Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Thermotolerant Variant of Rubisco Activase From a Wild Relative Improves Growth and Seed Yield in Rice Under Heat Stress

Genes encoding thermostable variants of the photosynthesis heat-labile protein Rubisco activase (Rca) from a wild relative Oryza australiensis were overexpressed in domesticated rice (Oryza sativa). Proteomics was used to quantify the abundance of O. australiensis Rca (Rca-Oa) in the resulting plants. Plants were grown to maturity in growth rooms and from early tillering until immediately prior to anthesis, they were exposed to daytime maximum temperatures of 28, 40, and 45°C and constant night temperatures of 22°C. Non-destructive measurements of leaf elongation and photosynthesis were used to compare the null segregant with a transfected line in which 19% of its total Rca content was the recombinant O. australiensis Rca (T-Oa-19). Height, fresh mass, panicle number, seed set, and seed number were measured at final harvest. Traits at maturity after heat stress at 45°C correlated strongly with recombinant protein abundance. Seed number was far the most responsive trait to an increase in Rca-Oa abundance, improving by up to 150%. Leaf elongation rates (LER) and tiller number were significantly greater in the transformed plants in the first two weeks of exposure to 45°C but tiller numbers later became equal in the two genotypes. Gas exchange measurements showed that T-Oa-19 had faster light induction of photosynthesis but not significantly higher CO2 assimilation rates, indicating that the carbon gain that resulted in large yield improvement after growth at 45°C was not strongly correlated with an instantaneous measurement of steady-state photosynthesis. When plants were grown at 40°C daytime maximum, there was no improvement in the final biomass, panicle or seed number when compared with 28°C, indicating that the threshold for heat damage and beneficial effects of the thermostable Rca recombinant protein was between 40 and 45°C, which corresponded to leaf temperatures in the range 38–42°C. The results suggest that the thermotolerant form of Rca from O. australiensis was sufficient to enhance carbohydrate accumulation and storage by rice over the life of the plant, dramatically improving yields after exposure to heat throughout the vegetative phase.
Improvement of Component Integration Testing Technique

Component-based technology can increase reuse and productivity, but high-quality component- based systems are often difficult to implement. Component developers do not know the systems where the components will be used, while software engineers must develop new systems with limited knowledge on available components. We propose a new testing technique that generates, at the time of component development, integration test cases from the specification of the behavior expected from other components of the system. The technique presented in this paper supports both the component developer, who can early test the integration of the components with the system, and the software engineers, who can test concrete components at deployment time, simply re- using existing test cases. The technique presented in this paper supports both the component developer, who can early test the integration of the components with the system, and the software engineers, who can test components at deployment time. We used questionnaires to validate the proposed solution.
Cultural Politics of Love and Provision among Poor Youth in Urban Tanzania

ABSTRACT This article examines how urban youth in the poorest neighbourhoods of Dar es Salaam negotiate the terms of transactional intimacy, that is, heterosexual relations in which men are expected to provide for women materially. Using the concept of ‘affect’, I argue that this negotiation involves different levels of male providership, as well as moral values attached to notions of ‘true love’ and the Swahili concept of tamaa. Poor men and women view their agency differently within transactional intimacy, with women describing themselves as exploited by men who do not fulfil their end of the transactional bargain, and poor men portraying themselves as deeply disempowered in comparison to wealthier men. Yet women and men also produce shared cultural discourses to portray men's meagre providership in a positive light, and to place upon women the moral onus of sacrificing material aspirations in order to choose ‘true love’.
A Comparison and Critique of Natural Language Understanding Tools

In the last 10 years, various cloud platforms enabled developers to easily create applications able to understand, with some limitations, natural languages. Nowadays, such cloud platforms for natural language understanding (NLU) are widely used, thanks to the raise of multiple chat services and conversational assistants on our mobile devices. This paper compares and analyses the main cloud-based NLU platforms, both from a descriptive and from a performance-based point of view. For the descriptive analysis, a taxonomy is proposed and six cloud platforms are analyzed. The performance evaluation, instead, compares three of these platforms, highlighting strengths and weaknesses of the different NLU tools.
CHARACTERIZATION AND PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF MAGNAPORTHE SPP. STRAINS ON VARIOUS HOSTS IN IRAN

Background: Populations of Magnaporthe, the causal agent of rice blast disease, are pathotypically and genetically diverse and therefore their interaction with different rice cultivars and also antagonistic microorganisms are very complicated. Objectives: The objectives of the present study were to characterize phylogenetic relationships of 114 native Magnaporthe strains, isolated from rice and different weeds in the North region of Iran and to study their interaction with the fungal and bacterial antagonists. Materials and Methods: Phylogenetic studies (lineage structure, cluster analysis and gene flow) were performed using AFLP DNA fingerprinting. Antagonistic effects of the native fungal (Trichoderma harzianum) and bacterial (Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas fluorescens) against Magnaporthe strains were assayed at In vitro levels using factorial experiments based on completely randomized designs (CRD) and mean comparison tests. Results: In total, 39 clonal lineages including 48 haplotypes were identified among the strains of M. grisea and designated here as A-Z. AFLP marker could finely differentiate the strains isolated from various hosts. The strains isolated from Setaria sp. were much close to those from rice (Oryza sativa L.). Magnaporthe strains isolated from Digitaria sp. showed higher genetic variation than other strains. Genetic distances revealed by the AFLP markers could be finely differentiated M. grisea and M. salvinii. The rate of gene flow was an evidence of low gene transferring among Magnaporthe populations and the existence of a complex species for Magnaporthe strains. The fungal and bacterial antagonists showed different reactions against different Magnaporthe strains. These results confirmed high genetic diversity between the Magnaporthe strains which was also previously determined by the AFLP experiments. Conclusions: It was concluded that the Magnaporthe populations in Iran have a complex genetic diversity, and therefore, to achieve an efficient control of the different strains and pathotypes of Magnaporthe sp, it is necessary to use different bacterial and fungal biocontrol agents as a dynamic and integrated control system.
A Biomimetic Biotechnological Process for Converting Starch to Fructose: Thermodynamic and Evolutionary Considerations in Applied Enzymology

A process for preparing fructose from starch has been designed to have a thermodynamic profile similar to those found in natural metabolic pathways and implemented in a reactor containing five enzymes acting together. The process runs at equilibrium, with a final exergonic step pulling intermediates to fructose, the desired product. Therefore, the yields of fructose are high and not dominated by the glucose-fructose equilibrium constant that constrains the commercial process, which uses xylose isomerase to catalyze its final step. Three different strategies were used to find enzymes suitable for catalyzing the final irreversible step, the hydrolysis of fructose-6-phosphate: (a) recruiting an enzyme to operate backwards with respect to its physiological function; (b) recruiting an enzyme to accept a non-natural substrate through the use of a cosubstrate; and (c) developing an indirect route for converting fructose-6-phosphate to fructose. As presently implemented, the process converts starch and inorganic phosphate to glucose- 1 -phosphate, glucose-6-phosphate, fructose-6-phosphate, and then fructose and inorganic phosphate; the last is recycled. The net hydrolysis of fructose-6-phosphate to yield fructose is obtained via a transaldolase-catalyzed reaction between fructose-6-phosphate and glyceraldehyde to yield fructose and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate, which is then hydrolyzed to regenerate glyceraldehyde and inorganic phosphate using a 3-phosphoglycerate phosphatase recruited to act on an unnatural substrate. This work illustrates general ideas that may prove useful in designing other multistep biocatalytic transformations, in particular, the focus on the energetics of the pathway and on the evolution of enzymes as a guide to selecting enzymes useful in biocatalytic processes.
STRESS CONCENTRATION AT THE SHALLOW NOTCHES OF THE CURVED BEAMS OF CIRCULAR CROSS-SECTION

Paper presents the results of investigation of the stress concentration at the groves of the inner side of curvature for the curved beams of circular cross-section. This investigation supplements the earlier work for curved beams of trapezoidal cross-section and enables the evaluation of the suitability and versatility of the established equations for the calculation of the stress concentration factors. The paper also presents the investigation results of the evolution of stress triaxiality and plastic strain under the increasing load. It was found that the stress triaxiality factor is higher at the beginning of the plastic deformation comparing to one calculated under the elastic stress state. However, when the plastic strain covers the entire cross section of the beam the stress triaxiality reduces. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.5755/j01.mech. 18.4. 2341
TECHNICAL LOSSES CALCULATION USING SIMPLIFIED MODELS FOR REGULATORY PURPOSES

Undoubtedly, load flow is one of the best practices to calculate technical losses in distribution systems. The network’s actual characteristics are taken into account and the load characterization is the main issue that has to be tackled to achieve a good accuracy. But unfortunately, the method is data-demanding and time-consuming and, therefore, is not suitable for regulatory purposes when the regulator is responsible for the technical losses calculation in every single distribution company, which is the case of Brazil. ANEEL, the Brazilian regulator, has been using a simplified model of its own for the past last years. However, it presents several flaws. This paper discusses the problems of ANEEL’s model and proposes new simplified models for the calculation of losses in MV and LV networks for regulatory purposes. It also presents the results of an international survey aiming to identify regulatory treatments given to technical losses.
Replacing maize grain with dried citrus pulp in a concentrate feed for Jersey cows grazing ryegrass pasture

CITATION: Steyn, L. , Meeske, R. & Cruywagen, C. W. 2017. Replacing maize grain with dried citrus pulp in a concentrate feed for Jersey cows grazing ryegrass pasture. South African Journal of Animal Science, 47(4):553-564, doi:10.4314/sajas.v47i4. 14.
Interactive comment on “ Evaluation of satellite-derived HCHO using statistical methods ”

Response: This work is concerned with the validation of satellite-determined HCHO resulting from a difficult retrieval due to weak signals and significant interference. As discussed in the paper, the validation of satellite-derived HCHO is difficult because there are very few in-situ measurements. Due to this limitation, this paper introduces a new application of a well-known statistical method for qualitative evaluation of the
Biologically inspired modular neural control for a leg-wheel hybrid robot

In this article we present modular neural control for a leg-wheel hybrid robot consisting of three legs with omnidirectional wheels. This neural control has four main modules having their functional origin in biological neural systems. A minimal recurrent control (MRC) module is for sensory signal processing and state memorization. Its outputs drive two front wheels while the rear wheel is controlled through a velocity regulating network (VRN) module. In parallel, a neural oscillator network module serves as a central pattern generator (CPG) controls leg movements for sidestepping. Stepping directions are achieved by a phase switching network (PSN) module. The combination of these modules generates various locomotion patterns and a reactive obstacle avoidance behavior. The behavior is driven by sensor inputs, to which additional neural preprocessing networks are applied. The complete neural circuitry is developed and tested using a physics simulation environment. This study verifies that the neural modules can serve a general purpose regardless of the robot's specific embodiment. We also believe that our neural modules can be important components for locomotion generation in other complex robotic systems or they can serve as useful modules for other module-based neural control applications.
MHC-Matched Corneal Allograft Rejection in an IFN-/ IL-17 – Independent Manner in C 57 BL / 6 Mice

METHODS. MHC-matched or -mismatched corneal allografts were grafted onto IFN–knockout (GKO), IFN–receptorknockout (GRKO), IL-17–knockout (IL-17KO), or wild-type (WT) C57BL/6 hosts. Graft fates were assessed clinically and histologically. At appropriate time intervals after allografting, RNA was isolated from corneal graft parenchymal and stromal tissues and cervical lymph nodes. The cytokine mRNA levels of Th1, -2, and -17 type were analyzed by real-time PCR.
The Insider's Advantage: CEO Experience and The Performance of Large Diversified Firms

Much upper echelons research focuses on the effect of CEO experience on firm performance outcomes. This paper extends this research stream using human and social capital theories as a framework to examine the effect of CEO experience on the performance of large diversified companies. Our analysis of 239 Fortune “500” companies finds that larger companies are more likely to select insiders and individuals who have more firm-specific experience to be their CEO. We also find that the selection of insiders and CEOs with more firm-specific experience is associated with significantly higher firm performance. These findings highlight the importance of the human and social capital possessed by company insiders, and shed additional light on the strategic leadership of large diversified companies and other complex organizations.
Advanced analytical techniques for studying the morphology and chemistry of Proterozoic microfossils

Abstract This paper outlines the suite of advanced multi-scalar techniques currently available in the toolkit of the modern Proterozoic palaeobiologist. These include non-intrusive and non-destructive optical, laser and X-ray techniques, plus more destructive ion beam and electron beam methods. Together, these provide morphological, mineralogical and biochemical data at flexible spatial scales from that of an individual atom to the largest Proterozoic microfossils. An overview is given of each technique and a case study from the exceptionally well-preserved Torridonian biota of NW Scotland is presented. This microfossil assemblage was first recognized over a century ago, but its great diversity and evolutionary importance has only recently come to light, due in no small part to the research efforts of Martin Brasier.
Poisson-Gamma Mixture Spatially Varying Coefficient Modeling of Small-Area Intestinal Parasites Infection

Understanding the spatially varying effects of demographic factors on the spatio-temporal variation of intestinal parasites infections is important for public health intervention and monitoring. This paper presents a hierarchical Bayesian spatially varying coefficient model to evaluate the effects demographic factors on intestinal parasites morbidities in Ghana. The modeling relied on morbidity data collected by the District Health Information Management Systems. We developed Poisson and Poisson-gamma spatially varying coefficient models. We used the demographic factors, unsafe drinking water, unsafe toilet, and unsafe liquid waste disposal as model covariates. The models were fitted using the integrated nested Laplace approximations (INLA). The overall risk of intestinal parasites infection was estimated to be 10.9 per 100 people with a wide spatial variation in the district-specific posterior risk estimates. Substantial spatial variation of increasing multiplicative effects of unsafe drinking water, unsafe toilet, and unsafe liquid waste disposal occurs on the variation of intestinal parasites risk. The structured residual spatial variation widely dominates the unstructured component, suggesting that the unaccounted-for risk factors are spatially continuous in nature. The study concludes that both the spatial distribution of the posterior risk and the associated exceedance probability maps are essential for monitoring and control of intestinal parasites.
Persuaded by the machine Harjunen ,

Receiving a touch or smile increases compliance in natural face-to-face settings. It has been unclear, however, whether a virtual agent's touch and smile also promote compliance or whether there are individual differences in proneness to nonverbal persuasion. Utilizing a multimodal virtual reality, we investigated whether touch and smile promoted compliance to a virtual agent's requests and whether receiver's personality modulated the effects. Compliance was measured using the ultimatum game, in which participants were asked to either reject or accept an agent's monetary offers. Decision-making data were accompanied by offer-related cardiac responses, both of which were analyzed as a function of expression (anger, neutral, and happiness), touch (visuo-tactile, visual, no touch), and three personality traits: behavioral inhibition/activation system sensitivity (BIS/BAS) and justice sensitivity. People accepted unfair offers more often if the agents smiled or touched them. The effect of touch was more enhanced in those with low justice sensitivity and BAS, whereas facial expressions affected those with high BIS the most. Unfair offers amplified the cardiac response, but this effect was not dependent on nonverbal cues. Together, the results suggest that virtual nonverbal behaviors of virtual agents increase compliance and that there is substantial interindividual variation in proneness to persuasion.
A functional task analysis and motion simulation for the development of a powered upper-limb orthosis

Describes research work directed towards the development and application of a design methodology to determine the optimal configuration of a powered upper-limb orthosis. The design objective was to minimize the orthosis complexity, defined as the number of degrees of freedom, while maintaining the ability to perform specific tasks. This objective was achieved in three stages. First, potential users of a powered orthosis were interviewed to determine their priority tasks. Secondly, the natural arm motions of able-bodied individuals performing the priority tasks were profiled using a video tracking system. Finally, a kinematic simulation algorithm was developed and employed in order to evaluate whether a proposed orthosis configuration could perform the priority tasks. The research results indicate that task functionality is overly compromised for orthosis configurations with less than five degrees of freedom, plus prehension. Acceptable task performance, based on the specific priority tasks considered, was achieved in the simulations of two different orthosis configurations with five degrees of freedom. In the first design option, elevation (rotation about a horizontal axis through the shoulder) and radial/ulnar deviation are fixed, while in the second option wrist flexion and radial/ulnar deviation are fixed. A prototype orthosis is currently being developed using the first design option. >
Revisitation in Urban Space vs. Online

We present the first large-scale analysis of POI revisitation patterns, which aims to model the periodic behavior in human mobility. We apply the revisitation analysis technique, which has previously been used to understand website revisitation, and smartphone app revisitations. We analyze a 1.5-year-long Foursquare check-in dataset with 266,909 users in 415 cities around the globe, as well as a Chinese social networking dataset on continuous localization of 15,000 users in Beijing. Our analysis identifies four major POI revisitation patterns and four user revisitation patterns of distinct characteristics, and demonstrates the role of POI functions and geographic constraints in shaping these patterns. We compare our results to previous analysis on website and app revisitation, and highlight the similarities and differences between physical and cyber revisitation activities. These point to fundamental characteristics of human behavior.
Performance Comparison of Reactive Power Controllers in Autonomous Wind-Diesel System

This paper presents an automatic reactive power control of autonomous winddiesel hybrid power systems (AWDHPS) by artificial neural network (ANN) controller tuned static var compensator (SVC). The real time assessment of such control was carried out using dSPACE R & D controller board. The proposed ANN controller was supported by multilayer perceptron artificial neural network (MPANN). The weights of proposed MPANN were restructured by intensive learning process. The back propagation equations were used to dynamically regulate the weights of proposed MPANN controller. Three models ofAWDHPS were considered in the study. The disturbance parameters in the models were the change in reactive power of the load (ΔQL), the change in mechanical power input of the single induction generator (ΔPIW) and the change in mechanical power input of two induction generators (ΔPIW1, ΔPIW2) respectively. The parameters were dynamically varied in control desk of dSPACE Software with DS1104 R & D controller board mounted in personal computer under real time environment. The static and dynamic response curves were depicted. The reactive power deviations realized using the proposed MPANN controller was found to be very less compared to the deviations shown in ANN controller present in literature. The time domain Journal of Green Engineering, Vol. 7, 1–24. doi: 10.13052/jge1904-4720.7121 c © 2017 River Publishers. All rights reserved.