Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bacterial Isolates from the Genital Aspirates of Cyclic, Acyclic, Endometritic and Pregnant Buffaloes

The study was carried out on 50 vaginal secretions/aspirates/discharge samples collected aseptically using syringe and pipette method from infertile (anestrus; endometritic, n = 6 each) buffaloes of villages nearby Anand and healthy cyclic (n = 5; proestus, estrus, metestrus, diestrus) as well as 3, 6 and 9 month pregnant (n = 6 each) buffaloes of University farm to identify the vaginal microorganisms based on routine cultural examination. In all 117 bacterial isolates were recovered from all 50 vaginal samples (100 %) of 35 buffaloes during different physio-pathological status. The bacteria isolated from vaginal mucus/aspirates of buffaloes during the follicular phase comprised Corynebacterium spp. as the most predominant isolate (28.57%) followed by E. coli, Bacillus Spp. , Staphylococcus spp. , Streptococcus spp. , Salmonella spp. , Proteus spp. , and vaginal yeast, whereas during the luteal phase, the most predominant bacteria were E. coli (23.33%) followed by Corynebacterium spp. , Bacillus spp. , Staphylococcus spp. , Streptococcus spp. , and Klebsiella spp. In acyclic buffaloes, the most predominant bacteria isolated were Corynebacterium spp. (21.43%) Bacillus spp. , Micrococcus spp. , Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus spp. , Streptococcus spp. , E. coli and Salmonella spp. , whereas the endometritic buffaloes evinced the most predominant bacterial isolates as Corynebacterium spp. and E. coli (20.00% each) followed by Bacillus spp. , Salmonella, Proteus spp. , Staphylococcus spp. , Streptococcus spp. , and Klebsiella spp. The major bacteria isolated during the entire period of pregnancy were E. coli, Micrococcus, Corynbacterium Spp. , Bacillus spp. , Staphylococcus spp. and Proteus. This study concludes rich bacterial diversity in the vagina of buffaloes during different physio-pathological status.
Effect of water stress on the physiological and biochemical responses of two different Coleus (Plectranthus) species

Introduction Effect of water stress on the physiology and biochemistry of two different Coleus species, Coleus forskholii and Coleus amboinicus , was studied. Materials and methods Drought stress was imposed by withholding the water supply until leaf water potentials reached −0.4, −0.8, and −1.2 MPa. Physiological parameters such as relative water content and water uptake capacity were studied along with lipid peroxidation, superoxide, H_2O_2, and ^•OH accumulation-, l-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) scavenging assays. Antioxidant defense system in Coleus under drought stress was studied by quantifying the Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity, ascorbic acid, reduced glutathione-, and α-tocopherol content as well as activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, peroxidase, and glutathione reductase. Accumulation of osmolytes proline, glycine betaine, and phytohormone abscisic acid was also used as key parameters for assessing their performance. Results There was a marked variation in the antioxidative defense system and osmolyte accumulation in these two species under drought stress. Relative water content was reduced and water uptake capacity was increased. Discussion A comparative study in the perspectives of osmolyte accumulation, antioxidant, and physiological responses inferred C. amboinicus as a drought stress-tolerant species when compared to C. forskholii.
Leber congenital amaurosis

Leber congenital amaurosis is also associated with other vision problems, including an increased sensitivity to light (photophobia), involuntary movements of the eyes (nystagmus), and extreme farsightedness (hyperopia). The pupils, which usually expand and contract in response to the amount of light entering the eye, do not react normally to light. Instead, they expand and contract more slowly than normal, or they may not respond to light at all. Additionally, the clear front covering of the eye (the cornea) may be cone-shaped and abnormally thin, a condition known as keratoconus.
Learning steers the ontogeny of an efficient hunting sequence in zebrafish larvae

The success of goal-directed behaviours relies on the coordinated execution of a sequence of component actions. In young animals, such sequences may be poorly coordinated, but with age and experience, behaviour progressively adapts to efficiently exploit the animal’s ecological niche. How experience impinges on the developing neural circuits of behaviour is an open question. As a model system, larval zebrafish (Danio rerio) hold enormous potential for studying both the development of behaviour and the underlying circuits, but no relevant experience-dependent learning paradigm has yet been characterized. To address this, we have conducted a detailed study of the effects of experience on the ontogeny of hunting behaviour in larval zebrafish. We report that larvae with prior prey experience consume considerably more prey than naive larvae. This is mainly due to increased capture success that is also accompanied by a modest increase in hunt rate. We identified two components of the hunting sequence that are jointly modified by experience. At the onset of the hunting sequence, the orientation strategy of the turn towards prey is modified such that experienced larvae undershoot prey azimuth. Near the end of the hunt sequence, we find that experienced larvae are more likely to employ high-speed capture swims initiated from longer distances to prey. Combined, these modified turn and capture manoeuvrers can be used to predict the probability of capture success and suggest that their development provides advantages specific to larvae feeding on live-prey. Our findings establish an ethologically relevant paradigm in zebrafish for studying how the brain is shaped by experience to drive the ontogeny of efficient behaviour.
International and Brazilian Versions of WHOQOL-DIS: (in)adequacy to its Underpinnings

The present article aims to analyze the WHOQOL-DIS (World Health Organization Quality of Life Disabilities) structure to verify this instrument’s adequacy to the theoretical principles underlying its construction. The methodology consists in an analysis of the WHOQOL-DIS underlying theory, prompting questions about the adequacies of this theoretical model. The procedure is complemented by a syntax analysis in order to verify the relevant questions for the score calculation. The obtained results show that the subjects "participation" and "autonomy" are not objectively present in the international version, HIGHLIGHTS • International version of WHOQOL-DIS presents limitations. • Brazilian version of the WHOQOL-DIS differs from international version. • New questions of Brazilian version do not compose the calculation of score. • Limitations of original version remain in Brazilian version. 2 Cantorani, J.R. H. ; et al. Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology. Vol.62: e19180691, 2019 www.scielo. br/babt although they are considered in the theories as justifying elements for the instrument’s creation. In the Brazilian version, there are questions addressed to the themes. However, these questions are also not factored into the score calculation. In conclusion, the presence of autonomy and participation in the Brazilian version of WHOQOL-DIS represents a proximity with the theoretical assumptions underlying its creation. However, because they do not compose the score calculation, this adequacy is still limited.
Dynamic spectrum sharing and coexistence with full-duplex device-to-device communications in 5G networks

Opportunistic Spectrum Access has recently become the most desirable solution for greatly improving the performance of telecommunication systems. It has proven to be a viable solution to cope with the challenging problem of spectrum scarcity and also it has been widely explored in 5G networks, so that multiple random access technologies can coexist in a cognitive setup. In 5G networks, such secondary technology candidates like Device-to-Device (D2D) communications, and LicensedAssisted Access are envisioned to opportunistically exploit spectrum opportunities and coexist with primary technologies like LTE or WiFi. Moreover, Full Duplex (FD) technology is envisioned to play a significant role in 5G networks by allowing a user to transmit and receive on the same frequency band. In this thesis, we present a comparative performance analysis of the spectral e ciency in a heterogeneous system where a cellular network allows the FD-Enabled D2D network to use opportunistically its spectrum while ensuring protection for its transmission/reception through guard zones. The main contributions and emphasis of this work are to explore the spectrum opportunities for secondary users by: firstly, deriving their probability of successful transmissions, deciding the feasible mode of operation (half-duplex, full-duplex or silent); and secondly, incorporating the protection zone for primary users. We assess the overall system performance, analyze the impact of di↵erent access mechanisms and propose an e cient mode selection for secondary users. Such a systematic analysis of the integrated technologies requires a rigorous and critical evaluation of the performance gains and the costs incurred in terms of increased interference. Also, ultra-dense and random network models are envisioned in future networks especially in the urban scenario, hence, pre-deployment average system performance over various deployment scenarios can in fact be advantageous. In this thesis, we use stochastic geometry to model and analyze di↵erent coexistence scenarios and spectrum sharing frameworks in 5G networks for multiple radio access technologies. We also assess di↵erent coexistence methodologies for secondary users to fairly and peacefully coexist with primary users while ensuring the interference protection for primary users. In summary, FD enabled heterogeneous networks have not been critically studied in previous literature, and for this reason a comprehensive study on the use of FD to existing systems is needed. This thesis proposes an innovative FD enabled D2D cognitive setup and carefully studies the improvement in system performance while taking into account the cost of these gains in 5G networks, using stochastic geometry tools.
Numerical Investigation of NASA Hump Using Co-flow Jet for Separation Control

This paper applies Co-flow Jet (CFJ) active flow control (AFC) on NASA hump and numerically studies its flow control performance to suppress flow separation at low energy expenditure. The effects of the CFJ injection and suction locations are studied. The experimental results of the baseline hump and the hump with steady blowing and suction are used to validate the accuracy of numerical method. The high fidelity in-house CFD code FASIP with the 2D Unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) equations with one-equation Spalart-Allmaras model is utilized. The validation is overall in very good agreement with the experiment for the baseline and steady blowing cases. The numerical simulation indicates that using co-flow jet for the hump separation control is very effective and energy efficient. With injection location at 50%C and suction location at 70%C, a full flow attachment is achieved at Cμ=0.0077 with the CFJ power coefficient (Pc) of 0.0032 and the energy coefficient (CE) of 0.0034. This is consistent with the previous observation for CFJ airfoil that placing the injection at the suction peak location minimizes the AFC energy cost. The present study also discovers that the optimum location for CFJ suction is at the location the hump surface slope reaches the minimum, which gives the lowest energy consumption. A study is also conducted to move the CFJ injection location downstream to the baseline flow separation onset position at 67%C and move the suction location into the adverse pressure gradient area. Such configuration significantly increases the energy consumption. The study indicates that applying the CFJ upstream of the flow separation with mixing under favorable pressure gradient is much more efficient than applying it at the baseline flow separation area under the adverse pressure gradient. To further investigate the role of suction in the CFJ active flow control, the injection-only flow control is designed and numerically studied. Compared with the CFJ case, the minimum energy consumption for the injection only case with the separation removed is increased by 57% with CE of 0.0055. For the injection only flow control, the injection location for the minimum energy consumption is not at the suction peak location of 50%C as for the CFJ, but at the onset of separation location of 67%C. These results indicate that the suction of the CFJ flow control is very beneficial for two reasons: 1) It energizes the boundary layer and makes the CFJ energy consumption significantly lower than the injection only flow control; 2) It provides the source of the mass flow for injection to make the CFJ self-contained zero-next-mass-flux flow control to avoid introducing mass flow from other source, which will incur extra energy consumption.
Deep learning in event-based neuromorphic systems

Inference et apprentissage dans les reseaux de neurones profonds necessitent une grande quantite de calculs qui, dans beaucoup de cas, limite leur integration dans les environnements limites en ressources. Les reseaux de neurones evenementiels de type « spike » presentent une alternative aux reseaux de neurones artificiels classiques, et promettent une meilleure efficacite energetique. Cependant, entrainer les reseaux spike demeure un defi important, particulierement dans le cas ou l’apprentissage doit etre execute sur du materiel de calcul bio-inspire, dit materiel neuromorphique. Cette these constitue une etude sur les algorithmes d’apprentissage et le codage de l’information dans les reseaux de neurones spike.A partir d’une regle d’apprentissage bio-inspiree, nous analysons quelles proprietes sont necessaires dans les reseaux spike pour rendre possible un apprentissage embarque dans un scenario d’apprentissage continu. Nous montrons qu’une regle basee sur le temps de declenchement des neurones (type « spike-timing dependent plasticity ») est capable d’extraire des caracteristiques pertinentes pour permettre une classification d’objets simples comme ceux des bases de donnees MNIST et N-MNIST.Pour depasser certaines limites de cette approche, nous elaborons un nouvel outil pour l’apprentissage dans les reseaux spike, SpikeGrad, qui represente une implementation entierement evenementielle de la retro-propagation du gradient. Nous montrons comment cette approche peut etre utilisee pour l’entrainement d’un reseau spike qui est capable d’inferer des relations entre valeurs numeriques et des images MNIST. Nous demontrons que cet outil est capable d’entrainer un reseau convolutif profond, qui donne des taux de reconnaissance d’image competitifs avec l’etat de l’art sur les bases de donnees MNIST et CIFAR10. De plus, SpikeGrad permet de formaliser la reponse d’un reseau spike comme celle d’un reseau de neurones artificiels classique, permettant un entrainement plus rapide.Nos travaux introduisent ainsi plusieurs mecanismes d’apprentissage puissants pour les reseaux evenementiels, contribuant a rendre l’apprentissage des reseaux spike plus adaptes a des problemes reels.
Bulk and single-molecule analysis of a bacterial DNA2-like helicase–nuclease reveals a single-stranded DNA looping motor

DNA2 is an essential enzyme involved in DNA replication and repair in eukaryotes. In a search for homologues of this protein, we identified and characterised Geobacillus stearothermophilus Bad, a novel bacterial DNA helicase-nuclease with similarity to human DNA2. We show that Bad contains an Fe-S cluster and identify four cysteine residues that are likely to co-ordinate the cluster by analogy to DNA2. The purified enzyme specifically recognises ss-dsDNA junctions and possesses ssDNA-dependent ATPase, ssDNA binding, ssDNA endonuclease, 5’ to 3’ ssDNA translocase and 5’ to 3’ helicase activity. Single molecule analysis reveals that Bad is a highly processive DNA motor capable of moving along DNA for distances of more than 4 kbp at a rate of ∼200 base pairs per second at room temperature. Interestingly, as reported for the homologous human and yeast DNA2 proteins, the DNA unwinding activity of Bad is cryptic and can be unmasked by inactivating the intrinsic nuclease activity. Strikingly, our experiments also show that the enzyme loops DNA while translocating, which is an emerging feature of highly processive DNA unwinding enzymes. The bacterial Bad enzymes will provide an excellent model system for understanding the biochemical properties of DNA2-like helicase-nucleases and DNA looping motor proteins in general.
Gastrectomía total por cáncer gástrico en el Hospital Universitario San José de Popayán. Cohorte retrospectiva de 16 años.

Objective: To describe clinical, histological outcomes and postoperative surgical complications of patients who were under total gastrectomy for gastric cancer at the Hospital Universitario San Jose (HUSJ) of Popayan in the period from 1990 to 2006. Methods: Retrospective cohort study. We included patients with history of total gastrectomy secondary to gastric cancer. Patients were characterized clinically and demographically according preoperative state. Data related to the surgical technique, diagnosis and clinical TNM stage were described. Early mortality (less than thirty days), occurrence of fistula or abdominal sepsis during hospitalization and length of hospital stay was calculated. The length of hospital stay until discharge was analyzed graphically. Results: During the study period 69 procedures were performed. 73% of patients were male and the mean age was 62 years. 97% of the subjects (60 patients) had advanced gastric cancer, 75% had adenocarcinoma of intestinal type and 15% of diffuse type. Postoperative complications occurred in 20.2%, including requirement of surgical re-intervention (10%), abdominal fistula (7.2%) and abdominal sepsis (3%). The 30-day mortality was 4.3% (95% CI (1.1 to 11.3)). Discussion: Demographic and clinical patterns of the patients studied do not differ from those reported in literature worldwide. Frequencies of complications and mortality found in this study are consistent with those from larger studies. Given the lateness of diagnosis, actions of prevention and screening for early detection of gastric cancer should be carried out in our country to increase the chances of curative treatment.
Does an Economics Education Produce Technocratic Paternalists? Experimental Evidence from Tanzania

Abstract When confronted with information that ordinary citizens do not care that strongly about efficiency, do economists change their views of optimal public policy? In a randomised experiment on tax preferences conducted among business and economics students in Tanzania, we supplied the treatment group with information that ordinary citizens disagree with implications of efficiency-based optimal tax theory. Tax preferences were then measured using discrete choice experiments. The results show that the treated students modify their position in the direction of public opinion, an effect driven by students with longer exposure to economics. An economics education hence seems to produce professionals who are part democrats and part technocratic paternalists.
Optimal parameter encoding strategies for estimation theoretic secure communications

OPTIMAL PARAMETER ENCODING STRATEGIES FOR ESTIMATION THEORETIC SECURE COMMUNICATIONS Çağrı Göken Ph.D. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering Advisor: Sinan Gezici December 2019 Physical layer security has gained a renewed interest with the advances in modern wireless communication technologies. In estimation theoretic security, secrecy levels are measured via estimation theoretic tools and metrics, such as mean-squared error (MSE), where the objective is to perform accurate estimation of the parameter at the intended receiver while keeping the estimation error at the eavesdropper above a certain level. This framework proves useful both for analyzing the achievable performance under security constraints in parameter estimation problems, and for designing low-complexity, practical methods to enhance security in communication systems. In this dissertation, we investigate optimal deterministic encoding of random scalar and vector parameters in the presence of an eavesdropper, who is unaware of the encoding operation. We also analyze optimal stochastic encoding of a random parameter under secrecy constraints in a Gaussian wiretap channel model, where the eavesdropper is aware of the encoding strategy at the transmitter. In addition, we perform optimal parameter design for secure broadcast of a parameter to multiple receivers with fixed estimators. First, optimal deterministic encoding of a scalar parameter is investigated in the presence of an eavesdropper. The aim is to minimize the expectation of the conditional Cramér-Rao bound (ECRB) at the intended receiver while keeping the MSE at the eavesdropper above a certain threshold. The eavesdropper is modeled to employ the linear minimum mean-squared error (LMMSE) estimator based on the encoded version of the parameter. First, the optimal encoding function is derived in the absence of secrecy constraints for any given prior distribution on the parameter. Next, an optimization problem is formulated under a secrecy constraint and various solution approaches are proposed. Also, theoretical results on the form of the optimal encoding function are provided. Furthermore, a robust parameter encoding approach is developed. In this case, the objective is iii
Simulating and Imaging Supermassive Black Hole Accretion Flows

Supermassive black holes exist in the centers of nearly all galaxies. They are most frequently surrounded by hot, thick, and low-radiative-efficiency accretion flows, including in the Galactic Center radio source Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) and at the base of the relativistic jet in the giant galaxy M87. In this thesis, I study these objects in two ways: with numerical simulations and with image reconstruction of data from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a mm-wavelength Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) array. In the first part, I simulate both Sgr A* and M87 using twotemperature, radiative, general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (GRMHD). Including radiation and thermodynamics in GRMHD simulations is necessary to predict the electron temperatures and emission from these objects, as electrons and ions in hot flows are far from mutual equilibrium. I also develop a method for moving beyond thermal equilibrium in simulations by evolving a full population of nonthermal electrons. In the second part, I describe a framework for imaging VLBI data with regularized maximum likelihood methods, and I detail its implementation in the ehtimaging software library. This framework allows VLBI data to be imaged with no a priori calibration, using only robust closure quantities. Finally, I present images from the first full EHT campaign on M87 reconstructed using eht-imaging and other methods. I conclude by describing measurements of the black hole shadow and mass from these first images of a supermassive black hole.