Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inter-continental Transport of Dust and Pollution Aerosols across Alexandria, Egypt

The flow of pollutants from Europe and desert dust to Europe from the Sahara desert both affects the air quality of the coastal regions of Egypt. As such, measurements from both ground and satellite observations assume great importance to ascertain the conditions and flow affecting the Nile Delta and the large city of Alexandria. We note that special weather conditions prevailing in the Mediterranean Sea result in a westerly wind flow pattern during spring and from North to South during the summer. Such flow patterns transport dust-loaded and polluted air masses from the Sahara desert and Europe, respectively, through Alexandria, and the Nile Delta in Egypt. We have carried out measurements acquired with a groundbased portable sun photometer (Microtops II) and the satellite-borne TERRA/Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor during the periods of October 1999–August 2001 and July 2002–September 2003. These measurements show a seasonal variability in aerosol optical depth (AOD) following these flow patterns. Maximum aerosol loadings accompanied by total precipitable water vapor (W) enhancements are observed during the spring and summer seasons. Pronounced changes have been observed in the Angstrom exponent (α) derived from groundbased measurements over Alexandria (31.14 N, 29.59 E) during both dust and pollution periods. We have followed up the observations with a 3-day back-trajectories model to trace the probable sources and pathways of the air masses causing the observed aerosol loadings. We have also used other NASA model outputs to estimate the sea salt, dust, sulfates and black carbon AOD spatial distributions during different seasons. Our results reveal the probable source regions Correspondence to: H. El-Askary (elaskary@chapman.edu) of these aerosol types, showing agreement with the trajectory and Angstrom exponent analysis results. It is confirmed that Alexandria is subjected to different atmospheric conditions involving dust, pollution, mixed aerosols and clean sky.
Large Molecule Therapeutics MOR 209 / ES 414 , a Novel Bispeci fi c Antibody Targeting PSMA for the Treatment of Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer

Treatment of metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) remains a highly unmet medical need and current therapies ultimately result in disease progression. Immunotherapy is a rapidly growing approach for treatment of cancer but has shown limited success to date in the treatment of mCRPC. We have developed a novel humanized bispecific antibody, MOR209/ES414, built on the ADAPTIR (modular protein technology) platform, to redirect T-cell cytotoxicity toward prostate cancer cells by specifically targeting T cells through CD3e to prostate cancer cells expressing PSMA (prostate-specific membrane antigen). In vitro cross-linking of T cells with PSMA-expressing tumor cells by MOR209/ES414 triggered potent targetdependent tumor lysis and induction of target-dependent T-cell activation and proliferation. This activity occurred at low picomolar concentrations of MOR209/ES414 and was effective at low T-effector to tumor target cell ratios. In addition, cytotoxic activity was equivalent over a wide range of PSMA expression on target cells, suggesting that as few as 3,700 PSMA receptors per cell are sufficient for tumor lysis. In addition tohigh sensitivity and in vitro activity, MOR209/ES414 induced limited production of cytokines compared with other bispecific antibody formats. Pharmacokinetic analysis of MOR209/ES414 demonstrated a serum elimination half-life in NOD/SCID g (NSG) mice of 4 days. Administration of MOR209/ES414 in murine xenograft models of human prostate cancer significantly inhibited tumor growth, prolonged survival, and decreased serumprostate-specific antigen levels only in the presence of adoptively transferred humanT cells. On the basis of these preclinical findings, MOR209/ES414 warrants further investigation as a potential therapeutic for the treatment of CRPC. Mol Cancer Ther; 1–11. 2016 AACR.
An indoor freeze/thaw lysimeter study of phosphorus leaching from soils with four catch crops

Catch crops have been found to decrease leaching of nitrates into surface and ground waters, but they also have the potential to increase phosphorus (P) loadings to natural waters as well, due to plant cell destruction caused during natural freezing and thawing events. An indoor lysimeter experiment was carried out using a clay and a sand soil with the application of four different plant species: perennial ryegrass cultivar ‘Helmer’ (Lolium perenne L.), honey herb, cultivar ‘Stala’ (Phacelia tanacetifolia L.), chicory, cultivar ‘Puna’ (Cichoium intybis L.), and oilseed radish, cultivar ‘Adios’ (Raphanus sativus L.). These plants were exposed to four simulated rainfall and three freezing events in two separate experiments, one using topsoil monoliths with applied plant material and one with plant material only. Sand and clay soils had significantly different leaching loads after 1 and 2 freezing events with total P contents in leachate equivalent to 0.71 kg ha‐1 for clay and 0.20 kg ha‐1 (P=0.0018) for sand soil, and after the second event 0.54 kg ha‐1 for clay and 0.30 kg ha‐1 for sand (P=0.0026). The combined total P leaching loads from the clay soil were significant for many of the plants and were in the order of chicory (2.6 kg ha‐1) > ryegrass (2.3 kg ha‐1) > oilseed radish (2.2 kg ha‐1) > honey herb (1.3kgha‐1), taken from the plant and soil experiment. Losses were of a magnitude greater from the plant only experiment with chicory (51.7 kg ha‐1) > oilseed radish (43.2kgha‐1) > honey herb (18.4 kg ha‐1) > ryegrass (10 kg ha‐1). A total P analysis of plant tissue from before the first lysimeter experiment and after the second plant only experiment showed that chicory lost 84%, oilseed radish 76%, ryegrass 74% and honey herb 39% of total initial biomass P. The results indicate that soil texture and plant choice can have a large impact on leaching loads that could potentially enter natural waters.
Genetic analysis of incidence of clinical mastitis in New Zealand dairy cattle

The aim of this thesis was to estimate genetic parameters and examine the effect of different dairy breeds and heterosis on the incidence of clinical mastitis in New Zealand dairy cattle. The data set used in this study was records of clinical mastitis collected during 2005/06 to 2008/09 seasons. The data set consisted of 92,961 lactations from 53,419 Holstein Friesian, Jersey and HF x JE crossbred cows. The cows were the progeny of 641 sires from 167 dairy herds that participated in a progeny-testing programme for sires. Cows with at least one event of clinical mastitis during the season were coded 1 and cows without mastitis were coded 0. The collective incidence of clinical mastitis was 11% for 92,961 lactations. A mixed model was used to estimate heritability, repeatability and breed effects for the incidence of clinical mastitis. The model included the fixed effects of contemporary group (herd and year), calving month, breed, parity, breed composition and heterosis effect of crossbred cows. The random effects included were additive animal and permanent environment of cow. Heritability for the incidence of clinical mastitis was 0.015 ± 0.003 and repeatability was 0.070 ± 0.005. By breed comparison, Jersey cows had 2.9% less incidence of clinical mastitis than Holstein-Friesian cows and the heterosis effects in crossbred cows had 13.4% less than the average of the parental breeds. The results from this study suggest that selection for resistance to clinical mastitis will result in a low rate of genetic gain but using Jersey sires of low breeding values can be an alternative to increase genetic resistance to clinical mastitis in New Zealand dairy cattle.
Effect of Feed Restriction during Pregnancy on Performance and Productivity of New Zealand White Rabbit

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the stage of feed restriction during pregnancy on performance and productivity of young rabbit does. Thirty New Zealand white female rabbits of 20 weeks of age (first kindling) and weighed 2800 ± 100 g were randomly divided into three groups. Group 1 (control group): rabbits were provided daily with 185 g of food increased to 200 g from the 15 day of gestation (daily food intake of pregnant does according to 19). Group 2 (R1, early feed restriction): rabbits were offered daily a restricted amount of food (60 % restriction, 111g) for the first half of pregnancy (the first fifteen days) then offered 200 g of food daily till parturition. Group 3 (R2, late feed restriction): rabbits were provided with 185 g of food daily through the first half of pregnancy then offered daily a restricted amount of food (60% restriction, 120 g) for the second half of pregnancy. Treatments started after natural mating. After parturition, all does and their young were provided ad libitum amount of feed till weaning. Does were weighed individually at the start of the experiment then every two weeks and just after kindling. For each doe, the living pups were weighed to obtain the total litter weight and the mean pup weight at birth. Then pups were weighed at 21 days of age and at the day of weaning (the 30 day). Five days after kindling, two blood samples were taken from each female, one for determination of the hematological parameters and the other for separation of serum for determination of prolactin and serum protein concentration. The results of this study revealed that, feed restriction during the first half of gestation did not affect maternal body weights, litter size, litter weight or mean pup weight at birth as compared to the control group. Whereas feed restriction during the second half of gestation was accompanied with significant reduction in the weights of does at the 4 week of pregnancy and at kindling. This decrease became non significant from the second week after kindling till the end of the experiment. The litter weight at birth and the individual weaning weight of R2 were significantly reduced. The highest mortality was recorded in pups of R2. No significant differences in blood parameters or serum prolactin were observed between the control and feed restricted groups. The total protein was significantly reduced in serum of R2 group. It is concluded that, in order to reduce the excessive fatness of young rabbit does, restricted feeding during the first half (the first two weeks) of gestation is recommended.
Erythropoietin protects the retinal pigment epithelial barrier against non-lethal H 2 O 2 -induced hyperpermeability

Erythropoietin (EPO) is not limited to hematopoiesis; it may act as a protective cytokine. In this study, the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell viability, cell monolayer integrity, RPE barrier permeability, distribution of the junction proteins ZO-1, occludin and the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were monitored to evaluate the effect of EPO on non-lethal H2O2-induced RPE barrier hyperpermeability. Results showed that, EPO increased the viability of H2O2-treated RPE cells, the disruption of junction proteins and the higher permeability caused by H2O2 was partially prevented by EPO pre-treatment. EPO treatment also induced lower MDA levels and higher SOD activity in H2O2 treated RPE cells. So, it is concluded that, non-lethal concentrations of H2O2 could damage RPE barrier and destroy its integrity. EPO showed the protective effects on H2O2-induced hyperpermeability by stabilizing the distribution of junction proteins and reducing oxidative stress. These results indicated that, EPO may have the therapeutic potential use in the treatment of eye diseases involving RPE barrier hyperpermeability induced by oxidative stress.
The Camel Today: Assets and Potentials

ABSTRACT Although they quantitatively only take a marginal place amongst domestic herbivores (only 0.4% of world domestic herbivores), the large camelids (dromedary and Bactrian) are present in almost all the arid lands of the old world (except in Southern Africa), a widespread area of over 35 millions km2. They are overall remarkable enhancer of these spaces by their productive potential and by their role in the agro-ecosystemic balance of the arid lands, especially with the current climatic changes. Elsewhere, they are known for their physiological peculiarities linked to their adaptation ability to harsh conditions of the desert and of its margin. In consequence, they represent a fabulous biological model for the scientists from different disciplines. Their place in the “modern world” has to be re-evaluated by considering these trends and these particularities.
DISC1 knockout rats reveal sexually dimorphic patterns of impairment across development

3 Introduction.4 Experiment 1: Developmental Trajectory of PPI and Parvalbumin.11 Experiment 2: Analysis of Dendritic Morphology . 21 Experiment 3: DISC1 KO and Second-Hit Amphetamines as Schizophrenia Risk Factors in Females.25 General Discussion.29 Acknowledgements.30 Additional Figures.31 References.31
SCALING AND MODELING OF CALL CENTER ARRIVALS

The Poisson process has been an integral part of many models for the arrival process to a telephone call centers. However, several publications in recent years suggest the presence of a significant “overdisperson” relative to the Poisson process in real-life call center arrival data. In this paper, we study the overdispersion in the context of “heavy traffic” and identify a critical factor that characterizes the stochastic variability of the arrivals to their averages. We refer to such a factor as the scaling parameter and it potentially has a profound impact on the design of staffing rules. We propose an new model to capture the scaling parameter in this paper.
Ultrastructural and Biochemical Investigations of Mature Human Milk

The casein complexes (casein micelles) of human skim milk were evaluated by electron microscopy. Fourteen samples of human milk were obtained from seven donors whose stage of lactation varied from 1 to 23 months. Compositional and biochemical parameters were measured to evaluate the nature of these samples. For mature human milks, 2-13 months of lactation, average percentage of solids-notfat was found to be 8.32 ± 0.16. Protein compositions of the skim milks were studied b y the Coomassie blue dye binding method and by SDS-gel electrophoresis; total protein and casein were fo und to be 0.62 ± 0.18 and 0.29 ± 0.02 percent, respectively. The lysozyme and lactoferrin contents were also determined. The total casein of the skim milks appeared to increase slightly as lactation progressed; an exception occurred in milks obtained from one donor at 22 and 23 months postpartum which exhibited decreased casein and elevated l ysozyme and lactoferrin contents . The overall morphology of the casein micelles was evaluated by electron microscopy using platinum shadowing, negative staining, and thin sectioning methods. Platinum shadowing was largely unsuccessful, but negative staining showed a discrete substructure for human casein micelles. Average corrected diameters of q.3. 0 nm from the area and 47.5 nm from circumference measurements were obtained from analysis of fixed and pelleted human milk micelles. Initial paper received February 13 1985 Manuscript received October 1
Market forces predict grooming reciprocity in female baboons

We argue that grooming is a commodity that female primates can trade, either for itself or in exchange for other services (sensu biological markets theory) and that the decision to do either will depend on the degree of competition within a social group. We test this using data from four chacma baboon troops, living in two populations that differ markedly in the degree of contest competition. As predicted by the predominance of grooming dyads in which females are closely ranked there was, in all four troops, a positive correlation between the time invested by one partner and that by the other. In addition, as predicted, the allocation of time was more closely matched in troops where grooming could not be exchanged for anything else. In troops where resource competition was high, we found in one of two troops a positive relationship between rank distance and the discrepancy in time allocation, with the lower ranking of the partners contributing more grooming.
Detection and Classification of Acoustic Scenes and Events 2018 Challenge PARTIALLY-SHARED CONVOLUTIONAL NEURAL NETWORK FOR CLASSIFICATION OF MULTI-CHANNEL RECORDED AUDIO SIGNALS Technical Report

This technical paper presents the system used in our submission for task 5 of the DCASE 2018 challenge [1]. We proposed a partiallyshared convolutional neural network, which is a multi-task system that contains a common input (the multi-channel log Mel features) and two output branches, a classification branch, which outputs the predicted class, and a regression branch, which outputs a singlechannel representation of the multi-channel input data. Since the system has a shared network between classification and regression, training for regression is expected to enhance another training for classification and vice versa. Because task 5 aims at classification based on multi-channel audio input, we tried to improve classification performance with this system by training classification and regression together. By applying the proposed system incorporated with parameter tuning of the baseline CNN system, we confirmed that the classification F1 score increased to 89.94% in four-fold cross validation, while the baseline system achieved 84.50% .
Amplifier Collocations in Korean EFL Learners' Academic Essay Corpus: Focus on Semantic Prosody

Collocational competence is important part of L2 English amplifier acquisition. This competence entails learners’ ability to use the right combination of words with natural-sounding semantic prosody. It is known to be an integral part of mastering pragmatic function of L2 English vocabulary, which also is a challenge for the learners at the same time (Zhang, 2008). Despite the importance, previous studies on ESL/EFL learners’ amplifier use lacked empirical evidence and insight about semantic prosody. The purpose of present learner corpora-based study was to fill the existing research gap by finding patterns of amplifiers use for EFL Korean university students, in terms of semantic prosody associated with those amplifiers. Two existing corpora were selected, coded, and analyzed to fulfill this purpose; they are Korean EFL learners and native speakers of English (NE). Results from analysis found Korean learners’ overall underuse in amplifiers. Also, frequently occurring amplifier ranks for each corpus differed. Semantic prosody analysis revealed that amplifiers associated with dominantly positive connotation were very, really, and highly. Amplifiers associated with dominantly negative connotation were extremely, absolutely, severely, and greatly. Contrast analysis showed that the only amplifier that Koreans and NEs used amplifier to signal same semantic prosody dominantly was severely (negative). Other than that, Koreans and NE showed salient discrepancies in semantic prosody use. The pedagogical implication of the present study is that vocabulary teaching need to include semantic prosody, and the first step will be to conduct ESL/EFL teacher education about it (Zhang, 2009). It’s important to remind them of the value of semantic prosody in language communication (S Lee, 2011).
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF AUDIO FEEDBACK: AN EXAMINATION OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

It is widely regarded that providing students with feedback is central to their learning [1]. Traditionally feedback has been given to students either in person or in writing, however, more recently, due to advancements in technology, audio is being employed by a small minority of lecturers in Higher Education [2-5]. To date, research on audio feedback has focused on students' perceptions of it as a feedback mechanism, and its ability to increase students' sense of involvement. However this paper adds to this stream of research by exploring the manner in which students engage with audio feedback. Using data gathered from Business students in the Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland, this paper explores how students evaluate audio feedback as a method through which to improve their academic performance. This study also examines age related differences in the number of times students listened to the feedback and it considers the reasons for this.
Effects of water stress during growth of xylem anatomy, xylem functioning and vase life in three Zinnia elegans cultivars

In cut flowers, hydraulic properties and dimensions of xylem vessels in the stem directly influence vase-life and thus post-harvest quality. Xylem hydraulic conductance as well as recovery from air embolisms at the start of vase life strongly depends on number, diameter and length of xylem vessels in the base of the cut flower stems. In this research we employed different water availability levels (high and low water content) in the growing medium of Zinnia elegans plants of three cultivars ('Envy', 'Purple Prince' and 'Scarlet Flame') to modify xylem anatomy and post-harvest xylem functioning and vase life of cut flowers from these plants. Vaselife was longer among fresh-cut Zinnia flowers in all three cultivars grown under low water content in the root medium. Zinnia flowers of all cultivars grown at high water content were not able to sufficiently restore water uptake at the start of their vase life. Shoot hydraulic conductivity was lower in water-stressed plants but it was not different among the three Zinnia cultivars within the same treatment. Anatomical analysis showed smaller xylem vessel diameters but no differences in xylem number and length, with the exception that in cultivar Purple Prince vessels were longer in well-watered plants. We conclude from these results that within these three Zinnia elegans cultivars water stress conditions in the root environment significantly affected xylem anatomy and functioning which correlates well with a longer vase life. Differences in xylem properties between the three cultivars due to pre-harvest watering treatments were limited.
Analytical formulation for the shielding effectiveness of enclosures with apertures

An analytical formulation has been developed for the shielding effectiveness of a rectangular enclosure with an aperture. Both the magnetic and electric shielding may be calculated as a function of frequency, enclosure dimensions, aperture dimensions and position within the enclosure. Theoretical values of shielding effectiveness are in good agreement with measurements. The theory has been extended to account for circular apertures, multiple apertures, and the effect of the enclosure contents.