Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of Wet Distillers Grains for Finishing Cattle

A feeding trial was conducted with 870-lb steers fed 137 days to evaluate replacing cracked corn with dry and wet distillers grains with solubles (DGS) as feed for finishing cattle. Dry DGS was evaluated at 16% of diet dry matter. Wet DGS (WDGS) was evaluated at 14.6%, 26.2%, and 37.5% of diet dry matter. Control diets were supplemented with urea or a combination of urea and soybean meal. Feeding 16% dry DGS or 14.6% wet DGS increased rate of gain and tended to increase carcass fatness. Increasing the amount of wet DGS in the diet decreased feed intake, reduced gain, and improved feed conversion. The calculated net energy for gain values for dry and wet DGS were . 92 and 1.5 times the energy value of corn grain. Economic returns declined slightly as the percentage of wet DGS increased in the diet, but remained above the two diets without DGS. The average benefits from feeding wet DGS averaged $25, $21, and $19 per head for steers fed 14.6%, 26.2%, and 35.7%, respectively, based on a formula price for wet DGS related to price of corn and including a charge for transportation of the wet feed.
Assisted Translation of Italian Sign Language

This paper discusses the design and implementation issues of ALEA: an editor for assisted translation. This editor constitutes a complete environment that allow the translation from Italian Language to Italian Sign Language of deaf people. It is interfaced with a database that stores information about source and target language and with the Italian Wordnet for disambiguation. The tool has been developed within the Automatic TransLation into Sign languages (ATLAS) project.
Absence of intestinal microbiota does not protect mice from diet-induced obesity

The gut microbiota has been implicated in host nutrient absorption and energy homeostasis. We studied the influence of different diets on body composition in germ-free (GF) and conventional (CV) mice. GF and CV male adult C3H mice were fed ad libitum a semi-synthetic low-fat diet (LFD; carbohydrate–protein–fat ratio: 41:42:17; 19·8 kJ/g), a high-fat diet (HFD; 41:16:43; 21·4 kJ/g) or a commercial Western diet (WD; 41:19:41; 21·5 kJ/g). There was no difference in body weight gain between GF and CV mice on the LFD. On the HFD, GF mice gained more body weight and body fat than CV mice, and had lower energy expenditure. GF mice on the WD gained significantly less body fat than GF mice on the HFD. GF mice on both HFD and WD showed increased intestinal mRNA expression of fasting-induced adipose factor/angiopoietin-like protein 4 (Fiaf/Angptl4), but they showed no major changes in circulating Fiaf/Angptl4 compared with CV mice. The faecal microbiota composition of the CV mice differed between diets: the proportion of Firmicutes increased on both HFD and WD at the expense of the Bacteroidetes. This increase in the Firmicutes was mainly due to the proliferation of one family within this phylum: the Erysipelotrichaceae. We conclude that the absence of gut microbiota does not provide a general protection from diet-induced obesity, that intestinal production of Fiaf/Angptl4 does not play a causal role in gut microbiota-mediated effects on fat storage and that diet composition affects gut microbial composition to larger extent than previously thought.
IoT Applications on Secure Smart Shopping System

The Internet of Things (IoT) is changing human lives by connecting everyday objects together. For example, in a grocery store, all items can be connected with each other, forming a smart shopping system. In such an IoT system, an inexpensive radio frequency identification (RFID) tag can be attached to each product which, when placed into a smart shopping cart, can be automatically read by a cart equipped with an RFID reader. As a result, billing can be conducted from the shopping cart itself, preventing customers from waiting in a long queue at checkout. Additionally, smart shelving can be added into this system, equipped with RFID readers, and can monitor stock, perhaps also updating a central server. Another benefit of this kind of system is that inventory management becomes much easier, as all items can be automatically read by an RFID reader instead of manually scanned by a laborer. To validate the feasibility of such a system, in this paper we identify the design requirements of a smart shopping system, build a prototype system to test functionality, and design a secure communication protocol to make the system practical. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a smart shopping system is proposed with security under consideration.
Low-Dissipative High-Order Shock-Capturing Methods Using Characteristic-Based Filters

An approach which closely maintains the non-dissipative nature of classical fourth- or higher-order spatial differencing away from shock waves and steep gradient regions while being capable of accurately capturing discontinuities, steep gradient, and fine scale turbulent structures in a stable and efficient manner is described. The approach is a generalization of the method of Gustafsson and Olsson and the artificial compression method (ACM) switch of Harten. Spatially non-dissipative fourth- or higher-order compact and non-compact spatial differencings are used as the base schemes. Instead of applying a scalar filter as in Gustafsson and Olsson, an ACM switch is used to signal the appropriate amount of second- or third-order total variation diminishing (TVD) or essentially non-oscillatory (ENO) types of characteristic based numerical dissipation. This term acts as a characteristic filter to minimize numerical dissipation for the overall scheme. For time-accurate computations, time discretizations with low dissipation are used. Numerical experiments on 2-D vortical flows, vortex? shock interactions, and compressible spatially and temporally evolving mixing layers showed that the proposed schemes have the desired property with only a 10% increase in operations count over standard second-order TVD schemes. Aside from the ability to accurately capture shock? turbulence interaction flows, this approach is also capable of accurately preserving vortex convection. Higher accuracy is achieved with fewer grid points when compared to that of standard second-order TVD, positive, or ENO schemes.
Soybean oil containing ginseng saponins as adjuvants promotes production of cytokines and enhances immune responses to foot‐and‐mouth disease vaccine

In the present study, the adjuvant effect of soybean oil containing ginseng root saponins (SO‐GS‐R) on the immune response to foot‐and‐mouth disease vaccine (FMDV) in mice was investigated. When immunized with FMDV antigen emulsified in an SO‐GS‐R formulation, mice generated remarkably higher serum antibody and cytokine responses than mice immunized with FMDV antigen alone. To elucidate the mechanisms underlying the adjuvant effect of SO‐GS‐R, we measured cytokines in serum and muscle tissue after intramuscular injection of SO‐GS‐R. The results showed that injection of SO‐GS‐R significantly increased the levels of IL‐1β, IL‐5, IL‐6, G‐CSF, KC, MCP‐1, MIP‐1α, and MIP‐1β in both serum and muscle. These results suggested that SO‐GS‐R recruits neutrophils, eosinophils, T cells and macrophages, causing immune cell recruitment at the injection site, driving antigen‐presenting cells to actively participate in the onset of immunity, and amplifying the immune responses. Considering its adjuvant activity and plant‐derived properties, SO‐GS‐R should be further studied for its adjuvant effect on vaccines used in food animals.
Two calcium‐activated potassium conductances in a subpopulation of coeliac neurones of guinea‐pig and rabbit.

1. Some of the sympathetic neurones in coeliac ganglia isolated from young guinea‐pigs and rabbits were found to generate action potentials followed by after‐hyperpolarizations with durations of 3‐8 s, much longer than those (congruent to 300‐500 ms) observed in the majority of other mammalian sympathetic neurones. 2. This type of ganglion cell discharged only once at the onset of a depolarizing step unless a very high intensity current was applied. Passive and voltage‐dependent membrane conductances studied in detail in guinea‐pig ganglia differed from those in the two other classes of sympathetic ganglion cell described previously (Cassell, Clark & McLachlan, 1986). 3. By using a single microelectrode to voltage clamp the soma, it was possible to demonstrate that both fast and slow components of the tail current following initiation of an uncontrolled 'action current' in neurones with long after‐hyperpolarizations (l.a.h.) were carried by K+ ions, as was the fast tail current (time constant, tau congruent to 130 ms) present in other coeliac neurones. 4. The amplitude of both components of the tail current in l.a. h. neurones was markedly reduced by the replacement of Ca2+ by Mn2+, Co2+ or Ba2+ ions. These manoeuvres had similar effects on the fast tail current in other coeliac neurones. 5. Both time course and amplitude of the fast tail current were increased when Ca2+ concentration was raised, or when several 'action currents' were initiated, whereas only the amplitude of the slow tail current was affected. 6. The time course of the slow tail current could be described by the sum of two exponentials with tau on = 285 ms and tau off = 1.3 s at 35 degrees C occurring after a delay of 60 ms. This current had a Q10 of about 4 between 35 and 25 degrees C. In contrast, the Q10 of the fast component was about 2. 7. Morphine (10(‐6) M) and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (10(‐6) M) had no effect on the outward tail current in l.a. h. neurones, but 5‐hydroxytryptamine (10(‐6) M) was found to abolish the slow component without affecting the fast component. 8. The slow tail current was activated in the subthreshold range of membrane potentials, and its properties could account for the firing characteristics of this subpopulation of sympathetic neurones. 9. The two calcium‐activated potassium conductances that are responsible for the prolonged after‐hyperpolarization resemble those in a subpopulation of nodose ganglion cells with unmyelinated axons (Fowler, Greene & Weinreich, 1985). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Robotic skills learning based on dynamical movement primitives using a wearable device

It is an effective way for the robots to learn operation skills from the humans. In this paper, we realize a skill learning system based on a teleportation system for transferring the human experience to the robot. Firstly, the robotic teleoperation system with a wearable device is developed by controlling the motor speed directly. This system greatly reduces the time delay by comparing with the way that controlling with point position. Then, a rotation invariant dynamical movement primitive method is presented for learning the operation skills. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed human experience learning system is evaluated by experiments on a Baxter robot. The human-robot interaction experiment shows the validity of the presented robotic skill learning system.
Isolation and characterization of a selenium metabolism mutant of Salmonella typhimurium

Selenium is a constituent in Escherichia coli of the anaerobic enzyme formate dehydrogenase in the form of selenocysteine. Selenium is also present in the tRNA of E. coli in the modified base 5-methylaminomethyl-2-selenouracil (mnm5Se2U). The pathways of bacterial selenium metabolism are largely uncharacterized, and it is unclear whether nonspecific reactions in the sulfur metabolic pathways may be involved. We demonstrated that sulfur metabolic pathway mutants retain a wild-type pattern of selenium incorporation, indicating that selenite (SeO32-) is metabolized entirely via selenium-specific pathways. To investigate the function of mnm5Se2U, we isolated a mutant which is unable to incorporate selenium into tRNA. This strain was obtained by isolating mutants lacking formate dehydrogenase activity and then screening for the inability to metabolize selenium. This phenotype is the result of a recessive mutation which appears to map in the general region of 21 min on the Salmonella typhimurium chromosome. A mutation in this gene, selA, thus has a pleiotropic effect of eliminating selenium incorporation into both protein and tRNA. The selA mutant appears to be blocked in a step of selenium metabolism after reduction, such as in the actual selenium insertion process. We showed that the absence of selenium incorporation into suppressor tRNA reduces the efficiency of suppression of nonsense codons in certain contexts and when wobble base pairing is required. Thus, one function of mnm5Se2U in tRNA may be in codon-anticodon interactions.
An evaluation of serum gentamicin concentrations and bacterial susceptibility to gentamicin in equine practice

Background Therapeutic drug monitoring and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) data allow more informed use of gentamicin. Hypothesis/Objectives To measure peak and trough serum gentamicin concentrations in horses after a 6.6 mg/kg dose of gentamicin given IV and the MIC of gentamicin of bacteria for which gentamicin might be selected. Methods Retrospective analysis of hospital records. Peak and trough plasma gentamicin concentrations were measured after 6.6 mg/kg gentamicin IV in 339 hospitalized horses. The MIC of gentamicin was measured for 503 isolates from ambulatory practice and 33 from hospital practice. The distribution of gentamicin concentrations and MIC results were compared to current recommendations for MIC breakpoints. Results The median serum gentamicin concentration at 60 minutes after administration (C 60min) was 21.4 μg/mL with a distribution indicating that bacteria with MIC ≥2 μg/mL were unlikely to be exposed to sufficient gentamicin for effective killing. Approximately 90% of isolates from ambulatory practice and 36% of hospital isolates had MICs at or below breakpoints for susceptibility with most of the remainder unlikely to be responsive, even to higher IV doses. Conclusions and Clinical Importance Gentamicin at a dosage of 6.6 mg/kg IV is likely to be effective against the majority of infections encountered in ambulatory practice, but less effective in an equine hospital. Because there was a dichotomy of most bacteria as being clearly susceptible or clearly resistant to gentamicin, it appears unlikely that higher doses would have been more efficacious, especially in the hospitalized population in our study.
Are Modic Changes Able to Help Us in Our Clinical Practice? A Study of the Modic Changes in Young Adults During Working Age

Study Design: Modic changes [vertebral endplate spinal changes (VESC)] have been related to degenerative disk disease, and in past decades it was thought that their presence justified the surgical treatment, in particular spinal fusion. Objective: The aim of the present study is to investigate its prevalence and features in a population of young workers suffering from low back pain, and explore the eventual relationship with the treatment applied in each case. Background Data: We conducted a retrospectively review of 450 magnetic resonance images from our hospital, in patients with low back pain or sciatica and age below 40. Materials and Methods: Age, sex, symptoms predominance, concurrence with other spine disease, VESC type, evolution, level/s of involvement and placement, affected disk location and extent of the disease, disk height, and status of the endplate were recorded. The applied treatment was divided in groups according to the degree of invasiveness of the procedure. Results: Prevalence of VESC was 13.05% predominant in patients over 30 years, and 100% associated to disk degenerative changes. Most frequent features were: type I (54%), lower lumbar region (98%), along with a decreased disk height (68%), and distortion of the disk endplates (98%, P<0.01). The patients with VESC presented a favorable outcome with conservative treatment, but were more frequently associated with invasive treatment, compared with non-VESC patients (P<0.024). Conclusions: VESC prevalence increases with age, underlying the degenerative causative etiology. Surgical indication should not be stated on the basis of the VESC findings alone, the main factor for indicating surgery depends more on other associated degenerative spinal changes.
Research on Potential Damage Estimation of Household Appliances Based on gcForest Model

Safety accidents of household electrical appliances have been emerging in recent years, which made some scholars begin to study from the safety of industrial electrical appliances to household electrical appliances. In view of the small sample data, this paper combines the latest depth learning method-gcForest to study the relationship between the model of "human-environmentusage-possible injuries" in household electrical appliance safety accidents and predict possible damages according to the factor such as human, environment and usages. This paper aims to decrease the household electrical appliances security risks in the daily life and guide manufacturers to a avoid domestic appliances damage in the right direction.
A Mixed-Methods Pilot Study of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for HIV-Associated Chronic Pain

ABSTRACT Treatment guidelines for chronic pain recommend nonpharmacologic modalities as part of a comprehensive management plan. Chronic pain is common among people living with HIV/AIDS, but there is little data to guide the choice of nonpharmacologic therapies in this complex population. We performed a mixed-methods feasibility study of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) versus health education control with 32 inner city, HIV-infected participants. Outcome measures included: the Brief Pain Inventory, Perceived Stress Scale, HIV Symptoms Index, autonomic function testing, and audiotaped focus groups. Post-intervention, participants reported modest improvements in pain measures and perceived stress, but no effect of group assignment was observed. At 3-month follow-up, 79% of MBSR participants were still practicing, and pain intensity was improved, whereas in the control group pain intensity had worsened. Qualitative analysis revealed a strong sense of community in both groups, but only MBSR was perceived as useful for relaxation and pain relief.
State of energy (SOE) estimation of LiNiCoAlO2 battery module considering cells unbalance and energy efficiency

In this work, we developed the state of energy (SOE) estimation method for battery module while taking into account the unbalance voltage between cells and energy efficiency by using energy counting and support vector machine (SVM). The energy counting is performed by accumulating power coming in and out of the battery module when discharging or charging process occurs. The power is accumulated over time and compared to its nominal energy to obtain the SOE of the battery module. The experiment was conducted in two stages by utilizing Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminium Oxide (LiNiCoAlO2) batteries with the nominal voltage 3.6 V and the nominal capacity 3350 mAh, a DC power supply model, a programmable DC electronic load, and sensors for battery monitoring and protection system. In the first experiment, the energy counting is performed on a single cell to obtain individual battery cell characteristics based on C5, C10, and C20 discharging methods. The analytical results show that the relationship energy efficiency of charging and discharging process to discharge rate was 0.8974 × C(exp(−0.033)). The dataset from one battery cell characteristics is arranged into a lookup table that expresses the relationship between voltage, current and SOE of the battery. The lookup table was used as training datasets for SVM to generate model for estimating battery cell and module SOE. The second experiment was conducted to estimate the SOE of battery module consisting of 10 battery cells in series connection with the same discharging method as the single cell experiment. The SOE estimation results by using radial basis function based support vector regression model, with cost function value of 30, and an epsilon value of 0.04, and with kernel parameter value of 1, give the average of root-mean-squared-error value was below 5% which show an acceptable result. Because of cell unbalance will occur continuously during the battery charging and discharging process, the lowest SOE value from battery cells is selected as the reference value for the next cycle's process estimation.
Adhesion and invasion attributes of Burkholderia pseudomallei are dependent on airway surface liquid and glucose concentrations in lung epithelial cells

Physiological constituents in airway surface liquids (ASL) appear to impact the adherence and invasion potentials of Burkholderia pseudomallei contributing to recrudescent melioidosis. Here, we investigated the factors present in ASL that is likely to influence bacterial adhesion and invasion leading to improved understanding of bacterial pathogenesis. Six B. pseudomallei clinical isolates from different origins were used to investigate the ability of the bacteria to adhere and invade A549 human lung epithelial cells using a system that mimics the physiological ASL with different pH, NaCl, KCl, CaCl2 and glucose concentrations. These parameters resulted in markedly differential adherence and invasion abilities of B. pseudomallei to the lung epithelial cells. The concentration of 20 mM glucose dramatically increased adherence and invasion by increasing the rate of pili formation in depiliated bacteria. Glucose significantly increased adherence and invasion of B. pseudomallei to A549 cells, and presence of NaCl, KCl and CaCl2 markedly ablated the effect despite the presence of glucose. Our data established a link between glucose, enhanced adhesion and invasion potentials of B. pseudomallei, hinting increased susceptibility of individuals with diabetes mellitus to clinical melioidosis.
FLOWERING BEHAVIOUR AND SEED YIELD OF FRENCH BEAN AS AFFECTED BY VARIETY

The effect of flowering pattern and floral abscission on the yield and yield attributed characters of French bean varieties were studied in a field of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur. There nine varieties were treated- (1) BARI Jharsheem-1 (2) BARI Jharsheem-2 (3) Sylhet local-1 (4) Sylhet local-2 (5) Sylhet local-3 (6) Sylhet local-4 (7) Sylhet local-5 (8) Sylhet local-6 and (9) Sylhet local-7. Among the treatments, the highest number of flower was recorded within 5 to 8 days in BARI Jharsheem-2 although, the maximum flower opened within 5 to 8 days and following ceased within 15 to 20 days after first flowering. The total number of flowers per plant varied between 19.36 to 45.06 and 22.0 to 47.20 in two consecutive years while percentage of pod abscission varied between 70.53 to 82.26 and 73.46 to 80.75 in two consecutive years. The maximum yield of French bean was obtained from BARI Jharsheem-1, however identical yield was obtained from BARI Jharsheem-2 treatment. The flowering pattern and percent abscission as well greater number of pod were found to be the influential character for the highest yield of French bean. In addition, seed yield was strongly correlated to the number of opened flowers as well as number of mature pods. Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol 3(3): 483-489
Effects of clinical parameters on patient‐reported outcome in cataract patients: a multicentre study

Ophthalmologists tend to evaluate the results of cataract surgery by focusing on the clinical visual and refractive outcomes and the incidence of complications, where patients’ main interest might be their ability to perform daily activities. Therefore, there appears to be a need for optimizing effective communication between patients and ophthalmologist about the outcome of cataract surgery. The aim of this multicentre study was to determine the effects of whether the surgery was performed in one or two eyes, ocular comorbidity and per‐ and postoperative complications on visual function experienced by patients measured with the Catquest‐9SF.