Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence and sources of Campylobacter spp. contamination in free-range broiler production in the southern part of Belgium

Prevalence et sources de contamination par Campylobacter spp. des productions de poulets de chair eleves en plein air dans le sud de la Belgique. Une etude epidemiologique d’un an a ete menee de fevrier 2005 a fevrier 2006 en region wallonne de Belgique afin d’evaluer la prevalence de Campylobacter dans les productions de poulets de chair eleves en plein air. Trois lots successifs dans six exploitations belges ont ete investigues pour la presence de Campylobacter spp. pendant la periode d’elevage. A chaque visite, des echantillons ont ete preleves dans le poulailler (litiere, matieres caecales, lignes d’eau, aliment, sas d’entree) ainsi que de l’environnement exterieur (parcours). La detection de Campylobacter dans les echantillons a ete realisee selon le standard ISO 10272. L’identification etait basee sur la morphologie des colonies, l’examen microscopique et des tests biochimiques. La PCR multiplex a ete utilisee pour confirmation genetique. Campylobacter jejuni etait la principale espece isolee de tous les echantillons contamines. Globalement, les infections mixtes C. jejuni / Campylobacter coli representaient 40,6 %, tandis que C. jejuni et C. coli representaient 46,9 % et 12,5 % des isolats de poulets respectivement. Tous les lots (100 %) etaient contamines dans les six exploitations pendant la periode ete-automne, alors que seulement 66,7 % et 33,3 % des lots etaient positifs a Campylobacter a la fin de la periode d’elevage, au printemps et en hiver respectivement. La moitie des lots contamines etaient infectes avant que les poulets n’aient acces au parcours exterieur. Differents echantillons environnementaux, plus particulierement le sol du parcours, ont ete detectes positifs a Campylobacter avant l’infection du lot. Les autres sources potentielles de contamination etaient le vehicule de livraison, le sol du sas et les lignes d’eau. La presence d’autres productions animales comme des bovins dans l’exploitation, l’absence de controle des rongeurs, l’absence de nettoyage et de desinfection des lignes d’eau entre les lots, le nettoyage sans detergent et la separation des lots pour l’abattage ont ete determines comme facteurs de risque. En conclusion, le contact avec l’environnement, plus particulierement l’acces a un parcours exterieur, apparait comme une source majeure de contamination des poulets par Campylobacter en production de poulets de chair eleves en plein air.
How to Gamify Information Systems - Adapting Gamification to Individual Preferences

Gamification refers to the use of game elements in a non-entertainment-based context, and is a well- known approach to motivate users of information systems. Despite the positive effects of games in daily life, more gamification projects fail. A possible explanation for this observation is that game elements are often designed without considering the needs of different groups of users. Consequently, we aim to develop a gamification approach that allows us to adapt the gamification elements to the individual motivation structures of information system users. To achieve our goal, we rely on self- determination theory to design different specifications of game elements. We exemplarily developed four different specifications for each of the nine gamification elements we found in the literature. We are currently in the process of conducting a discrete choice experiment allowing us to match the motivation structures of system users and their preferences regarding the specifications of game elements. Based on our results, we expect to better understand how gamification can motivate users to use systems more regularly. In a subsequent step, we plan to rely on our results to design different gamification configurations for an information system, allowing us to adapt the gamification elements to individual preferences of the users.
Triple modular redundancy

In computing, triple modular redundancy (TMR) is a fault tolerant form of N-modular redundancy, in which three systems perform a process and that result is processed by a voting system to produce a single output. If any one of the three systems fails, the other two systems can correct and mask the fault. If the voter fails then the complete system will fail. However, in a good TMR system the voter is much more reliable than the other TMR components. Alternatively, if there is another stage of TMR logic following the current one (for example, in systems such as the Saturn Launch Vehicle Digital Computer), then three voters are used - one for each copy of the next stage of logic.
Cardiovascular risk factors, monitoring, and therapy for HIV-infected patients

Cardiovascular complications are important contributors to morbidity and mortality in HIV-infected patients. These complications can usually be detected at subclinical levels with monitoring, which can help guide targeted interventions. This article reviews available data on types and frequency of cardiovascular manifestations in HIV-infected patients and proposes monitoring strategies aimed at early subclinical detection. In particular, we recommend routine echocardiography for HIV-infected patients, even those with no evidence of cardiovascular disease. We also review preventive and therapeutic cardiovascular interventions. For procedures that have not been studied in HIV-infected patients, we extrapolate from evidence-based guidelines for the general population.
Durum wheat breeding in Mediterranean environments - influence of climatic variables on quality traits

Two durum wheat trials were carried out in Mediterranean conditions during 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 growing seasons at Plant Breeding Station-Elvas (Portugal). The experiments were conducted under rainfed conditions however, in 2012, due to extreme drought it was necessary to use artificial irrigation between booting and mid grain filling stage. Thirty durum wheat genotypes were studied and six quality parameters were evaluated: thousand kernel weight (TKW), test weight, vitreousness, protein content, SDS test and pigment content through Minolta CR 300 Colorimeter (L*a*b*) analysis. ANOVA showed that all sources of variation for four quality traits were highly significant (P < 0.001) for both years, except for SDS volume and index b* that were not significant during the two years of trials. Environmental effects showed that total water input during grain filling, appears to affect negatively grain quality by reducing test weight, TKW and semolina yield. Maximum temperatures during the same period reduced test weight, TKW, semolina yield and pigment content (L*), but increased protein content. A negative correlation was found between protein content and test weight and a positive correlation between test weight and semolina yield. Technological trait associated with pasta quality pigment index (b*) was significant different among the genotypes.
A new method for kinematic parameter calibration via laser line tracking

A robot kinematic calibration technique is presented. The process assumes the use of an optical detector mounted on the robot's end-effector, which is used in position feedback. By this method, calibration data can be acquired for detector positions along a straight laser beam, and the detector is precisely centered on the laser line at each sample point. By structuring the data collection process this way, post processing to deduce kinematic parameters is simplified. A goodness-of-fit metric is given which exploits the straight-line constraint of the data. This metric is well suited for use within a numerical search for best-fit kinematic parameters. Illustrations of the technique's virtues and limitations are presented. An experimental apparatus for evaluating the technique on industrial robots is described. The approach is shown to be simple, inexpensive, and feasible. <<ETX>>
Phase-shifted space vector PWM and on-time correction DC voltage balancing scheme for cascaded H-Bridge STATCOM

This paper presents a phase-shifted space vector pulse-width modulation (PSSVPWM) scheme for cascaded H-Bridge (CHB) multilevel static synchronous compensator (STATCOM). It can be implemented in the distributed control system (DCS), which makes modularization easier. This scheme is based on single H-Bridge space vector pulse-width (SHB-SVPWM) algorithm. It can be easily extended to n-level CHB converters without additional complex computation like conventional multilevel SVPWM methods. And the equivalent switching frequency of converter output voltage is high, yet the switching frequency of each cell is low. At the same time, an on-time correction is introduced to the PSSVPWM scheme. By this means, the dc voltages in CHB STATCOM can be balanced. Compared with the conventional redundant space vectors selection method, this method is very simple in high-level converter. The validity of PSSVPWM scheme and dc voltage balancing method is verified by the simulation and experimental results.
Capacidades individuales y capacidades colectivas

El enfoque de las capacidades le otorga un peso central a los contextos de interaccion social que operan como condiciones de realizabilidad de la libertad individual. Sin embargo, no queda claro si esta relevancia no demanda la postulacion de un concepto auxiliar que de cuenta con mayor precision de tales contextos de accion colectiva. En este trabajo se presentara el concepto de capacidad colectiva como requerido por el enfoque de las capacidades. Para ello se apelara al concepto de bienes sociales irreductibles de Taylor y a la introduccion de la hermeneutica como una estrategia de evaluacion apropiada para este tipo de capacidades y radicalmente diferente a la metodologia agregativa
The P600 in Implicit Artificial Grammar Learning

The suitability of the artificial grammar learning (AGL) paradigm to capture relevant aspects of the acquisition of linguistic structures has been empirically tested in a number of EEG studies. Some have shown a syntax-related P600 component, but it has not been ruled out that the AGL P600 effect is a response to surface features (e.g., subsequence familiarity) rather than the underlying syntax structure. Therefore, in this study, we controlled for the surface characteristics of the test sequences (associative chunk strength) and recorded the EEG before (baseline preference classification) and after (preference and grammaticality classification) exposure to a grammar. After exposure, a typical, centroparietal P600 effect was elicited by grammatical violations and not by unfamiliar subsequences, suggesting that the AGL P600 effect signals a response to structural irregularities. Moreover, preference and grammaticality classification showed a qualitatively similar ERP profile, strengthening the idea that the implicit structural mere-exposure paradigm in combination with preference classification is a suitable alternative to the traditional grammaticality classification test.
Localization of peptide/MHC class II complexes in macrophages following antigen processing of viable Streptococcus pyogenes

The subcellular localization of peptide/MHC complexes was investigated during processing of the surface M5 protein from Streptococcus pyogenes. Bone marrow‐derived macrophages were pulsed with viable S. pyogenes for 20 min followed by various periods of chase. T hybridoma cells detected complexes of one epitope, M517–31 with Ed on the surface of macrophages within 30 min of chase. In contrast, complexes with another epitope, M5308–319 with Ad peaked later. Intracellular localization of peptide/MHC‐II complexes was studied by subcellular fractionation and detection of complexes in fractions by T hybridoma cells. M517–31/Ed complexes were detected in light membrane fractions containing plasma membrane and early endosomes by 10–30 min. M5308–319/Ad complexes were detected in these light membranes after 3 h of chase. Thus, the time course of M5308–319/Ad presentation was delayed relative to M517–31/Ed. However, neither type of complex was detected at any time in fractions containing phagosomes. Both species of peptide/MHC complexes localized to endocytic compartments, indicating a role for endosomes in presentation of antigens from phagocytosed bacteria.
Interrelationship of endocrine glands under thermal stress: effect of exogenous glucocorticoids on mineral, enzyme, thyroid hormone profiles and phagocytosis index of Indian goats.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of the investigation was to examine the pineal-adrenal-thyroid-immune axis in female goats under short-term heat stress. The study was conducted to observe the influence of glucocorticoids on biochemical, endocrine profile and non-specific immune response in propranolol treated goats. METHODS Melatonin and glucocorticoid secretions and several other endocrine and biochemical blood parameters reflecting the animals well being were determined over a one week period after goats had been exposed to 40 degrees C and 60% relative humidity for 17 days. Chemical pinealectomy was achieved using propranolol followed by exogenous hydrocortisone treatment. This treatment continued from day 11 to day 17 of the study. Blood samples were drawn on day 10 to assess heat stress effect and twice daily after each treatment from day 11 to 17 to find the effect of hydrocortisone on various parameters studied. RESULTS Thermal stress significantly (P <or= 0.05) affected the levels of plasma calcium, ACP, ALP, T3, T4 and phagocytosis index. Chemical pinealectomy significantly (P <or= 0.05) affected plasma levels of the parameters studied and these could be significantly (P <or= 0.05) counteracted by administration of hydrocortisone to varying levels. Chemical pinealectomy aggravated thermal stress; although administration of hydrocortisone could ameliorate the condition. CONCLUSIONS The data generated from the study help us to understand the functional relationship between pineal, adrenal and immune system, and how this relationship modifies the biochemical, endocrine and non-specific immune response for the well being of the goats under thermal stress.
Submodular Attribute Selection for Visual Recognition.

In real-world visual recognition problems, low-level features cannot adequately characterize the semantic content in images, or the spatio-temporal structure in videos. In this work, we encode objects or actions based on attributes that describe them as high-level concepts. We consider two types of attributes. One type of attributes is generated by humans, while the second type is data-driven attributes extracted from data using dictionary learning methods. Attribute-based representation may exhibit variations due to noisy and redundant attributes. We propose a discriminative and compact attribute-based representation by selecting a subset of discriminative attributes from a large attribute set. Three attribute selection criteria are proposed and formulated as a submodular optimization problem. A greedy optimization algorithm is presented and its solution is guaranteed to be at least (1-1/e)-approximation to the optimum. Experimental results on four public datasets demonstrate that the proposed attribute-based representation significantly boosts the performance of visual recognition algorithms and outperforms most recently proposed recognition approaches.
Assessing the influence of acute kidney injury on the mortality in patients with acute myocardial infarction: a clinical trail

Abstract Objectives: Acute kidney injury (AKI) increases the risk of death following acute myocardial infarction (AMI). In this current study, we tried to understand the role of newly KDIGO defined AKI in AMI-induced early and late mortality. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of AMI patients (totaling 1371 cases) from the hospital’s computer database. And AKI was defined based on the KDIGO criteria but GFR or urinary output assessment was not used. Subsequently, we compared the association of AKI with 30-day and 30-day to 5-year all-cause mortality, using multivariate COX regression analysis with two models. Results: We observed the development of AKI in 410 (29.9%) patients during the hospital stay. The 30-day and 30-day to 5-year mortality rates were 5.6% and 11.3%, respectively, in 1371 AMI patients. Further, adjusted Cox regression analysis based on model 1 revealed that AKI severity was an independent risk factor of 30-day mortality, while AKI Stage 3 was an independent predictor of 30-day to 5-year mortality. Adjusted Cox regression analysis based on model 2 revealed that normal baseline renal function with AKI and impaired renal function with AKI were independent risk factors of 30-day mortality, while normal baseline renal function with AKI and impaired renal function with AKI were identified to be independent predictors of 30-day to 5-year mortality. Conclusions: Whether the baseline renal function decreased or not, AKI strongly correlated with short- and long-term all-cause mortality in patients with AMI. Specifically, the short-term mortality of AMI patients increased with more severe AKI.
Nitrous oxide analgesia in relation to mental performance.

The relation of nitrous oxide analgesia to mental performance was determined in a group of normal subjects who were tested with three concentrations of nitrous oxide (20, 30 and 40% nitrous oxide in oxygen) and compressed air. It was observed that nitrous oxide produces significant analgesia in low concentrations, but that along with the analgesia there appears to be significant mental impairment. Both the degree of analgesia and the degree of mental impairment vary widely from one subject to another at the same concentration of nitrous oxide, and there is little correlation between the two effects of the drug in any given individual.
THE PHENOTYPIC AND GENETIC COVARIANCE STRUCTURE OF DROSPHILID WINGS

Abstract Evolutionary constraint results from the interaction between the distribution of available genetic variation and the position of selective optima. The availability of genetic variance in multitrait systems, as described by the additive genetic variance–covariance matrix (G), has been the subject of recent attempts to assess the prevalence of genetic constraints. However, evolutionary constraints have not yet been considered from the perspective of the phenotypes available to multivariate selection, and whether genetic variance is present in all phenotypes potentially under selection. Determining the rank of the phenotypic variance–covariance matrix (P) to characterize the phenotypes available to selection, and contrasting it with the rank of G, may provide a general approach to determining the prevalence of genetic constraints. In a study of a laboratory population of Drosophila bunnanda from northern Australia we applied factor-analytic modeling to repeated measures of individual wing phenotypes to determine the dimensionality of the phenotypic space described by P. The phenotypic space spanned by the 10 wing traits had 10 statistically supported dimensions. In contrast, factor-analytic modeling of G estimated for the same 10 traits from a paternal half-sibling breeding design suggested G had fewer dimensions than traits. Statistical support was found for only five and two genetic dimensions, describing a total of 99% and 72% of genetic variance in wing morphology in females and males, respectively. The observed mismatch in dimensionality between P and G suggests that although selection might act to shift the intragenerational population mean toward any trait combination, evolution may be restricted to fewer dimensions.
Semantic music recognition - audio identification beyond fingerprinting

Besides audio fingerprinting techniques there are no essential procedures for a content-based identification of music audio available. But even these techniques rely heavily on statistical information of audio and do not consider any semantics of music. Furthermore, they require each piece of music to be pre-recorded and thus pre-processed for a successful identification. We try to apply the leadsheet-model - a generic model for processing tonal music - on content-based audio identification and show how it can be altered to handle audio. As a result we are capable of identifying music with extremely varying spectra based on only one given template.
Protocols and Mechanisms for Remote Ischemic Preconditioning: A Novel Method for Reducing Ischemia Reperfusion Injury

Ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) results in damage to local and remote organs. Remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) is a strategy to protect against IRI by inducing a prior brief period(s) of IRI to an organ remote from that undergoing sustained injury. RIPC has been shown to protect organs against IRI; however, the protocols and mechanisms for RIPC are unclear. For this review, a Medline/Pubmed search (January 1985 to January 2007) was conducted and all relevant articles were included. RIPC protocols are organ and species specific and both humoral and neurogenic pathways are involved in triggering intracellular signal pathways for protection.
Risk of Lingual Plate Perforation During Implant Placement in the Posterior Mandible: A Human Cadaver Study

Aim:To determine the risk of lingual plate perforations using 2 different implants during implant installation in the posterior mandible, so as to avoid a potentially life-threatening situation and/or a compromise of the success of the surgical procedure. Materials and Methods:Nine human cadaver jaws and 16 edentulous sites with missing mandibular posterior teeth were used. Upon flap reflection, SYMBOL 3.7 × 10.0 mm and SYMBOL 3.7 × 13 mm Tapered Screw Vent implants were placed in the edentulous sites parallel to the ridge over the center of the alveolar ridge. The occurrence of lingual plate perforations was assessed visually, and the distance of the fenestration from the alveolar ridge crest, if any, was measured. Results:Nineteen dental implants of each were placed in the second premolar and first molar regions. No lingual concavity perforations were found in all sites, except for a lingual fenestration in 1 first molar site when placing the SYMBOL 3.7 × 10 mm implant (0.053%). Conclusion:The risk of a lingual cortical plate fenestration or perforation, due to lingual concavity, in an edentulous posterior mandible in the region of the second premolar or first molar was found to be 0.053% if a regular 3.7-mm diameter tapered implant was used. In the presence of significant lingual concavity in the posterior mandible, a smaller regular diameter implant with a tapered design should be considered to avoid a potential fatal damage of vital structures.