Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Non-linear regression models in the management of accumulated production of parchment coffee in Peru

Parchment coffee results from washing the coffee cherry, and its production has achieved a significant increase in the coffee-growing regions of Peru. Knowing the production pattern of this grain is essential to help coffee producers make decisions in the economic and social sector. As growth curves generally have sigmoidal behavior, which is well fit by non-linear models, this study aimed to model the cumulative production pattern of parchment coffee as a function of time (in months) in the year 2022, comparing the fit of the non-linear Logistic, Gompertz and von Bertalanffy models. The cumulative national production, and production of the departments of Huánuco and San Martín, in Peru, were analyzed. Data used to fit the models were obtained from the Ministry of Development and Irrigation (MIDAGRI) of Peru. To check the assumptions of normality, homoscedasticity, and independence of residuals, the Shapiro-Wilk, Breusch-Pagan, and Durbin-Watson tests were used, respectively. The model parameters were estimated using the least squares method using the Gauss-Newton algorithm in the R software. The goodness-of-fit of the models was tested using goodness-of-fit measures such as Coefficient of Determination (R2), Residual Standard Deviation (RSD), Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), and nonlinearity measures. Based on the models’ goodness-of-fit measures, the Gompertz model with a first-order autoregressive error term (AR1) fit best to national production data, and the Logistic model was the most suitable for describing the production of the departments of Huánuco, and San Martín.
Changes in the Pituitary Metabolism of Monoamines (Dopamine, Norepinephrine, and Serotonin) in Female and Male Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) during Gonadal Recrudescence

The dynamics of the levels and metabolism of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin were studied in pituitaries of male and female rainbow trout at different stages of gonadal development. In female rainbow trout, the turnover of dopamine (calculated using the inhibitor of tyrosine hydroxylase α‐methyl‐p‐tyrosine methyl‐ester HCl), serotonin metabolism, and norepinephrine levels decreased in the advanced stage of exogenous vitellogenesis with respect to the initial stage. Data obtained in males did not show changes in either serotonergic or noradrenergic metabolism during the last stages of gonadal development; however, an increase of dopaminergic turnover was noticed in the male fish at the end of spermiation. Finally, pituitary dopaminergic activity was significantly higher in immature (prepubescent stage) than in adult fish.
Imaging , Diagnosis , Prognosis EASL-and mRECIST-Evaluated Responses to Combination Therapy of Sorafenib with Transarterial Chemoembolization Predict Survival in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Purpose: Published studies have not investigated the suitability of Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST), European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) criteria, and modified RECIST (mRECIST) for assessing the response of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma to treatmentwith sorafenib combined with transarterial chemoembolization. Here, we aimed to define the earliest time at which the response to combination therapy could be accurately assessed and validate the prognostic value of these criteria at this early posttherapy time point. Experimental Design: A total of 114 consecutive patients with hepatocellular carcinoma receiving combination therapy were retrospectively enrolled. The therapy response at different time points was assessed using RECIST, EASL, andmRECIST. Cox regression analysis and Kaplan–Meier curves were used to assess overall survival (OS) in the responders and nonresponders. Results: At the third follow-up (median, 94 days; range, 89–102 days) after therapy, the response rates obtained using EASL (50.6%) and mRECIST (51.6%) were greater than that obtained using RECIST (16.5%). The agreement was strong between the mRECIST and EASL results (k 1⁄4 0.9) but weak between mRECIST and RECIST (k 1⁄4 0.3). The EASL and mRECIST responses significantly correlated with survival. Risk reductions of 52% and 50%were observed for EASL andmRECIST responders, respectively, compared with nonresponders. However, no significant association between the treatment response and survival was observed using RECIST. Conclusions: The earliest time to evaluate the response to combination therapy is 3months (median, 94 days) after therapy. EASL andmRECIST responses are independent predictors forOS at this early time point. Clin Cancer Res; 20(6); 1623–31. 2014 AACR.
Soil Moisture Controls the Thermal Habitat of Active Layer Soils in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

Antarctic soil ecosystems are strongly controlled by abiotic habitat variables. Regional climate change in the McMurdo Dry Valleys is expected to cause warming over the next century, leading to an increase in frequency of freeze‐thaw cycling in the soil habitat. Previous studies show that physiological stress associated with freeze‐thaw cycling adversely affects invertebrate populations by decreasing abundance and positively selecting for larger body sizes. However, it remains unclear whether or not climate warming will indeed enhance the frequency of annual freeze‐thaw cycling and associated physiological stresses. This research quantifies the frequency, rate, and spatial heterogeneity of active layer freezing to better understand how regional climate change may affect active layer soil thermodynamics, and, in turn, affect soil macroinvertebrate communities. Shallow active layer temperature, specific conductance, and soil moisture were observed along natural wetness gradients. Field observations show that the frequency and rate of freeze events are nonlinearly related to freezable soil moisture (θf). Over a 2 year period, soils at θf < 0.080 m3/m3 experienced between 15 and 35 freeze events and froze rapidly compared to soils with θf > 0.080 m3/m3, which experienced between 2 and 6 freeze events and froze more gradually. A numerical soil thermodynamic model is able to simulate observed freezing rates across a range of θf, reinforcing a well‐known causal relationship between soil moisture and active layer freezing dynamics. Findings show that slight increases in soil moisture can potentially offset the effect of climate warming on exacerbating soil freeze‐thaw cycling.
Fully automated system for Czech spoken broadcast transcription with very large (300k+) lexicon

We present a system developed for fully automated processing of Czech spoken broadcast programs. It includes modules for unsupervised segmentation of audio stream, speaker and gender recognition followed by speaker adaptation, and own speech decoder designed for extremely large vocabularies. Compared to our previous results reported in 2004, the new system reduced the WER (evaluated on the Czech part of the European COST Broadcast News Database) from 28.5 % to 18.4 %. This significant improvement was accomplished namely due to the larger lexicon (312K) with multiple text and pronunciation variants and multi-word entries, speaker and gender adapted acoustic matching and improved language modeling. Besides the results achieved in the Broadcast News task we refer also about the performance in other similar jobs, like the transcription of a talk show or parliament speech.
A Structural Investigation of Salesforce and Price Competition in the Prescription Drug Industry

This paper proposes and estimates a structural model of salesforce compensation and pricing in a market characterized by oligopolistic competition. In particular the theoretical model describes the interaction between the physician, patient, salesperson and firm in one cohesive framework. The paper then proceeds to propose some interesting research and policy questions that are relevant to managers and academics alike. We use comprehensive real data on market shares, detailing effort and prices and implement sophisticated econometric methods to estimate the structural model and obtain results. These results provide strong evidence of risk and effort aversion on the part of the salesperson, forward looking dynamic behavior on the part of all parties involved and a strong influence of marketing activity of prescription drug choice. The estimates also allow us to compute profit margins, projected salary and commission rate estimates and understand how the key constructs move over time. The paper contributes to the understanding of the dynamics of the pharmaceutical industry, salesforce compensation, prescription behavior and pricing.
Zooplankton and environmental factors of a recovering eutrophic lake (Lysimachia Lake, Western Greece)

The present study investigates the zooplankton community dynamics and the abiotic environment in the eutrophic Lake Lysimachia (western Greece). The lake is considered to be recovering from eutrophication after the termination of an urban sewage inflow in 2000, and its waters are replenished constantly from the nearby oligotrophic Lake Trichonis. The results show that, although a decrease in nutrient concentrations was observed compared to the past, the lake still has eutrophic characteristics. This was reflected in the zooplankton community which is typical of those found in eutrophic lakes where rotifers prevail. Similarities among this lake and other nearby lakes were found considering the zooplankton community composition and seasonal variation. However, Lake Lysimachia is inhabited also by a number of different and even unique species (e.g., Moina micrura), suggesting that this ecosystem may be an important biodiversity refuge. Most of the zooplankton species were correlated with water temperature and, to a lesser extent, eutrophication key-water quality variables. Although there are few available data on the zooplankton of the lake, the abundance and composition of the community presenting characteristics indicative of intermediate trophic conditions and suggesting that the lake is probably under a kind of “biological” recovery.
Global Analysis of Ecosystem Evapotranspiration Response to Precipitation Deficits

Changes in ecosystem evapotranspiration (ET) due to precipitation deficits (PD) can relieve or aggravate soil moisture shortages, thus impacting drought severity. Previous findings have conflicted with regard to response of ET to PD. The present study relies on a global land ET synthesis data set (ETsyn) and observations from eddy‐covariance towers (ETobs) to thoroughly examine the sensitivity of ET to PD, which is represented by the standardized precipitation index. There was a contrast in the response to PD between arid and humid ecosystems. ETsyn of arid ecosystems was typically reduced promptly in response to a reduction of precipitation, while ETsyn in humid ecosystems experienced a two‐staged change: First, there was an enhancement, and then a reduction associated with persisting PD. Compared with ETsyn, ETobs suggests the occurrence of a more significant ET transition in response to PD. In arid ecosystems, ET typically negatively correlated with low PD, but this was limited by a large PD. Findings from this study are crucial for understanding the role of ET in drought evolution.
Tractability and learnability arising from algebras with few subpowers

A k-edge operation phi on a finite set A is a k + 1-ary operation that satisfies the identities phi (x,x,y,.,y) ap phi(x,y,x,y,.,y) ap y, phi(y,y,y,x,y,.,y) ap phi(y,y,y,y,x,y,.,y) ap . ap . phi(y,y,y,.,y,x) ap y. We prove that any constraint language . that, for some k > 1, has a k-edge operation as a polymorphism is globally tractable. We also show that the set of relations definable over Gamma using quantified generalized formulas is polynomially exactly learnable using improper equivalence queries. Special instances of k-edge operations are Mal'cev and near-unanimity operations and so this class of constraint languages includes many well known examples.
Broadcasting Oneself: Visual Discovery of Vlogging Styles

We present a data-driven approach to discover different styles that people use to present themselves in online video blogging (vlogging). By vlogging style, we denote the combination of conscious and unconscious choices that the vlogger made during the production of the vlog, affecting the video quality, appearance, and structure. A compact set of vlogging styles is discovered using clustering methods based on a fast and robust spatio-temporal descriptor to characterize the visual activity in a vlog. On 2268 YouTube vlogs, our results show that the vlogging styles are differentiated with respect to the vloggers' level of editing and conversational activity in the video. Furthermore, we show that these automatically discovered styles relate to vloggers with different personality trait impressions and to vlogs that receive different levels of social attention.
Global Linkage Map Connects Meiotic Centromere Function to Chromosome Size in Budding Yeast

Synthetic genetic array (SGA) analysis automates yeast genetics, enabling high-throughput construction of ordered arrays of double mutants. Quantitative colony sizes derived from SGA analysis can be used to measure cellular fitness and score for genetic interactions, such as synthetic lethality. Here we show that SGA colony sizes also can be used to obtain global maps of meiotic recombination because recombination frequency affects double-mutant formation for gene pairs located on the same chromosome and therefore influences the size of the resultant double-mutant colony. We obtained quantitative colony size data for ~1.2 million double mutants located on the same chromosome and constructed a genome-scale genetic linkage map at ~5 kb resolution. We found that our linkage map is reproducible and consistent with previous global studies of meiotic recombination. In particular, we confirmed that the total number of crossovers per chromosome tends to follow a simple linear model that depends on chromosome size. In addition, we observed a previously unappreciated relationship between the size of linkage regions surrounding each centromere and chromosome size, suggesting that crossovers tend to occur farther away from the centromere on larger chromosomes. The pericentric regions of larger chromosomes also appeared to load larger clusters of meiotic cohesin Rec8, and acquire fewer Spo11-catalyzed DNA double-strand breaks. Given that crossovers too near or too far from centromeres are detrimental to homolog disjunction and increase the incidence of aneuploidy, our data suggest that chromosome size may have a direct role in regulating the fidelity of chromosome segregation during meiosis.
The LuckyCam survey for very low mass binaries - II. 13 new M4.5-M6.0 binaries

We present results from a high angular resolution survey of 77 very low mass (VLM) binary systems with 6.0 ≤ V - K colour ≤ 7.5 and proper motion ≥ 0.15 arcsec yr^(-1). 21 VLM binaries were detected, 13 of them new discoveries. The new binary systems range in separation between 0.18 and 1.3 arcsec. The distance-corrected binary fraction is 13.6(-4)(+6.5) per cent, in agreement with previous results. Nine of the new binary systems have projected separations > 10 au, including a new wide VLM binary with 27 au projected orbital separation. One of the new systems forms two components of a 2300 au separation triple system. We find that the projected separation distribution of the binaries with V - K < 6.5 in this survey appears to be different from that of redder (lower mass) objects, suggesting a possible rapid change in the orbital radius distribution at around the M5 spectral type. The target sample was also selected to investigate X-ray activity among VLM binaries. There is no detectable correlation between excess X-ray emission and the frequency and binary properties of the VLM systems.
The effects of nerve terminal activity on non‐quantal release of acetylcholine at the mouse neuromuscular junction.

1. Local endplate depolarization induced by anticholinesterase application to mouse nerve‐diaphragm preparations was taken as a measure of non‐quantal release of acetylcholine. 2. Non‐quantal acetylcholine release occurred within 20‐60 s after anticholinesterase application, either spontaneously or evoked by nerve stimulation. Non‐quantal release declined with time and disappeared after 3‐5 min. 3. The amplitude of stimulation‐evoked non‐quantal release increased with the frequency of stimulation and was maximal at frequencies above 50 Hz. Two stimuli were sufficient to evoke the maximal effect. 4. Micromolar concentrations of atropine, pirenzepine and vesamicol reduced the amplitude and shortened the duration of non‐quantal release. Oxotremorine (10(‐8) M) enhanced the amplitude and ouabain (10(‐4) M) prolonged the duration of non‐quantal release. 5. Our results support the idea that the non‐quantal release is due to the vesicular acetylcholine transport system which becomes transiently a part of the nerve terminal during exocytotic release of quantal acetylcholine.
Internal wave excitation by a vertically oscillating sphere

The properties of waves generated by a vertically oscillating sphere in a uniformly stratified fluid are examined both theoretically and experimentally. Existing predictions for the wave amplitude and phase structure are modified to account for the effects of viscous attenuation. As with waves generated by an oscillating cylinder, the main effect of attenuation is to broaden the two peaks of the amplitude envelope on either flank of the wave beam so that far from the sphere the wave beam exhibits a single peak with a maximum along the centreline. The transition distance from bimodal to unimodal wave beam structure is shown to occur closer to the source than the corresponding distance calculated for the oscillating circular cylinder. For laboratory experiments, a recently developed ‘synthetic schlieren’ method is adapted so that quantitative measurements may be made of an axisymmetric wave field. This non-intrusive technique allows us to evaluate the amplitude of the waves everywhere in space and time. Experiments are performed to examine the amplitude of waves generated by small and large spheres oscillating with a range of amplitudes and frequencies. The wave amplitude is found to scale linearly with the oscillation amplitude $A$ for $A/a$ as large as 0.27, where $a$ is the radius of the sphere. Generally good agreement between theory and experiment is found for the small sphere experiments. However, the theory overpredicts both the amplitude and the bimodal-to-unimodal transition distance for waves generated by the large sphere.
Using the eye–movement system to control the head

We tested the hypothesis that A.I., a subject who has total opthalmoplegia, resulting in a lack of eye movements, used her head to orientate in a qualitatively similar way to eye–based orientating of control subjects. We used four classic eye–movement paradigms and measured A.I.'s head movements while she performed the tasks. These paradigms were (i) the gap paradigm, (ii) the remote–distractor effect, (iii) the anti–saccade paradigm, and (iv) tests of saccadic suppression. In all cases, A.I.'s head saccades were qualitatively similar to previously reported eye–movement data. We conclude that A.I.'s head movements are probably controlled by the same neural mechanisms that control eye movements in unimpaired subjects.
What Additional Factors Beyond State-of-the-Art Analytical Methods Are Needed for Optimal Generation and Interpretation of Biomonitoring Data?

Background The routine use of biomonitoring (i.e., measurement of environmental chemicals, their metabolites, or specific reaction products in human biological specimens) to assess internal exposure (i.e., body burden) has gained importance in exposure assessment. Objectives Selection and validation of biomarkers of exposure are critical factors in interpreting biomonitoring data. Moreover, the strong relation between quality of the analytical methods used for biomonitoring and quality of the resulting data is well understood. However, the relevance of collecting, storing, processing, and transporting the samples to the laboratory to the overall biomonitoring process has received limited attention, especially for organic chemicals. Discussion We present examples to illustrate potential sources of unintended contamination of the biological specimen during collection or processing procedures. The examples also highlight the importance of ensuring that the biological specimen analyzed both represents the sample collected for biomonitoring purposes and reflects the exposure of interest. Conclusions Besides using high-quality analytical methods and good laboratory practices for biomonitoring, evaluation of the collection and handling of biological samples should be emphasized, because these procedures can affect the samples integrity and representativeness. Biomonitoring programs would be strengthened with the inclusion of field blanks.
Collision detection for deforming necklaces

In this paper, we propose to study deformable necklaces --- flexible chains of balls, called beads, in which only adjacent balls may intersect. Such objects can be used to model macro-molecules, muscles, rope, and other 'linear' objects in the physical world. In this paper, we exploit this linearity to develop geometric structures associated with necklaces that are useful in physical simulations. We show how these structures can be implemented efficiently and maintained under necklace deformation. In particular, we study a bounding volume hierarchy based on spheres built on a necklace. Such a hierarchy is easy to compute and is suitable for maintenance when the necklace deforms, as our theoretical and experimental results show. This hierarchy can be used for collision and self-collision detection. In particular, we achieve an upper bound of O(nlog n) in two dimensions and O(n 2-2/d) in d-dimensions, d 3, for collision checking. To our knowledge, this is the first sub-quadratic bound proved for a collision detection algorithm using predefined hierarchies. In addition, we show that the power diagram, with the help of some additional mechanisms, can be also used to detect self-collisions of a necklace in certain ways complementary to the sphere hierarchy.
Antioxidant and anticancer activities of Moringa oleifera leaves

Moringa oleifera leaves extracted with methanol and dichloromethane were screened for antioxidant activity. The in vitro cancer antiproliferative and chemopreventive properties were also investigated. Radical scavenging assays with 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2´-azino-bis 3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) were used to determine the antioxidant activity. The antiproliferative assay was evaluated on three types of cancer cell lines: hepatocarcinoma (HepG2), colorectal adenocarcinoma (Caco-2) and breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7), using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) reduction assay. The in vitro cancer chemoprevention was performed using quinone reductase (QR) induction assay on hepatoma (Hepa-1c1c7). The chemopreventive activity of the extracts was expressed as concentration to double QR activity (CD value). The methanol extract showed higher free radical scavenging activity than the dichloromethane extract (IC50 = 1.60±0.03 mg/ml in DPPH assay and IC50 = 1.02±0.06 mg/ml in ABTS assay). In the antiproliferative assay, the IC50 of dichloromethane extract varied from 112 to 133 µg/ml for HepG2, Caco-2 and MCF-7 cancer cells, but became more than 250 µg/ml for the methanol extract. In the chemopreventive assay, the dichloromethane extract had capacity to induce QR activity significantly (CD value = 91.36±1.26 μg/ml), while the methanol extract had no inductive effect. This study provides evidence that M. oleifera leaves possess antioxidant activity, as well as cytotoxic and chemopreventive properties. Therefore, it might be beneficial as a medicinal plant for alternative novel anticancer drugs and nutraceutical products. Key words: Moringa oleifera, antioxidant activity, quinone reductase, antiproliferation, cancer chemoprevention.