Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Detection and quantification of black foot and crown and root rot pathogens in grapevine nursery soils in the Western Cape of South Africa

Black foot disease (BFD) and crown and root rot (CRR) are important soilborne diseases that affect young grapevines in nurseries and vineyards. A 3-year survey (2013–2015) of five open-field grapevine nurseries was conducted in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The survey involved the isolation of BFD and CRR pathogens from grafted rootstocks (ten plants per nursery, per year) that were rooted in soil for 1 year. In 2013 and 2015, grapevines were sampled, while in 2014, sampling was focused on rotation crops and weeds (ten plants each). The rotation crops included white mustard, lupins, canola, triticale and forage radish. The weed species sampled included Johnson grass, ryegrass, winter grass, Cape marigold and corn spurry. Soil samples from ten sites per nursery were also collected in close proximity to the sampled plants, at depths of 0–30 cm and 30–60 cm (ten samples per depth). Isolations were made from the grapevines, rotation crops and weeds. Pathogen detection and quantification in the soil were determined using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction technology. The predominant BFD pathogens isolated from grapevines were Campylocarpon fasciculare , Ca. pseudofasciculare and Dactylonectria macrodidyma . The predominant CRR pathogens were Pythium irregulare and Phytopythium vexans. Dactylonectria macrodidyma , D. novozelandica , D. pauciseptata , Py. irregulare , Py. ultimum var. ultimum and Py. heterothallicum were isolated from triticale roots. Dactylonectria spp. were also isolated from corn spurry, while Py. irregulare and Py. ultimum var. ultimum were isolated from numerous weeds and rotation crops. Mean soil DNA concentrations of Ilyonectria and Dactylonectria were from 0.04 to 37.14 pg μL -1 , and for Py. irregulare were between 0.01 and 3.77 pg μL -1 . The Phytophthora mean soil DNA concentrations ranged from 0.01 to 33.48 pg μL -1 . The qPCR protocols successfully detected and quantified BFD and CRR pathogens in grapevine nursery soil. This is the first report of D. pauciseptata and D. alcacerensis in South African grapevine nurseries.
Effects of Landscape Characteristics on Annual Survival of Lesser Prairie-Chickens

Abstract Agriculture and development have caused landscape change throughout the southwestern Great Plains in the range of the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus). Landscape alteration within the lesser prairie-chicken range may contribute to range contraction and population losses through decreases in survival rates. Our objectives were to determine if: (1) landscape configuration (i.e., the spatial arrangement of habitat) or composition (i.e., the amount of habitat), at the study-site scale, affected annual survival of females, (2) relationships exist between landscape context (i.e., landscape configuration and composition) and weekly survival to assess effects of landscape composition and configuration on lesser prairie-chicken populations, and (3) anthropogenic features influenced daily mortality risk. We captured 170 female lesser prairie-chickens and used very-high-frequency and GPS (Global Positioning System) transmitters to track their movement and survival for 2 y. We used known-fate survival models to test if landscape configuration or composition within three sites in Kansas were related to differences in female survival among sites. In addition we tested for relationships between weekly survival and landscape configuration or composition within home ranges. Finally, we used Andersen-Gill models to test the influence of distance to anthropogenic features on daily mortality risk. Differences in survival were evident between sites with differing landscape compositions as annual survival in Northwestern Kansas ( = 0.27) was half that of Clark County, Kansas ( = 0.56), which corresponded with 41.9% more grassland on the landscape in Clark County; landscape configuration did not measurably differ among sites. Survival was greater for prairie-chickens with home-ranges that had greater patch richness and in areas with 30% crop and 57% grassland. Female lesser prairie-chickens also experienced greater mortality risk closer to fences at patch edges. Further conversion of grassland landscapes occupied by lesser prairie-chickens should be avoided to reduce habitat loss and fragmentation thresholds that could affect survival. We suggest continued encouragement of Conservation Reserve Program enrollment in western areas of the lesser prairie-chicken range to maintain or increase the amount of grassland to increase annual survival.
FOOD WEB STRUCTURE BUT NOT ROBUSTNESS DIFFER BETWEEN RIVERS, LAKES AND ESTUARIES

The pervading physical habitat differences between lakes, rivers, and estuaries should result in structural and thus stability differences in food webs in these three different aquatic habitats. We compared 24 metrics of food web structure and the robustness to loss of both well-connected and random species of 18 well-resolved food webs from six lakes, six rivers, and six estuaries. Robustness measures the proportion of species that need to be removed for 50% of all species to be lost/disconnected. Riverine food webs had lower neighborhood clustering and greater variability in prey vulnerability than estuaries and lakes. Typically, rivers experience physical disturbance relatively more frequently and with greater severity than estuaries and lakes. Disturbance may drive rivers to have lower clustering and have greater proportions of early successional taxa that are mobile and have little armor, and hence greater variability in their vulnerability to predation. Despite the observed differences in food web structure, these did not drive differences in modelled food web robustness between the three habitats. Similarities in robustness may be a result of freshwater organisms having similar body-size ratios between predator and prey/resource taxa thereby driving similar link distributions.
Hopanoids and lipid biomarkers as indicators of microbial communities in modern microbialites from Fayetteville Green Lake, NY and Great Salt Lake, UT

The microbialites at Fayetteville Green Lake are a rare example of actively accreting carbonate structures in a freshwater meromictic lake due to biologic activity. Prior work suggested the presence of hopanoid biomarkers in these microbial structures. Hopanoids are cellular membrane constituents that are thought to be indicative of microbial communities occurring in highly osmotic, oxygen-limited conditions. Tightly growing microbes in these communities require adaptations, like membrane-rigidifying hopanoids, to cope with stress. Hopanoids have been found both in modern actively growing carbonate structures (stromatolites) and in ancient, fossilized carbonate structures, making them extremely useful for differentiating carbonates of biologic origin from those that are not. In this work, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry is used for lipid analysis. Abundance and composition of fatty acids, sterols, and hopanoids is used to assess community composition through three core depths into the microbialite surface. Eight hopanoids (diploptene, hop-21-ene, diplopterol, tetrahymanol, bacteriohopanetetrol, and their 2-methyl forms) were found in the Fayetteville Green Lake microbialites with significant composition shifts with depth in the water column and with core depth into the microbialite surface. Hopanoid composition changes with core depth are indicative of carbonate mineralization-dissolution dynamics due to heterotrophic activity in these microbialites. This work expands prior knowledge of the diversity of hopanoids in environmental samples and allows for comparison among other freshwater microbialites.
Use of calcium oxide in palm oil methyl ester production.

Introducing an untreated calcium oxide (CaO) as a solid heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel production from palm oil by transesterification was studied in this work. The four studied parameters were methanol to oil molar ratio, CaO catalyst concentration, reaction time, and water content. The results for palm oil show that when the water content is higher than 3%wt and the amount of CaO greater than 7%wt soap formation from saponification occurs. A higher methanol to oil molar ratio requires a higher amount of CaO catalyst to provide the higher product purity. The appropriate methanol to CaO catalyst ratio is about 1.56. Commercial grade CaO gives almost the same results as AR grade CaO. In addition, reusing commercial grade CaO for about 5 to 10 repetitions without catalyst regeneration drops the percentage of methyl ester purity approximately 5 to 10%, respectively.
Ascorbic Acid Improves Productivity, PhysioBiochemical Attributes and Antioxidant Activityof Deficit Irrigated Broccoli Plants

Introduction: Ascorbic acid (AsA) acts as an enzyme co-factor, an antioxidant, and a donor/acceptor in electron transport at the plasma membrane or in the chloroplasts. It controls plant growth and induces drought tolerance in plants through maintaining tissue turgor. Aim: Two experiments were conducted in 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 to study the effect of 1 or 2 mM AsA on growth, productivity and WUE, concentrations of leaf pigments, osmo protectants and endogenous AsA, and DPPH radical-scavenging activity of broccoli plants grown under three levels of irrigation (DI0% = 100%, DI20% = 80% and DI40% = 60% of ETC). Results: All above parameters significantly affected by DI and the combined DI+ AsA applications. The combined DI+ AsA treatment positively modified the negative effects of DI and improved all the aforesaid parameters. The combined treatment of DI20% +1 or 2 mM AsA produced plants having growth, yields and WUE higher than or as those of the plants generated under full irrigation. Conclusion: we conclude that with exogenous 1 or 2 mM AsA application, the DI20% strategy could be successfully applied for the production of commercial broccoli allowing water savings of at least 20% without any detrimental effects on broccoli performances.
Development and validation of a new HPLC method for valproic acid determination in human plasma and its application to a therapeutic drug monitoring study

The aim of this study was to develop a new, simple and reliable high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for analysis of valproic acid (VPA) in human plasma and apply to it to a therapeutic drug monitoring study. Also, the relationship between plasma-VPA concentrations and the amount of VPA used by patients was aimed to be evaluated. Plasma samples (0.25 mL) were precipitated with the same volume of acetonitrile and after centrifugation, aliquots were applied to a C18 column (250 mm x 4.6 mm). Mobile phase was prepared with phosphate buffer and acetonitrile (47.5:52.5, v/v). The flow-rate was 1.2 mL/min. Accuracy was between -2.9 and 3.2% and precision was ≤6.6%. Method was specific and sensitive with a detection limit of 2.2 µg/mL and the average recovery was 94.3%. Calibration curve was linear (r2>0.9968) from 10 to 150 µg/mL. Plasma-VPA levels of the epileptic patient population (n=33) treated with VPA between 0.5 and 1.5 g/day were also determined. Patient plasma-VPA concentrations ranged from 2.9 to 166.4 µg/g/mL (56.3±38.8). High RSD% (68.8%) was observed in dose-rated plasma-VPA results. Moreover, VPA plasma levels were found to be outside the recommended treatment range in 30.3% of the patients examined. The procedure described was found to be relatively simple, precise, and applicable for routine therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) especially in neurology clinics or in toxicology reference laboratories. The high standard deviation (SD) observed in the dose depended plasma-VPA values of the volunteers proved the importance of TDM during the use of this drug. The results showed that for rational drug use, it is important to identify individual polymorphisms in the CYP2C9, CYP2A6 and CYP2B6 subtypes responsible for VPA metabolism, and to rearrange drug doses taking these enzyme activities into account.
An Artificial Neural Network Approach for Predicting Customer Loyalty: A Case Study in an Online Travel Agency

—The objective of this study is to predict the customer loyalty of an online travel agency (OTA) using the artificial neural network (ANN) approach. Six website quality dimensions, i.e., ease of use, security/privacy, information/ content, responsiveness, visual appeal, and fulfillment were used as independent variables to measure the service quality; while the dependent variables were represented by customers’ willingness to recommend the services, to revisit/reuse the services in the future, and to give positive referral to others. A case study was conducted in an Indonesian-based OTA. The results of the ANN then were compared with the logistic regression model. It was found that the ANN models can predict customer loyalty better than the logistic regression model as they have higher accuracy and lower root mean square error. This study is expected not only to give a contribution to the literature towards customers’ loyalty prediction but also to give an insight to the managers of OTA about how to pursue customer loyalty.
Micro‐blog sentiment classification using Doc2vec + SVM model with data purification

As a Chinese version of twitter, micro-blog has been popular for many years. On this platform, a lot of comments are generated explosively every day. These comments contain the public's opinions on various topics, which have wide applications in both academic and industrial fields. In recent years, deep learning and some classification algorithms have been applied to sentiment analysis, and good results have been achieved. However, micro-blog sentiment classification is a challenging task, because micro-blog messages are short and noisy, and contain massive user-invented acronyms and informal words. Unfortunately, most researchers pay more attention to analyse the data after deep learning, but only simply remove the noisy data before using algorithm, so the result of sentiment analysis has reached a bottleneck. Here, the authors first purify the data using varied methods before deep learning, then, the Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification algorithm is applied to sentiment classification of micro-blog using many types of features. Through comparing with the method of simply pre-processing data, the results show that their approach can improve the performance of micro-blog sentiment classification effectively and efficiently.
Sex Determination in Green Turtle Hatchlings: Geometric Morphometry and Molecular Sex Markers

Determination of the sex ratio in sea turtle population is one of the most important parameters for the conservation and management of the species. We aimed to the test usability of the more than one approaches that identify the sex of hatchlings with alternative non-invasive methods. Geometric morphometry and molecular sex marker were used to indicate difference between the sexes in the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) hatchlings which sexes were previously determined by gonad histology. A total of 60 landmarks were identified from three body parts (carapace, plastron and tail) for geometric morphometry. No sex specific difference was found in these three body parts. Furthermore, we analyzed a total of 55 different oligonucleotide combinations using sex-based pool strategy but found no difference. These two techniques are insufficient for sex determination in the green turtle hatchlings. A relatively small number of the primer combinations and male hatchlings used to identify sex of C. mydas appears to be a disadvantage. In order to obtain clearer results with geometric morphometric and molecular sex markers, it is recommended to compare sexes in laboratory conditions with constant temperature.
Quality Evaluation of 3D Objects in Mixed Reality For Different Lighting Conditions

This paper presents a study on Quality of Experience (QoE) evaluation of 3D objects in Mixed Reality (MR) scenarios. In particular, a subjective test was performed with Microsoft HoloLens, considering different degradations affecting the geometry and texture of the content. Apart from the analysis of the perceptual effects of these artifacts, given the need for recommendations for subjective assessment of immersive media, this study was also aimed at: 1) checking the appropriateness of a single stimulus methodology (ACR-HR) for these scenarios where observers have less references than with traditional media, and 2) analyzing the possible impact of environment lighting conditions on the quality evaluation of 3D objects in mixed reality (MR), and 3) benchmark state-of-the-art objective metrics in this context. The subjective results provide insights for recommendations for subjective testing in MR/AR, showing that ACR-HR can be used in similar QoE tests and reflecting the influence among the lighting conditions, the content characteristics, and the type of degradations. The objective results show an acceptable performance of perceptual metrics for geometry quantization artifacts and point out the need of further research on metrics covering both geometry and texture compression degradations.
Schizosaccharomyces pombe Phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase, Pik1p, in cell cycle control

Pik1p, one of three phosphatidylinositol 4-kinases in the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, was found previously to interact with Cdc4p, a myosin essential light chain that is required for cytokinesis. The involvement of pik1 in cell cycle control was investigated. A fluorescently tagged Pik1p fusion protein was associated with Golgi throughout the cycle, and was found at the medial division plane of the cell during late cytokinesis. This latter distribution has not been reported previously. Gene deletion in diploid cells and tetrad analysis revealed that pik1 is essential for cell viability and is required for spore germination. The terminal phenotype of a temperature-sensitive, loss-of-function allele (pik1-td) indicated that pik1 is involved in cytokinesis: particularly for suppression of secondary septum material deposition, for suppression of initiation of supernumerary septa, and for cell separation. Contractile ring formation was normal in pik1-td cells at the restrictive temperature although the pattern of F-actin patches was disrupted. The F-actin patches were dispersed throughout the cytoplasm. Accumulation of extra inner membranous or vesicle-like structures was observed in these cells. The S. pombe nmt1 promoter and attenuated versions of it were found to be useful for complementation studies in S. cerevisiae. Heterologous expression of S. pombe pik1 complemented the essential functions of a temperature-sensitive allele (pik1﷓101) of its orthologue in Saccharomyces cerevisiae that were lost at the restrictive temperature. A residue required for S. pombe Pik1p lipid kinase activity, D709, was also required for this complementation. A residue, R838, which is required for interactions between Pik1p and Cdc4p was not required for this complementation. The timing and localization of Pik1p to the division plane of the cell late in cytokinesis combined with analysis of the terminal phenotype of a loss-of-function allele, indicate that Pik1p and/or its derived phosphoinositides are required for regulation of septation and cell separation. Pik1p may be involved in the transport, possibly via vesicular transport, of enzymes required for hydrolysis of the primary septum. It may be involved in signaling pathways that lead to the initiation of septation and to the cessation of the deposition of secondary septum material.
Electronic Structure and Optical Properties of Gaas1-Xpx: A First-Principles Study

In this work, the effects of x-value on electrical and optical properties was studied for the two dimensional (2D)GaAs1-xPxstructure by applying the density functional theory.We found that the gallium arsenide(GaAs) and gallium phosphide(GaP) monolayers are bound to each other, while the charge transfer between these two materialsleads to tuning the band gap value between 1.5 eV for GaAs to 2.24 eV for GaP. The density of state, band structure, and optical properties are investigated in this paper.
De-Escalation as a Therapeutic Strategy for Dual Diagnosis Patients in Psychiatry

: Schizophrenic patients with a substance abuse condition present one of the highest risks for violent behaviour. The traditional safety measures used in psychiatry are still in force but challenged by a trend to avoid all involuntary action, in respect of patient autonomy. There is an urgent need to develop strategies to cope with this situation, which is especially diﬀicult to cope with in case of first encounters with dual diagnosis patients in psychiatry. The risk for open aggressiveness is diﬀicult to assess and to manage in first encounters, avoiding an escalation and working a deescalation strategy. The strategy described in this paper is based on a distinction of the different types of first encounter and on general rules. Abstract Schizophrenic patients with a substance abuse condition present one of the highest risks for violent behaviour. The traditional safety measures used in psychiatry are still in force but challenged by a trend to avoid all involuntary action, in respect of patient autonomy. There is an urgent need to develop strategies to cope with this situation, which is especially difficult to cope with in case of first encounters with dual diagnosis patients in psychiatry. The risk for open aggressiveness is difficult to assess and to manage in first encounters, avoiding an escalation and working a de- escalation strategy. The strategy described in this paper is based on a distinction of the different types of first encounter and on general rules.
Characterization of Two α-Glucosidases Purified from Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum JCM 7052

Two α-glucosidases, which hydrolyzed 4-nitrophenyl (4NP)-α-D-glucopyranoside, were purified and characterized from Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum JCM 7052 grown on gum arabic. These enzymes, named BlAglA1 and BlAglA2, had apparent molecular masses of 72.0 and 72.8 kDa estimated by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and 70.1 and 92.7 kDa by PAGE without SDS, respectively. The amino acid sequences analyzed by MALDI-TOF-MS were found in the genomes of several strains of B. longum subsp. longum. BlAglA1 and BlAglA2 showed hydrolyzing activities toward isomaltose, trehalose, palatinose, isomaltotriose and panose, but did not toward sucrose, maltose, amylose, amylopectin, and oyster glycogen, indicating that each enzyme belongs to oligo-1,6glucosidase (EC 3.2.1.10). Both enzymes showed optimal activities with 4NP-α-D-glucopyranoside at pH 5.5-6.0 and at 45-50°C. Values of Km and Vmax for 4NP-α-D-glucopyranoside, trehalose, palatinose, panose, isomaltose, and isomaltotriose were also determined. The two oligo-1,6-glucosidases were shown to have transglycosylation activities to synthesize oligosaccharides from trehalose, palatinose, isomaltose, panose, and isomaltotriose to their selves. Both enzymes also catalyzed transglucosylation from palatinose to ethanol, 1-propanol, 2-propanol, 1-butanol, and 1-hexanol.