Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification of Gene Related to Hard Bunch Phenotype in Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.)

ABSTRACT Molecular genetic analysis of hard bunch phenomenon in oil palm was done in order to elucidate the role of genetic factor underlying hard bunch in oil palm plantation. The aim of this study was to identify the AFLP primer combination that co-segregates with hard bunch phenotype related gene in oil palm. Molecular analysis was done by bulk segregant analysis approach. DNA was isolated from leaves of the normal and hard bunch palm. DNA from ten individual palms from each category were pooled and used as a template. A total of 56 AFLP primer combinations were selected for selection of polymorphic primer, and as a result it was found that 22 AFLP primer combinations (39.28%) were polymorphic. A total of 48 individual of palm DNA containing 24 individual for each group were further genotyped by those 22 polymorphic markers. Of these, one AFLP primer combination (E-ACC/M-CTG) was obtained as a co-segregated marker that distinguished the hard bunch DNA from the normal one. Based on the analysis of the target sequence aligned to the oil palm DNA sequences available in database, we found that our sequence has similarity with Ty-1 copia retrotransposon. This sequence distribute in all 16 linkage group of oil palm genome. Keywords: abnormal fruits, AFLP, oil palm, Ty-1 copia retrotransposon
ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF BACTERIAL CONTAMINANTS FROM DOOR HANDLES IN A TERTIARY INSTITUTION IN UMUAHIA , ABIA STATE , NIGERIA

Objects such as door handles, mobile phones, pens, often touched with hands can act as vectors of microbial pathogens. The aim of this study was to isolate, identify and evaluate the antibiotic sensitivity pattern of bacterial contaminants from door handles in Michael Okpara University of agriculture, Umudike.A total of one hundred door handles randomly scattered within the university campus of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU) were swabbed and analyzed for bacterial contamination. Samples collected were cultured and incubated at 37oC for 24 hrs. Isolation and identification of bacterial pathogens was done by standard microbiological procedures. Antibiotic sensitivity testing was done by disc diffusion technique.A total of one hundred and thirty (130) bacteria were isolated in this study, they are; Enterococcus feacalis 6(4.8%), Coagulase negative Staphylococcus(CoaNS)28(21.2%), Streptococcus spp 22(16.6%), Klebsiella spp 3(2.2%), Bacillus spp 22(16.6%), E. coli 4(3.0%), Proteus mirabilis 4(3.0%), Proteus vulgaris 6(4.6%), Pseudomonasaeruginosa 2(1.5%) and Staphylococcus aureus 33(25.0%). Ofloxacin, Peflacine, and Ceftriaxone were effective against the bacteria and exhibited encouraging results while Cotrimoxazole was resistant to most isolates. The spread of microorganism and prevention of infection from door handles can be minimized by thorough hand washing and use of hand sanitizer as well as daily washing and cleaning of restrooms and canteens with disinfectants.
Using the Ecosystem Services Framework for Policy Impact Analysis: An Application to the Assessment of the Common Agricultural Policy 2014–2020 in the Province of Ferrara (Italy)

The objective of this study is to test a methodology for the classification of areas according to the provision of ecosystem services and for the evaluation of the effects of different agricultural policy scenarios. The evaluation focuses on the different categories of Ecosystem Services (ES) and applies a set of indicators available from secondary data sources. Two scenarios were compared, represented by the pre-2014 CAP and the CAP 2014–2020, based on the measures of the RDP 2014–2020 focused on enhancing ecosystems. The approach was implemented under two weighting solutions. First, we assumed that all indicators have equal weight. As a further step, the framework was integrated with a weighting procedure in order to account for the different importance of the various ES indicators. All municipalities offer a significant number of provisioning and cultural services, mainly connected to recreational opportunities. The indicators with higher importance in the area represent provisioning, supporting and regulating services, while cultural services have received less attention. Comparing the results of the simulation of different policy scenarios, there are no significant differences since the CAP 2014–2020 does not provide for measures likely to affect substantially the overall production of ecosystem services. While this result is plausible, the study confirms the limitations of available secondary data in providing a full account of ecosystem services provision and of their variations as a result of policy.
Convergence rates for a class of estimators based on Stein’s method

Gradient information on the sampling distribution can be used to reduce the variance of Monte Carlo estimators via Stein's method. An important application is that of estimating an expectation of a test function along the sample path of a Markov chain, where gradient information enables convergence rate improvement at the cost of a linear system which must be solved. The contribution of this paper is to establish theoretical bounds on convergence rates for a class of estimators based on Stein's method. Our analysis accounts for (i) the degree of smoothness of the sampling distribution and test function, (ii) the dimension of the state space, and (iii) the case of non-independent samples arising from a Markov chain. These results provide insight into the rapid convergence of gradient-based estimators observed for low-dimensional problems, as well as clarifying a curse-of-dimension that appears inherent to such methods.
SparsePPG: Towards Driver Monitoring Using Camera-Based Vital Signs Estimation in Near-Infrared

Camera-based measurement of the heartbeat signal from minute changes in the appearance of a person's skin is known as remote photoplethysmography (rPPG). Methods for rPPG have improved considerably in recent years, making possible its integration into applications such as telemedicine. Driver monitoring using in-car cameras is another potential application of this emerging technology. Unfortunately, there are several challenges unique to the driver monitoring context that must be overcome. First, there are drastic illumination changes on the driver's face, both during the day (as sun filters in and out of overhead trees, etc.) and at night (from streetlamps and oncoming headlights), which current rPPG algorithms cannot account for. We argue that these variations are significantly reduced by narrow-bandwidth near-infrared (NIR) active illumination at 940 nm, with matching bandpass filter on the camera. Second, the amount of motion during driving is significant. We perform a preliminary analysis of the motion magnitude and argue that any in-car solution must provide better robustness to motion artifacts. Third, low signal-tonoise ratio (SNR) and false peaks due to motion have the potential to confound the rPPG signal. To address these challenges, we develop a novel rPPG signal tracking and denoising algorithm (sparsePPG) based on Robust Principal Components Analysis and sparse frequency spectrum estimation. We release a new dataset of face videos collected simultaneously in RGB and NIR.We demonstrate that in each of these frequency ranges, our new method performs as well as or better than current state-of-the-art rPPG algorithms. Overall, our preliminary study indicates that while driver vital signs monitoring using cameras is promising, much work needs to be done in terms of improving robustness to motion artifacts before it becomes practical.
Multivariate analysis applied to evaluation of Eucalyptus clones for bioenergy production

This research aimed to select Eucalyptus clones for bioenergy production by using of two multivariate techniques, principal component analysis and cluster analysis. The analysis evaluated 25 clones of Eucalyptus at age 54 months. Determinations included the concentrations of elemental components (C, H and O), lignin, total extractives and ash, as well as basic density, higher heating value and energy density. Both multivariate methods being used to evaluate and select clones of Eucalyptus for bioenergy production proved effective, there being similarities between the biomass groups formed by them. The cluster analysis revealed five distinct groupings, out of which cluster one, formed by clone U060, was found to have greater potential as a source of energy. Clones G084, G122, G023 and U108 had poorer energy performance.
A Modified Spatiotemporal Fusion Algorithm Using Phenological Information for Predicting Reflectance of Paddy Rice in Southern China

Satellite data for studying surface dynamics in heterogeneous landscapes are missing due to frequent cloud contamination, low temporal resolution, and technological difficulties in developing satellites. A modified spatiotemporal fusion algorithm for predicting the reflectance of paddy rice is presented in this paper. The algorithm uses phenological information extracted from a moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer enhanced vegetation index time series to improve the enhanced spatial and temporal adaptive reflectance fusion model (ESTARFM). The algorithm is tested with satellite data on Yueyang City, China. The main contribution of the modified algorithm is the selection of similar neighborhood pixels by using phenological information to improve accuracy. Results show that the modified algorithm performs better than ESTARFM in visual inspection and quantitative metrics, especially for paddy rice. This modified algorithm provides not only new ideas for the improvement of spatiotemporal data fusion method, but also technical support for the generation of remote sensing data with high spatial and temporal resolution.
Send Orders of Reprints at Reprints@benthamscience.org Open Access " Pyogenic Granuloma -hyperplastic Lesion of the Gingiva: Case Reports "

Pyogenic granuloma is a reactive hyperplasia of connective tissue in response to local irritants. It is a tumour-like growth of the oral cavity, frequently located surrounding the anterior teeth or skin that is considered to be neoplastic in nature. It usually arises in response to various stimuli such as low-grade local irritation, traumatic injury, hormonal factors , or certain kinds of drugs. Histologically, the surface epithelium may be intact, or may show foci of ulcerations or even exhibiting hyperkeratosis. It overlies a mass of dense connective tissue composed of significant amounts of mature collagen. Gingiva is the most common site affected followed by buccal mucosa, tongue and lips. Pyogenic granuloma in general, does not occur when excised along with the base and its causative factors. This paper presents some cases of a pyogenic granuloma managed by surgical intervention.
Quantifying the effect of interactions in quantum many-body systems

Free fermion systems enjoy a privileged place in physics. With their simple structure they can explain a variety of effects, ranging from insulating and metallic behaviours to superconductivity and the integer quantum Hall effect. Interactions, e.g. in the form of Coulomb repulsion, can dramatically alter this picture by giving rise to emerging physics that may not resemble free fermions. Examples of such phenomena include high-temperature superconductivity, fractional quantum Hall effect, Kondo effect and quantum spin liquids. The non-perturbative behaviour of such systems remains a major obstacle to their theoretical understanding that could unlock further technological applications. Here, we present a pedagogical review of “interaction distance" [Nat. Commun. 8, 14926 (2017)] – a systematic method that quantifies the effect interactions can have on the energy spectrum and on the quantum correlations of generic many-body systems. In particular, the interaction distance is a diagnostic tool that identifies the emergent physics of interacting systems. We illustrate this method on the simple example of a two-site Fermi-Hubbard model.
Mechanism of Generation and Collapse of a Longitudinal Vortex System Induced around the Leading Edge of a Delta Wing

The purpose of the paper is to clarify the mechanism of generation and collapse of a longitudinal vortex system induced around the leading edge of a delta wing. CFD captured well characteristics of flow structure of the vortex system. It is found that the vortex system has a cone-shaped configuration, and both rotational velocity and vorticity have their largest values at the tip of the vortex and reduce downstream along the vortical axis. This resulted in inducing the largest negative pressure at the tip of the delta wing surface. The collapse of the vortex system was also studied. The system can still remain until the tip angle of 110 degrees. However, between 110 degrees and 120 degrees, the system becomes unstable. Over 120 degrees, the characteristics of the vortex are considered to have converted from the longitudinal vortex to the transverse one.
GENOTOXICITY AND REPRODUCTIVE EFFECTS OF CHRONIC CONSUMPTION OF AQUAOUS BITTER LEAF EXTRACT IN ALBINO RATS

Vernonia amygdalina is a very important medicinal plant that is extens ively used in Nigeria for treating various illnesses. Despite this, there is a need to assess this plant for genotoxicity potential. The present study was carried out to determine the genotoxicity and r eproductive effects of V. amygdalina aqueous extract in albino rats using sperm head abnormality assay. Thr ee g oups consisting of eight male albino rats per group were used. The first group (control) was treated wi th d stilled water for forty-two days while the sec ond and third groups received 1000 mg/kg body weight (b. wt .) and 10,000 mg/kg b. wt. of V. amygdalina leaf extracts respectively, for the same period. Adminis tration of the extract to the animals was by oral g avage. The mean sperm count (cell/mm 3) result for control group was: 23500 ± 4200 while V. amygdalina 1000 mg/kg b.wt. treated rats gave: 16500 ± 2300 and V. amygdalina 10000 mg/kg b.wt gave: 17800 ± 1600. The frequencies of abnormality recorded between the con trol and V. amygdalina treated rats gave a P-value of 0.748. Analysis of variance between the two types o f perm head morphology recorded gave a P-value of 0.077. These P-values indicate that V. amygdalina had no statistically significant effect on sperm morphology and sperm count at 5% level of significa nce (P >0.05). Therefore, V. amygdalina is relatively safe for consumption, although it does not appear t o enhance male reproductive capacity in the rats.
Micro-RNAs -106a and -362-3p in Peripheral Blood of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients

Objective: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) can regulate various genes after binding to target mRNAs. Studies on Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) in relation with miRNA are much less shown. The aim of the present study was to assess the expression patterns of microRNA 106a and microRNA 362-3p in peripheral blood samples of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) patients including Crohn’s Disease(CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC). Methods: This study consisted of 32 CD, 32 UC patients and 32 controls. The expression level of the micro-RNAs -106a and -362-3p was determined using reverse transcription and real-time RT-PCR. Results: Our findings showed that MiR-106a and miR-362-3p are expressed at significantly higher levels in the peripheral blood from patients with CD and UC compared to controls. MiR-106a and miR-362-3p expression are also different in the peripheral blood of patients regarding the activity score of the disease. There were significant differences of miR362-3p in active UC relative to inactive UC. Conclusion: Altogether our findings suggest that miR-106a and miR-363-3p can play an important role in the pathogenesis of IBD. The differences in expression of miR106a and miR362-3p in peripheral blood of the UC and CD patients in an active phase in comparison to inactive disease suggest that these miRNAs may be useful as potential biomarkers for diagnosis and monitoring the disease activity.
Assessment of the Potential Clastogenic/Aneugenic Risk of Casearia sylvestris Extract Using in Vivo Assays

Summary Casearia sylvestris (Flacourtiaceae) is a plant which grows in wild and has been widely used in folk medicine. In this study, clastogenic/aneugenic properties of Casearia sylvestris crude ethanolic extract were evaluated using in vivo chromosomal aberrations (CAs) and micronucleus (MN) assays in rodents. The animals were treated by gavage with 3 concentrations of the extract: 150, 300 and 500 mg/kg body weight. Bone marrow cells from Wistar rats were collected 24 h after having been submitted to the MN and CAs test. Peripheral blood cells from Swiss mice were collected 48 and 72 h after having been submitted to the MN test. The results show that C. sylvestris extract does not induce a significant increase in mean values for micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes (MNPCE) in Swiss mice and Wistar rats, or CAs in rat bone marrow cells, at the 3 tested doses, indicating that the extract showed no clastogenic/aneugenic effects on chromosomes of the rodent cells tested.
Effect of Accessibility and Utilization of Electronic Information Resources on Productivity of Academic Staff in Selected Nigerian Universities

The aim of the paper was to investigate the effect of accessibility and utilization of electronic resources on productivity of academic staff in Nigerian universities. A survey method was used in the study, with a questionnaire as the instrument for data collection. Responses from 324 academic staff out of 586 that were surveyed were used for data analysis. Correlation analysis showed that, there was a positive correlation between accessibility and utilization of electronic resources on productivity of respondents in the survey (r=0.135; p=0.015). This implies that increase in access and use of e-resources will lead to increase in productivity among respondents at the surveyed universities. Similar result was obtained when the hypothesis was tested at international level with r=0.158 and p=0.004. In other words, respondents that access and use e- resources in research frequently publish more articles in international journals than those who do not. It was recommended that, in view of the observed positive impact of e-resources on productivity in the survey; university managements, university librarians, National Universities Commission (NUC) and other stakeholders in Nigerian universities should intensify the process of effective information and communication technology (ICT) diffusion and provision of relevant e-resources in Nigerian universities towards qualitative research. This will also make academic staff in Nigerian universities to be globally competitive for journal space in international journals, and thus bridge the productivity gap between Nigeria and developed countries.
Infinite Range Correlations in Non-Equilibrium Quantum Systems and Their Possible Experimental Realizations

We consider systems that start from and/or end in thermodynamic equilibrium while experiencing a finite rate of change of their energy density or of other intensive quantities $q$ at intermediate times. We demonstrate that at these times, during which the global intensive quantities $q$ vary, the size of the associated covariance, the connected pair correlator $|G_{ij}| = |\langle q_{i} q_{j} \rangle - \langle q_{i} \rangle \langle q_{j} \rangle|$, between any two (arbitrarily far separated) sites $i$ and $j$ is, on average, finite. This non-vanishing character of the connected correlations for asymptotically distant sites also applies to theories with purely local interactions. In simple models, these correlations may be traced to the generic volume law entanglement of finite temperature states. Once the global mean of $q$ no longer changes, the average of $|G_{ij}|$ over all spatial separations $|i-j|$ may tend to zero. However, when the equilibration times are significant (e.g., as in a glass that is not in true thermodynamic equilibrium yet in which the energy density (or temperature) reaches a final steady state value), these long range correlations may persist also long after $q$ ceases to change. We briefly discuss possible experimental implications of our findings and speculate on their potential realization in glasses (where a prediction of a theory based on the effect that we describe here suggests a universal collapse of the viscosity that agrees with all published viscosity measurements) and non-Fermi liquids.
Improved Extended Reconstruction of SST (1854–1997)

Abstract An improved SST reconstruction for the 1854–1997 period is developed. Compared to the version 1 analysis, in the western tropical Pacific, the tropical Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, more variance is resolved in the new analysis. This improved analysis also uses sea ice concentrations to improve the high-latitude SST analysis and a modified historical bias correction for the 1939–41 period. In addition, the new analysis includes an improved error estimate. Analysis uncertainty is largest in the nineteenth century and during the two world wars due to sparse sampling. The near-global average SST in the new analysis is consistent with the version 1 reconstruction. The 95% confidence uncertainty for the near-global average is 0.4°C or more in the nineteenth century, near 0.2°C for the first half of the twentieth century, and 0.1°C or less after 1950.
What Drives Liquefied Natural Gas Imports in Europe

This paper studied the extensive margin (EM) and intensive margin (IM) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports in Europe over the period 1996-2015. Two econometric models were used, a probit estimation for the EM and an OLS for the IM. A time-varying approach was conducted to analyse the stability of the models in the studied time frame. The models were constructed through the application of known determinants of LNG trade as well as new factors that previously was unused in the investigation of LNG trade. The results indicated an overall stable EM, but a highly varying IM over the period. The findings inform that the EM is driven by income, diversification and lower bounds technological development and we found that it is inhibited by pipeline imports, domestic production and higher bounds technological development. The IM is determined by favourable pricing opportunities, lower bounds technological development and the diversification aspect of LNG. IM is negatively affected by domestic natural gas production and the higher bounds of technological development.
Heat and momentum transport in turbulent horizontal convection at low Prandtl numbers

The transition to a new turbulent regime in horizontal convection in the case of low Prandtl numbers is analyzed using the Shishkina, Grossmann & Lohse (SGL) theory. The flow driven by the horizontal gradient along a horizontal surface, perpendicular to the acceleration of gravity is shown to transition to turbulence in the plume and the core. This transition to turbulence sets a sequence of heat transfer and momentum transport scalings which are found to follow the SGL prediction for the scaling factors and the prediction of Hughes, Griffith & Mullarney (HGM) for larger forcing amplitudes. These results embed the HGM model in the SGL theory, agreed and extends the known regime diagram of horizontal convection, and provide the first evidence of both regimes at low and intermediate Prandtl numbers and sheds new insights on the role of HC in the earth's inner core dynamics.