Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nutritional value of sorghum silage of different purposes

ABSTRACT Sorghum is a crop that stands out as an alternative to corn due to lower soil fertility demand and increased tolerance to drought. Lack of information about the qualitative behaviour of sorghum hinders the recommendation of different purpose sorghum cultivars. The goal was to evaluate the chemical composition and in vitro digestibility of different purpose sorghum cultivar silages, at two cropping seasons. The trial was conducted at the Plant Production Department, Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Rondonia, Colorado do Oeste campus, and chemical analyses and in vitro incubation were performed at the Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Federal University of Mato Grosso, Cuiaba campus. The experimental design was a randomized block with a split-plot arrangement and four replications. Plot treatments consisted of six different purpose sorghum cultivars (BRS 308 and BRS 310, grain sorghum; BR 655 and BRS 610, forage sorghum; and BRS 506 and CMSXS 647, sweet sorghum). Split-plot treatments consisted of two cropping periods (first crop and second crop). Forage sorghum cultivar BRS 655 demonstrated higher non-fiber carbohydrate content and lower potentially digestible fibre content than the other cultivars did. Sweet sorghum cultivars had higher levels of water soluble carbohydrates and non-protein nitrogen based on protein, lower indigestible neutral detergent fibre content at second crop, and higher
Concentrations of Chloroquine and Malaria Parasites in Blood in Nigerian Children

ABSTRACT Consumption of chloroquine (CQ) and subtherapeutic drug levels in blood are considered to be widespread in areas where malaria is endemic. A cross-sectional study was performed with 405 Nigerian children to assess factors associated with the presence of CQ in blood and to examine correlations of drug levels with malaria parasite species and densities. Infections with Plasmodium species and parasite densities were determined by microscopy and PCR assays. Whole-blood CQ concentrations were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography. Plasmodium falciparum, P. malariae, and P. ovale were observed in 80, 16, and 9% of the children, respectively, and CQ was detected in 52% of the children. CQ concentrations were >17 and <100 nmol/liter in 25% of the children, 100 to 499 nmol/liter in 14% of the children, and ≥500 nmol/liter in 13% of the children. Young age, attendance at health posts, and absence of parasitemia were factors independently associated with CQ in blood. With increasing concentrations of CQ, the prevalence of P. falciparum infection and parasite densities decreased. However, at concentrations corresponding to those usually attained during regular prophylaxis (≥500 nmol/liter), 62% of children were still harboring P. falciparum parasites. In contrast, no infection with P. malariae and only one infection with P. ovale were observed in children with CQ concentrations of ≥100 nmol/liter. These data show the high prevalence of subcurative CQ concentrations in Nigerian children and confirm the considerable degree of CQ resistance in that country. Subtherapeutic drug levels are likely to further promote CQ resistance and may impair the development and maintenance of premunition in areas where malaria is endemic.
Rab11 is phosphorylated by classical and novel protein kinase C isoenzymes upon sustained phorbol ester activation

Rab11 is a small GTPase that controls diverse intracellular trafficking pathways. However, the molecular machinery that regulates the participation of Rab11 in those different transport events is poorly understood. In resting cells, Rab11 localizes at the endocytic recycling compartment (ERC), whereas the different protein kinase C (PKC) isoforms display a cytosolic distribution.
Estimating a continuous odor-patch path using discrete measurements for odor source localization

This paper addresses the problem of estimating a continuous odor-patch path which is most likely taken by an odor patch detected by a mobile robot in a time-varying airflow environment. The estimated odor-patch path is great useful for odor source localization, while the existing methods for odor-patch path estimation are either at high computational cost, or in discrete form that is incomplete for estimating the position of the odor source. In this paper, an algorithm for estimating a continuous odor-patch path using discrete measurements in the time-varying airflow environment is proposed. The algorithm has a low computational cost, thus it can be used in online applications. Experiments are carried out on a mobile robot equipped with a gas sensor and an anemometer. The experiment results in an outdoor nature airflow environment show that the odor-patch path can be well estimated online.
Do Investors Fully Understand the Implications of the Persistence of Revenue and Expense Surprises for Future Prices ?

This study documents that revenue surprises are more persistent than expense surprises, and investigates whether investors understand the implications of these differential persistence levels in setting future prices. Consistent with prior studies of the post-earnings-announcement-drift, this study shows that although investors understand the pattern of autocorrelations in earnings, revenue and expense surprises, they underreact to the levels of these autocorrelations, and also to the greater persistence of the revenue surprises than expense surprises. The study shows that rational investors can obtain significantly higher abnormal returns from a trading strategy that incorporates both revenue and expense surprises than an equivalent strategy that is based on earnings surprises alone. These results are robust to various controls, including the proportions of stock held by institutional investors, trading liquidity, and arbitrage risk. The study also shows that revenue surprises add significantly to abnormal returns beyond just earnings surprises when earnings have low persistence, when the correlation between earnings and operating cash flow is low, when firms are small and when the proportion of total
Lack of Expression of the Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) Gene Products, EBERs, EBNA1, LMP1, and LMP2A, in Breast Cancer Cells

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a gamma herpesvirus, has been associated with a variety of human malignancies such as Burkitt's lymphoma, Hodgkin's lymphoma, NPC, and gastric cancer. A controversy regarding the association of EBV with breast cancers has recently been reported in the literature. These reports have mainly used the DNA detection techniques of polymerase chain reaction and Southern blot hybridization, with the inherent lacunae associated with these techniques for signal localization. Our group has studied EBV association with breast cancer by using in situ hybridization for detecting nonpolyadenylated EBV RNA (EBERs), along with using protein localization technique of immunohistochemistry, studying the EBV nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA1) and the latent membrane proteins (LMP1 and LMP2A). This is the first article analyzing the expression of LMP2A in breast cancer cells. In all of our 43 female breast cancer cases under study, we failed to detect expression of any of the EBV viral gene products tested.
Concept and main results for ultraprecise low noisy 10 MHz DOCXO ensuring Allan deviation of 1…2E-13 for 1…10 s.

A technical solution to combine the advantages of a new generation's DOCXO ensuring ∼E-11 vs. temperature with ADEV of 1…2E-13 for 1…10 s has been created. It should be noted that a frequency stability vs. temperature change considerable improvement (up to 2…3E-11 for 55°C) allows reliable measurements of ADEV at 10 s (2E-13 as normal value) and considerably improves phase noise measurement for 0.1 Hz offset(up to −93…−96 dBc/Hz).
Improved robust stability for uncertain linear systems with interval time-varying delay

This paper is concerned with the problem of robust stability of uncertain linear systems. The considered system has an interval time-varying delay and norm-bounded uncertainty. Based on a new Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional, which considers the fraction of both the lower and upper bounds of the interval time-varying delay, a delay-dependent criteria for robust stability is established in terms of strict linear matrix inequality (LMI). A numerical example illustrates the effectiveness of the approach and the improvement over previous methods.
Do corporate sustainable management activities improve customer satisfaction, word of mouth intention and repurchase intention? Empirical evidence from the shipping industry

As the concept of corporate sustainable management activities (CSMA) has become an increasingly important element of corporate management, much attention has been paid to its impact on customer relationship. Although there exists many studies concentrating mainly on the environment aspect of CSMA, only a few address the three dimensions of CSMA (environmental, social and economic) and examine their comprehensive impact on relationship marketing. In an attempt to fill this gap, the purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the influence of CSMA on customer satisfaction (CS), word of mouth intention (WOMI) and repurchase intention (RI). ,The data come from 214 shipping industry practitioners (shippers, freight forwarders and third party logistics service providers in South Korea). Structural equation modeling (SEM) is employed to test the impact of CSMA on CS, WOMI and RI. ,Based on a survey conducted in South Korea, the findings indicate that environmental and economic aspects of CSMA play a significant role in enhancing CS and the enhanced CS positively affects WOMI and RI. ,As the field data were obtained from only one industry, future replication of the findings to other industries should consider industry-specific factors, if applicable. ,The results highlight several implications for shipping industry practitioners to consider when establishing the strategy for effective corporate sustainable management to enhance CS. ,This study is one of the first empirical attempts to explore how CSMA affects CS in the shipping industry. In addition, this paper empirically investigates the influence of CS on WOMI and RI.
THE SELECTION DIFFERENTIAL IN QUANTITATIVE GENETICS AND ESS MODELS

Some recent articles in this journal (Charlesworth 1990; Iwasa et al. 1991; Taper and Case 1992; Abrams et al. 1993) have focused on the relationship between quantitative genetics (QG) and evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) models of the evolution of continuous traits under conditions of frequency dependence, and an ESS approximation Sfor the selection differential S has been proposed. Here I recall a formula of Lande and Arnold (1983) for S which holds in normally distributed population and which illuminates the relationship between the two models, and I extend it to the case in which fitness depends also on the average behavior of a local interaction group (equation 12). I calculate S and Sfor a number of standard fitness functions, and verify the results of Wilson and Dugatkin (in press) on kin selection and assortative interactions. Let x denote the value of the continuous trait, and assume it is distributed with mean x; and variance V. In what I will call the non-structured model of frequency-dependence, individual fitness is assumed to depend both on x and x':
Software fault prediction using BP-based crisp artificial neural networks

Early fault detection for software reduces the cost of developments. Fault level can be predicted through learning mechanisms. Conventionally, precise metrics measure the fault level and crisp artificial neural networks CANNs perform the learning. However, the performance of CANNs depends on complexities of data and learning algorithm. This paper considers these two complexities to predict the fault level of software. We apply the principle component analysis PCA to reduce the dimensionality of data, and employ the correlation-based feature selection CFS to select the best features. CANNs, then, predict the fault level of software using back propagation BP algorithm as a learning mechanism. To investigate the performance of BP-based CANNs, we analyse varieties of dimensionality reduction. The results reveal the superiority of PCA to CFS in terms of accuracy.
Window Dressing of Chinese Securities Investment Funds

This paper studies the presence of window dressing of Chinese securities investment funds (SIFs) and explores the causes leading to Chinese fund managers window dressing. From our empirical study, we do not find significant window dressing behaviour manipulated by Chinese fund managers as a whole around either fiscal year-ends or quarter-ends. However, top-ranked funds, including closed-end funds and open-end funds, report an abnormal return at some year-ends. They manipulate the price of their stockholdings upwards with relatively small capital and obtain a higher pre-return at the end of year. We further analyze the empirical results by relating them to the unusual environment of Chinese stock market. Then we find that the underdevelopment of Chinese securities market; fund companies compensation scheme and lack of related regulation are main reasons for Chinese fund managers window dressing.
Weaning Ages in a Sample of American Women who Practice Extended Breastfeeding

This research examined age and method of weaning in a sample of 179 women who practiced extended breastfeeding. The average age for weaning was between 2 years 6 months and 3 years 0 months and ranged from 1 month to 7 years 4 months. Fourteen women had each weaned at least three children, and the youngest children were significantly older at the time of weaning than were their older siblings. Weaning was described as being "gradual" and "child-led" by the majority of women. A smaller, but substantial, percentage of women cited reasons for weaning related to a subsequent pregnancy. Weaning ages for women who practice extended nursing were substantially older than were those of more typical North American mothers and were similar to those in traditional cultures with similar parenting practices.
Model predictive control of atomic force microscope for fast image scanning

This article presents the design of a model predictive control (MPC) scheme for fast tracking and accurate scanning of an atomic force microscope (AFM). The design of this controller is based on an identified model of the AFM piezoelectric tube (PZT) scanner. Total development of the AFM imaging and scanning speed has been illustrated through this paper by proper design and implementation of the MPC controller. Experimental results show that the MPC can increase the scanning speed significantly in contrast with the existing PI controller.
Beating the Target: Performance Management Around the Annual Incentive Target

We document the propensity of Standard & Poor’s 500 index companies to just meet, rather than overshoot or just miss, performance targets in CEOs’ annual incentive plans to boost cash bonuses. The statistical anomaly occurs only in the 4th quarter and is robust to alternative assumptions of performance distribution, but disappears when we substitute historical trends or previous year’s performance targets for the targets. Moreover, boards of directors sometimes make further discretionary adjustments for the purpose of awarding incentive pay. We support Murphy and Jensen’s (2011) call to remove non-linearity in pay-performance relation and urge better disclosure to shareholders.
Annual glare evaluation for fabrics

Although fabrics are widely used as shading devices, reliable simulation models are rather rare and therefore the choice of a fabric with appropriate material characteristics is difficult. This paper presents a simulation model, which can be applied to most of the common available fabric shading materials. Furthermore a comprehensive simulation study has been conducted in order to derive simple to use tables for the selection of appropriate shading properties for a designer. These tables enable the user to select the "right" fabric according to a combination of multiple boundary conditions (location, orientation, window sizes, user positions).
Topologies construction and leaders location in multi-agent controllability

It is known that multi-agent controllability relies not only on the topology structures of communication graph but also on the location of leaders. In the paper, we study topologies construction and leaders location for multi-agent controllability based on consensus algorithm. First, topologies are designed by two constructive approaches. The results on the topologies are expressed in terms of necessary conditions. Then, connections between controllability and leaders location are presented regarding multiple eigenvalues. Finally, it is shown that leaders' role is a determining factor for the controllability of a path graph. In all the developed results, leaders location is indicated clearly.
Glycohaemoglobin: Comparison of 12 Analytical Methods, Applied to Lyophilized Haemolysates by 101 Laboratories in an External Quality Assurance Programme

Stable lyophilized ethylenediaminetetra-acetic acid (EDTA)-blood haemolysates were applied in an external quality assurance programme (SKZL, The Netherlands) for glycohaemoglobin assays in 101 laboratories using 12 methods. The mean intralaboratory day-to-day coefficient of variation (CV), calculated from the assay of 12 unidentified pairs over a period of 1 year, was 5·2% (range: 0·2–28·7). Forty-seven per cent of laboratories did not meet the criterion of CV < 5%, whereas 68% did not meet the clinically more desirable 3·3–3·6%. Linearity, as derived from the analysis of five combinations of two haemolysates with low and high glycohaemoglobin percentages over 6 months, was excellent (mean correlation coefficient 0·9953; range: 0·9188–0·9999). Analysis of two samples with high and low glycohaemoglobin percentages gave mean interlaboratory coefficients of variation of 10% for one method performed by several laboratories and 22% for all methods performed by all laboratories. It is concluded that the majority of laboratories do not meet the clinically desirable intralaboratory precision and that an unacceptably high interlaboratory precision exists.
Thrombin Receptor Occupancy Modulates Aggregation Efficiency and Platelet Surface Expression of vWF and Thrombospondin at Low Thrombin Concentrations

Summary Previous studies evaluating requirements for occupancy of thrombin receptors in normal platelet secretion and aggregation, using the thrombin antagonists hirudin and PPACK (D-Phe-Pro-Arg-chloromethylke-tone), have suggested that at low thrombin activating concentrations (0.025–0.13 U/ml), occupancy was required only in the first 45–60 s following activation. In our study, we differentiate between thrombin receptor occupancy requirements for surface expression of secreted adhesive proteins, for activation of GPIIb-IIIa receptors, and for aggregation of washed platelets (WP) in laminar shear flow. Platelets activated with 0.05 U/ml thrombin for 10 min to allow maximal secretion (hereafter referred to as “pre-activated platelets”), then sheared, showed a 50–70% decrease in platelet counts after 60 s of shear. Treatment of pre-activated platelets with hirudin or PPACK produced a 65% reduction of capture efficiencies, αG (reflecting experimental/theoretical initial rates of aggregation), as well as a 30–40% decrease in the surface expression of von Willebrand factor (vWF) and thrombospondin (TSP). However, α-granule membrane P-selectin expression and numbers of activated GPIIb-IIIa receptors were comparable for treated and non-treated platelets. No significant difference in any of the parameters tested was observed when platelets were similarly pre-activated with 0.2 U/ml thrombin, due to treatment with thrombin antagonists. Binding of soluble FITC-vWF (GRGDSP-sensitive) to pre-activated, thrombin antagonist treated platelets, was greatly reduced (≥80%). Soluble Fg was shown to bind to antagonist-treated pre-activated platelets, but could not significantly enhance platelet aggregation. Although occupancy of thrombin receptors by catalytically active thrombin is required transiently for secretion and activation of platelets, there is a further requirement for thrombin occupancy at low thrombin concentrations, for optimizing initial rates of platelet aggregation, surface expression of vWF and TSP, and activated GPIIb-IIIa ligand recognition.
Cross-hybridization on PCR-spotted microarrays.

While more work is certainly necessary to better quantify the effects of hybridization stringency conditions on PCR-spotted microarrays, we find that sequence similarity requirements for observing cross-hybridization on these microarrays are slightly higher than, yet similar to, those observed for oligonucleotide arrays. These results suggest that consideration needs to be given to probe design for genes containing repetitive regions, as cross-hybridization can impact expression studies in two ways: 1) unrelated genes can appear to co-vary by virtue of a cross-hybridizing region; and 2) true expression variations of a gene could be masked by the cross-hybridizing signal of another gene. Both issues become even more of a concern when dealing with transcripts expressed at low levels because a small amount of overlap from an up-regulated gene would provide enough false signal to make covariance seem significant.
Function of Escherichia coli MsbA, an Essential ABC Family Transporter, in Lipid A and Phospholipid Biosynthesis*

The Escherichia coli msbA gene, first identified as a multicopy suppressor of htrB mutations, has been proposed to transport nascent core-lipid A molecules across the inner membrane (Polissi, A., and Georgopoulos, C. (1996) Mol. Microbiol. 20, 1221–1233). msbA is an essentialE. coli gene with high sequence similarity to mammalian Mdr proteins and certain types of bacterial ABC transporters.htrB is required for growth above 32 °C and encodes the lauroyltransferase that acts after Kdo addition during lipid A biosynthesis (Clementz, T., Bednarski, J., and Raetz, C. R. H. (1996) J. Biol. Chem. 271, 12095–12102). By using a quantitative new 32Pi labeling technique, we demonstrate that hexa-acylated species of lipid A predominate in the outer membranes of wild type E. coli labeled for several generations at 42 °C. In contrast, in htrB mutants shifted to 42 °C for 3 h, tetra-acylated lipid A species and glycerophospholipids accumulate in the inner membrane. Extra copies of the cloned msbA gene restore the ability ofhtrB mutants to grow at 42 °C, but they do not increase the extent of lipid A acylation. However, a significant fraction of the tetra-acylated lipid A species that accumulate in htrBmutants are transported to the outer membrane in the presence of extra copies of msbA. E. coli strains in which msbA synthesis is selectively shut off at 42 °C accumulate hexa-acylated lipid A and glycerophospholipids in their inner membranes. Our results support the view that MsbA plays a role in lipid A and possibly glycerophospholipid transport. The tetra-acylated lipid A precursors that accumulate in htrB mutants may not be transported as efficiently by MsbA as are penta- or hexa-acylated lipid A species.
Modelling of transient waveforms for printed circuit board circuits in power electronics

This paper presents a modelling technique for achieving accurate switching waveforms of typical power converter systems. The interconnection model of a power printed circuit board (PCB) is based on the high frequency equivalent circuit which relates the interconnection inductance to transient waveform of the power device. We propose a fast and efficient simulation technique to provide transient analysis for power PCB design.