Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FOR WNV SURVEILLANCE AND CONTROL IN CHATHAM COUNTY

Chatham County is the most northern coastal county in Georgia occupying approximately 438 square miles. The area includes a variety of aquatic and terrestrial habitats, such as coastal barrier islands, urban landscape, and xeric sandhill regions. Thirty-nine species of mosquitoes are known to occur in the county. West Nile virus activity was first detected in Chatham County in 2001; however, surveillance and control program changes to deal with the developing disease threat began in 1999. As information about West Nile virus epidemiology was acquired, surveillance and control methods were adapted so that the following programs were in place at the start of the 2003 mosquito season. Our sentinel chicken surveillance program, originally intended to detect Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus in limited rural areas of the county, was expanded to monitor West Nile virus activity county-wide especially the urban area of Savannah. Mosquito surveillance was accomplished primarily with gravid traps that were placed at twelve fixed locations around the county. Additional gravid traps were temporarily deployed that year in neighborhoods where infected birds and mosquitoes were collected. In urban Savannah, catch basins were treated with 150 day Altosid® Briquets because these habitats are known or are potential larval developmental areas for Culex mosquitoes in other locations of the United States (Covell and Resh 1971, Halzelrigg and Pelsue 1980, Pfunter 1978). Ground and aerial spray operations specifically targeted Culex quinquefasciatus Say, but the finding of West Nile virus infected birds and mosquitoes was the primary indicator used to initiate treatment. In spite of a massive effort by Mosquito Control and District Health Department staff, the outcome in Chatham County seemed disappointing: 27 birds, 67 mosquito pools, 6 sentinel chickens and 1 horse tested positive for West Nile virus. Nine human cases (one fatal) of West Nile fever/encephalitis were reported. For the effort expended, staff members were not satisfied with the West Nile virus control results. A comprehensive review of the West Nile virus surveillance and control program began in September 2003.
The protective effect of procyanidins on high glucose-induced oxidative damage in the rabbit lens

Excessive exposure to oxygen has been indicated as a risk factor for cataracts. This study aims to explore the protective role of procyanidins (PCs) on rabbit lens oxidation damage induced by high glucose (HG). The rabbits were randomly divided into four groups: (A) blank control, (B) HG treatment, (C) Vitamin C (VC) + HG treatment (200 mg/L), and (D) PCs + HG treatment (200 mg/L). The lenses were cultivated in vitro. At 48 h, 72 h and 96 h, the opacity of the lenses in each group was detected separately. The contents of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were analyzed. The morphology of the lens epithelial cells was observed by H&E staining. Immunohistochemistry was applied to detect the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax. The turbidity of the lenses from Group B was significantly higher than in Group A. Groups C and D showed lower turbidity than Group B. The SOD and CAT contents were decreased in Group B, while treatment with VC or PCs clearly reversed HG-induced SOD and CAT reduction. Regular morphology could be observed in Group A, while Group B showed broken fibers and many empty air bubbles. In comparison, fewer empty air bubbles and lens flaws could be observed in Group C and Group D. Decreased Bcl-2 and enhanced Bax expression was detected in Group B, while VC or PCs treatment partially reversed these effects. PC protects lenses from HG-induced oxidative injury through enhancing SOD and CAT production, as well as reducing cell apoptosis.
FAMILY RESILIENCE AND GOOD CHILD OUTCOMES: AN OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH LITERATURE

A review of the international research literature on family resilience shows that processes that operate at the family level – including strong emotional bonds, effective patterns of communication, the use of coping strategies and family belief systems, especially those based on spiritual or religious values – are important means by which families manage to cope with adversity. Positive parenting is a key influence on children’s development, especially in adverse financial circumstances. Wider family involvement can also assist families to cope with stress. In particular, non-resident fathers and other father figures have an important role to play in promoting the development of children in lone-mother families, while the burden of teenage parenthood can be eased by multi-generational co-residence. On the question of whether it is possible to inculcate resilience in families, evidence from a range of recent evaluations of selected intervention programmes shows that approaches that work best are those that involve early intervention, that are sensitive to families’ cultures and values and that assist in relieving families’ ecological stresses.
Determinants of credit utilization among SACCO members in Soroti District, Uganda

Received: 20 June 2016 Accepted: 10 September 2017 Published: 30 September 2017 ABSTRACT Savings and credit cooperatives have been seen as the most appropriate institution to serve rural households and contribute to poverty alleviation and rural development. However they have been characterized by inadequate credit monitoring and control mechanisms, inefficient loan collection mechanisms and inappropriate loan delivery systems leading to poor loan repayment rates, high loan defaults, and diversion of credit to consumption purposes. This study examined the household dynamics that affect productive use of credit among members of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) in Soroti district, Uganda. The findings indicated that women were excluded from institutional credit due to loss of respect and cooperation from their husbands. Consequently women allowed their husbands to control the cash transaction in order to preserve their marriages. Household size was a key significant factor influencing productive use of credit. Therefore, there is need for investment in attitudinal change in men and women in order to reduce gender differences within the household concerning credit use decisions. There is also need to strengthen cooperation among family members in order to utilize the free labour they provide as well as support provided by the different family members especially during repayment of credit.
Generating randomised virtualised scenarios for ethical hacking and computer security education: SecGen implementation and deployment

Computer security students benefit from having hands-on experience with hacking tools and with access to vulnerable systems that they can attack and defend. However, vulnerable VMs are static; once they have been exploited by a student there is no repeatable challenge as the vulnerable boxes never change. A new novel solution, SecGen, has been created and deployed. SecGen solves the issue by creating vulnerable machines with randomised vulnerabilities and services, with constraints that ensure each scenario is catered to specific skills or concepts. SecGen was successfully deployed to generate VMs for a second year undergraduate team module. Future plans are discussed.
Differences in Risk-Taking in a Trauma Exposed Population

Previous studies have shown that depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are associated with a variety of risk-taking behaviors. However fewer studies have examined how comorbidity between the two disorders can differentially affect risktaking. This study examined the relationship between depression, PTSD, past risktaking, and perceived benefits of risk to further determine how comorbidity affects risk behaviors. It was expected that individuals who displayed symptoms of depression and PTSD would report more past risk-taking and associate greater benefits with taking risks. Depression symptoms were found to significantly predict past drug use. This suggests that comorbid individuals who report more depressive symptoms may be more likely to abuse substances.
2P1-G21 Sensing Point Planning for 3-dimensional Scanning System to Obtain Outdoor Information

This paper reports a sensing point planning for mobile robots to obtain 3-dimensional environment information which includes range and visual data. Generally, to avoid an occlusion problem and a low resolution problem, it is necessary for robots to sense in different places. Therefore, a suitable sensing point planning is required to reduce redundant sensing. This problem is called “Art Gallery and Illumination Problems” in 3-dimensional environment, and our approach is to solve the problem with consideration of both valid-sensing-area and partially-unknown environment. In this paper, we explain our planning-approach and introduce some initial experimental results.
NIKVISION: NATURAL INTERACTION FOR KIDS

This paper shows the development of a video game console based on the use of natural interfaces. Its use does not require any training, nor using any piece of technological hardware, and the kid plays with it the same way he plays with any of his non technological toys. An important aim has been the development of technologies that do not require sophisticated technological elements and installation nor very restricted environment conditions. Regarding kid/computer interaction, not only natural but emotional interaction is sought. This is accomplished by means of a virtual 3D character that acts as a pedagogical guide. The character speaks, recognises the kid's voice, and shows emotions in a natural way. Based on the developed video console, a collection of educational video games is being designed to research new way and possibilities of natural computer-children interaction.
The evolution of mitochondrial genomes and phylogenetic relationships in the hymenoptera

This thesis studies the phylogenetic relationships in the Hymenoptera as well as the mitochondrial (mt) genomics of the group with a comparative approach. My principal purposes were to (1) reconstruct the phylogenetic relationshisps among the Apocrita, and (2) characterize the mt genome of the Hymenoptera and its utility as a phylogenetic marker both within the Apocrita and within the Holometabola. In order to achieve these aims: (1) 550 bp of the 18S gene were sequenced in 87 apocritan taxa and analyzed using a Bayesian phylogenetic approach, including the sequences of two mitochondrial genes ( cox1 , 16S ) and another nuclear gene ( 28S ) from Dowton and Austin (2001). Although the phylogeny of the Apocrita was not totally resolved, I was able to support some groups. In particular, the monophyly of the Proctotrupomorpha, and within this group the Chalcidoidea as sister taxon to the Diapriidae + Monomachidae + Maamingidae clade were consistenly recovered and supported by high posterior probabilities. (2) Most of the mt genome of the sawfly Perga condei was sequenced. 12 protein coding genes, 16 trn genes, and the small and large rRNA genes, for a total of 13,416 bp. This mt genome has a conserved gene order, with the exception that tnaL CUN was not found in the position considered ancestral to insects and crustaceans (Boore et al. 1998, Flook et al. 1995). Apart from this rearrangement, the organization of the genes in Perga condei matches perfectly with distant species such as Drosophila melanogaster (Lewis et al. 1994) or Triatoma dimidiata (Dotson and Beard 2001). The base composition, the amino acid composition, and the codon usage of the mt genome of P. condei were reported. Similar to other insect mt genomes, this genome is A+T rich, and there is a correlation between the base composition and amino acid occurrence, with A+T rich codons predominating. (3) Two other mt
The Effects of Different Copper (Inorganic and Organic) and Energy (Tallow and Glycerol) Sources on Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility, and Fecal Excretion Profiles in Growing Pigs

This study was conducted to determine the effects of different copper (inorganic and organic) and energy (tallow and glycerol) sources on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, gas emission, diarrhea incidence, and fecal copper concentration in growing pigs by using a 2x2 factorial design. In this trial, 96 pigs (63 d of age) were employed, with an average initial weight of 28.36±1.14 kg. The dietary treatments were i) basal diet with 134 ppm copper (Korea recommendation) as CuSO 4 +tallow; ii) basal diet with 134 ppm Cu as CuSO 4 +glycerol; iii) basal diet with 134 ppm copper as CuMet+tallow; and iv) basal diet with 134 ppm copper as CuMet+ glycerol. Throughout the entire experimental period, no differences were noted among treatment groups with regard to the magnitude of improvement in ADG (average daily gain), ADFI (average daily feed intake) and G/F (gain:feed) ratios. The nitrogen (N) digestibility of pigs fed on diets containing organic copper was improved as compared with that observed in pigs fed on diets containing inorganic copper (p<0.05). An interaction of copperxenergy was observed in the context of both nitrogen (p<0.05) and energy (p<0.01) digestibility. Ammonia emissions were significantly lower in the organic copper-added treatment groups than in the inorganic copper-added treatment groups (p<0.05). Mercaptan and hydrogen sulfide emissions were reduced via the addition of glycerol (p<0.05). No significant effects of copper or energy source, or their interaction, were observed in reference to diarrhea appearance and incidence throughout the entirety of the experimental period. The copper concentration in the feces was significantly lower in the organic copper source treatment group than was observed in the inorganic copper source treatment group (p<0.05). The results of this experiment show that organic copper substituted for inorganic copper in the diet results in a decreased fecal copper excretion, but exerts no effect on performance. The different energy (tallow and glycerol) sources interact with different copper sources and thus influence nutrient digestibility. Glycerol supplementation may reduce the concentrations of odorous sulfuric compounds with different Cu sources.
DISCRIMINAÇÃO DE GÊNERO NO MERCADO DE TRABALHO BRASILEIRO: UMA ANÁLISE PARA O ANO 2015

Nos últimos anos, se observa que questões relacionadas à discriminação no mercado de trabalho ganham cada vez mais espaço. Como forma de contribuir com essa discussão, o objetivo deste trabalho é estimar as equações de salários para homens e mulheres, além do diferencial de salários por gênero no Brasil no ano 2015. Nos procedimentos metodológicos foram utilizados a decomposição de Oaxaca-Blinder e equação Minceriana para determinação de salários. Os resultados evidenciam que as mulheres obtém maior retorno à educação, equanto que homens à experiência no mercado de trabalho. Com relação a decomposição de Oaxaca-Blinder foi possível observar que logaritmo do salário-hora entre gêneros é diferente, em que a diferença total é de 13%, favorecendo os homens. Por fim, a educação foi a grande responsável pelo efeito discriminação não ser ainda maior enquanto que a experiência agiu no sentido de aumentar a discriminação.
SP-Cache: Load-Balanced, Redundancy-Free Cluster Caching with Selective Partition

Data-intensive clusters increasingly employ inmemory solutions to improve I/O performance. However, the routinely observed file popularity skew and load imbalance create hot spots, which significantly degrade the benefits of in-memory caching. Common approaches to tame load imbalance include copying multiple replicas of hot files and creating parity chunks using storage codes. Yet, these techniques either suffer from high memory overhead due to cache redundancy or incur nontrivial encoding/decoding complexity. In this paper, we propose an effective approach to achieve load balancing without cache redundancy or encoding/decoding overhead. Our solution, termed SP-Cache, selectively partitions files based on their popularity and evenly caches those partitions across the cluster. We develop an efficient algorithm to determine the optimal number of partitions for a hot file—too few partitions are incapable of mitigating hot spots, while too many are susceptible to stragglers. We implemented SP-Cache in Alluxio, a popular in-memory distributed storage for data-intensive clusters. EC2 deployment and trace-driven simulations show that, compared to the state-of-the-art solution called EC-Cache [1], SP-Cache reduces the file access latency by up to 40% in both the mean and the tail, using 40% less memory.
Situation Detection based on Activity Recognition in Disaster Scenarios

In disaster situations like earthquakes and hurricanes, people have difficulties accessing shelter and requesting help. Many smartphone applications provide behavioral advice or means to communicate during such situations. However, to what extent a person is affected by a disaster is often unclear, as these applications rely on the user’s subjective assessment. Therefore, detecting a user’s situation is key to provide more meaningful information in such applications and to allows first responders to better assess incoming messages. We propose a predictive model that recognizes four normal and ten disaster-related activities achieving an average f1-score of up to 90.1%, solely based on sensor readings of the subject’s mobile device. We conduct an extensive measurement-based evaluation to assess the impact of individual model parameters on the prediction accuracy. Our model is orientation-independent, position-independent, and subject-independent, making it an ideal foundation for future context-aware emergency applications.
Endogenous optimal currency areas: The case of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community

The Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CAEMC) has been a monetary union for several decades now. According to the hypothesis of endogenous optimal currency areas (OCAs), the degree of business cycle synchronisation across its member states should be significantly higher today than forty years ago. This paper examines cycle synchronisation along three different statistical dimensions and shows that (i) synchronisation has remained low throughout the period 1960--2007, but (ii) it has marginally increased over time. These findings have important implications for the design of the economic integration process in Africa. A chronology of business cycles in CAEMC countries is provided. Copyright 2010 The author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for the Study of African Economies. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org, Oxford University Press.
Biophysical Properties of the Basal Lamina: A Highly Selective Extracellular Matrix

available Abstract In this chapter, we discuss a specialized version of the extracellular matrix, the basal lamina. We focus on biophysical approaches which helped in identifying the mechanis‐ tic principles that allow the basal lamina to act as a selective permeability barrier. We discuss the physicochemical interactions that entail binding of molecules or nanoparti‐ cles to the basal lamina matrix and outline physiological scenarios where altered selective permeability properties of the basal lamina might contribute to physiological (mal) function.
ROBOTIC ARM CONTROL WITH BRAIN COMPUTER INTERFACE USING P300 AND SSVEP

The objective of brain computer interfaces (BCI) is to create a novel communication channel between the user and the outside world. Thus a person can interact with its surrounding using the electrical activity of the brain only. In this study, dual EEG activity is used successfully to control a 5 degree of freedom robotic arm. P300 event related potential (ERP) is used to select between 5 servo motors while Steady-State Visually Evoked Potentials (SSVEP) are used to move the chosen motor in opposite directions. Finally, a camera pointed at the robotic arm is used for providing visual feedback about the position of the robotic arm.
Early instrumental predictors of long term neurodevelopmental impairment in newborns with perinatal asphyxia treated with therapeutic hypothermia

Background. Hypoxic-ischemic encepha-lopathy (HIE) is a leading cause of dis-ability in full-term newborns. Long-term consequences of HIE, even when treated by hypothermia, are not easily predictable. Aims. To assess the potential role of elec-troencephalography and neuroimaging parameters as early predictors of neurode-velopmental outcome in HIE newborns treated with hypothermia.Methods. We retrospectively evaluated 13 HIE patients treated with hypothermia in January 2012-September 2014. We re-viewed their amplitude-integrated electro-encephalography (a-EEG) at 6, 12 and 24 hours (h), cranial ultrasonography (US) at 12, 72 h and >7 days of life (DOL) and brain magnetic resonance (MRI) performed at 7-28 DOL, according to validated scores. aEEG, US and MRI patterns were correlat-ed to neurodevelopmental outcome at 18-24 months, considered as negative if one of the following was present: Mental Devel-opment Index (MDI) 7DOL(R=0.690, p=0.013). US alterations of the cortical matter at 72h were directly corre-lated with a-EEG score at 12h (R = 0.606, p=0.028) and 24h (R=0.605, p=0.029). Conclusions. Early instrumental evalua-tions, in particular aEEG and US, seem to predict neurodevelopmental outcome at 18-24 months in HIE newborns treated with hypothermia.
Tree detection by row recovery on eucalyptus spp. Plantations from TLS data

Precise biomass estimation of trees is of major importance to planta- tion owners. But the capabilities of conventional inventory methods are limited. In recent years, several studies have proven the value of terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) data for forest inventory and forest management tasks. In order to obtain biomass information from TLS data, tree detection is a necessary first step. In contrast to naturally grown forests, trees on plantations are not randomly posi- tioned; trees are planted in rather straight rows at pre-defined distances. We pro- pose to make use of this row-wise alignment in the process of automatically de- tecting trees from TLS data. First, the row arrangement is recovered. Second, we examine each row separately in order to actually detect trees. Our approach has been successfully tested with TLS data of 18 plots on Eucalyptus spp. plantations, which comprise about 32 to 84 trees within the defined area of interest. The av- erage rate of properly detected trees is 97%. The results show that it is beneficial to include knowledge about the expected positioning pattern of plants on the plantation in the detection process. Further investigation of this approach is nec- essary to turn the proposed method, which is currently restricted to straight rows, into a flexible tool to be applied to other types of plantations as well.
Effect of Acid Pickling on Microstructure and Surface Roughness of 316L Stainless Steel

Hydrofluoric and Nitric acids solution with additional of water were tested as pickling solutions for 316L stainless steel before application of hydroxyapatite coatings. Pickling was explored at room temperature for 5-10-15 min. The microstructure of surface layer, surface roughness and microhardness of 316L stainless steel treated by acid pickling were investigated in this study. The microstructure and surface morphology were examined by an optical microscope (OM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM), while surface roughness was measured by using perthometer (Mahr). The experimental result showed that increment of surface roughness when longer exposed to the acids solution. Microhardness values were higher than annealed sample. It is expected that surface treated 316L stainless steel strongly adhere to the coating after applying acid pickling treatment.