Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of mating frequency and weaning-to-mating interval on sow reproductive performance

Methods: Reproductive data were collected from 20 Minnesota and Iowa breeding herds, covering a 7-year period from January 1, 1986‐December 31, 1992. Natural mating was used in all herds during the study period. Females bred one, two, or three times during a single estrus were included in the study to compare fertility rates (conception rate, farrowing rate, and adjusted farrowing rate) and litter size between mating frequency. Previous weaning-to-mating intervals were also used to investigate possible interactions with MF on subsequent fertility rates and litter size. Results: Compared to gilts that were mated twice, single-mated gilts had significantly lower (P < .001) conception rates, farrowing rates, and adjusted farrowing rates. Similarly, single-mated sows had significantly lower (P < .001) conception rate, farrowing rate, and adjusted farrowing rate compared to those mated twice. No differences in fertility rates were observed between double-mated and triple-mated females. Mating frequency was associated with litter size in gilts, but not in sows. Single-mated gilts had fewer (P < .001) total-born and liveborn pigs than double- and triple-mated gilts. Litter size did not differ between double-mated and triple-mated gilts. There was no interaction between MF and PWMI that was associated with subsequent fertility and litter size. Sows with 7‐10 day PWMI had smaller (P < .001) subsequent litter sizes compared with those that had 3‐6 day or 11‐14 day intervals. Implications: Double matings with natural service may improve female fertility rates. Double matings may improve the litter sizes of gilts, but not sows. Triple matings did not improve fertility rates and litter sizes compared with double matings.
Multilinear paraproducts revisited

We prove that multilinear paraproducts are bounded from products of Lebesgue spaces Lp1×⋯×Lpm+1 to Lp,∞, when 1≤p1,…,pm,pm+1<∞1/p1+⋯+1/pm+1=1/p. We focus on the endpoint case when some indices pjpj are equal to 11, in particular we obtain a new proof of the estimate L1×⋯×L1→L1/(m+1),∞.
Identification of Weissella species by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Although some Weissella species play beneficial roles in food fermentation and in probiotic products, others such as Weissella confusa are emerging Gram-positive pathogens in immunocompromised hosts. Weissella species are difficult to identify by conventional biochemical methods and commercial automated systems and are easily misidentified as Lactobacillus and Leuconostoc species. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) is increasingly being used for bacterial identification. Little, however, is known about the effectiveness of MALDI-TOF MS in identifying clinical isolates of Weissella to the species level. In this study, we evaluated whether the MALDI-TOF MS Bruker Biotyper system could accurately identify a total of 20 W. confusa and 2 W. cibaria blood isolates that had been confirmed by 16s rRNA sequencing analysis. The MALDI-TOF Biotyper system yielded no reliable identification results based on the current reference spectra for the two species (all score values <1.7). New W. confusa spectra were created by randomly selecting 3 W. confusa isolates and external validation was performed by testing the remaining 17 W. confusa isolates using the new spectra. The new main spectra projection (MSP) yielded reliable score values of >2 for all isolates with the exception of one (score value, 1.963). Our results showed that the MSPs in the current database are not sufficient for correctly identifying W. confusa or W. cibaria. Further studies including more Weissella isolates are warranted to further validate the performance of MALDI-TOF in identifying Weissella species.
Geometric Intersection Patterns and the Theory of Topological Graphs 3 Using similar ideas

The intersection graph of a set system S is a graph on the vertex set S, in which two vertices are connected by an edge if and only if the corresponding sets have nonempty intersection. It was shown by Tietze (1905) that every finite graph is the intersection graph of 3-dimensional convex polytopes. The analogous statement is false in any fixed dimension if the polytopes are allowed to have only a bounded number of faces or are replaced by simple geometric objects that can be described in terms of a bounded number of real parameters. Intersection graphs of various classes of geometric objects, even in the plane, have interesting structural and extremal properties. We survey problems and results on geometric intersection graphs and, more generally, intersection patterns. Many of the questions discussed were originally raised by Berge, Erdős, Grünbaum, Hadwiger, Turán, and others in the context of classical topology, graph theory, and combinatorics (related, e.g., to Helly’s theorem, Ramsey theory, perfect graphs). The rapid development of computational geometry and graph drawing algorithms in the last couple of decades gave further impetus to research in this field. A topological graph is a graph drawn in the plane so that its vertices are represented by points and its edges by possibly intersecting simple continuous curves connecting the corresponding point pairs. We give applications of the results concerning intersection patterns in the theory of topological graphs. Mathematics Subject Classification (2010). Primary 05C35; Secondary 05C62, 52C10.
Teacher Leadership: Effects on Job Satisfaction and Teacher Retention

____________________________________________________ iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS _________________________________________ iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ___________________________________________ vi LIST OF TABLES _______________________________________________ xiv LIST OF FIGURES _______________________________________________ xv CHAPTER I: THE PROBLEM AND JUSTIFICATION ___________________ 1 Overview of the Issues ______________________________________________ 1 Statement of the Problem ____________________________________________ 2 Purpose of the Study _______________________________________________ 3 Research Design ___________________________________________________ 4 Research Questions . 4 Research Questions for Teacher Leader Participants . 5 Significance of the Study ____________________________________________ 5 Assumptions, Limitations, and Delimitations . 8 Definition of Terms . 11 Teacher retention, attrition, and migration. 11 Job satisfaction and motivation. 12 Teacher leadership. 13 Distributed leadership. 14 Self-efficacy. 14 Expected Outcomes _______________________________________________ 15 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW ______________________________ 16
The effects of Fe II non-LTE on nova atmospheres and spectra

The atmospheres of novae at early times in their outbursts are very extended, expanding shells with low densities. Models of these atmospheres show that non-LTE effects are very important and must be included in realistic calculations. We have, therefore, been improving our atmospheric studies by increasing the number of ions treated in non-LTE. One of the most important ions is FeII, which has a complex structure and numerous lines in the observable spectrum. In this paper we investigate non-LTE effects for FeII for a wide variety of parameters. We use a detailed FeII model atom with 617 level and 13,675 primary lines, treated using a rate-operator formalism. We show that the radiative transfer equation in nova atmospheres {ital must} be treated with sophisticated numerical methods and that simple approximations, such as the Sobolev method, {ital cannot} be used because of the large number of overlapping lines in the comoving frame. Our results show that the formation of the FeII lines is strongly affected by non-LTE effects. For low effective temperatures, {ital T}{sub eff}{lt}20,000 K, the optical FeII lines are most influenced by non-LTE effects, while for higher {ital T}{sub eff} the UV lines of FeII are very strongly affected bymore » non-LTE. The departure coefficients are such that FeII tends to be overionized in non-LTE when compared to LTE. Therefore, FeII non-LTE must be included with sophisticated radiative transfer in nova atmosphere models in order to analyze observed nova spectra reliably. Finally, we show that the number of wavelength points required for the FeII non-LTE model atmosphere calculations can be reduced from 90,000 to about 30,000 without changing the results if we choose a sufficiently dense UV wavelength grid. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Astronomical Society. }« less
Hyperintensities of the optic radiation on T2-weighted MR images of elderly subjects.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Although abnormal hyperintensities are frequently observed at or around the optic radiation in elderly subjects, no previous reports have mentioned the clinical significance and pathologic changes of these hyperintensities. We evaluated the hyperintensity patterns of the optic radiation and its surrounding structures on T2-weighted MR images and compared these findings with pathologic observations and visual field measurements. METHODS High-resolution coronal T2-weighted MR images of 102 consecutive patients (51-84 years old) were evaluated retrospectively for the presence and morphology of hyperintensities of the optic radiation (204 sides) and its surrounding structures. Pathologic specimens were obtained from 25 other patients (60-91 years old) who had died of nonneurologic causes. The histopathologic changes of the optic radiation and its surrounding structures were evaluated and correlated with the MR findings. Finally, MR findings and visual field measurements were correlated in 46 elderly volunteers (70-91 years old). RESULTS Hyperintensities of the optic radiation or its surrounding structures or both were observed on 125 sides (93%) of 67 patients (61%), and linear/laminar hyperintensity of the optic radiation and the tapetum was the characteristic finding. Eleven (44%) of 25 pathologic specimens exhibited pallor of three anatomic layers (the external sagittal stratum or the optic radiation, the internal sagittal stratum, and the tapetum). No subjects with hyperintensity of the optic radiation had visual field abnormalities. CONCLUSION Linear/laminar hyperintensity of the optic radiation and tapetum on T2-weighted images is common in elderly subjects, and may reflect differences in the internal structures and in the water content of three anatomic structures. Hyperintensities of this region did not cause visual field abnormalities in a group of elderly volunteers.
Narrative circulation, disputed transformations, and bilingual appropriations at a public school “somewhere in La Mancha”

Abstract This article addresses the narratives of bilingualism that emerged in ethnographic interviews with members of Sancho’s Primary in La Mancha city (Spain), whose prestige as the first MEC/British bilingual school in town has been disputed, transformed and eventually socially accepted as competitively eligible in the global market for two decades. By bringing to the fore a perspective of heteroglossia, the article discusses stakeholders’ stancetaking towards the salient tensions and dilemmas related to bilingualism in the region of Castilla-La Mancha. The analysis discusses how Sancho’s stakeholders by means of indexical meanings and heteroglossic resources come to terms with bilingualism as ideology and practice regarding who the legitimate teacher of English is, whose English-es are legitimated, which classroom practices are most valued and who can guarantee the status and prestige of bilingual programs in this region. In addition, the analysis emphasizes the validity of narratives emerging in interviews as situated, context-dependent, and contextualizing practices shaped by the conditions of linguistic ethnography, while shaping the researcher and participants’ significant values, beliefs and ideas about bilingualism and bilingual programs in Castilla-La Mancha.
ROS-Generating Mitochondrial DNA Mutations Can Regulate Tumor Cell Metastasis

Mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) occur at high frequency in human tumors, but whether these mutations alter tumor cell behavior has been unclear. We used cytoplasmic hybrid (cybrid) technology to replace the endogenous mtDNA in a mouse tumor cell line that was poorly metastatic with mtDNA from a cell line that was highly metastatic, and vice versa. Using assays of metastasis in mice, we found that the recipient tumor cells acquired the metastatic potential of the transferred mtDNA. The mtDNA conferring high metastatic potential contained G13997A and 13885insC mutations in the gene encoding NADH (reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) dehydrogenase subunit 6 (ND6). These mutations produced a deficiency in respiratory complex I activity and were associated with overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Pretreatment of the highly metastatic tumor cells with ROS scavengers suppressed their metastatic potential in mice. These results indicate that mtDNA mutations can contribute to tumor progression by enhancing the metastatic potential of tumor cells.
Expression of tyrosine hydroxylase in neurons of cultured cerebral cortex: evidence for phenotypic plasticity in neurons of the CNS

In vivo, neurons of the cerebral cortex of rat embryos did not stain with antibodies to the catecholamine (CA) biosynthetic enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) even when examined using a highly sensitive technique for radioimmunocytochemistry. However, when embryonic day (E) 13 cortex was grown 1 d in culture, several thousand cells expressed immunoreactive and catalytically active TH. All TH cells simultaneously labeled with the neuronal enzyme, neuronal specific enolase, indicating that the TH was exclusively localized in neurons. Moreover, all TH neurons were postmitotic since they did not incorporate 3H-thymidine. With time in culture, the number of TH cells selectively declined from nearly 3000 cells at 2 d to several cells at 14 d. Similarly, the number of neurons competent to express TH in culture declined with advancing age of the donor embryo. Thus, by E18, very few cortical neurons had the capacity to express TH. We conclude that during a critical period of development, postmitotic cerebral cortical neurons can express catecholamine traits in vitro but not in vivo. Thus, the neurotransmitter phenotype of certain classes of central neurons is not fixed but can be influenced by epigenetic factors found in their environment, thereby providing evidence of phenotypic plasticity in the central nervous system (CNS).
An analysis of the impact of visual impairment on activities of daily living and vision-related quality of life in a visually impaired adult population

Previous research has shown that people with visual impairment are more likely to be malnourished and have reported to have difficulty shopping for, preparing, and eating food. They are also reported to have a poor quality of life. The present study aims to investigate the impact of visual impairment on activities of daily living and Vision-Related Quality of Life (VR-QoL) in a sample of adults with visual impairment who are living in the United Kingdom. A 37-question survey evaluating the nutritional status and the activities of daily living, cooking and shopping, was disseminated to adults with visual impairment who were 18 years and older. VR-QoL was also assessed using the validated, Questionnaire of Vision-Related Quality of Life Measure (VCM1). Participants reported that being visually impaired made it difficult to shop for, prepare, and cook meals, and this correlated significantly with level of visual impairment. The VCM1 score of ⩾2.1 was reported by 74% of people with visual impairment revealing VR-QoL is more than a little of a concern for most of the participants. The mean VCM1 score for females was 2.9 ± 0.98 and 2.5 ± 1.1 for males. Level of visual impairment was not found to influence the VCM1 scores. This indicates even those with visual impairment below the level required for sight impairment registration report a reduced VR-QoL. It is the responsibility and duty of society to support people with visual impairment or other disabilities rather than blaming them for not ‘integrating’. Among other things, this can be done by incorporating norms into the marketing. These norms might help to raise and increase the awareness of suppliers to the needs of consumers with visual impairment. Furthermore, such norms may contribute to our ongoing efforts for a more inclusive and accessible environment.
Clinical validation of KRAS, BRAF, and EGFR mutation detection using next-generation sequencing.

OBJECTIVES To validate next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology for clinical diagnosis and to determine appropriate read depth. METHODS We validated the KRAS, BRAF, and EGFR genes within the Ion AmpliSeq Cancer Hotspot Panel using the Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine (Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA). RESULTS We developed a statistical model to determine the read depth needed for a given percent tumor cellularity and number of functional genomes. Bottlenecking can result from too few input genomes. By using 16 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) cancer-free specimens and 118 cancer specimens with known mutation status, we validated the six traditional analytic performance characteristics recommended by the Next-Generation Sequencing: Standardization of Clinical Testing Working Group. Baseline noise is consistent with spontaneous and FFPE-induced C:G→T:A deamination mutations. CONCLUSIONS Redundant bioinformatic pipelines are essential, since a single analysis pipeline gave false-negative and false-positive results. NGS is sufficiently robust for the clinical detection of gene mutations, with attention to potential artifacts.
To Combine Forecasts or to Combine Information?

When the objective is to forecast a variable of interest but with many explanatory variables available, one could possibly improve the forecast by carefully integrating them. There are generally two directions one could proceed: combination of forecasts (CF) or combination of information (CI). CF combines forecasts generated from simple models each incorporating a part of the whole information set, while CI brings the entire information set into one super model to generate an ultimate forecast. Through linear regression analysis and simulation, we show the relative merits of each, particularly the circumstances where forecast by CF can be superior to forecast by CI, when CI model is correctly specified and when it is misspecified, and shed some light on the success of equally weighted CF. In our empirical application on prediction of monthly, quarterly, and annual equity premium, we compare the CF forecasts (with various weighting schemes) to CI forecasts (with principal component approach mitigating the problem of parameter proliferation). We find that CF with (close to) equal weights is generally the best and dominates all CI schemes, while also performing substantially better than the historical mean.
Excitation Spectrum of the Spin-1/2 Ferromagnetic-Antiferromagnetic Alternating Heisenberg Chain

The natural explanation of the excitation spectrum of the spin-1 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain is given from the viewpoint of the spin-1/2 ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic alternating Heisenberg chain. The energy spectrum of the latter is calculated with fixed momentum k by numerical diagonalization of finite-size systems. It consists of a branch of a propagating triplet pair (triplet wave) and the continuum of multiple triplet waves for weak ferromagnetic coupling. As the ferromagnetic coupling increases, the triplet wave branch is absorbed in the continuum for small k, reproducing the characteristics of the spin-1 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain.
Querying the Internet with PIER

Achieving scalability is one of the goals of the database research community at present. The Internet is estimated to have a few hundreds of nodes, yet the largest database systems in the world scale up to at most a few hundred nodes. Supporting large databases is still a challenge because of the lack in the degree of distribution. The main goal is for databases to scale over Internet, thus making easy for applications (e.g. e-commerce) to develop. Scalable databases mean scalable data size, speed, workload and transaction cost. Three primary factors for operational databases are: huge number of concurrent users, the need for continuous availability and extremely large stored data volume. We define in what follows some requirements needed for (linear) scalability:
CXCL11-Armed oncolytic poxvirus elicits potent antitumor immunity and shows enhanced therapeutic efficacy

ABSTRACT We have armed a tumor-selective oncolytic vaccinia virus (vvDD) with the chemokine (CK) CXCL11, in order to enhance its ability to attract CXCR3+ antitumor CTLs and possibly NK cells to the tumor microenvironment (TME) and improve its therapeutic efficacy. As expected, vvDD-CXCL11 attracted high numbers of tumor-specific T cells to the TME in a murine AB12 mesothelioma model. Intratumoral virus-directed CXCL11 expression enhanced local numbers of CD8+ CTLs and levels of granzyme B, while reducing expression of several suppressive molecules, TGF-β, COX2, and CCL22 in the TME. Unexpectedly, we observed that vvDD-CXCL11, but not parental vvDD, induced a systemic increase in tumor-specific IFNγ-producing CD8+ T cells in the spleen and other lymph organs, indicating the induction of systemic antitumor immunity. This effect was associated with enhanced therapeutic efficacy and a survival benefit in tumor-bearing mice treated with vvDD-CXCL11, mediated by CD8+ T cells and IFNγ, but not CD4+ T cells. These results demonstrate that intratumoral expression of CXCL11, in addition to promoting local trafficking of T cells and to a lesser extent NK cells, has a novel function as a factor eliciting systemic immunity to cancer-associated antigens. Our data provide a rationale for expressing CXCL11 to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of oncolytic viruses (OVs) and cancer vaccines.
Prevalence and Related Characteristics of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Among Orchardists in the Gyeongsangnam-do Region

Objective To determine the prevalence and related characteristics of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in orchardists and to investigate the association between electrodiagnostic severity and physical examinations. Methods Between July 2013 and September 2014, 377 subjects (174 men and 203 women) visited the Gyeongsang National University Hospital's Center for Farmer's Safety and Health. All the subjects underwent electrodiagnostic tests and physical examination, including Phalen's test, Tinel's sign, and Durkan's carpal compression test (CCT). The subjects were classified into 2 groups, the normal group and the CTS group, according to electrodiagnostic test results. To determine the related characteristics of CTS, potential variables, including age, sex, drinking, smoking, body mass index, waist circumference, and total work time, were compared between the 2 groups. The association between electrodiagnostic severity and physical examinations was analyzed. Results CTS was diagnosed in 194 subjects based only on electrodiagnostic test results, corresponding to a prevalence of 51.5%. Among the variables, mean age (p=0.001) and total work time (p=0.007) were significantly correlated with CTS. With respect to the physical examinations, low specificities were observed for Tinel's sign, Phalen's test, and Durkan's CCT (38.4%, 36.1%, and 40.9%, respectively) in the subjects aged ≥65 years. In addition, Phalen's test (p=0.003) and Tinel's sign (p=0.032) in men and Durkan's CCT (p=0.047) in women showed statistically significant differences with increasing CTS severity. The odds ratio was 2.066 for Durkan's CCT in women according to the multivariate logistic regression analysis. Conclusion CTS prevalence among orchardists was high, and Durkan's CCT result was significantly quantitatively correlated with the electrodiagnostic test results. Therefore, Durkan's CCT is another reliable examination method for CTS.