Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An outbreak of foodborne salmonellosis in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

BACKGROUND Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis is a universally recognized cause of foodborne disease. In South Africa, outbreaks of foodborne disease are generally under reported. We investigated the etiology of acute gastroenteritis in 216 patients who presented to a rural hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, after consuming a meal at a school function. MATERIALS AND METHODS Stool specimens from 37 patients, as well as two food samples, were available for microbiological investigation. Similarity between isolates was investigated using phenotypic and genotypic techniques. Phenotypic investigations included morphological, biochemical, and antibiogram profiling. Genotypic relatedness was determined with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis. The available epidemiological data were also described. RESULTS Salmonella Enteritidis was isolated from 18 patients and 1 food sample. Isolates were phenotypically and genotypically indistinguishable. Epidemiological data suggest a point-source outbreak with a possibility of continued transmission. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest a foodborne Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak due to contaminated food served at the school function. Epidemiological investigations continue to be extremely difficult in rural areas.
An Evaluation Study of the RECOCASE Viewpoint Methodology

We have developed a viewpoint methodology that captures use case descriptions from multiple viewpoints and automatically generates a visualisation of the individual and shared viewpoints to assist identification and resolution of conflicts. Our evaluation studies showed that our methodology and tool were practical and assisted the development of more complete use case descriptions which were representative of each member of the group. This paper describes the studies that were conducted.
Three-dimensional architecture and cell composition of a Choukroun's platelet-rich fibrin clot and membrane.

BACKGROUND Platelet-rich fibrin (PRF; Choukroun's technique) is a second-generation platelet concentrate for surgical use. This easy protocol allows the production of leukocyte and platelet-rich fibrin clots and membranes starting from 10-ml blood samples. The purposes of this study were to determine the cell composition and three-dimensional organization of this autologous biomaterial and to evaluate the influence of different collection tubes (dry glass or glass-coated plastic tubes) and compression procedures (forcible or soft) on the final PRF-membrane architecture. METHODS After centrifugation, blood analyses were performed on the residual waste plasmatic layers after collecting PRF clots. The PRF clots and membranes were processed for examination by light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. RESULTS Approximately 97% of the platelets and >50% of the leukocytes were concentrated in the PRF clot and showed a specific three-dimensional distribution, depending on the centrifugation forces. Platelets and fibrin formed large clusters of coagulation in the first millimeters of the membrane beyond the red blood cell base. The fibrin network was very mature and dense. Moreover, there was no significant difference in the PRF architecture between groups using the different tested collection tubes and compression techniques, even if these two parameters could have influenced the growth factor content and biologic matrix properties. CONCLUSIONS The PRF protocol concentrated most platelets and leukocytes from a blood harvest into a single autologous fibrin biomaterial. This protocol offers reproducible results as long as the main production principles are respected.
Gonadotropin and Inhibin Concentrations in Early Pregnancy in Women With and Without Corpora Lutea

We compared serum concentrations of immunoreactive inhibin, hCG, and FSH in normal women with those of two groups of women lacking endogenous luteal function. Twelve functionally agonadal, hypergonadotropic women with premature ovarian failure were given replacement ovarian steroids. Donor oocytes were fertilized in vitro with the husband's semen, and embryos were transferred into these women. A second group of 12 women were normogonadotropic but anovulatory, had undergone previously unsuccessful in vitro fertilization, and possessed cryopreserved embryos. These women were suppressed with a GnRH agonist before sex hormone replacement. Serum samples collected at weeks 2, 3, 4-6, 8-10, and 12-14 of pregnancy were measured for FSH, hCG, and immunoreactive inhibin. Data were compared with concentrations in normally ovulating women with well-established dates of conception. Sex steroid replacement hormone levels did not differ between the ovarian-failure and agonist-suppressed women and approximated that of normal cycles until pregnancy; thereafter, estradiol and progesterone levels remained higher than normal. Despite excessive steroid replacement, FSH remained higher in women with ovarian failure than in agonist-suppressed or normal women. On immunoassay, inhibin failed to show an early rise at 4-6 weeks of pregnancy in either group of aluteal women (0.52 ± 0.05 ng/mL), whereas normal women demonstrated 0.9 ± 0.05 ng/mL inhibin in their sera (P<.001). By 8-10 weeks of pregnancy, women with ovarian failure demonstrated inhibin concentrations identical to those of normal women (1.2 ± 0.1 and 1.2 ± 0.15 ng/mL, respectively), whereas agonist-suppressed women lagged behind (0.7 ± 0.1 ng/mL) (P<.02). In all groups, hCG followed a pattern identical to inhibin. Normal hCG levels were observed in ovarian- failure women by 8-10 weeks, but not in agonist-suppressed women. We conclude the following: 1) Women lacking a corpus luteum do not appear to secrete inhibin until at least 8 weeks of gestation, indicating a luteal source of immunoreactive inhibin in normal early pregnancy; 2) detectable placental inhibin in ovarian failure increases by 8-10 weeks, as does hCG, and appears to be associated with suppressed FSH concentrations, suggesting that placental immunoreactive inhibin may be a biologically active dimer; and 3) both hCG and inhibin secretion are suppressed in GnRH agonistsuppressed women, suggesting a placental “lagZ” in pregnancies derived from cryopreserved embryos or in chronically anovulatory infertile women.
Automatic Generation of Formatted Text

Few texts longer than a paragraph are written without appropriate formatting. To ensure readability, automated text generation programs must not only plan and generate their texts but be able to format them as well. We describe how work on the automated planning of multisentence text and on the display of information in a multimedia system led to the insight that text formatting devices such as footnotes, italicized regions, enumerations, etc., can be planned automatically by a text structure planning process. This is achieved by recognizing that each formatting device fulfills a specific communicative function in a text, and that such functions can be defined in terms of the text structure relations used as plans in a text planning system. An example is presented in which a text is planned from a semantic representation to a final form that includes English sentences and LATEX formatting commands, intermingled as appropriate.
Three‐dimensional imaging MS of lipids in atherosclerotic plaques: Open‐source methods for reconstruction and analysis

Three‐dimensional MALDI imaging MS (IMS) is a growing branch of IMS still requiring developments in methodology and technology to make the technique routinely accessible. Many challenges are simply a matter of producing 3D reconstructions and interpreting them in a timely fashion. In this aim and using analysis of lipids from atherosclerotic plaques from a human carotid and mouse aortic sinuses, we describe 3D reconstruction methods using open‐source software that provides high‐quality visualization and rapid interpretation through multivariate segmentation of the 3D IMS data. Multiple datasets were generated for each sample and we provide insight into simple means to correlate the separate datasets.
Agent-community based peer-to-peer information retrieval: an evaluation

The Agent-Community-based Peer-to-Peer Information Retrieval (ACP2P) method uses agent communities to manage and look up information of interest to users. An agent works as a delegate of its user and searches for information that the user wants by communicating with other agents. The communication between agents is carried out in a peer-to-peer computing architecture. The ACP2P is implemented using the Multi-Agent Kodama framework. This paper presents how the ACP2P method works in an agent community network and show the experimental results to illustrate the validity of this approach.
Thermal image processing for real-time non-contact respiration rate monitoring

A real-time thermal imaging based, non-contact respiration rate monitoring method was developed. It measured the respiration related skin surface temperature changes under the tip of the nose. Facial tracking was required as head movements caused the face to appear in different locations in the recorded images over time. The algorithm detected the tip of the nose and then, a region just under it was selected. The pixel values in this region in successive images were processed to determine respiration rate. The segmentation method, used as part of the facial tracking, was evaluated on 55,000 thermal images recorded from 14 subjects with different extent of head movements. It separated the face from image background in all images. However, in 11.7% of the images, a section of the neck was also included, but this did not cause an error in determining respiration rate. The method was further evaluated on 15 adults, against two contact respiration rate monitoring methods that tracked thoracic and abdominal movements. The three methods gave close respiration rates in 12 subjects but in 3 subjects, where there were very large head movements, the respiration rates did not match.
Konditionsbeurteilung per Ultraschall in der Herdenbetreuung

Zusammenfassung Das Ziel der Untersuchung war, Referenzwerte für einen im Rahmen der Herdenbetreuung anwendbaren Konditionsbereich zu ermitteln, der hohe Milchleistungen mit akzeptablen Fruchtbarkeitsergebnissen zu vereinen vermag. Zu diesem Zweck wurde bei 46111 Tieren in 78 verschiedenen Betrieben die Rückenfettdicke (RFD) gemessen. Durch polynomiale Regressionsanalysen wurden Referenzkurven für die Konditionsentwicklung im Laktationsverlauf und für die tägliche Änderung der RFD bei wiederholter Messung berechnet. Im Herdenmittel sollte die Kondition der Trockensteher zwischen 22 und 23 mm RFD liegen. Der Abbau von Fettgewebe in der Frühlaktation sollte nach etwa 90 Tagen zum Stillstand kommen und im Durchschnitt einen Minimalwert von 13 mm RFD erreichen. Bis zum Trockenstellen ist eine Regeneration der Körperfettreserven anzustreben, bei Hochleistungstieren sind mäßige Zunahmen innerhalb der Trockenperiode notwendig.
Reduced food anticipatory activity in genetically orexin (hypocretin) neuron‐ablated mice

Daily restricted feeding (RF) produces an anticipatory locomotor activity rhythm and entrains the peripheral molecular oscillator independently of the central pacemaker located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). As orexins (hypocretins) are neuropeptides that coordinate sleep/wake patterns and motivated behaviours, such as food seeking, we studied the involvement of orexin in the food anticipatory activity (FAA) induced by RF. Daily RF shifted the mRNA rhythm of a clock‐controlled gene mDbp in the cerebral cortex and caudate putamen but not in the SCN. Under these experimental conditions, prepro‐orexin mRNA and orexin A immunoreactivity in the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) did not show daily variation. Fasting increased the number of orexin A‐ir cells, while RF did not. However, RF shifted the peak of Fos expression of the orexin neurons from night to day. Genetic ablation of orexin neurons in orexin/ataxin‐3 transgenic mice severely reduced the formation of FAA under RF conditions. The expression of mNpas2 mRNA, a transcription factor thought to be involved in regulation of the food entrainable oscillator as well as mPer1 and mBmal1 mRNA, was reduced in the forebrain of orexin/ataxin‐3 mice. Based on these results, we suggest that activity of the orexin neuron in the LHA contributes to the promotion and maintenance of FAA.
Beyond Translation: Approaches to Interactive Products for Chinese Consumers

The localization of interactive, digital products often centers around disconnects between a foreign language and North American conventions-the deficit-driven approach. The fact that a distinct user language can be the key to a deep understanding of a culture that ultimately leads to solutions that go beyond purely functional language support is often overlooked. In this article we describe the challenges of enabling products for interaction with Chinese customers. We show how deficit-driven approaches have been used for quickly identifying and addressing usability issues in interfaces. However, when fundamental disconnects between a product and a user culture exist, the deficit perspective can result in hard-to-understand and cumbersome products. We propose an alternative, complementary approach that is based on the interdependency of language, culture, and interaction. It allows product and interface design practitioners to reveal users' language rules, elements, and structures. Those characteristics reflect users' mental models, problem-solving approaches, and behavioral patterns. This approach fosters the integration of cultural aspects into the design process to create products that connect to the conventions of interaction in the Chinese culture-toward truly "smart" products for the Chinese market.
Metric-based no-reference quality assessment of heterogeneous document images

No-reference image quality assessment (NR-IQA) aims at computing an image quality score that best correlates with either human perceived image quality or an objective quality measure, without any prior knowledge of reference images. Although learning-based NR-IQA methods have achieved the best state-of-the-art results so far, those methods perform well only on the datasets on which they were trained. The datasets usually contain homogeneous documents, whereas in reality, document images come from different sources. It is unrealistic to collect training samples of images from every possible capturing device and every document type. Hence, we argue that a metric-based IQA method is more suitable for heterogeneous documents. We propose a NR-IQA method with the objective quality measure of OCR accuracy. The method combines distortion-specific quality metrics. The final quality score is calculated taking into account the proportions of, and the dependency among different distortions. Experimental results show that the method achieves competitive results with learning-based NR-IQA methods on standard datasets, and performs better on heterogeneous documents.
Common Practices and Problems in Effort Data Collection in the Software Industry

Effort data is crucial for project management activities in software projects. This data is utilized in estimations that are required for project planning, in the formation of benchmarking data sets and as a main input for project monitoring and control activities. However, there are known problems regarding effort data collection in the industry. In this study we investigate the effort data collection practices in the industry and factors that lead to inaccurate effort data collection. A pilot study was conducted to observe problems in effort data collection and a survey is conducted to observe the existence of these problems in the industry as well as causes of these problems. In this paper, findings of these studies are presented along with certain suggestions to improve the quality of effort data.
Multimode SiC trampoline resonators manipulate microspheres to create Chladni figures

This digest paper describes the experimental demonstration of two dimensional (2D) microscale `Chladni figure'-like patterns [1] of populations of microspheres in liquid using SiC micromechanical resonators. SiC square trampoline resonators (size: 50μm×50μm) exhibit appreciable high frequency multimode resonances when operating in liquid. We are able to manipulate relatively small (1.7μm in diameter) and large (7.75μm in diameter) microspheres by resonant excitation of the trampolines and create a series of 2D microscale Chladni patterns (corresponding to specific mode shapes), from simple to complex. This SiC resonator platform may offer new opportunities for microparticle patterning by taking advantage of its straightforward device fabrication and engineerable multiple modes, and further facilitate cell manipulation, cellular interaction and behavior controlling, and other biophysical and biomedical studies in liquid.
Edge detection using sobel method with Median filter

— In this paper we show a very good approach to detect edge and corner of any image. Edges and corners are very important part of an image. Edge detection is a commonly performed operation in image processing. Many different edge detectors were used in edge detection. However, the results may not be satisfied when they are directly used in digital images which are affected by noise. Therefore, it's necessary for us to smooth the noise before detecting edges This paper proposes an improved algorithm which used the Sobel operator to detect the edges with median filter to remove the unwanted noise of an image; we also calculate the PSNR value with median filter for better performance. This paper compares and analyzes several kinds of image edge detection, including prewitt, Robert and canny with matlab tool. The experimental results on standard test images demonstrate this filter is simpler and better performing than average filter and also detect the edges accurately.
Multimodal biosignal sensor data handling for emotion recognition

We present an experimental setup, sensor data handling, and evaluation framework for emotion recognition, based on multimodal biosignal sensor data. For labeled data acquisition we developed an emotion elicitation block, with a bank of labeled videos containing different triggering stimuli. A biosignal acquisition apparatus was used to collect multimodal data, namely: Electromyography (EMG); Electrocardiography (ECG); Electrodermal Activity (EDA); Blood Volume Pulse (BVP); Peripheral Temperature (SKT); and Respiration (RESP). An automated biosignal processing and feature extraction toolbox was developed to convert raw data into meaningful parameters. Experimental results revealed trends associated with triggering events, providing a baseline for emotion recognition. Through LOOCV with a k-NN classifier, we obtained recognition rates of 81% to distinguish between positive and negative emotions, and of 70% to distinguish between positive, neutral, and negative emotions.
Visualization of High Dimensional Data using Convex Optimization

In today’s era, data is being generated at a rapid pace. A variety of domains such as speech recognition, fMRI, Natural Language Processing work with data of high dimensionality. There is a need to reduce the dimension, both for better understanding of the problem as well as to address the issues that arise in higher dimensions(such as overfitting, higher computational complexity etc). In this regard, we have done a survey of four different techniques for dimensionality reduction. These techniques have been designed especially to extract non-linearity in the data using convex optimization methods.
40 Gbps electroabsorption modulated DFB laser with tilted facet formed by dry etching

We fabricated electroabsorption modulated distributed feedback (DFB) laser diodes for 40 Gbps application through the selective-area growth method. The facet reflection was not sufficiently removed by just depositing the anti-reflection coating so that low frequency resonance occurred by optical feedback from the facet to the DFB laser. A tilted facet formed by dry etching processes successfully reduced the optical feedback and the resonance in E/O response decreased significantly.
Preferential expression of the secreted and membrane forms of tumor endothelial marker 7 transcripts in osteosarcoma.

BACKGROUND High expression of tumor endothelial marker 7 (TEM7) is correlated with osteogenic sarcoma (OS) metastasis and poor survival of patients. The TEM7 gene produces four alternatively spliced transcripts with distinct functional domains; the expression pattern of these transcripts in OS is unknown. MATERIALS AND METHODS mRNA expression was assessed in 5 OS cell lines, 7 normal bone, and 9 OS tumor specimens by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS All OS cell lines, 6/9 tumors but none of the bone specimens expressed mRNA of TEM7 secreted forms 1 and 2. A total of 3/5 OS cell lines, 8/9 of tumors and 4/7 of bone specimens expressed mRNA of the TEM7 intracellular form. One out of 5 cell lines, 2/7 tumors and none of the bone specimens expressed mRNA of the TEM7 membrane form. The secreted forms had 20-fold higher expression in metastatic (LM7) compared to non-metastatic (SAOS-2) cells. CONCLUSION The mRNA of secreted and the membrane forms of TEM7 are preferentially expressed in OS.
Design and calibration of a two-camera (visible to near-infrared and short-wave infrared) hyperspectral acquisition system for the characterization of metallic alloys from the recycling industry

Abstract. The conception of a prototype combining two hyperspectral cameras, one ranging from visible to near-infrared and the other covering short-wave infrared, is presented. The prototype aims at the characterization of millimeter-sized metallic alloys particles, originating from end-of-life vehicles and waste electrical and electronic equipment recycling. This paper is meant to serve as a support for a similar project by presenting difficulties encountered and available solutions. The calibration steps necessary to obtain quality reflectance data are also described. Classification results obtained on 100 metallic fragments dataset are finally presented.
Primary acute stroke thrombectomy within 3 h for large artery occlusion (PAST3-LAO): a pilot study

Background and purpose In recent trials, acute ischemic stroke (AIS) from large artery occlusion (LAO) was resistant to intravenous thrombolysis and adjunctive stent retriever thrombectomy (SRT) was associated with better perfusion and outcomes. Despite benefit, 39–68% of patients had poor outcomes. Thrombectomy in AIS with LAO within 3 h is performed secondary to intravenous thrombolysis, which may be associated with delay. The purpose of our study is to evaluate the safety, feasibility, recanalization rate, and outcome of primary SRT within 3 h without intravenous thrombolysis in AIS from LAO. Methods Based on an institutionally approved protocol, stroke patients with LAO within 3 h were offered primary SRT as an alternative to intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator. Consecutive patients who underwent primary SRT for LAO within 3 h from 2012 to 2014 were enrolled. Outcomes were measured using the modified Rankin Scale (mRS). Results 18 patients with LAO of mean age 62.83±15.32 years and median NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score 16 (10–23) chose primary SRT after giving informed consent. Near complete (TICI 2b in 1 patient) or complete (TICI 3 in 17 patients) recanalization was observed in all patients. Time to recanalization from symptom onset and groin puncture was 188.5±82.7 and 64.61±40.14 min, respectively. NIHSS scores immediately after thrombectomy, at 24 h and 30 days were 4 (0–12), 1 (0–12), and 0 (0–4), respectively. Asymptomatic perfusion-related hemorrhage developed in four patients (22%). 90-day outcomes were mRS 0 in 50%, mRS 1 in 44.4%, and mRS 2 in 5.6%. Conclusions Our study demonstrates that primary SRT in AIS from LAO is safe and feasible and is associated with complete recanalization and good outcome. Further study is required.