Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Yield And Quality Of Mango (Mangifera indica L.) As Influenced By Foliar Application Of Potassium Nitrate And Urea

The experiment to determine the effects of KNO3 and urea in manipulating the harvesting time and increasing yield as well as quality of nine years old mango ( Mangifera indica L.) cv. Amrapali plants was carried out at the BAU Germplasm Centre, Department of Horticulture, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during the period from September 2006 to July 2007. The five treatments included in the experiment were potassium nitrate at 4%, 6% and 8%; urea at 2% and 4% and the control (water spray). Foliar spraying of urea at 4% exhibited better performance in relation to terminal shoot length, number of leaves and leaf area and potassium nitrate at 4% gave superior results with respect to length and breadth of panicle and number of secondary branches per panicle compared to control. The plants sprayed with KNO 3 at 4% expressed earlier panicle appearance by 17 days as compared to delayed appearance of panicle in untreated control plants. The plants received KNO 3 at 4% produced the highest number of panicles per plant (220.67) whereas the control plants had the least number of panicles (107.67). Regardless of concentration, KNO 3 and urea manifested slightly earlier harvest (5 days) compared to control. Plants treated with KNO 3 at 4% noted the highest number of fruits per plant (136.67) compared to control (62.67). The treatment urea at 4% resulted in the biggest fruit (202.83g) and the control plants exhibited the smallest fruit (175.00g). Potassium nitrate at 4% gave maximum yield (23.14 kg/plant) as compared to minimum yield (9.12 kg/plant) in the control (water spray). Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 38(1): 145-154, March 2013 DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.3329/bjar.v38i1. 15201
Deformable Image Registration: A Survey

Deformable image registration is a fundamental task in medical image processing. Among its most important applications, one may cite: i) multi-modality fusion, where information acquired by different imaging devices or protocols is fused to facilitate diagnosis and treatment planning; ii) longitudinal studies, where the development of phenomenon is studied over time; and iii) population modeling towards studying normal anatomical variability. In this research report, we attempt to give an overview of the deformable registration methods, putting emphasis on the most recent advances in the domain. Additional emphasis has been given to techniques applied to medical images. In order to study in depth image registration methods, their main components are identi ed and then studied independently. The most recent techniques are presented in a principled fashion.
Toroidal Plasma Lens Antenna

This letter proposes a novel toroidal plasma lens with circular polarization, as an alternative solution for electronic warfare antennas. The aim of the proposed solution is to reduce the antenna profile and the radar cross section, thus minimizing the probability of target detection. The results compare the performance of the proposed antenna to a conical horn and to a spherical/elliptical lens. The toroidal plasma lens achieved equivalent gain, with reduced antenna profile and reduced near-field backscattering from the plasma toroid, thus maximizing the true power delivered to the far-field region.
Nutrition and Cancer Dietary ( n-3 ) Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Inhibit HER-2 / neu-Induced Breast Cancer in Mice Independently of the PPAR Ligand Rosiglitazone 1

Overexpression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2/neu) characterizes a molecular subtype of breast cancer associated with poor clinical outcome. Preventive strategies for HER-2/neu–positive breast cancer, which is often estrogen and progesterone receptor negative, remain undefined. Activators of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR ), a nuclear hormone receptor also expressed in breast cancer, hold potential as cancer prevention agents. PPAR ligands include specific fatty acids and synthetic compounds, such as the thiazolidinediones, which appear to inhibit cell proliferation and tumorigenesis. We hypothesized that a thiazolidinedione, rosiglitazone, may serve as a chemopreventive agent for HER-2/neuassociated mammary carcinogenesis, but that efficacy may be influenced by dietary fat content. We studied the effects of diets enriched with corn or fish oil (25% of energy) with and without rosiglitazone (12 g/kg) in a 2 2 factorial design on mammary tumorigenesis in murine mammary tumor virus (MMTV)-HER-2/neu transgenic mice. Despite in vitro evidence of antiproliferative effects in an MMTV-HER-2/neu tumor cell line, rosiglitazone did not affect mammary carcinogenesis in vivo. Interestingly, fish oil–based diets markedly suppressed breast tumor incidence (57% of mice vs. 87% of corn oil–fed mice, P 0.0001) as well as tumor multiplicity (P 0.001) and mammary gland dysplasia (P 0.001). These findings demonstrate a potent preventive effect of (n-3) PUFA on HER-2/neu–mediated mammary carcinogenesis, without interaction with a synthetic PPAR activator. Further studies focusing on the mechanisms by which (n-3) fatty acids suppress HER-2/neu signaling pathways involved in the pathogenesis of breast cancer are warranted. J. Nutr. 135: 983–988, 2005.
Dietary Fibers and Protective Lactobacilli Drive Burrata Cheese Microbiome

ABSTRACT This study was aimed at improving the functional attributes and shelf life of burrata cheese by using protective lactobacilli (Lactobacillus plantarum LPAL and Lactobacillus rhamnosus LRB), fructooligosaccharides, and inulin. Six burrata cheeses were made using (i) the traditional protocol (control), (ii) the addition of 0.5% fructooligosaccharides and inulin (DF cheese), (iii) protective lactobacilli in milk alone (PL cheese), (iv) protective lactobacilli in milk and governing liquid (2PL cheese), (v) protective lactobacilli in milk and dietary fibers (DF_PL cheese), and (vi) protective lactobacilli in milk and governing liquid and dietary fibers (DF_2PL cheese). As expected, DF, DF_PL, and DF_2PL cheeses showed 1.5% of total fibers. Burrata cheeses produced by adding protective lactobacilli only in milk (PL and DF_PL cheeses) showed the lowest acidification during cheese making and storage. Lactic and acetic acids and ethanol were found at the lowest concentrations in these samples. Analyses of cultivable microbiota and the microbiome showed that protective lactobacilli reduced the house microbiota components (e.g., Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactococcus lactis, and Leuconostoc lactis) during cheese making and storage. Protective lactobacilli slowed the growth of staphylococci, coliforms, and Pseudomonas spp. , especially in early storage. According to the different microbiome assemblies, burrata samples differed in peptide profiles and the levels of free amino acids. As shown by a sensory analysis, the addition of protective lactobacilli in milk improved the flavor and increased the shelf life of burrata cheese. In comparison to cheeses made using protective cultures only in milk, the shelf lives of those containing cultures also in the governing liquid were not further prolonged and they received lower acceptability scores by the panelists. IMPORTANCE This study provides more in-depth knowledge of the microbiome of burrata cheese and the set-up for a novel biotechnology using prebiotic dietary fibers and protective probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum LPAL and Lactobacillus rhamnosus LRB in milk. The biotechnology proposed in this study should be considered a useful tool to improve the functional value of burrata cheese. The use of protective lactobacilli in milk enhanced the flavor formation and shelf life of burrata cheese.
Annular nanoantenna on fibre micro‐axicon

In this paper, we propose to extend the concept of loop antenna to the optical domain. The aim is to develop a new generation of optical nanocollectors that are sensitive to specific electric or magnetic vectorial field components. For validating our approach, a preliminary one‐micron‐diameter gold nanoring is micromachined on the apex of a cone lens obtained from a tapered optical fibre. It is shown that such a nano‐object behaves as a nano‐antenna able to detect the longitudinal electric field from a Bessel beam in radial polarization and the longitudinal magnetic component from a Bessel beam in azimuthal polarization. In the latter case, the annular nano‐antenna exhibits the properties of an optical inductance.
A Comparative Study of Image Segmentation Algorithms

 Abstract — In some applications, such as image recognition or compression, segmentation refers to the process of partitioning a digital image into multiple segments. Image segmentation is typically used to locate objects and boundaries (lines, curves, etc.) in images. Image segmentation is to classify or cluster an image into several parts (regions) according to the feature of image, for example, the pixel value or the frequency response. More precisely, image segmentation is the process of assigning a label to every pixel in an image such that pixels with the same label share certain visual characteristics. The result of image segmentation is a set of segments that collectively cover the entire image, or a set of contours extracted from the image. Several image segmentation algorithms were proposed to segment an image before recognition or compression. Up to now, many image segmentation algorithms exist and be extensively applied in science and daily life. According to their segmentation method, we can approximately categorize them into region-based segmentation, data clustering, and edge-base segmentation. In this paper, we give a study of several popular image segmentation algorithms that are available.
Membership based on combining cluster center with affinity in FSVR and its application in soft sensor modeling

Support vector machine (SVM) is an effective method for resolving regression problem. However, tradition SVM is very sensitive to noises in the training sample. In order to overcome this problem, fuzzy support vector regression (FSVR) based on combining cluster center with affinity is proposed in this paper. The fuzzy membership is defined not only by the distance between a point and its cluster center, but also by the two different points of the sample, which is depicted as the affinity between them. And the method of soft sensor modeling based on FSVR with the new membership function is proposed. Simulation results for artificial data show the proposed method gives good performance on reducing the effects of noise and improves the regression accuracy and generalization.
Compressed collagen gel: a novel scaffold for human bladder cells

Collagen is highly conserved across species and has been used extensively for tissue regeneration; however, its mechanical properties are limited. A recent advance using plastic compression of collagen gels to achieve much higher concentrations significantly increases its mechanical properties at the neo‐tissue level. This controlled, cell‐independent process allows the engineering of biomimetic scaffolds. We have evaluated plastic compressed collagen scaffolds seeded with human bladder smooth muscle cells inside and urothelial cells on the gel surface for potential urological applications. Bladder smooth muscle and urothelial cells were visualized using scanning electron microscopy, conventional histology and immunohistochemistry; cell viability and proliferation were also quantified for 14 days in vitro. Both cell types tested proliferated on the construct surface, forming dense cell layers after 2 weeks. However, smooth muscle cells seeded within the construct, assessed with the Alamar blue assay, showed lower proliferation. Cellular distribution within the construct was also evaluated, using confocal microscopy. After 14 days of in vitro culture, 30% of the smooth muscle cells were found on the construct surface compared to 0% at day 1. Our results provide some evidence that cell‐seeded plastic compressed collagen has significant potential for bladder tissue regeneration, as these materials allow efficient cell seeding inside the construct as well as cell proliferation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Diosgenone Synthesis, Anti-Malarial Activity and QSAR of Analogues of This Natural Product

Solanum nudum Dunal steroids have been reported as being antimalarial compounds; however, their concentration in plants is low, meaning that the species could be threatened by over-harvesting for this purpose. Swern oxidation was used for hemisynthesis of diosgenone (one of the most active steroidal sapogenin diosgenin compounds). Eighteen structural analogues were prepared; three of them were found to be more active than diosgenone (IC50 27.9 μM vs. 10.1 μM, 2.9 μM and 11.3 μM). The presence of a 4-en-3-one grouping in the A-ring of the compounds seems to be indispensable for antiplasmodial activity; progesterone (having the same functional group in the steroid A-ring) has also displayed antiplasmodial activity. Quantitative correlations between molecular structure and bioactivity were thus explored in diosgenone and several derivatives using well-established 3D-QSAR techniques. The models showed that combining electrostatic (70%) and steric (30%) fields can explain most variance regarding compound activity. Malarial parasitemia in mice became reduced by oral administration of two diosgenone derivatives.
Potential Application of Virus-Induced Gene Silencing (VIGS) in Flower Senescence Studies

Virus-induced gene silencing has been suggested as a powerful and rapid technique for analysis of gene function in plant growth and development (Baulcombe, 1999). Infecting Nicotiana benthamiana with Tobacco Rattle Virus (TRV) containing a fragment of the gene encoding phytoene desaturase, an essential enzyme in carotene synthesis, results in a photo-bleached phenotype in photosynthetic tissues. TRV has several interesting properties that could be utilized in studies of the function of candidate genes in floral senescence; it infects floral tissues, has only mild symptoms, and has a broad host range. We tested the effect of TRV containing PDS fragments on a range of host plants. In most cases, infection resulted in no apparent phenotype or local inoculation effects. In petunia, after a lag of several weeks, the characteristic photo-bleaching of upper portions of the plant indicated movement and silencing of the virus and of PDS. In preliminary tests with a TRV/CHS construct, the typical effects of post-transcriptional gene silencing of CHS in petunia – symmetrical and asymmetrical white patches on the dark purple petals – indicated the ability to use the system in petunia studies.
A Robust Image Watermarking Scheme using Image Moment

Multimedia security is an incredibly significant area of concern. A number of papers on robust digital watermarking have been presented, but there are no standards that have been defined so far. Thus multimedia security is still a posing problem. The aim of this paper is to design a robust image-watermarking scheme, which can withstand a different set of attacks. The proposed scheme provides a robust solution integrating image moment normalization, content dependent watermark and discrete wavelet transformation. Moment normalization is useful to recover the watermark even in case of geometrical attacks. Content dependent watermarks are a powerful means of authentication as the data is watermarked with its own features. Discrete wavelet transforms have been used as they describe image features in a better manner. The proposed scheme finds its place in validating identification cards and financial instruments. Keywords—Watermarking, moments, wavelets, content-based, benchmarking.
Effect of inflammation on intraocular penetration of intravenous ofloxacin in albino rabbits

The effect of inflammation on the intraocular penetration of ofloxacin was studied in 20 albino rabbits (New Zealand White). Inflammation was induced in the left eye by inoculation of a suspension of 10(9) CFU of heat-killed Staphyloccus epidermidis per 0.1 ml of saline solution (0.9%) in the midvitreous cavity. The other eye was kept as a control. Twenty-four hours following inoculation, ofloxacin was administered in the marginal ear vein at a dose of 15 mg/kg over 20 min with an infusion pump. Animals were sacrificed at different times up to 24 h following drug administration. Ofloxacin levels were determined in aqueous humor, vitreous humor, and serum by a bioassay. Inflammation was scored on the basis of perilimbal and corneal reactions and vitreoretinal statuses. Inflammation had a relevant effect on intraocular penetration of ofloxacin, with levels in the ocular fluids of the inflamed eye markedly exceeding the ones of the control eye. In the uninflamed eye, the levels were rapidly decaying below assay sensitivity and were no longer detectable at approximately 5 h following drug administration while they were still detectable in both ocular fluids of the inflamed eye at 24 h. Ofloxacin levels in the ocular fluids of the inflamed eye were superior to the MIC for several of the bacteria which commonly cause endophthalmitis, including Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, most members of the family Enterobacteriaceae, Haemophilus influenzae, and strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
The value of endothelium dependent vasodilatation in diagnosing coronary artery disease and its comparison with the results of routine diagnostic tests.

OBJECTIVE To determine the predictive value of flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) compared with angina pectoris, exercise electrocardiography, and myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI). METHODS This study was carried out in Shahid Madani Heart Center, Tabriz, Iran from April 2004 to September 2006. A total of 92 patients with chest pain syndrome were enrolled in this study. Using high resolution ultrasound system endothelial function was evaluated, and the result of the flow-mediated dilation (FMD%) was defined as the percent change in the internal diameter of the brachial artery during reactive hyperemia related to baseline. RESULTS Coronary artery disease (CAD) was documented in 77 (83.7%) patients. The percentage of FMD was lower in patients with CAD compared with those +/- 4.61, p=0.001). In comparison with typical anginal chest pain (sensitivity 46.7%, specificity 80%), exercise stress test (sensitivity 75%, specificity 60%), and MPI (sensitivity 96.5, specificity 55.6%) the receiver operator characteristic curve showed the percentage FMD optimal cut-off value as </=7.41 with a sensitivity of 87.0%, specificity of 66.7%, negative predictive value of 93.0%, and positive predictive value of 50%. CONCLUSION In patients with chest pain syndrome, the FMD is a sensitive indicator of CAD with moderate specificity that is unable to predict accurately the extent and severity of it.
Towards memory-efficient processing-in-memory architecture for convolutional neural networks

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are widely adopted in artificial intelligent systems. In contrast to conventional computing centric applications, the computational and memory resources of CNN applications are mixed together in the network weights. This incurs a significant amount of data movement, especially for highdimensional convolutions. Although recent embedded 3D-stacked Processing-in-Memory (PIM) architecture alleviates this memory bottleneck to provide fast near-data processing, memory is still a limiting factor of the entire system. An unsolved key challenge is how to efficiently allocate convolutions to 3D-stacked PIM to combine the advantages of both neural and computational processing. This paper presents Memolution, a compiler-based memory efficient data allocation strategy for convolutional neural networks on PIM architecture. Memolution offers thread-level parallelism that can fully exploit the computational power of PIM architecture. The objective is to capture the characteristics of neural network applications and present a hardware-independent design to transparently allocate CNN applications onto the underlining hardware resources provided by PIM. We demonstrate the viability of the proposed technique using a variety of realistic convolutional neural network applications. Our extensive evaluations show that, Memolution significantly improves performance and the cache utilization compared to the baseline scheme.
Self-assembly of bacteriophage lambda tails.

The tail of bacteriophage λ was found to disassemble when treated in suspension with acid to a pH less than 2.8 or alkali to a pH greater than 11.8. Treatment of the tail of bacteriophage lambda results in the production of distinct subunit structures, discs when acid treated, and units unresolvable by electron microscopy when alkali treated. When returned to neutrality both subunits produce structures which resemble the original tail except that they can be up to several microns in length.The acid and alkali treatments produce structures that have high molecular weight. The acid-produced structure appears to be composed of six subunits arranged to form a disc with a central hole.The reactions were unaffected by temperature between 2 and 56 °C or by exposure to 8 M urea for 30 min. Ionic strengths greater than 0.7 M NaCl inhibited all the reactions as did prolonged exposure to urea at a concentration of 7 M or greater.The tail consists of at least two antigens as detected by the complement fixation test a.
Evaluation of avian embryos and cell culture for isolation and propagation of low pathogenicity avian influenza viruses

PROPAGATION OF LOW PATHOGENICITY AVIAN INFLUENZA VIRUSES by KIRA ANN MORESCO (Under the Direction of David E. Swayne) ABSTRACT Growth parameters of low pathogenicity avian influenza viruses were examined in eight cell cultures and in three types of avian embryos. Virus detection was compared for samples collected from experimentally infected birds, using real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, embryonating chicken eggs, and five cell culture systems. Virus isolation from wild bird samples was compared using embryonating chicken, duck, and turkey eggs, as well as two cell culture systems. Virus isolation success was lowest using cell culture. Virus isolation was similar in embryonating chicken, duck, and turkey eggs. Embryonating chickens eggs had the highest virus isolation efficiency for avian influenza virus samples with cycle threshold of less than or equal to thirty seven. Embryonating turkey and duck eggs produced one hundred percent association between detection by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and virus isolation up to cycle threshold of thirty six for avian paramyxovirus serotype 1.
Chinese Doctors Connecting to the English Publishing World: Literature Access, Editorial Services, and Training in Publication Skills

In the literature on academic publishing, little attention has been paid to the needs and concerns of non-English-speaking researchers in professional contexts. This paper addresses the gap in that literature by providing insights into the situation with medical doctors in China. Following an overview of the broad picture, I will report a case study, which was conducted at a major hospital in East China and which aimed at exploring how a group of orthopedic surgeons access the English medical literature and to what extent they seek the support of editorial services and training in academic writing/publication skills. The results of the study show that the participant doctors tend to rely on their students or overseas personal connections for access to full-text medical literature, and they have generally had limited experience with language editorial services and academic writing/publication skills seminars. The paper ends by discussing some challenges while proposing recommendations for enhancing Chinese doctors’ access to the full-text medical literature, as well as their understanding of the kind of support that can be provided by editorial services and training in publication skills.