Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Beneficial Alteration in Growth Performance, Immune Status, and Intestinal Microbiota by Supplementation of Activated Charcoal-Herb Extractum Complex in Broilers

This study aimed to examine the effects of activated charcoal-herb extractum complex (CHC) on the growth performance of broilers, inflammatory status, microbiota, and their relationships. A total of 864 1-day-old Arbor Acres male broilers (41.83 ± 0.64 g) were distributed to eight dietary treatments with six replicates (18 birds per replicate), which were a corn-soybean meal-based diet (NCON); basal diets supplemented with 250, 500, 750, or 1,000 mg/kg CHC, and three positive controls; basal diets supplemented with 200 mg/kg antibacterial peptide (AMP), 200 mg/kg calsporin (Probio) or 500 mg/kg montmorillonite. The study period was 42 days including the starter (day 0–21) and grower (day 22–42) phases. Compared with the NCON group, CHC supplementation (optimal dose of 500 mg/kg) increased (p < 0.05) growth performance and tended to increase feed conversion rate in broilers. CHC (optimal dose of 500 mg/kg) decreased the level of the interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) in serum and improved the levels of immunoglobulins A (IgA) and immunoglobulins A (IgM) in serum, and secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) in the mucosa of duodenum and jejunum (p < 0.05). In the ileum, CHC supplementation decreased community abundance represented by lower Sobs, Chao 1, Ace, and Shannon compared with NCON (p < 0.05). At the phylum level, CHC supplementation increased the abundance of Firmicutes, while decreasing the abundance of Bacteroidetes in ileum and cecum (p < 0.05). At the genus level, compared with the NCON group, CHC markedly reduced (p < 0.05) the abundances of pathogenic bacteria Alistipes in the ileum, which were negatively associated with the levels of SIgA and IL-1β in ileum mucosa. In conclusion, CHC had beneficial effects on growth performance, immune status, and intestinal microbiota composition. CHC had dual functions of absorption like clays and antibacterial like antibacterial peptides.
Optimal Design for PID Controller Based on DE Algorithm in Omnidirectional Mobile Robot

This paper introduces a omnidirectional mobile robot based on Mecanum wheel, which is used for conveying heavy load in a small space of the automatic warehousing logistics center. Then analyzes and establishes the omnidirectional chassis inverse and forward kinematic model. In order to improve the performance of motion, the paper proposes the optimal PID controller based on differential evolution algorithm. Finally, through MATLAB simulation, the results show that the kinematic model of mobile robot chassis is correct, further more the controller optimized by the DE algorithm working better than the traditional Z-N PID tuned. So the optimal scheme is reasonable and feasible, which has a value for engineering applications.
Walnut N-Acetylserotonin Methyltransferase Gene Family Genome-Wide Identification and Diverse Functions Characterization During Flower Bud Development

Melatonin widely mediates multiple developmental dynamics in plants as a vital growth stimulator, stress protector, and developmental regulator. N-acetylserotonin methyltransferase (ASMT) is the key enzyme that catalyzes the final step of melatonin biosynthesis in plants and plays an essential role in the plant melatonin regulatory network. Studies of ASMT have contributed to understanding the mechanism of melatonin biosynthesis in plants. However, AMST gene is currently uncharacterized in most plants. In this study, we characterized the JrASMT gene family using bioinformatics in a melatonin-rich plant, walnut. Phylogenetic, gene structure, conserved motifs, promoter elements, interacting proteins and miRNA analyses were also performed. The expansion and differentiation of the ASMT family occurred before the onset of the plant terrestrialization. ASMT genes were more differentiated in dicotyledonous plants. Forty-six ASMT genes were distributed in clusters on 10 chromosomes of walnut. Four JrASMT genes had homologous relationships both within walnut and between species. Cis-regulatory elements showed that JrASMT was mainly induced by light and hormones, and targeted cleavage of miRNA172 and miR399 may be an important pathway to suppress JrASMT expression. Transcriptome data showed that 13 JrASMT were differentially expressed at different periods of walnut bud development. WGCNA showed that JrASMT1/10/13/23 were coexpressed with genes regulating cell fate and epigenetic modifications during early physiological differentiation of walnut female flower buds. JrASMT12/28/37/40 were highly expressed during morphological differentiation of flower buds, associated with altered stress capacity of walnut flower buds, and predicted to be involved in the regulatory network of abscisic acid, salicylic acid, and cytokinin in walnut. The qRT-PCR validated the results of differential expression analysis and further provided three JrASMT genes with different expression profiles in walnut flower bud development. Our study explored the evolutionary relationships of the plant ASMT gene family and the functional characteristics of walnut JrASMT. It provides a valuable perspective for further understanding the complex melatonin mechanisms in plant developmental regulation.
Wheat-Thinopyrum Substitution Lines Imprint Compensation Both From Recipients and Donors

Even frequently used in wheat breeding, we still have an insufficient understanding of the biology of the products via distant hybridization. In this study, a transcriptomic analysis was performed for six Triticum aestivum-Thinopyrum elongatum substitution lines in comparison with the host plants. All the six disomic substitution lines showed much stronger “transcriptomic-shock” occurred on alien genomes with 57.43–69.22% genes changed expression level but less on the recipient genome (2.19–8.97%). Genome-wide suppression of alien genes along chromosomes was observed with a high proportion of downregulated genes (39.69–48.21%). Oppositely, the wheat recipient showed genome-wide compensation with more upregulated genes, occurring on all chromosomes but not limited to the homeologous groups. Moreover, strong co-upregulation of the orthologs between wheat and Thinopyrum sub-genomes was enriched in photosynthesis with predicted chloroplastic localization, which indicates that the compensation happened not only on wheat host genomes but also on alien genomes.
The Prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome Among Chinese University Students: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) has become a common public health issue among university students, impairing their physical and mental health. This meta-analysis aimed to examine the pooled prevalence of IBS and its associated factors among Chinese university students. Methods Databases of PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE (via EBSCO), CINAHL (via EBSCO), Wan Fang, CNKI and Weipu (via VIP) were systematically searched from inception date to May 31, 2021. Meta-analysis was performed using random-effects models. Meta-regression and subgroup analysis were used to detect the potential source of heterogeneity. Key Results A total of 22 cross-sectional studies (14 were in Chinese and 8 were in English) with 33,166 Chinese university students were included. The pooled prevalence of IBS was estimated as 11.89% (95% CI = 8.06%, 16.35%). The prevalence was 10.50% (95% CI = 6.80%, 15.87%) in Rome II criteria, 12.00% (95% CI = 8.23%, 17.17%) in Rome III criteria, and 3.66% (95% CI = 2.01%, 6.60%) in Rome IV criteria. The highest prevalence of IBS was 17.66% (95% CI = 7.37%, 36.64%) in North China, and the lowest was 3.18% (95% CI = 1.28%, 7.68%) in South China. Subgroup analyses indicated that gender, major, anxiety and depression symptoms, drinking and smoking behaviors were significantly associated with the prevalence of IBS. Meta-regression analyses suggested that region influenced prevalence estimates for IBS. Conclusions and Inferences This meta-analysis illustrated that IBS is very common in Chinese university students. Regular screening, effective prevention, and appropriate treatments should be implemented to reduce the risk of IBS in this population. More future studies should be conducted in Northeastern and Southwestern parts of China.
Exploring Trade-Offs Between Profit, Yield, and the Environmental Footprint of Potential Nitrogen Fertilizer Regulations in the US Midwest

Multiple strategies are available that could reduce nitrogen (N) fertilizer use in agricultural systems, ranging from voluntary adoption of new N management practices by farmers to government regulations. However, these strategies have different economic and political costs, and their relative effectiveness in decreasing N leaching has not been evaluated at scale, particularly concerning potential trade-offs in crop yield and profitability. To inform policy efforts in the US Midwest, we quantified the effects of four policy scenarios designed to reduce fertilizer N inputs without sacrificing maize yields below 95%. A simulated dataset for economically optimum N rates and corresponding leaching losses was developed using a process-based crop model across 4,030 fields over 30 years. Policy scenarios were (1) higher N prices, (2) N leaching fee, (3) N balance fee, and (4) voluntary reduction of N use by farmers, each implemented under a range of sub-levels (low to high severity). Aggregated results show that all policies decreased N rates and N leaching, but this was associated with an exponential increase in economic costs. Achieving an N leaching reduction target of 20% has an estimated pollution control cost of 30–37 US$/ha, representing 147 million US$/year when scaled up to the state level, which is in the range of current government payments for existing conservation programs. Notably, such control of N losses would reduce the environmental impact of agriculture on water quality (externalities) by an estimated 524 million US$/year, representing an increase in society welfare of 377 million US$/year. Among the four policies, directly charging a fee on N leaching helped mitigate economic losses while improving the point source reduction effect (i.e., targeting fields that were leaching hotspots) and better internalization effect (i.e., targeting fields with higher environmental impact costs). This study provides actionable data to inform the development of cost-effective N fertilizer regulations by integrating changes in crop productivity and N losses in economic terms at the field level.
Let's Buy With Social Commerce Platforms Through Social Media Influencers: An Indian Consumer Perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on the retail industry around the globe, including in the vast market of India. The response to the pandemic required stores to close and develop new ways to approach shoppers more efficiently. The worldwide usage of social media enabled the growth of social commerce (s-commerce). Influencers on s-commerce platforms use live broadcasting on their channels to promote endorsed products. The features of s-commerce influencers enhance users' trust in the online community and s-commerce intention, impacting their online purchasing intentions. In this study, we collected data from 379 Indian consumers to test the measurement and structural model using Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to verify our conceptual framework. We found that trust in the online community and s-commerce intention are antecedents of online purchase intentions. Additionally, the results demonstrate that trust in Indian social media influencers and s-commerce intentions are vital for boosting consumers' purchase intention, verifying the hypothesized mediating effect of these factors. Based on these results, we suggest several managerial actions that could enhance the value of s-commerce for franchises, executives, e-retailers, and e-marketplaces.
Compensación de acoplos en un array lineal de parches microstrip

In the design process of array antennas, coupling is one of the most important elements to be counted. The real feeding radiated coefficients can be quite different from the theoretical ones because of this effect. In this paper, a compensation method is presented allowing matching each element from the array. All the parameters which are part of the coupling process are obtained through measurements. An application to linear patch array is presented as an example.
History Taking as a Diagnostic Tool in Children With Chronic Cough

Chronic cough is a common symptom of many underlying respiratory and non-respiratory disorders and may be associated with less serious causes, such as gastroesophageal reflux and nasal diseases. Chronic cough in children differs from that in adults with respect to its etiologies and management since it can indicate a symptom of an underlying disease in children. Guidelines for managing chronic cough in children are based on recording the history, followed by physical examination, chest radiography, and spirometry. Thus, taking accurate respiratory history for coughing helps delineate the pathophysiological basis of the cause of chronic cough. Detailed history taking enhances the evaluation and treatment, and facilitates a tailored diagnostic identification of likely diagnoses. While studies have described evidence-based red flags in children with chronic cough, the value of skilled physicians regarding history taking has received less attention for the best patient care. In the present article, we outline the major questions comprising a detailed history taking for chronic cough in children.
Multimodal Behavioral Cues Analysis of the Sense of Presence and Social Presence During a Social Interaction With a Virtual Patient

User's experience evaluation is a key challenge when studying human-agent interaction. Besides user's satisfaction, this question is addressed in virtual reality through the sense of presence and social presence, generally assessed thanks to subjective post-experience questionnaires. We propose in this article a novel approach making it possible to evaluate automatically these notions by correlating objective multimodal cues produced by users to their subjective sense of presence and social presence. This study is based on a multimodal human-agent interaction corpus collected in a task-oriented context: a virtual environment aiming at training doctors to break bad news to a patient played by a virtual agent. Based on a corpus study, we applied machine learning approaches to build a model predicting the user's sense of presence and social presence thanks to specific multimodal behavioral cues. We explore different classification algorithms and machine learning techniques (oversampling and clustering) to cope with the dimensionality of the dataset and to optimize the prediction performance. We obtain models to automatically and accurately predict the level of presence and social presence. The results highlight the relevance of a multimodal model, based both on verbal and non-verbal cues as objective measures of (social) presence. The main contribution of the article is two-fold: 1/ proposing the first presence and social prediction presence models offering a way to automatically provide a user's experience evaluation and 2/ showing the importance of multimodal information for describing these notions.
INTERAÇÕES ESPONTÂNEAS EM AMBIENTE VIRTUAL DE APRENDIZAGEM POR MEIO DE DISPOSITIVOS MÓVEIS: UM MAPEAMENTO BASEADO NA ANÁLISE DE REGISTROS DE ACESSO AO SISTEMA

The current technological context has favored the development of an educational modality that has been called m-learning (or mobile learning), which is the educational use of mobile and portable devices in teaching and learning activities. Aligned with this theme, this paper presents the spontaneous use that higher education students have performed to access the Learning Management Systems (LMS) through their devices. From the accesses records of the LMS of a higher education institution, over a period of five years, the usage profile of the students was mapped describing their use through mobile devices. It were identified important features as the number of accesses, time spent in the system and some attributes of the mobile technologies adopted by the students. The results point to the increased interest by students, to a heterogeneous and complex technological environment that requires careful adaptation of LMSs to favor the incorporation of mobile technologies in the learning mediation.
Building school connections through integrating extracurricular programs

Grete E. Gerber BUILDING SCHOOL CONNECTIONS THROUGH INTEGRATING EXTRACURRICULAR PROGRAMS 2003/2004 Dr. Ronald Capasso Master of Arts in Administration The purpose of this study was to develop an integrated extracurricular program and evaluate its effectiveness on improving middle school students' emotional connectedness to the school. The integrated extracurricular program provided an opportunity for a diverse group of students to work cooperatively as a team toward a common goal. The program's first extracurricular activity was a Haunted House event which was utilized for this study. Participants in the study included 232 students and 21 staff members. Two separate surveys were administered to the student and staff participants. Each survey resulted in general opinions about the effectiveness of the integrated extracurricular program toward increasing student participation and improving students' emotional connectedness with the school. The data from the surveys and after school club attendance sheets revealed that the Integrated Extracurricular Program's event of the Haunted House had a positive impact on the students' sense of connectedness and involvement with the school. However, the program's impact on school unity was explored as discrepancies surfaced between the student and staff responses.
The Influence of the Water/Cement Ratio in the Open Porosity and in the Carbonation Front Advancing in Cementitious Matrix Composites

In this study involving cementitious matrix composites, the influence of the water/cement (w/c) ratio variation (0.48, 0.60, 0.70 and 0.75) was analyzed in its open pore structure and in the carbonation front advancing. Test specimens were molded in cylindrical dimensions of (5x10) cm and (2x4) cm for each mix proportions, and subjected into accelerated carbonation tests, at controlled exposure conditions. The open porosity of the material was obtained by using a helium pycnometer. A model based on Fick's second law was used to fit an equation to the curve of progress of the carbonation front over time. The results show that the water/cement ratio can highly influence the analyzed properties; the mathematical model used provided an excellent approximation of the advancing carbonation front trend, allowing a good evaluation of the carbonation coefficient (K) associated to each mixture proportioning.
ГЕНЕТИЧЕСКИЕ ПРОФИЛИ АДГЕЗИИ И АДГЕЗИВНАЯ ВАРИАБЕЛЬНОСТЬ УРОПАТОГЕННЫХ ШТАММОВ ESCHERICHIA COLI

Our study was aimed at investigating prevalence of adhesion genetic determinants among uropathogenic E. coli strains and assessing their correlation with level of specific and non-specific adhesion. E. coli bacterial cultures (n = 33) isolated from patients with urinary tract infection were examined. A phylogenetic group of strains was detected by using Clermont quadriplex-PCR method. Detection of fimbrial and afimbrial adhesin genes was carried out with end-point PCR. Level of erythrocyte-specific, non-specific hydrophobic and hydrophilic adhesion as well as biofilm formation were estimated by using standard methods. Adhesin genes were detected with the following frequencies: fimH — 75.76%, flu — 66.67%, iha — 39.40%, papC — 33.33%. Each of the genes sfaDE, upaG, afa/draBC and yqi was found with frequency 18.18%, whereas eaeA was not detected. Seven strains (21.21%) carried solely fimbrial adhesin genes, three strains (9.09%) — afimbrial adhesin genes, and twenty-one strains (63.64%) had genes of both adhesin types. Twenty-three individual adhesion genotypes were found among thirty-three UPEC strains. A combination of at least four genes were detected in 45.45% strains, among which 60% belonged to phylogroup B2. Odds ratio for adhesin gene prevalence in B2 group was calculated. It was shown that in B2 group yqi and sfaDE genes were detected by 14-fold more frequently (OR = 14.286) than in other phylogroups, and flu gene was observed at 10-fold higher rate (OR = 10.000). No correlation between such genes and level of adhesion to erythrocytes was found, whereas fimH, papC and upaG strains had higher level of non-specific hydrophilic adhesion. It was shown that fimbrial adhesins accounted for bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation stronger than afimbrial ones. Thicker biofilm tended to form on latex catheter surface for strains with positive genetic profile for adhesin gene carriers.
Water management in Mesopotamia from the sixth till the first millennium B.C.

The organization of ancient water control and irrigation has been a matter of debate in particular with regard to the role of the state. More often than not a deeply centralized management is assumed, especially for large‐scale water control and irrigation systems, despite the lack of empirical evidence. Such assumptions are frequently based on the perception that irrigation and water control requires a massive (though often unquantified) amount of capital investment, labor, and a level of coordination and cooperation which could only be provided and enforced by a central authority. Given that most early civilizations, in particular of the Old World developed in river valleys, allegedly supported such notions of a close correlation between water management and socio‐political complexity. More recently, claims about heavy state involvement in ancient irrigation and water management has been called into question, often however without being able to provide evidence for alternative explanations. Reason being that for most relevant cases we lack the necessary empirical evidence to measure the level of state involvement in the management of water and irrigation. The major exception is Mesopotamia with its exceptionally rich archeological and textual record on ancient water control which allows for a more nuanced understanding of the actual role of ancient states in the organization of irrigation and water management. This article reviews this evidence from the sixth till the first millennium B.C. and shows that state involvement in the organization of irrigation and water control within the same environmental context varied considerably over the course of several millennia. I argue for a close correlation between the level of state involvement in irrigation and water management and the way arable land was exploited by state institutions. In addition, I argue that environmental changes at times warranted state interventions out of necessity but also to the ideological concept of rulership as the protector and provider of agricultural profusion. WIREs Water 2017, 4:e1230. doi: 10.1002/wat2.1230