Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fermentative High-Titer Ethanol Production from Douglas-Fir Forest Residue Without Detoxification Using SPORL: High SO2 Loading at Low Temperature

Abstract This study evaluated high sulfur dioxide (SO2) loading in applying Sulfite Pretreatment to Overcome the Recalcitrance of Lignocelluloses (SPORL) to Douglas-fir forest residue (FS-10) for ethanol production through yeast fermentation. Three pretreatments were conducted at 140°C with a targeted total SO2 loading of 32 wt% on wood, or 80 g/L in the pretreatment liquor. Magnesium was used as the metal base with a targeted combined SO2 loading of 4.4 wt% on wood. A pretreatment duration of approximately 60 min was found sufficient to effectively remove the strong recalcitrance of FS-10 with ultra-low degradation of sugar to furans. Pretreatment mixing was performed through either a rotating digester or liquor circulation, and was found to have no significant effect on pretreatment performance. The ultra-low furan formation facilitated enzymatic saccharification and fermentation at total solids loading of 20% without detoxification. At cellulase loading of 35 mL/kg FS-10, a maximal ethanol yield of 322.
Thermal inactivation studies on toxic seeds from fruits of the Brazilian Central Plain

Seeds from endemic Brazilian fruits (Mangaba, Cagaita, Jatoba and Araticum), previously confirmed to be toxic using Artemia salina bioassay were exposed to different temperatures and heating times aiming to test inhibitory effects on toxicity, as a first approach to characterize and identify toxic compounds and their thermal stability. After treatment, water extracts from kernels were filtered and added to Artemia cultures for 24 hours after which the survival of cultures was calculated. The inhibitory effect of temperature on toxicity was significant, whereas toxins from Mangaba and Cagaita were the most labile, showing 90% Artemia survival after heating at 78 °C for 2 minutes and 10 minutes, respectively. The most resistant toxins were those found in Araticum seeds which remained active (0% Artemia survival), even after heating at 160 °C for 12 min. Response surfaces and statistical multivariate analysis showed a significant effect for both temperature and heating time (linear fit) on Cagaita and Mangaba toxicity reduction, while the temperature factor was more significant in Jatoba samples. The results confirm the need to adopt safety procedures during the manufacture of industrialized derivatives for these fruits, in order to minimize toxicity risks after their consumption.
Unusual polypore fungi - a taxonomic emendation of Polyporus (Basidiomycotina) after ribosomal spacer characters

Des travaux anterieurs suggerent l'existence d'une etroite relation entre l'ADN du gene ribosomal 28S du genre a pores Polyporus s. str. et ceux du genre isole Pseudofavolus et du genre Mycobonia depourvus de pores. Nous avons reexamine la phylogenie en considerant la variabilite des espaceurs (ITS) de l'ADN ribosomal pour predire les parties de structures transcrites. Les parties de structures secondaires de molecules de pre-rARN pretraitees (ITS2), predites a partir de neuf sequences sont proposees comme caractere taxonomique rendant compte de la parente existante entre les trois genres. Nous portons a la correction l'integration du genre Mycobonia au sein du genre Polyporus.
Maximum efficiency concentration of indole butyric acid in promoting the rooting of Japanese Flowering Cherry

Prunus serrulata e uma especie muito empregada na ornamentacao e sua importância economica deve-se principalmente a ocasiao de sua floracao. Objetivou-se avaliar a viabilidade da tecnica de estaquia para a propagacao de P. serrulata , utilizando-se estacas caulinares provenientes de brotacoes do ano, bem como estimar a concentracao de maxima eficiencia da auxina acido indol butirico (AIB), na promocao do enraizamento. A coleta do material vegetativo ocorreu no final da primavera. As estacas foram confeccionadas com cerca de 8±1cm de comprimento e duas folhas reduzidas a 50% de sua superficie original. Foram avaliadas 21 concentracoes de AIB (0, 250, 500, 750, 1000, 1250, 1500, 1750, 2000, 2250, 2500, 2750, 3000, 3250, 3500, 3750, 4000, 4250, 4500, 4750 e 5000mg L-1), aplicadas na base das estacas, as quais foram acondicionadas em casa de vegetacao climatizada. Apos 60 dias, verificou-se um aumento gradativo do percentual de enraizamento em relacao ao incremento de AIB ate a concentracao aproximada de 2700mg L-1, com resultados superiores a 80%. Ademais, concentracoes de baixa eficiencia do regulador vegetal resultaram em menor numero de raizes por estaca, o que poderia comprometer a capacidade de sobrevivencia das mudas em condicoes ambientais. Por outro lado, o descrescimo do percentual de calos pode ser um indicativo de que a formacao de raizes em P. serrulata ocorra de maneira direta, sem a necessidade de formacao de calos e sua posterior desdiferenciacao e rediferenciacao em raizes.
Cardioprotective effects of Cichorium intybus in ageing myocardium of albino rats

The cardioprotective effects of the aqueous extracts of the leaves of Cichorium intybus (CE) have been examined in the ageing myocardium of albino rats. Shade-dried powdered leaves of C. intybus were fed to the ageing animals for 30 days. The effects of CE on malondialdehyde level (peroxidative damage-index) on taurine, glutathione and catalase activity of the heart have been studied. Ageing caused peroxidative damage, increase in taurine and glutathione levels in the heart. Catalase activity decreased in the ageing myocardium. CE was found to ameliorate the age-induced injury and offered protection to the heart from oxidative damage, suggestive of ageing.
Manipulating Primocane Architecture in Thornless Blackberry with Uniconazole, GA3, and BA

The potential for plant growth regulator (PGR) manipulation of Chester Thornless'blackberry (Rubus spp.) primocane growth was evaluated. PGR treatments included combinations of soil-applied uniconazole at 1,5,25, and 125 mg/plant and GA 3 , foliar-applied one or two times at 100 ppm 3 and 4 weeks after a 25-mg/plant uniconazole application. Also, GA 3 and BA were applied at 100 ppm alone or in combination one, two, or three times (.)
Campylobacter jejuni/coli : Methodology of Isolation and Possible Interfering Factors in Primary Culture.

The prevalence of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli was investigated in 64 samples of fresh retail chicken purchased from commercial slaughterhouses located in Brazil. Campylobacter spp. were isolated from 40 (62.5%) of 64 analyzed samples. The strains biotyped according to Lior were classified as C. jejuni biotypes I and II, and C. coli biotypes I and II. The efficiency of different procedures for recovering Campylobacter spp. from chicken carcasses was tested. The enrichment procedure was significantly less effective than direct plating (P < 0.05), detecting 19 of 40 (47.5%) as opposed to 38 of 40 (95%) positive samples. Using direct plating the efficiency of Blaser's selective supplement was significantly more effective (P < 0.05) than Skirrow's selective supplement. To verify which factors could be affecting Campylobacter spp. growth in enrichment broth, the pH was measured after incubation for 48 h at 42°C and lactobacilli, coliforms, and enterococci were enumerated. Most of the Campylobacter -negative samples presented high levels of indicator microorganisms, which may have hindered the recovery of Campylobacter spp. during the enrichment procedure.
Vocal Repertoire during Reproductive and Aggressive Contexts of Three Brazilian Tree Frogs: Bokermannohyla sapiranga, Hypsiboas albopunctatus and H. goianus (Anura: Hylidae)

Abstract. Communication in anurans is mostly mediated by acoustic signals. Depending on the type of social interactions, different call types can be displayed by anurans. The main function of advertisement calls is to attract females, which prefer males whose advertisement calls have high repetition rates. Conversely, territorial calls are used to defend territories. We described the advertisement and territorial calls of Bokermannohyla sapiranga (n = 25 individuals), Hypsiboas albopunctatus (n = 21 individuals) and H. goianus (n = 57 individuals) from the Silvânia National Forest, Cerrado. We tested the hypothesis that advertisement and territorial calls are emitted under different social contexts and are, therefore, structurally distinct. We also assessed the influence of air temperature on call rates. We made recordings during reproductive (spontaneous formation of chorus) and aggressive (presence of intruder male) contexts. To simulate the presence of potential rivals we exposed males to acoustic (audio playbacks) and/or visual (artificial models) signals. We analyzed the following call parameters: repetition rate, call duration, number of notes and/or pulses per call, note and/or pulse duration, inter-note and/or inter-pulse interval, frequency range (min-max), and dominant frequency. Here we describe for the first time the territorial call of B. sapiranga, the compound territorial call of H. albopunctatus, and the compound short territorial call, simple and compound long territorial calls, and simple and compound complex calls of H. goianus. Advertisement calls were the most frequently emitted vocalizations. The advertisement call of B. sapiranga, the advertisement and territorial notes of H. albopunctatus, and the simple short territorial call of H. goianus were positively correlated with air temperature. However, the call rates did not differ between social contexts in B. sapiranga and H. albopunctatus. In H. goianus, advertisement and complex calls were emitted more frequently during reproductive interactions, whereas compound long territorial calls were emitted only during aggressive interactions. Our results indicate that considerable sampling effort under different contexts is required to study the vocal repertoire of anurans more precisely. Therefore, the present study is a starting point for experimental studies to elucidate the function of these complex acoustic signals during social interactions.
Effect of Heat Processing Treatments and Extraction Solvents on the Phenolic Content and Antioxidant Activity of Momordica charantia Fruit

The effect of different cooking treatments and extracting solvents on the antioxidant activity of M. charantia was assessed by measuring total phenol content (TPC), total flavonoids, tannin content and carotenoid content and the antioxidant activity using different assays. A densitometric HPTLC analysis was performed for the analysis of phenolic acids and flavonoids. In general, the recovery of TPC and antioxidant activity was highest in methanolic extract. The most of cooking treatments exerted the decreasing effect on antioxidant activity. Correlation studies indicated that the phenols were mainly responsible for ferric reducing power (r = 0.872, P < 0.01). However, the flavonoids were responsible for radical scavenging activity (r = 0.857, P < 0.01). HPTLC analysis of the methanolic extracts revealed the prominent presence of caffeic acid, vanillic acid, quercetin, catechin, etc., in the native form and destruction, transformation and formation of new phenolics was observed after the cooking treatments. Practical Applications In the present study, three cooking treatments such as pressure cooking, microwave cooking and frying were compared in respect to the retention of antioxidant potential of Momordica charantia fruit. The findings of the present study suggested that pressure cooking and frying could be developed as effective heat processing techniques to retain the maximum antioxidant potential of M. charantia fruit. This report can also serve as a database giving information about retention of polyphenolic compounds after cooking which may help in the establishment of recommended daily allowance value of polyphenolic compounds particularly for the population relying heavily on the consumption of M. charantia. Since, the beneficial health effects of consumption of M. charantia are well established in the Indian Ayurveda, this study can be instrumental in adding new scientific dimension in understanding the beneficial health aspects of M. charantia.
Phosphate mobilization in iron-rich anaerobic sediments : microbial Fe(III) oxide reduction versus iron-sulfide formation

Mechanisms of phosphate (PO4 3- ) mobilization and retention were examined in iron-rich anaerobic freshwater wetland, lake, and coastal marine sediments. Direct microbial Fe(III) oxide reduction solubilized only 3-25% of initial solid-phase PO 4 3- during sulfate-free sediment incubation experiments. Experiments with reduced, non-sulfidic solid-phase Fe(II)-rich sediment demonstrated PO4 3- sorption by the solid-phase, and chemical equilibrium calculations indicated that conditions were favorable for precipitation of Fe(II)-P04 minerals [e.g. Fe 3 (PO 4 ) 2 ] in such sediments. These results suggested that much of the PO 4 3- released from Fe(III) oxides during microbial Fe(III) reduction was captured by solid-phase reduced iron compounds (Fe(II) hydroxide-PO4 complexes and/or Fe(II)-PO4 minerals). Enhanced liberation of PO 4 3- to sediment porewaters (33-100% of initial solid-phase PO 4 3- ) occurred during anaerobic incubation in the presence of abundant sulfate and was directly correlated with sulfate reduction and iron-sulfide mineral formation. Incubation of PO 4 3- -amended sediment with different amounts of sulfate demonstrated a linear correlation between PO 4 3- release and sulfate reduction. Release of PO 4 3- to sediment porewaters during decomposition of fresh organic matter (freeze-dried cyanobacteria) was more extensive in sulfate-amended (67% of added organic P) than in sulfate-free sediment (17% of added organic P), and the ratio of dissolved PO 4 3- released to organic carbon oxidized was seven-fold higher in sulfate-amended sediment despite a common level of overall organic C and P mineralization in the two treatments. Our results demonstrate that iron-rich anaerobic sediments can immobilize substantial amounts of PO 4 3- under Fe(III) oxide-reducing conditions, but that extensive PO 4 3- release will take place if sediment Fe compounds are converted to iron-sulfides via bacterial sulfate reduction.
Weed population responses to weed control practices. II. Residual effects on weed populations, control, and Glycine max yield

Weed populations, weed control with imazethapyr, and Glycine max yields were affected by a 4-yr history of different weed control practices. A range of chemical and mechanical practices were applied in separate field experiments initiated under high and low weed densities. In the high-density experiment, plots kept weed free for 4 yr averaged 24 Setaria faberi plants m−2 compared with 200 to 600 plants m−2 with the various weed control treatments. In plots with a history of mechanical control, weeds not controlled by imazethapyr reduced G. max yield by 340 kg ha−1 compared with plots that were kept weed free during the same period. In the low-density experiment, weed control history had less effect on weed densities. For example, S. faberi densities ranged from 19 plants m−2 for the weed-free plots to 195 plants m−2 with mechanical control. Weed control history had little effect on weed control with imazethapyr or G. max yields in imazethapyr-treated plots. While weed-free conditions for 4 yr greatly reduced weed densities, imazethapyr application still increased G. max yields 22% in the low-density experiment and 51% in the high-density experiment. Differences in densities of individual annual broadleaf species also developed in response to weed control history in both experiments.
Examining the Evidence that Testing Benefits Subsequent Information Retrieval

This study examines the effect of frequent testing on students’ ability to retain the vocabulary and grammar materials learned in the classroom. A quasi-experimental research was employed, involving a sample of 50 Thai vocational students that was purposively recruited for this study. They were divided into two groups, each comprising 25 students. The experimental group received a test and corrective feedback after each unit of the course while the control group did not receive any unit test. The retention test scores were then compared to gauge the performance of the experimental and control groups. In doing this, the experimental group significantly outscored the control group in the retention test. The study found that frequent testing of the students in the course of their study had helped them retain vocabulary and grammar knowledge. The frequent testing may, therefore, be considered as one of the teaching methods to help students to have better retention of vocabulary and grammar knowledge. Keywords: frequent testing; corrective feedback; vocabulary; grammar; retention
Hygienic Quality of Sewage Sludge Compost

The numerous bacterial, viral, protozoal, helminthic and fungal pathogens in sewage are concentrated in raw sewage sludge during primary sedimentation. Anaerobic digestion, air-drying and activated sludge treatment may reduce the levels of these organisms, but a risk to human health still remains. Although the magnitude of this risk cannot be quantified or even predicted at this stage, the probability of infection must be minimised to protect the community. Composting reduces the health hazard by decreasing the virulence (numbers and viability) of pathogenic organisms. Results of experiments conducted by the NIWR showed that total coliforms, E. coli , coliphage, Salmonella and Ascaris ova can be eliminated in less than a week in a pilot-scale composter utilising dewatered raw and air-dried digested sludges with wood chips and refuse as filler material. In full-scale plants elimination of indicator organisms took much longer, depending on the degree of control exercised.
Screening of local medicinal plant extracts against multi drugs resistance bacteria

Multi Drugs Resistance (MDR) bacteria are mostly resistant to most of antibiotics, this leads to several severe infections and diseases. Thus the desire of new antibiotic sources are required which direct to the screening of new medicinal plants and use against MDR pathogenic bacteria. In our study, the antibacterial activity of three different plant extracts are utilized against pathogenic bacteria in-vitro to treat the infection and disease cause by pathogenic bacteria. The extracts were isolated from Mallotus philippensis , Silybum marianum and Stachys parviflora Benth in four different solvents extracts and were tested against eight pathogenic MDR bacterial strains ( Brucella abortus, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter sakazakii, Proteus vulgaris, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Providencia stuartii , Pseudomonas aeruginosa (gram negative) and Staphylococcus aureus (gram positive) through well diffusion and disc diffusion. It was found that the extracts of selected plants showed maximum activity against all bacterial strains. The recorded zones of inhibition were 8.0-26.33mm for methanolic, 6.0-17.66mm for chloroform extracts and 8.01-2.33mm for ethyl acetate extracts. So, it is cleared from the results that the tested plant extracts have great potential as antibacterial compounds against bacteria. However, further research is required to isolate and identify the active ingredients are vital for further pharmacological evaluation. Also screening of these plants for Anticancer and Anti-diabetic activity will be significant.
Response of Soluble Solids Accumulation, Fruitfulness, Cold Resistance, and Onset of Bud Growth to Differential Defoliation Stress at Véraison in Concord Grapevines

Complete defoliation of Concord grapevines at veraison reduced the rate of fruit maturation, fruitfulness, primary bud hardiness, and delayed bud break in the spring. Partial defoliation reduced fruit maturation rate, but hardiness, fruitfulness and delayed spring bud break in a manner dependent on the distance between the foliated and defoliated portions of the vine. The data suggest that the ripening fruit cluster is a strong sink for leaf produced factors (photosynthate, hormones) which influence ripening. The grape bud is inferior to the fruit cluster in this regard and maximum cold resistance can be achieved only when conditions favoring soluble solids accumulation late in the growing season are maximized.
3D Facial Reconstruction – inferring missing face sections from face poses at an angle

Three-dimensional facial reconstruction is one of the popular applications in computer vision. However, even its state-of-art model still requires a frontal face as inputs, which restricts its usage scenarios in the wild. A similar dilemma also happens in face recognition; hence, the idea to recover the frontal face from a single sidepose facial image emerges. The state-of-art in this area is the Face-Transformation generative adversarial network, built based on the Cycle-GAN from pixel-to-pixel transformation. It inspires us to explore further the performance of two models from pixel transformation in frontal facial synthesis, which are Pix2Pix and Cycle-GAN. In this paper, we firstly conduct the experiments on five different loss functions on Pix2Pix model to improve its performance, then followed by proposing a new network Pair-GAN in frontal facial synthesis. Pair-GAN uses two parallel U-Nets as the generator and PatchGAN as the discriminator. The detailed hyper-parameters of it are also discussed. Based on the quantitative measurement by face similarity comparison, we can obtain from the results that Pix2Pix model with L1 loss, GDL loss (gradient difference loss), and identity loss can results in below 8 % of improvement compared to default Pix2Pix model. Additionally, the performance of Pair-GAN is 13 % better than the CycleGAN and 25 % than the Pix2Pix model. Besides, limitation and future work of this project is also discussed in the final section.
Impact of two eriophyoid fig mites, Aceria ficus and Rhyncaphytoptus ficifoliae, as prey on postembryonic development and oviposition rate of the predacious mite Amblyseius swirskii

The predator Amblyseius swirskii completed development when fed on individuals of Aceria ficus and Rhyncaphytoptus ficifoliae, in the laboratory at 29C and 70-80% RH. The fastest development and greatest consumption of prey was observed when A. ficus was used as prey. Life table values showed that A. swirskii preferred A. ficus to R. ficifoliae as prey. The intrinsic rate of increase was 0.155 individuals/female per day with A. ficus and 0.122 individuals/female per day with R. ficifoliae.
A review of intensive mode of delivery and science subjects in Australian universities

Abstract One response to the global trend of increasing rates of student participation in tertiary education has been for universities to increase the number of intensive mode of delivery subjects available. This phenomenon extends to science subjects. Embarking on offering an undergraduate science subject in intensive mode for the first time at the Australian case example university, it was essential to first learn about good pedagogical design and practice from other educational organisations. To achieve this, a website audit of Australian universities was undertaken in tandem with a critical review of the Australian and international literature on intensive mode of delivery. While it was found that a majority of Australian universities offer science subjects in intensive mode, these subjects were primarily at the postgraduate level of study. The literature focusing on intensive mode in science was minimal. It revealed definitional ambiguity and conceptual non-uniformity as well as a range of positive, negative and inconclusive results in relation to the academic and ‘real-world’ outcomes of intensive mode. This review identifies a need for evidenced-based empirical research into the pedagogy around intensive mode for undergraduate science subjects.