Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of long-term exposure to music on behaviour, immunity and performance of piglets

Context Music induces physiological responses in animals, and as an enriched environment, it may have a positive effect on behaviour and productivity. Aims This study aimed to determine the effects of different kinds of music on immunity, stress response and performance of piglets. Methods In total, 144 hybrid piglets (Yorkshire × Durac × Minpig) at the age of 7 weeks were divided into three treatment groups: slow-tempo string music (65 beats per min), fast-tempo wind music (200 beats per min), and control (i.e. no music). Exposure to music lasted for 42 days, from 8 to 14 weeks of age. During the experimental period, behavioural activities were observed, and physiological parameters, immune responses and growth performance were measured. Key results Results showed that long-term music exposure increased (P 0.05) on walking, lying, exploring, fighting or feeding behaviours. No effect (P > 0.05) was found on the levels of growth hormone, salivary cortisol, serum cortisol, adrenocorticotrophic hormone, β-endorphin or dopamine, or on the performance of growing pigs. However, the specific music type slow-tempo string significantly (P < 0.05) increased interleukin-4. Conclusions Long-term exposure to music does not affect stress response or growth performance in piglets. However, it promotes positive mood as indicated by increased playing and tail-wagging activities, and induces positive immunomodulation through increased interleukin-4 levels in piglets. Implications Exposure to music may be used to promote positive mood, and hence enhance welfare, in piglets.
MicroRNA-34a-5p expression in the plasma and in its extracellular vesicle fractions in subjects with Parkinson's disease: An exploratory study

Parkinson's disease (PD) is an important disabling age-related disorder and is the second most common neuro-degenerative disease. Currently, no established molecular biomarkers exist for the early diagnosis of PD. Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs), either vesicle-free or encapsulated in extracellular vesicles (EVs), have emerged as potential blood-based biomarkers also for neurodegenerative diseases. In this exploratory study, we focused on miR-34a-5p because of its well-documented involvement in neurobiology. To explore a differential profile of circulating miR-34a-5p in PD, PD patients and age-matched control subjects were enrolled. Serial ultracentrifugation steps and density gradient were used to separate EV subpopulations from plasma according to their different sedimentation properties (Large, Medium, Small EVs). Characterization of EV types was performed using western blotting and atomic force microscopy (AFM); purity from protein contaminants was checked with the colorimetric nanoplasmonic assay. Circulating miR-34a-5p levels were evaluated using qPCR in plasma and in each EV type. miR-34a-5p was significantly up-regulated in small EVs devoid of exogenous protein contaminants (pure SEVs) from PD patients and ROC analysis indicated a good diagnostic performance in discriminating patients from controls (AUC=0.74, P<0.05). Moreover, miR-34a-5p levels in pure SEVs were associated with disease duration, Hoehn and Yahr and Beck Depression Inventory scores. These results under-line the necessity to examine the miRNA content of each EV subpopulation to identify miRNA candidates with potential diagnostic value and lay the basis for future studies to validate the overexpression of circulating miR-34a-5p in PD via the use of pure SEVs.
Permeation of small molecules through a lipid bilayer: a computer simulation study

To reach their biological target, drugs have to cross cell membranes, and understanding passive membrane permeation is therefore crucial for rational drug design. Molecular dynamics simulations offer a powerful way of studying permeation at the single molecule level, yielding detailed dynamic and thermodynamic data. Biological membranes have a very inhomogeneous character and a highly anisotropic behavior. Starting from a computer model proven to reproduce the physical properties of such a complex system, the permeation of small organic molecules across a lipid bilayer model has been studied. Free energy profiles and diffusion coefficients along the bilayer normal have been calculated for small organic molecules by means of all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations constraining the compounds at chosen depths inside the membrane. These data also allow for the calculation of permeability coefficients, the results for which have been compared with experimental data. The calculated permeability coefficient.
Detecting early or late changes in linear models with heteroscedastic errors

We construct and study a test to detect possible change points in the regression parameters of a linear model when the model errors and covariates may exhibit heteroscedasticity. Being based on a new trimming scheme for the CUSUM process introduced in Horváth et al. (2020), this test is particularly well suited to detect changes that might occur near the endpoints of the sample. A complete asymptotic theory for the test is developed under the null hypothesis of no change in the regression parameter, and consistency of the test is also established in the presence of a parameter change. Monte Carlo simulations show that our test is comparable to existing methods when the errors are homoscedastic. In contrast, existing methods developed for homoscedastic data are demonstrated to be ill‐sized and poorly performing in the presence of heteroscedasticity, while the proposed test continues to perform well in heteroscedastic environments. These results are further demonstrated in a study of the linear connection between the price of crude oil and the U.S. dollar, and in detecting changes points in asset pricing models surrounding the COVID‐19 pandemic.
Rootstock Influences on Health and Growth Following Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus Infection in Young Sweet Orange Trees

Health, growth, fruit production, and fruit quality of citrus crops are severely affected by tree infection with Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) and subsequent development of the disease huanglongbing (HLB). The use of HLB-tolerant rootstocks is one strategy that is used to ameliorate the effects of HLB in commercial production. Although there is a clear long-term rootstock effect to improve tree performance, such field trials take many years for establishment and evaluation, and this long time-period is very limiting to expeditious evaluation of new rootstocks. In this study, we have conducted a 50-week greenhouse experiment to evaluate rootstock influences on Valencia sweet orange tree response to CLas infection. The infection of trees with CLas reduced scion and rootstock growth, increased leaf yellowing, and reduced the number of leaves per tree and leaf area, regardless of rootstock. There were clear rootstock influences on some traits during the 50-week study. In general, infected trees on US-942 rootstock had lower CLas root titers, less reduction of the number of leaves, less reduction of leaf area, and less leaf yellowing, as compared with some of the other rootstocks. The 50-week greenhouse evaluation method provided results that corresponded well with results from long-term field testing, indicating this may be a useful tool to accelerate evaluation and selection of new rootstocks, as well as in testing other HLB management strategies.
Studies on photodegradation of chlorimuron‐ethyl in soil

Photolysis of chlorimuron-ethyl was studied on a soil surface under sunlight and UV light. Eight photoproducts were isolated and characterised by spectroscopic methods. Major photoproducts are formed by cleavage of the sulfonylurea bridge and minor products are formed via dechlorination, hydrolysis and cyclisation. The rates of photodegradation of chlorimuron-ethyl on different soils followed first-order rate kinetics, with half lives of 22·3 h, 9·4 h, 4·9 h (UV) and 20·7 days, 11·1 days and 11·1 days (sunlight) for alluvial, red and laterite soils, respectively. The differences in rates of photodegradation were dependent upon the soil pH. © 1997 SCI
Pupillometric Monitoring of Nociception in Cardiac Anesthesia.

BACKGROUND High-dose opioids are conventionally used for cardiac anesthesia, but without monitoring of nociception. In non-cardiac surgical procedures the intra - operative dose of opioids can be individualized and reduced with pupillometric monitoring of the pupillary pain index (PPI; scale 1-9). A randomized controlled trial was carried out to explore whether pupillometry can be used for nociception monitoring in cardiac anesthesia and whether it leads to opioid reduction. METHODS A sample of 57 cardiac surgery patients receiving continuously administered sufentanil (initial dosage 0.7 μg*kg-¹*h-¹) was divided into a PPI group (sufentanil reduction if PPI<3 up to a minimum of 0.15 μg*kg-¹*h-¹, n=32) and a control group (standard anesthesia; n = 25). The primary outcome was the time from the end of anesthesia to extubation. The secondary outcomes were total intraoperative dose of sufentanil/noradrenaline, postoperative pain intensity (numeric rating scale [NRS] 0-10) and intraoperative awareness. German Clinical Trials Registry no. DRKS 00012329. RESULTS The primary outcome, extubation time, did not differ between the two groups (1.14 h, 95% confidence interval [-0.99; 3.27], p = 0.592). Compared with the control patients (68% male, age 70 ± 10.4 years, PPI 1.1 ± 0.2), the mean sufentanil infusion rate in the PPI patients (81% male, age 68 ± 10.3 years, PPI 1.1 ± 0.2) decreased by 81.8% (-0.68 μg*kg-¹*h-¹ [-0,7; -0.67], p<0.001) to the predetermined minimum level, without intraoperative awareness. Moreover, the noradrenaline dose was reduced by 56% (1235.51 μg [321.91; 2149.12], p = 0.005) and the postoperative pain intensity by 45% (2.11 NRS [0.93; 3.3] after 24 h, p = 0.003). CONCLUSION Pupillometry is appropriate for nociception monitoring in cardiac anesthesia. Thereby a considerable reduction of intraoperative opioids as well as increased intraoperative hemodynamic stability was achieved and postoperative opioid-induced hyperalgesia was prevented. The consistently low PPI scores, indicating adequate analgesia, suggest that further reduction of opioid doses is feasible.
You can’t always get what you want: The role of change goal importance, goal feasibility and momentary experiences for volitional personality development

Most adults want to change aspects of their personality. However, previous studies have provided mixed evidence on whether such change goals can be successfully implemented, perhaps partly due to neglecting the goals’ importance and feasibility as well as the experience of trait-relevant situations and states. This study examined associations between change goals and changes in self-reported Big Five traits assessed four times across two years in an age-heterogeneous sample of 382 adults (255 younger adults, Mage = 21.6 years; 127 older adults, Mage = 67.8 years). We assessed trait-relevant momentary situations and states in multiple waves of daily diaries over the first year (M = 43.9 days). Perceived importance and feasibility of change goals were analysed as potentially moderating factors. Contrary to our hypotheses, the results demonstrated that neither change goals nor goal importance or feasibility were consistently associated with trait change, likely due to inconsistent associations with momentary situations and behaviours. The results suggest that wanting to change one’s traits does not necessarily lead to changes without engaging in trait-relevant situations and behaviours. These findings provide novel insights into the boundary conditions of volitional personality development.
The Diameter of Bronchial Resection Margin is Associated With Postoperative Lung Metastasis and Long-term Survival

BackgroundTo investigate the significance of the diameter of bronchial resection margin (DBRM) on the postoperative lung metastasis and long -term survival of patients with primary lung cancer.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the data of 1844 patients with primary lung cancer between January 2006 and December 2010 after surgery. Patients were divided into DBRM≤1 cm group (826 patients) and DBRM>1 cm group (1018 patients). Propensity score matching was used to reduce grouping selection bias. Furthermore, we divide the 974 patients who had definite first metastasis site into lung metastasis group (283 patients) and other metastasis group (691 patients), and analyzed related risk factors and prognosis of metastasis. Disease-free survival and overall survival were the study end points.ResultsThe DBRM≤1 cm group had a significantly better prognosis than DBTM>1 cm group (5-year DFS, 36.5% vs 25.7%; P < 0.001; 5-year OS, 45.4% vs 34.1%; P < 0.001). After multivariate survival analysis, DBRM remained the independent favorable effect on DFS (HR, 1.198; 95% CI, 1,071 to 1.340; P = 0.002) and OS (HR, 1.186; 95% CI, 1.060 to1.327; P = 0.003). PSM further confirmed that DBRM≤1 cm group had a better DFS (P = 0.032) and OS (P = 0.026) than the DBRM>1 cm group. It revealed that the DBRM was an independent risk factor for postoperative lung metastasis, and postoperative adjuvant therapy could improve the OS of lung metastases.ConclusionsThe DBRM was an independent risk factor for postoperative lung metastasis and adjuvant therapy could improve long-term survival.
Tolerance Mechanisms of the Aromatic and Medicinal Plant Salvia sclarea L. to Excess Zinc

In recent years, due to the development of industrial and agricultural production, heavy metal contamination has attracted increasing attention. Aromatic and medicinal plant Salvia sclarea L. (clary sage) is classified to zinc (Zn) accumulators and considered as a potential plant for the phytoremediation of heavy metal polluted soils. In this study, an adaptation of clary sage to 900 µM (excess) Zn exposure for eight days in a hydroponic culture was investigated. The tolerance mechanisms under excess Zn exposure were assessed by evaluating changes in the nutrient uptake, leaf pigment and phenolic content, photosynthetic activity and leaf structural characteristics. The uptake and the distribution of Zn, as well as some essential elements such as: Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn and Cu, were examined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The results revealed that Salvia sclarea is a Zn-accumulator plant that tolerates significantly high toxic levels of Zn in the leaves by increasing the leaf contents of Fe, Ca and Mn ions to protect the photosynthetic function and to stimulate the photosystem I (PSI) and photosystem II (PSII) activities. The exposure of clary sage to excess Zn significantly increased the synthesis of total phenolics and anthocyanins in the leaves; these play an important role in Zn detoxification and protection against oxidative stress. The lipid peroxidation and electrolyte leakage in leaves, used as clear indicators for heavy metal damage, were slightly increased. All these data highlight that Salvia sclarea is an economically interesting plant for the phytoextraction and/or phytostabilization of Zn-contaminated soils.
Process capability analysis of binder jetting 3D printing process for fabrication of calcium sulphate based porous bone scaffolds

ABSTRACT This study aims at investigating the process capability of a 3D printer for the fabrication of porous bone scaffolds. Initially, a suitable material is identified by optimising process parameters of a 3D printer using a full factorial design approach. Then, dimensional deviation and tolerance grades of the scaffold samples are calculated. Finally, process capability indices are evaluated and the process is recentred. Out of two materials under study, VisiJet PXL Core powder is found to provide better dimensional accuracy. Tolerance grades of the samples are found to be ranged from IT3 to IT10. Maximum dimensional deviation before and after centring the process is found to be 0.47% and 0.44%, respectively. Process capability indices Cp and Cpk are greater than 1 and close to industry benchmark (Cpk ≥1.33). This indicates the process is under statistical control and capable of fabricating porous bone scaffolds suitable for in vitro or in vivo bone tissue engineering applications.
Mass Extinction Efficiency Approximation for Polydispersed Aerosol Using Harmonic Mean-Type Approximation

Among many parameters characterizing atmospheric aerosols, aerosol mass extinction efficiency (MEE) is important for understanding the optical properties of aerosols. MEE is expressed as a function of the refractive indices (i.e., composition) and size distributions of aerosol particles. Aerosol MEE is often considered as a size-independent constant that depends only on the chemical composition of aerosol particles. The famous Malm’s reconstruction equation and subsequent revised methods express the extinction coefficient as a function of aerosol mass concentration and MEE. However, the used constant MEE does not take into account the effect of the size distribution of polydispersed chemical composition. Thus, a simplified expression of size-dependent MEE is required for accurate and conventional calculations of the aerosol extinction coefficient and also other optical properties. In this study, a simple parameterization of MEE of polydispersed aerosol particles was developed. The geometric volume–mean diameters of up to 10 µm with lognormal size distributions and varying geometric standard deviations were used to represent the sizes of various aerosol particles (i.e., ammonium sulfate and nitrate, elemental carbon, and sea salt). Integrating representations of separate small mode and large mode particles using a harmonic mean-type approximation generated the flexible and convenient parameterizations of MEE that can be readily used to process in situ observations and adopted in large-scale numerical models. The calculated MEE and the simple forcing efficiency using the method developed in this study showed high correlations with those calculated using the Mie theory without losing accuracy.
Determinants of health facility utilization during childbirth among 15 to 49-year-old women in Uganda: evidence from the Uganda demographic health survey 2016

BackgroundAlmost all maternal deaths and other related morbidities occur in low income countries. Childbirth supervised by a skilled provider in a health facility is a key intervention to prevent maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. Our study aimed to establish the determinants of health facility utilization during childbirth in Uganda. MethodsWe used Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS) 2016 data of 10,152 women aged 15 to 49 years. Multistage stratified sampling was used to select study participants and we conducted multivariable logistic regression to establish the determinants of health facility utilization during childbirth. All our analyses were done using SPSS version 25. ResultsThe proportion of women who gave birth from a health facility was 76.6% (7,780/10,152: (95% CI: 75.8-77.5). Odds of health facility birth decreased with older age. Women aged 15-19 years were twice as likely to give birth from health facilities compared to women aged 40 to 49 years (AOR=2.25; 95% CI: 1.71- 2.96). Women residing in urban areas were more likely to give birth from a health facility compared to those in rural areas (AOR=1.48; 95% CI: 1.18- 1.86), as well as those who attended ANC (AOR=3.60; 95% CI: 2.47- 5.24). Women in the Northern region were more likely to use health facilities compared to those in the Central region (AOR=2.42; 95% CI: 1.81- 3.22). Odds of health facility birth increased with rise in wealth index and education level. Women with higher education (AOR=5.15; 95% CI: 2.79- 9.52) and those in the richest wealth index (AOR=5.14; 95% CI: 3.72- 7.10) were five times more likely to give birth from a health facility compared to those with no education and those in the poorest wealth index respectively. ConclusionHealth facility utilization during childbirth was high and positively associated with; decreasing age, increasing level of education and wealth index, urban residence, Northern region and ANC attendance. We recommended that interventions to promote health facility childbirths in Uganda should target the poor, less educated and older women especially those residing in rural areas.
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES OF TAMARIND SEEDS (Tamarindus indica L.)

Tamarind is used in the food and pharmaceutical industry, and its seed is the main means for the reproduction of this species, thus justifying studies that ensure its post-harvest viability. This research aimed to study the thermodynamic properties of tamarind seeds as a function of the equilibrium moisture content. The experimental data of the water activities were obtained by the indirect static method. The Cavalcanti Mata model was used to determine the thermodynamic properties of tamarind seeds, as it was the model that best fitted the experimental data of the desorption isotherms. The results showed that the thermodynamic properties are influenced by the moisture content and temperature, with an increase in the energy required to remove water from the product with a decrease in net of a for
Counting sleep: Ambiguity, aspirational control and the politics of digital self-tracking at work

Existing perspectives on normative and aspirational control have undertheorised how digital technologies such as digital self-tracking might alter what kinds of control is possible in the workplace. This article remedies this lack by studying the affordances of digital self-tracking in the workplace. Empirically, we draw on a case study of digital sleeptracking in relation to a well-being initiative in a private energy company, Encorp. Our analysis reveals how digital self-tracking affords body visibility and remote management but also creates affordance opacity and an ambiguous space of autonomy and control. We theorise how digital self-tracking in the workplace both enables new forms of aspirational control, and creates ambiguity and new limits to control. We conclude by discussing challenges and opportunities for future research on digital self-tracking in the workplace.
SENTEI: Filter-Wise Pruning with Distillation towards Efficient Sparse Convolutional Neural Network Accelerators

SUMMARY In the realization of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in resource-constrained embedded hardware, the memory footprint of weights is one of the primary problems. Pruning techniques are often used to reduce the number of weights. However, the distribution of nonzero weights is highly skewed, which makes it more di ﬃ cult to utilize the underlying parallelism. To address this problem, we present SENTEI (cid:3) , ﬁlter-wise pruning with distillation, to realize hardware-aware network architecture with comparable accuracy. The ﬁlter-wise pruning eliminates weights such that each ﬁlter has the same number of nonzero weights, and retraining with distillation retains the accuracy. Further, we develop a zero-weight skipping inter-layer pipelined accelerator on an FPGA. The equalization enables inter-ﬁlter parallelism , where a processing block for a layer executes ﬁlters concurrently with straightforward architecture. Our evaluation of semantic-segmentation tasks indicates that the resulting mIoU only decreased by 0.4 points. Additionally, the speedup and power e ﬃ ciency of our FPGA implementation were 33 : 2 (cid:2) and 87 : 9 (cid:2) higher than those of the mobile GPU. Therefore, our technique realizes hardware-aware network with comparable accuracy.