Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evidence for Ice Particle Multiplication from In-Situ Measurements

Environment Canada has made in-situ measurements in cold stratiform cloud layers for many years. Evidence has accumulated showing that ice multiplication, or a secondary ice formation process, probably occurs quite often in clouds containing both liquid water and ice, and those containing only ice. Based on statistical summaries of large data sets where many processes might be operating, ice particle concentrations appear to be much higher than can be explained by conventional ice nucleus measurements, and the ice particle number concentration appear to be the same over a wide temperature range (Korolev et al., 2000; Gultepe et al. 2001; Field et al, 2005). Ice particle size spectra consistently show larger numbers of particles at smaller sizes, suggesting that small particles are being produced continuously (Boudala et al., 2002). There are measurement issues associated with ice particles shattering off probe parts and these artifacts being counted (Korolev and Isaac, 2005; Isaac et al., 2006). However, the bulk of the evidence points to the fact that ice multiplication must be occurring in the atmosphere over a wide temperature range, or if secondary ice formation is highly temperature dependent, there must be an efficient redistribution system.
Aetio-pathological profile of anaemic children belonging to upper socioeconomic society in a tertiary care hospital of North India

Introduction: Anaemia is a major public health problem especially in the preschool age group. It is rampant even in children of upper and middle classes of the society.Objectives: To study the aetio-pathology of anaemia in children belonging to upper and upper middle socio-economic scale and to correlate it with their nutritional status. Method: It was a cross-sectional descriptive study on 165 preschool children aged 6-59 months who presented with pallor on clinical examination. They were advised to undergo a complete haemogram and further specific tests as required. Results: The most common cause of anaemia was nutritional, including iron deficiency (92%), combined iron and B12 deficiency (2%) and isolated B12 deficiency (0.6%). Thalassaemia was the next common cause (3%) followed by B-acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (1%) and microangiopathic haemolytic anaemia (0.6%). Maternal education and nutritional awareness had positive correlation with anaemia. Majority of children were normally nourished despite being anaemic, However, undernourished children were more severely anaemic. Conclusions: Nutritional anaemia is the commonest cause of anaemia even in children belonging to higher socio-economic classes.
Revising the Geological Time Scale: A CONOP9 Graptolite Composite from the Middle Ordovician Rocks of Newfoundland

The Geological Time Scale is a fundamental tool for geoscientists that is revised and republished every eight years. It is a representation of the geologic record a system composed of radioisotope dates interpolated into fossil successions that can be used to correlate rocks. The current Geologic Time Scale for the Ordovician Period (GTS 2012) is composed of a sequence of species ranges from a group of fossils called graptolites with interpolated radiometric dates. Building a global geologic time scale requires correlating between different biofacies. In this thesis I will attempt to combine stratigraphic range data from different kinds of Ordovician fossils in order to improve the precision and usefulness of the Ordovician time scale. I will conduct field studies to make new, detailed fossil collections and use these in conjunction with already published literature. In particular I will look for unusual co-occurrences of both types of fossils on single bedding planes, which have been reported in the geologic literature from Newfoundland. I plan to use the computer-assisted graphic correlation program CONOP9 to create composite taxon ranges from many localities based on the first and last appearance data for each species and then construct a more precise correlation network between sections that represent disparate biofacies. This correlation network can be used in the revision of the Ordovician Time Scale for 2020. Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr. Goldman, my advisor. Without his advice and help, I would never have been able to complete this research project. I would also like to thank the University of Dayton Geology Department, and the University of Dayton Honors Program for funding this research.
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CARBON EMISSIONS IN THE ECOLOGICAL ZONES OF NIGERIA

Carbon dioxide concentrations have risen in recent years. The increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide which has been linked to the onset of the industrial revolution has been largely responsible for the observed changes in the climate worldwide. This study examined the spatial emission of carbon from the different ecological zones in Nigeria and the relationship with vegetation health. Monthly data (January-December) of Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and carbon data set of 500 m spatial resolution between year 2000 and 2012 for Nigeria were utilized for the study. The images were extracted from the archives of the National Earth Observatory. Zonal statistics of ArcGIS 10.1 software was employed to extract data of carbon emission and NDVI. Spearman’s correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between carbon emission and NDVI. The results showed that carbon emission ranged between 13.87 ppm and 256.89 ppm with the highest found in the fresh water swamp (142.15±60.00 ppm) and the least in sudan savanna (108.07±29.7 ppm). The forest zones had NDVI ranging between 0.35-0.80 while savanna zone recorded between 0.16 and 0.59. Results further showed that carbon emission contributes to NDVI depletion. (r=-0.48, p<0.05). Overall, there appear to be decline in vegetation health in Nigeria while the emission of carbon gradually increased during the study period. This study provides an opportunity to identify carbon sources so that adequate provision can be made for effective mitigation strategies to forestall the adverse impacts of climate change in a developing country.
Observation of CP violation in B ± → D K ± decays ✩

An analysis of B ± → DK ± and B ± → D π ± decays is presented where the D meson is reconstructed in the two-body ﬁnal states: K ± π ∓ , K + K − and π + π − . Using 1.0 fb − 1 of √ s = 7 TeV pp collisions, measurements of several observables are made including the ﬁrst observation of the suppressed mode B ± → [ π ± K ∓ ] D K ± . CP violation in B ± → DK ± decays is observed with 5 . 8 σ signiﬁcance. © 2012 CERN. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Are populations like a circuit? The relationship between isolation by distance and isolation by resistance

A number of methods commonly used in landscape genetics use an analogy to electrical resistance on a network to describe and fit barriers to movement across the landscape using genetic distance data. These are motivated by a mathematical equivalence between electrical resistance between two nodes of a network and the “commute time”, which is the mean time for a random walk on that network to leave one node, visit the other, and return. However, genetic data are more accurately modeled by a different quantity, the coalescence time. Here, we describe the differences between resistance distance and coalescence time, and explore the consequences for inference. We implement a Bayesian method to infer effective movement rates and population sizes under both these models, and find that inference using commute times can produce misleading results in the presence of biased gene ow. We then use orwards-time simulation with continuous geography to demonstrate that coalescence-based inference remains more accurate than resistance-based methods on realistic data, but dififculties highlight the need for methods that explicitly model continuous, heterogeneous geography.
The uses and gratifications of social media and their impact on social relationships and psychological well-being

This study aims to find the antecedents that lead to the adoption of social media among adults and older adults in Thailand and the impact it has on their social relationships and psychological well-being. It puts forward the uses and gratifications theory focusing on purposive value, self-discovery, entertainment value, social enhancement, and maintaining interpersonal connectivity. A survey comprising of 1,176 participants was undertaken in Bangkok, Thailand. The results of the structural equation modeling show that purposive value, entertainment value, social enhancement, and maintaining interpersonal connectivity had a positive relationship with social media usage, while self-discovery showed a negative relationship. Social media use seemed to positively affect both the social relationships and psychological well-being of their users. The discussions and conclusions included here describe how this occurs, as well as the academic and practical implications that follow from them.
Lettuce Tipburn as Related to Nutrient Imbalance and Nitrogen Composition1

Preliminary analyses of lettuce showed that leaves with tipburn necrosis contained less Ca, and more organic N, particularly free amino acids, than normal leaves. A susceptible head lettuce, ‘Great Lakes 659’, was grown under varying NO3, Ca, Mg, and light intensities in the greenhouse and growth chambers. Tipburn was easily induced by a high NO3 and low Ca nutritional regime. Five mM or more Ca in the nutrient solution prevented tipburn. Necrosis was aggravated by high Mg levels and high light intensities. This disorder was associated with an accumulation of free amino acids, particularly aspartic and glutamic acids, and their amides.
Development of stem cracks in young hybrid aspen plantations

Abstract Cracks expose wood to fungal infections that significantly affects wood quality, while rapid wound occlusion decreases probability of infections. Assessment of scars was done at four grade scale in three adjacent hybrid aspen trials at the age of 8-10 years in central part of Latvia three years after bark crack occurrence. Occluded wounds were found for 95% of damaged trees, regardless of tree age. Among trees that had cracks wider than 1 cm, 42% had uniformly healed bark, but 7% still had open wounds. Wound development was significantly affected by crack width and length (both p < 0.001), but had no clear relation with tree DBH (diameter at breast height) and relative DBH increment (both p > 0.05). At clonal mean level, scar grade was significantly affected by grade of crack three years earlier and clone (both p < 0.001), but mean DBH of clone had no relation (p > 0.05) to proportion of trees evaluated by any of the scar grades. The results suggest that three years after the bark crack formation most of them had successfully occluded and selection of clones with better diameter growth has no influence on development of cracks.
Responses of Streamflow to Climate Change and Human Activities in a River Basin, Northeast China

It is now common knowledge that many water resources stresses relate to access to water within a basin. Yi River Basin, a typical river basin characterized by intensive agricultural processes, significant population growth, and water management, has been undergoing grave water problems. In this paper, the long-term trend of precipitation and streamflow in Yi River Basin, from 1964 to 2010, was investigated via Mann-Kendall test. The change point occurred in the year 1965 dividing the long-term series into two periods. Climate elasticity method and linear regression method were implemented to quantify the impact of precipitation and human activities on runoff and presented basically consistent results of the percentage change in an annual runoff for the postchange period. The results reveal that the decline of annual runoff in postchange period is mainly attributed to precipitation variability of 53.66–58.25% and human activities of 46.34–41.74%, as estimated by climate elasticity method and linear regression method, respectively. This study detected the changes in the precipitation-streamflow relationship and investigated the possible causes in the Yi River, which will be helpful for providing a reference for the management of regional water resources.
DEVELOPMENT OF E-BOOKLET BASED ON PROBLEM BASED LEARNING ON ACID BASE MATERIAL FOR PROBLEM SOLVING ABILITY

Teaching materials are a source of learning for students. For this reason, efforts are needed to develop teaching materials that accommodate the needs of students in terms of ease of access, attractive presentation, and encouraging student activity. This research focuses on the development of electronic booklets (e-booklets) using the "problem-based learning (PBL)" model on acid-base materials. Research and Development (R&D) with the 4-D model consisting of define, design, and develop was used as this research method, but dissemination stages were not conducted because of limited research time. 34 purposively selected students of SMAN 21 Bekasi City were given a questionnaire to determine the need for e-booklet development at the define stage. Meanwhile, the questionnaire that had been developed at the development stage was validated by 4 experts. After the instrument was deemed feasible, the e-booklet was tested on 34 purposively selected students. The research findings showed that the percentage of the results of the trial of teaching materials to students was 81.53% with very good criteria. This study concludes that the teaching materials developed are suitable for use as a learning resource for students in solving problems on acid-base materials.
Evaluation of the operational performance of Karbala waste water treatment plant under variable flow using GPS-X model

As Karbala City is a religious tourism destination, millions of tourists visit the city annually, so there is a high fluctuation of flow in the wastewater between the plants during the year. The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Karbala, Iraq, in removing pollutants for different flow rates in five scenarios using the GPS-X model. The most important phase in modeling, which greatly impacts simulation accuracy, is characterizing the influent composition to meet the mass balance. As a result, the influent wastewater was initially described and thoroughly examined. The model has been calibrated, followed by the collected data’s validation. The sensitivity of different stoichiometric and kinetic factors in the GPS-X was examined and screened to calibrate the model. To demonstrate the consistency between the simulated and measured data, the route mean square error was used in this instance. The result showed that the Karbala WWTP complies with Iraqi environmental regulations for water discharged to surface water or water for other uses and has an appropriate efficiency of wastewater treatment even if the flow entering the plant reaches the peak flow rate of 180,000/day. An improvement in orthophosphate removal efficiency was observed as the flow rate increased because of the contact time in the anaerobic basins, which gradually decreased as the flow increased until it reached the appropriate time for PO 4 3 − {\text{PO}}_{4}^{3-} removal. The outcomes of the present study provide an impression to the operators of the treatment plant of the impact of fluctuating flow on the treatment plant. The developed model can also be used for future studies.
Effects of Fertilization Practices on the Metabolic Functions of Soil Microbial Communities under Subsurface Irrigation with Stalk Composite Pipe

To investigate the effect of nitrogen application and soil microbial activity on the decomposition process of stalk material in stalk composite pipes (SCPs) under subsurface irrigation with stalk composite pipes (SSI), in this study, a field experiment was conducted with two fertilization strategies—banding fertilization and SCP fertigation—at three nitrogen doses (126, 168, and 210 kg/ha), and the Biolog Ecoplate™ was employed to determine soil microbial activity. The results showed that under banding fertilization, the soil microbial activity at 20 cm subsoil and at the SCP wall increased with the increase in nitrogen dosage, ranging from 37.6% to 54.3% and from 21.5% to 23.7%, respectively. Under SCP fertigation, the soil microbial activity at 20 cm subsoil first showed a 58% surge, followed by a 3.9% decrease, with no significant variation in soil microbial activity at the SCP wall. Forty-five days later, the crude fiber content in the SCP wall under SCP fertigation was 17.6–26.3% lower than that under banding fertilization. Based on the comprehensive analysis of the soil microbial activity, SCP fertigation combined with high nitrogen application can accelerate the decay rate of straw in SCPs. This research can provide a reference for formulating irrigation and fertilization regimes for SSI.
Comparison of Cluster-Based Sampling Approaches for Imbalanced Data of Crashes Involving Large Trucks

Severe and fatal crashes involving large trucks result in significant social and economic losses for human society. Unfortunately, the notably low proportion of severe and fatal injury crashes involving large trucks creates an imbalance in crash data. Models trained on imbalanced crash data are likely to produce erroneous results. Therefore, there is a need to explore novel sampling approaches for imbalanced crash data, and it is crucial to determine the appropriate combination of a machine learning model, sampling approach, and ratio. This study introduces a novel cluster-based under-sampling technique, utilizing the k-prototypes clustering algorithm. After initial cluster-based under-sampling, the consolidated cluster-based under-sampled data set was further resampled using three different sampling approaches (i.e., adaptive synthetic sampling (ADASYN), NearMiss-2, and the synthetic minority oversampling technique + Tomek links (SMOTETomek)). Later, four machine learning models (logistic regression (LR), random forest (RF), gradient-boosted decision trees (GBDT), and the multi-layer perceptron (MLP) neural network) were trained and evaluated using the geometric mean (G-Mean) and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) scores. The findings suggest that cluster-based under-sampling coupled with the investigated sampling approaches improve the performance of the machine learning models developed on crash data significantly. In addition, the GBDT model combined with ADASYN or SMOTETomek is likely to yield better predictions than any model combined with NearMiss-2. Regarding changes in sampling ratios, increasing the sampling ratio with ADASYN and SMOTETomek is likely to improve the performance of models up to a certain level, whereas with NearMiss-2, performance is likely to drop significantly beyond a specific point. These findings provide valuable insights for selecting optimal strategies for treating the class imbalance issue in crash data.
Stabilization of Black Locust Flower Extract via Encapsulation Using Alginate and Alginate–Chitosan Microparticles

Black locust flower extract contains various polyphenols and their glucosides contribute to the potential health benefits. After intake of these bioactive compounds and passage through the gastrointestinal tract, their degradation can occur and lead to a loss of biological activity. To overcome this problem, the bioactive compounds should be protected from environmental conditions. This study aimed to encapsulate the black flower extract in the microparticles based on biodegradable polysaccharides, alginate, and chitosan. In the extract, the total antioxidant content was found to be 3.18 ± 0.01 g gallic acid equivalent per 100 g of dry weight. Also, the presence of lipids (16), phenolics (27), organic acids (4), L-aspartic acid derivative, questinol, gibberellic acid, sterol, and saponins (2) was confirmed using the UHPLC–ESI–MS analysis. In vitro assays showed that the extract has weak anti-α-glucosidase activity and moderate antioxidant and cytotoxic activity against the HeLa cell line. The extrusion method with secondary air flow enabled the preparation of microparticles (about 270 μm) encapsulated with extract. An encapsulation efficiency of over 92% was achieved in the alginate and alginate–chitosan microparticles. The swelling study confirmed a lower permeability of alginate–chitosan microparticles compared with alginate microparticles. For both types of microparticles, the release profile of antioxidants in the simulated gastrointestinal fluids at 37 °C followed the Korsmeyer–Peppas model. A lower diffusion coefficient than 0.5 indicated the simple Fick diffusion of antioxidants. The alginate–chitosan microparticles enabled a more sustained release of antioxidants from extract compared to the alginate microparticles. The obtained results indicated an improvement in the antioxidant activity of bioactive compounds from the extract and their protection from degradation in the simulated gastric conditions via encapsulation in the polymer matrixes. Alginate–chitosan showed slightly slower cumulative antioxidant release from microparticles and better antioxidant activity of the extract compared to the alginate system. According to these results, alginate–chitosan microparticles are more suitable for further application in the encapsulation of black locust flower extract. Also, the proposed polymer matrix as a drug delivery system is safe for human use due to its biodegradability and non-toxicity.
STUDIES ON COMBINING ABILITY AND HETEROSIS FOR YIELD, ITS COMPONENTS AND SOME GRAIN QUALITY TRAITS IN RICE USING LINE X TESTER UNDER NORMAL AND WATER DEFICIT

: Combining ability and heterosis were studied on 15 F1 hybrids and their parents to understand the inheritance of yield, its components and some grain quality traits for selecting superior genotypes. A line x tester mating design was conducted during 2021and 2022rice seasons at the Experimental Farm, of Sakha Research Station Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt. The results revealed that GCA and SCA were highly significant for all studied traits except grain shape under both conditions. 11 L236 genotype was the best general combiner for number of days to 50% heading, number of filled grains/panicle, sterility% and grain yield/plant under normal and water deficit conditions. Also Giza 178 was the best general combiner for number of panicles/plant, grain yield/plant and hulling % under both conditions while, IR6500-127, Giza 178 and GZ1368-S-5-4 for head rice % and for amylose content Lines 11 L236 and tester Nerica7 under both conditions were good combiners for this trait. Crosses IR 69432 x Nerica7, IR 69432 x GZ1368-S-5-4, IR 12G3213 x Giza178, IR 12G3222 x Giza178 and IR 12G3222 x Nerica7 had high and significant SCA in desirable direction for most studied traits under both condition. Crosses IR6500-127 x Nerica7, 11 L236 x GZ1368-S-5-4, IR69432 x Nerica7, IR 12G3213 x Nerica7, IR 12G3222 x GZ1368-S-5-4 and IR 12G3222 x Nerica7 exhibited highly significant and desirable estimates of heterosis as a deviation from mid and better parent for most studied traits under both conditions