Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interaction between faba bean cultivars and the Rhizobium leguminosarum strains: Symbiotic N2 fixation and protein profiles under salt stress

The efficiency of eight Rhizobium leguminosarum strains isolated from root nodules of Faba bean plants which were collected from different Governorate in Egypt has been examined. After inoculation of faba bean seeds with each Rhizobium strain individually, we measured the growth promotion, nodule formation and plant protein profile under different concentration of sodium chloride salt stress. The interactions between salt tolerant and sensitive faba bean cultivars and Rhizobium strains under NaCl stress were found to be significant. Nitrogen fixation efficiency varied among the eight Rhizobium strains. The protein profile using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) for both faba bean cultivars revealed that Rhizobium strains numbers RL1, 2, 4 and RL 8 showed high level of salt tolerance under 40 and 80 mM NaCl in both faba bean cultivars. Rhizobium strains improved the salt tolerance, as is clearly observed in number of nodules and the amount of N 2 fixation. It is known that stress affects the growth, metabolic activity and symbiotic efficiency of Rhizobium with faba bean plant but in this study we found that Rhizobium strains numbers RL2 and RL 3 showed high efficiency of N 2 fixation and growth promotion in both faba bean cultivar. Keywords: Faba bean, Rhizobium , nodulation efficiency, salt stress, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) protein profile. African Journal of Biotechnology , Vol 13(41) 4081-4092
Study of Aerosol Influence on Nighttime Land Surface Temperature Retrieval Based on Two Methods

The aim of this study is to evaluate the aerosol influence on LST retrieval with two algorithms (split-window (SW) method and a four-channel based method) using simulated data under typical conditions. The results show that the root mean square error (RMSE) decreases to approximately 2.3 K for SW method and 1.5 K for four channel based method when VZA = 60° and visibility = 3 km; an RMSE would be increased by approximately 1.0 K when visibility varies from 3 km to 23 km. Moreover, a detailed sensitivity analysis under a visibility of 3 km and 23 km is performed in terms of uncertainties of land surface emissivity (LSE), water vapor content (WVC), and instrument noise, respectively. It is noted that the four-channel based method is more sensitive to LSE than SW method, especially for dry atmosphere; LST error caused by a WVC uncertainty of 20% is within 1.5 K for SW method and within 0.8 K for four-channel based method; the instrument noise would introduce LST error with a maximum standard deviation of 0.5 K and 0.04 K for the four-channel based method and SW method, respectively.
Field Effects of Consciousness and Reduction in U.S. Urban Murder Rates: Evaluation of a Prospective Quasi-Experiment

Creation of a sustainable society ideally should include promotion of an enhanced overall quality of life, including freedom from crime, violence, and other key indicators of social stress. This study is part of a comprehensive empirical evaluation of the results of a prospective four-year quasi-experiment that sought to reduce rates of homicide and violent crime as well as to improve other measures of the quality of life and public health in the United States. The current research tests the hypothesis that group practice of the Transcendental Meditation ® (TM) and TM-Sidhi ® program by a group of theoretically predicted size would be sufficient to reduce collective stress in the larger population, as reflected in decreased rates of homicide in a sample of 206 large U.S. urban areas. Time series regression analysis of monthly data for 2002–2010 using a broken-trend intervention model found significant reductions in trend for the urban homicide rate during the 2007–2010 intervention period ( p = 1 x 10 –13 ). Controlling for pre-intervention trends, seasonality, and autocorrelation, the estimated total reduction in homicide rate was 28.4% (7.1% annually). The practical significance of these findings is also indicated by an estimated 4,136 murders averted by the reduced trend in murder rate during the intervention. Diagnostic tests are satisfactory and indicate that the results are unlikely due to “spurious regression. ” The mechanism for these macro-social effects is discussed in the light of possible alternative hypotheses.
Original article Influence of gamma irradiation on growth and survival of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and quality of cig kofte, a traditional raw meat product

Cig kofte is a traditional Turkish food containing raw ground meat. Samples inoculated with Escherichia coli O157:H7 were irradiated at 0.5-6 kGy with a 60 Co source and stored at 4 and 25 °C. Total aerobic mesophilic count decreased with increasing irradiation doses, D 10 value was 0.83 kGy. Escherichia coli 0157:H7 count decreased from 5.1 log 10 CFU g -1 to an undetectable level (< 1 log 10 CFU g -1 ) after 1-day storage at 4 °C following irradiation at 2 kGy, D 10 -value was 0.29 kGy. Irradiation doses up to 2 kGy did not affect sensory quality after 1 day. There was colour loss in samples irradiated at 2 kGy or above and stored for longer periods. Storage of the irradiated products at abused temperature must be avoided for safety assurance. Irradiation at 2 kGy has a great potential for extending the shelf-life of cig kofte and assuring safety by decreasing the number of E. coli 0157:H7 and other bacteria, but further studies with suitable package designs are needed to decrease quality degradation during extended storage.
Adenoviral-mediated mouse model of motor impairment in distal spinal muscular atrophy type V

Distal spinal muscular atrophy type V (dSMA-V) is a hereditary neurodegenerative axonal neuropathy and a glycyl-tRNA synthetase (GARS)-associated neuropathy that is caused by a mutation in GARS. Herein, we report a new GARS-associated neuropathy mouse model using an adenovirus vector system equipped with a neuron-specific promoter. In this model, we showed an increased number of activated microglia around the L129P mutant-expressing motor neuron cell bodies and the increased nerve injury signal in L129P mutant-expressing motor neuron cell bodies. In addition, we found that the mouse model exhibited impaired motor function caused by the L129P mutant. We propose that the neuroinflammation may be associated with motor neuron impairment in GARS-associated neuropathies.
Title Larval and Post-Larval Stages of Pacific Oyster ( Crassostreagigas ) Are Resistant to Elevated CO 2

The average pH of surface oceans has decreased by 0.1 unit since industrialization and is expected to decrease by another 0.3–0.7 units before the year 2300 due to the absorption of anthropogenic CO2. This human-caused pH change is posing serious threats and challenges to the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas), especially to their larval stages. Our knowledge of the effect of reduced pH on C. gigas larvae presently relies presumptively on four short-term (,4 days) survival and growth studies. Using multiple physiological measurements and life stages, the effects of long-term (40 days) exposure to pH 8.1, 7.7 and 7.4 on larval shell growth, metamorphosis, respiration and filtration rates at the time of metamorphosis, along with the juvenile shell growth and structure of the C. gigas, were examined in this study. The mean survival and growth rates were not affected by pH. The metabolic, feeding and metamorphosis rates of pediveliger larvae were similar, between pH 8.1 and 7.7. The pediveligers at pH 7.4 showed reduced weight-specific metabolic and filtration rates, yet were able to sustain a more rapid post-settlement growth rate. However, no evidence suggested that low pH treatments resulted in alterations to the shell ultrastructures (SEM images) or elemental compositions (i.e., Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios). Thus, larval and post-larval forms of the C. gigas in the Yellow Sea are probably resistant to elevated CO2 and decreased near-future pH scenarios. The pre-adapted ability to resist a wide range of decreased pH may provide C. gigas with the necessary tolerance to withstand rapid pH changes over the coming century. Citation: Ginger KWK, Vera CBS, R D, Dennis CKS, Adela LJ, et al. (2013) Larval and Post-Larval Stages of Pacific Oyster (Crassostrea gigas) Are Resistant to Elevated CO2. PLoS ONE 8(5): e64147. doi:10.1371/journal.pone. 0064147 Editor: Sam Dupont, University of Gothenburg, Sweden Received November 27, 2012; Accepted April 9, 2013; Published May 28, 2013 Copyright: 2013 Ginger et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This study was supported by a three General Reserach Fund from the Research Grants Council, Hong Kong (grant numbers 778309M, 780510M and 705511P) and partially from the University of Hong Kong, grant number 201011159105. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * E-mail: rajan@hku.hk . These authors contributed equally to this work.
How are Strategy Maps Linked to Strategic and Organizational Change? A Review of the Empirical Literature on the Balanced Scorecard

Proponents of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) emphasize that the BSC translates strategy into action, but that Strategy Maps are a crucial mean to sustainable change. This literature review investigates how Strategy Maps are linked to strategic and organizational change. We aim at a better understanding of BSC implementations, gaps in practice, as well as remedies.Built upon the theoretical framework of Kaplan and Norton, we conduct a systematic literature review of initially 332 empirical studies between 1992 and 2013.We find that only 15 studies have dealt with the topic of Strategy Maps. Yet, BSC implementations that actually use Strategy Maps appear to be rather successful. Strategy Maps induce sustainable change, foster a better understanding of the BSC, facilitate evaluations of the external environment, create greater commitment, lower resistance, and are superior to a stand-alone BSC in communicating strategy. Nevertheless, we identify the common measure bias as a usual pitfall that leads to inappropriate evaluations of lower-level actors.We assert that BSC implementations need a Strategy Map to be successful. We also highlight that there has been only little research on the topic, and that present findings might be inconclusive due to the confined range of methodology (single-organization case studies).
The effect of shearing on the behaviour of some physiological responses in lactating pleven blackhead ewes.

ALEKSIEV, Y. , 2009. The effect of shearing on the behaviour of some physiological responses in lactating Pleven Blackhead ewes. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 15: 446-452 Rectal temperature (RT), pulse rate (PR), and respiratory frequency (RF) were collected for 6 days before shearing and for 15 days thereafter, in the morning and in the afternoon. Morning RT values were lower in unshorn and shorn sheep compared to afternoon ones but daily differences were greater after shearing. Shearing caused a significant (P < 0.001) drop in the morning RT values (0.61°C, 0.99°C, and 1.18°C) and a less reduction in the afternoon ones (0.13°C, 0.38°C, and 0.43°C) during the first 3 days post shearing. RT increased sharply thereafter but remained lower than in unshorn ewes up to the end of the study. An increase in PR values was observed both in the morning (P < 0.05), and in the afternoon (P < 0.01) on the first day after shearing. This transient increase was then followed by a reduction, but the values remained slightly elevated compared to preshearing recordings. Respiratory activity fell significantly after shearing both in the morning and in the afternoon and remained reduced throughout the study. The data suggested that shearing caused modifications in nervous control mechanisms and re-adjusting of the thermoregulatory set point to a new, more economic, level. Energysaving mechanisms appeared to play a major role in post-shearing adaptation.
Spatio-Temporal AutoEncoder for Video Anomaly Detection

Anomalous events detection in real-world video scenes is a challenging problem due to the complexity of "anomaly" as well as the cluttered backgrounds, objects and motions in the scenes. Most existing methods use hand-crafted features in local spatial regions to identify anomalies. In this paper, we propose a novel model called Spatio-Temporal AutoEncoder (ST AutoEncoder or STAE), which utilizes deep neural networks to learn video representation automatically and extracts features from both spatial and temporal dimensions by performing 3-dimensional convolutions. In addition to the reconstruction loss used in existing typical autoencoders, we introduce a weight-decreasing prediction loss for generating future frames, which enhances the motion feature learning in videos. Since most anomaly detection datasets are restricted to appearance anomalies or unnatural motion anomalies, we collected a new challenging dataset comprising a set of real-world traffic surveillance videos. Several experiments are performed on both the public benchmarks and our traffic dataset, which show that our proposed method remarkably outperforms the state-of-the-art approaches.
A comparison of hinge craniotomy and decompressive craniectomy for the treatment of malignant intracranial hypertension: early clinical and radiographic analysis.

OBJECT Hinge craniotomy (HC) has recently been described as an alternative to decompressive craniectomy (DC). Although HC may obviate the need for cranial reconstruction, an analysis comparing HC to DC has not yet been published. METHODS A retrospective review was conducted of 50 patients who underwent cranial decompression (20 with HC, 30 with DC). Baseline demographics, neurological examination results, and underlying pathology were reviewed. Clinical outcome was assessed by length of ventilatory support, length of intensive care unit stay, and survival at discharge. Control of intracranial hypertension was assessed by average daily intracranial pressure (ICP) for the duration of ICP monitoring and an ICP therapeutic intensity index. Radiographic outcomes were assessed by comparing preoperative and postoperative CT scans for: 1) Rotterdam score; 2) postoperative volume of cerebral expansion; 3) presence of uncal herniation; 4) intracerebral hemorrhage; and 5) extraaxial hematoma. Postoperative CT scans were analyzed for the size of the craniotomy/craniectomy and magnitude of extracranial herniation. RESULTS No significant differences were identified in baseline demographics, neurological examination results, or Rotterdam score between the HC and DC groups. Both HC and DC resulted in adequate control of ICP, as reflected in the average ICP for each group of patients (HC = 12.0 +/- 5.6 mm Hg, DC = 12.7 +/- 4.4 mm Hg; p > 0.05) at the same average therapeutic intensity index (HC = 1.2 +/- 0.3, DC = 1.2 +/- 0.4; p > 0.05). The need for reoperation (3 [15%] of 20 patients in the HC group, 3 [10%] of 30 patients in the DC group; p > 0.05), hospital survival (15 [75%] of 20 in the HC group, 21 [70%] of 30 in the DC group; p > 0.05), and mean duration of both mechanical ventilation (9.0 +/- 7.2 days in the HC group, 11.7 +/- 12.0 days in the DC group; p > 0.05) and intensive care unit stay (11.6 +/- 7.7 days in the HC group, 15.6 +/- 15.3 days in the DC group; p > 0.05) were similar. The difference in operative time for the two procedures was not statistically significant (130.4 +/- 71.9 minutes in the HC group, 124.9 +/- 63.3 minutes in the DC group; p > 0.05). The size of the cranial defect was comparable between the 2 groups. Postoperative imaging characteristics, including Rotterdam score, also did not differ significantly. Although a smaller volume of cerebral expansion was associated with HC (77.5 +/- 54.1 ml) than DC (105.1 +/- 65.1 ml), this difference was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS Hinge craniotomy appears to be at least as good as DC in providing postoperative ICP control and results in equivalent early clinical outcomes.
The Performance of Publicly Traded European Venture Capital Companies

The stock market return and the risk of 33 quoted European venture capital companies during the period 1977-1991 are studied. The return is negative on average with eight of the 33 companies having a return that is higher than the market return. However, the systematic risk (measured by the beta of the stock) is lower than the market risk. When taking the risk into account, no company has a return that is significantly higher than zero, but four companies have a return that is significantly lower than zero. When interpreting these results, one has to take into account that most shares of venture capital companies trade at a significant discount relative to their net asset value, indicating that the long-term return that investors can expect in the future, may be higher than in the past. Venture capital companies that are specialized in a specific investment stage have a higher return, while the regional companies have a lower return than general companies. The systematic risk of specialized companies is higher than that of general companies.
Redalyc.Determination of rifaximine in milk of dairy cows using high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC)

The objective of this work was to develop and validate a High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) method for the detection of rifaximine in milk of dairy cows. HPLC grade methanol and ammonium acetate as the Mobile phases, a C18 column and a UV detector were used. Validation of the method was carried out using standards of pure rifaximine dissolved in methanol. It was observed that linearity was above 0.99 of r . Average recovery was above 54%. A high specificity was evident and interfering substances did not affect the results. The minimum limit of detection was 30 ng/mL and the quantification limit was 150 ng/mL. For the kinetic analysis the antibiotic (100 mg) was infused into the udder of two lactating cows. For one cow a coefficient of depuration of 0.0122, with a half life of 24.6 hours and 8.65 g/mL*h (* = multiplied by), Area Under the Curve (AUC) was observed. For the second cow the coefficient of depuration was 0.00749 with a half life of 23.9 hrs and 7.75 μg/mL*h was detected. In the field rifaximine (100 and 200 mg) was infused into the udder of 20 cows at the end of the lactation period; thereafter samples were obtained from treated cows and it was observed that rifaximine was not detected in calostrum and milk of treated cows, using the described HPLC method. It was concluded that the use of HPLC is a reliable method to detect rifaximine in milk and colostrum of cows treated with the antibiotic.
The influence of the Mediterranean climate on vernacular architecture: a comparative analysis between the vernacular responsive architecture of southern Portugal and north of Egypt

Mediterranean vernacular architecture was developed not only with respect to environmental and climatic factors but also with respect to culture, traditional construction materials and morphology. Despite the far distance between Portugal and Egypt, it was possible to find similar vernacular strategies under the influence of the Mediterranean climate and both Roman and Arab cultures. The paper adopted an explanatory qualitative analysis and comparative synthesis methods for vernacular passive and climatic responsive strategies for two regions. Covering from site planning, building design till building materials used through considering topography, resources, historic and cultural aspects. The outcomes of this research allow for understanding how different passive solar strategies and the use of natural energy sources can contribute to achieve appropriate indoor comfort conditions for contemporary practice. The paper draws a set of recommendations for more in-depth quantitative survey and energy efficiency measurements in Mediterranean climate.
Antibacterial Activities of Brown Marine Algae (Sargassum wightii and Turbinaria ornata) from the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve

Southeast coast of India is a unique marine habitat infested with diverse seaweeds. Therefore, the present study was initiated to explore bioactive potential of major seaweeds. The brown algae, Sargassum wightii and Turbinaria ornata were collected from Gulf of Mannar, South-east coast. The methanolic extracts of both seaweeds (S. wightii, T. ornata) were tested against various Gram positive and Gram negative human pathogenic microbes. The finding envisages that methanol extracts of T. ornata could be utilized as a good source of antimicrobial agent in pharmaceutical industry.
The unusual persistence of an ozone hole over a southern mid-latitude station during the Antarctic spring 2009: a multi-instrument study

Abstract. Record-low ozone column densities (with a minimum of 212 DU) persisted over three weeks at the Rio Gallegos NDACC (Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change) station (51.5° S, 69.3° W) in November 2009. Total ozone remained two standard deviations below the climatological mean for five consecutive days during this period. The statistical analysis of 30 years of satellite data from the Multi Sensor Reanalysis (MSR) database for Rio Gallegos revealed that such a long-lasting low-ozone episode is a rare occurrence. The event is examined using height-resolved ozone lidar measurements at Rio Gallegos, and observations from satellite and ground-based instruments. The computed relative difference between the measured total ozone and the climatological monthly mean shows reductions varying between 10 and 30% with an average decrease of 25%. The mean absolute difference of total ozone column with respect to climatological monthly mean ozone column is around 75 DU. Extreme values of the UV index (UVI) were measured at the ground for this period, with the daily maximum UVI of around 13 on 15 and 28 November. The high-resolution MIMOSA-CHIM (Modelisation Isentrope du transport Meso-echelle de l'Ozone Stratospherique par Advection) model was used to interpret the ozone depletion event. An ozone decrease of about 2 ppmv was observed in mid-November at the 550 K isentropic level (~22 km). The position of Rio Gallegos relative to the polar vortex was classified using equivalent latitude maps. During the second week of November, the vortex was over the station at all isentropic levels, but after 20 November and until the end of the month, only the 10 lower levels in the stratosphere were affected by vortex overpasses with ozone poor air masses. A rapid recovery of the ozone column density was observed later, due to an ozone rich filament moving over Rio Gallegos between 18 and 24 km in the first two weeks of December 2009.
Bloch Wave Function for the Periodic Sphaleron Potential and Unsuppressed Baryon and Lepton Number Violating Processes

For the periodic sphaleron potential in the electroweak theory, we nd the one- dimensional time-independent Schrodinger equation with the Chern-Simons number as the coordinate, construct the Bloch wave function and determine the correspond- ing conducting (pass) band structure. We show that the baryon-lepton number violating processes can take place without the exponential tunneling suppression (at zero temperature) at energies around and above the barrier height (sphaleron en- ergy) at 9.0 TeV. Phenomenologically, probable detection of such processes at LHC is discussed.