Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Production potential of cellulose nanofibrils from transgenic trees with reduced expression of cellulose synthase interacting 1

Cellulose nanofibrils can be derived from the native load-bearing cellulose microfibrils in wood. These microfibrils are synthesized by a cellulose synthase enzyme complex residing in the plasma membrane of developing wood cells. In addition to the cellulose synthase complex several other proteins, including cellulose synthase interacting 1 (CSI1), facilitate cellulose biosynthesis. It was previously shown that transgenic hybrid aspen trees with reduced expression of CSI1 exhibit changes in wood mechanics and cellulose microfibril properties. We hypothesized that these changes in native cellulose may impact the quality of corresponding nanofibrils. To investigate this hypothesis wood from wild type and transgenic trees with reduced expression of CSI1 was subjected to oxidative nanofibril isolation processes. The transgenic wood extracted nanofibrils exhibited a significantly lower suspension viscosity and estimated surface area. Furthermore, the manufactured nanofibril networks exhibited a higher stiffness, reduced water-uptake, tensile strength, strain-to-break and degree of polymerization compared to wild type derived nanofibrils. It was concluded that the difference in wood properties caused by decreased expression of CSI1 gave rise to nanofibrils with distinctive qualities. The observed changes in the physicochemical properties suggest that the differences are caused by changes in apparent nanofibril aspect ratio and surface accessibility. This study demonstrates the possibility to influence wood derived nanofibril quality through genetic engineering of trees and opens for breeding of wood properties for extraction of nanomaterials with defined characteristics.
Transient Stability Enhancement of Grid Integrated Wind Energy Using Particle Swarm Optimization Based Multi-Band PSS4C

There is a growing need for stability enhancement in modern electrical networks integrated with wind energy, particularly due to different oscillation modes disturbances. Power system stabilizers (PSSs) are used to mitigate oscillations and improve the stability of the power system. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of single-band PSS1A and multi-band PSS4C (MB-PSS4C) connected to the ST1A excitation system. An efficient approach in the selection of the parameters of MB-PSS4C using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is proposed. A comparative investigation linked to the common Pattern Search and Simplex Search, from previous work, has been conducted to gauge the efficacy of PSO. The generator’s transient stability with considerations of relative power angle (power angle differences), speed deviation, and active power of synchronous generators (SGs) are analyzed. Different wind penetration levels ranging from 36MW to 108 MW are integrated into the network and are investigated. Results demonstrate that PSO-MB-PSS4C connected to ST1A stabilizes the system effectively with reduced settling time while mitigating the peak power angle differences of SGs. Reduced settling time of 1.35 s is observed for wind penetration of 48 MW, with 43.31° peak power angle; while for high wind penetration of 108 MW, the settling time is around 8 s with peak power angle of 43.9°.
Evaluation of sealing ability of MTA as a perforation repair material in primary molars using dye extraction method

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the sealing ability of MTA for furcal perforation in primary molars. Materials and methods: artificial furcal perforation of 1.12mm diameter were performed in 40 freshly extracted primary molars and then divided in to 2 equal groups (20 molars per group); group 1, unrepaired artificial perforation (control group) and group 2, artificial perforation repaired by MTA (experimental group) using 1% basic fuchsin dye and UV visible spectrophotometer to detect sealing ability of experimental group versus control group. Results: MTA group [0.23±0.025] demonstrated a high statistical significance in comparison with unrepaired group [0.487±0.033] Conclusion: MTA has effective sealing of furcal perforation in primary molars.
The Success of Online Passport Queue Registration Applications Using Delone and Mclean Models

: Advancement in sophisticated information technology can be used for innovation in access to public services. In this study, the public service studied was the Online Passport Queue Registration Application (APAPO) at the Class I Non-TPI Bogor Immigration Office. This study aims to analyze the effect of system quality, information quality, service quality, user characteristics, usage rate, user satisfaction on net benefits APAPO using DeLone and McLean and find out the priority factors for improvement using the Important-Performance Analysis (IPA) method. The sampling technique used was convenience sampling where the sample was people who had applied for a passport using APAPO at the Immigration Office Class I Non TPI Bogor taken as many as 200 respondents with data collection using an online google form questionnaire, and then analyzed using the SEM method. The results of this study indicate that the quality of the system has no significant effect on usage and user satisfaction. The quality of information has no significant effect on usage and user satisfaction. Service quality has a significant effect on usage and has no significant effect on user satisfaction. User characteristics have a significant effect on usage. Usage has a significant effect on user satisfaction and net benefits. And user satisfaction has a significant effect on net benefits. From the results of the IPA analysis, system integration, format of output and assurance are indicators that services need to be improved.
Seed dispersal by frugivores from forest remnants promotes the regeneration of adjacent invaded forests in an oceanic island

Forest remnants often act as refuges for native plant species within a degraded and highly fragmented forest matrix. Understanding whether these native patches can function as feeding grounds for frugivores and seed sources for native plant dispersal into the surrounding forest can provide critical information on ecosystem functions on a landscape scale and guidance on forest restoration. We used a large‐scale natural system of eight granitic inselbergs in the Seychelles and recorded the identity and transport direction of seeds retrieved from the droppings of mist‐netted birds across an invasion gradient. We found that inselberg forest remnants are important feeding areas for frugivores, acting as a source of native propagules to the surrounding invaded forests and potentially limiting the progression of non‐native plant invasion. Two dominant non‐native plant species (Cinnamomum verum and Clidemia hirta) were highly integrated into the frugivores' diets, competing with native plants for dispersal services. Despite the high non‐native propagule pressure, the spill‐over effect of native seeds into the invaded forest seemed to have a more durable positive effect on native plant recruitment fading out with distance to the inselberg edge. Our findings illustrate that remnant forest patches can generate positive spill‐over of native seeds into degraded surrounding forests through directed seed transport by frugivores. This cross‐boundary transport may slow down plant invasion and contribute to the recovery of adjacent degraded ecosystems. Forest remnants and avian frugivores therefore play a key role in the maintenance of native biodiversity and act as insurance for future restoration efforts.
In Vivo Evaluation of Mechanically Processed Stromal Vascular Fraction in a Chamber Vascularized by an Arteriovenous Shunt

Mechanically processed stromal vascular fraction (mSVF) is a promising source for regenerative purposes. To study the in vivo fate of the mSVF, we herein used a vascularized tissue engineering chamber that insulates the target mSVF from the surrounding environment. In contrast to previous models, we propose an arteriovenous (AV) shunt between saphenous vessels in rats without a venous graft. Mechanical SVF was processed from the fat pads of male Sprague Dawley rats, mixed with a fibrin hydrogel and implanted into an inguinal tissue engineering chamber. An arteriovenous shunt was established between saphenous artery and vein. On the contralateral side, an mSVF-fibrin hydrogel mix without vascular axis served as a non-vascularized control. After two and six weeks, rats were sacrificed for further analysis. Mechanical SVF showed significant numbers of mesenchymal stromal cells. Vascularized mSVF explants gained weight over time. Perilipin and CD31 expression were significantly higher in the mSVF explants after six weeks while no difference in DAPI positive cells, collagen deposition and FABP4 expression was observed. Morphologically, no differentiated adipocytes but a dense cell-rich tissue with perilipin-positive cells was found after six weeks. The phosphorylation of ERK1/2 was significantly enhanced after six weeks while Akt activation remained unaltered. Finally, mSVF explants stably expressed and released VEGF, bFGF and TGFb. Vascularized mSVF is able to proliferate and express adipocyte-specific markers. The AV shunt model is a valuable refinement of currently existing AV loop models in the rat which contributes to the fundamental 3R principles of animal research.
Exploring mechanisms of peer-effects in education: a frame-factor analysis of instruction

ABSTRACT In the educational literature on peer effects, attention has been brought to the fact that the mechanisms creating peer effects are still to a large extent hidden in obscurity. The hypothesis in the study reported in this article was that the Frame Factor Theory (FFT) can be used to reveal such mechanisms. Using data from the Swedish TIMSS 2015 (N = 3761 students in 179 classes), a multilevel structural equation model (M-SEM) was specified in accordance with the FFT. As predicted, the SEM-model verified a strong relationship between class composition and a latent variable of limitations on instruction, a variable which in turn had a great impact on individual students’ results in TIMSS 2015. The study hereby seems to reveal a fundamental mechanism of peer effects and provides evidence for the FFT.
The Threshold and Contingency Effects of Technological Innovation on Renewable Energy

ABSTRACT The global temperature has increased since the past century due to the over-reliance on fossil fuels. This scenario has triggered an energy transition toward environmentally friendly sources of energy. Technological innovation plays a key role in this energy transition scenario. Therefore, we examine the threshold and contingency effects of technological innovation on renewable energy. The panel threshold regression model is applied to estimate the relationships. Our findings suggest that technological innovation is important in enhancing renewable energy. However, we find that the relationship between technological innovation and renewable energy is contingent upon the level of technological innovation itself and other determinants, namely institutional quality, financial development, FDI, and human capital. These findings suggest that the aims of policies should not only focus on strategies to improve technological innovation but should also consider measures to support the drivers that facilitate the impact of technological innovation on renewable energy.
When social class and social norms shape word of mouth about eco-friendly tourism businesses

This study aims to investigate the effect of two types of environmental messages (individualized vs. collective) on consumers’ word-of-mouth intention. This study also examines the moderating effects of consumers’ social class and eco-friendly social norms on word-of-mouth intention. Based on US participants recruited from an online panel platform, Study 1 reveals that individualized messages increase word-of-mouth of high-class individuals, whereas collective messages enhance word-of-mouth of low-class individuals. Study 2 showcases that individualized messages boost word-of-mouth among consumers whose eco-friendly social norms are low. Conversely, regardless of individualized and collective messages, word-of-mouth intention is invariantly high among consumers whose eco-friendly social norms are high. Hotel managers should leverage proxies for social class, survey their customers to gauge eco-friendly social norms, and tailor environmental messages accordingly.
Adaptive Fuzzy Control for Multi-Agent Systems With Unknown Measurement Sensitivity via a Simplified Backstepping Approach

This brief investigates the adaptive tracking control problem for a class of nonlinear multi-agent systems with unknown measurement sensitivity using a simplified backstepping approach. By introducing Nussbaum gain, a new approach is proposed that effectively relaxes the restrictive condition that the unknown measurement sensitivity be within a particular range. A simplified backstepping approach is then presented to alleviate the structural complexity and high computational costs. It is proven that the tracking error converges to a small neighborhood of the origin and that all of the signals are bounded. Finally, simulation analysis is conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.
Sugarcane Bioethanol Processing Plant in the Philippines: Energetics and Water Inventory

Biofuels production is intended to address shortage on fuel supply. This study assessed the energetics and water inventory of the Philippine bioethanol production from sugarcane, aiming to provide a definitive value from where studies for economic assessment for this system could pick up. A 30-million-liter-per-year (MLPY) processing facility was designed using local field and factory data, from surveys and immersion reports. Assessment showed that sugarcane bioethanol processing facility with co-generation and wastewater treatment units gains a net energy equivalent to 18.62 MJ L-1 of bioethanol produced, with an energy returned on energy invested ratio of 2.75. The net energy realized from the production compensates the energy expended during the construction of the bioethanol plant within about eight months of operation. Water is being used up at a rate of 2,832.22 L per L of ethanol produced or 133.60 L per MJ or 197,826.09 L per Mg of cane processed, accounting the water used for plantation and the factory. The water inventory in the construction level amounts to 952.64 ML. The production of bioethanol from sugarcane is practical, energy-wise, but its water consumption might make the industry unviable in locations where water is scarce.
Are Mauritia flexuosa L. f. palm swamps in the Brazilian Pantanal true veredas? A floristic appraisal

In this first report on the flora of Mauritia flexuosa L. f. palm swamps in the Pantanal wetland of Brazil, we surveyed and compared the angiosperm flora of eight areas of palm swamps in the Pantanal plain to determine if they correspond to veredas. Studied areas were four sites near the upland in Rio Verde and Coxim, and four in the Parque Estadual do Pantanal do Rio Negro, Aquidauana, state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. To determine species similarity, we compared our results with inventories of aquatic plants of the Pantanal and of species of veredas in the state. Using the wandering method, we recorded a total of 385 species of phanerogams. Species richness was higher in Rio Verde/Coxim (273 species) than in Rio Negro (243 species), with a similarity of 33.7%. We found a rare and endemic plant, Polygala grazielae Marques, first record in the Pantanal. We found that both sites correspond to two types of palm swamps but with different floras. The species associated with M. flexuosa in the park are much the same as those of seasonally flooding grasslands of the Pantanal, while on the edge of the plain many species are common to the upland true veredas, particularly on organic soil. Thus, we conclude that the Rio Verde/Coxim areas are true veredas. These palm swamps and veredas in the Pantanal should receive the same legal protection as the veredas in Cerrado.
The Impacts of COVID-19 on Criminal Legal Proceedings and Victim Advocacy for Sexual Assault Survivors

ABSTRACT This study examines how sexual assault criminal legal proceedings and victim advocacy services for survivors have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We interviewed 12 victim advocates at a sexual assault service organization in a large Midwestern city that was particularly impacted by the pandemic. Results indicate that there have been major disruptions to sexual assault case timelines and communication with victims. Victim advocacy for survivors has also been affected, especially the provision of court advocacy and accompaniment. We discuss implications of these findings for sexual assault survivors, service providers, and future emergency preparedness planning for the criminal legal system.
Maximal Information Coefficient-Based Testing to Identify Epistasis in Case-Control Association Studies

Interactions between genetic variants (epistasis) are ubiquitous in the model system and can significantly affect evolutionary adaptation, genetic mapping, and precision medical efforts. In this paper, we proposed a method for epistasis detection, called EpiMIC (epistasis detection through a maximal information coefficient (MIC)). MIC is a promising bivariate dependence measure explicitly designed for rapidly exploring various function types equally and for interpreting and comparing them on the same scale. Most epistasis detection approaches make assumptions about the form of the association between genetic variants, resulting in limited statistical performance. Based on the notion that if two SNPs do not interact, their joint distribution in all samples and in only cases should not be substantially different. We developed a statistic that utilizes the difference of MIC as a signal of epistasis and combined it with a permutation resampling strategy to estimate the empirical distribution of our statistic. Results of simulation and real-world data set showed that EpiMIC outperformed previous approaches for identifying epistasis at varying degrees of heredity.
Junction-to-Case Thermal Resistance Measurement and Analysis of Press-Pack IGBTs Under Double-Side Cooling Condition

Junction-to-case thermal resistance Rthjc measurement under a double-side cooling condition of press-pack IGBTs (PP IGBTs) is a great challenge since the heat flow through the two heat paths is hard to be accurately extracted. In this article, an indirect method determining the proportion of heat dissipation on both sides only by temperature measurement is proposed to simultaneously measure two single-sided Rthjc of PP IGBTs under the double-side cooling condition, and it is performed with 4500 V/3000 A PP IGBTs. The test results show that the measured Rthjc is not a fixed value but is related to the load current used in the test, it increases as the load current increases, which is different from the traditional wire-bonded IGBT module. A thermomechanical bidirectional coupling finite element model is built to explain the impact mechanism that the deformation of the device causes the change of internal heat flow distribution since the components will be properly separated. In addition, a simpler double-sided Rthjc definition method that directly takes the average value of the case temperature on both sides as the case temperature to calculate the thermal resistance is developed, and the equivalence of the two methods are discussed based on the theoretical analysis and experiment.
Experimental evaluation of Data Augmentation heuristics for plant identification systems based on Deep Learning

Data augmentation (DA) allows increasing datasets for training machine learning models that demands large amounts of data. In real-world applications in which data may not be abundant enough and data acquisition is not easy, DA enables increasing diversity and introducing model generalization. In this work we evaluate several DA techniques and combining approaches to extend image datasets used to train plant species recognition models. We experimentally validated Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (DCNN) with several datasets obtained from common augmentation techniques and combinations. The results allowed the identification of the Translate + Crop augmentation policy as the most effective within the scope of evaluation.
STING1 activation in brain endothelium by Plasmodium-sequestered heme leads to lethal cerebral malaria through activation of type I IFN response

Cerebral malaria (CM), caused by infection with Plasmodium falciparum, is characterized by brain inflammation. Type I IFN inflammatory response underlies CM pathogenesis leading to brain endothelium dysfunction with the loss of blood-brain-barrier (BBB). We identified the stimulator of interferon response cGAMP interactor 1 (STING1) as the key innate immune sensor that activates type I IFN pathway and CXCL10 expression governing brain leukocyte infiltration and CM lethality in mice. Brain endothelial-specific IFNβ-reporter and STING1 KO mice unveiled a critical role of brain endothelial cells (BECs) in fuelling type I IFN-driven inflammation in the brain during malaria infection. We show that extracellular particles (EPs) derived from Plasmodium-infected erythrocytes and containing digestive vacuoles trigger a STING1-dependent IFNβ response in BECs. This response increases with heme content in digestive vacuoles, which directly activates BECs via STING1. Together, our findings uncovered that heme-stimulated endothelial STING1 drives type I IFN response and subsequent brain pathology.
Greenhouse–Geisser Correction

When performing an analysis of variance with a one factor repeated measurement design, the effect of the independent variable is tested by computing an F statistic which is computed as the ratio of the of mean square of effect by the mean square of the interaction between the subject factor and the independent variable. For a design with S subjects and A experimental treatments, when some assumptions are met, the sampling distribution of this F ratio is a Fisher distribution with ν1 = A− 1 and ν2 = (A− 1)(S − 1) degrees of freedom.
Fetomaternal Outcomes of Pregnancy among Women suffering from Chronic hypertension

Objective: To observe the association of chronic hypertension in pregnant women on their health and fetal outcome. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was carried out from September 2019 to September 2020 upon a sample of 183 consenting pregnant women (chosen via non-probability – consecutive sampling) aged 20 – 35 years admitted to the study setting via OPD and emergency at Gynae Unit IV, Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences, Jamshoro (LUMHS). The data obtained was recorded on structured questionnaire comprising of inquiries pertaining to basic biodata, sociodemographic details, inferences obtained from history, clinical examination, and blood pressure. Data obtained was analyzed using SPSS V. 21.0. Results: The mean age of the women was 24 years ±3 SD. The mean gestational age was 38 weeks (±1 SD). A majority of the participants hailed from an urban background and most presented as booked elective cases (normal delivery more often than cesarean delivery). Chronic hypertension (mean value 134/92) was present among 38.8% of the study participants. Poor maternal and fetal outcome were encountered among patients with chronic hypertension. Conclusion: A heavy burden of chronic hypertension was unearthed by this study which consisted of around 2/5th of whole sample. Adverse maternal outcomes including postpartum hemorrhage, eclampsia & spontaneous abortion and fetal (low birth weight & neonatal deaths complications were strongly associated with chronic hypertension.