92,982 research outputs found
Infection with a Candida albicans general-purpose genotype is associated with higher mortality in young patients
No full textThe yeast Candida albicans causes life-threatening infections in immunocompromised patients. Epidemiological and phylogenetic studies have revealed the existence of a general-purpose genotype (GPG, corresponding to clade 1), which causes infections more frequently than other genotypes. The high prevalence might indicate that GPG strains are also more virulent and thus associated with higher mortality.
To investigate this we developed a duplex PCR assay based on GPG-specific mutations, which was 97% accurate in identifying GPG strains in an international collection of strains typed with the probe Ca3. We applied this assay to 660 candidemia isolates, predominantly from Italy and France. Three percent of isolates were untypeable, and 4% produced an intermediate genotype. Of the remaining 610 isolates 19% could be clearly attributed to the GPG group, the remainder showed the PCR pattern characteristic of non-GPG strains. These numbers are in agreement with the genotype distribution in earlier studies, indicating that the method reliable identified GPG strains in the current sample.
Across the entire patient cohort there was no difference in the mortality of patients infected with GPG strain and other strains (40% in both cases). However mortality in patients up to the age of 40 was 43% when infected with GPG strains, but only 19% when infected with other strains (z test, P<0.01). Mortality associated with GPG and non-GPG strains was comparable in older patients. Prevalence of GPG strains was also increased in younger patients, in particular in infants (35%). A logistic regression analysis confirmed the age-dependent impact of genotype on mortality
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Author, publisher and bookseller : a tripartite synergy in Nigerian book industry
Get PDFThis work is about the roles of Author, Publisher and Bookseller in Book development in
Nigeria. The paper started by delving into the history of Book Publishing in Nigeria after
which it proceeded by defining who an author, a publisher, and a bookseller is and
expatiated on the indispensable roles of these key actors in Nigerian Book Industry and in
the emerging Information Society. Furthermore, the various constraints to book
development were identified while the paper advised on how the Book Industry can be
further promoted in Nigeria. However, the paper concluded and made recommendations
on how the Book sector can help in enhancing scholarship in the country
Rekayasa Genetik Tanaman Kentang (Solanum tuberosum L.) Kultivar Jala Ipam dengan Gen MmPMA
No full textKentang merupakan salah satu bahan pangan utama di dunia setelah gandum, padi, dan jagung dan mendapatkan prioritas untuk pengembangannya di Indonesia. Peningkatan produksi merupakan prioritas utama dalam menjaga ketahanan pangan kentang. Salah satu faktor yang sangat penting dalam peningkatan produksi adalah bibit. Selain bibit, faktor lingkungan juga mempengaruhi produksi kentang. Beberapa lahan di dataran tinggi di Indonesia bersifat masam yang mengakibatkan produksi tanaman menurun.
Perakitan tanaman transgenik melalui rekayasa genetika dilakukan untuk memperoleh tanaman yang memiliki kualitas dan kuantitas yang lebih baik dibandingkan dengan tanaman non-transgenik. H+-ATPase membran plasma memiliki peranan yang sangat penting dalam mengaktifkan transport sekunder pada tanaman seperti penyerapan mineral dari tanah, toleransi terhadap garam, dan pembukaan stomata. Tembakau (Nicotiana tabacum L.) transgenik yang mengandung gen MmPMA penyandi H+-ATPase membran plasma dari Melastoma malabathricum L. mempunyai jumlah cabang, bunga, buah, dan stomata yang membuka lebih banyak dibandingan dengan tanaman non-transgenik. Tembakau transgenik juga berbunga lebih awal. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk melakukan rekayasa genetika tanaman kentang kultivar Jala Ipam dengan gen MmPMA penyandi ATPase membran plasma untuk mendapatkan tanaman kentang transgenik. Tanaman kentang transgenik ini diharapkan mempunyai produktivitas yang lebih tinggi dan lebih toleran terhadap lahan masam daripada tanaman non-transgenik.
Transformasi genetik telah dilakukan dengan metode kokultivasi menggunakan Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain LBA4404 yang membawa pGWB502-MmPMA. Ruas batang dari kentang kultivar Jala Ipam digunakan sebagai eksplan untuk ditransformasi. Efisiensi transformasi genetik pada penelitian ini adalah sebesar 3.46%. Analisis integrasi transgen MmPMA dilakukan dengan PCR menggunakan sepasang primer 35S-F dan PMA-R1. Analisis PCR menunjukkan bahwa enam tanaman transgenik putatif yang resisten terhadap higromisin sebagai agen seleksi merupakan tanaman transgenik yang mengandung gen MmPMA dibawah kendali promoter 35S CaMV. Hasil ini menunjukkan bahwa rekayasa genetika tanaman kentang Jala Ipam dengan gen MmPMA telah berhasil dilakukan dengan mendapatkan tanaman transgenik. Tanaman transgenik mempunyai jumlah stomata membuka, lebar stomata membuka, tinggi tanaman dan toleransi tanaman terhadap pH rendah lebih tinggi daripada tanaman non-transgenik. Produktivitas umbi antara kentang transgenik dan non-transgenik relatif sama
Author inscription in The Chinese slave-girl: a story of woman's life in China
No full textThis edition includes a gift inscription by author Rev. J.A. Davis, "To Rev. A. G. Russell with the warmest regards of the author J.A. Davis."Davis, John Agnell, 1839-1897
G-Rank: Unsupervised Continuous Learn-to-Rank for Edge Devices in a P2P Network
No full textRanking algorithms in traditional search engines are powered by enormous training data sets that are meticulously engineered and curated by a centralized entity. Decentralized peer-to-peer (p2p) networks such as torrenting applications and Web3 protocols deliberately eschew centralized databases and computational architectures when designing services and features. As such, robust search-and-rank algorithms designed for such domains must be engineered specifically for decentralized networks, and must be lightweight enough to operate on consumer-grade personal devices such as a smartphone or laptop computer. We introduce G-Rank, an unsupervised ranking algorithm designed exclusively for decentralized networks. We demonstrate that accurate, relevant ranking results can be achieved in fully decentralized networks without any centralized data aggregation, feature engineering, or model training. Furthermore, we show that such results are obtainable with minimal data preprocessing and computational overhead, and can still return highly relevant results even when a user’s device is disconnected from the network. G-Rank is highly modular in design, is not limited to categorical data, and can be implemented in a variety of domains with minimal modification. The results herein show that unsupervised ranking models designed for decentralized p2p networks are not only viable, but worthy of further research.https://github.com/awrgold/G-RankComputer Scienc
A Relational Unsupervised Approach to Author Identification
No full textIn the last decades speaking and writing habits have changed.
Many works faced the author identification task by exploiting frequencybased
approaches, numeric techniques or writing style analysis. Following
the last approach we propose a technique for author identification
based on First-Order Logic. Specifically, we translate the complex data
represented by natural language text to complex (relational) patterns
that represent the writing style of an author. Then, we model an author
as the result of clustering the relational descriptions associated to the
sentences. The underlying idea is that such a model can express the typical
way in which an author composes the sentences in his writings. So,
if we can map such writing habits from the unknown-author model to
the known-author model, we can conclude that the author is the same.
Preliminary results are promising and the approach seems viable in real
contexts since it does not need a training phase and performs well also
with short texts
Nd-doped polarization maintaining all-fiber laser with dissipative soliton resonance mode-locking at 905 nm
No full textFunding Information: Manuscript received February 15, 2021; revised May 14, 2021; accepted May 27, 2021. Date of publication June 1, 2021; date of current version September 13, 2021. This work was supported by RFBR under Grant 20-32-90233. (Corresponding author: Aram A. Mkrtchyan.) Aram A. Mkrtchyan, Yuriy G. Gladush, and Kirill A. Sitnik are with the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Moscow 121205, Russia (e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]). Publisher Copyright: © 1983-2012 IEEE.Moving the fiber laser emission to the region below one micron may provide a cheaper, more compact and robust alternatives to the existing solid state lasers. Here, for the first time we report a neodymium mode-locked fiber laser emitting at 905 nm in the all-fiber polarization maintaining configuration. We obtain a self-starting pulse generation in nonlinear amplifying loop mirror (NALM) cavity configuration. To suppress a dominant emission at 1064 nm corresponding to a 4-level laser scheme, we use an active fiber - 920/1064 division multiplexer - active fiber sandwich-like sequence in the NALM loop. A rectangular shape dissipative soliton had nJ energy, 30 pm spectral width and 80 ÷ 430 ps width linearly depending on the pump power. Excellent agreement with numerical simulation allowed us to recover pulse shape and width for the pulses out of autocorrelation window.Peer reviewe
Investigation of a flow field generated by a fractal grid based on experimental data and CFD simulations
No full textFractal grids generate turbulence by directly exciting many length-scales of different sizes simultaneously, rather than using the nonlinear cascade mechanism to obtain multiscale excitation, as it is the case for classical grids. These scales influence each other and show very different properties compared to all previously documented turbulent flows. In this work we present experimental wind tunnel and computer fluid dynamics (CFD) studies of the turbulent flow generated by a fractal grid under the same conditions. We did an extensive statistical study and a direct comparison between the experimentally and numerically acquired time series in order to investigate and compare one-point- and two-point-statistics. In addition we present an application of a stochastic method, so-called Langevin approach, to the experimentally and numerically acquired velocity increment time series to examine three-point-statistics in terms of Kramers-Moyal coefficients
The Right to Strike under the United States Constitution: Theory, Practice, and Possible Implications for Canada
No full textAnswering critics of the Canadian Supreme Court's judgment in B.C. Health, the author argues that the Court laid the foundation for a principled and durable doctrine protecting constitutional labour rights, one that goes directly to the heart of the matter — the inequality of workers’ power in the employment relation. In the author’s view, two paths could lead from B.C. Health to the recognition of Charter protec- tion for a right to strike: one that treats the right as an accessory to col- lective bargaining, and one that upholds the right directly on the basis of the Charter values of equality and participation. The author supports the latter approach, contending that constitutional rights should be defined in relation to fundamental values, in a way that is not contingent on time-bound or fact-sensitive assessments about the role of strikes within a particular collective bargaining regime. Although a Charter right to strike may involve the courts in difficult choices about when to defer to legislative policy decisions, and courts may lack the institutional capac- ity to deal effectively with labour law issues, the author points out that judges can look to ILO standards for expert guidance. Noting that the U.S. experience in this area might be of considerable use to Canadians, the author concludes by providing an overview of American case law concerning a constitutional right to strike.Peer reviewe
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