Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Residual mushroom compost as soil conditioner and bio-fertilizer in tomato production

Residual mushroom waste has the potential to be composted. Sustainable agriculture considers compost and vermicompost as alternatives to be incorporated into organic vegetable production. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of compost (T2), vermicompost tea (T3), compost extract (T4), and their combination plus the addition of an inorganic element (urea) (T5), against a conventional control (T1), on soil properties and yield parameters of tomato plants grown under shade house conditions. Organic matter, moisture, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), cation exchange capacity (CEC), bulk density, leaf nutrient content during flowering (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Cu, Fe and Zn), chlorophyll content (SPAD units), fruit number and weight, and yield were the variables assessed during this research. A completely randomized experimental design was used. The organic applications showed significant increases in soil moisture (25.4 % T3), EC (0.38 dS·m-1 T5), and CEC (38.6 meq·100 g-1 T4). Crop nutrient requirements were achieved 102 days after transplanting. The chlorophyll content ranged between 46.9 and 51.4 SPAD units. The cv “Grandella” fruits attained optimal weight (152 to 155 g). The number of fruits and yield did not statistically differ between treatments; therefore, it was concluded that the organic substances by themselves or in combination with inorganic fertilizers were able to produce the same effect on yield, and also improve the physicochemical characteristics of the soil.
A naturally hypersensitive glucocorticoid receptor elicits a compensatory reduction of hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis activity early in ontogeny

We comprehensively characterized the effects of a unique natural gain-of-function mutation in the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), GRAla610Val, in domestic pigs to expand current knowledge of the phenotypic consequences of GR hypersensitivity. Cortisol levels were consistently reduced in one-week-old piglets, at weaning and in peripubertal age, probably due to a reduced adrenal capacity to produce glucocorticoids (GC), which was indicated by an adrenocortical thinning in GRAla610Val carriers. Adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) levels were significantly reduced in one-week-old piglets only. Expression analyses in peripubertal age revealed significant downregulation of hypothalamic expression of CRH and AVP, the latter only in females, and upregulation of hepatic expression of SERPINA6, by GRAla610Val. Transcriptional repression of proinflammatory genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from GRAla610Val carriers was more sensitive to dexamethasone treatment ex vivo. However, no significant effects on growth, body composition, blood chemistry or cell counts were observed under baseline conditions. These results suggest that GRAla610Val-induced GR hypersensitivity elicits a compensatory reduction in endogenous, bioactive glucocorticoid levels via readjustment of the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis early in ontogeny to maintain an adequate response, but carriers are more sensitive to exogenous GC. Therefore, GRAla610Val pigs represent a valuable animal model to explore GR-mediated mechanisms of HPA axis regulation and responses to glucocorticoid-based drugs.
On indoor position location with wireless LANs

Location aware services are becoming attractive with the deployment of next generation wireless networks and broadband multimedia wireless networks especially in indoor and campus areas. To provide location aware services, obtaining the position of a user accurately is important. While it is possible to deploy additional infrastructure for this purpose, using existing communications infrastructure is preferred for cost reasons. Because of technical restrictions, location fingerprinting schemes are the most promising. In this paper we present a systematic study of the performance tradeoff and deployment issues. In this paper we present some experimental results towards such a systematic study and discuss some issues related to the indoor positioning problem.
Experimental and numerical study on mechanical behavior of composite girders under hogging moment

In continuous steel-concrete composite structures, cracking of the concrete slab in the hogging bending moment region decreases the global stiffness of composite structures and reduces the effect of continuity, resulting in making the structural behaviors highly nonlinear even for low stress levels. Because of this, special consideration is necessary. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effects of rubber-latex mortar and different types of shear connectors on inelastic behavior of composite girders subjected to hogging moment. Two overturned simply supported steel-concrete composite girders with different shear connectors such as Studs and Perfo-Bond Strips (PBLs) were tested under concentrated load in the mid-span. Based on the experimental observations, a three-dimensional FE model capable of analyzing the composite beams subjected to negative bending moment was built. Strength and load bearing capacity, sectional strain distribution and movement of composite neutral axis before and after cracking were observed in the test and compared with the numerical results, and the results predicted by this modeling method are in good agreement with those obtained from the tests. Research results indicate that the PBL connectors could slightly improve the rigidity of the composite girder under both the serviceability limit state and the ultimate limit state, while Stud specimens have relatively better mechanical behavior in regard to the initial crack and the “crack closure” of the test specimens. Besides, research results indicate that the current specifications such as AASHTO, JSCE, and EUROCODE-4 can provide appropriate values for ultimate strength of a composite girder under negative bending moment. Moreover, noise reduction, shear stud stiffness increase and the adhesion bonding effect of rubber-latex mortar on interface slip were confirmed in the tests.
Skill-based changes in motor performance from attentional focus manipulations: a kinematic analysis

Abstract In the present paper, expert and novice law enforcement officers performed a handgun shooting task under varied attention-demanding conditions; outcome (i.e. accuracy, consistency) and movement kinematics were measured (i.e. within and between-trial variability (BTV) of forearm and upper arm absolute angle). Using a dual-task paradigm, we directed participants’ attention towards either a skill-relevant aspect of movement execution or to a skill-irrelevant distractor and compared their data to a single-task control condition. The results showed that experts’ BTV in their upper arm increased during dual-tasks relative to control, but performance was similar across all three conditions. In contrast, novices’ performance was poorer during both dual-tasks relative to control, but limited changes in movement kinematics were observed. This data suggests that attention demanding situations trigger experts’ ability to adapt their movement pattern to maintain end-point control. The data for novices are less clear. Implications for future research are discussed. Practitioner Summary: Expert and novice law enforcement officials completed a shooting task under baseline and attention-demanding situations. Experts outperformed novices under all conditions, but exhibited increased variability in their upper arm position while shooting during attention-demanding compared to baseline conditions. Novices’ movement data remained variable throughout all conditions. The data suggest that experts are able to maintain shooting performance during an attention-demanding situation by adopting a functional movement strategy.
Visual Cues for Perceiving Distances from Objects to Surfaces

An accurate perception of the distance between an object and a nearby surface can increase a viewer's sense of presence in an immersive environment, particularly when a user is performing actions that affect or are affected by this distance. Two experiments were conducted examining the effectiveness of stereoscopic viewing, shadows, and interreflections at conveying this distance information. Subjects performed simple tasks based on the perception of the distance between a fixed virtual table and an approaching block in a virtual environment. In the first experiment, subjects lowered a virtual block to a virtual table. For this task, both stereoscopic viewing and shadows had statistically significant effects on subject performance. In the second experiment, subjects mechanically reported the perceived distance between a virtual block and virtual table. For this task, viewing condition, shadows, and interreflections were shown to be statistically significant distance cues.
Clinical Characteristics and Ultrasonographic Findings of Acute Bacterial Enterocolitis in Children

PURPOSE This study clarified the bacterial pathogens currently causing acute infectious enterocolitis (AIE) in children and evaluated the clinical characteristics and ultrasonographic findings according to the different pathogens. METHODS Medical records regarding age, sex, clinical symptoms, laboratory data, identified enteropathogens, ultrasonographic findings, treatment, and outcome of 34 patients who were diagnosed with AIE via stool examination using multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or culture, were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS Twenty-four patients (70.6%) were male. The mean age of the patients was 8.5±6.2 (range, 1.1-17.1) years. Six bacterial pathogens were isolated: Salmonella species (spp.) (32.4%), Campylobacter spp. (20.6%), verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (14.7%), Staphylococcus aureus (11.8%), Clostridium difficile (8.8%), and Shigella spp. (2.9%). Abdominal pain occurred in all patients regardless of pathogen. The patients infected with Salmonella were older than those infected with verotoxin-producing E. coli (p<0.05). C-reactive protein levels were higher in patients with Salmonella and Campylobacter infections than in those with verotoxin-producing E. coli infection (p<0.05), the other clinical and laboratory data were indistinguishable between pathogens. Ultrasonography demonstrated diverse involvement of bowel segments according to pathogen. Wall thickening of both the ileum and the entire colon was the most common lesion site regardless of pathogen. CONCLUSION Various bacterial agents cause AIE and the symptoms are diverse symptoms, however, all most children recovered spontaneously. Use of multiplex PCR on stool samples warrants improvement of its sensitivity for diagnosis of enteropathogenic bacteria. Ultrasonographic examination is useful for diagnosis of AIE; it can also detect the disease extent and severity.
Rigidity of smooth one-sided Bernoulli endomorphisms

A measure-preserving endomorphism is one-sided Bernoulli if it is isomorphic to a noninvertible Bernoulli shift. We show that in piecewise smooth settings this property is very strong and far more subtle than the weak Bernoulli property, by extending of results of W. Parry and P. Walters and proving new results based on continuity of the Radon-Nikodym derivative. In particular, we provide tests which work for noninvariant measures if an invariant measure equivalent to a natural measure exists but its density function is not known. Examples of families of interval maps and complex maps on the Riemann sphere illustrate the results.
Cerebrovascular Disorders: Role of Aging

Therapeutic development for neurological diseases, whether cerebrovascular disease, vascular dementia, or Alzheimer's disease (AD), has been largely unsuccessful. Despite the apparent success of numerous pharmacologic agents in preclinical animal models, few have translated successfully from bench to bedside. As such, a vast need remains unmet and additional investigation is required.
A 2LFQ Scheduling with Dynamic Time Quantum using Mean Average

The efficiency and performance of multitasking operating systems essentially depends on the nature of CPU scheduling algorithm. There are many algorithms available for CPU scheduling. Each having its own deficiency and limitations. One of the most well-known approaches for scheduling is the Multi-level Feedback Queue (MLFQ). The MLFQ tries to work in a two-fold manner. First, it tries to optimize turnaround time as it is done by running shorter jobs first. Unfortunately, the OS doesn’t generally have the knowledge that how long a job will run for, exactly the knowledge that algorithms like SJF (or SRTF) require. Second, MLFQ attempts to make a system feel responsive to interactive users (i.e. users sitting and staring at the screen, waiting for a process to finish), and thus minimize response time. Wellknown algorithms like Round Robin also reduce response time but are less suitable for turnaround time. In this paper, we proposed a new approach for feedback scheduling algorithm which helps to improve the efficiency of CPU. The paper presents an approach called dynamic-time-quantum 2LFQ (Two-level Feedback Queue) scheduling. The idea is to make the operating systems adjusts the time quantum according to the burst time of set of waiting processes in the ready queue.
A Pectin Methylesterase ZmPme 3 Is Expressed in Gametophyte factor 1s ( Ga 1s ) Silks and Maps to that Locus in Maize ( Zea mays L . )

The ga1 locus of maize confers unilateral cross incompatibility, preventing cross pollination between females carrying the incompatible Ga1-s allele and males not carrying a corresponding compatible allele. To characterize this system at the molecular level, we carried out a transcript profiling experiment in which silks from near isogenic lines carrying the Ga1-sand ga1 alleles were compared. While several differentially expressed genes were identified, only one mapped to the known location of ga1. This gene is a pectin methylesterase (PME), which we designated as ZmPme3, and is present and expressed only in Ga1-s genotypes. While a functional ZmPME3 is not present in the ga1 genotypes examined, a pectin methylesterase gene cluster is found in ga1 genotypes. The gene cluster in W22 contains 58 tandem full-length or partial PME pseudo genes. These data combined with a wealth of previously published data on the involvement of PMEs in pollen tube growth suggest a role for cell wall modification enzymes in the pollen exclusion component of Ga1-s gametophytic incompatibility. Consistent with this role, a third allele which lacks the female function of Ga1-s, Ga1-m, has a mutationally inactivated version of ZmPme3.
Piezoelectric and acoustic properties of potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) and its isomorphs

The bulk elastic and piezoelectric properties of potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) and some of its family members such as RbTiOPO/sub 4/ (RTP) and RbTiOAsO/sub 4/ (RTA) have been determined. The piezoelectric, elastic, and dielectric matrix (P-E-D) of KTP has been completely characterized. Values for the temperature dependence of the expansion coefficients and elastic constants have been obtained, and the effects of variations in dielectric constant on coupling coefficient determined. The major diagonal elements of the piezoelectric and elastic matrices of RTP and RTA were measured as were the thermal expansion coefficient of all the KTP isomorphs, KTP in the temperature range 25-80 degrees C, is shown to have a combination of large coupling coefficients (up to k/sub t/=38% for hydrothermally grown KTP) and medium temperature dependence coefficients of elastic constant (as low as 40 p.p.m./ degrees C for tau /sub c33/ for hydrothermally grown KTP) that makes it attractive for many piezoelectric applications. <<ETX>>
Ethnicity and Cutaneous Melanoma in the City of Sao Paulo, Brazil: A Case-Control Study

Background Over the last century the incidence of cutaneous melanoma has increased worldwide, a trend that has also been observed in Brazil. The identified risk factors for melanoma include the pattern of sun exposure, family history, and certain phenotypic features. In addition, the incidence of melanoma might be influenced by ethnicity. Like many countries, Brazil has high immigration rates and consequently a heterogenous population. However, Brazil is unique among such countries in that the ethnic heterogeneity of its population is primarily attributable to admixture. This study aimed to evaluate the contribution of European ethnicity to the risk of cutaneous melanoma in Brazil. Methodology/Principal Findings We carried out a hospital-based case-control study in the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo, Brazil. We evaluated 424 hospitalized patients (202 melanoma patients and 222 control patients) regarding phenotypic features, sun exposure, and number of grandparents born in Europe. Through multivariate logistic regression analysis, we found the following variables to be independently associated with melanoma: grandparents born in Europe—Spain (OR = 3.01, 95% CI: 1.03–8.77), Italy (OR = 3.47, 95% CI: 1.41–8.57), a Germanic/Slavic country (OR = 3.06, 95% CI: 1.05–8.93), or ≥2 European countries (OR = 2.82, 95% CI: 1.06–7.47); eye color—light brown (OR = 1.99, 95% CI: 1.14–3.84) and green/blue (OR = 4.62; 95% CI 2.22–9.58); pigmented lesion removal (OR = 3.78; 95% CI: 2.21–6.49); no lifetime sunscreen use (OR = 3.08; 95% CI: 1.03–9.22); and lifetime severe sunburn (OR = 1.81; 95% CI: 1.03–3.19). Conclusions Our results indicate that European ancestry is a risk factor for cutaneous melanoma. Such risk appears to be related not only to skin type, eye color, and tanning capacity but also to others specific characteristics of European populations introduced in the New World by European immigrants.
Featural and configural face processing strategies: evidence from a functional magnetic resonance imaging study

We explored the processing mechanisms of featural and configural face information using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. Featural information describes the information contained in the facial parts; configural information conveys the spatial interrelationship between parts. In a delayed matching-to-sample task, participants decided whether an intact test face matched a precedent scrambled or blurred cue face. Scrambled faces primarily contain featural information whereas blurred faces preserve configural information. Scrambled cue faces evoked enhanced activation in the left fusiform gyrus, left parietal lobe, and left lingual gyrus when viewing intact test faces. Following blurred cue faces, test faces enhanced activation bilaterally in the middle temporal gyrus. The results suggest that featural and configural information is processed by following distinct neural pathways.
Deletions of Endocytic Components VPS28 and VPS32 Affect Growth at Alkaline pH and Virulence through both RIM101-Dependent and RIM101-Independent Pathways in Candida albicans

ABSTRACT Ambient pH signaling involves a cascade of conserved Rim or Pal products in ascomycetous yeasts or filamentous fungi, respectively. Recent evidences in the fungi Aspergillus nidulans, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Yarrowia lipolytica, and Candida albicans suggested that components of endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRT) involved in endocytic trafficking were needed for signal transduction along the Rim pathway. In this study, we confirm these findings with C. albicans and show that Vps28p (ESCRT-I) and Vps32p/Snf7p (ESCRT-III) are required for the transcriptional regulation of known targets of the Rim pathway, such as the PHR1 and PHR2 genes encoding cell surface proteins, which are expressed at alkaline and acidic pH, respectively. We additionally show that deletion of these two VPS genes, particularly VPS32, has a more drastic effect than a RIM101 deletion on growth at alkaline pH and that this effect is only partially suppressed by expression of a constitutively active form of Rim101p. Finally, in an in vivo mouse model, both vps null mutants were significantly less virulent than a rim101 mutant, suggesting that VPS28 and VPS32 gene products affect virulence both through Rim-dependent and Rim-independent pathways.
Numerical modeling of homogeneous and bimaterial crack tip and interfacial cohesive zones with various traction-displacement laws

This dissertation investigates problems that involve the cohesive response at a crack tip in a homogeneous material, at a crack tip in a bimaterial interface, and an investigation of the cohesive response of an interface. The first investigation outlines a methodology for computing the non-linear generalized load-displacement response of an edge-cracked beam shaped element with a softening crack-plane cohesive zone. The non-linear load-displacement response is intended for use in various possible techniques of nondestructive characterization of the cohesive material properties using the vibration properties of a cracked cohesive beam. The cracked beam shaped geometry is divided into two bodies which interact across the crack plane through appropriate boundary conditions and each body is loaded by a bending couple away from the crack plane. The mode I cohesive law used here is strictly softening and linear. The direct boundary element method (BEM) is applied to each body and the connecting boundary conditions and an iterative scheme is used to determine the extent of the cohesive zone. The J-integral associated with the single crack tip is then calculated from the BEM crack plane tractions and displacements and is used to numerically evaluate the generalized non-linear load-displacement relations. The second investigation outlines a novel approach to numerically model a Dugdale-Barenblatt cohesive zone at an interface crack between two dissimilar materials. The direct BEM approach is once again used here to appropriately apply the constraints in the cohesive zone and obtain a physically meaningful solution for tractions and displacements in the crack plane. The effect of material mismatch and the effect of varying bond
Inference in conditional probability logic

An important field of probability logic is the investigation of inference rules that propagate point probabilities or, more generally, interval probabilities from premises to conclusions. Conditional probability logic (CPL) interprets the common sense expressions of the form “if . , then . ” by conditional probabilities and not by the probability of the material implication. An inference rule is probabilistically informative if the coherent probability interval of its conclusion is not necessarily equal to the unit interval $[0,1]$. Not all logically valid inference rules are probabilistically informative and vice versa. The relationship between logically valid and probabilistically informative inference rules is discussed and illustrated by examples such as the modus ponens or the affirming the consequent. We propose a method to evaluate the strength of CPL inference rules. Finally, an example of a proof is given that is purely based on CPL inference rules.
Auditory Brainstem Implant in a Child with Severely Ossified Cochlea

Objective: The hearing outcome after implanting a severely ossified cochlea has always been less satisfactory than implanting a patent one. The aim of our study is to present a case where brainstem implantation was successfully performed as an alternative to cochlear implantation in a child with bilateral severe ossification of the cochlea.