Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of ration level and feeding frequency on digestibility in juvenile soft-shelled turtle, Pelodiscus sinensis

The effects of ration level and feeding frequency on digestibility in juvenile soft-shelled turtle, Pelodiscus sinensis, were investigated. Four ration levels 1.5%, 2.5%, 4.0% and satiation (6.0% BW/d) were used. Apparent digestibility (AD) of dry matter (DMAD), protein (PAD) and protein real digestibility (PRD) were significantly affected by ration level, but not by feeding frequency when the ration level was similar. However, the feeding frequency affected the AD, DMAD, PAD and PRD significantly when the turtles were fed to satiation. The relationship between fecal protein content (Y) and protein intake (X) can be expressed as a quadric equation: Y=−0.1742+0.1476X−0.0003X2 (r2=0.876, n=27, F=93.92, P<0.01).
Actor-Oriented Design of Embedded Hardware and Software Systems

In this paper, we argue that model-based design and platform-based design are two views of the same thing. A platform is an abstraction layer in the design flow. For example, a core-based architecture and an instruction set architecture are platforms. We focus on the set of designs induced by this abstraction layer. For example, the set of all ASICs based on a particular core-based architecture and the set of all x86 programs are induced sets. Hence, a platform is equivalently a set of designs. Model-based design is about using platforms with useful modeling properties to specify designs, and then synthesizing implementations from these specifications. Hence model-based design is the view from above (more abstract, closer to the problem domain) and platform-based design is the view from below (less abstract, closer to the implementation technology). One way to define a platform is to provide a design language. Any valid expression in the language is an element of the set. A platform provides a set of cons.
A Low-Voltage Current-Mode Wheatstone Bridge using CMOS Transistors

This paper presents a new circuit arrangement for a current-mode Wheatstone bridge that is suitable for low-voltage integrated circuits implementation. Compared to the other proposed circuits, this circuit features severe reduction of the elements number, low supply voltage (1V) and low power consumption (<350uW). In addition, the circuit has favorable nonlinearity error (<0.35%), operate with multiple sensors and works by single supply voltage. The circuit employs MOSFET transistors, so it can be used for standard CMOS fabrication. Simulation results by HSPICE show high performance of the circuit and confirm the validity of the proposed design technique. Keywords—Wheatstone bridge, current-mode, low-voltage, MOS.
An Evaluation of Fear of Success in Female and Male Athletes and Nonathletes

I Since Horner's (1968, 1972) study of fear of success (FOS), considerable research has been published evaluating the potential relationship of FOS to gender and performance variables. Horner (1968) defined fear of success for women as a learned disposition resulting from social rejection and loss of femininity when successful behavior involved aggression or competition against males. This fear of succeeding was hypothesized to facilitate an avoidance of achievement and achievementoriented activities. Using a projective measure derived from the Thematic Appreciation Test, Horner hypothesized and found that women had a higher FOS than men, and that higher FOS women perform poorer under competitive conditions than lowFOS women. Using an objective measure of FOS, Zuckerman and Allison (1976) also found that females had higher FOS scores than male respondents. The authors found that both females and males who scored high on the Fear of Success Scale (FOSS) performed more poorly than subjects scoring low on the scale in a competitive, achievement-oriented situation. Females and males scoring high on the FOSS also attributed success more to external factors and failures more to internal factors than did subjects scoring low on the FOSS. These results tend to support Horner's (1968) contention that fear of success can inhibit achievement-related performance. Additional research (e.g., Hoffman, 1974; Zuckerman, Larrance, Porac, & Blanck, 1980) has failed to confirm previous findings relating FOS differences to the gender of the respondent. This ambiguity about the nature of a possible relationship between FOS and gender has also pervaded the literature in sport psychology. Several authors have speculated that FOS could be a significant obstacle to females who compete in sport (Casher, 1977; Del Rey, 1977; Harris, 1979; Ogilvie, 1979a, 1979b). The major focus of an early paper by Ogilvie (1968) centered on various clinical observations of factors related to FOS in elite athletes. The terminology and examples in this article tended to focus on fear of success in male athletes. More recently, Ogilvie (1979b) has indicated that FOS may be a potent obstacle to women athletes because of the sex role conflict created by a female's success in sport. Gilbert and Williamson (1973) have published a detailed chronology of unfair and abusive treatment of women athletes. The authors maintain that suppressive acts against women athletes influence and facilitate a perception that sport behavior is inappropriate for women. Research by Snyder, Kivlin, and Spreitzer (1975) supported Gilbert and Williamson's assertions. Snyder et al. found that various sports are
The efficacy and safety of Simvastatin in the treatment of lipid abnormalities in diabetes mellitus

Introduction: Notable lipid abnormalities in DM include elevated LDL-C which have been reported to be the prevalent lipid abnormality in DM and elevated total cholesterol levels. Although the Statins are widely used in the management of lipid abnormalities, their effects on the lipid abnormalities in Nigerians with DM has not been extensively evaluated. Objective: This report sets out to determine the effect of Simvor, a brand of Simvastatin in Nigerians with DM and abnormal lipid profiles. Materials and Methods: A total of 300 diabetic patients with abnormal lipid profile who were treatment naοve for lipid disorders were longitudinally recruited for the study. They were managed with Simvastatin (Simvor) in doses ranging from 20-40 mg alongside dietary counseling and exercise recommendation. Results: The mean age (SD) of the study subjects was 58.4 (10 years). The male; female ratio was 99:211. The proportions of lipid abnormalities for LDL-C, TCHOL, HDL-C and TG were 87%, 45%, 53% and 7% respectively. Following Simvastatin (Simvor) treatment, the mean LDL-C value was reduced by 16%, TCHOL by 23%, TG by 6% and HDL-C increased by 10%. Simvastatin (Simvor) was generally well tolerated and no cardiovascular events were noted in the study subjects during the period of the study. Conclusion: Simvastatin (Simvor) was effective and well tolerated in the management of lipid disorders in Nigerians with DM.
Metabolic Syndrome Tesaglitazar , a dual PPAR / agonist , ameliorates glucose and lipid intolerance in obese Zucker rats

Oakes, Nicholas D. , Pia Thalén, Therese Hultstrand, Severina Jacinto, Germán Camejo, Boel Wallin, and Bengt Ljung. Tesaglitazar, a dual PPAR / agonist, ameliorates glucose and lipid intolerance in obese Zucker rats. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 289: R938–R946, 2005; doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00252. 2005. —Insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, high circulating levels of free fatty acids (FFA), and postprandial hyperlipidemia are associated with the metabolic syndrome, which has been linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease. We studied the metabolic responses to an oral glucose/triglyceride (TG) (1.7/2.0 g/kg lean body mass) load in three groups of conscious 7-h fasted Zucker rats: lean healthy controls, obese insulin-resistant/dyslipidemic controls, and obese rats treated with the dual peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor / agonist, tesaglitazar, 3 mol kg 1 day 1 for 4 wk. Untreated obese Zucker rats displayed marked insulin resistance, as well as glucose and lipid intolerance in response to the glucose/TG load. The 2-h postload area under the curve values were greater for glucose ( 19%), insulin ( 849%), FFA ( 53%), and TG ( 413%) compared with untreated lean controls. Treatment with tesaglitazar lowered fasting plasma glucose, improved glucose tolerance, substantially reduced fasting and postload insulin levels, and markedly lowered fasting TG and improved lipid tolerance. Fasting FFA were not affected, but postprandial FFA suppression was restored to levels seen in lean controls. Mechanisms of tesaglitazar-induced lowering of plasma TG were studied separately using the Triton WR1339 method. In anesthetized, 5-h fasted, obese Zucker rats, tesaglitazar reduced hepatic TG secretion by 47%, increased plasma TG clearance by 490%, and reduced very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) apolipoprotein CIII content by 86%, compared with obese controls. In conclusion, the glucose/lipid tolerance test in obese Zucker rats appears to be a useful model of the metabolic syndrome that can be used to evaluate therapeutic effects on impaired postprandial glucose and lipid metabolism. The present work demonstrates that tesaglitazar ameliorates these abnormalities and enhances insulin sensitivity in this animal model.
LASIK in myopic patients with dermatological keloids.

PURPOSE To evaluate the visual and refractive out come of LASIK in myopic patients with a known history of dermatological keloid scar. METHODS This retrospective case series included 10 eyes of 5 white patients with a known history of dermatological keloids. All patients had low to moderate myopia with no corneal or limbal keloid. All underwent uneventful bilateral LASIK. Postoperatively, visual outcomes, refractive outcomes, and complications were evaluated. Minimum 1-year follow-up was indicated for all patients in this study. RESULTS Mean preoperative uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) was 20/320 and 1 year postoperative 20/20. Mean preoperative best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (BSCVA) was 20/25 and 1 year postoperative was 20/20. The mean preoperative spherical equivalent refraction was -5.00 +/- 2.6 diopters (D) and +0.1 +/- 0.2 D 1 year postoperative. The safety index was 1.02 and the efficacy index was 1.02. None of the included in this study underwent retreatment for correction of residual error or regression up to 1 year postoperatively. No sight-threatening complications were reported. No patient reported postoperative haze, severe dry eye syndrome, or flap-related problems. CONCLUSIONS LASIK is a safe, effective, and predictable technique for correcting low and moderate myopia in patients with dermatological keloids.
Changing attitudes of high school students in Israel toward homosexuality

ABSTRACT Hoshen, the Hebrew acronym for “Education & Change”, is a nonprofit, nationwide education and information center for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in Israel. The main educational method Hoshen uses is the personal story told by volunteers. The present study aimed to examine whether this activity, carried out in Israeli high schools, resulted in a change in participants' attitudes. Questionnaires measuring Attitudes Towards Homosexuality were administered to 272 students in 3 high schools before and after the activity. Results showed an improvement in the general Attitudes Towards Homosexuality scale, and in all three subscales of the attitudes towards homosexuality construct measured in this study: emotional, cognitive and behavioral. A very significant impact was observed on the emotional subscale. Young men showed a sharper rise in acceptance of homosexuality than did women. Religiosity, form of residence (urban vs. nonurban), and previous acquaintance with LGBT people showed to also have an effect on attitudes. Results of this study indicate that the personal story method is effective in changing attitudes toward homosexuality. This change might help create a safer environment for LGBT teens. Social change organizations may be able to use this method to promote tolerance towards other minorities as well.
Factorization for non-symmetric operators and exponential H-theorem

We present an abstract method for deriving decay estimates on the resolvents and semigroups of non-symmetric operators in Banach spaces in terms of estimates in another smaller reference Banach space. This applies to a class of operators writing as a regularizing part, plus a dissipative part. The core of the method is a high-order quantitative factorization argument on the resolvents and semigroups. We then apply this approach to the Fokker-Planck equation, to the kinetic Fokker- Planck equation in the torus, and to the linearized Boltzmann equation in the torus. We finally use this information on the linearized Boltzmann semi- group to study perturbative solutions for the nonlinear Boltzmann equation. We introduce a non-symmetric energy method to prove nonlinear stability in this context in $L^1_v L^\infty _x (1 + |v|^k)$, $k > 2$, with sharp rate of decay in time. As a consequence of these results we obtain the first constructive proof of exponential decay, with sharp rate, towards global equilibrium for the full nonlinear Boltzmann equation for hard spheres, conditionally to some smoothness and (polynomial) moment estimates. This improves the result in [32] where polynomial rates at any order were obtained, and solves the conjecture raised in [91, 29, 86] about the optimal decay rate of the relative entropy in the H-theorem.
Probabilistic Inference of Transcription Factor Binding from Multiple Data Sources

An important problem in molecular biology is to build a complete understanding of transcriptional regulatory processes in the cell. We have developed a flexible, probabilistic framework to predict TF binding from multiple data sources that differs from the standard hypothesis testing (scanning) methods in several ways. Our probabilistic modeling framework estimates the probability of binding and, thus, naturally reflects our degree of belief in binding. Probabilistic modeling also allows for easy and systematic integration of our binding predictions into other probabilistic modeling methods, such as expression-based gene network inference. The method answers the question of whether the whole analyzed promoter has a binding site, but can also be extended to estimate the binding probability at each nucleotide position. Further, we introduce an extension to model combinatorial regulation by several TFs. Most importantly, the proposed methods can make principled probabilistic inference from multiple evidence sources, such as, multiple statistical models (motifs) of the TFs, evolutionary conservation, regulatory potential, CpG islands, nucleosome positioning, DNase hypersensitive sites, ChIP-chip binding segments and other (prior) sequence-based biological knowledge. We developed both a likelihood and a Bayesian method, where the latter is implemented with a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm. Results on a carefully constructed test set from the mouse genome demonstrate that principled data fusion can significantly improve the performance of TF binding prediction methods. We also applied the probabilistic modeling framework to all promoters in the mouse genome and the results indicate a sparse connectivity between transcriptional regulators and their target promoters. To facilitate analysis of other sequences and additional data, we have developed an on-line web tool, ProbTF, which implements our probabilistic TF binding prediction method using multiple data sources. Test data set, a web tool, source codes and supplementary data are available at: http://www.probtf. org.
Effects of Yohimbine on Heart Rate Variability in Panic Disorder Patients and Normal Controls: A Study of Power Spectral Analysis of Heart Rate

Summary: We studied the effects of yohimbine on heart rate (HR) variability in 13 normal controls and 13 patients with panic disorder. Yohimbine produced a significant increase in SD of HR in standing posture in both patients (p = 0.01) and normal controls (p = 0.025). Panic disorder patients had a significant increase in standing absolute midfrequency (MF) power (0.07–0.15 Hz) after administration of yohimbine (p = 0.002). The ratio of post- to preyohimbine standing MF power (0.07–0.15 Hz) during standing was significantly higher in patients as compared with controls (2.3 ± 1.08 vs. 1.33 ± 0.38; p = 0.01), which suggests an increased responsivity of panic disorder patients to the adrenergic effects of yohimbine
Biological Evaluation of Secondary Metabolites from the Root of Machilus obovatifolia

Bioassay‐guided fractionation of the root of Machilus obovatifolia led to the isolation of four new lignans, epihenricine B (1), threo‐(7′R,8′R) and threo‐(7′S,8′S)‐methylmachilusol D (2 and 3), and isofragransol A (4), along with 23 known compounds. The compounds were obtained as isomeric mixtures (i.e., 2/3 and 4/20, resp.). The structures were elucidated by spectral analyses. Among the isolates, 1, licarin A (12), guaiacin (14), (±)‐syringaresinol (21), and (−)‐epicatechin (23) showed ABTS (=2,2′‐azinobis(3‐ethylbenzothiazoline‐6‐sulfonic acid) cation radical‐scavenging activity, with SC50 values of 11.7±0.5, 12.3±1.1, 11.0±0.1, 10.6±0.3, and 9.5±0.2 μM in 20 min, respectively. In addition, kachirachirol B (17) showed cytotoxicity against the NCI‐H460 cell line with an IC50 value of 3.1 μg/ml.
Fractional generalizations of Young and Brunn-Minkowski inequalities

A generalization of Young's inequality for convolution with sharp constant is conjectured for scenarios where more than two functions are being convolved, and it is proven for certain parameter ranges. The conjecture would provide a unified proof of recent entropy power inequalities of Barron and Madiman, as well as of a (conjectured) generalization of the Brunn-Minkowski inequality. It is shown that the generalized Brunn-Minkowski conjecture is true for convex sets; an application of this to the law of large numbers for random sets is described.
Climate Change and Sustainable Development Series

Summary We develop a strategic model of network interdiction in a non-cooperative game of flow. An adversary, endowed with a bounded quantity of bads, chooses a flow specifying a plan for carrying bads through a network from a base to a target. Simultaneously, an agency chooses a blockage specifying a plan for blocking the transport of bads through arcs in the network. The bads carried to the target cause a target loss while the blocked arcs cause a network loss. The adversary earns and the agency loses from both target loss and network loss. The adversary incurs the expense of carrying bads. In this model we study Nash equilibria and find a power law relation between the probability and the extent of the target loss. Our model contributes to the literature of game theory by introducing non-cooperative behavior into a Kalai-Zemel (cooperative) game of flow. Our research also advances models and results on network interdiction.
Factors Affecting Activities of Daily Living, Depression and Life Satisfaction among Aged Women

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the impact of activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living and depression on life satisfaction among aged women. Methods: The sample consisted of 309 aged women of over 60. Data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis. Results: Significant factors affecting the life satisfaction were spouse, religion, perceived health status, age, and depression. The most significant variables among them were depression and perceived health status. The explanatory power on life satisfaction was 57% in regression model. Conclusion: Depression and perceived health status are important variables to influence on life satisfaction. Therefore, it is suggested that nursing intervention to reduce or prevent depression and enhance health status should be developed to promote quality of life in aged women.
The Political Advantage of Soft Budget Constraints

One of the enduring puzzles in transition economies is why incumbent politicians postpone reforms aimed at hardening budget constraints towards unproductive firms. We submit that voters prefer politicians capable of implementing reforms that promote job creation rather than policies that simply maintain high levels of employment by avoiding job destruction, but they cannot always tell the difference. To show this, we develop a voting model with incomplete information in which politicians who are unable to identify or implement productivity-enhancing reforms can hide their inability through firm subsidies that decreases the rate of job destruction. The model characterizes the equilibrium size and composition of subsidies - both through explicit budgetary support and through economically more detrimental implicit subsidies such as the accumulation of arrears to tax authorities, suppliers, creditors, or workers. The model generates a rich set of predictions, of which we highlight in particular two. An increase in government rents will increase the level of subsidies and shift them in favour of implicit subsidies, incurring a double cost to the economy. An increase in monitoring capacity of the voters will decrease the level of subsidies but also shift them towards implicit subsidies. It follows that democratization and increased freedom of the press may have the negative implication that it causes politicians to choose less efficient instruments for their subsidies.
Problems Encountered during the Implementations of Resource-Based Teaching in Pre-Service History Teacher Training.

This study aims to identify the problems encountered during the resource-based teaching implementations carried out with pre-service history teachers along with their reasons and suggest solutions. The study was a qualitative study using a case study design. The population of the study consisted of 5th grade pre-service history teachers continuing their studies in History Teaching Department of Kazim Karabekir Faculty of Education in Ataturk University during the fall term of 2013 to 2014 academic year. Open-ended questionnaire, unstructured observations, semi-structured interviews, and worksheets developed by the pre-service teachers were used as data collection tools in the research study. The research data were analysed with content analysis. Regarding the findings obtained, the pre-service teachers considered that primary sources would provide important benefits for secondary school history courses and students. It was determined in the study that pre-service teachers had some problems in the implementations based on resources. The most frequently encountered problems were that the questions in the worksheets were not designed well enough and there was failure in promoting class participation during the presentations. The other problems can be listed as follows: using materials which did not serve for resource analysis and examination, using superficial opinions in the worksheets and taking sides in presentations. The most important reason for these problems is that pre-service teachers did not have any experiences about using sources in their educational life both in the past and in the current situation at the university. The pre-service teachers offered some suggestions regarding teaching these subjects better. Firstly they stated that more teaching practices should be involved, they should take responsibility for their learning, examples of primary sources should be introduced, and primary source subjects should be emphasized more and in detail.