Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Torrefaction of Straw from Oats and Maize for Use as a Fuel and Additive to Organic Fertilizers—TGA Analysis, Kinetics as Products for Agricultural Purposes

This publication presents research work which contains the optimum parameters of the agri-biomass: maize and oat straws torrefaction process. Parameters which are the most important for the torrefaction process and its products are temperature and residence time. Thermogravimetric analysis was performed as well as the torrefaction process using an electrical furnace on a laboratory scale at a temperature between 250–525 °C. These biomass torrefaction process parameters—residence time and temperature—were necessary to perform the design and construction of semi-pilot scale biomass torrefaction installations with a regimental dryer and a woody and agri-biomass regimental torrefaction reactor to perform a continuous torrefaction process using superheated steam. In the design installation the authors also focused on biochar, a bi-product of biofuel which will be used as an additive for natural bio-fertilizers. Kinetic analysis of torrefaction process using maize and oat straws was performed using NETZSCH Neo Kinetics software. It was found that kinetic analysis methods conducted with multiple heating rate experiments were much more efficient than the use of a single heating rate. The best representations of the experimental data for the straw from maize straw were found for the n-order reaction model. A thermogravimetric analysis, TG-MS analysis and VOC analysis combined with electrical furnace installation were performed on the maize and oat straw torrefaction process. The new approach in the work presented is different from that of current scientific achievements due to the fact that until now researchers have worked on performing processes on oat and maize straws by means of the torrefaction process for the production of a biochar as an additive for natural bio-fertilizers. None of them looked for economically reasonable mass loss ratios. In this work the authors made the assumption that a mass loss in the area of 45–50% is the most reasonable loss for the two mentioned agri-biomass processes. On this basis, a semi-pilot installation could be produced in a further BIOCARBON project step. The kinetic parameters which were calculated will be used to estimate the size of the apparatuses, the biomass dryer, and biomass torrefaction reactor.
Assessment of humoral immune responses of sheep immunized with affinity purified excretory / secretory antigen of Haemonchus contortus

In the present investigation, live adult Haemonchus contortus worms were harvested from the abomasums of sheep. In vitro culture of adult worms were made in RPMI 1640 medium at a concentration of approximately 50 worms / ml in a culture flask at 37 0 C for 24 hours and the culture supernatant was used as antigen. The E/S antigen was purified by thiol – sepharose affinity chromatography. The protein content of thiol – purified antigen was 1.6 mg /ml. on western blot analysis, it was demonstrated that the affinity purified antigen showed a single reactive band at 66 kDa. In immunization trial, sheep were immunized with 500 µg of thiol – purified E/S antigen along with montanide as adjuvant on day 0,30 and 60 intramuscularly. Further, the assessment of serum antibody levels in immunized sheep was made at weekly intervals by enzyme linked immuno sorbent assay (ELISA). It was observed that the mean absorbance values were significantly (P≤0.01) higher up to 20 weeks post immunization in purified antigen immunized group compared to unimmunized control group.
Collaboration to Induce Fair Labor Practices

The reputation of a multinational firm (a “buyer”) is hurt if its offshore supplier flagrantly violates fair labor practices. How should a buyer manage the consequent risk of reduced sales? This paper analyzes a dynamic Stackelberg game in which the buyer (the “leader”) offers financial incentives to the supplier (the “follower”) to treat its work force fairly. This tactical approach to risk management corresponds to a strategic approach in which the buyer first determines its risk posture, and then identifies the most profitable financial incentives that are consistent with that risk posture. The buyer’s problem corresponds to optimizing a Markov decision process with a discounted criterion over an infinite-horizon. Analytical and numerical analysis of the model shows that the buyer should rely on a contingent bonus as the primary incentive, and set the wholesale price at the supplier’s reservation price; the organization of the supply chain affects the risk of a flagrant violation of fair labor practices; and the buyer’s value function is approximated well by an affine function of reputation.
Retroviral diversity of laboratory and wild mice M. musculus domesticus

The sensitivity and cost-effectiveness of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies has transformed almost every biological discipline, allowing to address questions whose answers seemed out of reach just a few years ago. One such area is the inventory and analysis of endogenous retroviruses of non-human origin. PCR-amplification and low-throughput Sanger-sequencing generally detects only retroviral variants that predominate in a given species or population, and rare sequence variants cannot easily be detected. NGS technologies, in contrast, allow to survey diversity and distribution of retroviruses among individuals, populations, and species. Our poster will describe an analysis of targeted murine retroviral sequences from five mouse samples.
Genotyping of bovine β-casein, β-lactoglobulin and α-lactalbumin using the polymerase chain reaction

Summary PCR was used to genotype bovine milk proteins. Variants A1, A2, B and C of the β-casein locus were differentiated by allele-specific PCR (ASPCR) and α-lactalbumin genetic variants by a MspI restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). In β-lactoglobulin, HaeIII RFLP and allele-specific PCR were compared in order to determine alleles A and B. The methods allow genotyping of animals of any age or either sex. Zusammenfassung Bestimmung boviner β-Casein-, β-Lactoglobulin- und α-Lactalbumingenotypen mittels Polymerase-Kettenreaktion Milchproteine des Rindes wurden mit Hilfe der PCR-Technik genotypisiert. Die Varianten A1, A2, B und C des β-Caseins wurden mit allel-spezifischer PCR (ASPCR), eine genetische Variante des α-Laktalbumins durch Restriktions-Fragmentlangen-Polymorphismus (RFLP) mit MspI differenziert. Beim β-Laktoglobulin wurden sowohl ASPCR als auch RFLP zur Bestimmung der Allele A und B eingesetzt. Die Methoden gestatten eine alters- und geschlechtsunabhangige Darstellung der jeweiligen Genotypen.
Interaction of trace levels of vanadium(IV) and vanadium(V) in biological systems

Enzyme kinetics have been used to study interactions of trace-level concentrations of vanadate (V(V)) and vanadyl cation (V(IV)) in biological systems. A quantitative method based on the inhibition of alkaline or acid phosphatase by monomeric vanadate or vanadyl cation has been developed to determine the concentration of free monomeric vanadate or vanadyl cation at 10{sup {minus}5}-10{sup {minus}7} M vanadium concentrations. Interactions of vanadate and vanadyl cation with potential ligands including buffers, chelating agents, enzyme substrates, cofactors, amino acids, peptides, and proteins were examined. Seven out of 26 commonly used buffers were found to strongly complex vanadate, and an additional 11 buffers were found to complex vanadate to various degrees. The vanadyl cation generally interacts more strongly with these buffers than does vanadate.
A Mismatch Calibration Technique for SAR ADCs Based on Deterministic Self-Calibration and Stochastic Quantization

A capacitive DAC is an important building block of a charge-redistribution SAR ADC, for its size has a significant impact on performance. For medium- to high-resolution applications, the size of the DAC is typically determined by random mismatches. As such, an effective mismatch calibration circuit can allow the DAC to be scaled down to a much lower $kT/C$ noise limit, thereby increasing the overall ADC power efficiency. This paper reviews some of the most important reported mismatch calibration techniques and proposes a foreground calibration method based on a deterministic self-calibration and stochastic quantization. This approach is experimentally validated on a prototype 10-bit SAR ADC fabricated in TSMC 28-nm LP CMOS technology, demonstrating an INL and SFDR improvement of respectively 6.4 LSB and 14.9 dB at 85 MS/s.
Prospective study of the functional outcome of uncemented bipolar hemiarhroplasty in displaced fracture neck of femur in elderly

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Hip fractures in older patients are associated with impaired mobility, excess morbidity, mortality and loss of independence. To avoid the drawbacks of internal fixation and for early mobilization, hemiarthroplasty is performed in elderly. The bipolar prosthesis was developed to overcome the shortcomings of the unipolar fixed-head prosthesis. An additional site of motion would be expected to decrease the amount of loosening, dislocation, and head migration. The aim of the study is to assess the functional outcome of the patients with fracture neck of femur treated with bipolar hemiarthroplasty. </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> In this study, 20 patients above the age of 60 years with acute displaced fracture neck of femur underwent hemireplacement arthroplasty with bipolar prosthesis in Department of Orthopaedics, KIMS, Bangalore. The patients were followed up on 6th, 12th, 18th, 24th week post operatively. Functional outcome was assessed with Harris hip score. <strong></strong></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> In our study, mean average age was 72.3 years with predominantly female patients with 75% of the patients with left sided fracture. 95% of the patients had slight or no pain, 85% of patients had slight or no limp. 50% of the patients could walk without support, 65% of the patients could walk a distance of 6 blocks or more. Average Harris hip score was 82%. </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> These results suggest functional outcome following bipolar hemiarthroplasty is good. Early mobilisation, pain free hip and with good level of activity is obtained following bipolar hemiarthroplasty. </p>
Screening and identification of Actinomycetes produced chitinolytic from suppression soil as biological agents of fruit flies ( Bactrocera sp.)

The effectiveness of biological control is generally associated with the tolerance of biological control agents to environmental stress. One of the enhanced tolerances of entomopathogenic bacteria to thermal factors and pesticides is a result of the chitinolytic biosynthesis of the filamentous bacteria. The filamentous bacteria Actinomycetes can be isolated from several specific areas: the Kelud volcano mountain, a tomato field contaminated with pesticides and protected forests. The aim of the study was to obtain and identify Actinomycetes candidates capable of producing chitinolytic compounds and controlling fruit flies and other insects (Bactrocera sp.) in vitro. Screening and identification were undertaken using descriptive methods while an antagonism test was designed using a completely randomized block design, with nine treatment combinations and each treatment being replicated three times. The results showed that Actinomycetes Tomatoes_Pare (Atp) and Actinomycetes Merubetiri 1 and 2 (Mbr1 and Mbr2) isolates produce chitinase and are able to control parasite fruit fly larvae and pupae by up to 100% in vitro. The identification of Actinomycetes spp. by DNA sequencing showed that 3 Actinomycetes isolates have are closely related: Streptomyces narbonesis, Streptomyces spectabilis SHH and Streptomyces deserti.
Influence of endothelial glycocalyx layer microstructure upon its role as a mechanotransducer

The endothelial glycocalyx layer (EGL) is a brush-like layer that lines the internal surfaces of blood vessels. It is thought to serve a number of physiological functions, including as a mechanotransducer of fluid loadings to the vessel wall. However, the fragility of the EGL makes it difficult to examine experimentally, and so there is much value in theoretical models that can help to explain the dynamical behaviour of the EGL. Most previous models have employed mixture theory to mechanically describe the layer, which treats the EGL as a isotropic linearly poroelastic layer. However, there is increasing experimental evidence to suggest that the EGL has a well-defined organisational structure that might not necessarily be well captured by such mixture theory descriptions. We therefore employ homogenisation theory to incorporate into the models some of the possible EGL microstructure suggested by the current biological literature. We explore how mechanotransduction varies under the different possible EGL microstructures, which potentially has important consequences to our understanding of how structural changes to the EGL might affect a vessel’s ability to respond to hemodynamical cues. We also find that, whereas mechanotransduction through the solid components of the EGL is dominated by the fluid tractions applied at the lumen–EGL interface, the component carried through its fluid phase is most sensitive to pressure gradients within the bulk EGL. This is relevant, since it is known that the underlying endothelial cells respond differently to these two different forms of mechanical loading.
e-RGA: enhanced Reference Guided Assembly of Complex Genomes

Next Generation Sequencing has totally changed genomics: we are able to produce huge amounts of data at an incredibly low cost compared to Sanger sequencing. Despite this, some old problems have become even more difficult, de novo assembly being on top of this list. Despite efforts to design tools able to assemble, de novo, an organism sequenced with short reads, the results are still far from those achievable with long reads. In this paper, we propose a novel method that aims to improve de novo assembly in the presence of a closely related reference. The idea is to combine de novo and reference-guided assembly in order to obtain enhanced results.
Effect of volatile fatty acids, lactic acid and ammonia on rumen pH in sheep

Data are presented on pH, volatile fatty acid, lactic acid, and ammonia nitrogen levels in the rumen of sheep being hand-fed on a wide range of diets. It is concluded that the rumen pH rarely falls outside the range 5.0-7.5 on diets on which lactic acid never accumulates in the rumen after feeding. On such diets rumen pH is closely related to the volatile fatty acid level. Evidence is presented which indicates that the pH-volatile fatty acid relationship on different diets may be considerably modified by variations in salivary secretion and in the accumulation of ammonia nitrogen in the rumen after feeding. The contribution of ammonia nitrogen to the total buffering capacity of the rumen is discussed. Lactic acid only accumulated in the rumen on diets containing high levels of soluble carbohydrate or starch. Lactic acid levels above 20 mM were always associated with pH levels below 3.0, but although levels higher than 80 mM were often recorded, lumen pH levels never fell below 4.33. On these diets rumen pH was closely related to the level of volatile fatty acid or lactic acid or both in the rumen.
Abundance of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and the functional groups in two different habitats

Abstract. Triyogo A, Budiadi, Widyastuti SM, Subrata SA, Budi SS. 2020. Abundance of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and the functional groups in two different habitats. Biodiversitas 21: 2079-2087. Land development often affects the quantity and diversity of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). The aim of this study, therefore, was to determine and compare the ant species abundance and the functional groups between two different habitats, representing land development, including pioneer and agroforestry. This research involved a survey of the ants at the Forest Research Education (FRE) of Wanagama I Yogyakarta, and data were accumulated over a period of five months (April, May, June, July, and August). In addition, pit-fall trap and direct collection methods were used, involving the placement of 54 pit-fall traps at two habitats, and the ant specimens were retrieved after a two day period. The results show the total individual abundance of 2,310 and 2,067, on agroforestry and pioneer, respectively. Furthermore, the species richness and diversity index was higher in agroforestry (7; 2.01), compared with pioneer (6; 1.49), where the three dominant species include, Anoplolepis gracilipes, Solenopsis sp. , Odontoponera denticulata; and Anoplolepis gracilipes, Odontoponera denticulata, Camponotus sp. , respectively. Conversely, the highest amount of invasive ants (Solenopsis sp.) was observed in agroforestry, which negatively impacted on the presence of native species (Odontoponera denticulata). In addition, PCA analysis showed the development of three ant groups on each habitat, hence agroforestry made more real differences in the aspect of species abundance, and none in terms of richness. Therefore, notable differences were observed in the ant communities between both habitats, and agroforestry was indicated as a disturbed area, based on the increment in tramp and invasive ants, alongside low abundance of native and functional groups.
Dimensional Reduction on Cross Project Defect Prediction

The complexity of the software can increase the possibility of defects. Defective software can cause high losses. The software containing defects can cause large losses. Most software developers don’t document their work properly so that making it difficult to analyse software development history data. The cross-project software defect prediction used several datasets from different projects and combining for training and testing. The dataset with high dimension can cause bias, contain irrelevance data, and require large resources to process it. In this study, several dimensional reduction algorithm and Decision Tree as classifier. Based on the analysis using ANOVA, all models that implement dimensional reduction can significantly improve the performance of the Decision Tree model.
Numerical validation using finite element to assess the performance of microwave sensor in detecting blade tip displacement

Gas turbine engine manufacturers are in continuous strive to improve the durability and the technology behind engine development to help monitor engine health and performance. Such technologies are confined to employing highly specialized sensors within the engine compartment. The role of the sensors is to screen and track the structural response of the engine components and in particular the rotor disk due to its venerability to endure failure since it is subject to complex and harsh loading conditions. Detecting unexpected or excessive blade vibration before failure is critical to ensure safety and to achieve projected component life. Nondestructive Evaluation has been the traditional method of detection in addition to relying exclusively on visual inspections as well as other means. These methods require time and cost and do not provide accurate feedback on the health when the engine is in operation. At NASA Glenn Research Center, efforts are undergoing to develop, and test validates microwave-based blade tip timing sensors in support of these concerns and to investigate their application for propulsion health monitoring under the Transformational Tools and Technologies Project (TTTP). A set of prototype sensors is used to assess their ability and applicability in making blade tip clearance measurements in an attempt to extract the blade tip timing from the acquired raw data. The sensors are non-contact type and microwavebased technology. The study covers an experimental task to define the optimum set-up of these sensors, determine their sensitivity in making blade tip deflection measurements and validate their performance against realistic geometries in a spin rig. It also includes finite element analysis base calculations to compare with the experimental data. Data pertaining to the findings obtained from the testing as well as the analytical results are presented and discussed. This work is an extension of a prior combined experimental and computational study that is available in reference [1].
Diversity and pathogenicity of the rice brown spot pathogen, Bipolaris oryzae (Breda de Haan) Shoem. in Bangladesh assessed by genetic fingerprint analysis.

A survey on the occurrence of rice brown spot pathogen, Bipolaris oryzae (Breda de Haan) Shoem. was carried out across Bangladesh. A representative set of 152 isolates were characterized based on DNA fingerprinting, using variable number tandem repeat analysis and assessed their phylogenetic identity, diversity and pathogenicity. The analysis showed considerable diversity among the isolates, being separated into 12 fingerprint types at 75% similarity level. Majority of the samples possessed one fingerprint type. Pathogenicity test with nine fingerprint types on rice variety BR24, showed 20.5-84.5% germination failure, 2.50-12.50, 5.84-11.67 and 7.50-14.17% post-emergence seedling death at 15, 30 and 45 days after transplanting and 18.75-22.50% yield loss. Significant differences in aggressiveness were observed among the isolates of the same fingerprint types. Key words: Bipolaris oryzae ; Rice brown spot; Pathogenicity; Agarose-synergel; Fingerprints DOI: 10.3329/bjb.v38i2. 5135 Bangladesh J. Bot. 38 (2): 119-125, 2009 (December)
Effects of Greater flamingo Phoenicopterus ruber on macrophytes, chironomids and turbidity in natural marshes in Doñana, SW Spain

Top predators and nutrient inputs are important factors determining the structure of freshwater aquatic systems. Greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) have been shown to destroy submerged macrophytes and may promote a switch from clear water to turbid water in the temporary marshes of Donana National Park. We excluded flamingos from twenty 4x4 m plots distributed between two lucios (shallow seasonal lakes) within the marshes from February to July 2004. In July, we measured total suspended solids (TSS), macrophyte biomass and abundance and size of chironomid larvae in the twenty exclosures and twenty adjacent control plots. TSS was lower and macrophyte biomass was higher in exclosures, but not significantly so. Flamingos were found to cause a significant reduction in chironomid abundance and an increase in the proportion of larger larvae. The effect of exclusion was greater where the density of flamingos was highest. Comparison with the results of previous studies suggests that the impact of flamingos is context dependent and largely determined by bird density and/or factors related to macrophyte productivity. Water levels were especially high in 2004 owing to heavy rains, and flamingos may have stronger effects in years of lower rainfall.
Convergent Tangent Estimator for Discrete Objects Based on Isothetic Covers

In this article, we propose a tangent estimation method for discrete object based on isothetic covers. We introduce a concept of maximal isothetic straight segments as a maximal segment of isothetic covers that are linearly separable. A new tangent estimator is proposed as a function of maximal isothetic straight segments. Upper bound for the tangent estimator are derived and show that it tends toward the directions of the tangents of the underlying real curve as we reduce the grid size. We show how consecutive isothetic tangents are related to the convexity of the isothetic covers. The new tangent estimator is optimal i.e., linear to the number of given points and shows good performance in the presence of noise.