Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of Fecal Microflora Changes in Pigs Supplemented with Herbal Residue and Prebiotic

Antibiotic usage in animals as a growth promoter is considered as public health issue due to its negative impact on consumer health and environment. The present study aimed to evaluate effectiveness of herbal residue (ginger, Zingiber officinale, dried rhizome powder) and prebiotic (inulin) as an alternative to antibiotics by comparing fecal microflora composition using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism. The grower pigs were offered feed containing antibiotic (tetracycline), ginger and inulin separately and un-supplemented group served as control. The study revealed significant changes in the microbial abundance based on operational taxonomic units (OTUs) among the groups. Presumptive identification of organisms was established based on the fragment length of OTUs generated with three restriction enzymes (MspI, Sau3AI and BsuRI). The abundance of OTUs representing Bacteroides intestinalis, Eubacterium oxidoreducens, Selonomonas sp. , Methylobacterium sp. and Denitrobacter sp. was found significantly greater in inulin supplemented pigs. Similarly, the abundance of OTUs representing Bacteroides intestinalis, Selonomonas sp. , and Phascolarcobacterium faecium was found significantly greater in ginger supplemented pigs. In contrast, the abundance of OTUs representing pathogenic microorganisms Atopostipes suicloacalis and Bartonella quintana str. Toulouse was significantly reduced in ginger and inulin supplemented pigs. The OTUs were found to be clustered under two major phylotypes; ginger-inulin and control-tetracycline. Additionally, the abundance of OTUs was similar in ginger and inulin supplemented pigs. The results suggest the potential of ginger and prebioticsto replace antibiotics in the diet of grower pig.
Robust regulation of distributed parameter systems with infinite-dimensional exosystems

In this paper a robust regulation problem for infinite-dimensional systems with infinite-dimensional exosystems is discussed. The input and output spaces are also allowed to be infinite-dimensional. A new definition of internal model in terms of the controller parameters is given. It is shown that there exists a feedback controller containing an internal model of the exosystem, which robustly regulates the class of signals generated by the exosystem and strongly or weakly stabilizes the closed-loop system. As far as the authors know, the results are new even for finite-dimensional systems with infinite-dimensional exosystems.
Enhancing the GABI-Kat Arabidopsis thaliana T-DNA Insertion Mutant Database by Incorporating Araport11 Annotation

SimpleSearch provides access to a database containing information about T-DNA insertion lines of the GABI-Kat collection of Arabidopsis thaliana mutants. These mutants are an important tool for reverse genetics, and GABI-Kat is the second largest collection of such T-DNA insertion mutants. Insertion sites were deduced from flanking sequence tags (FSTs), and the database contains information about mutant plant lines as well as insertion alleles. Here, we describe improvements within the interface (available at http://www.gabi-kat.de/db/genehits.php) and with regard to the database content that have been realized in the last five years. These improvements include the integration of the Araport11 genome sequence annotation data containing the recently updated A. thaliana structural gene descriptions, an updated visualization component that displays groups of insertions with very similar insertion positions, mapped confirmation sequences, and primers. The visualization component provides a quick way to identify insertions of interest, and access to improved data about the exact structure of confirmed insertion alleles. In addition, the database content has been extended by incorporating additional insertion alleles that were detected during the confirmation process, as well as by adding new FSTs that have been produced during continued efforts to complement gaps in FST availability. Finally, the current database content regarding predicted and confirmed insertion alleles as well as primer sequences has been made available as downloadable flat files.
Harnessing Social Comparisons: When and How Upward Comparisons Influence Goal Pursuit

Upward social comparisons have been shown to impact people's self-views, their emotional states, and their behaviors. The present research suggests that such comparisons may also influence the goals that people pursue and the success with which they pursue them. Inspired by goal systems theory, the present research examines how upward social comparisons influence goal commitment in two ways: through hierarchical shifts toward global goals and through lateral shifts in goal commitment away from subgoals in threatening domains. We demonstrate that people actively disengage from domain-specific subgoals (e.g., verbal abilities) and increase commitment to a related superordinate goal (e.g., succeeding in school) after they have been exposed to an upward comparison that threatens their self-evaluations.
Unemployment and Cardiovascular Risk Indicators Data from the MONICA Survey in Northern Sweden

We studied the effect of unemployment, or the threat of unemployment, on indicators of cardiovascular risk in a randomly selected cross-sectional sample of the population aged 25–64 years in northern Sweden with interviews and a health examination. In men, unemployment for more than one year correlated significantly with systolic blood pressure, serum cholesterol level, HDL-quotients, cigarette smoking and physical inactivity. In women, unemployment correlated significantly with body mass index, HDL-quotient, cigarette smoking and physical inactivity. Our results support the hypothesis that correlations between unemployment and cardiovascular disease found in other studies could be partly explained by elevated risk indicators due to unemployment.
Hungering for America: Italian, Irish, and Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration

Harlan, Booker 7: Wushington: The Wizard of’ ‘lii.skryy,cj 1001-101.5 (1983). Writings about black slavcry are fundamental to Wright’s rel‘lections, and he has mastered the literature (see his His lor ims und .%very, 197X). Many writers, irrespective of their backgrounds, have attributed to slavery unrealistic charactcristics of romanticism and attached to i t their own inadequate understanding of the inl‘luences of’ gender, class, and economic reitlily on slavery. Too often, they also avoid confronting imporrant distinctions between race and racism; see, for example, John Idlassingame’s The Slave L’ommunity: Plantotion Life in the Antebellurri South (1972). S o goes Wright’s analysis, infused with many concepts, some of them puzzling, some cnlightening, hut all of them provocative. Perhaps his greatest strength is to provide his readers with sharp, critical insight without insulting the authors, such as W. E. B. Du Bois-whom many historians insist is the n i o b t important hlack intellectual ofthe twentieth century-and without Icsscning the iiriport ol’ their discussion. Do not stereotype leaders like these, Wright warns. Traditional political labels such as liberal, radical, progressive, or conscrvativc may not bc useful in analy/,ing Iheir work. Criricd Rrj1ection.s on Dlnck History is a valuable set of essays that deserves thc attention of any serious student ol‘ hlack history.
Who are We? Producing Group Identity through Everyday Practices of Conflict and Discourse

Multiracials have the flexibility to opt out of multiracial identity, to shift identities depending on context, and are characterized by in-group diversity. Given this fluid space, how do multiracials come to see themselves as a collective? This article describes an empirical example of collectivization processes at work. Specifically, the author observed the process of collective identity-building through ethnographic research in a mixed-race student-run organization. This case study indicates that group identity formation is a negotiated process involving strategies to achieve a sense of belonging and cohesion. The author shows that over time, by using experiences of social conflict to construct shared experiences, the members of this mixed-race organization developed collective identity. In so doing, their experience underscores how collective identity development is socially constructed and how micropractices are essential components of group formation.
Collaborative research in and with organizations 1

Collaborative research has been more advocated than practiced. Three rationales for collaborative research are discussed. A collaborative study currently under way is used to illustrate the difficulties likely to arise in such endeavours. Persistent problems around collaborative work include differences in purposes, methodological requirements, timeframes, commitments, and outcomes. Although meaningful collaborative work can be done, it is difficult and requires particular and unusual conditions to be successful. 1This paper is based on research conducted with the support of a Strategic Research Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not the sponsoring agency.
Regulation of toxin production in the pathogenic clostridia

The genus Clostridium comprises a large, heterogeneous group of obligate anaerobic, Gram‐positive spore forming bacilli. Members of this genus are ubiquitous in the environment and although most species are considered saprophytic, several are pathogenic to both humans and animals. These bacteria cause a variety of diseases including neuroparalysis, gas gangrene, necrotic enteritis, food poisoning, toxic shock syndrome and pseudomembraneous colitis, which in most cases arise as a consequence of the production of potent exotoxins. Treatment options are often limited, underscoring the need for new treatment strategies and novel therapeutics. Understanding the fundamental mechanisms and signals that control toxin production in the pathogenic clostridia may lead to the identification of novel therapeutic targets that can be exploited in the development of new antimicrobial agents.
A serial concatenation of coding and trellis shaping for OFDM systems with peak power reduction

Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) can achieve remarkable performance in terms of spectral efficiency. However, its well-known drawback is that the OFDM signals have high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), and this causes performance degradation in terms of power amplifier (PA) efficiency. Trellis shaping (TS) is an effective method to reduce PAPR without signal distortion by exploiting the trellis structure at the transmitter. In practice, OFDM should be combined with channel coding in order to achieve frequency diversity. In this paper, we propose a serial concatenation of channel coding and trellis shaping such that the frequency diversity effect and peak power reduction can be simultaneously achieved. A novel BCJR-based LLR metric calculation for trellis shaping bits is introduced for this purpose. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is confirmed by simulation over AWGN and frequency-selective fading channels.
Formalisation and experiences of R2RML-based SPARQL to SQL query translation using morph

R2RML is used to specify transformations of data available in relational databases into materialised or virtual RDF datasets. SPARQL queries evaluated against virtual datasets are translated into SQL queries according to the R2RML mappings, so that they can be evaluated over the underlying relational database engines. In this paper we describe an extension of a well-known algorithm for SPARQL to SQL translation, originally formalised for RDBMS-backed triple stores, that takes into account R2RML mappings. We present the result of our implementation using queries from a synthetic benchmark and from three real use cases, and show that SPARQL queries can be in general evaluated as fast as the SQL queries that would have been generated by SQL experts if no R2RML mappings had been used.
Emotions, performance and entrepreneurship in the context of fringe theatre

Through a study of small scale independent theatre companies, generally known as ‘fringe’, this article explores how passion is drawn on and activated as company founders seek an outlet for their work. Drawing on a social constructionist approach to emotions, we highlight the multiplicity of passion through its positive and negative dimensions as well as how these may intersect. Further, by positioning passion within a set of power relations we point to its performative role in reflecting and reinforcing contextually specific discursive regimes. We contribute to the literature on the social and emotional performance of entrepreneurialism and to understandings of passion that characterize the affective entrepreneurial condition.
Enriching the Group and Investigation in the Intercultural Classroom

Abstract Cooperative learning requires teachers to change their traditional role as transmitters of information and take on the role of guides and facilitators in the cooperative learning process. As they gain confidence in this role teachers adopt more diverse and complex cooperative procedures. When they feel that their students are used to working together to achieve academic goals, they can introduce Group Investigation as an additional cooperative learning method. Investigating in groups calls for students to apply basic cooperative learning skills to the planning of what they want to study and how they want to study. Students cooperate in carrying out their investigation, in planning how to integrate and present their findings, and, together with the teacher, collaborate in evaluating their academic and interpersonal effort. Group Investigation places much of the responsibility for learning on the students, but the teacher must know how to prepare for the investigation project, how to prepare the st.
A comparative study on PCA and LDA based EMG pattern recognition for anthropomorphic robotic hand

A multifunctional myoelectric prosthetic hand is a perfect gift for an upper-limb amputee, however, the myoelectric control for a prosthetic hand is not so good now. Here, the paper presents a comparative study on electromyography (EMG) pattern recognition based on PCA and LDA for an anthropomorphic robotic hand. Four channels of surface EMG (sEMG) signals were recorded from the subject's forearm. Time-domain analysis, frequency-domain analysis, wavelet transform analysis, nonlinear entropy analysis and fractal analysis were done and fourteen kinds of features were extracted from sEMG signals. The features were divided into four groups, and the performances of the four groups were compared and analyzed. In the feature projection stage, three schemes were proposed and their performances were compared with each other. The first one only used the principal component analysis (PCA) for dimension reduction. And the second one only used the linear discriminant analysis (LDA) for dimension reduction. The third one used PCA for the first step of dimensionality reduction, and then used LDA for the next step of dimensionality reduction. In the classification stage, minimum distance classifier (MDC) was employed for identifying nine kinds of hand/wrist motions in the projected space. Comparative experiments of four groups of features and three projection schemes were done and evaluated. The online experiment of real-time myoelectric control for an anthropomorphic robotic hand was done as well.
It’s (Not) All About the Jacksons

The use of short-term bonuses to motivate employees has become an organizational regularity, but a thorough understanding of the relationship between these incentives and actual performance is lacking. We aim to advance this understanding by examining how three types of bonuses (cash, family meal voucher, and verbal reward) affect employees’ productivity in a field experiment conducted in a high-tech manufacturing factory. While all types of bonuses increased performance by over 5%, nonmonetary short-term bonuses had a slight advantage over monetary bonuses. In addition, the removal of the bonuses led to decreased productivity for monetary bonuses but not for the verbal reward. However, this negative effect of monetary short-term bonuses diminishes when a cash bonus is chosen by employees rather than granted by default. Theoretical implications about the effect of short-term bonuses on intrinsic motivation and reciprocity, as well as practical applications of short-term bonus plans that stem from our findings, are discussed.
Features Associated With Laxative Abuse in Individuals With Eating Disorders

Objective: Laxative abuse is common in patients with anorexia and bulimia nervosa and has been associated with longer duration of illness, suicide attempts, impulsivity, and greater eating and general psychopathology. We explored the extent to which laxative abuse was associated with specific psychopathological features across eating disorder subtypes. Methods: Participants were 1021 individuals from the multisite, International Price Foundation Genetic Studies. Axis I disorders, personality disorders and traits, and obsessive compulsive features were assessed. Results: Laxative abuse was associated with worse eating disorder and general psychopathology and higher prevalence of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Symptom level analyses revealed that specific features of BPD, including suicidality and self-harm, feelings of emptiness, and anger, were most strongly associated with laxative abuse. Conclusions: The function of laxative abuse may differ across individuals with eating disorders, alternatively serving as a method of purging and a form of self-harm. ED = eating disorder; AN = anorexia nervosa; BN = bulimia nervosa; PAN = purging anorexia nervosa; BAN = binge-purge anorexia nervosa; PBN = purging bulimia nervosa; EDNOS = eating disorders not otherwise specified; ANBN = individuals with both a history of anorexia and bulimia nervosa; BPD = borderline personality disorder; PTSD = posttraumatic stress disorder; BMI = body mass index; DSM-IV = Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition; SCID-I and -II = Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV for Axis I and Axis II disorders; SIAB = Structured Inventory of Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimic Syndromes; TCI = Temperament and Character Inventory; MPS = Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale; YBOCS = Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale; YBC-EDS = Yale-Brown-Cornell Eating Disorder Scale; GEE = generalized estimating equations.
CGRaBS: An All-Sky Survey of Gamma-Ray Blazar Candidates

We describe a uniform all-sky survey of bright blazars, selected primarily by their flat radio spectra, that is designed to provide a large catalog of likely γ-ray active galactic nuclei (AGNs). The defined sample has 1625 targets with radio and X-ray properties similar to those of the EGRET blazars, spread uniformly across the |b| > 10° sky. We also report progress toward optical characterization of the sample; of objects with known R < 23, 85% have been classified and 81% have measured redshifts. One goal of this program is to focus attention on the most interesting (e.g., high-redshift, high-luminosity,…) sources for intensive multiwavelength study during the observations by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on GLAST.
Monocyte proinflammatory cytokine release is higher and glucocorticoid sensitivity is lower in middle aged men than in women independent of cardiovascular risk factors

Objective: To investigate whether stimulated monocyte cytokine release and its inhibition by glucocorticoids differs between men and women. Design: In vitro monocyte interleukin 6 (IL-6) and tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα) release after lipopolysaccharide stimulation were assessed with and without co-incubation with increasing doses of dexamethasone and hydrocortisone separately. Glucocorticoid sensitivity was defined as the amount of a particular glucocorticoid required to inhibit lipopolysaccharide stimulated monocyte cytokine release by 50%. The established cardiovascular risk factors of age, body mass index, number of cigarettes smoked daily, low density cholesterol to high density cholesterol ratio, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and haemoglobin A1c were used as covariates. Setting: Aircraft manufacturing plant in southern Germany. Patients: 269 middle aged male and 36 middle aged female employees. Results: Release of monocyte IL-6 and TNFα (each p = 0.001) was higher in samples from men than in those from women. Inhibition of lipopolysaccharide stimulated IL-6 and TNFα release by either glucocorticoid was less pronounced in samples from men than in those from women (IL-6: dexamethasone p = 0.033, hydrocortisone p = 0.029; TNFα: dexamethasone p < 0.001, hydrocortisone p = 0.089). Conclusions: The finding suggests that proinflammatory activity of circulating monocytes is higher in men than in women independent of cardiovascular risk factors, thereby providing one explanation for the relatively greater coronary risk in men.
Preferential HLA Usage in the Influenza Virus-Specific CTL Response1

To study whether individual HLA class I alleles are used preferentially or equally in human virus-specific CTL responses, the contribution of individual HLA-A and -B alleles to the human influenza virus-specific CTL response was investigated. To this end, PBMC were obtained from three groups of HLA-A and -B identical blood donors and stimulated with influenza virus. In the virus-specific CD8+ T cell population, the proportion of IFN-γ- and TNF-α-producing cells, restricted by individual HLA-A and -B alleles, was determined using virus-infected C1R cells expressing a single HLA-A or -B allele for restimulation of these cells. In HLA-B*2705- and HLA-B*3501-positive individuals, these alleles were preferentially used in the influenza A virus-specific CTL response, while the contribution of HLA-B*0801 and HLA-A*0101 was minor in these donors. The magnitude of the HLA-B*0801-restricted response was even lower in the presence of HLA-B*2705. C1R cells expressing HLA-B*2705, HLA-A*0101, or HLA-A*0201 were preferentially lysed by virus-specific CD8+ T cells. In contrast, the CTL response to influenza B virus was mainly directed toward HLA-B*0801-restricted epitopes. Thus, the preferential use of HLA alleles depended on the virus studied.
The sociology of spin: An investigation into the uses, practices and consequences of political communication

This article explores the uses and consequences of political communication in Australia. It considers the different types of government ‘spin doctors’ and explores the dimensions of the ‘Australian public relations state’. The article then examines the relationship between the media, political communication and democracy. It subsequently develops a typology of overt and covert practices that suggests that there should be an analytical and ethical distinction between ‘spin’ and ‘political communication’. The article concludes that media advisers are ‘key activists’ within the public sphere and that good political communication gives people the capacity for informed citizenship. Ultimately this discussion demonstrates that political communication has both democratic and anti-democratic aspects, and it offers a conceptual framework for exploring communicative practices and their consequences.