Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ABCG2 gene polymorphism in Holstein cows of Turkey.

Summary ABCG2 protein or Breast Cancer Resistant Protein (Bcrp), located in membrane of mammary glands alveolar epithelial cells, is one of the most important active transport proteins and responsible for passing of drugs from blood to milk. It is encoded by ABCG2 (Bcrp). These transport proteins are very important for veterinary medicine. Single nucleotide polymorphism, which is caused by changing amino acid (Y581S), in ABCG2 gene that encodes Bcrp, affect milk yield and milk properties in Israeli Holstein. It is known that fat and protein proportion in milk were increased, but milk yield was decreased in Israeli Holstein which have ABCG2 A allele. In this study, allele frequency of ABCG2 was investigated in Holstein cows of Turkey and for this purpose 207 Holstein cows from Trakya region were genotyped. A allele (0.9807) had been found dominant in all investigated animals. C allele (0.0193) had been determined at only 8 animals. On the other hand CC homozygous had not been found in investigated animals.
Determinants of Female-headed Households’ Livelihood Diversification Strategies Choice in Ambo District, Ethiopia

The study has concluded that diverse livelihood options are available and thus,Female - Headed Households pursue diverse range of activities that draw on their labor and time. However, the participation levels vary within Female - Headed Households(FHHs). The variation is mainly in terms of the activity they diversify into and conditions under which diversification are made. Generally, FHH participate in low-return and high risk and last resort activities. The study concludes that livelihood diversification strategies choice of FHH is determined by a number of factors. Hence, it is recommended that the livelihood of FHHs needs to be recognized and policy intervention should concentrate on improving access to assets within the aim of expanding livelihood options rather than assuming households are spatial homogenous and individual engage in one type of activity only.
Calcium carbonate saturation states in the waters of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and the Labrador Sea

[1] Ocean acidification is predicted to occur first in polar oceans. We investigated the saturation state of waters with respect to calcite (Ωcal) and aragonite (Ωarg) in six sections along an Arctic outflow pathway through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA) and into the northwestern Atlantic using dissolved inorganic carbon and total alkalinity measurements from 2003 to 2005. The study area, a key region connecting the Arctic and the North Atlantic, includes Smith Sound, Barrow Strait, Baffin Bay, Davis Strait, Hudson Strait, and the Labrador Sea. The average Ωarg in the Arctic outflow was 1.18 ± 0.17 in Barrow Strait and 1.31 ± 0.14 in Smith Sound, with areas where Ωarg < 1. The Arctic outflow through the CAA has a high content of Pacific waters, which have a low saturation state. These waters can be traced along the western Baffin Bay to Davis Strait. South of Davis Strait, this outflow is modified by mixing with slope and offshore waters of Atlantic origin and with the outflow from Hudson Strait. Despite the mixing, low saturation state water can still be identified on the southern Labrador Shelf. The aragonite saturation horizon is found at ∼150 m in Barrow Strait; at 200 m in Baffin Bay, Davis Strait, and Hudson Strait; and at 2300 m in the Labrador Sea. This study provides baseline data of the saturation states for the waters of the CAA and the northwest Atlantic. It also illustrates the downstream evolution of low saturation state Arctic outflow in the northwest Atlantic.
Grade 7 teachers' and prospective teachers' content knowledge of geometry

The geometry content knowledge of Grade 7 teachers (n =18) and prospective teachers (n =100) was investigated, using the Van Hiele theory and acquisition scales of Gutierrez, Jaime and Fortuny. Results indicated that both teacher and prospective teacher populations failed to reach the level of geometric thinking and degree of acquisition expected from successful teachers. The impact of teaching experience and different pre-service time frames (3 years vs 4 years) on the level of geometrical thought was also investigated. The conclusion was that teachers and prospective teachers do not have adequate control of the Grade 7 geometry subject-matter they have to teach. This holds implications both for pre-service and in-service teacher education as well as classroom practice. South African Journal of Education Vol.23(3) 2003: 199-205
Economic vulnerability and financial fragility

Unfortunately, many families with the greatest exposure to the economic dislocations of the recent recession also had very risky balance sheets beforehand that were characterized by low levels of liquid assets, high portfolio concentrations in housing, and relatively high balance-sheet leverage. The authors argue that economic vulnerability and risky balance sheets are correlated because they derive from common factors. These factors include a low stock of human capital, inexperience (relative youth), and, in some cases, the legacy of discrimination in housing, education, and employment. Innate cognitive ability interacts with formal education and on-the-job experience to build human capital, while the legacy of discrimination may attenuate the translation of cognitive ability and education into human capital. Acquiring financial knowledge of risk management also requires time and experience and is more valuable to those with high levels of human capital and savings available to invest. Given the combination of these factors, individuals and families who are young, less cognitively able, and/or members of historically disadvantaged minorities are more likely to be economically vulnerable and to hold risky balance sheets because they lack financial knowledge and experience. Moreover, balance sheets of economically vulnerable families before the recent recession were especially risky after a decade of financial liberalization and innovation that increased the access of such families to homeownership and historically high leverage. Economically vulnerable families should avoid “doubling down” with risky balance sheets to enhance their future household financial stability.
Effect of diets with different energy and protein levels on breast muscle characteristics of broiler chickens.

In this paper was studied the effect of dietary energy and protein levels on breast muscle characteristics of broiler chickens, which were sacrificed at 42 days old. The genetic material was represented by broiler chickens that belonged to the „Ross-308” hybrid, with three groups (LC-control group, L1 and L2 experimental groups). During the growth periods (starter, growing and finishing) they have received compound feed ad libitum, with different energy and protein levels (LC- conforming to recommendations of Aviagen Company; L1-higher with 10%; L2-lower with 10%). After evisceration, from each group were sampled breasts from 10 carcasses (five per sex) and were determined: muscle mass, meat: bones ratio, chemical composition of meat, pH value (after evisceration up to 24 h of refrigeration) and the thickness of myocytes in the superficial pectoral muscle. For these characteristics, the highest values were obtained in the L1 group, and the lowest values in the L2 group. In the L1 group, high levels of dietary proteins and energy has significantly influenced: muscle mass, meat: bones ratio, chemical composition of meat (water, proteins and lipids), pH value and the thickness of myocytes in the superficial pectoral muscle, as compared with LC and L2.
Decolorization of the azo dye reactive black 5 using laccase mediator system

Laccase mediator system (LMS) has been widely used in various fields. In this study, we tested the capacity of LMS in the decolorization of a recalcitrant azo dye Reactive Black 5 (RB5). Both acetosyringone and syringaldehyde demonstrated high mediating ability for RB5 decolorization and acetosyringone was proved to be the most efficient mediator. The decolorization process was not significantly affected at various temperature and pH, and the laccase mediator system still maintained high efficiency when the dye concentration increased. The optimized conditions for dye decolorization were 160 mg/L of RB5, 0.5 U/ml of laccase and 0.1 mmol/L of mediator at 40°C and pH 7.0. More than 92% of RB5 was decolorized with acetosyringone as mediator in only 30 min. The results show an enormous potential of this laccase mediator system in the treatment of azo dye effluents. Key words : Azo dye, reactive black 5, mediator, laccase, decolorization.
Investment and Export-Led Industrialization: Financial Constraints and Export Promotion of East Asian Firms

This paper aims to empirically examine the determinants that influence the investment decisions of firms in East Asia, a region that propelled its growth through a predominantly export-led industrialization strategy. Empirical results suggest that a firmi¯s cash flow, representing internal funding capability, have significantly positive relationship on firm investment decisions in all the sample countries in the region. In addition, the study found that export expansion led to increasing internal funding capability, which had a positive influence on the firmi¯s investment decision.
In Vitro Characterization of Transforming Growth Factor-ß1-Loaded Composites of Biodegradable Polymer and Mesenchymal Cells

A porous, biodegradable polymer composite was fabricated from poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) using a solvent-casting particulate-leaching technique, and loaded with recombinant human transforming growth factor {3-1 (TGF-{31). Tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS) and PLLA disks loaded with bovine serum albumin (BSA) served as controls. Polymer specimens were seeded at high cell density with C3H10T1/2 cells, a mouse embryonic cell line capable of differentiating into various connective tissue cell types. The polymer matrices degraded slowly in physiological saline over four weeks, with a sustained yet sporadic release of active TGF-{31; a more controlled release of TGF-{31 was observed in serum-containing culture medium and with cell seeding. Compared to controls, cells seeded on TGF-{31-Ioaded PLLA disks showed significantly enhanced DNA and proteoglycan synthesis, while collagen biosynthesis was greater in all PLLA cultures compared to those on TCPS. Scanning electron microscopy revealed extensive cell proliferation, with a chondrocyte-like phenotype, throughout the porous matrix, while histology showed intact cell bodies and minimal cellular necrosis. These results suggest that the TGF-{31-loaded cell-polymer composite supports cell proliferation/differentiation, and is a candidate template for connective tissue engineering.
Evaluating the Impact of Innovation Incentives: Evidence from an Unexpected Shortage of Funds

To evaluate the effect of an R&D subsidy one needs to know what the subsidized firms would have done without the incentive. This paper studies an Italian programme of subsidies for the applied development of innovations, exploiting a discontinuity in programme financing due to an unexpected shortage of public money. To identify the effect of the programme, the study implements a regression discontinuity design and compares firms that applied for funding before and after the shortage occurred. The results indicate that the programme was not effective in stimulating innovative investment.
Load factor calibration for the proposed 2005 edition of the National Building Code of Canada: Companion-action load combinations

The 2005 edition of the National Building Code of Canada (NBCC) will adopt a companion-action format for load combinations and specify wind and snow loads based on their 50 year return period values. This paper presents the calibration of these factors, based on statistics for dead load, live load due to use and occupancy, snow load, and wind load, which are summarized in a companion paper. A target reliability index of approximately 3 for a design life of 50 years was adopted for consistency with the 1995 NBCC. The load combinations and load factors for strength and stability checks recommended for the 2005 NBCC were based on preliminary values from reliability analysis that were subsequently revised slightly to address major inconsistencies with past practice. The recommended load combinations and factors generally give factored load effects similar to those in the 1995 NBCC, but are up to 10% more severe for the combination of dead load plus snow load and are generally less severe for the combination o.
Self-medication in primary healthcare in the territory of the city of Niš

Self-medication represents the use of medicines and herbal remedies with the purpose of treating or preventing a disease the symptoms of which are recognized by the patients themselves. Drugs that are intended for self-medication and do not require a prescription are called “over-the-counter medicines” (OTC) products. The aim of the paper was to evaluate self-medication in the adult population in the Nis region and determine the potential factors affecting the level and the quality of self-medication. A total of 300 respondents, divided into three age categories, were interviewed: aged 18 to 30, 31 to 65 and over 65. Self-medication is the most common in the respondents aged 18 to 30 (98%). The analysis of the data revealed a statistically significant difference among groups at the level of trust in doctors and their own expertise/awareness of the disease as the main reasons for self-medication. There was a statistically significant difference among the groups regarding media influence on the selection of drug (p<0.05). Awareness of the possible side effects of the chosen therapy was registered in 60% of the respondents. Idea that self-medication can “cover up” symptoms of some more serious diseases was most widespread among the respondents aged 18 to 30 (84%). The role of pharmacists in patients’ education on the proper application of selfmedication is vital, as it allows a patient to actively participate in the process of selfcare and it also represents the least of all the risks to their health. Acta Medica Medianae 2014;53(3):19-24.
Primordial black holes as dark matter: constraints from compact ultra-faint dwarfs

The ground-breaking detections of gravitational waves from black hole mergers by LIGO have rekindled interest in primordial black holes (PBHs) and the possibility of dark matter being composed of PBHs. It has been suggested that PBHs of tens of solar masses could serve as dark matter candidates. Recent analytical studies demonstrated that compact ultra-faint dwarf galaxies can serve as a sensitive test for the PBH dark matter hypothesis, since stars in such a halo-dominated system would be heated by the more massive PBHs, their present-day distribution can provide strong constraints on PBH mass. In this study, we further explore this scenario with more detailed calculations, using a combination of dynamical simulations and Bayesian inference methods. The joint evolution of stars and PBH dark matter is followed with a Fokker-Planck code PhaseFlow. We run a large suite of such simulations for different dark matter parameters, then use a Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach to constrain the PBH properties with observations of ultra-faint galaxies. We find that two-body relaxation between the stars and PBH drives up the stellar core size, and increases the central stellar velocity dispersion. Using the observed half-light radius and velocity dispersion of stars in the compact ultra-faint dwarf galaxies as joint constraints, we infer that these dwarfs may have a cored dark matter halo with the central density in the range of 1-2 $\rm{M_{\odot}/pc^3}$, and that the PBHs may have a mass range of 2-14 $\rm{M_{\odot}}$ if they constitute all or a substantial fraction of the dark matter.
The Efficacy of Project Lead the Way: A Systematic Literature Review

Project Lead the Way (PLTW) is a non-profit organization offering project-based STEM education curricula for K-12 students. As of 2015, PLTW was by far the largest pre-engineering program implemented throughout the United States with a presence in over 6500 schools. Since its conception in 1997, PLTW rapidly expanded and today covers all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The PLTW Engineering curriculum offers a sequence of courses that students may take over the course of high school, and many university programs allow students who complete this sequence the opportunity to earn college credit. The PLTW Gateway curriculum targets students in Grades 6-8 and the PLTW Launch curriculum targets K-5 students. See the PLTW website for current program titles. They now simply use PLTW Engineering, PLTW Gateway, and PLTW Launch. This study investigates the efficacy of PLTW efforts through a systematic literature review process. Specifically, we explored the following research questions: • To what extent has PLTW been an area of scholarly investigation and what has been the nature of these investigations? • What primary strengths and weaknesses of PLTW does this literature identify? • What gaps in PLTW literature exist and what future research is needed? After an initial data collection and literature reduction processes, we synthesized 31 articles that collected and analyzed empirical data related to PLTW. Our gathered literature included 16 journal articles, 11 dissertations, and 4 theses. Using an emergent coding process, we found that primary strengths of PLTW curricula include facilitating student interest in STEM (namely, engineering), motivating students to pursue STEM degrees, and providing teachers with effective professional development opportunities and support. However, weaknesses of PLTW include minimal evidence supporting PLTW participation as improving students’ mathematics and science abilities, scheduling and space issues, and moderate financial costs for schools to participate in PLTW. Altogether, the literature collected varied widely and, as a result, each of these strengths and weaknesses requires further investigation. This study concludes with an identification of gaps in PLTW literature that scholars might utilize to focus future PLTWrelated investigations, which will in turn improve future PLTW and PLTW-related interventions.
Paroxetine Alters Cardiac Stress Markers in Rats with Aortic Regurgitation

Background: Aortic regurgitation (AR) is a valvulopathy that causes volume overload to the heart leading to left ventricle dilation and eccentric hypertrophy. A common co-morbidity associated with cardiovascular disease is depression. We have previously shown that paroxetine, a selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor widely prescribed as antidepressant, improves cardiac contractility by preserving fractional shortening (FS) of AR rat hearts. In failing hearts, decrease of the ability of the myocardium to generate an effective shortness velocity is well correlated with the shift of myosin isoform distribution from α to β- MyHC expression. In order to understand the molecular mechanism involved in the improvement of FS after paroxetine treatment, we verified the expression of genes involved in heart contractility and hypertrophy. Methods and Findings: Male Wistar rats were submitted to AR surgery, by retrograde puncture of the aortic valves leaflets, or sham surgery. Morphofunctional variables of the hearts were analyzed by echocardiograms at weeks 4 and 8 after the induction of AR. At week 8 the animals were euthanized for tissue collection and posterior analysis of gene expression by RTq-PCR. Paroxetine treatment for 4 weeks in AR rats reduced the gene expression of β-MyHC and its myomiRs (miR-208 and miR-499). BNP, a molecular biomarker of hypertrophy, also showed their gene expression reduction after paroxetine treatment. Conclusion: These results suggest that paroxetine treatment improves FS in AR hearts through reductions in the expression of several genes involved with cardiac contractility and hypertrophy.
Open data in the life sciences: the ‘Selfish Scientist Paradox’

Full and open access is promoted as the international norm for the exchange of scientific data by numerous scientific and political bodies. In the contemporary digital era, since scientists are both consumers and producers of data, they inevitably play a crucial role in defining the level of data accessibility. Yet, it is individual researchers usually who resist the release of their data. Through a global online questionnaire survey, the perception of 858 life scientists with respect to open data was investigated. Differences in scientists’ perceptions were tested per major country, rank position and academic performance in order to identify partial and global preferences. The ‘Selfish Scientist Paradox’ was identified: although the majority of respondents were in favour of open access to life sciences data, and most acknowledged that data gathered by others is vital to their work, the same group of people were quite reluctant to share their own data; only a third of them were willing to make their data available unconditionally. Scientists with >10 yr professional experience were twice as likely to oppose open access, while almost half of junior researchers would rather not share their data prior to publishing. Senior scientists argued that although project funding in general was a significant incentive towards making their data available, at the same time certain confidentiality agreements in some projects become a main barrier to data sharing. Country of professional location largely affected most responses, revealing that southern Europeans had a ‘conservative’ attitude towards open access, being more unwilling to share their data. Analyses based on academic performance (publications and citations) indicated that established individuals were more dependent on data collected by others and more opposed to open access.
Oscillation Criteria for Second‐Order Neutral Damped Differential Equations with Delay Argument

The chapter is devoted to study the oscillation of all solutions to second-order nonlinear neutral damped differential equations with delay argument. New oscillation criteria are obtained by employing a refinement of the generalized Riccati transformations and integral averaging techniques. 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification: 34C10, 34K11.
The Effects of Planning on Writing Narrative Task Performance with Low and High EFL Proficiency

The impetus of the present study was to scrutinize the impact of planning and proficiency on 172 EFL learners’ written task performance regarding concept load, fluency, complexity and accuracy. Planning was operationalized at two levels: pretask planning (PTP) and on- line planning (OLP). Participants of this study were two groups, high and low proficiency learners who were randomly chosen. The first group was required to plan for their performance for 10 minutes and take notes before they performed the tasks, whilst the participants in the second group began writing immediately and took time as long as they like. The participants’ performances were then analyzed utilizing paired samples t-test. The results of statistical analysis showed that low-proficiency learners appear to benefit more from planning time with respect to concept load, fluency, and complexity. On the other hand, high-proficiency learners were advantaged by planning time concerning concept load and accuracy.