Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A bioeconomic analysis of conserving freshwater values in an agricultural landscape

Water is a finite resource that must be shared among multiple users and economic and conservation objectives can often be seen as being in conflict. We explored this perception by conducting an integrated bioeconomic analysis of irrigated agriculture and the conservation of freshwater attributes in an agricultural landscape, the Tasmanian Midlands. We constructed a simple bioeconomic model based on current hydrology, water allocation, land use and freshwater ecosystem values, and quantified the economic returns from irrigation under a range of future climate, agricultural development and conservation scenarios. We found that projected climate conditions and conserving freshwater values in good condition had small effects on economic returns to irrigators, and that enterprise diversity and the area irrigated were major drivers of economic returns in this landscape. The availability of land suitable for irrigation rather than irrigation water itself appeared most likely to limit the economic returns from irrigation in the future. We provide a multi-criteria analysis for comparing development and conservation scenarios at a regional scale to inform planning and decision making in conservation and natural resource management. Our approach brings irrigation and conservation concerns into the same context and demonstrates that conservation need not necessarily limit agricultural development.
ffect of Mediterranean diet on the expression of pro-atherogenic genes in a opulation at high cardiovascular risk

Experimental and epidemiological studies have demonstrated the beneficial effects of the traditional Mediterranean diet (TMD) on the incidence and progression of atherosclerosis. Several genes play a major role in determining atherosclerosis susceptibility. We compared the short-term effects of two TMD diets versus a control diet on the expression of pro-atherogenic genes. One TMD diet was supplemented with virgin olive oil (VOO) (TMD + VOO) and the other with nuts (TMD + nuts). Gene expression was analyzed in monocytes from 49 asymptomatic high cardiovascular-risk participants (23 men, 26 women), aged 55–80 years. Monocytes were isolated from blood before and 3 months after dietary intervention. We analyzed the expression of genes involved in inflammation [cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) and monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP-1)], genes involved in foam cell formation [low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein (LRP1), LDL receptor and CD36], and genes involved in thrombosis hrombosis enes [tissue factor (TF) and tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI)]. We found that TMD + VOO intervention prevented an increase in COX-2 and LRP1, and reduced MCP-1 expression compared to TMD + nuts or control diet interventions. TMD + nuts specifically increased the expression of CD36 and TFPI compared to TMD + VOO and control diet intervention. Our findings showed that the Mediterranean diet influences expression of key genes involved in vascuell for eroth lar inflammation, foam c the expression of pro-ath
Monitoreo de anomalías en máquinas rotativas con agentes inteligentes Jade y Arduino

La computacion basada en agentes representa una sintesis tanto para la Inteligencia Artificial (IA) como mas en general, para la Informatica. Tiene el potencial de mejorar significativamente la teoria y la practica de modelar, disenar e implementar sistemas informaticos para resolver problemas complejos y reales. En el presente trabajo se pretende mostrar al lector como pueden ser usados los agentes inteligentes actuando con Arduino, para poder monitorizar senales de vibracion provenientes de maquinas rotativas, con el fin de detectar anomalias para el conocimiento de estas tendencias, implementacion que puede ser usada para el proposito de dar mantenimiento a tiempo, sin tener que incurrir en gastos adicionales por culpa del deterioro de dichas maquinas generado por el cuidado tardio de estas. El sistema multi-agente sera util para la toma decisiones basadas en el aprendizaje. En este trabajo se muestra como puede usarse JADE en composicion con Arduino y haciendo uso de otras tecnologias, para lograr la deteccion de anomalias de senales (vibraciones) provenientes de una maquina rotativa.
Stabilisation tonale de vidéos

Dans ce travail, nous proposons une methode rapide et parametrique pour corriger l'instabilite tonale de videos. La methode utilise un mod ele de correction colorimetrique minimal mais efficace, et s'appuie sur une estimation parametrique du mouvement dominant. La correction est ponderee temporellement, en fonction de l'amplitude du mouvement. Les experiences menees sur differentes sequences montrent que cette methode depasse les performances de l'´ etat de l'art, ` a la fois en terme de qualite visuelle et de temps de calcul.
The role of clinical chemistry in chemical and drug safety evaluation by use of laboratory animals.

In the last decade, 149 new ethical drug entities have been placed in the hands of the American medical community (1). In each case the two critical determinants to the success or failure of each new compound as a viable product were safety and efficacy. Such data ultimately can only come from trials in patients. However, this must always be preceded by evaluations of safety in animals. It is the role of clinical chemistry in the assessment of drug safety in laboratory animals that is the subject of this commentary. There are many differences between the practice of clinical chemistry in a clinical setting and that practiced in drug-safety evaluation studies in industrial research. Although most clinical chemists think of the former category when discussing clinical chemistry, there are many clinical chemists who work in areas outside the hospital laboratory, including those who work in research environments concerned with the use of clinical chemistry in chemical and drug-safety evaluation. The many differences in analysis and interpretation of clinical biochemical data between these two areas of clinical chemistry will be highlighted in this discussion.
Utilidad clínica del seguimiento cuantitativo del quimerismo en leucocitos activados y linfocitos T reguladores post trasplante alogénico de progenitores hematopoyéticos

El trasplante alogenico de progenitores hematopoyeticos (Alo-TPH), descubierto en los anos 50, constituye en la actualidad una herramienta terapeutica para el manejo de enfermedades hematologicas. Con altas tasas de morbi-mortalidad, la enfermedad injerto contra receptor (EICR) es su complicacion mas importante. El analisis del quimerismo hematopoyetico, es decir del porcentaje de celularidad del donante o del receptor tras la infusion del injerto, es utilizado clinicamente para el seguimiento post Alo-TPH, siendo utilizado para predecir diversas complicaciones, mas aun cuando este se lleva a cabo sobre linajes leucocitarios. En este contexto, y conocido el papel de los linfocitos T (CD3+, LT), los leucocitos activados (CD25+, LA) y linfocitos T reguladores (CD4+/CD25+, Tregs) en el Alo-TPH, el objetivo de este estudio es el analisis del quimerismo en dichos linajes y su implicacion en el desarrollo de complicaciones. El analisis del quimerismo hematopoyetico se llevo a a cabo mediante PCR de microsatelites sobre muestras de ADN de SP, y linajes leucocitarios (LT, LA y Tregs) purificados mediante tecnicas inmunomagneticas, con posterior electroforesis capilar. La dinamica del quimerismo hematopoyetico asi como la consecucion de QC en LA y Tregs mostro diferencias con respecto a la observada en SP y LT, con una consecucion de QC mas tardio y un mayor porcentaje de celularidad de receptor en los primeros 100 dias tras el Alo-TPH. La consecucion de QC en LA predice mejor el desarrollo de EICR aguda que el QC en LT. Sin embargo, ni la dinamica de quimerismo ni el QC afecto a la SG, SLE ni a la MRT. En cuanto a los Tregs, la dinamica de quierismo y el QC no afectaron al desarrollo de EICR. Aunque tampoco afectaron a la SG o la SLE, existe una tendencia a una menor MRT y mejores resultados cuando los pacientes adquieren QC de manera tardia.
Multi-Level Family Factors and Affective and Behavioral Symptoms of Oppositional Defiant Disorder in Chinese Children

Given the important role of family environment in children's psychological development, the objective of this study was to examine the linkages between family factors at the whole, dyadic, and individual levels and two dimensions (affective and behavioral) of Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) symptoms in Chinese children. Participants comprised of 80 father-child dyads and 169 mother-child dyads from families with ODD children. The results indicated that multilevel family factors were differently associated with children's affective and behavioral ODD symptoms. All the family factors at the dyadic and individual levels were significantly associated with child affective ODD symptoms. However, only the most proximal factors (parent-child relationship and child emotion regulation, which were directly related to child) were significantly related to child behavioral ODD symptoms. The present study extends the current knowledge regarding the relationships between family factors and two dimensions of child ODD symptoms by testing the comprehensive multilevel family factors model. This study also recommends that future interventions for ODD children should consider the multi-level family factors to enhance intervention efficacy.
Bacterial DNA in Water and Dialysate: Detection and Significance for Patient Outcomes

The fluid used for hemodialysis may contain DNA fragments from bacteria, which could be harmful for patient outcomes. DNA fragments from bacteria, containing the nonmethylated CpG motif, can trigger inflammation through the monocyte and lymphocyte Toll-like receptor 9, and these DNA fragments have been observed in dialysate. The fragments may transfer across the dialyzer into the patient’s bloodstream during hemodialysis treatment. During hemodiafiltration, the fragments would be introduced directly into the bloodstream. The DNA fragments may arise from biofilm in the pipes of the water system, from growth of bacteria in the water, or as contaminants in the bicarbonate and salt mixture used for preparation of dialysate. Current filtration methods, such as Diasafe filters, are not able to remove these fragments. It would be prudent to seek to reduce or eliminate these contaminants. However, the cost and effort of decreasing bacterial DNA content may ultimately require substantial facility improvements; we therefore need to fund research studies to determine if modifications to reduce bacterial DNA content are clinically warranted. This research will require methods to accurately determine the species of bacteria that contribute the DNA, since this information will allow the source to be established as biofilm, bicarbonate mixtures, or other problems in the dialysis system such as bacterial growth or leakage during water preparation. In this review, the evidence for bacterial DNA fragments will be examined and suggestions for further studies will be described.
MULTI-FACTOR JUMP-DIFFUSION MODELS OF ELECTRICITY PRICES

The recent deregulation of electricity markets has led to the creation of energy exchanges, where the electricity is freely traded. In this paper, we study the most salient statistical features of electricity prices with a particular attention to the European energy exchanges. These features can be adequately reproduced by the sum-OU model: a model representing the price as a sum of Levy-driven Ornstein–Uhlenbeck (OU) processes. We present a new method for filtering out the different OU components and develop a statistical procedure for estimating the sum-OU model from data.
The assessment of a large snail control programme over three-year period in the Gezira Irrigated Area of the Sudan.

The control of the snail vectors of schistosomiasis by aerial application of the molluscicide N-trityl morpholine was carried out in a 80 000 ha area from 1974 to 1977. The effect of this molluscicide regimen on transmission of Schistosoma mansoni was monitored by longitudinal surveys in a number of schools and in pre-school-age children. A cross-sectional school survey was carried out in 1977.There was no significant difference in incidence between the treated area and an adjacent untreated area as measured by the longitudinal school survey, the longitudinal village survey, or the cross-sectional survey. Consideration of egg output and prevalence (as determined by ELISA test) also failed to reveal any difference between the two areas.The initial prevalence and intensity in the subjects selected from the treated area were higher than in the untreated area, and some villages showed possible transmission reduction. In general, however, the results showed a great variation in infection rates and intensity wi.
Use of High-Quality and Common Commercial Mirrors for Scanning Close-Range Surfaces Using 3D Laser Scanners: A Laboratory Experiment

Three Dimension (3D) laser scanners enable the acquisition of millions of points of a visible object. Terrestrial laser scanners (TLS) are ground-based scanners, and nowadays the available instruments have the ability of rotating their sensor in two axes, capturing almost any point. Since many sensors can only operate in a vertical position, they cannot capture points located beneath themselves. Consequently, these instruments are generally unable to capture data in a vertical descending direction. Moreover, since the device positioning has certain requirements of space and terrain stability, it is possible that specific regions of interest are outside the reach of the laser. A possible solution is to address the laser beam towards the desired direction by means of a mirror. Common mirrors are very cheap; therefore, they are easy to manipulate and to substitute in case they get broken. However, due to their careless fabrication process, it seems reasonable to think that they are unprecise. In contrast, front-end mirrors are more expensive and delicate, and consequently, deflecting angles are more precise. In this research, we designed a laboratory test to analyze the arising noise when standard and high-quality mirrors are used during the TLS scanning process. The results show that the noise introduced when scanning through a standard mirror is higher than that produced when using a high-quality mirror. However, both cases show that this introduced error is lower than the instrumental error. As a result, this study concludes that it is reasonable to use standard mirrors when scanning in similar conditions to this laboratory test.
ÜÇ BOYUTLU MESLEKİ BAĞLILIK ÖLÇEĞİNİN TÜRKÇE’DE GÜVENİLİRLİK VE GEÇERLİLİĞİNİN İNCELENMESİNE YÖNELİK

Bu calismanin amaci Meyer ve digerleri tarafindan (1993) gelistirilmis olan uc boyutlu mesleki baglilik olceginin Turkiye baglaminda guvenilir ve gecerli bir arac olup-olmadigini incelemektir. Bu amacla bir dizi prosedur izlenerek bir saha calismasi yurutulmustur. Bir kamu universite hastanesinde gorev yapan 425 hemsireden veri toplanmistir. Dogrulayici faktor analizi sonuclari olcegin duygusal, devamlilik ve normatif olmak uzere uc boyuta ayristigini gostermektedir. Calismada her bir boyuta iliskin analiz sonuclarina yer verilmistir. Bu kapsamda mesleki devamlilik baglilik boyutu icin ic tutarlilik katsayisinin dusuk (Cronbach alfa katsayisi=0,27) ve olcegi olusturan maddeler arasi korelasyonun zayif oldugu tespit edilmistir. Bundan baska, kesfedici faktor analizi sonuclari da duygusal, normatif ve devamlilik bagliligi boyutlarinda bazi ifadelerin net bir sekilde ilgili faktore yuklenmediklerini ortaya koymustur. Arastirma bulgularina iliskin kisitlar ve gelecek calismalar icin oneriler tartisilmistir
Induction of bud formation of embryonic mouse tracheal epithelium by fibroblast growth factor plus transferrin in mesenchyme‐free culture

Embryonic mouse tracheal epithelium, which branches in an epithelial–mesenchymal recombination culture with bronchial mesenchyme, was cultured under mesenchyme‐free conditions. When embedded in a basement‐membrane–like matrix and cultured in a serum‐free medium supplemented with fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF1), the tracheal epithelium did not branch, whereas the bronchial epithelium underwent branching morphogenesis. When the medium was enriched with transferrin (Tf), bud formation was induced in the tracheal epithelium and some buds branched secondarily. FGF7 and FGF10, in cooperation with Tf, induced tracheal bud formation to the same extent as FGF1, although the optimum concentrations differed. A bromodeoxyuridine‐labeling study comparing cultures with and without Tf showed no Tf‐specific amplification of cell proliferation. A whole‐mount in situ hybridization study of the expression of Bmp4 and Shh genes in explants of mesenchyme‐free culture revealed that both genes were ubiquitously expressed and that expression did not correlate with bud formation. This expression pattern was different from the distally localized expression pattern observed in normal lung rudiments and in extratracheal buds induced by the recombined bronchial mesenchyme. These results suggest that both bronchial and tracheal bud formations were initiated without localized exposure of the epithelium to FGFs and were not accompanied by localized expression of Bmp4 and Shh in the epithelium. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Stratégies thérapeutiques contre la réponse immunitaire anti-Facteur VIII chez l'hémophile A : par modification de la structure du FVIII, par inhibition de la signalisation des lymphocytes B

L’administration de Facteur VIII therapeutique (FVIII) chez les patients hemophiles A entraine l’apparition d’anticorps anti-FVIII appeles « inhibiteurs » chez 30% des hemophiles A severes. Ceci constitue alors une impasse therapeutique. Si de nombreuses investigations ont permis de caracteriser les effecteurs lymphocytaires T et B impliques dans cette reponse immunitaire, elles n’ont toutefois pas permis de proposer aux patients des strategies therapeutiques pour prevenir l’apparition des inhibiteurs du FVIII. La premiere partie de ma these explore la possibilite de prevenir la reponse immunitaire anti-FVIII en inhibant la capture et l’appretement antigenique du FVIII par les cellules presentatrices de l’antigene (CPA). Il avait ete montre precedemment que les deux structures hautement mannosylees du FVIII, sur les asparagines 239 et 2118, etaient reconnues par le CD206 exprime par les cellules dendritiques humaines derivees de monocytes, et que cette voie d’endocytose menait a l’appretement antigenique du FVIII. Je me suis donc interessee a la possibilite de reduire l’immunogenicite du FVIII en eliminant ces deux glycosylations. La seconde partie de ma these porte sur la possibilite de prevenir ou d’eradiquer la reponse immunitaire anti-FVIII en inhibant une molecule de la signalisation du recepteur des lymphocytes B (LB) : la tyrosine kinase de Bruton (BTK). La BTK jouant un role central dans la signalisation des LB, l’inhibition de celle-ci a montre un interet therapeutique dans le cas de certaines pathologies malignes et auto-immunes. J’ai donc explore le potentiel therapeutique d’un inhibiteur de la BTK dans la reponse immunitaire anti-FVIII.
Visual Metaphors to Support the Diagnosis of Sleep Apnea-Hypopnea Syndrome

This paper presents algorithms that assist physicians in the task of visually inspecting polysomnography recordings to diagnose Sleep Apnea-Hypopnea Syndrome. To this end, the algorithms generate visual metaphors that simplify the identification and characterization of several pathological events that occur in polysomnographic recordings: reductions and complete cessations of respiratory effort-measured both from thoracic movement and from abdominal movement- and snoring measured through a microphone which records ambient noise. These algorithms and the visual metaphors they give support to have been implemented in a desktop tool. The tool has been validated by a physician using five different polysomnographic recordings, with satisfactory results.
Modelos deformáveis de partículas e algoritmos de colisões aplicados à simulação de tecidos.

Este trabalho apresenta um estudo de dois modelos computacionais deformaveis aplicados a simulacao de tecidos, ambos modelos de mecânica de particulas fisicamente embasados, contemplando algoritmos, um para cada modelo, para o tratamento de colisoes. Estudamos um modelos de malha retangular (classico e pouco robusto) e um baseado em malha triangular (moderno e robusto) atraves da implementacao, simulacoes e uma analise qualitativa simples entre os resultados visuais obtidos com ambos. Nenhum destes modelos apresenta relacoes entre deformacoes tangenciais e normais e portanto, nao geram rugas e/ou dobras espontaneamente. Para torna-los mais realisticos, em nossa implementacao, propomos o uso de uma forca de acoplamento entre as deformacoes tangenciais normais.
Long‐Term Results of Treatment of Children and Adolescents with Hodgkin's Disease

Fifty‐four children and adolescents with Hodgkin's disease Stages I–IV were treated with chemotherapy plus radiotherapy from 1967 to 1972. Thirty‐eight patients (70%) remain in continuous complete remission. Nine patients have died, four of progressive disease, three of pneumonitis, one with probable pneumococcal sepsis, and one of acute myelocytic leukemia. Significant retardation of height and crown‐rump length occurred, particularly in boys who received at least mantle or abdominal radiotherapy when younger than age 16 years. Five women have amenorrhea and no patient has clinical evidence of hypothyroidism. The major long‐term effects of therapy in this group of patients has been growth retardation. Future studies to minimize long‐term effects of therapy are necessary but must be carefully designed so that present cure rates are not jeopardized.
Human fixation detection model in video compressed domain based on Markov random field

Recently, research on and applications of human fixation detection in video compressed domain have gained increasing attention. However, prediction accuracy and computational complexity still remain a challenge. This paper addresses the problem of compressed domain fixations detection in the videos based on residual discrete cosine transform coefficients norm (RDCN) and Markov random field (MRF). RDCN feature is directly extracted from the compressed video with partial decoding and is normalized. After spatial–temporal filtering, the normalized map [Smoothed RDCN (SRDCN) map] is taken to the MRF model, and the optimal binary label map is obtained. Based on the label map and the center saliency map, saliency enhancement and nonsaliency inhibition are done for the SRDCN map, and the final SRDCN-MRF salient map is obtained. Compared with the similar models, we enhance the available energy functions and introduce an energy function that indicates the positional information of the saliency. The procedure is advantageous for improving prediction accuracy and reducing computational complexity. The validation and comparison are made by several accuracy metrics on two ground truth datasets. Experimental results show that the proposed saliency detection model achieves superior performances over several state-of-the-art compressed-domain and pixel-domain algorithms on evaluation metrics. Computationally, our algorithm reduces 26% more computational complexity with comparison to similar algorithms.
Rotenoid Derivatives from Derris Trifoliata with Nitric Oxide Production Inhibitory Activity

Study of the chemical constituents of the stems of Derris trifoliata Lour. (Leguminosae) collected in Singapore led to the isolation and identification of three known and two new rotenoid derivatives. The new derivatives, named derrisfolin A (1) and B (2), inhibited nitric oxide production in murine macrophage-like RAW 264.7 cells stimulated with interferon-γ and lipopolysaccharide.