Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Physicochemical properties and sensory acceptance of Canavalia ensiformis tempeh energy bar

The food industry needs a creative approach to innovation in order to produce revolutionary materials, innovations and fresh, nutritious, sustainable food products. Tempeh is a traditional meal prepared using Rhizopus oligosporus to ferment dehulled and cooked soybeans to a compact and sliceable cake. Because of their high content of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and minerals, energy bars are snacks offering good sensory and nutritional properties. Canavalia ensiformis (Kacang Koro), is an underutilised legume that contains up to 32% of protein. To our knowledge, no prior studies have studied regarding tempeh and energy bars, especially in Malaysia. This research aimed to evaluate both the physicochemical properties and sensory acceptance of the C. ensiformis tempeh energy bar. Energy bars of six formulations (Formulation A – E) were produced using different percentages of C. ensiformis tempeh namely 0%, 4.8%, 9.5%, 14.3%, 19.0% and 23.8%. The physical characteristics of the energy bar were analysed based on colour profile analysis, texture analysis and also the pH value, while the chemical characteristics were analysed based on proximate analysis, calories, mineral content, and toxicity analysis. The results showed that the energy bars consist of moisture content of 9.29-13.09%, ash of 0.99-1.56%, crude fibre of 1.82-7.27%, protein of 4.93-10.34%, crude fat of 12.36-15.97%, carbohydrate of 58.91-64.94%, and calorie content of 4627.55 - 5267.80 cal. Energy bars with 23.8% of C. ensiformis tempeh exhibited highest in moisture and protein, moderate in ash and fibre and showed no significance in carbohydrate and fat contents. The taste and overall acceptability indicate that formulation A showed the best acceptance among the prepared formulations. The utilization C. ensiformis tempeh could diversify the usage of C. ensiformis in the food industry, hence promoting their application.
Biomechanics Of Human Lumbar Spine (L3 To L5) With Degenerative Disc Disease Using Finite Element Model

Human spine is one of the complex structure of the human body. It provides the link between upper and lower extremities of the human body. It is estimated that at least 30% of people in the middle age group from thirty to fifty years have some degree of disc degeneration. Disc degeneration disease can affect the quality of life and in certain individual it can cause severe chronic pain if left untreated. The low back pain associated with lumbar disc degeneration is usually generated from two causes which are abnormal motion instability and inflammation. Abnormal motion instability occurs when the annulus fibrosus are worn down and cannot absorb stress on the human spine effectively resulting in changes in movements along the vertebral segment. To understand lumbar disc problem, a thorough knowledge of the biomechanics of the normal human lumbar spine and a disc degenerated lumbar spine is of great importance. In this study, Computed tomography image of a 33 year old male is used. A three dimensional (3D) human lumbar spine (L3 to L5) is created and validated with literature. The finite element model was modified to degenerated disc and studied the biomechanics of the lumbar spine. Comparison of the biomechanics of normal human lumbar spine is done with the human lumbar spine with disc degeneration for different range of motion and different loads. The result shows that the pressure generated on degenerated disc is greater than normal disc. This work can be implemented and used for designing implants and also for intervertebral disc related analysis
Ovarian development and induced oviposition of the overwintering swimming crab Portunus trituberculatus (Brachyura: Portunidae) reared in the laboratory

: Females of the swimming crab Portunus trituberculatus were cultured under natural temperature and high temperature (21°C) conditions to examine ovarian development and oviposition from autumn (October) to the beginning of breeding season in the following spring (May). Ovaries developed because of vitellogenesis of oocytes from October to December and their developmental state did not change during the overwintering period from December to March. In spring, from late March to mid May, some ovaries reached prematuration and maturation stages and ovipositions began from mid–late April under natural temperature conditions. Females reared in tanks of high temperature regimes oviposited earlier than those reared in tanks of natural temperatures. The number of days to oviposition tended to decrease with advancement of the beginning times (early February to late April) of culture of females under high temperature regimes; induced ovipositions were achieved more easily with increasing photoperiod from c. 12 h in early February to c. 14 h in late April. Therefore, it is inferred that the temperature and photoperiod are important environmental factors controlling ovarian development and oviposition.
The Natural Neural Tangent Kernel: Neural Network Training Dynamics under Natural Gradient Descent

Gradient-based optimization methods have proven successful in learning complex, overparameterized neural networks from non-convex objectives. Yet, the precise theoretical relationship between gradient-based optimization methods, the induced training dynamics, and generalization in deep neural networks remains unclear. In this work, we investigate the training dynamics of overparameterized neural networks under natural gradient descent. Taking a function-space view of the training dynamics, we give an exact analytic solution to the training dynamics on training points. We derive a bound on the discrepancy between the distributions over functions at the global optimum of natural gradient descent and the analytic solution to the natural gradient descent training dynamics linearized around the parameters at initialization and validate our theoretical results empirically. In particular, we show that the discrepancy between the functions obtained from linearized and non-linearized natural gradient descent is provably smaller than under standard gradient descent, and we demonstrate empirically that the discrepancy is small for overparameterized neural networks without needing to make a limit argument about the width of the neural network layers, as was done in previous work. Finally, we show that our theoretical results are consistent with the empirical discrepancy between the functions obtained from linearized and non-linearized natural gradient descent and that the discrepancy is small on a set of regression benchmark problems.
Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica in Peninsular Malaysia: urban winter roost counts after 50 years, and dietary segregation from house-farmed swiftlets Aerodramus sp

In Peninsular Malaysia, passage and wintering Barn Swallows often congregate at nocturnal roosts in towns, most conspicuously on utility wires and adjoining roofs and ledges. As a Holarctic migrant, the species is potentially susceptible to population crashes. The first objective of this study was to investigate half-centennial changes in the number of passage and wintering Barn Swallows utilising an urban roost at Bentong, Peninsular Malaysia, through monthly counts following equal procedures in 1966–68. The second objective was to assess evidence for competition in terms of dietary overlap with a recently established population of house-farmed swiftlets (Aerodramus sp.) using both morphological identifications and next-generation sequencing (NGS). Modern peak numbers in October 2015, at 63,290 swallows, were 72% of the November peak of 1967 (87,880). The negative trend may reflect a declining swallow population in the Palaearctic breeding area but may also be a consequence of diminished resources in this tropical wintering region. A notable change during the half-century interval has been the introduction of a large population of trophically similar house-farmed swiftlets Aerodramus sp. exceeding passage and wintering Barn Swallows at peak numbers. At an ordinal level, the diets of Barn Swallows and house-farmed swiftlets both include a high proportion of hymenopterans, but at the level of genus, there is dietary separation between them. Molecular NGS data based on lower taxonomic levels (i.e., family, genus, and species) showed only about 10% overlap. We conclude that, after an interval of half a century, dietary competition with the new resident population of house-farmed swiftlets is unlikely to account for the reduction in peak numbers of migratory Barn Swallows.
Fertilisation and prey deprivation affecting reproduction, life history and life table of the predacious mite Paraseiulus talbii (Athias-Henriot) (Acari: Phytoseiidae)

Two factors were examined to determine their effect on the life history, reproduction and life table parameters in the predacious mite Paraseiulus talbii (Athias-Henriot), cultured in the laboratory at 32°C and 75% RH, using tydeid mite, Orthotydeus californicus (Banks) as food. The factors investigated included age of mating females and food deprivation periods during adult stage. Age of mating females has an influence on fecundity and adult longevity; old females decreased egg production and shortened adult longevity compared with young females under constant conditions of abundant prey. A significant lower fecundity, shorter oviposition period and adult longevity were recorded on females when exposed to different food deprivation programmes. Old mating females (30-days old) as well as females exposed to severe food deprivation (three days starvation/a week) resulted in the lower net reproductive rate (Ro), intrinsic rate of natural increase (rm) and finite rate of increase (λ) values (Ro = 7.301 and 7.486, rm = 0.202 and 0.198, λ = 1.224 and 1.219) compared with young females (0-day old) and without food deprivation (Ro = 41.312, rm = 0.308, λ = 1.361). The influence of the duration of copulation on egg production was also studied. Artificial curtailment of copulation to half or quarter the average duration resulted in a reduction in the percentage of reproducing females, fecundity, oviposition duration and the proportion of females in the progeny.
MIGRATION AND CONSERVATION OF THE AQUATIC WARBLER (ACROCEPHALUS PALUDICOLA) IN SPAIN

The Aquatic Warbler Acrocephalus paludicola is a marshland specialist bird whose breeding range is restricted to the Western Palaearctic between 47° and 59°N, and east of 22°E. However, its easternmost distribution limits are not precisely known (Aquatic Warbler Conservation Team, 1999), and it still is the rarest migratory passerine in Europe, remaining globally threatened due mainly to habitat loss (Collar et al.,1994; BirdLife International, 2000). Moreover, its wintering distribution is still poorly known, though central European birds are supposed to migrate in autumn to sub-saharan western Africa (Schulze-Hagen, 1989; De By, 1990). The European populations of this species have suffered a dramatic decline (Tucker & Heath, 1994) and an international Action Plan for its conservation has been developed, in which one of the conservation priorities proposed is «to promote the protection of the species and its habitat [. ] along the migratory route» (Heredia, 1996). Unfortunately, migratory routes are poorly known, especially in southArdeola48(2), 2001, 197-208
Hierarchy-Driven Exploration for Reinforcement Learning

Strategic exploration methods in tabular reinforcement learning provide guarantees for learning near-optimal policies, but require visiting almost all state-action pairs, which is intractable for large state spaces. However, in many cases, the agent receives reward only for transitions that saliently affect the state, and thus only needs to explore these transitions. We propose an exploration algo-rithm motivated by tabular strategic exploration methods which explores only these transitions in an abstract Markov Decision Process, featuring a small abstract state space and learned hierarchical macro-actions. For approaches that do not use demonstrations, our algorithm achieves state-of-the-art results in M ONTEZUMA ’ S R EVENGE , one of the most challenging games in the Arcade Learning Environment.
African planarians: Dugesia aethiopica sp. n. (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida) from lake Tana (NW Ethiopia)

Abstract A new species of Dugesia from East Africa is described as a first report of Platyhelminthes from Lake Tana. Dugesia aethiopica sp. n. is characterized by the shape of its bursa copulatrix; length, diameter, course, and opening of the bursal canal; opening of the oviducts; shape of the penis papilla; penial parenchymatic cavity. The taxonomic position of the new species within the D. gonocephala group is discussed in comparison with the other African and Madagascan species.
Evaluation of Garlic Germplasm for Yield Attributes and Quality Characters from Niche Area of District Jalandhar, India

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is one of the important spice crops grown in our country, next to onion. It belongs to the family Alliaceae. It is an herbaceous annual, the underground edible stem of which is a composite bulb made up of a numerous smaller bulbs known as cloves, covered with pinkish or whitish skin. This crop is grown as spice and condiment, though it is treated as a maligned vegetable in India, due to its undesired flavor. It is grown for medicinal usage in pharmaceutical industry also.
Regulation of RhoGEFs during cell migration

The cell migration cycle involves a series of highly coordinated steps that starts with polarization and membrane protrusion in the direction of migration. These protrusions are then stabilized by forming adhesions that provide a link between the actin cytoskeleton and the extracellular matrix (ECM). These sites of adhesion are called focal adhesions (FA), and serve as traction points for the cell body to contract and move forward. Contraction also promotes the disassembly of the adhesions at the cell rear allowing it to detach. These processes involve hundreds of proteins forming a complex signaling network linked by multiple interactions. At the center of this striking cytoskeleton reorganization is the Rho family of GTPases. Rho GTPases are versatile signaling molecules that regulate a diverse set of cellular functions. Rho GTPases function as molecular switches that cycle between an inactive GDP-bound and an active GTP-bound conformation. The activation of Rho proteins is mediated by guanine nucleotide exchange factors (RhoGEFs), which catalyze the exchange of GDP to GTP. Once in the active conformation, Rho GTPases interact with one of several downstream effectors that modulate a variety of intracellular processes. To turn the switch off, GTP has to be hydrolyzed to GDP, a reaction that is stimulated by GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs). In addition, inactive Rho GTPases are extracted from cell membranes by Rho-specific guanine nucleotide dissociation inhibitors (RhoGDIs) to prevent their inappropriate activation and to protect them from misfolding and degradation.
Allozyme Variation in Aegilops squarrosa

i. ). This species is one of the most important potential donors of desirable genes for the improvement of cultivated wheats. Two kinds of studies may help to increase the use of the genetic resources of wheat. These are the investigation of the genetic structure of wild wheats natural populations (BROWN 1978), and the genetic mapping of both cultivated and wild wheats (GALE and SHARP 1988). Biochemical and DNA markers are perfectly suitable for both cases. These markers, as a rule, are codominantly expressed and have no pleiotropic effects on traits of agronomic significance,
Incremento no desenvolvimento do porta-enxerto de pessegueiro "Aldrighi" por fungos micorrízicos arbusculares autóctones

Objetivou-se, neste trabalho, avaliar a influencia de tres especies de fungos micorrizicos arbusculares (FMA) isolados de pomares de pessegueiro sobre o crescimento vegetativo, nutricao mineral e substâncias de reserva em plantas do porta-enxerto de pessegueiro cv. Aldrighi [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch]. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi o de blocos casualizados, com dez plantas por parcela e quatro repeticoes. As plantas inoculadas com Glomus etunicatum apresentaram maior altura, diâmetro, area foliar, biomassa fresca e seca, nutricao mineral e substâncias de reserva da parte aerea, enquanto as inoculadas com Glomus clarum induziram um crescimento intermediario, superior aquelas inoculadas com Gigaspora margarita, que apresentaram resultados semelhantes as plantas nao inoculadas. O desempenho foi relacionado com as taxas de colonizacao que nas plantas inoculadas com Glomus etunicatum e Glomus clarum foram de 92% e 77% respectivamente, enquanto Gigaspora margarita colonizou somente 30% das raizes.
Épocas de desponte apical e intensidade luminosa no crescimento e qualidade de crisântemo de vaso

Este trabalho foi realizado com o objetivo de avaliar o efeito da data do desponte apical e diferentes intensidades luminosas como “quebra de noite” no crescimento e qualidade de crisântemo de vaso, cultivar ´Giovani´. O experimento foi montado em blocos casualizados, em esquema de parcela subdividida, em que as parcelas constituiram as intensidades luminosas (157,26; 66,46; 18,73; 7,66 e 3,8 lux) utilizando lâmpadas incandescentes de 100W disposta a um metro de altura dos vasos, e as subparcelas as datas do desponte apical (15, 17, 19, 21 dias apos o estaqueamento, DAE), sendo que as plantas permaneceram sob dias longos ate aos 21 DAE. No auge do florescimento foram avaliadas as seguintes caracteristicas por vaso: altura de planta, diâmetro medio do vaso, numero de hastes por vaso, numero de nos por haste, comprimento do 3o e 4o entrenos, numero de inflorescencias, massas seca de caule, massa seca de folha, massa seca de inflorescencia e massa seca da parte aerea. Os resultados indicaram que o desponte realizado aos 17 DAE obteve maior altura e numero de nos. O desponte realizado aos 15 DAE resultou em maior numero e massa de inflorescencias. A realizacao do desponte entre 15 e 17 DAE proporcionam maior altura, numero de nos, numero e massa seca de inflorescencias e consequentemente melhor qualidade de vaso. As intensidades luminosas acima de 18,73 lux proporcionaram melhor qualidade de vaso.
Efficacy of γ-linolenic Acid for Treatment of Premenstrual Syndrome, as Assessed by a Prospective Daily Rating System

Evening primrose oil, which includes GLA, is one of the most popular of many treatments available for PMS. It has been reported that diagnosis of PMS on the basis of prospective daily rating is essential. However, few studies on alleviation by GLA of the symptoms of PMS have been performed using prospective daily rating. We examined the alleviating effect of GLA on symptoms of PMS diagnosed by prospective daily rating. Twenty-eight women diagnosed with PMS consumed vegetable oil containing about 180 mg/day of GLA for three luteal phases in a randomized, double-blind, parallel protocol, and were examined for duration and severity of PMS symptoms. Levels of DGLA in plasma phospholipid were significantly lower in women with PMS than in those without it (DGLA, P < 0.01) before treatment regardless of phase in menstrual cycle. After GLA administration, the levels of GLA and DGLA in plasma phospholipid in the GLA group were significantly higher than those both in the placebo group and before treatment. Improvement of the duration and severity of PMS symptoms as a whole, as well as that of irritability, was significantly more pronounced in the GLA than in the placebo group. These findings indicate that GLA can be effective for treating the symptoms of PMS, and that GLA and DGLA in plasma phospholipid may play a role in the onset of PMS.
The Effects of Elevation and Land Use on Ant Activity and Ant Species Diversity

In today’s world, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the effects that humans have on Earth’s ecosystems. Approximately 39 to 50% of the Earth’s land has been transformed or degraded by human activity (Vitousek et al. 1997). Ten to fifteen percent of that land has been altered for row-crop agriculture or for industrial development and six to eight percent has been converted to pastureland. These transformations represent the leading causes of decreases in biodiversity. As a result, they alter the global biogeochemical cycles and have considerable effects on climate change. Humans contribute more and more every day to climate change and it is known that many species are moving up in elevation in response to these changes. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of elevation and land use on ant activity and ant species diversity. I recorded the time it took for ants to arrive at a bait trap on an elevational gradient (1000 masl, 1375 masl, 1550 masl, and 1800 masl) in forest sites versus pasture sites in the Monteverde area. Then, I separated the collected ants into morphospecies in order to calculate species diversity. I found that as elevation increases, ant activity and ant species diversity decreases in the pasture sites. Also, ant activity and species diversity were higher in the pasture sites than in the forests sites. These results indicate that elevation and land use affect ant activity and ant species diversity. Provided that ants are good bioindicators, elevation and land use also impact invertebrate activity and diversity.
Effectiveness of stay-in-place-orders during COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from US border counties.

Recent studies on US counties, with varying effect sizes, show that stay-in-place-orders (SIPOs) are associated with a decline in new COVID-19 cases. Our estimation approach relies on county-pairs across state-borders where one state has SIPO whereas the other state does not, controls for matched county-pair fixed effects and day of observation fixed-effects. The county-pair sample from southern, mid-western, and mountain region states (from March 1, 2020 to April 25, 2020) shows that daily COVID-19 incidence case growth rate is 1.994 percentage points lower for counties in SIPO states relative to those bordering in non-SIPO states. Specifically, we find SIPO reduced daily growth rates by 1.97, 2.14, 2.03, and 2.27 percentage points after 1 to 5 days, 6 to 10 days, 11 to 15 days, and 16 to 20 days, respectively. Our effect sizes are much smaller than in the previous studies with the caveat that states in the northeast and on the west coast could not be included in the border county-pair specification. We find limited evidence of heterogeneous effects in counties with a higher population density, percentage of black or Hispanic residents, proportion of population over 65 years, and social association rates in a county. Nor do we find evidence of meaningful differences in effects of SIPO by county Gini index, unemployment, or GDP. The results of this study could further inform policymakers in making decisions on SIPO extensions or lifting of such orders.