Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Isolation, Identification and in vitro Susceptibility of Avian Escherichia coli to Selected Fluoroquinolones

Summary 50 clinical Escherichia coli were isolated from 51 broiler farms in Urmia. An evaluation on antibacterial susceptibility testing of them against three selected fluoroquinolones was conducted. By using the Mast Diagnostics kit, the O1, O6, O15 and O55 serotypes were determined. For flumequine, enrofloxacin and norfloxacin the MIC values were 97.8, 12.6, and 24.4 µg/ml, respectively. Of the tested bacteria 8.6%, 34.6% and 24.4% were sensitive and 67.5%, 34.8% and 20.4% were resistant to flumequine, enrofloxacin and norfloxacin, respectively.
EFFECT OF SELENIUM SUPPLEMENTATION ON ANTIBODY TITRES AGAINST INFECTIOUS BURSAL DISEASE VACCINE IN BROILER CHICKS

A total of 200 chicks were raised upto 43 days of age under controlled experimental conditions. The birds were randomly divided into four groups A, B, C and D of 50 birds each at the age of day one. Birds of groups A and B were not supplemented with selenium, while those of groups C and D were given selenium @ 0.06 mg/Kg of feed from day one to day 43. The birds of groups B and D were vaccinated against infectious bursal disease (IBD) at the age of day 10 and boosted at the age of day 25. The effect of selenium on humoral immune response was evaluated by recording weekly serum antibody titres against IBD through indirect haemagglutination (IHA) test. The cumulative mean titres (CMT) recorded in groups A, B, C and D were 15, 53, 16 and 61, respectively (P<0.05). These results indicate that selenium supplementation may help to increase post vaccination humoral immune response against IBD in broiler chicks.
TDO-CIM: Transparent Detection and Offloading for Computation In-memory

Computation in-memory is a promising non-von Neumann approach aiming at completely diminishing the data transfer to and from the memory subsystem. Although a lot of architectures have been proposed, compiler support for such architectures is still lagging behind. In this paper, we close this gap by proposing an end-to-end compilation flow for in-memory computing based on the LLVM compiler infrastructure. Starting from sequential code, our approach automatically detects, opti-mizes, and offloads kernels suitable for in-memory acceleration. We demonstrate our compiler tool-flow on the PolyBench/C benchmark suite and evaluate the benefits of our proposed in-memory architecture simulated in Gem5 by comparing it with a state-of-the-art von Neumann architecture.
Quantum Computer Architecture: Towards Full-Stack Quantum Accelerators

This paper presents the definition and implementation of a quantum computer architecture to enable creating a new computational device - a quantum computer as an accelerator. A key question addressed is what such a quantum computer is and how it relates to the classical processor that controls the entire execution process. In this paper, we present explicitly the idea of a quantum accelerator which contains the full stack of the layers of an accelerator. Such a stack starts at the highest level describing the target application of the accelerator. The next layer abstracts the quantum logic outlining the algorithm that is to be executed on the quantum accelerator. In our case, the logic is expressed in the universal quantum-classical hybrid computation language developed in the group, called OpenQL, which visualised the quantum processor as a computational accelerator. The OpenQL compiler translates the program to a common assembly language, called cQASM, which can be executed on a quantum simulator. The cQASM represents the instruction set that can be executed by the micro-architecture implemented in the quantum accelerator. We propose that the industrial and societal application developers use perfect qubits that have no decoherence or error-rates. The perfect qubits offers facilities to the quantum application developer and they are not blocked by issues such as decoherence.
Response of paraquat-resistant and -susceptible horseweed (Conyza canadensis) to diquat, linuron, and oxyfluorfen

Abstract Horseweed is a winter annual weed that has evolved resistance to multiple herbicide modes of action in 11 countries worldwide. A paraquat-resistant horseweed population in an Ontario orchard that was being managed by a rotation of herbicides began to show increased tolerance to the herbicide linuron. Experiments were conducted in the greenhouse to compare the response of this population and several paraquat-susceptible populations to linuron, diquat, and oxyfluorfen. Plants were sprayed with a range of doses of each herbicide when they were from 5 to 10 wk old, and the ED50, or dose at which shoot dry weight was reduced by 50%, was estimated. There was a sevenfold difference in the ED50 values of the paraquat-resistant and -susceptible populations in response to diquat and a threefold difference in response to linuron. The response to oxyfluorfen was age dependent. The ratio of resistance to susceptible ED50 values was estimated as 57 for 5-wk-old plants and 11 for 8-wk-old plants in response to oxyfluorfen. Ten-week-old plants from both populations showed no response to oxyfluorfen at rates up to 4.8 kg ai ha−1. Nomenclature: Diquat; linuron; oxyfluorfen; paraquat; horseweed, Conyza canadensis L. ERICA.
Multi-feature Counting of Dense Crowd Image Based on Multi-column Convolutional Neural Network

The crowd counting task is an important research problem. Now more and more people are concerned about safety issues. When the population density reaches a very high peak, the population density counts, the alarm is sent out, and the crowds are diverted. The trampling of the Shanghai New Year’s stampede will not happen again. The final density map is produced by two steps: at first, extract feature maps from multiple layers, and then adjust their output so that they are all the same size, all these resized layers are combined into the final density map. We also used texture features and target edge detection to reduce the loss of density map detail to better integrate with our convolutional neural network. We tested on several commonly used datasets. Our model achieved good results in crowd counting.
LIFE HISTORY OF THE SWAMPFISH FROM A NORTH CAROLINA STREAM

Abstract Swampfish (Chologaster cornuta) occur from southeastern Virginia to east-central Georgia and are often considered to be uncommon. We obtained swampfish from January–April 1976 and January 1977–January 1978 in an east-central North Carolina stream (tributary ditch to Black Swamp Creek, Jones Co.). Swampfish reached sexual maturity by the end of its first year and exhibited a spring (early March–middle April) spawning season. Ovaries were developing by late fall, increasing to a mean gonosomatic index of 7–11% before spawning. Females (n = 156, 20–48 mm SL) had an overall mean of 24.7 mature ova (range 6–98) prior to spawning. The positive relationship between fecundity (F) and standard length (SL) was described by the linear regression: F = 2.67(SL) - 25.71 (r = 0.67). Mean mature ova diameter increased from 1.09 mm in January to 1.48 mm in late March and April. Females were nearly always more numerous and larger than males. Of the 14 taxa eaten by swampfish (n = 289, 13–48 mm SL), amphipods were dominant, occurring in 60.3% of the specimens and representing 41.1% of the foods by number. Chironomids were the next most frequent and abundant food, followed by cladocerans. The preference for amphipods was maintained across all seasons and size groups. Two year classes of swampfish were apparent on every sampling date. We estimated a maximum age of 26 months. Length frequency data suggested very slow or no growth during the summer. Weight (W) and length were highly correlated, and the formula (both sexes combined) was: W = 0.23 × 10−4(SL)2.88, (r = 0.95). The appendage that develops on the snout of male swampfish was not noticeable in age 0 fish through about 16 mm SL. By late age 0 (23–25 mm SL) males could be sexed by locating the organ, and it was fully developed by early age 1 (25 mm). The anterior migration of the vent was most rapid between 10 and 17 mm SL, with little change in fish ≥ 19 mm. The low species richness in the diet, the low fecundity, and the generally greater than reported longevity of these fish could be related to life in the ephemeral ditch.
Resolving Indeterminacy in Gender Agreement: Comparing Heritage Speakers and L2 Learners of Russian

Cross-linguistically, both heritage language (HL) speakers and second language (L2) learners have been shown to experience difficulty in producing and interpreting linguistic structures characterized by indeterminacy, or lack of an invariable and transparent relationship between meaning and form. This article compares two populations of Russian-English bilinguals on their strategies of resolving ambiguity within the system of grammatical gender in Russian, with a particular focus on indeterminacy in gender agreement with animate nouns. As a result of complex interactions among lexical, morpho-phonological, and discourse-level gender categorization cues, the agreement behavior of animate nouns in Russian is not fully uniform. The results of a scaled acceptability ratings study demonstrate that gender agreement in transparent and non-ambiguous contexts is largely unproblematic for both bilingual groups; however, contexts that require conflict resolution between different types of cues and those characterized by underspecification represent two areas where HL speakers and L2 learners diverge from monolingual Russian-speaking controls. Across all experimental conditions, bilingual speakers demonstrate a higher reliance on morpho-phonological gender categorization cues and assign less weight to lexical and referential factors in gender assignment than monolinguals. The results further show that the two populations of bilinguals are not fully alike with respect to dealing with different types of indeterminacy. In particular, HL speakers exhibit an advantage over L2 learners in conflict resolution; however, both bilingual groups struggle with constructions that give rise to referential ambiguity due to underspecification. These results expand our understanding of the problem of indeterminacy in bilingual acquisition of gender and offer implications for theories of language acquisition and language instruction.
BT2, a BTB scaffold protein, mediates responses to multiple biotic and abiotic signals in Arabidopsis

BT2, a BTB Scaffold Protein, Mediates Responses to Multiple Biotic and Abiotic Signals in Arabidopsis. (August 2010) Kranthi Kiran Mandadi, B.S., ANGR Agricultural University, Hyderabad, India; M.S., Texas A&M University, Kingsville Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Thomas D. McKnight We previously described BT2, a BTB/POZ domain containing protein, as an activator of telomerase in Arabidopsis thaliana. In the current study, I present evidence of its interesting roles in mediating multiple hormone, stress and metabolic responses in plants. Steady-state expression of BT2 mRNA was regulated diurnally and was under the control of circadian clock, with a maximum expression in the dark. BT2 mRNA was responsive to nutrient status and to multiple biotic and abiotic stress signals. Using bt2 loss-of-function and BT2 over-expressing lines, I show that BT2 suppresses sugar and ABA-mediated responses during germination. BT2 is also essential for transcriptional gene activation mediated by CaMV 35S enhancers in Arabidopsis. Loss of BT2 in several well-characterized 35S enhancer activation-tagged lines such as yucca1d, pap1d, jaw1d etc., resulted in suppression of the activation phenotypes. The suppression of the phenotypes was due to decreased transcription of the activation-tagged genes. I further demonstrate that BT2
Deep Learning-Driven Detection and Mapping of Rockfalls on Mars

The analysis of rockfall distribution and magnitude is a useful tool to study the past and current endogenic and exogenic activity of Mars. At the same time, tracks left by rockfalls provide insights into the mechanical properties of the Martian surface. While a wealth of high-resolution spaceborne image data are available, manual mapping of displaced boulders with tracks is inefficient and slow, resulting in: 1) a small total number of mapped features; 2) inadequate statistics; and 3) a suboptimal utilization of the available big data. This study implements a deep learning-driven approach to automatically detect and map Martian boulders with tracks in high resolution imaging science experiment (HiRISE) imagery. Six off-the-shelf neural networks have been trained either on Martian or lunar rockfall data, or a combination of both, and are able to achieve a maximum overall recall of up to 0.78 and a maximum overall precision of up to 1.0, with a mean average precision of 0.71. The fusion of training data from different planets and sensors results in an increased detection precision, highlighting the value of domain generalization and multidomain learning. Average processing time per HiRISE image is ∼45 s using an NVIDIA Titan Xp, which is more than one order of magnitude faster than a human operator. The developed deep learning-driven infrastructure can be deployed to map Martian rockfalls on a global scale and within a realistic timeframe.
Cooling of Hot Steel Plate on Run-Out Table Facility; a Simulation

This work presents the various steps involved in performing finite element analysis of computational fluid mechanics system to simulate water impingement on a hot plate for a run-out table experiment. The analysis is conducted for half the plate during the cooling process due to symmetry. The steps include creating a modelling plan, material selection, geometric modelling, model meshing, applying boundary conditions, and obtaining the final temperatures of the steel plate and environment. The software used to conduct the finite element analysis is ANSYS Fluent.
Studies in Spike Disease of Sandal

Different methods of inoculation by which spike disease of sandal can be transmitted are described. The fundamental principle in all methods is the grafting of infected tissue on healthy stocks. (2) Twig-grafts which contain a large quantity of infective material always transmit the disease without exception whenever the grafts fuse with the stock. In all other methods of inoculation, that is, buds, patch hark-grafts, ring bark-grafts, and leaf-insertion, though organic connections are formed, the disease develops only in certain percentage of cases varying from 17 to 63 per cent. Depending on the kind of graft used. (3) It is therefore suspected that unlike other similar virus diseases, a minimum amount of the infective agent may be necessary to transmit the disease. There is also indication that some individuals offer more resistance to infection than others. Severe pruning of plants appears to weaken their power of resistance. (4) To ascertain, if there is any seasonal variation in disease transmission, monthly inoculations with ring bark-grafts were conducted all round the year. The highest percentage of transmissions was found among plants operated in the months of May and June, the period of greatest vegetative activity, and lowest among those inoculated in October. (5) The disease is generally not transmitted through haustoria in the case of young saplings 2 to 3 feet high, as their haustoria can attack only the small tender roots of other sandal, which in the case of spiked plants are all dead.
Homomorphic Encryption-Based LSB Substitution for High Capacity Data Hiding in the Encrypted Domain

During the last few decades, multimedia security over the cloud has become a major issue. Public-key homomorphism is an efficient approach for data hiding in encrypted images (DHEI). An original image is encrypted using a public key and sent across a network and then processed to embed a secret message directly in the encrypted domain. During the decoding step, a private key is used to obtain a marked reconstructed image, where the secret message can be extracted. In this paper, we propose an efficient method of DHEI based on the Paillier cryptosystem. Using its homomorphic properties, pixel blocks and bits of the message are multiplied in the encrypted domain resulting in an addition in the clear domain. By applying a pre-processing step on the original image before encryption, this addition becomes a least significant bits (LSB) substitution. Experimental results show that using our proposed scheme, we obtain a high payload value ( $1~bpp$ ) without expanding a lot the original image size contrary to current state-of-the-art methods. Indeed, whatever the key size, the expansion rate is always equal to 2. In addition, the original image and the marked reconstructed image are very similar.
A simple nonlaboratory-based risk score to identify diabetic kidney disease in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Objective To develop a simple risk score to screen diabetic kidney disease (DKD) in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods A multicentric community-based cross-sectional study was carried out in central urban China between Aug 2014 and Nov 2015. A total of 713 patients (approximately 70%) were selected using systematic random sampling method as training samples to formulate the risk score, and the remaining 322 patients (approximately 30%) were used as test samples. Age, duration of diabetes mellitus, history of hypertension, body mass index, waist circumference, physical inactivity and diet control were considered as candidate risk factors. β-coefficients derived from a multiple logistic regression model predicting the presence of DKD were used to calculate the risk score. Cross-validation was used to validate the method for establishment of the risk score. Results The risk score was composed of age, duration of diabetes mellitus, and history of hypertension. The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve for DKD was 0.723 (95%CI 0.677-0.769). Comparing the Youden′s Index of different values, the optimal cutoff point was 11 to predict DKD. Using the cut-off value of 11 points to screen DKD, the sensitivity and specificity in test samples (63.6% and 75.8%) was similar as that in training samples (66.7% and 72.8%). Conclusion The risk score could be a reliable primary assessment tool to screen DKD in Chinese patients with T2DM. Key words: Diabetic nephrology; Diabetes mellitus, type 2; Screening; Risk factors; Risk score
The influence of geographical area of production and nitrogenous fertiliser on yields and quality parameters of clonal tea

Variations in requirements for tea production in Kenya and factors controlling growth and production of secondary metabolites responsible for the quality parameters are indicative of the need for non-uniform recommendations. Nitrogen is the main nutrient for which tea shows easily demonstrable yield and quality responses. Fertilizer applications at rates between 100 and 250 kg N/ha/year of NPKS 25:5:5:5 are currently recommended in tea production. Although yield and black tea quality variations with nitrogen rates had been observed in the past, the studies were at single geographical locations. Where comparisons were done at different locations, the genotypes were different making it impossible to isolate environmental and genotypic effects. The response of single genotype to varying rates of nitrogen in the major tea growing areas has not been reported. Consequently, it is not known if the recommended nitrogen rates are optimal in all tea growing areas for production of high yields and good quality black teas. Trials were conducted in five major tea growing regions of Kenya to quantify the yields and illustrate plain tea quality parameters responses of cultivar BBK 35 to varying rates of NPKS 25:5:5:5 fertiliser applied at 0, 75, 150, 225 and 300 kg N/ha/year. Yields were recorded for a period of ten years (1998 to 2007). Pluckable shoots from the plots were processed into black tea and analyses for quality carried out in 2007. Yields significantly (P Changoi > Karirana > Kipkebe > Timbilil. Also plain black tea quality as measured by theaflavins, thearubigins, total colour, brightness and sensory evaluations varied with geographical area of production. The theaflavins declined in the order: Changoi > Karirana > Timbilil > Kipkebe > Sotik Highlands. There was significant (P ≤ 0.05) interaction between geographical area of production and nitrogen fertilizer rates in yields demonstrating that yield response of BBK 35 to nitrogen varies with localities. The actual optimal nitrogen for the individual locations, however, will also be affected by quality, cost of production including cost of fertilisers and realised tea prices. Location specific recommendations need to be developed to promote high yields and production of high quality black teas in the different tea growing regions.
Helminths of the gastrointestinal tract among children in Kano, Northern Nigeria

An epidemiological survey of helminths of the gastrointestinal tract among school aged children drawn from four schools within Kano metropolis with mean age of 12.6 years was carried out by examining their stool samples for ova or larva of Intestinal parasites. A total of 570 samples were analysed using formol ether concentration method and out of these, 130 were positive for helminthic infestation with a prevalence of 22.8%. Out of 570 samples collected, 310 stool samples were from males while 260 samples were from the females but 75 males and 55 females were infected with prevalence rates of 24.2% and 21.2% respectively . Ascaris lumbricoides, Hookworm and Trichuris trichuria had the prevalence of 7.9%, 5.3% and 3.5% respectively while others included Hemenolepis nana (1.8%), Diphylobotrium latum (1.8%), Hemenolepis diminuta (0.9%), Enterobius vermicularis (0.9%) and Fasciola hepatica (0.9%). The prevalence of intestinal parasitosis was high among the pupils of "e 11years in this study, with high prevalence of Ascaris lumbricoides (10%) but highest prevalence of 4.3% of Trichuris trichuria was observed amongst the pupils of 11-14years while the children of 15-20years had the highest prevalence of hookworm. The highest number of eggs per participant in the study was 3000 while the lowest was 200.
Physicochemical properties of sweet potato cookies fortified with some nutrients

Micronutrient deficiencies have become a chronic health problem especially in the developing countries over the world. An attempt to overcome some micronutrient deficiencies was performed in this study by providing a fortification of sweet potato cookies. Fortification of 1.25 g vitamin C, 75 mg iron, 42 mcg vitamin B 12 , 2000 mcg folic acid and 10.5 mg vitamin A per 100 g cookies was conducted. Physicochemical properties of the fortified cookies, as well as the evaluation of micronutrients retention in the cookies were investigated. Vitamins A, C and folic acid in the cookies were analyzed by HPLC method, whilst for iron by AAS method. Fortified sweet potato cookies had different characteristics from the control (unfortified) either in the chemical, physical or sensory properties. The fortification significantly increased the hardness of the cookies. However, the fortified cookies had a lower consumer preference in terms of texture and overall acceptability. The evaluation of micronutrients retention showed that the retention of vitamins in the cookies differed from each other. The amounts of vitamins A and C in the cookies could be retained more than 60% from the initial amount. In contrast, folic acid and vitamin B 12 had a much lower retention (below 15%). Iron, as predicted, had 100% retention. Hence, the fortified cookies had a potential as a source of vitamin A, vitamin C and iron to overcome the micronutrient deficiencies.