Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improving nutrient release of wall-disrupted bee pollen with a combination of ultrasonication and high shear technique.

BACKGROUND Pollen collected by honey bees contains a substantial amount of nutrients and has a high nutritive value. However, it can be difficult to digest and absorb a high level of nutrients due to the complex wall of bee pollen. RESULTS We observed that amino acids were mostly distributed inside the cell wall of lotus bee pollen, rape bee pollen, apricot bee pollen, wuweizi bee pollen, and camellia bee pollen, using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS). Thus, five species of bee pollen were wall disrupted with a combination of ultrasonication and high shear technique (US-HS). After the treatment, bee pollen walls were completely broken into fragments, and a large number of nutrients were released. The amino acid, fatty acid, protein, crude fat, reducing sugar, β-carotene, calcium, iron, zinc, and selenium content increased after wall disruption. CONCLUSION Overall, our study demonstrated that US-HS can disrupt bee pollen walls to release nutrients. Further studies are therefore being conducted to compare the digestibility and absorptivity of pollen nutrients before and after wall disruption. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry seems to be a reliable mapping technique for determining the distribution of food ingredients. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.
Investigation of viable taxa in the deep terrestrial biosphere suggests high rates of nutrient recycling

ABSTRACT The deep biosphere is the largest ‘bioreactor’ on earth, and microbes inhabiting this biome profoundly influence global nutrient and energy cycles. An important question for deep biosphere microbiology is whether or not specific populations are viable. To address this, we used quantitative PCR and high throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing of total and viable cells (i.e. with an intact cellular membrane) from three groundwaters with different ages and chemical constituents. There were no statistically significant differences in 16S rRNA gene abundances and microbial diversity between total and viable communities. This suggests that populations were adapted to prevailing oligotrophic conditions and that non-viable cells are rapidly degraded and recycled into new biomass. With higher concentrations of organic carbon, the modern marine and undefined mixed waters hosted a community with a larger range of predicted growth strategies than the ultra-oligotrophic old saline water. These strategies included fermentative and potentially symbiotic lifestyles by candidate phyla that typically have streamlined genomes. In contrast, the old saline waters had more 16S rRNA gene sequences in previously cultured lineages able to oxidize hydrogen and fix carbon dioxide. This matches the paradigm of a hydrogen and carbon dioxide-fed chemolithoautotrophic deep biosphere.
ContikiOS based library fire detection system

In this paper, a ContikiOS based Library Fire Detection System has been designed and implemented using wireless sensor networks. The system consists of Atmel AVR IRIS motes which are operating with IEEE 802.15. 4 network protocol, Linux based RaspberryPI, and ESP8266 Wi-Fi transceiver. The system can be easily transported, re- positioned and expanded. Benefiting from multithreading feature of ContikiOS and executing the tasks in parallel, the system has a short response time, which is critical for fire detection. According to the test results, the system responds to the changes in temperature and prompts a warning/alarm message in approximately 4 seconds.
Optimization of Governor Parameters to Prevent Frequency Oscillations in Power Systems

Negative damping of prime movers is a major cause of sustained frequency oscillations in power systems. Increasing the damping torque of prime movers by adjusting governor parameters is an effective measure to prevent frequency oscillations. The oscillation frequency is volatile and turbine parameters change under loading conditions. To guarantee robustness and adaptability, the governor parameters should be adjusted to ensure sufficient damping torque over the entire range of oscillation frequency and under different turbine parameters. An optimization model of governor parameters is proposed. A constraint of the model is that the damping torque of the prime mover over the entire oscillation frequency range, and under different turbine parameters, must be greater than the threshold. The composite dynamic performance of primary frequency regulation under different loading conditions is the optimization objective. Test results validate the proposed method. The stability of the frequency oscillation mode under different conditions can be guaranteed.
Commanding mobile robot movement based on natural language processing with RNN encoder­decoder

This work utilizes the potential of NLP and machine learning for the challenging task of human-machine communication. A task of robot movement is selected as the context of the research work where the goal is to create a software system that receives natural language input movement command from human and produces the set of precise trajectory information for the robot to perform. The proposed system consists of Pre-processing function, Command classification, Parameter classification, Post-processing function where RNN Encoder-Decoder is used for the implementation of the classification process. The system was trained using a dataset of 1,600 unique entries. The experiment results show that the average accuracy in case of single movement command is 79.23% whereas the average accuracy in case of multiple command in one sentence is 73.65%.
The Evolution of Human

Five descriptive parameters of hearing--high-frequent' and low-frequency sensitivity, lowest threshold. best frequency, and area of the audible field•re compared statistically, first, among mammals in 1⁄2eneral, and. then. among seven animals selected to approximate a phylogenetic sequence of man's ancestors. Three potentially explanatory parameters body size. maximton binaural tbne dispartIN, and recency qt' common anceatry wilh man--are also explicitly' included in the analysis. The results show that: high-frequency hearing (above 32 kHz) is a characteristic unique to mammals, and, among members of this class, one which is commonplace and primitive. Being highly correlated with functionally close-set ears, it is probably the result of selective pressure for accurate sound localization. Low-frequency hearing improved markedly iu mankind's line of descent, but the kind and degree of improvement are not unique among mammalian lineages. High sensitivity developed in the earliest stages of man's lineage and has remained relatively unchanged since the sinfian level. The frequency of the lowest threshold has declined in Man's lineage--the greatest drop probably occurring during the Eocene. The total area of the audible field increased until the Eocene and has decreased since then.
The effect of experimental design on the measurement of mate choice: a meta-analysis

Quantifying the shape and strength of mating preferences is a vital component of the study of sexual selection and reproductive isolation, but the influence of experimental design on these estimates is unclear. Mating preferences may be tested using either no-choice or choice designs, and these tests may result in different estimates of preference strength. However, previous studies testing for this difference have given mixed results. To quantify the difference in the strength of mating preferences obtained using the 2 designs, we performed a meta-analysis of 38 studies on 40 species in which both experimental designs were used to test for preferences in a single species/trait/sex combination. We found that mating preferences were significantly stronger when tested using a choice design compared with a no-choice design. We suggest that this difference is due to the increased cost of rejecting partners in no-choice tests; if individuals perceive they are unlikely to remate in a no-choice situation they will be more likely to mate randomly. Importantly the use of choice tests in species in which mates are primarily encountered sequentially in the wild may lead to mating preferences being significantly overestimated. Furthermore, this pattern was seen for female mate choice but not for male mate choice, and for intraspecific choice but not for interspecies or interpopulation mate discrimination. Our study thus highlights the fact that the strength of mating preferences, and thus sexual selection, can vary significantly between experimental designs and across different social and ecological contexts.
Serum monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 levels and subclinical atherosclerosis in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

1Nicoleta V. Leach, 2Ştefan C. Vesa, 3Eleonora Dronca, 1Dorel P. Sampelean, 1Monica Lupsor, 1Mircea Grigorescu 1 Vth Department of Internal Medicine, “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; 2Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; 3 Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Chemical Composition, Nutritional Properties and Antioxidant Activity of Monkey Apple (Anisophyllea laurina R. Br. ex Sabine)

The aim of this study was to determine the chemical composition, nutritional properties and antioxidant activity of Monkey apple methanol extract. Results expressed on dry matter basis revealed the seeds contained the following: 2.74% protein, 15.86% crude fat, 7.67% crude fiber, 468.74kcal, 82.01% moisture content, 5.72% ash, 88.98% carbohydrate. The seeds further contained considerable amounts of minerals and vitamins as follows: 14.14mg/100g for iron, 2.37mg/100g for potassium, 1434.38mg/100g for manganese, 82.71mg/100g for magnesium, 185.49mg/100g for calcium, 28.33mg/kg for ascorbic acid, 13.33mg/kg for thiamine and 55.83mg/kg for pyridoxine. Furthermore, it was found out that both the seeds and pulps were also rich in the following: 297.49-304.94mg QE/100g for total flavonoids, 2086.98-2304.72mgGAE/100g for total phenolics, 1.6-96400mg/kg for citric acid, 5880-9280mg/kg for malic acid, 960-1040mg/kg for tartaric acid, 30.8-38.8mg/kg for fumaric acids, 232-660mg/100g for oxalates, 1186.67-1320mg/100g for phytic acid and 130.23-515.23mg/100g for tannins. The seeds and pulp oils were also found to be rich in unsaturated fatty acids ranging from 46.27-50.21%. Our results therefore demonstrate that Monkey apple could serve as supplementary source of essential nutrient and antioxidant components with health benefits.
Feasibility of using emergency department patient experience surveys as a proxy for equity of care

Collecting and examining equity data can help inform quality improvement initiatives but is a relatively new practice in health care. The overall goal of this study was to assess different methods a feasible starting point in measuring equity in an urban Emergency Department (ED) that serves a diverse patient population. Socio-demographic characteristics of patients visiting an ED were compared with tho responded to provincial patient experience surveys routinely administered by mail. Patient experience survey data were collected over an 11-week period in an urban ED using different survey administration methods (face vs. handout) among study participants from vulnerable populations (elderly, low income, homeless, and mental health or substance use issues). Patient populations receiving care in the ED were shown to be different from those who responded to routinely mailed patient experience surveys with elderly patients over income, mental health or substance use and homeless/unstable housing populations under responses. From a total of 111 study participants, the r for surveys that were handed out (p = 0.002), but no significant difference in the percentage of positive responses was evident. Delivering patient experience surveys immediately upon discharge is an effective way of capturing uni responses from patients in vulnerable populations, supporting a valuable means administration method poses important implications when used to inform quality improvement efforts and performance measurement.
A multi-institution exploration of peer instruction in practice

Peer Instruction (PI) is an active learning pedagogy that has been shown to improve student outcomes in computing, including lower failure rates, higher exam scores, and better retention in the CS major. PI's key classroom mechanism is the PI question: a formative multiple choice question on which students vote, then discuss, then vote again. While research indicates that PI questions lead to learning gains for students, relatively little is known about the questions themselves and how faculty employ them. Additionally, much of the work has examined PI data collected by researchers operating in a quasi-experimental setting. We examine data collected incidentally by multiple instructors using PI as a pedagogical technique in their classroom. We look at how many questions instructors use in their courses, the difficulty level of the questions, and normalized gain, a metric that looks at increases in student correctness between individual and group votes. We find normalized gain levels similar to those in existing literature, indicating that students are learning, and that most questions, even those developed by instructors new to PI, fall within recommended difficulty levels, indicating instructors can create good PI questions with little training. We also find that instructors add PI questions over the first several iterations of a new PI course, showing that they find PI questions valuable and suggesting that full development of PI materials for a course may take multiple semesters.
Extraocular Muscle Enlargement and Thyroid Eye Disease-like Orbital Inflammation Associated with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy in Cancer Patients.

PURPOSE To describe thyroid eye disease (TED)-like orbital inflammatory syndrome in 3 cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. METHODS All consecutive patients treated by the senior author who were receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors and developed TED-like orbital inflammation were included. RESULTS Three cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors developed orbital inflammation. The first patient was treated with a combination of a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 inhibitor and a programmed cell death protein 1 inhibitor and developed TED-like orbital inflammation with normal thyroid function and antibody levels. The second patient had a previous diagnosis of Graves disease without TED, and developed TED soon after initiating treatment with a programmed cell death protein 1 inhibitor. The third patient developed acute hyperthyroidism with symptomatic TED following treatment with an investigational cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 inhibitor agent. All 3 patients were managed with either systemic steroids or observation, with resolution of their symptoms and without the need to halt immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment for their cancer. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS TED-like orbital inflammation may occur as a side effect of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy with anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 or anti-PD-1 inhibitors. To the best of their knowledge, this is the first reported case of TED as a result of programmed cell death protein 1 inhibitor monotherapy. All 3 patients were treated with systemic steroids and responded quickly while continuing treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors for their cancer. With increasing use of this class of drugs, clinicians should be familiar with the clinical manifestations and treatments for this adverse reaction.
Pedagogical Functions of Sequences Organization of Talk in the EFL Classroom

Conversational sequences appear to be basically built around a basic pair of adjacent interactional actions; such as a question which makes an answer become relevant next. However, in contexts other than ordinary conversation, there are more complex features of sequential organization needed to be investigated especially those occurred in institutional contexts. This study applied CA to examine the interactional activities of teaching and learning in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom in Thailand. The results show that teaching and learning are not planned but contingent activities, and that the pedagogical goal of developing language knowledge is mutually achieved in a micro-context of interaction between the teacher and students mostly in a form of coherent successive and extended elicitation and response sequences rather than series of separated courses of random action sequences. Furthermore, detailed pedagogical implications which manifest itself in the developing of these sequences of talk are uncovered in a turn-by-turn basis. This empirical study provides evidence that inform the teaching practices about how classroom talk should be managed successively in order to achieve pedagogical effectiveness.
Locally administered bisphosphonate in hip stem revisions using the bone impaction grafting technique: a randomised, placebo-controlled study with DXA and five-year RSA follow-up

Background: Bisphosphonates have previously been shown to increase the density of impacted graft bone. In the present study we hypothesise that bisphosphonates also reduce early stem subsidence. We examined the effect of locally applied bisphosphonate to allografts on prosthetic micromotion and bone density in femoral stem revision with impaction grafting. Methods: 37 patients were randomised to either clodronate or saline as local adjunct to the morsellised allograft bone. 24 patients were finally analysed per protocol and evaluated by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) during the first year and with radiostereometric analysis (RSA) for 5 years. Results: There were no significant differences neither in bone density, nor in migratory behaviour between the groups. The femoral stems had subsided 3.6 mm in both groups (p = 0.99) at 5 years and there was no difference as measured over time with mixed models analysis. The clinical outcome was good in both groups. Conclusion: Clodronate as a local addendum to allograft bone in hip revision did not increase bone density or reduce micromotion of the implant.
Long-term evaluation of urinary copper excretion and non-caeruloplasmin associated copper in Wilson disease patients under medical treatment

Objective Urinary copper excretion rates and non-caeruloplasmin associated copper concentrations are increased in patients with Wilson disease. However, there is little literature describing the monitoring of these parameters over the long term. Methods This is a monocentric retrospective study including data collected between 2003 and 2015 from 321 patients with Wilson disease by chart review. The patients were under therapy with D-penicillamine, trientine, or zinc. 24-h urinary copper excretion rates, non-caeruloplasmin associated copper, and total serum copper concentrations were determined at the start of therapy, as well as 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, and ≥ 60 months after the start of therapy. For patients taking chelating agents, all parameters were measured while under continued therapy, as well as after a 48-h dose interruption. A mathematical formula to predict 24-h urinary copper excretion rates under different therapies was established. Results In all treatment groups, urinary copper excretion rates decreased over time, but the inter-individual variation of the results was high. Non-caeruloplasmin associated copper concentrations tended to decline over time, but with a higher variation of results than that observed for urinary copper excretion rates. Conclusion Due to their variability, urinary copper excretion rates and serum copper concentrations are less than ideal parameters by which to monitor the benefit of a copper-reducing therapy. Urinary copper excretion rates seem to be more suitable than noncaeruloplasmin associated copper concentrations for this purpose.
Gender Differences in Achievement Goals and Performances in English Language and Mathematics of Senior Secondary Schools Students in Borno State, Nigeria.

The paper investigated gender difference in achievement goals and performance in English Language and Mathematics of senior secondary schools students in Borno State, Nigeria. The study specifically sought to determine gender differences in students’ academic performances in English Language, Mathematics and overall academic performance as well as the effects of gender on these differences in performance if any. The study was based on the ‘A Hierarchical Model of Approach and Avoidance Achievement Goals Motivation’ propounded by Elliot and Church (1997). The study used Correlational design with a sample of 827 (414 boys and 413) students selected via stratified random sampling form 18 schools across the state. “A Hierarchical Model of Approach and Avoidance Achievement Goals Motivation” Scale was used to measure achievement goals, tests in English and Mathematics were used to measure achievement measures in the two subjects domains while the aggregate of average scores in the two tests was used to measure overall academic performance. The instruments were administered to the participants in a classroom seating position and collected on the sport and the data was analyzed using MANAVA. The results revealed that males performed significantly better than females in English Language and overall academic performance but there is no gender difference in Mathematics performance; and there is significant effect of gender on students’ learning goal orientation in faviour of males, whereas there are no gender effects on performance –approach and performance-avoidance goals orientation of students. The implications of the study for education and research were highlighted. Keywords : Gender, differences, achievement goals, performance, English language, Mathematics, senior secondary schools students. Nigeria
Simulation of temperate freezing lakes by one-dimensional lake models: performance assessment for interactive coupling with regional climate models

A systematic assessment of the ability of two selected 1-D lake models (the model of S.W. Hostetler and the Freshwater Lake model) to simulate lake surface temperature and fluxes for different lake conditions, corresponding to typical temperate freezing lakes of North America, through a set of offline tests, is presented. Results suggest that both models perform well in shallow lakes, while important differences between modelled and observed water temperatures and ice-cover duration can be noticed in deeper lakes. These differences could be partially attributed to the biases in the driving data and most importantly to the lack of representation of complex processes in the models, such as horizontal transfer of water and heat, ice drift, etc. Sensitivity of the models to lake depth, water transparency, explicit snow and snow/ice albedo is presented and possible ways of improving the performance of the 1-D lake models are proposed.