Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nano-sized Zinc in Broiler Chickens: Effects on Growth Performance, Zinc Concentration in Organs, and Intestinal Morphology

The effects of dietary supplementation of zinc (Zn) sources and concentrations were investigated on growth performance, absorption into tissues, fecal excretion, nutrient retention, and intestinal morphology in broilers fed a corn-soybean meal basal diet. A total of 525 one-day-old chicks (Ross 308) were assigned based on body weight to seven dietary treatments. There were five replicate pens for each treatment and 15 broilers per replicate pen. The dietary treatments included a basal diet (control, without supplementing Zn), and basal diet supplemented with Zn, as inorganic zinc sulfate (ZnS; 110 mg/kg); organic Zn-methionine (ZnM; 110 mg/kg); hot-melt extruded (HME) 25 zinc sulfate (27.5 mg/kg); HME50 zinc sulfate (55 mg/kg); HME75 zinc sulfate (82.5 mg/kg); or HME100 zinc sulfate (110 mg/kg) for 35 days in two phases (d 1–21, phase I and d 22–35, phase II). Bodyweight and feed efficiency of broiler chicks fed diets supplemented with increasing dietary concentrations of HME-Zn improved linearly during the study period (P<0.05). Compared to the control treatment, the ZnS, ZnM, and HME diets increased Zn concentrations in the serum and liver. Inorganic ZnS supply resulted in the highest Zn concentration in excreta. Increasing supplemented Zn content in diets as HME linearly increased Zn concentration in the excreta, serum, liver, and tibia. Broiler chicks fed diets supplemented with increasing concentrations of HME increased villus height (VH; linear and quadratic) of the jejunum and VH of the ileum (linear). Increasing concentrations of dietary Zn supplied as HME resulted in linearly enhanced dry matter, gross energy, and nitrogen retention of broilers on day 21. These results suggest that dietary HME-Zn at a lower level (55 ppm) shows the same growth performance as common ZnSO4 at 110 ppm.
Effects of Ramadan Fasting on Lipid Profiles and Interleukin-6 in Obese Patients

Abstract. Obesity can cause a state of chronic low-grade inflammation due to hypertrophy and hyperplasia of adipose tissue which is not followed by the formation of balanced vascularization. Interleukin-6 is one of the mediators of inflammation that results from obesity. Changes in lifestyle during fasting for the entire month of Ramadan are thought to have an effect on the lipid profile and inflammatory mediators. Method. This research is a prospective cohort observational study conducted in March 2019-May 2019 endocrine polyclinic outpatient clinic Haji Adam Malik Hospital Medan in 30 subjects. Anthropometric measurements and examination of lipid profiles and IL-6 levels, one week before Ramadan fasting and the fourth week of Ramadan. Results. This study showed that there were significant differences in total cholesterol and HDL levels in the study subjects before and after Ramadan fasting (p <0.001; p = 0.049). Also found significant differences in median IL-6 study subjects before and after Ramadan fasting (p <0.001). Conclusion. There was a decrease in levels of IL-6, a decrease in total cholesterol and a statistically significant increase in HDL in obese patients undergoing Ramadan fasting.
A Logical Operator Oriented Face Retrieval Approach: How to Identify a Suspect Using Partial Photo Information from Different Persons?

Facial sketch recognition is one of the most commonly used method to identify a suspect when only witnesses are available, which, however, usually leads to four gaps, i.e. memory gap, communication gap, description-sketch gap, and sketch-image gap. These gaps limit its application in practice to some extent. To circumvent these gaps, this paper therefore focus on the problem: how to identify a suspect using partial photo information from different persons. Accordingly, we propose a new Logical Operation Oriented Face Retrieval (LOOFR) approach provided that partial information extracted from several different persons' photos is available. The LOOFR defines the new AND and OR operators on these partial information. For example, " eyes of person A AND mouth of person B" means retrieving the target person whose eyes and mouth are similar to that of person A and person B respectively, while "eyes of person A OR eyes of person B" means retrieving target person whose eyes are similar to both person A and B. Evidently, these logical operators cannot be directly implemented by INTERSECTION and UNION in set operations. Meanwhile, they are better for human understanding than set operators. Subsequently, we propose a two-stage LOOFR approach, in which the representations of partial information are learned in the first stage while the logical operations are processed in the second stage. As a result, the target photo of a suspect can be retrieved. Experiments show its promising results.
Cognitive-pragmatic features of ethno-specific vocabulary characterizing monetary relations in the German language

The key problems of modern linguistics are the establishment and description of the relationship between the semantic foundations of the language, the national mentality, and the culture of a particular ethnic group. At this point, ethnospecific vocabulary is of great interest to linguists, as well as for representatives of cultural studies, sociology, and ethnography. In this regard, this article is aimed to identify the features of national currency nominations that have a number of quantitative and qualitative characteristics in the German language, which is manifested at the level of frequency of use, as well as in terms of combinability at the level of syntagmatics. The methodological basis of the study were the main provisions of the theory of cognitive linguistics and the use of corpus technologies in the analysis of lexical units. The author compared data from paremiographic sources with data from the German language corpus "Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache" (DWDS) on ethnospecific lexical units with subsequent identification of cognitive-discursive features of the analyzed group of lexemes. The obtained data can be taken into account when describing the mechanisms of formation and maintenance of national identity, translation of norms and values in the German-speaking ethnocultural society.
Residual effects of soil profile modification on water infiltration, bulk density, and wheat yield

Fine-textured soils of the Southern High Plains, of which Pullman (fine, mixed, thermic Torrertic Paleustolls) is the dominant series, have inherently low water infiltration rates. Pullman soils have a moderately permeable surface horizon overlying and slowly-permeable Bt horizon, which limits deep water penetration, thus hampering water conservation efforts and reducing water-use efficiencies for crop production. In 1964, Pullman clay loam was profile-modified (PM) to 0.9- and 1.5-m depths. The objective of the 1990-1991 study was to compare soil bulk density (D b ), water infiltration, plant available water (PAW) content, and winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) yield on PM and unmodified soil [. ]
Biotic interactions experienced by a new invader: effects of its close relatives at the community scale

The success of nonindigenous species may be influenced by biotic interactions during the initial stages of invasion. Here, we investigated whether a potential invader, Solidago virgaurea L. , would experience more damage by natural enemies in communities dominated by close relatives than those without them; interactions with mutualistic mycorrhizae might partially counteract these effects. We monitored damage experienced by S. virgaurea planted into communities with native congeners and without close relatives. Community type was crossed with a vegetation removal treatment to assess the combined effects of herbivory and competition on survival. We also evaluated growth of S. virgaurea in a greenhouse experiment where seedlings were exposed to soil biota sampled from these communities and compared with sterile controls. Overall, community type did not affect levels of herbivory or plant survival. Removal of surrounding vegetation resulted in reduced damage and increased survival; these effects were largest .
Adaptation of Carbon Source Utilization Patterns of Geobacter metallireducens During Sessile Growth

There are two main strategies known how microorganisms regulate substrate utilization: specialization on one preferred substrate at high concentrations in batch cultures or simultaneous utilization of many substrates at low concentrations in chemostats. However, it remains unclear how microorganisms utilize substrates at low concentrations in the subsurface: do they focus on a single substrate and exhibit catabolite repression or do they de-repress regulation of all catabolic pathways? Here, we investigated the readiness of Geobacter metallireducens to degrade organic substrates under sessile growth in sediment columns in the presence of a mixed community as a model for aquifers. Three parallel columns were filled with sand and flushed with anoxic medium at a constant inflow (18 ml h−1) of the substrate benzoate (1 mM) with non-limiting nitrate concentrations (30 mM) as electron acceptor. Columns were inoculated with the anaerobic benzoate degrader G. metallireducens. Microbial degradation produced concentration gradients of benzoate toward the column outlet. Metagenomics and label-free metaproteomics were used to detect and quantify the protein expression of G. metallireducens. Bulk benzoate concentrations below 0.2 mM led to increased abundance of catabolic proteins involved in utilization of fermentation products and aromatic compounds including the complete upregulation of the toluene-degrading pathway although toluene was not added to the medium. We propose that under sessile conditions and low substrate concentrations G. metallireducens expresses a specific set of catabolic pathways for preferred substrates, even when these substrates are not present.
An Applicable Repeated Transmission for Low Latency and Reliable Services

For the fast access with high reliability, a single grant allows a transmitter to transmit multiple redundant packets with new redundancy information in the time domain without waiting for feedback from a receiver. However, entire redundant packets shall be retransmitted in response to a negative acknowledgment of those redundant packets, which increases the service latency. To reduce a long HARQ RTT due to a number of redundant packets, we propose packet-by-packet parallel processing that achieves lower latency by alleviating the long HARQ RTT of repeated transmission. We also provide a model and analysis for repeated transmission functionality, in terms of the wireless transmission latency with packet-by-packet processing. Numerical analysis and simulation in various network environments show that the proposed algorithm achieves lower latency without trading reliability off.
Alterations in the Blood Level of Lactic Acid in Certain Salmonoid Fishes Following Muscular Activity.: III. Sockeye Salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka

The blood level of lactic acid in hatchery-raised sockeye salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka, was studied following 15 minutes of vigorous muscular activity. Yearling salmon acclimated and exercised in fresh water showed a sevenfold increase in blood lactic acid following activity, increasing still further during the first two hours of recovery, as in the Kamloops trout, Salmo gairdneri. Yearling salmon acclimated in sea water for two days and then exercised exhibited higher immediate increase in lactic acid and showed less fatigue. The sea water appeared to aid the yearling salmon in coping with fatigue products. However, two-year-old salmon that had been acclimated a year and a half in sea water showed the same change in lactic acid following exercise as the yearlings in fresh water. Five of 19 two-year-old salmon died following the exercise.
Product modularity and performance in the global auto industry in China: the mediating roles of supply chain integration and firm relative positional advantage

ABSTRACT Drawing on the knowledge-based view of the firm, we examine the role of supply chain integration and firm relative positional advantage (FRPA) in mediating the main effects of product modularity on firm performance. We use data collected from module suppliers to the Chinese automobile industry to empirically test the model. The findings reveal the mediating roles of supply chain integration and FRPA as well as the joint effects of supply chain integration and FRPA on the product modularity-firm performance relationship. The study also tests the application of the mirroring hypothesis in the context of the Chinese auto industry.
GS-OPT: A new fast stochastic algorithm for solving the non-convex optimization problem

Non-convex optimization has an important role in machine learning. However, the theoretical understanding of non-convex optimization remained rather limited. Studying efficient algorithms for non-convex optimization has attracted a great deal of attention from many researchers around the world but these problems are usually NP-hard to solve. In this paper, we have proposed a new algorithm namely GS-OPT (General Stochastic OPTimization) which is effective for solving the non-convex problems. Our idea is to combine two stochastic bounds of the objective function where they are made by a commonly discrete probability distribution namely Bernoulli. We consider GS-OPT carefully on both the theoretical and experimental aspects. We also apply GS-OPT for solving the posterior inference problem in the latent Dirichlet allocation. Empirical results show that our approach is often more efficient than previous ones.
Impact of acclimatization system on zootechnical performance and thermal comfort in young broiler chickens

Regulating room temperature of poultry houses is frequently difficult for breeders; nevertheless, it is very important that housing provides a comfortable thermal environment for chicks. Therefore, the objective of this work was to compare environmental aspects of two rearing systems in broiler chicks aged 1 to 21 days, as well as batch productivity throughout the production cycle (1-42 days). The experimental design was randomized blocks, with two types of shed: one with a positive pressure system and one with negative pressure system. The average weights at 7, 14, and 21 days were measured, as was final slaughter weight and feed conversion. We found a higher internal temperature in the negative pressure system at 7, 14, and 21 days, and maintaining the birds within the temperature considered ideal for thermal comfort at their ages. Regarding relative humidity, only at 14 days was there a difference between the systems, in which the negative pressure system maintained better humidity than did the positive pressure system. Both systems maintained litter temperature within the recommended range for the chicks’ ages; however, there were differences between the systems on days 7 and 21. Litter moisture showed a difference only at 14 days of age; however, both systems were within the optimal range. Ammonia concentrations in the poultry houses showed no differences between the two types of treatment. There was also no significant difference between the acclimatization systems for drinking water temperature and water consumption. The average weight of the 7-day-old chicks differed between the acclimatization systems, with higher weights in the negative pressure system than in the positive pressure system. We measured higher average slaughter weight and lower feed conversion in broiler chicks raised in the negative pressure system. We conclude that the negative pressure system enhanced the productive performance of chickens and improved thermal comfort.
Effect of dietary protein degradability on net fluxes of free and peptide amino acids across the portal-drained viscera of steers

Four steers, average body weight 260±15 kg, fitted with portal catheters were used in a 4×4 Latin Square design to evaluate the influence of dietary protein degradability in the rumen on peptide and amino acid fluxes across the gastrointestinal tract. Dietary protein degradability was regulated by using different protein sources and the diets were calculated to contain 130 g CP/kg and 9·62 MJ ME per kg DM. Plasma concentrations of amino acids were analysed before and after acid hydrolysis of samples first subjected to chemical deproteinization and physical ultrafiltration, and peptide amino acids (PAA) were calculated as the difference between total and free amino acids (FAA). Portal blood flow and arterial concentrations of FAA and PAA were not affected by protein degradability or by diet. Venoarterial concentration difference and net portal flux of FAA tended to increase (P < 0·10) with increase of degradable protein intake. Portal-arterial concentration difference (P < 0·05) and net portal flux (P < 0·10) of PAA increased linearly as dietary protein degradability increased. The proportion of PAA in total amino acid (FAA+PAA) net flux was not modified by dietary protein degradability or by diet, and the mean value as a proportion was 0·32. The major PAA absorbed were glutamate, leucine, aspartate and lysine for all diets, accounting in total for 0·50 of PAA flux. The results demonstrate that PAA may contribute significantly to AA flux across the portal-drained viscera (PDV) of steers, and both FAA and PAA net fluxes can be affected by degradable protein intake.
Positron orbit effects during injection and confinement in a magnetic dipole trap

Lossless injection of positrons into a magnetic dipole trap and their subsequent confinement have been demonstrated. Here, we investigate by numerical single-particle simulations how the radial distribution of positrons in the trap is affected by the measurement itself, the choice of injection parameters, the asymmetry of the electric potential, and by elastic collisions. The results are compared to experimental data. A comprehensive understanding of these effects is a milestone on the road to creating an electron–positron plasma in a trap with a levitating superconducting coil.
A Novel Nomogram including AJCC Stages Could Better Predict Survival for NSCLC Patients Who Underwent Surgery: A Large Population-Based Study

Objective In this study, we aimed to establish a novel nomogram model which was better than the current American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage to predict survival for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients who underwent surgery. Patients and Methods. 19617 patients with initially diagnosed NSCLC were screened from Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database between 2010 and 2015. These patients were randomly divided into two groups including the training cohort and the validation cohort. The Cox proportional hazard model was used to analyze the influence of different variables on overall survival (OS). Then, using R software version 3.4. 3, we constructed a nomogram and a risk classification system combined with some clinical parameters. We visualized the regression equation by nomogram after obtaining the regression coefficient in multivariate analysis. The concordance index (C-index) and calibration curve were used to perform the validation of nomogram. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the clinical utility of the nomogram. Results Univariate and multivariate analyses demonstrated that seven factors including age, sex, stage, histology, surgery, and positive lymph nodes (all, P < 0.001) were independent predictors of OS. Among them, stage (C-index = 0.615), positive lymph nodes (C-index = 0.574), histology (C-index = 0.566), age (C-index = 0.563), and sex (C-index = 0.562) had a relatively strong ability to predict the OS. Based on these factors, we established and validated the predictive model by nomogram. The calibration curves showed good consistency between the actual OS and predicted OS. And the decision curves showed great clinical usefulness of the nomogram. Then, we built a risk classification system and divided NSCLC patients into two groups including high-risk group and low-risk group. The Kaplan–Meier curves revealed that OS in the two groups was accurately differentiated in the training cohort (P < 0.001). And then, we validated this result in the validation cohort which also showed that patients in the high-risk group had worse survival than those in the low-risk group. Conclusion The results proved that the nomogram model had better performance to predict survival for NSCLC patients who underwent surgery than AJCC stage. These tools may be helpful for clinicians to evaluate prognostic indicators of patients undergoing operation.
Benthos associated with two New Zealand coastal outfalls

Abstract The benthic ecological impacts of 2 New Zealand ocean outfalls were studied. They are the country's largest (discharging 0.8 m3 s‐1) at Hastings, and longest‐established (operating since 1965 and with a present discharge of 0.28 m3 s‐1) at Gisbome. Both discharge essentially biodegradable domestic and food‐processing‐industry wastes. Samples were collected about each outfall and analysed for particle size, oil and grease, readily oxidisable carbon (ROC), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), volatile solids, and macrofauna. Changes in the sediments indicated that the effluents contained inorganic paniculate material in the mud/very fine sand size range. Peaks in concentrations of oil and grease, ROC, TKN, and volatile solids occurred at the diffusers. Numbers of taxa were low near the outfalls, but increased with distance away. Numbers of individuals were also low at the outfalls, increasing within 100 m, before dropping to normal levels. No grossly polluted zone, devoid of macrofauna, was found; howeve.
A Salivary Cytokine Panel Discriminates Moods States Following a Touch Massage Intervention

: To construct a salivary cytokine panel that best reflects happiness and arousal levels associated with Touch Massage. The study utilized a cross-over design where forty healthy Japanese women were randomly assigned to receive a standardized Touch Massage (experimental) or no massage (control) initially. Questionnaires were administered at regular intervals to qualitatively assess the happiness and arousal levels during each session and saliva samples obtained concomitantly. The saliva samples were analyzed subsequently with a multiplexed immunoassay. Touch Massage interventions enhanced mood states and the effects were manifested in the varying levels of select salivary cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-9 and IL-17A. Receiver operating characteristic curves revealed that a combination of the two salivary cytokines showed excellent discriminant capability (area under the curve: 0.916) of positive mood states. The quantifiable relationships between touch sensation, immune mediators and emotional states could be useful for guiding practitioners delivering touch therapy.