Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phenotypic Plasticity of Spineless Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) Cultivars in Response to Exogenous Application of Salicylic Acid under Rainfed Climate Conditions

| Unpredictable and unseasonal extreme climate, prolonged droughts, rise in temperatures, and erratic rainfall are common factors affecting crop productions in rainfed areas worldwide. This research intended to identify spineless Safflower ( Carthamus tinctorius L.) performance in acclimating changing climate, as safflower has gained prominence as an oilseed industry due to its hardiness in nature. A two-factor factorial experiment using completely randomized block design (RCBD) followed by five spineless safflower cultivars and five concentrations of salicylic acid (SA) in three replications was conducted. The safflower promising genotypes viz; C1 (L16358), C2 (L16378), C3 (L26748), C4 (L26754), and C5 (L16385) were tested against SA1: 0 mM, SA2: 0.25 mM, SA3: 0.50 mM, SA4: 0.75 mM, and SA5: 1.00 mM salicylic acid concentrations. The result indicated that most responsive cultivar to rainfed conditions was C3 (L26748) under SA4 (0.75 mM) level, showing an increase in head diameter, seed weight, harvest index, oil yield stem, while 7.3-days to flowering maturity were reduced after C5, and C4 (26754). SA3-C5 promoted 8.01 days earlier maturity, maximum seed plant -1 , while SA3-C3 resulted in a significant increase in yield and oil content. SA3 and SA4 showed substantial plasticity to maximum phenology parameters of C3, C4, and C5. Safflower treated with salicylic acid could adapt to wide range even though in the extreme weather and drought conditions in rainfed agriculture. Spineless safflower cultivars could be a future way forward as a potential parallel crop to ensure a sustainable source of production in rainfed regions worldwide
Modeling and Forecasting Macroeconomic Downside Risk

We model secular trends and cyclical changes of the predictive density of US GDP growth. A substantial increase in downside risk to US economic growth emerges over the last 30 years, associated with the long-run growth slowdown started in the early 2000s. Conditional skewness moves procyclically, implying negatively skewed predictive densities ahead and during recessions, often anticipated by deteriorating financial conditions, while positively skewed distributions characterize expansions. The modelling framework ensures robustness to tail events, allows for either dense or sparse predictor designs, and delivers competitive out-of-sample (point, density and tail) forecasts, improving upon standard benchmarks.
Hierarchical Security Paradigm for IoT Multiaccess Edge Computing

The rise in embedded and IoT device usage comes with an increase in LTE usage as well. About 70% of an estimated 18 billion IoT devices will be using cellular LTE networks for efficient connections. This introduces several challenges, such as security, latency, scalability, and quality of service, for which reason edge computing or fog computing has been introduced. The edge is capable of offloading resources to the edge to reduce workload at the cloud. Several security challenges come with multiaccess edge computing (MEC), such as location-based attacks, the man- in-the-middle attacks, and sniffing. This article proposes a software-defined perimeter (SDP) framework to supplement MEC and provide added security. The SDP is capable of protecting the cloud from the edge by only authorizing authenticated users at the edge to access services in the cloud. The SDP is implemented within a mobile-edge LTE network. Delay analysis of the implementation is performed, followed by a Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack to demonstrate the resilience of the proposed SDP. Further analyses, such as CPU usage and port scanning were performed to verify the efficiency of the proposed SDP. This analysis is followed by concluding remarks with insight into the future of the SDP in MEC.
Interferon-stimulated Gene 15 and Interferon-1 Stimulated Gene 17 Messenger RNA-based Detection of Early Pregnancy in Aardi Goats in Saudi Arabia

Kamal Al-Samawi1, Mohamed Al-Hassan2, Hussein Migdadi3,4*, Megahed Ammar5 and Salem Alghamdi3 1Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary medicine, Thamar University, Yemen Republic 2Animal Production Department, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, KSA 3Plant Production Department, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, KSA 4National Agricultural Research Center, P.O Box: 639, Baq’a 19381, Jordan 5Rice Research and Training Center, Sakha 33717, Kafrelsheikh, Egypt Article Information Received 29 March 2018 Revised 22 April 2019 Accepted 20 February 2020 Available online 03 August 2020
Melatonin as a chronobiotic/cytoprotector: its role in healthy aging

ABSTRACT Preservation of sleep, a proper nutrition and adequate physical exercise are key elements for healthy aging. Aging causes sleep alterations, and in turn, sleep disturbances lead to numerous pathophysiological changes that accelerates the aging process. In the central nervous system, sleep loss impairs the clearance of waste molecules like amyloid-β or tau peptides. Melatonin, a molecule of unusual phylogenetic conservation present in all known aerobic organisms, is effective both as a chronobiotic and a cytoprotective agent to maintain a healthy aging. The late afternoon increase of melatonin “opens the sleep doors” every night and its therapeutic use to preserve slow wave sleep has been demonstrated. Melatonin reverses inflammaging via prevention of insulin resistance, suppression of inflammation and down regulation of proinflammatory cytokines. Melatonin increases the expression of α- and γ-secretase and decreases β-secretase expression. It also inhibits tau phosphorylation. Clinical data support the efficacy of melatonin to treat Alzheimer’s disease, particularly at the early stages of disease. From animal studies the cytoprotective effects of melatonin need high doses to become apparent (i.e. in the 40–100 mg/day range). The potentiality of melatonin as a nutraceutical is discussed.
Hierarchies of evolutionary radiation in the world’s most species rich vertebrate group, the Neotropical Pristimantis leaf litter frogs

The Neotropical leaf litter frog genus Pristimantis is very species-rich, with 526 species described to date, but the full extent of its diversity is much higher and remains unknown. This study explores the phylogenetic processes and resulting evolutionary patterns of diversification in Pristimantis. Given the well-recognised failure of morphology- and community-based species groups to describe diversity within the genus, we apply a new test for the presence and phylogenetic distribution of higher evolutionary units. We developed a phylogeny based on 260 individuals encompassing 149 Pristimantis presumed species, sampled at mitochondrial and nuclear genes (3718 base pair alignment), combining new and available sequence data. Our phylogeny broadly agrees with previous studies, both in topology and age estimates, with the origin of Pristimantis at 28.97 (95% HDP =21.59 – 37.33) million years ago (MYA). New taxa that we add to the genus, which had not previously been included in Pristimantis phylogenies, suggest considerable diversity remains to be described. We assessed patterns of lineage origin and recovered 14 most likely (95% CI: 13–19) phylogenetic clusters or higher evolutionary significant units (hESUs) within Pristimantis. Diversification rates decrease towards the present following a density-dependent pattern for Pristimantis overall and for most hESU clusters, reflecting historical evolutionary radiation. The timing of diversification suggests that geological events in the Miocene, such as Andes orogenesis and Pebas system formation and drainage, may have had a direct or indirect impact on the evolution of Pristimantis and thus contributed to the origins of evolutionary independent phylogenetic clusters.
In vitro Shootlets Multiplication and Callus Proliferation of Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) Plant

A protocol for in vitro multiplication and callus proliferation of jojoba was developed. Nodal segments were cultured on MS supplemented with 1 mg/l BA. For multiplication, combination of 1.5 mg/l BA + 1 mg/l IAA resulted in greater number of shootlet. While, 1 mg/l BA + NAA enhanced the height of shootlet and number of nodes. Also, the effect of adenine sulfate and TDZ on shootlets multiplication was examined. The maximum number of shootlets emergence was obtained with medium contained 30 mg/l adenine sulfate. Likewise, the used levels of TDZ specially 2 mg/l enhanced shootlets proliferation as well as length of shootlet and number of nodes. Callus induction using combinations of NAA or picloram with BA or Kn was evaluated. The maximum callus frequency was observed with 5 mg/l BA + 1 mg/l picloram followed by 5 mg/l BA + 2 mg/l picloram containing medium. It was found that fresh mass and growth value increased gradually till the third subculture. Plant Tissue Cult. & Biotech. 28(2): 201-214, 2018 (December)
Therapeutic management of Buxtonella sulcata infection in Murrah buffaloes

The study describes the clinical signs, diagnosis via microscopic faecal examination and treatment of Buxtonella sulcata infection in two Murrah buffaloes. Both the buffaloes were successfully treated with parenteral medicinal therapy using oxytetracycline, flunixin meglumine and chlorpheniramine maleate.
Back-EMF Analysis of a Variable Flux Machine for Different Magnetization States

This article presents the effect of different magnetization pulse widths and methods on the back electromotive force (EMF), no-load losses, and minimum inverter rating at different operating conditions of a variable flux permanent magnet synchronous machine (VF-PMSM/VFM). Precise information of the back-EMF helps to estimate the cogging torque and torque ripple. An accurate determination of the core loss leads to a better efficiency estimation and machine design. An experimentally determined minimum inverter rating reduces the cost of the motor drive system. An adaptive nonlinear filter is used to estimate the VFM back-EMF during the motoring mode. The VFM is often demagnetized and remagnetized by injecting a current pulse to achieve the high-speed and high-torque requirements. The sudden injection of a d-axis current pulse will change the magnet flux linkage and back-EMF harmonics. In this article, harmonics present in the machine back-EMF due to different magnetization and demagnetization current pulse widths and magnetization methods are analyzed. Besides, the quality of the back-EMF for different speeds and machine no-load losses are presented for different magnetization levels. The minimum inverter current rating is determined for magnetizing current and magnetizing current at full load considering the minimum pulse amplitude and width to magnetize the VF-PMSM.
Behavioral and cortisol responses of shelter dogs to a cognitive bias test after olfactory enrichment with essential oils

A shelter environment tends to present different types of stressors dogs need to cope with. Recent work has shown that olfactory enrichment with essential oils might be able to modify the affective states of certain species (dogs, cats, horses, zoo animals…). In these studies, the welfare measurements included physiological indicators, such as corticosteroid levels,and/or behaviors related to chronic stress. The olfactory effects of 9 essential oils ( Cananga odorata,Cistus ladaniferus, Citrus aurantium, Cupressus sempervirens, Juniperus communis var. montana, Lavandula angustifolia, Laurus nobilis, Litsea citrata, Pelargonium graveolens ) and a blend of these oils were explored on a cognitive bias test, cortisol levels and the behaviors of 110 shelter dogs (n= 10 dogs within each group). Olfactory enrichment with the blend resulted in a reduced latency to the ambiguous cue, indicating a more optimistic bias and improved welfare. The results of this study suggest that olfactory enrichment with essential oils can have specific effects on the affective states and behaviors of shelter dogs, and could therefore be useful for shelter management. In addition, as not all of the essential oils tested individually were effective, more research should be conducted to better understand the effects of each individual essential oils on dogs. Keywords: behavior; cognitive bias; cortisol; dogs; essential oils; olfactory enrichment; shelter; welfare.
Selection and evaluation of reference genes for gene expression using quantitative real‐time PCR in Mythimna separata walker (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

In order to precisely assess gene expression levels, the suitable internal reference genes must be served to quantify real‐time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐qPCR) data. For armyworm, Mythimna separata, which reference genes are suitable for assessing the level of transcriptional expression of target genes have yet to be explored. In this study, eight common reference genes, including β‐actin (β‐ACT), 18 s ribosomal (18S), 28S ribosomal (28S), glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate (GAPDH), elongation fator‐alpha (EF1α), TATA box binding protein (TBP), ribosomal protein L7 (RPL7), and alpha‐tubulin (α‐TUB) that in different developmental stages, tissues and insecticide treatments of M. separata were evaluated. To further explore whether these genes were suitable to serve as endogenous controls, three software‐based approaches (geNorm, BestKeeper, and NormFinder), the delta Ct method, and one web‐based comprehensive tool (RefFinder) were employed to analyze and rank the tested genes. The optimal number of reference genes was determined using the geNorm program, and the suitability of particular reference genes was empirically validated according to normalized HSP70, and MsepCYP321A10 gene expression data. We found that the most suitable reference genes for the different experimental conditions. For developmental stages, 28S/RPL7 were the optimal reference genes, both RPL7/EF1α were suitable for experiments of different tissues, whereas for insecticide treatments, 28S/α‐TUB were suitable for normalizations of expression data. In addition, 28S/α‐TUB were the suitable reference genes because they have the most stable expression among different developmental stages, tissues and insecticide treatments. Our work is the first report on reference gene selection in M. separata, and might serve as a precedent for future gene expression studies.
Haemagglutination inhibition antibody responses of pullet and broiler chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) to Newcastle disease virus LaSota vaccination

Abstract Newcastle disease outbreaks still occur sporadically in commercial vaccinated flocks and remains a constant threat to poultry producers despite advances in vaccination against the disease. Another aspect that can be a complementary control strategies or that is well recognized but is often neglected is the differences in immune response due to genetic or breed/type variation. This study investigated the immune responses to LaSota vaccination in light weight type or breeds of chickens (pullets) and heavy weight type or breeds of chickens (broilers) used in commercial poultry production. Fifty seven-week-old White Marshall broilers (Br) and 50 Isa Brown pullets (Pu) of the same age were randomly divided into 4 groups viz: vaccinated broilers chickens (VaBr), unvaccinated broiler chickens (UBr), vaccinated pullet chickens (VaPu) and unvaccinated pullet chickens (UPu). Chickens in groups VaBr and VaPu were vaccinated with LaSota vaccine while groups UBr and UPu were not vaccinated. The chickens were observed for clinical signs and lesions. Serum samples were collected from the chickens in all the groups on days 0, 7, 14, 21, 28 post vaccination (PV), and assayed for haemagglutination inhibition (HI) antibodies. The geometrical mean antibody titres (GMT) of the pullets were 2 to 3 times higher than those of the broilers on days 7 to 28 PV. Vaccination produced neither clinical signs nor lesions. The above observations show that naturally pullets produce higher antibodies than broilers, and suggest breed-based variation on immune responses to Newcastle disease vaccination. The knowledge from the present study may lead to genetic approach to vaccine development and development of more effective vaccination strategies to be used in commercial poultry production.
Spray Bar Zero-Gravity Vent System for On-Orbit Liquid Hydrogen Storage

During zero-gravity orbital cryogenic propulsion operations, a thermodynamic vent system (TVS) concept is expected to maintain tank pressure control without propellant resettling. In this case, a longitudinal spray bar mixer system, coupled with a Joule-Thompson (J-T) valve and heat exchanger, was evaluated in a series of TVS tests using the 18 cu m multipurpose hydrogen test bed. Tests performed at fill levels of 90, 50, and 25 percent, coupled with heat tank leaks of about 20 and 50 W, successfully demonstrated tank pressure control within a 7-kPa band. Based on limited testing, the presence of helium constrained the energy exchange between the gaseous and liquid hydrogen (LH2) during the mixing cycles. A transient analytical model, formulated to characterize TVS performance, was used to correlate the test data. During self-pressurization cycles following tank lockup, the model predicted faster pressure rise rates than were measured; however, once the system entered the cyclic self-pressurization/mixing/venting operational mode, the modeled and measured data were quite similar. During a special test at the 25-percent fill level, the J-T valve was allowed to remain open and successfully reduced the bulk LH2 saturation pressure from 133 to 70 kPa in 188 min.
Soil nutrient status as influenced by resource consequence practices under cotton-soybean rotation in vertisols

The present study was undertaken during 2016-17 at Research farm, Dr. PDKV, Akola. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with nine treatments replicated three times in Vertisols. The objectives were to evaluate the effect of different resource conservation practices on soil nutrient status under cotton based soybean rotation in Vertisols. The cotton based soybean rotation was followed since 2011-12. The present experiment was superimposed on soybean during 2016-17. The treatments comprised for soybean crop was recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) alone and their compensation with organics viz., FYM, phosphocompost, neemcake, bio mulch (farm waste) and green leaf manuring. The results of the present experiment indicated that, the organic carbon was improved with the application of RDF through FYM + remaining P through phosphocompst (100 % N through FYM + compensation of P through phosphocompost to previous crop) (6.32 g kg-1). The application of RDF through FYM + phosphocompost (100% N through FYM and compensation of PC to previous cotton) recorded significantly higher available nitrogen (240.9 kg ha-1), available P (16.14 kg ha-1) and available K (352.1kg ha-1). The DTPA micronutrients viz; Fe (10.14 mg kg-1), Mn (9.09 mg kg-1), Zn (0.58 mg kg-1) and Cu (2.64 mg kg-1) were significantly increased with the application of 100 % N (FYM) + compensation of P (phosphocompost) to cotton + N compensation through urea and 100 % RDF + Phosphocompost to soybean. Thus, it can be inferred that, the management intervention comprising use of RDF through FYM + remaining P through phosphocompst (100 % N through FYM + compensation of P through phosphocompost to previous crop) helps to improve soil organic carbon and nutrient status under cotton based soybean rotation in Vertisols. The correlation (Pearson’s correlation coefficient) coefficient was highest among available N and DTPA Cu (r = 0.977**).
Using HSI Color Space to Improve the Multispectral Lidar Classification Error Caused by Measurement Geometry

Multispectral lidar has become a promising technology with the rise in capability of 3-D spectral imaging. However, the precise acquisition of spectral information is interfered by measurement geometry, namely, incidence angle and detection distance. These issues may cause discrepancy within the spectral information, thus limiting the classification capabilities of multispectral lidar. To fill this gap, a hue–saturation–intensity (HSI) color space-based method for multispectral lidar classification is proposed in this study. The proposed scheme does not require radiometric calibration, as the HSI color space is robust to spectral intensity variations within a single target. In this method, spectral data are transformed from red–green–blue (RGB) color space to HSI color space. The three components of the HSI color space are inputted for the classification. Then, a reference target-based radiometric calibration is conducted for comparison. The complex indoor scene and the random forest classifier are used for the validation. The classification results of using raw RGB data, raw HSI data, calibrated RGB data, and calibrated HSI data are compared. Results show that the raw HSI data outperform the raw RGB data in terms of classification accuracy. In particular, the raw HSI data can correct the classification error caused by the measurement geometry more effectively than the calibrated RGB data. The improvement resulting from using the HSI color space is demonstrated by both the three-wavelength multispectral lidar and the 32-channel multispectral lidar. That indicates that HSI color space is a promising tool for enhancing the classification capability of multispectral lidar.
Obesity Modulating Efficiency of Moringa oleifera Extract on Obese Modeled Rats

Obesity is a chronic metabolic disorder that is raised by multiple biological and environmental factors. The objective of this study was to determine the thermogenesis potential of Egyptian Moringa oleifera against obesity disorder. Adult male Wistar albino rats (150-170g) were randomly divided into four groups (10 animals each) as follows: group (1)healthy rats fed standard diet and served as control, group (2)animals orally Moringa oleifera extract-standard diet (20%), group (3)obese rats fed high-fat diet and group (4) obese animals administrated Moringa oleifera extract-high-fat diet (20%). After six weeks of feeding, the results revealed that feeding of obese animals on moringa (20%) mixed diet succeeded to decline the body weight as well as obesity-induced disorders; this was evidenced by the significant reduction of body weight gain and BMI values as well as levels of serum ALAT, ASAT, urea, creatinine, total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL, LDH, CK, PON1, TNF-α and glucose. Also, cardio-hepatic MDA and nitric oxide levels ware decreased coupled with marked elevation in the levels of serum HDL and irisin as well as cardio-hepatic GSH, SOD and CAT. Moreover, the histopathological findings showed a marked regeneration. In conclusion, Moringa oleifera, as a food supplement, could play a beneficial role in management of obesity and its disorders; this could be exhibited through its bioactive components with thermogenesis mechanism and/or other multiple pathways.