Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dietary total phosphorus supplementation in goldfish diets

Although goldfish (Carassius auratus) is an important species for the ornamental fish industry, few data are available regarding the nutrient requirement of this species, with emphasis to mineral nutrition. Thus, we designed a 45-day feeding trial to evaluate the effect of dietary total phosphorus (P) levels on growth performance and carcass mineral composition of goldfish fingerlings. 210 goldfish with 1.18 ± 0.04 g were randomly stocked into 30 3L-aquaria in a completely randomized design. Test diets were formulated to contain the following dietary total P levels: 3.5, 6.5, 9.5, 12.5 and 15.5 g kg -1 . Dietary P affected all growth parameters and carcass macrominerals deposition, however, the micromineral carcass composition was not affected. No P deficiency signs were observed throughout the experiment. The linear broken-line model best fitted to daily weight gain, feed conversion ratio, specific growth rate, protein efficiency ratio, P retention, and whole-body P concentration at 8.2, 11.4, 8.2, 11.4, 15.5 and 7.1 g kg -1 dietary P, respectively. An exponential model best fitted to phosphorus utilization data with an estimated requirement of 8.6 g kg -1 . In sum, the use of total P levels between 7.13 and 11.4 g kg -1 in goldfish diets seems to meet the requirement for maximum growth, feed
Crown Princes and Benjamins: Birth Order and Educational Attainment in East and West Germany

This study expands the literature on the determinants of educational attainment by analyzing the effects of birth order in Germany. These effects are typically attributed to sibling rivalry for parental resources. Using data from the German Life History Study on birth cohorts 1945-1978, we find highly significant effects of birth order on secondary education. The effects are of substantial magnitude, both in West and East Germany. To our knowledge, this is the first study that also examines possible trends in the birth order effects. In West Germany, the effects remained stable over time, whereas in East Germany, the disadvantage for later born children increased. The result for East Germany is surprising because, during the period of the analysis, the care and education of preschool children was more and more shifted from parents to state run institutions, where the treatment of children should have been independent of birth order.
Atlantic cod Gadus morhua in the Mediterranean: a surprising immigrant

A female cod Gadus morhua L. 87.1 cm total length was captured off Mallorca (Balearic Islands, NW Mediterranean) in June 2009 by a bottom trawler between 63 and 110 m depth. This is the first documented occurrence of the species in the Mediterranean. The fish was mature, with a very low hepatosomatic index and atretric gonads. Age assigned from the otoliths was 4 yr. The otolith chemical composition indicated that this fish entered the Mediterranean late in its first year of life.
Comparative study of Alvarado score and RIPASA score in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis

A delay in performing an appendicectomy in order to improve its diagnostic accuracy increases the risk of appendicular perforation and sepsis, which in turn increases morbidity and mortality. The opposite is also true, where with reduced diagnostic accuracy, the negative or unnecessary appendicectomy rate is increased, and this is generally reported to be approximately 20%-40%. Several authors considered higher negative appendicectomy rates acceptable in order to minimize the incidence of perforation.
Organic matter and crude protein digestibility predicted from nitrogen and fibre fractionation of festulolium hybrids

The objectives of the experiment were to study nitrogen fractions of the Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System (CNCPS) and digestibility of organic matter (OMD) and crude protein (CPD) along with the possibilities for predicting OMD and CPD based on chemical composition and CNCPS nitrogen fractions. Thirty samples of festulolium hybrids (fescue hybrids and ryegrass hybrids) commonly used and certified in the Czech Republic were analyzed for chemical composition, brutto energy, and nitrogen fractions, these fractions being A (non-protein nitrogen), B1 (rapidly degradable protein), B2 (intermediately degradable protein), B3 (slowly degradable protein), and C (unavailable protein). OMD and CPD were determined by near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy. Nitrogen fractions showed similar mean values for both analyzed groups of festulolium hybrids. Mean rapidly, intermediately, and slowly soluble fractions (B1, B2, and B3, respectively) were 29.2, 30.7, and 33.7 g/kg of dry matter (DM) for fescue hybrids and 21.7, 33.5, and 31.9 g/kg of DM for ryegrass hybrids. There was a trend for fraction B2 to decrease with advancing maturity in relation to neutral detergent insoluble protein value. The mean content of bound fraction C was 10.4 g/kg of DM for fescue hybrids and 7.3 g/kg of DM for ryegrass hybrids. Three groups of hybrids were evaluated statistically: fescue (I), ryegrass (II), and combined fescue/ryegrass (III). Better regression equations were found for fescue/ryegrass hybrids. High degrees of CPD determination were identified with predictors of individual nitrogen fractions (R2 = 0.975; P > 0.0001). OMD was described in regressions only using nitrogen fractions A and B1 (R2 = 0.500; P > 0.0001).
Developing Master Curves, Binder Viscosity and Predicting Dynamic Modulus of Polymer-Modified Asphalt Mixtures

The complex moduli relationship related mixture moduli to temperature and time rate of loading has been an integral part of several mechanistic-empirical (M-E) design procedures used throughout of the world. Seven asphalt concrete mixtures of different types of polymer modified binders (PMB) were produced in a laboratory to modify performance of asphalt mixture. The main role of this research is to evaluate the influence of these polymer modifiers on the pavement performance of asphalt mixture with the dynamic modulus, |E*| of hot-mix asphalt (HMA) mixture indicator in a laboratory test for Mainroad Western Australia and Fulton Hogan. In this study, the influence of temperature, loading frequency, and confining pressure on the dynamic characteristic of asphalt mixture were analysis, master curves of dynamic modulus of HMA mixtures were developed and data's were interpreted. Results showed that AC10 5.7% A35P (EVA) M7 B5, AC10 5.7% C450 M10 B5 and AC10 Multi 600/700 M5 B4 mixes method were the more efficient and effective in all categories of asphalt performance measures for strength and durability of HMA as compared to others polymer modifiers. A very good correlation (R 2 = 1) was found for each polymer modifier. This suggested that laboratory test using a various temperatures and loading frequencies can improve pavement mix design, lab and field control and assurance. A strong correlation between binder viscosity and temperature (R 2 = 1) for polymer modified asphalt mixture.
Role of Remuneration Committee in Narrative Human Capital Disclosure

This study empirically investigates whether independent directors on the remuneration committee influence narrative human capital disclosure (NAHCD) in firms where independent directors dominate the board composition. NAHCD is measured by frequency of occurrence, using latent content analysis in the annual reports of the top 30 listed firms on the Colombo Stock Exchange from 1998 to 2006. This study examines two attributes of corporate governance, controlling for other corporate governance attributes and firm-level attributes. The findings highlight the importance of considering a firm’s independent director involvement in the remuneration committee when determining NAHCD strategy.
Blood Pressure Control and Continuity of Care in an Urban, Academic Family Medicine Practice

Continuity of Care and Blood Pressure Control in an Urban, Academic Family Medicine Practice The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of continuity of care on blood pressure control among hypertensive patients in a multi-provider, urban, academic family medicine practice. Eligible patients had an ICD-9 diagnosis of hypertension without concomitant ICD-9 codes for diabetes, congestive heart failure, or end-stage renal disease, and at least five total visits to the practice. The blood pressure and provider were recorded for the most recent five visits. Blood pressure was defined as being “at goal” using JNC VI criteria of <140/90. Continuity of care was defined as seeing the same provider at all five visits. A total of 340 charts of patients with hypertension were randomly selected, of which 287 charts met the study criteria. Of these, 61.3 percent showed blood pressures at goal. The percentage of patients with continuity was 41.5 percent. No difference was seen in blood pressure control regardless of whether a patient saw only one provider or more than one provider. Multivariate analysis controlling for age and co-morbidities did not change outcomes. Although continuity of care has been shown to improve several health outcomes, our results did not indicate a significant association between continuity of care and blood pressure control. More research is needed to examine the role of continuity of care and its relationship with blood pressure control.
Audit Committee Independence, Financial Expertise, Share Ownership and Financial Reporting Quality: Further Evidence from Nigeria

This study investigates the characteristics of audit committee and its effect on the quality of financial reporting of Nigerian listed firms. We employed multivariate regression as a tool for analysis. The sample for the study was 101 firm-years longitudinal panels of 505 observations of non-financial listed companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange for the period 2010 to 2014. The McNicholas (2002) measure of earnings quality was adopted to examine the monitoring mechanisms on the quality of financial reporting. The results show that control variables of company age and company size significantly affect the quality of financial reporting. The audit committee, share ownership, and financial expertise was also significant, indicating that audit committee monitoring mechanisms influence the quality financial reporting of listed non-financial firms in Nigeria. Share ownership proved to be a good motivator for audit committee members making them to be more vigilant, enthusiastic and active in their monitoring responsibilities.
Communicating epidemiological results through alternative indicators: Cognitive interviewing to assess a questionnaire on risk perception in a high environmental risk area

Abstract Participatory approaches to environmental research and decision-making require that all social stakeholders are involved from the onset of the debate. In such a setting, communication among different expertise is crucial, but language and technicalities may represent a barrier. In the clinical setting, decisions regarding treatment preferences may be influenced by the summary statistics used, but, according to the literature, no study has compared different statistical indicators for risk communication in environmental epidemiology. In this paper, we report on the qualitative results of the cognitive interviews conducted for assessing two questionnaires devoted to investigating risk perception when selected epidemiological results are communicated, by using different statistical indicators of health impact and uncertainty. The initial questionnaires were tested on 15 people residing in the high environmental risk area of Livorno (Italy). Cognitive interviewing led to substantial revision of the initial drafts. Moreover, it highlighted the difficulty of communicating statistical uncertainty and the need to account for the complex interaction between mathematical skills, affective factors and individual a priori knowledge on environmental risk perception.
Prevalence of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients: START-India Study

Objective: Despite rising incidence of diabetes in India, we currently lack country wide data on the prevalence of CKD in T2DM patients. Hence this nationwide study was planned. Methods: This was a nationwide, cross-sectional, observational, multi-centric study to assess prevalence of CKD among T2DM patients. The primary endpoint of the study was to estimate proportion of T2DM patients with CKD (glomerular filtration rate [GFR] <60 ml/min/1.73 m2or albumin creatinine ratio [ACR] ≥ 30 mg/g or ≥ 3 mg/mmol or both). The blood/plasma and urine samples, were collected for estimation of hemoglobin A1c, microalbuminuria, serum creatinine, urine creatinine, and routine urine analysis. Results: Of the 3043 screened subjects, 3000 eligible subjects were enrolled, out of which 46% were females. The mean age was 53.4 (± 11.9) years, with a mean body mass index of 27.3 (± 4.8) kg/m2. Both micro and macro vascular complications were reported. In the studied population with T2DM, 47.8% had mildly decreased, 15.1% had mild to moderately decreased, and 1.8% had severely decreased GFR respectively. As per ACR categorization, 61.3% had normal to mildly increased ACR, 25.6% with moderately increased and 7.2% with severely increased ACR were seen. We observed a significant (p<0.0001) weak negative correlation (-0.23069) between eGFR< 60 mL/ min/1.73 m² and urinary ACR in over six hundred patients. We found 48.4% prevalence of CKD in T2DM patients. The results on analysis of HbA1c goal achievement showed that the patients without CKD had a better success rate to achieve the target <7% goal of HbA1c compared to those who had CKD (29.6% vs. 23.4%). Conclusion: Study reported higher prevalence of CKD which was driven by the ACR levels and majority of the patients had reasonable eGFR. This can be a guide to select drug and dosage of diabetes drug as it depends on kidney function.
Understanding star formation in molecular clouds III. Probability distribution functions of molecular lines in Cygnus X

Column density (N) PDFs serve as a powerful tool to characterize the physical processes that influence the structure of molecular clouds. Star-forming clouds can best be characterized by lognormal PDFs for the lower N range and a power-law tail for higher N, commonly attributed to turbulence and self-gravity and/or pressure, respectively. We report here on PDFs obtained from observations of 12CO, 13CO, C18O, CS, and N2H+ in the Cygnus X North region and compare to a PDF derived from dust observations with the Herschel satellite. The PDF of 12CO is lognormal for Av~1-30, but is cut for higher Av due to optical depth effects. The PDFs of C18O and 13CO are mostly lognormal up for Av~1-15, followed by excess up to Av~40. Above that value, all CO PDFs drop, most likely due to depletion. The high density tracers CS and N2H+ exhibit only a power law distribution between Av~15 and 400, respectively. The PDF from dust is lognormal for Av~2-15 and has a power-law tail up to Av~500. Absolute values for the molecular line column densities are, however, rather uncertain due to abundance and excitation temperature variations. Taken the dust PDF face value, we 'calibrate' the molecular line PDF of CS to the one of the dust and determined an abundance [CS]/[H2] of 10^-9. The slopes of the power-law tails of the CS, N2H+, and dust PDFs are -1.6, -1.4, and -1.9, respectively, and are thus consistent with free-fall collapse of filaments and clumps. A quasi static configuration of filaments and clumps can possibly also account for the observed N-pdfs, as long as they have a sufficiently condensed density structure and external ram pressure by gas accretion is provided. The somehow flatter slopes of N2H+ and CS can reflect an abundance change and/or subthermal excitation at low column densities.
Current Status and Perfection Measures of the Development of China’s Green Logistics

Since 20 th century, the world economy has entered a rapid development stage, and logistics industry has developed rapidly as well. However, since 1960s, the environmental problem brought by economic development has been increasingly severe. Hence, some experts and scholars begin to put forward "Protect Environment, Develop Low Carbon Economy", green logistics rises at the proper time. Green logistics still remains at the developing stage in China. This paper analyzes the urgency of China's development of green logistics, studies the current status of development of China's green logistics and obtains strategies which are suitable for China's development of green logistics by adopting SWOT analysis method and dissects various existing restraining factors in China's green logistics development. Based on the mode of development of foreign green logistics, it specifically proposes that China's development of green logistics has to emancipate though and establish new concept in developing green logistics.
Chemistry in infrared dark clouds

Context. Massive stars play an important role in shaping the structure of galaxies. Infrared dark clouds (IRDCs), with their low temperatures and high densities, have been identified as the potential birthplaces of massive stars. In order to understand the formation processes of massive stars, the physical and chemical conditions in infrared dark clouds have to be characterized. Aims. The goal of this paper is to investigate the chemical composition of a sample of southern infrared dark clouds. One important aspect of the observations is to check, whether the molecular abundances in IRDCs are similar to the low-mass pre-stellar cores, or if they show signatures of more evolved evolutionary stages. Methods. We performed observations toward 15 IRDCs in the frequency range between 86 and 93 GHz using the 22-m Mopra radio telescope. In total, 13 molecular species comprising N 2 H + , 13 CS, CH 3 CN, HC 3 N, HNC, HCO + , HCN, HNCO, C 2 H, SiO, H 13 CO + , H 13 CN, and CH 3 C 2 H were observed for all targets. Hence, we included in general species appropriate for elevated densities, where some of them trace the more quiescent gas, while others are sensitive to more dynamical processes. Results. We detect HNC, HCO + , and HNC emission in all clouds and N 2 H + in all IRDCs except one. In some clouds we detect SiO emission. Complicated shapes of the HCO + emission line profile are found in all IRDCs. Both signatures indicate infall and outflow motions and the beginning of star-formation activity, at least in some parts of the IRDCs. Where possible, we calculate molecular abundances and make a comparison with previously obtained values for low-mass pre-stellar cores and high-mass protostellar objects (HMPOs). We show a tendency for IRDCs to have molecular abundances similar to low-mass pre-stellar cores rather than to HMPOs abundances on the scale of our single-dish observations.
An investigation of a dual-processing hypothesis of lucid dreaming

Neuroimaging research has isolated the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) as a brain structure associated with lucid dreaming, indicating that higher-order executive functions are involved in the onset of lucid dreaming. The DLPFC has also been implicated in the onset of Type 2 thinking. As such, a hypothetical link exists between Type 2 thinking and lucid dreaming, moderated by DLPFC activity. The present study investigated this potential link, hypothesising that lucid dreaming frequency would be related to Type 2 thinking. In Study 1, participants (N=103) reported their lucid dream frequency (LDF) retrospectively, and completed the Cognitive Reflections Test (CRT), which measures Type 2 thinking, as well as several other measures that have previously been found to correlate with LDF.Sinceretrospective estimates may be prone to memory errors and biases, a second study investigating LDF using prospective measures was conducted. In Study 2, participants (N=30) retrospectively estimated their LDF and also prospectively reported their LDF using dream diaries for 1 month; these participants also completed the CRT, a syllogisms test, and several other measures that have previously been found to correlate with LDF. No evidence was found for a dual-processing hypothesis of lucid dreaming:in Study 1, CRT scores did not correlate with retrospective LDF, and in Study 2, neither prospective nor retrospective LDF correlated with either CRT or syllogisms test scores. Significant relationships were found, however, between previously identified correlates of LDF: dream recall frequency; the personality trait “openness to experience”; and internal locus of control. It was additionally found that retrospective and prospective estimates of LDF correlated very highly, indicating the retrospective estimate of LDF is a valid measure.
Bioremediation of fenvalerate by Pseudomonas aeruginosa in a scale up bioreactor.

The potential of microorganisms has been assessed for bioremediation of fenvalerate using the scale up process followed by bioremediation in bioreactor under controlled environmental conditions. Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolate NCIM 2074 was adapted to varying concentration of fenvalerate Viz. 10,25,50,75,100 mg/l in an incubator shaker at 37o C and 150 rpm. An initial 10 mg/l concentration of fenvalerate was added in a minimal salt medium (MSM) and subjected to incubation for 14 days with Pseudomonas aeruginosa and thereafter the culture was scaled up to higher concentration of fenvalerate by transferring one milliliter of MSM to 25,50,75,100 over a period of 70 days at a frequency of 14 days. The fenvalerate concentration after every 14 days was assessed by GC-MS for the adaptability of microorganism for biodegradation. The research findings show that 10 mg/l fenvalerate was completely degraded within a period of 14 days in MSM; whereas in the concentration ranging from 25 to 100 mg/l fenvalerate in MSM, the bioremediation rate was found decreasing with increasing concentration. Fenvalerate at 50 and 100 ppm concentration was found inhibiting to the microorganism. The adapted microorganism, after scale up process was bioremediated in a flask shaker method at 10, 25 50 mg/l in MSM separately under controlled environmental conditions. The parent compound was found biodegraded into the primary metabolite 4-chloro-α (1-methylethyl) benzene acetic acid and α -cyano-3-phenoxybenzyl alcohol and 3-Phenoxy benzoic acid. These intermediates in long run on acclimatization with Pseudomonas aeruginosa might converts into environment friendly compounds. The research findings show that Pseudomonas aeruginosa has the potential to degrade the toxic compound such as fenvalerate ranging from 10 to 25 ppm. This technology would be beneficial to pesticides industry for bioremediation of pesticide fenvalerate.