Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of rumen-protected conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on performance of primiparous and multiparous cows in the transition period

A reducing effect of dietary rumen-protected conjugated linoleic acid (RP-CLA) supplementation on dairy cow milk fat content is widely known and commonly used to enhance efficiency of milk production (Odens et al., 2007; Hutchinson et al., 2011, 2012; Pappritz et al., 2011; Hötger et al., 2013; Galamb et al., 2017). When RP-CLA is supplemented to the diet, particularly trans-10, cis-12 isomer, de novo fatty acid (FA) synthesis in the mammary gland is reduced (Bauman and Griinari, 2002; Bauman et al., 2008), mostly throughout the inhibition of the mammary expression of genes encoding enzymes involved in milk fat synthesis (Baumgard et al., 2002). When less milk fat per kg of milk is being synthesized in the mammary gland due to the RP-CLA ABSTRACT. The aim of this study was to determine if the production effects of dietary rumen-protected conjugated linoleic acid (RP-CLA) supplemented to dairy cows during the transition period depend on parity. Twenty four Polish Holstein-Friesian pregnant cows and sixteen pregnant heifers were allocated to four treatments: 1. primiparous cows fed a diet without RP-CLA; 2. primiparous cows fed a diet with RP-CLA (60 g/cow/day); 3. multiparous cows fed a diet without RP-CLA; and 4. multiparous cows fed a diet with RP-CLA (60 g/cow/ day). The RP-CLA was offered in preand postpartum total mixed ration diets from day 21 before expected parturition until day 60 after parturition. Dry matter intake, milk yield and fat, and energy corrected milk yield were not affected by RP-CLA supplementation. RP-CLA supplementation reduced milk fat content by 10.9%, but had no effect on either protein or lactose content, or on yield of fat, protein and lactose. Body condition score (BCS), BCS changes and energy balance (EB) were not affected by RP-CLA addition. Plasma insulin-like growth factor 1 concentration increased in multiparous, but decreased in primiparous cows in response to RP-CLA supplementation (parity × diet interaction). The results of this study confirm that RP-CLA supplementation in transition period lowers milk fat content, but has no effect on milk energy output and EB of the cows. Although multiparous cows had a tendency for a greater decrease in milk fat content due to RP-CLA supplementation, an effect of RP-CLA on milk yield, milk composition and EB in primiand multiparous cows was similar. Received: 11 November 2018 Revised: 20 March 2019 Accepted: 1 July 2019
Interplay between metrical and semantic processing in French: an N400 study

French accentuation is held to belong to the level of the phrase. Consequently French is considered ‘a language without accent’ with speakers that are ‘deaf to stress’. Recent ERP-studies investigating the French initial accent (IA) however demonstrate listeners to not only discriminate between different stress patterns, but also expect words to be marked with IA early in the process of speech comprehension. Still, as words were presented in isolation, it remains unclear whether the preference applied to the lexical or to the phrasal level. In the current ERP-study, we address this ambiguity and manipulate IA on words embedded in a sentence. Furthermore, we orthogonally manipulate semantic congruity to investigate the interplay between accentuation and later speech processing stages. Results reveal an early fronto-centrally located negative deflection when words are presented without IA, indicating a general dispreference for words presented without IA. Additionally, we found an effect of semantic congruity in the centro-parietal region (the traditional region for N400), which was bigger for words without IA than for words with IA. Furthermore, we observed an interaction between metrical structure and semantic congruity such that ±IA continued to modulate N400 amplitude fronto-centrally, but only in the sentences that were semantically incongruent. The results indicate that presenting word without initial accent hinders semantic conflict resolution. This interpretation is supported by the behavioral data which show that participants were slower and made more errors words had been presented without IA. As participants attended to the semantic content of the sentences, the finding underlines the automaticity of stress processing and indicates that IA may be encoded at a lexical level where it facilitates semantic processing.
APOL1 renal risk alleles in patients on chronic hemodialysis in Northwest of Iran

Introduction: Apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1) gene’s risk variants located on chromosome 22 are newly discovered factors for the development of chronic renal failure among African-American. These risk alleles were developed on the African continent as an evolutionary defense against sleep sickness due to Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and then spread with human migrations. Objectives: In the present study, we sought to examine these risk variants in a group of hemodialysis patients of Northwest of Iran. Patients and Methods: Two hundred patients receiving hemodialysis in different centers of the city (Tabriz in Northwest of Iran) were allocated randomly from a total number of 825 patients. The assessment of APOL1 polymorphisms (rs73885319, rs60910145, and rs71785313) was conducted using polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. Patients’ demographic data, history, and their biochemical parameters were recorded based on their last measurement. Results: No proposed renal risk variants of APOL1 gene in our hemodialysis population were found. All the participants had a wild genotype. Conclusion: The results of our study match with reports from Europe and Asia. In the paleoanthropological point of view, our results do not support African human migration hypothesis.
Structural and optical characterizations of BaSnO 3 nanopowder synthesized by aqueous sol-gel method

Precursor gel for preparation of nanocrystalline BaSnO3 powder was synthesised by aqueous sol-gel method using Ba(OH)2 · 8 H2O and Na2SnO3 · 3 H2O as raw materials. Thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetric analyses of the raw materials, precursor gel and a mechanical mixture of raw materials were carried out to understand the mechanisms involved in the formation of the single phase BaSnO3. Based on the thermal analysis, the precursor gel was calcined at 400, 800 and 1400 °C for 4 h to obtain pure phase BaSnO3 powder. X-ray diffraction pattern of the powder calcined at 1400 °C was refined for atomic coordinate, lattice parameter (a = 4.1117(2) Å) and occupancies using Rietveld refinement analysis. The average crystallite size calculated from the Scherrer formula is ∼35 nm. Transmission electron micrograph of the powders confirmed that particle sizes are in range of 20–40 nm. The phase purity of the powder calcined at 1400 °C was further examined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Optical properties of the BaSnO3 powder were studied by UV-visible absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. The band gap energy (3.09 eV) obtained from the Tauc plot confirmed the semiconductor nature of the powder. The CIE coordinate corresponding to PL spectrum exhibited an intense emission in the visible region.
Interpolation on pseudo-holomorphic cylinders

Gromov has shown how to construct holomorphic maps of the plane to a complex manifold with prescribed values on a lattice. We prove a similar interpolation theorem for pseudo-holomorphic maps from a cylinder to an almost-complex manifold. An infinite number of surgeries are required. On the way, we need a refinement of the gluing process for two pseudo-holomorphic curves.
Simulations of jet heating in galaxy clusters: successes and challenges

We study how jets driven by active galactic nuclei influence the cooling flow in Perseus-like galaxy cluster cores with idealised, non-relativistic, hydrodynamical simulations performed with the Eulerian code ATHENA using high-resolution Godunov methods with low numerical diffusion. We use novel analysis methods to measure the cooling rate, the heating rate associated to multiple mechanisms, and the power associated with adiabatic compression/expansion. A significant reduction of the cooling rate and cooling flow within 20 kpc from the centre can be achieved with kinetic jets. However, at larger scales and away from the jet axis, the system relaxes to a cooling flow configuration. Jet feedback is anisotropic and is mostly distributed along the jet axis, where the cooling rate is reduced and a significant fraction of the jet power is converted into kinetic power of heated outflowing gas. Away from the jet axis weak shock heating represents the dominant heating source. Turbulent heating is significant only near the cluster centre, but it becomes inefficient at 50 kpc scales where it only represents a few percent of the total heating rate. Several details of the simulations depend on the choice made for the hydro solver, a consequence of the difficulty of achieving proper numerical convergence for this problem: current physics implementations and resolutions do not properly capture multi-phase gas that develops as a consequence of thermal instability. These processes happen at the grid scale and leave numerical solutions sensitive to the properties of the chosen hydro solver.
Susceptibilities of two populations of Aphis gossiper Glover to selected insecticides

Two populations of Aphis gossypii were collected from cotton and melon crops treated with insecticides to control this aphid species. The susceptibility of both aphid populations to pymetrozine, Pirimicarb, Oxydemeton-methyl and Imidacloprid was evaluated using leaf deep bioassays in Laboratory which were commonly used to control this aphid on both crops. Results showed that LC50 values of these insecticides against clones of cotton aphid were 452, 1427, 1810 and 209 ppm, respectively. LC50 values of the above mentioned pesticides against clones of melon aphid were 625, 688, 523 and 125 ppm, respectively. Lc50 data showed that aphids reared on melon was 2.07, 1.6 and 3.4 times more susceptible than cotton aphids to Pirimicarb, Imidaclopride and Oxydemeton-methyl and 1.4 times more resistant to Pymetrozine, respectively. In conclusion, it has been shown that clones of cotton aphid is on average 3.4-fold less susceptible to Oxydemeton- methyl, 2-fold less susceptible to pirimicarb, 1.6-fold less susceptible to Imidacloprid and nearly 0.7-fold more susceptible to pymetrozine than clones of melon aphid. There was little difference in susceptibility to pymetrozine between the two populations. It is also suggested that continuous resistance monitoring should be conducted on a regional scale to identify the efficiency of compounds which are applied against this insect species. Key words : Aphis gossypii , cotton, melon, insecticide resistance.
Analysis of Bird Diversity for Supporting Ecotourism Development in Rajegwesi, Meru Betiri National Park

Potential ecotourism attraction in Rajegwesi Village, Meru Betiri National Park is high due to its high biodiversity, especially bird diversity, in the form of bird watching activity. This study was aimed to determine the species, level of abundance, and diversity of birds found in the Rajegwesi area. Further, this basic information is important to develop the bird watching track at Rajegwesi. We used Quantum-GIS to create the land classification and observation mapping. Bird observation used point count method in the morning and evening with three periods of hour and three repetitions. The study confirmed about 76 species of 39 bird families was found in Rajegwesi. The highest abundance was Pygnonotus goiavier (E:Yellow-vented Bulbul), at the meadows, village, and rehabilitation land. The diversity index showed that the highest diversity was found at the heterogeneous forest (H’ index 3.745), followed by homogenous forest (H’ index 3.150), rehabilitation land (H’ index 2.845), village (H’ index 2.693), paddy fields (H’ index 2.529), and savanna (H’ index 1.880). The observation track was divided into 3 lines based on the bird’s distribution, the Village – Rehabilitation Land track (6.5 Km), Village track (2.3 Km), and Village – Rafflessia Park track (7.5 Km). Total of 25 bird species were found at the Village – Rehabilitation Land track, 22 species were found at the Village track, and 29 bird species were found at the Village – Rafflessia Park track. For the future of ecotourism development through birding development program, there are several issues that should be promoted: promoting birds conservation in the community through bird watching and birds observation competition (Bird race), training on conservation and ecotourism for the community, and strengthening the capacity and capability of Rajegwesi Ecotourism Society (RES) on the ecotourism program management. Keywords: bird watching, conservation, ecotourism development, RES
Market Timing, Selectivity And Alpha Generation: Evidence From Australian Equity Superannuation Funds

In this performance evaluation study, two questions are addressed. First, do active fund managers possess macro and micro forecasting skills that deliver superior risk-adjusted returns? Second, what is the nature of market timing/stock selectivity trade off in the generation of alpha? The answers from this study are as follows: as an industry, managers delivered inferior returns for superannuation investors for the period 1991 through 2000. The study provides little evidence that the Australian funds management industry holds sufficient macro and/or micro forecasting abilities to generate positive alpha. While previous research has found that inferior market timing decisions are compensated for by superior stock selection skills, this study finds no substantive inverse relationship between timing and selectivity.
The effect of load reductions on algal biomass in the eastern Gulf of Finland estimated by the FINNALGA model

Eutrophication and algal blooms are major environmental problems in the Gulf of Finland. One possible way to approach the problem is mathematical modelling. If the most important processes are successfully modelled, it is possible to calculate the effects of human activity. The application of an ecological model to the eastern Gulf of Finland is presented here. The algal model used is coupled with a 3-dimensional hydrological one. The application year used was 1994 and the validation year 1995. The load reductions used are based on the recommendation of HELCOM or a more realistic assessment. Results received indicate, that clear effects can be observed even within a short period. According to our model the reduction of phosphorus load is important near river entrances, while for the open eastern Gulf of Finland nitrogen is more important.
Interest Rates, Stock Returns and Credit Spreads: Evidence from German Eurobonds

We investigate daily variations in credit spreads on investment-grade Deutschemark-denominated Eurobonds during the challenging 1994-1998 period. Empirical results from a Longstaff and Schwartz (1995) two-factor regression, extended for correlated spread changes and heteroskedasticity, indicate strong persistence in spread changes. Consistent with theory and previous findings, changes in spreads are significantly negatively related to the term-structure level while, contrary to theory, the proxy for asset value does not yield a significant negative contribution. We even find a significant positive relation for Eurobonds with long maturity. Tentative interpretations are portfolio-rebalancing activities or differing risk factor sensitivities on short- vs. long-maturity bonds. Copyright Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, 2005
Are Loyal Customers Profitable? Customer Satisfaction, Customer (Action) Loyalty and Customer Profitability at the Individual Level

Customer loyalty is supposed to be positively related to profitability. The link between satisfaction, loyalty and profitability is perceived to be so self-evident that the relationship often is taken for granted. Nevertheless, only a few studies have examined this fundamental relationship. Here the focus is on the individual customer with respect to the links between customer satisfaction, customer (action) loyalty and customer profitability. The following hypotheses are tested; H1: The more satisfied a customer tends to be, the higher is the loyalty of the customer; H2: The more loyal a customer tends to be, the higher customer profitability is obtained. As expected, the results provide strong support for the hypotheses. However, the relationships between the variables seem to be non-linear (increasingly downward sloping), and only valid beyond certain levels or thresholds. Besides, the explanatory powers of the individual variables are rather low.
Gender and Racial Differences in Select Determinants of Student Success

Student populations in schools of pharmacy are becoming increasingly diverse. At the same time, little is known about determinants of student success (i.e., admission scores, the use of selfregulated learning strategies and motivation) in diverse student populations. This study investigates variations in professional pharmacy students' admission criteria, perceived self-regulation, motivation and academic achievement by gender and race. Results were obtained using a 2 x 2 factorial ANOVA and MANOVA design. Findings reveal gender differences in admission scores but no differences in self-regulated learning strategies or motivation. Non-Caucasian students score lower on the verbal and reading comprehension sections of the Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT) but report greater intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as well as task value. Interestingly, however, no differences in student success were observed across groups.
A study of the clinical profile of atrial fibrillation in a tertiary care super-specialty referral centre in Central Nepal

Background The conventional causes and risk factors for atrial fibrillation (AF) are somewhat arbitrary; overlap exists, multiple aetiologies are often present in one individual, and clinical presentation is non- specific. This study was an attempt to study the clinical and echocardiographic profile of patients with AF in a tertiary care super-specialty hospital of a developing country. Materials and Methods This study was conducted in College of Medical Sciences, Chitwan, Nepal throughout the year 2010. Subjects with AF, diagnosed based on clinical history, medical records and surface ECG, were included in the study. The presentation, types and causes of AF and structural as well as functional abnormalities were assessed. Results A total of 136 consecutive subjects were included in the study. The mean age was 42.40 (20.48) years ranging from 17 to 80 years. Majority of the AF subjects were female (54.41%). Among symptomatic cases, palpitation was the most common (23.53%) presentation followed by dyspnea (17.65%) and stroke or transient ischemic attack (15.44%). Asymptomatic presentation was also not uncommon (25%). Persistent AF was the most common form (31.62%). Rheumatic heart disease was the most common cause (33.09%) followed by lone atrial fibrillation (23.52%), coronary artery disease (16.18%), hypertension (8.82%) and thyrotoxicosis (7.35%). Other causes included chronic obstructive airway disease (5.88%), diabetes (2.94%), cardiomyopathy (1.47%), constrictive pericarditis (1.47%), myocarditis (0.74%) and infective endocarditis (0.74%). Nearly 65 % subjects had either structural or functional abnormalities in echocardiographic study; dilated left atrium was the most prevalent abnormality. Conclusion In contrast to the studies reported from developed nations, our subjects with AF were younger and female, the most common cause was RHD and the majority had either structural or functional abnormalities in echocardiographic study. Journal of College of Medical Sciences-Nepal, 2012, Vol-8, No-3, 9-16 DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.3126/jcmsn.v8i3. 8679
The Representative Agent of an Economy with External Habit-Formation and Heterogeneous Risk-Aversion

In this article, we derive an analytic expression for the representative agent of a large class of economies populated by agents with "catching up with the Joneses" preferences, but who exhibit heterogeneous risk aversion. As Chan and Kogan (2002) show numerically, the representative agent has stochastic risk that moves countercyclically to the state variable. However, we show that heterogeneity of risk aversion alone is insuficient for explaining empirical regularities--namely the variability of the Sharpe ratio--that Campbell and Cochrane (1999) obtain in a model of a representative agent with stochastic risk aversion. The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for Financial Studies. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org. , Oxford University Press.
Circadian Clocks in the Real World: Effects of Dynamic Light Regimes on the Regulation of Circadian Gene Expression in Cyanobacteria

Organisms use internal oscillators to control their physiology in conjunction with the predictable environmental changes of the day/night cycle. However, it is not always clear how internal timing information is used by molecular pathways called output pathways to change physiology. Further, these autonomous systems must operate in constantly fluctuating natural environments, and it is not clear how the functions of circadian clocks are affected by these conditions. We use the simple circadian clock in the model cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PC7942 as a model system to explore these questions. We asked how timing information encoded in the circadian clock in cyanobacteria is used to control a simple circadian output in the form of genome-wide changes in transcription (Chapter 2). We find that the gene encoding the transcription factor RpaA is required for genome-wide transcription rhythms. Further, we show that clock-controlled changes in the phosphorylation state of RpaA allow the protein to bind to promoters to activate expression of rhythmic genes. We demonstrate that phosphorylated RpaA drives dynamic expression patterns of hundreds of clock-controlled genes. Thus, the core circadian clock controls gene expression through phosphorylated RpaA, which acts as a master regulator to enact changes in expression of hundreds of genes. Next, we asked how the transcriptional output of the circadian clock is affected by naturally-relevant changes in environmental conditions (Chapter 3). We grew cyanobacteria under dynamic light regimes mimicking natural conditions to demonstrate that the expression of clock-controlled genes is a function of changes in environmental light intensity.