Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relay Intercropping Winter Cover Crop Effects on Spring Forage Potential of Sweet Maize Stover and Yearling Cattle Beef Performance

Simple Summary Maize stover is used globally as winter feed for livestock but the nutritive value is low, requiring supplementation. Small landholders who grow sweet maize for the fresh produce market often also have cattle with little access to winter forage. Grazing cover crops with the stover can potentially increase the available nutritive value. Intercropping the cereal rye or hairy vetch into sweet maize approximately 65 days after planting (V7–9 sweet maize maturity) did not influence sweet maize stover biomass yield or nutritive value after winter. However, the crude protein concentration of hairy vetch was greater than rye, but digestibility was not different. Average daily gains by yearling cattle were similar when grazing maize–rye or maize–vetch. Producers with limited land resources should consider the timing of the spring planting of the primary crop, in this case, sweet maize, in relation to the initiation of grazing of winter cover crops to maximize utilization of the previous crop’s residue (stover) as well as the cover crop itself before the primary crop planting time. Abstract Small landholders who grow sweet maize for the fresh produce market often also have cattle with little access to winter forage. Grazing cover crops with sweet maize stover can potentially increase the available nutritive value. A 3-year randomized complete block study with three replicates at New Mexico State University’s Alcalde Sustainable Agriculture Science Center compared sweet maize (Zea mays var. rugosa) with sweet maize relay intercropped at the V7–9 stage with cereal rye (rye: Secale cereale L.) or hairy vetch (vetch: Vicia villosa Roth) for early spring grazing. Intercropping the rye or hairy vetch into sweet maize did not influence the sweet maize stover biomass yield or nutritive value after the winter. The dry matter (DM) yield and crude protein (CP) concentration of hairy vetch biomass was greater (p < 0.01) than rye biomass (1.46 vs. 2.94 Mg DM ha−1 for rye and hairy vetch, respectively, and 145 vs. 193 g CP kg−1 for rye and hairy vetch, respectively). Average daily gains by yearling cattle were not different when grazing maize–rye or maize–vetch. Producers should consider the spring planting timing of the primary crop and the initiation of grazing in the winter or the spring to maximize the utilization of the previous crop’s residue (stover), as well as the cover crop itself.
Multi-Agent-Based Traffic Prediction and Traffic Classification for Autonomic Network Management Systems for Future Networks

Recently, a multi-agent based network automation architecture has been proposed. The architecture is named multi-agent based network automation of the network management system (MANA-NMS). The architectural framework introduced atomized network functions (ANFs). ANFs should be autonomous, atomic, and intelligent agents. Such agents should be implemented as an independent decision element, using machine/deep learning (ML/DL) as an internal cognitive and reasoning part. Using these atomic and intelligent agents as a building block, a MANA-NMS can be composed using the appropriate functions. As a continuation toward implementation of the architecture MANA-NMS, this paper presents a network traffic prediction agent (NTPA) and a network traffic classification agent (NTCA) for a network traffic management system. First, an NTPA is designed and implemented using DL algorithms, i.e., long short-term memory (LSTM), gated recurrent unit (GRU), multilayer perceptrons (MLPs), and convolutional neural network (CNN) algorithms as a reasoning and cognitive part of the agent. Similarly, an NTCA is designed using decision tree (DT), K-nearest neighbors (K-NN), support vector machine (SVM), and naive Bayes (NB) as a cognitive component in the agent design. We then measure the NTPA prediction accuracy, training latency, prediction latency, and computational resource consumption. The results indicate that the LSTM-based NTPA outperforms compared to GRU, MLP, and CNN-based NTPA in terms of prediction accuracy, and prediction latency. We also evaluate the accuracy of the classifier, training latency, classification latency, and computational resource consumption of NTCA using the ML models. The performance evaluation shows that the DT-based NTCA performs the best.
MEK inhibition causes BIM stabilization and increased sensitivity to BCL-2 family member inhibitors in RAS-MAPK-mutated neuroblastoma

Introduction Mutations affecting the RAS-MAPK pathway occur frequently in relapsed neuroblastoma tumors and are associated with response to MEK inhibition in vitro. However, these inhibitors alone do not lead to tumor regression in vivo, indicating the need for combination therapy. Methods and results Via high-throughput combination screening, we identified that the MEK inhibitor trametinib can be combined with BCL-2 family member inhibitors, to efficiently inhibit growth of neuroblastoma cell lines with RAS-MAPK mutations. Suppressing the RAS-MAPK pathway with trametinib led to an increase in pro-apoptotic BIM, resulting in more BIM binding to anti-apoptotic BCL-2 family members. By favoring the formation of these complexes, trametinib treatment enhances sensitivity to compounds targeting anti-apoptotic BCL-2 family members. In vitro validation studies confirmed that this sensitizing effect is dependent on an active RAS-MAPK pathway. In vivo combination of trametinib with BCL-2 inhibitors led to tumor inhibition in NRAS-mutant and NF1-deleted xenografts. Conclusion Together, these results show that combining MEK inhibition with BCL-2 family member inhibition could potentially improve therapeutic outcomes for RAS-MAPK-mutated neuroblastoma patients.
Effect of Composite Flours of Finger Millet, Bambara Groundnut and ‘Khain’ (Lecaniodiscus Cupanioides) on Blood Glucose Response, Lipids, and Liver Enzymes of Alloxan-Induced Diabetic Rats

Aims: This study is aimed at determining the effect of composite flours of Finger millet (Fm), Bambara groundnut (BGN) and ‘Khain’ (Kh) (Lecaniodiscus cupanioides) on the blood glucose response, lipids and liver enzymes levels of alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Study Design: The experiment was designed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Place and Duration of Study: Department of Food Science and Technology and Department of Home Science Nutrition and Dietetics,University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Enugu State. May 2019 and July 2019 Methodology: Sixty rats were grouped into ten groups (six rats per group), housed individually in metabolic cages and were fed commercial rat chow for two weeks. After inducement with alloxan, eight groups of diabetic rats were fed with the composite flours [FK1 (95% Fm/5% Kh), FK2 (90% Fm/10% Kh), FB1K1 (95% [90% Fm/10% BGN]/5% Kh), FB1K2 (90% [90% Fm/10% BGN]/10% Kh), FB2K1 (95% [80% Fm/20%bBGN]/5% Kh), FB2K2 (90% [80% Fm/20% BGN]/10% Kh), FB3K1 (95% [70% Fm/30% BGN]/5% Kh), FB3K2 (90% [70% Fm/30% BGN]/10% Kh)] for four weeks while the two control (positive and negative) groups continued on commercial rat chow for four weeks also. The blood glucose response, blood lipids, total serum protein, albumin, urea, creatinine content, and liver enzymes were determined in the rats. The flours of Finger millet, Bambara groundnut and ‘Khain’ were analyzed for dietary fibre (DF) and phytochemical content. Results: The total DF was higher (12.615 %) in finger millet and lower (5.375 %) in BGN. Khain had a value of 10.31 % total DF. Phenol content of samples ranged from 37.99 mg/100g for khain seed flour to 36.09 mg/100g in finger millet and tannin content of the samples ranged from 2.22 - 2.28 mg/100g. The diabetic rats groups fed with composite flours had significant (p<0.05) reduced blood glucose levels (60-86 %) compared to the positive control group (35 %), significantly reduced liver enzymes levels were observed in blood of diabetic rats groups fed with composite flours when compared to positive control group, diabetic rats groups fed with composite flours also showed weight loss, Total Cholesterol values of 149.62 – 235.3mg/dl, Triglycerides (97.96 – 153.72mg/dl), High Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol (46.91 – 72.53mg/dl) and Low Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol (73.45 – 153.38mg/dl) values. Urea and creatinine values of the diabetic rats groups fed with composite flours were within acceptable range. Conclusion: The reduced blood glucose and liver enzymes levels in blood of diabetic rats fed with composite flours showed that composite flours of Finger millet, Bambara groundnut and ‘Khain’ have the potentials to be used as dietetics for the prevention and management of hyperglycemia.
A Three-Step Reliability Strategy Applied to Police-Worn Body Camera Footage

Strong inferences are drawn from police-worn body camera (BWC) footage, frequently without an assessment of reliability. Unique characteristics of BWC footage (i.e., capturing trends and less frequent behavior, a focal actor (officer) is absent) suggest a specific reliability strategy. A three-step strategy of selecting appropriate reliability indexes, providing salient reliability categories, and ranking the reliability categories was applied to BWC footage. Five interrater agreement ( A C 1 , α ^ K , B − P coefficient, r wg , ad . m ), two interrater consistency ICC 1 , 1 , ICC 2 , 1 , and three internal consistency ( ω t , ω h , GLB ) indexes were applied to police BWC footage. A focus was to ascertain the upper limits of reliability for BWC footage. Item development and rater training were conducted to optimize rating reliability. Using a within design and confidence intervals, the relatively stronger and weaker reliabilities across the six domains of video completeness, respect (passive, active, discourse), threats, and behavioral stance were assessed. Applied to the admissibility of court evidence, central aspects of video completeness have relatively stronger reliabilities. For research, lower reliabilities have a cost of limited generalizability and ecological validity. Policy recommendations include the usage of a standardized scale with multiple ratings to determine what information should be used in high-stake decision-making based on BWC footage. The three-step strategy integrated the reliability indexes into a single figure to reflect a reliability summary of each component of BWC footage. Weighted rankings found the Overall Audio Quality (-4.9) and Empathy (-4.9) items to have the weakest reliabilities and the Clarification (5.1) and Physical Resistance (4.9) items to have the strongest reliabilities.
Dental Age Estimation Using Multiphoton Microscopy: A Potential Tool for Forensic Science

Normal aging affects the different structures of teeth, in particular, the dentine. These changes are useful in forensic disciplines as a tool for age estimation. Although multiphoton (MP) microscopy has been used to explore dental pieces, a relationship between age and MP response of the human dentine has not been proposed yet. The relationship between MP signals and natural dentine aging is investigated herein. An index of age (INAG) combining two-photon excitation fluorescence (TPEF) and second harmonic generation (SHG) images has been used to quantify these changes. The results show that the INAG significantly decreases with age. Moreover, peritubular dentine size and collagen internal properties are also modified with age. This information confirms the usefulness of this technique in forensic age estimation after disasters (natural or manmade) with a lack of comprehensive fingerprint database. Courts and other government authorities might also benefit from this tool when the official age of individuals under special circumstances is required for legal or medical reasons.
$50K @ Play Day: Applying Organizational Justice in an Evidence-Based Management Simulation

$50K @ Play Day is an in-class activity in which student groups apply their knowledge of organizational justice in a managerial decision-making scenario. In this simulation, student teams assume the leadership role of a successful corporate team and are tasked with distributing a monetary team award in a just manner. A comparison of student decisions provides the basis for class discussion on the pros and cons of each, as evidenced by the literature on organizational justice. This activity not only reinforces student knowledge of organizational justice but also exemplifies the practical use of organizational behavior as a critical piece of information to be used in managerial decision making. Instructions are provided to facilitate this activity in both in-person and online class environments.
Short-Term Passenger Flow Prediction of Urban Rail Transit Based on a Combined Deep Learning Model

It is difficult for a single model to simultaneously capture the nonlinear, correlation, and periodicity of data series in the passenger flow prediction of urban rail transit (URT). To better predict the short-term passenger flow of URT, based on the long short-term memory network (LSTM) model, a deep learning model prediction method combining the time convolution network (TCN) and the long short-term memory network (LSTM) based on machine learning is proposed. The model couples the external factors such as date attributes, weather conditions, and air quality, to improve the overall prediction performance and solve the difficulty of accurate prediction due to the large fluctuation and randomness of short-term passenger flow in rail transit. Using the swiping data and related weather information of some stations of Chongqing Rail Transit Line 3, the TCN-LSTM model is verified by an example, and the prediction results of the single LSTM model are given for comparison. The results show that the TCN-LSTM model can better predict the passenger flow characteristics of different stations at different times. Compared with the single LSTM model, the TCN-LSTM model has better prediction accuracy and data generalization ability.
Hierarchical optimization in the presence of an intelligent adversary-an H/sub /spl infin// approach

We consider the H/sub /spl infin// optimization problem for systems with a hierarchical structure. We propose an iterative algorithm to treat the problem. In each iteration of our algorithm, we need to solve a problem of H/sub /spl infin// optimization feature, but with a much smaller dimension. We also show that the solution of the optimization problem in each iteration can be obtained by solving a set of linear matrix inequalities.
Preparation and thermoelectric properties of A8IIB16IIIB30IV clathrate compounds

Polycrystalline samples of clathrate compounds Ba8Ga16Si30, Ba8Ga16Ge30, Ba8Ga16Sn30, and Sr8Ga16Ge30 were prepared by direct melting and characterized using X-ray powder diffraction and differential thermal analysis. The Ge- and Si-based clathrates melt congruently, whereas Ba8Ga16Sn30 melts incongruently. At room temperature the Ge- and Si-based clathrates possess a moderate negative Seebeck coefficient and a high electron concentration in the range of 7×1020–9×1020 cm−3 while Ba8Ga16Sn30 exhibits substantially lower electron concentration of 2.2×1019 cm−3. The Seebeck coefficient and electrical resistivity were measured over the range 100–870 K. The temperature dependence of transport properties of the clathrates is typical for heavily doped semiconductors. The transport properties were analyzed using a standard semiconductor transport model. There is a good agreement between the assumed model and experimental temperature dependence of the Seebeck coefficient in the extrinsic conductivity range for all.
Seeing the Forest for the Deer: Plant Abundance and Diversity at the Gault Nature Reserve During a Spike in White-Tailed Deer

Background: Deer populations have been rising across North America for decades. At the Gault Nature Reserve in Quebec, half of which is open to the public, the population of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) has exceeded the region’s carrying capacity, estimated to be 5 deer/km2, since 1996. Given that heavy grazing profoundly impacts forests, the purpose of this paper was to investigate the potential influence of white-tailed deer on plant abundance and diversity at the Gault Nature Reserve. We hypothesized that the abundance of deer, and by extension the effect of deer on vegetation, was negatively correlated with the proximity and frequency of human visitors on pedestrian trails. Our alternative hypothesis was that the effect of deer on vegetation was positively correlated with human disturbance, which is greater on the public side of the reserve.Methods: We recorded the abundance and diversity of vascular plants along 14 transects of increasing distance from pedestrian trails on the public and private sides of the reserve.Results: Contrary to our hypothesis, generalized linear models indicated that overall, plant abundance and diversity declined significantly as the distance from trails increased and that the effect of distance was significantly different on the two sides of the reserve. Pearson correlation tests revealed that there was not a significant correlation between distance and plant abundance and diversity on the public side, although there was a significantly negative correlation between these variables on the private side.Limitations: White-tailed deer were not directly studied, which limited the inferences that could be made about their influence on plant abundance and diversity.Conclusion: The distance from trails was a strong determinant of plant abundance and diversity on the private of the reserve, but not on the public side, possibly because trail edges generally receive more sunlight and because the increased number of trails on the public side may have confounded our results. Although we did not find support for our hypothesis, the influence of trail edges on plant communities was reinforced. Researchers should continue to monitor the influence of white-tailed deer and forest managers should be mindful of edge effects when making decisions.
First-Principles Study of the Optical Properties of Zinc Antimonide Using the mBJ Approximation

This computational study focused on the optical properties of zinc antimonide ZnSb. It relates to the complex dielectric function ε (ω), the refractive index n (ω), the extinction function k (ω), the optical conductivity σ (ω), the reflectivity R(ω), the absorption coefficient α (ω) and the energy loss spectrum L(ω). These properties are calculated and discussed for a growing energy of the incident electromagnetic radiation ranging from 0 to 14 eV, comprising infrared, visible and ultraviolet regions. All these properties are obtained using the Full Potential Linearized Augmented Plane Wave (FP-LAPW), by solving Kohn-Sham equations. This method based on Density Functional Theory (DFT), implemented in Wien2k simulation package. This compound is already used in photo-optical applications, it is for this reason that we interested in the calculation of its optical properties according to the energy of the incident photons, in order to open up for it other use ways. Since the zinc antimonide ZnSb is a semiconductor, its optical properties are investigated using Generalized Gradient Approximation plus modified Becke–Johnson as the exchange correlation (GGA-mBJ). Our calculations are performed by considering only the interband transition of electrons between the occupied states in valence band and unoccupied conduction band states along high symmetry points in Brillouin zone. In addition, the relations of the optical properties to these transitions are discussed in detail. We have also verified the Penn’s model by showing the inverse relationship between the static real part of dielectric function ε1(0) and the optical band gap Eg. The results obtained are compared with other results existing in the literature.
Replacing Russian gas with that of the United States: A critical analysis from the European Union energy security perspective

The security of gas supply is one of the main concerns for the European Union (EU), especially when considering the EU’s dependence on Russian gas. The idea of importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States has recently emerged as an alternative to reduce EU dependency on Russia. However, the idea still needs to be evaluated­, especially the extent to which it is beneficial or practicable for EU gas security. Composing as it does an appropriate indicator, namely the risks to the EU gas supply, this current research attempts to evaluate the idea of substitution. The composed touchstone comprises critical elements, including political risks for gas supply and transit, the importance of natural gas imports in the gross domestic product, and fungibility of the import. This indicator has then been applied to six selected member states. The results of our analysis indicate that importing gas from the United States improves supply security in five cases. Nevertheless, the benefits of substitution should be evaluated­ considering the limitations of available infrastructures and the economic factors. This could suggest that importing the U.S. LNG can be a feasible policy for Poland and the Baltic States, however, not necessarily for Germany, Italy and, especially, France. Therefore, replacing Russian gas with the U.S. LNG entails some prerequisites before being considered a beneficial alternative for EU gas security.
Dietary Inulin Supplementation Affects Specific Plasmalogen Species in the Brain

Plasmalogens (Pls) are glycerophospholipids that play critical roles in the brain. Evidence supports the role of diet and that of the gut microbiota in regulating brain lipids. We investigated the impact of dietary intake of inulin—a soluble fiber used as prebiotic—on the Pl content of the cortex in mice. No global modification in the Pl amounts was observed when evaluated by gas chromatographic analysis of dimethyl acetals (DMAs). However, the analysis of individual molecular species of Pls by liquid chromatography revealed a reduced abundance of major species of ethanolamine Pls (PlsEtn)―PE(P-18:0/22:6) and PE(P-34:1)―in the cortex of mice fed a diet supplemented with inulin. DMA and expression levels of genes (Far-1, Gnpat, Agps, Pla2g6 and Tmem86b) encoding key enzymes of Pl biosynthesis or degradation were not altered in the liver and in the cortex of mice exposed to inulin. In addition, the fatty acid profile and the amount of lyso forms derived from PlsEtn were not modified in the cortex by inulin consumption. To conclude, inulin affects the brain levels of major PlsEtn and further investigation is needed to determine the exact molecular mechanisms involved.
The Physical Characteristics of Binary Central Stars of Planetary Nebulae

A number of efforts are underway to detect close binary stars in planetary nebulae. The primary goal of these studies is to determine the binary fraction of central stars. The next stage is a detailed analysis of the binaries to determine physical parameters for the systems. These analyses can be combined with population synthesis models, common envelope evolution models, and observed properties of nebulae to further understand the impact of binarity on PN formation. I discuss the sample of known close binary central stars in relation to other close binaries with a white dwarf, cataclysmic variables, supernova Ia progenitors, and double degenerate systems.