Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SUPPLEMENTATION PRACTICES OF GOATS IN THE POTHOWAR REGION OF PAKISTAN

Goats have helped people to survive and thrive for countless gen- erations. Proper feeding and management is of fundamental importance to the success of any goats' enterprise. In Pothowar region of Punjab, household and sedentary system of goat production is practiced. The availability of feed varies according to the season. Goats in the region are under nourished and producing less than potential. This study was conducted to find out the feed supplementa- tion practices of goats in the Pothowar region. Data for this study was collected for the complete calendar year 2008. Data sheets were prepared in Urdu and pro- vided to 100 literate female household members belonging to ten villages of tehsil Talagang of Chakwal district for data collection. According to the findings of the study, average number of goats per household was four; two does and two non- milking goats. Goats were mainly supplemented with ber (Zizyphus) leaves, wheat and mustard fodders in winter season and ber leaves, sorghum and bajra fodders in summer. Groundnut and wheat straws were main dry fodder. Wheat grains, oil seed cakes, wheat bran (choker), grams and left over dry breads were the concen- trates fed to goats. On the whole about 30% metabolizable energy requirements of non-milking goats and 34% of does were fulfilled by supplementation. Goats were supplemented maximum during January-March, June, November and December and grazed for greater periods in summer and autumn than in winter and spring seasons. It can therefore be concluded that in general the months when minimum supplements were given are the better ones in terms of feed availability because majority of feed intake comes from grazing. Moreover, supplementation of goats can be improved by educating local communities about the proper supplementa- tion and by planting palatable shrubs and fodder trees.
Non-Linear Dependence of Indian Shariah Market

The work focuses on linearity or otherwise of Indian Shariah market i.e. CNX NIFTY, CNX500 and S&P BSE TASIS 50 during the period spanning from 01/January/2008 to 31/June/2013. In order to detect the presence, BDS test of Brock et al (1996) was employed and null hypothesis was strongly rejected the existence of Independent Identical Distribution (IID). On further investigation on presence of IID with the help of GARCH (1, 1) and enquiry on whether the non-linear dependence was caused by predictable conditional volatility, it was found that the non-linearity was caused not by serial dependence or linear dependence rather it was caused by volatility clustering and GARCH effect in the return series. This leads to the inference that the market lacks efficiency and rejects the Random Walk Hypothesis. Hence, alerts the policy makers on the predictability of the market even for short horizon which in principle should not exist, as Shariah market is expected not to give opportunity for abnormal return.
PREDICTING ASSAM TEA DISTRIBUTION IN UPPER NORTHERN THAILAND USING SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODELS

The aim of this study is to build species distribution models and find factors affecting Assam tea distribution in upper Northern Thailand. The data were analyzed by the logistic regression of 185 records of Assam tea and generated pseudo-absence data using the two-step method. The re-sampling technique used the bootstrapping method to interpolate small sample size problems, and the k-fold crossvalidation technique was used to find the best testing data set. Furthermore, statistical values (average value, standard deviation and coefficient of variation) were used to find the best final model. From the effective predictor variables at a significance level of 0.05: aspect, annual mean temperature, mean temperature of the wettest quarter, annual precipitation, precipitation of the wettest month and precipitation of the driest quarter all had positive effects upon model. Conversely: distance from the river, minimum temperature of the warmest month, precipitation of the driest month and precipitation of the wettest quarter all had negative effects upon model. Furthermore, the most suitable areas were found to be predominantly in the north-northwest region of upper Northern Thailand.
Transaction Costs in Indonesia Stock Market: a Study in the Automation Period

We studied transaction costs in Indonesia market extended closely by Bonser-Neal et al. (1999). They investigated transaction costs in Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) using period before automation (May 1995). To match closely with Bonser-Neal et al. (1999), we used period right after JSX introduced trading automation (JATS or Jakarta Automated Trading System). We used period from May 1995 to March 2003. We found that transaction costs in the automation period were larger than those reported by Bonser-Neal et al. (1999). Automation did not seem to automatically reduce transaction costs as expected. We found that domestic investors had larger price impact than foreign investors. Similar to previous finding, we found that trade difficulty had a positive effect on price impacts. We also found transaction costs in crisis period were larger than those in normal period. We also found that size had a negative relationship with price impacts. Our paper provided evidence of the transaction costs in Indonesia market after the automated trading was introduced in Indonesia market.
Effect of high pressure on the flow characteristics of injector using computational fluid dynamics (CFD)

The rapid compression machine was used for the wide observation region. A number of researchers were conducted the experiments to study on the mixture formation and combustion process was performed in Rapid Compression Machine (RCM). This research shows the injector nozzle geometries play a significant role in flow characteristics, atomization and formation of fuel-air mixture in order to improve combustion performance, and reduce some pollutant products from internal combustion engine system. The aim of this research is to determine the effects of high pressure on flow characteristics of the injector by using Computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Multiphase of volume of fluid (VOF) cavitating flow inside nozzles are determined by means of transient simulations and two-fluid approach is used for performing mixing of Coconut palm oil and air. Nozzle flow simulations resulted that cavitation area is strongly dependent on the nozzle conical injector. Conical hole with k-factor of 2 provides higher flow velocity and turbulent kinetic energy. The results show that the premix injector nozzle conical shape gives impact to the flow characteristics and indirectly affects the emission of the internal combustion engine system.
Model Based Markerless 3D Tracking applied to Augmented Reality

This paper presents the implementation of 3D tracking techniques based on natural features for augmented reality. The contemplated techniques are from the model based category, comprising recursive and non-recursive methods, as well as edge and texture based techniques. An evaluation of the implemented 3D trackers was performed regarding performance and accuracy under different scenarios.
Ectoparasite Survey of Quarantined Animals in a Wildlife Rescue Center in Quezon City, Philippines

The presence of ectoparasites in animals creates a multitude of health risks to both the host animals and to the humans who come in contact with these animals. This study aims to conduct an ectoparasite survey among those quarantined animals in a wildlife rescue center and determine the distribution of the ectoparasites in their hosts. Acetate strip technique and manual extraction methods were employed to collect the ectoparasites from the animals brought in the wildlife rescue center. About 53% of the quarantined animals in the wildlife rescue center were positive for ectoparasitic infestation. A total of 344 ectoparasites were recovered from 51 birds and 6 mammals quarantined in the wildlife rescue center. Of the total ectoparasites, 23 are lice and 321 are mites. The ectoparasites obtained from the survey showed that the isolated ectoparasites belong to 11 different taxa. No statistical significant differences were observed on the Shannon Wiener Diversity Indices across all the 8 weeks of collection (p > 0.05).
Antioxidant Activity of Peanut Plant Tissues

GREEN, Rodney James. Antioxidant activity of peanut plant tissues. (Under the direction of Dr. Timothy H. Sanders) Antioxidant research is an important topic in the medical field as well as in the food industry. Recent research with important bioactive compounds in many plant and food materials, including peanuts and peanut plants has received much attention. The research presented here is the first step in identifying known, or novel, bioactive compounds from peanut plants that may provide the basis for value added products for the peanut industry. The objective of this work was to identify an extract of peanut plant tissues that has substantial antioxidant activity. Peanut plants were collected from a NC research farm on two separate dates. Plants were separated into various tissues, dried, and extracted with organic solvents. The solvents used were hexane, methylene chloride, acetone, and methanol. Antioxidant activity of the extracts was tested using the oxidative stability index (OSI), inhibition of the free radical action in the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) and free radical scavenging of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH•) compared with those of synthetic antioxidants. The highest antioxidant activities in the DPPH and ORAC analyses were found in the leaves and roots of the peanut plant. Extract activity increased with increasing polarity of solvents except for the methanol extract of the roots. Root extracts had higher antioxidant activity than nodules found on the roots. The methanol extracts from 500mg of leaves had an OSI value comparable with 10mg of BHT. The results among leaf extract antioxidant activity on sampling dates were variable. The results of this research suggest that there is extractable antioxidant activity in peanut plant tissues. Future isolation and identification of the specific compounds may lead to value added products along with new or novel bioactive compounds for use in the food or pharmaceutical industries. Antioxidant Activity of Peanut Plant Tissues by RODNEY JAMES GREEN A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science DEPARTMENT OF FOOD SCIENCE
HIV and Pancreas in the HAART ERA: Endocrinological Patterns

Context Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome has become a pandemic disease since the very first cases were reported in 1981. Many studies estimate a prevalence of metabolic syndrome in 2-18% of human immunodeficiency virus patients. Other metabolic changes have been reported in human immunodeficiency virus infected patients under treatment with potent antiretroviral therapy. Recently, morphological changes on the islets of Langerhans were described in these patients. The objective of this study is a literature review in order to know the possible causes of endocrine disorders in these patients. Methods Bibliographic review of all indexed literature by searching the Medline/PubMed databases using the following keywords: human immunodeficiency virus, antiretroviral therapy, highly active, diabetes mellitus, insulin-secreting cells. Results Several published papers show endocrine alterations in patients using High Active Antiretroviral Therapy, but since these are multifactorial diseases such as diabetes and metabolic syndrome, a single explanation is weakened. Conclusion There are changes in the endocrine pancreas in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in the High Active Antiretroviral Therapy era, both morphological as clinical, which can be attributed to several causes, including the High Active Antiretroviral Therapy.
Diversity of fungi occurring on savory (Satureja hortensis L.)

Studies on the diversity of fungi colonizing and damaging selected plant parts were conducted in 2007–2009. They were performed on productive plantations of savory (Satureja hortensis L.) grouped in south-eastern Poland. Fungi were isolated from superficially disinfected roots, stems and leaves by means of a mineral medium. Fungi from Fusarium spp. , Phoma spp. and Rhizoctonia solani were obtained from the roots and stem bases showing necrosis and tissue narrowing. Botrytis cinerea was obtained from the stems with the symptoms of necrosis, breaking and tissue disintegration.
Interactive comment on “A surface model for water and energy balance in cold regions accounting for vapor diffusion” by Enkhbayar Dandar et al

We agree that there are many codes for simulating moisture and heat changes, although perhaps not so many in cold regions and few considering the full energy balance. All such codes, including ours, are similar. Therefore, all of them, including ours, can be considered as “partially” validated. The main difference stems from the fact that those codes only consider conductionas the heat transport mechanismwithin the soil. We include conduction, but we also take into account vapor diffusion, both in the water and energy balances. We find that the vapor diffusion flux turns out to be important in cold regions because large temperature differences should be expected within soil, especially in spring when the soil is partially frozen and vapor diffusion is the dominant mechanism to bring (latent) energy to melt the ice. An additional advantage of our modelis the use of the full energy balance, instead of the Temperature index method for calculating the soil temperature.
Localization of Activity of ASY 1 , TA 29 and NTM 19 promoters in tomato

The global warming has been affecting crop production in many countries. Studies demonstrate that the reduced production in heat stressed plants has as a main cause the impairment of pollen development. Our hypothesis is that pollen development can be protected against heat stress. To do so, tissue specific promoters were tested regarding their localization to be used to overexpress members of a family of transcription factors that orchestrate the cell response front the heat, the Heat Shock Factors (HSFs). The HSFs activate the transcription of Heat Shock Proteins (HSPs), which play many roles in protecting cells against heat. During heat stress, meiosis, microspore and mature stages of pollen development are differentially affected and therefore tissue specific promoters are required for being linked to the HSF which will be overexpressed. As in Arabidopsis or tobacco ASY1, TA29 and NTM19 promoters are active in pollen mother cell, tapetum and microspore respectively. In this work, we localized the activity of these three promoters in tomato plants through the histochemical GUS assay. Our results indicate that TA29 and NTM19 promoters are active in tapetum and the activity of ASY1 promoter couldn’t be reported. Key-words: heat stress, thermotolerance, tissue-specific promoter, HSF, overexpression.
Modeling and Simulation of Tawaf and Sa'yee: A Survey of Recent Work in the Field

Between 2002 and 2012 the number of pilgrims taking part in the 5-day hajj (the annual pilgrimage to Mecca) rose dramatically from 1.9m to 3.2m, before stabilizing at around 2 million following the introduction of new quotas in 2013. The gathering together of so many people has obvious crowd-safety implications, ranging from stampedes and protests to pickpocketing and dis- ease control, and there is an obvious need for models and simulations of the relevant crowd behaviours. More- over, the regular occurrence of the event, the size and diversity of the crowds involved, and the amount of freely available information make this an excellent case study for the study of crowd behaviour. We survey recent at- tempts to model the key hajj rituals of tawaf (during which pilgrims collectively circumambulate the Ka’aba seven times) and sa’yee (running or walking seven times between two nearby hills), and highlight ways in which some of the limitations of these studies may be overcome in future work.
Models for underreporting: A Bernoulli sampling approach for reported counts

Underreporting in register systems can be analyzed using a binomial approach, where both the size and the probability parameter have to be estimated. Parameter estimation fails when overdispersion is present. Extensions of the binomial model are derived by randomizing the parameters, i.e. considering mixed models. Among these models are the beta-binomial, which results from allowing for a random reporting probability; the negativebinomial, that is the marginal when the size parameter is randomized; and the beta-Poisson model, where both binomial parameters are considered random. Likelihood based estimation is developed and inference issues are discussed. Finally the method is applied to data from the Austrian crime register.
Assessment of the efficiency of a yeast biofilter in the treatment of abattoir wastewater

A yeast biofilter consisting of Candida krusei, Candida morbosa, Torulopsis dattila, Torulopsis glabrata, and Saccharomyces chevalieri was constructed to bioremediate abattoir wastewater. Potato peels were used as filter bed for the growth of the yeasts. Wastewater samples were collected from three different points in Sokoto (Nigeria) abattoir and the physiochemical as well as the microbiological qualities of the wastewater were determined before and after biofiltration. The results revealed that after the biofiltration process, the pH, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), dissolved oxygen (DO), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and the nitrate content of the wastewater were drastically reduced. Similarly, there was a decrease in the variety of microorganisms isolated as well as in microbial counts after the biofiltration process. Salmonella typhi, Neisseria lactamica, Serratia marcescens, Branhamella catarrhalis, Shigella sp, Penicillium sp, Curvularia sp, and Trichophyton rubrum were completely eliminated after the biofiltration process. The reduction in the pH, BOD, DO, COD, nitrate as well as in the variety and total counts of bacteria and fungi for the wastewater after the biofiltration process indicated that the biofilter was effective in bioremediation of the wastewater. The percentage efficiency of the biofilter was found to be 42.5%. Key words : Assessment, efficiency, yeast, biofilter, abattoir, wastewater.
Dermatologic neoplasms: a perspective from Makurdi, North Central Nigeria

Background: Skin cancers are the commonest malignancies in Caucasians but are relatively less common in dark skinned persons. They are strongly linked to ultraviolet exposure, skin melanin content, and immune status. Methods: This study reviewed all histologically diagnosed skin neoplasms at the Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi from January 2012 to December 2016. Results: A total of 84 neoplasms were seen, with 42 (50%) being malignant. Of the malignant lesions, Squamous cell carcinomas were the most frequent (45.2%), followed by melanomas (23.8%). The lower limb was the most frequent site of both benign and malignant neoplasms, while a male to female ratio of 0.88:1 was observed. Conclusions: A relatively high UV radiation intensity, combined with a predominance of outdoor agricultural based activities, alongside chronic ulcerative/inflammatory lesions and a high HIV burden all indicate a need for widespread enlightenment and screening campaigns to prevent occurrence of skin cancers and aid early diagnosis.
Genetic Diversity of Perennial Ryegrass Wild Ecotypes Based on Agro-Biological Traits

Perennial ryegrasses (Lolium perenne L.) are one of the most valuable forage grasses, characterized by high productivity and good feed quality. Intensive cultivation of ryegrasses has resulted in reduced genetic diversity. Wild ryegrass ecotypes can be used in breeding programmes as parental genotypes with the aim to neutralize this genetic erosion. The objective of this study was to evaluate wild perennial ryegrass ecotypes from Ukraine under Lithuanian climatic conditions. Wild ecotypes were collected in Western and Northern Ukraine in 2008-2009 and planted in 2009-2010 as part of the germplasm collection at the Institute of Agriculture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry. Winter survival, re-growth in spring, plant height, beginning of heading, flag leaf length and width, inflorescence length and biomass were assessed. High variation of traits was detected among ecotypes (CV = 22.64-41.41%), except for winter survival, for which the coefficient of variation was average (CV = 18.26%). Principal component analysis was carried out and a dendrogram was computed based on agro-biological traits. In both years of investigation the grouping of ecotypes was mostly influenced by biomass, plant height and date of heading.
The Fair Valuation of Defined Contribution Pension Funds in a Stochastic Mortality Environment

This paper analyses the role of the term structure of interest and mortality rates for Defined Contribution Pension Schemes. In particular, the model suggested allows the actuary to de-termine the fair valuation of such a scheme by modelling both mortality and financial risk by means of diffusion processes. A numerical example illustrates the fair value accounting impact on reserve evaluations by comparing a traditional deterministic approach and a stochastic one for interest and mortality rates.
Title Graph Transformation Based Guidance for Web Navigation

With growing information volume and diverse user preferences on the web, the performance of web information retrieval has become a critical issue. Web navigation is dramatically influenced by the organizations of web contents. Hence, useful navigation guidance can considerably accelerate the information retrieval process. In this paper, web navigation is formulated as a Directed Group Steiner Forest (DGSF) problem in line graph representation of the website. A heuristic algorithm is proposed to tackle the DGSF problem and attain the suboptimal solution in polynomial time. Simulations are conducted to compare the mean searching time for the proposed DGSF-based navigation guidance and other approaches. The results suggest that the DGSF-based navigation guidance can significantly reduce the mean searching time, especially when the number of web pages is large while the number of destination pages is moderate. The discussion is also made for extending the model to take into account the websites owner’s interests and other concerns as well.
Assessment of Redox Imbalance in Idiopathic Fetal Growth Restricted Pregnancies

Background: Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is one of the most significant causes of perinatal morbidity and mortality. The known causes are poor maternal nutrition, hypertensive disorders complicating pregnancy, maternal medical disorders (multiple pregnancy, congenital fetal malformations), and lifestyle influences. However, in vast majority of cases, the cause still remains unknown. Recent studies have suggested the role of oxidative stress in the pathophysiology of FGR. The aim of this study was to evaluate non-enzymatic oxidative stress biomarkers in maternal and cord blood of idiopathic FGR cases. Methods: A total of 100 women subjects aged 18 to 35 years, who fulfilled the recruitment criteria, were enrolled in the study after taking an informed written consent. Non-enzymatic oxidative stress was measured by the quantification of 8-hydroxy-2-deoxy-guanosine (8-OHdG), malondialdehyde (MDA), protein carbonyl, reduced glutathione (GSH) and ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) in maternal and cord blood samples of FGR pregnancies of idiopathic origin and compared with those of normal healthy mother-infant pairs. Results: The levels of 8-OHdG, MDA and protein carbonyl were significantly higher in the ‘idiopathic’ FGR group as compared to the controls, where as the GSH and FRAP were significantly lower. Conclusion: Increased oxidative stress has been found significantly associated with the increased risk of developing idiopathic FGR.