Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An efficient in vitro propagation protocol of Dianthus giganteiformis Borbas subsp. kladovanus (Degen) Soo

: Dianthus giganteiformis subsp. kladovanus is an endemic, endangered, horticulturally appealing perennial plant that can be used for the revegetation of sand dunes of the Danube region. The appropriate method for its effective production is micropropagation. For this reason, the experiments were conducted in order to establish an efficient protocol for the microprop agation of this subspecies. The sterile culture was initiated from seeds collected in situ and the g ermination percentage was high (88%). According to the results obtained in this study, the multiplication phase should be performed on an MS medium enriched with 0.1 mg/L BAP and 0.1 mg/L NAA. The concentration of MS salts significantly influenced rooting, and higher rooting percentages were obtained on reduced MS media (91.7 - 95%) than on MS media (73.4 - 76.7%). The addition of NAA slightly increased rooting percentage (up to 95%). Obtained microplants were successfully acclimatized (83.3%) in a substrate composed of peat and sand (1: 1; v/v). Using the protocol presented in this paper, the efficient propagation of D. giganteiformis spp. kladovanus can be achieved for rapid plant production aimed at revegetation, biodiversity pro tection and floricultural production of this species.
Biological excess phosphorus removal - steady state process design.

From the Kinetic model describing phosphorus (P) release and P uptake, design equations are developed to determine the release, uptake 'and removal ofP in modified Bardenpho and VCT systems under constant flow and load conditions. Knowing the influent COD and TKN concentrations, for specified sludge age and anaerobic mass fraction, the fraction of influent readily biodegradable COD converted to shortchain fatty acids by the non-polyP organisms (and the associated P release to sequester the short-chain fatty acids), are calculated. In this manner the influent substrate fractions available to the polyP and non-polyP organisms are determined, and the respective masses of organisms generated from the substrate are calculated. From the mass of sludge wasted per day, the concentration ofP removed from the influent is calculated. The calculated P removal correlates well with the removal observed in laboratory-scale systems treating municipal waste flows, over wide ranges of sludge ages and influent characteristics.
The neurophysiology of EEG and the physics of the head

Neuroscientific research using Electroencephalography is one of the most important tools for understanding human brain function and dysfunction. Not many other methods can non-invasively and directly access neural activity with millisecond precision. While basic event related modulations of brain activity can easily be replicated, the spatial resolution remains poor. Thus, complex or higher brain function and detailed aspects are much more challenging to analyze. The properties of volume conduction in the human head drastically decrease the spatial resolution of EEG. The mixing of neuronal sources on the scalp is linear but spatially smeared. EEG is highly autocorrelated while additionally non-stationary and non-linear in its emergence. Special methods are needed to differentiate sources based on temporal, spectral and spatial considerations. Many approaches based on common assumptions fail in practice. We need new ideas and a paradigm shift towards new perspectives in order to advance technology. This thesis introduces a new theory for the interpretation and classification of neural signals and develops algorithms based on it. The theory includes new perspectives on volume conduction as well as the propagation of oscillations and resonances in the cortex. This thesis suggests novel approaches to models of volume conduction, spatial filtering and optimal classifiers. The new perspective on volume conduction is based on but not limited to impedance measurements and includes approximate head model, sensor position and homogeneous conductivity estimations. In spatial filtering, novel side constraints on the common spatial patterns algorithm are investigated. Optimal Bayesian classifiers are derived for the direct classification of variance data and are related to established approaches based on the logarithm of the variances or Riemannian Geometry. The new perspectives on oscillations and resonance can be linked to the genesis of spectral harmonics due to the non-linear relation of synaptic input and firing frequency in single neurons. The results show the need for new approaches in head modeling, the interpretation of oscillations, spatial filtering and classification. Furthermore, they deliver implications for the investigation of functional connectivity and neuronal dynamics: the brain is a large musical instrument with finely tuned resonances in various spectral and spatial modes where the current harmony is based on the present and past perceptual input. The single resonances non-linearly depend on each other which leads to the necessary emergence of harmonics based on the principles of compression and soft-clipping.
EFFECT OF CADMIUM STRESS ON THE POLYPHENOL CONTENT, MORPHOLOGICAL, PHYSIOLOGICAL, AND ANATOMICAL PARAMETERS OF COMMON BEAN (PHASEOLUS VULGARIS L.)

Cadmium (Cd) is one of the most notable heavy metals because of its high mobility and toxicity towards plants. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of cadmium on growth, physiological parameters, anatomical changes and phenolic compounds content in Phaseolus vulgaris L plant. Seedlings were exposed to cadmium at 0.25; 0.5 and 1 g.l for 21 days. Results indicated that cadmium significantly decreased percent seed germination, embryonic radical elongation, plant dry weight, stem/root length and numbers of leaves and lateral roots. Cadmium also induced a decrease in chlorophyll and protein content with all treatments; however, sugar and proline increased significantly with 1 g.l. Total phenolic content increased by around 43% and 32% in the above ground part and roots respectively. Flavonoids, flavonols, hydrolysable tannins and condensed tannins showed a significant increase with higher cadmium concentration. Cadmium also changed plant root and stem anatomy; a decrease in both number and size of xylem vessels and a delay in xylem differentiation
Technology Tools and Instructional Strategies for Designing and Delivering MOOCs to Facilitate Self-monitoring of Learners

This mixed-methods study examines the design and delivery of MOOCs to facilitate student self-monitoring for self-directed learning (SDL). The data collection methods included an online survey (n = 198), semi-structured interviews of MOOC instructors (n = 22), and document analysis of MOOCs (n = 22). This study found that MOOC instructors viewed self-monitoring skills vital for SDL. MOOC instructors reported that they facilitated students’ self-monitoring with both internal and external feedback. Students’ internal feedback is related to cognitive and metacognitive processes. Among the methods used to facilitate cognitive processes were quizzes, tutorials, learning strategies, learning aids, and progress bars. To foster metacognition, MOOC instructors provided reflection questions and attempted to create learning communities. In addition, MOOC instructors, teaching assistants, and peers provided external feedback for students’ self-monitoring. In addition, synchronous communication technologies, asynchronous communication technologies, and feedback were used with diverse purposes in supporting student’s self-monitoring.
Prognostic significance of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to assess the effect of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) on recurrence and survival in patients with Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma (ESCC) undergoing surgery. METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis of the 80 resectable ESCC patients who underwent surgery at Yuzuncu Yil University Faculty of Medicine between 2008 and 2018. Receiver operator characteristics curve of NLR was plotted for disease-free survival (DFS). The area under the curve of NLR was 0.692 (p=0.008) with 65.2% sensitivity and 2.8 with 69.5% specificity. Patients were divided into two groups based on the NLR as follows: NLR <2.8 and NLR ≥2.8. RESULTS: Among 80 ESCC patients, 54 (65.5%) were female. The median age was 55 years (range, 26–77). The NLR was <2.8 in 47 (58.7%) patients. Median DFS was 55 months in patients with NLR ≥2.8, whereas it was not reached in those with NLR <2.8 (p=0.008), with corresponding overall survival (OS) durations of 71 months and not reached (p=0.027). Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance score 2, presence of obstruction at diagnosis, lower 1/3 esophageal localization, neoadjuvant treatment, and NLR ≥2.8 were found to be the factors related to survival. CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrated that high pre-treatment NLR was associated with worse DFS and OS in patients with resectable esophageal cancer. We believe that pre-treatment NLR may help guide predicting treatment outcomes in non-metastatic resectable ESCC patients.
The spread of the non-native pine tortoise scale Toumeyella parvicornis (Hemiptera: Coccidae) in Europe: a major threat to Pinus pinea in Southern Italy

Abstract: Invasive pests are considered a major threat to biodiversity, conservation and agriculture. The Italian peninsula is a major site of intensive commercial exchange and transport of plants and goods, being consequently one of the European countries most invaded by alien insects. Hemiptera Coccomorpha are the largest group of non-native species recorded in Europe. For example, in the last 70 years more than 50 scale insect species have been accidentally introduced into Italy, 50% of which are now well established. This study was conducted to investigate the biology and the damage of the non-native pine tortoise scale Toumeyella parvicornis Cockerell (Hemiptera: Coccidae) accidentally introduced a few years ago into southern Italy. T. parvicornis is multivoltine in the invaded territories, being able to complete at least three generations per year, overwintering in the adult female stage. Oviposition periods during 2015-2017 surveys occurred from late April to end of May, from July to first half of August, and from mid-September to November. Fecundity was positively correlated to body size of gravid females and varied among the generations. Investigations on natural control by autochthonous species showed a seasonal activity of Metaphycus flavus (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), parasitizing mainly immature male individuals. The morpho-molecular approach confirms the hypothesis of an ongoing shift of parasitoid populations from other indigenous soft scales to the invasive one. Unfortunately, the low level of natural control was ineffective in hampering the spread of T. parvicornis, and preventing the dieback of local pine species, Pinus pinea, as observed in all invaded areas.
Aloe: Fault-Tolerant Network Management and Orchestration Framework for IoT Applications

Internet of Things (IoT) platforms use a large number of low-cost resource constrained devices and generates millions of short-flows. In-network processing is gaining popularity day by day to handle IoT applications and services. However, traditional software-defined networking (SDN) based management systems are not suitable to handle the plug and play nature of such systems. In this paper, we propose Aloe, an auto-scalable SDN orchestration framework. Aloe exploits in-network processing framework by using multiple lightweight controller instances in place of service grade SDN controller applications. The proposed framework ensures the availability and significant reduction in flow-setup delay by deploying instances in the vicinity the resource constraint IoT devices dynamically. Aloe supports fault-tolerance with recovery from network partitioning by employing self-stabilizing placement of migration capable controller instances. Aloe also provides resource reservation for micro-controllers so that they can ensure the quality of services (QoS). The performance of the proposed system is measured by using an in-house testbed along with a large scale deployment in Amazon Web services (AWS) cloud platform. The experimental results from these two testbeds show significant improvement in response time for standard IoT based services. This improvement of performance is due to the reduction in flow-setup time. We found that Aloe can improve flow-setup time by around 10%–30% in comparison to one of the states of the art orchestration framework.
Coarse woody habitat does not predict largemouth bass young of year mortality during the open-water season

Littoral structure is often assumed to provide refuge to young of year (YOY) freshwater fish species, but empirical in situ tests of this relationship are lacking. We estimated mortality rates of YOY largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) over the open-water season in 13 lakes in northern Wisconsin and Michigan using repeated snorkel surveys. Our goal was to test the hypothesis that mortality rate is negatively related to the abundance of littoral coarse woody habitat, which ranged from 3 to 1500 pieces of wood per kilometre of shoreline in these lakes. Instantaneous mortality rates were well-constrained and ranged from 0.04 to 0.19 among the 13 lakes. Mortality was not related to coarse woody habitat abundance. Our results suggest that the relationship between coarse woody habitat and YOY mortality might not be as strong or universal as is often assumed.
A Reinforcement Learning-Based Network Traffic Prediction Mechanism in Intelligent Internet of Things

Intelligent Internet of Things (IIoT) is comprised of various wireless and wired networks for industrial applications, which makes it complex and heterogeneous.The openness of IIoT has led to the intractable problems of network security and management. Many network security and management functions rely on network traffic prediction techniques, such as anomaly detection and predictive network planning. Predicting IIoT network traffic is significantly difficult because its frequently updated topology and diversified services lead to irregular network traffic fluctuations. Motivated by these observations, we proposed a reinforcement learning-based mechanism in this article. We modeled the network traffic prediction problem as a Markov decision process, and then, predicted network traffic by Monte Carlo <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Q$</tex-math></inline-formula>-learning. Furthermore, we addressed the real-time requirement of the proposed mechanism and we proposed a residual-based dictionary learning algorithm to improve the complexity of Monte Carlo <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Q$</tex-math></inline-formula>-learning. Finally, the effectiveness of our mechanism was evaluated using the real network traffic.
Spray nozzles, working pressures and use of adjuvant in reduction of 2,4-D herbicide spray drift

Background: The study of the interactions between equipment, application methods, and spray mixtures is fundamental to optimize the application of pesticides. The determination of the best combination of these factors can reduce the drift during the application of the herbicide 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). Objective: The objective this paper is to study the influence of nozzle models, working pressures, and surfactant adjuvant in reducing the drift of 2,4-D. Methods: The spectrum of nozzle drops was determined for a conventional flat jet; flat jet with air induction; double plane jet with air induction; deflector flat jet with air induction; and an empty cone with air induction at pressures of 200, 300, 400, and 500 kPa. This was quantified in a wind tunnel with four drifts: water; water + surfactant adjuvant; water + 2,4-D; and water + 2,4-D + surfactant adjuvant, applied by the five nozzle models at four working pressures. The data was evaluated by analysis of variance and, when significant, by the Tukey test and regression at 5% significance level. Results: The interactions between the nozzle models, working pressure, and spray mixture directly influenced the 2,4-D drift. Conclusions: The use of surfactant adjuvant must be carried out carefully, according to the nozzle model, working pressure, and spray mixture. The conventional single fan jet nozzle is more sensitive to increased working pressure and has a high potential to cause drift compared with the models with air induction.
Repair Strategies of Complex Onset by Spanish Learners of English in the Speech Accent Archive

Repair Strategies of Complex Onset by Spanish Learners of English in the Speech Accent Archive. Studies in Phonetics, Phonology and Morphology 26.2. 279-301. This paper aims at analyzing strategies of adjusting non-permissible syllable structure by Spanish learners of English in the corpus of the Speech Accent Archive. Words exhibiting sC (where C stands for consonant) onset clusters in the elicitation paragraph were examined concerning repairs by 162 Spanish learners. Collocated words before the complex onset clusters were those ending with a vowel, an obstruent, or a voiceless alveolar fricative, which played different roles in modifying the illegal onsets, ranging from prosthesis even to deletion, which is rarely discussed in Spanish Interlanguage Phonology. Prosthesis is attested as the most frequent repair strategy, but with a much lower proportion than reported in earlier studies. A mixed effects logistic regression analysis suggests that the onset of age in English learning and the context of the preceding words best explain when prosthesis occurs. (
VALIDITY OF SMALL-SCALE PHYSICAL MODELS INVOLVING BREAKING WAVES

The presence of air bubbles entrained by the action of wave breaking can strongly influence a number of physical processes including wave impact forces on coastal structures, sediment transport and the rate of air-sea gas transfer. Due to their complex nature, laboratory facilities are commonly used to examine the influence of breaking waves on such processes and the large majority of these experiments are made in small-scale flumes filled with freshwater. In experiments involving non-breaking and hence non-aerating waves, scale effects are often unimportant. However very few authors have commented on the effect of scale on air entrainment by breaking waves, and the information available (Chanson et al., 2002; Lamarre, 1993) is contradictory. It is also noted that many researchers including Haines & Johnson (1995) and Chanson et al. (2002) have suggested that there are considerable differences in the total volume and size distribution of bubbles entrained in freshwater and seawater. It is clear therefore that in order to correctly interpret the results of laboratory tests involving breaking waves, the influence of scale on the entrainment and subsequent evolution of bubble plumes generated by breaking waves, as well as the effect of water type on the size, concentration and distribution of entrained bubbles must be understood.
High Prevalence of Hepatitis B Virus Infection Compared to Human Immunodeficiency Virus among Blood Donors in Bangui

Introduction: Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection is a public health problem worldwide, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Objective: to compare the epidemiological, clinical and biological characteristics of chronic HBV and HIV infection in blood donors at the National Center for Blood Transfusion (NCBT) in Bangui. Patients and Methods: This was an 8-month analytical cross-sectional study from August 10, 2011 to April 9, 2012. During this study, we consecutively enrolled consenting blood donors of both sexes in which the search for HBsAg and HIV infection was carried out. Results: During the study period, 850 blood donors were collected. HBsAg was found in 142 donors (16.7%), of whom 55 blood donors (6.5%) were coinfected with HIV. On the other hand, HIV serology was positive in 77 blood donors (9.1%) including 55 co-infected (6.5%) with HBV. In order to better compare the risk factors, we have not included HIV-HBV coinfected patients. Only 795 blood donors were selected for the risk factor study. There were 87 cases of HBsAg positive (10.9%) and 22 cases of HIV positive (2.8%). The average age of HIV and HBV infected patients was 25.7 and 26.2 years, respectively. Twelve blood donors (1.5%) over the age of 20 were HBsAg versus 3 HIV positive blood donors (0.4%). Among blood donors over the age of 20, 75 (9.9%) were HBsAg positive, while 19 (2.4%) were HIV positive. Men were infected with HIV in 20 cases (2.5%), while those infected with HBV were 84 (10.6%). The risk factor found during HIV infection and HBV was unprotected sex with a p of 0.0038 and 0.0017 respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence of HBV infection is higher than that of HIV among blood donors in Bangui. The setting up of a national viral hepatitis control program, which will develop screening, treatment and vaccination actions could make the curve bend.
A case study on therapeutic use of chemicals and antibiotics in aquaculture practices in selected places of Kerala and Tamil Nadu states of India

The commercialization and intensification of aquaculture demand use of drugs. This study was carried out in two districts of Kerala (Ernakulum and Kottayam) and Tamil Nadu (Thanjavur and Trichy) from October 2018 to March 2019 through interaction with the farmers. Structured questionnaire was prepared and used. The calculations were done in MS excel and the data processed. Farmers of Kottayam District of Kerala were found to consult the fisheries officials but only 56.25% farmer’s analysed water and soil quality regularly. The use of medicines and chemicals was 6.25% higher in Ernakulum than Kottayam District. Only 20% farmers of Ernakulum and 12.50% of farmers in Kottayam invested less than Rs 1, 000 towards chemical or medicines. Compared to Kottayam, 01 to 04% more farmers had a 1-ha fish farm in Ernakulum district. In these districts, the farmers stock their ponds with Indian and exotic carps, tilapia, pearl spot besides shrimps. In Ernakulum district, the use of KMnO4, bleaching powder and salt is common as a medicine or chemical for fish diseases while in Kottayam district the use of NUAN, KMnO4, CuSO4, FeSO4 and bleaching powder is common. The frequency of regular monitoring the water quality was 16.25% higher with the farmers of Kottayam district than those of Ernakulum district. The farm ponds of Thanjavur district were managed under the Irrigated Agriculture Modernization Project while those in Trichy were managed under the Multi-purpose Farm Pond Scheme (2017-18) where occurrence of diseased fish was negligible as these farmers are getting quality seed from the Fisheries Department that is healthy and fingerling size (>5cm). Finally It is thus obvious that better management practices (BMP) under monitoring of aquaculture units by fisheries departments and research and academic institutions may minimize disease occurrence and thereby improve the production also.