Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The influence of associative effects on the in vitro -estimated utilizable crude protein (uCP) of feeds for ruminants

Nineteen feed mixtures, formulated with 16 single feeds, were used to study the influence of associative effects on utilizable crude protein (uCP) of feed mixtures. The in vitro incubation technique of Zhao and Lebzien (2000) was used for uCP determination. It was found that the in vitro-determined uCP (D-uCP) was significantly higher than the weighted uCP (W-uCP) of feed mixtures and there was a significant regressive relationship between W-uCP (x) [g · kg − 1DM] and D-uCP (y) [g · kg − 1DM]: y = (0.94 ± 0.23)x + (18.78 ± 35.58), r2 = 0.49, n = 19, p < 0.01. It was concluded that there exist significant associative effects of feed mixtures on uCP. In formulation of rations for ruminants the D-uCP should be used instead of W-uCP. Because of the low regression coefficient of the equation above, the D-uCP cannot be estimated from the W-uCP.
Torque tracking control of turbocharged gasoline engine using nonlinear MPC

The exhaust gas turbocharger technology is widely used in modern automobile for increasing engine output torque and reducing fuel consumption. In this paper, a torque tracking control system is presented for turbocharged gasoline engine. Firstly, a control-oriented air path model of turbocharged gasoline engine is deduced where the throttle and wastegate are considered as the control inputs. Secondly, the desired torque is converted into the desired intake manifold pressure by maps. Thirdly, the nonlinear MPC method is utilized to coordinate the throttle and wastegate to obtain the desired intake manifold pressure and thus, the desired torque is achieved. Finally, the simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.
Wireless Resource Virtualization With Device-to-Device Communication Underlaying LTE Network

Wireless resource virtualization is a potential solution for meeting the increasing demand for mobile data services. Virtualization allows for more efficient utilization of the spectrum, reduces capital expenditures and operating expenditures, and can support higher peak rates. Device-to-device (D2D) communication as an underlay to cellular networks is also a potential solution to satisfy the data demand. Due to the proximity of devices and thus the higher signal-to-interference and noise ratio, higher data rates can be achieved using D2D communication. This is beneficial in cases of multimedia sharing where data can be broadcast to several nearby users. However, the interference that D2D pairs introduce to cellular users should be below a target threshold so as not to reduce their performance. In this paper, the problem of wireless resource virtualization with D2D communication underlaying the LTE network is formulated. Since the problem is an integer non-linear programming problem, it is divided into two smaller linear integer programs that are solved to optimality. Two lower complexity heuristic algorithms, each solving one of the subproblems are introduced. Results show that the heuristic achieves close to optimal results while having a much lower computational complexity.
Physiological Responses to Graded Acute Normobaric Hypoxia Using an Intermittent Walking Protocol

Abstract Objective. —The study aimed to examine the physiological responses to acute normobaric hypoxia during an intermittent walking protocol. Methods. —Twelve active healthy male participants completed a 125-minute test that involved rest and walking (50% V̇o2max) during normoxic (20.93%O2) and 2 hypoxic conditions (14%O2 and 12%O2). A range of physiological markers were measured throughout the test. Lake Louise Questionnaire scores and Environmental Symptoms Questionnaire cerebral scores were used as a measurement of acute mountain sickness symptoms. Results. —Oxygen saturation, thermal sensation scale, heart rate, perceived thirst, core temperature, rating of perceived exertion, feeling state, and Δbody mass all positively correlated with the highest Lake Louise Questionnaire and Environmental Symptoms Questionnaire cerebral scores (P < .05) and were significantly different between the 3 conditions during the exercise phases. Conclusion. —A range of physiological markers are associated with symptoms of acute mountain sickness following brief periods of hypoxic exposure.
What Does It Cost To Guarantee Returns

The financial crisis has dramatically demonstrated how a collapse in equity prices can decimate retirement accounts. The crisis highlights the fragility of existing 401(k) plans as the only supplement to Social Security and has sparked proposals to reform the retirement income system. One component of such a system could be a new tier of retirement accounts. Given the declines in the share of earnings Social Security will replace, these accounts would bolster replacement rates for low-wage workers and increase the security of middle- and upper-wage workers who increasingly rely on their 401(k) plans to supplement Social Security. However, these new accounts could face the same risk of collapse in value seen over the past year in 401(k)s. So policymakers may find some form of guaranteed return or risk sharing desirable to prevent huge variations in outcomes. This brief explores the feasible range and the cost of the first option – guarantees.
Membrane cholesterol content plays a key role in the neurotoxicity of β‐amyloid: implications for Alzheimer’s disease

Beta amyloid (βA) plays a central role in the pathogenesis of the most common and devastating neurodegenerative disorder, Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The mechanisms of βA neurotoxicity remain controversial, but include dysregulation of calcium homeostasis and oxidative stress. A large body of data suggest that cholesterol plays a significant role in AD. In mixed cultures containing hippocampal neurons and astrocytes, we have shown that neurotoxic βA peptides (1–42 and 25–35) cause sporadic cytosolic calcium ([Ca2+]c) signals in astrocytes but not in neurons, initiating a cascade that ends in neuronal death. We now show, using the cholesterol‐sensitive fluorescent probe, Filipin, that membrane cholesterol is significantly higher in astrocytes than in neurons and mediates the selective response of astrocytes to βA. Thus, lowering [cholesterol] using mevastatin, methyl‐β‐cyclodextrin or filipin prevented the βA‐induced [Ca2+]c signals, while increased membrane [cholesterol] increased βA‐induced [Ca2+]c signals in both neurons and astrocytes. Addition of βA to lipid bilayers caused the appearance of a conductance that was significantly higher in membranes containing cholesterol. Increasing membrane [cholesterol] significantly increased βA‐induced neuronal and astrocytic death. We conclude that a high membrane [cholesterol] promotes βA incorporation into membranes and increased [Ca2+]c leading to cell death.
Fiscal statistics for Sweden 1668-2011

This chapter presents data on central government fiscal measures in Sweden, starting in 1670. Annual data on central government debt are presented from 1670, and on expenditures and revenues from 1719. The aim is to construct measures that are broad, meaningful, and widely used. In practice, this means constructing measures according to the principles in Sweden’s current budget system. Sweden is well suited for this attempt. First, it has been territorially and politically stable to an unusual degree since 1719, when a new instrument of government (regeringsform) was adopted with a representative government. Second, annual data are available in printed form for the whole period. We use Simonsson (1918) for the data on debt in 1670–1718. For the period 1719–1809 we use Åmark’s (1961) monumental study based on archival material. For the period 1810-20 we use Rathsman (1855). From 1821 onwards we use government publications.1 The sources are listed in “Data sources” at the end of the chapter. The chapter is organized as follows. Section 2 presents the definitions used in the calculations. Section 3 describes the flow variables (expenditures, revenues and deficits), section 4 the construction and evolution of debt for the fiscal branch of the central government. Section 5 presents consolidated measures for the fiscal and monetary branches of the central government, including seigniorage. Section 6 concludes. A companion working paper, Fregert and Gustafsson (2005), describes the data in more detail in a series of appendices, as well as the institutional setting. The connections between Sweden’s fiscal and monetary histories from 1668 to 1931 are analysed in Fregert and Jonung (1996).
A broad-band digital filtering approach for time-domain Simulation of pulse propagation in optical fiber

A broad-band digital filtering approach for the simulation of pulse propagation in the optical fiber has been developed. Unlike the most popular frequency-domain split-step method, the pulse propagation is realized by letting the signal samples pass through a preextracted digital filter where the convolution is simply made by a series of operations that consist of shift and multiplication only. It also differs from the existing time-domain split-step method in a sense that the digital filter is extracted to match the frequency-domain fiber linear transfer function in the full bandwidth range rather than in a reduced portion. This approach is verified through comparisons made with the conventional frequency-domain split-step method and is applied to the simulation of multiple-channel narrow-pulse propagation over the long-haul fiber. The main advantage brought by this approach lies in that the simulator is fully realized in a "data-flow" fashion; that is, the signal (long sample stream) is treated sample by sample, rather than block (a collection of neighboring samples) by block. Matching the fiber frequency-domain response over the full bandwidth does not require any further reduction on the propagation step since the error can be controlled through the filter length. The authors' preliminary effort on the filter length reduction on a given error reveals that a savings on both memory and computation time is also achievable in comparison with the frequency-domain split-step method.
Emotion, engineering and ethics

Adopting Martha Nussbaum's view provides grounds for recognizing those bursts of anger or delight and the responses to them that alter the course of development of engineering projects. Her case supports the view that our emotions offer authentic thoughts about authentic situations, and by ignoring emotions engineering judgments are liable to be deficient. At worst, without reflection an emotion hides an influential unarticulated and mistaken belief. But at best an emotion can be taken to be an indicator of relevant components of ethical arguments supporting an engineering project and the significance attributed to them. So we might expect virtuous engineers to be aware of their emotions, of ways in which they exploit the emotions of others, to reflect on those emotions and to use the knowledge gained in their judgments. To be effective within this emotional soup they will have to be self-aware, articulate,persuasive and above all empathetic.
Flavopiridol inhibits vascular endothelial growth factor production induced by hypoxia or picolinic acid in human neuroblastoma

Human neuroblastoma (NB) tumors elaborate angiogenic peptides, and enhanced angiogenesis correlates with their aggressive behavior, metastatic spread and poor clinical outcome. Hence, inhibition of angiogenic factor production may represent a potential therapeutic target for NB treatment. There is currently little information regarding the stimuli that control NB production of angiogenic mediators. In this study, we analyzed the effects of hypoxia, a common feature of solid tumors and a major drive to tumor angiogenesis, and of PA, a tryptophan catabolite produced under inflammatory conditions and endowed with several biologic properties, on the production of the angiogenic activator VEGF by advanced‐stage human NB cell lines. We demonstrate that both stimuli are potent inducers of VEGF expression and secretion. VEGF upregulation by PA involved iron chelation because iron sulfate prevented this effect whereas the iron‐chelating agent DFX induced VEGF production. Conversely, the CDK inhibitor Flp completely blocked VEGF induction by hypoxia. This effect occurred as early as 3 hr after stimulation and did not require de novo protein synthesis. Moreover, Flp exerted similar inhibitory activity on VEGF induction by PA or DFX, suggesting that this compound targets an essential step in the signaling pathway that leads to VEGF expression. Our findings demonstrate that PA can modulate angiogenic factor production by tumor cells and establish the importance of Flp as an inhibitor of VEGF production by human NB. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Women Returners and Potential Returners: Employment Profiles and Labour Market Opportunities—A Case Study of the United Kingdom

Women who have previously left the labour market to have children or to care for a family member represent a large proportion of the present and potential workforce. This article innovatively links data on women's education with employers' skill needs and market wage rates to map the different circumstances of women returners in the United Kingdom. We explore whether there is a clustering of women returners in low-wage occupations and how this group can be differentiated. The United Kingdom is a valuable case as it has one of the highest rates of part-time work in Europe. We find that women returners experience high levels of occupational segregation and that these patterns are intensified when they work part-time. Thus, when women returners work part-time, they have limited occupational choice. Rigidities in the design of full- and part-time jobs have led to many women opting for part-time jobs in occupational areas for which they are over-qualified. Additionally, we argue that UK women returners and potential returners have been overlooked in government and sector skill council training agendas. We conclude by commenting on the lack of diversification of part-time work and provide insights for policy makers with respect to the labour market, women returners and potential returners.
The odd one out: revisiting and investigating the gender imbalance in ICT study choices

For the past two decades there has been an imbalance between male and female students entering the Bachelor of Information Technology degree from high schools. The literature suggests that only one in six students entering higher education to study computer related degrees are female. It also suggests that occupational stereotyping can be linked to the decline in the number of females entering computing degree courses. This research is proposing to revisit and investigate why this is still prevalent in today`s society that has been brought up on technology and can see the benefits of good careers and good jobs.
Developmental pattern of CB1 cannabinoid receptor immunoreactivity in brain regions important to zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) song learning and control

Zebra finches learn song during distinct developmental stages, making them an important species for studying mechanisms underlying vocal development. Distinct interconnected forebrain regions have been identified as important to specific features of zebra finch vocal learning and production. Because prior experiments have demonstrated that late postnatal exposure to cannabinoid agonists alters zebra finch song learning, we have sought to identify brain regions likely involved in it. By using an affinity‐purified polyclonal antibody directed against the zebra finch CB1 cannabinoid receptor, we have studied staining patterns in groups of males at 25, 50, 75, and >100 days of age (adults). A general waxing and waning of staining intensity were observed over this developmental period. Distinct staining of song‐related brain regions was also noted. Early establishment of staining patterns within rostral telencephalic song regions [area X and lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior nidopallium (lMAN)] suggests a role in auditory learning. Later establishment and maintenance in adulthood of small somata and neuropil staining within regions of rostral telencephalon [HVC and robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA)] are consistent with a vocal motor role for cannabinoid signaling. Our results provide insight into brain regions likely responsible for cannabinoid‐altered vocal learning and add to accumulating evidence supporting an important role for cannabinoid signaling in CNS development. J. Comp. Neurol. 496:739–758, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
How Might Shadow Price Restrictions Reduce Technical Efficiency? Evidence from a Restricted DEA Analysis of Coffee Farms in Vietnam

We use data from smallholder coffee farms in Vietnam to measure the technical efficiency of coffee producers, and the degree to which potential restrictions on the shadow prices of chemical inputs might reduce overall efficiency among these farmers. Using input-oriented data envelopment analysis (DEA) we find the use of pesticide and herbicide accounts for a relatively small proportion of overall technical efficiency in the sample. We place restrictions on input shadow prices and show that restricting their importance does not dramatically alter patterns or measures of short-run efficiency.
Relative effects of public versus private investment spending on economic efficiency and growth in developing countries

This study investigates the initial and long-run effects of public investment expenditure on economic growth, especially as compared with private investment. Annual data over 1970-90 for 48 developing countries form the basis of the empirical analysis. Our findings suggest that infrastructural public investment facilitates private investment, especially in the long-run. It also promotes economic growth and efficiency whereas non-infrastructural investment does the reverse. Also, long-term effects of public investment tend to be much more positive than short-term ones on growth; efficiency and private investments
A Two-Level Classification Approach for Detecting Clickbait Posts using Text-Based Features

The emergence of social media as news sources has led to the rise of clickbait posts attempting to attract users to click on article links without informing them on the actual article content. This paper presents our efforts to create a clickbait detector inspired by fake news detection algorithms, and our submission to the Clickbait Challenge 2017. The detector is based almost exclusively on text-based features taken from previous work on clickbait detection, our own work on fake post detection, and features we designed specifically for the challenge. We use a two-level classification approach, combining the outputs of 65 first-level classifiers in a second-level feature vector. We present our exploratory results with individual features and their combinations, taken from the post text and the target article title, as well as feature selection. While our own blind tests with the dataset led to an F-score of 0.63, our final evaluation in the Challenge only achieved an F-score of 0.43. We explore the possible causes of this, and lay out potential future steps to achieve more successful results.
Transcriptional repression of the GnRH 1 gene by Pur-B 1 REGULATION OF GONADOTROPIN RELEASING 1 HORMONE 1 GENE TRANSCRIPTION BY MEMBERS OF 2 THE PURINE-RICH ELEMENT BINDING PROTEIN FAMILY 3

1 REGULATION OF GONADOTROPIN RELEASING 1 HORMONE 1 GENE TRANSCRIPTION BY MEMBERS OF 2 THE PURINE-RICH ELEMENT BINDING PROTEIN FAMILY 3 Sheng Zhao, Robert J. Kelm, Jr., and Russell D. Fernald 4 5 1 Department of Biology & Neuroscience, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-5020 6 Department of Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT 05405 7 8
Methodological challenges and institutional barriers in the use of Experimental Method for the evaluation of business incubators: Lessons from the US, EU and China

Despite their worldwide adoption by policy makers as the Holy Grail for entrepreneurship and business development, the effectiveness of business incubation programs remain elusive, primarily plagued by untenable evaluation methods. This paper develops an in-depth analysis on those methodological and institutional factors that prohibit the use of theoretically sound solutions such as the Experimental Method in evaluation practice.
Distributed robust finite-time nonlinear consensus protocols for multi-agent systems

This paper investigates the robust finite-time consensus problem of multi-agent systems in networks with undirected topology. Global nonlinear consensus protocols augmented with a variable structure are constructed with the aid of Lyapunov functions for each single-integrator agent dynamics in the presence of external disturbances. In particular, it is shown that the finite settling time of the proposed general framework for robust consensus design is upper bounded for any initial condition. This makes it possible for network consensus problems to design and estimate the convergence time offline for a multi-agent team with a given undirected information flow. Finally, simulation results are presented to demonstrate the performance and effectiveness of our finite-time protocols.
Using intermediate indicators: lessons for climate policy

What roles can metrics, particularly intermediate indicators, play in informing the design and implementation of policies and actions with climate co-benefits? While the precise definition of indicators differs across sectors and strands of the literature, performance metrics typically measure not only the final outcomes, but also inputs, processes, and output measurements of actions. Indicators frameworks have become a widespread feature of policy and project monitoring across both affluent and lower-income economies for reporting, learning and, in some cases, target- or incentive-based management. Indicators play an important and positive role in project management and policy making, even where they are not tied to explicit targets or incentive mechanisms. In particular, the use of intermediate indicators can provide early and timely reporting of progress and setbacks, allowing for policy learning and discussion of best practice across projects or programmes. Policy relevance: A successful transition to low-carbon growth trajectories depends on the ability of governments to implement actions and policies to initiate and guide low-carbon development. The experience from public and private actors in other sectors shows that suitable indicators are necessary to provide the information to manage policy implementation. In contrast, the UNFCCC framework only requires reporting on CO2 emissions (final outcomes). This raises the question of whether additional indicators are required to support policy design, implementation of domestic action and best-practice learning. It further raises questions concerning the extent to which such reporting can be generic or should be associated with specific actions, and which reporting can be harmonized internationally or needs to be country-specific.