Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genotype-by-Environment Interaction and Stability Analysis in Grain Yield of Improved Tef (Eragrostis tef) Varieties Evaluated in Ethiopia

Aims: To assess the magnitude of genotype by environment interaction; possible existence of different mega-environments; and discriminating ability and representativeness of the testing environments. Study Design: Randomized complete Block Design with three replications. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at Debre Zeit, Holetta and Alem Tena for two years (2015 and 2016) and at Adet, Axum and Bako for one year (2015). Methodology: Thirty-five improved tef varieties were evaluated at nine environments. The G × E interaction were quantified using additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) and the genotype and genotype by environment (GGE) biplot models. Results: Combined analysis of variance revealed highly significant (P = 0.01) variations due to genotype, environment and genotype by environment interaction effects. AMMI analysis revealed 4.3%, 79.7% and 16% variation in grain yield due to genotypes, environments and G x E effects, respectively. G6 gave the highest mean grain yield (3.33 t/ha) over environments whereas G29 gave the lowest mean yield (2.49 t/ha). The GGE biplot grouped the nine testing environments and the 35 genotypes into four mega environments and seven genotypic groups. The four mega environments include: G-I (E1, E4 and E6); G-II (E2, E3, E7 and E8); G-III (E9), and G-IV (E5). E5, E6, E7 and E8 which had the longest vector were the most discriminating of all environments while, E1 and E4 which had the smallest angle with the average environmental axis were the most representative of all environments. Regarding genotypes, G6, G25, G34 and G16 were identified as the best yielding and relatively stable genotypes to increase tef productivity. Conclusion: AMMI and GGE were found to be efficient in grouping the tef growing environments and genotypes.
The effects of neem extract and azadirachtin on soil microorganisms

Both neem extract and azadirachtin are widely used in agriculture as organic pesticides because they are nontoxic to humans, animals, and the environment. However, their effects on soil microorganisms and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), which directly affect soil quality, remain largely unexplored. In this study, the effects of neem extract and azadirachtin on the activity of soil microbes and rhizosphere microorganisms was evaluated. We found that 0.1 and 0.4 gmL-1 of the extract and 1.25 and 2.5 µgmL-1 of azadirachtin inhibited the activity of soil microorganisms in vitro. Treating soil with azadirachtin for two months reduced the number of microorganisms present, while two months of treatment with neem extract increased the number of microorganisms in both the soil and the rhizosphere. The phytopathogenic bacterium Pectobacterium carotovorum was more resistant to azadirachtin than Rhizobium sp. Moreover, treatment of mung beans with neem extract or azadirachtin reduced the number of root nodules and Trichoderma asperellum in the rhizosphere, when compared to the control.
Het gewicht van bedekking. Optimalisatie van de berekening van gewogen gemiddelde indicatiewaarden voor vegetatieopnamen

In deze studie wordt gezocht naar een optimale methode voor het berekenen van gemiddelde indicatiewaarden voor vocht en zuurgraad met de indicatiewaarden van Ellenberg en het ecotopensysteem. Daarbij zijn drie bestaande methoden (geen weging, weging met bedekkingspercentages en weging met behulp van de gemodificeerde Braun-Blanquet schaal) met elkaar vergeleken.
A switched system approach to networked control systems with time-varying delays

The stabilization problem is studied for the networked control systems with time-varying delay that is smaller than one sampling period. State feedback controllers are considered and a new switched system model is proposed to describe the resulting closed-loop NCS as a discrete-time switched system. Criteria of exponential stability for the closed-loop NCS and design procedures for the stabilizing controllers are presented by using the average dwell time method. An illustrative example is given to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Capacidad de resiliencia según tendencia religiosa y género en universitarios

Este estudio de tipo descriptivo y corte transversal, realizado en una muestra de 597 estudiantes universitarios españoles, tiene como objetivo principal describir sus niveles de resiliencia, así como analizar la relación existente entre este constructo, el género y la tendencia religiosa. Se empleó como principal instrumento el cuestionario CD-RISC (Connor y Davidson, 2003). Los resultados revelan que el género masculino muestra puntuaciones más elevadas en optimismo y adaptación a situaciones estresantes, mientras que el femenino posee una espiritualidad más elevada. Asimismo, se pudo observar que los cristianos y los ateo/agnósticos obtenían medias más elevadas en desafío de la conducta orientada a la acción, mientras que los musulmanes obtenían una mayor espiritualidad.
Effect of cerulenin on Streptococcus faecalis macromolecular synthesis and cell division

The antibiotic cerulenin has been used to study macromolecular synthesis and cell division in Streptococcus faecalis. The data suggest that lipid and lipoteichoic acid synthesis as well as cell number increase are affected prior to any observable effects on overall mass increase or DNA, RNA, protein, or peptidoglycan synthesis. Treatment with cerulenin of cultures growing at various rates and analysis of the subsequent cell divisions indicate that the antibiotic may block a cell cycle event that precedes the completion of chromosome replication by about 10 min.
Ca2+‐Dependent Enhancement of [3H]Dopamine Uptake in Rat Striatum: Possible Involvement of Calmodulin‐Dependent Kinases

Abstract: We studied effects of Ca2+ in the incubation medium on [3H]dopamine ([3H]DA) uptake by rat striatal synaptosomes. Both the duration of the preincubation period with Ca2+ (0–30 min) and Ca2+ concentration (0–10 mM) in Krebs‐Ringer medium affected [3H]DA uptake by the synaptosomes. The increase was maximal at a concentration of 1 mM Ca2+ after a 10‐min preincubation (2.4 times larger than the uptake measured without preincubation), which reflected an increase in Vmax of the [3H]DA uptake process. On the other hand, [3H]DA uptake decreased rapidly after addition of ionomycin in the presence of 1 mM Ca2+. The Ca2+‐dependent enhancement of the uptake was still maintained after washing synaptosomes with Ca2+‐free medium following preincubation with 1 mM Ca2+. Protein kinase C inhibitors did not affect apparently Ca2+‐dependent enhancement of the uptake, whereas 1‐[N,O‐bis(1,5‐isoquinolinesulfonyl)‐N‐methyl‐l‐tyrosyl]‐4‐phenylpiperazine (KN‐62; a Ca2+/calmodulin‐dependent kinase II inhibitor) and wortmannin (a myosin light chain kinase inhibitor) significantly reduced it. Inhibitory effects of KN‐62 and wortmannin appeared to be additive. N‐(6‐Aminohexyl)‐5‐chloro‐1‐naphthalenesulfonamide hydrochloride (W‐7; a calmodulin antagonist) also remarkably inhibited the enhancement. These results suggest that Ca2+‐dependent enhancement of [3H]DA uptake is mediated by activation of calmodulin‐dependent protein kinases.
Learning statistical models of phenotypes using noisy labeled training data

OBJECTIVE Traditionally, patient groups with a phenotype are selected through rule-based definitions whose creation and validation are time-consuming. Machine learning approaches to electronic phenotyping are limited by the paucity of labeled training datasets. We demonstrate the feasibility of utilizing semi-automatically labeled training sets to create phenotype models via machine learning, using a comprehensive representation of the patient medical record. METHODS We use a list of keywords specific to the phenotype of interest to generate noisy labeled training data. We train L1 penalized logistic regression models for a chronic and an acute disease and evaluate the performance of the models against a gold standard. RESULTS Our models for Type 2 diabetes mellitus and myocardial infarction achieve precision and accuracy of 0.90, 0.89, and 0.86, 0.89, respectively. Local implementations of the previously validated rule-based definitions for Type 2 diabetes mellitus and myocardial infarction achieve precision and accuracy of 0.96, 0.92 and 0.84, 0.87, respectively.We have demonstrated feasibility of learning phenotype models using imperfectly labeled data for a chronic and acute phenotype. Further research in feature engineering and in specification of the keyword list can improve the performance of the models and the scalability of the approach. CONCLUSIONS Our method provides an alternative to manual labeling for creating training sets for statistical models of phenotypes. Such an approach can accelerate research with large observational healthcare datasets and may also be used to create local phenotype models.
Abbreviated Form of the Wisconsin Card Sort Test

While the Wisconsin Card Sort Test is a popular procedure used to evaluate executive functions. the test may take extended times to administer. especially in impaired clients. This has led to interest in the development of a short form of the test. Axelrod. Paolo. and Abraham (1997) earlier failed in an attempt to develop a short form of the Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCS ‘I’). The authors suggested that a regression-based approach might work better than their predictive model. In a sample of 145 consecutive subjects referred for neuropsychological testing. linear and nonlinear regression for- mulas were generated to predict the full 128 card version of the test from 32, 64. and 96 item versions of the test. Overall. the data obtained strongly suggests that multiple regression equations can reliably predict WCST whole test scores from a 64 or a 96-item version of the test. but not a 32-item version. The results indicate that the 64-item version is a clinically sound substitute for the entire test.
Activities of Mutant Prevention Concentration-Targeted Moxifloxacin and Levofloxacin against Streptococcus pneumoniae in an In Vitro Pharmacodynamic Model

ABSTRACT The differential effects of moxifloxacin and levofloxacin on the development of resistance in four Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates were examined by using an in vitro pharmacodynamic model. Therapeutic regimens (moxifloxacin: peak, 4.5 μg/ml; half-life [t1/2], 12 h; and levofloxacin: peak, 6 μg/ml; t1/2, 6 h) were tested against two fluoroquinolone-susceptible isolates (strains 79 and ATCC 49619) and KD2138 and KD2139 (parC and gyrA mutants, respectively, of ATCC 49619). Mutant prevention concentration (MPC)-targeted regimens with modified pharmacokinetics of each drug were simulated to match the area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) above the MPC for the two fluoroquinolones. Moxifloxacin MICs and MPCs (MIC/MPC) for isolates 79, ATCC 49619, KD2138, and KD2139, respectively, were 0.125 and 0.5, 0.125 and 0.5, 0.25 and 8, and 0.25 and 4 μg/ml. Levofloxacin MICs and MPCs for the same isolates were 1 and 4, 0.5 and 2, 1 and 64, and 0.5 and 32 μg/ml, respectively. Therapeutic levofloxacin concentrations led to isolation of mutants of ATCC 49619 (S79Y in ParC), KD2138 (S81Y in GyrA), and KD2139 (S79Y in ParC). Therapeutic moxifloxacin concentrations against the gyrA mutant KD2139 resulted in outgrowth of a mutant with a ParC substitution (S79Y) but caused no emergence of mutants of the other three isolates. MPC-targeted moxifloxacin (lower-than-normal peak = 0.75 to 1.5 μg/ml, administered at levofloxacin's t1/2) caused growth of a GyrA variant (S81Y) of KD2138 and a ParC variant (S79Y) of KD2139, while no mutants of ATCC 49619 were recovered. MPC-targeted levofloxacin (higher-than-normal peak = 14.5 to 29.5 μg/ml, administered at moxifloxacin's t1/2) against KD2138 and KD2139 did not prevent the development of the mutations observed in therapeutic regimens, but resistance in the fluoroquinolone-susceptible ATCC 49619 was no longer noted. Normalization of the respective AUC/MPC ratios of moxifloxacin and levofloxacin did not eliminate differences in resistance selectivity of the two agents in all cases. We conclude that the reduced recovery of resistant mutants of S. pneumoniae following moxifloxacin exposure compared to levofloxacin may be due to intrinsic differences between the drugs. Increasing the concentration and exposure (t1/2) to exceed the MPC may prevent mutations from occurring in fluoroquinolone-susceptible strains. However, this strategy did not prevent the selection of secondary mutants in strains with preexisting mutations. Further study of the MPC concept to evaluate these relationships is warranted.
Asymptotically optimum radar detection in compound-Gaussian clutter

An asymptotically optimum receiver designed for detecting coherent pulse trains in compound-Gaussian clutter is introduced and assessed. The proposed receiver assumes knowledge of the structure of the clutter covariance matrix, but does not require that of its amplitude probability density function (apdf). Performance is analytically evaluated, showing that the loss, as measured with respect to the corresponding optimum structure, is kept within a few dBs even for a relatively small number of integrated pulses and that it largely outperforms the matched-filter detector under all instances of practical interest. Interestingly, the proposed detector achieves constant false alarm rate (CFAR), regardless of the clutter envelope distribution and, consequently, its power. >
Real Time Responsive Animation with Personality

Building on principles from prior work on procedural texture synthesis (K. Perlin, 1985), we are able to create remarkably lifelike, responsively animated characters in real time. Rhythmic and stochastic noise functions are used to define time varying parameters that drive computer generated puppets. Because we are conveying just the "texture" of motion, we are able to avoid computation of dynamics and constraint solvers. The subjective impression of dynamics and other subtle influences on motion can be conveyed with great visual realism by properly tuned expressions containing pseudo random noise functions. For example, we can make a character appear to be dynamically balancing herself, to appear nervous, or to be gesturing in a particular way. Each move has an internal rhythm, and transitions between moves are temporally constrained so that "impossible" transitions are precluded. For example, if while the character is walking we specify a dance turn, the character will always step into the turn onto the correct weight bearing foot. An operator can make a character perform a properly connected sequence of actions, while conveying particular moods and attitudes, merely by pushing buttons at a high level. Potential uses of such high level "textural" approaches to computer graphic simulation include role playing games, simulated conferences, "clip animation", graphical front ends for MUDs, and synthetic performances. >
Expressiveness of Concurrent Languages

The aim of this thesis is to go through different approaches for proving expressiveness properties in several concurrent languages. We analyse four different calculi exploiting for each one a different technique. We begin with the analysis of a synchronous language, we explore the expressiveness of a fragment of CCS! (a variant of Milner's CCS where replication is considered instead of recursion) w.r. t. the existence of faithful encodings (i.e. encodings that respect the behaviour of the encoded model without introducing unnecessary computations) of models of computability strictly less expressive than Turing Machines. Namely, grammars of types 1,2 and 3 in the Chomsky Hierarchy. We then move to asynchronous languages and we study full abstraction for two Linda-like languages. Linda can be considered as the asynchronous version of CCS plus a shared memory (a multiset of elements) that is used for storing messages. After having defined a denotational semantics based on traces, we obtain fully abstract semantics for both languages by using suitable abstractions in order to identify different traces which do not correspond to different behaviours. Since the ability of one of the two variants considered of recognising multiple occurrences of messages in the store (which accounts for an increase of expressiveness) reflects in a less complex abstraction, we then study other languages where multiplicity plays a fundamental role. We consider the language CHR (Constraint Handling Rules) a language which uses multi-headed (guarded) rules. We prove that multiple heads augment the expressive power of the language. Indeed we show that if we restrict to rules where the head contains at most n atoms we could generate a hierarchy of languages with increasing expressiveness (i.e. the CHR language allowing at most n atoms in the heads is more expressive than the language allowing at most m atoms, with m<n). Finally we analyse a language similar but simpler than CHR. The kappa-calculus is a formalism for modelling molecular biology where molecules are terms with internal state and sites, bonds are represented by shared names labelling sites, and reactions are represented by rewriting rules. Depending on the shape of the rewriting rules, several dialects of the calculus can be obtained. We analyse the expressive power of some of these dialects by focusing on decidability and undecidability for problems like reachability and coverability.
Synthesis and Stability of Novel Terminal Phosphate-Labeled Nucleotides

Novel compounds consisting of a nucleotide triphosphate labeled with a PEG linker and various terminal groups attached to the γ-phosphate of the nucleotide were constructed for use in efforts to produce a new class of DNA sequencer. The stability of these novel compounds was investigated to determine their utility as sequencing reagents. Hydrolysis rate constants were measured for both the natural nucleoside triphosphate dATP and novel dATP derivatives. The γ-labeled dATP was approximately 20-fold more stable to hydrolysis than dATP.
Chronic intermittent ethanol exposure in early adolescent and adult male rats: effects on tolerance, social behavior, and ethanol intake.

BACKGROUND Given the prevalence of alcohol use in adolescence, it is important to understand the consequences of chronic ethanol exposure during this critical period in development. The purpose of this study was to assess possible age-related differences in susceptibility to tolerance development to ethanol-induced sedation and withdrawal-related anxiety, as well as voluntary ethanol intake after chronic exposure to relatively high doses of ethanol during adolescence or adulthood. METHODS Juvenile/adolescent and adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to one of five 10-day exposure conditions: chronic ethanol (4 g/kg every 48 hours), chronic saline (equivalent volume every 24 hours), chronic saline/acutely challenged with ethanol (4 g/kg on day 10), nonmanipulated/acutely challenged with ethanol (4 g/kg on day 10), or nonmanipulated. For assessment of tolerance development, duration of the loss of righting reflex (LORR) and blood ethanol concentrations (BECs) upon regaining of righting reflex (RORR) were tested on the first and last ethanol exposure days in the chronic ethanol group, with both saline and nonmanipulated animals likewise challenged on the last exposure day. Withdrawal-induced anxiety was indexed in a social interaction test 24 hours after the last ethanol exposure, with ethanol-naïve chronic saline and nonmanipulated animals serving as controls. Voluntary intake was assessed 48 hours after the chronic exposure period in chronic ethanol, chronic saline and nonmanipulated animals using an 8-day 2 bottle choice, limited-access ethanol intake procedure. RESULTS In general, adolescent animals showed shorter durations of LORR and higher BECs upon RORR than adults on the first and last ethanol exposure days, regardless of chronic exposure condition. Adults, but not adolescents, developed chronic tolerance to the sedative effects of ethanol, tolerance that appeared to be metabolic in nature. Social deficits were observed after chronic ethanol in both adolescents and adults. Adolescents drank significantly more ethanol than adults on a gram per kilogram basis, with intake uninfluenced by prior ethanol exposure at both ages. CONCLUSIONS Adolescents and adults may differ in their ability and/or propensity to adapt to chronic ethanol exposure, with adults, but not adolescents, developing chronic metabolic tolerance. However, this chronic exposure regimen was sufficient to disrupt baseline levels of social behavior at both ages. Taken together, these results suggest that, despite the age-related differences in tolerance development, adolescents are as susceptible as adults to consequences of chronic ethanol exposure, particularly in terms of disruptions in social behavior. Whether these effects would last into adulthood remains to be determined.
Ethical sensitivity and related factors of nurses working in the hospital settings

The purpose of the study is to determine the level of ethical sensitivity and related factors of nurses working in the hospital settings. This descriptive study was conducted at a public hospital and a university hospital in Ankara, Turkey between April–July 2012. A total of 111 nurses participated in the study. The data were collected using a data collection tool consisting of two parts. The first part consisted of questions that determined the nurses’ personal and socio-demographic characteristics. The second part comprised of “Byrd’s Nurses Ethical Sensitivity Test”. The data were evaluated by using frequency, percentage, t-test and one-way ANOVA. Of the 111 nurses, 39,7% had a work experience of 1–3 years, 51,4% was married and 38,7% did not have ethics education. Education levels of most of the nurses (62,2%) were bachelor’s degree. The mean ethical sensitivity score of nurses was 21,12±2,85. “It was determined that ethical sensitivity of nurses was found to be higher in those that had ethics education, older age group, and had bachelor’s degree than others (p<0,05)”. The mean ethical sensitivity score of nurses was of medium level. It is concluded that ethical sensitivity was influenced by ethics education, age groups, and educational background.