mutans mature biofilms, Chapter 2) verify the amount of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) found in S. mutans biofilms as a result of PACT performed with TBO and light source LC and Chapter 3) evaluate the effects of PACT performed with TBO and red LED LC on microbial viability, polysaccharide matrix and topography of S. mutans mature biofilm and S. mutans biofilm formation. Biofilms were formed on saliva-coated hydroxyapatite discs using batch culture method at 37C, 5% CO2. Tryptoneyeast extract broth containing 1% sucrose was changed daily. In chapter 1, the mature biofilms were subjected to PACT using TBO (100μg/mL) and two different light sources: LB (56.6 J/cm2) and LC (56.6 J/cm; 158.5 J/cm; 317.0 J/cm; 475.6 J/cm). The results were expressed as colony forming units (CFU) per mg of biofilm. In chapter 2, the biofilms were exposed to PACT using TBO and LC energy densities of 211.37 J/cm2 and 422.74 J/cm and the reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, as a result of the therapy, was determined using dihidrorhodamine 123 dye. On chapter 3, these same energy densities (211.37 J/cm and 422.74 J/cm) were tested in mature biofilms and forming-biofilms. We verified that there is no difference in the reduction of bacterial viability when LB and LC were used in the same energy dose, however LC was superior when the exposures 317.0 J/cm and 475.6 J/cm were tested (Chapter 1). PACT generated 3times more ROS than negative control group. PACT using energy densities 211.37 J/cm and 422.74 J/cm achieved reductions in bacterial viability up to 2-5 logs in mature biofilms, respectively, and 6 to 6.5 logs in forming-biofilms. Therapy in forming-biofilms also promoted a reduction in the PEC formation, while reducing the number of bacterial clusters and promote the lost of PEC connection structures (Chapter 3). We conclude that photodynamic therapy, in the parameters used, comes as a promising therapeutic approach for inhibiting the cariogenic biofilms formation and inactivation of biofilms already established. Keywords: Streptococcus mutans. Biofilm. photodynamic antimicrobial chemotherapy.
Determinants of Gold Price in the Short Term

The goal of the paper is to characterize and assess the impact of the most important factors on gold prices in the short term, i.e. the purchasing power of the US$, level of interest rates, official sector, seasonality, political events, media information and press releases. They influence the level of supply and demand in the gold market and, consequently, its prices. After presenting the specificity of gold as a metal and financial asset, a separate analysis of the effect of each of the foregoing factors was carried out. Depending on the character of the factor and available empirical data, the assessment of the influence of these factors on price changes used basic descriptive statistics, graphic charts and a descriptive analysis. The influence of individual factors differed, while the character of interrelationships between changes in these factors and gold prices did not always reflect the regularities known from the literature. This applies, in particular, to the purchasing power of the US$ and the level of interest rates. To learn the force and direction of impact of these factors on gold price in the short term is of significant importance for investment in defining the moments of opening and closing the position in the market of this financial asset. keywords: gold price, purchasing power of the US$, interest rates, official sector, seasonality
Phonetic category cues in adult-directed speech: Evidence from three languages with distinct vowel characteristics

Using an artificial language learning manipulation, Maye, Werker, and Gerken (2002) demonstrated that infants’ speech sound categories change as a function of the distributional properties of the input. In a recent study, Werker et al. (2007) showed that Infant-directed Speech (IDS) input contains reliable acoustic cues that support distributional learning of language-specific vowel categories: English cues are spectral and durational; Japanese cues are exclusively durational. In the present study we extend these results in two ways. 1) we examine a language, Catalan, which distinguishes vowels solely on the basis of spectral differences, and 2) because infants learn from overheard adult speech as well as IDS (Oshima-Takane, 1988), we analyze Adult-directed Speech (ADS) in all three languages. Analyses revealed robust differences in the cues of each language, and demonstrated that these cues alone are sufficient to yield language-specific vowel categories. This demonstration of language-specific differences in the distribution of cues to phonetic category structure found in ADS provides additional evidence for the types of cues available to infants to guide their establishment of native phonetic categories.
ShakeCast: Automating and Improving the Use of ShakeMap for Post-Earthquake Decision-Making and Response

When a potentially damaging earthquake occurs, utility and other lifeline managers, emergency responders, and other critical users have an urgent need for information about the impact on their particular facilities so they can make appropriate decisions and take quick actions to ensure safety and restore system functionality. ShakeMap, a tool used to portray the extent of potentially damaging shaking following an earthquake, on its own can be useful for emergency response, loss estimation, and public information. However, to take full advantage of the potential of ShakeMap, we introduce ShakeCast. ShakeCast facilitates the complicated assessment of potential damage to a user's widely distributed facilities by comparing the complex shaking distribution with the potentially highly variable damageability of their inventory to provide a simple, hierarchical list and maps of structures or facilities most likely impacted. ShakeCast is a freely available, post-earthquake situational awareness application that automatically retrieves earthquake shaking data from ShakeMap, compares intensity measures against users’ facilities, sends notifications of potential damage to responsible parties, and generates facility damage maps and other Web-based products for both public and private emergency managers and responders.
Exploring ice content on partially saturated frozen soils using dielectric permittivity and bulk electrical conductivity measurements

The present paper explores the use of the measurement of bulk electric conductivity and relative dielectric permittivity during freezing and thawing to estimate the ice content of two different partially saturated soils. The soils (Castelldefels fine sand and Barcelona clayey silt) were prepared at different degrees of saturation and dry densities at room temperature. Different target temperatures were used, which were reached at varying freezing rates and controlled with a thermal bath. Models were used to fit electrical conductivity and relative dielectric permittivity results under full unfrozen liquid and maximum ice conditions. The extension of these models allows estimating ice content on partially saturated soils at different porosities.
Equilibria and multidimensional quadratic BSDEs: relations, counterexamples and remedies

While trading on a nancial market, the agents we consider take the performance of their peers into account. By maximizing individual utility subject to investment constraints, the agents may ruin each other even unintentionally so that no equilibrium can exist. However, when the agents are willing to waive little expected utility, an approximated equilibrium can be established. The study of the associated backward stochastic dierential equation (BSDE) reveals the mathematical reason for the absence of an equilibrium. Presenting two illustrative counterexamples, we explain why such multidimensional quadratic BSDEs may not have solutions despite bounded terminal conditions and in contrast to the one-dimensional case.
Religious Cognition and Duration of Maintained Grip

of a thesis at the University of Miami. Thesis supervised by Professor Michael E. McCullough. No. of pages in text. (43) Recent work suggests that the links between religious belief and behavior with a variety of positive outcomes (e.g., longer life, more marital satisfaction, scholastic achievement, better health behaviors) may be partially explained by religious belief systems’ ability to foster self-control and self-regulation. The current investigation sought to explore this hypothesis by determining if induction of religious cognition (through a supraliminal religious prime) could increase behavioral self-control, operationalized as performance on a maintained grip task. Using 118 participants, the author tested whether nonconscious exposure to religious content would increase the amount of time that participants were willing to physically persist at two rounds of the maintained grip task as compared to a control group. A within-subjects trial-by-prime interaction was found (the prime appeared to cause participants to persist at the task for less time during the first trial, but not the second) and a between-subjects sex-by-prime interaction was found (on average, men given the religious prime held their grip for less time than did men in the control group, whereas no differences were found between women). Findings are discussed in terms of the link between religion and self-control and future directions are suggested.
The Differential Role of Physical Science and Biology in Achieving Scientific Literacy in South Africa--A Possible Explanation.

A survey of the scientific literacy of selected high-school leavers at the secondary/tertiary educational interface in South Africa revealed that taking Physical Science in grade 12, in contrast to Biology, plays a more significant role in the achievement of scientific literacy by these students. An explanation for this result was sought by comparing Physical Science and Biology students' scores on the three subtest comprising the Test of Basic Scientific Literacy, which was originally used in the scientific literacy classification. Students with Physical Science possessed a better understanding and awareness of all three dimensions of scientific literacy than students taking Biology. This result suggests a number of mechanisms through which Physical Science impacts on the achievement of scientific literacy: (a) the greater number of topics placed in an historical context in the Physical Science syllabus in comparison to Biology; (b) the greater, more obvious connection between technology and syllabus topics covered in Physical Science than in Biology; and (c) the comparative ease with which some understanding of concepts in the biological sciences may be obtained through informal and non-formal education in comparison with concepts in the physical sciences. PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS EEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 2 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) cument has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. 0 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy.
Upregulation of CFTR in patients with endometriosis and its involvement in NFκB-uPAR dependent cell migration

Endometriotic tissues exhibit high migration ability with the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Our previous studies have demonstrated that cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) acts as a tumor suppressor regulating cell migration. In the present study, we explored whether CFTR plays a role in the development of human endometriosis. We found that both mRNA and protein expression levels of CFTR and urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) were significantly increased in ectopic endometrial tissues from patients with endometriosis compared to normal endometrial tissues from women without endometriosis and positively correlated. In human endometrial Ishikawa (ISK) cells, overexpression of CFTR stimulated cell migration with upregulated NFκB p65 and uPAR. Knockdown of CFTR inhibited cell migration. Furthermore, inhibition of NFκB with its inhibitors (curcumin or Bay) significantly reduced the expression of uPAR and cell migration in the CFTR-overexpressing ISK cells. Collectively, the present results suggest that the CFTR-NFκB-uPAR signaling may contribute to the progression of human endometriosis, and indicate potential targets for diagnosis and treatment.
Using Twitter to Increase L2 Interaction: Findings from a High-Functioning Japanese University ESL Class

: In recent years, Twitter has commanded research attention in domains from digital sociology to language pedagogy. This paper explores how daily tweeting allows Japanese university students at the intermediate end of English as a Second Language (ESL) studies to exercise and improve their interactive competencies. The aim was threefold: first, to increase both production and exposure, leading to improved definition of the identity of the L2 user self. Second, to extend learning beyond the classroom and class times, creating a technologically enhanced transformative pedagogy that transferred power to the learner. Lastly, to promote the interactive capability of students through interactions between students, with the teacher, and extending to the global Twitter community for social justice pedagogy. The author uses Discourse Analysis (DA) to contextualize both the methods and findings, and offers suggestions for using Social Network Analysis (SNA) to uncover the interactive gains of using Twitter in this way.
Economic Integration in Southern Africa - a Risk of Strong Polarisation Effects or a Chance for Joint Development?

Despite negative experiences with regional integration in sub-Saharan Africa the SADC members announced in August 1996 to make the entire region a free trade area in the next eight years. This article evaluates the opportunity and threats of SADC in order to answer the question whether this integration will lead to strong polarisation effects or an opportunity for joint development in the region. It becomes clear that neither generalisations on wel - fare gains of regional integration nor generalisations on the distribution of the gains from integration are possible. However a clear tendency for mutual eco - nomic benefits of SADC can be deduced.
MEROPS: the database of proteolytic enzymes, their substrates and inhibitors

Peptidases, their substrates and inhibitors are of great relevance to biology, medicine and biotechnology. The MEROPS database (http://merops.sanger.ac.uk) aims to fulfil the need for an integrated source of information about these. The database has hierarchical classifications in which homologous sets of peptidases and protein inhibitors are grouped into protein species, which are grouped into families, which are in turn grouped into clans. The database has been expanded to include proteolytic enzymes other than peptidases. Special identifiers for peptidases from a variety of model organisms have been established so that orthologues can be detected in other species. A table of predicted active-site residue and metal ligand positions and the residue ranges of the peptidase domains in orthologues has been added to each peptidase summary. New displays of tertiary structures, which can be rotated or have the surfaces displayed, have been added to the structure pages. New indexes for gene names and peptidase substrates have been made available. Among the enhancements to existing features are the inclusion of small-molecule inhibitors in the tables of peptidase–inhibitor interactions, a table of known cleavage sites for each protein substrate, and tables showing the substrate-binding preferences of peptidases derived from combinatorial peptide substrate libraries.