Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Review: The use of direct fed microbials to mitigate pathogens and enhance production in cattle

McAllister, T. A. , Beauchemin, K. A. , Alazzeh, A. Y. , Baah, J., Teather, R. M. and Stanford, K. 2011. Review: The use of direct fed microbials to mitigate pathogens and enhance production in cattle. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 91: 193-211. Direct-fed microbials (DFM) have been employed in ruminant production for over 30 yr. Originally, DFM were used primarily in young ruminants to accelerate establishment of the intestinal microflora involved in feed digestion and to promote gut health. Further advancements led to more sophisticated mixtures of DFM that are targeted at improving fiber digestion and preventing ruminal acidosis in mature cattle. Through these outcomes on fiber digestion/rumen health, second-generation DFM have also resulted in improvements in milk yield, growth and feed efficiency of cattle, but results have been inconsistent. More recently, there has been an emphasis on the development of DFM that exhibit activity in cattle against potentially zoonotic pathogens such as Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp. and Staphylococcus aureus. Regulatory requirements have limited the microbial species within DFM products to organisms that are generally recognized as safe, such as lactic acid-producing bacteria (e.g., Lactobacillus and Enterococcus spp.), fungi (e.g., Aspergillus oryzae), or yeast (e.g., Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Direct-fed microbials of rumen origin, involving lactate-utilizing species (e.g., Megasphaera elsdenii, Selenomonas ruminantium, Propionibacterium spp.) and plant cell wall-degrading isolates of Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens have also been explored, but have not been commercially used. Development of DFM that are efficacious over a wide range of ruminant production systems remains challenging because[0] comprehensive knowledge of microbial ecology is lacking. Few studies have employed molecular techniques to study in detail the interaction of DFM with native microbial communities or the ruminant host. Advancements in the metagenomics of microbial communities and the genomics of microbial-host interactions may enable DFM to be formulated to improve production and promote health, responses that are presently often achieved through the use of antimicrobials in cattle.
Validation of nine years of MOPITT V5 NIR using MOZAIC/IAGOS measurements: biases and long-term stability

Abstract. Validation results from a comparison between Measurement Of Pollution In The Troposphere (MOPITT) V5 Near InfraRed (NIR) carbon monoxide (CO) total column measurements and Measurement of Ozone and Water Vapour on Airbus in-service Aircraft (MOZAIC)/In-Service Aircraft for a Global Observing System (IAGOS) aircraft measurements are presented. A good agreement is found between MOPITT and MOZAIC/IAGOS measurements, consistent with results from earlier studies using different validation data and despite large variability in MOPITT CO total columns along the spatial footprint of the MOZAIC/IAGOS measurements. Validation results improve when taking the large spatial footprint of the MOZAIC/IAGOS data into account. No statistically significant drift was detected in the validation results over the period 2002–2010 at global, continental and local (airport) scales. Furthermore, for those situations where MOZAIC/IAGOS measurements differed from the MOPITT a priori, the MOPITT measurements clearly outperformed the MOPITT a priori data, indicating that MOPITT NIR retrievals add value to the MOPITT a priori. Results from a high spatial resolution simulation of the chemistry-transport model MOCAGE (MOdele de Chimie Atmospherique a Grande Echelle) showed that the most likely explanation for the large MOPITT variability along the MOZAIC-IAGOS profile flight path is related to spatio-temporal CO variability, which should be kept in mind when using MOZAIC/IAGOS profile measurements for validating satellite nadir observations.
Constipation: How does it exist?

Background: Functional defecation disorders are common and affect approximately 50% of patients with chronic constipation. The etiology of functional defecation disorders is not well known, but several pathophysiologic mechanisms have been described, including failure of rectoanal coordination, paradoxical anal contraction or insufficient relaxation of anal sphincter during defecation and impairment of rectal sensation as well as secondary slowing of colonic transit. Aim of this manuscript is to review the pathogenesis and surgical treatment of constipation. Method: An extensive Medline search, textbooks, scientific reports and scientific journals are the data sources. We also reviewed reference lists in all articles retrieved in the search as well as those of major texts regarding pathogenesis and surgical treatment of constipation. Results: There are many studies about the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of constipation. Also there are many medical and surgical treatment strategies were developed. Conclusion: The patients with constipation symptom must be evaluated carefully, and medical treatment must be tried after differential diagnosis is made. Only in patients that do not respond to the medical, surgical treatment can be considered.
The 2011 Northern Kermadec earthquake doublet and subduction zone faulting interactions

A large intraslab earthquake doublet (6 July 2011, Mw 7.6; 21 October 2011, Mw 7.4) occurred in the Pacific plate beneath the outer trench slope of the northern Kermadec subduction zone, seaward of an interseismically‐coupled region of the megathrust. The first large event, a shallow (~24 km centroid depth) normal‐faulting rupture, was followed by intraslab aftershocks within minutes and by aftershocks near the megathrust within hours. The second large event, a deeper (~45 km centroid depth) thrust‐faulting rupture below the northern portion of the first rupture plane, was also followed by interplate and intraslab aftershocks. The last large interplate activity in northern Kermadec involved an underthrusting doublet on 14 January 1976 (Mw 7.8, 7.9). Previous studies interpret westward movement of the northern Kermadec Arc relative to the Australian Plate (from GPS measurements) to be a result of interseismic coupling on the northern Kermadec megathrust. A locked plate interface in this region should tend to reduce trench‐slope extensional stresses. Coulomb stress change calculations using a finite‐fault model determined from teleseismic body wave inversions for the normal‐faulting event in the 2011 doublet favor activation of megathrust faulting. Coulomb stress changes for the October compressional event appear to reduce interplate thrust activity, and for a short time reversed the westward motion of the upper plate. The net effect of the doublet is a few bar increase of interplate thrust‐fault driving stress, which may have advanced a future large megathrust event. Intraslab normal faulting may serve as a harbinger, not only a response, to large megathrust ruptures.
Do They Work? Assessing the Impact of Transparency and Accountability Initiatives in Service Delivery

Transparency and accountability initiatives (TAIs) have emerged as a key strategy for improving public services, but the links between transparency and accountability and their impact on service delivery are often largely assumed. This article reviews several TAIs to assess their impact. It finds evidence suggesting that a range of accountability initiatives have been effective in their immediate goals and have had a strong impact on public services in a few cases, but that overall evidence of impact on the quality and accessibility of services is more mixed.
A Comparison of Quality of Life, Anxiety and Depression in Children with Cancer and Healthy Children, Kermanshah-Iran

Background Cancer is a major public health problem in many parts of the world. The present study aimed to compare the quality of life, anxiety and depression in in children with cancer and healthy children. Materials and Methods In this descriptive and causal-comparative study, the statistical population consisted of cancer patients visiting Mohammad Kermanshahi Hospital based in Kermanshah, Iran, in the summer of 2016. Moreover, 60 samples were selected through the convenience sampling. For data collection, three questionnaires were utilized: WHO Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), Children's Depression Scale (CDS), and the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS). Furthermore, data were analyzed through the descriptive (frequency, mean, and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA)) using the SPSS Statistics Software Version 23.0. Results The results of the present study demonstrated that there were significant differences between the cancer and healthy children in terms of all coping styles. The results also revealed that the mean scores of depression and anxiety of cancer children exceeded those of healthy children, while the mean score of cancer children’s quality of life was lower than that of healthy children. Conclusion According to the results of the present study, it can be concluded that emotional-behavioral changes are the strongest and most stable elements that make a difference in cancer and healthy children. Hence, giving full consideration to Factors is of special importance.
Noble metal modified TiO2 for photocatalytic air purification

TiO2 was surface modified with silver, gold, palladium and platinum ion clusters to improve its photocatalytic activity. The effect of metal content and kind of dopant used during preparation procedure on the photoactivity were investigated. in toluene removal which was used as a model volatile organic compound. Toluene, at the concentration of about 100 ppm, was irradiated over noble metal modified TiO2 using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in four subsequent cycles.
Numerical solution of variational problems via Haar wavelet quasilinearization technique

In this paper, a numerical solution based on Haar wavelet quasilinearization (HWQ) is used for finding the solution of nonlinear Euler-Lagrange equations which arise from the problems in calculus of variations. Some examples of variational problems are given and outcomes compared with exact solutions to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the method.
Review of the Main Security Problems with Multi-Agent Systems used in E-commerce Applications

The ability to connect to the Internet from a wide variety of devices such as smart phones, IoT devices and desktops at anytime and anywhere, produces a large number of e-commerce transactions, such as purchases of clothes, ticket entrances for performances, or banking operations. The increasing number of these transactions has also created an increase in the number of threats and attacks by third parties to access user data banks. It is important to control the access procedure to user data so that the number of threats does not continue to grow. To do so, it is necessary to prevent unauthorized access, theft and fraud in electronic commerce, which is required to ensure the safety of these transactions. Many e-commerce platforms are developed through multi-agent-systems because they include certain advantages to control the product, resource management, task distribution, etc. However, there are a number of threats that can jeopardize the safety of the agents that make up the system. These issues must be taken into account in the development of these multi-agent systems. However, existing methods of development do not cover in depth the issue of security. It is necessary to present and classify the potential security flaws of multi-agent systems. Therefore, the present research presents a review of the main vulnerabilities that occur in multi-agent systems responsible for managing e-commerce applications, as well as the proposed solutions to the major security problems on these platform systems. The main conclusions provided by this research is the need to optimize security measures and enhance the different security solutions applied in e-commerce applications in order to prevent identity theft, access to private data, access control, etc. It is therefore essential to continue to develop the security methods employed in applications such as e-commerce as different types of attacks and threats continue to evolve.
Reliable and energy-efficient cooperative transmission in wireless sensor networks.

In this thesis, we propose a cooperative relay scheme for multihop communications in wireless sensor networks. The scheme investigates node cooperation in conjunction with power control to conserve transmission energy and improve communication reliability in the presence of fading. By using relay nodes that are located between transmitter and receiver to assist packet delivery, the scheme is capable of reaping both spatial diversity gains and pass-loss savings. Local channel information is explored in relay selection process and power control to reduce the energy of data packet transmission. Moreover, a cooperative ARQ is incorporated to improve packet retransmission efficiency. We analyzed packet delivery ratio and energy consumption, and observed good agreement between analytical and simulation results. In simulations, we compared different cooperative and non-cooperative schemes and examined effects of various factors. Our simulations and analyses show that the proposed scheme improves energy efficiency, packet delivery ratio and extends nodes’ battery lifetime.
A Comparative Analysis of Fiscal Rules and Independent Fiscal Agencies

Especially after the World war II, increasing public expenditures and budget deficits lead countries to seek for permanent solutions. With stagflation and budget-deficit oriented crises this need escalated. Firstly, the theory of fiscal rules emerged and started to be implemented in several countries. After that, independent fiscal agencies came to the fore in order to have a stable public financial management and sustainable debts and deficits. Both method have pros and cons. The aim of this study is to propose an analysis by comparing these two methods and devise a useful strategy in the sense that it helps countries to stabilize their long-term macro-fiscal dynamics.
Targeting the Poor Beyond Gaza or the West Bank: The Geography of Poverty in the Palestinian Territories

In this paper we construct a detailed poverty map of the West Bank and Gaza by estimating the incidence of poverty in 132 distinct localities. We derive the estimates by combining econometric analysis of the Palestinian Households Survey with information contained in the Palestinian Census from 1997. Our results suggest that the incidence of poverty differs greatly across localities. This indicates that it may be efficient to base targeting of the poor on the geography of poverty in the West Bank and Gaza. We show that geographic targeting compares favorably, in terms of low leakage rates, to targeting mechanisms based on observable characteristics of potential beneficiaries. We also illustrate that targeting efficiency may be further improved by combing the two types of targeting mechanisms.
Controlling Health Care Costs Through Limited Network Insurance Plans: Evidence from Massachusetts State Employees

Recent years have seen enormous growth in limited network plans that restrict patient choice of provider, particularly through state exchanges under the ACA. Opposition to such plans is based on concerns that restrictions on provider choice will harm patient care. We explore this issue in the context of the Massachusetts GIC, the insurance plan for state employees, which recently introduced a major financial incentive to choose limited network plans for one group of enrollees and not another. We use a quasi-experimental analysis based on the universe of claims data over a three-year period for GIC enrollees. We find that enrollees are very price sensitive in their decision to enroll in limited network plans, with the state's three month "premium holiday" for limited network plans leading 10% of eligible employees to switch to such plans. We find that those who switched spent considerably less on medical care; spending fell by almost 40% for the marginal complier. This reflects both reductions in quantity of services used and prices paid per service. But spending on primary care actually rose for switchers; the reduction in spending came entirely from spending on specialists and on hospital care, including emergency rooms. We find that distance traveled falls for primary care and rises for tertiary care, although there is no evidence of a decrease in the quality of hospitals used by patients. The basic results hold even for the sickest patients, suggesting that limited network plans are saving money by directing care towards primary care and away from downstream spending. We find such savings only for those whose primary care physicians are included in limited network plans, however, suggesting that networks that are particularly restrictive on primary care access may fare less well than those that impose only stronger downstream restrictions.
Metrology of ground-based satellite validation: co-location mismatch and smoothing issues of total ozone comparisons

Abstract. Comparisons with ground-based correlative measurements constitute a key component in the validation of satellite data on atmospheric composition. The error budget of these comparisons contains not only the measurement errors but also several terms related to differences in sampling and smoothing of the inhomogeneous and variable atmospheric field. A versatile system for Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs), named OSSSMOSE, is used here to quantify these terms. Based on the application of pragmatic observation operators onto high-resolution atmospheric fields, it allows a simulation of each individual measurement, and consequently, also of the differences to be expected from spatial and temporal field variations between both measurements making up a comparison pair. As a topical case study, the system is used to evaluate the error budget of total ozone column (TOC) comparisons between GOME-type direct fitting (GODFITv3) satellite retrievals from GOME/ERS2, SCIAMACHY/Envisat, and GOME-2/MetOp-A, and ground-based direct-sun and zenith–sky reference measurements such as those from Dobsons, Brewers, and zenith-scattered light (ZSL-)DOAS instruments, respectively. In particular, the focus is placed on the GODFITv3 reprocessed GOME-2A data record vs. the ground-based instruments contributing to the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC). The simulations are found to reproduce the actual measurements almost to within the measurement uncertainties, confirming that the OSSE approach and its technical implementation are appropriate. This work reveals that many features of the comparison spread and median difference can be understood as due to metrological differences, even when using strict co-location criteria. In particular, sampling difference errors exceed measurement uncertainties regularly at most mid- and high-latitude stations, with values up to 10 % and more in extreme cases. Smoothing difference errors only play a role in the comparisons with ZSL-DOAS instruments at high latitudes, especially in the presence of a polar vortex due to the strong TOC gradient it induces. At tropical latitudes, where TOC variability is lower, both types of errors remain below about 1 % and consequently do not contribute significantly to the comparison error budget. The detailed analysis of the comparison results, including the metrological errors, suggests that the published random measurement uncertainties for GODFITv3 reprocessed satellite data are potentially overestimated, and adjustments are proposed here. This successful application of the OSSSMOSE system to close for the first time the error budget of TOC comparisons, bodes well for potential future applications, which are briefly touched upon.
Learning relationships from theory to design

Over the last five years we have seen a very significant increase in the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) in schools, colleges and university. For example in 1998, there were over 195 accredited US universities offering a thousand or more distance learning courses (Philips and Yager, 1998). By no means were all of these new courses associated with educational innovation. The speed and ease of implementation of Webbased approaches, in particular, is resulting in design by imitation of current courses and methods, with a real lack of innovation or utilization of the power inherent in technologybased learning. Although matters are improving (see for example Brown, 1999), part of the reason for this failure to innovate is, we argue, because of the large gap between theory and practice. DOI: 10.1080/0968776990070302
Influence of age of child on differences in marital satisfaction of males and females in East Asian countries

Using individual-level data from China, Korea, and Japan for 2006, this research examines how the age of children of the relationship influences marital satisfaction for males and females in East Asian countries. Our results show that the marital satisfaction of males is barely affected by a child of the relationship, whereas the marital satisfaction of females with a young child is lower than that of females who do not have a child. This result holds for countries of different development stages. There is also a gender differential regarding the effect of young children on marital satisfaction. Furthermore, the more developed the country, the greater this difference becomes.
Remote Primary Intraventricular Haemorrhage in Case of a Ruptur ed MCA Aneurysm

This is the first documented case report of a simultaneous middle cerebral artery (MCA) aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) and remote third ventricular clot. The occurrence of simultaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage and remote hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a rare occurrence and has only been reported three previous times in the literature. Intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) post aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage is common, where peri-ventricular intracerebral clot has ruptured the ependymal lining. However primary intraventricular hemorrhage (PIVH) without associated parenchymal clot is rare. Migration of blood via outlet foramina of the fourth ventricle through CSF pulsation and flow is thought to be the mechanism for this occurrence and would account for small volumes in the subacute setting. Here, we present a case of a 52-year-old woman with a CT demonstrated spontaneous middle cerebral artery (MCA) bifurcation aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage and a large acute third ventricular clot spanning the foramen Monroe.