Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of condensed tannins in Lotus corniculatus upon reproductive efficiency and wool production in sheep during late summer and autumn

A grazing experiment, conducted for 55 days (from 4 March to 29 April) in the late summer/autumn of 1997, at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand, compared the reproductive efficiency and wool growth of ewes grazing Lotus corniculatus (birdsfoot trefoil) or perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne)/white clover (Trifolium repens) dominant pasture (pasture). Half the ewes grazing each forage were given daily oral polyethylene glycol (PEG: molecular weight 3500) supplementation to inactivate the condensed tannins (CT) in lotus. A rotational grazing system with 200 mixed age ewes (54·2±0·88 kg/ewe; 50 ewes/treatment) was used. The effect of forage species and PEG supplementation upon voluntary feed intake (VFI), concentration of plasma metabolites, reproductive efficiency, wool production and wool characteristics was measured during two synchronized oestrous cycles. The ewes were restricted to maintenance feeding for the first 12 days of each oestrous cycle and then increased to ad libitum for the 6 days prior to and including ovulation. Lotus contained 17 g total CT/kg dry matter (DM) in the diet selected. There were only trace amounts of total CT in pasture. In vitro organic matter digestibility (OMD) was higher for lotus (0·82 v. 0·74) than for pasture, whilst lotus contained less nitrogen (N; 37·8 v. 44·5 g/kg OM). Mean ovulation rates (OR) for CT-acting and PEG sheep grazing pasture and lotus were respectively 1·33 v. 1·35 and 1·78 v. 1·56, with corresponding lambing percentages being 1·36 v. 1·36 and 1·70 v. 1·42. Fecundity (number of corpora lutea/ewe ovulating) was greater for ewes grazing lotus than pasture (P<0·01), and tended to be greater for CT-acting than for PEG sheep grazing lotus (P=0·06). In unsupplemented sheep, ewes grazing lotus had increased plasma concentrations of branched chain amino acids (BCAA; 57%) and essential amino acids (EAA; 52%) compared to ewes grazing pasture. In ewes grazing pasture, PEG administration had no effect on plasma concentrations of urea and free amino acids, VFI, reproductive efficiency and wool production. However, in sheep grazing lotus, plasma concentrations of urea were significantly lower and concentrations of most amino acids were significantly higher for CT-acting than for PEG supplemented ewes (CT not acting); there was no difference in VFI between these two groups. Compared to ewes grazing pasture, ewes grazing lotus had similar VFI but produced more wool with longer staples and thicker fibre diameter, with there being no effect of PEG supplementation. It was concluded that feeding lotus increased the efficiency of both reproduction and wool production without an increase in VFI, and that a possible cause was the action of CT in increasing plasma EAA and especially BCAA concentration.
The Effect of Social Media on Tourism Consumer Adoption Intention:Evidence from Urumqi

Social media provide tourism consumers with a two-way communication and interaction platform. They can not only search and adopt tourism evaluation information of others when making travelling decisions, but also instantly share tourism experience and satisfaction when travelling. We randomly survey 1100 tourism consumers in Urumqi of China to test the effect of characteristic of social media on tourism consumer adoption intention, as well as explore individual heterogeneity. The result shows: interactivity, service quality, information effectiveness, convenience and participation have a significantly positive influence on tourism consumer adoption intention; the higher is tourism consumers’ education level, the more they pay attention to sharing and connectivity; the higher is tourism consumers’ income level, the more they pay attention service quality and information effectiveness. In addition, the frequency of using social media and engaging in tourism activities has a positive effect on adoption intention.
Derivation of Cubic and Hexagonal Mesoporous Silica Films by Spin-coating

By introducing spin-coating method to the evaporation induced self-assembly (EISA) process, a simple and reproducible route in controlling the mesophase of silica thin films has been developed for the first time in this work. When a comparatively solvent-rich Si-sol (The atomic ratio of TEOS : F127 : HCl : H2O : EtOH = 1 : 0.006 : 0.2 : 9.2 : 30) was used as coating solution, the mesophase of resultant silica films was selectively controlled by adjusting the spin-on speed. The cubic mesophase has been obtained from the coating at a low rpm, such as 600 rpm, while the 2-D hexagonal mesophase is formed at a high rpm, such as 2,500 rpm. At a medium coating speed, a mixture of cubic and hexagonal mesophase has been found in the fabricated films. The present results confirm that the evaporation rate of volatile components at initial step is critical for the determination of mesopore structures during the EISA process.
Initial Left Image R ight Image Hand-Designed Cost Aggregation Disparity Map Disparity Computation A ggregated C ost Volume Extracting Guidance Aggregation Guidance Generaing Aggregation Proposals Aggregation Proposals Fusion Aggregated Cost Volume Disparity Map Disparity Computation A : The Typical

Deep neural networks have shown excellent performance for stereo matching. Many efforts focus on the feature extraction and similarity measurement of the matching cost computation step while less attention is paid on cost aggregation which is crucial for stereo matching. In this paper, we present a learning-based cost aggregation method for stereo matching by a novel sub-architecture in the end-to-end trainable pipeline. We reformulate the cost aggregation as a learning process of the generation and selection of cost aggregation proposals which indicate the possible cost aggregation results. The cost aggregation sub-architecture is realized by a two-stream network: one for the generation of cost aggregation proposals, the other for the selection of the proposals. The criterion for the selection is determined by the low-level structure information obtained from a light convolutional network. The two-stream network offers a global view guidance for the cost aggregation to rectify the mismatching value stemming from the limited view of the matching cost computation. The comprehensive experiments on challenge datasets such as KITTI and Scene Flow show that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.
A MULTI-PARADIGM, WHOLE SYSTEM VIEW OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE FOR AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION

This paper presents a hybrid simulation model for the management of an eye condition called age-related macular degeneration, which particularly affects the elderly. The model represents not only the detailed clinical progression of disease in an individual, but also the organization of the hospital clinic in which patients with this condition are treated and the wider environment in which these patients live (and their social care needs, if any, are met). The model permits a ‘whole system’ societal view which captures the interactions between the health and social care systems.
CANT EXCESS AND CANT DEFICIENCY EVALUATION IN RELATION TO TRAIN SPEED

The paper deals with the evaluation of measured speeds of the vehicles on the chosen sections of the railway network in the Czech Republic. In connection with the phased implementation of the AVV system (automatic train operation) and the European ETCS system, the dispersion of the train speeds will be reduced. Measured data were used to assess the weighted average of the cant excess or cant deficiency in relation to the rail defects. Within the framework of the research, the speeds were statistically evaluated covering more aspects like types and sorts of the trains, their operators, daytime and more.
Characterization of the acerola industrial residues and prospection of their potential application as antioxidant dietary fiber source

The action of the natural antioxidants present in fruits and vegetables and the relation of these with the reduction of the oxidative stress in the organism have been attracting the attention of several researchers. On recent years, several studies have been developed showing that a diet rich in natural antioxidants lowers the risk of some diseases, such as some cancers and cardiovascular diseases. Health benefits are attributed to a wide variety of food constituents such as fibers, minerals, vitamins, and other compounds (Hassimotto et al., 2005). Taking knowledge from these studies, consumers have increasingly sought to consume natural foods, arousing the interest of industries.
Modeling the Process Response of Coastal and Deltaic Systems to Human and Global Changes: Focus on the Mekong System

USAGE Permission is granted to copy this article for use in teaching and research. Republication, systematic reproduction, or collective redistribution of any portion of this article by photocopy machine, reposting, or other means is permitted only with the approval of The Oceanography Society. Send all correspondence to: info@tos.org or The Oceanography Society, PO Box 1931, Rockville, MD 20849-1931, USA. Oceanography THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE OCEANOGRAPHY SOCIETY
Taxable Agglomeration Rent: Evidence From A Panel Data

The main purpose of this paper is to test the existence of a taxable agglomeration rent in the French local tax setting by taking account the tax interactions among the urban jurisdictions. After presenting a simple economic geography model with fiscal interactions, we estimate a model of tax setting for the local business tax using the econometrics techniques on panel data for 1993 to 2002. We observe that the relationship between tax rate and fiscal base gives presumption of the existence of a taxable agglomeration rent.
Early developmental

Citing this paper Please note that where the full-text provided on King's Research Portal is the Author Accepted Manuscript or Post-Print version this may differ from the final Published version. If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination, volume/issue, and date of publication details. And where the final published version is provided on the Research Portal, if citing you are again advised to check the publisher's website for any subsequent corrections.
First Clinical Investigations of New Ultrasound Techniques in Three Patient Groups: Patients with Liver Tumors, Arteriovenous Fistulas, and Arteriosclerotic Femoral Arteries

Velocity ratios (intrastenotic blood flow velocity divided by prestenotic velocity) from arteriosclerotic stenoses and plaques in the superficial femoral artery of 11 patients were obtained using the commercially available vector velocity ultrasound technique Vector Flow Imaging. The stenosis degree, expressed as percentage diameter reduction of the artery, was determined from digital subtraction angiography and compared to the velocity ratios. A correlation coefficient r of 0.45 was calculated and a velocity ratio of 2.5 was found to distinguish clinically relevant stenoses with > 50 % diameter reduction from stenoses with < 50 % diameter reduction. The study supports that Vector Flow Imaging is applicable for evaluation of arterial stenoses based on velocity ratios.
Old growth and secondary forest site occupancy by nocturnal birds in a neotropical landscape

High rates of old growth (OG) forest destruction and difficult farming conditions result in increasing cover of secondary forests (SF) in the Amazon. In this setting, it is opportune to ask which animals use newly available SF and which stay restricted to OG. This study presents a comparison of SF and OG site occupancy by nocturnal birds in terra firme forests of the Amazon Guianan shield, north of Manaus, Brazil. We tested species‐specific occupancy predictions for two owls (Lophostrix cristata/Glaucidium hardyi), two potoos (Nyctibius leucopterus/Nyctibius griseus) and two nightjars (Caprimulgus nigrescens/Nyctidromus albicollis). For each pair, we predicted that one species would have higher occupancy in OG while the other would either be indifferent to forest type or favor SF sites. Data were collected in 30 OG and 24 SF sites with monthly samples from December 2007 to December 2008. Our analytic approach accounts for the possibility of detection failure and for spatial autocorrelation in occupancy, thus leading to strong inferences about changes in occupancy between forest types and between species. Nocturnal bird richness and community composition were indistinguishable between OG and SF sites. Owls were relatively indifferent to forest type. Potoos followed the a priori predictions, and one of the nightjars (C. nigrescens) favored SF instead of OG as predicted. Only one species, Nyctib. leucopterus, clearly favored OG. The landscape context of our SF study sites, surrounded by a vast expanse of continuous OG forest, partially explains the resemblance between SF and OG fauna but leaves unexplained the higher occupancy for SF than OG sites for several study species. The causal explanation of high SF occupancy remains an open question, but the result itself motivates further comparisons for other groups, as well as recognition of the conservation potential of SF.
Motivation in Information Searching Through ＂Mobile News＂ by Malaysian Youth

The rapid development of communication technology, have changed the landscape of information searching especially among youth. Youth are increasingly inclined to seek information using the new media such as mobile news. Nevertheless, the massive information flows have caused difficulties in finding quality, relevance and credibility of information. Hence, this study was undertaken to identify the problems encountered by the youth when searching for information through mobile news; to recognize the motivational factors in searching information through mobile news; and to find out the acceptance factor in searching information through mobile news. The underlying theory in this research is using Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI). Employing a quantitative approach, a total of 400 respondents from higher learning institutes were selected to be the respondents of this study. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 21.0. Results of the study show that the problems faced when seeking information through mobile news is information disorder. Further, motivational factors that encourage information seeking through mobile news by youth are related to advantage and observability. At the same time, seeking information through mobile news is accepted by the youth due to their perceived ease of use. In conclusion, it is hoped that the mobile news could be one of the leading learning medium among the youth in the future.
Sustainability performance and value relevance: an analysis of listed European companies

More and more organizations join the sustainability reporting world (ACCA and Corporate Register, 2004). The main drivers are the success of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Guidelines 2002 and the increasing pressure of traditional and new stakeholders (PwC, 2006). The emergence of ethical investment and the relevance of sustainability indexes (Dow Jones, FTSE4GOOD, KLD, etc.) are the expression of the shareholders increasing interest in sustainable development impact of the company’s activities. This situation shows the need of evaluating the incidence of the sustainability performance of the companies in their market value. Different academic studies have tried to show that sustainable (environmental friendly) organizations usually obtain additional profits (Blacconiere and Patten, 1994; Li and McConomy, 1999; Cormier et al, 2005). The objective of this paper is analysing the existence of a positive relationship between the incorporation of a company in a sustainability index (DJSI) and its market value. Most of the studies carried out are based on unifactorial models. This paper is based on the sustainability matter is a multivariate problem, and a factor analysis is used to gather the sustainability performance of a sample of European companies included in the DJSI. Sustainability performance is evaluated using sustainability reports (or corporate social reports) published by companies.
CoreFun : A Typed Functional Reversible Core Language

This paper presents CoreFun, a typed reversible functional language, which seeks to reduce typed reversible functional programming to its essentials. We present a complete formal definition of the language, including its formal semantics and type system, the latter of which is based on a combined reasoning logical system of unrestricted and relevantly typed terms, and allows special support for ancillary (read-only) variables through its unrestricted fragment. We show how, in many cases, the type system provides the possibility to statically check for the reversibility of programs. Finally, we detail how higher-level language features such as variants and type classes may be incorporated into CoreFun as syntactic sugar, such that CoreFun may be used as a core language for a reversible functional language in a more modern style.
Cognitive Factors in Students' Academic Performance Evaluation using Artificial Neural Networks

Performance evaluation based on some cognitive factors especially Students’ Intelligent Quotient rating (IQR), Confidence Level (CoL) and Time Management ability gives an equal platform for better evaluation of students’ performance using Artificial Neural Network. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) models, which has the advantage of being trained, offers a more robust methodology and tool for predicting, forecasting and modeling phenomena to ascertain conformance to desired standards as well as assist in decision making. This work employs Machine Learning and cognitive science which uses Artificial Neural networks (ANNs) to evaluated students’ academic performance in the Department of Computer Science, Akwa Ibom State University. It presents a survey of the design, building and functionalities of Artificial Neural Network for the evaluation of students’ academic performance using cognitive factors that could affect student’s performances. Keywords : Cognitive, Intelligent Quotient Rating, Machine Learning, Artificial Neural Network.
nalysis of genetic structure of Ranunculus baudotii in a editerranean wetland . Implications for selection of seeds and eedlings for conservation

Seed collection and storage of wild species in ex-situ seed banks should be continued as an integrated tool for the conservation of plants in their habitats. Although seed-bank facilities are widely used today, their seed samples often suffer low genetic diversity. Consequently, reintroduced seeds and plant material may not have the resilience to cope with future environmental stress so leading to complete wastage of seeds. Molecular techniques allow the benefit of quantification of the genetic diversity of a seed collection in comparison with that of the natural population. In this study we focus on ex-situ seed bank samples and living collections of Ranunculus peltatus subsp. baudotii. We compare their genetic diversity and structure with that of the natural population before and after undertaking a restoration project on a natural pond in the Tuscan Archipelago National Park. ISSR analyses, carried out on a total of five sampling groups, shows a relatively high level of genetic diversity for the ex-situ cultivated groups. The analysis of molecular variance, in agreement with clustering obtained in the neighbour-joining dendrogram and anunculus peltatus subsp. baudotii with the pattern from cluster analysis, suggests dividing the samples analysed into two groups: one formed by individuals sampled before the pond restoration and the other formed by the subsequent pond population. The results highlight the importance of planning mixed propagation lines which can be obtained through the use of a range of germination conditions to exploit a novel source of genetic variability which may otherwise remain hidden within the seed collection.
Numerical Study of Lid-Driven Square Cavity with Heat Generation Using LBM

In this study, the mixed convection heat transfer and fluid flow behaviors in a lid-driven square cavity filled with high Prandtl number fluid (Pr = 5400, ν = 1.2×10-4 m2/s) at low Reynolds number is studied using thermal Lattice Boltzmann method (TLBM) where ν is the viscosity of the fluid. The LBM has built up on the D2Q9 model and the single relaxation time method called the Lattice-BGK (Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook) model. The effects of the variations of non dimensional mixed convection parameter called Richardson number(Ri) with and without heat generating source on the thermal and flow behavior of the fluid inside the cavity are investigated. The results are presented as velocity and temperature profiles as well as stream function and temperature contours for Ri ranging from 0.1 to 5.0 with other controlling parameters that present in this study. It is found that LBM has good potential to simulate mixed convection heat transfer and fluid flow problem. Finally the simulation results have been compared with the previous numerical and experimental results and it is found to be in good agreement.
Frequency Support from OWPPs connected to HVDC via Diode Rectifiers

—This paper presents a study assessing the actual capability of an offshore wind power plant (offshore WPP, OWPP) to provide frequency support (FS) to an onshore network, when connected through a high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) link having a diode rectiﬁer (DR) offshore terminal and a voltage source converter (VSC) onshore terminal. Both primary and fast frequency response (PFR and FFR, re- spectively) are studied, and both the power reserves from preventive curtailment and the kinetic energy stored in the rotating masses of the wind turbines (WTs) are considered as sources of additional power during onshore under-frequency events. Three methods are considered for overloading the WTs, including the proposed External Reference method, in which the base active power reference can be set externally. The performance of the controls is studied by means of electromagnetic transient (EMT) simulations, for which an aggregated model of the OWPP is used. The results suggest that such OWPPs can in principle provide onshore FS by means of plant-level active power control strategies already developed for OWPPs connected to HVDC via VSCs. Some of the results also suggest that it may be unnecessary to overload the WTs if active power reserves from curtailed operation are available when providing both PFR and FFR.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Outcome Research: Why Moderators Should not be Neglected

Several psychotherapeutic treatments have been developed over the years for treating the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). But it remains still unclear which components of the complex treatment packages are necessary and most beneficial for PTSD symptom improvement. In PTSD outcome research, the randomized controlled trial (RCT) design has been applied in order to address this issue. However, meta-analyses repeatedly reported considerable variation between results from individual RCTs (i.e. between-study heterogeneity). Attempts to explain such heterogeneity led to the identification of relevant moderators of treatment effects in PTSD RCTs. This study presents meta-analytic findings, which show that factors, which are not part of the treatment (such as the investigators’ preferences for a particular treatment or the complexity of the patients’ clinical problems), impact on outcome in PTSD RCTs. We show that considering extra-therapeutic moderators in meta-analyses on PTSD RCTs may impact the conclusions and recommendations that may be deduced. The summarized findings confirm the notion that no PTSD treatment consistently outperforms the others and strengthen the position that even non-trauma-focused treatments may be beneficial PTSD treatments.