Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of furnished small group housing systems and furnished cages on mortality and causes of death in two layer strains

1. Mortality and causes of death were recorded over two trials with 13 045 Lohmann Selected Leghorn (LSL, white layer strain) and 4410 Lohmann Brown (LB) laying hens kept in furnished small group housing systems and furnished cages. In trial 1, hens were housed from weeks 19 to 71 (LSL) and 17 to 69 (LB). In trial 2, LSL hens were housed from weeks 18 to 57. 2. The hens were kept in groups of 40 and 60 in the furnished small group housing system Eurovent 625 + a-EU and in groups of 10 and 20 in the furnished cages Aviplus and Eurovent 625A-EU. 3. To investigate the possible effect on mortality of rearing the birds on litter floors or in cages, in trial 2 half of the LSL hens were reared on the floor and half in conventional cages. 4. Mortality was greater in the Eurovent furnished small group housing system (5·2%) than in the furnished cages Aviplus (4·0%) and Eurovent (4·2%). 5. Mortality was also affected by the interactions among housing system and trial, layer strain and rearing. In trial 1, more LB laying hens died in the Aviplus system than in the Eurovent group system. There was no significant difference in mortality of the LSL laying hens between housing systems in trial 1. In trial 2, mortality of the LSL hens was greater in the group housing system (hens reared on litter floors: 10·1%; hens reared in cages: 2·8%) than in the furnished cage Aviplus (hens reared on litter floors: 6·0%; hens reared in cages: 1·5%). 6. Mortality was greater in floor-reared LSL laying hens than in the LSL laying hens reared in conventional cages. 7. Group size within housing system had no significant effect on mortality. 8. The most common findings at autopsy were different types of cannibalism (65·51%), with vent cannibalism (38·57%) the most common.
CXC Chemokine Receptor 3 Expression by Activated CD8+ T cells Is Associated with Survival in Melanoma Patients with Stage III Disease

Despite the presence of tumor Ag-specific CD8+ T cells in the peripheral blood, metastatic melanoma often evades immune-mediated destruction. Even after therapeutic efforts to expand Ag-specific T-cell populations, the correlation between magnitude of response and clinical efficacy has been weak. Because the migratory phenotype of tumor Ag-specific effector T cells may determine their ability for tumor control, we hypothesized that the expression of CC or CXC chemokine receptor (CCR) molecules on activated CD8+ T cells may define phenotypes associated with more effective control of melanoma progression and prolonged survival. In a retrospective evaluation of patient isolates, CCR expression was determined for activated CD8+ T cells derived from the peripheral blood or tumor-involved lymph nodes of 52 patients with stage III or IV metastatic melanoma. In patients with stage III disease, expression of CXCR3 by CD8+CD45RO+ cells was significantly associated with enhanced survival. This was a stage-specific effect, because it was not observed in patients with stage IV disease. In addition, CCR4 and CXCR3 were highly coexpressed and associated with enhanced survival in stage III patients; however, CXCR3 seems to be the dominant receptor associated with clinical outcome. These findings support the hypothesis that the host immune system affects cancer progression and control, and that measures of CCR status of circulating lymphocytes may have prognostic value.
CRP as a predictive of neonatal sepsis and its role in differentiating the aetiologies

Sir, Having retired from work as a paediatrician already 13 years ago, I do not read all papers so thoroughly. But the article by Krenke et al. (1) rouse a vivid memory from a rural hospital in Zimbabwe 1990. Normally, the 35 beds in the children’s ward were filled with seriously ill kids. One of them was a child of some 2 years with pus filling her left thorax. Without a possibility to use an electric suction machine, she was treated with a combination of three bottles, rinsing the chest and creating the necessary vacuum for drainage. The baby is seen sitting on the granny’s lap (Fig. 1) – who was working as a general hand in the hospital. The baby went home in good condition.
Teachers' Perspectives on Educational Research: Knowledge and context

In recent years there has been considerable debate in the UK about the impact and value of educational research. At the same time, the Teacher Training Agency (TTA), the body with responsibility for funding teacher education in England, has been keen to promote the idea of teaching as an evidence-based profession. This paper analyses the findings of a TTA questionnaire, designed to investigate teachers' views on research (which projects had previously influenced them and which issues they would like to see researched in the future) and the value they attributed to it. The findings point to the need for the concerns of teachers to be given greater weight when research agendas are set and funding allocated, but they also suggest that if research is to influence classroom practice, then it is vital that teachers are again given extended opportunities for further professional study alongside those who are conducting research.
Numerical Modeling of Bioluminescence Distributions in the Coastal Ocean

Abstract Bioluminescence (BL) predictability experiments (predictions of the intensity, depth, and distance offshore of the BL maximum) were conducted using an advective–diffusive tracer model with velocities and diffusivities from a fine-resolution model of the Monterey Bay, California, area. For tracer initialization, observations were assimilated into the tracer model while velocities and diffusivities were taken from the hydrodynamic model and kept unchanged during the initialization process. This dynamic initialization procedure provides an equilibrium tracer distribution that is balanced with the velocity and diffusivity fields from the hydrodynamic model. This equilibrium BL distribution was used as the initial BL field for 3 days of prognostic calculations. Two cross-shore surveys of bioluminescence data conducted at two locations (north of the bay and inside the bay) were used in four numerical experiments designed to estimate the limits of bioluminescence predictions by tracers. The cross-shore .
Research note. An evaluation of motivational interviewing as a method of intervention with clients in a probation setting

There have been increasing calls on the probation service to demonstrate effectiveness with the recent Evidence Based Practice guide (Home Office, 1998) explicitly citing evaluative research as a means of achieving this. This article describes the quantitative part of a research project undertaken within Middlesex Probation Service to evaluate the introduction of motivational interviewing as a technique to aid probation officers in their assessment and supervision of offenders who misuse alcohol and drugs. Results suggest that, irrespective of stratification, all offenders indicated an improvement in their questionnaire scores during their contact with the probation service. However, there were more statistically significant improvements in the attitudinal scales amongst offenders whose officers were trained in the technique compared to officers who were not trained in motivational interviewing.
Air-SSLAM: A Visual Stereo Indoor SLAM for Aerial Quadrotors

In this letter, we introduce a novel method for visual simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM)—so-called Air-SSLAM—which exploits a stereo camera configuration. In contrast to monocular SLAM, scale definition and 3-D information are issues that can be more easily dealt with in stereo cameras. Air-SSLAM starts from computing keypoints and the correspondent descriptors over the pair of images, using good features-to-track and rotated-binary robust-independent elementary features, respectively. Then a map is created by matching each pair of right and left frames. The long-term map maintenance is continuously performed by analyzing the quality of each matching, as well as by inserting new keypoints into uncharted areas of the environment. Three main contributions can be highlighted in our method: 1) a novel method to match keypoints efficiently; 2) three quality indicators with the aim of speeding up the mapping process; and 3) map maintenance with uniform distribution performed by image zones. By using a drone equipped with a stereo camera, flying indoor, the translational average error with respect to a marked ground truth was computed, demonstrating promising results.
Familial Clustering of Factor VIII and von Willebrand Factor Levels

Summary Recently, we found that high levels of clotting factor VIII (>150 IU/dl) are common and make an important contribution to thrombotic risk. The determinants of high factor VIII:C are unclear and might be partly genetic. Therefore, we tested the influence of age, blood group and von Willebrand factor (VWF) levels on factor VIII:C levels, and investigated whether factor VIII:C levels are genetically determined. We performed an analysis of 564 female relatives of hemophilia A patients, who had visited our center for genetic counseling. In univariate analysis, AB0 blood group, age and VWF antigen (VWF:Ag) levels all influenced factor VIII:C levels. After adjustment for the effect of VWF:Ag levels, both blood group and age still had an effect on factor VIII:C levels. In sister pairs, the Pearson correlation coefficient between factor VIII:C levels was 0.17 (p = 0.024) and this correlation remained positive (0.15, p = 0.046) after correction for the influence of VWF:Ag. In mother-daughter pairs, no correlation of factor VIII:C levels was found. The correlation of VWF:Ag levels in sisterpairs was 0.41 (p <0.001) and in mother-daughter pairs 0.44 (p <0.001), in line with the assumption that VWF:Ag levels are under control of autosomal genes. Familial influence on plasma factor VIII:C and VWF:Ag levels was investigated with a recently developed familial aggregation test. This test verifies whether familial aggregation of a particular parameter exists in a set of pedigrees. In 435 women from 168 families, factor VIII:C as well as VWF:Ag levels correlated significantly within families, which suggests a familial influence. The familial aggregation was more prominent for VWF:Ag levels than for factor VIII:C levels, possibly because the genetic effect on VWF:Ag levels is larger than on factor VIII:C levels. Our results support the presence of a familial influence on factor VIII:C as well as on VWF:Ag levels. Our results support the presence of a familial influence on factor VIII:C as well as on VWF:Ag levels.
Im Flow sein: Experimentelle Analysen des Zustands optimaler Beanspruchung

Zusammenfassung. Die Flow-Theorie als spezielle Theorie der intrinsischen Motivation inspiriert seit Jahrzehnten die Forschung in den verschiedensten Disziplinen, den Zustand optimalen Erlebens und seine Korrelate zu untersuchen. In diesem Beitrag erfolgt eine kritische Auseinandersetzung mit (1) den in der Flow-Theorie enthaltenen Annahmen, (2) der bislang primar angewandten Methode zur Analyse des Flow-Erlebens, (3) der theoretischen Konzeption sowie (4) den Handlungsempfehlungen, die auf Basis der Flow-Theorie abgegeben wurden. Es werden neu entwickelte experimentelle Paradigmen zur systematischen Analyse des Flow-Erlebens vorgestellt, die sich dazu eignen, Randbedingungen und Konsequenzen des Flow-Erlebens kausalanalytisch zu untersuchen. Desweiteren werden experimentelle Befunde berichtet, die darauf hinweisen, dass Flow-Erleben spezielle kognitive sowie physiologische Konsequenzen (z. B. erhohte Kortisolwerte) nach sich zieht und die das rosarote Bild des Flowzustands in Frage stellen, das in der re.
Probabilistic Semantic Mapping with a Virtual Sensor for Building/Nature detection

In human-robot communication it is often important to relate robot sensor readings to concepts used by humans. We believe that access to semantic maps will make it possible for robots to better communicate information to a human operator and vice versa. The main contribution of this paper is a method that fuses data from different sensor modalities, range sensors and vision sensors are considered, to create a probabilistic semantic map of an outdoor environment. The method combines a learned virtual sensor (understood as one or several physical sensors with a dedicated signal processing unit for recognition of real world concepts) for building detection with a standard occupancy map. The virtual sensor is applied on a mobile robot, combining classifications of sub-images from a panoramic view with spatial information (location and orientation of the robot) giving the likely locations of buildings. This information is combined with an occupancy map to calculate a probabilistic semantic map. Our experiments with an outdoor mobile robot show that the method produces semantic maps with correct labeling and an evident distinction between 'building' objects from 'nature' objects.
A new interface for cloning objects in drawing systems

Cloning objects is a common operation in graphical user interfaces. One example is calendar systems, where users commonly create and modify recurring events, i.e. repeated clones of a single event. Inspired by the calendar paradigm, we introduce a new cloning technique for 2D drawing programs. This technique allows users to clone objects by first selecting them and then dragging them to create clones along the dragged path. Moreover, it allows editing the generated sequences of clones similar to the editing of calendar events. Novel approaches for the generation of clones of clones are also presented. We compared our new clone creation technique with generic duplication via copy-and-paste, smart duplication, and a dialog driven technique on a standard desktop system. The results show that the new cloning method is always faster than dialogs and smart duplication for most conditions. We also compared our clone editing method against rectangular selection. The results show that our method is better in general. In situations where rectangle selection is effective, our method is still competitive. Participants preferred the new techniques overall, too.
Will the Real-World Citizen Please Stand Up! The Many Faces of Cosmopolitan Consumer Behavior

The continuing globalization of marketing activities has given considerable impetus to the study of cosmopolitanism as a consumer construct. Most recent research has focused on the normative activities of cosmopolites, as consumers who seek to broaden their cultural horizons by immersing themselves in a breadth of local cultural experiences. Although this is true of some cosmopolites in some circumstances, it is not a general characteristic. The authors return to the original meaning of cosmopolitanism as presented (independently) by Merton and Gouldner in the late 1950s, examining the concept in light of subsequent research and the social forces that have tended to promote an increasingly cosmopolitan perspective. They then propose several patterns of cosmopolitan behavior, only one of which is a normative search for culturally broadening experiences. Finally, they suggest some managerial implications for marketing practitioners.
Depreciation , Stocks , User Costs and Productivity Growth for US Knowledge Intensive Industries

This paper estimates R&D depreciation rates for U.S. knowledge intensive industries. R&D depreciates at an annual rate of; 18 percent for chemical products, 26 percent for nonelectrical machinery, 29 percent for electrical products, and 21 percent for transportation equipment. These rates imply that R&D depreciates 2 to 7 times faster than physical capital stocks in these industries. Based on these depreciation rates, new estimates of R&D user costs imply that the marginal (gross of depreciation) returns to R&D capital are; 0.25 for chemical products, 0.31 for nonelectrical machinery, 0.34 for electrical products, and 0.27 for transportation equipment. R&D investment also signi.cantly contributed to productivity gains. R&D contributed virtually 100 percent to productivity growth in chemical products, 55 percent in nonelectrical machinery, 38 percent in electrical products, and 84 percent in transportation equipment. JEL No. D24, O47
Pivotal Role of Timely Basal Insulin Replacement After Metformin Failure in Sustaining Long-Term Blood Glucose Control at a Target in Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes over time associates with the development of vascular complications (1). The causative role of long-term elevation of blood glucose is well established, at least for microvascular complications, since intervention strategies directed at reducing hyperglycemia lower onset and/or progression of microangiopathy (1,2). The role of hyperglycemia and its treatment in the development of macrovascular complications is less well established. In fact, it takes a longer time to observe a positive effect of better blood glucose control (in addition to reducing the multiple risk factors often associated with type 2 diabetes such as hypertension, visceral obesity, and hyperdyslipidemia) on macroangiopathy compared with microangiopathy (1,3,4). Today’s understanding of the complex relationship between hyperglycemia and complications in type 2 diabetes predicates that only an early and aggressive blood glucose–lowering intervention (in addition to reduction of the above mentioned risk factors), successfully sustained over time, will translate into benefits on macrovascular complications several years later (likely 10–15 years) (1,3–5). Thus, the present recommendation is to intensively treat people with type 2 diabetes from the clinical onset of the disease, particularly subjects with short diabetes duration who likely have not yet developed vascular complications and who presumably have a long life-expectancy (6). At present, the question is not whether to intensively treat people with type 2 diabetes at onset of the disease to prevent long-term complications. The question rather is how to intensively treat type 2 diabetes over the many years and decades of the progression of the disease to consistently keep A1C levels <7.0% over the entire cycle of type 2 diabetes. At present, this question is difficult to answer, primarily because of the lack of evidence of long-term effects of one specific intervention, compared with several other possible intervention strategies …
A Wideband ADI-FDTD Algorithm for the Design of Double Negative Metamaterial-Based Waveguides and Antenna Substrates

An enhanced 3-D alternating-direction implicit finite-difference time-domain method for the systematic analysis of double negative metamaterial-based waveguide and antenna devices is presented in this paper. Being fully frequency-dependent, the new scheme introduces a set of generalized multidirectional operators which incorporate the suitable Lorentz-Drude model and subdue inherent lattice deficiencies for broad spectra. So dispersion errors, as time-steps exceed the Courant limit, are drastically minimized yielding fast and accurate solutions for propagating and evanescent waves. The technique is applied in the design of microwave structures, realized via the prior model or networks of thin wires and split-ring resonators. Numerical results certify its merits, without requiring elongated simulations and excessive overheads
Purposeful Agency in Support Seeking During Cancer Treatment From a Person-Centered Perspective

People diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer (ESBC) manifest high supportive needs. eHealth supportive programs successfully satisfy those needs, but the process of generating supportive outcomes is less understood. We conducted this study to explore patients’ efforts to satisfy their supportive needs throughout the treatment course, not limited to but particularly considering their use of the Internet. Guided by interpretive description, 19 women undergoing treatment for ESBC participated in two phases of focus group meetings. Our results disclose women as self-driven resourceful agents, a perspective that underlay the process of reaching out as women appraised their need for support and intentionally engaged their supportive resources. Our findings convey a need to shift the paradigm of professionals’ provision of support in scheduled appointments toward achieving a continuous reciprocal care partnership. This is especially significant for the development of eHealth supportive programs, which assist in the enhancement of the health care accessibility.
No-reference image quality assessment based on localized gradient statistics: application to JPEG and JPEG2000

This paper presents a novel system that employs an adaptive neural network for the no-reference assessment of perceived quality of JPEG/JPEG2000 coded images. The adaptive neural network simulates the human visual system as a black box, avoiding its explicit modeling. It uses image features and the corresponding subjective quality score to learn the unknown relationship between an image and its perceived quality. Related approaches in literature extract a considerable number of features to form the input to the neural network. This potentially increases the system's complexity, and consequently, may affect its prediction accuracy. Our proposed method optimizes the feature-extraction stage by selecting the most relevant features. It shows that one can largely reduce the number of features needed for the neural network when using gradient-based information. Additionally, the proposed method demonstrates that a common adaptive framework can be used to support the quality estimation for both compression methods. The performance of the method is evaluated with a publicly available database of images and their quality score. The results show that our proposed no-reference method for the quality prediction of JPEG and JPEG2000 coded images has a comparable performance to the leading metrics available in literature, but at a considerably lower complexity.
Emotion in Human-Agent Interfaces

Recent years have seen an upsurge of interest in the implications and applications of emotional behaviour in the human-computer interface (Picard 1997). In particular, research has focused on interactive systems involving visual and/or vocal modes of communication, where the user and/or the system may exhibit both positive and negative expressive behaviour in the course of an ongoing dialogue. Such behaviour can lend naturalness to an otherwise artificial situation, but it can also be exploited to enhance the communicative effectiveness of a human-agent interface; for example, a system may detect the emotional state of a user (from the look on their face, or from the tone of their voice) and act accordingly, or it may signal a problem by adopting suitable emotional behaviour itself (by generating appropriate facial and/or vocal expressions). Current research in this area revolves around virtual manifestations of human-agent interfaces known as ‘Embodied Conversational Agents’ (ECAs): speech-enabled animated characters that can act for example as a receptionist, a tour guide or a personal tutor (Cassell et al 2000, Pelachaud and Poggi 2001, Beskow et al 2005). The ability of an ECA to detect and exhibit emotional behaviour is believed to be an important requirement for achieving effective and naturalistic human-computer interaction (Bates 1994).