Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Soil seed bank variation patterns according to environmental factors in a natural grassland

5 ABSTRACT - This research aimed to determine the soil seed bank and its relationship with environmental factors that have an influence in the distribution of the vegetation above the ground in an excluded area of natural grassland in the South of Brazil. Most of the 122 identified species in the seed bank were perennials. Data analysis indicated three distinct community groups, according to the size and composition of the soil seed bank in lowlands with permanent wet soils, in lowlands and in other areas. In general, lowlands were characterized by low-fertility soils, high moisture and aluminum contents, being spatially homogeneous habitats and, therefore, more restricted to vegetation heterogeneity than other parts of the relief. Environmental factors most associated with soil seed bank size and composition were relief position and their co-related soil variables such as: soil moisture content, potassium content, organic matter, basic saturation of cation exchange soil capacity, exchangeable basics sum of the soil and clay soil content. According to that, relief position, associated with combined effects of soil chemical properties related to it, determines the observed variation pattern of the soil seed bank, as a reflection of the vegetation above the area.
COMPORTAMENTO DIÁRIO DE VACAS DA RAÇA GIROLANDO COM DERMATITE DIGITAL MANEJADAS EXTENSIVAMENTE

Las enfermedades digitales pueden comprometer la pr oductividad de los bovinos reduciendo los lucros de los criadores. En este estudio fue evaluado el comportamiento diario en vacas de la raza Girolando en lactacion y que presentaban de rmatitis digital. Las vacas fueron manejadas de forma extensiva antes y despues del tratamiento quirurgico de las lesiones. Fueron usadas 30 vacas, con diferente peso y edad, distribuidas en dos grupos de 15 animales. En el grupo I (GI) las vacas presentaban dermatitis digital (DD) en diferentes grados de evolucion clinica. En el grupo II (GII) fueron incl uidas vacas clinicamente saludables. Fueron analizados el tiempo de pastoreo (TPA), la ruminaci on en estacion (RPC), la ruminacion en decubito (RDC), la ingestion de agua (FIA), el tiem po de ocio en estacion (OPC) y el tiempo de ocio en decubito (ODC). Los resultados fueron an alizados por el test de Tukey para la comparacion de las medias. El nivel de significanci a fue p<0,05, dentro de los grupos y entre los grupos. La dermatitis digital, especialmente la s formas mas graves de la enfermedad, tienen influencia sobre el comportamiento diario de las hembras bovinas manejadas de forma extensiva y el tratamiento quirurgico em GI de las lesiones mejora lo comportamiento de los animales enfermos (TPA: 49,27% de tiempo total X 6 4,72%; RPQ: 4,01% X 5,14%; RDC: 18,46% X 11,35%; OPQ:8,92% X 11%; ODC: 16,91% X 4,6 2%; FIA: 2,43% X 3,17%) alcanzando valores proximos a los de las vacas salu dables
Political Turnover, Bureaucratic Turnover, and the Quality of Public Services

We study how political turnover in mayoral elections in Brazil affects public service provision by local governments. Exploiting a regression discontinuity design for close elections, we find that municipalities with a new party in office experience upheavals in the municipal bureaucracy: new personnel are appointed across multiple service sectors, and at both managerial and non-managerial levels. In education, the increase in the replacement rate of personnel in schools controlled by the municipal government is accompanied by test scores that are 0.05–0.08 standard deviations lower. In contrast, turnover of the mayor’s party does not impact local (non-municipal) schools. These findings suggest that political turnover can adversely affect the quality of public services when the bureaucracy is not shielded from the political process. (JEL D72, D73, H75, H76, J45, O17)
Addressing the Challenges of Survey Fatigue for Lifelong User Modelling: Initialising Baseline Models Using Community Psychometric Values

Addressing the issue of survey fatigue is of vital importance for systems that support lifelong learning. This is because of the increasingly complex methods of measurement needed to initialise cognitive user models. This paper describes a baseline cognitive modelling approach whereby user models can be initialised with psychometric measurements form the target community. A critical analysis of current challenges and solutions to overcoming the cold-start condition are outlined. The current approaches to initialising the user model in Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) are also described. Evaluation of this baseline modelling approach applied to metacognition indicates this method can suitably describe a learner community and result in positive learning outcomes.
The Liberating Power of Laughter: Le Placard and Gazon maudit

French/Sex/Comedy In Le Placard (2001, written and directed by Francis Veber), an accountant in a condom factory overhears that he is about to lose his job and pretends to be homosexual, making it politically incorrect for his boss to carry out his downsizing plan. In Gazon maudit (1995, written and directed by Josiane Balasko), a lonely housewife embarks on an amorous adventure with another woman, throwing her family into turmoil. Both comedies were fabulously successful with a broad, mainstream public. Gazon maudit attracted almost four million spectators (3,981,774) throughout France during its forty-six weeks of exclusivité. Le Placard proved even more popular: it sold a million tickets in the five days following its release, and by the end of its seventeen weeks of exclusivité, over five million people (5,316,614) had seen the film in 565 French movie theaters. The Nouvel Observateur celebrated its “rire libérateur,” and Le Temps jubilated that Le Placard helped French cinema gain market share ascendancy over Hollywood.1 Although both films addressed a middle-class, heterosexual audience (Le Placard was even charged with being “ultrabourgeois”2), both also drew crowds of openly homosexual spectators in France. In the United States, Le Placard became the second most popular French film after Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain, released the same year. Le Placard was praised by the Gay and Lesbian Review (U.S.) for raising issues “extremely important for employees, gay or straight” and for showing how “those in the closet may do a disservice to themselves and others. ”3 Le Placard was nominated
Enzymatically degraded Eurylon 6 HP‐PG: ethylcellulose film coatings for colon targeting in inflammatory bowel disease patients

Objectives Film coatings based on blends of Eurylon 6 HP‐PG (a hydroxypropylated and pregelatinized high amylose starch) and ethylcellulose were to be evaluated as promising coating materials for site‐specific drug delivery to the colon of patients suffering from inflammatory bowel diseases.
Ecological effects of an anionic C12–15 AE‐3S alkylethoxysulfate surfactant in outdoor stream mesocosms

The ecological assessment of a C12–15 AE‐3S linear alkylethoxysulfate (AES) anionic surfactant to invertebrates, fish, periphyton, and an aquatic macrophyte was conducted in a 30‐d outdoor stream mesocosm study with five replicated concentrations and controls. Alkylethoxysulfate structural integrity and exposure concentrations were maintained during the 30‐d treatment period, with average measured concentrations of 0.7, 1.27, 2.2, 4.31, and 10.18 mg/L. No effects were observed on the aquatic macrophyte Myriophyllum aquaticum at the highest concentration tested. A sevenfold increase in periphyton biomass at 10.18 mg/L was observed relative to controls primarily because of increases in density of the filamentous alga Mougeotia sp. Densities of the invertebrates Annelida (Stylaria), Amphipoda, Copepoda, Trichoptera (Hydropsychidae), Cladocera, and Diptera (Chironomidae) significantly decreased in streams treated with AES at 10.18 mg/L. Densities of drifting invertebrates were not observed to be affected at any concentration tested. Reproduction of Pimephales promelas significantly decreased at 1.27 mg/L and growth of juvenile Lepomis macrochirus was significantly affected at 4.31 mg/L. Multivariate cluster analysis and nonmetric multidimensional scaling ordination showed distinct structural effects on the invertebrate communities in the streams treated with AES at 10.18 mg/ L compared to the control and streams treated at <10.18 mg/L through the 30‐d treatment. Convergence of the communities treated at 10.18 mg/L toward control communities in the ordination suggests recovery in these communities after termination of surfactant treatment. The results from this study support an ecosystem value of >2.0 mg/L, and indicate that the conservative Dutch risk assessment for AESs has at least a fivefold margin of safety.
Practising mental rotation using interactive Desktop Mental Rotation Trainer (iDeMRT)

An experimental study involving 30 undergraduates (mean age = 20.5 years) in mental rotation (MR) training was conducted in an interactive Desktop Mental Rotation Trainer (iDeMRT). Stratified random sampling assigned students into one experimental group and one control group. The former trained in iDeMRT and the latter trained in conventional condition. A multifactorial pretest posttest design procedure was used and data were analysed using two-way analysis of covariance. Overall, there was substantial improvement in MR accuracy. Main effects of training and gender were observed, indicating that iDeMRT group and boys outperformed the control group and girls respectively. In addition, an interaction between training method and gender was present, indicating that boys were more accurate when trained in iDeMRT and performed moderately in conventional method. Female participants achieved equivalent improvement gain in MR accuracy regardless of the training conditions used. For the speed measure of MR, no appreciable improvement was observed after training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Nonparametric Estimation in a Markov “Illness–Death” Process from Interval Censored Observations with Missing Intermediate Transition Status

Summary In many clinical trials patients are intermittently assessed for the transition to an intermediate state, such as occurrence of a disease‐related nonfatal event, and death. Estimation of the distribution of nonfatal event free survival time, that is, the time to the first occurrence of the nonfatal event or death, is the primary focus of the data analysis. The difficulty with this estimation is that the intermittent assessment of patients results in two forms of incompleteness: the times of occurrence of nonfatal events are interval censored and, when a nonfatal event does not occur by the time of the last assessment, a patient's nonfatal event status is not known from the time of the last assessment until the end of follow‐up for death. We consider both forms of incompleteness within the framework of an “illness–death” model. We develop nonparametric maximum likelihood (ML) estimation in an “illness–death” model from interval‐censored observations with missing status of intermediate transition. We show that the ML estimators are self‐consistent and propose an algorithm for obtaining them. This work thus provides new methodology for the analysis of incomplete data that arise from clinical trials. We apply this methodology to the data from a recently reported cancer clinical trial ( Bonner et al., 2006 , New England Journal of Medicine354, 567–578) and compare our estimation results with those obtained using a Food and Drug Administration recommended convention.
Return to work and job retention--increasingly important outcomes in occupational health research.

Print ISSN: 0355-3140 Electronic ISSN: 1795-990X Copyright (c) Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health Editorial Scand J Work Environ Health 2011;37(2):81-84 doi:10.5271/sjweh.3145 Return to work and job retention – increasingly important outcomes in occupational health research by Viikari-Juntura E, Burdorf A Affiliation: Disability Prevention Centre, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, 00330 Helsinki, Finland. eira.viikari-juntura@ttl.fi Refers to the following texts of the Journal: 2010;36(5):349-432 2006;32(2):89-168 2010;36(1):1-8
Composition of Dental Plaque Obtained from Eight Sites in the Mouth of a Ten-Year-Old Girl

A study was made of the dental plaque obtained from the proximal surfaces of two premolars from a 10-year-old girl. Four sites were examined on each tooth. There were differences in the proportions of various microorganisms in both the plaque flora inhabiting different sites around the individual teeth, and the flora of the two teeth.
The International Journal of Biostatistics Statistical Learning of Origin-Specific Statically Optimal Individualized Treatment Rules

Consider a longitudinal observational or controlled study in which one collects chronological data over time on a random sample of subjects. The time-dependent process one observes on each subject contains time-dependent covariates, time-dependent treatment actions, and an outcome process or single final outcome of interest. A statically optimal individualized treatment rule (as introduced in van der Laan et. al. (2005), Petersen et. al. (2007)) is a treatment rule which at any point in time conditions on a user-supplied subset of the past, computes the future static treatment regimen that maximizes a (conditional) mean future outcome of interest, and applies the first treatment action of the latter regimen. In particular, Petersen et. al. (2007) clarified that, in order to be statically optimal, an individualized treatment rule should not depend on the observed treatment mechanism. Petersen et. al. (2007) further developed estimators of statically optimal individualized treatment rules based on a past capturing all confounding of past treatment history on outcome. In practice, however, one typically wishes to find individualized treatment rules responding to a user-supplied subset of the complete observed history, which may not be sufficient to capture all confounding. The current article provides an important advance on Petersen et. al. (2007) by developing locally efficient double robust estimators of statically optimal individualized treatment rules responding to such a user-supplied subset of the past. However, failure to capture all confounding comes at a price; the static optimality of the resulting rules becomes originspecific. We explain origin-specific static optimality, and discuss the practical importance of the proposed methodology. We further present the results of a data analysis in which we estimate a statically optimal rule for switching antiretroviral therapy among patients infected with resistant HIV virus.
ANIMAL MODELS OF OSTEOPOROSIS: CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Animal models are necessary to study the pathogenic mechanisms of osteoporosis and to test new drugs. The aim of this study was to critically evaluate the experimental models of osteoporosis in rats or mice for an appropriate use in new drug testing. There are five distinct groups of experimental methods for inducing osteoporosis: surgical, immobilization, pharmacological, dietary and transgenic models. Combinations such as ovariectomy plus immobilization or administration of glucocorticoids or diet changes, have the advantage of reducing the time when bone mass loss becomes apparent, especially for cortical bone. No experimental model can reproduce human osteoporosis; therefore, for testing new drugs the selection of a suitable model is essential.
Methodological considerations for the assessment of ADP induced platelet aggregation using the Multiplate® analyser

Factors affecting the Multiplate® assay's analytical precision have not been well defined. We investigated the effect of methodological factors on the measurement of ADP-induced platelet aggregation using the Multiplate® assay. ADP-induced platelet aggregation was analysed in whole blood using the Multiplate® assay. We tested the reproducibility of measurement, the effect of different anticoagulants (hirudin, citrate and heparin) and the effect of time delay (15, 30, 45, 60, 120 and 180 minutes) between sampling and analysis in patients. The use of a manual calibrated pipette with the Multiplate® analyser was also tested. The mean coefficient of variation (CV) using the manufacturers recommended methods was 10.8 ± 8.7% (n = 30). When compared to hirudin (359.5 ± 309 AU*min) the use of heparin (521.0 ± 316 AU*min, p = 0.0015) increased platelet aggregation, while the use of sodium citrate (245.0 ± 209 AU*min, p = 0.003) decreased the platelet aggregation (n = 20). The addition of CaCl2 to the citrate-anticoagulated blood resulted in platelet aggregation levels similar to hirudin. Platelet aggregation varied with time delay (n = 20). When compared to platelet aggregation at 30 minutes (391.1 ± 283 AU*min), platelet aggregation was reduced at 60 minutes (335.2 ± 251.6 AU*min, p < 0.05), 120 minutes (198.8 ± 122.9 AU*min, p < 0.001) and 180 minutes (160.7 ± 92 AU*min, p < 0.001). The use of a manual calibrated pipette did not significantly reduce the mean CV in the assay (n = 20). Methodological factors such as the anticoagulant used and the time delay should be standardised where possible to reduce variability, and allow thresholds derived from one study to be comparable across multiple studies.
Increased brain l‐arginine availability facilitates cutaneous heat loss induced by running exercise

The effects of increased brain availability of l‐arginine (l‐arg), a precursor for nitric oxide synthesis, on core body temperature (Tcore) and cutaneous heat loss were evaluated in running rats. One week prior to the experiments, adult male Wistar rats received the following implants: a chronic guide cannula in the lateral cerebral ventricle and a temperature sensor in the abdominal cavity. On the day of the experiments, the rats were assigned to receive a 2‐μL intracerebroventricular injection of either NaCl (0.15 mol/L) or l‐arg solution (0.825, 1.65 or 3.30 mol/L); Tcore and tail skin temperature were measured while the rats ran at a speed of 18 m/min until they were fatigued. l‐arginine induced a dose‐dependent reduction in the threshold Tcore required for cutaneous heat loss (38.09 ± 0.20°C for 3.30‐mol/L l‐arg vs 38.61 ± 0.10°C for saline; P < 0.05), which attenuated the exercise‐induced hyperthermia. Although the rats treated with l‐arg presented a lower Tcore at the end of exercise (~0.7°C lower after treatment with the highest dose), no changes in the time to fatigue were observed relative to the control trial. These results suggest that brain l‐arg controls heat loss during exercise, most likely by modulating the sympathetic vasoconstrictor tonus to skin vessels. Furthermore, despite facilitating cutaneous heat loss mechanisms, increased brain l‐arg availability did not enhance physical performance.
GeneMachine: gene prediction and sequence annotation

MOTIVATION A number of free-standing programs have been developed in order to help researchers find potential coding regions and deduce gene structure for long stretches of what is essentially 'anonymous DNA'. As these programs apply inherently different criteria to the question of what is and is not a coding region, multiple algorithms should be used in the course of positional cloning and positional candidate projects to assure that all potential coding regions within a previously-identified critical region are identified. RESULTS We have developed a gene identification tool called GeneMachine which allows users to query multiple exon and gene prediction programs in an automated fashion. BLAST searches are also performed in order to see whether a previously-characterized coding region corresponds to a region in the query sequence. A suite of Perl programs and modules are used to run MZEF, GENSCAN, GRAIL 2, FGENES, RepeatMasker, Sputnik, and BLAST. The results of these runs are then parsed and written into ASN.1 format. Output files can be opened using NCBI Sequin, in essence using Sequin as both a workbench and as a graphical viewer. The main feature of GeneMachine is that the process is fully automated; the user is only required to launch GeneMachine and then open the resulting file with Sequin. Annotations can then be made to these results prior to submission to GenBank, thereby increasing the intrinsic value of these data. AVAILABILITY GeneMachine is freely-available for download at http://genome.nhgri. nih.gov/genemachine. A public Web interface to the GeneMachine server for academic and not-for-profit users is available at http://genemachine.nhgri. nih.gov. The Web supplement to this paper may be found at http://genome.nhgri. nih.gov/genemachine/supplement/.
Bevölkerung: Fakten - Trends - Ursachen - Erwartungen

Das Bundesinstitut fur Bevolkerungsforschung hat es sich daher nach einer dankenswerten Anregung durch sein Kuratorium zur Aufgabe gemacht, aktuell und allgemein verstandlich uber die demographische Situation in Deutschland zu informieren. Die Authors der Brochure wollen es in Form von Trendaussagen, detaillierten Beschreibungen und graphischen Darstellungen erleichtern, sich einen Uberblick uber den demographischen Wandel, seine Ursachen und Konsequenzen in Deutschland zu verschaffen. Sie werden erklaren, warum die Bevolkerung immer alter wird und welche Konsequenzen fur sozialen Sicherungssysteme daraus entstehen. Die Authors werden zeigen, dass Deutschland zu den Niedrig-Fertilitats-Landern gehort und die Ursachen dafur nennen. Es wird beschrieben, wie sich die Formen partnerschaftlichen Zusammenlebens verandern. Die Authors machen auf die steigende Scheidungshaufigkeit aufmerksam und weisen darauf hin, wie wichtig die Integration der auslandischen Mitburger ist.
An Empirical Study for Security of Windows DLL Files Using Automated API Fuzz Testing

Fuzz testing is a method that inserts an unexpected data into input of a software system and finds defects of it in order to perform security testing. In this paper , We proposed a novel methodology that performed API fuzz testing automatically and evaluated it for Windows system that most of people in the world used. We implemented an automated API fuzz testing tool that our methodology applied to. Using this tool, we experimented on 1,182 DLL files and 6,117 API functions in a system fold of Windows XP SP2. We found 177 faults in them. Among faults, 10 faults are related to control flow of a program.
Pollinator Power: Nutrition Security Benefits of an Ecosystem Service

The world has been abuzz with the dramatic losses of cultivated honey bees due to colony collapse disorder1 as well as declines of native pollinator species across the globe.2,3,4 Scientists have recently begun calculating the extent to which food crops depend on animal pollinators including bees, butterflies, and bats,5 with one study assigning an economic value to the “ecosystem service” provided by pollinators at approximately $167 billion.6 Even more recently, several other new studies have offered evidence that pollinators may also have a beneficial impact on nutrition security—the availability of essential macro- and micronutrients in the human diet.7,8,9 It’s well known that pollinators affect crop yields and thus market prices. New studies are showing they can affect the nutritional value of foods, too. “It’s really well known that pollination changes the yields of crops and the economics of farming,” says Taylor Ricketts, director of the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont. It’s becoming better known, he says, that pollination also affects the nutritional value of foods. Lack of the three macronutrients (fats, protein, and carbohydrates) and numerous essential micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) can cause specific nutrient-deficiency conditions as well as weaken the immune system, stunt development, and greatly increase mortality from other diseases.10,11 Already, about 795 million people worldwide chronically lack adequate calories and protein,12 and 2 billion suffer from micronutrient deficiencies (so-called hidden hunger). 11 According to new estimates, a reduction in pollination services could worsen these problems in certain areas already struggling to overcome them.