Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Variants of the bovine retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor C gene are in linkage disequilibrium with QTL for milk production traits on chromosome 3 in a beef × dairy crossbreed population

Abstract. The bovine retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor C gene (RORC) is located on bovine chromosome 3 in the vicinity of several QTL for milk production traits, and an association of RORC genetic variants with carcass fatness traits had been confirmed by several studies. In a F2 resource population, a chromosome-wise QTL and association study with 26 genetic markers (microsatellites and SNPs from genes involved in fat metabolism) on BTA3 was performed. In the analysis, 183 first and 152 second lactation records of 183 cows were included. The QTL study revealed five QTL affecting milk yield (MY), fat percentage (FP) and protein percentage (PP) as well as the milk fat/milk protein ratio (FPR), respectively, in the chromosomal region harbouring the RORC gene. The association study displayed a significant association between RORC c.1138+65A>G and MY and also associations between RORC c.934-262T>G and MY, FP and FPR, respectively. A combined QTL association study showed that these SNPs included as fixed effect in the corresponding model resulted in a prominent drop of the QTL test statistic. For the RORC c.934-262T allele, which had been confirmed to increase intramuscular fat deposition, an increasing effect on milk fat content traits was detected. The RORC c.1138+65G allele that had been shown to positively affect rump fat thickness, was associated with increased MY in our study. In conclusion, we found indications that the RORC SNPs, which previously had been highlighted due to their effects on carcass fat deposition, are also associated with milk production traits.
The relationship between growth and mortality for seven co‐occurring tree species in the southern Appalachian Mountains

1 Slow growth is associated with high mortality risk for trees, but few data exist to assess interspecific differences in the relationship between growth and mortality. Here we compare low growth tolerance for seven co‐occurring species in the southern Appalachian Mountains: Acer rubrum, Betula lenta, Cornus florida, Liriodendron tulipifera, Quercus prinus, Quercus rubra and Robinia pseudo‐acacia. 2 For all species, mortality was greater for understorey individuals than for canopy trees. Species varied widely in the length of growth decline prior to death, ranging from 6 years for L. tulipifera to more than 12 years for Q. rubra. 3 Growth‐mortality functions differ among species, but we found little evidence of a trade‐off between tolerance of slow growth and an ability to show rapid growth in high light conditions. 4 A. rubrum stands out in its ability both to grow rapidly and to tolerate slow growth, suggesting that its density may increase at our study site as in other parts of the eastern United States. In contrast, C. florida shows high mortality (15% per annum) as a result of infection with dogwood anthracnose. 5 We modified a forest simulation model, LINKAGES (which assumes that all species have the same ability to tolerate slow growth), to include our functions relating growth and mortality. The modified model gives radically altered predictions, reinforcing the need to rethink and re‐parameterize existing computer models with field data.
RMF 4 DSR : A Risk Management Framework for Design

Design science research (DSR) is a complex form of research that combines very heterogeneous activities requiring different skills. Information systems and technologies are complex entities that have more elaborate areas of risk to manage. Research to invent and evaluate new IT artefacts introduces new areas of risk As yet, there is little experience with managing risk in DSR or even identification of types of risks to be managed. This paper analyses DSR research activities and elaborates known principles and practices of risk management and applies them to DSR to develop a new framework (RMF4DSR) for identifying, assessing, prioritizing, and treating potential risks inherent to DSR. Potential users of the framework include experienced and novice DSR researchers. The framework classifies six potential risk areas and enumerates specific key risks within each area. It includes risk assessment and treatment models. The paper applies the framework to a recent DSR case study to provide initial evidence of its value and feasibility and further evaluates the RMF4DSR framework by asking researchers to apply it in a workshop and surveying the participants’ opinions about the utility of the framework.
Digital mirror devices and liquid crystal displays in maskless lithography for fabrication of polymer-based holographic structures

Abstract. Polymer-based holographic and diffractive optical elements have gained increasing interest due to their potential to be used in a broad range of applications, such as illumination technology, micro-optics, and holography. We present a production process to fabricate polymer-based diffractive optical elements and holograms. The process is based on maskless lithography, which is used to fabricate optical elements in photoresist. We discuss several lab-level lithography setups based on digital mirror devices and liquid crystal devices with respect to illumination efficiency, resolution, and contrast. The entire optical setup is designed with emphasis on low-cost components, which can be easily implemented in an optical research lab. In a first step, a copy of the microstructures is replicated into optical polymeric materials by means of a soft stamp hot embossing process. The soft stamp is made from polydimethylsiloxan, which is coated onto the microstructure in the photoresist. The hot embossing process is carried out by a self-made and low-cost hot embossing machine. We present confocal topography measurements to quantify the replication accuracy of the process and demonstrate diffractive optical elements and holographic structures, which were fabricated using the process presented.
Anthropometric evaluations and assessment of school furniture design in Nigeria: A case study of secondary schools in rural area of Odeda, Nigeria

Article history: Received 20 January 2011 Accepted 25 March 2011 Available online 26 March 2011 This study was carried out on 621 schoolboys with age range of 12-17 years in Junior and Senior Secondary Schools in Odeda area of Odeda local government in Ogun State, Nigeria. Different anthropometric data were collected from these boys. It was observed from the results that all anthropometric dimensions of the school children increase with their age. Moreover, there exists a little difference between mean values of different anthropometric dimensions between the boys of 12-13 years (2.9% to 8.8%), 14-15 years (1.3% to 9.9%), and 16-17 years (1.4% to 5.5%). But the said differences become much higher (16.2% to 42.4%) when the same were compared between the children of 12 years and 17 years. Therefore, it can be said that the design of furniture for the children of 12 years will not match the children of 17 years. If single furniture is designed by considering dimensions of the children from 12 years to 17years, it will also not suit the children of all age groups. Therefore, in the present investigation, all the students have been divided into three combined age groups, e.g., 12-13 years, 14-15 years, and 16-17 years, and the percentile values (5, 50 and 95) of anthropometric measures, which will be helpful for designing of the classroom furniture.
Lorenzi Individual differences and modulation sensitivity 1 USING INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES TO ASSESS MODULATION-PROCESSING 1 MECHANISMS AND AGE EFFECTS 2

15 This study used a correlational approach to clarify the mechanisms involved in modulation 16 coding. Amplitude-modulation (AM) and frequency-mod ulation (FM) detection thresholds 17 (AMDTs and FMDTs, respectively) were assessed for 7 0 normal-hearing listeners. In order to 18 increase between-listeners variability in periphera l coding, participants with a wide range of age 19 (20-70 years) were included. AMDTs and FMDTs were m easured at a 5-Hz rate, using a 500-Hz 20 sinusoidal carrier. FMDTs were also measured in the presence of an interfering AM to 21 discourage the use of temporal-envelope cues. The r esults showed that AMDTs were 22 significantly correlated with FMDTs, but not with F MDTs measured with interfering AM. 23 FMDTs with and without interfering AM were signific antly correlated with each other. This 24 pattern of correlation proved to be robust, providi ng additional evidence that for low carrier 25 frequencies, (i) low-rate AM and FM detection is ba sed on a common code using temporal26 envelope cues and (ii) low-rate FM detection is bas ed on an additional code using cues distinct 27 from temporal-envelope. The analyses also showed th at age was correlated with FMDTs only. 28 However, no significant difference was found when c omparing the various correlations with age. 29 Hence, the effects of age on modulation sensitivity remain unclear. 30 31
Effect of Thylakoid Supplementation on Activities of Glucose Metabolizing Enzymes in Rats

Background and aims: Thylakoids are the photosynthetic sites present in the green plant cell which acts as appetite suppressant resulting in loss of body weight and enhancing satiety in animals and humans. The aim of present study was to investigate the effect of thylakoids on body weight gain and enzymatic activity of certain enzymes of glucose metabolism. Methods:Thylakoids from spinach leaves were isolated and freeze dried. Supplementation of spinach thylakoids to Sprague dawley male rats (n=6) at an oral dose of 0.5 g/kg body weight for 4 days was carried out. Food intake, changes in body weight of treated and control rats were monitored and enzymatic activities in liver and muscle tissues were estimated at the end of the experiments. Results: The gain in body weight was less in treated rats in comparison with control (control 12.1 g and treated 9.6 g, p<0.05). There was a significant increase (p<0.001) in specific activities of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (control vs. treated, liver: 6 times; muscles: 11.1 times), lactate dehydrogenase (control vs. treated, liver: 5.9 times; muscles: 6.8 times), succinate dehydrogenase (control vs. treated, liver: 1.5 times; muscle: 2.5 times) and malate dehydrogenase (control vs. treated, liver: 1.4 times; muscle: 5 times). Conclusion: Dietary intake of spinach thylakoids increase the activity of glucose metabolizing enzymes, which indicates increased utilization of substrates for energy production in addition to regulate body weight gain in rats. This may be responsible for observed beneficial effects of thylakoid supplementation.
Search Terms : TCNS , polyneuropathy , NCS , VPT , neuropathy scales Running

This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as doi: 10.1111/ene.13533 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. DR. ALON ABRAHAM (Orcid ID : 0000-0002-9020-2399)
Adaptation and validation of the “Continuing Bond Scale” in an Italian context. An instrument for studying the persistence of the bond with the deceased in normal and abnormal grief

The study presents the Italian validation of the questionnaire Continuing Bonds Scale (CBS) by Field and Filanosky (2010). The questionnaire consists of two scales: Externalized (6 items) and Internalized (10 items) and was completed by 414 people who have suffered the loss of a loved one. Exploratory Factor Analysis revealed a two-factor model, 16 items solution (KMO = .928, χ 2 = 2694.84, df = 120, p < .001). Confirmatory Factor Analyses indicated that the two-factor solution provided a better fit to the data (CFI = .935; TLI = .925; RMSEA = .063). The factors demonstrated good internal reliability. The study shows that CBS has good psychometric properties for clinical use.
A Small-Scale DSGE Model for Forecasting the South African Economy

This paper uses a version of Hansen’s (1985) Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model to forecast the South African economy. The calibrated model, based on annual data over the period of 1970-2000, is used to generate one- to eight-quarters-ahead out-of-sample forecast errors for the period of 2001:1 to 2005:4. The forecast errors are then compared with the unrestricted versions of the Classical and Bayesian VARs. A Bayesian VAR with relatively loose priors outperforms both the classical VAR and the DSGE model.
Uniform, nonparametric, non-asymptotic confidence sequences

A confidence sequence is a sequence of confidence intervals that is uniformly valid over an unbounded time horizon. In this paper, we develop non-asymptotic confidence sequences that achieve arbitrary precision under nonparametric conditions. Our technique draws a connection between the classical Cram\'er-Chernoff method, the law of the iterated logarithm (LIL), and the sequential probability ratio test (SPRT)---our confidence sequences extend the first to produce time-uniform concentration bounds, provide tight non-asymptotic characterizations of the second, and generalize the third to nonparametric settings, including sub-Gaussian and Bernstein conditions, self-normalized processes, and matrix martingales. We strengthen and generalize existing constructions of finite-time iterated logarithm ("finite LIL") bounds. We illustrate the generality of our proof techniques by deriving an empirical-Bernstein finite LIL bound as well as a novel upper LIL bound for the maximum eigenvalue of a sum of random matrices. Finally, we demonstrate the utility of our approach with applications to covariance matrix estimation and to estimation of sample average treatment effect under the Neyman-Rubin potential outcomes model, for which we give a non-asymptotic, sequential estimation strategy which handles adaptive treatment mechanisms such as Efron's biased coin design.
Elephant Crop Damage: Subsistence Farmers’ Social Vulnerability, Livelihood Sustainability and Elephant Conservation

African elephants (Loxodonta africana) induce considerable crop damage risks, shocks and stresses on subsistence farmers at the wildlife-agriculture interface. In this study, we explored the social dimensions of human-elephant interactions in the wildlife-agrarian landscape. The study aimed at unraveling the associated hazardous conditions and nature of the subsistence farmers’ social vulnerability and practices with respect to elephant crop damage, subsistence farmers’ livelihoods, and elephant conservation. Applying qualitative thematic content analysis, the sustainable livelihood framework (SLF) and additive generalized linear models (GLMs), this study revealed that the status of relational social capital influences human-elephant conflict (HEC) management and subsistence farmers’ responses, regardless of the farmers’ social learning and environmental values about the social-ecological system. The strengthening of multiple local stakeholder participation, institutional governance and access to livelihoods assets are needed for human food security and elephant conservation. Adoption of more effective nuanced crop protection counter-measures against elephants at farm level is urgently needed.
Disparity Estimation Disparity Refinement Disparity Convolution Correlation Initial Disparity Residual Deconvolution Refined Disparity Reconstruction Error Shared Weights Skip Connection

Stereo matching algorithms usually consist of four steps, including matching cost calculation, matching cost aggregation, disparity calculation, and disparity refinement. Existing CNN-based methods only adopt CNN to solve parts of the four steps, or use different networks to deal with different steps, making them difficult to obtain the overall optimal solution. In this paper, we propose a network architecture to incorporate all steps of stereo matching. The network consists of three parts. The first part calculates the multi-scale shared features. The second part performs matching cost calculation, matching cost aggregation and disparity calculation to estimate the initial disparity using shared features. The initial disparity and the shared features are used to calculate the feature constancy that measures correctness of the correspondence between two input images. The initial disparity and the feature constancy are then fed to a subnetwork to refine the initial disparity. The proposed method has been evaluated on the Scene Flow and KITTI datasets. It achieves the state-of-the-art performance on the KITTI 2012 and KITTI 2015 benchmarks while maintaining a very
Microbial synthesis of macroparticulate matter

From a re-examination of the role of microorganisms in de novo particle synthesis in sea water, I present evidence that presence of active bacteria is necessary for aggregate formation. Particle formation, in filtered sea water kept idle, circulated and bubbled (without or with additional Dissolved Organic Matter or Dissolved Organic Matter + Particulate Organic Matter), was found to occur only in the presence of bacteria. Bacteria growing at the expense of DOM present, formed large particles > 100 microns by aggregation (bacterial aggregates) as well as by the aggregation of smaller particles into larger ones (bacteria-particle aggregates) > 1 mm. Parallel killed treatments did not show any particle formation of the type of Baylor and Sutcliffe (1963), Sheldon et al. (1967) or Krank and Milligan (1980). This phenomenon of microbial macroparticulate matter synthesis could be the major pathway by which carbon and energy is transferred from the micro to the macro food webs in aquatic ecosystems.
The Concept of Community: A Re-Examination

If the concept of community is dead, it stubbornly refuses to lie down. Recent years have seen writers so frustrated by the apparent 'myth of community studies'^ that they have sought to despatch the term once and for all. The case for this execution is usually based on Hillery's unearthing, some years ago, of ninety-four different definitions of community;^ such seeming confusion and little subsequent clarification of the term leading Stacey to write it off as a 'non-concept''̂ and Pahl to comment that 'the word "community" serves more to confuse than illuminate the situation in Britain today. '* Yet as fast as the attempt is made to thrust the concept of community into limbo, it as obstinately emerges again; of late in such notable titles as 'community relations' and 'community development', to name but two. It would seem, therefore, that rather than turning one's back on the term, it would be useful to examine with a little more care how it has been employed in the past and to make some positive suggestions regarding its future application. What follows is intended as a starting point for the re-instatement of the concept of community. The discussion is based on a wide range of material which Reissman has usefuly termed 'the empirical', 'the ecological' and 'the theoretical' approaches to the subject. ^
6 Elevation Uncertainty in Coastal Inundation Hazard Assessments

Coastal inundation has been identified as an important natural hazard that affects densely populated and built-up areas (Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction, 2008). Inundation, or coastal flooding, can result from various physical processes, including storm surges, tsunamis, intense precipitation events, and extreme high tides. Such events cause quickly rising water levels. When rapidly rising water levels overwhelm flood defenses, especially in heavily populated areas, the potential of the hazard is realized and a natural disaster results. Two noteworthy recent examples of such natural disasters resulting from coastal inundation are the Hurricane Katrina storm surge in 2005 along the Gulf of Mexico coast in the United States, and the tsunami in northern Japan in 2011. Longer term, slowly varying processes such as land subsidence (Committee on Floodplain Mapping Technologies, 2007) and sea-level rise also can result in coastal inundation, although such conditions do not have the rapid water level rise associated with other flooding events.
Array-analysis of Tremors in Shikoku Triggered by the 2012 Sumatra Earthquake

This study has successfully located earthquake tremors in Shikoku area triggered by the teleseismic surface waves of the 11 th April 2012 Sumatra earthquake using array-analysis method (MUSIC). Results show that the first and the second part of the detected triggered tremors are located in different regions of the Shikoku area, as triggered respectively by Loveand Rayleigh-wave. The physical mechanisms of the two events are supposedly different. Frequency analysis of the two parts of seismograms are conducted to demonstrate the difference, showing that dominant frequencies appear in the second part of seismograms, as representing the up-dip side tremors in Shikoku area which might be caused by fluid migration in the interface of the subduction zone. However, this phenomenon is not well explained and requires a further understanding.
Title Management and climate contributions to satellite-derived active fire trends in the contiguous United States Permalink

Fires in croplands, plantations, and rangelands contribute significantly to fire emissions in the United States, yet are often overshadowed by wildland fires in efforts to develop inventories or estimate responses to climate change. Here we quantified decadal trends, interannual variability, and seasonality of Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) observations of active fires (thermal anomalies) as a function of management type in the contiguous U.S. during 2001–2010. We used the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity database to identify active fires within the perimeter of large wildland fires and land cover maps to identify active fires in croplands. A third class of fires defined as prescribed/other included all residual satellite active fire detections. Large wildland fires were the most variable of all three fire types and had no significant annual trend in the contiguous U.S. during 2001–2010. Active fires in croplands, in contrast, increased at a rate of 3.4% per year. Cropland and prescribed/other fire types combined were responsible for 77% of the total active fire detections within the U.S and were most abundant in the south and southeast. In the west, cropland active fires decreased at a rate of 5.9% per year, likely in response to intensive air quality policies. Potential evaporation was a dominant regulator of the interannual variability of large wildland fires, but had a weaker influence on the other two fire types. Our analysis suggests it may be possible to modify landscape fire emissions within the U.S. by influencing the way fires are used in managed ecosystems.
Running head : Cryptic Female Choice in a Hybrid Zone

When hybridization is maladaptive, species-specific mate preferences are selectively favored, but low mate availability may constrain species-assortative pairing. Females paired to heterospecifics may then benefit by copulating with multiple males and subsequently favoring sperm of conspecifics. Whether such mechanisms for biasing paternity towards conspecifics act as important reproductive barriers in socially monogamous vertebrate species remains to be determined. We use a combination of long-term breeding records from a natural hybrid zone between collared and pied flycatchers (Ficedulla albicollis and F. hypoleuca), and an in vitro experiment comparing conspecific and heterospecific sperm performance in female reproductive tract fluid, to evaluate the potential significance of female cryptic choice. We show that the females most at risk of hybridizing (pied flycatchers) frequently copulate with multiple males and are able to inhibit heterospecific sperm performance. The negative effect on heterospecific sperm performance was strongest in pied flycatcher females that were most likely to have been previously exposed