Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Protection from herbivores varies among ant genera for the myrmecophilic plant Leea aculeata in Malaysian Borneo

Some plants use food bodies to attract ants that then provide protection from herbivory. A brief report from 1898 describes the myrmecophilic plant Leea aculeata Bl. as bearing food bodies on its young shoots, which accumulate when they are not harvested by ants. However, ant efficacy in deterring herbivores and consequences for herbivory rates remain unknown. Here we investigate (1) which ant taxa patrol these plants and whether they remove significant numbers of food bodies, (2) if these ants attack herbivores, and (3) if any anti-herbivore activity correlates negatively with herbivory. We found that a diverse community of ants patrolled young L. aculeata shoots and removed food bodies (1.2 food body per cm2 per 24 h), with food bodies accumulating when ants are experimentally excluded. Attack rates on surrogate herbivores (termite baits) differed among ant genera, with Crematogaster and Lophomyrmex being most active. Although herbivory did not differ among ant genera, herbivory was greater when ants took a longer time to detect herbivores and recruit fellow ants, providing evidence for the mutualism of L. aculeata with ants. However, the variation in protection among ant genera raises questions regarding the stability of this mutualism in the face of exploitation by ants. Petr Klimeš
Simulating bacterial evolution forward-in-time

A recommendation – based on reviews by three anonymous reviewers – of the article: Cury J, Haller BC, Achaz G, Jay F (2021) Simulation of bacterial populations with SLiM. bioRxiv, 2020.09. 28.316869, version 5 peer-reviewed and recommended by Peer community in Evolutionary Biology. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.09. 28.316869
Photosynthesis and production of West Indian cherry irrigated with saline waters under nitrogen/potassium fertilization

Fertilization management is a technique that has been studied for the mitigation of salt stress in plants. In this perspective, this work aimed to evaluate the effects of combinations of potassium and nitrogen fertilization on the photosynthetic pigments, photosynthetic efficiency, and production of the West Indian cherry irrigated with waters of different salinities, between 420 and 550 days after transplanting. The experiment was conducted in an open field at the Center of Sciences and Agrifood Technology of the Federal University of Campina Grande, using 60 L lysimeters, in a randomized block design with a 5 x 4 factorial scheme, corresponding to five salinity levels of the irrigation water – ECw (0.3; 1.3; 2.3; 3.3, and 4.3 dS m-1) and four combinations of nitrogen and potassium fertilization (C1 = 70% N + 50% K2O; C2 = 100% N + 75% K2O; C3 = 130% N + 100% K2O, and C4 = 160% N + 125% K2O) of the dose recommended for the West Indian cherry, with three replications and one plant per plot. The cv. Flor Branca was studied through its grafting on a rootstock of the cv. Junco. The irrigation with ECw above 0.3 dS m-1 reduced the contents of chlorophyll a and b in the leaves, the photochemical efficiency, CO2 assimilation rate, instantaneous carboxylation efficiency, instantaneous water-use efficiency, and the number of fruits per plant. The combined fertilization with 70% of N + 50% of K2O increased the photosynthetic pigments, photosynthesis, and the number of fruits per plant, as well as mitigated the deleterious effects of water salinity on the production per plant up to the ECw of 2.3 dS m-1, which revealed to be the most adequate combination for West Indian cherry fertilization.
IMITA: Imitation Learning for Generalizing Cloud Orchestration

Operating large scale and feature-rich applications is becoming increasingly complex as engineers need to deploy highly configurable software releases on distributed cloud stacks while managing ever-shorter production cycles. Although recent proposals attempt to streamline cloud resources orchestration, there is still a significant challenge in making such solutions generalize to unseen cloud stacks. In other words, the behavior of application-specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and resource configurations, crafted for specific stacks, may differ on heterogeneous deployments, requiring time-consuming policy adjustments. We introduce IMITA, a system that leverages imitation learning to create models by imitating an expert behavior that can be generalized seamlessly to new cloud stacks. To make a generalized model, IMITA maps expert actions taken based on the application KPI space to the space of resource utilization metrics that are universally available in cloud platforms. This mapping enables the model to trigger actions, mimicking expert behavior, upon the occurrence of similar re-source utilization footprints across deployments. We demonstrate IMITA by learning to scale-out Cassandra deployments with diverse configurations and workloads. Our results show IMITA can replicate expert actions across deployments and extrapolate to unseen environments by achieving 50 − 94% fewer false positives actions than traditional threshold-based policies while still adhering to Service-Level Objectives (SLO) and avoiding under-provisioning of resources. Moreover, since collecting data in clouds is costly, IMITA gathers data only for representative configurations to train the imitator model. This approach reduces the size of the collected data to 50%.
Audio frame reconstruction from incomplete observations using Deep Learning techniques

In this thesis, we tackle the problem of restoring an audio frame given the preceding and subsequent one, e.g. audio inpainting, and extend our proposed solution to the prediction of an audio frame given the last one. We consider frames of 64 and 128 milliseconds. The proposed solution combines a signal processing pipeline with a Generative adversarial network (GAN). Using as input the absolute value of the STFT of the surrounding frames, the network is able to retrieve the STFT magnitude corresponding to the gap frame. By applying the Griffin-Lim Algorithm, we are then able to estimate also the STFT phase and finally through the inverse STFT to reconstruct the missing audio frame. We compare our method, considering as baseline a Linear predictive coefficient (LPC) technique. The proposed solution shows encouraging results with respect to the baseline both for inpainting and prediction. It outperforms the baseline in term of Signal to noise ratio (SNR) on the magnitude spectrum and performs equally well or better in term of the Objective difference grade (ODG) which is a measure used tu assess the perceived audio quality. Since the phase of the STFT can be only approximately reconstructed through the Griffin-Lim Algorithm, the baseline shows better performances in terms of audio SNR. We further show the model generalization ability, by training and testing on two different types of music datasets.
Optimasi Perlakuan Panas dan Proses Stir Casting Komposit Al-Basalt terhadap Sifat Mekanik Menggunakan Metoda Taguchi

Optimasi perlakuan panas dan proses stir casting komposit matriks aluminium berpenguat serbuk basalt menggunakan metode Taguchi dan analysis of variance (Anova) telah dilakukan. Desain eksperimen menggunakan metode Taguchi L9 Orthogonal array 3^3 dengan tiga faktor yaitu persentase basalt terhadap aluminium dengan tiga level komposisi 5%, 10%, 15%, temperatur perlakuan panas dengan tiga level suhu 100oC, 155oC, 200oC, dan media pendingin dengan tiga variasi media udara, air, dan oli. Pembuatan sampel menggunakan metode stir casting dengan kecepatan pengadukan konstan dan temperatur penuangan antara 660oC – 750oC, dengan ukuran partikel basalt 200 mesh. Sampel hasil pengecoran setelah perlakuan panas kemudian diuji mekanik yang meliputi uji kuat tarik dengan standar ASTM E8 dan uji kekerasan metode Rockwell. Hasil analisis Taguchi menunjukkan bahwa kuat tarik optimum diperoleh dari faktor dan level persentase basalt 5%, perlakuan panas pada temperatur 200oC, dan media pendingin air, sedangkan nilai kekerasan optimum diperoleh dari parameter persentase basalt 5%, perlakuan panas 100oC, dan media pendingin udara. Media pendingin merupakan faktor yang paling berpengaruh secara signifikan baik untuk nilai uji tarik maupun nilai kekerasan dari komposit aluminium-basalt yang telah mendapatkan perlakuan panas. Penambahan basalt sebesar 5% berat telah terbukti meningkatkan kuat tarik dan kekerasan komposit matriks aluminium.
A Literature Review of Defecation Care to Prevent Faecal Incontinence in Elderly Individuals with Irritable Bowel Syndrome

1. Abstract Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional gastrointestinal tract disease characterized by abnormal defecation and abdominal pain. The Rome IV criteria define faecal incontinence as "recurrent and uncontrolled stool leakage that lasts more than 3 months. " Faecal incontinence is common in patients with IBS and can have a significant negative impact on daily life and quality of life. Diet and lifestyle guidance are needed to prevent faecal incontinence. Faecal incontinence can be reduced by ingesting dietary fibre, which can improve stool properties, and avoiding foods with stool-softening properties. Additionally, defecation habit guidance is important for preventing faecal incontinence. If rectal sensation is normal, it is recommended for patients to go to the bathroom as soon as there is a desire to defecate. In elderly people, if there is stool in the rectum due to decreased rectal sensation and it continues to accumulate in the rectum without triggering the urge to defecate, overflowing leaky faecal incontinence may occur. For such patients, defecation habit training teaching them to defecate even if they do not have the desire to defecate may be effective. Education and advice on defecation reduces faecal incontinence and is beneficial to caregivers. 2. Introduction Functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) are diseases in which gastrointestinal symptoms persist chronically or recurrently, laboratory tests show no organic lesions, and symptoms occur due to dysfunction1. Types of FGIDs include irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), functional abdominal distension, functional constipation, functional diarrhoea, and unspecified functional bowel disease [1-3]. Symptoms of IBS, a typical functional gastrointestinal disorder, include abdominal pain, abdominal discomfort, and associated bowel abnormalities [3]. The Rome IV diagnostic criteria are used to diagnose IBS. According to the Rome IV diagnostic criteria, IBS can be diagnosed if "abdominal pain occurs at least one day per week in the last three months, and the abdominal pain is associated with bowel movements and associated with changes in bowel movement frequency"[3]. IBS patients are defined as "those with two or more symptoms of three bowel abnormalities related to changes in stool shape (appearance)". The Rome IV diagnostic criteria define faecal incontinence as "recurrent and uncontrolled stool leakage that lasts more than 3 months. " Faecal incontinence can often occur in patients with IBS, and faecal incontinence can have a significant negative impact on daily life and reduce the patient's quality of life. 3. Method This is a literatur review of the faecal incontinence with irritable bowel syndromethat highlights some of the main findings in the area
Experience of our clinic in intrauterine insemination cycles made with microfluidic sperm sorting chips

Objective: To evaluate the clinical pregnancy rates in intrauterine insemination (IUI) cycles performed with microfluidic sperm sorting chips. Material and methods: 133 patients who admitted to our tertiary infertility clinic and underwent ovarian stimulation and IUI protocol with microfluidic sperm sorting chip were analyzed respectively in terms of clinical pregnancy rates between January 2016-January 2020. Patients diagnosed with unexplained infertility, mild-moderate male factor, ovulatory dysfunction and mild endometriosis were included. Microfluidic sperm sorting chip was used for sperm preparation. Primary outcome was clinical pregnancy rates and secondary outcomes were the distribution of the rates according to a a . Results: Mean female age was 29.86 4.7 years, the mean total motile sperm count was 72.90 63.7 million, mean antral follicle count was 18.1 10.1, the mean total gonadotropin dose used was 897.6 366 IU. The causes of infertility were 54.1% unexplained infertility, 31.6% ovulatory dysfunction, 6% mild endometriosis, 8.3% mild male factor. The clinical pregnancy rate was 19.5% (26/133) as primary outcome. Infertile pa a 25 years have higher pregnancy rates as secondary outcome (25.9%). Conclusion: Microfluidic sperm sorting chips allow for a practical and rapid sperm preparation with acceptable clinical pregnancy rates. This method is more successful in younger infertile patients.
ISLAMIC BANKING PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT: A CONCEPTUAL REVIEW OF TWO DECADES

This article aims to provide an overview of the development of research on the measurement of Islamic banking performance over the past 20 years from 89 selected papers with Scopus-indexed journals ranked Q4 to Q1 or accredited with Sinta 2 to Sinta 1. This study used a qual-quantitative meta-analysis approach using the Mendeley citation application. The distribution of the topic and the depth of research in paper samples based on keywords in publications were analyzed using the VOSviewer application. The results of the analysis showed that the research trend of Islamic banking performance in reputable journals is increasing in recent years. Most of the studies performed in the last two decades have focused on the practice and corporate governance of Islamic banks and comparisons between Islamic and conventional banks based on financial performance ratios and aspect of maqasid al-Shariah; Only a few studies that discuss efficiency, social performance on Islamic banks, regulation, intellectual capital and stability of the financial performance of Islamic banks were found. The further discussion is an empirical exposure without theoretical exploration or analysis which is supposed to become the direction of banking research in the future. JEL Classification Codes: G21, L25, P17, P47.
Maximum Power Point Tracking for Grid Integrated Variable Speed Wind based Distributed Generation System with Dynamic Load

AbstractThe production of electricity from renewable energy sources like wind energy increases in recent years due to environmental problems and the shortage of traditional energy sources in the near future. This paper presents modeling, simulation and performance study of wind energy based distribution generation (DG) systems for grid connected mode with MPPT controller. The wind power generation system uses wind turbine (WT), a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG), a three-phase uncontrolled diode rectifier bridge, dc/dc boost converter with MPPT controller, a dc bus with a capacitor and a current regulated PWM voltage source inverter. Perturb and Observe (P&O) technique is used for maximum power tracking. The performance of the developed model is studied for different wind speeds and load conditions. The wind power output is compared for the cases of with and without maximum power point tracking system. In this work the PQ control strategy is adopted for the inverter of the grid connected wind generation system. Simulation results show that the controllers can regulate the DC link voltage, active and reactive power produced by the wind based DG system.
Authentic Leaders for an Engaged and Satisfied Workforce: An Evidence from
India

Purpose-Although there has been a considerable increase in studies undertaken on the issues and impact of authentic leadership, the limited focus has been given to such studies in Asia (in particular, India). The study inspects the influence that authentic leaders command on the engagement levels and job satisfaction of the Indian workforce. Design/Methodology/Approach 213 restaurant employees from north India were included in the study. Structured questionnaires were distributed, and hierarchical regression was administered for higher-order analysis of the data obtained. Findings Results indicate a healthy and favorable relationship among the three variables authentic leadership style, job satisfaction, and employee engagement for the Indian restaurant employees. Implications -The findings of the current study will help Indian organizations enhance engagement levels and increase the employees' job satisfaction. Positivity in a leader may also affect the retention of talented workforce for an organization. Originality/Value The study explores the possibility of authentic leadership in India. It explains the contribution of authentic leadership towards having an engaged workforce and towards enhancing their job satisfaction.
Hereditary symbionts and mitochondria: distribution in insect populations and quasi-linkage of genetic markers

Maternal transmission ensures the joint transmission and simultaneous presence in populations of individuals with certain variants of the bacterial symbiont and host mitochondrial DNA. Such “quasi-linkage” of cytoplasmic genomes among insects and other arthropods is widespread. The symbiont acts as a “driver” of mitochondria and the obvious biological consequence is the spread of the “linked” mitochondrial haplotype in the population, which itself does not have increased selective value to the organism. Examples of such indirect selective mitochondrial sweep in insects are discussed, as well as biological consequences of this phenomenon and mechanisms of increasing the frequency of symbiont-infected individuals in the population.
Steroidal Saponins from Solanum torvum Swartz Collected in Dibombari, Cameroon

Aims: This work aimed to investigate the phytochemical constituents of Cameroonian species of Solanum torvum Swartz and to carry out. Antioxidant, enzyme inhibition (urease and glucosidase) and antibacterial activities of methanol crude extract and isolated compounds. Original Research Article Lacmago et al.; SARJNP, 4(1): 16-23, 2021; Article no.SARJNP. 65844 17 Methodology: The stems of Solanum torvum were collected and extracted by maceration in methanol. The crude extract was subjected to repeated column chromatographic separation. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectral analysis of ESI-MS, 1D and 2D NMR. The methanol crude extract and pure compounds were tested against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, Salmonella typhi, Klebsiella pneumonia, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus faecalis, Micrococcus sp. and Saccharomyces cerevisiae using the method of disk diffusion. The radical scavenging (DPPH) and the enzyme inhibition (urease and glucosidase) were perfomed according to the standards methods Results: One new compound neochlorogenin-6-O-β-D-xylopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-Dquinovopyranoside, together with eight known compounds including four steroidal derivatives, neochlorogenin-6-O-β-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→3)-β-D-quinovopyranoside, yamogenin-3-O-β-Dglucopyranosyl-(1→6)-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, diosgenin, chlorogenin; three phytosterols stigmasterol, β-sitosterol, β-sitosterol-3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside and one pentacyclic derivative, betullinic acid were isolated from the stems of Solanum torvum. Diosgenin was isolated from S. torvum for the first time. All the tested compounds were found to be inactive while methanol crude extract showed moderate urease and significant glucosidase inhibition activities with IC50 = 61.2± 0.68 and 32.5± 0.87 μM respectively. Conclusion: These results suggested that Solanum torvum might be used as an enzyme inhibition agent particularly for alpha glycosidase inhibition.
A Binary Logistic Analysis on Factors Affecting the Participation of Smallholder Farmers in the Market of Indigenous Chickens (ICs)

Participation in the market of Indigenous Chickens (ICs) enables farmers an opportunity to generate income and alleviate household food insecurity. The objectives of the study were to profile the socioeconomic characteristics of smallholder farmers and; to determine the factors influencing participation of smallholder farmers in the market of ICs. The study employed purposive and snowball sampling techniques to identify 50 indigenous chicken farmers in Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality, South Africa. Descriptive statistics and Binary Logistic regression model were employed to address the objectives of the study. The results revealed that, most smallholder farmers do not participate in the market of ICs. Moreover, experience in rearing chickens, land size, number of chickens owned, and purpose of rearing the chickens were found as factors influencing participation of farmers in the market of ICs. The study also confirmed that female farmers dominate in the market of ICs when compared to males. This, therefore, calls for government intervention in the promotion of ICs markets to encourage participation by farmers thus improving livelihoods.
The Growth Response of Pasture Brome (Bromus valdivianus Phil.) to Defoliation Frequency under Two Soil-Water Restriction Levels

Pasture brome (Bromus valdivianus Phil.) has the potential to increase current levels of herbage production and pasture persistence in New Zealand dryland, well-drained soils. However, there is little literature on the effect of defoliation management on growth of this grass under contrasting soil-water restriction levels. The growth physiology and performance of pasture brome were evaluated in pots in a glasshouse. Defoliation frequency (DF) treatments were applied based on three different accumulated growing degree-days (AGDD): 250, 500 and 1000 AGDD (high, medium, and low DF). At end of the first growing cycle (1000 AGDD), water availability was restricted to 20–25% of field capacity (FC) in half of the pots, while the other pots were maintained between 80–85% FC. Total accumulated herbage mass was positively related with the low DF and well-watered conditions (p < 0.05). At the final harvest, plants subjected to low DF had greater root mass than high and medium DF (p < 0.05). At each harvest, the leaf regrowth stage (LS) for low DF was 3.5, while for high and medium DF, the LS was 1.5 and 2.0; respectively. Tiller water-soluble carbohydrates were highest at the low DF and under 20–25% FC. Regardless of soil-water conditions, defoliation at 3.5 LS supports production, enhancing survival during a drought.
Preparation, characterization and ion adsorption properties of functionalized polystyrene modified with 1,4-phenylene diisocyanate and diethylenetriamine

In the present work, linear polystyrene (PS) was functionalized by a sulfonation reaction providing sulfonated polystyrene (PSS). Then, the PSS polymer chains were cross-linked with the 1,4-phenylene diisocyanate (PPDI) group in tetrahydrofuran (THF), which led to a PSS-PPDI polymer. The PSS-PPDI was grafted by diethylenetriamine (DETA) in a solution of THF to obtain polymer PSS-PPDI-DETA. Their structures were characterized by infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), elemental analysis (EA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravemetric (TGA), thermodynamic (DTA) and differential thermogravimetric (DTG) analysis. Subsequently, the obtained polymers were tested for their ability to remove some metal ions from aqueous media such as Zn2+, Cd2+ and Co2+.