Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of supplemental protein quality on rumen fermentation, rumen microbial yield, forestomach digestion, and intestinal amino acid flow in late lactation Holstein cows

The quality of dietary protein for dairy cows is generally assessed based upon the proportion of it which is expected to degrade in the rumen (DIP) vs. that which is expected to escape the rumen undegraded (UIP). However characteristics of dietary proteins can impact the nutritional value of the DIP and UIP. Four lactating Holstein cows were fed a low protein (9.8% CP of DM) ration of 28.6% timothy silage, 27.2% whole crop barley silage, and 44.2% grain-based concentrate (DM basis). This was supplemented with 1.3 kg d−1 of ground barley with either no additional protein supplement, 1.11 kg d−1 of soybean meal, 0.67 kg d−1 of blood meal or 0.20 kg d−1 of urea. All cows were judged to have underperformed relative to expectations, with performance limited by supplies of DIP and/or UIP with all diets. Soybean meal supplementation substantially improved animal performance and measured parameters of N metabolism are consistent with a hypothesis that rumen bacterial growth and outflow, rumen escape of intact die.
Detection of Cyprinid Herpesvirus‐3 in Field Samples of Common and Koi Carp by Various Single‐Round and Nested PCR Methods

Cyprinid herpesvirus-3 (CyHV-3, previously described as koi herpesvirus) is a causative agent of the lethal disease in koi and common carp that can adversely affect common and koi carp breeds. Outbreaks with mass mortality have occurred world wide since 1998. At present, several different polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests are in use to detect CyHV-3 in koi and common carp. In this study, we compared the sensitivity of the single-round PCR assays of Gray, Gilad, and Bercovier, and further the Gilad and Bercovier-nested PCR assays by testing tissue samples with known amounts of CyHV-3 DNA and by testing the panel of field tissue samples (106) of koi and common carp. The sensitivity of all the PCR protocols used in this study was similar within testing the spiked homogenate sample with a known amount of CyHV-3 DNA (ca. 12 DNA copies), with the exception of Gray PCR (25 copies). Detection levels of the individual PCR methods in field samples varied. The single-round Bercovier method was the most sensitive in comparison with the following two single-round methods, based on the number of positive field samples (34%). The improvement of sensitivity and confirmation of specifity were sufficient when the two-round Bercovier method was used with a detection of 44.3% of positive samples in total.
A Grey Target Group Decision Method with Dual Hesitant Fuzzy Information considering Decision-Maker's Loss Aversion

The uncertainty, complexity, and behavioral preference are widely existing in real-world decision-making problems. In this paper, different from the previous grey target decision method, we propose a novel grey target group decision method considering decision-maker’s loss aversion with positive and negative clouts under the dual hesitant fuzzy environment. Firstly, defining the dual hesitant fuzzy ideal optimization scheme as the positive clout and the ideal inferior scheme as the negative clout, positive and negative target-eye distances are measured by the normalized Hamming distances from the DHFEs to the positive clout and the negative clout. Then, a new comprehensive target-eye distance is proposed to evaluate alternatives between the positive and the negative clout. A nonlinear optimization model is established to obtain the optimal initial attribute weights with the goal of minimizing the comprehensive target-eye distance. Then, a grey target group decision method with dual hesitant fuzzy information considering decision-maker’s loss aversion and variable weights is proposed. Finally, a numeral example is given to verify the effectiveness and practicality of the proposed model and method.
Influence of silicon dioxide nanoparticles on dielectric relaxation of triglycine sulfate

Abstract This study is devoted to clarifying the influence of silicon dioxide nanoparticles on dielectric relaxation properties of classical ferroelectric triglycine sulfate at frequencies of 102÷107Hz in ferroelectric phase. A mixed composite at different composition mass ratios was synthesized. It was indicated that relaxation frequency of triglycine sulfate inclusion decreased as compared to that of its single crystals and shifted toward lower frequencies with silicon dioxide content increase. The linear dispersion region characteristic for single crystals of triglycine sulfate was expanded. The obtained anomalies were explained based on the assumption of strong interaction between composite components through hydrogen bonds.
Forbidden herbs: Alzate’s defense of pipiltzintzintlis

In a 1772 newspaper article, José Antonio Alzate y Ramírez (1737–1799) defended the medicinal benefits of cannabis against the prohibition of the Inquisition. Alzate concluded that the indigenous herb pipiltzintzintlis was ‘nothing else but cannabis. ’ As Spanish physician Juan de Cárdenas contended almost two centuries earlier, Alzate argued for a disassociation of the plant’s narcotic or hallucinogenic properties and effects from its potential demonic influence. In the following pages, I investigate the Church’s prohibition of the herb pipiltzintzintlis. I analyze Alzate’s evidence in support of medicinal cannabis use, ranging from firsthand experience to second-hand accounts to medical encyclopedias, thereby exposing the range of eighteenth-century sources supporting medicinal marijuana use. I end with conclusions on the epistemic value bestowed on different sources of scientific evidence in eighteenth-century Mexico and on the role that censorship played in the circulation of scientific knowledge.
Life span and dynamics of leaves of herbaceous perennials in high‐elevation environments: ‘news from the elephant’s leg’

1. Leaf life spans, determined as half-lives, of 16 herbaceous perennial plant species from the aseasonal, tropical Andes at altitudes between 4000 and 4600 m were on average 193±19 days and thus two to three times greater than those of herbaceous perennials from the seasonal northern hemisphere. The duration of lamina expansion was positively correlated with life span. Growth was continuous all year round, but rates of leaf initiation in the high-elevation tropics were lower than in the temperate zone. 2. Significant positive inter-relationships were found between leaf life span and mass-based foliar nitrogen concentration of Andean taxa. The correlation between life span and leaf mass per area (LMA) was marginally significant, while life span and area-based foliar N content were unrelated. 3. Leaf traits of 46 Andean herbaceous perennials (forbs and graminoids), spanning an altitudinal range of 1500 m, indicated that the 16 taxa utilized for growth and leaf life span determinations were representative. For graminoids no altitudinal changes in LMA or foliar N were observed across species. However, in forbs LMA and area-based foliar N increased significantly with altitude. No differences in leaf traits were observed between herbaceous rosette and cushion growth forms. 4. The Andean data set was used in conjunction with data from the temperate, subarctic and arctic zones to evaluate the significance of leaf life spans in herbaceous plants from a biogeographical perspective. Leaf life span declined significantly with increasing seasonality, expressed as latitude and duration of the annual growth period. Because temperature regimes are similar along this gradient during the respective growth periods (Diemer 1996), observed differences should be the result of variation in the day length and/or duration of the growing season. 5. Data on leaf life spans and leaf traits of herbaceous plants from contrasting latitudes were used to evaluate the validity of general inter-relationships proposed by Reich (1993). The high correlation between LMA and life span observed in both data sets indicates that this relationship holds for various growth forms. On the other hand, the apportionment of mass-based foliar N concentration in relation to life span appears to differ between herbaceous and woody growth forms.
Leadership Style, Work Environment, Organizational Silence and Institutional Effectiveness of Polytechnic Libraries, South-West Nigeria

Abstract The goal of the library is to provide quality service and lifelong learning facilities to its users. However, there are indications of low level of effectiveness in many polytechnic libraries. Studies revealed that this could be attributed to leadership style, work environment and organisational silence. The study, therefore, investigated the extent to which the independent variables influenced institutional effectiveness of polytechnic libraries in South-West, Nigeria. The research adopted survey research design. The population consisted of 429 library personnel from the 32 polytechnic libraries in South-West, Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 24 (75%) polytechnic libraries. Total enumeration was used for the 368 personnel. The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients ranged from . 81 to . 95. The return rate was 86.96%. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that there was a combined positive and significant influence of leadership style, work environment and organisational silence on institutional effectiveness. Furthermore, the level of institutional effectiveness was low; leadership style predominately practiced was transactional closely followed by transformational leadership style. The work environment of employees was found to be unconducive. Organisational silence was at a low degree in the Polytechnics. In conclusion, leadership style, work environment and organizational silence were major factors contributing to low level of institutional effectiveness. Study recommended that heads of libraries should practise more of transformational leadership style and create a conducive work environment. Heads of libraries need to ensure that opinions and ideas of employees are considered so that institutional effectiveness could be increased.
Order estimation for non-parametric Hidden Markov Models

We propose and study two pratically tractable methods to estimate the order of non-parametric hidden Markov models in addition to their parameters. The first one relies on estimating the rank of a matrix derived from the law of two consecutive observations while the second one selects the order by minimizing a penalized least squares criterion. We show strong consistency of both methods and prove an oracle inequality on the least squares estimators of the model parameters. We numerically compare their ability to select the right order in several situations and discuss their algorithmic complexity.
Synthesis, characterization, and biological evaluation of 4-[(4-hydroxy-7-methyl-1,3-benzothiazol-2-yl) diazenyl]-5-methyl-2-phenyl-2,4-dihydro-3-pyrazol-3-one and its metal complexes

Abstract New mononuclear Cu(II), Co(II) and Ni(II) complexes of novel azo-dye ligand 4-[(4-hydroxy-7-methyl-1,3-benzothiazol-2-yl)diazenyl]-5-methyl-2-phenyl-2,4-dihydro-3-pyrazol-3-one (L) with O,N-donor site were synthesized and are characterized by various spectroscopic techniques. The quantum chemical parameters were evaluated for all the compounds by ZINDO/1 semi-empirical method and are compared with the experimental data. Spectral investigations suggested the octahedral geometry for Co(II) and Ni(II) complexes and distorted tetrahedral geometry for Cu(II) complex. The antibacterial activity of the compounds was screened against different microbial strains and the results indicated that all the metal complexes exhibited higher activity than the free ligand. The interaction of pUC18 DNA with the synthesized compounds was explored by gel electrophoresis technique. All metal complexes exhibited significant cleavage activity against supercoiled pUC18 DNA. The anticancer activity of the compounds was studied against K562, A549, and MDA-MB-231 by MTT assay and all the metal chelates exhibited good anticancer properties. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Snow depth and snow water equivalent retrieval using X-band PolInSAR data

ABSTRACT Monitoring the dynamics of snow and glaciers in the Indian Himalaya has always attracted the attention of the remote sensing community. The snow water equivalent (SWE) represents the amount of water contained in the snowpack, and it is a product of snow depth (SD) and snow density ( ). The estimation of SD at high spatial and temporal resolution is still a challenge, especially in rugged mountainous terrain, like the Himalayas. In this paper, bistatic TerraSAR-X quad-polarization data is used to retrieve the SD using the Polarimetric SAR Interferometry (PolInSAR) coherences. The PolInSAR coherence at hv polarization shows a linear relationship with SD, which is verified with the field data. This relationship is utilized for the retrieval of SD using the proposed algorithm. Spatially variable is used to retrieve the SWE. The coefficient of determination ( ) values of the retrieved SD on 8 January 2016 and 19 January 2016 are 0.62 and 0.80, respectively. Likewise, it is 0.61 and 0.72 for retrieved SWE. The root mean square error (RMSE) in SD on 8 January 2016 and 19 January 2016 are 7.00 cm and 5.48 cm, respectively; for SWE, it is 2.02 cm and 1.48 cm, respectively.
Importance of visibility when evaluating animal response to roads

Roads increase risk to animals via direct and indirect mechanisms yet, both positive and negative effects of animal space use in relation to roads have been reported. These contrasting reports may not actually represent animal ecology, but could be a product of the primary variable used to test the relationship between animals and roads. Animal-road associations are often evaluated using Euclidean distance. Euclidean, or straight-line, distance fails to account for the screening effects of vegetation and topography and may document spurious relationships. We evaluated the influence of Euclidean distance, visibility from road and forage quality on summer space use for male elk Cervus elaphus and female elk subherds in Custer State Park, South Dakota, USA. Models that included interactions with visibility from road metrics outperformed models that included only Euclidean distance to road as main effects. Elk response to roads varied by sex and road type, which functioned as an index for vehicle use. Male elk selected habitat away from roads with the greatest vehicle use, an effect that was greater if habitat was visible from those roads. Female elk tended to select habitat with high forage quality in areas visible from roads closed to vehicle use. Interestingly, both male and female elk selected habitat away from roads with secondary vehicle use and near to roads devoid of traffic, regardless of visibility. Our analysis highlights the importance of including both Euclidean distance and visibility from road metrics. Road effects research may be incomplete without consideration of visibility from roads, particularly for large mammals in landscapes with intense road use.
The Effects of Edge Permeability and Habitat Geometry on Emigration from Patches of Habitat

Using computer simulations, we investigated two factors that may affect emigration from insular patches of habitat, where emigration is the proportion of dispersing individuals that leave the habitat patch. The first factor, edge permeability, $\phi$, reflects the tendency of a disperser reaching the edge of a habitat patch to cross the boundary and emigrate; edge permeability is positively related to emigration for any given habitat patch. The second factor is the edge-to-size ratio (ESR), the proportion of home ranges at the edge of a habitat patch; for any degree of edge permeability greater than zero, the ESR is positively related to emigration. When habitats have relatively hard edges (e.g., 0 $\leq \phi \leq$ 0.1), edge permeability is a more important determinant of emigration than is the ESR. Conversely, when habitats have relatively soft edges ($\phi$ > 0.1), the ESR is the more important determinant of emigration. These interactions between the effects of edge permeability and patch size and shape have important implications for field biology. In particular, investigators should be cautious when comparing hard- and soft-edged habitats, since patch size and shape may have important ecological effects in soft-edged, but not in hard-edged, insular patches of habitat. Field studies of phytophagous insects and of vertebrates in fragmented or insular habitats tend to support the predictions of these models. Hence, these models may be relevant to both conservation and control policies.
Observations on the relationships between meat ants and termites in tropical Australia

There have been few studies of predator-prey relationships between Australian ants and termites. Hill (1922) discussed the effect of the meat ant, Iridomyrmex sanguineus Forel, on Amitermes laurensis (Mjoberg) and Drepanotermes rubriceps (Froggatt) in the Townsville region. He estimated that approximately 80% of the mounds of these termites were 'invaded and permanently occupied' by the meat ant. Wood & Lee (1971) also observed that meat ants were present in a large proportion of the mounds of A. laurensis in the Townsville area. During a study of the role of termites in carbon cycling in a eucalypt woodland (Holt 1987), the presence of meat ant colonies in many termite mounds was noted. This paper reports the results of some observations on meat ants and their relationships with termites. Iridomyrmex sanguineus was described and has been treated as an infraspecific entity with I. purpureus (F. Smith). It is now known to be a distinct species (Greenslade & Halliday 1982). Although the formal change in status has yet to be published, in this paper it is referred to as 'I. sanguineus'. Observations were made on part of the CSIRO Research Station 'Lansdown', approximately 40 km south of Townsville, north Queensland. Details of the climate, soils and vegetation of the study site are given in Holt (1987). Eight A. laurensis mounds, which at the beginning of the study showed no evidence of occupation by meat ants, were examined at monthly intervals from January 1985 to December 1987 for signs of meat ant activity including the presence of entry holes. Destructive sampling of 12 termite mounds that had meat ants entering and exiting through a single hole in the side (occasionally they had excavated two or three entrance holes) showed that in each case the inside of the mounds had been extensively remodelled by the meat ants. Several large chambers (approximately 50 mm square and up to 15 mm high) were present
Modeling the human invader in the United States

Modern biogeographers recognize that humans are seen as constituents of ecosystems, drivers of significant change, and perhaps, the most invasive species on earth. We found it instructive to model humans as invasive organisms with the same environmental factors. We present a preliminary model of the spread of modern humans in the conterminous United States between 1992 and 2001 based on a subset of National Land Cover Data (NLCD), a time series LANDSAT product. We relied on the commonly used Maxent model, a species-environmental matching model, to map urbanization. Results: Urban areas represented 5.1% of the lower 48 states in 2001, an increase of 7.5% (18,112 km 2) in the nine year period. At this rate, an area the size of Massachusetts is converted to urban land use every ten years. We used accepted models commonly used for mapping plant and animal distributions and found that climatic and environmental factors can strongly predict our spread (i.e., the conversion of forests, shrub/grass, and wetland areas into urban areas), with a 92.5% success rate (Area Under the Curve). Adding a roads layer in the model improved predictions to a 95.5% success rate. 8.8% of the 1-km 2 cells in the conterminous U.S. now have a major road in them. In 2001, 0.8% of 1-km 2 cells in the U.S. had an urbanness value of > 800, (>89% of a 1-km 2 cell is urban), while we predict that 24.5% of 1-km 2 cells in the conterminous U.S. will be > 800 eventually. Main conclusion: Humans have a highly predictable pattern of urbanization based on climatic and topographic variables. Conservation strategies may benefit from that predictability.
Recognition of building group patterns using graph convolutional network

ABSTRACT Recognition of building group patterns is of great significance for understanding and modeling the urban space. However, many current methods cannot fully utilize spatial information and have trouble efficiently dealing with topographic data with high complexity. The design of intelligent computational models that can act directly on topographic data to extract spatial features is critical. To this end, we propose a novel deep neural network based on graph convolutions to automatically identify building group patterns with arbitrary forms. The method first models buildings by a general graph, and then the neural network simultaneously learns the structural information as well as vertex attributes to classify building objects. We apply this method to real building data, and the experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively capture spatial information to make more accurate predictions than traditional methods.
Engineering the functional fitness of transglycosidases and glycosynthases by directed evolution

1 Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacognosy, University of Nairobi, PO Box 19676-00202 KNH, Nairobi, Kenya. 2 Centre for Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, University of Nairobi, PO Box 30197-00100, Nairobi, Kenya. 3 Africa Institute of Biomedical Science & Technology (AiBST-Nairobi), PO Box 19676-00202 KNH, Nairobi, Kenya. 4 Department of Biochemistry, University of Nairobi, P.O. Box 30197 – 00100, Nairobi, Kenya.
Plant-pollinator interactions in sympatric exotic and native Senecio species: is facilitation or competition for pollinators occurring?

The role of indirect interactions in invasion biology has rarely been addressed. Indirect interactions between two plant species may be mediated by shared pollinators: the presence of one plant species can have either a negative impact on pollination (and seed set) in another by competing for pollinators, or a positive effect by facilitating pollinator visitation. We investigated whether facilitation or competition for pollination was occurring between the closely related native Senecio pinnatifolius (A.Rich) and exotic S. madagascariensis (Poiret) in south-east Queensland. Visitation rates by honeybees and syrphid species, as well as seed set in each Senecio species, were assessed in naturally occurring mixed and pure stands. The exotic S. madagascariensis did not affect visitation rates to the native, but seed set of the native species was higher in mixed populations. The presence of native S. pinnatifolius caused a reduction in honeybee visits and an increase in syrphid visits to the exotic plant, but altered visitation patterns were not refl ected in a change in seed set in the exotic.