Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lactational performance of dairy cows fed raw soybeans, with or without animal by-product proteins, or roasted soybeans.

Twelve multiparous Holstein cows averaged 10 wk postpartum and were used in a replicated 3 x 3 Latin square design to compare two feeding strategies for increasing the ratio of dietary undegradable to degradable protein. Treatments were raw soybeans, with or without meat and bone meal plus blood meal, and roasted soybeans as the primary protein supplements. Meat and bone meal and blood meal were fed at 4.0 and . 9% of dietary DM, respectively. Basal diets were 30% alfalfa silage, 18% corn silage, and 52% corn-based concentrate mix. Diets were formulated to be isonitrogenous and isocaloric. Estimated undegradable protein contents, as a percentage of total CP, were 32.2, 36.2, and 34.3 for diets containing raw soybeans, raw soybeans plus animal by-product proteins, and roasted soybeans, respectively. The undegradable protein estimates were calculated from NRC values for basal feeds and from results of in vitro analysis of test protein supplements. Yields of milk and 3.5% FCM of cows receiving raw soybeans plus animal by-product proteins (45.5 and 43.4 kg/d) and roasted soybeans (44.7 and 42.7 kg/d) were greater than those of cows receiving raw soybeans alone (43.2 and 41.3 kg/d). Increasing the ratio of undegradable to degradable dietary protein also increased yields of milk protein and fat. No differences occurred in lactation performance among cows fed the two diets containing higher undegradable protein. The DMI was not influenced by treatment. Increasing the ratio of undegradable to degradable dietary protein by feeding animal by-product proteins or heated soybeans enhanced lactation performance.
The Phosphorylation Network for Efficient Activation of the DNA Replication Checkpoint in Fission Yeast*

Protein phosphorylation is the hallmark of checkpoint activation. Hundreds of targets of checkpoint kinases have been identified recently by genome-wide investigations. However, the complete picture of a phosphorylation network required for activation of a checkpoint pathway has not been available. The DNA replication checkpoint in Schizosaccharomyces pombe contains two major protein kinases, the sensor kinase Rad3 and the effector kinase Cds1, with the latter mediating most of the checkpoint functions. We show here that when DNA replication is arrested, efficient activation of Cds1 requires five phosphorylations that cooperate in a parallel or a sequential manner. Phosphorylation of a threonine residue (Thr11) in Cds1 by Rad3 occurs at a basal level in the absence of three other parallel Rad3-dependent phosphorylations on the mediator Mrc1 and Rad9 in the checkpoint clamp complex. However, the three parallel Rad3-dependent phosphorylations are all required for efficient phosphorylation of Thr11 in Cds1 by Rad3. Phosphorylation of Thr11 has been shown previously to promote autophosphorylation of Thr328 in the kinase domain of Cds1, which directly activates the enzyme, leading to full activation of the checkpoint pathway. Interestingly, phosphorylation of Mrc1 by Rad3 does not require the phosphorylation of Rad9, suggesting that activation of the sensor kinase Rad3 in the replication checkpoint of fission yeast may involve a different mechanism.
Reduced lung function, C-reactive protein, and increased risk of cardiovascular mortality.

BACKGROUND We explored whether reduced lung function is a predictor of mortality due to cardiovascular or coronary artery disease (CVD or CAD), and, if this hypothesis is correct, whether C-reactive protein (CRP), a systemic inflammatory marker, is responsible for this association in a general population-based cohort. METHODS AND RESULTS: We used the Third Nutrition and Health Examination Survey (NHANES III) database and the NHANES III Linked Mortality File. A total of 13,310 participants ≥20 years of age who completed a spirometric test at baseline examination were included. On comparison of the participants in the lowest forced vital capacity percent predicted (FVC% pred) quartile with those in the highest quartile, the hazard ratio (HR) was 2.1 (95% CI: 1.7-2.6) for cardiovascular mortality and 2.2 (95% CI: 1.6-3.2) for coronary mortality. A similar association was observed for forced expiratory volume in 1 s percent predicted (FEV1% pred). When the participants with the highest FVC% pred or FEV1% pred (Q4) and low CRP (≤0.22 mg/dl) were defined as the reference group, the adjusted HR for cardiovascular mortality was significantly increased in the individuals with the lowest spirometric volume (Q1), and the risk was prominent in individuals with high CRP (>0.22 mg/dl). CONCLUSIONS There is a significant association between lung function parameters and death from CVD and CAD in the general population.
Binding of polycationic antibiotics and polyamines to lipopolysaccharides of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Polycations, such as aminoglycoside and peptide antibiotics, and naturally occurring polyamines were found to bind to the lipopolysaccharide of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and alter its packing arrangement. Binding of cations was measured by the displacement of a cationic spin probe from lipopolysaccharide into the aqueous environment upon addition of competitive cations. The level of probe displacement was dependent on the concentration and charge of the competing cation, with the more highly charged cations being more effective at displacing probe. The relative affinity of several antibiotics for lipopolysaccharide correlated with their ability to increase outer membrane permeability, while the relative affinity of several polyamines correlated with their ability to stabilize the outer membrane. Probe mobility within the lipopolysaccharide head group was shown to be decreased by cationic antibiotics and unaltered or increased by polyamines. We propose that antibiotic permeability and disruption of outer membrane integrity by polycationic antibiotics results from binding of the antibiotic to anionic groups on lipopolysaccharide with a consequent change in the conformation of lipopolysaccharide aggregate structure.
A Predictive Degree Day Model for the Development of Bactericera cockerelli (Hemiptera: Triozidae) Infesting Solanum tuberosum

ABSTRACT Bactericera cockerelli (Sulc) (Hemiptera: Triozidae) is a pest of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) that vectors the bacterium that putatively causes zebra chip disease in potatoes, ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum. ’ Zebra chip disease is managed by controlling populations of B. cockerelli in commercial potato fields. Lacking an integrated pest management strategy, growers have resorted to an intensive chemical control program that may be leading to insecticide-resistant B. cockerelli populations in south Texas and Mexico. To initiate the development of an integrated approach of controlling B. cockerelli, we used constant temperature studies, nonlinear and linear modeling, and field sampling data to determine and validate the degree day parameters for development of B. cockerelli infesting potato. Degree day model predictions for three different B. cockerelli life stages were tested against data collected from pesticide-free plots. The model was most accurate at predicting egg-to-egg and nymphto- nymph peaks, with less accuracy in predicting adult-to-adult peaks. It is impractical to predict first occurrence of B. cockerelli in potato plantings as adults are present as soon cotyledons break through the soil. Therefore, we suggest integrating the degree day model into current B. cockerelli management practices using a two-phase method. Phase 1 occurs from potato planting through to the first peak in a B. cockerelli field population, which is managed using current practices. Phase 2 begins with the first B. cockerelli population peak and the degree day model is initiated to predict the subsequent population peaks, thus providing growers a tool to proactively manage this pest.
Monthly energy consumption forecast: A deep learning approach

Every year, energy consumption grows world widely. Therefore, power companies need to investigate models to better forecast and plan the energy use. One approach to address this problem is the estimation of energy consumption in the customer level. Energy consumption forecasting problem is a time series regression task. It consists of predicting the energy consumption for the next month given a finite history of a customer. Machine learning techniques have shown promising results in a variety of problems including time series and regression problems. Part of these promising results are attributed to deep neural networks. Although investigated in other domains, deep architectures have not been used to address the energy consumption prediction problem. In this work, we propose a system to predict monthly energy consumption using deep learning techniques. Three deep learning models were studied: Deep Fully Connected, Convolutional and Long Short-Term Memory Neural Networks. Due to the sensitivity of these models to the input range, normalization techniques were also investigated. The proposed system was validated with real data of almost a million customers (resulting in over 9 million samples). Results showed that our system can predict monthly energy consumption with an absolute error of 31.83 kWh and a relative error of 17.29%.
Cheyne-Stokes respiration in stroke: relationship to hypocapnia and occult cardiac dysfunction.

BACKGROUND Central sleep apnea (CSA) and Cheyne-Stokes respiration have been reported in association with stroke, but their pathophysiologic correlates have not been well described. OBJECTIVE To test the hypotheses that (1) CSA in patients with stroke is associated with nocturnal hypocapnia and (2) in those stroke patients with CSA and with left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction, periodic breathing (PB) will have a Cheyne-Stokes respiration pattern in which cycle duration is greater than in those without LV systolic dysfunction. METHODS We prospectively performed polysomnography and echocardiography in 93 patients with stroke. CSA was defined as central apneas and hypopneas occurring at a rate of 10 or more per hour of sleep. In patients with CSA, we compared PB cycle duration between those with normal and impaired LV systolic function (LV ejection fraction [LVEF] > 40% and < or = 40%, respectively). RESULTS CSA was found in 19% of subjects who had lower nocturnal transcutaneous PCO2 (39.3 +/- 0.9 vs. 42.8 +/- 0.8 mmHg, p = 0.015) and a higher prevalence of LVEF of 40% or less (22 vs. 5%, p = 0.043) than stroke patients without CSA. There was no significant difference in stroke location or type between the two groups. In patients with CSA, those with LVEF of 40% or less had a longer PB cycle than those with an LVEF of more than 40% (66.6 +/- 5.6 vs. 46.6 +/- 2.9 seconds, p = 0.006), but had no symptoms of heart failure. CONCLUSION In patients with stroke, CSA is associated with hypocapnia and occult LV systolic dysfunction but is not related to the location or type of stroke. The presence of LV systolic dysfunction is associated with a Cheyne-Stokes pattern of hyperpnea.
Sex differences in the ontogeny of CRF receptors during adolescent development in the dorsal raphe nucleus and ventral tegmental area

Interactions between corticotropin‐releasing factor (CRF) and monoaminergic systems originating from the dorsal raphe nucleus (DR) and ventral tegmental area (VTA) have been implicated in the etiology and pathophysiology of several stress‐related neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and substance abuse. Sub‐regions within the DR and VTA give rise to specific projections that have unique roles in limbic‐ and reward‐related behaviors. Given that these disorders typically emerge during adolescence, it is surprising that few studies have examined the age‐, sex‐, and region‐dependent expression of CRF receptors throughout multiple stages of adolescence in these stress‐relevant circuits. To determine the ontogeny of CRF receptors during adolescent development, three regions of the DR (dorsal, caudal, and ventrolateral parts) and the posterior VTA were microdissected from Sprague‐Dawley male and female rats on postnatal day (P) 25, P35, P42, P56, and P90. Tissue was processed and analyzed with qRT‐PCR to measure CRF1 and CRF2 receptors. The serotonin and catecholamine enzymes in the DR and VTA, tryptophan hydroxylase 2 (TPH2) and tyrosine hydroxylase, respectively, were also analyzed for maturational differences. This study identified that CRF1 receptors are lower in males than females within the dorsal, ventrolateral region of the DR (DRVL), which is involved in anxiety‐, stress‐, and panic‐related responses. Females had higher CRF2 receptors compared to males in the DRVL only. Levels of TPH2 mRNA in the DRVL were overproduced transiently in females before declining into adulthood. These fundamental studies suggest that sex differences in CRF receptors should be considered when examining stress‐related neuropsychiatric disorders and their treatment. Synapse 70:125–132, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
PECAM-1 Is Necessary for Flow-Induced Vascular Remodeling

Objective—Vascular remodeling is a physiological process that occurs in response to long-term changes in hemodynamic conditions, but may also contribute to the pathophysiology of intima-media thickening (IMT) and vascular disease. Shear stress detection by the endothelium is thought to be an important determinant of vascular remodeling. Previous work showed that platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1) is a component of a mechanosensory complex that mediates endothelial cell (EC) responses to shear stress. Methods and Results—We tested the hypothesis that PECAM-1 contributes to vascular remodeling by analyzing the response to partial carotid artery ligation in PECAM-1 knockout mice and wild-type littermates. PECAM-1 deficiency resulted in impaired vascular remodeling and significantly reduced IMT in areas of low flow. Inward remodeling was associated with PECAM-1–dependent NF&kgr;B activation, surface adhesion molecule expression, and leukocyte infiltration as well as Akt activation and vascular cell proliferation. Conclusions—PECAM-1 plays a crucial role in the activation of the NF&kgr;B and Akt pathways and inflammatory cell accumulation during vascular remodeling and IMT. Elucidation of some of the signals that drive vascular remodeling represent pharmacologically tractable targets for the treatment of restenosis after balloon angioplasty or stent placement.
Testing a DSGE endogenous growth model of R&D via indirect inference: productivity growth in a panel of OECD

This thesis investigates the causal impact of research and development as the driver to the growth for a sample of 11 OECD countries over the period of 1980-2014. The RD the method which relies on the comparison between the features of the model-generated and actual data through the auxiliary model. This method ensures the identification of the DSGE model hence there is no ambiguity in defining the direction of the causation in the model which comes from the R&D spending to productivity growth. The parameters of interest are also estimated using ‘simulated annealing’ algorithm and the parameter-modified model is tested by Indirect Inference Wald. The test results for the specified model satisfies the non-rejection condition where the relevant statistic lies within the 95% confidence interval. This thesis suggests an explicit empirical evidence that for the small open economies of OECD, the R&D spendings as a proxy for innovative activities causes a long-run growth episodes.
Pre-Service Teachers' Perceptions towards Multicultural Education & Teaching of Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Learners.

Roben Taylor is an assistant professor in the School of Education at Dalton State College, Dalton, Georgia. Alex Kumi-Yeboah is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice of the School of Education at the University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, New York. Ravic P. Ringlaben is an educational consultant, Atlanta, Georgia. about how to teach, what to teach, and best instructional strategies to adopt to teach. The city of Dalton, Georgia, is a prime example of the changing demographics in schools. Currently, Latinas/os are 48% of this city’s population or 15,891 of its 33,128 residents (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). Moreover, 69% of Dalton public school students are Latina/o (personal communication, Caroline Woodason). However, most teachers in Dalton’s public schools are White with a mono-cultural background and little experience in teaching culturally, linguistically, and underrepresented diverse learners. According to Wortham, Mortimer, and Allard (2009), longtime residents in NLD towns in the northeastern United States “often described Mexicans as unsuccessful in school and as unlikely to improve themselves through education” (p. 3), while recognizing them as model minorities in other realms, such as civic-mindedness and work ethic. Limited research has been conducted about pre-service teachers’ attitudes and perceptions towards teaching culturally, linguistically, and underrepresented minority students, especially regarding pre-service teachers from mono-cultural backgrounds. Our study provides significant information to teacher educators, policy makers, curriculum and development planners, and future teachers about the need to reform teacher training and multicultural education to make it an integral part of teaching and learning at all levels of education. Hopefully, reforms will create an awareness and special attention to culture as well as the realization that every student grows up in a specific culture. This study also provides teachers, pre-service teachers, and researchers in the field of education information about preparing pre-service teachers and other post-secondary students about the issue of culture and how it can influence student’s background context, which influences their response to learning in what can best be Introduction
Leaving it up to the Workers: Sociological Perspective on the Management of Health and Safety in Small Workplaces

Small workplaces present particular challenges for the promotion of occupational health and safety. However, little is known about the social organization of work in such settings and how it relates to matters of health and safety. The research on which this article is based relates patterns of occupational health behavior to the nature of social relationships within the workplace. From a qualitative analysts of interviews with 53 small business owners, the author describes the most common approach to managing workplace health and safety: leaving it up to the workers. This posture is explained in terms of the owners' perception of risk, particularly their understanding of workplace hazards, and their assessment of the social costs of ignoring or addressing such issues. Owners tended to discount or normalize health hazards, and to believe that management intervention in employee health behavior was paternalistic and inconsistent with prevailing patterns of labor relations and norms respecting individual autonomy. Many owners understood health and safety not as a bureaucratic function of management but as a personal moral enterprise in which they did not have legitimate authority. The conceptualization of the owners' responses in terms of “social rationality” has implications for addressing problems of health and safety in small workplaces.
Assembly and extracellular release of chimeric HIV-1 Pr55gag retrovirus-like particles.

The HIV-1 Pr55gag precursors were previously shown to assemble and bud from a variety of different cell types as noninfectious virus-like particles (VLPs) resembling immature HIV virions. The use of these VLPs as an immunogenic and autologous carrier component may allow the presentation of defined epitopes deduced from reading frames other than gag to the immune system, thereby avoiding the induction of adverse immune responses. In order to identify domains within Pr55gag that can be replaced by immunologically relevant epitopes without affecting its capacity to assemble into VLPs, we deleted three domains of a predicted high surface probability. Deletion of amino acids 211-241 within p24CA and amino acids 436-471 within the p6LI portion of Pr55gag had no effect on the assembly, ultrastructure, biophysical properties, and yields of mutant VLPs when expressed via recombinant vaccinia viruses in mammalian cells. Deletion of amino acids 99-154 overlapping the p17MA/p24CA cleavage site completely abolished the capacity of the gag polyprotein to form VLPs and led to a reduction of immature Pr55 VLPs released into the cell-culture supernatants when coexpressed with wild-type Pr55gag. In contrast, assembly and budding of chimeric VLPs could be demonstrated after replacing amino acids 211-241 and 436-471 by immunologically relevant epitopes derived from reading frames other than Pr55gag (e.g., V3 loop; CD4-binding-domain; nef-CTL epitope) or after fusion of these sequences to the carboxy terminus of Pr55gag. The importance of these data for the development of novel HIV candidate vaccines is discussed.
Immigration and the receiving economy.

This paper reviews theories about the impact of immigration on the receiving economy. It presents a critical overview of empirical evidence of immigrations impact on wages employment rates unemployment rates income growth and migration patterns in the US. The authors conclude that immigration does not have significant adverse effects on the receiving economy such as reducing employment rates of the US labor force. The studies that show a negative effect on natives wages overestimate the magnitude of the effect. The field of economics does not offer specific theories of immigration economics. The basic economic model for evaluating the impact of immigration involves models of supply and demand for labor services equilibrium price and quantity transactions. The net effect of unskilled immigration on the wages of skilled natives is ambiguous and depends upon the relative sizes of scale and substitution effects. Simple trade models indicate that wages prices and return to capital will be equalized across the world. Specific country resources of labor and capital determine which goods are exported or imported. Thus factor price equalization theory predicts that immigration will not have an effect on wages in receiving or sending countries. However this model makes a variety of questionable assumptions. The wage inequality empirical literature indicates an emphasis on time series variation to explain the rise in US wage inequality. Calculations overstate the effects of the absolute wage of the unskilled due to the rise in college graduate wage and data deficiencies.