Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of chronic hypoxia during embryonic development on physiological functioning and on hatching and post-hatching parameters related to ascites syndrome in broiler chickens

The present study was designed to investigate the effect of different atmospheric pressure on the endogenous functions of broiler chickens during embryonic, hatching and growing periods related to ascites. Eggs from a commercial broiler line were incubated in two similar commercial incubators at high and low altitudes. The effect on embryonic development and physiological functions including hatching parameters, incidence of ascites and growth performance were examined. Embryos incubated at high altitude had higher plasma tri-iodothyronine, thyroxine, corticosteroid and lactic acid levels, and hatched earlier than those incubated at low altitude. Embryonic mortality was higher at high altitude. Chickens that had been incubated at high altitude showed less right ventricular hypertrophy and ascites mortality than those incubated at low altitude. It was concluded that different atmospheric pressure during incubation interacts with the endocrine functions of the embryo and hence affects hatching parameters, thereby influencing ascites susceptibility.
Safe communication for card players by combinatorial designs for two-step protocols

Two parties A and B select a cards and b cards from a known deck and a third party C receives the remaining c cards. We consider methods whereby A can, in a single message, publicly inform B of her hand without C learning any card held by A or by B. Conditions on a, b, c are given for the existence of an appropriate message.
Pathways to female sexual offending: approach or avoidance?

Abstract This study forms the second part of a larger investigation into the offence process characteristics of female sexual offenders (FSOs). In the first part – documented in Gannon, Rose, and Ward (Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 20, 352–374, 2008) – we described the development of the Descriptive Model of Female Sexual Offending (DMFSO); an offence process model developed using Grounded Theory methodology to describe the sequence of cognitive, affective, behavioural and contextual factors generating female-perpetrated sexual abuse. The second study described here examines the prevalence of specific pathways characterizing the 22 FSOs originally used to develop the DMFSO. Four individuals could not be assigned to a pathway due to lack of information (18% of the overall sample). However, for the remaining 18 participants, three stable pathways to female sexual offending were identified: Explicit Approach offenders (50%, n=9), who intended to offend, and explicitly planned their offence behaviours accordingly; Directed Avoidant offenders (28%, n=5), who did not intend to offend, but did so under the direction and coercion of a male accomplice; and Implicit Disorganized offenders (22%, n=4), who did not intend to offend (i.e. they engaged in minimal planning), but offended impulsively following severe self-regulatory failure. In this paper, we present the core characteristics defining each pathway, their associated demographic features, and discuss potential treatment implications.
Intra-Examiner and Inter-Examiner Reproducibility of Paraspinal Thermography

Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate the intra-examiner and inter-examiner reproducibility of paraspinal thermography using an infrared scanner. Materials and Methods The thermal functions of a commercially available infrared scanner (Insight Subluxation Station®) were evaluated for clinical reliability. Two practicing clinicians conducted the measures on 100 subjects. Intra class correlation coefficients (ICCs) and concordance correlation coefficients (CCCs) were calculated from the collected data. Results Mean bilateral paraspinal skin temperature was 89.78° F and ranged from 88.77° F to 91.43° F. Intra class correlation coefficients (ICCs) for agreement and consistency ranged from 0.959 to 0.976. Concordance correlation coefficients (CCCs) ranged from 0.783 to 0.859 with tight confidence intervals indicating robust estimates of these quantities. Conclusion This study revealed excellent intra-examiner and inter-examiner reproducibility of paraspinal thermography using a commercially available unit.
Fundamental Inequalities and Identities Involving Mutual and Directed Informations in Closed-Loop Systems

We present several novel identities and inequalities relating the mutual information and the directed information in systems with feedback. The internal blocks within such systems are restricted only to be causal mappings, but are allowed to be non-linear, stochastic and time varying. Moreover, the involved signals can be arbitrarily distributed. We bound the directed information between signals inside the feedback loop by the mutual information between signals inside and outside the feedback loop. This fundamental result has an interesting interpretation as a law of conservation of information flow. Building upon it, we derive several novel identities and inequalities, which allow us to prove some existing information inequalities under less restrictive assumptions. Finally, we establish new relationships between nested directed informations inside a feedback loop. This yields a new and general data-processing inequality for systems with feedback.
Conformal Null Infinity Does Not Exist for Radiating Solutions in Odd Spacetime Dimensions

We show that in odd spacetime dimensions greater than 4, all components of the unphysical Weyl tensor for arbitrary smooth, compact spatial support solutions of the linearized vacuum Einstein equation off of Minkowski spacetime fail to be smooth at null infinity at leading nonvanishing order. This implies that for nearly flat radiating spacetimes, the non-smoothness of the unphysical metric at null infinity manifests itself at the same order as it describes deviations from flatness of the physical metric. Therefore, in odd spacetime dimensions, it does not appear that conformal null infinity can be in any way useful for describing radiation.
Improved Receivers for Asymmetrically-Clipped Optical OFDM

In this paper, we propose two novel receiver designs for asymmetrically clipped optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (ACO- OFDM). The first one, termed 'Proposed Receiver I', exploits the structure of the clipping noise which improves the power efficiency over the state-of- the-art ACO-OFDM receiver. The second one, termed 'Proposed Receiver II', exploits the benefit of bit error correction which achieves a further improvement over the state-of-the-art ACO-OFDM receiver at the expense of computational complexity.
Carotid Plaque, Aging, and Risk Factors A Study of 457 Subjects

Background and Purpose The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of extracranial carotid artery atherosclerosis and its relation to principal cardiovascular risk factors at different ages in a sample of the general population. Methods B-mode ultrasonography was used to investigate the carotid district in 457 subjects (231 men and 226 women; mean age, 55.4±18.7 years; range, 18 to 97 years) in the metropolitan area. The ultrasonographic findings were then related to risk factors. Results Carotid plaques were found in 178 subjects (38.9%). The prevalence of atherosclerosis, number of plaques, and severity of stenosis were observed to increase with age. Age (P<.0001), cigarette smoking (P<.0001), male sex (P<.001), total cholesterol (P<.05), and, inversely, the ratio of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol to total cholesterol (P<.05) were found to be independently associated with carotid atherosclerosis. Stratified analysis by sex and age showed effect modifications by age on cigarette smoking, total cholesterol, and the ratio of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol to total cholesterol. After multivariate analysis including interaction terms, cigarette smoking and cholesterol levels were no longer found to be associated with carotid atherosclerosis in elderly subjects. Age (P<.01), total cholesterol (P<.05), and diabetes (P<.05) were positively related to the severity of vascular narrowing. Conclusions There is a high prevalence of asymptomatic carotid atherosclerosis in the general population, particularly among the very old. The association between risk factors and carotid atherosclerosis is less pronounced in the elderly than in younger subjects.
Understanding Classroom Language Assessment Through Teacher Thinking Research

While research into classroom language assessment has expanded in recent years, the nature of thought processes used by teachers when conducting such assessment has received less attention. This article reports on research that explored these cognitions through case studies of two instructors teaching an EAP (English for Academic Purposes) course in a UK university language center; data collection involved classroom observations, interviews, and stimulated recalls. This paper describes the numerous types of cognitions that the study found teachers drew upon when assessing students. Based upon these findings, the paper also suggests ways for improving classroom assessment, highlights the influence of managerialism, and considers the social construction of student language ability in the classroom.
The beauty of blood? Self-injury and ambivalence in an Internet community

The present article analyzes how young self-injuring women and men construct themselves as ‘cutters. ’ The study draws on observations of a Swedish Internet community connected to self-injurious behavior and departs from a poststructuralist framework in order to analyze how members position themselves and others in relation to cultural discourses on self-injury. Two main discourses are identified in the Web community: the ‘normalizing’ and the ‘pathologizing’ discourses, which give contrasting versions of self-injury, self-cutters, and their scarred bodies. Within the normalizing discourse, self-injurious behavior is regarded as a legitimate practice for dealing with mental health problems, ‘cutters’ are resilient, and their blood and scars are beautiful. In contrast, within the pathologizing discourse self-injurious behavior is understood as morally reprehensible, self-cutters are pathological, and their bodies are repulsive. In the Web community, members invoke both discourses, which leads to ambivalent subject positions. This study shows that the seemingly contradictory subject positions of the two discourses in fact are interdependent on each other as members draw on both the normalizing and the pathologizing discourses in order to become ‘authentic cutters. ’
Sirtuin 7: a new marker of aggressiveness in prostate cancer

Predictive biomarkers for advanced prostate cancer (PCa) are still missing. The sirtuin 7 (SIRT7) has been linked to tumorogenesis but its role in prostate cancer is poorly documented. To determine if SIRT7 can be a biomarker for aggressive prostate cancer and plays a role in PCa aggressiveness. We analyzed the expression of SIRT7 by immunohistochemistry in 57 patients comparing healthy with adjacent cancer tissue. SIRT7 levels were significantly elevated in tumors and its expression was positively associated with the grade. We also demonstrated that the knock down of SIRT7 decreased the migration of DU145 and PC3 cells (two androgen-independent prostate cancer cell lines) whereas the overexpression of the native protein but not the mutated form increased the cell migration and the invasion of the poorly aggressive prostate cancer cell line LNCaP. Finally, we also showed that SIRT7 overexpression induced the resistance to docetaxel. Our results demonstrate that SIRT7 promotes prostate cancer cell aggressiveness and chemoresistance and suggest that SIRT7 is a good predictive biomarker of PCa aggressiveness.
The Capacity Region of the Degraded Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Compound Broadcast Channel

The capacity region of a compound multiple-antenna broadcast channel is characterized when the users exhibit a certain degradedness order. The channel under consideration has two users, each user has a finite set of possible realizations. The transmitter transmits two messages, one for each user, in such a manner that regardless of the actual realizations, both users will be able to decode their messages correctly. An alternative view of this channel is that of a broadcast channel with two common messages, each common message is intended to a different set of users. The degradedness order between the two sets of realizations/users is defined through an additional, fictitious, user whose channel is degraded with respect to all realizations/users from one set while all realizations/users from the other set are degraded with respect to him.
HIV Prevalence Comparison Between Antenatal Sentinel Surveillance and Demographic and Health Survey in Rwanda§

Objective: To compare HIV prevalence from antenatal surveillance to that of the demographic and health survey (DHS), and to identify factors determining the difference of HIV prevalence between women recruited in these two surveys in Rwanda in 2005. Methods: Comparative cross-sectional study of HIV prevalence and socio-demographic factors collected by the antenatal survey in 13,745 pregnant women, seen in 30 health centres located throughout the country and those collected by the DHS among 5641 women, aged 15-49 years living in households located throughout the country. Log-binomial regression and direct standardization were used to estimate and compare HIV prevalence between the two surveys. Results: HIV prevalence in the antenatal survey was slightly higher than that in DHS women (4.1% versus 3.6% p=0.103). Socio-demographic characteristics were differently distributed between the two populations. Whereas, 59%, 93%, 53% of pregnant women were aged 20-29 years, married or cohabiting and living in rural areas respectively, the corresponding proportions among DHS women were 35%, 48% and 83% (p<0.001). Simultaneous standardization of antenatal prevalence according to the distribution of socio-demographic characteristics in the DHS gave an overall HIV prevalence estimate of 3.6%, similar to the prevalence measured among DHS women. Conclusions: HIV prevalence in the antenatal survey overestimated that among women of the general population in Rwanda in 2005. This overestimation could be corrected by standardization of antenatal prevalence according to the distribution of age, geographical area, marital status, parity, and education, in the general population.
Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor-induced cough: ACCP evidence-based clinical practice guidelines.

BACKGROUND A dry, persistent cough is a well-described class effect of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor medications. The mechanism of ACE inhibitor-induced cough remains unresolved, but likely involves the protussive mediators bradykinin and substance P, agents that are degraded by ACE and therefore accumulate in the upper respiratory tract or lung when the enzyme is inhibited, and prostaglandins, the production of which may be stimulated by bradykinin. METHODS Data for this review were obtained from a National Library of Medicine (PubMed) search, which was performed in May 2004, of the literature published in the English language from 1985 to 2004, using the search terms "angiotensin-converting enzyme," "angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors," and "cough. " RESULTS The incidence of ACE inhibitor-induced cough has been reported to be in the range of 5 to 35% among patients treated with these agents. However, a much lower incidence has been described in studies of patients presenting for the evaluation of chronic cough. The onset of ACE inhibitor-induced cough ranges from within hours of the first dose to months after the initiation of therapy. Resolution typically occurs within 1 to 4 weeks after the cessation of therapy, but cough may linger for up to 3 months. The only uniformly effective treatment for ACE inhibitor-induced cough is the cessation of treatment with the offending agent. The incidence of cough associated with therapy with angiotensin-receptor blockers appears to be similar to that of the control drug. In a minority of patients, cough will not recur after the reintroduction of ACE inhibitor therapy. CONCLUSIONS In a patient with chronic cough, ACE inhibitors should be considered as wholly or partially causative, regardless of the temporal relation between the initiation of ACE inhibitor therapy and the onset of cough. Although the cessation of therapy is the only uniformly effective treatment for ACE inhibitor-induced cough, some pharmacologic agents have been shown to attenuate the cough.
‘Good relations’ among neighbours and workmates? The everyday encounters of Accession 8 migrants and established communities in Urban England

Drawing on data generated in a recently completed qualitative study in a northern, English city, this paper explores the everyday social encounters of Accession 8 (A8) migrants who entered the UK following the expansion of the European Union in 2004. A number of options from permanent residence in another Member State on the one hand, to more fleeting circulatory and multiple short-term moves on the other, now exist for these new European citizens. The relatively short-term and temporary residence of some A8 migrants calls into question the focus of much UK government policy, which emphasises the need for migrants to integrate into diverse yet cohesive communities. Against this backdrop, the aim of this paper is two-fold. First, it considers the somewhat different character of A8 migration (encompassing a spectrum from permanency to temporariness) and what this means for routine experiences of mixing between new migrants and established host communities. Second, the paper explores such interactions in terms of ‘everyday encounters’ in both neighbourhood and work spaces and asks whether such spatio-temporal practices and experiences enhance or inhibit the building of ‘good relations’ in a multicultural city.
Winners and losers: Dispositions of criminal appeals before the Louisiana supreme court

Trial court dispositions of criminal cases have been researched extensively, but little is known about the disposition of the relatively small number of criminal cases that are appealed. This article undertakes to fill this gap by analyzing patterns of winners and losers before the Louisiana Supreme Court. Reversals are hypothesized to be related to the conviction offense, the likelihood of trial court error, the potential for appellate court policy making, and the severity of the sentence. These hypotheses are tested on 625 criminal appeals decided by written opinion. Statistically significant patterns of winners and losers emerge. Appellants convicted of nonviolent offenses, in which a relatively light sentence was imposed, are the most likely to win on appeal. Conversely, appellants convicted of violent crimes and sentenced to a long prison term are the least likely to gain a reversal. Contrary to expectations, error correction and policy formulation functions prove to be unrelated to appellate court d.
Potent endogenous allelopathic compounds in Lepidium sativum seed exudate: effects on epidermal cell growth in Amaranthus caudatus seedlings

Many plants exude allelochemicals – compounds that affect the growth of neighbouring plants. This study reports further studies of the reported effect of cress (Lepidium sativum) seed(ling) exudates on seedling growth in Amaranthus caudatus and Lactuca sativa. In the presence of live cress seedlings, both species grew longer hypocotyls and shorter roots than cress-free controls. The effects of cress seedlings were allelopathic and not due to competition for resources. Amaranthus seedlings grown in the presence of cress allelochemical(s) had longer, thinner hypocotyls and shorter, thicker roots – effects previously attributed to lepidimoide. The active principle was more abundant in cress seed exudate than in seedling (root) exudates. It was present in non-imbibed seeds and releasable from heat-killed seeds. Release from live seeds was biphasic, starting rapidly but then continuing gradually for 24 h. The active principle was generated by aseptic cress tissue and was not a microbial digestion product or seed-treatment chemical. Crude seed exudate affected hypocotyl and root growth at ∼25 and ∼450 μg ml−1 respectively. The exudate slightly (28%) increased epidermal cell number along the length of the Amaranthus hypocotyl but increased total hypocotyl elongation by 129%; it resulted in a 26% smaller hypocotyl circumference but a 55% greater epidermal cell number counted round the circumference. Therefore, the effect of the allelochemical(s) on organ morphology was imposed primarily by regulation of cell expansion, not cell division. It is concluded that cress seeds exude endogenous substances, probably including lepidimoide, that principally regulate cell expansion in receiver plants.
A 145µW 8×8 parallel multiplier based on optimized bypassing architecture

A low-power parallel multiplier based on optimized bypassing architecture (OBA) is proposed. The proposed OBA has two kinds of adder cells to reduce power consumption by 15.7 %. One is the two-dimensional bypassing adder (TDBA) which performs both row and column bypassing scheme simultaneously, and the other is the modified row-bypassing adder (MRBA) for the proposed row-bypassing scheme. In the proposed TDBA and MRBA, the logic evaluation is partially activated by internal tri-state buffers (ITBs) in order to save the switching power dissipation up to 33.7 % and 32.0 %, respectively. Implemented in 0.13 µm CMOS process, the proposed 8×8 parallel multiplier consumes only 145 µW.
Cross-language Projection of Dependency Trees for Tree-to-tree Machine Translation

Syntax-based machine translation (MT) is an attractive approach for introducing additional linguistic knowledge in corpus-based MT. Previous studies have shown that treeto-string and string-to-tree translation models perform better than tree-to-tree translation models since tree-to-tree models require two high quality parsers on the source as well as the target language side. In practice, high quality parsers for both languages are difficult to obtain and thus limit the translation quality. In this paper, we explore a method to transfer parse trees from the language side which has a high quality parser to the side which has a low quality parser to obtain transferred parse trees. We then combine the transferred parse trees with the original low quality parse trees. In our tree-to-tree MT experiments we have observed that the new combined trees lead to better performance in terms of BLEU score compared to when the original low quality trees and the transferred trees are used separately.
Suburban life and the boundaries of nature: resilience and rupture in Australian backyard gardens

Despite an academic shift from dualistic to hybrid frameworks of culture/nature relations, separationist paradigms of environmental management have great resilience and vernacular appeal. The conditions under which they are reinforced, maintained or ruptured need more detailed attention because of the urgent environmental challenges of a humanly transformed earth. We draw on research in 265 Australian backyard gardens, focusing on two themes where conceptual and material bounding practices intertwine; spatial boundary-making and native plants. We trace the resilience of separationist approaches in the Australian context to the overlay of indigeneity/ non-indigeneity atop other dualisms, and their rupture to situations of close everyday engagement between people, plants, water and birds. Our ethnographic methods show that gardens are places where both attitudes and practices can change in the process of such engagements. In a world where questions of sustainability are increasingly driven by cities and their residents, these chains of agency help identify areas of hope and transformative potential as well as concern.