Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Molecular Detection of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. Cubense Race TR4 Infecting Banana Groups in Indo-Gangetic Plains of India

Panama wilt or Fusarium wilt incited by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc) is a major threat for banana cultivation and impacting symbolic economic losses worldwide. Previously Foc race 1 and race 2 was detected in India which eventually spread monoculture of ‘Cavendish’ bananas Original Research Article Rana et al.; CJAST, 39(33): 136-148, 2020; Article no.CJAST. 61723 137 resistant against these two races. Later on, another new race TR4 of Foc was detected to be incited in ‘Cavendish’ group of banana raised an alarming situation to the global banana industry. In the present study detailed survey was conducted in popular banana growing districts of West Bengal, India for visualizing the impact of disease incidence as well as collection of isolates from infected suckers and rhizomes of ‘Cavendish’ banana with an aim to develop a rapid detection technique for apprehending the presence of Foc TR4 race at early infection stages. Methods comprised of field survey followed by isolation of pathogen, test of pathogenicity and further molecular detection through Foc TR4 specific primers. Results revealed that the colonies formed on the potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium exhibited typical characteristic of Foc. Pathogenicity test conducted by considering healthy plantlet of ‘Grand Naine’ also detected characteristic symptom of Foc. Additionally, PCR assay using specific markers followed by sequencing of 28S-18S ribosomal RNA intergenic spacer spacer (IGS) confirmed the presence of this isolate in the infected samples. Phylogenetic evolution assays revealed a very close relationship of the Foc TR4 strains of India with Asia-Pacific isolates of Foc TR4. This study advocated the urgency of prevention of introduction of Foc TR4 into disease-free areas in the banana growing districts of India for maintaining sustainable banana production.
Analysis of MDR1 Polymorphisms Among HIV-Infected Individuals on ARV Therapy from Western India

Background: The multidrug resistance protein, MDR1 is involved in the transport of numerous drugs. Polymorphism of MDR1 is linked with the treatment outcome. Antiretroviral (ARV) regimen is being used to manage the progression of HIV infection. Ethnic disparities have been observed in the distribution of MDR1 genotypes.Methods: MDR1 polymorphisms (1236 C/T, 3435 C/T) was genotyped in 34 HIV-infected individuals with ARV-associated hepatotoxicity, 131 HIV-infected individuals without ARV-associated hepatotoxicity, and one-fifty-five healthy individuals by utilization of PCR-RFLP.Results: The incidence of haplotype TC of MDR1 was found to be more in HIV infected individuals with hepatotoxicity than the non-hepatotoxic ones, thus indicating a greater risk for hepatotoxicity severity (OR=1.96, P=0.06). Whereas the haplotypes TT and CC were found to be linked with a reduced risk for hepatotoxicity severity (OR= 0.16, P=0.006; OR= 0.46, P=0.06). A higher occurrence of MDR1 1236TT genotype was seen among patients with hepatotoxicity who consumed alcohol (28.6% versus 14.8%, OR=1.50). In patients with hepatotoxicity on nevirapine, there was an increased incidence of MDR1 1236TT genotype in contrast with efavirenz (21.7% versus 9.1%, OR=2.11). In HIV-infected people on nevirapine, the incidence of MDR1 1236CT, 1236TT genotypes was found to be more as compared to the ones on efavirenz (43.7% versus 33.3%, OR=1.66; 12.6% versus 8.3%, OR=1.96). Also a higher occurrence of MDR1 1236TT genotype was found in the hepatotoxicity cases on nevirapine, who consume alcohol as compared to the alcohol nonusers on nevirapine (40.0% versus 16.67%, OR=2.21). Conclusion: Haplotype TC was associated with the increased severity of hepatotoxicity because of synergistic effect. In the HIV infected individuals on nevirapine who consume alcohol, the presence of MDR1 1236TT and 3435CT genotypes may have a combined effect on vulnerability to hepatotoxicity severity and progression of HIV infection.
A Pipeline Abnormal Signal Detection Method Based on 1D-Faster R-CNN

Aimed at the detection difficulty of local abnormal signals during pipeline operation, this paper takes the local abnormal signals as the detected targets, and proposes a new method based on target detection to extract abnormal signals with different amplitude and shape; and for the case where there are few actual leak samples, combined with the characteristics that the training samples of each module of the model itself are derivative samples of the original sample, so as to realize the small sample training of the model. Finally, a new pipeline leak detection and location method is proposed by combining the 1D-faster R-CNN with the cross-correlation location method based on signal matching. The experimental results show that the proposed method effectively extracts local abnormal signals, accurately alarms leak signals, and eliminates the false alarms caused by the recognition errors of normal signals.
Virtual Quality Gates in Manufacturing Systems: Framework, Implementation and Potential

Manufacturing companies are exposed to increased complexity and competition. To stay competitive, companies need to minimize the total cost of quality while ensuring high transparency about process–product relationships within the manufacturing system. In this context, the development of technologies such as advanced analytics and cyber physical production systems offer a promising approach. This paper discusses and defines essential elements of virtual quality gates in the context of manufacturing systems. To support the planning and implementation of virtual quality gates, a morphological box is developed which can be used to identify and derive an individual approach for a virtual quality gate based on the specific characteristics and requirements of the respective manufacturing system. Moreover, the framework is exemplified by three case studies from various industries and resulting potential are discussed.
Symbiotic relationship between smart enterprises in an entrepreneurial ecosystem

ABSTRACT Smart enterprises establish symbiotic relationship and promote symbiosis among entrepreneurs by incorporating their own needs and working with other smart enterprises to explore entrepreneurial opportunities, striving to further develop the entrepreneurial ecosystem, especially the influence of internet technology and smart specialization,On the one hand, this study provides reference for promoting the theoretical construction of entrepreneurial ecosystem; on the other hand, it accelerates the formation of smart specialization, and proposes that the economic benefits of 1+1 > 2 can be realized in the entrepreneurial ecosystem,so as to promote the virtuous cycle of entrepreneurial ecosystem and effectively realize resource sharing.
Are Road Crossings Fragmenting Populations of Clinch Dace?

Abstract - Chrosomus sp. cf. saylori (Clinch Dace) is a newly recognized species of minnow with a restricted distribution in southwestern Virginia. We analyzed genetic variation and abundance at paired sites above and below road crossings. Road crossings did not have a strong effect on presence, abundance, or genetic differentiation of Clinch Dace. Of all sites where Clinch Dace were found, only 1 perched culvert presented a barrier to upstream migration; however, no genetic differentiation was found between collections above and below that or any other culvert. Distribution and abundance of Clinch Dace populations were not influenced by habitat variables measured at the site level. Low abundance in small headwaters, nest association, and high mobility appear to be characteristics of this species of Chrosomus.
Beyond SOx reductions from shipping: assessing the impact of NOx and carbonaceous-particle controls on human health and climate

Historically, cargo ships have been powered by low-grade fossil fuels, which emit particles and particle-precursor vapors that impact human health and climate. We used a global chemical-transport model with online aerosol microphysics (GEOS-Chem-TOMAS) to estimate the aerosol health and climate impacts of four emission-control policies: (1) 85% reduction in sulfur oxide (SOx) emissions (Sulf); (2) 85% reduction in SOx and black carbon (BC) emissions (Sulf-BC); (3) 85% reduction in SOx, BC, and organic aerosol (OA) emissions (Sulf-BC-OA); and (4) 85% reduction in SOx, BC, OA, and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions (Sulf-BC-OA-NOx). The SOx reductions reflect the 0.5% fuel-sulfur cap implemented by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) on 1 January 2020. The other reductions represent realistic estimates of future emission-control policies. We estimate that these policies could reduce fine particulate matter (PM2.5)-attributable mortalities by 13 300 (Sulf) to 38 600 (Sulf-BC-OA-NOx) mortalities per year. These changes represent 0.3% and 0.8%, respectively, of annual PM2.5-attributable mortalities from anthropogenic sources. Comparing simulations, we estimate that adding the NOx cap has the greatest health benefit. In contrast to the health benefits, all scenarios lead to a simulated climate warming tendency. The combined aerosol direct radiative effect and cloud-albedo indirect effects (AIE) are between 27 mW m−2 (Sulf) and 41 mW m−2 (Sulf-BC-OA-NOx). These changes are about 2.1% (Sulf) to 3.2% (Sulf-BC-OA-NOx) of the total anthropogenic aerosol radiative forcing. The emission control policies examined here yield larger relative changes in the aerosol radiative forcing (2.1%–3.2%) than in health effects (0.3%–0.8%), because most shipping emissions are distant from populated regions. Valuation of the impacts suggests that these emissions reductions could produce much larger marginal health benefits ($129–$374 billion annually) than the marginal climate costs ($12–$17 billion annually).
Comparative study on epsilon-near-zero transparent conducting oxides: High-order chromatic dispersions and modeling of ultrashort pulse interactions

A comparative study on the chromatic dispersions and the interactions with ultrashort pulses in epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) is theoretically presented. The ENZ TCOs exhibit rapidly varying and unprecedentedly large $N\mathrm{th}$-order dispersions in the ENZ region, which is exclusive to ENZ plasmonic materials. However, it is found that in both physical and mathematical senses, the concepts of high $N\mathrm{th}$-order chromatic dispersions are inapplicable for ENZ TCOs with Drude-like permittivity. Subsequently, the impacts of the complex permittivity dispersion profiles on ultrashort pulse interactions are discussed. Comparisons are made between propagation patterns in an ENZ AZO waveguide obtained from the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation (NLSE) and Maxwell's equations, as well as between interactions of femtosecond pulses with different temporal widths in a subwavelength ENZ AZO slab. Results show that the well-received NLSE is not suitable for modeling ENZ TCOs in either case, and subwavelength interaction patterns with different pulse widths are quite different, where the shorter pulse can excite stronger localized resonance.
A Climate Downscaling Deep Learning Model considering the Multiscale Spatial Correlations and Chaos of Meteorological Events

Climate downscaling is a way to provide finer resolution data at local scales, which has been widely used in meteorological research. The two main approaches for climate downscaling are dynamical and statistical. The traditional dynamical downscaling methods are quite time- and resource-consuming based on general circulation models (GCMs). Recently, more and more researchers construct a statistical deep learning model for climate downscaling motivated by the single-image superresolution (SISR) process in computer vision (CV). This is an approach that uses historical climate observations to learn a low-resolution to high-resolution mapping and produces great enhancements in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. Therefore, it has provided an appreciable new insight and successful downscaling solution to multiple climate phenomena. However, most existing models only make a simple analogy between climate downscaling and SISR and ignore the underlying dynamical mechanisms, which leads to the overaveraged downscaling results lacking crucial physical details. In this paper, we incorporate the a priori meteorological knowledge into a deep learning formalization for climate downscaling. More specifically, we consider the multiscale spatial correlations and the chaos in multiple climate events. Depending on two characteristics, we build up a two-stage deep learning model containing a stepwise reconstruction process and ensemble inference, which is named climate downscaling network (CDN). It can extract more local/remote spatial dependencies and provide more comprehensive captures of extreme conditions. We evaluate our model based on two datasets: climate science dataset (CSD) and benchmark image dataset (BID). The results demonstrate that our model shows the effectiveness and superiority in downscaling daily precipitation data from 2.5 degrees to 0.5 degrees over Asia and Europe. In addition, our model exhibits better performance than the other traditional approaches and state-of-the-art deep learning models.
Population growth and human resource utilization nexus in Nigeria

Population growth has remained a key issue facing developing economies in the world. While developed countries are experiencing diminished or negative population growth, many countries in sub-Saharan Africa including Nigeria are having population growth above the economic growth rate. With the deadline for the sustainable development goals approaching, attention is increasingly being focused on population growth and human capital development. Extant literature focused on population growth, human resource utilization and economic growth but this study aims to examine the effect of population growth on human resource utilization. ,Using secondary data for the period 1990-2018, the study conducted unit root test and co-integration analyses to determine the stationarity and correlation in the long-run in the variables. The study used the error correction model to ascertain the speed at which shocks can be corrected in the long-run. Granger causality test was also carried out to ascertain the direction of causality among the variables. ,The empirical results revealed that population growth has a negative and significant effect on human resource utilization. The study also revealed that unidirectional causality runs from employment rate to population growth rate and a unidirectional causality runs from employment growth rate to expected years of schooling. The Nigerian Government needs to not only control population growth but also focus on the quality of education. ,The paper provides insights into the relationship between population growth and human capital utilization in Nigeria focusing on the 1986-2018 period.
The Role of Samalas Mega Volcanic Eruption in European Summer Hydroclimate Change

In this study, the role of AD 1258 Samalas mega volcanic eruption in the summer hydroclimate change over Europe and the corresponding mechanisms are investigated through multi-member ensemble climate simulation experiments based on the Community Earth System Model (CESM). The results show that the CESM simulations are consistent with the reconstructed Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) and the historical records of European climate. Europe experiences significant summer cooling in the first three years after the Samalas mega volcanic eruption, peaking at −3.61 °C, −4.02 °C, and −3.21 °C in year 1 over the whole Europe, Southern Europe, and Northern Europe, respectively. The summer surface air temperature (SAT, °C) changes over the European continent are mainly due to the direct weakening of shortwave solar radiation induced by volcanic aerosol. The summer precipitation over the European continent shows an obvious dipole distribution characteristic of north-south reverse phase. The precipitation increases up to 0.42 mm/d in year 1 over Southern Europe, while it decreases by −0.28 mm/d in year 1 over Northern Europe, respectively. Both simulations and reconstructions show that the centers with the strongest increase in precipitation have always been located in the Balkans and Apennine peninsulas along the Mediterranean coast over Southern Europe, and the centers with the strongest precipitation reduction are mainly located in the British Isles and Scandinavia over northwestern Europe. The negative response of North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) with significant positive sea level pressure (SLP) anomaly in the north and negative SLP anomaly in the south is excited in summer. The low tropospheric wind anomaly caused by the negative phase of NAO in summer affects the water vapor transport to Europe, resulting in the distribution pattern of summer precipitation in Europe, which is drying in the north and wetting in the south. The knowledge gained from this study is crucial to better understand and predict the potential impacts of single mega volcanic eruption on the future summer hydroclimate change in Europe.
Anti-mycobacterial activity of two natural Bisanthraquinones: (+)-1,1′-Bislunatin and (+)-2,2′-Epicytoskyrin A

Tuberculosis is considered one of the leading death causes in the world by a single infectious agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). The search for a new biologically active compound for the treatment of Tuberculosis is an urgent need due to the rise of multidrug-resistant phenomena. Endophytic fungi were known for a vast reservoir for bioactive secondary metabolites. Endophytic fungi, Diaporthe sp. GNBP-10 associated with gambier plant Uncaria gambier Roxb was able to produce two natural bisantharaquinone, (+)-1,1’-Bislunatin (Bis) and (+)-2,2’-Epicytoskyrin A (Epi), possessing strong antibacterial activities against the various pathogen. In this study, the biological activity screening of (Bis) and (Epi) will be extended by evaluating their activity against Mtb H37Rv. The in-vitro assay was conducted via determination of Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC), nutrient-starvation Mtb, Biofilm Mtb formation, and Mtb-infected macrophage assay. Meanwhile, the in-silico screening was done by docking and Adsorption, Distribution, Metabolism, and Exertion (ADME) studies. Bis and Epi showed promising anti-tubercular activity, as shown by the MIC value of Bis, which is the same as rifampicin (standard drug) at 0.422 μM. Meanwhile, Epi carried out the same MIC value as isoniazid (standard drug) at 0.844 μM. Further investigation on in-vitro assay resulted in Epi and Bis, which were observed for having the ability to combat nutrient-starvation and biofilm of the Mtb model with relatively moderate activity in bacterial reduction with log reduction between 1-2 folds. The cytotoxicity study revealed that Bis possessed high toxicity at all tested concentrations, while the toxicity of Epi decreased as the tested concentrations decreased. Both compounds could reduce the number of Mtb infected into macrophages in 2 folds log reduction. The in-silico result via docking study shows that both compounds have good affinity with pantothenate kinase (PanK) enzyme with a glide score of -8.427 kcal/mol and -7.481 kcal/mol for Epi and Bis, respectively. This study suggests that Epi displayed a potency to be developed further as an anti-mycobacterial compound as it is shown by in-vitro assay, cytotoxicity, and in-silico study. Despite possessing good anti-mycobacterial activity, further studies such as QSAR (Quantitative-Structure Activity Relationship) is needed to improve the physicochemical properties of Epi while maintaining its biological properties.
Effects of combining immunocastration and β-adrenergic agonists on the blood metabolites and their correlations with performance and carcass traits of finished Nellore cattle

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of combining immunocastration and β-adrenergic agonists (β-AA) on blood metabolites and their correlations with performance and carcass traits of Nellore cattle. Ninety-six Nellore males were distributed in a randomized block design with a 2×3 factorial arrangement. The factors were two sexual conditions (immunocastrated and non-castrated), and three diets (control, with no inclusion of β-AA; RH, with 300 mg of ractopamine hydrochloride/d; and ZH, with 80 mg of zilpaterol hydrochloride/animal/d). [. ]
First-principles calculations of Stark shifts of electronic transitions for defects in semiconductors: the Si vacancy in 4H-SiC

Point defects in solids are promising single-photon sources with application in quantum sensing, computing and communication. Herein, we describe a theoretical framework for studying electric field effects on defect-related electronic transitions, based on density functional theory calculations with periodic boundary conditions. Sawtooth-shaped electric fields are applied perpendicular to the surface of a two-dimensional defective slab, with induced charge singularities being placed in the vacuum layer. The silicon vacancy (V Si) in 4H-SiC is employed as a benchmark system, having three zero-phonon lines in the near-infrared (V1, V1′ and V2) and exhibiting Stark tunability via fabrication of Schottky barrier or p-i-n diodes. In agreement with experimental observations, we find an approximately linear field response for the zero-phonon transitions of V Si involving the decay from the first excited state (named V1 and V2). However, the magnitude of the Stark shifts are overestimated by nearly a factor of 10 when comparing to experimental findings. We discuss several theoretical and experimental aspects which could affect the agreement.
Financial inclusion and economic growth nexus: Evidence from SAARC countries

This article examines the nexus between financial inclusion index and economic growth in all eight South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, using annual data from 2004 to 2017. In order to determine the possible long-run relationship between these variables, the study adopted the Pedroni panel co-integration test and two types of co-integration regression methods, the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square (FMOLS) and the Dynamic Ordinary Least Square (DOLS) methods. The Pedroni panel co-integration test confirms the existence of a long-run relationship between financial inclusion and economic growth in the SAARC countries. The coefficients of FMOLS and DOLS indicate that the index of financial inclusion and selected control variables together support economic growth. In addition, the Granger causality test confirmed bi-directional causality between FI and economic growth.
Image deraining using multi-scale aggregated generator network

Abstract. Rain streaks attached to a camera may seriously affect the visibility of the background and considerably degrade image quality. We handle this problem by removing rain streaks to convert a rainy image into a clean one. This creates a problem in that the information with respect to the background of the occluded parts is close to being lost for the most part. To remove rain streaks from a single image, we employ a multi-scale aggregated generator network. Differing from previous generative adversarial networks, an enhanced generator block (EGB) is applied in the generator; this broadens the receptive field of the input features and enhances the attention to rain streaks details. In addition, both the generator and the discriminator networks contain the visual mask that learns the rain streak regions and their surroundings during training. By putting the mask forward, the generator network focuses on rain streaks and the surrounding regions and the discriminator network is capable of evaluating the local consistency of the restored regions.