Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Phytogenic Feed Additives in Soybean Meal on In vitro Swine Fermentation for Odor Reduction and Bacterial Community Comparison

The effect of different phytogenic feed additives on reducing odorous compounds in swine was investigated using in vitro fermentation and analyzed their microbial communities. Soybean meal (1%) added with 0.1% different phytogenic feed additives (FA) were in vitro fermented using swine fecal slurries and anaerobically incubated for 12 and 24 h. The phytogenic FAs used were red ginseng barn powder (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer, FA1), persimmon leaf powder (Diospyros virginiana L., FA2), ginkgo leaf powder (Ginkgo biloba L., FA3), and oregano lippia seed oil extract (Lippia graveolens Kunth, OL, FA4). Total gas production, pH, ammonia-nitrogen (NH3-N), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), nitrite-nitrogen (NO2−-N), nitrate-nitrogen (NO3−-N), sulfate (SO4−−), volatile fatty acids (VFA) and other metabolites concentration were determined. Microbial communities were also analyzed using 16S rRNA DGGE. Results showed that the pH values on all treatments increased as incubation time became longer except for FA4 where it decreased. Moreover, FA4 incubated for 12 and 24 h was not detected in NH3-N and H2S. Addition of FAs decreased (p<0.05) propionate production but increased (p<0.05) the total VFA production. Ten 16S rRNA DGGE bands were identified which ranged from 96 to 100% identity which were mostly isolated from the intestine. Similarity index showed three clearly different clusters: I (FA2 and FA3), II (Con and FA1), and III (FA4). Dominant bands which were identified closest to Eubacterium limosum (ATCC 8486T), Uncultured bacterium clone PF6641 and Streptococcus lutetiensis (CIP 106849T) were present only in the FA4 treatment group and were not found in other groups. FA4 had a different bacterial diversity compared to control and other treatments and thus explains having lowest odorous compounds. Addition of FA4 to an enriched protein feed source for growing swine may effectively reduce odorous compounds which are typically associated with swine production.
An efficient shock-capturing central-type scheme for multidimensional relativistic flows. II. Magnetohydrodynamics

A third order shock-capturing numerical scheme for three-dimensional special relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (3-D RMHD) is presented and validated against several numerical tests. The simple and efficient central scheme described in Paper I (Del Zanna and Bucciantini, Astron. Astrophys., 390, 1177--1186, 2002) for relativistic hydrodynamics is here extended to the magnetic case by following the strategies prescribed for classical MHD by Londrillo and Del Zanna (Astrophys. J., 530, 508--524, 2000). The scheme avoids completely spectral decomposition into characteristic waves, computationally expensive and subject to many degenerate cases in the magnetic case, while it makes use of a two-speed Riemann solver that just require the knowledge of the two local fast magnetosonic velocities. Moreover, the onset of spurious magnetic monopoles, which is a typical problem for multi-dimensional MHD upwind codes, is prevented by properly taking into account the solenoidal constraint and the specific antisymmetric nature of the induction equation. Finally, the extension to generalized orthogonal curvilinear coordinate systems is included, thus the scheme is ready to incorporate general relativistic (GRMHD) effects.
Impacts of forest drainage on flow regime

High floods in watercourses are of great interest, because of the potential hazards they pose to people and low-lying land near rivers. In many parts of the world, inundations are common and in northwest Europe there are high discharges almost every year, occasionally with serious consequences. In Sweden, such a major flood occurred in 1985, causing a damburst. Land use in the area was mainly forestry, and fairly extensive clear-felling and drainage were believed to have amplified high discharges following heavy rain. This led to investigation of the hydrological consequences of these forestry activities. Drainage was carried out both as new drainage of virgin peatlands, and as drainage of moist and wet mineral soils, i.e. remedial drainage of clear-felled areas. The investigations were made on small catchments and utilised the calibration period and control basin technique, using linear regression relations. Peatland drainage resulted in reduced high discharges, while drainage of clear-felled areas resulted in increased high discharges, as compared to forested conditions. However, drainage of clear-felled areas partly led to reduced peak flows. A high groundwater level was an important prerequisite for increased discharges. When results from small catchments were applied to larger rivers, the effects of forest drainage were small, i.e. increases were less than 10%.
Timing matters: sonar call groups facilitate target localization in bats

To successfully negotiate a cluttered environment, an echolocating bat must control the timing of motor behaviors in response to dynamic sensory information. Here we detail the big brown bat's adaptive temporal control over sonar call production for tracking prey, moving predictably or unpredictably, under different experimental conditions. We studied the adaptive control of vocal-motor behaviors in free-flying big brown bats, Eptesicus fuscus, as they captured tethered and free-flying insects, in open and cluttered environments. We also studied adaptive sonar behavior in bats trained to track moving targets from a resting position. In each of these experiments, bats adjusted the features of their calls to separate target and clutter. Under many task conditions, flying bats produced prominent sonar sound groups identified as clusters of echolocation pulses with relatively stable intervals, surrounded by longer pulse intervals. In experiments where bats tracked approaching targets from a resting position, bats also produced sonar sound groups, and the prevalence of these sonar sound groups increased when motion of the target was unpredictable. We hypothesize that sonar sound groups produced during flight, and the sonar call doublets produced by a bat tracking a target from a resting position, help the animal resolve dynamic target location and represent the echo scene in greater detail. Collectively, our data reveal adaptive temporal control over sonar call production that allows the bat to negotiate a complex and dynamic environment.
Quantitative metabolic profiling of valproic acid in humans using automated gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric techniques.

An automated gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric assay is described for the antiepileptic drug valproic acid (VPA) and 14 of its metabolites in plasma or urine. Quantitative analysis of the parent drug and its biotransformation products was carried out with the aid of trimethylsilyl derivatives, and was performed by selected ion monitoring gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (normally of [M-CH3]+ species) using an HP 5790 mass selective detector (MSD) quadrupole mass spectrometer. The analysis was fully automated, in that simple injection, data acquisition, integration, quantification and report functions were carried out during unattended operation by an HP 59970C ChemStation computer system. The method exhibits good accuracy and high precision, with correlation coefficients greater than 0.990 for all standard curves. Replicate analyses of pooled plasma samples over a 4 month period exhibited an inter-day variation of less than 15% for the parent drug and ten of its metabolites. Moreover, the high dynamic range of the MSD instrument permitted quantification of VPA and minor metabolites thereof (e.g. the hepatotoxic terminal olefin, delta 4-VPA) at levels as disparate as 260 micrograms ml-1 (VPA) and 14 ng ml-1 (delta 4-VPA) in a single analysis. The high stability and sensitivity of the assay, combined with the fully automated features of the instrumentation, make the method ideally suited to expanded clinical studies and for the routine monitoring of potentially high-risk patients on VPA therapy.
Vision: a lightweight computing model for fine-grained cloud computing

Cloud systems differ fundamentally in how they offer and charge for resources. While some systems provide a generic programming abstraction at coarse granularity, e.g., a virtual machine rented by the hour, others offer specialized abstractions with fine-grained accounting on a per-request basis. In this paper, we explore Tasklets, an abstraction for instances of short-duration, generic computations that migrate from a host requiring computation to hosts that are willing to provide computation. Tasklets enable fine-grained accounting of resource usage, enabling us to build infrastructure that supports trading computing resources according to various economic models. This computation model is especially attractive in settings where mobile devices can utilize resources in the cloud to mitigate local resource constraints.
Multilevel filtering elliptic preconditioners

A class of preconditioners for elliptic problems built on ideas borrowed from the digital filtering theory and implemented on a multilevel grid structure is presented. These preconditioners are designed to be both rapidly convergent and highly parallelizable. The digital filtering viewpoint allows for the use of filter design techniques for constructing elliptic preconditioners and also provides an alternative framework for understanding several other recently proposed multilevel preconditioners. Numerical results are presented to assess the convergence behavior of the new methods and to compare them with other preconditioners of multilevel type, including the usual multigrid method as preconditioner, the hierarchical basis method, and a recent method proposed by Bramble–Pasciak–Xu.
A developmental analysis of self-reported fears in late childhood through mid-adolescence: social-evaluative fears on the rise?

BACKGROUND The frequently reported decline in the overall frequency and intensity of fears during late childhood and adolescence may mask different developmental patterns for two broad subclasses of fears: fears concerning physical danger and fears concerning social evaluation. It was investigated if physical fears decrease between late childhood and mid-adolescence, while social-evaluative fears increase during this period. It was also studied if changes in both sets of fears are more strongly related to socio-cognitive maturity than to age, which itself is only a proxy measure of maturity. METHODS A non-clinical sample of 882 children and adolescents (ages 8-18) was recruited for study. Fears were assessed using the Ollendick Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised (FSSC-R). A Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was conducted to study the factor structure of the Failure and Criticism subscale of the FSSC-R. Level of development was assessed using the Sentence Completion Test for Youth (SCT-Y), a measure of socio-cognitive maturity that is based on Loevinger's model, and measure, of ego development. RESULTS The PCA of the Failure and Criticism subscale revealed three factors: Social Evaluation, Achievement Evaluation, and Punishment. As predicted, the significant decrease of overall fearfulness obscured two contradictory developmental patterns: (a) fears of physical danger and punishment decreased with age, whereas (b) fears of social and achievement evaluation increased with age. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that the age effect for social-evaluative fears was explained entirely on the basis of developmental differences in socio-cognitive maturity (controlling for verbal ability). In contrast, age was a better predictor of the decrease of physical and punishment fears (although socio-cognitive maturity still added to the predictive value of age). CONCLUSION The expression of social evaluation fears during adolescence appears not atypical and might be a corollary of socio-cognitive maturation. At the same time, the natural presence of those fears during adolescence appears to constitute a vulnerability for developing a social anxiety disorder.
Bullying, depression, and suicidality in adolescents.

OBJECTIVE To assess the association between bullying behavior and depression, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts among adolescents. METHOD A self-report survey was completed by 9th- through 12th-grade students (n = 2342) in six New York State high schools from 2002 through 2004. Regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between being victimized and bullying others with depression, ideation, and attempts. RESULTS Approximately 9% of the sample reported being victimized frequently, and 13% reported bullying others frequently. Frequent exposure to victimization or bullying others was related to high risks of depression, ideation, and suicide attempts compared with adolescents not involved in bullying behavior. Infrequent involvement in bullying behavior also was related to increased risk of depression and suicidality, particularly among girls. The findings indicate that both victims and bullies are at high risk and that the most troubled adolescents are those who are both victims and bullies. Psychopathology was associated with bullying behavior both in and away from school. CONCLUSIONS Victimization and bullying are potential risk factors for adolescent depression and suicidality. In evaluations of students involved in bullying behavior, it is important to assess depression and suicidality.
Automatic quantification of in vitro NET formation

Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETs) consist of decondensed chromatin studded with granular and some cytoplasmic proteins. They are formed by activated neutrophil granulocytes, also called polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) as the result of an active cell death program, named NETosis. NETosis can be induced by a wide range of stimuli including coculture of neutrophils with pathogens (bacteria, fungi, parasites, virus particles), activated platelets, or pathogen components. The first step of the NETotic cascade is stimulation of one or several receptors followed by activation of the Raf/MEK/ERK pathway that culminates in the assembly of the multimeric NADPH oxidase complex and the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Later, intracellular membranes disintegrate, the granular protein Neutrophil Elastase enters the nucleus and processes core histones that also get hypercitrullinated. This leads to decondensation and mobilization of chromatin. The amount of NET formation varies with the degree of stimulation, and this is dependent on the type and concentration of the stimulus. NETs can be quantified using various methods including fluorescence microscopy or measuring DNA release. Each of these methods have specific drawbacks: analysis of fluorescence microscopy is prone to subjective variations, and DNA release does not differentiate between DNA that has been released by NETosis or by other forms of cell death. Here we present a protocol to semi-automatically quantify NET formation. It relies on the observation that anti-chromatin antibodies bind more readily to decondensed chromatin present in the nuclei of cells undergoing NETosis and in the NETs. Relating the fluorescence signals of the anti-chromatin antibody to the signals of a DNA-binding dye allows the automatic calculation of the percentage of netting neutrophils. This method does not require sophisticated microscopic equipment, and the images are quantified with a public-domain software package.
Physical and Functional Interactions between Vaccinia Virus F10 Protein Kinase and Virion Assembly Proteins A30 and G7

ABSTRACT An early step in vaccinia virus morphogenesis, the association of crescent membranes with electron-dense granular material, is perturbed when expression of the viral protein encoded by the A30L or G7L open reading frame is repressed. Under these conditions, we found that phosphorylation of the A17 membrane protein, which is mediated by the F10 kinase, was severely reduced. Furthermore, A30 and G7 stimulated F10-dependent phosphorylation of A17 in the absence of other viral late proteins. Evidence for physical interactions between A30, G7, and F10 was obtained by their coimmunoprecipitation with antibody against A30 or F10. In addition, phosphorylation of A30 was dependent on the F10 kinase and autophosphorylation of F10 was stimulated by A30 and G7. Nevertheless, the association of A30, G7, and F10 occurred even with mutated, catalytically inactive forms of F10. Just as A30 and G7 are mutually dependent on each other for stability, F10 was nearly undetectable in the absence of A30 and G7. The reverse is not true, however, as repression of F10 did not diminish A30 or G7. Interaction of F10 with A30 and G7 presumably occurred within the virus factory areas of the cytoplasm, where each was concentrated. F10 localized predominantly in the cortical region of immature virions, beneath the membrane where A17 is located. F10 remained associated with the particulate core fraction of mature virions after treatment with a nonionic detergent and reducing agent. The formation of protein complexes such as the one involving A30, G7, and F10 may be a mechanism for the regulated packaging and processing of virion components.
What Do Parents Have to Do with My Cognitive Reserve Life Course Perspectives on Twelve-Year Cognitive Decline

Background/Aims: To examine the cognitive reserve hypothesis by comparing the contribution of early childhood and life course factors related to cognitive functioning in a nationally representative sample of older Americans. Methods: We examined a prospective, national probability cohort study (Health and Retirement Study; 1998-2010) of older adults (n = 8,833) in the contiguous 48 United States. The main cognitive functioning outcome was a 35-point composite of memory (recall), mental status, and working memory tests. The main predictors were childhood socioeconomic position (SEP) and health, and individual-level adult achievement and health. Results: Individual-level achievement indicators (i.e., education, income, and wealth) were positively and significantly associated with baseline cognitive function, while adult health was negatively associated with cognitive function. Controlling for individual-level adult achievement and other model covariates, childhood health presented a relatively small negative, but statistically significant association with initial cognitive function. Neither individual achievement nor childhood SEP was statistically linked to decline over time. Conclusions: Cognitive reserve purportedly acquired through learning and mental stimulation across the life course was associated with higher initial global cognitive functioning over the 12-year period in this nationally representative study of older Americans. We found little supporting evidence that childhood economic conditions were negatively associated with cognitive function and change, particularly when individual-level achievement is considered.
Engineering of a synthetic quadrastable gene network to approach Waddington landscape and cell fate determination

The process of cell fate determination has been depicted intuitively as cells travelling and resting on a rugged landscape, which has been probed by various theoretical studies. However, few studies have experimentally demonstrated how underlying gene regulatory networks shape the landscape and hence orchestrate cellular decision-making in the presence of both signal and noise. Here we tested different topologies and verified a synthetic gene circuit with mutual inhibition and auto-activations to be quadrastable, which enables direct study of quadruple cell fate determination on an engineered landscape. We show that cells indeed gravitate towards local minima and signal inductions dictate cell fates through modulating the shape of the multistable landscape. Experiments, guided by model predictions, reveal that sequential inductions generate distinct cell fates by changing landscape in sequence and hence navigating cells to different final states. This work provides a synthetic biology framework to approach cell fate determination and suggests a landscape-based explanation of fixed induction sequences for targeted differentiation. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.23702. 001
One size does not fit all: applying the transtheoretical model to energy feedback technology design

Global warming, and the climate change it induces, is an urgent global issue. One remedy to this problem, and the focus of this paper, is to motivate sustainable energy usage behaviors by people. One approach is the development of technologies that provide real-time, continuous feedback of energy usage. However, there is one problem - most tech-nologies use a "one-size-fits-all" solution, providing the same feedback to differently motivated individuals at different stages of readiness, willingness and ableness to change. In this paper, we synthesize a wide range of motivational psychology literature to develop a motivational framework based on the Transtheoretical (aka Stages of Behavior Change) Model. For each stage, we state the mo-tivational goal(s), and recommendation(s) for how technol-ogies can reach these goals. Each goal and recommendation is supported by a rationale based on motivational literature. Each recommendation is supported by a simple textual example illustrating one way to apply the recommendation.
Pediculosis capitis among Primary School Children and Related Risk Factors in Urmia, the Main City of West Azarbaijan, Iran

Background: Pediculosis capitis is cosmopolitan health problem. In addition to its physical problems, its psychological effects especially on pupils are more important. This study was conducted to determine the Pediculosis capitis among primary school pupils and also find out the role of probable related risk factors in Urmia city, Iran 2010. Methods: 35 primary schools of Urmia City according to the defined clusters randomly have been selected during 2010. 2040 pupils (866 boys and 1174 girls) were included and examined individually and privately by experts. Presence of adult or immature lice or having nits less than 1 cm from the hair basis were defined as positive. Data about demographic features and factors which their effect should be determined were recorded in standard questionnaire. Data were analyzed by SPSS software with proper statistical test. Results: Infestation was determined around 4%. Girls show significantly greater infestation. The availability of suitable warm water for bathing and hair length (separately in girls and boys) are significantly related to infestation load as well as infestation among different age groups. There was no significant relation between parent’s education and job and infestation as well as bathing repetition per week and the kind of energy source which they have. Also there is no significant correlation between educational grades and head lice infestation. Conclusion: The head louse pediculosis is a health problem and remains a health threatening for school children.Effective risk factors should be determined carefully and regionally. Proper training plays a great role in order to prevent and control the problem.
Intermediate Goods and Weak Links in the Theory of Economic Development

What explains the enormous differences in incomes across countries? This paper returns to two old ideas: linkages and complementarity. First, linkages between firms through intermediate goods deliver a multiplier similar to the one associated with capital in a neoclassical growth model. Because the intermediate goods share of output is about one-half, this multiplier is substantial. Second, just as a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, problems along a production chain can sharply reduce output under complementarity. These forces considerably amplify distortions to the allocation of resources, bringing us closer to understanding large income differences across countries. (JEL: D57, E23, O1O, O47)