Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Study of some blood parameters and minerals in Akkaraman Kangal breed of sheep

This study was carried out on clinically healthy male and female Akkaraman Kangal sheep (n=40 each gender). Serum glucose, total protein, albumin, globulin, cholesterol, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, total bilirubin, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), triglyceride, gamma glutamyltransferase (GGT) and some minerals like calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), magnesium (Mg) were determined. No statistical difference was found in the concentration of glucose, ALP, GGT, cholesterol, ALT and albumin. A significant relationship was found between male and female in terms of creatinine, total bilirubin, AST, triglycerides, total protein, globulin, Ca, P and Mg levels. The present information may provide a baseline data for future research and diagnosis of certain diseases in Akkaraman sheep.
DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY OF THYROID ULTRASOUND IN DETECTION OF MALIGNANCY IN THYROID NODULES

Background: Occurrence of thyroid nodules is a common clinical problem in Pakistan being endemic area for hypothyroidism. This study was carried out to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of thyroid ultrasound in detection of malignancy in thyroid nodules keeping Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) as a gold standard. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional validation study was conducted at Departments of Radiology and Pathology, Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan Hospital/ CMH, Muzaffarabad from Dec 2014 to Jun 2015. Patients referred for evaluation of thyroid nodules were included in the study. Ultrasound guided FNAC was performed under direct imaging guidance. The imaging findings and FNAC were compared to access the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound in predicting malignancy in thyroid nodules. Results: A total of 175 patients were studied with age range between 20â€“70 years. Mean age of the patients was 44. 05Â±14.8 years. Of these, 35.4% were males and 64.6% were females. On FNAC, 27.4% cases were positive and 72.6% cases were negative while on thyroid ultrasound 26.3% cases were positive and 73.7% cases were negative. True positive were 24.0%, false positive 2.3%, false negative 3.4%, and true negative were 70.3%. Thyroid ultrasound showed sensitivity 87.5%, specificity 96.8%, diagnostic accuracy 94.2%, positive predictive value 91.3% and negative predictive value 95.3%. Conclusion: High resolution ultrasound is a very useful tool in accessing and selecting thyroid nodules for biopsy with a high diagnostic accuracy.
The reciprocality between critical thinking and deep processing strategies: A longitudinal approach

Research evidence indicates that critical thinking practice and study processing strategies act in concert to make a unique contribution to the prediction of academic performance. More recently, however, the research inquiry has concerned predominantly the direction of causal effects between critical thinking practice and study processing strategies. The present paper discusses a longitudinal study that examined the reciprocality between critical thinking and deep processing. Three waves of data were collected using two hundred and fourteen university students (127 women, 87 men). Various Likert-response questionnaires (e.g., Reflective Thinking Questionnaire) were used to measure critical thinking and deep processing strategies. Structural equation modeling using LISREL 8.72 showed that deep processing at T1 exerted a temporally displaced effect on critical thinking at T2; critical thinking at T2 also exerted a temporally displaced effect on deep processing at T3. There was little evidence to support the reciprocal effects model.
Galactans from Gracilaria millardetii and G textorii (Gracilariales, Rhodophyta) of Indian waters

Galactans containing methylated galactan moieties were extracted from Indian agarophytes, namely, Gracilaria millardetii and Gracilaria textorii growing naturally along the west coast of India. The galactans were treated with α‐amylase to remove floridean starch. These were characterized by Fourier Transform‐Infrared (FT IR), 13C‐Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (C NMR), Gas Chromatography‐Mass Spectrometry (GC MS), Inductively Coupled Plasma spectroscopy (ICP) and Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) and were found to be composed of d‐galactose, 6‐O‐methyl‐D‐galactose and 3,6‐anhydro‐L‐galactose. Methylation analyses revealed that both the polysaccharides consisted of 3‐, 2,3‐, 4,6‐linked galactose as well as four‐linked 3,6‐anhydro galactose residues. Both the Gracilaria species produced low gelling (<100 g cm−2) and highly sulfated (2.1% to 4.8%) galactans containing very low heavy metal contents (ICP). These galactans may be of potential utility in food and biological applications.
Non‐native fish in the fresh waters of Portugal, Azores and Madeira Islands: a growing threat to aquatic biodiversity

Abstract Portugal, the Azores, and Madeira had a combined total of twenty six non-native fish species introductions, with the mainland having the highest number (twenty three), followed by the Azores with ten and Madeira with two records. Fifteen of these species established in Portugal, six in the Azores and one in Madeira. The oldest known introduction (1792) was goldfish, Carassius auratus (L.), while the newest (2005) was tinfoil barb, Barbonymus schwanenfeldii (Bleeker). Ten species had been introduced in Portugal by the beginning of 20th century, but the rate of introduction continues to increase, with four species introduced since 2000. In mainland Portugal, the Douro, the Tejo and the Guadiana drainages had the highest number of introduction records, while the Lima and the Mira drainages had the fewest. Management measures are offered to reduce current rate of fish introductions in Portuguese watersheds.
Creating spin-off : designing entrepreneurship conducive universities

ing solutions and their underlying principles from, for example, a first sample of new ventures processed through a university‐based incubator involves decontextualization. Similarly, effectively applying a set of general principles to for example the creation of spin‐offs in university X implies adaptation to the institutional and regional setting of this university. Moving from right to left in Figure 2.1, knowledge therefore becomes increasingly contextualized, also in view of the rapidly diversifying nature of organizational, industrial, technological, regional and cultural settings (cf. MacCormack and Verganti, 2003; Orlikowski et al., 1995; Rousseau and Fried, 2001). Design science can also be understood in terms of the interplay between causal and effectual reasoning (cf. Sarasvathy, 2001). The scholarly body of research findings largely draws on causal propositions and empirical studies testing these propositions. By definition, these studies focus on existing artifacts: for example, spin‐off firms generated by a sample of universities in the past ten years. By contrast, the experimentation and implementation stage in Figure 2.1 largely draws on effectual logic that is inherently creative. For example, the attempt to create a technology‐based firm heavily draws on resources such as personal skills, D E L I B E R A T E D E S I G N (contextualization) Practices Design Solutions Design Principles Research Findings E M E R G E N T D E S I G N (decontextualization) Figure 2.1: The research-design-development cycle from a design science perspective DESIGN PRINCIPLES: A SYNTHESIS FROM PRACTICE AND SCIENCE 31 patented technology, and social as well as professional networks (Sarasvathy, 2001; Shane, 2004). Using these resources, the entrepreneur imagines and tries out possible effects that can be created with them.
Three-Dimensional Morphology of Touch Domes in Human Hairy Skin by Correlative Light and Scanning Electron Microscopy

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS JCJ was supported by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Bridges to Stem Cell Research Internship Program (TB1-01177-1). Y-CW was supported by the Marie Mayer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. JFL and SEP were supported by grants from CIRM (RT1-01108, TR101250, and CL1-00502), NIH (R33MH087925), the Esther O’Keeffe Foundation, and the Millipore Foundation. MMP was supported by CIRM (RN2-00931) and NIH (1R01HD071100). YL was supported by CIRM (RT1-011071), the Memorial Hermann Foundation (Staman Ogilvie Fund), and Bentsen Stroke Center. LCL was supported by NIH/NICHD Career Development Award (K12 HD001259). We thank Ms Nastaran Afari and Ms Kellen Na at University of California, San Diego, for their assistance in teratoma analysis. Jennifer C. Jones, Karen Sabatini, Xiaoyan Liao, Ha T. Tran, Candace L. Lynch, Robert E. Morey, Victoria Glenn-Pratola, Francesca S. Boscolo, Qinghong Yang, Mana M. Parast, Ying Liu, Suzanne E. Peterson, Louise C. Laurent, Jeanne F. Loring and Yu-Chieh Wang Department of Chemical Physiology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, USA; Center for Regenerative Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, USA; California State University, Channel Islands, California, USA; Department of Reproductive Medicine, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, California, USA and Department of Pathology, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, California, USA E-mail: ycwang@scripps.edu Current address: Department of Neurosurgery, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, Texas, USA
Perceived effectiveness of farm telecast in transfer of agricultural technology.

The present study was conducted in Dabra block of Gwalior district of Madhya Pradesh. The total sample consisted of 100 respondents spread over 10 villages of the block. Data were collected with the help of structured interview schedule. The majority of the respondents 58.46 per cent perceived farm telecast as medium effective with reference to transfer of agricultural technology. The characteristics of farm telecast viewers i.e. educational status, family background, social participation, land holding, annual income, credit orientation, economic status, attitude towards farm telecast, belief in telecast and extension participation were found to have significant relationship with perceived effectiveness of farm telecast. In this study, preferences of the television viewers about different aspects of farm telecast were also studied with following headings namely- Time of telecast, duration, modes of presentation and language of the telecast.
Traditional and alternative nonlinear models for estimating the growth of Morada Nova sheep

In the present study, alternative and traditional nonlinear models to describe growth curves of Morada Nova sheep reared in the state of Bahia, Brazil, were applied. The nonlinear models were: Schnute, Mitscherlich, Gompertz, Logistic, Meloun I Meloun II, III Meloun, Gamito and Meloun IV. The model adjustment was evaluated by using: Adjusted Coefficient of Determination (R2aj), Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), Mean Squared Error of Prediction (MEP) and Coefficient of Determination of Prediction (R2p). The selection of the best model was based on cluster analysis, using the evaluators as variables. Six out of the nine tested models converged, while Meloun I and Meloun IV were equally effective in explaining animal growth, without significant influence of sex or type of parturition over the curve parameters. The models Meloun I and IV have the best adjustment and reveal a remarkable reduction of weight gain after 150 days of age, which indicates special attention should be given to feeding at this stage.
Students as “Human Chromosomes” in Role-Playing Mitosis & Meiosis

N4 E itosis and meiosis are often challenging for many students to understand, particularly those who are not science majors. Reasons for this difficulty include students' inability to differentiate between doubling (replication), pairing (synapsis), and separating (disjunction), as well as determining whether or not these processes occur in mitosis, meiosis, or both (Smith, 1991). Further misconceptions include a lack of understanding of basic terms confusing chromatids with chromosomes, or replicated chromosomes with unreplicated chromosomes, etc. (Kindfield, 1994).
Threonine Requirement of Broiler Males from 42 to 56 Days in a Summer Environment

SUMMARY Amino acid requirements of broilers may be altered during extreme environmental conditions. Threonine is a limiting amino acid for broilers, particularly at finishing when a hot environment would decrease feed intake. The dietary threonine requirement was examined with male broilers from 42 to 56 days of age during summer production. Birds were given a common feeding regimen until 6 wk of age, then six experimental diets consisting of progressive increments of threonine that ranged from 0.50 to 0.80% were fed from 42 to 56 days of age. Feed conversion was optimized at a total dietary threonine concentration approximating 0.67% of the diet; however, growth rate and feed consumption were not significantly affected by dietary threonine. Increasing dietary threonine did not alter carcass yield nor the proportions of abdominal fat and Grade A carcasses, but, breast fillet weight and its relative yield was maximized at 0.62% dietary threonine. Threonine need for male broilers is less for optimum breast meat recovery than feed conversion ratio during hot temperature conditions.
Perception of interaural time differences in electric and acoustic hearing

Cochlear implant (CI) listeners are sensitive to interaural time differences (ITDs), but their sensitivity is generally lower and more variable across individuals compared to normal hearing (NH) listeners. Previous studies showed sensitivity to ITD in the ne structure, if the pulse rate does not exceed a few hundred pulses per second. Furthermore, introducing binaurally- synchronized jitter was shown to have the potential to overcome this pulse rate limitation. With respect to envelope ITD, basic questions are still open both in normal and electric hearing. In normal hearing, the ITD sensitivity for transposed tones (TTs), a special type of amplitude-modulated high-frequency pure-tones, has been shown to be better than for sinusoidally-amplitude- modulated (SAM) tones. In experiments with nine NH and nine CI listeners we studied which properties of TTs cause the increased ITD sensitivity. We systematically varied the off-time and slope steepness of trapezoidally modulated (27 Hz) carrier signals. The NH listeners showed signi cant effects of off time and slope. The two effects did not interact and the best performance occurred for the longest off time combined with the steepest slope tested. The CI listeners showed only a signi cant effect of the off time. The implications with respect to CI coding strategies are discussed.
Estimation of Toxicity Equivalency and Probabilistic Health Risk on Lifetime Daily Intake of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons from Urban Residential Soils

ABSTRACT In this study, toxicity equivalents and health risks, based on concentration of 16 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in urban residential soils were estimated for the human population in Gwalior, India. Benzo(a)pyrene total potency equivalents (BaP TPE) were estimated for assessment of human health risk from direct contact with PAH-contaminated soil. Potential risk to contaminated groundwater from leaching of carcinogenic PAHs was assessed by estimating the index of additive cancer risk (IACR). On the basis of lifetime average daily intake of 16 PAHs through ingestion of PAH-contaminated soils, lifetime cancer risk to human adults and children was estimated. The concentration of probable human carcinogenic PAHs in soils accounted for 38% of ∑16PAHs. BaP TPE and index of additive cancer risk (IACR) were lower than guideline values of 0.6 mg kg−1 and <1, respectively. Estimated lifetime average daily intakes of PAHs via soil ingestion were lower than recommended dose. However, the ILCR for human adults was within acceptable limits recommended by regulatory agencies, but may need action for children in Gwalior, India.
Contrasting chironomid assemblages in two high Arctic streams on Svalbard

Chironomid communities were investigated twice in summer 1997 in a glacier-fed (Bayelva) and a non-glacial stream (Londonelva), fed by snowmelt and rainfall near Ny-Alesund (Svalbard Archipelago, 78°N). Environmental conditions (discharge, water temperature, suspended sediment) were harsher for the fauna in the glacial system than in the non-glacial one. In all, 29 chironomid species were identifi ed from larval, pupal and male adult material, including six species new to Svalbard. Diamesa was the best represented genus, showing contrasting distributional trends at the species level in the two streams: Diamesa aberrata and D. bohemani were more characteristic of the glacial stream, while D. arctica and D. bertrami colonised primarily the snowmelt-fed one. Total abundance of chironomid larvae was ten times greater in Londonelva than in Bayelva. The prevailing harsh conditions in glacial streams, such as high and fl uctuating discharge, high sediment transport and substrate instability, strongly infl uenced the abundance of the chironomid fauna, demonstrating the key importance of water source in Arctic streams.
Effects of nuclear polyhedrosis virus‐Bacillus thuringiensis combinations on Spodoptera littoralis (Boisd.)

Investigations have been made on the effect of combinations of sublethal dosages of the nuclear polyhedrosis virus of the Egyptian cotton leafworm, Spodoptera littoralis (SLNPV) and Bacillus thuringiensis on the 2nd instar larvae of S. littoralis. Bioassays showed that the potency of B. thuringiensis var. entomocidus HD‐635 was higher than that of B. thuringiensis var. galleriae HD‐129. Combinations of B. t. HD‐129 and SLNPV showed an antagonistic effect, while combinations of B. t. HD‐635 and SLNPV showed an additive effect. The median lethal doses (LD50) of B. thuringiensis varieties decreased with the increase of the viral dose in the mixture. The simultaneous application of SLNPV and B. thuringiensis especially with lower concentrations that showed an additive effect on S. littoralis larvae may be useful and effective for controlling this harmful pest.
Varied interests drive growing popularity of local foods.

Local foods are a growing but small component of U.S. agriculture. Local foods typically refers to foods produced near their point of consumption, but there is no consensus as to what distances constitute local. Other characteristics are also used to define local foods, including production methods, types of producers, and whether the foods are sold directly to consumers or to food distributors.
On Cyclic Delay Diversity OFDM Based Channels

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, so called OFDM, has found a prominent place in various wireless systems and networks as a method of encoding data over multiple carrier frequencies. OFDM-based communication systems, however, lacking inherent diversity, are capable of benefiting from different spatial diversity schemes. One such scheme, Cyclic Delay Diversity (CDD) is a method to provide spatial diversity which can be also interpreted as a Space-Time Block Coding (STBC) step. The main idea is to add more transmit antennas at the transmitter side sending the same streams of data, though with differing time delays. In [1], the capacity of a point-to-point OFDM-based channel with CDD is derived for inputs with Gaussian and discrete constellations. In this dissertation, we use the same approach for an OFDM-based single-input single-output (SISO) two-user interference channel (IC). In our model, at the receiver side, the interference is treated as noise. Moreover, since the channel is time-varying (slow-fading), the Shannon capacity in the strict sense is not well-defined, so the expected value of the instantaneous capacity is calculated instead. Furthermore, the channel coefficients are unknown to the transmitters. Thus, in this setting, the probability of outage emerges as a reasonable performance measure. Adding an extra antenna in the transmitters, the SISO IC turns into an MISO IC, which results in increasing the diversity. Both the continuous and discrete inputs are studied and it turns out that decoding interference is helpful in some cases. The results of the simulations for discrete inputs indicate that there
Seed Removal Rates Under Isolated Trees and Continuous Vegetation in Semiarid Thornscrub

Clearing native vegetation to increase the amount of land available for agriculture in northeastern Mexico has left remnants ranging in size from fragments of continuous vegetation to isolated individual trees. These provide valuable opportunities for restoring larger areas of native vegetation. We explored whether fragmentation of Tamaulipan thornscrub affects the removal of seeds from 12 woody species that encompass a range of sizes and dispersal mechanisms. We tested whether (1) seed removal rates under isolated trees were higher than under continuous vegetation; (2) dispersal structures, such as fleshy pericarps, made some seeds more attractive to seed removers; and (3) microenvironmental variation affected seed removal rates. Seeds were placed under canopies of Texas ebony (Ebenopsis ebano) and Mesquite trees (Prosopis laevigata). Seed removal trials were conducted three times, each trial lasting 30 days. Most seeds were removed in all trials by the end of one month. Seed removal rate was slower under isolated trees. In general, fleshy fruits were removed faster than other fruits; whole fruits and fleshy tissue were removed faster than depulped seeds. In species with fleshy pericarps, acid washing of seeds, to simulate seeds processed in the digestive tract of dispersers, reduced the seed removal rates, suggesting that it would be a good pre‐treatment for restoration efforts.
Children reading for pleasure : investigating predictors of reading achievement and the efficacy of a paired-reading intervention to foster children's literacy skills

The amount of reading children do outside of school is positively related to their reading achievement. This relation is consistent and robust, but fails to consider additional factors that may be influential in predicting children's literacy performance. Moreover, this relation speaks to the use of reading programs to improve children's achievement by increasing reading frequency. Two studies were conducted to examine these issues. Study 1 proposed and tested a comprehensive model of children's literacy performance where the association between children's home literacy environment, reading motivation, and achievement was mediated by children's reading exposure. A sample (N= 116) of grade 3 and 5 children and their parents participated. Findings were in accord with the model; however, children's reading motivation was a significant and unique predictor of children's reading and spelling ability. Overall, the findings of Study 1 suggested that incorporating additional explanatory factors is necessary to children's literacy performance. Study 2 tested whether a summer reading program would improve achievement measures in a targeted sample (N= 57) of poor achievers from Study 1. Children were randomly assigned to a Book Reading Group or Control Group. Over 8weeks children in the Book Reading Group were sent one book per week that was matched to their interest and reading level. In addition, parents acted as reading models and were trained to use skill-building strategies. As predicted, children in the Book Reading Group showed significant gains in reading compared to children in the Control Group. No group differences were found for oral language skills or reading motivation. Study 2 revealed that providing access to books and maximizing the role of parents was an effective method for improving poor achiever's literacy skills over the summer.