Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Fecal Microbiota of Horses Suffering from Atypical Myopathy and Healthy Co-Grazers

Simple Summary Equine atypical myopathy is a muscular disease caused by a plant intoxication, which seems to affect only certain horses sharing a pasture, and the role of the intestinal bacteria (microbiota) in this selective impairment is still poorly understood. The aim of this study was to describe and compare fecal microbiota of horses suffering from atypical myopathy and healthy co-grazers. We concluded that fecal microbiota of horses suffering from atypical myopathy is different from their co-grazers and changes are more severe in horses that do not survive the disease. Understanding those changes may help in developing therapeutic and/or preventive strategies for horses at risk for atypical myopathy. Abstract Equine atypical myopathy (AM) is caused by hypoglycin A (HGA) and methylenecyclopropylglycine (MCPG) intoxication resulting from the ingestion of seeds or seedlings of some Acer tree species. Interestingly, not all horses pasturing in the same toxic environment develop signs of the disease. In other species, it has been shown that the intestinal microbiota has an impact on digestion, metabolism, immune stimulation and protection from disease. The objective of this study was to characterize and compare fecal microbiota of horses suffering from AM and healthy co-grazers. Furthermore, potential differences in fecal microbiota regarding the outcome of diseased animals were assessed. This prospective observational study included 59 horses with AM (29 survivors and 30 non-survivors) referred to three Belgian equine hospitals and 26 clinically healthy co-grazers simultaneously sharing contaminated pastures during spring and autumn outbreak periods. Fresh fecal samples (rectal or within 30 min of defecation) were obtained from all horses and bacterial taxonomy profiling obtained by 16S amplicon sequencing was used to identify differentially distributed bacterial taxa between AM-affected horses and healthy co-grazers. Fecal microbial diversity and evenness were significantly (p < 0.001) higher in AM-affected horses as compared with their non-affected co-grazers. The relative abundance of families Ruminococcaceae, Christensenellaceae and Akkermansiaceae were higher (p ≤ 0.001) whereas those of the Lachnospiraceae (p = 0.0053), Bacteroidales (p < 0.0001) and Clostridiales (p = 0.0402) were lower in horses with AM, especially in those with a poor prognosis. While significant shifts were observed, it is still unclear whether they result from the disease or might be involved in the onset of disease pathogenesis.
Prediction of 305-day first lactation milk yield in cows with selected regression models

Abstract. In the present study, the prognostic values of multiple and spline regression models were tested for 305-day lactation milk yield of cows. The predictors were: HF genes proportion in cow's genotype; average milk yield for 305-day lactation from 4 first milkings of all cows in a barn, in which a cow was used in a given year; month of calving; and average daily milk yield from first four test-day milkings. Models were developed basing on 628 first lactations of BW cows with average 71% HF genes proportion. Subsequently, the predictive values of the models examined were verified on the grounds of next 105 first lactations. Prognostic differences of the models examined were determined, finding the prognosis obtained with the spline regression more accurate (smaller prediction error, higher coefficient of correlation for prognosis and real values in the model containing information from first three test-day milkings). These models are easy to construct and may be useful in practical estimation of cow lactation yields. They may be used for predicting the actual lactation yield in order to minimise production costs and achieve better production results.
Income shocks and domestic violence : evidence from Nepal

This paper aims at determining the main causes and triggers of domestic violence in the country of Nepal. It explains how economic factors may outweigh cultural beliefs in their weight on domestic violence. For this purpose, I study the impact of an income shock on domestic violence. To prevent possible bias arising from endogeneity, income shocks are instrumented with rainfall shocks. The results show that physical, sexual and emotional violence appear indeed to be determined by changes in a household's economic status. However, the more important factors impacting domestic violence turn out to be characteristics of women in the household and in society : women's decision making power, education and employment status. These results confirm and reinforce the crucial role of women in the process of development. Furthermore, the results hint at policy advice towards addressing domestic violence indirectly. Policies promoting income stability, aiming at gender equality in education and on the labor market, as well as stricter laws on alcohol consumption, can help enhancing the efficiency of direct policies.
C/N ratios in a sediment core from Nakaumi Lagoon, southwest Japan. Usefulness as an organic source indicator.

The weight ratio of total organic carbon to total nitrogen (C/N ratio) in 20 meters of sediment core from Nakaumi Lagoon (coastal brackish lake), Japan is examined for its suitability as an organic source indicator. The C/N ratio depth profile is compared to the depth profiles of other proxies, i.e., weight ratio of total organic carbon to total organic nitrogen (C/N org. ratio), stanol compositions, n-alkane compositions and the hydrogen-index by Rock-Eval pyrolysis. The C/N ratios of the lagoonal sediments, which have been deposited over the last ca. 8,000 years, have a different profile from that of the C/N org. ratio and other proxies due to the effects of a constant level of inorganic nitrogen (N inorg.: ca. 0.04%) in the sediments. When Corg. content is less than 1 wt%, the presence of N inorg. lowers the C/N ratio considerably, giving an inaccurate indication of organic source. C-N and C/N ratio-C org. plots are useful for evaluating the effect of N inorg. ; if the depth profiles of the C/N ratio and C org. content exhibit similar trends, this is taken as a warning that the apparent variation in the C/N ratio should be carefully examined in conjunction with the other plots and proxies. It is also found that the C/Norg. ratio itself also tends to increase due to the preferential decomposition of nitrogen compounds, and that in sediments containing high proportions of planktonic organic matter (OM), the sensitivity of the C/N ratio to changes in the proportions of planktonic-terrestrial OM is relatively low.
STRUCTURED LASSO FOR REGRESSION WITH MATRIX COVARIATES

High-dimensional matrix data are common in modern data analysis. Simply applying Lasso after vectorizing the observations ignores essential row and column information inherent in such data, rendering variable selection results less useful. In this paper, we propose a new approach that takes advantage of the structural information. The estimate is easy to compute and possesses favorable theoretical properties. Compared with Lasso, the new estimate can recover the sparse structure in both rows and columns under weaker assumptions. Simulations demonstrate its better performance in variable selection and convergence rate, compared to methods that ignore such information. An application to a dataset in medical science shows the usefulness of the proposal.
Dependable Estimation of Downtime for Virtual Machine Live Migration

Modern virtualization environments allow the live migration of running systems for load balancing and failover purposes in case of failing hosts. The overall duration of such migration and the short downtime during this process are essential properties when implementing service availability agreements. However, both metrics are currently only determinable through direct experimentation. For this reason, we present a new model for estimating the worst-case values of migration time and downtime in live migration. The prediction is based on a small set of input parameters characterizing the application load and the behavior of the host. We performed a large set of experimental evaluations for the model with three different virtualization products. The results show that total migration time as well as downtime are mainly influenced by the memory utilization pattern inside the virtualized system. The experiments also confirm that the proposed model can predict worst-case live migration performance with high accuracy, rendering the model a useful tool for implementing proactive virtual machine migration. Keywords-virtual machine; live migration; downtime analysis;
Youth Buying Behaviour Towards Smartphone’s: A Study in Ludhiana City

The perception of customers regarding smart phones is progressively becoming an issue of study for marketing research professionals. Consumer behaviour regarding perception towards smart phone’s, buying choices; to post-usage behaviour is a subject of research for marketers. India is a standout amongst the developing economies due to its high growth rate, large population, high aspiration levels, increasing disposable incomes, and a large proportion of population being below thirty five. With a constant increment in disposable incomes, there is likely to be an increase in yearning of young consumers towards consumer products like smart phones. Smartphone is not only considered as a basic phone in its utility but also a complete entertainment package, business aid, as well as lifestyle statement. This study investigates the external and internal variables which aid in influencing the young purchaser acquiring a smart phone. This work also concentrates on purchaser state of mind towards smart phones and impact of brand on customers purchase decision as well as key components which influence consumer’s attitudes and practices towards smartphone buy
Maximum entropy production and the fluctuation theorem

Recently the author used an information theoretical formulation of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics (MaxEnt) to derive the fluctuation theorem (FT) concerning the probability of second law violating phase-space paths. A less rigorous argument leading to the variational principle of maximum entropy production (MEP) was also given. Here a more rigorous and general mathematical derivation of MEP from MaxEnt is presented, and the relationship between MEP and the FT is thereby clarified. Specifically, it is shown that the FT allows a general orthogonality property of maximum information entropy to be extended to entropy production itself, from which MEP then follows. The new derivation highlights MEP and the FT as generic properties of MaxEnt probability distributions involving anti-symmetric constraints, independently of any physical interpretation. Physically, MEP applies to the entropy production of those macroscopic fluxes that are free to vary under the imposed constraints, and corresponds to selection of the most probable macroscopic flux configuration. In special cases MaxEnt also leads to various upper bound transport principles. The relationship between MaxEnt and previous theories of irreversible processes due to Onsager, Prigogine and Ziegler is also clarified in the light of these results.
Potency of Lactobacillus plantarum Dad-13 and Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas) Fiber as Immunomodulator in Rats Infected With Salmonella Typhimurium

Lactobacillus plantarum Dad-13 that isolated from “dadih” (traditional Indonesian fermented milk) has been known as probiotic, while sweet potato fiber has been proven as an effective prebiotic. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potency of Lactobacillus plantarum Dad-13 and sweet potato fiber as immunomodulators in terms of intestinal secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) and splenocyte gamma-interferon (IFN-? ). Sixty male Sprague Dawley rats (uninfected and infected) were divided into five groups: AIN-93, Indonesian children diet (ICD), Sweet potato fiber (SPF), SPF + Lactobacillus plantarum Dad-13 (SPFL), and fructooligosaccharides + Lacto-B (FOSL). After diet intervention, the rats were killed and sampled including intestinal fluid, spleen and caecal digesta. The results showed that soluble fiber such as sweet potato fiber could not increase the number of lactobacilli in infected rats , but could play a role in mucosal immune response through the increasing of sIgA. While, Lactobacillus plantarum Dad-13 contained in the combination with sweet potato fiber may has potency in systemic immune stimulation, because of the tendency to increase level of splenocyte IFN-? in infected rats.
A Visualization of the Global Dynamic Tropopause

Abstract A 20–yr loop of the global tropopause, defined in terms of potential vorticity (PV), is constructed using the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis dataset. This method of visualizing observed upper–tropospheric dynamics is useful for studying a wide range of phenomena. Examples are given of the structure of jet streams and planetary–scale tropopause folds, the propagation of a high–amplitude Rossby wave packet partway around a hemisphere, several subtropical wave breaking events, the similarities between exceptional cases of rapid cyclogenesis, favorable regions for cross–equatorial propagation of Rossby waves, the annual cycle of the tropical tropopause, the structure of the Tibetan anticyclone and equatorial easterly jet associated with the Asian monsoon, the meridional structure of the upper branch of the Hadley cell, the interaction of a hurricane and midlatitude trough to form the "perfect storm," and the upper–tropospheric PV changes associated with El Nino and La Nina. Plumes of anticyclonic potential vor.
Effects of Perceived Procedural Justice and Exchange Ideology on Employees' Affective Commitment: Evidence from Saudi Arabia

This paper examined how perceived procedural justice and exchange ideology affect employees’ commitment inSaudi private sector companies. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to a random sample of 104Saudi employees. Descriptive statistics, reliability analysis and regression analysis, were used to analyze thedata. The results revealed that perception of organizational procedural justice influenced employees’commitment towards their organizations. Employees with high exchange ideology perceiving procedural justiceas unfair who fear the loss of such fairness would consider staying with the company to be risky and would intendto leave were not affectively committed toward their organizations, while those perceiving procedural justice withlow exchange ideology had a moderate or no relation with affective commitment.
Mapping of electronic health records in Spanish to the unified medical language system metathesaurus

This work presents a preliminary approach to annotate Spanish electronic health records with concepts of the Unified Medical Language System Metathesaurus. The prototype uses Apache Lucene R © to index the Metathesaurus and generate mapping candidates from input text. In addition, it relies on UKB to resolve ambiguities. The tool has been evaluated by measuring its agreement with MetaMap in two English-Spanish parallel corpora, one consisting of titles and abstracts of papers in the clinical domain, and the other of real electronic health record excerpts. Language Analysis and Processing Mapping Health Records in Spanish to the UMLS Metathesaurus ii/80
Raman spectroscopy of Fe-Ti-Cr-oxides, case study: Martian meteorite EETA79001

Abstract Raman spectral features of chromite, ulvöspinel, magnetite, ilmenite, hematite, and some of their solid solutions are presented. Although most Fe-Ti-Cr-oxides produce relatively weak Raman signals compared to oxyanionic minerals, sufficient information can be extracted from their spectra to identify the end-member mineral phases as well as some information about compositional variations in solid solutions. Correlations between Raman spectral features and mineral chemistry are used to interpret the Raman data of Fe-Ti-Cr oxides found during Raman point-count measurements on rock chips of Martian meteorite EETA79001, as an analog to Mars on-surface planetary investigations. In general, ulvöspinel, magnetite, and chromite end-members are readily distinguished by their Raman spectral patterns, as are ilmenite and hematite. In the low signal-to-noise (S/N) spectra generally obtained from the Raman point-count procedure, the position and shape of the strongest peak of Fe-Ti-Cr oxides in the region 660-680 cm-1 (A1g mode) is the most useful for discriminating Fe3+-Ti-Cr-Al substitutions in the magnetite-ulvöspinel, ulvöspinel-chromite, and chromite-spinel series, but minor peaks in the range 300-600 cm-1 also assist in discrimination. These spectral features are useful for investigating the variability among Fe-Ti-Cr-Al oxide solid solutions in natural samples. In EETA79001, a Martian basaltic meteorite, most of the oxide grains (as measured with the electron microprobe) are ulvöspinel, chromian ulvöspinel, and chromite, but ilmenite, titanian chromite, and titanomagnetite are also observed. The Fe-Ti-Cr-oxides identified by Raman point-count include end-member ilmenite, low-Al chromite-spinel solid solutions, ulvöspinel-magnetite solid solutions, and more complex chromitespinel- ulvöspinel-magnetite solid solutions; the latter exhibit a wide range of main peak positions and broadened peak widths that may reflect structural disorder as well as specific cation contents. One Raman spectrum suggests end-member magnetite, and one spectrum from a different rock chip appears to be that of non-terrestrial hematite, reflecting local oxidizing alteration, which has not been observed previously in this meteorite. These results show that analyses done in an automated mode on the surface of an unprepared Martian rock sample can provide useful constraints on the Fe-Ti-Cr oxide mineralogy present and on compositional variations within those minerals, including an indication of oxygen fugacity
Spatial ecology of white‐tailed deer fawns in the northern Great Plains: Implications of loss of conservation reserve program grasslands

Few studies have evaluated how wildlife, and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus )i n particular, respond to Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grasslands. We conducted a 3-year study (2007- 2009) to determine the influence of CRP on fawn ecology during a time of declining CRP enrollment. We captured and radiocollared 81 fawn white-tailed deer during 15 May to 15 June 2007-2009 in north-central South Dakota, collected 6,505 locations, and documented 70 summer home ranges. Mean summer home ranges increased temporally during 2007-2009 (P < 0.001) and corresponded to a 41% loss of CRP grasslands in the area (2.3% loss in land cover and approx. 21% loss in cover habitat in the study area) over the duration of the study. Additionally, mean movement between daily locations increased (P < 0.001) from 2007 to 2009. Analysis of covariance models indicated that change in CRP influenced home-range size, and change in CRP and wheat influenced daily movement. Smaller home ranges and reduced movements were associated with greater quantity of CRP available to fawns, and increased movements were associated with more acreage of wheat available to fawns. Fawns shifted resource selection during the summer at a mean age ranging from 48.8 days to 58.6 days, and this shift was associated with height of corn (83-87 cm). During early summer, fawns consistently selected for CRP; selection of wheat progressed temporally from avoidance in 2007 to selection in 2009. During late summer, fawns consistently selected for corn habitat and used CRP at least in proportion to its availability. Reduction in CRP-grasslands seemed to increase fawn home-range size and daily movements and, influenced change in resource selection to wheat. Current legislation mandates continued decrease in CRP enrollment and concomitant increase in the planting of corn for ethanol production. Management of habitat throughout the grasslands of the Northern Great Plains that maximizes cover habitats would provide neonates with adequate cover for protection from predators. 2011 The Wildlife Society.
Nutrients dynamics in soil solution at the outset of no-till implementation with the use of plant cocktails in Brazilian semi-arid

Tillage systems strongly impact nutrient transformations and plant availability. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the impacts of conversion of conventional tillage (CT) to no-till (NT) with a mixture of cover crops and green manure as nutrient uptake in a fertilized melon (Cucumis melon) in a semi-arid region of Brazil. Two fields experimental involved randomized blocks design, in a split-plot scheme, with four replication treatments included three types of cover crops and two tillage systems (conventional and no-till). Subsamples of plant cocktails were used to assess the biomass production. Soil samples were analyzed during the melon growth for determination of soil moisture by the frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) probe. Soil solution samples were extracted with ceramic cups from each treatment, and analyzed for determination of TP, Na + , Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , S and NO3-N. Mobility of these elements was assessed in relation to management and different cover crops. The data showed slight or no strong effect of plant cocktails composition on nutrients dynamics in soil under melon. However, without incorporation of biomass and slower decomposition of residue mulch retained on the surface, risks of leaching losses were lower under NT than CT system. A higher concentration of cations in CT (for example, Ca +2 ~ 42.07 mg L -1 ) may be attributed to high soil moisture content and faster rate of mineralization of the biomass incorporated. Concentration of P was higher in top soil layers depth in NT system (~ 6.65 mg L -1 at 15 cm) because of the deposition of plant cocktail biomass in soil surface with low SOM contents placement of fertilizer, and possible formation of calcium phosphate with low solubility. Relatively, high concentration of NO3-N (~ 60.16 mg L -1 ) in CT was attributed to increase in decomposition of soil organic matter (SOM) and crop residues incorporated into the soil.
Spatial Variation of Sediment-Bound Zinc, Lead, Copper and Rubidium in Lake Illawarra, a Coastal Lagoon in Eastern Australia

Forty sites in Lake Illawarra, a shallow ( 7.6), reducing (redox potential <-50 mV) conditions, 5 cm below the water-sediment interface, high organic matter content (mean 14.0 ± 2.1% in muddy substrates) and biogenic processes (bacterially-mediated sulfate reduction) in Lake Illawarra facilitate Zn, Pb and Cu retention via sulfide formation in the sediment. Trace metal enrichment factors for sediment-bound Zn, Pb and Cu were less than 2.5; an exception was in southern Griffins Bay where enrichment factors were greater than 5.9, 3.5 and 1.8 for Zn, Pb and Cu respectively. Trace metal contamination can be monitored geochemically by trace element divergence from the Rb concentration versus depth profiles. A major contributor to sediment trace metal contamination in Lake Illawarra consists of distinctive, fugitive industrial particles. Trace metal-depth concentration profiles and anthropogenic markers can be used in conjunction with the time of industrial development to determine the sedimentation rate which ranges from 3.3-16 mm y -1 - a five- to tenfold increase compared with Holocene rates. The low mean concentrations of Zn (< 170 µg g -1 ), Pb (<60 µg g -1 ) and Cu (<60 µg g -1 ) present in the top 20 cm of Lake Illawarra sediments (except for southern Griffins Bay) appear to pose few short term environmental concerns. However, management strategies, especially dredging of this shallow lagoon, should address issues such as transference of sediment from an anoxic to oxic environment during foreshore reclamation, with the resultant development of acid soils from sulfide decomposition.