Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Induction of IBV strain-specific neutralizing antibodies and broad spectrum protection in layer pullets primed with IBV Massachusetts (Mass) and 793B vaccines prior to injection of inactivated vaccine containing Mass antigen

ABSTRACT In an initial study in specified pathogen free (SPF) chickens, a heterologous virus neutralizing (VN) antibody response to IBV variants Q1, Variant 2 (Var 2), D388/QX (D388), D274 and Arkansas (DPI) was observed using a vaccination programme incorporating two different live-attenuated IBV vaccines, followed by boosting with an inactivated vaccine containing IBV Massachusetts (Mass) antigen. Therefore, a more detailed study was undertaken in SPF layer-type chickens primed with IBV Mass and 793B vaccines. The efficacy of single or repeated vaccination with a multivalent inactivated vaccine containing IBV antigen was determined against challenge with five virulent IBVs: Mass (M41), 793B (4/91), D388, Q1 and Var 2. The parameters assessed were serological response, respiratory signs, egg production, post mortem abnormalities in the reproductive organs and abdomen, and incidence of IBV antigen in kidneys. Increased VN titres were recorded against the five IBV challenge strains, with a significantly higher level of protection against drops in egg production following challenge. The difference between one or two vaccinations with inactivated vaccine was not significant in terms of egg production. However, a significantly increased level of protection was seen in the lower percentage of hens with free yolk in the abdomen and/or peritonitis post challenge with IBV variants, D388, Q1 and Var 2 not included in the vaccination programme. A lower incidence of acute, degenerated ovaries was found in groups given one injection of inactivated vaccine following live priming, and this was significantly lower than in groups given only live priming.
Laser Therapy and Dementia: A Database Analysis and Future Aspects on LED-Based Systems

Mainly because of the movement in the age pyramid, one can assume that the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease or dementia in general will increase in the coming decades. This paper employs a database analysis to examine the profile of publication activity related to this topic. Two databases were searched: PubMed and Cochrane Library. About 600 papers related to the research area “dementia and laser” and about 450 papers related to the search terms “Alzheimer and laser” were found in these two most commonly used databases. Ten plus one papers are described in detail and are discussed in the context of the laser research performed at the Medical University of Graz. First results concerning the measurement of the transmission factor (TF) through the human skull of a new LED- (light emitting diode-) based system are presented (TF = 0.0434 ± 0.0104 (SD)). The measurements show that this LED system (using the QIT (quantum optical induced transparency) effect) might be used in the treatment of dementia.
A weekly Arctic sea-ice thickness data record from merged CryoSat-2 and SMOS satellite data

Abstract. Sea-ice thickness on a global scale is derived from different satellite sensors using independent retrieval methods. Due to the sensor and orbit characteristics, such satellite retrievals differ in spatial and temporal resolution as well as in the sensitivity to certain sea-ice types and thickness ranges. Satellite altimeters, such as CryoSat-2 (CS2), sense the height of the ice surface above the sea level, which can be converted into sea-ice thickness. Relative uncertainties associated with this method are large over thin ice regimes. Another retrieval method is based on the evaluation of surface brightness temperature (TB) in L-band microwave frequencies (1.4 GHz) with a thickness-dependent emission model, as measured by the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite. While the radiometer-based method looses sensitivity for thick sea ice (> 1 m), relative uncertainties over thin ice are significantly smaller than for the altimetry-based retrievals. In addition, the SMOS product provides global sea-ice coverage on a daily basis unlike the altimeter data. This study presents the first merged product of complementary weekly Arctic sea-ice thickness data records from the CS2 altimeter and SMOS radiometer. We use two merging approaches: a weighted mean (WM) and an optimal interpolation (OI) scheme. While the weighted mean leaves gaps between CS2 orbits, OI is used to produce weekly Arctic-wide sea-ice thickness fields. The benefit of the data merging is shown by a comparison with airborne electromagnetic (AEM) induction sounding measurements. When compared to airborne thickness data in the Barents Sea, the merged product has a root mean square deviation (RMSD) of about 0.7 m less than the CS2 product and therefore demonstrates the capability to enhance the CS2 product in thin ice regimes. However, in mixed first-year (FYI) and multiyear (MYI) ice regimes as in the Beaufort Sea, the CS2 retrieval shows the lowest bias.
Effects of temperature on growth and stress hardening development of phytotron-grown seedlings of Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis Mill.)

Effets de la temperature sur la croissance et le developpement de la resistance au stress de semis de Pin d'Alep (Pinus halepensis Mill.). Des semis de Pin d'Alep (Pinus halepensis), âges d'un an, croissant sur un melange de tourbe-vermiculite-ecorce de pin dans des containers de 200 cm 3 , ont ete mis en place dans une chambre de croissance et soumis, pour une periode de 3 mois, a une temperature et photoperiode decroissant progressivement. Des parametres morphologiques, de nutrition et de teneur carbonee non structurale ont ete mesures. Des tests de potentiel de croissance racinaire, de resistance au froid et a la secheresse ont ete realises. Bien que la croissance en hauteur se soit arretee lorsque la temperature minimum eu atteint 9 °C. la masse seche des pousses continue d'augmenter. La concentration en potassium des aiguilles, le rapport K/N augmente progressivement et significativement au cours de l'essai. Ceci peut etre attribue a une accumulation de potassium. Lorsque la croissance en hauteur s'est arretee, des changements physiologiques ont ete constates pour la concentration en azote et en sucre soluble des pousses, dans l'activite des racines et dans le maintien de la conductance hydraulique. Cependant, les tests de resistance au froid et a la secheresse, de meme que le potentiel de regeneration racinaire, ne revelerent aucun signe de tolerance de la plante au stress jusqu'a ce que la temperature minimum decroisse a 8 °C et la photoperiode a 9 h. Cette derniere temperature pourrait etre consideree, pour Pinus halepensis, comme le seuil d'accumulation des heures de froid qui sont necessaires avant une utilisation en milieu forestier. Plus de 330 heures de froid (< 8 °C) sont necessaires pour atteindre le niveau minimum de resistance au stress. Le rapport Fv/Fm de fluorescence de la chlorophylle, mesure juste le jour suivant apres le test au froid, donne une bonne estimation de la tolerance du plant au froid.
The Effect of Medical Theraphy On Plasma Homocysteine Levels and Carotid Intima-media Thickness in Parkinson's Disease

Objective: We aimed to investigate homocysteine levels and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) in Parkinson’s Disease (PD), to determine relationship of these parameters and as well as to determine whether CIMT in patients with PD was associated to age, disease duration, age of disease onset, stage, the Unified Parkinson Disease rating scale (UPDRS), the drugs used in therapy. Methods: The study population consisted of 55 PD patients (37 male) and 25 healty subjects. The severity of neurological impairment was assessed with UPDRS and the Hoehn-Yahr scale. CIMT and homocysteine levels were measured. Anti-parkinsonian treatments were recorded and the total daily dose of levodopa was calculated for each patient. Results: Homocysteine levels were significantly higher in the patient group compared to the control group (p=0.002). A positive correlation was found between CIMT and homocysteine (r=0.29 p=0.03), but no a relationship between CIMT and UPDRS scores, disease duration, age of disease onset, and stage. Mean levodopa dosage did not predict CIMT 0.6 mm (AUC: 0.546, 95%CI 0.372-0.720, p=0.59). Homocysteine 14 μmol/l predicted CIMT 0.6 mm with 64% sensitivity and 69% specificity (AUC: 0.654, 95%CI 0.488-0.819, p=0.07). Dıscussion: This study revealed that homocysteine levels in levodopa + dopa decarboxylase enzyme inhibitor (DDEI) group were increased which was correlated with a mild increasement of CMIT. This might indicate to the importance of clinical and radiological follow up of PD patients who are under treatment of levodopa + DDEI. Conclusion: Our findings may suggest the role of CIMT as a meaningful clinical marker for follow-up of patients with PD DOI : 10.14302/issn.2470-5020.jnrt-15-908 Corresponding author: Yasemin KAYA, ysmnkcmz@gmail.com, doktorahmetkaya@yahoo.com, Ordu University Medical School, Department of Internal Medicine, 52000, Ordu, Turkey. Phone And Fax: +90 452 2252342, +90 452 2250190
Ability of a land surface model to predict climate induced changes in northern Russian river runoff during the 21st century

Abstract. The objective of the present study is application of the land surface model SWAP to project climate change impact on northern Russian river runoff up to 2100 using meteorological projections from the atmosphere–ocean global climate model INMCM4.0. The study was performed for the Northern Dvina River and the Kolyma River characterized by different climatic conditions. The ability of both models to reproduce the observed river runoff was investigated. To apply SWAP for hydrological projections, the robustness of the model was evaluated. The river runoff projections up to 2100 were calculated for two greenhouse gas emission scenarios: RCP8.5 and RCP4.5 prepared for the phase five of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). For each scenario, several runoff projections were obtained using different models (INMCM4.0 and SWAP) and different post-processing techniques for correcting biases in meteorological forcing data. Differences among the runoff projections obtained for the same emission scenario and the same period illustrate uncertainties resulted from application of different models and bias-correcting techniques.
Aalborg Universitet Organizing integrated care in a university hospital

Background and aim: As a result of New Public Management, a number of industrial models of quality management have been implemented in health care, mainly in hospitals. At the same time, the concept of integrated care has been developed within other parts of the health sector. The aim of the article is to discuss the relevance of integrated care for hospitals. Theory and methods: The discussion is based on application of a conceptual framework outlining a number of organizational models of integrated care. These models are illustrated in a case study of a Danish university hospital implementing a new organization for improving the patient flows of the hospital. The study of the reorganization is based mainly on qualitative data from individual and focus
Definition of traffic scennaries, application on a practise case of the criteria followed by the guide of good practises for elaboration of strategic traffic noise maps in urban routes

Configuration of noisy environment in towns mostly depends upon the characterization of traffic noise in urban routes. Frequently there is a lack of information when it is a question of having data from the whole urban area. To solve this lack of information the above‐mentioned guide (WG‐AEN 002.2006) proposes some suppositions for this characterization which can turn out to be very general in practical applications. Through the presentation of these criteria applied to a practical case it can be seen the tools necessary to adjust real traffic characterization to the elaboration of noise maps and definition of an Action Plan. The analyzed variables are: AVT, % of heavy vehicles, time distribution and speed considering, for this last factor, the lacks shown by the interim method and the applicable supposes based upon the state of the art.
T-S Fuzzy Model Based H-Infinity Control for 7-DoF Automobile Electrohydraulic Active Suspension System

This paper presents a double loop controller for a 7-DoF automobile electrohydraulic active suspension via T-S fuzzy modelling technique. The outer loop controller employs a modified -infinity feedback control based on a T-S fuzzy model to provide the actuation force needed to ensure better riding comfort and handling stability. The resulting optimizing problem is transformed into a linear matrix inequalities solution issue associated with stability analysis, suspension stroke limit, and force constraints. Integrating these via parallel distributed compensation method, the feedback gains are derived to render the suspension performance dependent on the perturbation size and improve the efficiency of active suspensions. Adaptive Robust Control (ARC) is then adopted in the inner loop design to deal with uncertain nonlinearities and improve tracking accuracy. The validity of improvements attained from this controller is demonstrated by comparing with conventional Backstepping control and a passive suspension on a 7-DoF simulation example. It is shown that the T-S fuzzy model based controller can achieve favourable suspension performance and energy conservation under both mild and malevolent road inputs.
FINANCIAL REPORTING QUALITY IN LARGE ENERGY & MINING COMPANIES: A CANADIAN CASE

This paper primarily examines the effect of the mandatory IFRS adoption in Canada by the Canadian energy companies. It is a comparative study between the Canadian GAAP and IFRS from 2008 to 2012. Since this research is an empirical study, the quantitative research method is applied. The research question for this research study is: Does IFRS adoption in the Canadian energy and mining companies improve accounting quality? This research finds that earnings quality has increased due to the lower volatility between earnings and market price; enhance predictability in the cash flows and financial forecasting (cash related); and stronger influence of earnings to shareholder value. However, it also finds that earnings quality has reduced due to lower persistency and predictability; and less accruals and timeliness loss of recognition (increase in income smoothing).
Diagnosis and staging of locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer

T4 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) might include a wide range of clinical scenarios. In very selected cases a surgical treatment might be indicated, after careful staging and thorough functional evaluation. Performance status, cardiac and pulmonary function should be evaluated in detail, in a tailored fashion according to the planned surgical operation. Besides the anatomical lung unit (lobectomy or pneumonectomy), resection may involve several vital structures, including great vessels and some portion of the atria. Given the particular nature of T4, surgery is often a part of a multimodal approach. In case of induction therapies, pulmonary function should be re-assessed, to rule out any deterioration that could eventually jeopardize survival. Computed tomography (CT) scan and positron emission tomography (PET)-CT should be always performed to stage the disease, but in case of chest wall, airways or other mediastinal organs involvement, more detailed exams, such us Magnetic Resonance, echocardiography or CT angiography (CTA) and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) should be carried out. Additionally, a careful investigation for possible mediastinal nodal involvement should be routinely performed, given the detrimental effect of nodal diffusion on survival in this subset of patients. Nowadays endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS), endoscopic (esophageal) ultrasound are reliable and semi-invasive tools that can be used as first step prior to more invasive surgical diagnostic procedures such as video assisted mediastinoscopy or even video-assisted mediastinoscopic lymph-adenectomy (VAMLA) and transcervical extended mediastinal lymphadenectomy (TEMLA). Bronchoscopy and EBUS can be safely used for yield diagnostic tissue in case of central tumors, while in case of peripheral masses, transthoracic biopsy is more sensitive.
New data on nrITS phylogeny of Lotus (Leguminosae, Loteae)

Some new nrITS sequences of Lotus are produced and added to the data set analysed in Degtjareva et al. (2006). Lotus burttii and L. filicaulis are revealed as members of the /Lotus corniculatus clade. Lotus conimbricensis is found to be sister to the entire /Lotus corniculatus clade; the /Lotus pedunculatus clade is more distantly related. The New Caledonian Lotus anfractuosus is closest among species sampled to two Australian endemics, though its molecular divergence is considerable. The NE African Lotus torulosus is close to some other red-flowered species from the same region; it does not group with any other Lotus species with dimorphic leaflets. In general, dimorphic vs. monomorphic leaflets is a quite homoplastic character in Lotus. Molecular divergence is weak within the /Pedrosia clade, where the morphological divergence is especially high. In contrast, molecular divergence is considerable but morphological differentiation is weak in the /Lotus corniculatus clade.
Assessment of the Visible Channel Calibrations of the VIRS on TRMM and MODIS on Aqua and Terra

Abstract Several recent research satellites carry self-calibrating multispectral imagers that can be used for calibrating operational imagers lacking complete self-calibrating capabilities. In particular, the visible (VIS, 0.65 μm) channels on operational meteorological satellites are generally calibrated before launch, but require vicarious calibration techniques to monitor the gains and offsets once they are in orbit. To ensure that the self-calibrating instruments are performing as expected, this paper examines the consistencies between the VIS channel (channel 1) reflectances of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on the Terra and Aqua satellites and the version 5a and 6 reflectances of the Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS) on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission using a variety of techniques. These include comparisons of Terra and Aqua VIS radiances with coincident broadband shortwave radiances from the well-calibrated Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (C.
A Comparison of the Performance of Neural Q-learning and Soar-RL on a Derivative of the Block Design (BD)/Block Design Multiple Choice (BDMC) Subtests on the WISC-IV Intelligence Test

Teaching an autonomous agent to perform tasks that are simple to humans can be complex, especially when the task requires successive steps, has a low likelihood of successful completion with a brute force approach, and when the solution space is too large or too complex to be explicitly encoded. Reinforcement learning algorithms are particularly suited to such situations, and are based on rewards that help the agent to find the optimal action to execute given a certain state. The task investigated in this thesis is a modified form of the Block Design (BD) and Block Design Multiple Choice (BDMC) subtests, used by the Fourth Edition of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV) to partially assess childrens’ learning abilities. This thesis investigates the implementation, training, and performance of two reinforcement learning architectures for this problem: Soar-RL, a production system capable of reinforcement learning, and a Q-learning neural network. The objective is to help define the advantages and disadvantages of solving problems using these architectures. This thesis will show that Soar is intuitive for implementation and is able to find an optimal policy, although it is limited by its execution of exploratory actions. The neural network is also able to find an optimal policy and outperforms Soar, but the convergence of the solution is highly dependent on the architecture of the neural network.
Global warming in mathematical model of multifractal dynamics

In this work the variations of global temperature that have occurred in the period from 1860 up to now are analyzed on the basis of the concept of multifractal dynamics. The multifractal curve describing dynamics of global temperature for this period of time has the following values of fractal dimensions over 5 periods lasting for 30–31 years each, accordingly: D1 = 1.140; D2 = 1.166; D3 = 1.141; D4 = 1.203; D5 = 1.183. Such relatively small values of fractal dimensions are indicative of essentially determined character of processes responsible for variations of global temperature. Our predictive estimates provide 0.5◦C increase in global temperature by 2072, thereby confirming maintenance of the tendency of global warming in the near future. This is the e-book version of the article, published in the Russian Journal of Earth Sciences (doi:10.2205/2012ES000510). It is generated from the original source file using LaTeX’s epub.cls class.
Characterization of Carambola (Averrhoa carambola L.) Plant Collection of Cibinong Plant Germplasm Garden Based on Phenotypic and Genetic Characters

Indonesia as a rich biodiversity country has many superior fruit plant germplasms such as sweet star fruit or carambola ( Averrhoa carambola L.). Some varieties of carambola which collected at the Germplasm Garden of Research Center for Biotechnology-LIPI have been used for parent trees of fruit plant production. Therefore, they have to be characterized both phenotypically and genetically. The objective of the study was to analyze the relationship between eight varieties of carambola i.e. Malaysia, Penang, Rawasari, Bangkok, Sembiring, Dewabaru, Demak and Dewimurni at the germplasm garden based on phenotypic and genetic characters. Phenotypic characters were observed directly in the field, whereas genetic characters were observed with RAPD markers using 10 primers. Phylogenetic analysis was done using NT-SYS software showed that there were three clusters of carambola varieties. Meanwhile, Malaysia and Penang varieties have closed relationships (96%) compared with the other varieties. The result of the study would be dedicated to updating and completing the existing fruit plant collection database of Plants Germplasm Garden.
A combined microsatellite multiplexing and boiling DNA extraction method for high‐throughput parentage analyses in the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas)

The analysis of parentage using microsatellite markers is of increasing importance, notably in aquaculture genetic research where communal rearing of mixed families can be used to reduce unwanted environmental variance. We present here an optimization of parental genotype assessment for larvae or adults of the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, using a multiplex system of three microsatellite loci. In conjunction with a simple DNA extraction protocol, this method enables high throughput analyses of parentage in C. gigas. Using this method, we successfully determined the parentage of 93% (1224 out of 1318) of the progeny in a factorial cross between 3 females and 10 males. The inability to genotype the remaining 7% was due to DNA degradation of larvae rather than assignment uncertainty.