Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prediction Skill of the 2012 U.S. Great Plains Flash Drought in Subseasonal Experiment (SubX) Models

Rapid-onset droughts, known as flash droughts, can have devastating impacts on agriculture, water resources, and ecosystems. The ability to predict flash droughts in advance would greatly enhance our preparation for them and potentially mitigate their impacts. Here, we investigate the prediction skill of the extreme 2012 flash drought over the U.S. Great Plains at subseasonal lead times (3 weeks or more in advance) in global forecast systems participating in the Subseasonal Experiment (SubX). An additional comprehensive set of subseasonal hindcasts with NASA’s GEOS model, a SubX model with relatively high prediction skill, was performed to investigate the separate contributions of atmospheric and land initial conditions to flash drought prediction skill. The results show that the prediction skill of the SubX models is quite variable. While skillful predictions are restricted to within the first two forecast weeks in most models, skill is considerably better (3–4 weeks or more) for certain models and initialization dates. The enhanced prediction skill is found to originate from two robust sources: 1) accurate soil moisture initialization once dry soil conditions are established, and 2) the satisfactory representation of quasi-stationary cross-Pacific Rossby wave trains that lead to the rapid intensification of flash droughts. Evidence is provided that the importance of soil moisture initialization applies more generally to central U.S. summer flash droughts. Our results corroborate earlier findings that accurate soil moisture initialization is important for skillful subseasonal forecasts and highlight the need for additional research on the sources and predictability of drought-inducing quasi-stationary atmospheric circulation anomalies.
Circular Dichroism Analysis of a Synthetic Peptide Corresponding to the α,α-Corner Motif of Hemoglobin

Abstract The α,α-corner is a helix-turn-helix super-secondary structural protein motif where the two α-helices cross at approximately right angles. This motif has been observed in a wide variety of proteins and thus, has been proposed to be a protein folding initiator. We sought to test this hypothesis by synthesizing a peptide corresponding to the α,α-corner of the α-chain of horse methemoglobin (residues 80-108) and examining its structure by circular dichroism. We found that the α,α-corner peptide is moderately helical in water and fully helical in trifluoroethanol, a solvent that approximates the hydrophobic surroundings of the excised portion of the protein. The helicity of our synthetic peptide suggests that the α,α-corner may infact have some stability on its own and thus, may be capable of initiating protein folding.
Importation of organisms producing broad-spectrum SHV-group β-lactamases into the United Kingdom

We report the isolation of three strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae sensu lato, brought into the United Kingdom by patients from Greece and Egypt, that showed plasmid-determined resistance to ceftazidime. All three produced beta-lactamases shown by DNA hybridisation studies to belong to the SHV group. One produced an enzyme that appeared to be related to, but distinguishable from, SHV-1; another SHV-2 and the third SHV-5.
Trophectoderm morphology is a better predictor of clinical pregnancy in blastocyst transfers

In assisted reproduction, a successful outcome is closely associated with the selection of potentially implantable. Blastocyst culture has its ownmerits that it can possibly eliminate the selection of non-viable embryos, canmimic physiology with better embryo-uterine synchrony and the extended culture can also assess the embryos post-embryonic genomic activation. Scoring of blastocyst characteristics can also aid in single embryo transfers (SET), reducing the risks of multiple pregnancies. The morphological assessment can serve as a non-invasive tool for better prediction of the outcome in IVF. The two importantmorphological parameters of blastocyst grading the inner cell mass (ICM) and the trophectoderm(TE) other than the expansion of the blastocoel cavity. Various groups reported the importance of either characteristic predicting implantation, pregnancy and live birth. In this retrospective study, we have evaluated which one of these parameters possess the predictive ability of implantation and pregnancy. The embryos frozen as blastocysts following morphological scoring in the stimulated cycles were replaced in subsequent cycles. The transferred blastocysts with known implantation were grouped into four different combinations of grades of ICM and TE and analyzed for the association with the clinical pregnancy and the indings were statistically validated. This study demonstrates there is a signi icant correlation between the grades of TE cells and the clinical pregnancy, so TE grade possibly is a better predictor of in blastocyst transfers. The trophoectoderm grades of embryo can be used as a selection tool for a better IVF outcome.
Polystyrene Topography Sticker Array for Cell-Based Assays

Cells can respond to different topographical cues in their natural microenvironment. Hence, scientists have employed microfabrication techniques and materials to generate culture substrates containing topographies for cell-based assays. However, one of the limitations of custom topographical platforms is the lack of adoption by the broad research community. These techniques and materials have high costs, require high technical expertise, and can leach components that may introduce artifacts. In this study, we developed an array of culture surfaces on polystyrene using razor printing and sanding methods to examine the impact of microscale topographies on cell behavior. The proposed technology consists of culture substrates of defined roughness, depth, and curvature on polystyrene films bound to the bottom of a culture well using double-sided medical-grade tape. Human monocytes and adult mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) were used as test beds to demonstrate the applicability of the array for cell-based assays. An increase in cell elongation and Arg-1 expression was detected in macrophages cultured in grooves and on rough substrates as compared to flat surfaces. Also, substrates with enhanced roughness stimulated the proliferation of hMSCs. This effect correlated with the secretion of proteins involved in cell proliferation and the downregulation of those associated with cell differentiation. Our results showed that the polystyrene topography sticker array supports cellular changes guided by microscale surface roughness and geometries. Consequently, microscale surface topographies on polished and razor-printed polystyrene films could leverage the endogenous mechanisms of cells to stimulate cellular changes at the functional level for cell-based assays.
ANALYSIS IMPLEMENTATION PARTNERSHIP PROGRAMS AS EVALUATION MATERIALS FOR EQUATING EDUCATION QUALITY IN INDONESIA

Purpose of the study: This research was compiled to analyze the improvement of the quality of education in Indonesia. The purpose of program evaluation is to know for sure whether the achievement of the results, progress, and obstacles encountered in the implementation of the program. Recognizing the low competency of school principals of the principal's partnership programs. Methodology: The type of this research is development, research which aims to produce instruments to evaluate a school principal partnership program. The development design in this study using the Plomp model. The data was analyzed qualitatively as input for improvement of activities in 2018. The following data was collected using questionnaires, interviews, and observations. Main Findings: The data and analysis show that the partnership program has recorded various advances made in the impact schools — both those related to curriculum management and implementation of supervision of learning and strengthening of school ecosystems. The effectiveness of school programs is very dependent on the carrying capacity of each school. However, it is the real result of this program is the change in mindset not only for principals but for almost all stakeholders. Applications of this study: This Study is analyzed based on the school principal partnership program report to become recommendation and references for another partnership programs, improving the competency of school principals, and developing remote area (3T regions/frontier, outermost, and disadvantaged in Indonesia national scale) of Indonesia. Novelty/Originality of this study: The findings imply that the partnership program has a significant impact on the equity growth in remote areas.
Modelling geographical patterns in species richness using eigenvector-based spatial filters

Aim To test the mechanisms driving bird species richness at broad spatial scales using eigenvector-based spatial filtering. Location South America. Methods An eigenvector-based spatial filtering was applied to evaluate spatial patterns in South American bird species richness, taking into account spatial autocorrelation in the data. The method consists of using the geographical coordinates of a region, based on eigenanalyses of geographical distances, to establish a set of spatial filters (eigenvectors) expressing the spatial structure of the region at different spatial scales. These filters can then be used as predictors in multiple and partial regression analyses, taking into account spatial autocorrelation. Autocorrelation in filters and in the regression residuals can be used as stopping rules to define which filters will be used in the analyses. Results Environmental component alone explained 8% of variation in richness, whereas 77% of the variation could be attributed to an interaction between environment and geography expressed by the filters (which include mainly broad-scale climatic factors). Regression coefficients of environmental component were highest for AET. These results were unbiased by short-scale spatial autocorrelation. Also, there was a significant interaction between topographic heterogeneity and minimum temperature. Conclusion Eigenvector-based spatial filtering is a simple and suitable statistical protocol that can be used to analyse patterns in species richness taking into account spatial autocorrelation at different spatial scales. The results for South American birds are consistent with the climatic hypothesis, in general, and energy hypothesis, in particular. Habitat heterogeneity also has a significant effect on variation in species richness in warm tropical regions.
Germinação de diásporos recém-colhidos de Myracrodruon urundeuva Allemão (Anacardiaceae) ocorrente no cerrado do Brasil Central

Myracrodruon urundeuva occurs in Northeast, Southeast, and West Center Brazilian regions, being considered as a vulnerable species to extinction. Diaspores collected in the Araguari River valley, MG, were used in three experiments, in a completely randomized design, with five replications of 50 diaspores each one. In the first and second experiments, germination boxes with vermiculite moistened with distilled water, GA3 and cytokinin at 1, 10, 100 µg mL-1, and 0.2% KNO3 were used as treatments. The first experiment was conducted under continuous fluorescent white lamps and the second in darkness. In the third experiment the diaspores were moistened with distilled water and stratified during one to six days at 45 oC in darkness. Control treatment was constituted by diaspores moistened with water, without stratification. For the experiments conducted under light conditions, data were collected observing the embryo protrusion every 24 hours; in darkness conditions counting was processed after seven days from the beginning of the experiment. Under continuous light, diaspores treated with 1 µg. mL1 GA3 were more homogeneous (CVt = 17.13%) and synchronized (Z = 0.64) in relation to the other treatments. The germinability ranged from 52.8% to 60% and occurred between two and three days. In darkness condition, germinability ranged from 50.4% to 58.8% and under stratification, from 49.6% to 61.2%. For the experiment testing stratification, the lowest mean time, the highest rate and germination uniformity were registered for diaspores stratified during six days. Although the germination process had been fast, low germinability indicates that new investigations are necessary to the sustainable exploration of this species.
Species specific cpDNA markers useful for studies on the hybridisation between Pinus mugo and P. sylvestris

PCR-RFLP technique has been used to detect species-specific mutations of organelles DNA for closely related dwarf mountain pine ( Pinus mugo ) and Scots pine ( P. sylvestris ). Restriction fragment patterns have been compared of amplification products for trn L- trn F cpDNA and for cox I and orf 25 genes of mtDNA. The difference has been found in the Dral and Hinfl restriction patterns of the amplification products for trn L- trn F region of cpDNA with two haplotypes detected. The haplotype M is characteristic for P. mugo and the haplotype S for P. sylvestris . These markers may be useful for the analysis of the natural hybridisation and introgression between these species postulated for some sympatric populations on the basis of morphological analysis. No differences have been disclosed in the studied mtDNA regions.
Low-cost ultra-sensitive SnO2-based ammonia sensor synthesized by hydrothermal method

ABSTRACT Tin oxide (SnO2) and 2 mol% Ce-doped SnO2 nanoparticles synthesized by the hydrothermal method to detect ammonia vapors at room temperature. X-ray diffraction investigations have been confirmed that the synthesized nanoparticles are polycrystalline in nature with tetragonal rutile phase. The particle size is determined using Scherrer’s formula and it is found to increase with the “Ce” dopant. Scanning electron microscopy observations reveal that these samples have spherical morphology composed of fine crystallites. The EDX spectra reveal the dominant presence of Sn and O in the case of pure SnO2 nanoparticles. Whereas in the case of doped sample, the EDX reveals the existence of Ce in lesser percentage in comparison with the Sn and O. Atomic force microscopy studies reveals that the root mean square roughness of the nanoparticles is increased from 4.4 nm to 15.3 nm due to the Ce dopant in the SnO2 matrix. Optical bandgap is calculated with the Tauc plot and it is increased with the doping of cerium atoms and it is due to the Burstein–Moss effect. Gas-sensing characterization has been performed using static liquid distribution technique against various volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as ammonia, ethanol, methanol and toluene in the range of 1 to 25ppm at room temperature.
Experiential Learning in Higher Education

India's higher education system is the world's third largest in terms of students, next to China and the United States. In future, India will be one of the largest education hubs. India's Higher Education sector has witnessed a tremendous increase in the number of Universities/University level Institutions and Colleges since independence. The role of colleges and universities in the higher education system in the new millennium has become more complex and challenging due to the emerging scientific research on understanding how people learn is utmost important to justify the quality of higher education. As India need well skilled and highly educated people who can drive our economy forward and also to transfer our country from a developing nation to a developed nation. For attaining this goal, higher education system should make student competencies go beyond the content knowledge, prepare them to direct their own learning, solve problems of academic significance and to move beyond controlled information containment. Ideas must be explored, developed, integrated, and resolved within the context of a particular assignment as knowledge construction at advanced levels take on new meaning. Higher education rather than being the source of content expertise, should be facilitators of knowledge and motivation of action learning preceded by a driving question. Unlike assignments of passive learning, experiential approach recognizes and values unpredictable outcomes. Experiential learning is an approach in which students decide themselves to be personally involved in the learning experience, students are actively participating in their own learning and have a personal role in the direction of learning. Experiential learning is popular with students as it is considered more enjoyable and leads to deeper learning when compared to didactic approaches. Employers prefer hiring students who have learned experientially and yet emerging research indicates that the use of experiential learning in higher education institutions remains limited. The present paper aims to highlight the concept of experiential learning, its importance and advantages, challenges and to point out the opportunities to implement experiential learning in Indian higher education system based on the review of available literature in the field of study.
Bulgarian Jews in Israel: Genetic Blood Markers

Two hundred and sixteen unrelated Bulgarian Jews were typed for the following genetic systems: ABO, MNS, Rh, Kell and Duffy of the blood groups; ADA, AK1, ACP1, ESD, GLO, PGD, PGM1 and PGM2 of the red-cell enzymes, and for the serum proteins HP, GC and PI. A comparison of observed gene frequencies with those of two other Sephardi Jewish groups, from Libya and Morocco, disclosed significant heterogeneity in several systems. This was mostly due to Moroccan Jews differing from Bulgarian or from both the Libyan and Bulgarian Jews. A comparison of gene frequencies in Bulgarian Jews with those in Oriental Jews from Iraq and in Ashkenazi Jews from Poland disclosed a similarity between the three groups in Rh, ADA, GLO, PGM1 and HP. The frequencies for the above systems in the three groups were closer to those of Middle Easterners than to those of Europeans. A different pattern was observed for GC and PI, in which Bulgarian resembled Polish Jews and differed significantly from Iraqi Jews. This probably reflects an outcome of convergent adaptive processes.
Une nouvelle espèce corse de colchique : Colchicum arenasii sp. nov. (Liliaceae)

L'auteur decrit une nouvelle espece de colchique (C. arenasii) dont les tepales sont tesselles. Elle est comparee aux autres colchiques hysteranthes qui poussent en Corse et en Sardaigne. Une clef de determination des cinq especes de Corse est donnee. Quelques indications sont fournies sur la repartition et l'ecologie de cette nouvelle espece.
Long-term progression and drivers of coastal zoobenthos in a changing system

Coastal zones are facing climate-driven change coupled with escalating eutrophica- tion. With increasing shifts in hydrographic conditions during the past few decades, a focal task is to understand how environmental drivers affect zoobenthic communities, which play a crucial role in ecosystem functioning. By using long-term data, spanning 40 yr (1973 to 2013) in the northern Baltic Sea, we showed a disparity in zoobenthic responses with pronounced changes in commu- nity composition and a trend towards decreased biomass in sheltered areas, while biomasses increased in exposed areas of the coastal zone. We used generalized additive modeling to show that bottom oxygen saturation, sea surface temperature and organic load of the sediments were the main environmental drivers behind contrasting patterns in biomass progression. Oxygen sat- uration alone explained over one third of the deviation in the biomass developments in sheltered areas, while exposed areas were mainly limited by organic content of the sediments. We analyzed high-resolution climate-scenario simulations, following the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scenarios for the Baltic Sea region in combination with different nutrient load scenarios, for the end of the 21st century. The scenario outcomes showed negative trends in bottom oxygen concentrations throughout the coastal and archipelago zone along with overall increasing temper- atures and primary production, and decreasing salinity. Our results suggest that these projected future conditions will strengthen the observed pattern in decreasing zoobenthic production in the immediate coastal zones. Moreover, the potential intensification of unfavorable conditions ex - panding seaward may lead to an expansion of biomass loss to more exposed sites.
Fully planar slow‐wave substrate integrated waveguide based on broadside‐coupled complementary split ring resonators for mmWave and 5G components

The authors propose a new metamaterial-inspired substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) that utilises broadside-coupled complementary split ring resonators (BC-CSRRs) instead of metalised via holes, to confine propagation within the guiding channel. Due to the resonant behaviour of the BC-CSRRs, blocking of in-plane propagation is achieved in a straightforward and efficient manner. The final waveguide is synthesised by employing two rows of CSRRs instead of each via row, resulting in a fully-planar, easy to fabricate, cost-effective solution. This new waveguide exhibits outstanding propagation characteristics, with losses close to those of the conventional SIW, providing a highly promising platform to implement low-cost planar components for millimetre-wave applications. To further confirm the potential of implementing CSRR-based SIW components, they provide designs of leaky-wave antennas in the X- and Ka-band, utilising this new concept.
Scale‐related patterns in the spatial and environmental components of stream macroinvertebrate assemblage variation

Aim We examined the relative contributions of spatial gradients and local environmental conditions to macroinvertebrate assemblages of boreal headwater streams at three hierarchical extents: bioregion, ecoregion and drainage system. We also aimed to identify the environmental variables most strongly related to assemblage structure at each study scale, and to assess how the importance of these variables is related to regional context and spatial structuring at different scales. Location Northern Finland (62–68° N, 25–32° E). Methods Variation in macroinvertebrate data was partitioned using partial canonical correspondence analysis into components explained by spatial variables (nine terms from the cubic trend surface regression), local environmental variables (15 variables) and spatially structured environmental variation. Results The strength of the relationship between assemblage structure and local environmental variables increased with decreasing spatial extent, whereas assemblage variation related to spatial variables and spatially structured environmental variation showed the opposite pattern. At the largest extents, spatial variation was related to latitudinal gradients, whereas spatial autocorrelation among neighbouring streams was the likely mechanism creating spatial structure within drainage systems. Only stream size and water acidity were consistently important in explaining assemblage structure at all study scales, while the importance of other environmental variables was more context-dependent. Main conclusions The importance of local environmental factors in explaining macroinvertebrate assemblage structure increases with decreasing spatial extent. This scale-related pattern is not caused solely by changes in study extent, however, but also by variable sample sizes at different regional extents. The importance of environmental gradients is context-dependent and few factors are likely to be universally important correlates of macroinvertebrate assemblage structure. Finally, our results suggest that bioassessment should give due attention to spatial structuring of stream assemblages, because important assemblage gradients may not only be related to local factors but also to biogeographical constraints and neighbourhood dispersal processes.