Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diet of two insectivorous fish species in a Brazilian semiarid reservoir

Long periods of aridity can cause changes in the diet of fish since hydrological variations affect the availability of food resources. The objective of this study was to investigate the diet of two species of fish ( Astyanax aff. bimaculatus and Triportheus signatus ), present in the Umari reservoir in Upanema, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, to evaluate the influence of seasonality on their diets. The samples were collected quarterly during the months of February to November 2013, with four days in the field, and at five different sites of the reservoir with nets with meshes ranging from 12 to 70 mm (between adjacent nodes). For the identified items in the diet, the frequencies of occurrence and volume, combined in the calculation of the Alimentary Index (IAi), were obtained. Significant alterations in the diet of the species were observed, predominantly in insects. The changes found in the diet indicate an influence of seasonality on the feeding habits of these species, with a predominance of autochthonous items in the dry period and allochthonous items in the rainy period.
Effectiveness of cognitive behaviour therapy on depression among haemodialysis patients: A systematic review of literature

Abstract End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is a major public health issue in Malaysia and worldwide. Depression is highly associated with ESRD and with the increasing number of ESRD, the rate of depression will also grow. There are limited data on clinical trials of antidepressant medication on ESRD due to safety reasons. Due to that, psychological intervention is a preferred treatment for this population. Previously, studies on the effectiveness of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) have been focused more on patients with depression with no comorbid chronic medical illness. Therefore, the present article is set out to analyse the existing literature on the effectiveness of CBT on depression among ESRD undergoing haemodialysis treatment. Guided by the PRISMA Statement (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) review method, a systematic review on Scopus database has identified 10 studies. Further review of these articles resulted in two main themes—single-group trial and two-groups trial. The two-groups trial is further producing another two sub-themes. The discussion is mainly on the lack of randomized trial in the depression treatment among haemodialysis patients in Malaysia. Several recommendations are being highlighted, where are to compare CBT treatment group with another active therapy and to use more than one database for the research searching tools.
Spatial distribution of the root system of Conilon and Arabica coffee plants

The objective of this work was to evaluate the root system of Conilon coffee (Coffea canephora) and Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica) plants in the soil profile, using semivariograms. The evaluations were carried out in an area located in the municipality of Jaguaré, in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil. The Verdebrás G30/G35 Conilon coffee and the Catuaí Vermelho IAC 44 Arabica coffee cultivars were assessed. Soil monoliths with coffee plant roots were collected at three distances from the trunk in the planting row and at six distances from the trunk between rows, at six depths. The roots were collected and washed and then digitized and processed in the Safira software. The spatial variability of the evaluated attributes was characterized by the geostatistical technique, through semivariograms, using the GS+ 7.0 software. Root surface area, length, and volume were quantified for the two coffee species. Conilon coffee plants have a tendency of showing a root system with a smaller surface area, shorter length, and lower volume by volume of soil, as well as a less discrepant distribution on soil surface and in deeper layers, compared with Arabica coffee.
The Effects of Hackberry Psyllids on Refueling Migratory Songbirds and Autumnal Seed Rain

THE EFFECTS OF HACKBERRY PSYLLIDS ON REFUELING MIGRATORY SONGBIRDS AND AUTUMNAL SEED RAIN Chance H. Hines Old Dominion University, 2020 Director: Dr. Eric L. Walters Hackberry psyllids (Pachypsylla sp) are a galling insect native to North America’s hackberry trees (Celtis sp). Hackberry leaf-galling psyllids are ephemerally abundant during autumn, a period of time when migratory songbirds are traveling from their breeding areas in temperate North America south to their winter ranges. These migrations are energetically taxing and many songbirds fuel their journey with resources like insects and fruits. I captured birds with mist nets, observed foraging behaviors, and captured avian-dispersed fleshy fruit seeds (hereafter, seed rain) rain during the autumn of 2016 and 2017 to determine how hackberry psyllids, an ephemerally abundant insect, affect migrating songbird refueling indices estimated from blood samples, foraging activity, and subsequent bird-dispersed seed rain patterns. I used end-point assays to measure bird metabolites to find that hackberry presence and hackberry psyllid were associated with increased protein metabolism and fat accumulation for insectivores and omnivores. I also found that hackberry seeds were most dispersed when hackberry psyllids were present. Allospecific seed rain was greater when eastern bacchharis (Baccharis hamifolia) shrubs were treated with hackberry leaves and hackberry psyllids, and allospecific seed rain was greater near hackberry trees and when hackberry psyllids were present within mixed-hardwood forests. This study adds to the growing support that insects play a crucial role for refueling migratory songbird stopover sites and that hackberry psyllids can increase the likelihood that hackberry seeds are dispersed away from the host tree and allospecific fruiting seeds are dispersed nearer the host tree.
Phyto-extraction ability of Digitaria exilis (Fonio) to heavy metals

Among the different contaminants in the environment, heavy metals are unique due to the fact that they cannot be broken down to non-toxic forms. The research was conducted to determine the remediation potential of Digitaria exilis and to identify the varieties that can tolerate heavy metals contamination. Soil was collected in an Automobile mechanic workshop, Government Reserved Area (GRA) Ado-Ekiti. Five kilograms (5 kg) of soils collected was air dried, sieved and filled into plastic buckets. The experiment was a completely randomized designed with three replicates. Three different accessions of Digitaria exilis namely; Jakah D Iburua (JAK), Dinat D Iburua (DID) and Jiw D Iburau (JIW) were planted. Soils were watered till field moisture capacity. Plant height was determined every two weeks after planting. Soil analysis was carried out to determine the physical and chemical properties before and after the experiment. Heavy metals including Cd, Fe, Zn, Pb, As and Cu were determined in the plant roots and shoots using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). Accession JAK Bio-accumulated heavy-metals in their root than shoot, consequently, significant high plant height was recorded. However, shoot of accession JAK accumulated 22 % Pb, 46.78% Cu and 37.5% Cd and 20.3% Zn than others whereas accession DID accumulated As than accession JAK. Therefore, accession JAK demonstrated highest phyto-extraction of heavy-metals potentials at the root. Variety JIW has the lowest plant height, root and shoots heavy metals accumulation. Although heavy metals contaminated soil affected the growth of D. exilis , nevertheless accession JAK has the highest productivity under this condition and can be further recommended in phyto-extraction of heavy-metals in polluted sites. Keywords: Phyto-extraction, Digitaria exilis and Heavy-metals
Two-Sample PLL With Harmonic Filtering Capability Applicable to Single-Phase Grid-Connected Converters

The two-sample phase locked loop (2S PLL) in single-phase digitally controlled grid-connected power converters provide synchronization with a minimal computational burden. However, the distortion of the grid voltage deteriorates the performance of the 2S quadrature signal generator. To solve this issue, this article introduces a harmonic filtering (HF) structure based on observers of the input voltage for the fundamental and selected harmonics. The stability and sensitivity of the 2S PLL with HF is analyzed. In comparison with second-order generalized integrator (SOGI)-based HF, the observers provide a narrower bandpass, and the subsequent deterioration of the response time is compensated by adapting the filter gains dynamically. The results obtained, both in simulation and experimentally, validate the proposal and compare its performance with other widely adopted PLLs providing harmonic rejection capability. The computational burden is analyzed and in the case of the proposals depends on the number of observers and the use or not of the adaptive strategy based on steepest descent.
CRISPR/Cas-based genome editing to improve abiotic stress tolerance in plants

Climate change is affecting agriculture in a number of ways, such as changing water distribution, daily temperatures and salinity patterns. In this regard, plant breeding innovations and genetic engineering approaches to improve abiotic stress tolerance are necessary to avoid a decline in crop yields caused by climate change during the 21st century. In the last few years, genome editing using the CRISPR/Cas system has attracted attention as a powerful tool that can generate hereditary mutations. So far, only a few studies using the CRISPR/Cas system have been reported to improve abiotic stress tolerance, but they have clearly suggested its effective role for future applications in molecular breeding to improve abiotic stress tolerance. Accordingly, the CRISPR/Cas system application is introduced in this mini-review as a way to improve abiotic stress tolerance. Although editing efficiency and target discovery for plant CRISPR/Cas systems require further improvement, CRISPR/Cas systems will be the key approach to maintaining global food security during climate change.
Geometry-Aware Deep Recurrent Neural Networks for Hyperspectral Image Classification

Variants of deep networks have been widely used for hyperspectral image (HSI)-classification tasks. Among them, in recent years, recurrent neural networks (RNNs) have attracted considerable attention in the remote sensing community. However, complex geometries cannot be learned easily by the traditional recurrent units [e.g., long short-term memory (LSTM) and gated recurrent unit (GRU)]. In this article, we propose a geometry-aware deep recurrent neural network (Geo-DRNN) for HSI classification. We build this network upon two modules: a U-shaped network (U-Net) and RNNs. We first input the original HSI patches to the U-Net, which can be trained with very few images and obtain a preliminary classification result. We then add RNNs on the top of the U-Net so as to mimic the human brain to refine continuously the output-classification map. However, instead of using the traditional dot product in each gate of the RNNs, we introduce a Net-Gated GRU that increases the nonlinear representation power. Finally, we use a pretrained ResNet as a regularizer to improve further the ability of the proposed network to describe complex geometries. To this end, we construct a geometry-aware ResNet loss, which leverages the pretrained ResNet’s knowledge about the different structures in the real world. Our experimental results on real HSIs and road topology images demonstrate that our approach outperforms the state-of-the-art classification methods and can learn complex geometries.
Developing formula of SNEDDS (self nano emulsifying drug delivery system) antihypertensive herbals “Hortus Medicus”

Antihypertensive Herbals “Hortus Medicus” consists of Apium graveolens, Centella asiatica, Phyllantus nurinaria, Orthosiphon aristatus, Curcuma longa, and Curcuma xanthoriza. It has been confirmed pre-clinical trial, clinical trial, and toxicity test to liver and kidney. Effect of decreasing blood pressure equivalent with HCT 25 mg in pra- hypertension patients. Clinical trials in hypertension patients in grade 1 show that herbals are taken three times a day (200 cc). The toxicity test of herbals shows that it is safe for long-term used. Herbals “Hortus Medicus” are consumed by liquids and capsule formulation, there are have less stability and taste, therefore modification of the formula is needed to overcome these problems. Self-Nano Emulsifying Drug Delivery System (SNEDDS) is a technique of drug delivery that is effective in increasing the stability of the drug given orally, this study aims to modify the herbals into a system consisting of candlenut oil, tween 80, and propylene glycol. Herbals are extracted using hot water for 15 minutes, then evaporated. Herbals extract is dispersed into the system from the ratio of 1:1:1 until 1:10:1, then the test of transmittance value and emulsification times. High transmittance value and short emulsification times are a parameter of successful self-nanoemulsion. Optimum composition of candlenut oil: tween 80: propylene glycol herbals extract based on orientation is a ratio of 1:9:1, this optimum formula is capable of loading 50 mg/g system with a transmittance value of 89.02%; particle size of 150.2 nm; index polydispersion 0.14; emulsification time of 34.16 seconds; and the value of F 0.95. Based on the results of loading dose it can be concluded that the SNEEDS formula of Herbals extract “Hortus Medicus” can reduce the frequency of drug administration.
Outage Performance of CDF-Based Scheduling in Downlink and Uplink NOMA Systems

The scheduling strategy is a vital precondition for achieving remarkable performance benefits offered by non-orthogonal multiple-access (NOMA) schemes. In this article, the cumulative distribution function (CDF)-based scheduling for NOMA (CS-NOMA) networks with randomly deployed users is investigated. We consider two practical successive interference cancellation (SIC) restrictions, namely imperfect SIC and SIC power difference constraint, in both downlink and uplink transmissions. Exact analytical expressions for the outage probabilities of the two scheduled users are derived in both fixed power allocation (FPA) and cognitive-radio-inspired power allocation (CPA) scenarios. To get more insights, high signal to noise ratio (SNR) approximations or bounds of the outage probabilities are derived, and then be utilized to analyze the achieved diversity orders. Assuming the number of near and far users are respectively represented as <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$</tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$B$</tex-math></inline-formula>. Results reveal that, in downlink transmission, the far user can achieve a diversity order of <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$B$</tex-math></inline-formula> in both FPA and CPA policies, while the near user's diversity order will be reduced from <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$</tex-math></inline-formula> (in FPA) to <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{min}\lbrace K,B\rbrace$</tex-math></inline-formula> (in CPA). However, in uplink transmission, the achieved diversity orders of the near and far users will be increased from zeros to <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$</tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{min}\lbrace K,B\rbrace$</tex-math></inline-formula>, respectively. Simulation results are provided to validate the accuracy of the analytical expressions.
Based on Emotional Labor to Discuss the Effect of Work Load on Job Satisfaction of Employees – The Case of Ecological Industry

The changeable global market and the tight rhythm resulted from information technology have ecological organizations encounter fiercer internal and external competition and more violent competition among ecological enterprises. Employees in ecological industry are also surviving in the competitive environment. Assisting employees in good mental adaptation and effectively releasing pressure to reduce the turnover intention are the primary issues for modern ecological industries. The management of emotional labor in current research on business management has played critical role in human resource management. Aiming at ecological industry in Shandong Province, the employees, as the research object, are distributed 460 copies of questionnaire, and 347 valid copies are retrieved, with the retrieval rate 75%. The research results conclude significantly positive effects of 1. work load on emotional labor, 2. emotional labor on job satisfaction, and 3. work load on job satisfaction. According to the results, suggestions are proposed, expecting to help ecological businesses, through internal formal system resources or informal interpersonal supported network, assist the employees in coping with work load and emotional labor.
Parametric study of the strength of reinforced concrete polygonal sections submitted to oblique composite flexion

abstract: This work aims to verify the influence of characteristic compressive cylinder strength ( f c k), section geometry and eccentric axial load on the strength of square, cross, “T” and “L” reinforced concrete sections, under oblique composite flexion. A computational algorithm was created to calculate sections interaction diagram of bending strength, taking into account NBR 6118 idealized parabola-rectangle stress-strain relationships for 20 to 90 MPa f c k concretes. The results show that f c k influence is stronger for higher values of axial load and that the failure surface shape in interaction diagrams depends directly on the f c k and on the rebars distribution in the section. Furthermore, under lower compressive axial loads, higher oblique composite flexion strengths are reached when there is more reinforcement area in tension regions but, as the compression increases, the reinforcement presence and larger concrete areas in compression zones provide higher bending moment strengths.
Identification of odorant-binding proteins in the reproductive system of Athetis dissimilis using transcriptome analysis

Odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) are prevalent in the antennal transcriptomes of different orders of insects. Studies on OBPs have focused on their role in the insect chemosensory system, but knowledge of their functions in the insect testis is limited. We sequenced the transcriptomes of the Athetis dissimilis reproductive organs and analyzed the expressive of OBPs in different tissues. We identified a total of 54 OBPs including 23 OBPs in the transcriptomes of testis and ovaries, and 31 OBPs in antennal transcriptomes. Through fluorescence qPCR, the 23 identified OBPs were found to be highly expressed in both female and male antennae compared to the reproductive organs. Of the identified OBPs, 5/23 showed comparable expression in female and male antennae; 3/23 were more highly expressed in males compared to females; and 15/23 OBPs were more highly expressed in females compared to males. A total of 24 OBPs were highly expressed in the testis of A. dissimilis whilst expression in the ovaries was low. These findings highlight the functional diversity of OBPs in insects and can facilitate further studies on the OBPs in A. dissimilis and lepidopteran species.
Bile from reproductively mature male largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides attracts conspecific females and offers a practical application to control populations

The largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides (Lacépède, 1802) is a highly invasive freshwater species, and has a considerable impact on the diversity of indigenous aquatic organisms. We hypothesized that mature males released sex pheromones to attract mature females to their nests. To develop an effective method for controlling the population in a lake of northern Japan, we studied the efficacy of using bile collected from mature males with the bioactive function to attract mature females. A trap was devised to evaluate the attraction of sample solutions from males and to test practical uses of the pheromone. In the spawning season, when bile from reproductive males (RB) was introduced into the traps, female catches in the trap were significantly higher than when bile from non-reproductive males (NRB) or controls were used. In the non-spawning season, the female largemouth bass did not show any preference for RB. Other fish species did not show any preference for RB in both the spawning and non-spawning season. This study shows that RB contains a sex pheromone that attracts mature females, suggesting that pheromone traps could possibly be used to control largemouth bass populations.
Applications of nanotechnology in membrane distillation: a review study

Membrane distillation (MD) is an effective water treatment process with relatively low cost compared to conventional membrane processes. This study investigates several factors affecting the performance of the MD membrane such as fouling, porosity, pore size, mechanical stability, contact angle, salt rejection, and other physical and thermal properties. Membrane performance can be improved if membranes are manufactured using nanotechnology. This work presents a review of the application of recently discovered nanotechnology that improves the properties and enhances the performance of membranes used in water distillation processes. The use of carbon nanotechnology-based membranes, nanoparticles, metal, and metal oxide nanocomposite is presented and discussed. The use of nanotechnology helps in making membranes less susceptible to fouling and compaction which results in more permeate flux. This study describes the use of scanning electron microscopy as a membrane characterization method and discusses the performance of MD under different operating conditions for the fabricated membranes by using nanotechnology applications. Due to the need for continuous improvement in membrane processes for water distillation and water treatment, the optimization of membrane performance and the parameters affecting this performance should be investigated.
Variable Selection for Interval‐censored Failure Time Data

Variable selection for interval‐censored failure time data has recently attracted a great deal of attention along with the analysis of interval‐censored data in both method developments and practical applications. Interval‐censored data are a general type of time‐to‐event or failure time data where the failure time of interest is known or observed only to lie in an interval instead of being observed exactly. They often occur in different forms and in many fields, including demographical studies, epidemiological studies, medical or public health researches and social sciences. This paper will discuss and review the existing methods for variable selection based on interval‐censored data, a relatively new but important topic, along with some directions or issues that need more research.