Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do Large Slaughterhouses Promote Sustainable Intensification of Cattle Ranching in Amazonia and the Cerrado?

This study investigated the influence of large slaughterhouses on five variables, two related to environment impact (land use change rate and greenhouse gases emissions (GE)), and three related to cattle-ranching intensification (protein from crops, calories from crops and stocking rate). In Amazonia, the results show a reduction of the land use change rate and GE in zones both with and without the influence of large slaughterhouses. The hypothesis that slaughterhouses are leverage points to reduce deforestation in the biome was not confirmed. The slaughterhouses also seem to have no effect on cattle ranching intensification, as protein and calories production increased significantly in both zones, while the stocking rates did not change in the influence zones. In the Cerrado, cattle-ranching intensification is a reality, and is occurring independently of the presence of large slaughterhouses. In conclusion, the results show no evidence that large slaughterhouses have promoted either cattle-ranching intensification or improvements in the sustainability of the cattle-ranching activity in Amazonia and the Cerrado.
Lipid biomarker and phylogenetic analyses to reveal archaeal biodiversity and distribution in hypersaline microbial mat and underlying sediment

This study has utilized the tools of lipid biomarker chemistry and molecular phylogenetic analyses to assess the archaeal contribution to diversity and abundance within a microbial mat and underlying sediment from a hypersaline lagoon in Baja California. Based on abundance of ether‐linked isoprenoids, archaea made up from 1 to 4% of the cell numbers throughout the upper 100 mm of mat and sediment core. Below this depth archaeal lipid was two times more abundant than bacterial. Archaeol was the primary archaeal lipid in all layers. Relatively small amounts of caldarchaeol (dibiphytanyl glyceroltetraether) were present at most depths with phytanyl to biphytanyl molar ratios lowest (~10 : 1) in the 4–17 mm and 100–130 mm horizons, and highest (132 : 1) in the surface 0–2 mm. Lipids with cyclic biphytanyl cores were only detected below 100 mm. A novel polar lipid containing a C30 isoprenoid (squalane) moiety was isolated from the upper anoxic portion of the core and partially characterized. Hydrocarbon biomarker lipids included pentamethylicosane (2–10 mm) and crocetane (primarily below 10 mm). Archaeal molecular diversity varied somewhat with depth. With the exception of samples at 0–2 mm and 35–65 mm, Thermoplasmatales of marine benthic group D dominated clone libraries. A significant number of phylotypes representing the Crenarchaeota from marine benthic group B were generally present below 17 mm and dominated the 35–65 mm sample. Halobacteriaceae family made up 80% of the clone library of the surface 2 mm, and consisted primarily of sequences affiliated with the haloalkaliphilic Natronomonas pharaonis.
Uncertainty analysis methods for comparing predictive models and biomarkers: A case study of dietary methyl mercury exposure.

Biologically based markers (biomarkers) are currently used to provide information on exposure, health effects, and individual susceptibility to chemical and radiological wastes. However, the development and validation of biomarkers are expensive and time consuming. To determine whether biomarker development and use offer potential improvements to risk models based on predictive relationships or assumed values, we explore the use of uncertainty analysis applied to exposure models for dietary methyl mercury intake. We compare exposure estimates based on self-reported fish intake and measured fish mercury concentrations with biomarker-based exposure estimates (i.e., hair or blood mercury concentrations) using a published data set covering 1 month of exposure. Such a comparison of exposure model predictions allowed estimation of bias and random error associated with each exposure model. From these analyses, both bias and random error were found to be important components of uncertainty regarding biomarker-based exposure estimates, while the diary-based exposure estimate was susceptible to bias. Application of the proposed methods to a simple case study demonstrates their utility in estimating the contribution of population variability and measurement error in specific applications of biomarkers to environmental exposure and risk assessment. Such analyses can guide risk analysts and managers in the appropriate validation, use, and interpretation of exposure biomarker information.
The efficacy of automated “disease/no disease” grading for diabetic retinopathy in a systematic screening programme

Aim: To assess the efficacy of automated “disease/no disease” grading for diabetic retinopathy within a systematic screening programme. Methods: Anonymised images were obtained from consecutive patients attending a regional primary care based diabetic retinopathy screening programme. A training set of 1067 images was used to develop automated grading algorithms. The final software was tested using a separate set of 14 406 images from 6722 patients. The sensitivity and specificity of manual and automated systems operating as “disease/no disease” graders (detecting poor quality images and any diabetic retinopathy) were determined relative to a clinical reference standard. Results: The reference standard classified 8.2% of the patients as having ungradeable images (technical failures) and 62.5% as having no retinopathy. Detection of technical failures or any retinopathy was achieved by manual grading with 86.5% sensitivity (95% confidence interval 85.1 to 87.8) and 95.3% specificity (94.6 to 95.9) and by automated grading with 90.5% sensitivity (89.3 to 91.6) and 67.4% specificity (66.0 to 68.8). Manual and automated grading detected 99.1% and 97.9%, respectively, of patients with referable or observable retinopathy/maculopathy. Manual and automated grading detected 95.7% and 99.8%, respectively, of technical failures. Conclusion: Automated “disease/no disease” grading of diabetic retinopathy could safely reduce the burden of grading in diabetic retinopathy screening programmes.
PerSentiment: A Personalized Sentiment Classification System for Microblog Users

Microblogging services are playing increasingly important roles in our daily life today. It is useful for microblog users to instantly understand the sentiment of a large number of microblogs posted by their friends and make appropriate response. Despite considerable progress on microblog sentiment classification, most of the existing works ignore the influence of personal distinctions of different microblog users on the sentiments they convey, and none of them has provided real-world personalized sentiment classification systems. Considering personal distinctions in sentiment analysis is natural and necessary as different people have different language habits, personal characters, opinion bias and so on. In this demonstration, we present a live system based on Twitter called PerSentiment, an individuality-dependent sentiment classification system which makes the first attempt to analyze the personalized sentiment of recent tweets and retweets posted by the authenticated user and the users he/she follows. Our system consists of four steps, i.e., requesting tweets via Twitter API, preprocessing collected tweets for extracting features, building personalized sentiment classifier based on a novel and extensible Latent Factor Model (LFM) trained on emoticon-tagged tweets, and finally visualizing the sentiment of friends' tweets to provide a guide for better sentiment understanding.
Distinct domains of adenovirus E1A interact with specific cellular factors to differentially modulate human immunodeficiency virus transcription

Transcription of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 and other viruses is regulated by the transcription factor NF-kappaB, which interacts with the multifunctional cellular protein p300. p300, originally identified by its ability to bind adenovirus early region 1A (E1A), has also been shown to regulate HIV transcription through its interaction with NF-kappaB. The 13S form of E1A activates HIV gene expression, while the 12S form represses its transcription. In this report, we have investigated whether these divergent effects of E1A are dependent upon common or distinct cellular cofactors, including p300, pRb, and the TATA box-binding protein (TBP). Unlike activation in the absence of E1A, cooperative stimulation of HIV gene expression by 13S E1A and RelA was independent of the ability of E1A to bind p300 but was critically dependent on the E1A CR3 region which associates with TBP. In contrast, inhibition of basal HIV gene expression by the 12S form of E1A was dependent on p300 but not pRb or TBP. Interestingly, mutation of the CR2 region of 12S E1A responsible for pRb binding abolished the repression of HIV transcription stimulated by tumor necrosis factor alpha, suggesting that repression of cytokine-activated transcription involves cofactors different from those used in unstimulated cells. Repression and activation of HIV transcription by different forms of E1A are mediated by distinct sets of cellular cofactors. These findings suggest that E1A has evolved to interact by alternative mechanisms with a transcriptional coactivator and its associated cofactors to differentially modulate cellular and viral gene expression.
Castration of piglets: the analgesic effects of intratesticular and intrafunicular lidocaine injection.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate the analgesic effect of intratesticular and intrafunicular lidocaine for the surgical castration of piglets and to investigate the degree of nociception induced by lidocaine injection. STUDY DESIGN Prospective controlled experimental study. ANIMALS Forty-seven male Norwegian landrace piglets with normal testicular anatomy, aged 22 (+/-2.6 SD) days and weighing 7.4 +/- 1.4 kg. MATERIALS AND METHODS Anaesthesia was induced and maintained using halothane delivered in oxygen. End-tidal halothane was stabilized at 1.3% for 20 minutes before mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) pulse rate and electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring began. After 5 minutes of data collection, scrotal skin was desensitized with lidocaine before either an intrafunicular (IF) (n = 15) or an intratesticular (IT) (n = 16) lidocaine injection was made. Pigs in the control group (n = 16) did not receive lidocaine. Ten minutes later, a scalpel and an emasculator were used to cut the funiculus spermaticus. The MAP, pulse rate and EEG were monitored continuously for 5 minutes after castration. RESULTS During castration, MAP increased significantly, while pulse rate and EEG theta power fell significantly more in control, compared with the IT or IF groups. EEG alpha power fell more in the control group than in the IF group. No significant differences were found between the IF and IT groups. EEG, MAP and pulse rate responses to castration in the control group were significantly larger than the response to lidocaine injection. CONCLUSION/CLINICAL RELEVANCE Injecting lidocaine into the funiculus spermaticus or into the testes is effective in reducing signs of nociception caused by castration. Lidocaine injection is less noxious than castration without local anaesthetic.
Virtual product development for electrical motors

In this paper, a software for virtual product development of electrical motors is introduced. Nowadays, consideration of electromagnetic, thermal and acoustic design aspects of electrical machines can be achieved by either using specialized or universal software packages. The specialized packages are predominantly developed for only one physical domains whereas universal software packages need to be adapted for the individual application. In both cases, the design engineer spends plenty of time, adapting or coupling software instead of developing an electrical machine. The software presented in this paper is specialized for the development of electrical machines and combines simulation tools for all mentioned physical domains. Furthermore, numerical and analytical methods are coupled to reduce computation time of typical numerical simulations and to increase the accuracy of analytical approaches. For the implementation, open-source components are used to reduce costs and to use well documented file-formats. Furthermore, the visualization component includes virtual reality capabilities. This specialized approach allows for a timesaving virtual design process of electrical machines.
ADHD and Female Specific Concerns

ADHD was once thought of as a predominantly male disorder. While this may be true for ADHD in childhood, extant research suggests that the number of women with ADHD may be nearly equal to that of men with the disorder (Faraone et al., 2000). There is accumulating research which clearly indicates subtle but important sex differences exist in the symptom profile, neuropathology and clinical course of ADHD. Compared to males with ADHD, females with ADHD are more prone to have difficulties with inattentive symptoms than hyperactive and impulsive symptoms, and females often receive a diagnosis of ADHD significantly later than do males (Gaub & Carlson, 1997; Gershon, 2002a, 2002b). Emerging evidence suggests differences exist in the neuropathology of ADHD, and there are hormonal factors which may play an important role in understanding ADHD in females. Although research demonstrates females with ADHD differ from males in important ways, little research exists that evaluates differences in treatment response. Given the subtle but important differences in presentation and developmental course of ADHD, it is essential that both clinical practice and research be informed by awareness of these differences in order to better identify and promote improved quality of care to girls and women with ADHD.
Adoption of renewable energy technologies in Mexico: The role of cognitive factors and innovation attributes

Purpose This research aims to analyse cognitive factors, innovation attributes and their influence on adoption of solar renewable energy technologies (RETs) for urban households in Mexico. It expands existing cognitive frameworks by including variables from diffusion of innovation theory. Design/methodology/approach On the basis of the data of 291 urban consumers and through the use of partial least squares (PLS), the proposed model was empirically tested. Finite mixture PLS method helped identify two market segments. Findings Findings suggest that beliefs about consequences of adopting RETs have significant influence in shaping consumer’s attitudes towards RETs which were found to be an accurate predictor of the behavioural intention to adopt these technologies. Regarding innovation attributes, the results show that for a solar heater to be adopted, it should be compatible with the social values of the consumer. Triability and relative advantage show little influence on attitude formation. Two market segments found differ on the basis of beliefs and attitudes. Research limitations/implications The study was limited to analyse consumer responses to solar energy in residential urban settings. Practical implications Organizations wanting to increase their consumer base need to develop sound technological innovations with high levels of compatibility a low complexity. Originality/value The study combines diffusion of innovation theory with cognitive frameworks and finds that innovation attributes become strong predictors of intentions to adopt RETs.
Joint Node Selection and Power Allocation Strategy for Multitarget Tracking in Decentralized Radar Networks

Networked radar systems have been demonstrated to offer enhanced target tracking capabilities. An effective radar resource allocation strategy can efficiently optimize system parameters, leading to performance enhancements. In this paper, two critical but limited system resources are considered for optimization: the number of radar nodes and the transmitted power. In this scenario, a joint node selection and power allocation (JSPA) strategy is developed with the objective of tracking multiple targets. The proposed mechanism implements the optimal resource allocation based on the feedback information in the tracking recursion cycle in order to improve the worst-case tracking accuracy with multiple targets. The network architecture considered in this paper is decentralized so that communication requirements may be reduced while maintaining system robustness. Since the predicted conditional Cramér–Rao lower bound (PC-CRLB) provides a lower bound on the accuracy of the target state estimates conditional on the actual measurement realizations, it is more accurate than the standard posterior CRLB and is thus derived and used as an optimization criterion for the JSPA strategy. It is shown that the optimal JSPA is a two-variable nonconvex optimization problem. We propose an efficient two-step semidefinite programming based solution to solve this problem. Numerical results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed strategy and the effectiveness of the proposed solution.
A Second or Foreign Language?Unveiling the Realities of English in Rural Kisii, Kenya

This current study explores the presence and accessibility of English in rural Kisii, Kenya. A total of 111 youths were surveyed by use of a questionnaire. The respondents were asked to report the presence and use of English in their immediate environment such as its presence at home, at school, in the media, and in other social places. The findings show that there is limited presence of English in this rural context. Modern technology, which is indisputably a great resource in the global spread of English, is lacking. Although it is too early to draw generalized conclusions, the findings show that rural Kisii leans more toward English as a foreign language (EFL) context calling for a need for a re-evaluation of the choice of the language of instruction in rural Kisii schools and maybe other rural contexts as well. At independence, in 1963, Kenya adopted a capitalist economy, which consequently means that wealth is not equally distributed. As Prewitt (1974) observes, there are several geographical and educational inequalities in Kenya and a big gap between the haves and have-nots. The majority of the wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi or other big cities where there is easy access to resources and development opportunities. However, a large percentage (70 to 75%) of the Kenyan population is rural and only 25% of the population lives in the cities (Ember E Gall, 1998,). Unlike the urban areas, most rural areas are remote, making it difficult for people who live there to enjoy public services such as education, better transport, and communication. Unfortunately this unequal distribution of wealth is also reflected in the distribution of English, the language of instruction. Kachru (1992) proposes research that seeks to investigate the extent to which English has penetrated into various social classes in non native contexts. Although English has continued to spread rapidly around the world, and this spread has been widely documented, research that specifically addresses rural contexts is still crucial.
Improving relationship management in universities with sentiment analysis and topic modeling of social media channels: learnings from UFPA

Online Social networking (OSN) platforms such as Facebook, daily have a massive number of users and content being created. Users of such services have the power to share opinions and influence others. This creates an interesting scenario, where brands and institutions can have a digital presence to interact directly with their target audience. Universities around the world are also using those platforms for reaching out their students and staff, acting as a new channel for services and public relations. Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM) principles can be applied in this scenario, for universities, and help them on the management of this relationship with their public. Thus, this work aims to apply SCRM methodology for a university Facebook fan page, through techniques of Sentiment Analysis (SA) and topic modeling (TM) using Latent Dirichlet Allocation, in order to find topics people are complimenting or complaining about in their comments. The main goal is to improve SCRM processes through the results and insights provided by those techniques. The final discussion with the communications professionals from UFPA university has revealed the experiments and insights provided in this work are valuable for their social media (SM) management workflow.
The centrality of cancer proteins in human protein-protein interaction network: a revisit

Topological analysis of protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks has been widely applied to the investigation on cancer mechanisms. However, there is still a debate on whether cancer proteins exhibit more topological centrality compared to the other proteins in the human PPI network. To resolve this debate, we first identified four sets of human proteins, and then mapped these proteins into the yeast PPI network by homologous genes. Finally, we compared these proteins' properties in human and yeast PPI networks. Experiments over two real datasets demonstrated that cancer proteins tend to have higher degree and smaller clustering coefficient than non-cancer proteins. Experimental results also validated that cancer proteins have larger betweenness centrality compared to the other proteins on the STRING dataset. However, on the BioGRID dataset, the average betweenness centrality of cancer proteins is larger than that of disease and control proteins, but smaller than that of essential proteins.
DataPflex: a MATLAB-based tool for the manipulation and visualization of multidimensional datasets

MOTIVATION DataPflex is a MATLAB-based application that facilitates the manipulation and visualization of multidimensional datasets. The strength of DataPflex lies in the intuitive graphical user interface for the efficient incorporation, manipulation and visualization of high-dimensional data that can be generated by multiplexed protein measurement platforms including, but not limited to Luminex or Meso-Scale Discovery. Such data can generally be represented in the form of multidimensional datasets [for example (time x stimulation x inhibitor x inhibitor concentration x cell type x measurement)]. For cases where measurements are made in a combinational fashion across multiple dimensions, there is a need for a tool to efficiently manipulate and reorganize such data for visualization. DataPflex accepts data consisting of up to five arbitrary dimensions in addition to a measurement dimension. Data are imported from a simple . xls format and can be exported to MATLAB or . xls. Data dimensions can be reordered, subdivided, merged, normalized and visualized in the form of collections of line graphs, bar graphs, surface plots, heatmaps, IC50's and other custom plots. Open source implementation in MATLAB enables easy extension for custom plotting routines and integration with more sophisticated analysis tools. AVAILABILITY DataPflex is distributed under the GPL license (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/) together with documentation, source code and sample data files at: http://code.google. com/p/datapflex. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data available at Bioinformatics online.