Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) of Vitellogenin in Temperate Basses (Genus Morone): Plasma and In Vitro Analyses

Abstract Blood levels of the egg yolk precursor vitellogenin (VTG) can be used as a definitive marker for the onset and progress of maturation in female teleosts. In the present study, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to measure VTG in blood plasma from three species of temperate basses. The antigen capture, competitive ELISA is based on a rabbit antiserum raised against striped bass Morone saxatilis VTG and uses purified striped bass VTG as standard and in the final antigen capture step. The assay was validated for detecting VTG in the plasma of maturing female striped bass, white perch M. americana and white bass M. chrysops. Serial dilutions of blood plasma from vitellogenic females of all three species yielded VTG curves that paralleled the standard curve in the ELISA, whereas no cross reactivity was observed for plasma obtained from males of any Morone species. The working range of the ELISA was 33–1,118 ng/mL (90–10% of binding), and the intra- and interassay coefficients o.
Multiplier Effects of Government Spending: A Tale of China

Government spending plays an emportant role in determining economic performance in China. As an example, China's rapid recovery during the recent world financial crisis was due to its aggressive 4-trillion RMB government stimulus program. However, China's government spending programs are also known for their notorious inefficiency and inflationary consequences (such as building highways that lead to nowhere and ghost towns that nobody wants to live). This paper quantifies the macroeconomic effects of government spending in China. We show that (i) government spending in China Granger-causes output and investment booms as well as inflation, and (ii) it has a multiplier close to (or larger than) 3. The large multiplier effects are found not only in aggregate time series data but also in panel data at the provincial level. We provide a theoretical model with market failures and Monte Carlo analysis to rationalize our empirical findings. Specifically, we build a model that can generate boom-bust cycles and multiplier effects similar to those observed in China, and use the model as a laboratory (data generating process) to gage whether structural VARs can yield consistent estimates of the theoretical multiplier in short samples. Our Monte Carlo analysis supports the large multiplier found in China.
The Decoupling of Farm Programs: Revisiting the Wealth Effect

Recent reforms of agricultural policies in developed countries have introduced direct payments as replacements for traditional production-enhancing instruments. Whereas these new instruments can, in principle, influence production through several channels, current empirical studies show no significant impact on production; direct payments mainly increase land values. In this article, we revisit the evaluation of the coupling effects passing through the wealth of agricultural households. The initial wealth of these agents, while mainly being in the form of land asset holding, is always assumed to be fixed. To the contrary, we show theoretically and through an empirical simulation exercise that once the impact of farm programs on initial wealth is properly accounted for, the measure of the coupling effects is not as negligible as found in previous studies. Copyright 2010, Oxford University Press.
IS CLINICAL EXAMINATION RELIABLE IN DIAGNOSIS OF DEVELOPMENTAL DYSPLASIA OF THE HIP

Purpose: To assess the sensitivity and specificity of clinical examination com- pared with ultrasonography (USG) in diagnosing developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH). Methods: The files of children aged 6 months or younger who were born at the Baskent University Hospitals in the years 2000-2002 were examined. Af- ter examination of 443 infants by an experienced paediatrician, an orthopaedic surgeon evaluated all neonate hips by USG. The validity of the clinical exami- nation results versus the validity of the USG examination results was assessed and analysed. Results: Of the 443 children, 55.8% were female and 44.2% were male; 74.7% of the infants having DDH were female and 25.3% were male (P < 0.05). Of the infants with DDH, 8.8% had a family history of the disorder. Analysis of the validity of the clinical examination results compared with USG examination re- sults showed the sensitivity, specificity, (+) and (-) predictive values of clinical assessment to be 38.5%, 84.9%, 39.8%, and 84.2%, respectively. Conclusions: We recommend USG examinations for all infants at high risk for DDH because the examination is non-invasive, repeatable, inexpensive, and has no risk of ionizing radiation. Additionally, there is no need for sedation or contrast material administration. Key Words: Developmental Dysplasia Of The Hip, Sensitivity, Specificity, Ultrasonography. GELIŞIMSEL KALCA DISPLAZISININ TANISINDA KLINIK MUAYENE GUVENILIR MIDIR? OZ Amac: Bu calismanin amaci gelisimsel kalca displazisinin (GKD) tanisinda fizik muayenenin sensitivitesinin ve spesifitesinin ultrasonografi (USG) ile de- gerlendirilmesidir. Gerec ve Yontem: Bu calismada 2000-2002 yillari arasinda, Baskent Univer- sitesi Hastanesi’nde dogmus 6 aydan kucuk cocuklarin dosyalari incelenmistir. 443 yeni dogmus cocugun once klinik muayenesi pediatrist tarafindan yapilmis daha sonra ortopedist tarafindan USG ile degerlendirilmistir. Fizik muayene bulgularinin USG’ye gore gecerliligi degerlendirilmis ve analiz edilmistir. Bulgular: 443 cocugun %55,8’i kiz ve %44,2’si erkekti; GKD olan bebeklerin %74,7’si kiz ve %25,3’u erkekti (P<.05). GKD olan bebeklerin %8,8’sinde aile hikâyesi vardi. Fizik muayenenin USG ile karsilastirildiginda duyarlilik, seci- cilik, pozitif ve negatif beklenen degerleri sirasiyla %38.5, %84.9, %39.8 ve %84.2 oldugu gorulmustur. Sonuclar: Sonuc olarak, GKD acisindan yuksek riskli olan tum yeni dogan- larda girisimsel olmadigi, tekrarlanabilir oldugu, pahali olmadigi ve iyonize radyasyon riski bulunmadigi icin USG’yi oneriyoruz. Ayrica, bu uygulamada sedasyona veya kontrast madde uygulanmasina ihtiyac yoktur. Anahtar Kelimeler: Gelisimsel Kalca Displazisi, Duyarlilik, Secicilik, Ult- rasonografi.
MINERALOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF A REACTIVE TANK IN A PASSIVE AMD TREATMENT SYSTEM AT MONTE ROMERO (IBERIAN PYRITE BELT, SW SPAIN)

An acid mine drainage passive treatment system, consisting in three alkaline reactive tanks and six decanter ponds, has been installed at the Monte Romero mining area (Iberian Pyrite Belt, south-western Spain). This study is focused on the chemically induced precipitates formed in the calcite-base first alkaline reactive tank, (T1), of the treatment after one year of operation. For this purpose all the reactive material and precipitates from the first tank were extracted, and samples at different depths were collected. Solid samples were analyzed using conventional methods, including XRD and differential XRD (DXRD), calcimetry, SEM-EDS, sequential extractions and wet chemical analysis by ICP-OES. The study reveals the existence of three mineralogical zones in the precipitates that were formed in the first upper 30 cm of the tank’s reactive material. These zones have been named on the basis of the main mineralogy as: 1) "Schwertmannite >> Goethite", 2) "Goethite >> Schwertmannite", 3) "Hydrobasaluminite + Gypsum". An important finding for the optimization of the treatment is that limestone is just consumed through the first 30 cm of the reactive material of T1; however an armouring process is localized at 10-15 cm depth due to the precipitation of hydrobasaluminite coating the limestone
Forecasting Stock Market Realized Variance with Echo State Neural Networks

Echo State Neural Networks (ESN) were applied to forecast the realized variance time series of 19 major stock market indices. Symmetric ESN and asymmetric AESN models were constructed and compared with the benchmark realized variance models HAR and AHAR that approximate the long memory of the realized variance process with a heterogeneous auto-regression. The results show that asymmetric models generally outperform symmetric ones, indicating that a correlation between volatility and returns plays an important role for volatility forecasting. Additionally, models utilizing a logarithmic transformation of the time series achieved generally better results than models applied directly to the realized variance. Echo State Neural Networks outperformed HAR and AHAR models for several important indices (S&P500, DJIA and Nikkei indices), but on average they achieved slightly worse results than the AHAR model. Nevertheless, the results show that Echo State Neural Networks represent an easy-to-use and accurate tool for realized variance forecasting, whose performance may potentially be further improved with meta-parameter optimization.
Assessment of some selected heavy metals in soot from the exhaust of heavy duty trucks and power generating plants in Nigeria by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer

Some selected heavy metals were determined in soot samples collected from heavy duty automobiles and diesel power generating plants in Idah Local Government Area of Kogi State, Nigeria. The results ind 0icated a high concentration of Pb, Cr, Cu and Mn in all the samples. Cadmium was observed in six of the samples and was not detected in samples MB3 and G1. Of all the parameters analysed, Pb had the highest concentrations of 12.1352±5.007 ppm in sample T 2, followed by MB 3 at 5.1573±0.604 ppm. However the average discharge of Pb to the environment was 4.4511 ppm. Average discharge of Cd in the soot samples was 0.3964 ppm, while that of Cr, Cu and Mn were 0.4898 ppm, 0.8612 ppm and 1.8851 ppm respectively. These values are far above the World Health Organization maximum acceptable limits for air and water emissions and are therefore high source of pollution with its attendant health risks as previously reported in literature. © 2009 International Formulae Group. All rights reserved. Keywords: Soot, FAAS, Pollution, Heavy metals.
Tunable Entanglement Sudden Death and Birth in Cavity QED with Nonlinear Kerr-Like Medium

The influence of nonlinear Kerr-like medium on the phenomenon of entanglement sudden death and birth in a double Jaynes–Cummings model is investigated. It is shown that the entanglement sudden death and birth phenomenon may appear in this system and the duration of entanglement sudden death and birth can be controlled by the nonlinear Kerr-like medium. Particularly, the phenomenon of entanglement sudden death and birth disappears one after another if we increase the value of the Kerr coefficient χ continuously, and all disappears if the value of the Kerr coefficient χ is large enough.
Staging lung cancer: Current controversies and strategies

A consistent approach to staging is required for the rational management of lung cancer. This paper was prepared at the request of the Standards Committee of the Canadian Thoracic Society, and reviews and discusses the relative merits of the available methods of staging. Whichever methods are chosen by a particular institution, the following points must be stressed. No patient can be considered automatically "unresectable" when chest radiography and/ or computed tomography demonstrate adenopathy or only suggest local invasion. Clinical and/or radiographical evidence suggesting extensive local or metastatic disease should be evaluated as completely as possible before subjecting the patient to a possible "nontherapeutic" thoracotomy. Finally, in some cases thoracotomy is required to decide whether the lesion is "completely" resectable.
Development of lateral flow immunoassay for rapid detection of oxytetracycline in honey samples

A lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) was developed in the competitive reaction format and applied to test residues of the antimicrobial oxyteracycline (OTC) in honey samples. To prepare the assay test, a nitrocellulose membrane was stripped with hapten OTC3 conjugate to ovoalbumin egg protein (OVA-OTC3) and goat anti-rabbit antisera (GAR) as capture and control reagents, respectively. Polyclonal antisera against oxyteracycline was conjugated to colloidal gold nanoparticles and used as the detection reagent. The visual detection limit (cut-off value) of the oxyteracycline LFIA was 20 ng/g, and qualitative results were obtained within 10 min without expensive equipment. The assay was evaluated with OTC spiked honey samples from different geographical origin (n = 25). The results were in good agreement with those obtained from liquid chromatography separation and mass spectroscopy detection (LC-MS), indicating that the LFIA test might be used as a semiquantitative method for the determination of oxyteracycline. The system was also highly specific, showing no cross-reactivity to other chemically similar antibiotics.
The effect of adding Pregabalin to Conventional Treatment in schizophrenia Patients, for improving Positive, negative and generalsymptoms of These Patient

Schizophrenia is a complex and heterogeneous disorder, with multiple, and varying symptoms. For this very reason it cannot be distinguished based on inherent disorder process, effects of medication therapy, or continuous longterm hospitalization. To date, much effort has been made to identify drugs, effective in the treatment of its symptoms. Yet, despite great progress made in this path, treatment of these symptoms has not had any significant success. Thus, the aim of the present study is to examine the effect of adding the drug Pregabalin to the customary drugs of the patients with schizophrenia for improvement in positive, negative, and general signs of these patients. The method used, in this study, was quasi-experimental. The type of objective was functional, having pre-test – post-test design, with a control group. The population, in the study, consisted of 60 schizophrenic patients, hospitalized in the serenity center, who had been diagnosed according to the standards of DSM – 5, and were placed on a fixed dose, of customary medications, for a minimum of 2 months. 30 individuals were selected according to random table, and, on that basis, were placed in two groups of test and control, with 15 members each. The measurement instrument used was PANSS. Pre-test was performed by having all 30 patients filling out the PANSS questionnaire. Then, Pregabalin (50 mg.) was administered, to the test group, two times a day, for a period of 6 weeks. No medication was added to that of the control group. Following a two-week period, both groups were reassessed using PANSS test. The obtained results were analyzed using covariance analysis, using SPSS software. Results of the study indicated that adding Pregabalin did not result in improvement in any of the symptoms (positive, negative, general, agitation, anxiety, and depression) in schizophrenia patients. The study results indicated that although symptoms (positive, negative, general, agitation, anxiety, and depression) were lowered in patients with schizophrenia, but this decline was not significant, and no significant difference was observed between the two groups of test and control.
Revisiting Approaches to Marine Spatial Planning: Perspectives on and Implications for the United States

Marine spatial planning (MSP) offers an operational framework to address sustainable and well-planned use of ocean space. Spatial allocation has traditionally been single-sector, which fails to account for multiple pressures on the marine environment and user conflicts. There is a need for integrated assessments of ocean space to advance quantitative tools and decision-making. Using the example of offshore wind energy, this article offers thoughts about how MSP has evolved in the United States and how the varying scales of MSP achieve different outcomes. Finally, a review of quantitative and qualitative studies that are needed to support MSP are presented.
Effect of Air Contaminants on Poultry Immunological and Production Performance

The concentration and particle size distribution of airborne particles and toxic gases in two commercial poultry houses were measured and analyzed. This field study was conducted at Al-Ahsa of Saudi Arabia in order to characterize air contaminants in the mechanically ventilated poultry houses under the climatic conditions of Saudi Arabia. In the mechanically ventilated poultry houses (M.V.), the mean Total Suspended Particle concentration (TSP) was 4.25 and 3.64 mg/m , respectively, the PM10 concentration 3 (particulate matter with a diameter less than or equal to 10 μm) was 2.26 and 1.79 mg/m , respectively and 3 the PM2.5 concentration (particulate matter with a diameter less than or equal to 2.5 μm) was 0.08 and 0.07 mg/m respectively. The TSP values were greater than the suggested threshold values for indoor air 3 contaminants in livestock buildings; however, the PM2.5 values of both houses did not exceed the suggested threshold values for indoor air contaminants in livestock buildings. The Geometric Mean Diameter (GMD) based on the mass concentration of particles in both houses was 8.45 and 8.31 μm, respectively. The concentration of NH3, CO2, SO2, NO2 and H2S was measured and the results indicated that ammonia was the dominant gas in both houses. Moreover, the majority of gases did not exceed the threshold values. At the M.V. poultry house, the concentration of airborne particles and toxic gases was strongly affected by the barn ventilation rate. The current results suggested that the increase of air contaminants and gases negatively affect the general productive performance and immune response under commercial conditions.
Explorer Planning for Social Interaction with Sensor Uncertainty

A robot coexisting with humans must not only be able to perform physical tasks, but must also be able to interact with humans in a socially appropriate manner. In this paper, we describe an extension of prior work on planning for task-based social interaction using a robot that must interact with multiple human agents in a simple bartending domain. We describe how the initial state representation developed for this robot has been extended to handle the full range of uncertainty resulting from the input sensors, and outline how the planner will use the resulting uncertainty in the state during plan generation.
Analysis of Expected and Actual Waiting Time in Fast Food Restaurants

People are willing to queue and pay to get food. Knowing peoples’ opinions on queuing is of interest to restaurant stakeholders since it and related actions have a direct effect on revenue. While most previous studies focused on dine-in restaurants, we observed queuing for fast food restaurants. Specifically, we observed the actual waiting time of customers for a number of fast food restaurants, and compared the metrics with waiting times that customers expected. During lunch time peak hours, customers spent on average 5.4 minutes waiting before they could get their orders. The 5.4 minutes consisted of 2.42 minutes of queuing time and 2.98 minutes of service time. This total waiting time is only slightly below the actual expected waiting time of 5.42 minutes. How the fast food restaurants try to manage the perceived waiting time of customers was also discussed.
Process Engineering Studies on Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles by Turkevitch Method

Process design of a reactor for gold nanoparticle (AuNP) synthesis requires reaction rate data and an appropriate kinetic model. In the present work, rate parameters for AuNP synthesis by Turkevitch method were investigated. Influences of process conditionsmolar ratio of reactants (chloroauric acid to trisodium citrate: 0.33 5.32) and temperature (333 -373 K) of reaction medium on kinetic parameters were studied. From an Arrhenius plot activation energy for AuNP synthesis reaction was estimated to be 21.69 ±2.3 kJ/mol suggesting that precursor reduction occurred in aqueous phase followed by diffusion controlled nucleation and aggregation of reduced metals ions forming larger nanoparticles. Increase or decrease of molar ratio beyond the optimal range (M = 0.75 1.35) led to slower reaction rate, larger particle diameter and formation of AuNPs, which were unsuitable for biological applications.
Functional-Optical Coherence Tomography: A Non-invasive Approach to Assess the Sympathetic Nervous System and Intrinsic Vascular Regulation

Sympathetic nervous system dysregulation and vascular impairment in neuronal tissue beds are hallmarks of prominent cardiorespiratory diseases. However, an accurate and convenient method of assessing SNA and local vascular regulation is lacking, hindering routine clinical and research assessments. To address this, we investigated whether spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT), that allows investigation of retina and choroid vascular responsiveness, reflects sympathetic activity in order to develop a quick, easy and non-invasive sympathetic index. Here, we compare choroid and retina vascular perfusion density (VPD) acquired with OCT and heart rate variability (HRV) to microneurography. We recruited 6 healthy males (26 ± 3 years) and 5 healthy females (23 ± 1 year) and instrumented them for respiratory parameters, ECG, blood pressure and muscle sympathetic nerve microneurography. Choroid VPD decreases with the cold pressor test, inhaled hypoxia and breath-hold, and increases with hyperoxia and hyperpnea suggesting that sympathetic activity dominates choroid responses. In contrast, retina VPD was unaffected by the cold pressor test, increased with hypoxia and breath hold and decreases with hyperoxia and hyperpnea, suggesting metabolic vascular regulation dominates the retina. With regards to integrated muscle sympathetic nerve activity, HRV had low predictive power whereas choroid VPD was strongly (inversely) correlated with integrated muscle sympathetic nerve activity (R = −0.76; p < 0.0001). These data suggest that Functional-OCT may provide a novel approach to assess sympathetic activity and intrinsic vascular responsiveness (i.e., autoregulation). Given that sympathetic nervous system activity is the main determinant of autonomic function, sympathetic excitation is associated with severe cardiovascular/cardiorespiratory diseases and autoregulation is critical for brain health, we suggest that the use of our new Functional-OCT technique will be of broad interest to clinicians and researchers.
SN 2013dx associated with GRB 130702A: a detailed photometric and spectroscopic monitoring and a study of the environment

Abstract We aim at characterizing SN 2013dx, associated with GRB 130702A, and their environment, through ground-based observational campaigns in the optical-IR band. We infer a synthesized 56Ni mass of ~0.2 M⊙, a photospheric velocity of the ejected material declining from ~ 2.7 × 104 km s−1 at 8 rest frame days from the explosion, to ~ 3.5× 103 km s−1 at 40 days, a kinetic energy of ~ 35 × 1051 erg, an ejected mass of ~ 7 M⊙ and a progenitor mass of ~ 25-30 M⊙. We also find that the host belongs to a group of galaxies, an unprecedented finding for a GRB-associated SN and, to our knowledge, for long GRBs in general.