Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investigation of Cold Stress Induced Disease Resistance (SIDR) in Grapevines and Arabidopsis

The focus of this thesis project was to investigate the impact of cold temperature conditions on the resistance of Vitis vinifera (grapevines) to powdery mildew, a phenomenon known as cold stress-induced disease resistance (SIDR). The model organism Arabidopsis thaliana was used to determine specific defense mechanisms of plant-pathogen resistance. An RNA-Seq time course experiment was performed for the two organisms: V. vinifera and A. thaliana. The time-series datasets consisted of data points where samples were exposed to an acute (less than 4 hours) cold (below 8°C) temperature for set times prior to inoculation with powdery mildew. The acute cold time points used ranged from 48 hours, 36 hours, 24 hours, and 12 hours prior to inoculation. An untreated control group, which was not exposed to any acute cold treatment, was used to compare between the treatments. The significant, differentially expressed genes were evaluated and mapped to the pathways of the respective organisms. The outcome of this project was the identification of pathways, as well as potential genes of interest, involved with cold stress-induced disease resistance. There has been limited research on genetic mechanisms of cold stress-induced disease resistance. This project provides an improved understanding of the interactions between host stress and the epidemiology of the biotrophic pathogen powdery mildew.
Direct Measurements of Collisional Dynamics in Ultracold Atom Triads

In this thesis, I present experimental methodology and results for direct measurements of ultracold few-atom collision dynamics, which allows quantum processes to be observed at the single event level. Three individual Rb atoms are prepared in a specific quantum state and near-deterministically loaded into separate far-off resonance optical tweezers. The three trapping potentials are then merged, allowing the atoms to interact. By controlling the parameters of this interaction – duration and density of the atom triad – time-dependent atom loss from the trap due to twoand three-body inelastic collisions is observed. The loss rate from two-body collisions, K2, is found to show a dependence on the trap beam intensity, which suggests that offresonant photoassociative processes play a significant role in the system. In addition, the three-body recombination event rate constant, K3, is extracted from these loss measurements. The determination of K3 in this manner marks a novel experimental measurement, as previous investigations have deduced the rate constant only by observing atom loss from a many-body sample. The measured few-body value for K3 shows consistency with its prediction from established theory illuminating a promising path for future experiments to take in the field of few-atom studies.
Microbial community structure and relationship with physicochemical properties of soil stockpiles in selected South African opencast coal mines

ABSTRACT At present, there is no comprehensive soil quality assessment practice for soil stockpiles in the South African coal mining industry. Soil microorganisms and enzymes are suitable indicators for soil quality monitoring. Therefore, this study investigated the microbial community and enzyme (beta-glucosidase and urease) activities in soil stockpiles of opencast coal mines in the coal-rich region of South Africa. Soil stockpiles of three opencast coal mines were sampled at depths of 0–20 cm (‘topsoil’) and >20 cm (‘subsoil’) across three seasons. Beta-glucosidase and urease activities were mostly higher in soil stockpiles than in unmined soils and were significantly influenced (P < 0.05) by the interaction of site and seasonal factors. However, analyses of PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) profiles of partial 16S rRNA gene and internally transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) sequences revealed higher microbial diversity in unmined (reference) soils compared to soil stockpiles across all seasons. Redundancy analysis further revealed that microbial communities of topsoil were not significantly (P > 0.05) influenced by soil properties, whereas microbial communities of subsoils were significantly (P < 0.05) influenced by pH, organic carbon, total nitrogen and phosphorus contents. Furthermore, operational taxonomic units (OTUs) belonging to genera of known phytobeneficial species such as Azomonas, Aureobasidium, Phialocephala, Phoma and Sordariomycetes were detected in these soils. Overall, results suggest that the microbial community structure and diversity observed in stockpiles is impaired (compared to the unmined site), although variations in the microbial community structure of soil stockpiles across seasons are site-specific. The impaired microbial community of stockpiles may have negative implications on soil biological processes driven by microbes; especially those that are critical for nutrient cycling and ecosystem sustainability. More importantly, such alteration in soil biodiversity may impair post-mining land use capability of stockpile soils.
Chikungunya: treatments, opportunities and possibilities

The natural progression of chikungunya virus (CHIKV) disease can consist of three stages – acute, post-acute and chronic, each having different clinical features. The acute phase (up to 3 weeks) is characterised by high viremia, fever, rash, polyarthralgia, synovitis and intense inflammation. Complete recovery is achieved in most symptomatic cases after this phase. However, in a large proportion of patients symptoms persist into a post-acute phase and in some may even continue to become chronic. In the post-acute phase, which can last up to 4 months, there is clinical persistence of joint inflammation or relapse after transient improvement. These can lead to musculoskeletal disorders and eventually chronicity of disease. The main symptoms being chronic inflammatory rheumatism that can last for several years in some cases. With the near global reach, debilitating nature and recent outbreaks of CHIKV there has been much research effort put towards combatting it. New antivirals and medications to counteract inflammation are being developed. Development of CHIKV vaccines is also an area with intense research focus.
Dietary Plasticity in a Specialist Predator, the Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus): New Insights into Diet During Brood Rearing

Abstract. Climate and landscape change are expected to affect species' distributions and interactions, with potentially harmful consequences for specialist predators. Availability of optimal prey can affect reproductive success in raptors, especially in the Arctic, where dramatic differences in prey availability occur both within and between years. However, behavioral responses of dietary specialist, resident predators such as Gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus) to changes in prey availability remain poorly understood. To improve understanding of how climate-driven changes in prey availability may affect diet of avian predators in the Arctic, we characterized Gyrfalcon diet on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, in 2014 and 2015 from images representing 2008 prey items obtained by motion-activated cameras at 20 nests. We documented two important dietary shifts: the proportion of ptarmigan (Willow Ptarmigan [Lagopus lagopus] and Rock Ptarmigan [L. muta]) in the diet declined throughout the brood-rearing period in both years, and also differed between years. In both cases, ptarmigan were replaced by Arctic ground squirrels (Urocitellus parryii) in the diet. Despite shifts in prey composition, dietary breadth did not change, which revealed a facultative shift in prey use in which Gyrfalcons relied on prey of large size rather than prey of a particular taxon. We describe previously undocumented prey-use patterns during Gyrfalcon breeding, specifically an interchange between two prey species that are keystones in tundra ecology. These results are important for informing predictive models of climate change and adaptive species management plans. Further study of the interchange between prey types described in this study can strengthen insight into key ecosystem processes, and the cause and effect of potential decoupling of predator-prey interactions.
Comparison on the complete plastome genome between the wild and cultivated Angelica sinensis (Apiaceae), a famous Chinese medicinal herb

Abstract Angelica sinensis is one of the most widely used Chinese medicinal herb. It has been cultivated for over 900 years, and the wild resource has been on the verge of extinction owing to over-exploitation. In the present study, we assembled and characterized the complete chloroplast (cp) genomes of two wild and one cultivated individuals of A. sinensis for future genetic studies. These plastome genomes varied from 142,484 to 142,529 bp in size, and overall GC contents were about 37.5%. Phylogenetic analysis and comparison on the cp genome structure reveal that the wild A. sinensis sampled should not be the wild ancestor, but the escape of the cultivated.
Living with Advanced Breast Cancer among Ghanaian Women: Emotional and Psychosocial Experiences

The purpose of this study was to explore the emotional and psychosocial experiences of Ghanaian women living with advanced breast cancer in the Kumasi metropolis. The study employed a qualitative exploratory descriptive design. Purposive sampling approach was used and data was saturated with 10 participants aged between 32 and 65 years. All interviews were audio-taped and transcribed. Data was analyzed concurrently based on the techniques of content analysis. Anonymity and confidentiality were ensured. Women experienced emotional reactions such as sadness, fear, and anxiety. Pain was severe and led to suicidal ideations. Women experienced lost hopes regarding their marriage, parenting, and work. They received support from their families, spouses, colleagues, health professionals, and spiritual leaders. Women coped by accepting the disease and surrendering to God and having the will to live. Five major themes described were emotional reactions, pain, lost hope, support, and coping. It was recommended that health care providers involved in breast cancer management should be trained to enhance effective and holistic care of women and their families. Also, patients with advanced disease should be given effective pain management and a multidisciplinary palliative care team should be instituted to care for the women.
Human facial emotion recognition through automatic clustering based morphological segmentation and shape/orientation feature analysis

The objective of this work is to develop a system to recognize the human emotions in terms of his/her facial expressions. The work consists of 3 modules. First to segment the face from the human image. Otsu's thresholding method is used in the third plane of YCbCr image to perform background subtraction. Secondly to segment the parts eye, eye gap, forehead, mouth, and nose max-min mean algorithm is used to select the initial cluster values of k-means algorithm. Then the distance based algorithm is used to accurately segment the left right eye, eye gap, forehead, nose, and mouth. Thirdly different shape based features are extracted for the parts segmented in step 2 for different facial expressions. By applying a two level rule based classifier for the data features extracted, we made the machine to understand the emotion of the human. We are trying to emulate the human visual interpretation into machine through our work
Approche multicritère pour la conception d'ateliers discontinus dans un environnement incertain.

Les procedes discontinus representent un mode ideal de fonctionnement pour synthetiser, en faibles quantites des produits a forte valeur ajoutee, a cycle de vie limite et exigeant un controle strict des conditions operatoires. De tels ateliers presentent l'avantage de pouvoir elaborer, par campagnes, plusieurs composes a partir d'equipements standard et de s'adapter a des variations de nature et de qualite des matieres premieres, ainsi qu'a des fluctuations frequentes du marche, ce qui constitue un atout majeur du point de vue de la flexibilite. Ainsi, lors de l'etape de conception d'un atelier discontinu, il est presque impossible d'obtenir une information precise sur la future demande en produit. Une etude bibliographique a montre que les travaux anterieurs sont generalement bases sur des approches probabilistes qui representent l'imprecision de la demande par des lois de distribution normale considerees comme independantes. Ces hypotheses simplificatrices ne representent pas la realite puisque beaucoup de parametres sont, en pratique, dependants les uns des autres et ne peuvent suivre des lois de distribution symetrique. L'objectif de cette these est de traiter de l'imprecision de la demande par des concepts flous en conception optimale d'ateliers; cette approche differe principalement des modeles probabilistes en considerant la demande imprecise sous la forme d'ensembles de valeurs plus ou moins possibles et par sa fonction d'appartenance correspondante. Classiquement, la capacite de l'atelier doit satisfaire un equilibre entre la demande en produits et la marge de production dont dispose l'installation, de maniere a satisfaire trois criteres: la maximisation du benefice actualise, une fonction representant les retards ou les avances par rapport a echeance vis-a-vis de la synthese de tous les produits et un indice de flexibilite. Les variables de decision sont la configuration de l'atelier, la taille et le nombre des equipements a chaque etape de traitement. Un modele d'ateliers multiproduit est retenu comme support de l'etude. Un Algorithme Genetique multicritere, precedemment developpe, a ete adapte a la prise en compte de fonctions d'evaluations floues. Cette phase a necessite l'utilisation d'operations algebriques floues et un operateur de comparaison de quantites floues. Par ailleurs, une methode de selection hybride tri de Pareto-tournoi a ete proposee et a montre une meilleure performance que la methode traditionnelle de la roulette de Goldberg, conduisant systematiquement a un nombre superieur de solutions non dominees. La methodologie multicritere est ensuite appliquee a un atelier multiproduit pour la production de quatre proteines, comportant huit etapes de traitement dont les temps operatoires des differentes etapes sont calcules par le biais de modeles d'operations unitaires. L'approche retenue permet donc d'assister de maniere efficace et robuste la mission du oncepteur, conduisant a un ensemble suffisamment large de solutions de compromis.
Investigation and isolation of peptide based antiglycating agents from various sources

Abstract Background In this work, peptide based antiglycation agents from various sources against the advanced glycation endproducts (AGE) formation was investigated. Materials and methods As a source of peptides with deglycating activity, Glycine max, Hordeum vulgare, Triticum aestivum, Avena sativa, Prunus dulcis ve Juglans regia were used. The metal chelating activity and antioxidant activity were determined by Cu(II) chelating activity and CUPRAC (Cupric Reducing Antioxidant Capacity) methods. Antidiabetic activity was evaluated through BSA-glucose model. Results Most of the extracts obtained have inhibitory activity against AGE formation. Among all plant peptide isolates soybean was found to be most efficient by means of antiglycating (IC50 1.33 μg/mL), antioxidant (28.2 ± 1.4 μmol AAE/mg) and metal chelation activity (55%). Conclusion As a result, this study can provide preliminary data to literature to support researches those focused on peptide based glycation inhibitors and discovery of potent AGE inhibitory peptides.
Effect of an edible alginate coating with essential oil to improve the quality of a Fresh cheese

This study focuses on an alginate edible coating with oregano and rosemary essential oils (EO) as well as its application in a Fresh cheese. The practical application was carried out by analyzing microbial contents, centesimal composition, texture (shear force) and instrumental color, sensory acceptance and mass loss. The coatings containing rosemary EO retained minimal numbers of Coliforms (35oC) during storage; thus, a positive effect of the coatings on improving the microbiological cheese quality was observed. Sensorial results were satisfactory for all edible coating samples (Acceptance Index > 77%) highlighting the one with oregano essential oil, proving that this coating can be an alternative to improve technological parameters of Fresh Cheese quality.
Proceedings of the 13th Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics

Welcome to EACL 2012, the 13th Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics. We are happy that despite strong competition from other Computational Linguistics events and economic turmoil in many European countries, this EACL is comparable to the successful previous ones, both in terms of the number of papers submitted and in terms of attendance. We have a strong scientific program, including ten workshops, four tutorials, a demos session and a student research workshop. I am convinced that you will appreciate our program.
Development and validation of first and zero order derivative spectrophotometric methods for the determination of rilmenidine in pharmaceutical preparations and forced degradation study

Zero and first order derivative spectrophotometric methods were developed for the analysis of rilmenidine in pharmaceutical preparations. Absorbances of rilmenidine were measured at 224 nm for the zero order by measuring height of peak from zero and at 223.20 and 230.20 nm for the first order derivative spectrophotometric method by measuring peak to peak height. The linearity ranges were found to be 50-250 μg/mL for zero and first order spectrophotometric method. The developed methods were validated and the analytical parameters of linearity, limit of detection, limit of quantification, accuracy, precision and recovery were evaluated. In addition, Rilmenidine exposed to the stress conditions of acid, base and oxidative in order to calculate to degradation % by developed zero and first order derivative spectrophotometric method.
The feasibility of integrating alcohol risk-reduction counseling into existing VCT services in Kenya

This pretest-posttest separate-sample study with intervention and comparison groups documented the abilities and willingness of trained voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) service providers to integrate alcohol screening and risk reduction counseling into their routine service delivery. Pre-test (n=1073) and post-test data (n=1058) were collected from different clients exiting from 25 VCT centers. A 12-month intervention that required all VCT providers from the intervention groups to screen all VCT clients for their alcohol use and offer them brief risk reduction alcoholrelated counseling was implemented. At post-test, the intervention group clients (n=456) had better study outcomes than the comparison group clients (n=602). Intervention clients were more likely to report that their VCT service provider had: asked them about their alcohol use (83% vs. 41%: p<0.05); asked them about their partner’s alcohol use (72% vs. 22%); screened them for their alcohol use (77% vs. 33%: p<0.05); and gave them feedback about their screening results (67% vs. 35%: p<0.05). The study concluded that VCT service providers are able and willing to integrate alcohol risk reduction services during routine VCT services, and supports the integration of alcohol risk reduction counseling at VCT services in Kenya. Key Words: Alcohol, VCT, Integration, Service provision, Risk reduction, Counseling, Kenya
Large mammals and wetland utilisation: A case study in Yankari Game Reserve, Nigeria

The African plain harbours high abundance and diversity of mammals, most of which are confined to protected areas (PAs) due to anthro‐ pogenic threats (Craigie et al., 2010; Dirzo et al., 2014; Estes, 1999; Kingdon, 1997). Also, PAs face problems of hunting, logging and live‐ stock grazing, conflict of interest and poor management (Caro, 2001; Dharmaratne, Sang, & Walling, 2000; Gardner et al., 2009; Geldmann et al., 2015; Geldmann et al., 2015; Hall, Harris, Medjibe, & Ashton, 2003; Pressey, 1994; Salum, Eustace, Malata, & Mbangwa, 2017; Thuiller, 2007), consequently disrupting conservation goals, effective monitor‐ ing and understanding of habitat utilisation dynamics of mammals. Although wetlands are important habitats for sustaining animal populations, there is a widespread trend of increasing degradation of these habitats (Fynn, Chase, & Rӧder, 2014) and dearth of infor‐ mation pertaining to wetland utilisation in most PAs. While this is integral for effective conservation practice, few studies focus on this area in Africa (Arzamendia, Cassini, & Vila, 2006; Kumar, Mudappa, & Raman, 2010; Rahman et al., 2017). Here, we investigated the wet‐ land utilisation dynamics of large mammals in Yankari Game Reserve (YGR). The objective was to determine abundance, density and di‐ versity of large mammals and whether these variables were associ‐ ated with wetland size and time of day.
Transformer Fault Diagnosis Method Based on Self-Powered RFID Sensor Tag, DBN, and MKSVM

A novel transformer fault diagnosis method using self-powered radio frequency identification (RFID) sensor tag, deep belief network (DBN), and multiple kernel support vector machine (MKSVM) is presented. The self-powered RFID sensor tag is applied to measure transformer vibration signals, which has advantages of convenience, long-term monitoring, low power consumption, and fast location. Then, the DBN is employed to extract features from the measured signals, and the DBN method’s extraction performance is improved by optimizing its learning rates and momentum factors. The extracted features of the same fault are highly centralized, and the features of the different faults are obviously separated. Based on the features, the MKSVM is utilized to construct a transformer fault diagnosis model, and the MKSVM’s penalty factor and kernel weights are optimized through a quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (QPSO) algorithm. Finally, a mean signal deviation (MSD) metric is presented to locate the fault position. In this experiment, a 10 kV transformer is used to demonstrate the proposed transformer fault diagnosis procedure, and the diagnosis results reflect that the proposed method can effectively measure the transformer vibration signals, extract the essential features, construct an accurate diagnosis model, and locate the fault position.
A novel multi-agent Q-learning algorithm in cooperative multi-agent system

Q-learning can provide a robust and natural means for agents to learn how to coordinate their action choices in multi-agent systems. We examine some of the factors that can influence the dynamics of the learning process in such a setting. We first distinguish reinforcement learners that are unaware of (or ignore) the presence of other agents from those that explicitly attempt to learn the value of joint actions and the strategies of their counterparts. We study Q-learning in cooperative multi-agent systems under these two perspectives, focusing on the convergence to Nash equilibrium. We propose an exploration strategy to increase the likelihood of convergence to an optimal equilibrium.