Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experiments on Plum pox virus inactivation from micropropagated plum plants through non-thermal plasma treatment

Son zamanlarda, soguk atmosferik plazma (SAP)’in tip, gida teknolojileri, su aritma teknolojileri ve tarimda patojenlerin inaktivasyonu icin uygulanabilme olasiligi arastirilmaktadir. Bu calismanin amaci SAP’in, Plum pox virus’unun (PPV) M ve D irklari tarafindan dogal olarak enfekte edilen erik agacindan, in vitro kosullar altinda elde edilmis bitkicikler uzerindeki etkisini ve bu baglamda SAP’in virus inaktivasyonunda uygulanmasi olasiligini arastirmaktir. Calismada, biyolojik sistemlerin uygulanmasinda “yuzey dalgasi-surekli Argon plazma torcu” ve “su alti diyafram desarji” olmak uzere iki tip plazma kaynagi kullanilarak plazma tedavisinin birkac varyantinin gerceklestirilmesini saglamistir. Uygulamadan sonra ucuncu alt kultur uzerindeki bitkiciklerin IC-RT-PCR verilerine dayanarak, en etkili varyantin gaz ortaminda yapraksiz nodal segmentlere tekrarlanan plazma torc ucu uygulamasi oldugu bulunmustur. SAP ile muamele edilmis, her iki PPV irki ile enfekteli bitkiciklere yapilan irka spesifik RT-PCR analiz sonucunda, sadece PPV-M tespit edilmistir. Iklimlendirilmis ex vitro bitkilerinin IC-RT-PCR ve irka spesifik RT-PCR'dan elde edilen sonuclari, test edilmis bitkiciklerin molekuler analizlerinden elde edilen verilerle uyumlu oldugu gorulmustur. Elde edilen bu veriler, in vitro kosullarda yapilmis olsa da canli odunsu bitkilerin dokusundan PPV'nin inaktivasyonu icin CAP yetenegi uzerinde yapilan ilk calisma niteligindedir. PPV’den ari erik bitkilerinin elde edilmesinde kullanilan bu yaklasimin son degerlendirmesi, ex vitro bitkilerin daha uzun sure gozlemlenmesi ve test edilmesinden sonra yapilacaktir.
Students’ Perceptions of Social Networks Platforms use in Higher Education: A Qualitative Research

The use of social networks platforms for interactions, cooperative learning, and knowledge sharing for sharing information to improve students’ educational achievement seems to be one of the more widely examined topics in the Information Systems (IS) domain compared to the adoption of other technologies. However, as social networks platforms use distracts from studies and affects study habits, using social networks platforms can result in academic difficulties. Therefore, this research seeks to identify the interaction elements such as interaction with peers, cooperative learning and engagement for sharing information and perceptual elements such as perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use social networks platforms to improve educational achievement among students. This study is designed in accordance with the theory of constructivism. Qualitative research was applied to interviews conducted with a sample of 37 students. Data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics 20, and NVivo 11 was used for qualitative coding to investigate relationships between variables. The study found that interactions among students and interactions with lecturers enhance learning significantly. Additionally, the perceived overall benefits of using media platforms for learning and knowledge sharing that enhances satisfaction and affects educational achievement were high. Furthermore, the impact of social networks platforms use for education and knowledge sharing was also significant. Finally, the results indicate that students are satisfied with the use of media platforms as a means of learning and knowledge sharing. Findings show that using social networks platforms for learning and knowledge sharing should positively affected educational achievement of students.
Taxonomy of Network Security Software According to Features and Attributes

The cyber world reinvented a need for an age-old quest of safety. This research discussed 211 network security software environment according to 12 features. The paper first presented related research conducted on this topic. Next, the paper presented the 12 suggested features: Anti-Spam, Anti-Virus, Email Attachment Protection, Event Tracking, Internet Usage Monitoring, Intrusion Detection System, IP Protection, Spyware Removal, Two-Factor Authentication, Vulnerability Scanning, Web Threat Management, Web Traffic Reporting. Following, the paper showed the most popular features according to network security software. Afterward, the paper presented the top 6 network security software out of 211 that comply with at least 10 features.
Design to Encourage Reframing and Transformations through Digital Story telling and Analogical Thinking

With increasingly saturated markets and technological convergences globally, product differentiation is getting more challenging. We hypothesize that design, design-thinking, computational thinking and digital coding-storytelling aimed at encouraging reframing, and transforming would encourage analogical thinking and among the 21st century skills, ultimately, fractal thinking. Fractal thinking enables identification of patterns, which can be repeated but varied and decomposable to different levels of abstraction. In a study on expert systems analysts and programmers, curation and sharing of story-based media and analogical coding are encouraged. Next, analogical derivatives and their characteristics are mapped to PwC’s worlds. These enable identification of design factors (tangible and intangible scaffolds) for the development of a code-storytelling-analogical-fractal thinking system. The significance is extension from design thinking and computational thinking to analogical and ultimately, fractal thinking; the derivation of types of analogies and their characteristics, corresponding to PwC’s worlds. Future work situates learning within the Restorative Innovation-obscure-feature hypothesis framework.
Strip-Till One-Pass Technology in Central and Eastern Europe: A MZURI Pro-Til Hybrid Machine Case Study

The non-inversion tillage systems, including strip-till (ST), are the key element of conservation agriculture (CA). The aim of the 2012–2018 study has been to demonstrate the application of strip-till one-pass technology (ST-OP) on the farms of Central and Eastern Europe based on the use of Mzuri Pro-Til machines. There has also been an evaluation of the effect of that technology on the soil properties and the effects of crops growing. The scientific observations and field experiments were made, e.g., in Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Eastern states of Germany, Belarus, Serbia, and Romania. ST-OP case study with the use of Mzuri Pro-Til machine can be applied for growing all the basic crops. Tillage with a simultaneous basic fertilization application and seeding made regularly for a few years in given field leads to favorable changes in the soil properties. As compared with the soil under conventional plough tillage (CT), the soil moisture, especially in the periods of rainfall deficit, the content of organic carbon and its fraction, the count of microorganisms and earthworms, as well as the enzymatic activity, are higher. This technology saves over 20–30 L ha−1 of fuel, respectively, compared to reduced tillage (RT) and CT. Plant emergence is uniform, dense canopies and crop yields—not lower and even higher than for tillage and seeding commonly applied in Central and Eastern Europe. ST-OP can be thus an important element of field plant production as part of CA and sustainable development.
Reactive, cost-beneficial or undermining legitimacy: how disempowered protestors explain their part in violent clashes with the state

ABSTRACT Among cases of violent clashes between states and citizens, that of disempowered minorities is particularly paradoxical. The use of violence can negatively undermine the protest’s public legitimacy, and violence is likely also to extract a personal price from those using it, especially from disempowered protestors. Yet, violent clashes occur. This article, based on sixty in-depth, semi-structured interviews with protest activists, twenty of them Israelis of Ethiopian descent, focuses on ex-post explanations of disempowered protestors for their part in violent clashes with the state. Three non-mutually exclusive explanations can be offered: First, violence may be described as reactive, take place in clashes with the police during demonstrations, and therefore not a matter of strategy. Second, violent clashes can be perceived retrospectively as cost-beneficial, even if they were not a planned strategy. The potential benefit of raising problems to social discourse, despite the high cost of violence, can explain that. Finally, violent clashes can indicate undermining distinct components of state legitimacy. A combined analysis of the current case study, and of findings from other struggle arenas worldwide, provides a broad picture that could be generalized: while disempowered protestors tend to undermine state legitimacy based on the components trust, procedural justice, distributive justice, and effectiveness, they usually would not tend to undermine legitimacy based on the components identification and legality. The case of the Israelis of Ethiopian descent may be the exception that proves the rule, regarding trust and ex-post explanations for violent clashes.
Investigation of the Atmospheric Propagation of Alkali Lasers in a Maritime Environment Using Tunable Diode Laser Atmospheric Spectroscopy

Abstract : A field deployable Tunable Diode Laser Atmospheric Spectroscopy (TDLAS) device has been used to investigate the atmospheric absorption of Diode Pumped Alkali Laser (DPAL) wavelengths at a distance of 2,000 meters in a maritime environment. The spectral regions surrounding the cesium (Cs) and rubidium (Rb) DPAL emission lines were examined in order to determine the effects of absorption by the (000)---(003) and (000)---(102) water vapor vibrational bands over a distance of 2 km. This data was compared with data previously collected at shorter path lengths and the scaling of absorbance with various factors was analyzed. Spectral data for the Cs spectral region were analyzed to determine temperature and concentration estimates with statistical errors of between 0.1 and 1.14 deg. C and 11 and 1x10(to the 14th power). Temperature and pressure estimates were within 6% and 25%, respectively, of those reported by the weather station at the test site. The rotational dependence of broadening rates was investigated. By analyzing the widths of two widely spaced rotational lines, it was found that the observed linewidths were approximately 25% higher than those reported in existing spectral databases with a scaling ratio of the observed rates approximately 5% below the ratio of the reported values.
Factors Affecting Residents’ Adoption of Energy-efficient Lighting in Rural Areas of China

Energy conservation is one of the core topics to address the goals for sustainable development. Approximately 40% of the total energy are consumed by buildings currently [1]. Energy consumed by lighting accounts for about 20% among all the segments in buildings. Therefore, it’s extremely important to improve the energy efficiency of lighting in buildings. However, this process is relatively slow in the rural areas of China, despite the government’s policies and subsidies on lighting efficiency. According to the current study, only about half of the dwellings in the rural areas has adopted energy saving light sources. The aim of current study is to reveal the key factors that affect the adoption of energy-efficient lighting in the rural areas of Fujian province in China, and provide valuable information for addressing the barriers. From the survey data collected from 321 valid responses, it becomes clear that for the residents who lived in the rural area, their personal characteristics, the perceived ease of use, the perceived lighting quality, and the impact of indoor lighting on their health were not associated with the actual use of the energy-efficient light sources at home. On the other hand, social support, awareness of the technology, and the perception of cost effectiveness were identified to be significantly correlated with the acceptance of energy-efficient light sources. A mediation analysis further shows an important causal relationship among these factors. Social support significantly improves the users’ awareness toward energy-efficient lighting designs, which would influence their perception on the cost effectiveness, which in turn would translate into actual adoption of energy-efficient light sources. These findings will pave the way for better understanding of the influencing factors for the acceptance of energy-efficient light sources, and provide the policy makes with valuable information for the formation and implementation of favourable policies and support programs, in order to speed up the spread of energy-efficient light sources in rural areas of China.
Green dyeing of microwave treated silk using coconut coir based tannin
natural dye

REZUMAT Green dyeing of microwave treated silk using coconut coir based tannin natural dye The resurgence of natural dyes is gaining fame in textile industry due to eco-friendly nature. The present study was done to investigate the Coconut coir as natural dye (tannin) for silk dyeing under Microwave (MW) treatment following the optimization of experimental parameters. Isolation of colorant was carried out in aqueous, acidic and organic media (methanol) under influence of MW treatment up to 6 minutes. Dyeing of silk was carried out having irradiated and unirradiated extracts. Good colour strength was achieved by dyeing unirradiated silk using methanolic extract under MW treatment for 4 minutes at 75°C. The optimal dyeing was achieved at 75 minutes at pH 8 while keeping fabric liquor ratio 1:25 having 5 g/100 ml table salt as an electrolyte. For development of shades, salts of Al and Fe and Tannic acid were used as preand post-chemical mordants and Acacia, Pomegranate, Turmeric and Henna as preand post-biomordents. Acacia (6%) as pre-bio mordant and Turmeric (6%) as post-bio mordant considerably improved the colour strength at optimal conditions utilizing irradiated extract of coconut coir (tannin) and un-irradiated silk under MW treatment at 4 minutes. ISO-standard shows good colour fastness and colour strength at optimal conditions using Acacia and Turmeric as bio-mordents. This research work gives information about tannin extracted from Coconut coir has great potential to dye silk fabric to produce reddish-brown colour under the influence of microwave treatment. FTIR spectral study revealed chemical changes in the silk fabric treated with microwave radiations.
Analysis of C-peptide-specific CD4+ T cells in the peripheral blood of people with type 1 diabetes

iii DECLARATION . v PREFACE . vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . vii TABLE OF CONTENTS . viii LIST OF FIGURES . xii LIST OF TABLES . xiii ABBREVIATIONS . xiv CHAPTER
Effects of vertebrate and invertebrate predators on the life history of Daphnia similis and Moina macrocopa (Crustacea: Cladocera)

Cladocerans serve as prey for several aquatic predators like fish and Chaoborus larvae. However, because different predators consume different sized prey, cladocerans may display differing life-history responses depending on predator type. Although most studies use the genus Daphnia to evaluate phenotypic plasticity in cladocerans, other genera might also respond to predator infochemicals. In this study, we compared life-history responses of Daphnia similis and Moina macrocopa to infochemicals released by a vertebrate (fish) and an invertebrate (Chaoborus ) predator. As expected, some life-history parameters were altered depending on the type of predator. Overall, fish infochemicals increased the size at primipara, clutch size, net reproductive rate and longevity in both cladocerans. We argue that increased body lengths in the presence of fish promote bigger clutch sizes. Conversely, responses to Chaoborus were weaker, affecting only the net reproductive rates and longevity. Non-daphniid cladocerans may display similar responses to Daphnia when exposed to predators. However, as Daphnia is usually underrepresented in tropical lakes, studying other genera might offer new insights into predator-prey relationships and food webs in lake ecosystems.
Assessment of the Coliform Bacterial Load of Some Drinking Water Sources in Dutse Metropolis of Jigawa State Nigeria

Drinking water samples from 5 sachet water companies, 3 boreholes and 2 taps, collected from different locations of Dutse Metropolis of Jigawa State, Nigeria were analysed for coliform bacterial counts using the Membrane Filtration Technique. All the samples contained some amounts of total coliforms, but mostly within permissible levels. Thirty three percent (33%) of the samples from borehole, 60% from sachet water and 100% from the taps contained faecal coliforms, which indicates contamination. Cultures of the faecal coliforms obtained were morphologically identified using the gram-staining procedure and some series of biochemical tests were carried out in order to identify the organisms. The identified organisms were Escherichia coli (E. coli), Klebsiella sp. and Citrobacter sp. Presence of coliforms above the regulatory set standards indicates contamination and un-safeness of the water for drinking. Presence of organisms such as E. coli, Klebsiella sp. and Citrobacter sp. necessitates improvement in monitoring and water hygiene practices to improve the quality of drinking water in the study area.
Simultaneous Electrochemical Generation of Ferrate and Oxygen Radicals to Blue BR Dye Degradation

In this study, electro-oxidation (EOx) and in situ generation of ferrate ions [Fe(VI)] were tested to treat water contaminated with Blue BR dye (BBR) using a boron-doped diamond (BDD) anode. Two electrolytic media (0.1 M HClO4 and 0.05 M Na2SO4) were evaluated for the BDD, which simultaneously produced oxygen radicals (•OH) and [Fe(VI)]. The generation of [Fe(VI)] was characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and the effect of different current intensity values (e.g., 7 mA cm−2, 15 mA cm−2, and 30 mA cm−2) was assessed during BBR degradation tests. The discoloration of BBR was followed by UV-Vis spectrophotometry. When the EOx process was used alone, only 78% BBR discoloration was achieved. The best electrochemical discoloration conditions were found using 0.05 M Na2SO4 and 30 mA cm−2. Using these conditions, overall BBR discoloration values up to 98%, 95%, and 87% with 12 mM, 6 mM, and 1 mM of FeSO4, respectively, were achieved. In the case of chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction, the EOx process showed only a 37% COD reduction, whereas combining [Fe(VI)] generation using 12 mM of FeSO4 achieved an up to 61% COD reduction after 90 min. The evolution of reaction byproducts (oxalic acid) was performed using liquid chromatography analysis.
RAPD Analysis of Genetic Diversity and Relationships among Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) Germplasm

To analyse the genetic diversity and relationships among kenaf germplasm, two cultivars and twenty three accessions from different geographical regions were assessed using RAPD markers. Six RAPD primers generated 38 polymorphic bands with an average of 6.33 polymorphic bands per primer. A high level of genetic variation (proportion of polymorphic loci 79.17%) and high genetic distance (0.0426 to 0.6523) were found among 25 indigenous and exotic kenaf germplasm. The UPGMA dendrogram based on Nei’s genetic distance segregated the genotypes into two major, two minor and one single genotype clusters. The distribution pattern of genotypes from different geographical regions into five clusters was random, indicating that geographical isolation may not be only factors causing genetic diversity. The minor cluster III comprised two accessions collected from same origin but they are distantly related to each other. The genetic distance between two cultivars was lower (0.0870) and they were found in the same cluster. These results indicate that studied kenaf germplasm not only exhibit a high level of genetic diversity but also have a different genetic background.
Rationally designed mariner vectors to allow functional genomic analysis of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae and other bacteria by transposon-directed insertion-site sequencing (TraDIS)

Transposon Directed Insertion Sequencing (TraDIS) is a high-throughput method for mapping insertion sites in large libraries of transposon mutants. The Himar1 (mariner) transposon is ideal for generating near-saturating mutant libraries, especially in AT-rich chromosomes, as the requirement for integration is a TA dinucleotide. In this study, we generated two novel mariner vectors, pTsodCPC9 and pTlacPC9 (differing only in the promoter driving expression of the transposase gene), in order to facilitate TraDIS identification of conditionally essential genes in Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae and other bacteria. Using the pTlacPC9 vector, we have generated, for the first time, saturating mariner mutant libraries in both A. pleuropneumoniae and Pasteurella multocida that showed a near random distribution of insertions around the respective chromosomes. A preliminary screen of 5000 mutants each identified 8 and 15 genes, respectively, that are required for growth under anaerobic conditions.
Does behavioural thermoregulation help pregnant Sceloporus adleri lizards in dealing with fast environmental temperature rise

The physiological performance of reptiles is subject to specific body temperature ranges, which are frequently similar between closely-related species even when they inhabit sites with different thermal conditions. Pregnant females should be particularly efficient for thermoregulation because healthy embryos develop at a narrow temperature range, a potential problem in the context of current global warming. To test the idea that pregnant lizards adjust their thermoregulatory behaviour to rising temperatures, we set up an experiment with 40 pregnant Sceloporus adleri and measured daily activity and basking time at different treatments (22, 24, 26 and 28°C) for six consecutive days. Basking time significantly decreased with increasing temperature. Lizards were more active in the earliest two time periods of the day (0800–1030 and 1030–1300 hours) when compared to later hours (1530–1800) for all treatments, although the trend was less pronounced at 24 and 26°C. Unexpectedly, the probability of activity for lizards increased at 28°C. All lizards maintained a body temperature without significant differences across treatments. These results suggest that pregnant S. adleri females are able to adjust their behavioural thermoregulation to different thermal environments in a short period of time to maintain an adequate body temperature for key physiological processes such as development and growth of their offspring.
Cooperative Control Based on Distributed Attack Identification and Isolation

This paper studies the secure consensus control of multi-agent systems where some agents are injected into malicious attacks and compromised. We focus on the distributed detection and identification of attacks on agents and the realization of consensus of agents against attacks. Firstly, we design monitors that can perform precise distributed attack detection. Then, we propose a distributed attack identification algorithm by constructing distributed observers. After that, a cooperative controller is proposed which ensures the normal control of systems by means of isolating the agents which are attacked. Finally, we validate our results through simulation examples.