Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of feeding time on laying and reproductive performance of pharaoh quail (Coturnix coturnix Pharaoh) housed in different cage systems

A total of 120 male and 240 female quail (Coturnix coturnix Pharaoh) were used to determine the effect of feeding time on laying and reproductive performance of Pharaoh quail. They were fed ad libitum between 09:00 to 17:00 or full day, daily. Each female-male pair was housed in multiple-bird cages and colony cages. Initial and final body weight, quail-day egg production, feed consumption per egg and mortality were measured to determine laying performance of breeders. A total of 960 eggs were used to determine reproductive performance of quail in each treatment group. Eggs were incubated in a commercial setter and hatcher in standard conditions. Embryonic mortality, apparent fertility, hatchability of total and fertile eggs were calculated to determine the reproductive performance. Results indicated that feeding between 09:00 to 17:00 h reduced final body weight and egg production (p<0.001, p<0.001). Whereas, limited time of feeding improved hatchability of total (p<0.001) and fertile eggs (p<0.001) and reduced embryonic mortality (p<0.001) when compared with the effects of feeding full day. It was found that there were no significant differences for the egg production of quail housed in different cage systems. Quail caged in multiple-bird cages consumed less feed (p<0.01) compared to quail housed in colony cages. There were significant differences for the mortality (p<0.05), hatchability of total (p<0.001) and fertile eggs (p<0.001), and embryonic mortality (p<0.001) during the incubation due to main effect of cage systems. There were significant cage systems×feeding time interactions for hatchability of total and fertile eggs and embryonic mortality (p<0.001). As a conclusion; feeding from 09:00 to 17:00 reduced laying performance of quail and improved the reproductive traits compared to full day feeding of quail breeders. But, further investigations are needed to determine the optimum length of feeding time and egg production of breeders in quail fed limited time must be evaluated in comparison with its beneficial or detrimental effects. (Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. 2006. Vol 19, No. 1 : 67-71)
Effects of High CaO Fly Ash and Sulfate Activator as a Finer Binder for Cementless Grouting Material

The effects or high CaO fly ash and sulfate activator on cementless grouting material were investigated through Labiles Waterglass (LW) grouting applied at an actual construction field. Circulating fluidized bed combustion ash was used as CaO fly ash, and petro cokes desulfurization gypsum was used as sulfate activator. Cementless grouting material (CGM) could decrease the gel time by about 16.7% compared with ordinary Portland cement (OPC). This characteristic improved the average daily workload and construction period per meter by about 13.5% with CGM. Furthermore, when constructing 1000 holes of LW grouting, the construction time could be reduced by 19 days (20% of the total construction period of LW grouting). Meanwhile, CGM could increase the homogel strength by about 48.4% after 28 days compared with OPC. After X-ray diffraction analysis and scanning electron microscope analysis, CGM was found to produce cement hydrate by chemical reaction mechanism of high CaO fly ash and sulfate activator, even though cement was not used. The matrix structure properties of CGM and OPC specimens were similar, but CGM, with 134.3% fineness, exhibited higher compressive strength and lower air permeability than OPC. As a result, CGM could reduce the leakage length per square meter by 74.4% compared with OPC. Using CGM as a substitute for OPC in LW grouting in actual sites could be beneficial in terms of securing construction speed and durability, as well as reducing CO2 emissions due to reduction of OPC usage.
Delay-time distribution of core-collapse supernovae with late events resulting from binary interaction

Most massive stars, the progenitors of core-collapse supernovae, are in close binary systems and may interact with their companion through mass transfer or merging. We undertake a population synthesis study to compute the delay-time distribution of core-collapse supernovae, that is, the supernova rate versus time following a starburst, taking into account binary interactions. We test the systematic robustness of our results by running various simulations to account for the uncertainties in our standard assumptions. We find that a significant fraction, 15+9-8%, of core-collapse supernovae are “late”, that is, they occur 50–200 Myr after birth, when all massive single stars have already exploded. These late events originate predominantly from binary systems with at least one, or, in most cases, with both stars initially being of intermediate mass (4–8 M⊙). The main evolutionary channels that contribute often involve either the merging of the initially more massive primary star with its companion or the engulfment of the remaining core of the primary by the expanding secondary that has accreted mass at an earlier evolutionary stage. Also, the total number of core-collapse supernovae increases by 14+15-14% because of binarity for the same initial stellar mass. The high rate implies that we should have already observed such late core-collapse supernovae, but have not recognized them as such. We argue that φ Persei is a likely progenitor and that eccentric neutron star – white dwarf systems are likely descendants. Late events can help explain the discrepancy in the delay-time distributions derived from supernova remnants in the Magellanic Clouds and extragalactic type Ia events, lowering the contribution of prompt Ia events. We discuss ways to test these predictions and speculate on the implications for supernova feedback in simulations of galaxy evolution.
Design and Speed-Adaptive Control of a Powered Geared Five-Bar Prosthetic Knee Using BP Neural Network Gait Recognition

To improve the multi-speed adaptability of the powered prosthetic knee, this paper presented a speed-adaptive neural network control based on a powered geared five-bar (GFB) prosthetic knee. The GFB prosthetic knee is actuated via a cylindrical cam-based nonlinear series elastic actuator that can provide the desired actuation for level-ground walking, and its attitude measurement is realized by two inertial sensors and one load cell on the prosthetic knee. To improve the performance of the control system, the motor control and the attitude measurement of the GFB prosthetic knee are run in parallel. The BP neural network uses input data from only the GFB prosthetic knee, and is trained by natural and artificially modified various gait patterns of different able-bodied subjects. To realize the speed-adaptive control, the prosthetic knee speed and gait cycle percentage are identified by the Gaussian mixture model-based gait classifier. Specific knee motion control instructions are generated by matching the neural network predicted gait percentage with the ideal walking gait. Habitual and variable speed level-ground walking experiments are conducted via an able-bodied subject, and the experimental results show that the neural network control system can handle both self-selected walking and variable speed walking with high adaptability.
Crack engineering for the construction of arbitrary hierarchical architectures

Significance Despite emerging breakthroughs in the achievement of numerous elegant biomimetic structures that impart fascinating functionalities, bioinspired materials still suffer from poor structural durability, chemical reliability, flexibility, and optical transparency, as well as unaffordable cost and low throughput, thus preventing their broad real-life applications. In striking contrast to conventional wisdom, we demonstrate that the usually avoided and detrimental elastic crack phenomenon can be translated into powerful configurable-crack engineering to achieve structures and functions that are impossible to realize even using state-of-the-art techniques. Our approach dramatically enriches the freedom and flexibility in the design of materials to mimic various natural living organisms and paves the road for translating nature’s inspirations into real-world applications. Three-dimensional hierarchical morphologies widely exist in natural and biomimetic materials, which impart preferential functions including liquid and mass transport, energy conversion, and signal transmission for various applications. While notable progress has been made in the design and manufacturing of various hierarchical materials, the state-of-the-art approaches suffer from limited materials selection, high costs, as well as low processing throughput. Herein, by harnessing the configurable elastic crack engineering—controlled formation and configuration of cracks in elastic materials—an effect normally avoided in various industrial processes, we report the development of a facile and powerful technique that enables the faithful transfer of arbitrary hierarchical structures with broad material compatibility and structural and functional integrity. Our work paves the way for the cost-effective, large-scale production of a variety of flexible, inexpensive, and transparent 3D hierarchical and biomimetic materials.
Radio-Enhancing Properties of Bimetallic Au:Pt Nanoparticles: Experimental and Theoretical Evidence

The use of nanoparticles, in combination with ionizing radiation, is considered a promising method to improve the performance of radiation therapies. In this work, we engineered mono- and bimetallic core-shell gold–platinum nanoparticles (NPs) grafted with poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG). Their radio-enhancing properties were investigated using plasmids as bio-nanomolecular probes and gamma radiation. We found that the presence of bimetallic Au:Pt-PEG NPs increased by 90% the induction of double-strand breaks, the signature of nanosize biodamage, and the most difficult cell lesion to repair. The radio-enhancement of Au:Pt-PEG NPs were found three times higher than that of Au-PEG NPs. This effect was scavenged by 80% in the presence of dimethyl sulfoxide, demonstrating the major role of hydroxyl radicals in the damage induction. Geant4-DNA Monte Carlo simulations were used to elucidate the physical processes involved in the radio-enhancement. We predicted enhancement factors of 40% and 45% for the induction of nanosize damage, respectively, for mono- and bimetallic nanoparticles, which is attributed to secondary electron impact processes. This work contributed to a better understanding of the interplay between energy deposition and the induction of nanosize biomolecular damage, being Monte Carlo simulations a simple method to guide the synthesis of new radio-enhancing agents.
High-intensity interval training has a greater effect on reverse cholesterol transport elements compared with moderate-intensity continuous training in obese male rats.

OBJECTIVES The present study compares the effect of high-intensity interval training (HIIT; 18 min) and moderate-intensity continuous training (MIT; 1 h) on reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) elements in obese subjects. METHODS Thirty adult male rats were induced high-fat diet (HFD) for 12 weeks. After four weeks, the rats were randomly divided into three groups while simultaneously continuing the HFD for the remaining eight weeks. Group specificities were HFD-control, HFD-MIT and HFD-HIIT. The rats were sacrificed 48 h after the last training session and the samples were collected. Analysis of variance and Pearson's correlation test were used for the statistical analyses (significance level: p ≤ 0.05). RESULTS The results showed that both HIIT and MIT improved heart ABCA1, ABCG1, ABCG4, ABCG5, ABCG8, LXR-α and PPARγ gene expression as well as plasma Apo A1, LCAT, lipids and lipoproteins (p ≤ 0.05). Moreover, higher cardiac ABCA1, ABCG1, ABCG4, ABCG5, ABCG8 and PPARγ expression and plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p ≤ 0.05) concentrations were found in the HFD-HIIT group compared with the HFD-MIT group. CONCLUSION HIIT may have more cardioprotective effects than MIT against atherosclerosis, along with saving time, as supported by the changes observed in the main factors involved in the RCT process.
Bacterial communities in the solid, liquid, dorsal, and ventral epithelium fractions of yak (Bos grunniens) rumen

Yak (Bos grunniens) is an important and dominant livestock species in the challenging environment of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. Rumen microbiota of the solid, liquid, and epithelium fractions play key roles in nutrient metabolism and contribute to host adaptation in ruminants. However, there is a little knowledge of the microbiota in these rumen fractions of yak. Therefore, we collected samples of solid, liquid, dorsal, and ventral epithelium fractions from five female yaks, then amplified bacterial 16S rRNA gene V4 regions and sequenced them using an Illumina MiSeq platform. Principal coordinates analysis detected significant differences in bacterial communities between the liquid, solid, and epithelium fractions, and between dorsal and ventral epithelium fractions. Rikenellaceae RC9, the families Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae, and Fibrobacter spp. were the abundant and enriched bacteria in solid fraction, while the genera Prevotella and Prevotellaceae UCG 003 were higher in the liquid fraction. Campylobacter spp. , Comamonas spp. , Desulfovibrio spp. , and Solobacterium spp. were significantly higher in dorsal epithelium, while Howardella spp. , Prevotellaceae UCG 001, Ruminococcaceae UCG 005, and Treponema 2 were enriched in the ventral epithelium. Comparison of predictive functional profiles among the solid, liquid, and dorsal, and ventral epithelium fractions also revealed significant differences. Microbiota in the ventral fraction of yak rumen also significantly differ from reported microbiota of cattle. In conclusion, our results improve our knowledge of the taxonomic composition and roles of yak rumen microbiota.
Forward Foreign Exchange Rates, Expected Spot Rates, and Premia: A Signal-Extraction Approach.

In this paper, we implement a methodology to identify and measure premia in the pricing of forward foreign exchange. The methodology involves application of signal-extraction techniques from the engineering literature. Diagnostic tests indicate that these methods are quite successful in capturing the essence of the time-series properties of premium terms. The estimated premium models indicate that premia show a certain degree of persistence over time and that more than half the variance in the forecast error that results from the use of current forward rates as predictors of future spot rates is accounted for by variation in premium terms. The methodology can be applied straightforwardly to the measurement of unobservables in other financial markets.
The Relationship between Economic Growth and Remittances In The Presence of Cross-Sectional Dependence

This paper reexamines the relationship between migrant remittances and economic growth using the most recent panel data (1977–2012) for some of the largest recipient countries of foreign remittances in the world namely, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and the Philippines. A cross-sectional dependence test (CD) was employed which confirms the presence of cross sectional dependence in the panel. We employ CIPS panel unit root test that accounts for cross sectional dependence to test the stationarity of data. The long run relationship between economic growth and remittance was confirmed by the Panel Pedroni and Westerlund cointegration tests. Then, the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) regression technique was applied to estimate the short- and the long-run relationship between the two variables while controlling for country size and heterogeneity. The results indicate a highly significant long-run positive relationship between remittance and economic growth in these countries. However, there is an insignificant positive association between them in the short run. The error correction term in the short run is −0.037 suggesting that approximately 3% of the deviations in the short run from the long-run equilibrium are corrected each year. The overall results support the argument that remittances are playing increasingly important role for these countries' economies and as such, they should continue with their pro-remittance policies looking combined with diversifying their manpower exports. Although, the findings are consistent with most of the existing literature that support the positive role of migrants' remittances in spurring economic growth, scope exists for future research to identify various channels through which remittances impact not only growth but also other macro variables.
Ontological attention ensembles for capturing semantic concepts in ICD code prediction from clinical text

We present a semantically interpretable system for automated ICD coding of clinical text documents. Our contribution is an ontological attention mechanism which matches the structure of the ICD ontology, in which shared attention vectors are learned at each level of the hierarchy, and combined into label-dependent ensembles. Analysis of the attention heads shows that shared concepts are learned by the lowest common denominator node. This allows child nodes to focus on the differentiating concepts, leading to efficient learning and memory usage. Visualisation of the multi-level attention on the original text allows explanation of the code predictions according to the semantics of the ICD ontology. On the MIMIC-III dataset we achieve a 2.7% absolute (11% relative) improvement from 0.218 to 0.245 macro-F1 score compared to the previous state of the art across 3,912 codes. Finally, we analyse the labelling inconsistencies arising from different coding practices which limit performance on this task.
Occupational Health and Safety of Immigrant Workers in Italy and Spain: A Scoping Review

The main aim of the present study was to summarize the available literature on the topic of occupational health and safety (OH&S) among immigrant workers (IMWs) in Italy and Spain. We conducted a scoping review, searching Medline, Social Sciences Citation Index, PsycINFO, CINAHL Plus, SciELO, and EMBASE for peer-reviewed articles, published in English, Italian, or Spanish, between 1999–2018. 34 studies were included, 28 with quantitative methodology and 6 with qualitative. Main findings were that, compared to natives, IMWs in Italy and Spain showed higher prevalence of low-skilled jobs and of perceived discrimination at work; higher physical demands, poorer environmental working conditions, and more exposure to occupational risks (e.g., ergonomic and psychosocial hazards); a greater risk of occupational injuries; worse general and mental health; and a plausible worsening of their health status, especially in Spain, as a result of the economic crisis. The findings of the present scoping review constitute warning signs that indicate the need for a holistic global response to ensure that adverse OH&S outcomes among IMWs workers are improved and that equitable access to health care is guaranteed. Such a response will require a concrete and evidence-based approach to prevent and monitor occupational risk factors and associated outcomes in the workplaces.
Parenterally Administered P24-VP8* Nanoparticle Vaccine Conferred Strong Protection against Rotavirus Diarrhea and Virus Shedding in Gnotobiotic Pigs

Current live rotavirus vaccines are costly with increased risk of intussusception due to vaccine replication in the gut of vaccinated children. New vaccines with improved safety and cost-effectiveness are needed. In this study, we assessed the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of a novel P24-VP8* nanoparticle vaccine using the gnotobiotic (Gn) pig model of human rotavirus infection and disease. Three doses of P24-VP8* (200 μg/dose) intramuscular vaccine with Al(OH)3 adjuvant (600 μg) conferred significant protection against infection and diarrhea after challenge with virulent Wa strain rotavirus. This was indicated by the significant reduction in the mean duration of diarrhea, virus shedding in feces, and significantly lower fecal cumulative consistency scores in post-challenge day (PCD) 1–7 among vaccinated pigs compared to the mock immunized controls. The P24-VP8* vaccine was highly immunogenic in Gn pigs. It induced strong VP8*-specific serum IgG and Wa-specific virus-neutralizing antibody responses from post-inoculation day 21 to PCD 7, but did not induce serum or intestinal IgA antibody responses or a strong effector T cell response, which are consistent with the immunization route, the adjuvant used, and the nature of the non-replicating vaccine. The findings are highly translatable and thus will facilitate clinical trials of the P24-VP8* nanoparticle vaccine.
Thrombocytopenia and thrombocytosis are associated with different outcome in atrial fibrillation patients on anticoagulant therapy

Background Information regarding the significance of platelet (PLT) count on outcome of atrial fibrillation (AF) patients who are treated with anticoagulants is limited. Methods We conducted a monocentric observational retrospective cohort study of AF patients treated with either warfarin (n = 6287) or non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) (n = 5240). Patient were divided into 3 subgroups; low, normal and high PLT for counts < 150 K/ μl, 150–450 K/ μl and > 450 K/ μl, respectively. A multivariate Cox-regression was used to evaluate the association between PLT subgroups and clinical outcomes. Results During follow-up [median = 40.6 months (IQR 17.6–60)], mortality (HR 1.36, 95 CI 1.1–1.74, p = 0.01) and rate of myocardial infarction (MI) (HR 2.4, 95 CI 1.28–4.57, p = 0.007) were higher in patients with high compared to normal PLT. Transient ischemic attack or cerebrovascular accident (TIA/CVA) rate was lower in patients with low compared to normal PLT (HR 0.69, 95 CI 0.51–0.93, p = 0.02). A comparison between NOACs and warfarin demonstrated a significantly better clinical outcome for patients on NOACs in both the low (lower mortality rates) and normal PLT subgroup (lower mortality, TIA/CVA and systemic emboli rates). For patients on NOACs, low and high compared to normal PLT were associated with a higher combined outcome (HR 1.12, 95 CI 1–1.38, p = 0.047), and a higher systemic emboli rate (HR 7.07, 95 CI 1.66–30.25, p = 0.008), respectively. Conclusions Abnormal PLT count is associated with different clinical outcome of AF patients on anticoagulants. Further studies are needed in order assess whether PLT level should influence strategies of anticoagulation.