Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of mannan-oligosaccharides offered in milk replacers or calf starters and their effect on performance and rumen development of dairy calves

The objective of this study was to evaluate the route of administration of mannan-oligosaccharides in the diet of dairy calves and their effects on performance and plasma parameters indicative of rumen development. Following birth, twenty-four male Holstein calves were used in a completely randomized design and assigned to the following treatments: Control; 4 g/d Bio-Mos® (Alltech Biotech.) added to starter concentrate; and 4 g/d Bio-Mos® mixed into milk replacer. Animals were housed in individual hutches with free access to water, and fed 4L/d of milk replacer until weaning at six weeks. Calves also received 23g/kg crude protein of starter concentrate ad libitum. Fecal scores were evaluated daily. Body weights, growth measurements and blood samples for glucose, urea-N and β-hidroxibutyrate analyses were taken weekly until 8 weeks of age. There were no significant effects of treatment or treatment × age interactions for mean starter concentrate intake, weight gain or body growth. However, there was a significant age effect for all parameters. Fecal scores were not affected by treatments. Also, plasma concentration of glucose, urea-N or β-hidroxibutyrate were not affected by treatment or the treatment × age interaction. However, urea-N and β-hidroxibutyrate concentrations significantly increased with age, suggesting adequate rumen development. Under the conditions of this study, there were no calf performance benefits when mannan-oligosaccharides were incorporated into milk replacer or calf starter concentrate.
Shore-level size gradients and thermal refuge use in the predatory sea star Pisaster ochraceus: the role of environmental stressors

The body size of a mobile intertidal invertebrate can determine its access to different microhabitats, and thus alter its exposure to environmental stressors. We surveyed a rocky inter- tidal keystone predator, the sea star Pisaster ochraceus, and characterized size-dependent distribution, defined by individuals' shore level and refuge use. At 2 field sites (in California and Oregon, USA) we examined temporal and geographical variability in habitat selection. We evalu- ated the hypothesis that environmental drivers measured on-site and body temperatures meas- ured using biomimetic sensors (i.e. 'robo-sea stars'), explained the observed distribution patterns, including shore-level size gradients, with larger animals lower on the shore. We tested the effect of size on animals' thermo- and desiccation-tolerance. Using robo-sea star data, thermal perform- ance curves and critical temperatures of different size classes, we investigated potential physio- logical and survival consequences of microhabitat use (shaded vs. sun-exposed). Pisaster is mostly found in thermal refugia during low tide even when the risk of thermal stress in sun-exposed areas is low, suggesting a risk-avoidance strategy. In sheltered microhabitats, Pisaster exhibited shore-level size gradients; in sun-exposed microhabitats, this pattern disappeared. The proportion of individuals found in shaded microhabitats increased with air temperature, solar radiation, and body temperature. Size-dependent sensitivity to stressful temperatures and wind speed did not explain the observed distribution patterns, suggesting that in the field, size constraints prevent larger animals from occupying refuges that small individuals can use. Our data reveal that, despite generally mild conditions, Pisaster risk-avoidance strategy buffers against rare but poten- tially highly stressful events.
Effects of Elastic Wrist Taping on Maximum Grip Strength

In this study, we examined the effects of elastic wrist taping with different pressure levels on the maximum grip strength. The subjects were 20 healthy male university students. The tape was wrapped three times around the wrist at the radial and ulnar styloid process. Taping pressure was measured using a pressure measuring system for stockings and bandages. A pressure sensor was placed over the palmaris longus muscle tendon, 1.5 cm proximal to the palmar crease of the subject’s wrist on the dominant upper limb. The following experimental conditions were assessed: control condition (CC), without attachments; sensor condition (SC), with an attached sensor and a cover tape with minimum pressure application (1–5 hPa); and four pressure conditions (PCs), with pressure applications of 30, 60, 90, and 120 hPa using elastic tapes. Grip strength was significantly greater for CC than for PCs. However, the overall decrease in grip strength was still relatively small. No differences were observed in the grip strengths among the four PC groups. Our results showed that grip strength exertion decreased on the application of higher pressures of elastic tape wrapping and that the degree of decrease was similar for all PCs above 30 hPa.
Normalization of Zhangzhou Citation Tones

The seven citation tones of the Southern Min dialect of Zhangzhou are described impressionistically, and a linguistic-tonetic representation of their acoustics derived from the z-score normalization of the tones of 9 male and 12 female speakers. A normalization of the raw mean tonal data is shown to be slightly superior to a log10 transform, delivering about an eight-fold reduction in the between-speaker tonal variance (normalization index = 8.6). The data are then used to do a preliminary Monte Carlo investigation on how the normalization index changes with the number of speakers used to normalize.
Qualitative features of a novel baroreceptor model

Blood pressure regulation by the cardiovascular system is a complex physiological process. Cardiovascular modeling can offer a valuable insight often beyond the reach of experiments. In this study we provide a new mathematical model of the afferent component of the baroreflex feedback system. The model takes advantage of the so-called quasi-linear viscoelastic theory, which has been widely used to describe the nonlinear viscoelastic response of living tissue. It also uses a simple integrate-and-fire model to predict the baroreceptor response and therefore takes into account the conceptual structure of the baroreceptor. Our objective is to test our new baroreceptor model for its ability to reproduce experimental data qualitatively and demonstrate known pressure-response relationships. We also highlight that the model can be coupled with an existing model of the efferent pathways, eventually predicting heart rate.
Connecting the sustainable development goals by their energy inter-linkages

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide guide-posts to society as it attempts to respond to an array of pressing challenges. One of these challenges is energy; thus, the SDGs have become paramount for energy policy-making. Yet, while governments throughout the world have already declared the SDGs to be ‘integrated and indivisible’, there are still knowledge gaps surrounding how the interactions between the energy SDG targets and those of the non-energy-focused SDGs might play out in different contexts. In this review, we report on a large-scale assessment of the relevant energy literature, which we conducted to better our understanding of key energy-related interactions between SDGs, as well as their context-dependencies (relating to time, geography, governance, technology, and directionality). By (i) evaluating the nature and strength of the interactions identified, (ii) indicating the robustness of the evidence base, the agreement of that evidence, and our confidence in it, and (iii) highlighting critical areas where better understanding is needed or context dependencies should be considered, our review points to potential ways forward for both the policy making and scientific communities. First, we find that positive interactions between the SDGs outweigh the negative ones, both in number and magnitude. Second, of relevance for the scientific community, in order to fill knowledge gaps in critical areas, there is an urgent need for interdisciplinary research geared toward developing new data, scientific tools, and fresh perspectives. Third, of relevance for policy-making, wider efforts to promote policy coherence and integrated assessments are required to address potential policy spillovers across sectors, sustainability domains, and geographic and temporal boundaries. The task of conducting comprehensive science-to-policy assessments covering all SDGs, such as for the UN’s Global Sustainable Development Report, remains manageable pending the availability of systematic reviews focusing on a limited number of SDG dimensions in each case.
Suppression of Fusarium wilt disease in gladiolus by using rhizobacterial strains

Gladiolus is an important commercial flower crop fetching high returns in national and international markets. Fusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. gladioli is a serious disease which has become a limiting factor in its production. With an objective to have a biological control over this biotic stress, an experiment was conducted during 2012 and 2013 at Department of Microbiology, CCSHAU, Hisar to evaluate certain rhizobacterial strains for suppression of Fusarium wilt disease in gladiolus. Twenty five rhizobacterial strains were tested under dual technique for antifungal activity against fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. gladioli. Two Pseudomonas strains HWM13and HCS2 as well as two Bacillus strains RSD8 and NNY19 caused maximum inhibition of the pathogen. Under pot house conditions, single inoculation of HCS2 showed increased plant height (66.7 cm) and superior floral attributes over control. Coinoculation of HCS2 with pathogen resulted in complete suppression of disease with no symptoms of wilting. Thus, Pseudomonas strain HCS2 could be further tested under field conditions for the suppression of Fusarium wilt in gladiolus.
Gastrodiscoidiasis , a plant-borne zoonotic disease caused by the intestinal amphistome fluke Gastrodiscoides hominis ( Trematoda : Gastrodiscidae )

Gastrodiscoidiasis is an intestinal trematodiasis caused by the only common amphistome of man Gastrodiscoides hominis and transmitted by small freshwater snails of the species Helicorbis coenosus, belonging to the family Planorbidae. Human and animal contamination can take place when swallowing encysted metacercariae, by ingestion of vegetation (aquatic plants) or animal products, such as raw or undercooked crustaceans (crayfish), squid, molluscs, or amphibians (frogs, tadpoles). Pigs appear to be the main animal reservoir of any significance in most endemic areas. Its geographical distribution covers India (including Assam, Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa), Pakistan, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, China, Kazakstan and Volga Delta in Russia, and has also been reported in African countries such as Zambia and Nigeria. The presence of G. hominis in Africa needs further studies, to confirm that the African amphistome in question is really that species and not a closely related African species, and to ascertain its geographical distribution in this continent. In man, this amphistome fluke causes inflammation of the mucosa of caecum and ascending colon with attendant symptoms of diarrhoea. This infection causes ill health in a large number of persons, and deaths among untreated patients, especially children. Human infection by G. hominis is easily recognisable by finding the characteristic eggs of this amphistome in faeces. Although comparative assays about the efficacy of different drugs against this amphistome are lacking, there is nothing impeding to suggest Praziquantel as the drug of choice for this trematodiasis. Control methods should include (i) prevention of human contamination, (ii) actions at human level to cut disease dissemination by humans, (iii) control the disease at animal reservoir level, and (iv) actions at the level of the intermediate molluscan host.
Long Non-Coding RNAs Responsive to Witches’ Broom Disease in Paulownia tomentosa

Paulownia witches’ broom (PaWB) disease caused by phytoplasmas is a fatal disease that leads to considerable economic losses. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been demonstrated to play critical regulatory roles in posttranscriptional and transcriptional regulation. However, lncRNAs and their functional roles remain poorly characterized in Paulownia. To identify lncRNAs and investigate their roles in the response to PaWB phytoplasmas, RNA sequencing was performed for healthy Paulownia tomentosa, PaWB-infected P. tomentosa, and for healthy and PaWB-infected P. tomentosa treated with 100 mg L−1 rifampicin. A total of 28,614 unique mRNAs and 3693 potential lncRNAs were identified. Comparisons between lncRNAs and coding genes indicated that lncRNAs tended to have shorter transcripts and fewer exon numbers, and displayed significant expression specificity. Based on our comparison scheme, 1063 PaWB-related mRNAs and 110 PaWB-related lncRNAs were identified; among them, 12 PaWB-related candidate target genes that were regulated by nine PaWB-related lncRNAs were characterized. This study provides the first catalog of lncRNAs expressed in Paulownia and gives a revealing insight into the molecular mechanism responsible for PaWB.
Conditions of work and dermatitis in workers exposed to chemical risks by cement

This research was carried out in order to identify the working conditions in workers exposed to cement in a cement factory in the city of Cartagena. Through different tools it was possible to carry out the diagnosis of the working conditions and to identify the hazards to which the workers of the company are exposed when being in direct contact with the cement; in this way it was possible to know that the dermatitis that were manifesting the workers has its direct relation with this chemical and therefore to be able to establish those measures tending to ensure the complete state of health of the workers. The type of research carried out is descriptivequalitative, the applied methodology used as a closed questions survey tool, it was obtained as a result that 70% of the respondents did not use personal protection elements when handling cement, so can say that there is a considerable number of people exposed, which increases the likelihood that they may suffer contact dermatitis, through this the different preventive measures for working and health conditions among the employees of the cement company were raised.
Determinants of small rubber growers ’ adoption behaviour in Dhalai district of Tripura

219 Rubber is one of the successful histories about a foreign tree, has been introduced in Tripura state. Being a highly profitable investment, rubber can be seen as having considerable potential for poor upland farmers in line with government policy for stabilizing shifting cultivation and supporting new livelihood options for poverty reduction (Manivong and Cramb 2008). In less than fifty years after its introduction, the latex from rubber trees became an important economic source not only for local governments but for a large number of small producers who discovered in rubber an important source of continuous cash flows. Nowadays, rubber is vital for the welfare of hundreds of small farmers around the region who earlier were depending on shifting cultivation for their livelihood. In view of rubber’s potential to rehabilitate degraded forests, to settle tribal shifting cultivators, and to generate employment for the rural poor, the state government created the Tripura Forest Development & Plantation Corporation Limited (TFDPC Ltd) in 1976 for raising rubber plantations in the state (Bahuguna, 2006). Rubber has now attained the status of the most important plantation crop in Tripura not merely because of its commercial success, but more so due to its innovative application for economic rehabilitation of shifting cultivators, which delivered generally a degree of success in a manner hitherto not experienced in any rehabilitation package on unarable uplands. Tripura is now second largest rubber growing state in India with 33.7 per cent of the potential area under rubber. Keeping in view, government agency has been imparting training time to time to many farmers on cultivation technology and practices which received well responses from sizeable section of farmers. In this view, the study was designed with the specific objectives to identify and determine the independent variables or characteristics affecting the behavior of technology adoption of cultivation practices and to study the relationships and interdependency between personal and socioeconomic characteristic with adoption behavior of rubber growers’.
Projects : A Growth Mixture Modeling Approach

The success of open source software (OSS) projects depends heavily on the voluntary participation of a large number of developers. To remain sustainable, it is vital for an OSS project community to maintain a critical mass of core developers. Yet, only a small number of participants (identified here as ‘‘joiners’’) can successfully socialize themselves into the core developer group. Despite the importance of joiners’ socialization behavior, quantitative longitudinal research in this area is lacking. This exploratory study examines joiners’ temporal socialization trajectories and their impacts on joiners’ status progression. Guided by social resource theory and using the growth mixture modeling (GMM) approach to study 133 joiners in 40 OSS projects, the authors found that these joiners differed in both their initial levels and their growth trajectories of socialization and identified four distinct classes of joiner socialization behavior. They also found that these distinct latent classes of joiners varied in their status progression within their communities. The implications for research and practice are correspondingly discussed.
The perceived credibility of forward-looking performance disclosures

We investigate the credibility of forward-looking performance disclosures (FLPDs) in the narrative sections of annual reports, as perceived by investors. Our proxy for these disclosures is an index of statements about future performance. We find that companies issue more FLPDs when raising debt or conveying bad news in the financial statements. In the presence of these managerial incentives, investor reliance on FLPDs increases with the quality of earnings reported in the audited financial statements. Our results suggest that firms derive a benefit in terms of higher credibility for their narrative disclosures from having a reputation for high quality earnings.
Prostitution and Human Trafficking: A model-based exploration and policy analysis

The meeting of the oldest profession with modern slavery is the topic of this paper. After a brief introduction to prostitution and prostitution-related human trafficking, this paper focuses on the Dutch policy debate. A System Dynamics simulation model related to the Dutch situation developed to explore and provide insights related to the effects of proposed policies is presented in this paper. Using the simulation model, a ‘quick and dirty’ policy analysis is first of all performed, and preliminary conclusions are drawn. These preliminary conclusions are further tested under uncertainty, using two different but relatively similar simulation models. The main conclusions are that demand side measures are necessary, but not sufficient. The topic is so complex and uncertain that simple (combinations of) basic policies will not hold in all circumstances, which is why this topic requires further exploration and policy testing under deep uncertainty.
Using Bifactor Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling to Test for a Continuum Structure of Motivation

This paper explores the nature of workplace motivation by testing the continuum structure of motivation proposed by self-determination theory through the application of relatively new and advanced methodological techniques. Specifically, we demonstrate the usefulness of the overarching bifactor exploratory structural equation modeling framework in organizational psychology and discuss implications of such models over more traditional confirmatory factor analyses. This framework is applied to responses obtained from 1,124 Canadian employees who completed a multidimensional measure of workplace motivation. The results support a continuum of self-regulation and illustrate the importance of accounting for quality of motivation in addition to its global quantity. Indeed, the results showed that specific types of motivation explained variance in covariates over and above the variance already explained by the global quantity of self-determination. The current study further demonstrates the limitation of the commonly used relative autonomy index and offers alternate conceptualizations of human motivation.
A genetic assessment of single versus double origin of landlocked Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) from Lake Saint-Jean, Québec, Canada

We assessed the genetic relationships among landlocked populations and parapatric anadromous populations of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) from the Saguenay River system to infer the alternative scenarios of single versus double origin of salmon in Lake Saint-Jean, Quebec, Canada. We predicted that the hypothesis of double origin would be supported by the closer relationship of some landlocked populations to anadromous ones than to other landlocked populations. Alternatively, the single-origin scenario would be supported if landlocked populations were genetically closer to each other than to anadromous populations. Contrasting results of population differentiation at microsatellite loci were obtained with statistical treatments involving allelic frequency alone (θ, DCE) or incorporating mutational differences (RST, (δμ)2). A closer relationship among all landlocked populations of Lake Saint-Jean compared with anadromous ones was observed in analyses that only incorporated allele frequency information. In c.
appearance of glucose in upper and lower respiratory tract secretions

Accepted: 21 July 2003 Published online: 28 August 2003 © Springer-Verlag 2003 Abstract Objectives: (a) To describe the glucose content of normal human airways secretions; (b) to observe the effects of hyperglycemia and airways inflammation on airways glucose. Design: Observational studies. Settings: (a) St George’s Hospital Medical School; (b) diabetes mellitus outpatient clinics; (c) adult general intensive care unit. Patients: Nineteen healthy volunteers, 24 volunteers with acute rhinitis, 20 patients with diabetes mellitus, and 60 patients admitted to a general adult intensive care unit. Measurements: (a) Non-ventilated patients: simultaneous measurement of blood and nasal glucose concentrations; (b) ICU patients: simultaneous blood, nasal, and endotracheal (ET) glucose concentrations. Results: Nasal glucose was undetectable in all healthy volunteers. Glucose was detected in 12/24 volunteers with acute viral rhinitis [1 (1–2) mmol l−1] and 18/20 people with diabetes [4 (2–7) mmol l−1]. Glucose was detected in the ET secretions of 31/60 ventilated patients on ICU. Patients with ET glucose had significantly higher blood glucose (9.8±0.4 mmol l−1) than patients without ET glucose (7.2±0.3 mmol l−1, P<0.001), and all patients with blood glucose >10.1 mmol l−1 had glucose in ET secretions. Enteral nutrition did not affect the presence or concentration of glucose in ET secretions. Conclusions: Glucose is not normally present in airways secretions, but appears where hyperglycaemia or epithelial inflammation occur. The detection of glucose cannot reliably be used to detect enteral feed aspiration.