Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ethylene: A Witchweed Seed Germination Stimulant

Ethylene gas (C2 H4) was found to stimulate the germination of witchweed [Striga asiatica (L.) O. Kuntze] seeds. Ethylene diffuses greater than 120 cm horizontally from point of injection and more than 90 cm below the soil surface. Rates of 0.42 kg/ha induced germination of witchweed seeds in sandy soil; but 1.1 kg/ha is required on a heavy clay soil. Witchweed seeds respond to ethylene after a period of preconditioning that is necessary to break dormancy. Under field conditions in the Carolinas, maximum response of seeds to ethylene occurs between late April and late July. Field studies indicate a 90% reduction in viable witchweed seeds occurs where a single treatment with ethylene has been applied. The use of ethylene appears now to be a major contributor toward the eventual eradication of witchweed from the United States.
The Inclusion of Children with a Disability in Child Care: The Influence of Experience, Training and Attitudes of Childcare Staff

Seventy-seven directors of childcare centres and 77 childcare staff were surveyed about their training to work with children with a disability, experience with these children, attitudes to disability, inclusive practices and barriers to inclusion. General support was expressed for the inclusion of children with a disability in child care, especially if the disability was mild. Some disabilities, e.g. speech and language problems, were viewed more favourably than others, e.g. acquired brain damage. Training for working with children who have a disability was associated with positive attitudes toward people with a disability. Directors currently including children with a disability in their program had significantly more training and experience with such children than other directors, although there was no difference in attitude to disability. Training and experience appeared to increase feelings of control over the provision of services for children with a disability.
Warum betreibt der Europäische Gerichtshof Rechtsfortbildung? Die Politisierungshypothese

In der rechtswissenschaftlichen, politologischen und soziologischen Fachliteratur ist unumstritten, dass der Europaische Gerichtshof (EuGH) das europaische Recht als 'Motor der Integration' expansiv interpretiert und damit faktisch Integrationspolitik betreibt. Das Papier diskutiert anhand von zehn Richtungsentscheidungen des EuGH, ob die Politisierungshypothese einen Beitrag zur Erklarung dieses Umstands leisten kann. Die Hypothese besagt, dass EuGH-Richter ihre Entscheidungen auf Grundlage von landerspezifischen oder parteipolitischen Interessen fallen. Der parteienbezogenen Variante der Hypothese scheint keine Erklarungskraft zuzukommen. Auch die landerbezogene Variante vermag keine systematische Erklarung der EuGH-Rechtsfortbildung zu leisten, die an die Stelle konkurrierender Deutungen treten konnte. Auf ausgewahlte Falle aber passt die landerbezogene Hypothese recht gut. Auf Grundlage der vorgefundenen Ergebnisse formuliere ich die These, dass situative Akte der Politisierung des EuGH moglich erscheinen, ohne dass der rechtliche Code bei der Entscheidungsfindung damit vollstandig und dauerhaft vom politischen Code verdrangt wurde.
PEMANFAATAN METODE SPLIT-WINDOWS ALGORITHM (SWA) PADA LANDSAT 8 MENGGUNAKAN DATA UAP AIR MODIS TERRA

Metode Split-Windows Algorithm (SWA) memiliki metode yang bervariasi untuk pengolahan suhu permukaan (Land Surface Temperature/LST). Salah satunya pada pengolahan citra Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS (The Operational Land Imager and the Thermal Infrared Scanner) karena menggunakan dua saluran yaitu 10 (10,60 - 11,19 µm) dan band 11 (11,50 - 12,51 µm). Metode SWA pada penelitian ini menggunakan data primer yaitu parameter uap air untuk meningkatkan akurasi pengolahan suhu permukaan. Data parameter uap air diperoleh dari citra MODIS untuk mengetahui nilai rata–rata uap air (W) dan citra emisivitas diperoleh dari citra Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS dengan saluran tampak. Perolehan data tersebut dilakukan dengan bantuan Microsoft Excel, berbeda dengan penelitian sebelumnya yang menggunakan aplikasi MODTRAN (MODerate resolution atmospheric TRANsmission). Tujuan dari pengolahan suhu permukaan dengan metode SWA menggunakan data parameter uap air untuk mengetahui akurasi antara hasil pengolahan citra dengan nilai suhu permukaan di lapangan. Hasil pengolahan data suhu permukaan melalui metode SWA menunjukkan perbedaan nilai yang kecil (<1°K) terhadap kondisi suhu di lapangan. Selain itu terdapat pola keselarasan antara penggunaan Microsoft Excel untuk perolehan data dengan aplikasi MODTRAN sehingga proses perolehan data parameter uap air telah sesuai. Aplikasi SPSS digunakan untuk mengetahui tingkat hubungan dan akurasi dari hasil pengolahan suhu permukaan metode SWA terhadap hasil survey lapangan dan menunjukkan nilai korelasi sebesar -0,962. Perolehan dan pengolahan data suhu permukaan dengan metode SWA akan optimal jika nilai transmitted atmospheric yang digunakan merupakan wilayah untuk daerah tropis.
Electrically Conductive Coatings for Fiber-Based E-Textiles

With the advent of wearable electronic devices in our daily lives, there is a need for soft, flexible, and conformable devices that can provide electronic capabilities without sacrificing comfort. Electronic textiles (e-textiles) combine electronic capabilities of devices such as sensors, actuators, energy harvesting and storage devices, and communication devices with the comfort and conformability of conventional textiles. An important method to fabricate such devices is by coating conventionally used fibers and yarns with electrically conductive materials to create flexible capacitors, resistors, transistors, batteries, and circuits. Textiles constitute an obvious choice for deployment of such flexible electronic components due to their inherent conformability, strength, and stability. Coating a layer of electrically conducting material onto the textile can impart electronic capabilities to the base material in a facile manner. Such a coating can be done at any of the hierarchical levels of the textile structure, i.e., at the fiber, yarn, or fabric level. This review focuses on various electrically conducting materials and methods used for coating e-textile devices, as well as the different configurations that can be obtained from such coatings, creating a smart textile-based system.
Timescales of spontaneous fMRI fluctuations relate to structural connectivity in the brain

Intrinsic timescales of activity fluctuations vary hierarchically across the brain. This variation reflects a broad gradient of functional specialization in information storage and processing, with integrative association areas displaying slower timescales that are thought to reflect longer temporal processing windows. The organization of timescales is associated with cognitive function, distinctive between individuals, and disrupted in disease, but we do not yet understand how the temporal properties of activity dynamics are shaped by the brain’s underlying structural-connectivity network. Using resting-state fMRI and diffusion MRI data from 100 healthy individuals from the Human Connectome Project, here we show that the timescale of resting-state fMRI dynamics increases with structural-connectivity strength, matching recent results in the mouse brain. Our results hold at the level of individuals, are robust to parcellation schemes, and are conserved across a range of different timescale-related statistics. We establish a comprehensive BOLD dynamical signature of structural connectivity strength by comparing over 6000 time-series features, highlighting a range of new temporal features for characterizing BOLD dynamics, including measures of stationarity and symbolic motif frequencies. Our findings indicate a conserved property of mouse and human brain organization in which a brain region’s spontaneous activity fluctuations are closely related to their surrounding structural scaffold.
Analysis of the dissipation processes of external input energy in conditions of anomalous low friction and wear

The article presents theoretical and experimental prerequisites for achieving an anomalous friction and wear adopted in tribology from the standpoint of modern physical theories and quantum-mechanical approach to the explanation of the energy dissipation under the external friction. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of oscillations generated in most of the tribosystems as a factor of achieving anomalous low friction and wear conditions from a position of the quantum mechanical approach to real tribosystems operating under conditions of dry and boundary friction. Microdisplacement optimal conditions at the actual contact points are achieved in this case by changing rheology of the surface layer.
Adverse Effect of Child Abuse Victimization Among Substance-Using Women in Treatment

This study examined the adverse effect of childhood sexual/physical abuse among 171 substance-abusing women with infants or young children, who were admitted to the Family Rehabilitation Program in New York City. Approximately one half of the women (51%) self-reported ever having been sexually (24%) or physically abused (45%) in their childhood. Having a history of childhood abuse experiences, particularly sexual abuse, was associated with various areas of adult life functioning. Approximately 13 months after program admission, 82% of the sample was recontacted for follow-up. No significant associations were found between childhood abuse experiences and length of retention in services. However, several significant differences in service outcomes between sexually or physically abused women and nonabused women were found. The abused women had significantly more problems relating to drug use and psychiatric/psychological adjustment at follow-up. The findings support a need for substance dependency treatment programs tailored for women who have experienced serious childhood abuse.
Redox-dependent and independent mechanisms of selective pro- and anti-apoptotic activity of Georgian legumes crops extracts on Jurkat and MDCK cells

Background: Possibilities of pharmacological regulation of apoptosis play an important role in the treatment of different diseases. Polyphenol-rich plant extracts, as well as isolated polyphenols, can regulate cell apoptosis primarily through intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms of action and are the most intriguing and studied class of compounds that can be therapeutics for a wide range of common diseases, including cancer. Polyphenols are well known as powerful antioxidants, their action is also associated with pro-apoptotic function in various types of tumor cells.The purpose of this study was to establish the anti-and pro-apoptotic activity of Georgian legume crops in model cellular systems.Methods: Legume crop extracts (LCEs) were prepared in water-alcohol solute. Polyphenols content in the extracts was determined by Folin–Ciocalteu method, antiradical activity (AA) - according the comparative time of the 50% neutralization of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) cleavage.Studies were carried out on human leukemic mature T (Jurkat) and normal epithelial MDCK cells lines. For modelling of oxida­tive stress, 30% hydrogen peroxide was used. LCEs were added to intact or incubated under oxidative stress conditions Jurkat and MDCK cells. Cells’ viability was determined by 3-(4,5-dimethyltiazol-2)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium-bromide (MTT) test. Catalase and Superoxidedismutase (SOD) activity in cellular supernatant was measured by spectrophotometry.Results: LCEs revealed selective pro- and antiapoptotic activity on the intact and incubated under oxidative stress conditions Jurkat and MDCK cells. The cytotoxic effect of LCEs on intact Jurkat and MDCK cells was independent of their AA and activity of enzymatic cellular antioxidant defense system.The cytoprotective effect of LCEs on MDCK cells was realized through redox-dependent mechanisms and is associated both with the own AA of the extracts and with the stimulating effect of the extracts on the activity of enzymatic cellular antioxidant defense system, where catalase played a leading role. LCEs didn’t protect Jurkat cells from oxidative stress-induced apoptosis.Conclusion: The obtained results allow us to conclude that in cancer chemotherapy the legume extracts might be combined with prooxidant drugs, in order to protect normal cells, but not the malignant ones, from their apoptosis-inducing effect. On the other hand, these extracts may protect non-malignant tissues/organs from various apoptosis-related disorders.
The role of the ETS factor ELF3 in the normal and malignant prostate

The ETS transcription factor family members are involved in multiple cancers, including prostate cancer. Whilst extensive literature exists on the highly prevalent TMPRSS2-ERG gene fusion, the role of other ETS factors in prostate cancer is less well understood. ELF3 has been ascribed both oncogenic and tumour suppressive roles in prostate cancer and has been highlighted as a regulator of epithelial cell differentiation in other tissues. The overarching aim of this project was to elucidate the role of ELF3 in the context of both normal prostate development and prostate cancer. This study details an extensive expression profile of ELF3 in prostate epithelial cell lines, primary prostate cell subpopulations and prostate tissue. ELF3 expression was restricted to the basal compartment of epithelial glands, specifically to the committed basal cell subpopulation of the basal epithelial hierarchy. Appropriate cell models were used to investigate the role of ELF3 in the prostate. By silencing ELF3 in BPH-1 and PC3 cells, ELF3 was established as a regulator of the cell cycle. This manifested as a decrease in colony forming ability, migration and cell viability caused by G2 cell cycle arrest. Furthermore, manipulating ELF3 expression altered the differentiation status of cell lines and primary cells, highlighting that a balance of ELF3 expression is required to maintain proper differentiation of the epithelial hierarchy. Finally, a possible link of ELF3 to more advanced prostate tumours using tissue microarray analysis, a potential association with neuroendocrine differentiation and putative survival advantage of ELF3 expression in cancer vs normal cells, was identified. These results suggest that ELF3 acts as an oncogene in the prostate cancer setting. However, its importance in normal prostate epithelial cell growth and differentiation has also been demonstrated. Work should now focus on identifying appropriate downstream effectors that could be targeted to exploit these properties for prostate cancer treatment.
Hemodynamic Instability Prediction Through Continuous Multiparameter Monitoring in ICU

Current algorithms identifying hemodynamically unstable intensive care unit patients typically are limited to detecting existing dangerous conditions and suffer from high false alert rates. Our objective was to predict hemodynamic instability at least two hours before patient deterioration while maintaining a low false alert rate, using minute-by-minute heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) data. We identified 66 stable and 104 unstable patients meeting our stability-instability criteria from the MIMIC II database, and developed multi-parameter measures using HR and BP. An instability index combining measures of BP, shock index, rate pressure product, and HR variation was developed from a multivariate regression model to predict hemodynamic instability (ROC of 0.82±0.03, sensitivity of 0.57±0.07 when the specificity was targeted at 0.90; the alert rate ratio of unstable to stable patients was 7.62). We conclude that these algorithms could form the basis for reliable predictive clinical alerts which identify patients likely to become hemodynamically unstable within the next few hours so that the clinicians can proactively manage these patients and provide necessary care.
The rodent vaginal microbiome across the estrous cycle and the effect of genital nerve electrical stimulation

Treatment options are limited for the approximately 40% of postmenopausal women worldwide who suffer from female sexual dysfunction (FSD). Neural stimulation has shown potential as a treatment for genital arousal FSD, however the mechanisms for its improvement are unknown. One potential cause of some cases of genital arousal FSD are changes to the composition of the vaginal microbiota, which is associated with vulvovaginal atrophy. The primary hypothesis of this study was that neural stimulation may induce healthy changes in the vaginal microbiome, thereby improving genital arousal FSD symptoms. In this study we used rats, which are a common animal model for sexual function, however the rat vaginal microbiome is understudied. Thus this study also sought to examine the composition of the rat vaginal microbiota. Treatment rats (n=5) received 30 minutes of cutaneous electrical stimulation targeting the genital branch of the pudendal nerve, and Control animals (n=4) had 30-minute sessions without stimulation. Vaginal lavage samples were taken during a 14-day baseline period including multiple estrous periods and after twice-weekly 30-minute sessions across a six-week trial period. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences was used to characterize the rat vaginal microbiota in baseline samples and determine the effect of stimulation. We found that the rat vaginal microbiota is dominated by Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteria, which changed in relative abundance during the estrous cycle and in relationship to each other. While the overall stimulation effects were unclear, some Treatment animals had less alteration in microbiota composition between sequential samples than Control animals, suggesting that stimulation may help stabilize the vaginal microbiome. Future studies may consider additional physiological parameters, in addition to the microbiome composition, to further examine vaginal health and the effects of stimulation.
Algorithmics, Possibilities and Limits of Ordinal Pattern Based Entropies

The study of nonlinear and possibly chaotic time-dependent systems involves long-term data acquisition or high sample rates. The resulting big data is valuable in order to provide useful insights into long-term dynamics. However, efficient and robust algorithms are required that can analyze long time series without decomposing the data into smaller series. Here symbolic-based analysis techniques that regard the dependence of data points are of some special interest. Such techniques are often prone to capacity or, on the contrary, to undersampling problems if the chosen parameters are too large. In this paper we present and apply algorithms of the relatively new ordinal symbolic approach. These algorithms use overlapping information and binary number representation, whilst being fast in the sense of algorithmic complexity, and allow, to the best of our knowledge, larger parameters than comparable methods currently used. We exploit the achieved large parameter range to investigate the limits of entropy measures based on ordinal symbolics. Moreover, we discuss data simulations from this viewpoint.
Investigations on a Variable-Channel-Width Double-Layered Minichannel Heat Sink

Incessant development of electronic components necessitates the exploration of efficient cooling devices to meet the demand of high heat dissipation with less pressure drop penalty. In view of that, a novel liquid-cooled variable-channel-width double-layered minichannel heat sink (VW<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{C}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> DL-MCHS) is proposed in this paper. A detailed numerical investigation on VW<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{C}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> DL-MCHS is carried out using 3-D solid–fluid conjugated heat transfer model for the counter and parallel flow configurations. The influence of the dimensionless stepped fin length (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lambda$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) on the thermal performance of a VW<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{C}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> DL-MCHS is investigated by considering the same values of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lambda $ </tex-math></inline-formula> (0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 0.8, 0.85, 0.9, 0.95) in both layers. After obtaining the optimal value of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lambda $ </tex-math></inline-formula>, the investigations are carried forward to study the influence of different values of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lambda $ </tex-math></inline-formula> in each layer of VW<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{C}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> DL-MCHS by considering 0%, 25%, and 50% overlapping of the dense fin region of the upper layer over the dense fin region of the lower layer. The results show that a counter-flow VW<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{C}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> DL-MCHS with zero overlap (0%) turns out to be the best geometry with the overall improvement in thermal performance of 8.68 times than the conventional single-layered-MCHS and 3.7318 times higher than the conventional DL-MCHS.
Strategies to Improve Calf Performance: Improving Water Quality, Feeding Microbially-enhanced Soy Protein, and Supplementing Condensed Whey Solubles

STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE CALF PERFORMANCE: IMPROVING WATER QUALITY, FEEDING MICROBIALLY-ENHANCED SOY PROTEIN, AND SUPPLEMENTING CONDENSED WHEY SOLUBLES NIROSH DIAS SENEVIRATHNE 2018 Six experiments were conducted for this dissertation research to evaluate strategies to improve growth performance and health of calves. Growth performance, nutrient utilization, and health effects were evaluated when calves were offered water treated with reverse osmosis system (RW), fed starter pellets supplemented with microbially-enhanced soy protein (MSP) or supplemented condensed whey solubles (CWS). The first two experiments were conducted to determine drinking preference, growth performance, and health of dairy calves offered RW or by a municipal water treatment plant (MW), compared with local untreated well water (WW). First a sequential elimination study was conducted to observed drinking preference of calves given RW, MW and WW. Greater preference was observed calves fed RW and least was WW, with RW slightly preferred over MW. The second study was conducted to determine the effects of drinking RW versus MW on
Shear and extensional rheology of aqueous solutions of cocamidopropyl betaine and sodium dodecyl sulfate mixture

Abstract The paper presents the results obtained for aqueous solutions of a mixture of cocamidopropyl betaine (CAPB) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in rheological tests in the shear and extensional flow. The rheological measurements in the extensional flow were conducted using a capillary breakup extensional rheometer. The description of the mechanical spectra required the application of the multi-mode Maxwell model, which demonstrates that stress relaxation occurs via reptation – as in entangled polymer solutions. The rheological properties of aqueous CAPB/SDS solutions in the extensional flow were also found to be qualitatively consistent with the properties of entangled polymer solutions. The ratio of the extensional relaxation time to the transient shear relaxation time was considerably lower than one, and the range of elasto-capillary thinning appeared at a Weissenberg number of 2/3. The difference between polymer solutions and CAPB/SDS solutions is noted at late times, when the transient extensional viscosity of the solutions of polymers and wormilke cationic surfactants reaches a constant value, whereas in CAPB/SDS solutions it drops rapidly. The decrease in transient extensional viscosity in this range may be due to the break-up of wormlike micelles under the influence of high transient extensional stresses. Graphical Abstract