Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Is It Smaller Than a Tennis Ball? Language Models Play the Game of Twenty Questions

Researchers often use games to analyze the abilities of Artificial Intelligence models. In this work, we use the game of Twenty Questions to study the world knowledge of language models. Despite its simplicity for humans, this game requires a broad knowledge of the world to answer yes/no questions. We evaluate several language models on this task and find that only the largest model has enough world knowledge to play it well, although it still has difficulties with the shape and size of objects. We also present a new method to improve the knowledge of smaller models by leveraging external information from the web. Finally, we release our dataset and Twentle, a website to interactively test the knowledge of language models by playing Twenty Questions.
Biosynthesis and Function of Modified Nucleosides

Modified nucleosides, which are derivatives of the four normal nucleosides, adenosine (A), guanosine (G), cytidine (C), and uridine (U), were found in nucleic acids as early as 1948. Modified nucleosides are contained in tRNA from all three phylogenetic domains—Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya—which were formerly called the kingdoms of archaebacteria, eubacteria, and eukaryotes, respectively. Although modified nucleosides are found in various positions in the tRNA, two positions, 34 and 37, contain the largest variety of modified nucleosides. This chapter presents an overview of the coding properties associated with modified nucleosides present in positions 34 and 37. Outside the anticodon, the modified nucleosides are usually “simple” modifications like methylated or thiolated derivatives, whereas all except one (archaeosine in tRNAs from Archaea) of the hypermodified nucleosides are present in the anticodon region and only in positions 34 and 37. Moreover, outside the anticodon region, only one or two kinds of modified nucleosides in each position are present, whereas a large variety of modified nucleosides are present in the anticodon region, especially in positions 34 and 37. During evolution, structural refinements of the individual tRNAs were presumably fulfilled by the evolution of the synthesis of the various modified nucleosides, including the hypermodified nucleoside. Modified nucleosides in the anticodon region exert their functions primarily in the decoding process, whereas modified nucleosides outside this region may primarily be involved in other tRNA interactions, such as interactions with translation factors or as sensors for environmental stress conditions.
Effect of delaying budburst on shoot development and yield of Vitis vinifera L. Chardonnay ‘Mendoza’ after a spring freeze event

Background and Aims: Spring freeze events can result in substantial grapevine yield losses in many parts of the world. Understanding vine responses following early spring freeze events will aid in the development of decision support systems for vineyards damaged by freezing temperatures. Methods and Results: The date of budburst of spur-pruned Chardonnay vines was manipulated by pruning time and/or the application of sodium alginate gel. A spring freeze event occurred at bud swell/woolly bud, killing 33% of the developing shoots. Treatments that delayed bud development expressed a lower incidence of freeze damage (as low as 3%). Where primary shoots had been killed, secondary shoots developed in their place. The yield from secondary shoots was 32% of that from primary shoots, with the majority of fruiting secondary shoots bearing only one bunch. Average bunch weight, number of berries per bunch and average berry weight of secondary shoots were comparable with those from primary shoots. Conclusions: The damage to primary shoots caused by early spring freeze events can be reduced by using treatments that delay bud development. Secondary shoots develop in response to death of the primary shoot, and although they have reduced fruitfulness, they can partially mitigate the potential yield losses associated with the death of primary shoots. Significance of the Study: The number and fruitfulness of secondary shoots that develop after a spring freeze event determine the extent of mitigation of yield losses associated with the death of primary shoots.
Do Portfolio Manager Contracts Contract Portfolio Management?

Most mutual fund managers have performance‐based contracts. Our theory predicts that mutual fund managers with asymmetric contracts and mid‐year performance close to their announced benchmark increase their portfolio risk in the second part of the year. As predicted by our theory, performance deviation from the benchmark decreases risk‐shifting only for managers with performance contracts. Deviation from the benchmark dominates incentives from the flow‐performance relation, suggesting that risk‐shifting is motivated more by management contracts than by a tournament to capture flows.
The impact of a predatory mite, Typhlodromalus aripo De Leon (Acari: Phytoseiidae) on cassava green mite population and yield of cassava in the field

The introduction of exotic phytoseiid mite, Typhlodromalus aripo in Africa as a biological control agent for cassava green mite (CGM) has been successful in the management of this pest in several countries where it is already established. In Kenya, T. aripo is already established in most areas where cassava is grown and reduced effect of CGM on cassava has been associated with it. Studies involving exclusion experiments have demonstrated the effect of T. aripo on CGM population on local and improved cassava varieties. The presence of T. aripo has been shown to reduce the abundance of CGM on cassava from approximately between 170180 actives to 70-100 actives per leaf. T. aripo has also been shown to have significantly affected the yield of two cassava varieties in the field. In plots without T. aripo, the mean fresh root yield for two varieties was approximately 20 t/ha lower than plots with T. aripo. These studies have demonstrated that T. aripo has the potential of increasing the cassava production in the country by reducing the yield losses associated with CGM, and it is effective in both local and improved varieties that have suitable plant characteristics for its habitation.
Official Development Assistance and Poverty Alleviation in Nigeria: An Error Correction Model Approach

This study is examined the relationship between official development assistance and poverty alleviation in Nigeria which majority of studies in the past have failed to explore. Consequently, the study utilized an error correction model to address its objective. The major findings in this study are as follows. There is a significant negative relationship between official development assistance and household consumption per capita in Nigeria. This implies that official development assistance has no capacity to alleviate the current worrisome level of poverty in this country. However, FDI contributes to poverty alleviation in Nigeria though not significant. Furthermore, 11% of the error caused by shock was corrected annually in the model. The study therefore makes these recommendations for the policy makers; whenever alleviation of poverty is the target of the policy makers in the country, the Nigerian government should be committed to the provision of conducive investment environment that can facilitate further inflows of FDI from the developed countries, especially G 7 and G 13 countries. Also, the policy makers in Nigeria should not compromise in tailoring official development assistance towards projects and programs that have trickle down effects on the masses in Nigeria.
Air pollution accountability of energy transitions: the relative importance of point source emissions and wind fields in exposure changes

Recent studies have sought epidemiological evidence of the effectiveness of energy transitions. Such evidence often relies on so-called ‘natural experiments’, wherein environmental and/or health outcomes are assessed before, during, and after the transition of interest. Often, these studies attribute air pollution exposure changes—either modeled or measured—directly to the transition. We formalize a framework for separating the fractions of a given exposure change attributable to meteorological variability and emissions changes. Using this framework, we quantify relative impacts of wind variability and emissions changes from coal-fired power plants on exposure to SO 2 emissions across the United States under three unique combinations of spatial-temporal and source scales. We find that the large emissions reductions achieved by United States coal-fired power plants after 2005 dominated population exposure changes. In each of the three case studies, however, we identified periods and regions in which meteorology dampened or accentuated differences in total exposure relative to exposure change expected from emissions reductions alone. The results evidence a need for separating meteorology-induced variability in exposure when attributing health impacts to specific energy transitions.
Hepatoprotective effect of diffractaic acid on carbon tetrachloride-induced liver damage in rats

This study was designed to investigate the hepatoprotective effect of diffractaic acid isolated from a lichen species, Usnea longissima, at 3 doses, 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg, against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced hepatic damage. For this purpose, 40 Wistar albino rats were divided in 5 groups, including 3 experimental and 2 control ones, and 0.2 mL/kg of CCl4 in olive oil (1:5 v/v) was injected daily for 6 weeks intraperitoneally. After the liver injury, diffractaic acid was applied at doses of 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg for 7 days. The group given physiologic saline (0.2 mL/kg) was used as a control group. Alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, creatinine, urea, direct and total bilirubin and C-reactive protein levels were also evaluated in the serum samples obtained from the rat groups. Liver tissues were removed and were examined histopathologically following staining with hematoxylin–eosin. The results showed that 50 mg/kg daily dose of diffractaic acid could be considered to have hepatoprotective effect by ameliorating the studied biochemical parameters and tissue histological structures. However, 100 and 200 mg/kg of diffractaic acid acted as hepatotoxin and did not show any hepatoprotective effect. Thus, diffractaic acid could be potentially used as a hepatoprotective agent at a low dose (50 mg/kg) against acute liver toxicity induced by CCl4.
Intra-Individual Variability in the Emergence of Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency in Speaking English at Secondary School: A Case Study of a Good, Average and Poor Language Learner

According to Complex Dynamic Systems Theory CDST, language is a complex dynamic system consisting of subsystems which show a lot of variability, especially during intensive development. Second language development is generally connected with an increase in complexity, accuracy and fluency but there are trade-offs within and between these language subcomponents. What is more, intra-individual variability, defined as differences in the level of developmental variables within individuals and between repeated measurements, is said to be an important developmental phenomenon. The aim of this article is to analyze the relationships between different measures of syntactic complexity, lexical complexity, accuracy and fluency, and to examine intra-individual variability with respect to the rate of development in longitudinal oral data provided by a good, average and poor language learner at the level of secondary school. Generally, the results of the study show some statistically significant differences between the learners in the development of these language subsystems but no such differences in intra-individual variability. Nevertheless, the study indicates a strong, positive correlation between the learners’ level of intra-individual variability and the rate of development of the language subsystems in speech at this level.
Pollution Shock and Firm Performance

This study examines the impact of air pollution shocks on consumer satisfaction and firm performance in the service sector. We show that air pollution shocks lead to an immediate decrease in consumer satisfaction, followed by a substantial rebound in consumer satisfaction for eight months after the haze completely dissipates. We employ sentiment analysis and topic modelling techniques to investigate the underlying mechanisms: the changes in consumers’ mood rather than decreases in service quality account for the decrease of review score during the haze shock, and an improvement in service quality restores consumer satisfaction after the pollution shocks. Our findings provide insights that managers need to effectively adjust their performance and strategies to mitigate the impact of environmental shocks.
Naturalne hydroksy- i chlorolaktony terpenoidowe : ich występowanie i właściwości

Wprowadzenie ABSTRACT The world around us is composed of a variety of organic compounds that form the animal and plant species. One of the larger groups amongst them are terpenoid compounds, either the structurally simplest monoterpenoids, or sesquiterpenoids containing several atoms or even di- and triterpenoids composed of several carbon atoms. Many of these compounds contain lactone moiety in their structure [1–27]. Equally often, a component of their structure is a hydroxyl group [1–23]. Some times, the structural element can also be a halogen atom [24–27]. Many of the hydroxylactones exhibit interesting biological properties, such as antimicrobial (Fig. 1, 2, 12, 13), [2, 3, 19, 21], cytotoxic (Fig. 4, 6, 8), [8, 12, 14], anti-inflammatory (Fig. 1, 4, 11, 14), [3, 9, 18, 22], anti-fungal (112 Fig. 13), [19, 21] or liver protection (Fig. 4, 9) [8, 15]. Some of these compounds also exist as flavoring or taste agents in food (Fig. 3, 10), [7, 16], inhibitors of overproduction nitrogen sulfide (5, 6, 11), [10, 12, 18] or pesticides (Fig. 2, 13), [6, 20]. Hydroxylactones are usually isolated from plants, in many cases, those that are used in traditional folk medicine (Fig. 1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 14, 15, 17), [1, 3, 8, 9, 12, 13, 15, 18, 22, 23, 25, 26], and sometimes from the other organisms, such as microorganisms or fungi (Fig. 2, 5), [6, 10]. Lactones that contain a chlorine atom in their structure, in addition to or instead of the hydroxy group usually have cytotoxic properties (16, 17), [15, 25, 27]. They are found in both land--based plants, mainly belonging to the family Asteraceae (Fig. 17) [25–27] as well as in marine organisms (Fig. 16), [24], in which the presence of chlorine atoms can be a result of the presence of salt (chloride) in seawater. The following article presents an overview of the various sources from which hydroxylactones and chlorolactones were isolated and also biological properties of these compounds.
Chemical Studies on Brown-spot Disease of Tobacco Plants:Part I. Tenuazonic Acid as a Vivotoxin of Alternaria longipes

It has well been known that Alternaria longipes (Ellis et Everhart) Mason causes brown-spot disease on tobacco plants. " The typical syndrome of the disease is the ap pearance of chlorosis zones around brown spots, so called "halos," where neither hyphae nor spores are observed. " On fields, symptoms appear at first only on lower or older leaves of plants. The brown spots become prevalent on all leaves late in the growing season of the hosts, and the disease has been considered a senescent one.3 4 Under natural conditions Alternaria longipes severely attacks only tobacco and some related Nicoliana plants and hardly shows any invasion into other species. """ Therefore, production
Aspect of osmotic-ions regulation in juvenile ship, Acipenser nudiventris (Lovetsky, 1828) in the southeast of Caspian Sea.

2 Abstract: Three ranges of salinity (fresh water (FW: 0.05). The Hct, MCV, MCHC, cortisol, osmolarity and ion concentration values did not return to initial values (p<0.05), showed that osmoregulatory processes caused major physiological changes in this species.
Urine proteome in animals of veterinary interest: species comparison and new biomarkers of nephropathy

Urine is considered an ideal source of biomarkers, however in veterinary medicine a complete study on the urine proteome is still lacking. The present work aimed to apply proteomic techniques to the separation of the urine proteome in dogs, cats, horses, cows and some non-conventional species. High resolution electrophoresis (HRE) was also validated for the quantification of albuminuria in dogs and cats. In healthy cats, applying SDS-PAGE and 2DE coupled to mass spectrometry (MS), was produced a reference map of the urine proteome. Moreover, 13 differentially represented urine proteins were linked with CKD, suggesting uromodulin, cauxin, CFAD, Apo-H, RBP and CYSM as candidate biomarkers to be investigated further. In dogs, applying SDS-PAGE coupled to MS, was highlighted a specific pattern in healthy animals showing important differences in patients affected by leishmaniasis. In particular, uromodulin could be a putative biomarker of tubular damage while arginine esterase and low MW proteins needs to be investigated further. In cows, applying SDS-PAGE, were highlighted different patterns between heifers and cows showing some interesting changes during pregnancy. In particular, putative alpha-fetoprotein and b-PAP needs to be further investigated. In horses, applying SDS-PAGE, was produced a reference profile characterized by 13±4 protein bands and the most represented one was the putative uromodulin. Proteinuric horses showed the decrease of the putative uromodulin band and the appearance of 2 to 4 protein bands at higher MW and a greater variability in the range of MW between 49 and 17 kDa. In felids and giraffes was quantified proteinuria reporting the first data for UTP and UPC. Moreover, by means of SDS-PAGE, were highlighted species-specific electrophoretic patterns in big felids and giraffes.
Pro - environmental behaviour of adventure tourists: an applicability of value belief norm theory

Extant research has established the role of environmental quality on tourism competitiveness and tourist satisfaction. While the eff ort to mitigate negative eff ects of tourism has come from both private and public sectors, cooperation from tourists is still needed for maintaining sustainability especially in nature based tourism. Th e aim of this study is to investigate the factors which infl uence the adventure tourists' intentions to behave pro-environmentally. To test this, we use Value Belief Norm theory. Th e data was collected from 216 adventure tourists at a popular trekking destination of India. Th e results of the study confi rm that value belief norm model predicts adventure tourists' pro-environmental intention. We found that the biospheric and altruistic value has direct positive relation with new environmental paradigm and indirect positive relation with awareness of consequences, ascription of responsibility, personal norms and pro-environmental behavioural intentions. However their egoistic value negatively aff ects new ecological worldview. Further, the result of the study shows that personal norm is the largest predictor of pro-environmental behaviour of adventure tourists. Th e study also confi rms the mediation eff ect of the research constructs.
Factors Affecting Levels of Acceptance of Academicians in Using Blended Learning (BL) System in Teaching by Using Extended Model of UTAUT

Nowadays, the development of information and communication technology (ICT) has greatly influenced academician’s way of communication with student. Thus, its enhanced student’s understanding inside and outside of the classroom. Realizing this, the blended learning (BL) system in teaching is implemented in most institutions all over the world including Malaysia. Due to the wide spread implementations of the BL system in teaching, academicians need to adapt their teaching in order to utilize it. Despite the efforts in motivating academicians to use the BL system in teaching, there are mixed feelings by the academicians whether to accept and use or reject completely this system. In this study, the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model including new constructs for explaining the level of acceptance using the BL system in teaching is investigated. The two new constructs in UTAUT are perceived usefulness and attitude. And two new moderator variables which are user type and teaching experience is added. The results show that performance expectancy has an impact on the behavior intention while facilitating conditions has a significant effect on actual usage behavior for user type and teaching experience groups. The findings suggest that lecturers with more than 5 years of experiences have the highest level of acceptance in accepting the BL system in teaching.
Mesenchymal Stem Cell Enrichment and Differentiation through Functionalized Biomaterials

Title of Document: MESENCHYMAL STEM CELL ENRICHMENT AND DIFFERENTIATION THROUGH FUNCTIONALIZED BIOMATERIALS Kimberly Marie Ferlin, Doctor of Philosophy, 2015 Directed By: John P. Fisher, Ph.D., Fischell Family Distinguished Professor Fischell Department of Bioengineering The use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for tissue engineering and cellbased therapies has great potential. MSCs are an adult stem cell population capable of undergoing multilineage differentiation into several key tissue types including bone, fat, and cartilage. However, despite key research and clinical advances, these therapies are still largely in the developmental phases. MSCs are typically isolated from the bone marrow using a multi-step process involving density centrifugation and adherence of the mononuclear fraction of cells to tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS). The majority of MSC-based approaches require in vitro cell expansion in monolayer to produce the cell numbers necessary for subsequent implantation. Recently, it has been suggested that expansion may cause significant changes to the MSC phenotype. In an effort to simplify the process of MSC isolation and use for such applications, our goal was to develop a single-step 3D culture system for the capture, culture, and differentiation of MSCs. To this end, we focused on the adhesion of MSCs to an underlying substrate, specifically how adhesion could facilitate one-step isolation. We showed that there are distinct changes in MSC adhesion during differentiation that can be used to separate populations of differentiating cells to decrease the heterogeneity of the cell population for implantation. By tethering proteins typically found in the MSC extracellular matrix onto the surface of polymer scaffolds, we were able to increase the specific adhesion of MSCs over TCPS, the current gold standard. Additionally, surface functionalization could be used as a method to drive rapid and directed differentiation of MSCs. Upon exposure to the heterogeneous population of the bone marrow, cells captured on the functionalized material surface had a similar phenotypic signature to MSC controls. Using 3D printing technology, our polymer scaffolds were translated into a highly controlled 3D environment that supports MSC adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation. The techniques presented here represent the key criteria for the development of a one-step culture system for MSC isolation and subsequent implantation. This work highlights the feasibility of functionalized biomaterials as a means to simplify the current use of MSCs for regenerative