Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Salmonella dublin infection in adult cattle: a slaughterhouse and knackery survey in South West Wales

SUMMARY A survey was carried out between June 1970 and December 1971 in which gall bladders from cattle either slaughtered for food consumption or disposed of through knackeries were cultured for salmonellas. Salmonella dublin was isolated from 28 of 1617 gall-bladders of adult cattle killed in the slaughterhouse at Carmarthen, and from 23 of 197 gall-bladders obtained from adult cattle sent to a knackery at Abergwili, near Carmarthen. The results are compared with a similar survey carried out in 1947 and 1948. Between June and November 1971 gall-bladders and uteri were also obtained from a slaughterhouse in Newcastle Emlyn, North Carmarthenshire, and a knackery in Tanygroes, South Cardiganshire. S. dublin was cultured from two gall-bladders but from none of the uteri of the 161 slaughterhouse cases. Seven of the 46 cows from the knackery yielded S. dublin on culture: 2 in the gall-bladder only, 3 in the uterus only and 2 in both gall bladder and uterus.
Design of area-efficient multiple-output switched-capacitor DC-DC converters

This paper presents a general methodology to generate multiple outputs for different switched-capacitor DC-DC converters. By enabling the sharing of power switches and capacitors among outputs and the power-switch current-stress minimization, the required number and size of power switches and capacitors are minimized to optimize the area efficiency of the power converter. Experimental results demonstrate that a Dickson-based dual-output converter implemented in a standard 0. 35μm CMOS process generates two independent outputs of 2V and 3V with a peak power efficiency of 89.5%. Both Ladder-based and Series-Parallel-based dual-output converters are also developed by using the proposed design strategy with proper operations.
Notice of RetractionReliability analysis for lubricating oil pressure indicating and alarming system on the basis of imprecise probability

Classical reliability theory always uses probability theory to quantify uncertainty information and it will meet a lot of difficulties when data is sparse or quantification of uncertainty is based on subjective information. As a generalization of probability theory, imprecise probability theory can express subjective information on a behavioral interpretation via the buying and selling price for a gamble without personal attitude. When assessments and judgements are conflicting and inconsistent, the conjunction rule and unanimity rule based on coherent imprecise probability can eliminate the conflict and obtain a consistent result. Although the application of imprecise probability in reliability theory have already been considered and developed, there are still few applications in practical. Therefore, this paper takes lubricating oil system as an example, applies imprecise probability to analyze this system's reliability.
Elevation of fecal eosinophil‐derived neurotoxin in infants with food protein‐induced enterocolitis syndrome

1. Sampson HA, Gerth van Wijk R, BindslevJensen C, et al. Standardizing double-blind, placebo-controlled oral food challenges: American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology–European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology PRACTALL consensus report. J Allergy ClinImmunol 2012: 130: 1260–74. 2. Bindslev-Jensen C, Ballmer-Weber BK, Bengtsson U, et al. Standardization of food challenges in patients with immediate reactions to foods–position paper from the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology. Allergy 2004: 59: 690–7. 3. Vlieg-Boerstra BJ, Bijleveld CMA, van der Heide S, et al. Development and validation of challenge materials for double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenges in children. J Allergy ClinImmunol 2004: 113: 341–6. 4. Vlieg-Boerstra BJ, van der Heide S, Bijleveld CM, Kukler J, Duiverman EJ, Dubois AE. Placebo reactions in double-blind, placebocontrolled food challenges in children. Allergy 2007: 62: 905–12. 5. Taylor SL, Hefle SL, Bindslev-Jensen C, et al. A consensus protocol for the determination of the threshold doses for allergenic foods: how much is too much? Clin Exp Allergy 2004: 34: 689–95. 6. van der Zee T, Dubois A, Kerkhof M, van der Heide S, Vlieg-Boerstra B. The eliciting dose of peanut in double-blind, placebocontrolled food challenges decreases with increasing age and specific IgE level in children and young adults. J Allergy ClinImmunol 2011: 128: 1031–6.
Approximation Algorithms for Several Graph Augmentation Problems

Graph augmentation problems on a weighted graph involve determining a minimum-cost set of edges to add to a graph to satisfy a specified property, such as biconnectivity, bridge-connectivity or strong connectivity. These augmentation problems are shown to be NP-complete in the restricted case of the graph being initially connected. Approximation algorithms with favorable time complexity are presented and shown to have constant worst-case performance ratios.
Some Observations on Definitions of Voltage Unbalance

In this paper an analysis of five different definitions of voltage unbalance developed by various power communities (CIGRE, NEMA, IEEE, and IEC) is presented, in order to understand their performance and difference among them. The purpose of this work is to analyze and quantify the voltage unbalance, so that these results may become useful to minimize the harmful effects of voltage unbalance. To quantify the voltage unbalance, five existing voltage unbalance definitions are calculated and their numerical values are used in analyzing the behavior of these definitions for the unit change in their magnitude and angle of voltage phasors.
Dynamics and Stability of GCAA Tetraloops with 2-Aminopurine and Purine Substitutions

Abstract The contributions of various interactions in the GGCGCAAGCC hairpin containing a GCAA tetraloop were studied by computer simulations using the substitutions of functional groups. The guanosine (G) in the first tetraloop position or in the C-G closing base pair was replaced by 2-aminopurine (AP), and the individual tetraloop's adenosines (A) were replaced by purine (PUR). These substitutions eliminated particular hydrogen bonds thought to stabilize the GCAA tetraloop. For each substitution, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were carried out in an aqueous solution with sodium counterions, using the CHARMM27 force field. The MD simulations showed that the substitutions in the first (G→AP) and the third (A→PUR) position of the GCAA tetraloop did not significantly influence the conformation of the hairpin. A long-lived bridging water molecule observed in the GCAA loop was present in both modified loops. The substitutions made in the last loop position (A→PUR) or in the C-G base pair closing the tetraloop (G→AP) to some extent influenced the loop structure and dynamics. These loops did not display the long- lived bridging water molecules. When the second A in the GCAA loop was replaced by PUR, the first A in the loop was observed in the anti or in the syn orientation about the gly- cosyl bond. The G to AP substitution in C-G base pair led to a change of their arrangement from the Watson-Crick to wobble. The MD simulations of the hairpin with C-AP wobble closing base pair showed increased conformational dynamics of the hairpin. The changes of hairpin formation free energy associated with the substitutions of individual bases were calculated by the free energy perturbation method. Our theoretical estimates suggest a larger destabilization for the G to AP substitutions in GCAA loop than for the substitutions of individual A's by PUR, which is in accordance with experimental tendency. The calculations predicted a similar free energy change for G to AP substitutions in the GCAA tetraloop and in the C-G closing base pair.
Board level solder joint reliability model for flip-chip ball grid array packages under compressive loads

The ever increasing power density in high performance microelectronic devices for large business computing and telecommunication infrastructure has led to several new reliability challenges for solder interconnects. One of them is the creep collapse and bridging of ball grid array (BGA) solder joints under heatsink compressive loads. In this study, the effect of heatsinking compressive load on the solder joint reliability is investigated by using both experimental and numerical approaches. A phenomenological life prediction model for both Sn36Pn2Ag and Sn3.8Ag0. 7Cu solder joints subjected to constant compressive load is also proposed.
FPGA implementation of filtered image using 2D Gaussian filter

Image filtering is one of the very useful techniques in image processing and computer vision. It is used to eliminate useless details and noise from an image. In this paper, a hardware implementation of image filtered using 2D Gaussian Filter will be present. The Gaussian filter architecture will be described using a different way to implement convolution module. Thus, multiplication is in the heart of convolution module, for this reason, three different ways to implement multiplication operations will be presented. The first way is done using the standard method. The second way uses Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) features Digital Signal Processor (DSP) to ensure and make fast the scalability of the effective FPGA resource and then to speed up calculation. The third way uses real multiplier for more precision and a the maximum uses of FPGA resources. In this paper, we compare the image quality of hardware (VHDL) and software (MATLAB) implementation using the Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR). Also, the FPGA resource usage for different sizes of Gaussian kernel will be presented in order to provide a comparison between fixed-point and floating point implementations.
A comparison of indomethacin with ibuprofen on gastrointestinal mucosal integrity in conventional and germ‐free rats

The effects of indomethacin and ibuprofen on gastrointestinal mucosal integrity were studied in conventional and germ‐free rats. Only ibuprofen induced significant gastric erosion formation in both conventional and germ‐free animals, demonstrating that the presence of micro‐organisms is not required in this form of damage. Both indomethacin and ibuprofen caused significant intestinal damage and blood loss in germ‐free animals. However, in the conventional counterparts, damage due to indomethacin was enhanced whereas that induced by ibuprofen was not. The results from the present work would suggest that non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs such as indomethacin, which are secreted largely in the bile, unlike ibuprofen, may act in concert with bacteria and the constituents of bile to induce, in part, intestinal damage and blood loss.
Patterning the cellular microenvironment

C biology has been a study of global changes in populations of cells: cell biologists often pool millions of cells that are cultured in a dish into a single measurement. Many, if not most, discoveries of the workings of cells have resulted from such averaging of responses of the whole cell population, such as the activation of signaling pathways and changes in gene expression that accompany mitogenic stimulation. But what of effects that manifest themselves in small populations of cells, or in local regions of a culture? How does one isolate the effects of local inhomogeneities in the surrounding microenvironment, from one cell to the next? How does one study subtle effects, only apparent in a fraction of the cells? In order to address these issues, we have adopted an approach that applies techniques common in the semiconductor industry to the patterning of the cellular microenvironment at cellular-length scales. The microenvironment—the collection of mechanical and biochemical signals that are presented to a cell in space and time—consists of many different types of signals. Among these are interactions between neighboring cells, interactions between cells and their underlying extracellular matrix, signals that result from the binding of soluble factors, and mechanical forces that stress cell bodies. Our approach presumes that these signals, and their presentation in space and time, while not completely deterministic, can strongly influence the behavior of a cell. In a culture dish, cells generate local inhomogeneities in these signals, simply by the stochastic nature of their uncontrolled interactions with each other and the culture surface. We use microfabrication technologies to control these interactions and thereby generate a microenvironment that is uniform and spatially well defined for all cells in a culture, and thus enable the amplification of local effects to global ones that affect all of the culture. This review is divided into two sections. First, we describe the use of a set of nonphotolithographic techniques—soft lithography—to pattern proteins on a substrate and to thereby pattern the position, placement, and shape of cells. Second, we discuss the use of spatially patterned cultures as a tool in cell biology—specifically, as a tool to answer how cell shape and cell-cell interactions affect behavior in endothelial cells.
A vitellogenic‐like carboxypeptidase expressed by human macrophages is localized in endoplasmic reticulum and membrane ruffles

Carboxypeptidase, vitellogenic‐like (CPVL) is a serine carboxypeptidase of unknown function that was first characterized in human macrophages. Initial studies suggested that CPVL is largely restricted to the monocytic lineage, although it may also be expressed by cells outside the immune system. Here, we use a new monoclonal antibody to characterize the properties and localization of CPVL in human macrophages to elucidate a possible function for the protease. CPVL is up‐regulated during the maturation of monocytes (MO) to macrophages, although the protein can be seen in both. In primary macrophages, CPVL is glycosylated with high mannose residues and colocalizes with markers for endoplasmic reticulum, while in MO it is more disperse and less clearly associated with endoplasmic reticulum. CPVL is highly expressed in lamellipodia and membrane ruffles, which also concentrate markers of the secretory pathway (MIP‐1α and tumour necrosis factor‐α) and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and II molecules. CPVL can be seen on early latex bead and Candida albicans phagosomes, but it is not retained in the maturing phagosome, unlike MHC class I/II. CPVL has a mixed cytosolic and membrane‐associated localization but is not detectable on the outer plasma membrane. We propose that CPVL may be involved in antigen processing, the secretory pathway and/or in actin remodelling and lamellipodium formation.
Genotype and age influence the effect of caloric intake on mortality in mice

Long‐term caloric restriction (CR) has been repeatedly shown to increase life span and delay the onset of age‐associated pathologies in laboratory mice and rats. The purpose of the current study was to determine whether the CR‐associated increase in life span occurs in all strains of mice or only in some genotypes and whether the effects of CR and ad libitum (AL) feeding on mortality accrue gradually or are rapidly inducible and reversible. In one experiment, groups of male C57BL/6, DBA/2, and B6D2F1 mice were fed AL or CR (60% of AL) diets beginning at 4 months of age until death. In the companion study, separate groups of mice were maintained chronically on AL or CR regimens until 7, 17, or 22–24 months of age, after which, half of each AL and CR group was switched to the opposite regimen for 11 wk. This procedure yielded four experimental groups for each genotype, namely AL→AL, AL→CR, CR→CR, and CR→AL, designated according to long‐term and short‐term caloric regimen, respectively. Long‐term CR resulted in increased median and maximum life span in C57BL/6 and B6D2F1 mice but failed to affect either parameter in the DBA/2 mice. The shift from AL→CR increased mortality in 17‐and 24‐month‐old mice, whereas the shift from CR→AL did not significantly affect mortality of any age group. Such increased risk of mortality following implementation of CR at older ages was evident in all three strains but was most dramatic in DBA/2 mice. Results of this study indicate that CR does not have beneficial effects in all strains of mice, and it increases rather than decreases mortality if initiated in advanced age.
Photonic multiple-access networks: Topologies

Lightwave technology is well-established for long-haul and point-to-point applications. Current research is aimed at extending these techniques to multiple-access computer networks and to the distribution plant. We are exploring the opportunities for interconnecting many users (more than 100) at high data rates (greater than 1 Gb/s) and the need for novel optoelectronic components to realize these photonic networks of the future. In this paper, we focus on how photonic components constrain topologies, while a companion paper1 focuses on their effect on routing and multiplexing.
Job Resources, Work Engagement, and Hotel Employee Outcomes: A Time-Lagged Analysis

Abstract This study develops and tests a research model that investigates work engagement as a mediator of the effects of coworker and supervisor support on career satisfaction, service recovery performance, job performance, and creative performance. Data were obtained from frontline hotel employees with a time lag of one month and their immediate supervisors in Cameroon. The relationships were tested using LISREL 8.30 through structural equation modeling. The results demonstrated a better fit for the fully mediated model when compared to the partially mediated model. The results further revealed that work engagement fully mediated the effects of coworker and supervisor support on the previously mentioned outcomes. Implications of the results and their future research directions are offered.
Meibomitis-Related Keratoconjunctivitis: Implications and Clinical Significance of Meibomian Gland Inflammation

Abstract: Meibomian gland inflammation, “meibomitis,” is associated with ocular surface inflammatory diseases. However, these diseases are poorly defined clinically, making effective treatment difficult. Herein, we propose a new disease subset, termed meibomitis-related keratoconjunctivitis (MRKC). The ocular surface features of MRKC include: meibomitis with redness and swelling of the eyelid margin and palpebral conjunctiva; superficial vascularization and granulomatous nodules in the cornea; and conjunctival hyperemia, similar or identical to that observed in phlyctenular keratitis. The characteristics of MRKC patients include a significantly higher prevalence in women, multiple history of chalazia, close association with meibomitis, the presence of specific human leukocyte antigen association, high Propionibacterium acnes detection rates in meibum culture, and the effectiveness of systemic antimicrobial therapy targeting P. acnes. MRKC may share many clinical features with ocular rosacea, especially during childhood. The clinical effectiveness of systemic antimicrobial agents in treating both diseases suggests the importance of focusing on the elimination of bacteria such as P. acnes.
Differential associations of age with volume and microstructure of hippocampal subfields in healthy older adults

Hippocampal atrophy in advanced healthy aging has frequently been reported. However, the vulnerability of different hippocampal subfields to age‐related atrophy is still a source of debate. Moreover, the association of age with the microstructural integrity of subfields is largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the associations between age and volume as well as microstructural integrity of hippocampal subfields using a three‐dimensional (3D) surface mapping approach. Forty‐three healthy older adults spanning the age range from 60 to 85 years underwent T1‐weighted and diffusion‐tensor imaging. Analyses demonstrated an association of age with hippocampal volume predominantly in the most anterior part of the hippocampal head, mainly corresponding to the subiculum. In contrast, the association of age with hippocampal microstructural integrity was mainly confined to regions located in the hippocampal body and tail, corresponding to the subiculum and CA1. Results indicate that age‐related volumetric and microstructural alterations within hippocampal subfields provide complementary information and reflect different age‐related processes. Potential mechanisms underlying the differential associations of age with volume and microstructure of hippocampal subfields are discussed. Hum Brain Mapp 36:3819–3831, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Staphylococcal enterotoxin microbial superantigens

Staphylococcal enterotoxins are a family of structurally related proteins that are produced by Staphylococcus aureus. In addition to their role in the pathogenicity of food poisoning, these microbial superantigens have profound effects on the immune system, which makes them useful tools for understanding its mechanism of action. These molecules (24‐30 kDa) are highly hydrophilic and exhibit low α helix and high β pleated sheet content, suggesting a flexible, accessible structure. Staphylococcal enterotoxins are among the most potent activators of T lymphocytes known. The receptors for staphylococcal enterotoxins on antigen‐presenting cells are major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules. Further, the α‐helical regions of the class II molecule are essential for function and appear to interact directly with the NH2‐terminal region of staphylococcal enterotoxins such as SEA. Recent studies have shown that a complex of staphylococcal enterotoxin and MHC class II molecules is required for binding to the Vβ region of the T cell antigen receptor. Staphylococcal enterotoxin mitogenic activity is dependent on induction of interleukin 2, which may be intimately involved in the mechanism of toxicity. The mouse minor lymphocyte stimulating (Mls) “endogenous” self‐superantigen has been shown to be a retroviral gene product, so this too is apparently a microbial superantigen. An understanding of the mechanism of action of these microbial superantigens has implications for normal and pathological immune functions. —Johnson, H. M. ; Russell, J. K. ; Pontzer, C. H. Staphylococcal enterotoxin microbial superantigens. FASEB J. 5: 2706‐2712; 1991.
Robust force control based on compensation for parameter variations of dynamic environment

Force control strategies that are robust against disturbance and parameter variations are proposed. These strategies are expansions of disturbance observer-based control strategy, and require little computation. Observers are proposed that estimate parameter variations of the dynamic environment on which the force is imposed are introduced. Since the observer-based control represents a nominal system, a second derivative of force can be controlled. A force control strategy for controlling the second derivative of force is also proposed. The force response similar to the force command is realized by these strategies in spite of the disturbance and the parameter variations of the control object. The effectiveness of the proposed methods is confirmed by simulation and experimental results. >