Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Encapsulating Nitrate in Sesame Gum on In vitro Rumen Fermentation Parameters

Encapsulation is a method used to protect material from certain undesirable environments, for controlled release at a more favorable time and place. Animal productivity would be enhanced if feed additives are delivered to be utilized at their site of action, bypassing the rumen where they are likely to be degraded by microbial action. A novel method of encapsulation with sesame gum was used to coat nitrate, a known enteric methane mitigating agent, and tested for the effect on methane reduction and other in vitro fermentation parameters using rumen fluid from cannulated Hanwoo steers. Orchard grass was used as basal diet for fermentation. The treatments were matrix (1.1 g sesame gum+0.4 g sesame oil cake) only, encapsulated nitrate (matrix+nitrate [21 mM]), free nitrate (21 mM), and a control that contained no additive. Analyses of fermentation parameters were done at 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 24, and 48 h time periods. In comparison to control, both free and encapsulated nitrate produced significantly reduced (p<0.01) methane (76% less) and also the total volatile fatty acids were reduced. A significantly higher (p<0.01) concentration of ammonia nitrogen was obtained with the encapsulated nitrate treatment (44%) compared to the free form (28%) and matrix only (20%) (p = 0.014). This might suggest slow release of encapsulated nitrate so that it is fully reduced to ammonia. Thus, this pioneering study found a significant reduction in methane production following the use of sesame gum encapsulated nitrate that shows the potential of a controlled release system in enhancing sustainability of ruminant production while reducing/eliminating the risk of nitrite toxicity.
Hadron-Photon Interactions in COMPASS

The COMPASS experiment at CERN SPS will use hadron beams (pion, kaon and proton) and muons at 50-280 GeV/c and virtual photon targets to investigate, via Primakoff effect, important hadron properties: polarizability, chiral anomaly, radiative transitions and hybrid meson production. We present simulation studies to optimize the beam, detector setup and trigger for measuring with high statistics above topics.
The sigma orientation is an H∞ map

In an earlier paper, the authors constructed a natural map, called the sigma orientation, from the Thom spectrum MU� 6� to any elliptic spectrum. MU� 6� is an H∞ ring spectrum, and in this paper we show that if (E, C, t) is the elliptic spectrum associated to the universal deformation of a supersingular elliptic curve over a perfect field of characteristic p > 0, then the sigma orientation is a map of H∞ ring spectra.
The Welfare State as a Substitute for a Conservative Central Banker

Many years since their introduction, positive theories of inflation have rarely been tested. This paper documents a negative relationship between inflation and the welfare state (proxied by the parameters of the unemployment benefit program) that is to be expected in such theories. Because unemployment benefits make the monetary authority less concerned about the plight of the unemployed, building a welfare state has a similar effect to appointing a conservative central banker. The relationship holds in a panel of 21 OECD countries over the period 1961-92, a region where Romer (1993) finds no evidence of commitment problems. It also holds controlling for country and time fixed effects, country specific time trends, other co-variates and a lagged dependent variable. The effects are economically large: a one standard deviation decrease in benefits is predicted to add 2.7 percentage points to inflation, or 52 percent of the standard deviation in inflation. We also allow for unemployment benefits to be endogenously determined.
Half a chance: Youth bulges and transitions to liberal democracy.

The dissipation of a large youth bulge tends to yield relative political calm” says Richard Cincotta. On the other hand democratic gains under youth-bulge conditions “face unfavorable odds. ” Using age-structure data he assesses the fragility of existing liberal democracies and forecasts when new ones will emerge.
Hypertonic saline for acute viral bronchiolitis: take the evidence with a grain of salt

Fifty years ago, Reynolds and Cook [1] wrote, “Oxygen is vitally important in bronchiolitis and there is little convincing evidence that any other therapy is consistently or even occasionally useful. ” Their claim is once again supported by the new trial on hypertonic saline published in this issue of the European Respiratory Journal ( ERJ ) [2]. Acute viral bronchiolitis (AVB) is the most common lower respiratory tract infection in infancy. It is caused by respiratory viruses, typically by respiratory syncytial virus [3]. Although only 1–2% of children are hospitalised, AVB accounts for a large proportion of paediatric emergency visits and hospitalisations during winter months [4]. An effective treatment would reduce the number of hospitalisations, hospital length of stay (LOS) and their corresponding health costs. Over the past half century, no therapy for AVB has shown a convincing effect, though many have been tested. Among those treatments ruled out are β2-agonists, anticholinergics, inhaled or oral corticosteroids and chest physiotherapy [5–8]. Adrenaline might slightly improve short-term outcomes in outpatients but does not seem to reduce LOS in in-patients [9]. Current management recommendations and guidelines thus focus on supportive treatment with supplemental oxygen, fluid management, nasal douche with normal saline and/or nasal decongestants and respiratory support as needed, and avoiding unnecessary handling [10–14]. Recently, studies have investigated the effectiveness of nebulised hypertonic saline. The first results looked promising [15–18]. A Cochrane review, which included papers indexed in medical databases until May 2013 [15–25], concluded that nebulised 3% hypertonic saline may reduce LOS among infants with nonsevere acute bronchiolitis, and improves clinical severity scores among in- and outpatients [26]. Unfortunately, the studies included in …
Using insurance claims data to evaluate the collision-avoidance and crash-mitigating effects of Collision Warning and Brake Support Combined with Adaptive Cruise Control

Cars are increasingly equipped with functions that protect drivers from crashes. Forward Collision Warning and Brake Support combined with Adaptive Cruise Control (CWB+ACC) are collision-avoidance features available in modern cars. Previous real-world evaluations have reported on the crash-avoidance performance of these technologies. The objective of this study was to evaluate the safety effect of CWB+ACC in terms of crashes mitigated by reduced impact speed, as well as crashes avoided.
The quality of pathological reports of postoperative specimens in rectal cancer: an audit from the Mazovia region.

BACKGROUND Recently, pathologists have recommended new standards of post operative specimen evaluation in rectal cancer. These new standards include: macroscopic assessment of the quality of surgical excision of mesorectum, microscopic measurement of circumferential resection margin and the assessment of at least 12 mesorectal lymph nodes regarding the presence of metastases. The purpose of our study was to find out whether those standards have been implemented into a routine practice in Poland. MATERIAL AND METHODS This is a retrospective evaluation of pathological reports of postoperative specimens in 51 consecutive rectal cancer patients who were referred to our institution from 19 hospitals for postoperative chemoradiation between January 2006 and December 2007. Items were audited in pathological reports that were mentioned in the background. RESULTS Only 14% of pathological reports included the macroscopic assessment of the quality of surgical excision of mesorectum and 57% reported microscopic measurement of circumferential resection margin. The median number of retrieved lymph nodes was 9, with a range between 0 and 36. CONCLUSION The quality of pathological reports was unsatisfactory. Actions should be taken on a national level to improve the current situation. There is an urgent need for providing pathologists with adequate guidelines.
GLITCHES, TORQUE EVOLUTION AND THE DYNAMICS OF YOUNG PULSARS

The Crab pulsar has suffered in 1975 and 1989 two glitches in which the frequency did not relaxed to the extrapolated pre-glitch value but rather spun up showing long-term changes in the frequency derivative dot Omega. This particular behaviour has been interpreted as evidence for an evolution of the torque acting upon the star. A variable torque may be related to non-canonical braking indexes, for which some determinations have been possible. We briefly analyse in this work the consistency of postulating a growth in the angle between the magnetic moment and the rotation axis as the cause of such events. We show that this hypothesis leads to the determination of the initial period, initial and present angles, according to the assumed angle growth, for young pulsars whose respective braking indices n_{obs} and jerk parameters m_{obs} are known, and some insights on the equation of state.
Structural basis for the synthesis of nucleobase modified DNA by Thermus aquaticus DNA polymerase

Numerous 2′-deoxynucleoside triphosphates (dNTPs) that are functionalized with spacious modifications such as dyes and affinity tags like biotin are substrates for DNA polymerases. They are widely employed in many cutting-edge technologies like advanced DNA sequencing approaches, microarrays, and single molecule techniques. Modifications attached to the nucleobase are accepted by many DNA polymerases, and thus, dNTPs bearing nucleobase modifications are predominantly employed. When pyrimidines are used the modifications are almost exclusively at the C5 position to avoid disturbing of Watson–Crick base pairing ability. However, the detailed molecular mechanism by which C5 modifications are processed by a DNA polymerase is poorly understood. Here, we present the first crystal structures of a DNA polymerase from Thermus aquaticus processing two C5 modified substrates that are accepted by the enzyme with different efficiencies. The structures were obtained as ternary complex of the enzyme bound to primer/template duplex with the respective modified dNTP in position poised for catalysis leading to incorporation. Thus, the study provides insights into the incorporation mechanism of the modified nucleotides elucidating how bulky modifications are accepted by the enzyme. The structures show a varied degree of perturbation of the enzyme substrate complexes depending on the nature of the modifications suggesting design principles for future developments of modified substrates for DNA polymerases.
Managing Organizational Behavior in the African Context

1. Introduction to OB 2. External Environment of African Organizations 3. Social Perception in African Organizations 4. Personality and Affect 5. Motivating the African Worker 6. Power, Influence and Politics 7. Leadership in an African Context 8. Groups and Teams 9. Decision Making 10. Understanding Conflict in African Organizations 11. Communication in Organizations 12. Structure and Design of African Organizations 13. Culture and Strategy 14. Change and Innovation in African Organizations
Monopsony in the Labor Market

The idea that firms have some market power in wage-setting has been slow to gain acceptance in economics. Indeed, until relatively recently, the textbooks viewed monopsony power as either a theoretical curiosum, or a concept limited to a handful of company towns in the past. This view has been changing rapidly, driven by a combination of theoretical innovations, empirical findings, dramatic legal cases, and new data sets that make it possible to measure the degree of market power in different ways. A search of the EconLit database shows that the number of published journal articles mentioning “monopsony” rose from only two in the 1980s to 20 in the 1990s, 32 in the 2000s, and to 64 in the 2010s. This volume contains a set of 11 papers originally presented at the Sundance Conference onMonopsony in LaborMarkets, organized by three of us (Ashenfelter, Farber and Ransom). Together the papers offer a rich perspective on the current state of research on market power in the labor market. Four of the papers use the framework pioneered by Manning (2003) to estimate the elasticity of labor supply to individual firms. A related paper looks at mobility frictions between cities. Three other papers, building on the “structure–conduct–performance” paradigm of industrial organization, relate the level of wages for specific subgroups of workers to measures of the local concentration
Understanding Public Policy

1: Policy Analysis: What Governments Do, Why They Do It, and What Difference it Makes 2: Models of Politics: Some Help in Thinking About Public Policy 3: The Policymaking Process: Decision-Making Activities 4: Policy Evaluation: Finding Out What Happens After a Law Is Passed 5: Federalism and State Policies: Institutional Arrangements and Policy Variations 6: Criminal Justice: Rationality and Irrationality in Public Policy 7: Welfare: The Search for Rational Strategies 8: Health Care: Attempting A Rational-Comprehensive Transformation 9: Education: Group Struggles 10: Economic Policy: Challenging Incrementalism 11: Tax Policy: Battling the Special Interests 12: International Trade and Immigration: Elite-Mass Conflict 13: Energy and the Environment: Externalities and Interests 14: Civil Rights: Elite and Mass Interaction 15: Defense Policy: Strategies for Serious Games 16: Homeland Security: Terrorism and Nondeterrable Threats
Two-factor authentication: is the world ready?: quantifying 2FA adoption

As text-based passwords continue to be the dominant form for user identification today, services try to protect their costumers by offering enhanced, and more secure, technologies for authentication. One of the most promising is two-factor authentication (2FA). 2FA raises the bar for the attacker significantly, however, it is still questionable if the technology can be realistically adopted by the majority of Internet users. In this paper, we attempt a first study for quantifying the adoption of 2FA in probably the largest existing provider, namely Google. For achieving this, we leverage the password-reminder process in a novel way for discovering if 2FA is enabled for a particular account, without annoying or affecting the account's owner. Our technique has many challenges to overcome, since it requires issuing massively thousands of password reminders. In order to remain below the radar, and therefore avoid solving CAPTCHAs or having our hosts blocked, we leverage distributed systems, such as TOR and PlanetLab. After examining over 100,000 Google accounts, we conclude that 2FA has not yet been adopted by more than 6.4% of the users. Last but not least, as a side-effect of our technique, we are also able to exfiltrate private information, which can be potentially used for malicious purposes. Thus, in this paper we additionally present important findings for raising concerns about privacy risks in designing password reminders.
Strategies for sustainable growth in JSE-listed companies

Achieving high growth that is sustainable is an elusive goal for all but a few great companies. Despite the relative importance of this topic, limited research has been performed to explain this phenomenon, especially in a South African context. This paper adopts an exploratory approach to investigate some of the variables that influence company growth, as well as their choice of strategy. A mixed method incorporating descriptive statistics, regression analysis and qualitative evaluation, was used to test the research questions. A sample of 202 JSE companies indicated 28% were high growth entities, 39% medium growth and 33% achieved growth of less than 10%. A further survey of 30 Chief Executive Officers (CEO) indicated that they believed the top five growth drivers were acquisitions, managerial talent, operational efficiency, an entrepreneurial flair (low growth companies excluded) and the development of networks and partnerships. The respondents, however, ranked the number and importance of these growth drivers very differently with high growth companies citing a broader range of growth drivers than the other respondents. Quite surprisingly, the respondents appear to have underestimated the importance of industry and economy effects. Furthermore, high growth companies appeared to develop a broader spectrum of strategies that were more likely to be linked to their choice of growth driver. Interestingly, high growth companies were the only respondents to develop formal partnership and incentive strategies. In conclusion, the results re-enforce the impression that successful organizations develop a multiplicity of strategies that are always underpinned by operational efficiency.
Novel role for the regulation of mitochondrial fission by hypoxia inducible factor-1α in the control of smooth muscle remodeling and progression of pulmonary hypertension.

In this issue of Circulation Research , Marsboom et al1 describe a novel involvement of a mitochondrial fission regulatory pathway that is likely to be of great importance in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH)-associated smooth muscle remodeling. Data in the study provide evidence that this process appears to be controlled by activation of hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α). As illustrated in the model in Figure, the stabilization or activation of HIF-1α in PAH is shown to promote mitochondrial fission by cyclin B1/CDK1-dependent phosphorylation of dynamin-related protein-1 (DRP1) at serine-616. The CDK1-cyclin B-dependent regulation of tubular mitochondria fragmentation by DRP1 was identified in previous studies as a regulator of the even distribution of mitochondria during mitosis in HeLa cells.2 Data in the study of Marsboom et al1 document how this process appears to be essential for the in vitro proliferation of pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells from human hypertensive patients. In addition, evidence is provided for these mechanisms appearing to be a prominent contributing factor to pulmonary arterial remodeling in several different models of PAH. Figure. Model showing how conditions associated with pulmonary hypertension development promote hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-1α regulation of pulmonary arterial smooth proliferative remodeling that appears to be controlled by a cyclin B1/CDK1-mediated phosphorylation of dynamin-related protein-1 (DRP1), which causes mitochondrial fission needed for their even distribution of during mitosis. The model also highlights approaches described in the text that were used to elucidate mechanisms. Article, see p 1484 As described in the article of Marsboom et al,1 PAH is disorder in which small pulmonary arteries are obstructed, constricted, and inflamed in a manner that increases pulmonary vascular resistance, and this promotes right ventricular hypertrophy and eventually failure. Previous work …
Existence and Uniqueness of Nash Equilibrium in Electoral Competition Games: The Hybrid Case

This paper analyzes the traditional unidimensional, two-party electoral competition game when parties have mixed motivations, in the sense that they are interested in winning the election, but also in the policy implemented after the contest. In spite of having discontinuous payoffs, this game, refer to as the hybrid election game, is shown to be payoff secure and reciprocally upper semi-continuous. Conditional payoffs, however, are not quasi-concave. Hence, the existence of a pure strategy Nash equilibrium (PSNE) is ensured only if parties have homogenous interests in power. In that case, an equilibrium not only exists, but it is also unique. Instead, if parties have heterogeneous motivations, depending upon the relationship between the electoral uncertainty, the aggregate opportunism and its distribution across parties, a psne may or may not exist. The mixed extension, however, is always better reply secure. Therefore, a mixed strategy Nash equilibrium do indeed exist. These results generalize previous existence results in unidimensional electoral competition.
ect of propionates and water activity on maize myco ̄ ora and impact on fumonisin B 1 accumulation

The eect of a commercial mixture of propionates at two dierent doses (0.05% and 0.1%) on fungal spoilage of natural maize stored at 0.85, 0.90 and 0.95 water activity (aw) was investigated. Parallel treatments with added inoculum of Fusarium Liseola section isolates (Fusarium moniliforme and F. proliferatum ) were carried out in order to determine the eect of fungal interactions on the development of fumonisin-producers on maize in relation to preservative ecacy. Fungal colonisation of grain was measured as fungal counts (CFUs gÿ1 maize). In general, no dierences were found between inoculated and uninoculated samples. Besides the selective eect of aw on maize myco ̄ora, it was demonstrated that most genera which colonise maize remained unaected by the preservative concentrations applied. However, Penicillium populations (CFUs gÿ1 maize) counts decreased signi®cantly. As they represent a major component of the total fungal counts, an overall control of total myco ̄ora was observed. Furthermore, there was a signi®cant statistical interaction between preservative and aw levels, with the preservative activity enhanced at low aw. The concentrations of fumonisin B1 were unaected by treatment with no signi®cant dierences in concentrations found. This suggests that the natural myco ̄ora of maize may act as an inhibitor of Fusarium development, and consequently of fumonisin biosynthesis. # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Journal of Stored Products Research 36 (2000) 203±214 0022-474X/00/$ see front matter # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0022-474X(99)00043-0 www.elsevier. com/locate/jspr * Corresponding author. Tel. : +34-973-702535; fax: +34-973-702596. E-mail address: vsanchis@tecal.udl. es (V. Sanchis).
Venous Thromboembolism Following Colorectal Surgery for Suspected or Confirmed Malignancy

Surgery for colorectal cancer conveys a high risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). The effect of thromboprophylactic regimens of varying duration on the incidence of VTE was assessed in 417 patients undergoing surgery between 2005 and 2009 for colorectal cancer. Low-dose unfractionated heparin (LDUH) was used in 52.7% of patients, low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) in 35.3%, and 10.7% received LDUH followed by LMWH. Pharmacological prophylaxis was continued after hospitalisation in 31.6%. Major bleeding occurred in 4% of patients. The 30-day mortality rate was 1.9%. The incidence of symptomatic VTE from hospital admission for surgery to 12 months after was 2.4%. There were no in-hospital VTE events. The majority of events occurred in the three-month period after discharge, but there were VTE events up to 12 months, especially in patients with more advanced cancer and multiple comorbidities.
Dowry : Household Responses to Expected Marriage Payments ∗

Dowry is a ubiquitous feature of South Asian marriage markets. However, empirical research on dowry has been limited by the lack of data. We utilize retrospective information on gifts exchanged at the time of marriage for 39,544 marriages during 1960-2008 (a) to describe dowry trends and (b) to examine the impact of dowry expectations on households’ financial and childbearing decisions in contemporary rural India. Average real net dowry has been remarkably stable over time; although there is considerable heterogeneity across castes, religions, and states. We also test if credit-constrained parents respond to the “lumpy” nature of dowry payments at the time of marriage by saving in advance. We find that, relative to parents of firstborn-boys, parents of firstborn-girls increase per capita household saving and fathers work more after the child’s birth if expected future dowry payment is higher. JEL Codes: J12, J16, D10