Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Microfacies Analysis of Oligocene Formations in Butmah and Rafan Areas Northwest Iraq.

Oligocene deposits in Butmah and Rafan areas northwestern Iraq were penetrated by three core holes (BW-CH1, BE-CH1 and RF-CH1). The depositional basin evolved through two stages, generating two sedimentary cycles, which were separated by exposure surface as represented by conglomerate beds in core holes BW-CH1 and RF-CH1. Six microfacies were recognized in the Oligocene formations (Shurau Fn., Sheikh Alas Fn. and Bajwan Fn.), comprising three microfacies association allocated to: reef (Sa1) and back reef (Sh1, Sh2) in the first cycle (Early Oligocene), and back reef (B1, B2, B3) in the second cycle (Late Oligocene). Oligocene rocks have been affected by many diagenetic processes of cementation, dissolution, dolomitization (by mixing process) and dedolomitization. The paleogeographic distribution of the microfacies in conjunction to the previous work elucidates that the studied area is representing the eastern margin of the Sinjar Oligocene basin. ــــــــــــــــ ـــــــــــــ ــــــــــــــــ ـــــــــــ ﻕﺍﺭﻌﻟﺍ ﺏﺭﻏ لﺎﻤﺸ ﻥﺎﻓﺍﺭﻭ ﺔﻤﻁﺒ ﻲﺘﻘﻁﻨﻤ ﻲﻓ ﻥﻴﺴﻭﺠﻴﻟﻭﻻﺍ ﺕﺎﻨﻴﻭﻜﺘﻟ ﻲﻨﺤﺴﻟﺍ لﻴﻠﺤﺘﻟﺍ
Fruit characterization of different avocado (Persea americana Mill.) genotypes in eastern mid-hills of Nepal

The total of thirteen different avocado (Persea americana Mill.) genotypes were collected for evaluating the fruit characteristics in the laboratory of Agricultural Research Station, Pakhribas during November 2017. The fully matured fruits from the farmer's field at Patle, Dhankuta were collected. The criteria for selecting the genotypes were fruit weight, fruit length, fruit diameter, seed weight, pulp weight, pulp to fruit ratio and the seed weight percentage. The result suggests the potentiality of the genotypes PAKAV002 and PAKAV010 in most of the evaluated characters as compared to the tested genotypes. The genotypes PAKAV008 and PAKAV007 were disliked as they have 32.59% and 28.39% of seed weight to the total fruit weight. The genotypes PAKAV002 and PAKAV010 had the average fruit weight ranging (307.1 g and 346.8 g), maximum of pulp to fruit ratio 62.34% and 56.97%. Similarly, genotypes PAKAV010 (11.425%), PAKAV013 (11.96%) and PAKAV002 (14.47%) had low seed weight to the total fruit weight which is regarded important factor for avocado selection and evaluation. This result shows that the genotypes PAKAV002 and PAKAV010 should be further evaluated for fruit characteristics and the quality.
Sediments from Savinja, Voglajna and Hudinja rivers (Slovenia), reflecting anomalies in an old metallurgic area

Stream sediments from Savinja and its tributaries, Voglajna and Hudinja rivers, which drain an old metallurgic area of Slovenia, have been studied by detailed mineralogical, chemical, Mossbauer and geostatistical methods. It is a case study, which provides an example for a possible chemical threat to aquatic ecosystems, such as toxic contamination with Zn, Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, Ag, Hg and As, in the Celje area. Concentrations of 53 elements were determined in fractions <63 μ m by ICP-MS. Cluster analysis of Q-modality, applied on total geochemical data set, was used to disaggregate it into three subsets. The geochemistry of stream sediments belonging to the largest cluster has been used to identify the background geochemical signatures, related to geology of the drainage basin area. 57Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy at room temperature was used to study iron, which is a major element, partly present in poorly crystalline compounds (oxides and hydroxides). Spectra were fitted with two to four doublets. Hyperfine parameters were obtained and Fe(III)/Fe(II) ratio was calculated. The ratio is higher in Voglajna than in Savinja and Hudinja. Fe(III) is retained in silicates, or as finely dispersed iron oxide. Fe(II) is assumed to be retained in calcite, dolomite and chlorite. Regarding contamination of the studied region, some improvement was observed. Anthropogenic association due to iron metallurgy in the recent past, detected lately on attic dust, was not detected in recent sediments. Anthropogenic association Ti-Nb, reflecting titanium oxide production, is still observed in recent sediments. Highly correlable high concentrations of Zn, Ag and Cd show that these elements still reflect metallurgic activity in Celje region. In spite of elevated concentrations of toxic elements within the Celje region, only in two locations concentrations of several toxic elements are above the values, which can cause serious toxic effects with respect to recommended sediment quality criteria.
Anti-mouse CD52 monoclonal antibody ameliorates iron-deficient anaemia in IL-10 knockout mice

Approximately 50 % of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) suffer from anaemia, with Fe deficiency being the most common cause. CD52 monoclonal antibody (mAb) targets the cell surface CD52 and is effective in depleting lymphocytes through cytolytic effects in vivo. The aim of the present study was to investigate the therapeutic effect of anti-mouse CD52 mAb on Fe-deficient anaemia in IBD. IL-10 knockout mice (IL-10− / −) of 12 weeks with established colitis were treated with anti-mouse CD52 mAb once per week for 2 weeks. Severity of colitis, blood T lymphocytes, blood Hb, haematocrit, plasma erythropoietin (EPO), serum Fe concentration, transferrin saturation, splenic Fe stores, expression of liver hepcidin mRNA, Western blotting of the phosphorylated form of Smad1/5/8 and total Smad1 were measured at the end of the experiment. IL-10− / − mice treated with CD52 mAb showed a reduction in the percentage of CD4+ and CD4+CD45+ T cells in blood and weight loss typically associated with colonic inflammation, serum levels of EPO, the expression of liver hepcidin mRNA and total Smad1 protein, while they showed an increase in Hb concentrations, haematocrit, levels of serum Fe, transferrin saturation and splenic Fe stores. The present results indicated that anti-CD52 therapy may ameliorate Fe-deficient anaemia by reducing colonic inflammation. These findings may open novel horizons in the treatment of patients with IBD by resetting of immunological homeostasis in the gut by depleting the activated T cells in the gut mucosa.
Bartendr: a practical approach to energy-aware cellular data scheduling

Cellular radios consume more power and suffer reduced data rate when the signal is weak. According to our measurements, the communication energy per bit can be as much as 6x higher when the signal is weak than when it is strong. To realize energy savings, applications must preferentially communicate when the signal is strong, either by deferring non-urgent communication or by advancing anticipated communication to coincide with periods of strong signal. Allowing applications to perform such scheduling requires predicting signal strength, so that opportunities for energy-efficient communication can be anticipated. Furthermore, such prediction must be performed at little energy cost. In this paper, we make several contributions towards a practical system for energy-aware cellular data scheduling called Bartendr. First, we establish, via measurements, the relationship between signal strength and power consumption. Second, we show that location alone is not sufficient to predict signal strength and motivate the use of tracks to enable effective prediction. Finally, we develop energy-aware scheduling algorithms for different workloads - syncing and streaming - and evaluate these via simulation driven by traces obtained during actual drives, demonstrating energy savings of up to 60%. Our experiments have been performed on four cellular networks across two large metropolitan areas, one in India and the other in the U.S.
Changes in fruit maturity indices and growth pattern along the harvest season in seedless barberry under different altitude conditions

BACKGROUND: Barberry fruit is an important source of anthocyanin, and strongly uses for Zereshk Poloee, a delicious diet in Iran. OBJECTIVE: We are trying to find how fruit quality of barberry is affected under different locations and if sooner harvesting may be possible, which encouraged us to do these studies. METHODS: The present study was conducted in three different locations (Marvak, Marak and Amirabad with 2079, 1648 and 1480 m altitude) around Birjand, Iran. Fruit sampling was done 66, 98, 122, 155 days after full bloom (DAFB) and also in economical harvesting (EH) date. RESULTS: The results showed that berry number, fruit fresh weight (FW) and dry weight (DW), juice weight and volume, pH, total acidity (TA), total soluble solids (TSS), maturity index, anthocyanin and total phenols significantly changed with advancement of growing season under different climatic conditions. Interactive effect of sampling time × location indicated the highest pH in Marak and Amirabad and the highest TSS and TSS/TA ratio in Amirabad in EH, and the highest phenols in Marak in 155 DAFB and EH. The highest anthocyanin content accumulated in Marvak, exactly in EH. Using changes in FW, DW and volume of fruit, a double-sigmoidal curve observed for barberry fruit growth. CONCLUSION: Regarding to obtained data and specially anthocyanin accumulation, we propose regions with higher altitude for seedless barberry cultivation and production because of earlier harvest with more qualified fruit.
Agreement between Programmed Cell Death Ligand-1 Diagnostic Assays across Multiple Protein Expression Cutoffs in Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer

Purpose: Immunotherapies targeting programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) and programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) demonstrate encouraging antitumor activity and manageable tolerability in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), especially in patients with high tumor PD-L1 expression, as detected by companion or complementary diagnostic assays developed for individual agents. A laboratory is unlikely to use multiple assay platforms. Furthermore, commercially available diagnostic assays are not standardized, and different assay methods could lead to inappropriate treatment selection. This study establishes the extent of concordance between three validated, commercially available PD-L1 IHC diagnostic assays for NSCLC patients [Ventana SP263 (durvalumab), Dako 22C3 (pembrolizumab), and Dako 28-8 (nivolumab)]. Experimental Design: Five hundred formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded archival NSCLC samples were obtained from commercial sources. Stained slides were read in batches on an assay-by-assay basis by a single pathologist trained in all methods, in a Clinical Laboratory Improvements Amendments program–certified laboratory. An additional pathologist performed an independent review of 200 stained samples for each assay. Results: PD-L1 expression was evaluable with all assays in 493 samples. The three assays showed similar patterns of tumor membrane staining, with high correlation between percent PD-L1 staining. An overall percentage agreement of >90% was achieved between assays at multiple expression cutoffs, including 1%, 10%, 25%, and 50% tumor membrane staining. Conclusions: This study builds optimism that harmonization between assays may be possible, and that the three assays studied could potentially be used interchangeably to identify patients most likely to respond to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapies, provided the appropriate clinically defined algorithm and agent are always linked. Clin Cancer Res; 23(14); 3585–91. ©2017 AACR.
Greasing the Wheels of International Commerce: How Services Facilitate Firms' International Sourcing

We use unique plant-level data to study the link between the local availability of services and the decision of manufacturing firms to source materials from abroad. To guide our empirical analysis we develop a monopolistic-competition model of the materials sourcing decisions of heterogeneous firms. The model generates predictions about how the intensity of international sourcing of materials depends on a firm's productivity and the availability of local services. These predictions are supported by the data. We find evidence that more productive manufacturing firms tend to have a higher ratio of imported materials to sales. In addition, we find evidence that services grease the wheels of international commerce: A greater availability of services across regions, industries and time increases a firm's foreign sourcing of materials relative to sales. Interestingly, this positive impact of local service availability on imports especially applies to stand-alone firms that, unlike multinationals, are less likely to rely on imported or internally provided services.
Modeling of asynchronous cellular automata with fixed-point attractors for pattern classification

This paper addresses a detail characterization of the one-dimensional two-state 3-neighborhood asynchronous cellular automata (ACA) having multiple fixed-point attractors with the target to model this class of CA for designing efficient pattern classifier. The cells of ACA are independent, and they are updated independently. When an ACA cell is updated, it reads the states of its neighbors and then updates its state following the state transition function. The ACA rules are characterized considering an arbitrary cell is updated in each time step. A theorem is designed for the identification of ACA with only fixed-point attractors. From this theorem we get 146 out of 256 ACA in two-state 3-neighborhood interconnection which always approach towards fixed-Point attractors. To identify individual fixed-point attractors, a directed graph, namely Fixed-point graph (FPG) is proposed. The FPG guides us to point out the ACA having multiple fixed-points attractors. There are 83 such ACA (out of 146 ACA with only fixed-point attractors) that are utilized to design efficient pattern classifier. Finally, the proposed classifier is tested with real-life data sets, and it is observed that the performance of the proposed ACA based classifier is always better than that of traditional CA based classifier and is also better than many other well-known pattern classifiers.
Valvular heart disease among non-valvular atrial fibrillation: a misnomer, in search of a new term.

This editorial refers to ‘Prognostic value of CHA2DS2-VASc score in patients with ‘non-valvular atrial fibrillation’ and valvular heart disease: the Loire Valley Atrial Fibrillation Project’[†][1], by R. Philippart et al., on page 1822. A 76-year-old male patient with arterial hypertension and moderate aortic stenosis presents with the first episode of atrial fibrillation (AF). His CHA2DS2-VASC score is 3. Can we use the CHA2DS2-VASC score that has been developed in patients with non-valvular AF for assessment of his need for long-term oral anticoagulation? Also, since the underlying trials were done in patients with non-valvular AF, is this patient eligible for a non-vitamin K antagonist (NOAC) or does he have valvular disease and, thus, would need a vitamin K antagonist? These are frequently raised questions among cardiologists. Based on registry data, patients with AF and valve disease are common in clinical practice,1–6 with a higher proportion of these patients among those with permanent than those with paroxysmal or persistent AF1,2 ( Table 1 ). While the prevalence was reported as 21% in the Euro Heart Survey (defined as ‘any type of valve disease’)1 and 24.6% in AFNET (‘non-rheumatic valve disease’),2 it was only 4.2% in the PREvention oF thromboembolic events-European Registry in Atrial Fibrillation (PREFER in AF). 6 The aim of the latter registry was to assess the management of AF in European countries after the publication of the 2010 European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Guidelines on AF which preferably addressed non-valvular AF. Thus, there may be a gap between the focus of the guidelines and the situation in clinical … [1]: #fn-2
Genomic Analysis of Parent-of-Origin Allelic Expression in Arabidopsis thaliana Seeds

Differential expression of maternally and paternally inherited alleles of a gene is referred to as gene imprinting, a form of epigenetic gene regulation common to flowering plants and mammals. In plants, imprinting primarily occurs in the endosperm, a seed tissue that supports the embryo during its growth and development. Previously, we demonstrated that widespread DNA demethylation at remnants of transposable elements accompanies endosperm development and that a subset of these methylation changes are associated with gene imprinting. Here we assay imprinted gene expression genome-wide by performing high-throughput sequencing of RNA derived from seeds of reciprocal intraspecific crosses. We identify more than 200 loci that exhibit parent-of-origin effects on gene expression in the endosperm, including a large number of transcription factors, hormone biosynthesis and response genes, and genes that encode regulators of epigenetic information, such as methylcytosine binding proteins, histone methyltransferases, and chromatin remodelers. The majority of these genes are partially, rather than completely, imprinted, suggesting that gene dosage regulation is an important aspect of imprinted gene expression.
Sequential expression of chicken actin genes during myogenesis

Embryonic muscle development permits the study of contractile protein gene regulation during cellular differentiation. To distinguish the appearance of particular actin mRNAs during chicken myogenesis, we have constructed DNA probes from the transcribed 3' noncoding region of the single-copy alpha-skeletal, alpha-cardiac, and beta-cytoplasmic actin genes. Hybridization experiments showed that at day 10 in ovo (stage 36), embryonic hindlimbs contain low levels of actin mRNA, predominantly consisting of the alpha-cardiac and beta-actin isotypes. However, by day 17 in ovo (stage 43), the amount of alpha-skeletal actin mRNA/microgram total RNA increased more than 30-fold and represented approximately 90% of the assayed actin mRNA. Concomitantly, alpha-cardiac and beta-actin mRNAs decreased by 30% and 70%, respectively, from the levels observed at day 10. In primary myoblast cultures, beta-actin mRNA increased sharply during the proliferative phase before fusion and steadily declined thereafter. alpha-Cardiac actin mRNA increased to levels 15-fold greater than alpha-skeletal actin mRNA in prefusion myoblasts (36 h), and remained at elevated levels. In contrast, the alpha-skeletal actin mRNA remained low until fusion had begun (48 h), increased 25-fold over the prefusion level by the completion of fusion, and then decreased at later times in culture. Thus, the sequential accumulation of sarcomeric alpha-actin mRNAs in culture mimics some of the events observed in embryonic limb development. However, maintenance of high levels of alpha-cardiac actin mRNA as well as the transient accumulation of appreciable alpha- skeletal actin mRNA suggests that myoblast cultures lack one or more essential components for phenotypic maturation.
An RXTE Observation of NGC 6300: A New Bright Compton Reflection-dominated Seyfert 2 Galaxy

Scanning and pointed Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) observations of the nearby Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 6300 reveal that it is a source of hard X-ray continuum and large equivalent-width Fe Kα emission. These properties are characteristic of Compton reflection-dominated Seyfert 2 galaxies. The continuum can be modeled as Compton reflection; subsolar iron abundance is required, and a high inclination is preferred. However, the poor energy resolution of RXTE means that this description is not unique, and the continuum can also be modeled using a "dual absorber," i.e., a sum of absorbed power laws. Observations with higher energy resolution detectors will cleanly discriminate between these two models. Optical observations support the Compton reflection-dominated interpretation as LX/L is low. NGC 6300 is notable because with F2-10 ≈ 6.4 × 10-12 ergs cm-2 s-1, it is the second brightest such object known.
Greatwall-phosphorylated Endosulfine is both an inhibitor and a substrate of PP2A-B55 heterotrimers

During M phase, Endosulfine (Endos) family proteins are phosphorylated by Greatwall kinase (Gwl), and the resultant pEndos inhibits the phosphatase PP2A-B55, which would otherwise prematurely reverse many CDK-driven phosphorylations. We show here that PP2A-B55 is the enzyme responsible for dephosphorylating pEndos during M phase exit. The kinetic parameters for PP2A-B55’s action on pEndos are orders of magnitude lower than those for CDK-phosphorylated substrates, suggesting a simple model for PP2A-B55 regulation that we call inhibition by unfair competition. As the name suggests, during M phase PP2A-B55’s attention is diverted to pEndos, which binds much more avidly and is dephosphorylated more slowly than other substrates. When Gwl is inactivated during the M phase-to-interphase transition, the dynamic balance changes: pEndos dephosphorylated by PP2A-B55 cannot be replaced, so the phosphatase can refocus its attention on CDK-phosphorylated substrates. This mechanism explains simultaneously how PP2A-B55 and Gwl together regulate pEndos, and how pEndos controls PP2A-B55. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.01695. 001
Polyurethane Coatings Reinforced by Halloysite Nanotubes

The pencil hardness of a two-component polyurethane coating was improved by adding halloysite nanotubes to the recipe at a weight fraction of less than 10%. The pencil hardness was around F for the unfilled coating and increased to around 2H upon filling. It was important to silanize the surface of the filler in order to achieve good coupling to the matrix. Sonicating the sample during drying also improved the hardness. Scanning electron micrographs suggest that the nanotubes are always well immersed into the bulk of the film. With a thickness between 10 and 20 µm, the optical clarity was good enough to clearly read letters through the film. The films can be used in applications where transparency is required.