Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Molecular Characterization of Host Strains of Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Southern Brazil

Abstract Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a Neotropical species found from Argentina to the United States of America. In its distribution area, two genetically distinct strains are found that differ in their plant host distribution. The strains are morphologically identical, and they can only be reliably distinguished by molecular markers. In this study, we characterized caterpillars collected in corn, Zea mays L. , and rice, Oryza sativa L. , plantations in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The mitochondrial haplotype typical of the rice strain was found in 100% of the caterpillars collected from that crop, whereas 83% of the caterpillars obtained from corn were of the corn strain haplotype. A sex-linked tandem repeat element called FR was previously shown to have a strain-biased distribution in North American populations. We demonstrated that the same element is found in Brazilian fall armyworm and that it also organized in large tandem repeat clusters that are most frequently observed in caterpillars collected from rice and that display the rice strain mitochondrial haplotype. These results indicate that the Brazilian and North American fall armyworm populations are virtually indistinguishable with respect to the known genetic markers that are diagnostic of strain identity. Furthermore the data are consistent with other studies suggesting substantial gene flow between these widely separated populations. The strain-biased distribution of the FR element makes it a potentially useful marker to estimate interstrain hybridization frequencies of this species in Brazil.
Diversity of native rhizobia-nodulating Phaseolus lunatus in Brazil

The studies of rhizobial diversity in the Phaseolus genus have focused on Phaseolus vulgaris. It is unclear how rhizobial diversity is associated with Phaseolus lunatus in areas where this legume is not native, such as Brazil. Therefore, we studied rhizobial diversity associated with P. lunatus bean in soils from Brazil. The study was conducted in a greenhouse, and seeds from each genotype of P. lunatus were sown in plastic bags containing soils originating from Northeast Brazil. The nodules used in isolation and characterization were collected at 45 days after seedling emergence. Fourteen isolates of rhizobia were obtained. DNA was extracted, and the 16S rRNA gene was sequenced using primers fD1 and rD1. More than half of the strains studied were positioned in the Bradyrhizobium clade (in the B. elkani superclade). One strain was positioned in the Rhizobium etli/Rhizobium phaseoli clade. Two strains were grouped within the R. tropici group. Three strains, ISOL16, ISOL21, and ISOL27, that may represent new lineages were found. According to our analysis of the partial sequence of the 16S rRNA gene of 14 rhizobia strains, there was high species diversity of rhizobia-nodulating P. lunatus in Northeast Brazil, including potential new species.
Adsorption Characteristics of Aqueous Arsenic(III) and Arsenic(V) in Taiwan Soils

This study investigate the adsorption characteristics of aqueous arsenate (As(V)) and arsenite (As(III)) in Taiwan soils namely pinchen, chunliao and baiho. The results from the batch adsorption experiments showed that the adsorptive capability of the soils increased with increasing amounts of iron (Fe), manganese (Mn) and aluminum (Al) oxides. In the tested soils, the adsorption of As(V) was higher than that of As(III). The concentration of phosphate in tested soils negatively correlated with the adsorption of aqueous arsenic species As(V) and As(III). The desorption of arsenic occurred within 2−3 h after soils were submerged in water as evidenced by the increased concentration of As(V) and As(III) in the reaction systems. The kinetics analyses of the adsorption of As(III) and As(V) by the soils showed that the major part of reaction was of zero order, while minor part followed 3rd order reaction. This fundamental study will be helpful for further application in the treatment of arsenic contaminated Taiwan soils.
Three Brands of Chinese Green Tea Confer Immunity and Attenuate Susceptibility to Malaria Infection on a Long Term

The study evaluated the phytochemical compounds; the antioxidant and anti-malarial activity of Chinese green tea (GBTI9593, TD659 and XH609) extract fractions and the synergistic interactions of the bioactive constituents. Antioxidant activity was measured by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity of the extract, based on the scavenging of the stable 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical using ethanol extract, methanol fraction, and water fraction of Chinese green tea in 4 levels of concentration (25, 50, 75, 100μg/ ml). Gas chromatography – Mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to extract samples of the Chinese green tea into different components with different retention times. Malaria susceptible respondents (10) in number who have used the tea in the last 3 years were interviewed and their experiences regarding the tea were noted. The results of GC-MS analysis showed that at least 9, 12 and 8 bioactive compounds were present in the methanol extract of GBTI9593, TD659 and XH609 respectively. These compounds were identified through mass spectrometry (MS) attached to gas chromatogram (GC). XH609 had the highest value of 0.094%, ascorbic acid was 0.146% and garlic acid was 0.203% at 25µg/ml compared to GBTI9593 and TD659. These results reveal that the extracts of green tea XH-609 could act as electron donor and could also react with free radicals by converting them to more stable products and terminating the radical chain reaction. Thus the in-vitro studies clearly indicate that the methanol extract of these Chinese tea show significant antioxidant activity and also a better source of natural antioxidant, which might be helpful in preventing the process of various oxidative stresses implicated in the onset of malaria infection. In conclusion, the extract and fractions of Chinese green tea GBTI9593, TD659 and XH609 have potential anti-malarial and antioxidant properties. Keywords : Chinese, tea, antioxidant, GBT19593, TD659, malaria
Melanocytes and Oxidative Stress

Melanocytes are the site of melanogenesis, a chemical reaction leading to the production of melanin. By its characteristics, melanogenesis submits the melanocytes to constant oxidative stress, which can be an essential causative factor for various pigmentary diseases such as vitiligo, melasma or melanoma. The same initial cause, oxidative stress, can lead to either hypopigmentation, or hyperpigmentation or even a carcinogenic process. Phototypes present different susceptibilities to each of these diseases, originally caused by a prooxidant/antioxidant imbalance. In any case, administration of antioxidants appears to be helpful in their treatment
Effects of coffee processing technologies on physico­ chemical properties and sensory qualities of coffee

The study aimed at comparing the effects of three coffee pulping methods on the physico-chemical properties and sensory qualities of coffee. The coffee cherries were processed by disc pulper, drum pulper and eco-pulper methods which varied on mode of operations and mucilage removal methods. The coffee parchment were dried to moisture content of 10 ± 1% and green coffee beans were evaluated for parameters including moisture content, mass, volume, density, pH, titratable acidity, protein, sucrose and lipids content of green coffee beans. The parameters such as moisture, mass, volume and density were determined by actual measurements. Protein was determined by Kjeldhal method, lipids were extracted by Soxhlet method and sucrose extracted and determined by HPLC. The pH showed some significant difference (p<0.05) between the treatments. There was no significant difference on other parameters such as mass, volume, density and titratable acidity, protein, lipids and sucrose. The processing methods showed similar levels on the scores of sensory attributes analyzed by qualified panelist and the scores varied between 7.0-10. The final quality was not significantly different between the processing methods and no defects and faults noted in the samples. It was concluded that the three processing methods do not vary on the levels of physico-chemical components of coffee and gives similar characteristics on sensory attributes and final quality of coffee beverage. Key words: Coffee processing, pulping methods, fermentation, physico-chemical composition, sensory quality.
Direct Spectroscopic Observation of the Structural Origin of Peroxide Generation from Co-Based Pyrolyzed Porphyrins for ORR Applications

Pyrolyzed transition metal based porphyrins present an attractive alternative to state of the art Pt-based electrocatalysts for fuel cell applications based on their comparatively low cost. Unfortunately, the large array of precursors and synthetic strategies has led to considerable ambiguity regarding the specific structure/property relationships that give rise to their activity for oxygen reduction. Specifically, considerable debate exists in actual chemical structure of the pyrolyzed reaction centers, and their relationship to membrane-damaging peroxide yield. In this manuscript a comprehensive electrochemical and spectroscopic study of pyrolyzed CoTMPP produced via a self-templating process is presented. The resulting electrocatalysts are not carbon-supported, but are highly porous self-supported pyropolymers. Rotating ring disk electrode measurements showed that the materials pyrolyzed at 700 °C exhibited the highest performance, whereas pyrolysis at 800 °C resulted in a significant increase in the p.
Effects of sugar beet cultivar on development and reproductive capacity of Aphis fabae.

Black been aphid, Aphis fabae Scopoli (Homoptera Aphididae) is recognized as a serious pest of sugar beet with worldwide distribution. Development and fecundity rates of this aphid were evaluated on six commonly growing cultivars under laboratory conditions in Ardabil County, Iran. The results obviously clarified significant differences in biology and life history characteristics of A. fabae reared on different sugar beet cultivars. The shortest developmental time for the immature stages was observed to be 11.32 days on ‘Polyrave’ and the longest 13.23 days on ‘7233’. There was the highest fecundity (14.33, nymphs/female) of A. fabae on ‘Polyrave’ and the lowest (7.32, nymphs/female) on ‘7233’ cultivar. The rm values of the aphid ranged from 0.1336 on ‘7233’ to 0.2202 (nymphs/female/day) on ‘Polyrave’. In general, Jackknife estimates of this aphid population parameters on cultivars examined showed the highest development and fecundity rates on ‘Polyrave’ and the lowest on ‘7233’ cultivar.
Hybrid Quantum Systems with Trapped Charged Particles

We study theoretically the possibilities of coupling the quantum mechanical motion of a trapped charged particle (e.g. ion or electron) to quantum degrees of freedom of superconducting devices, nano-mechanical resonators and quartz bulk acoustic wave resonators. For each case, we estimate the coupling rate between the charged particle and its macroscopic counterpart and compare it to the decoherence rate, i.e. the rate at which quantum superposition decays. A hybrid system can only be considered quantum if the coupling rate significantly exceeds all decoherence rates. Our approach is to examine specific examples, using parameters that are experimentally attainable in the foreseeable future. We conclude that those hybrid quantum system considered involving an atomic ion are unfavorable, compared to using an electron, since the coupling rates between the charged particle and its counterpart are slower than the expected decoherence rates. A system based on trapped electrons, on the other hand, might have coupling rates which significantly exceed decoherence rates. Moreover it might have appealing properties such as fast entangling gates, long coherence and flexible electron interconnectivity topology. Realizing such a system, however, is technologically challenging, since it requires accommodating both trapping technology and superconducting circuitry in a compatible manner. We review some of the challenges involved, such as the required trap parameters, electron sources, electrical circuitry and cooling schemes in order to promote further investigations towards the realization of such a hybrid system.
Image Segmentation for Nature Images using K-Mean and Fuzzy C-Mean

Clustering can be considered the most important unsupervised learning problem. It deals with finding a structure in a collection of unlabeled data. We defined cluster is process of organizing objects into group whose member are similar in some way. In my paper we taken natural image and we apply unsupervised learning algorithm k-mean and Fuzzy c-mean that solve the well known clustering problem. Keyword:-segmentation, k-mean, fuzzy c-mean
Genetic Distance Estimation between Chicken Populations of Tropical and Subtropical Countries based on Microsatellites

The identification of important genetic resources and the prevention of further loss of genetic variation is an important task. In developing countries selection pressure for production traits is low and traditional chicken breeds are used in rural animal production systems. Therefore the evaluation of exotic local chicken populations as genetic resources is of interest in efforts to maintain genetic variation. Using 22 microsatellites, 22 local chicken populations (n=405) derived from Bolivia, India, Cameroon, Nigeria and Tanzania were evaluated for their genetic variability and were compared with an experimental chicken line, Dahlem Reds, derived from commercial Rhode Island Reds. Between 2 and 11 alleles per locus were detected. All populations showed high heterozygosity with the lowest value of 45% (Aseel from India) and highest value of 67% (Arusha from Tanzania). A dendrogram was constructed based on CHORD distance by UPGMA analysis. Within this tree the populations were assorted according to their geographical origin. Bootstrapping values were between 37 % and 99%. The contribution of the determination of genetic variability with genetic markers to the decision on conservation and/or further use of the populations in crossbreeding programs designed to create genetic stocks with improved adaptability and productivity in tropical countries is discussed.
Networking of Multi-Robot Systems: Architectures and Requirements

A large number of advancements have taken place in microprocessor-based systems leading to significantly more processing, memory, storage, sensing, actuating, recognition, controlling and communication capabilities. Robotics is one of the areas that have benefited a lot from these advancements. Many important and useful applications for single-robot and multi-robot systems (MRS) have emerged. Such applications include search and rescue, detection of forest fires, mining, construction, disaster management, and many more. MRS systems greatly enhance the capabilities and effectiveness of today’s robots. They extend the robotic system capabilities by increasing the ability to perform more complex tasks and allow performance of inherently distributed ones. In addition, they increase parallelism, enhance robustness, and improve system reliability. However, to perform their tasks in an effective manner, communication between the individual robots becomes an essential component. In this paper, we discuss the various types and architectures of MRS systems and focus on the networking issues, and services that are required to enable MRS systems to be more efficient in performing their roles in their respective applications. We also identify the similarities and differences between mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) and MRS systems, analyze robot-to-robot (R2R) and robot-to-infrastructure (R2I) communication links, and identify the protocols that can be used at the various levels in the MRS hierarchy.
Polymerase chain reaction detection of rabbit DNA in food and animal feed.

A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based on oligonucleotide primers targeting the mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene was developed for the specific identification of rabbit DNA (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in food and feedstuffs. The specificity of the primers was verified by PCR analysis of DNA from 32 non-target species including mammals, birds, fish, and plant species. Analysis of experimental mixtures demonstrated the presence of rabbit-derived materials in the range of 0.1-100%. Prolonged heat treatment (up to 133oC for 20 min at 300 kPa) applied to rabbit muscle/oats binary mixtures did not affect the performance of the method, which could therefore be said to be very useful for the accurate identification of rabbit materials in products submitted to denaturing technologies when other methods are not suitable.
Recurrent events analysis in the presence of time‐dependent covariates and dependent censoring

Summary. Recurrent events models have had considerable attention recently. The majority of approaches show the consistency of parameter estimates under the assumption that censoring is independent of the recurrent events process of interest conditional on the covariates that are included in the model. We provide an overview of available recurrent events analysis methods and present an inverse probability of censoring weighted estimator for the regression parameters in the Andersen–Gill model that is commonly used for recurrent event analysis. This estimator remains consistent under informative censoring if the censoring mechanism is estimated consistently, and it generally improves on the naïve estimator for the Andersen–Gill model in the case of independent censoring. We illustrate the bias of ad hoc estimators in the presence of informative censoring with a simulation study and provide a data analysis of recurrent lung exacerbations in cystic fibrosis patients when some patients are lost to follow‐up.
Experience-Based Model Selection to Enable Long-Term, Safe Control for Repetitive Tasks Under Changing Conditions

Learning approaches have enabled significant performance improvements in robotic control allowing robots to execute motions that were previously impossible. The majority of the work to date, however, assumes that the parts to be learned are static or slowly changing, which limits their applicability in realistic scenarios with rapid changes in the conditions. This paper presents a method to extend an existing single-mode safe learning controller based on Gaussian Process Regression to learn an increasing number of non-linear models for the robot dynamics. We show that this approach enables a robot to re-use past experiences from a large number of previously visited operating conditions, and to safely adapt when a new and distinct operating condition is encountered. This allows the robot to achieve safety and high performance in a large number of operating conditions that do not have to be specified ahead of time. Our approach runs independently from the controller, imposing no additional computation time on the control loop regardless of the number of previous operating conditions considered. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach in experiment on a 900 kg ground robot with both physical and artificial changes to its dynamics. All of our experiments are conducted using vision for localization.
Analyzing regime shifts in agent-based models with equation-free analysis

: Conventional tools to analyze regime shifts in ecosystems, e.g. stable state and bifurcation analyses, are increasingly adapted to investigate social-ecological systems. The challenge lies in combining the analysis of system dynamics with the analysis of transient dynamics emerging from adaptive and heterogeneous agents. A typical question is, to which extent do micro level interactions contribute to a macro level outcome? We demonstrate the application of a new tool, equation-free analysis, for evaluating the state space from an agent-based model (ABM) on lake restoration. By sidestepping the requirement of an equation describing a systems macroscopic behavior, equation free analysis enables system level tasks (such as bifurcation analysis) to be performed on micro level models. This is particularly beneficial for agent-based models that aim to explain macro level patterns and include more parameters than one can feasibly analyze by simulation experiments alone. In our example on lake restoration, the macro scale pattern is the ecological regime shift between the clear and turbid water state. This regime shift can be influenced by micro level decisions from lake users affecting the main driver through alternative strategies. To find out which strategies are more effective to restore the lake into the desired clear state, we linked the resulting bifurcation diagram from the equation-free analysis to simulation experiments along the alternative trajectories. Concluding, we describe suitable steps for integrating the equation-free analysis with more traditional agent-based model analyses and discuss the difficulties and advantages therefrom.
Performance Analysis of Heterogeneous Data Centers in Cloud Computing Using a Complex Queuing Model

Performance evaluation of modern cloud data centers has attracted considerable research attention among both cloud providers and cloud customers. In this paper, we investigate the heterogeneity of modern data centers and the service process used in these heterogeneous data centers. Using queuing theory, we construct a complex queuing model composed of two concatenated queuing systems and present this as an analytical model for evaluating the performance of heterogeneous data centers. Based on this complex queuing model, we analyze the mean response time, the mean waiting time, and other important performance indicators. We also conduct simulation experiments to confirm the validity of the complex queuing model. We further conduct numerical experiments to demonstrate that the traffic intensity (or utilization) of each execution server, as well as the configuration of server clusters, in a heterogeneous data center will impact the performance of the system. Our results indicate that our analytical model is effective in accurately estimating the performance of the heterogeneous data center.
Leaf Phenology Variation within the Canopy and Its Relationship with the Transpiration of Populus tomentosa under Plantation Conditions

To provide a theoretical basis for developing intensive cultivation practices for Populus tomentosa plantations, the leaf phenology variation within the canopy and its relationship with transpiration of well-watered P. tomentosa tree in a dense plantation were investigated. The variation in canopy light interception, indicated by the ratio between net radiation under (Rn-u) and above (Rn-a) canopy, with leaf development was also studied. During the growing season, the achievement of maximum leaf number tended to be later in higher parts of the canopy. In the lower and middle canopy, the leaf number maximized earlier in the east-facing side than in the west-facing side, but this difference disappeared in the upper canopy. The Rn-u/Rn-a was stable in May, but declined and then varied steadily until late August. Generally, in May, the crop coefficient (Kcb) of the tree reached its highest level and was not correlated with leaf area (LA) in all layers (p > 0.05). However, it increased linearly (p < 0.001) with LA in the layers above a canopy height of 3 m from June to late August, and most of its variation was explained by LA in the 5–7 m layer. After late August, Kcb decreased linearly with decreasing LA in all layers (p < 0.001). Consequently, a temporal ecological strategy seems to be adopted by P. tomentosa leaves in different layers and azimuthal sides for efficient light acquisition. The contribution of the different canopy layers to tree transpiration can vary, with the leaves in the upper and all layers mainly controlling transpiration in summer and in spring and autumn, respectively.