Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Is Presepsin a Reliable Marker of Sepsis Diagnosis in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit?

BACKGROUND: Sepsis is a major challenge in emergency departments and intensive care units (ICUs). Sepsis also mimics or interacts with many other disorders causing high mortality and morbidity. There is no accurate biomarker or test to diagnose or predict sepsis. The treatment of sepsis is often based on the clinicianâ€™s experience. AIM: We conducted this study to analyze the serum level of presepsin in pediatric critical patients with SIRS, sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock. METHODS: The study included 58 children, 32 septic pediatric patients admitted to the Pediatric ICU (PICU) of Cairo University Teaching Hospital and 26 healthy children who served as a control group. The aim was to estimate the diagnostic accuracy of presepsin in predicting sepsis in PICU. We classified the patients into systemic inflammatory response syndrome, sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock according to the international consensus conference criteria. RESULTS: In our study, we detected a positive correlation between C-reactive protein and presepsin levels at day 1 and day 3 of admission and a negative correlation between hemoglobin and presepsin levels at day 1. However, we found no difference in the serum presepsin between the children who had sepsis and the healthy ones (at day 1 [p = 0.430) and at day 3 [p = 0.845]). We also found that serum levels of presepsin were not significantly increased with the increasing severity of sepsis despite the higher median values with increasing sepsis severity. CONCLUSIONS: It was noted that presepsin levels increased in anemic critical patients, whereas presepsin had no role in differentiating the septic critical patients from healthy children. However, its level increased with increasing severity of sepsis grade.
Measurement and modelling of CO2 flux from a drained fen peatland cultivated with reed canary grass and spring barley

Cultivation of bioenergy crops has been suggested as a promising option for reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from arable organic soils (Histosols). Here, we report the annual net ecosystem exchange (NEE) fluxes of CO2 as measured with a dynamic closed chamber method at a drained fen peatland grown with reed canary grass (RCG) and spring barley (SB) in a plot experiment (n = 3 for each cropping system). The CO2 flux was partitioned into gross photosynthesis (GP) and ecosystem respiration (RE). For the data analysis, simple yet useful GP and RE models were developed which introduce plot‐scale ratio vegetation index as an active vegetation proxy. The GP model captures the effect of temperature and vegetation status, and the RE model estimates the proportion of foliar biomass dependent respiration (Rfb) in the total RE. Annual RE was 1887 ± 7 (mean ± standard error, n = 3) and 1288 ± 19 g CO2‐C m−2 in RCG and SB plots, respectively, with Rfb accounting for 32 and 22% respectively. Total estimated annual GP was −1818 ± 42 and −1329 ± 66 g CO2‐C m−2 in RCG and SB plots leading to a NEE of 69 ± 36 g CO2‐C m−2 yr−1 in RCG plots (i.e., a weak net source) and −41 ± 47 g CO2‐C m−2 yr−1 in SB plots (i.e., a weak net sink). Standard errors related to spatial variation were small (as shown above), but more significant uncertainties were related to the modelling approach for establishment of annual budgets. In conclusion, the bioenergy cropping system was not more favourable than the food cropping system when looking at the atmospheric CO2 emissions during cultivation. However, in a broader GHG life‐cycle perspective, the lower fertilizer N input and the higher biomass yield in bioenergy cropping systems could be beneficial.
Succession of microbial community in anaerobic digestion of dairy manure induced by manure-derived biochar

The present study investigates possible roles of manure-derived biochar (MBC) in anaerobic digestion (AD) of dairy manure. Addition of MBC led to an increase in cumulative methane yield and a decrease in lag phase under all tested conditions (concentration of MBC: 1 and 10 g/L, temperature: 20, 35 and 55°C). For example, the cumulative methane yield in the mesophilic AD with 10 g/L MBC were 24.51% higher than that of the AD without MBC. Additionally, lag phage of mesophilic AD with 10 g/L MBC decreased from 2.08 d to 1.52 d. Microbial community analysis indicated that the addition of MBC to mesophilic and thermophilic AD of dairy manure increased the relative abundance of Ruminofilibacter which related to the hydrolysis. In addition, the addition of MBC to AD potentially stimulated the growth of syntrophic bacteria (e.g., genera Clostridium, Syntrophomonas and Syntrophus) and hydrogenotrophic methanogens (e.g., genera Methanobacterium, Methanolinea and Methanomassiliicoccus). Furthermore, microbial community analysis also suggested that mediate interspecies electron transfer and direct interspecies electron transfer would be accelerated by addition of MBC which showed high electrical conductivity (3230 μS/cm).
Weed seedling emergence and seed survival: separating the effects of seed position and soil modification by tillage

Summary Tillage causes both vertical redistribution of weed seeds and changes in soil physical properties. These two factors are rarely distinguished in studies of the impact of tillage on seedling emergence or seed survival. In this study, seeds of Chenopodium album L. , Amaranthus retroflexus L. , and Abutilon theophrasti Medik, were planted at particular depths in pots of undisturbed or stirred soil to separate these effects. Emergence and survival data were analysed by non-linear regression to determine the nature of significant differences between treatments. Emergence increased with slight burial and then decreased exponentially at greater depths. Average emergence over all depths was generally greater in tilled sou than in unfilled soil, particularly for C. album and A. retroflexus. Seed survival approached a maximum with increasing depth. Average survival of seeds that did not produce emerged seedlings was greater in tilled soil than in untilled soil for C. album and A. retroflexus. Thus, tillage affects emergence and seed survival of weeds through changes in soil conditions independently of effects resulting from redistribution of seeds in the soil profile.
Physiological and genetic responses to boron deficiency in Brassica napus: A review

Abstract Boron (B) is an essential microelement for the growth and development of plants, and B deficiency affects many biochemical and physiological processes. Brassica napus L. has a high demand for B and is extremely sensitive to B deficiency. Seed yields and oil quality of B. napus are often limited by the low availability of B in soils. Developing new cultivars of B. napus with high B efficiency is therefore required, which requires a greater understanding of responses to B deficiency. Significant genotypic differences in response to low soil B have been observed among varieties of B. napus. B-efficient genotypes can grow and yield normally and usually have a larger root system than B-inefficient genotypes at low B conditions. The mechanisms for B efficiency in B. napus are attributed to B absorption, transportation and utilization. In addition, the cell wall component plays an important role in the tolerance of B. napus to B deficiency, and the B-efficient line presents fewer B-binding sites in the cell walls compared with the B-inefficient line. Genetic and proteomic analyses in B. napus revealed the modulation of a complex network in response to B deficiency. This review gives a comparative overview of the physiological and genetic responses to B deficiency in B. napus and discusses the possible underlying mechanisms of B efficiency.
The Long-Lasting Effects of Living Under Communism on Attitudes Towards Financial Markets

We analyze the long-term effects of living under communism and its anticapitalist doctrine on households’ financial investment decisions and attitudes towards financial markets. Utilizing comprehensive German brokerage data and bank data, we show that, decades after Reunification, East Germans still invest significantly less in the stock market than West Germans. Consistent with communist friends-and-foes propaganda, East Germans are more likely to hold stocks of companies from communist countries (China, Russia, Vietnam) and of state-owned companies, and are unlikely to invest in American companies and the financial industry. Effects are stronger for individuals exposed to positive “emotional tagging,” e.g., those living in celebrated showcase cities. Effects reverse for individuals with negative experiences, e.g., environmental pollution, religious oppression, or lack of (Western) TV entertainment. Election years trigger further divergence of East and West Germans. We provide evidence of negative welfare consequences due to less diversified portfolios, higher-fee products, and lower risk-adjusted returns.
A MEDIUM FOR THE CULTIVATION OF LACTOBACILLI

SUMMARY: An improved growth medium for lactobacilli is described. It supports good growth of lactobacilli generally and also is particularly useful for a number of fastidious strains which grow only poorly in other general media. In addition, tomato juice, a highly variable material, is not required. In a slightly modified form, it can also be used as a basal medium for fermentation tests.
Impact of Heuristic Bias and Prospect Bias on Share Market Investment Decision Making

Traditional economic theories believed that the share market investors always behave rational while taking investment decisions. Followers of Behavioral finance started to argue strongly that, the investors may not be able to act rational and he will be controlled by various psychological factors, which controls him in the process of investment decision making. Several studies which are carried inside as well as outside the country have provided empirical evidence supporting the fact that, an investors always restricted through different psychological factors and are broadly classified into four groups i.e., Heuristic Theory, Prospect Theory, Market Factors and finally herding effects. Present empirical research work concentrate to find the validity of heuristic bias and prospect bias on Indian share market investors. Structured questionnaires are distributed to 375 share market investors, who have been chosen through stratified random sampling method by dividing on the basis of different geographical areas and different share broking houses. 310 properly filled questioners are considered for the further analysis. Even unstructured and informal discussions are placed before share brokers, analysts and with a group of exports to get in-depth knowledge on the issues related for influence of psychology factors on investment decision of individual share market investors. Pre-determined set of objectives of the study analyzed through several statistical and econometric tools such as Descriptive Statistics, Factor Analysis Correlation Co-efficient and Regression Model using SPSS. Study has been concluded by giving the direction for framing investment strategies to the individual investors, revised business plans for share brokers and also, proposed further chances of research work in the field of behavioral finance to the researchers.
Low Wage Growth and Job-to-Job Transitions: Evidence from Administrative Data in New Zealand

By using administrative data from New Zealand, we assess the relative importance of job-finding, and job-to-job transition rates for wage dynamics. We exploit the regional variation and find that wages are closely linked to job-to-job transitions and less so to the job- finding rate. Further, the impact of the job-to-job transition rate is stronger at the lower half of the wage distribution. Overall, our findings are similar to Karahan et al. (2017) for the US, which support the prominence of on-the-job search for cyclical wage dynamics.
Comparison of Two Biochemical Test Systems with Conventional Methods for the Identification of Bacteria Pathogenic to Warmwater Fish

Abstract One hundred seven Aeromonas spp. , 26 Edwardsiella ictaluri, 6 E. tarda, 12 Plesiomonas shigelloides, and 6 Pseudomonas spp. (131 piscine isolates and 26 reference isolates) were studied with 36 biochemical tests from the Minitek system, 20 tests from the API 20E system, and corresponding standard tube tests. Isolates were incubated at 25°C. Arginine dihydrolase, ornithine decarboxylase, mannose, and citrate showed less than 95% agreement between the Minitek system and the tube tests. Arginine dihydrolase, lysine decarboxylase, nitrite reductase, Voges-Proskauer, and citrate showed less than 95% agreement between the API 20E system and the tube tests. The 26 reference isolates were examined with the three systems and were incubated at both 25 and 37°C. There were no major differences between tests run at 25 and 37°C except with nine Aeromonas spp. that did not grow well at 37°C. Both the Minitek and API 20E systems will reproduce standard biochemical tube test results with at least 95% accuracy wh.
Buttermilk Manufacture Using a Combination of Direct Acidification and Citrate Fermentation by Leuconostoc cremoris

Abstract Fourteen strains of Leuconostoc cremoris were compared for their relative ability to produce diacetyl in whey prepared from milk containing . 1% added sodium citrate and acidified with a lactic-acetic acid mixture. We observed considerable variations among strains in amounts of diacetyl produced. Concentrated cultures were prepared from selected strains that produced the highest levels of diacetyl. The cultures were grown at 25°C in a broth medium supplemented with . 1% sodium citrate and maintained at pH 6.0. Cells from the resulting cultures were resuspended in small portions of milk and frozen in liquid nitrogen. Cells from the concentrated cultures when inoculated into milk acidified to pH 4.5 with a mixture of lactic acid, acetic acid, and glucono-delta-lactone did not produce as much diacetyl as expected. The glucono-delta-lactone apparently exerted an inhibitory effect on diacetyl production. In spite of this inhibitory action, a product resembling cultured buttermilk was made by acidification of milk with a mixture of lactic acid and acetic acid to pH 5.3, inoculation with cells of L. cremoris , followed by an appropriate amount of glucono-delta-lactone, so that final pH was 4.5 to 4.6. The mixture was incubated for 14h after which . 1% salt was added. The product was stored at 5°C and analyzed for sensory quality and diacetyl content. The "buttermilk" was not noticeably different from commercial samples; however, the concentration of diacetyl decreased considerably during 1 wk of storage at 5°C.
BREAKDOWN OF TIMBER BY ASCOMYCETES AND FUNGI IMPERFECTI

Soft rot of wood is caused by certain species of Ascomycetes and Fungi Imperfecti The fungal hyphae typically run spirally in the central zone of the secondary xylem walls, where they give rise to cavities with pointed ends. The fungi causing soft rot are cellulose-attacking species which initiate attack in the less heavily lignified parts of the walls of the wood elements. The rate of attack is increased when inorganic nutrient salts are added to the wood. Under laboratory conditions Chaetomium globosum can cause severe decay of hardwoods. Soft rot causes serious deterioration of timber in water-cooling towers and is therefore of considerable economic importance.
Effects of cinnamaldehyde, eugenol, and capsicum on fermentation of a corn-based dairy ration in continuous culture.

A 12-unit continuous culture system was used in a complete randomized design to study the effects of no oil (CON), cinnamaldehyde oil (CIN), eugenol oil (EUG), and capsicum oil (CAP) (500 mg L-1 d -1) with a 45:55 forage:concentrate ratio (dry matter basis) ration on rumen fermentation. Dry matter digestibility did not differ among treatments. Organic matter digestibility tended to decrease with CIN. Digestibility of neutral detergent and acid detergent fiber tended to be highest with CAP. Crude protein digestibility and bacterial nitrogen flow was depressed with CIN and EUG. CIN tended to decrease microbial protein synthesis and increase effluent ammonia nitrogen. Total volatile fatty acid production did not differ among treatments; however, isovalerate production tended to be highest with CAP. CIN and EUG had higher mean pH, spent fewer hours per day and had smaller area under the curve at pH < 5.6 and 5.8. CAP had smaller area under the curve at pH < 5.6. Supplementation with these oils at the current .
Design of the base isolation system with artificial neural network models

This work presents the application of the artificial neural networks (ANN) for modeling and designing Seismic-Isolation (SI) systems consisting of Natural Rubber Bearings and Viscous Fluid Dampers subject to Near-Field (NF) earthquake ground motion. Four lumped-mass stick models representing a realistic five, ten, fifteen, and 20-story base-isolated buildings are used. The key response parameters selected to represent the behavior of SI system are the Damper Force (PDF), Total Maximum Displacement (DTM), the Peak the Top Story Acceleration Ratio (TSAR) of the isolated structure compared to the fixed-base structure and the maximum amplified drift ratio (δmax). Twenty-four NF earthquake records representing two seismic hazard levels are used. The commercial analysis program SAP2000 was used to perform the Time-History Analysis (THA) of the MDOF system (stick model representing a realistic N-story base-isolated building) subject to all 24 records. Different combinations of damping coefficients (c) and damping exponents (ą) are investigated under the 24 earthquake records to develop the database of feasible combinations for the SI system. The total number of considered THA combinations is 751680 and were used for training and testing the neural network. Mathematical models for the key response parameters are established via ANN and produced acceptable results with significantly less computation. The results of this study show that ANN models can be a powerful tool to be included in the design process of Seismic-Isolation (SI) systems, especially at the preliminary stages.
Environmental Factors Affecting Health-Related Quality of Life: Nurses' Narrative Analysis

Introduction: The hospital environment is recognized as one of the most stressful workplaces. The impacts of the hospital environment on the health-related quality of life of nurses necessitate the consideration of their viewpoints in the field of design and maintenance of the hospital environment. Accordingly, this study aimed to identify environmental factors affecting the promotion of nurses' health-related quality of life. Methods: In this study, 10 nurses working in a selected hospital were chosen through purposeful sampling and participated in the narrative analysis. The required data were collected through narratives from semi-structured interviews with participants. The content of all narratives was evaluated by the thematic analysis. Results: The environmental factors affecting the nurses' health-related quality of life were classified into four main themes: physical environment”, “functional support of the environment”, “social support of the environment”, and “psychological support of the environment. Besides, the themes related to the physical environment were classified under space configurations and air quality. Furthermore, functional support was placed under ergonomics. Communications and territory were found as subsets of the theme of social support, while interior design, tranquility, light quality, air quality, and the sense of control were classified under the main theme of psychological support. The frequency of themes repeated in the narratives indicated that psychological support and the physical environment have the highest impact on the health-related quality of life of nurses. Conclusion: According to the findings of the study, policymakers, managers, and designers are recommended to try to understand nurses' perceptions of positive workplace components, and to introduce necessary environmental actions and interventions to promote the health-related quality of life of nursing staffs.
Abordagem Bayesiana das curvas de crescimento de duas cultivares de feijoeiro

Neste trabalho foi utilizada a metodologia Bayesiana para ajustar o modelo nao-linear logistico para dados de crescimento de duas cultivares de feijoeiro, "Neguinho" e "Carioca". O delineamento experimental utilizado foi o inteiramente casualizado, com vinte repeticoes, no esquema de parcelas subdivididas, sendo que os tratamentos principais foram constituidos pelas cultivares e as subparcelas foram constituidas por 17 periodos de avaliacoes, do plantio ate aos 85 dias. A metodologia permitiu comparar as curvas de crescimentos sem utilizar a teoria assintotica e estes resultados mostraram um maior incremento em altura para a cultivar "Carioca".
Upgrade of the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter high voltage system

The high voltage system of TileCal, the ATLAS central hadron calorimeter, is being upgraded for the high-luminosity LHC, in the so called phase II upgrade. In the new configuration for the upgrade, the high voltage regulation boards are not located inside the detector anymore, they are deployed far from the radiation caused by the collisions, in a room where there is permanent access for maintenance. This option requires a large number of 100 m long high voltage cables but removes the requirement of radiation hardened boards. HVremote regulation boards and the respective high voltage supplies boards have been developed and tested, as well as a crate to house the boards. Preliminary results of the HVremote boards performance are presented.
At Loggerheads: Gear Damage in the Blue Crab Fishery Attributed to Loggerhead Sea Turtles

Abstract North Carolina's fishery for the blue crab Callinectes sapidus is experiencing problems with gear damage during the summer season. Individuals of a protected species, the loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta, are the likely culprits of crab pot damage, bait theft, and reduced crab catch, perhaps with important economic impacts. In summer 2005, we conducted a fishing study in cooperation with a pair of crabbers operating one commercial blue crab boat in Core Sound, North Carolina, to characterize location, timing, and extent of damage to crab pots. We examined spatial and temporal overlap of fishing activity with loggerhead sea turtle sightings and quantified blue crab catch. Eighty-seven percent of pots were damaged throughout the course of the study, and gear damage peaked in late June to early July. We measured a 40% reduction in blue crab catch in crab pots that were damaged. Loggerhead sea turtle sightings were consistent with areas of high gear damage. Our results should be considered by ma.
Hybrid Ranking Network for Text-to-SQL

In this paper, we study how to leverage pre-trained language models in Text-to-SQL. We argue that previous approaches under utilize the base language models by concatenating all columns together with the NL question and feeding them into the base language model in the encoding stage. We propose a neat approach called Hybrid Ranking Network (HydraNet) which breaks down the problem into column-wise ranking and decoding and finally assembles the column-wise outputs into a SQL query by straightforward rules. In this approach, the encoder is given a NL question and one individual column, which perfectly aligns with the original tasks BERT/RoBERTa is trained on, and hence we avoid any ad-hoc pooling or additional encoding layers which are necessary in prior approaches. Experiments on the WikiSQL dataset show that the proposed approach is very effective, achieving the top place on the leaderboard.