Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of patterns of removal and associations among culling because of lameness and sow productivity traits in swine breeding herds.

OBJECTIVE To characterize patterns of removal and evaluate the associations among culling because of lameness and sow productivity traits among culled gilts and sows. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SAMPLE POPULATION Data from a convenience sample of 11 farms pertaining to the removal of 51,795 gilts and sows from January 1991 to December 2002. Mean culling and mortality (death and euthanasia) rates for all inventoried gilts and sows ranged from 23% to 50% and 4.7% to 9.5%, respectively. PROCEDURE An analysis of categories of removal (cull, death, or euthanasia) and reasons for removal of gilts and sows was performed. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine associations among culling because of lameness and sow productivity traits among culled gilts and sows. RESULTS Among sows that were removed, the proportion of parity > or = 1 sows that died (both death and euthanasia) was > 3 times the proportion of parity > or = 1 sows that were culled within 20 days after farrowing. Among lame sows that were removed, the proportion of parity > or = 1 sows that died (death and euthanasia) was higher than the proportion of parity > or = 1 sows that were culled within 20 days after farrowing. Among sows that were removed, the proportion of sows that died (deaths and euthanasia) was higher during lactation than nonlactation. This was also observed among lame sows that were removed. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE The proportion of death among removed sows, especially lame sows, was higher during lactation than nonlactation. Results indicated that risk of death is not the same for sows throughout their lifetime.
The Open University ’ s repository of research publications and other research outputs Historical and future learning about climate sensitivity

Equilibrium climate sensitivity measures the long-term response of surface temperature to changes in atmospheric CO2. The range of climate sensitivities in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report is unchanged from that published almost 30 years earlier in the Charney Report. We conduct perfect model experiments using an energy balance model to study the rate at which uncertainties might be reduced by observation of global temperature and ocean heat uptake. We find that a climate sensitivity of 1.5◦C can be statistically distinguished from 3◦C by 2030, 3◦C from 4.5◦C by 2040, and 4.5◦C from 6◦C by 2065. Learning rates are slowest in the scenarios of greatest concern (high sensitivities), due to a longer ocean response time, which may have bearing on wait-and-see versus precautionary mitigation policies. Learning rates are optimistic in presuming the availability of whole ocean heat data but pessimistic by using simple aggregated metrics and model physics.
Semantic search engine with an intuitive user interface

It is crucial to enable regular users to explore RDF-compliant data bases in an effective way, regardless their knowledge about the SPARQL or the underlying ontology. Natural language querying have been proposed to address this issue. However it has unavoidably lower accuracy, as compared to systems with graph-based querying interfaces, which, in turn, are usually still too difficult for regular users. This paper presents a search system of user interface that is more user-friendly than widely known graph-based solutions.
The olfactory pathway for individual recognition in the American lobster Homarus americanus

SUMMARY Individual recognition in the lobster Homarus americanus (Milne-Edwards), is based on detection of urine pheromones via chemoreceptors of the lateral antennular flagellum. The specific sensory pathway mediating this recognition is not known. Most of the chemoreceptor cells of this flagellum are found in the unimodal aesthetasc sensilla and project specifically to the glomeruli of the olfactory lobe in the brain. Additional chemoreceptor cells are located among mechanoreceptor cells in bimodal sensilla, including the guard hairs; they do not project to the olfactory lobe. This neuroanatomy suggested that aesthetascs were essential to all complex chemosensory tasks until it was shown that spiny lobsters Panulirus argus can still perform complex food odor discrimination and localization tasks without aesthetascs. Here, we demonstrate that the aesthetascs of H. americanus contain the chemoreceptors necessary for individual recognition of familiar opponents. In contrast to intact and guard hair-shaved animals, lobsters with aesthetascs removed did not recognize previous opponents as shown by second encounters statistically similar in length and aggression to first-encounter fights. Non-aesthetasc chemosensory pathways were incapable of rescuing opponent recognition. Subsequent lesion of all remaining chemoreceptor cells (by immersion in distilled water) abolished recognition and renewed fighting.
Structure and cell‐specific expression of a cloned human retinol binding protein gene: the 5′‐flanking region contains hepatoma specific transcriptional signals.

Human plasma retinol binding protein (RBP) is coded by a single gene and is specifically synthesized in the liver. We have characterized a lambda clone, from a human DNA library, carrying the gene coding for plasma RBP. Southern blot analysis and DNA sequencing show that the gene is composed of six exons and five introns. Primer elongation and S1 mapping experiments allowed the definition of the initiation of transcription and the identification of the putative promoter. The 5′‐flanking region of the RBP gene was fused upstream to the coding sequence of the bacterial enzyme chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT): the chimeric gene was introduced, by calcium phosphate precipitation, into the human hepatoma cell line Hep G2 and into HeLa cells. Efficient expression of CAT was obtained only in Hep G2. Primer elongation analysis of the RNA extracted from transfected Hep G2 showed that initiation of transcription of the transfected chimeric gene occurs at a position identical to that of the natural gene. Transcriptional analysis of Bal31 deletions from the 3′ end of the RBP 5′‐flanking DNA allowed the identification of the RBP gene promoter.
Mechanical properties improvement of weldments using vibratory welding system

From the last few decades, vibratory welding techniques have been used for improving the mechanical properties of weldments. Previous results showed that welded test specimens under vibratory conditions exhibited improvements in mechanical properties than the conventional arc welding. In this present work, vibratory set-up has been developed for inducing mechanical vibrations during welding operation. The designed vibratory set-up produces the required frequency with amplitude and acceleration in terms of voltages. In the current investigation, weld specimens were prepared while varying the two input parameters: voltage and time of vibration. And the remaining process parameters such as travel speed, current, and other electrode parameters were kept constant. Metallurgical properties showed that refined microstructure has been achieved for the vibratory welded specimens. The refined grain structure is responsible for the improvement in flexural strength, ultimate tensile strength, impact strength, and hardness of the vibratory weld pieces.
Generalized Discontinuous PWM Based Direct Torque Controlled Induction Motor Drive with a Sliding Mode Speed Controller

This paper presents a generalized discontinuous pulse width modulation (GDPWM) algorithm for sensorless direct torque controlled induction motor drive, which ensures the high-performance operation, both in steady state and transient conditions. In the proposed method, the merits of basic direct torque control transient behavior are maintained, while the steady state operation is improved. As the bus-clamped sequences are being used, the switching losses of the inverter can be reduced. Also this method gives good performance over the conventional space vector strategy in the higher modulation indices. Then a sliding mode speed controller with an integral switching surface is proposed, which is robust under uncertainties caused by parameter variation and load torque disturbances. To validate the proposed method, the simulation results are presented.
SSIM for video representing and matching

This paper propose a compact video representation using SSIM assessment for matching video sequences. As opposed to using the complex features extracting methods to analysis color and motion information through the sequence. We use the similarity index of successive frames to produce a representation of videos. We employ the SSIM assessment to represent a video for matching the same video within database. The experimental results show that the proposed approach permits accurate for video matching. The performance was found extremely satisfactory with determine all correct video in database.
Robot Manipulation : Sensing and Adapting to the Real World

There is a resurgence of interest in robot manipulation as researchers seek to push autonomous manipulation out of controlled laboratory settings and into real-world applications such as health care, generalized factory automation, domestic assistance, and space exploration. This workshop facilitated progress towards these goals by focusing on autonomous robot manipulation and the requisite sensing and adaptation. The workshop was a full-day event consisting of nine talks, four discussions, two poster sessions, and demos which are summarized below.
Expression of GAP-43 and SCG10 mRNAs in Lateral Geniculate Nucleus of Normal and Monocularly Deprived Macaque Monkeys

We performed nonradioactive in situ hybridization histochemistry (ISH) in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of the macaque monkey to investigate the distribution of mRNA for two growth-associated proteins, GAP-43 and SCG10. GAP-43 and SCG10 mRNAs were coexpressed in most neurons of both magnocellular layers (layers I and II) and parvocellular layers (layers III–VI). Double-labeling using nonradioactive ISH and immunofluorescence revealed that both GAP-43 and SCG10 mRNAs were coexpressed with the α-subunit of type II calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase, indicating that both mRNAs are expressed also in koniocellular neurons in the LGN. We also showed that GABA-immunoreactive neurons in the LGN did not contain GAP-43 and SCG10 mRNAs, indicating that neither GAP-43 nor SCG10 mRNAs were expressed in inhibitory interneurons in the LGN. GABA-immunoreactive neurons in the perigeniculate nucleus, however, contained both GAP-43 and SCG10 mRNAs, indicating that both mRNAs were expressed in inhibitory neurons in the perigeniculate nucleus, which project to relay neurons in the LGN. Furthermore, to determine whether the expression of GAP-43 and SCG10 mRNAs is regulated by visual input, we performed nonradioactive ISH in the LGN and the primary visual area of monkeys deprived of monocular visual input by intraocular injections of tetrodotoxin. Both mRNAs were downregulated in the LGN after monocular deprivation for 5 d or longer. From these results, we conclude that both GAP-43 and SCG10 mRNAs are expressed in the excitatory relay neurons of the monkey LGN in an activity-dependent manner.
Lung Cancer Diagnosis via Interfacing Bio-nano-molecular System: hTERT, Chitosan, and Carbon Nanotubes

A sensitive and label-free electrochemical immunosensor has been designed using chitosan (CHI)-carbon nano tubes (SWCNT) nano composite coated graphite electrodes for lung cancer detection using anti-hTERT for detection of hTERT biomarker (expressed in state of initial lung cancer progression). Computer interfacing technologies are now essentially desired to integrate diagnosis systems so as to progress towards point of care diagnosis.
In vivo signal-transduction pathways to stimulate phasic contractions in normal and inflamed ileum.

UNLABELLED We investigated the in vivo signal-transduction pathways to stimulate phasic contractions in normal and inflamed ileum by close intra-arterial infusions of test substances. Methacholine stimulated phasic contractions dose dependently. This response was suppressed during inflammation. Verapamil inhibited the response to methacholine dose dependently in both normal and inflamed ileum. Neomycin inhibited the response partially in normal ileum and almost completely in inflamed ileum. H-7 and chelerythrine partially inhibited the methacholine response in normal ileum but had no significant effect in inflamed ileum. Ryanodine stimulated phasic contractions that were blocked by TTX, hexamethonium, atropine, or ruthenium red. Ruthenium red, however, had no significant effect on the contractile response to methacholine. CONCLUSIONS 1) Ca2+ influx through the L-type channels may be the primary source of Ca2+ to stimulate in vivo phasic contractions. 2) Phosphatidylinositol hydrolysis enhances the stimulation of in vivo phasic contractions in the normal ileum. In the inflamed ileum, phosphatidylinositol hydrolysis may be essential to stimulate phasic contractions. 3) Inflammation may downregulate the protein kinase C pathway. 4) Ryanodine stimulates phasic contractions by the release of ACh.
UWB on-body radio propagation and system modelling for wireless body-centric networks

Given the trend towards a user-centric concept in mobile communications, body area networks have received increasing attention within the wireless personal area community. Researchers and designers have been investigating radio propagation characterisation and modelling owing to its importance in developing and designing efficient and reliable radio systems. The paper presents an experimental investigation of ultra-wideband (UWB) on-body radio propagation. Channel models with respect to large scale and delay analysis have been derived from measured parameters. Effects of different antenna types on channel behaviour are also demonstrated. Results and analyses highlight the consequences of changes in body postures and positions in addition to antenna orientations on the communication channels. Measurement data are also used in predicting the performance of potential UWB wireless systems and their applications in body-centric networks. It is indicated that bi-phase modulation for UWB body-centric networks performs better than pulse position modulation systems. The study also concludes that the use of hybrid antenna types for different on-body links will provide better system performance.
Evaluating the cost of the dynamic reconfiguration of a multicomputer network

The dynamic reconfiguration of the interconnection network is an advanced feature of some multicomputers. It allows to reduce the communication overhead, improving the performance. In a previous paper [6], we presented a reconfiguration algorithm based on a cost function. It reconfigured the network in such a way that the original topology was preserved. However, that algorithm did not take into account the cost of the reconfiguration itself. In this paper, we consider that cost. The resulting reconfiguration algorithm has been evaluated by simulating the execution of a test problem (triangularization of a sparse matrix). The results show the benefits obtained when the interconnection network is reconfigured dynamically.
The camparison of citrus canopy spectral characteristics obtained by the HJ-1A/ HSI and ASD field spectrometer

The purpose of this paper is to get the difference of citrus spectral characteristics between HSI image from HJ-1A satellite and ASD field spectrometer. The HSI image is treated with the process of Absolute Value Conversion, Strip Removal, Flaash Correction and Geometric Correction, then the citrus spectral reflectance is inversed by the treated HSI image. The comparison results show that the citrus spectral reflectance of two data is significantly different,especially in red and near-infrared light. The absorption and reflection characteristics of ASD is more obvious than HSI. The spectral variables of two data is also different, which is caused by the SDy. So the ASD data is more accurate than the HSI, but if the quality of HSI is improved, the HSI data is able to used for inversion vegetation index in large scale.
Plenoptic cameras for imaging through aberrated systems

This work is based on the plenoptic camera or light field camera which captures information about the intensity of light in a scene as well as the direction that the light rays are traveling in space. We show that these properties allow us to use the camera to correct images distorted by high order aberrations what implies the possibility of correcting aberrated images without the need of wavefront sensors to detect aberrations or adaptive optics to correct them. We analyse first the ability of the camera to correct images affected by astigmatism and we will present experimental results to retrieve the retinal images in direct ophthalmoscopy.
Retirement Community Residents’ Physical Activity, Depressive Symptoms, and Functional Limitations

This study examined the types of physical activity (PA) retirement community residents report and the effects of PA and depressive symptoms on functional limitations. Elders (N = 38) enrolled in a 2-year sensor technology study in senior housing completed regular assessments of functional limitations and depressive symptoms with the Short Physical Performance Battery and Geriatric Depression Scale, respectively. Evaluation of reported PA using the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly coincided with 12-month functional limitation testing. Subjects were 69% female with mean age of 85 years. Individuals reporting greater PA had significantly fewer functional limitations at 12 months. In multiple regression analysis, baseline functional limitations explained 66% of the variance in 12-month functional limitations, while current PA explained an additional 5%. Although PA explained a small amount of variance in 12-month functional limitations, as a modifiable behavior, PA should be championed and supported to help ameliorate functional limitations in older adults.
Towards an effective KMS usages: The role of socio-technical antecedents in the building of autonomous motivation to use

The willingness of Knowledge Management System (KMS) users to use the systems has been mentioned as one of the major factors determining effectiveness in the system's usage. Therefore, the development of autonomous (personal or volitional) motivation towards KMS use is conceptualized in this study to be dependent on factors inherent in the system and the cultural values that dominate the system's (KMS) environment. By relying on 306 responses from KMS users, linkage quality and knowledge richness of KMS are two characteristics found to be major predictors of autonomous motivation to use the systems, while cultural values for innovativeness also plays prominent role in developing autonomous motivation to system use. In retrospect, the developed autonomous motivation to use was found to be a high predictor of KMS usage.
Broadband cognitive radio transmission based on sub-channel sensing and NC-OFDM

Cognitive Radio (CR) has now been applied for broadband communication systems, so its spectrum sensing technique should be in a broadband signal detection framework. Conventional sensing algorithms such as energy detection are only effective for narrow-band signals or a single broadband signal in the detection range of the spectrum. In this paper a channellization receiver based on DCT filter banks is adopted, which can divide a wide frequency scope into a number of small sub-channels, so energy detection or other sensing algorithm can be used to determine the existence of the primary user within these sub- channels. Then the non-contiguous orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (NC-OFDM) technique is introduced to open or close some sub-channels according to the detection results, so as to make sure the sending carriers of the sub-channels should not jam the authorized users. In this way the effective transmission of broadband CR signals can be acquired, accompanying with which the efficiency of the algorithm resources is markedly increased since the FFT module is adopted in this system for both signal detection and transmission.
Feature integration and object representations along the dorsal stream visual hierarchy

The visual system is split into two processing streams: a ventral stream that receives color and form information and a dorsal stream that receives motion information. Each stream processes that information hierarchically, with each stage building upon the previous. In the ventral stream this leads to the formation of object representations that ultimately allow for object recognition regardless of changes in the surrounding environment. In the dorsal stream, this hierarchical processing has classically been thought to lead to the computation of complex motion in three dimensions. However, there is evidence to suggest that there is integration of both dorsal and ventral stream information into motion computation processes, giving rise to intermediate object representations, which facilitate object selection and decision making mechanisms in the dorsal stream. First we review the hierarchical processing of motion along the dorsal stream and the building up of object representations along the ventral stream. Then we discuss recent work on the integration of ventral and dorsal stream features that lead to intermediate object representations in the dorsal stream. Finally we propose a framework describing how and at what stage different features are integrated into dorsal visual stream object representations. Determining the integration of features along the dorsal stream is necessary to understand not only how the dorsal stream builds up an object representation but also which computations are performed on object representations instead of local features.
Privacy-Preserved Multi-Party Data Merging with Secure Equality Evaluation

Large volumes of customers' information is routinely collected and stored on various of e-service platforms. Data analysis on these data could help decipher the information that truly counts, and it further uncovers hidden patterns, unknown correlations and comprehensive overview for better decision making. However, customers' personal privacy breaches occur in this process despite regulations on the collection, storage and trading of personal data. There is a strong demand for personal privacy protection enforcement starting from data collection, merging to analysis. This paper is mainly address the privacy protection for collection and merging. Its main objective is for secure multi-party data sharing without trusted third-party involvement. Such a merging result will not violate individual privacy yet enable further analysis can be executed on the big data set. For example, medical records from di erent clinics can be securely stored on third-party service center for comprehensive analysis without leaking individual patient's privacy. The main contribution of this work includes: 1) A searchable encryption to provide secure equality test, 2) Independent and exible privacy protection at each party's site, 3) Secure data merging on the collected multi-party data. Our experiments show that merging of 100,000 entries of data takes about 3 minutes while the encryption time is less than 1 seconds. We did the experiment with single process at Intel Core 2 Duo CPU @2.33GHz and 4GB RAM.The results show the encryption and merging schemes can be practically used to operate secure data merging and analysis on untrusted en- vironment, such as cloud computing environment.
West Nile virus in the western hemisphere

West Nile virus first appeared in the western hemisphere in 1999 in New York. Genetic analysis determined that the virus was introduced from the Mediterranean Basin. This review discusses the establishment of West Nile virus in the naïve environment of the northeastern USA, its ecology, epizootiology, pathology, prevention and prediction, as well as laboratory studies that have been conducted to elucidate the transmission cycle.