Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A novel study on bean common mosaic virus accumulation shows disease resistance at the initial stage of infection in Phaseolus vulgaris

Accurate and early diagnosis of bean common mosaic virus (BCMV) in Phaseolus vulgaris tissues is critical since the pathogen can spread easily and have long-term detrimental effects on bean production. The use of resistant varieties is a key factor in the management activities of BCMV. The study reported here describes the development and application of a novel SYBR Green-based quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) assay targeting the coat protein gene to determine the host sensitivity to the specific NL-4 strain of BCMV. The technique showed high specificity, validated by melting curve analysis, without cross-reaction. Further, the symptoms development of twenty advanced common bean genotypes after mechanical BCMV-NL-4 infection was evaluated and compared. The results showed that common bean genotypes exhibit varying levels of host susceptibility to this BCMV strain. The YLV-14 and BRS-22 genotypes were determined as the most resistant and susceptible genotypes, respectively, in terms of aggressiveness of symptoms. The accumulation of BCMV was analyzed in the resistant and susceptible genotypes 3, 6, and 9 days following the inoculation by the newly developed qRT-PCR. The mean cycle threshold (Ct) values showed that the viral titer was significantly lower in YLV-14, which was evident in both root and leaf 3 days after the inoculation. The qRT-PCR thus facilitated an accurate, specific, and feasible assessment of BCMV accumulation in bean tissues even in low virus titers, allowing novel clues in selecting resistant genotypes in the early stages of infection, which is critical for disease management. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of a successfully performed qRT-PCR to estimate BCMV quantification.
Optimal bivariate step-stress accelerated life test for Type-I hybrid censored data

This paper presents a step-stress accelerated life test for two stress variables to obtain optimal hold times under a Type-I hybrid censoring scheme. An exponentially distributed life and a cumulative exposure model are assumed. The maximum-likelihood estimates are given, from which the asymptotic variance and the Fisher information matrix are obtained. The optimal test plan is determined for each combination of stress levels by minimizing the asymptotic variance of reliability estimate at a typical operating condition. Finally, simulation results are discussed to illustrate the proposed criteria. Simulation results show that the proposed optimum plan is robust, and the initial estimates have a small effect on optimal values.
Optimization of Melanin Production by Streptomyces antibioticus NRRL B-1701 Using Arthrospira (Spirulina) platensis Residues Hydrolysates as Low-Cost L-tyrosine Supplement

Melanin is a functional pigment that is used in various products. It can be produced by Streptomyces antibioticus NRRL B-1701 when supplemented with L-tyrosine. Arthrospira (Spirulina) platensis is a cyanobacterium with high protein content, including the protein phycocyanin (PC). During PC’s extraction, biomass residues are generated, and these residues still contain various amino acids, especially L-tyrosine, which can be used as a low-cost supplement for melanin production. Thus, this study employed a hydrolysate of A. platensis biomass residue for L-tyrosine substitution. The effects of two drying methods, namely, lyophilization and dying via a hot air oven, on the proximate composition and content of L-tyrosine in the biomass residue were evaluated. The highest L-tyrosine (0.268 g L-tyrosine/100 g dried biomass) concentration was obtained from a hot-air-oven-dried biomass residue hydrolysate (HAO-DBRH). The HAO-DBRH was then used as a low-cost L-tyrosine supplement for maximizing melanin production, which was optimized by the response surface methodology (RSM) through central composite design (CCD). Using the RSM–CCD, the maximum level of melanin production achieved was 0.24 g/L, which is approximately four times higher than it was before optimization. This result suggests that A. platensis residue hydrolysate could be an economically feasible and low-cost alternative source of L-tyrosine for the production of melanin.
Marginal Regression for Binary Longitudinal Data in Adaptive Clinical Trials

Abstract. In an adaptive clinical trial research, it is common to use certain data‐dependent design weights to assign individuals to treatments so that more study subjects are assigned to the better treatment. These design weights must also be used for consistent estimation of the treatment effects as well as the effects of the other prognostic factors. In practice, there are however situations where it may be necessary to collect binary responses repeatedly from an individual over a period of time and to obtain consistent estimates for the treatment effect as well as the effects of the other covariates in such a binary longitudinal set up. In this paper, we introduce a binary response‐based longitudinal adaptive design for the allocation of individuals to a better treatment and propose a weighted generalized quasi‐likelihood approach for the consistent and efficient estimation of the regression parameters including the treatment effects.
An Effective Pull-based Congestion Control Protocol for Multi-Identifier Network

With the rapid development of the network, the IP network have exposed many issues, such as the exhausted IP addresses, security risks and inapplicability to the streaming media. To solve these issues, Multi-Identifier Network (MIN) is proposed as a novel network architecture with excellent features. In the MIN architecture, content can be retrieved from multiple sources and multiple paths. To fit the nature of MIN, congestion control protocols should consider the impact of in-network caching, multi-path forwarding. In this paper, we propose a practical congestion control protocol, which detects congestion based on CoDel algorithm and then notices consumers by explicitly marking data packets, so that consumers can adjust their interest sending rate. Meanwhile, it employs a caching strategy based on content popularity to reduce interest retransmission rate. Our simulation results show that the proposed scheme achieves a higher total throughput than existing work.
A Semi-Passive RIS Channel Estimation Method based on Super-Resolution Network

Reconfigurable intelligent surface(RIS) has become a novel enabling technology of 6G. It is widely used in coverage enhancement, signal regulation and other communication scenarios due to its low cost and low energy consumption. This paper considers the RIS-assisted millimeter-wave communication system, deploys some active elements on the RIS, and proposes a channel state information (CSI) reconstruction scheme based on fast super-resolution convolutional neural network (FSRCNN). Sub-pixel layer is used to replace deconvolution layer, and low-resolution images are directly input to the network. In addition, the noise of the CSI is further reduced by denoising convolutional neural network(DnCNN). Experiments show that the proposed scheme can recover CSI well.
Impact of Polyploidy Induction for Salinity Stress Mitigation in Soybean (Glycine max L. Merrill)

Polyploidy induction is recognized as one of the major evolutionary processes leading to remarkable morphological, physiological, and genetic variations in plants. Soybean (Glycine max L.), also known as soja bean or soya bean, is an annual leguminous crop of the pea family (Fabaceae) that shares a paleopolypoidy history, dating back to approximately 56.5 million years ago with other leguminous crops such as cowpea and other Glycine specific polyploids. This crop has been documented as one of the polyploid complex species among legumes whose gene evolution and resultant adaptive growth characteristics following induced polyploidization has not been fully explored. Furthermore, no successfully established in vivo or in vitro based polyploidy induction protocols have been reported to date, particularly, with the intention to develop mutant plants showing strong resistance to abiotic salinity stress. This review, therefore, describes the role of synthetic polyploid plant production in soybean for the mitigation of high soil salt stress levels and how this evolving approach could be used to further enhance the nutritional, pharmaceutical and economic industrial value of soybeans. This review also addresses the challenges involved during the polyploidization process.
Stability regions of nonlinear autonomous dynamical systems

A topological and dynamical characterization of the stability boundaries for a fairly large class of nonlinear autonomous dynamic systems is presented. The stability boundary of a stable equilibrium point is shown to consist of the stable manifolds of all the equilibrium points (and/or closed orbits) on the stability boundary. Several necessary and sufficient conditions are derived to determine whether a given equilibrium point (or closed orbit) is on the stability boundary. A method for finding the stability region on the basis of these results is proposed. The method, when feasible, will find the exact stability region, rather than a subset of it as in the Lyapunov theory approach. Several examples are given to illustrate the theoretical prediction. >
Numerical Modeling of Renal Ionic Equilibrium for Implantable Kidney Applications

: The human kidney is one of the most important organs in the human body; it performs many functions and has a great impact on the work of the rest of the organs. Among the most important possible treatments is dialysis, which works as an external artificial kidney, and several studies have worked to enhance the mechanism of dialysate flow and improve the permeability of its membrane. This study introduces a new numerical model based on previous research discussing the variations in the concentrations of sodium, potassium, and urea in the extracellular area in the blood during hemodialysis. We simulated the differential equations related to mass transfer diffusion and we developed the model in MATLAB Simulink environment. A value of 700 was appeared to be the most appropriate as a mass transfer coefficient leading to the best permeability. The suggested models enabled to track the temporal variations of urine, K and Na concentrations in blood streamline. This also produced the time needed to reach the requested concentrations mentioned in literature studies (960 ms). Concentrations evaluation was performed with error rates not exceeding 2% for all ions compared to the normal values of human blood.The current work presents the first step towards combinig the mass transfer and diffusion principles with our efforts in designing and implementing an electrophoresis-based implantable kidney.
10 Years of MOOC Initiative at the Universitat Politècnica de València. Student Profiles, Preferences and Satisfaction

Many studies are related to MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) in the scientific literature. However, there are hardly any global approaches to experiences extended over time that provide a broader picture of the functioning of these initiatives, especially lacking large-scale analysis and outside the Anglo-Saxon sphere. This case study analyses the profiles, preferences, and satisfaction data of over 2.7 million unique users of the MOOCs that the Universitat Politècnica de València has been offering since 2013 to a mainly Spanish-speaking public. This descriptive analysis uses the analytics provided by the platforms used and a satisfaction survey with more than 77,000 responses. The results reveal similar demographics to those reported in other studies, a stagnation in enrolment in recent years, and the measures adopted by edX to achieve sustainability have reduced the number of successful candidates. The most requested subjects are languages and courses on software office tools. In addition, students confirm their satisfaction with the initiative (3.92/5 in terms of expectations met), courses and platforms, as well as the fact that they spend an average of 3 hours a week following the courses, that they consider the duration of the teaching videos to be between 3 and 10 minutes and that they consider the options for resolving doubts offered by UPV to be sufficient.
Global adaptive output-feedback control of nonlinear systems. I. Linear parameterization

For pt.I, see ibid., p.17-32 (1993). The problem of designing global output-feedback robust stabilizing controls for a class of single-input single-output minimum-phase uncertain nonlinear systems with known and constant relative degree is addressed. They are assumed to be linear with respect to the input and nonlinear with respect to an unknown constant parameter vector. The nonlinearities depend on the output only. The nonlinearities may be uncertain and are only required to be bounded by known smooth functions. The order of the robust compensator is equal to the relative degree minus one and is static when the relative degree is one. A self-tuning version of the robust control capable of achieving set point regulation is developed in which the control gains are tuned by an output-feedback adaptive algorithm. When the parameter vector enters linearly, the self-tuning regulator does not require the knowledge of parameter bounds and guarantees set point regulation for the same class of systems considered in Part I. >
Performance of Triasulfuron and Carfentrazone-ethyl against Broad Leaf Weeds in Wheat

Field experiments were conducted at the experimental area of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana from 2003–04 to 2005–06 on loamy sand soil. Post-emergence (35–40 DAS) application of triasulfuron at 15 g/ha (with and without 1% surfactant) and 20 g/ha alone as well as carfentrazone-ethyl 20 and 25 g/ha controlled broadleaf weeds in wheat very effectively and produced grain yield at par with the already recommended herbicide i. e. 2,4-D 0.5 kg/ha. On an average of three years, highest grain yield was recoded in plots treated with carfentrazoneethyl 25 g/ha closely f. b. triasulfuron 20 g/ha, triasulfuron 15 g + 1% surfactant and 2, 4-D 0.5 kg/ha and compared to unweeded check these treatments increased wheat grain yield by 57.9, 57.3, 56.2 and 53.7%, respectively.
Applicability of Flours from Pigmented and Glutinous Rice in Gluten-Free Bread Baking

The flours from pigmented and glutinous rice have a great potential to increase the nutritional quality of gluten-free breads. The characteristics of whole-meal fine flours, slurries, doughs, and breads prepared from black, red, and white glutinous rice were, therefore, compared with commercially used refined fine and semi-coarse white rice flours. The pasting properties of different flours were strongly influenced by the type of rice they were made from. Slurries with red and glutinous flours exhibited a shift to a lower pasting temperature T0, lower values of ηPeak and ηFinal, as well as higher values of the breakdown and setback region than the slurries with refined flours. The slurry with black flour exhibited high values of viscosity η0 and breakdown, together with low values of ηFinal, setback region and total setback. Bread characteristics were strongly correlated with the pasting properties. The presence of bran particles did not negatively impact loaf volume, crumb hardness, springiness, and chewiness. Some defects were observed in glutinous and red rice bread. Fine flour exhibited better baking performance than semi-coarse flour. Glutinous flour has the potential to become an ingredient in gluten-free baking. The applicability of various black and red rice flours may be limited by the flavor and the taste.
Growth Dynamic and Threshold Values for Spermicidal Effects of Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria in Extended Boar Semen

The aim of this study was first to examine the prevalence of bacteria-associated loss of sperm quality in samples from insemination centers during a seven-year semen monitoring program and, second, to investigate the growth dynamic of four different multidrug-resistant bacterial species and their impact on sperm quality during semen storage. A reduced sperm quality associated with bacterial contamination was found in 0.5% of 3219 of the samples from insemination centers. In samples spiked with Serratia marcescens and Klebsiella oxytoca, bacterial growth by six log levels was seen during storage at 17 °C, causing loss of sperm motility, membrane integrity, membrane fluidity, and mitochondrial membrane potential at >107 CFU/mL (p < 0.05). Storage at 5 °C in the Androstar Premium extender efficiently inhibited their growth. Achromobacter xylosoxidans and Burkholderia cepacia showed limited growth up to two log levels at 17 °C and did not impair sperm quality. In conclusion, spermatozoa tolerate moderate loads of multidrug-resistant bacteria, and hypothermic, antibiotic-free semen storage effectively limits bacterial growth. The constant use of antibiotics in semen extenders should be reconsidered.
On the “Downward Control” of Extratropical Diabatic Circulations by Eddy-Induced Mean Zonal Forces

Abstract The situation considered is that of a zonally symmetric model of the middle atmosphere subject to a given quasi-steady zonal force F, conceived to be the result of irreversible angular momentum transfer due to the upward propagation and breaking of Rossby and gravity waves together with any other dissipative eddy effects that may be relevant. The model's diabatic heating is assumed to have the qualitative character of a relaxation toward some radiatively determined temperature field. To the extent that the force F may be regarded as given, and the extratropical angular momentum distribution is realistic, the extratropical diabatic mass flow across a given isentropic surface may be regarded as controlled exclusively by the F distribution above that surface (implying control by the eddy dissipation above that surface and not, for instance, by the frequency of tropopause folding below). This “downward control” principle expresses a critical part of the dynamical chain of cause and effect governin.
The Relationship between Financial Literacy and Income Structure of Rural Farm Households: Evidence from Jiangsu, China

Improving the income of rural residents is a requirement for poverty alleviation in all countries. Based on China Land Economic Survey (CLES) 2021 data, this paper investigates the homogenous and heterogeneous relations between financial literacy and the income structure of rural farm households. It finds that financial literacy is significantly related to farmers’ income levels, which still holds after the robustness testing. Regarding the structure of household income, financial literacy has a more profound association with farmers’ property income than wage income. Moreover, it has a relatively weak impact on transfer income with significance. Financial literacy has a more significant role in increasing the income of farmers with higher income levels than lower income levels. Moreover, it has different impacts on the income structure of different income groups. Therefore, this paper suggests that the government should co-operate with county-seated financial institutions to provide farmers with regular financial literacy education.
Rapamycin Treatment Alleviates Chronic GVHD-Induced Lupus Nephritis in Mice by Recovering IL-2 Production and Regulatory T Cells While Inhibiting Effector T Cells Activation

In this study, we test the therapeutic effects of rapamycin in a murine model of SLE-like experimental lupus nephritis induced by chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD). Our results suggest that rapamycin treatment reduced autoantibody production, inhibited T lymphocyte and subsequent B cell activation, and reduced inflammatory cytokine and chemokine production, thereby protecting renal function and alleviating histological lupus nephritis by reducing the occurrence of albuminuria. To explore the potential mechanism of rapamycin’s reduction of kidney damage in mice with lupus nephritis, a series of functional assays were conducted. As expected, rapamycin remarkably inhibited the lymphocytes’ proliferation within the morbid mice. Interestingly, significantly increased proportions of peripheral CD4+FOXP3+ and CD4+CD25high T cells were observed in rapamycin-treated group animals, suggesting an up-regulation of regulatory T cells (Tregs) in the periphery by rapamycin treatment. Furthermore, consistent with the results regarding changes in mRNA abundance in kidney by real-time PCR analysis, intracellular cytokine staining demonstrated that rapamycin treatment remarkably diminished the secretion of Th1 and Th2 cytokines, including IFN-γ, IL-4 and IL-10, in splenocytes of the morbid mice. However, the production of IL-2 from splenocytes in rapamycin-treated mice was significantly higher than in the cells from control group animals. These findings suggest that rapamycin treatment might alleviate systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)-like experimental lupus nephritis through the recovery of IL-2 production, which promotes the expansion of regulatory T cells while inhibiting effector T cell activation. Our studies demonstrated that, unlike other commonly used immunosuppressants, rapamycin does not appear to interfere with tolerance induction but permits the expansion and suppressive function of Tregs in vivo.
Size Distribution of Portuguese Firms between 2006 and 2012

This study aims to describe the size distribution of Portuguese firms, as measured by annual sales and total assets, between 2006 and 2012, giving an economic interpretation for the time evolution of the distribution. Three distributions are fitted to data: the lognormal, the Zipf and the Simplified Canonical Law (SCL). Methods of estimation include Maximum Likelihood, modified Ordinary Least Squares in log-log scale and Nonlinear Least Squares considering the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. Lognormal and Zipf distributions can be justified from the Gibrat's law and, in Zipf case a constraint must be added, for instance, on the minimum size of firms. As for SCL, firstly presented by Mandelbrot in the context of linguistics, the argument used to deduce the distribution of words frequency in texts is adapted to the distribution of firms. This is done by defining production units which can be glued to constitute firms so that the network of firms can be used flexibly to satisfy the most diverse needs in the economy in the less costly way and reducing at the maximum the delay in achieving it. For this distribution, different interpretations of the estimated parameters found in the literature are confronted and discussed in the light of data. Using this interpretation, we attempt to find a characterization of the Portuguese economic activity rhythm, diversity of activity sectors and competition. Diversity is captured by an entropy measure at different levels of aggregation and not just at the higher level as is usually done in literature. The interrelations between these economic characteristics and others, such as the level of concentration of firm size distribution, are reassembled from literature and confronted. Analyzing entropy at different levels of aggregation allows verifying how the evolution of activity rhythm can have a distinct impact in diversity at those different levels.