Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Studies of the genetics of inheritance of stem rust resistance in bread wheat

Pgt race TTKSK (Ug99) has a wide virulence range with respect to currently grown wheat cultivars worldwide. Aspects of migration, mutation, recombination and selection in the pathogen have led to previously deployed stem rust resistance genes being ineffective. Race TTKSK has further evolved to acquire virulence for resistance genes such as Sr24 (race Ug99 + Sr24) and Sr36 (Ug99 + Sr36). Five resistant wheat lines (KSL-2, KSL-3, KSL-5, KSL-12 and KSL-19) which were resistant in tests during 2008, 2009 and 2010 were used as parents in crosses with stem rust susceptible line CACUKE to develop genetic populations for determining the inheritance of resistance to stem rust. F3 populations were evaluated at KARI Njoro in the 2012 off season and 2012 to 2013 main season. The adult plant stem rust responses were scored using the modified Cobb’s scale. The F2:3 lines of population(s) exhibiting qualitative variation were grouped as homozygous resistant (HR), segregating (Seg) and homozygous susceptible (HS). Heavy disease pressure was present during the cropping seasons with the check CACUKE displaying 90% susceptibility. Chi square analysis revealed that the segregation data in the parent KSL-2 did not deviate significantly from the single gene model (1:2:1) suggesting that the resistance to stem rust is conditioned by a single dominant gene. The Chi square test also revealed that the stem rust resistance in the parents KSL-3, KSL-5, KSL-12 and KSL-19 was conditioned by two genes. The families from the KSL-2 and KSL-3 crosses also segregated for the presence of the pseudo black chaff implying that the Sr2 gene could be present in the background of these wheat parents. The superior transgressive segregants identified in these crosses will be used in breeding. Keywords: Genetic, wheat, gene, resistance African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(21), pp. 3153-3159
FINANCE AND ENTERPRISE PERFORMANCE: DOES ETHNICITY MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Using 2004-2007 firm-level micro data for enterprises in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Re gion of China, weinve stigatethere lativeimportanceof bank loans and tradecre dit in promoting enterprise performance. We find statistical evidence that access to bank loans plays a significant role in improving enterprise productivity, but it has a significantly negative impact on profitability; the result continues to hold when taking into account the ethnicity effect. Moreover, there is no evidence of an ethnicity gap for the effect of receiving bank loans on enterprise performance. We also cannot find strong evidence that trade credit influences productivity or profitability.
Various Strategies for the Immobilization of Biocatalysts on Textile Carrier Materials

Textile fabrics made of polyester (PET), polyamide (PA) or cotton represent alternative carrier materials for the immobilization of enzymes. In contrast to conventional carriers, fiber materials are considerably inexpensive. The flexible construction of fabrics enables reactor constructions of any geometry and a quick removal of the catalyst without any residues after the reaction. Moreover, their open structure guarantees an optimal substrate turn-over and the active surface is easily adjustable by the fiber diameter. We have demonstrated successfully, that fabrics with a high enzyme load, a high relative activity and good permanence against enzyme desorption can be produced with low preparative and economic expense. Here, we report various methods for the permanent fixation of enzymes on fiber forming polymers such as photochemical grafting, the use of bifunctional anchor molecules, monomeric and polymeric cross-linking agents or specific enzyme modification for direct immobilization. In addition, we compare the strategies in terms of load, catalytic activity and reusability.
Quantum cascade lasers: ultrahigh-speed operation, optical wireless communication, narrow linewidth, and far-infrared emission

Following an introduction to the history of the invention of the quantum cascade (QC) laser and of the band-structure engineering advances that have led to laser action over most of the mid-infrared (IR) and part of the far-IR spectrum, the paper provides a comprehensive review of recent developments that will likely enable important advances in areas such as optical communications, ultrahigh resolution spectroscopy and applications to ultrahigh sensitivity gas-sensing systems. We discuss the experimental observation of the remarkably different frequency response of QC lasers compared to diode lasers, i.e., the absence of relaxation oscillations, their high-speed digital modulation, and results on mid-IR optical wireless communication links, which demonstrate the possibility of reliably transmitting complex multimedia data streams. Ultrashort pulse generation by gain switching and active and passive modelocking is subsequently discussed. Recent data on the linewidth of free-running QC lasers (/spl sim/150 kHz) and their frequency stabilization down to 10 kHz are presented. Experiments on the relative frequency stability (/spl sim/5 Hz) of two QC lasers locked to optical cavities are discussed. Finally, developments in metallic waveguides with surface plasmon modes, which have enabled extension of the operating wavelength to the far IR are reported.
Recent developments and applications of a Micro-UAS for atmospheric boundary layer research

During the last 5 years, the Small Unmanned Meteorological Observer SUMO has been developed as a new and flexible tool for atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) research to be operated as controllable and recoverable atmospheric sounding system for the lowest 4 km above the Earth’s surface. In the year 2011 two main technical improvements of the system have been accomplished. The integration of an inertial measurement unit (IMU) into the Paparazzi autopilot system has expanded the environmental conditions for SUMO operation to now even allowing incloud flights. In the field of sensor technology the implementation of a 5hole probe for the determination of the 3 dimensional flow vector impinging the aircraft with a 100 Hz resolution and of a faster Pt1000 based temperature sensor have distinctly enhanced the meteorological measurement capabilities. The extended SUMO version has recently been operated during two field campaigns. The first one in a wind farm close to Vindeby on Lolland, Denmark, was dedicated to the investigation of the effects of wind turbines on boundary layer turbulence. In spite of a few pitfalls related to configuration and synchronisation of the corresponding data logging systems, this campaign provided promising results indicating the capability and future potential of small UAS for turbulence characterization in and around wind farms. The second one, the international BLLAST (Boundary Layer Late Afternoon and Sunset Transition) field campaign at the foothills of the Pyrenees in Lannemezan, France was fo-
Mantle dynamics beneath the East Pacific Rise at 17°S : insights from the Mantle Electromagnetic and Tomography (MELT) experiment

[1] The electromagnetic data from the Mantle Electromagnetic and Tomography (MELT) experiment are inverted for a two-dimensional transversely anisotropic conductivity structure that incorporates a correction for three-dimensional topographic effects on the magnetotelluric responses. The model space allows for different conductivity values in the along-strike, cross-strike, and vertical directions, along with imposed constraints of model smoothness and closeness among the three directions. Anisotropic models provide a slightly better fit to the data for a given level of model smoothness and are more consistent with other geophysical and laboratory data. The preferred anisotropic model displays a resistive uppermost 60-km-thick mantle independent of plate age, except in the vicinity of the ridge crest. In most inversions, a vertically aligned sheet-like conductor at the ridge crest is especially prominent in the vertical conductivity. Its presence suggests that the melt is more highly concentrated and connected in the vertical direction immediately beneath the rise axis. The melt zone is at least 100 km wide and is asymmetric, having a greater extent to the west. Off-axis, and to the east of the ridge, the mantle is more conductive in the direction of plate spreading at depths greater than 60 km. The flat resistive-conductive boundary at 60 km agrees well with the inferred depth of the dry solidus of peridotite, and the deeper conductive region is consistent with the preferred orientation of olivine inferred from seismic observations. This suggests that the uppermost 60 km represents the region of mantle that has undergone melting at the ridge and has been depleted of water (dissolved hydrogen). By contrast, the underlying mantle has retained a significant amount of water.
Spawning Aggregation of Beardfish, Polymixia lowei, in a Deep-water Sinkhole off the Florida Keys

Abstract A large spawning aggregation of Polymixia lowei, Beardfish, was documented via video and specimen collection in a deep-water (413 m) sinkhole off Key West, Florida on 5 June 2007. The use of the human-occupied submersible, Johnson-Sea-Link II, allowed for in situ observations, video documentation, and specimen collection. The maximum density (117 fish m−2), average abundance (56 fish m−2), and average standard length (152.1 mm) were estimated from video transects. Ovarian histology of the fish collected indicated recent spawning activity. Observations of a deep scattering layer above the sinkhole by echo sounder suggested that P. lowei were in the water column during the pre-dawn hours. This represents the first report of aggregating behavior for reproduction in P. lowei.
Recession and Post-Recession Efficiency and Productivity Changes in United States Public Universities: The Good, Bad, and Ugly

This paper employs data envelopment analysis to investigate the extent to which publicly owned, operated, and managed universities in the United States have undergone efficiency and productivity changes in response to the financial crisis that induced the Great Recession and how post-recessionary conditions have altered those changes. The paper revisits an earlier study of like kind that used panel data covering the 2005-2008 academic years but could not, obviously, capture the dynamic changes of the 2007-2009 recession or the lingering post-recessionary financial and enrollment effects imposed on public universities. The present paper offers many improvements over that previous study by extending the panel data to 250 as compared to 133 universities and the academic years to evaluate efficiency and productivity to 2004-2013. Results indicate that university efficiency and productivity gains arose somewhat earlier during the recession than previous estimated but the significant improvements were in lagged response and arising in the 2010 and 2011 academic years. Post-recession results, however, show a bleaker picture with significant efficiency and productivity regress in both the 2012 and 2013 academic years. Without exception, productivity gains can be attributed to technological improvements with university managerial gains being of lesser value. Yet, the recent productivity declines do not bode well for the future implications of U.S. public universities, especially given the post-recessionary pressures on all publicly funded institutions to increase productivity.
Exploratory Study of Promotional Videos in the 10 Major Tourist Destinations in China: A Content Analysis

Since the mid 1990s, both domestic and international tourism in China has grown rapidly evidenced in many destinations. In particular, tourism plays an important role as a major destination in regional economic development. This article reviews promotional videos of the main destinations in China as research data, analyzes the common content elements, orientations, presentation methods, persuasion methods, time patterns, and the use of sound, music and volume in Beijing, Nanjing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi’an, Qingdao, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xiamen, and Hangzhou. Finally, the authors make suggestions regarding the images of promotional videos, reflecting on the subjects, contents and techniques of shooting the videos, and study the content and techniques of the photographers. Moreover, the authors put forward suggestions on improving promotional videos of destinations from the perspective of the subjects, contents and techniques of shooting.
Analysis of the influence of mine and soil properties on features extracted from GPR data

This paper presents a parametric study on the influence of target and soil properties, including depth of burial, on features extracted from ground penetrating radar (GPR) data. Understanding this influence is crucial for designing a classifier that uses these features for mine detection and identification. Two types of features have been studied. These are the Wigner-Ville distribution and geometric moments. Using a fast forward modeling program, synthetic GPR data were created for six buried objects, including two plastic minelike objects, for a wide range of soil properties and depths of burial. Both non-lossy and lossy soils were considered. From the computed data the above features were extracted and correlated with each other. The results show that the Wigner-Ville distribution performs much better in discriminating between objects than geometric moments. Furthermore, the features were found to be practically invariant to changes in mine-soil permittivity contrast and depth of burial provided that the soil is non-lossy. In the presence of losses, the GPR pulse is reshaped at the air-ground interface and as it propagates through the soil. As a result of the reshaping, the target response and hence the features can differ substantially from the non-lossy case.
Brain abscess caused by an unusual organism, Streptococcus pluranimalium in a child with congenital cyanotic heart disease

We report a case of brain abscess caused by unu-sual organism, Streptococcus pluranimalium in a child with complex congenital cyanotic heart dis-ease who was successfully treated by surgical drainage and antimicrobial therapy. Streptococ-cus pluranimalium is a pathogen seen in chicken, birds and cattle and rarity of such infection in humans prompted us to report this case.
Biking, Buying and Belonging: An Exploration of how an Irish Subculture of Consumption’s Socialisation Process Equips its Members to Critically Filter Marketing Messages

This paper identifies how members of an Irish biker subculture of consumption critically decode marketing messages, brands and products using a subcultural filter (peculiar to the subculture) learnt through localised socialisation. This critical filter develops through prolonged subcultural immersion and is influenced by the word-ofmouth purchase advice and product judgement of other members of the subculture of consumption; with a parallel between its development and use, and the development of the subcultural identity, from experimentation, to identification and conformity, to mastery and internalisation of both filter and identity (Schouten and McAlexander, 1995). It is internally utilised by the members to allow them to achieve a personally harmonious and socially acceptable subcultural identity at a local group level. The findings suggest that marketers’ attempts to encode their offerings with appropriate symbolic meanings and messages are distorted due to the decoding process being arbitrated by the subculture’s members, closely guarded from the influence of those deemed to be non-members and utilised by the members in purchase decisions linked to the subculture. _____________________________________________________________________
Value appropriation in business exchange – literature review and future research opportunities

Purpose – Value appropriation is a central, yet neglected aspect in business exchange research. The purpose of the paper is to generate an overview of research on active value appropriation in business exchange and provide the foundation for further research into value appropriation, as well as some initial guidance for managers. Design/methodology/approach – Literatures investigating value appropriation were identified by the means of a systematic review of the overall management literature. Findings – The authors provide an overview and comparison of the literatures and find that they apply diverse understandings of the value appropriation process and emphasize different mechanisms and outcomes of value appropriation. Research limitations/implications – Based on the literature comparison and discussion, in combination with inspiration from alternative business exchange literature, the authors propose four areas with high potential for future research into value appropriation: network position effects, a.
Sex, Power, and Women: Female Viewers' Perceptions of Popular Music Video Themes

Research has linked viewing highly sexual music videos with increased gender role acceptance, and concern over personal physical appearance. However, very few studies have assessed individual differences in how music video sexual content is perceived, and no studies to date have addressed non-objectifying sexual content. In the present study, fifteen college women were exposed to 21 pop music videos and asked to categorize each video on the basis of whether it depicted women a) as sex objects, b) using sex as a source of power, or c) non-sexually. At least one video achieved perfect consensus amongst the participants for each category of sexual content, indicating that not all highly sexual portrayals of women are seen as objectifying by college women. However, the participants did not categorize the remaining videos in a uniform manner, indicating that there are considerable individual differences in the perception of music video sexual content.
Nuclear stopping power and its impact on the determination of electronic stopping power

As already noted by Behar et al. in the nineties, the penetration depth of heavy ions into light targets is often much larger than predicted by Ziegler's SRIM (The Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter) program. Evidently, SRIM stopping power must be too high at low energy in these cases. This leads to the question: are there any stopping power measurements that show this directly? There are a few, indeed. We first discuss the description of nuclear stopping in SRIM, and then discuss these measurements. Naturally, the contribution of nuclear stopping is large in these cases. Assuming that SRIM nuclear stopping is correct, we find that indeed, SRIM electronic stopping is much too high at low energy.
Membrane Microdomains Regulate Focal Adhesion Size in Bovine Aortic Endothelial Cells

Cell membranes were once thought to be functionless, lipid bilayers with little lateral movement within the membrane. We now know that plasma membranes contain different kinds of lipids with varying degrees of hydrophobicity and disorder. It is believed that these lipids arrange themselves into lipid-ordered and lipid-disordered domains, and the height mismatch between these domains causes the ordered domain to sit rest slightly higher than the other lipids, like a “raft”. These “rafts” have been implicated as platforms for cellular signaling. However, their role in mechanotransduction has not been fully elucidated. The goal of this experiment was to perturb the cellular membrane by addition of chemicals which may selectively assemble into certain lipid domains and to quantitatively analyze the focal adhesion dynamics under those conditions. The additives used were benzyl alcohol, Triton-X, and vitamin E. Bovine aortic endothelial cells were transfected with green fluorescent protein tagged to focal adhesion kinase and visualized using total internal reflection microscopy (TIRF-M). The quantitative analysis was completed by the Focal Adhesion Analysis Server. The results showed that Vitamin E and Triton-X both decreased focal adhesion size in the entire cell. Benzyl alcohol increased focal adhesion size in the entire cell. These findings elucidate the role of membrane microdomains in mechanotransduction. The results also showed that benzyl alcohol doubled focal adhesion size at the leading edge of the cells. These findings indicate that benzyl alcohol may play a role in integrin clustering by modifying the cell membrane. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES . iii LIST OF TABLES . iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . v Chapter
COMPARISON OF ASYMMETRIC GARCH MODELS WITH ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK FOR STOCK MARKETS PREDICTION, A CASE STUDY

Much efforts have been done for modeling of financial data theoretically and empirically for the international stock markets, for example: Asia, Europe and Australia etc. But no frequent research has been done for the SAARC countries stock markets. Therefore, bench mark Index of Pakistan; Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE-100) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSNSE) of India are selected as case study. They are not only the member of SAARC but also sharing the common border, due to this they are also involving in bilateral trading. We used closing indices of daily share price for the period of 1st January, 2010 to 15th January 2016. This study compares the forecasting performance and also investigates more volatile stock markets using Asymmetric GARCH (A-GARCH) models and non-parametric method (Artificial Neural Networks). In the A-GARCH; EGARCH and PGARCH models are used. Firstly, suitable Asymmetric GARCH (A-GARCH) model was developed for forecasting and investigating leverage effect. Secondly, an Artificial Neural Networks model was developed for the said stock markets. Lastly, forecasting performance of the FA-GARCH and ANN models both in and out sample were evaluated using root mean square error. In the A-GARCH; EGARCH (1,1) performed better than PGARCH(1,1) in both stock market data. However, when comparing A-GARCH with ANN, it was found that ANN gave minimum out sample forecasting error as compared to A-GARCH models. Therefore, ANN out played other studied models.
A Survey on Naming, Name Resolution and Data Routing in Information Centric Networking (ICN)

Information-Centric Networking (ICN) is set to replace the current internet architecture which is based on end-to-end communication between hosts. The ICN approach to the network of the future has recently been and is being explored by a number of research projects from Asia, Europe and America. This paper provides a review on three Information Centric Networking (ICN) architectures based on objects/contents naming, name resolution and data routing. The review highlights and briefly describes the naming structures, operation of name resolution and data routing processes of DONA, NetInf and PURSUIT. A summary in tabular form and a comparative study of these three architectures is also given in the paper.
A complexity science approach to swarm intelligence

This dissertation presents the work done in the past year towards the creation of a methodology or framework for the design of multiagent systems. The main goal is to use complexity science to shed some light in the design process of multiagent systems and swarms. The results presented here are from the initial phase of the project, the methodology is yet to be developed. In chapter 1, the four fields that this work cover are presented: Multiagent Systems, Swarm Intelligence, Constraint Satisfaction Problems and Complex Systems. After that, in chapter 2, a first approach to multiagent systems is presented with a system built to solve a university scheduling problem. As one of the goals is to build very light systems, chapter 3 presents a first step in the simplification using a swarm of agents based on memory and message discrimanation to solve a CSP benchmark problem, the N–Queen problem. Chapter 4 proposes a possible analysis using a complexity science approach to both systems. Finally, chapter 5 concludes and suggests future directions for the research.