Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fluctuating Food Abundance Determines the Lifetime Reproductive Success of Male Tengmalm's Owls

1. I examined the lifetime reproductive success (LRS) of male Tengmalm's owls in western Finland where vole abundance fluctuates cyclically among years. Males were site-tenacious after their first breeding attempt. 2. The productivity of 141 males, all of which started to breed during 1979-87, was studied up to 1990. They spent 1-7 years (mean 1.5 years) as breeders and raised 0-26 fledglings (mean 5.4) during their lifetime. The lifetime number of fledglings produced by males was highly significantly correlated with their lifetime contribution of known recruits to the breeding population. 3. Most male fledglings (78%) died before the first breeding attempt. Of the young fledged in one year, 5% produced 50% of fledglings in the next generation, and 21% of males reared 50% of all fledglings produced by the population. 4. Offspring survival from egg to fledgling was the most important component of LRS, followed by the life span and clutch size. The age of first breeding did not affect LRS, but polygynous males produced twice as many fledglings as monogamous ones. 5. Among environmental factors, vole abundance was the most important determinant of LRS: males entering the breeding population in the low and increase phases of the vole cycle gained larger LRS than males recruiting in the peak and decrease phases. 6. As the breeding life span of polygynous males was longer than that of monogamous ones and as there was no negative relationship between the brood size and the duration of breeding life, no evidence of reproductive costs could be obtained. Superior males may easily compensate for the large parental investment by increasing their food intake without risking their future survival.
Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA): Implications for human health and animal production

Conjugated linolenic acid are isomers refer to a group of positional and geometric isomers of the omega-3 essential fatty acid α-linolenic acid (cis-9, cis-12, cis-15 C18:3, ALA). Its isomers can be either cis- and/or trans- and their double bonds are separated by a single bond. Food products from ruminants and some plant products are the major sources of CLA. The isomers in ruminants arise as a result of bacterial isomerization of ALA in the rumen. The concentration of CLA isomers in seed oils is higher than in milk and edible parts of ruminant carcass. The CLA isomers from the plant sources are in the form of conjugated trienes, whereas those in ruminant products are of conjugated diene type. Some plant seed oils are the richest natural sources of CLA isomers. So, searching for methods of increasing the CLA isomer content in food of animal origin not exhibiting negative effects on animal welfare and physiology is very important for researchers. A presence of long-chain and very long-chain conjugated unsaturated fatty acids was also confirmed in some ruminant tissues. Clinical studies documented that health-promoting properties have been attributed to CLA isomers. It was also evidenced that animal diet may influence the CLA synthesis. The proper identification of geometric and positional isomers of conjugated unsaturated fatty acids in biological samples is a great challenge in research field.
A mini review on the Lactic Acidosis in goats and its remedial approaches

The current study was performed in order to investigate the threat of lactic acidosis in goats worldwide and explore the curative strategies. In this regards a detailed review was performed, however obtained facts were found to be much interesting and valuable. It was indicated by researchers that lactic acidosis is the most common problem in goats throughout the worlds. It represents significant economic loss due to direct and indirect effects. It was further stated that goats with lactic acidosis show decreased body temperature up to 98.1±0.89 °F, rumen and intestinal movement 0.23±0.48/m, rumen pH 4.8±0.07, blood pH 7.1±0.08, increased respiration rate 56.14±7.15/m and heart rate, 136.28±4.71/m. Affected goats also show signs of dyspnea, anorexia, inactivity, incoordination and recumbancy. The glucose level remains 190.14±36.49 mg/dl, total bilirubin 0.75±0.04 mg/dl, direct bilirubin 0.27±0.03mg/dl, indirect bilirubin 0.40±0.03 mg/dl, alanine aminotransferase ALT 36.42±3.04 U/l and alkaline phosphatase 420±3.65 U/l. Furthermore, Glucose level, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, indirect bilirubin, ALT (SGPT) and alkaline phosphatase increase with treatment of Cassia Fistula, serum biochemical changes rapidly return to normal compared to treatment with Sodium bicarbonate or Magnesium hydroxide. The ruminal juices changes are also significantly improved with the treatment. The changes in the ingesta color, odor and consistency and rumen pH return to normal with the use of Cassia Fistula, Sodium bicarbonate and Magnesium hydroxide. In conclusion, Cassia fistula, Sodium bicarbonate and Magnesium hydroxide could be used as valuable strategies against lactic acidosis in goats. These therapies have been proved to be effective for treating the acidosis in goats.
Transferability of Marker Trait Associations in Wheat Is Disturbed Mainly by Genotype × Year Interaction

Grain yield is the primary target for increasing soft red winter wheat production in the United States. Genome wide association studies were performed for yield-related traits using field-based evaluation of 270 elite breeding lines. Yield ranged from 3.9 to 7.5 tons·ha−1. The effect of genotype by year interaction was significant for most traits. Heritability estimates ranged from 0.21 for biomass to 0.84 for plant height. Biomass, kernel weight, and grain weight per spike were positively correlated with grain yield while days to heading and maturity were negatively correlated with grain yield. We used FarmCPU method and 45K markers to identify marker-trait associations. Fifty-nine MTAs were identified based on two-year phenotypic estimates. An association for grain yield on chromosome 7D showed a −logP value of 16.35 and explained 18% of the phenotypic variation. Associations were identified at −logP values of 6.30 and 4.08 on chromosomes 5A for thousand kernel weight and grain per spike that explained 10% and 6% of phenotypic variations, respectively. Grain yield and days to heading data from previous trials in other states were used to validate and evaluate the transferability of associations. We observed that for grain yield, only 7 out of 28 associations and for days to heading, only 8 out of 47 associations were validated across seemingly homogenous environments, indicating the majority of associations are not stable QTL across environments. This study suggests that achieving genetic gains appears to require utilizing genotype by environment interaction and local field based germplasm testing.
High-Order Vector Nodal Finite Elements with Harmonic, Irrotational and Solenoidal Basis Functions

In the present paper a concept of vector nodal finite element has been introduced, algorithms of construction of the vector nodal basis functions with high approximate properties from special functional spaces are presented. Examples of high-order interpolation of harmonic, irrotational vector fields by the developed finite elements illustrate their approximate advantage in comparison with the standard Lagrange elements.
Development and Validation of a Electrocardiographic Diagnostic Score of Heart Failure Among Patients with Hypertension Attending a Tertiary Hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria: The RISK-HHF Case-Control Study

Objectives Hypertension is the leading cause of HF in sub-Saharan Africa. Electrocardiography (ECG) is a cheap and easily available stratification tool for the diagnosis and prognostication of individuals with hypertension. The aim of this study was to develop an ECG-based HF diagnostic score among patients with hypertension attending a specialist cardiology clinic. Methods One hundred and one (101) case-control age- and sex-matched pairs were recruited. The study population were adults with a clinical diagnosis of hypertensive HF failure (cases) and systemic hypertension without HF (controls). Participants underwent clinical assessment and ECG. Associations between ECG variables and HF risk were tested with chi square test. Logistic regression modelling (age- and sex adjusted) was trained on a random subset of participants and tested on the remaining participants to determine the ECG abnormalities that are diagnostic of HF and develop a HF diagnostic score. The HF diagnostic score was then validated in an independent dataset of the ECG-Hypertension Audit. Goodness of fit and c-statistics of the HF summed diagnostic score in the training, testing and validation datasets are presented. A two-sided p value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results The independent ECG diagnostic markers of HF among hypertensive patients in this study in decreasing order of effect size were sinus tachycardia (aOR: 7.72, 95% CI: 2.31-25.85). arrhythmia (aOR: 7.14, 95% CI: 2.57-19.86), left ventricular hypertrophy (aOR: 4.47; 1.85-10.77) and conduction abnormality (aOR: 3.41, 95% CI: 1.21-9.65). The HF summed diagnostic score showed excellent calibration and discrimination in the training (Hosmer Lemeshow p = 0.90; c-statistic 0.82; 95% CI 0.76–0.89) and test samples (Hosmer Lemeshow p=0.31; c-statistic 0.73 95% CI 0.60 to 0.87) of the derivation cohort and an independent validation audit cohort (Hosmer Lemeshow p = 0.17; c-statistic 0.79 95% CI 0.74 to 0.84) respectively. The model showed high diagnostic accuracy in individuals with different intermediate pre-test probabilities of HF. Conclusions A ECG based HF score consisting of sinus tachycardia, arrhythmia, conduction abnormality and left ventricular hypertrophy is diagnostic of HF especially in those with intermediate pre-test probability of HF. This has clinical importance in the stratification of individuals with systemic hypertension.
FRACTAL DIMENSION BASED SUPERVISED LEARNING FOR WOOD AND LEAF CLASSIFICATION FROM TERRESTRIAL LIDAR POINT CLOUDS

Abstract. Terrestrial Laser scanner has been widely used in the field of forestry. Wood-leaf separation is the fundamental step to most applications of forestry. This paper presented a robust supervised learning method for wood and leaf classification by developing four new feature vectors. Fractal dimension is first calculated to indicate the difference of regularity or roughness between wood and leaf. Zenith angle and variation are presented to distinguish trunks or branches from leaves. The adaptive axis direction of cylinder is adopted to calculate the local point density precisely. Experimental results show that the supervised learning method using the four feature vectors presented in this paper can achieve a good classification performance. Both accuracy and F1 score are higher than the ones of the method using eigen value based feature vectors.
Association between Depression, Daytime Sleepiness, and Thyroid Function in Patients with Thyroid Hormone Replacement Therapy

Thyroid disease may be associated with a variety of psychiatric disorders, including mild depression and anxiety [1]. In previous studies, patients with thyroid dysfunction had a higher prevalence of mood and anxiety disorders compared to other psychiatric disorders [2]. Studies have also found that 20.5% of patients with hypothyroidism have depression, while anxiety disorders have been identified in 30–40% patients with acute hypothyroidism [3-5]. The association between depression and thyroid hormones has been previously examined. Patients with clinically significant deAssociation between Depression, Daytime Sleepiness, and Thyroid Function in Patients with Thyroid Hormone Replacement Therapy
Graph Regionalization with Clustering and Partitioning: an Application for Daily Commuting Flows in Albania* 1

The paper presents an original application of the recently proposed spatial data mining method named GraphRECAP on daily commuting flows using 2011 Albanian census data. Its aim is to identify several clusters of Albanian municipalities/communes; propose a classification of the Albanian territory based on daily commuting flows among municipalities/communes. Starting from 373 local units, we first applied a spatial clustering technique without imposing any constraining strategy. Based on the input variables, we obtained 16 clusters. In the second step of our analysis, we impose a set of constraining parameters to identify intermediate areas between the local level (municipality/commune) and the national one. We have defined 12 derived regions (same number as the actual Albanian prefectures but with different geographies). These derived regions are quite different from the traditional ones in terms of both geographical dimensions and boundaries
Dental anxiety and the effectiveness of local anesthesia

Aim: The successful anesthesia is an essential factor for dental treatment. This study aimed at determining the effectiveness of local anesthesia and it’s relationship with dental Anxiety. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 256 dental patients, in 2017. Dental Anesthesia was administered after completing the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale by the patients. The level of anesthesia was recorded in one of three states (successful, difficult, and failed). Collected data was analyzed using SPSS version 22 and tests of, Chi-square, independent t-test, analysis of variance, and logistic regression model. Results: About 60.5% subjects had moderate-severe dental anxiety. The mean of dental anxiety significantly was lower in the successful anesthesia group (P<0.01). Patients with elementary education had a significantly higher level of dental anxiety (P<0.01). Dental anxiety was significantly higher in the age group of ≥59 years, compared to the other age groups, except for 49-58 years (P<0.05). Subjects with a significantly higher level of dental anxiety more delayed their visits to the dentist. The logistic regression model showed that the dental anxiety (high anxiety) and literacy level (elementary) were the most important predictors of failed or difficult anesthesia. Conclusion: Informing patients about dental treatment procedures, regular and periodic visits to the dentist, using psychotherapeutic techniques to reduce dental anxiety before anesthesia, could play an important role in the success of anesthesia.
SPATIAL, TEMPORAL AND TAXONOMIC VARIATION IN CORAL GROWTH-IMPLICATIONS FOR THE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF CORAL REEF ECOSYSTEMS

Growth is a fundamental biological trait, generally considered to have an important role in structuring populations and communities. Accordingly, many studies have quantified growth rates of scleractinian corals, but using a variety of different methods and measures that may or may not be comparable. The purpose of this review is to compile extensive data on the growth of corals, to relate disparate methods of measuring coral growth, and to explore spatial, temporal, and taxonomic variation in growth rates. The most common metric of coral growth is linear extension, measured as unidirectional change in branch length or colony radius. Rates of linear extension vary greatly among corals, being highest among arborescent Acropora species. This is not unexpected given the limited carbonate investment in producing long, slender branches compared to solid hemispherical colonies. However, differences in the way that extension rates are actually measured (e.g., linear extension of individual branches vs. changes in the mean solid radius of massive corals) could potentially bias interspecific comparisons of coral growth. The most comparable measure of growth, which gives unbiased estimates of growth across different growth forms, is average annual calcification or change in weight normalized to a measure of size. Surprisingly, even calcification rates appear to be much higher for branching Acropora compared to other coral genera, which contributes to the high extension rates recorded for this genus. Despite inconsistencies and incompatibilities among studies of coral growth, there is clear evidence that coral growth rates vary spatially and temporally, largely in response to light and water quality (e.g., turbidity), temperature, and aragonite saturation state. Ongoing changes in environmental conditions (e.g., due to climate change) are expected to have generally negative consequences for the growth of scleractinian corals, which may be further exacerbated by shifts in assemblage structure towards relatively slowgrowing species.
Response to

Fitting SO2 dSCDs from MAX-DOAS measurements of scattered sunlight is challenging because actinic light intensity is low in wavelength regions where the SO2 absorption features are strongest. SO2 dSCDs were fit with different wavelength windows (λlow to λhigh) from ambient measurements with calibration cells of 2.2×1017 and 2.2×1016 molec cm-2 inserted in the light path at different viewing elevation angles using an OceanOptics USB2000 spectrometer in a miniature10 MAX-DOAS instrument. SO2 dSCDs were the least accurate and fit errors were the largest for fitting windows with λlow < 307 nm or λlow >312 nm. The SO2 dSCDs also exhibited an inverse relationship with the depth of the differential features in the SO2 absorption cross-section for fitting windows with λlow < 307 nm. Spectra measured at low viewing elevation angles (i.e., α = 2o) exhibited less accurate SO2 dSCDs for the same fitting windows compared to higher angles. The use of a 400 nm shortpass filter or a polynomial to account for stray light (the offset function), increased the accuracy of the SO2 dSCDs for many 15 different fitting windows, decreased fit errors, and decreased the dSCDs’ dependence on the depth of the SO2 differential absorption features. These results suggest that the radiance at shorter wavelengths was increased by stray light. The inaccuracies at lower fitting wavelengths were increased by stray light originating from light with λ > 400 nm. Deviation of the SO2 dSCD from the true value depended on the SO2 concentration for some fitting windows rather than exhibiting a consistent bias. Uncertainties of the SO2 dSCD reported by the fit algorithm were >50% less than the true error for many 20 windows, particularly for the measurements without the filter or offset function. For retrievals with the filter or offset function, increasing λhigh> 320 nm tended to decrease the reported fit uncertainty but did not increase the accuracy. Based on the results of this study, a short-pass filter and a fitting window of 307.5 < λ <319 nm are recommended for retrieval of SO2 SCDs from mini-MAX-DOAS measurements. If a filter is not available or conflicts with other species to be determined (NO2, HCHO, etc.), the offset function should be enabled, and a fit window 307.5 < λ <319 nm is still recommended. 25
Three Option Multiple Choice Questions had the Least Non-functioning Distractors: Analysis of 1855 MCQs in First Year Competency Based Medical Program at Tanta Faculty of Medicine, Egypt

Introduction: The study aims to evaluate the efficiency of distractors by analyzing the items used in 18 courses along the first year of the CBMBP curriculum. The study is among few large studies discussing distractor efficiency in the Middle East. It is the largest in Egypt and Arabic area. Settings: Tanta Faculty of Medicine, Egypt from December 2016 until July 2017. This study was conducted on the CBMBP exams after the end of the semesters of the first year. The study design was repeated cross-sectional study. 16 courses, 28 tests and 1855 MCQs were evaluated. Methods: The MCQs were analyzed using Difficulty Index (Dif I), Discrimination Index (Dis I), using the point biserial (pbs) and analysis of distractor efficiency (DE) by calculation the non-functioning distractors (NFD). Results: The mean difficulty index (Diff I) was 0.71, 46% of the questions in the easy category while the difficult questions represented 11%. The mean discrimination index (Disc I) was 0.27 with 15% of the questions having poor discriminatory value. The presence of NFDs as following; 0 NFDs in 30%, 1 NFDs n 40 %, 2 NFDs in 23% and those with >= 3 NFDs in 7%. Distractor efficiency (DE%) was 56.5%. The number of NFDs increased with increasing number of options. Conclusion: The number of NFDs increased with increasing number of options. The best values of NFDs were found in the three options MCQs. The 3 option MCQs had the best number of good distractors with 0 NFDs, hence they have the reasonable difficulty and best discrimination.
Oxyurid (Nematoda) Egg from Coprolites from Brazil

Paleoparasitology began with the pioneering works of Ruffer (1910, Brit. Med. J. 1: 16) and Szidat (1944, Zeitschr. Parasitenkd. 13: 265-274). Human tissues and coprolites were used for analysis; however animal coprolites also have been found and examined for parasites. We report here the results of parasitological examination of 9,000-year-old coprolites of lizards in which nematode eggs were found.
Multi-Factor Authentication for Public Displays using the Semantic Ambient Media Framework: Interconnecting Semantic Media and Devices

—In this contribution, we present an approach to encounter various challenges of the growing amount of media available in our digital society as well as an individual’s need to access structure and ordered information presents applying the Semantic Ambient Media Framework. The framework extends digital media, devices and applications, as well as services and with digital meta-data, interconnects them through semantic models, and makes them accessible in a Web-based API. In the event the API is accessed, the framework’s services tailor the media, depending on context they are used in, their semantic interconnection with other media, and the specific application, device, and context they are accessed from. A possibility to access the information stored within the Semantic Ambient Media Framework is showing media on public displays. In order for public displays to deliver private, personalized, or sensitive contents or provide access to user-specific functionality, authentication mechanisms are required. On public displays, authentication is subject to a number of risks, especially, if displays offer multi-touch interfaces or grow even larger. In this contribution, we present a multi-factor authentication system for public displays using the Semantic Ambient Media Framework. In our approach, no actual credentials have to be typed in on the public display, as this makes use of the users’ personal mobile devices and works with a one-time and location-based code. This contribution illustrates the concept and system architecture of the Semantic Ambient Media Framework in a working scenario together with multi-factor authentication for public displays that protects against threads, such as shoulder surfing, thermal attacks, or smudge attacks, which we also illustrate. We conclude with an outline of future work.