Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Going over Fungal Allergy: Alternaria alternata and Its Allergens

Fungal allergy is the third most frequent cause of respiratory pathologies and the most related to a poor prognosis of asthma. The genera Alternaria and Cladosporium are the most frequently associated with allergic respiratory diseases, with Alternaria being the one with the highest prevalence of sensitization. Alternaria alternata is an outdoor fungus whose spores disseminate in warm and dry air, reaching peak levels in temperate summers. Alternaria can also be found in damp and insufficiently ventilated houses, causing what is known as sick building syndrome. Thus, exposure to fungal allergens can occur outdoors and indoors. However, not only spores but also fungal fragments contain detectable amounts of allergens and may function as aeroallergenic sources. Allergenic extracts of Alternaria hyphae and spores are still in use for the diagnosis and treatment of allergic diseases but are variable and insufficiently standardised, as they are often a random mixture of allergenic ingredients and casual impurities. Thus, diagnosis of fungal allergy has been difficult, and knowledge about new fungal allergens is stuck. The number of allergens described in Fungi remains almost constant while new allergens are being found in the Plantae and Animalia kingdoms. Given Alt a 1 is not the unique Alternaria allergen eliciting allergy symptoms, component-resolved diagnosis strategies should be applied to diagnose fungal allergy. To date, twelve A. alternata allergens are accepted in the WHO/IUIS Allergen Nomenclature Subcommittee, many of them are enzymes: Alt a 4 (disulfide isomerase), Alt a 6 (enolase), Alt a 8 (mannitol de-hydrogenase), Alt a 10 (aldehyde dehydrogenase), Alt a 13 (glutathione-S-transferase) and Alt a MnSOD (Mn superoxide dismutase), and others have structural and regulatory functions such as Alt a 5 and Alt a 12, Alt a 3, Alt a 7. The function of Alt a 1 and Alt a 9 remains unknown. Other four allergens are included in other medical databases (e.g., Allergome): Alt a NTF2, Alt a TCTP, and Alt a 70 kDa. Despite Alt a 1 being the A. alternata major allergen, other allergens, such as enolase, Alt a 6 or MnSOD, Alt a 14 have been suggested to be included in the diagnosis panel of fungal allergy.
LightAD: Accelerating AutoDebias with Adaptive Sampling

In recommendation systems, the bias issue is ubiquitous as the data is collected from user behaviors rather than reasonable experiments. AutoDebias, which resorts to meta learning to find appropriate debiasing configurations, i.e., pseudo-labels and confidence weights for all user-item pairs, has been demonstrated as a generic and effective solution in tackling various biases. Nevertheless, setting pseudo-labels and weights for every user-item pair can be a time-consuming process. Therefore, AutoDebias suffers from a huge computational cost, making it less applicable to real cases. Although stochastic gradient descent with a uniform sampler can be applied to accelerate training, it would significantly deteriorate model convergence and stability. To overcome this problem, we propose LightAutoDebias (short as LightAD), which equips AutoDebias with a specialized importance sampling strategy. The sampler can adaptively and dynamically draw informative training instances, which brings provably better convergence and stability than the standard uniform sampler. Extensive experiments on three benchmark datasets validate that our LightAD accelerates AutoDebias by several magnitudes while maintaining almost equal accuracy.
THE ROLE OF BLOCKCHAIN TO SOLVE PROBLEMS OF DIGITAL RIGHT MANAGEMENT (DRM)

In recent years, internet user was grown significantly. Even though many problems arise due to internet abuse. The sectors affected by the internet is digital assets or digital right. Various ways are done to solve the violation. One of that ways is to develop digital protection or Digital Right Management (DRM). However, the DRM technology has several disadvantages such as there is no way to track the leak and prove a copyright violation, the user is unable to authenticate the content since the content source is unknown, there is no user restriction to download the content, the system isn’t provided the feature to alienate ore transfer ownership the content to other, and the system using centralize model that requires many issues, especially trust issue. Fortunately, the blockchain is a decentralized, secure, reliable, immutable, and tamper-proof paradigm. The blockchain is also built upon public key cryptography and has a smart contract that can solve or complement DRM problems. This paper discusses how the blockchain solves DRM problems. The results show that blockchain solves DRM problems. A narrative literature review was conducted with several stages, including a source search of papers, articles and news articles on digital rights management and blockchain in the last five years. The next step is to identify keywords related to the topic, to review the sources, and to compile the paper.
La corrosion des aciers dans le béton à l'état passif et par carbonatation : prise en compte des courants galvaniques et des défauts d'interface acier-béton

Cette these s'inscrit dans le cadre des recherches sur la durabilite des ouvrages de stockage des dechets radioactifs en profondeur. Le travail realise est essentiellement experimental. Une premiere partie du travail s'interesse a la corrosion de l'acier a l'etat passif en milieu aere ou desaere. En effet, la solution interstitielle du beton qui constitue l'electrolyte au contact du metal reste fortement alcaline. Dans ces conditions les aciers du beton arme forment par corrosion une couche d'oxydes stable et protectrice. Cette couche passive limite la corrosion de l'acier a des valeurs tres faibles (negligeables sur des durees de vie courtes) mais non nulles. Etant donne la duree de vie pluriseculaire des ouvrages de stockage des dechets nucleaires, il est necessaire d'etudier l'evolution dans le temps de cette couche d'oxydes sous l'effet d'une part de la corrosion lente de l'acier qui contribue a la faire croitre et d'autre part de la dissolution/transformation (lente aussi) des oxydes dans le milieu et qui tend a l'inverse a faire diminuer son epaisseur. La seconde partie du travail s'interesse a la corrosion des armatures dans le beton carbonate en phase de propagation. L'originalite de ce travail porte sur la prise en compte de la presence de defauts d'interface acier-beton et sur l'apparition possible de courants de corrosion galvaniques entre differentes zones de ferraillage en fonction des conditions locales d'interface acier-beton et/ou de carbonatation du beton. L'etude de la corrosion a l'etat passif a montre la presence d'une nouvelle couche d'oxydes, riche en calcium, formee post-coulage par transformation des oxydes preexistants comme notamment la magnetite sur tous les echantillons quel que soit le milieu de conservation. La presence de defauts d'interface semble augmenter la cinetique de formation de cette nouvelle couche. Malgre cela, les vitesses de corrosion a l'etat passif mesurees restent equivalentes avec ou sans defaut d'interface et inferieures a 0,6 ? A/an (0,05 ? A/cm2). En ce qui concerne la corrosion par carbonatation, l'etude montre clairement que les courants de corrosion galvaniques pouvant se developper entre differentes zones de ferraillage peuvent etre extremement importants notamment en presence de defaut d'interface acier-beton.
Stormy Seas and Cloudy Skies: Conceptual Processing is (Still) Linguistic and Perceptual

Pecher et al. (2010) extended current findings on conceptual processing of words denoting references in the sky or in the ocean (e.g., falcon, dolphin) presented in different positions on the screen (top, bottom). This experimental paradigm has shown to facilitate processing for word meaning in the corresponding spatial location (e.g., falcon presented at the top of the screen). Pecher et al. (2010) compared two explanations for the interaction between concept and position, one related to perceptual simulation, the other to a response selection process, in a response time experiments. To test the perceptual simulation explanation participants received an ocean or sky judgment task (“can this item be found in the sky? ”, “can this item be found in the ocean? ”) and used a polarity response (yes answer left, yes answer right). Polarity correspondence did not explain response times and the authors concluded that the interaction between reference–word and position therefore need being explained by a perceptual simulation account. Lakens (2011) commented on the conclusions drawn by Pecher et al. (2010) and argued that it is too early to dismiss the polarity correspondence principle, a claim Van Dantzig and Pecher (2011) responded to.
Atmospheric aerosol phase transitions: measurements and implications

I INDEX OF FIGURES . VI INDEX OF TABLES . VIII LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . IX CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION . 1 SECTION 1 – THE ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOLS . 1 1.1 DEFINITION AND SIZES . 1 1.2 AEROSOLS CHEMICAL COMPOSITION . 2 SECTION 2 – THE HYGROSCOPIC BEHAVIOR OF AEROSOLS . 4 2.1 – THE AEROSOLS PHASE TRANSITIONS . 6 2.1.1 Temperature dependence of phase transition processes . 8 SECTION 3 – MODELLING AEROSOLS HYGROSCOPICITY AND PHASE TRANSITIONS . 9 3.1 – THE EXTENDED-AEROSOL INORGANIC MODEL (E-AIM) II . 10 3.2 – THE ISORROPIA II MODEL . 10 3.3 – AN EMPIRICAL MODEL FOR HOMOGENEOUS CRYSTALLIZATION . 11 SECTION 4 – DELIQUESCENCE AND CRYSTALLIZATION MEASUREMENTS IN LITERATURE . 11 SECTION 5 – CONCLUSIONS . 15 CHAPTER II – METHODS . 17 1 – THE EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH . 17 1.1 AEROSOL SAMPLING . 17 1.2 THE AEROSOL EXPOSURE CHAMBER AND RH CYCLES . 18 1.3 CONDUCTANCE MEASUREMENTS AND DEVELOPMENTS . 20 1.4 AEROSOL CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION . 20 2 – RESULTS AND DISCUSSION . 21 2.1 EQUILIBRATION TIME . 21 2.2 MINIMUM AEROSOL LOADING . 23 2.2.1 Sampling modifications . 24 2.2.2 Measuring setting modifications . 27 2.3 FILTER MEDIA EFFECT . 28 2.4 REPEATABILITY . 30 2.5 PHASE TRANSITION IDENTIFICATION AND REPEATABILITY . 31 2.6 COMPARISON BETWEEN CONDUCTANCE AND GRAVIMETRIC METHOD FOR DRH AND CRH . 34 3 – CONCLUSIONS . 36
Bacillus licheniformis isolated from Korean traditional food sources enhances the resistance of Caenorhabditis elegans to infection by Staphylococcus aureus.

We investigated whether Bacillus spp. , newly isolated from Korean traditional food resources, influence the resistance of hosts to foodborne pathogens, by using Caenorhabditis elegans as a surrogate host model. Initially, we selected 20 Bacillus spp. that possess antimicrobial activity against various foodborne pathogens, including Staphylococcus aureus. Among the selected strains, six strains of Bacillus spp. used in preconditioning significantly prolonged the survival of nematodes exposed to S. aureus. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing, all six strains were identified as B. licheniformis. Our findings suggest that preconditioning with B. licheniformis may modulate the host defense response against S. aureus.
Materials Development of Steel-and Basalt Fiber-Reinforced Concretes

Concrete is a structural composite material with excellent properties when subjected to compression. But the poor ability to resist tensile stresses forces the concrete to be used with reinforcement. Commonly, large continuous steel bars have been applied as reinforcement since mid-1800s to carry the tensile loads. Placing the steel bars takes many man-hours, which contributes to a significant part of the total concrete costs. By eliminating the reinforcement part of the construction work, the costs can be reduced considerably. Fibers have been incorporated into building materials since ancient times to improve the properties. Today, fibers are incorporated in concretes to improve certain properties of this material. They are added to enhance the ductility of the concretes. Additionally, the tensile and the flexural strengths of the material are enhanced. The crack widths and their propagation are decreased by the insertion of fibers. Research over the years have shown that fiber reinforcement has sufficient strength and ductility to be used as a complete replacement to conventional steel bars in some types of structures; foundations, walls, slabs. Fibers are also used in beams in combination with conventional reinforcement which increase the capacity and the stiffness of the concrete. The technology that is available today has made is possible to consider fiber reinforcement without the use of conventional steel bars in load carrying structures. For this to be a reality, the fibers must be distributed and oriented as expected, which is difficult. If fibers can be used without the need of steel reinforcement bars, the reinforcement part of the construction work will be eliminated. Hence, the construction costs will be significantly reduced. In recent years, a project within COIN has set the aim to develop a high tensile strength all-round concrete which exhibits a residual flexural tensile strength in the range of 10-15 MPa and that can be applied in load carrying structures. This MSc-thesis is a part of this work and it has consisted of testing fiber-reinforced self-compacting concretes with different types and contents of fibers, namely steel fibers and basalt fibers. The different concrete mixes were tested and the corresponding fresh and hardened concrete properties were evaluated and compared. Based upon the results achieved in these experiments, the conclusion was taken of whether or not the different concrete mixes could be used for the purpose the COIN project was aiming for.
Gene Flow and Genetic Diversity of a Broadcast-Spawning Coral in Northern Peripheral Populations

Recently, reef-building coral populations have been decreasing worldwide due to various disturbances. Population genetic studies are helpful for estimating the genetic connectivity among populations of marine sessile organisms with metapopulation structures such as corals. Moreover, the relationship between latitude and genetic diversity is informative when evaluating the fragility of populations. In this study, using highly variable markers, we examined the population genetics of the broadcast-spawning coral Acropora digitifera at 19 sites in seven regions along the 1,000 km long island chain of Nansei Islands, Japan. This area includes both subtropical and temperate habitats. Thus, the coral populations around the Nansei Islands in Japan are northern peripheral populations that would be subjected to environmental stresses different from those in tropical areas. The existence of high genetic connectivity across this large geographic area was suggested for all sites (F ST≤0.033) although small but significant genetic differentiation was detected among populations in geographically close sites and regions. In addition, A. digitifera appears to be distributed throughout the Nansei Islands without losing genetic diversity. Therefore, A. digitifera populations in the Nansei Islands may be able to recover relatively rapidly even when high disturbances of coral communities occur locally if populations on other reefs are properly maintained.
Geometric Intersection Number and analogues of the Curve Complex for free groups

For the free group $F_{N}$ of finite rank $N \geq 2$ we construct a canonical Bonahon-type continuous and $Out(F_N)$-invariant \emph{geometric intersection form} \[ : \bar{cv}(F_N)\times Curr(F_N)\to \mathbb R_{\ge 0}. \] Here $\bar{cv}(F_N)$ is the closure of unprojectivized Culler-Vogtmann's Outer space $cv(F_N)$ in the equivariant Gromov-Hausdorff convergence topology (or, equivalently, in the length function topology). It is known that $\bar{cv}(F_N)$ consists of all \emph{very small} minimal isometric actions of $F_N$ on $\mathbb R$-trees. The projectivization of $\bar{cv}(F_N)$ provides a free group analogue of Thurston's compactification of the Teichm\"uller space. As an application, using the \emph{intersection graph} determined by the intersection form, we show that several natural analogues of the curve complex in the free group context have infinite diameter.
Computing Personalized PageRank Quickly by Exploiting Graph Structures

We propose a new scalable algorithm that can compute Personalized PageRank (PPR) very quickly. The Power method is a state-of-the-art algorithm for computing exact PPR; however, it requires many iterations. Thus reducing the number of iterations is the main challenge. We achieve this by exploiting graph structures of web graphs and social networks. The convergence of our algorithm is very fast. In fact, it requires up to 7.5 times fewer iterations than the Power method and is up to five times faster in actual computation time. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time to use graph structures explicitly to solve PPR quickly. Our contributions can be summarized as follows. 1. We provide an algorithm for computing a tree decomposition, which is more efficient and scalable than any previous algorithm. 2. Using the above algorithm, we can obtain a core-tree decomposition of any web graph and social network. This allows us to decompose a web graph and a social network into (1) the core, which behaves like an expander graph, and (2) a small tree-width graph, which behaves like a tree in an algorithmic sense. 3. We apply a direct method to the small tree-width graph to construct an LU decomposition. 4. Building on the LU decomposition and using it as pre-conditoner, we apply GMRES method (a state-of-the-art advanced iterative method) to compute PPR for whole web graphs and social networks.
Intravascular ultrasound guided PTCA: a way to escape stent mania?

In 1995, a total of 278 982 percutaneous coronary interventions were carried out in Europe alone. In the United States, the corresponding figure for the same period was approximately 500 000, and these figures continue to increase worldwide, year after year. To date, plain old balloon angioplasty remains the strategy of choice in the majority of cases, even though a myriad of different devices have been conceived, developed and tested in percutaneous coronary interventions. However, up to now, no other single device has seen the same spectacular explosion on the market as the stent, and none has managed to oust the angioplasty balloon from its position at the top of the polls. Introduced in 1986, stents spread relatively slowly until the publication of large multicentre trials demonstrating the efficacy of this device in the prevention of restenosis. Since then, stents have spread like wildfire, and their diffusion has been all the more encouraged by improvements in the prevention of subacute occlusions. In 1997, the average rate of stenting in Europe was 51%, with figures ranging from 25% in Eastern Europe to more than 60% in Western European nations. Since this report was compiled, the rate of stenting has continued to grow, and is probably around 70% now. The most common indications for stenting are abrupt vessel closure, suboptimal result defined by residual stenosis >30%, coronary dissection of grade C or higher and treatment of restenosis on a native artery, not to mention the very broad indications for stenting in veinous bypass grafts. Without a doubt, stenting makes it possible to control abrupt occlusions and to optimize the result of the conventional angioplasty procedure. In short, the stent has made angioplasty safer and easier, with improved immediate results. However, it is worth noting that all these indications for stenting are based on observational studies only. The only indication in which the efficacy of stents has been proven is still complied with relatively rarely, namely the prevention of restenosis
FROM CIRCULATION TO ASYMMETRICAL FLOW

This essay argues for the shortcomings of the circulation-perspectives of critical economics in the discursive formation of contemporary finance-led global capitalism on grounds that it implies the same neoclassical efficiency-equilibrium assumption it was meant to counter. A new theoretical apparatus, of asymmetrical flow, predicated on the asymmetries of time-space and information, is offered. The necessity of a new theory is illustrated with reference to the global financial crisis beginning in 2008 and the S.E. C. suit of Goldman Sachs and, using the question ‘where did all the money go? ’ as a touchstone of inquiry, concluding that the question is largely unanswerable due to communicative asymmetries arising from the act of speculation.
Beyond the Big Test: Noncognitive Assessment in Higher Education

Preface. The Author. 1. The Big Test . and an Alternative Approach. 2. Going Beyond the Big Test. 3. Reliability, Validity, and Diversity. 4. Noncognitive Assessment Model. 5. Admissions and Financial Aid: Traditional and Nontraditional Measures. 6. Teaching a Diverse Student Body Successfully. 7. Advising and Counseling with Noncognitive Variables. 8. Evaluating and Designing Campus Programs with Noncognitive Variables. 9. Conclusions and Recommendations. Appendices. 1. Examples of the Situational Attitude Scale. 2. Basic Noncognitive Questionnaire with Scoring and Administration Information. 3. Norms Using Noncognitive Questionnaire Scoring Key. 4. Two Alternate Forms of the Noncognitive Questionnaire and Scoring Instructions. 5. Short Answer Noncognitive Assessment Form. 6. Principles of Interviewing for Noncognitive Variable Diagnosis. 7. Interview Questions Employed in Campus Site Visits (Lilly Endowment Evaluation). 8. Example Cases for Training Raters in Evaluating Admissions or Financial Aid Applications. 9. Online References for Racism Class. 10. Racism Course Rating Form. 11. Protocol for Interracial Interaction Study. 12. Campus Climate Survey (University of Maryland Diversity Survey). References. Name Index. Subject Index.
Relationship between hair cortisol concentrations and depressive symptoms in patients with coronary artery disease

Objective Concentrations of cortisol in hair, a novel marker of longer-term cortisol status, were compared in depressed versus nondepressed patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods 20 mg hair samples of 3 cm length were collected from 121 patients attending a cardiac rehabilitation program, 34 of whom suffered from depressive symptoms. Results Controlling for age, gender, coronary artery bypass grafting, history of depression, and time since most recent acute coronary syndrome, cortisol concentrations (P = 0.162) did not predict severity of depression. Younger age (P = 0.003) was a significant predictor of depressive symptoms. Perceived stress was not associated with long-term cortisol concentrations (P = 0.161). Conclusions Cortisol concentrations in hair do not predict depressive symptoms in CAD patients attending cardiac rehabilitation.
Art Therapy with Children on the Autistic Spectrum: Beyond Words

Introduction. 1. Developmental Deficit: Communication and Deficit. 2. Imaginative Play, Creativity and Art. 3. Drawing Development. 4. Symbols, Signs, Theory of Mind, Autism and Drawing Development. 5. The Basis for Intervention: From Theory to Practice. 6. Diagnosis, Understanding and Assessment. 7. Working with Stephen. 8. Developing an Interactive Art Therapy Template. References. Index.