Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DEVELOPING NEW STRAINS OF OKRA.

Great variations in plant vigor, productivity and pod characteristics are present in the local green and red cultivars of okra grown at Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate. Six strains of okra were obtained after five generations of inbreeding and selection from the local cultivars. The six selected strains as well as the original cultivars were evaluated during the summer season of 2006 at a private farm in Disuq district, Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, for yield and horticultural characteristics. The experimental design was a complete randomized block with four replicates. The results indicated that the differences among the selected strains were highly significant for yield and all studied horticultural characteristics. Strain 5 was the tallest one, while, strain 3 had the largest values of most vegetative traits, therefore, it was the latest one. Strain 1 had the lowest values of vegetative traits and it produced the largest values of early and total yield as a number and weight of pods. Therefore, strains 1 and strain 2 surpassed all selected strains and the original cultivars in early and total pods weight. Therefore, strain 1 and strain 2 can be utilized as new cultivars or included in the breeding programs for improving okra production and quality in Egypt.
Avian communication networks: how audible are mountain chickadee males during dawn signalling?

My thesis investigates how urban noise influences the relative audibility of songs to female Mountain Chickadees (Poecile gambeli), who assess male signalling at dawn while roosting within the nest cavity. Over two breeding seasons, I monitored Mountain Chickadees breeding on an urban/rural interface in Kamloops, BC, Canada. I broadcast typical Mountain Chickadee songs, with or without added noise, towards recently unoccupied nests while simultaneously re-recording these songs with microphones outside and inside the nest box to determine the relative audibility in relation to both distance and presence/absence of noise. I then tracked individual males’ behaviour and movement during dawn signalling, while passively recording their songs with microphones — outside and inside the nest box — to determine the relative audibility of signals from the perspective of the roosting female. The relative audibility of songs decreased with increasing distance from the nest, which was compounded by increased urban noise. During dawn signalling, urban males respond to these effects by remaining closer to the nest, resulting in their songs being more audible within the nest than their rural counterparts. Overall, ambient noise and distance had an interactive effect on relative audibility of songs, suggesting complex dynamics of communication networks that may result in a trade-off, where males are forced to prioritize directing their signals to either their social mates or neighbours.
Evaluation of the Field Model, Fire Dynamics Simulator, for a Specific Experimental Scenario:

The new version of the fire dynamics simulator, FDS version 3.01, is verified by a series of full-scale fire tests. Experiments are carried out in a compartment similar in size to the ISO-9705 room calorimeter. Gasoline pool fires of different diameters are used to give different heat release rates. The ventilation factors of the compartment are adjusted to produce flashover. Fire-induced flow, temperature, and pressure fields in these different physical scenarios are calculated using the FDS software. The predictions for temperature and radiative heat flux of a post-flashover fire in the specific configuration tested are in reasonably good agreement with experimental results even when the flame occupies most of the room volume.
Robust and Long-Term High-Speed Operational Status Inspection of Pantograph-OCS in Complex Environments

Good contact conditions between the pantograph and catenary ensure the safety of electrified railways. However, the relevant state-of-the-art status inspection methods cannot achieve high speed and robust effects under complex conditions, such as multisuspended line interference, unknown complex backgrounds, and light and dark changes. Therefore, a two-module contact status diagnosis methodology, consisted of long-term tracking and 3-D reconstruction, is proposed in this study. This long-term tracking method is a combination of tracking, detection, and discrimination, focusing on locating the contact area of high-speed movement in complex environments. First, a brand-new tracking paradigm, namely, GMSTrack, based on feature matching is developed to adapt to complex background changes. Second, we modify the loss function via GIoU-plus loss for box regression and adaptive wing loss for landmark regression on CenterNet and realize a dramatic improvement in detection accuracy at 125 FPS. Third, sequential information is collected for the transformer-based discriminator to evaluate the correctness of the current tracking result. Experimental results show that the optimal strategy that combines tracking, detection, and discrimination can locate the contact area in complex environments with an accuracy higher than 93% and with a speed higher than 84 FPS. Finally, dynamic stagger value and height of conductor that can reflect contact status are analyzed through the 3-D reconstruction of the binocular contact points. The overall status inspection methodology can be applied to the on-site high-speed trains at speeds exceeding 80 FPS.
Managing change with CAD and CAD/CAM

A model is developed for the analysis of factors influencing organizational and technological changes associated with CAD and CAD/CAM (computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacture). Different pressures for adoption and the sociopolitical environment of the organization and related to managerial strategies and their impact on skills, tasks, training, and changes in work organization. Opportunities are illustrated through the experiences of seven British engineering companies implementing the technologies. Six of the companies are in manufacturing and one is an engineering services organization. Four of the companies are of small to medium size (under 500 employees) and the other three are large, multisite organizations. Key elements of the technological change are identified, and the position of the seven companies in relation to these elements is summarized and discussed. >
Pattern of antibiotic resistance in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains isolated from clinical specimens: Imam Reza hospital in Mashhad

مقدمه استافیلوکوکوس اورئوس یک عامل بیماریزای فرصت طلب بوده و اغلب بیماری بدون علامت ایجاد می کند. سویه های بیمارستانی مقاوم به متی سیلین (MRSA)، پاتوژن های خطرناکی هستند که به اغلب آنتی بیوتیک های رایج مقاوم شده و میتوانند درمان اختصاصی بیماری را به چالش بکشند. هدف از این مطالعه بررسی فراوانی و الگوی مقاومت آنتی بیوتیکی سویه های MRSAدر بیمارستان امام رضا (ع) مشهد میباشد. روش کار این مطالعه توصیفی- تحلیلی از فروردین ماه 1392 تا شهریور ماه 1394 انجام شد. تعیین هویت سویه های MRSA به روش فنوتیپی انجام شد. بررسی الگوی مقاومت آنتی بیوتیکی جدایه های MRSA با روش انتشار دیسک در مقابل 8 آنتی بیوتیک بر اساس پروتکل CLSI انجام گردید. داده ها با نرم افزار SPSS تجزیه و تحلیل گردید. نتایج در این مطالعه، از مجموع 7335 باکتری جدا شده از بیماران بستری در بیمارستان امام رضا (ع) مشهد، 925 (6/12 %) سویه استافیلوکوکوس اورئوس در بیماران تشخیص داده شد. فراوانی MRSA 382 (7/41 %) مورد بود. بیشترین جدایه های MRSA از نمونه های کشت خون و زخم جداسازی گردید. بیشترین فراوانی MRSA از بخش های اورژانس عدالتیان، داخلی، سوختگی و قلب گزارش شد. نتیجه گیری شیوع MRSA می تواند ناشی از بستری شدن طولانی مدت بیماران در بخش و استفاده بیشتر از حد از آنتی بیوتیک ها به منظور درمان عفونت باشد. در نتیجه نظارت بیشتر و همچنین گسترش شیوه های صحیح و نتیجه بخش کنترل عفونت در این بخش ها لازم و ضروری به نظر می رسد.
Comorbidity of Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency and Sickle Cell Disease Exert Significant Effect on RBC Indices

Background Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) converts glucose-6-phosphate into 6-phosphogluconate in the pentose phosphate pathway and protects red blood cells (RBCs) from oxidative damage. Their deficiency therefore makes RBCs prone to haemolysis. Sickle cell disease (SCD) on the other hand is a hereditary blood disorder in which there is a single nucleotide substitution in the codon for amino acid 6 substituting glutamic acid with valine. SCD patients are prone to haemolysis due to the shape of their red blood cells and if they are deficient in G6PD, the haemolysis may escalate. Reported studies have indicated variations in the prevalence of G6PD deficiency in SCD patients and as such further work is required. The aim of this study was therefore to estimate the incidence of G-6-PD deficiency among SCD patients and to determine its impact on their RBC parameters as a measure of incidence of anaemia. Methods A total of 120 clinically diagnosed SCD patients of genotypes HbSS and HbSC were recruited into the study. About 5ml of blood was collected via venipuncture from each patient and used to run G6PD, full blood count, and haemoglobin (Hb) electrophoresis tests. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 and Graphpad prism. Result G6PD deficiency was detected in 43 (35.83%) of the participants made up of 16 (13.33%) males and 27 (22.50%) females of whom 17 (14.17%) had partial deficiency and 10 (8.33%) full deficiency. Statiscally significant differences p=0.036 and p=0.038 were established between the Hb concentration of the participants having a G6PD deficiency and those with normal G6PD activity for males and females, respectively. Conclusion From the results obtained, it implies that G6PD deficiency may increase the severity of anaemia in SCD patients. There is therefore the need to screen all SCD patients for G6PD deficiency to ensure that their condition is not exacerbated during treatment.
ROLE OF BOND IN RC BEAMS STRENGTHENED WITH STEEL AND FRP PLATES

This paper looks at the problem of predicting the stiffness, load capacity, and failure modes of RC members strengthened in bending with bonded steel or carbon-fiber--reinforced plastic thin plates. A critical issue of this strengthening technique is that, when the plate debonds, the load capacity suddenly drops and the failure mode is typically brittle. Because of the concrete cracking diffusion and the yielding of the steel rebars, a significant amplification of the bond stresses takes place at the beam-plate interface. Delamination occurs when the bond strength is reached locally. To properly describe and adequately predict the behavior of the strengthened beams, a displacement-based fiber beam model is used. Bond slip between the beam and the plate is included by assuming separate displacement fields in the beam and in the strengthening plate. The proposed model is used to confirm and investigate distinct failure modes observed in experimental investigations. The discussion is limited to shallow beams, where shear deformations are neglected.
Friends or Foes? Rapid Determination of Dissimilar Colistin and Ciprofloxacin Antagonism of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Phages

Phage therapy is a century-old technique employing viruses (phages) to treat bacterial infections, and in the clinic it is often used in combination with antibiotics. Antibiotics, however, interfere with critical bacterial metabolic activities that can be required by phages. Explicit testing of antibiotic antagonism of phage infection activities, though, is not a common feature of phage therapy studies. Here we use optical density-based ‘lysis-profile’ assays to assess the impact of two antibiotics, colistin and ciprofloxacin, on the bactericidal, bacteriolytic, and new-virion-production activities of three Pseudomonas aeruginosa phages. Though phages and antibiotics in combination are more potent in killing P. aeruginosa than either acting alone, colistin nevertheless substantially interferes with phage bacteriolytic and virion-production activities even at its minimum inhibitory concentration (1× MIC). Ciprofloxacin, by contrast, has little anti-phage impact at 1× or 3× MIC. We corroborate these results with more traditional measures, particularly colony-forming units, plaque-forming units, and one-step growth experiments. Our results suggest that ciprofloxacin could be useful as a concurrent phage therapy co-treatment especially when phage replication is required for treatment success. Lysis-profile assays also appear to be useful, fast, and high-throughput means of assessing antibiotic antagonism of phage infection activities.
Comparative Genomics Analysis of Repetitive Elements in Ten Gymnosperm Species: “Dark Repeatome” and Its Abundance in Conifer and Gnetum Species

Repetitive elements (RE) and transposons (TE) can comprise up to 80% of some plant genomes and may be essential for regulating their evolution and adaptation. The “repeatome” information is often unavailable in assembled genomes because genomic areas of repeats are challenging to assemble and are often missing from final assembly. However, raw genomic sequencing data contain rich information about RE/TEs. Here, raw genomic NGS reads of 10 gymnosperm species were studied for the content and abundance patterns of their “repeatome”. We utilized a combination of alignment on databases of repetitive elements and de novo assembly of highly repetitive sequences from genomic sequencing reads to characterize and calculate the abundance of known and putative repetitive elements in the genomes of 10 conifer plants: Pinus taeda, Pinus sylvestris, Pinus sibirica, Picea glauca, Picea abies, Abies sibirica, Larix sibirica, Juniperus communis, Taxus baccata, and Gnetum gnemon. We found that genome abundances of known and newly discovered putative repeats are specific to phylogenetically close groups of species and match biological taxa. The grouping of species based on abundances of known repeats closely matches the grouping based on abundances of newly discovered putative repeats (kChains) and matches the known taxonomic relations.
Advanced Bioinformatics Tools in the Pharmacokinetic Profiles of Natural and Synthetic Compounds with Anti-Diabetic Activity

Diabetes represents a major health problem, involving a severe imbalance of blood sugar levels, which can disturb the nerves, eyes, kidneys, and other organs. Diabes management involves several synthetic drugs focused on improving insulin sensitivity, increasing insulin production, and decreasing blood glucose levels, but with unclear molecular mechanisms and severe side effects. Natural chemicals extracted from several plants such as Gymnema sylvestre, Momordica charantia or Ophiopogon planiscapus Niger have aroused great interest for their anti-diabetes activity, but also their hypolipidemic and anti-obesity activity. Here, we focused on the anti-diabetic activity of a few natural and synthetic compounds, in correlation with their pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic profiles, especially with their blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability. We reviewed studies that used bioinformatics methods such as predicted BBB, molecular docking, molecular dynamics and quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) to elucidate the proper action mechanisms of antidiabetic compounds. Currently, it is evident that BBB damage plays a significant role in diabetes disorders, but the molecular mechanisms are not clear. Here, we presented the efficacy of natural (gymnemic acids, quercetin, resveratrol) and synthetic (TAK-242, propofol, or APX3330) compounds in reducing diabetes symptoms and improving BBB dysfunctions. Bioinformatics tools can be helpful in the quest for chemical compounds with effective anti-diabetic activity that can enhance the druggability of molecular targets and provide a deeper understanding of diabetes mechanisms.
Maize Growth and Yield Response to Different Rates of Humic Acid and Zinc

To study humic acid and zinc effect on maize (Zea mays L.) growth, yield and its attributes, a field experiment was set up during 2021 summer season in a Private Farm at Al-Maamorah district, El-Ghafara, Tripoli, Lybia. Randomized complete block design with split-arrangement in three replicates was used. Four humic acid levels, i.e. control (without humic acid), 5, 10 and 15 kg/ ha were randomly distributed as main plots, while four zinc concentrations (0, 3, 6 and 9 ml/ l) were allocated in the sub-plots. Pioneer 3084 maize plants treated with humic acid significantly surpassed, in all growth, yield, yield components and grain protein content traits, than the control treatment. The same trend was found for zinc foliar application, except for ear length. Soil application of 15 kg humic acid per hectare combined with 9 ml zinc/ l as foliar application produced the highest values for ear leaf area (1000.17 cm), plant height (240.56 cm), stem and ear diameters (2.20 cm and 4.52 cm, respectively), tallest ears (25.19 cm), number of rows/ ear (14.62), number of kernels/ row (54.13), shelling percentage (82.17 %), 100-kernel weight (41.83 g), grain yield (7.192 t/ ha) and grain protein content (10.17 %).
Cascade controller for DC/DC buck convertor

In order to deal with the increasing demand for good load and supply-voltage regulation of DC/DC convertors, a new cascade controller is proposed. The control of DC/DC buck convertor is first decomposed into a primary voltage-control loop and a secondary current-control loop. The cascade controller is then implemented based on the buck-converter settings with the dynamics of the secondary loop much faster than these of the primary loop. A robustness analysis of the cascade controller against load changes and supply changes is presented. Experimental results are included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme over a conventional single-loop PI controller. The proposed controller can be implemented as a low-cost addon to a conventional single-loop controller. Detail design equations are presented.
Surgical Treatment Options for Partial Rotator Cuff Tears: A Review of the Literature

Partial-thickness rotator cuff tears (PTRCT) can be articular-sided, bursal-sided or intratendinous. New research suggests that a considerable proportion (up to 30%) of cuff thickness on the articular side is taken up histologically by the superior joint capsule conjoined to the rotator cuff tissue. This means that newer reviews of the surgical options may be required to complement the Ellman classification which grades lesions as grade 1 (less than 25% of tendon thickness involved), grade 2 (25 – 50%) or grade 3 (greater than 50% of tendon thickness). If primary non-operative treatment fails, many surgical options can be considered. The surgical technique chosen has been based on depth of the tear and the tear location. Surgical treatment can be distinguished between debridement and repair of PTRCT’s, as well as biologically active experimental techniques showing some promise. Debridement can be successfully performed for bursal-sided Ellman grade 1 tears and articular-sided grade 1 and 2 tears. All other techniques show better results with a repair technique, which can be either performed with an in-situ or trans-cuff repair technique (leaving the intact rotator cuff portion intact) or with tear conversion to a full-thickness cuff tear and subsequent repair. Successful functional and structural outcome after repair of Ellman grade 3 tears can be shown with both repair techniques. The current literature also suggests evidence for inferior outcomes and higher failure rates after arthroscopic debridement of bursal-sided partial-thickness rotator cuff tears compared to articular-sided lesions, which may reflect the contribution of capsule to the tear. Articular-sided partial cuff tears are frequently seen in overhead athletes and should be treated non-operatively whenever possible. If conservative treatment fails, debridement seems to be a better surgical choice in most cases, as only a half of professional athletes return to the same level of play after repair of partial-thickness rotator cuff tears.
Multi-Elemental Composition Data Handled by Chemometrics for the Discrimination of High-Value Italian Pecorino Cheeses

The multi-elemental composition of three typical Italian Pecorino cheeses, Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) Pecorino Romano (PR), PDO Pecorino Sardo (PS) and Pecorino di Farindola (PF), was determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). The ICP-OES method here developed allowed the accurate and precise determination of eight major elements (Ba, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Na, P, and Zn). The ICP-OES data acquired from 17 PR, 20 PS, and 16 PF samples were processed by unsupervised (Principal Component Analysis, PCA) and supervised (Partial Least Square-Discriminant Analysis, PLS-DA) multivariate methods. PCA revealed a relatively high variability of the multi-elemental composition within the samples of a given variety, and a fairly good separation of the Pecorino cheeses according to the geographical origin. Concerning the supervised classification, PLS-DA has allowed obtaining excellent results, both in calibration (in cross-validation) and in validation (on the external test set). In fact, the model led to a cross-validated total accuracy of 93.3% and a predictive accuracy of 91.3%, corresponding to 2 (over 23) misclassified test samples, indicating the adequacy of the model in discriminating Pecorino cheese in accordance with its origin.
The Effects Of Corporate Websites Usability Of Travel Agencies On Their Technological Capabilities

ABSTRACT The effects of technology on the tourism industry are increasing day by day. Especially in the travel sector, technology has given rise to fierce competition. The emergence of travel organizations that run all the transactions related to travel online causes agencies to be disadvantaged in the competition. The success of traditional agencies in the competition is proportional to their technological capabilities. This research aims to test a model that shows the impact of the corporate websites usability of travel agencies on their social media, e-mail and e-commerce use. The study was designed in the form of quantitative research, and the data were collected through surveys. The study population consists of the traditional travel agencies operating in Istanbul. 433 face-to-face questionnaires conducted with the managers of these agencies were analyzed. According to the results of the research, the corporate websites usability of the agencies explain their use of social media, e-mail and e-commerce. Corporate websites usability of businesses contribute positively to social media, e-mail and e-commerce activities.
Clogging Evaluation of Permeable Bases

The clogging of the void spaces within the permeable base by foreign particles can severely reduce its drainage capacity. This will, in turn, reduce the service life of the permeable base layer within the pavement. In this paper, the reduction in the vertical permeability of several permeable base mixes as a result of clogging was studied. Clogging materials used are mixtures of sand and residual soil. An empirical theoretical formulation has been derived from the Kozeny-Carmen equation in order to predict the reduction in permeability of the permeable bases. The equation has been expressed in terms of the initial vertical permeability of the permeable base specimen, porosity, amount of clogging material retained, and an experimental empirical coefficient. This coefficient is found to be dependent on the ratio of the D-sub-15 size of the permeable base to the d-sub-85 size of the clogging material and coefficient of uniformity, C-sub-u, of the clogging material. The theoretical predictions were compared with experimental results with good agreement.