Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vegetative and reproductive performance of maize to nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers in Plinthic Acrisol and Gleyic Plinthic Acrisol

Abstract Soil specific maize response to N and P may provide guidelines for improving nutrient management. Three replicates of N and P fertilizer combinations (N0P0, N0P90, N120P0, and N120P90) were arranged in randomized complete block design on Plinthic Acrisol (PA) and Gleyic Plinthic Acrisol (GPA) in Ghana. Treatment effects on maize plant height and yield parameters were assessed. Plant height differed consistently with N120P90 > N0P90 > N120P0/N0P0 from 3 to 7 weeks after planting on the GPA. On the GPA, grain yield ranged from 1.20 to 2.40 t ha−1 and increased by 10, 77 and 95% in the N120P0, N0P90 and N120P90, respectively. Residual effect of N0P90 and N120P90 increased maize yields on the GPA than on the PA. Rather than N, P was more critical to maize performance and should be externally supplied not exceeding the critical level of N0P60 (Plinthic Acrisol) and N0P90 (Gleyic Plinthic Acrisol) for optimum maize yield.
Effect of tempering approach following cross-flow drying on rice milling yields

Abstract Three tempering approaches were followed after drying rough rice at 16.3% and 20.5% initial moisture contents (IMCs) using 57 °C/13% RH air at an airflow of 0.56 (m3/s)/m2 for 30, 60, and 90 min in an experimentally simulated cross-flow drying column. For the longer drying durations, post-tempering head rice yields were consistently less when the interstitial air from rice from different cross sections of the drying column was allowed to “interact” during tempering than when the rice from these different cross sections was tempered separately; this effect was more prominent at the greater rice IMC. RH of the interstitial air during tempering was measured and used to estimate the minimum tempering durations required for the different tempering approaches.
Reactivity of Sedimentary and Metamorphic Limestones of Different Particle Sizes under Controlled Conditions

ABSTRACT The efficiency of limestone in amending soil acidity is primarily based on the particle size and the neutralization value of the ground rock, but the origin of the rock can also affect its reactivity. The aim of this work was to evaluate, under controlled conditions, the efficiency of the reactivity of sedimentary limestones of different particle sizes in neutralizing soil acidity. The experiment was conducted using a clayey and a sandy soil, and the treatments consisted of four samples of a sedimentary limestone (with the same neutralization values but different particle sizes), two metamorphic limestones and an untreated control. In the first months of incubation, the sedimentary limestones demonstrated higher soil amelioration abilities than the metamorphic limestones, but all samples used in the study achieved the goal of neutralizing soil acidity to desired values: a base saturation (BS) of ~70% and a pH > 6.0. In sedimentary limestones, the availability of calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) was more closely related to the levels of Ca oxide (CaO) in the amendment than to the size of the particles. The results of this study suggest that the currently used equation may underestimate the reactivity of certain limestones.
MIF-173G>C Polymorphism and Susceptibility to Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Iraq

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a parasitic disease transmitted by biting of the sandfly; it is a severe health problem in many regions of the world. The disease is endemic in Iraq and other countries. In Iraq, there are two main species of the genus Leishmania causing the infection: L. tropica and L. major. Previous studies suggested that a genetic makeup of host also had an essential role in the outcome of the disease. The present study investigated the association between CL and functionally active polymorphisms in the macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF gene). Samples of peripheral blood were collected from 60 patients with CL and 32 apparently healthy controls. MIF173G>C polymorphism was detected in patients and control groups by polymerase chain reactionrestriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique. There was no statistically significant difference in the MIF-173G>C polymorphism between the CL patients and the healthy controls (P = 0.234), as well as no association between MIF-173G>C polymorphisms and CL; the frequency of allele C showed a trend towards lower frequency in patients as compared to that observed in the control group (P = 0.512).
Non-exponential decay kinetics: correct assessment and description illustrated by slow luminescence of Si nanostructures

Abstract The treatment of time-resolved (TR) photoluminescence (PL) decay kinetics is analysed in details and illustrated by experiments on semiconductor quantum dots, namely silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs). We consider the mono-, stretch- and multi-exponential as well as lognormal (LN) and some complex decay models for continuous and discrete distribution of rates (lifetimes). A particular attention is devoted to the thorough analysis of non-exponential decay kinetics. We explicitly show that a LN distribution of emitter sizes may results in LN distribution of decay rates. On the other hand, the distribution of rates cannot be, strictly speaking, Levy stable distribution (that results in the stretched-exponential decay). We introduce theoretical background and derive expressions to calculate the average decay lifetimes for some common decays with practical examples of their applications. Experimental aspects are discussed with special attention devoted to the major problems of the accurate TR PL data treatment, including background uncertainty, pulse duration, system response function etc. Finally, a thorough literature survey of TR PL in Si NCs is given. The methods and definitions outlined in this systematic review are applicable to various other material systems with slow decay like rare-earth and transition metal-doped materials, amorphous semiconductors, type-II heterostructures, singlet oxygen phosphorescence etc.
Étude de l'eau d'hydratation des cations compensateurs de smectite homoioniques

L'etude quantitative par spectrometrie infrarouge de l'eau residuelle de smectites homoioniques saturees par des cations alcalins et alcalino-terreux a permis de doser les differents types d'eau apres les avoir caracterises par leur coefficient d'extinction integre. ; Une relation lineaire entre l'intensite absolue A 3 microns de la bande de vibration de valence de l'eau residuelle et le champ electrique des cations hydrates est mise en evidence. Elle rend compte de la perturbation provoquee par le cation sur les molecules d'eau de son enveloppe d'hydratation.
Increased mitochondrial distribution in early-cleaving embryos indicate successful pre-implantation development

The timing of the first zygotic cleavage is an accurate predictor of embryo quality. Embryos that cleaved early have higher developmental viability compared to their late counterparts. During embryonic development, cleavage is affected by cellular metabolic processes performed by mitochondria and its synergistic interaction with endoplasmic reticulum (ER). However, in depth study on differences of mitochondria and ER ultrastructures in early- cleaving (EC) versus late- cleaving (LC) embryos is limited. This study compares mitochondria and ER ultrastructures of EC versus LC embryos using Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Embryos were obtained from female ICR superovulated mice, 28-30 hours post hCG. Two-cell embryos were categorized as early-cleaving (EC), while zygotes with the second polar body and two pronuclei present were categorized as late-cleaving (LC). The LC embryos were cultured in vitro until the 2- cell stage. In EC embryos, mitochondria were mostly found at the perinuclear region and closely associated with dense ER. Meanwhile, mitochondria of LC embryos were distributed uniformly within the cytoplasm. Mitochondrial fluorescence intensity was significantly higher in EC versus LC [(18.7 ± 0.4) versus (14.6 ± 0.4)] x 105 pixel, (p<0.01). Development to the blastocyst stage was also significantly higher in EC compared to LC embryos (96.7% versus 60.9%) (p<0.01). Higher viability of EC embryos is attributed to the close association of their mitochondria to ER. This contributed to better mitochondrial fission, resulting in enhanced energy generating processes and preimplantation development.
Decision rules in the perception and categorization of multidimensional stimuli.

This article examines decision processes in the perception and categorization of stimuli constructed from one or more components. First, a general perceptual theory is used to formally characterize large classes of existing decision models according to the type of decision boundary they predict in a multidimensional perceptual space. A new experimental paradigm is developed that makes it possible to accurately estimate a subject's decision boundary in a categorization task. Three experiments using this paradigm are reported. Three conclusions stand out: (a) Subjects adopted deterministic decision rules, that is, for a given location in the perceptual space, most subjects always gave the same response; (b) subjects used decision rules that were nearly optimal; and (c) the only constraint on the type of decision bound that subjects used was the amount of cognitive capacity it required to implement. Subjects were not constrained to make independent decisions on each component or to attend to the distance to each prototype. Whenever an organism voluntarily responds to a stimulus, some decision process must evaluate the available perceptual and cognitive information and select an appropriate response. Decision processes are therefore of fundamental importance in all areas of psychology. In fact, even if one's interest is at some other level, an understanding of decision processes is vital. For example, most experimental paradigms that study perceptual processes in human subjects require voluntary overt responding and thus involve decision as well as perceptual processing. These two separate processes are not usually directly observable, but both must be understood before a complete description of human behavior in perceptual tasks is possible. In this article, we study decision processes in perception. Specifically, we focus on decision rules in the perception and categorization of stimuli constructed from one or more stimulus components. Many such rules have been described in the literature. One difficulty in testing between them is that they are described in the languages of different theoretical perspectives and so are difficult to compare. We begin by describing a very general perceptual theory that enables us to characterize virtually all possible decision rules in a way that makes them simple to compare. We then introduce an experimental procedure that allows direct and detailed observation of the decision process in a categorization task. When the Parts of this research were presented at the 1983 Meetings of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, Illinois, and at the Seventeenth Annual Mathematical Psychology Meetings at the University of Chicago. Some of this research was conducted at Ohio State
Antioxidant and antibacterial activities of modified crab shell bioactive peptides by Maillard reaction

ABSTRACT In this study, crab shell bioactive peptides were heated with fructose. The antioxidant and antibacterial activities of the crab shell bioactive peptides and the derived Maillard reaction products were evaluated. The results showed that fructose modification was helpful in increasing the antioxidant activity and brought strong antibacterial activity to the crab shell bioactive peptides. The increase of antioxidant activity was a positive correlation with the fructose concentration and pH. And the increase of antibacterial activity was a positive correlation with the reaction pH. In addition, as suggested by the result of molecular weight distribution, the active components in the Maillard reaction product might be the 2–5 kDa fractions. The results indicated that the Maillard reaction was a very effective method for improving the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of bioactive peptides.
QSPR Prediction of Chromatographic Retention Times of Tea Compounds by Bioplastic Evolution

Structure-property relationships model the ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatographic retention times of tea compounds. Bioplastic evolution presents a viewpoint in evolutionary science. It conjugates the result of acquired characters and associations rising between three rules: evolutionary indeterminacy , morphological determination , and natural selection . It is used to propose the co-ordination index, which is utilized to describe the retentions of tea constituents. In molecules, three properties allow computing the co-ordination descriptor: the molar formation enthalpy, molecular weight, and surface area. The result of dissimilar kinds of characteristics is examined: thermodynamic, steric , geometric, lipophilic, etc. The features are molar formation enthalpy, molecular weight, hydrophobic solvent-accessible surface area, decimal logarithm of the 1-octanol/water partition coefficient, etc. in linear and quadratic associations. The formation enthalpy, molecular weight, hydrophobic surface, partition, etc. differentiate the molecular structures of tea components. Feeble quadratic associations result between partition, hydrophobic surface and retention. The morphological and co-ordination descriptors complete the associations. energies total
Novel fabrication of porous titanium by a resin-impregnated titanium substitution technique for bone reconstruction

The purpose of this study was to develop a novel porous titanium material with superior mechanical strength and osteoconduction for bone reconstruction. Porous titanium samples were fabricated by titanium-slurry impregnate to prepare urethane forms with several porosities (high-porosity; 92%, middle-porosity; 85% and low-porosity; 65%). Porous HA (mean porosity; 75.3%) was used as a control. To evaluate the characteristics of these materials, we performed porosity measurements, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), three-point bending testing, and cell proliferation assays. To evaluate the osteoconduction ability, porous titanium was placed into the femurs of rabbits and histological and histomorphometric evaluations were performed after 3 weeks. In SEM images, porous three-dimensional structures were observed in all samples. The bending strength significantly increased as porosity increased (Ti-65 > Ti-85 > porous HA > Ti-92, P < 0.05; respectively). Ti-65, Ti-85, and porous HA showed good cell proliferation. Newly formed bone was observed in the central portion of Ti-65, Ti-85, and porous HA. Ti-92 was mainly detected in the bone marrow tissue. The bone formation areas of Ti-65, Ti-85, and porous HA were significantly higher than that of Ti-92 (P < 0.05). It was suggested that novel developed porous titanium composed of Ti-65 and Ti-85 showed superior mechanical strength and osteoconduction.
Nitrogen oxide removal by non-thermal plasma for marine diesel engines

The transportation industry plays an important role in the world economy. Diesel engines are still widely used as the main power generator for trucks, heavy machinery and ships. Removal technology for nitrogen oxides in diesel exhaust are of great concern. In this paper, a gas supply system for simulating the marine diesel engine exhaust is set up. An experimental study on exhaust denitration is carried out by using a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor to generate non-thermal plasma (NTP). The power efficiency and the denitration efficiency of different gas components by NTP are discussed. The exhaust gas reaction mechanism is analyzed. The application prospects of NTP are explored in the field of diesel exhaust treatment. The experimental results show that the power efficiency and energy density (ED) increase with the input voltage for this system, and the power efficiency is above 80% when the input voltage is higher than 60 V. The removal efficiency of NO is close to 100% by NTP in the NO/N2 system. For the NO/O2/N2 system, the critical oxygen concentration (COC) increases with NO concentration. The O2 concentration plays a decisive role in the denitration performance of the NTP. H2O contributes to the oxidative removal of NO, and NH3 improves the removal efficiency at low ED while slightly reducing the denitration performance at high ED. CO2 has little effect on NTP denitration performance, but as the ED increases, the generated CO gradually increases. When simulating typical diesel engine exhaust conditions, the removal efficiency increases first and then decreases with the increase of ED in the NO/O2/CO2/H2O/N2 system. After adding NH3, the removal efficiency of NOx reaches up to 40.6%. It is necessary to add reducing gas, or to combine the NTP technology with other post treatment technologies such as SCR catalysts or wet scrubbing, to further increase the NTP denitration efficiency.
Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activity of Aloe vera from the Pica Oasis (Tarapacá, Chile) by UHPLC-Q/Orbitrap/MS/MS

The chemical composition of Aloe vera growing in the small town of San Andrés de Pica, an oasis of warm waters and typical fruits, located in Tamarugal province in the Northern Chilean region of Tarapacá is reported. The chemical characterization was performed using liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled to PDA and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HESI-Q-Orbitrap®-MS) in four different plant parts of Aloe (peel, flowers, gel, and roots). Twenty-five phenolic compounds were identified, including cinnamic acids and other derivatives (e.g., caffeic and chlorogenic acids), chromones (e.g., aloesin and isoaloeresin D), anthracene compounds and derivatives (e.g., aloin A/B and emodin), and several C-flavonoids (e.g., orientin and isovitexin), among others. Total antioxidant activity of the ethanolic extracts of the peels, flowers, gel, and roots was measured as the capturing of the DPPH• and ABTS•+ radicals, while the iron-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) was measured by spectroscopic methods. The peel had the highest antioxidant activity with values of 2.43 mM ET/g MF (DPPH•), 34.32 mM ET/g MF (ABTS•+), and 3.82 mM ET/g MF (FRAP). According to our results, the peel is the best part of the plant for the production of nutraceuticals or cosmetics products for its greatest number of bioactive compounds. This is a new and innovative finding since the only part used in traditional medicine is the gel of Aloe, and the peel is generally considered waste and discarded.
Consumer perception of water quality during an off-flavor event in Fortaleza-Brazil

During a taste and odor episode (2-methylisoborneol) in a reservoir that supplies the Fortaleza Metropolitan Region, Brazil, two surveys were conducted to determine tap water usage behavior as well as the sensory sensitivity towards off-flavors of participants with the same level of education. Most volunteers did not consume tap water, mainly due to safety concerns (57%) and disagreeable organoleptics (21%). The majority of those who did use tap water (73%) did so because of economic reasons and the remainder because of the use of point-of-use water filtration systems, which rendered the water safer in their perception. The Human Development Index (HDI), as a measure of income, did not influence the rate of rejection. Volunteers from low and medium HDI neighborhoods were as likely to reject tap water as those from high HDI neighborhoods. Chlorine flavor and earthy flavor were the most perceived off-flavors. Water containing moderate amounts of off-flavor compounds (dilution 1:2 tap/bottled water) was considered ‘acceptable’ by volunteers while water containing low concentrations (dilution 1:5 tap/bottled water) was considered ‘good’.
Vibrational Effects in X-ray Absorption Spectra of Two-Dimensional Layered Materials

With the examples of the C K-edge in graphite and the B K-edge in hexagonal boron nitride, we demonstrate the impact of vibrational coupling and lattice distortions on the X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) in two-dimensional layered materials. Theoretical XANES spectra are obtained by solving the Bethe–Salpeter equation of many-body perturbation theory, including excitonic effects through the correlated motion of the core hole and excited electron. We show that accounting for zero-point motion is important for the interpretation and understanding of the measured X-ray absorption fine structure in both materials, in particular for describing the σ*-peak structure.
Ultrahigh‐Capacity and Fire‐Resistant LiFePO4‐Based Composite Cathodes for Advanced Lithium‐Ion Batteries

The growing demand for advanced energy storage devices with high energy density and high safety has continuously driven the technical upgrades of cell architectures as well as electroactive materials. Designing thick electrodes with more electroactive materials is a promising strategy to improve the energy density of lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) without alternating the underlying chemistry. However, the progress toward thick, high areal capacity electrodes is severely limited by the sluggish electronic/ionic transport and easy deformability of conventional electrodes. A self‐supported ultrahigh‐capacity and fire‐resistant LiFePO4 (UCFR‐LFP)‐based nanocomposite cathode is demonstrated here. Benefiting from the structural and chemical uniqueness, the UCFR‐LFP electrodes demonstrate exceptional improvements in electrochemical performance and mass loading of active materials, and thermal stability. Notably, an ultrathick UCFR‐LFP electrode (1.35 mm) with remarkably high mass loading of active materials (108 mg cm−2) and areal capacity (16.4 mAh cm−2) is successfully achieved. Moreover, the 1D inorganic binder‐like ultralong hydroxyapatite nanowires (HAP NWs) enable the UCFR‐LFP electrode with excellent thermal stability (structural integrity up to 1000 °C and electrochemical activity up to 750 °C), fire‐resistance, and wide‐temperature operability. Such a unique UCFR‐LFP electrode offers a promising solution for next‐generation LIBs with high energy density, high safety, and wide operating‐temperature window.
Influence of Feed Form and Particle Size on Gizzard, Intestinal Morphology and Microbiota Composition of Broiler Chicken

Feed structure (particle size) and form (mash, pellets) play very important roles in ensuring the optimal utilization of nutrients by determining the level of feed intake. Modern meat type birds have high appetite for food therefore their FI should be well studied to ensure the realization of their full genetic potential. Pellets consist of ground feed that has been compressed and molded in a pellet mill. Pelleting binds the individual ingredients together to make a whole feed and prevents selective feeding therefore ensuring that all the animals are given well balanced diets. Mash is the nutritionally complete poultry diet in a ground form. The quality of the mash is assessed by the size and uniformity of its particles. Feeding broilers on mash diets have positive effect on gizzard development than feeding pelleted diets by increasing the relative weight. There is proper stimulation by the feed ensuring the optimum function of the gizzard when mash diets are fed. Birds fed pelleted diets have lower length and weight of the duodenum, jejunum, ileum and caeca than those fed mash diets but the villus height and crypt depth of birds fed pelleted diets are higher compared with those fed mash diet. The microbiota composition promotes healthy immune system and growth.