Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distinct geographic distribution of subtypes of Haemophilus influenzae type b in Western Europe.

The spread within populations and the geographic distribution of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) strains has hardly been investigated [1, 2], mainly because there have been no reliable and discriminating subtyping methods. Biotyping has been used for a long time for typing H. influenzae. Most Hib strains, however, are biotype I [3]. Recently, Barenkamp et al. [4] described 21 subtypes of strains isolated in the United States; his differences between subtypes were based on the outer membrane protein composition as analyzed by SDS-PAGE subtyping. Eighty-nine percent of the strains belong to six subtypes [4, 5]. Isolated strains of the most frequently encountered subtypes were equally distributed over the country, but distinct regional differences were found in the distribution of some of the less-common subtypes [6]. We found that 93% of the Hib strains from patients with meningitis in the Netherlands belong to one subtype (subtype 1) [7]. Strains with this subtype, which is identical to subtype 3L described by Barenkamp [4], were isolated from 15% of the cases in the United States [5]. In addition to SDS-PAGE subtyping, serotyping based on differences in lipopolysaccharides was introduced to further differentiate the Hib strains isolated in the Netherlands [7]. Based on biotyping, SDS-PAGE subtyping, and lipopolysaccharide serotyping, the Dutch strains appeared homogeneous [7]. These strains may be descendents from one ancestral clone [8]. In this paper we show that only a few subtypes of Hib are predominant in Western Europe and that the distribution of these subtypes shows distinct geographic differences. The significance of this finding for the understanding of the endemic spread of Hib disease is discussed.
Nest desertion and cowbird parasitism: evidence for evolved responses and evolutionary lag

Nest desertion with subsequent renesting is a frequently cited response to parasitism by the brown-headed cowbird, Molothrus ater, yet the role of desertion as an antiparasite defence is widely debated. To determine whether desertion represents an evolutionary response to brown-headed cowbird parasitism, we searched the primary literature, yielding data on the desertion frequencies of 60 host populations from 35 species. Species were categorized according to three habitat types (forest, intermediate and nonforest). Because cowbirds prefer open habitat and rarely penetrate deeply into forests, nonforest species have long been exposed to widespread cowbird parasitism, whereas forest species have not. However, due to increased forest fragmentation, forest species are being increasingly exposed to extensive parasitism. The frequency of desertion of parasitized nests was significantly higher in nonforest than forest species, suggesting that the latter experience evolutionary lag. We also considered whether desertion is affected by predation frequency, degree of current or recent sympatry with cowbirds, parasitism frequency, length of host laying season, phylogenetic relationships, and potential cost of cowbird parasitism. None of these variables created biases that could account for the observed difference in desertion frequencies of nonforest and forest species. However, species that incur large costs when parasitized had higher desertion rates among nonforest species but not among forest species. These results indicate that increased nest desertion is an evolved response to cowbird parasitism, as one would otherwise expect no relationship between desertion frequency and thezx costs and length of exposure to cowbird parasitism. Although nearly all hosts have eggs easily distinguished from cowbird eggs, few or none desert in response to cowbird eggs. Instead, desertion may be a response to adult cowbirds. The scarcity of species that desert in response to cowbird eggs suggests that egg recognition is more difficult to evolve than heightened desertion tendencies and that egg recognition quickly leads to ejection behaviour once it does develop. Copyright 2000 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis Outbreak Strain of Danish Origin Spreading at Worrying Rates among Greenland-Born Persons in Denmark and Greenland

ABSTRACT Transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis continues at high rates among Greenland-born persons in Greenland and Denmark, with 203 and 450 notified cases per 105 population, respectively, in the year 2010. Here, we document that the predominant M. tuberculosis outbreak strain C2/1112-15 of Danish origin has been transmitted to Greenland-born persons in Denmark and subsequently to Greenland, where it is spreading at worrying rates and adding to the already heavy tuberculosis burden in this population group. It is now clear that the C2/1112-15 strain is able to gain new territories using a new population group as the “vehicle. ” Thus, it might have the ability to spread even further, considering the potential clinical consequences of strain diversity such as that seen in the widely spread Beijing genotype. The introduction of the predominant M. tuberculosis outbreak strain C2/1112-15 into the Arctic circumpolar region is a worrying tendency which deserves attention. We need to monitor whether this strain already has, or will, spread to other countries.
Hα kinematics of 11 starburst galaxies selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

The understanding of the formation and evolution of galaxies will not be complete until we understand the physical processes that trigger and regulate starformation in them. This work is about star formation on several size scales. It includes the kinematic study of 157 H II regions in the spiral galaxy M83, in order to test the relation, if any, between luminosity (L) and velocity dispersion(s), indicative of virialization. We found that there is no strong correlation between the mentioned variables, but only an upper envelope with a maximum luminosity for a given velocity dispersion. We demonstrated that this envelope has a slope that is strongly dependent on an accurate correction of instrumental broadening. Using our experience in H II regions, we moved to star formation at larger scales. Thus, the bulk of this thesis is on starburst galaxies and their evolutionary descendants, the postburst galaxies. A starburst is a galaxy that is suddenly creating large amounts of stars, at a rate that is not sustainable for long periods.We performed a kinematic study of a sample of 11 such objects, showing that they are, in general, not supported by rotation and that many of them are consistent with a recent merger which affected their morphology and kinematics.Furthermore, from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) we extracted a robust sample of 1006 starbursts and 240 postbursts at redshift 0.010<z<0.083. We performed a comparative study of their structural parameters, such as effective radius, sersic index, asymmetry and absolute magnitude. We have found that the majority of starbursts and postbursts in the nearby Universe are disky galaxies, with a tendency for starbursts to have shorter effective radii and larger asymmetries.
Digital Implementation of the Feedforward Loop of the Asymmetrical Half-Bridge Converter for LED Lighting Applications

An asymmetrical half-bridge converter (AHBC) has proved to be a promising candidate for LED lighting applications. It provides high efficiency and galvanic isolation, and it can be easily built without electrolytic capacitor. On the other hand, its main drawback is its poor attainable bandwidth. In any two-stage ac-dc LED driver based on the AHBC, the first stage is a power factor corrector converter, which has to be also implemented without electrolytic capacitor. As a consequence, its output voltage (input voltage of the AHBC) presents a low-frequency ripple. Due to the poor bandwidth of the AHBC, this voltage ripple will be transferred to the converter output voltage, leading to flickering. Due to the complex and nonlinear transfer function of the AHBC, any analog feedforward loop has to be tuned for a given operating point, leading to a poor performance when the AHBC moves away from that point. In this paper, a digital feedforward loop is proposed in order to solve this problem. The digital implementation allows the feedforward loop to perfectly cancel the ripple under any condition (e.g., output voltage variation due to dimming). Besides, this digital feedforward loop has been designed and simplified considering the specific purpose of canceling flickering in the emitted light. In this way, it can be easily implemented in small-size microcontrollers. Experimental results with a 40-W prototype prove the usefulness of the proposed feedforward loop.
Flynn effect and its reversal are both environmentally caused

Significance Using administrative register data with information on family relationships and cognitive ability for three decades of Norwegian male birth cohorts, we show that the increase, turning point, and decline of the Flynn effect can be recovered from within-family variation in intelligence scores. This establishes that the large changes in average cohort intelligence reflect environmental factors and not changing composition of parents, which in turn rules out several prominent hypotheses for retrograde Flynn effects. Population intelligence quotients increased throughout the 20th century—a phenomenon known as the Flynn effect—although recent years have seen a slowdown or reversal of this trend in several countries. To distinguish between the large set of proposed explanations, we categorize hypothesized causal factors by whether they accommodate the existence of within-family Flynn effects. Using administrative register data and cognitive ability scores from military conscription data covering three decades of Norwegian birth cohorts (1962–1991), we show that the observed Flynn effect, its turning point, and subsequent decline can all be fully recovered from within-family variation. The analysis controls for all factors shared by siblings and finds no evidence for prominent causal hypotheses of the decline implicating genes and environmental factors that vary between, but not within, families.
Accuracy of dengue clinical diagnosis with and without NS1 antigen rapid test: Comparison between human and Bayesian network model decision

Differentiating dengue patients from other acute febrile illness patients is a great challenge among physicians. Several dengue diagnosis methods are recommended by WHO. The application of specific laboratory tests is still limited due to high cost, lack of equipment, and uncertain validity. Therefore, clinical diagnosis remains a common practice especially in resource limited settings. Bayesian networks have been shown to be a useful tool for diagnostic decision support. This study aimed to construct Bayesian network models using basic demographic, clinical, and laboratory profiles of acute febrile illness patients to diagnose dengue. Data of 397 acute undifferentiated febrile illness patients who visited the fever clinic of the Bangkok Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Thailand, were used for model construction and validation. The two best final models were selected: one with and one without NS1 rapid test result. The diagnostic accuracy of the models was compared with that of physicians on the same set of patients. The Bayesian network models provided good diagnostic accuracy of dengue infection, with ROC AUC of 0.80 and 0.75 for models with and without NS1 rapid test result, respectively. The models had approximately 80% specificity and 70% sensitivity, similar to the diagnostic accuracy of the hospital’s fellows in infectious disease. Including information on NS1 rapid test improved the specificity, but reduced the sensitivity, both in model and physician diagnoses. The Bayesian network model developed in this study could be useful to assist physicians in diagnosing dengue, particularly in regions where experienced physicians and laboratory confirmation tests are limited.
İlköğretim Öğrencilerinin Bitkiler Hakkındaki Alternatif Kavramları

Bu çalışmada ilköğretim öğrencilerinin “bitki” kavramı ile ilgili alternatif kavramlarının belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Bu amaç doğrultusunda 2. , 4. ve 6. sınıflarda öğrenim gören toplam 60 öğrenci ile özel bir odada yaklaşık 20-30 dakika süren karşılıklı görüşmeler yapılmıştır. Çalışma iki aşamada gerçekleştirilmiştir. Bunlar sırasıyla şu şekildedir: (1) her bir öğrenciye “Sizce bitki nedir? ” sorusu yöneltilerek bitki kavramını tanımlamaları istenmiştir, (2) her bir öğrenciden 5 bitki ismi söylemesi istenmiştir, (2) bitkiler, . bitki olmayan canlı varlıklar, cansız varlıklardan oluşan toplam 20 adet renkli orijinal fotoğraf seçilmiş ve bunların her biri öğrenciye ayrı ayrı gösterilerek “bu nedir? ” veya “bu bir bitki midir? ” soruları yöneltilmiştir. Cevap alındıktan sonra bu cevabın altında yatan gerçeği ortaya çıkarmak amacıyla “niçin? ” sorusu ile devam edilmiştir. Sonuç olarak öğrencilerin bitki kavramlarının çiçek, yaprak veya ağaç gibi oldukça genel kategoriler içerdiği, bitkileri dış görünüş, fizyolojik özellikler ve bitki sınıflarını dikkate alarak tanımladıkları, bunlar içerisinde hem bilimsel geçerliliği olmayan hem de bilimsel geçerliliği olan ifadelerin yer aldığı, öğrencilerin en genel bitki modelinin “Toprakta büyüyen, kök, gövde veya yapraklara sahip ağaçlar, çiçekler veya çayırlar” olduğu görülmüştür. Ayrıca öğrencilerin mantarın bitki olduğu kavram yanılgısı gibi bazı kavram yanılgılarına sahip oldukları bulunmuştur. Sonuçlar literatür bilgisiyle karşılaştırılmış ve öneriler geliştirilmiştir.
TOO BIG TO BE REAL? NO DEPLETED CORE IN HOLM 15A

Partially depleted cores, as measured by core-Sérsic model “break radii,” are typically tens to a few hundred parsecs in size. Here we investigate the unusually large ( R γ ′ = 0.5 ? > = 4.57 kpc) depleted core recently reported for Holm 15A, the brightest cluster galaxy of Abell 85. We model the one-dimensional (1D) light profile, and also the two-dimensional (2D) image (using Galfit-Corsair, a tool for fitting the core-Sérsic model in 2D). We find good agreement between the 1D and 2D analyses, with minor discrepancies attributable to intrinsic ellipticity gradients. We show that a simple Sérsic profile (with a low index n and no depleted core) plus the known outer exponential “halo” provide a good description of the stellar distribution. We caution that while almost every galaxy light profile will have a radius where the negative logarithmic slope of the intensity profile γ ′ ? > equals 0.5, this alone does not imply the presence of a partially depleted core within this radius.
Antimicrobial susceptibility and glycopeptide-resistance of enterococci in vegetables

Background : Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), often responsible for nosocomial infections, have frequently been isolated from animal and vegetable foods. In our study we evaluated the antibiotic susceptibility of enterococci isolated from eight types of vegetables randomly selected from grocery stores in Naples. Methods : From July to November 2008, we analyzed 150 samples: the bacteria were isolated with standardized methods and antibiotic susceptibility was determined using the disc diffusion method. The resistance to vancomycin versus other antibiotics was assessed by the Kappa test. Results : 70% of the samples, mainly parsley (96.2%), showed enterococci. Of these, 59.1% belonged to the species Enterococcus faecium. Strains resistant to vancomycin and teicoplanin were isolated respectively in 47.6% and 49.5% of the samples: the first one mainly in curly endive (72.7%) and the second one in parsley (76.9%). Almost all the isolated strains showed resistance to methicillin (89%), kanamycin (82%) and cephalothin (68%). The Kappa test showed statistically significant associations between resistance to vancomycin and resistance to teicoplanin, erythromycin, methicillin, tetracycline and chloramphenicol. Conclusions : Because of the possible involvement of food in the transmission of resistant micro-organisms to human intestinal microbiota, our data may provide the basis for future studies.
An Evaluation of Challenges Facing Smallholders in Ghana: A Case Study for the Aowin Suaman District

The majority of the Ghanaians populations live in rural areas where their livelihoods depend on smallholding agriculture. Smallholding farmers produce about 28.3% of GDP and 10% of all exports by value. It is estimated that 85% of cereals, 40% of rice and 100% of starch staple food, including significant exports and raw materials for local industries are produced by this type of farming system. Despite these contributions to food security, the sector is plagued with several challenges which militate against their success. Though, many researchers have discussed these challenges but failed to account for the magnitude and severity of these challenges with quantitative evidence as well as the sequential order of the problems. In an attempt to fill this gap, factor analysis methodology is used to evaluate the weight of each challenge confronting farmers in Ghana. With a semi-structured questionnaire, random sampling technique was used to select 381 farmers and interviewed. The findings revealed that five components containing 28 variables determine about 80% percent variations in the production of smallholders. These factors were named as managerial challenges (26.286% of variance), technological challenges (24.045% of variance), marketing challenges (15.685% of variance), extension services challenges (6.933 % of variance) and health related challenges (6.839% of variance). The magnitude of the factor loadings indicated that the 28 variables are having great toll of smallholders and implementing the output of these findings will significantly reduce all constraints facing farmers by 80%. Keywords: Factor analysis, Marketing challenges, Principal component analysis, Percentage variance, Smallholders
Introduction to Statistics Through Resampling Methods and Microsoft Office Excel

Preface. 1. Variation (or What Statistics Is All About). 2. Probability. 3. Distributions. 4. Testing Hypotheses. 5. Designing an Experiment or Survey. 6. Analyzing Complex Experiments. 7. Developing Models. 8. Reporting Your Findings. 9. Problem Solving. Appendix: An Microsoft Office Excel Primer. Index to Excel and Excel Add-In Functions. Subject Index.
A Life of Anne Bronte

List of Illustrations. Acknowledgements. Introduction. 1. Childhood. 2. A Great Delight. 3. Roe Head. 4. Disaster and Sunrise. 5. Thorp Green, 1840. 6. The End of Romantic Hopes. 7. Branwell Joins his Sister. 8. An End and a New Beginning. 9. Artistic Independence. 10. To see the Shuffling Scamp. 11. Sunset over the Sea. Notes. Selected Bibliography. Index.
Contrasting the Pb (II) and Cd (II) tolerance of Enterobacter sp. via its cellular stress responses.

Successful application of microorganisms to heavy metal remediation depends on their resistance to toxic metals. This study contrasted the differences of tolerant mechanisms between Pb2+ and Cd2+ in Enterobacter sp. Respiration and production of formic acid showed that Enterobacter sp. had a higher tolerant concentration of Pb (>1000 mg/L) than Cd (about 200 mg/L). Additionally, SEM confirmed that most of Pb and Cd nano-particles (NPs) were adsorbed onto cell membrane. The Cd stress, even at low concentration (50 mg/L), significantly enlarged the sizes of cells. The cellular size raised from 0.4×1.0 μm to 0.9×1.6 μm on average, inducing a platelet-like shape. In contrast, Pb cations did not stimulate such enlargement even up to 1000 mg/L. Moreover, Cd NPs were adsorbed homogeneously by almost all the bacterial cells under TEM. However, only a few cells work as "hot spots" on the sorption of Pb NPs. The heterogenous sorption might result from a "self-sacrifice" mechanism, i.e., some cells at a special life stage contributed mostly to Pb sorption. This mechanism, together with the lower mobility of Pb cations, caused higher microbial tolerance and removal efficiency towards Pb2+ . This study sheds evident contrasts of bacterial resistance to the two most common heavy metals. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Brain Maps: Structure of the Rat Brain

Foreword. I. Overview. II. On Mapping the Brain. A. What is a map? B. The rat Brain. C. On Nomenclature. D. How to use this atlas. 1. Cytoarchitecture 2. Myeloarchitecture. 3. Mapping Experimental Results. 4. Coordinate Systems. E. How the atlas was produced. 1. The Brain. 2. The Pictomicrographs. 3. The Drawings. 4. Level Selection. III. Summary of Nervous System Development (with 10 figures). IV. Atlas of the Rat Brain (73 levels, each with drawing, photo, abbreviations). V. Annotated Nomenclature Tables (tables and annotations in parallel). A. Basic Cell Groups of the Rat CNS. B. Basic Fiber Systems of the Rat CNS. C. Gross Anatomical Features of the Rat CNS. D. Gross Anatomical Features of the Rat PNS. List of Abbreviations. References. Index (including synonyms). Appendices. A. Nissl Stain Protocol. B. Stereotaxic Coordinate Grid (pull-out transparency). Legends for text figures (10 text figures 1 in color). Abbreviations for Atlas Levels 1-73.
Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy

Translatora s Introduction. Preface. 1. Law as a Category of Social Mediation between Facts and Norms. 2. The Sociology of Law versus the Philosophy of Justice. 3. A Reconstructive Approach to Law I: The System of Rights. 4. A Reconstructive Approach to Law II: The Principles of the Constitutional State. 5. The Indeterminacy of Law and the Rationality of Adjudication. 6. Judiciary and Legislature: On the Role and Legitimacy of Constitutional Adjudication. 7. Deliberative Politics: A Procedural Concept of Democracy. 8. Civil Society and the Political Public Sphere. 9. Paradigms of Law. Postscript (1994). Appendices. Notes. Bibliography. Index.
Advanced state space methods for neural and clinical data

1. Introduction Z. Chen 2. Inference and learning in latent Markov models D. Barber and S. Chiappa Part I. State Space Methods for Neural Data: 3. State space methods for MEG source reconstruction M. Fukushima, O. Yamashita and M. Sato 4. Autoregressive modeling of fMRI time series: state space approaches and the general linear model A. Galka, M. Siniatchkin, U. Stephani, K. Groening, S. Wolff, J. Bosch-Bayard and T. Ozaki 5. State space models and their spectral decomposition in dynamic causal modeling R. Moran 6. Estimating state and parameters in state space models of spike trains J. H. Macke, L. Buesing and M. Sahani 7. Bayesian inference for latent stepping and ramping models of spike train data K. W. Latimer, A. C. Huk and J. W. Pillow 8. Probabilistic approaches to uncover rat hippocampal population codes Z. Chen, F. Kloosterman and M. A. Wilson 9. Neural decoding in motor cortex using state space models with hidden states W. Wu and S. Liu 10. State-space modeling for analysis of behavior in learning experiments A. C. Smith Part II. State Space Methods for Clinical Data: 11. Bayesian nonparametric learning of switching dynamics in cohort physiological time series: application in critical care patient monitoring L. H. Lehman, M. J. Johnson, S. Nemati, R. P. Adams and R. G. Mark 12. Identifying outcome-discriminative dynamics in multivariate physiological cohort time series S. Nemati and R. P. Adams 13. A dynamic point process framework for assessing heartbeat dynamics and cardiovascular functions Z. Chen and R. Barbieri 14. Real-time segmentation and tracking of brain metabolic state in ICU EEG recordings of burst suppression M. B. Westover, S. Ching, M. M. Shafi, S. S. Cash and E. N. Brown 15. Signal quality indices for state-space electrophysiological signal processing and vice versa J. Oster and G. D. Clifford.