Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differential transformation efficiency of Japonicarice varieties developed in northern China

The production of japonica rice in northern China plays an important role in food security for the world. Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer is becoming a powerful approach to generate germplasm and develop varieties. However, the transgenic efficiency of the japonica rice varieties in northern China has been completely unknown, which obstructs the development of transgenic breeding and the exploration of gene functions. In this study, the transgenic efficiencies of six japonica rice varieties developed in northern China are evaluated. The rates of primary and secondary callus induction of the varieties are similar. However, transgenic efficiency and the regeneration ability of the varieties are greatly different. The results have established a platform for transformation of the rice varieties and proposed a suitable variety, SN9816, for gene transfer. SN9816 can be applied as an elite germplasm for transgenic breeding and basic research of molecular biology in northern China or an area in the same latitude.
The structural quality of maternal health services in primary health care facilities in Tanzania: Findings from a baseline study

Background Structural quality of maternal health services remains a key indicator of highly performing health care system. Evidence attest to the fact that introduction of the new interventions in the health care system does not necessarily lead into improvement of the target outcome, such as quality of health services delivered. This study aimed at assessing the structural quality of maternal health services prior to introduction of Direct Health Facility Financing (DHFF) program. Methods This was a cross-sectional study, conducted in 42 public primary health facilities between January and mid February 2018. Observational were used to collect the data from health facilities. The collected information was on privacy, hygiene and sanitation, obstetric emergences, sterilization, maternal death audit reviews and waste management. Collected data were analyzed by using SPSS. Results All 42 (100%) primary health facilities that were assessed were public primary health facilities, of which 14 (33.3%) were health centers and 28 were dispensaries. The furthest primary health facilities from the district head office were 140 Kms and the nearest 2 Kms. Focusing on; - privacy, hygiene and sanitation, obstetric emergences, sterilization, maternal death audit reviews and waste management assessed eight areas of Structural qualities. Majority (68.9%) of Health Centers has less than 39 skilled staff while some of them they have up to 129 health service providers and majority (92.8%) of Dispensaries have less than 15 staff and some have 1 staff. By comparing Dispensary and Health center performances on structural quality indicated relatively low differences among the attributes assessed. Specifically, they did not show statistical significant differences except for obstetric emergencies (p < .005), sterilization (p=. 034) and overall structural quality (p=. 018). With regard to rural-urban performance on structural quality, there was no statistical significant difference on total performance. Similarly, there was no significant differences between rural and urban health facilities on other assessed attributes of structural quality (p >.05) except for sterilization in which urban facilities performed significantly higher than the rural facilities [M=41.2, SD=27.7, 61.3, SD=28.4, respectively (p= .028)]. On the other hand, marginal differences were observed on individual assessed attributes. For examples, rural facilities performed relatively higher than urban ones on privacy (41.2 and 32.0), maternal death reviews (31.4 and 30.7) and waste management (49.0 and 47.3) respectively. Conclusion Generally facilities performed low on the structural quality indicators of maternal health services provision however; they had high performance on sterilization and emergence obstetric care.
Differentiation of human colon tissue in culture: Effects of calcium on trans-epithelial electrical resistance and tissue cohesive properties

Background and aims Human colonoid cultures maintained under low-calcium (0.25 mM) conditions undergo differentiation spontaneously and, concomitantly, express a high level of tight junction proteins, but not desmosomal proteins. When calcium is included to a final concentration of 1.5 – 3.0 mM (provided either as a single agent or as a combination of calcium and minerals), there is little change in tight junction proteins but a strong up-regulation of desmosomal proteins and an increase in desmosome formation. The aim of this study was to assess functional consequences of the differences in calcium-mediated barrier protein expression. Methods Human colonoid-derived epithelial monolayers were interrogated in transwell culture under low- or high-calcium conditions. Ion permeability and monolayer integrity were assessed by measuring trans-epithelial electrical resistance (TEER) across the confluent monolayer. Colonoid cohesiveness was assessed in parallel. Results TEER values were high in the low-calcium environment and increased only modestly in response to calcium. In contrast, colonoid cohesiveness increased substantially with calcium supplementation. In both assays, the response to Aquamin was greater than the response to calcium alone. However, differences between interventions were small and only compared to the 0.25 mM calcium were they statistically significant. Consistent with these findings, occludin expression (a measure of tight junctions) was high at 0.25 mM calcium and did not increase with supplementation. Cadherin-17 and desmoglein-2 were weakly-expressed under low calcium conditions but increased with intervention. Conclusions These findings indicate that low ambient calcium levels are sufficient to support formation of a permeability barrier in the colonic epithelium. Higher calcium levels are necessary to promote tissue cohesion and enhance barrier function. These findings may help explain how an adequate daily intake of calcium contributes to colonic health by improving barrier function, even though there is little change in colonic histological features over a wide range of calcium intake levels.
Multi-objective versus single-objective models in geodetic network optimization

Configuration of a network and observation weights plays an important role in designing and establishing a geodetic network. In this paper, we consider single- and multi-objective optimization models in some numerical investigation. The results illustrate that the reliability model yields the best results in view of internal and external reliability and achievable observation precision. This result we interpret as that the reliability criterion is more sensitive to the configuration of a network than any of the other criteria. We propose re-optimization of the network in the cases where very high (non-achievable) precision is required or when some conditions are not met in the optimization process.
Internal Corporate Governance: The Role of Residual Income in Divisional Allocation of Funds

Abstract Internal capital markets of diversified firms have been associated with inefficient allocation of investment funds across divisions, leading to value losses. Utilizing a sample of diversified firms that adopted or eliminated Residual Income (RI) plans between 1990 and 2009, we show that adoptions of these plans mitigate investment distortions and lead to value gains. Following the adoption of RI plans, diversified firms start allocating investment funds based on growth opportunities of their divisions. RI plan adopters lower their divisional investment levels, especially in segments with below-average growth opportunities. The overall investment allocation efficiency improves, and the diversification discount diminishes after the adoption of RI plans. However, RI plans appear to be used only as temporary tools for assessing corporate performance. The plans are adopted primarily by firms expected to immediately generate plan bonuses for management, and they are frequently eliminated by firms with bad accounting performance and low managerial bonuses. The study contributes to the literature on organizational efficiency, internal capital markets, and on the importance of measures based on economic profits or RI.
Forecasting the House Price for Ahvaz City: the Comparison of the Hedonic and Artificial Neural Network Models

Determination and the estimation of the house price in urban areas has a great importance for governments, individual and state investors and common people. The mentioned estimation can be used in future planning and decision making of many urban and regional policies. In this regard, due to the vital importance of the house price in recent decades powerful and effective functions have been used in order to forecast and estimate the house price. The main purpose of the current study was to present an optimal model to forecast and identify the determinants of the house price in Ahvaz metropolitan by the comparison of the Hedonic and Artificial Neural Network Models and the choice of the optimal model. The present study has a developmental-applied nature which follows a descriptive-analytical approach. The sample included 286 statistical unit in 2015 based on 27 related variables were evaluated to forecast the house price in Ahvaz city. This study used semi-log hedonic function and Neural Network Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) approaches. To compare the results of the two models in terms of predictability the criteria of R2, MSE, RMSE, MAPE, MAE and TIC coefficient were utilized. The results of the Hedonic model indicated that that among 27 variables, 18 variables were significant model and by the comparison of the results and the estimated value, it turned out that housing prices in Ahvaz is mainly influenced by the physical and structural factors. Moreover, the comparison between all criteria demonstrated that the Artificial Neural Network had a better performance than the Hedonic regression model in forecasting the house price. In order to test the difference of precision in forecasts of the house price in Ahvaz the Morgan-Granger-Newbold test was conducted as an appropriate instrument. The results of test indicated that the there was a significant difference between the predicative power of the two models which confirmed the greater performance of the ANN (%98) model in comparison with Hedonic regression model (88%).
Factors associated with opioid cessation: a machine learning approach

Background and Aims People with opioid use disorder (OUD) can stop using opioids on their own, with help from groups and with treatment, but there is limited research on the factors that influence opioid cessation. Methods We employed multiple machine learning prediction algorithms (LASSO, random forest, deep neural network, and support vector machine) to assess factors associated with ceasing opioid use in a sample comprised of African Americans (AAs) and European Americans (EAs) who met DSM-5 criteria for mild to severe OUD. Values for several thousand demographic, alcohol and other drug use, general health, and behavioral variables, as well as diagnoses for other psychiatric disorders, were obtained for each participant from a detailed semi-structured interview. Results Support vector machine models performed marginally better on average than those derived using other machine learning methods with maximum prediction accuracies of 75.4% in AAs and 79.4% in EAs. Subsequent stepwise regression analyses that considered the 83 most highly ranked variables across all methods and models identified less recent cocaine use (p<5×10−8), a shorter duration of opioid use (p<5×10−6), and older age (p<5×10−9) as the strongest independent predictors of opioid cessation. Factors related to drug use comprised about half of the significant independent predictors, with other predictors related to non-drug use behaviors, psychiatric disorders, overall health, and demographics. Conclusions These proof-of-concept findings provide information that can help develop strategies for improving OUD management and the methods we applied provide a framework for personalizing OUD treatment.
The Effect of Lactation and Energy Status on Gene Expression in the Main Reproductive Tissues of Lactating Dairy Cattle

57 Introduction . 58 Materials and Methods . 62 Results . 71 Discussion . 75 Tables and Figures . 83 ix References . 93 3. COMPARISON OF EXPRESSION OF SELECTED GENES IN INDIVIDUAL IN VIVO PRODUCED PRE-IMPLANTATION EMBRYOS OF LACTATING DAIRY COWS AND NON-LACTATING HEIFERS . 115 Abstract . 115 Introduction . 116 Materials and Methods . 119 Results . 126 Discussion . 129 Tables and Figures . 138 References . 149 4. EFFECTS OF LACTATION AND NEGATIVE ENERGY BALANCE ON ENDOMETRIAL EXPRESSION OF SELECTED TRANSCRIPTS OF HOLSTEIN DAIRY COWS AT DAY 7 POST-OVULATION . 175 Abstract . 175 Introduction . 176 Materials and Methods . 179 Results . 186 Discussion . 188 Tables and Figures . 199 References . 207 5. SUMMARY . 225 References . 233 CURRICULUM VITAE . 263
Nutritional ecology of brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula Kerr) in New Zealand

In this thesis, a combination of field observations and laboratory experiments are used to address the question: how do the nutritional strategies of brushtail possums enable this alien pest species to obtain a balance of nutrients at native forest-pasture margins in New Zealand? Possums had a polyphagous diet with a core of leaves from three species, supplemented by flowers in spring and summer, fruits in autumn and invertebrates in winter. Graphical models confirmed that possums were polyphagous in all seasons, although diet width and the extent to which individual species of food dominated the diet varied between seasons. Four nutrient characteristics of potential foods were analysed: total nitrogen, available nitrogen, soluble organic matter and total digestible dry matter. They varied significantly between food species and between seasons but were not significantly associated with either proportion by mass, or frequency of occurrence in the diet. In laboratory experiments relative preferences between leaves of three woody species changed when the basal leaf diet was supplemented by flowers or by pasture species. Intake rates of nutrients also varied according to diet. The target nutrient intake ratio of available nitrogen to digestible dry matter was calculated. Predictions from optimal foraging, nitrogen limitation and mixed diet theories were compared but mixed diet theory was supported most strongly. Home ranges were delineated using data from GPS telemetry. Nocturnal foraging pathways were characterised and divided to distinguish between searching within patches and travelling between them. Possums travelled further per night and travelled faster between search patches in winter than they did in autumn. Selection ratios showed that native forest and native shrub/scrubland were preferred habitats for both travelling and searching. The implications of applying mixed diet theory to possum nutritional ecology, for improving the efficiency of control programmes and reducing interactions between possums and cattle are explored.
An Integrative Model of Situation Awareness

In aviation safety incident reports, lack of situation awareness (SA) is often attributed as the cause of negative safety outcomes, such as accidents. While the predominant model of SA has identified three components of SA, perception, comprehension, and projection, assumptions of their relationships with each other and external criteria are yet tested empirically. Specifically, SA theory suggests comprehension SA fully mediates the relationship between perception and projection SA. Additionally, research on the relationships between individual differences and SA is lacking. The purpose of the current study is to test a comprehensive model of SA which simultaneously examines the described mediation, relationships with individual differences antecedents of SA, and its utility as a predictor of safety using structural equation modeling (SEM). A sample of 349 employees from a diverse background of occupational areas were recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk to test the model. While self-report measurement of SA was an excellent predictor of safety, the current study did not find empirical support for the presumed mediation among the SA components, and found the relationships between individual differences and SA which contradict extant SA theory. The results suggest differentiating between typical versus maximal SA. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
A PUBLIC COMMISSIONING MATURITY MODEL FOR CONSTRUCTION CLIENTS

Being a public organization with construction needs, whether they are housing, building or infrastructure related, implies close co-operation and interaction with the supply chain. Substantial research exists that focuses on project related aspects of commissioning and on the role of the construction client in general. Only limited research has been done, however, into the impact of organizational characteristics on the level of professionalism and competences of commissioning entities. This research is particularly relevant, when public organizations are re-evaluating their sourcing strategy. As part of the establishment of a new chair of public commissioning, the development of a 'Public Commissioning Maturity Model' (PCCM) is presented in this paper. The model aims to identify the key characteristics of being a competent construction client. The overall aim of this research is to establish an overview of and insight into the nature and impact of characteristics of public organisations as determinants of their professionalism as public commissioning entities. In the PCMM, for each aspect of the commissioning role, maturation stages are defined. Research methods used include a literature survey and expert sessions. The model and methodology build on maturity models developed in asset and project management, supply chain management and purchasing. The research resulted in a framework containing a set of coherent aspects jointly framing the concept of 'professional public commissioning'. This framework can be applied by public commissioning entities to explore their current status and define their desired further development.
Comparison of aerosol products retrieved from AERONET and MODIS over an urban area in Hanoi city, Vietnam

Understanding the dynamics of aerosols and associated influence on regional and global climatic conditions requires the knowledge of spatial and temporal distributions of aerosols on regional and global scales. In this study, the satellite-based MODIS AODs retrievals level 2 products from Terra (MOD04-10 km) and Aqua (MYD04-10km) satellites are inter-compared with the ground-based AERONET AODs (level 2) over Nghia Do station located in an urban area of Hanoi city, Vietnam for the period of 2010-2016. The Terra AODs showed good-match with the ground-based AODs measurements (slope = 0.830, intercept = 0.099, RMSE = 0.260, R2 = 0.673, and RMB = 0.970). However, the Aqua AODs expressed systematically the underestimation of AERONET AODs (slope = 0.556, intercept = 0.184, RMSE = 0.390, R2 = 0.408, and RMB = 0.810). All MODIS AODs indicates the moderate correlation with AERONET AODs (slope = 0.683, intercept = 0.147, RMSE = 0.330, R2 = 0.520, and RMB = 0.890). Although MODIS AODs follow well the monthly variations of AERONET AODs, the relatively high discrepancy between MODIS and AERONET AODs can be observed during the winter months. Keywords: aerosol products; MODIS AODs; AERONET AODs; inter-comparison.
Protected areas in the function of sustainable development: Case study on the city of Belgrade

Аbstract: The transformation of autochthonous habitats and ecosystems, the spatial distribution of which overlaps the territory with developing urban settlements, leads to a permanent destruction of their ecological stability and biodiversity impoverishment. The processes of conversion and fragmentation of habitats are simultaneously following the spreading of spatial and functional urban areas, whereby it is often possible to secure the survival of remaining species and their communities only through legal protection. The existing ecological effects in the nature protection process have been analyzed on the example of the protected areas located on the territory of the City of Belgrade. At the same time, the goal of this paper includes the consideration of potentials that, together with the process of protection of natural values, can be valorized in the context of sustainable development and provision of ecosystem services due to the adequate management of protected areas.
Impact of Deficit Irrigation on Sorghum Physical and Chemical Properties and Ethanol Yield

The objective of this research was to study the effect of irrigation levels (five levels from 304.8 to 76.2 mm water) on the physical and chemical properties and ethanol fermentation performance of sorghum. Ten sorghum samples grown under semi-arid climatic conditions were harvested in 2011 from the Kansas State University Southwest ResearchExtension Center near Garden City, Kansas, and evaluated. Irrigation had a significant effect on the physical properties, chemical composition, ethanol yield, and fermentation efficiency of sorghum. Sorghum kernel hardness increased and test weight decreased as the irrigation level decreased. Starch contents of sorghum samples grown under a low irrigation level were approximately 7% less than those grown under a high irrigation level. Protein contents ranged from 9.84% to 14.91% and increased as irrigation level decreased. Starch pasting temperature increased significantly, and starch peak pasting viscosity and setback viscosity decreased as the irrigation level decreased. Free amino nitrogen (FAN) increased significantly as irrigation decreased. Ethanol fermentation efficiency ranged from 90.6% to 91.9% and correlated positively with FAN during the first 30 h of fermentation (R = 0.926). Deficit irrigation level had a negative impact on ethanol yield. The sorghum with low irrigation yielded about 8.9% less ethanol (434.52 mL ethanol per kg sorghum) than samples with higher irrigation (473.32 mL ethanol per kg sorghum). Residual starch contents in the distillers dried grains with solubles was less than 1% and ranged from 0.70% to 0.84%.
Urban ethnobotany in Petrópolis and Nova Friburgo (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

The main goal of this paper was the study of the useful plants sold in the open-air fairs of Petropolis and Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Data collection was obtained through participant observation, semi structured interviews and free listing with four herbalist informants. From the interviews, 115 species (belonging to 49 families) were recorded: 94 for medicinal purposes, 12 with religious application, and 9 for ornamental purposes. Thirty percent of the species were native, and 72% herbaceous. The most representative families were Asteraceae (26 species) and Lamiaceae (10 species). The medicinal species related to diseases of the respiratory system were more common during the winter and autumn. "Espinheira-santa" (Clarisia cf. ilicifolia) had the highest Relative Importance (1.8) and collocation in all seasons using the Preference Ranking, although its effectiveness or toxicity levels have not been established. The importance of the study is to gather knowledge from local herbalists about commercialized species in open-air fairs and popular markets in the Rio de Janeiro State, which represent valuable resources for bioprospection.