Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Molecular variability of plantain ecotypes from the genus Musa (Musaceae)

Twelve plantain ecotypes were characterized for molecular variability using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. Out of the 60 RAPD and 40 ISSR primers tested, 16 RAPD and 14 ISSR primers were found polymorphic, and were used for molecular profiling of the plantain ecotypes. The average number of bands per primer, average number of polymorphic bands per primer, mean polymorphic information content (PIC) value, resolving power (Rp), and marker indices (MI) for RAPD primers were 8.63, 3.25, 0.87, 15.49, and 2.86, whereas the respective values for the ISSR assay were 7.93, 4.14, 0.85, 12.49, and 3.55. The genetic similarity coefficient was calculated using the Jaccard coefficient. The unweighted pair group method with arithmetic averages (UPGMA)-based clustering pattern remained more or less similar for RAPD, ISSR, and combined RAPD and ISSR data. Clustering was strongly supported by high bootstrap values. The genotypes Njockkon and Changalikodan (similarity coefficient > 0.94) and Manjeri Nendran (a) and Manjeri Nendran (b) (similarity coefficient > 0.89) were more closely related than the other ecotypes. The principal component analysis (PCA) showed results similar to those of the dendrogram. The results revealed that ISSR would be a better tool than RAPD for evaluation of genetic diversity in plantain ecotypes. Further, huge variability exists among the plantain ecotypes, which can be utilized for germplasm collection, in situ conservation, and development of high yielding nutritionally superior cultivars in Musa L. breeding programs.
Statistical and Learning Aided Classifier for ECG Based Predictive Diagnostic Tool

Early diagnosis and classification of long term cardiac signals are crucial issues in the treatment of heart related disorders. The available number of medical professional are not sufficient to deal with the increase patients for which design of certain machine based diagnostics tools have been accepted as a viable option. Typical Electrocardiogram (ECG) machine is helpful for monitoring the heart abnormalities only for short interval of time. Therefore, it becomes necessary to design a system which captures relevant features of the ECG signal for use with certain classifiers. In our proposed system, ECG signal elements like Q, R and S peaks are detected and heart rate estimated using Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), Adaptive Linear Discriminant Analysis (ALDA) and Support Vector Machine (SVM). For our work we have been used MIT BIH (Standard Arrhythmia Database).
The College Park, Maryland, Tornado of 24 September 2001

The 24 September 2001 College Park, Maryland, tornado was a long-track and strong tornado that passed within a close range of two Doppler radars. It was the third in a series of three tornadoes associated with a supercell storm that developed in Stafford County, Virginia, and initiated 3–4 km southwest of College Park and dissipated near Columbia, Howard County. The supercell tracked approximately 120 km and lasted for about 126 min. This study presents a synoptic and mesoscale overview of favorable conditions and forcing mechanisms that resulted in the severe convective outbreak associated with the College Park tornado. The results show many critical elements of the tornadic event, including a negative-tilted upper-level trough over the Ohio Valley, a jet stream with moderate vertical shear, a low-level warm, moist tongue of the air associated with strong southerly flow over south-central Maryland and Virginia, and significantly increased convective available potential energy (CAPE) during the late afternoon hours. A possible role of the urban heat island effects from Washington, DC, in increasing CAPE for the development of the supercell is discussed. Satellite imagery reveals the banded convective morphology with high cloud tops associated with the supercell that produced the College Park tornado. Operational WSR-88D data exhibit a high reflectivity “debris ball” or tornadic debris signature (TDS) within the hook echo, the evolution of the parent storm from a supercell structure to a bow echo, and a tornado cyclone signature (TCS). Many of the mesoscale features could be captured by contemporary numerical model analyses. This study concludes with a discussion of the effectiveness of the coordinated use of satellite and radar observations in the operational environment of nowcasting severe convection.
Evaluation of rapid protocols for DNA isolation from Cercospora beticola Sacc.

Summary: The most fungal DNA isolation protocols are designed to obtain high amounts of very pure DNA, requiring large fungal cultures and extraction procedures with many purification steps. Since the PCR does not require high purity DNA, the aim of this investigation was to evaluate three fast and simple fungal DNA isolation protocols for further use in Cercospora PCR based research. The purity and quantity of isolated DNAs were determined spectrophotometrically, electrophoretically and by PCR reaction with universal primers. The amounts of DNA evaluated on agarose gels, isolated by protocols A and C, did not correspond to the spectrophotometrical values, probably due to RNA impurities. In samples isolated by protocol B these impurities were not detected and the DNA concentrations were more similar. Neither protocol eliminated impurities such as carbohydrates and phenol. The average DNA yield of protocol A was 1.04 µg/µl, protocol B 0.88 µg/µl, and protocol C 0.55 µg/µl. The DNA quality most suitable for PCR analysis was obtained by protocol A, where amplification product with universal primers was detected in all DNA samples. The amplification product was detected in 87% of samples isolated by protocol C and in only 60% of samples isolated by protocol B. Although DNA obtained by protocol A had the highest yield and best quality, the isolation protocol C should be also recommended, for it does not require phenol, chlorophorm or liquid nitrogen.Key words: Cercospora, DNA, impurity, isolation, protocol
Synergistic Effects of Flame Retardants on the Flammability and Foamability of PS Foams Prepared by Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Foaming

Halogen-free flame-retardant polystyrene (PS) foams prepared by supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) foaming have been achieved. The flame-retardants include expandable graphite (EG) and melamine phosphate (MP), and their influence on the foamability, decomposition behavior, fire performance, and mechanical properties of PS foams were investigated. It has been shown that flame retardants can generate inert gases and catalyze the char formation from PS, and the formed thick char layer with a notable barrier property can greatly decrease the heat release of PS foams. The addition of triphenyl phosphate (TPP) or hexaphenoxycyclotriphosphazene (HPCTP), which acts as a flame-retardant plasticizer, can obviously improve the foamability and fire performance of the foams. TPP or HPCTP can generate active phosphorous species and phenoxyl radicals to enhance the gas phase flame-retardant effect; therefore, the flame-retarded PS foams (with 25 wt % MP/EG) achieve HF1 and V-0 ratings, with limiting oxygen index (LOI) values of 30.1 or 29.6%, respectively. The numerical assessment of synergistic effects of TPP and HPCTP on further enhancing flame retardancy of PS foams has been provided by the microcalorimeter (MCC) test. Further X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) investigation on char residues of PS foams demonstrates the formation of the P–O–C and other stable structures.
Reliability Improvement of a Double-Sided IGBT Module by Lowering Stress Gradient Using Molybdenum Buffers

A double-sided 1200-V/600-A multichip half-bridge insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) module was fabricated utilizing molybdenum as stress-relief buffer and sintered nanosilver as die-attachment. By using the double-sided packaging, the volume, parasitic inductance, and junction temperature were decreased significantly, and thus the higher power density could be achieved. However, the thermomechanical stress was also increased. In this paper, molybdenum instead of the most common copper was used as a stress-relief buffer between chips and substrate, and thus the thermomechanical stress decreased greatly without significantly increasing the junction temperature. Specifically, by using molybdenum instead of copper as the buffer material, the simulation results showed that the IGBT junction temperature at total power loss of 200 W only increased by 5.2% (2.22 °C), but the corresponding thermomechanical stress decreased by 9.8% (5.58 MPa), and the sintering residual stress decreased by 20.1% (48.88 MPa). Thermal performance, static and dynamic electrical performance, and reliability via power cycling test of the double-sided module were also characterized experimentally. No degradation of the power devices proved that the way to double-sided packaging power devices could be used for future manufacturing of high-power density power module.
THROUGHPUT ANALYSIS OF ENERGY AWARE ROUTING PROTOCO L FOR REAL-TIME LOAD DISTRIBUTION IN WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK (WSN)

Wireless sensor network (WSNs) are self-organized systems that depend on highly distributed and scattered low cost tiny devices. These devices have some limitations such as processing capability, memory size, communication distance coverage and energy capabilities. In order to maximize the autonomy of individual nodes and indirectly the lifetime of the network, most of the research work is done on power saving techniques. Hence, we propose energy-aware load distribution technique that can provide an excellent data transfer of packets from source to destination via hop by hop basis. Therefore, by making use of the cross-layer interactions between the physical layer and the network layer thus leads to an improvement in energy efficiency of the entire network when compared with other protocols and it also improves the response time in case of network change.
Relationships between planktonic diatoms and environmental variability in two high-mountain lakes, during ten consecutive ice-free periods

Relationships between planktonic diatoms and environmental variability in two high-mountain lakes, during ten consecutive ice-free periods the diversity and fluctuations of diatoms and their relationships with environmental variables were studied in Colbricon Superiore and inferiore, two small high-mountain lakes located in the Paneveggio-Pale di S. Martino natural Park (trento, italy). the lakes were monitored and sampled monthly, during ten ice-free periods, from 1998 to 2007, to analyse water chemical and physical characteristics and to study diversity and abundance of diatoms. 78 taxa of Bacillariophyceae were found, among which Cyclotella spp. , Tabellaria flocculosa and Fragilaria spp. predominated. Both chemical data and diatom community composition are consistent with wellbuffered mesotrophic lakes. Diatom dynamics resulted statistically related to water temperature variations.
Global and seasonal variations in three‐dimensional gravity wave momentum flux from satellite limb‐sounding temperatures

Satellite limb‐sounding methods provide the best global temperature data available for simultaneous measurement of gravity wave horizontal and vertical structures needed to estimate momentum flux and constrain wave effects on general circulation. Gravity waves vary in the three spatial dimensions and time, so the ideal measurement observes all three dimensions at high resolution nearly simultaneously. High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS) measurements give near‐simultaneous profiles in close proximity and at high vertical resolution, but these coincident profiles lie only along the plane of the measurement track. Here we combine HIRDLS and radio occultation data sets to obtain three‐dimensional properties of gravity waves on a global scale as well as seasonal variations. The results show dramatic changes from previous estimates using either data set alone. Changes include much larger momentum fluxes and latitudinal variations in propagation direction that support an enhanced role for gravity wave forcing of middle atmosphere circulation.
Multi-class Multi-label Classification and Detection of Lumbar Intervertebral Disc Degeneration MR Images using Decision Tree Classifiers

Evidence-based medicine decision-making based on computer-aided methods is a new direction in modernhealthcare. Data Mining Techniques in Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) are powerful and widely used toolsfor efficient and automated classification, retrieval, and pattern recognition of medical images. They becomehighly desirable for the healthcare providers because of the massive and increasing volume of intervertebral discdegeneration images. A fast and efficient classification and retrieval system using query images with high degreeof accuracy is vital. The method proposed in this paper for automatic detection and classification of lumbarintervertebral disc degeneration MRI-T2 images makes use of texture-based pattern recognition in data mining.A dataset of 181segmented ROIs, corresponding to 89 normal and 92 degenerated (narrowed) discs at differentvertebral level, was analyzed and textural features (contrast, entropy, and energy) were extracted from each disc-ROI. The extracted features were employed in the design of a pattern recognition system using C4.5 decisiontree classifier. The system achieved a classification accuracy of 93.33% in designing a Multi-class Multi-labelclassification system based on the affected disc position. This work combined with its higher accuracy isconsidered a valuable knowledge for orthopedists in their diagnosis of lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration inT2-weighted Magnetic Resonance sagittal Images and for automated annotation, archiving, and retrieval of theseimages for later on usage.Keywords: Data Mining, Image Processing, Lumbar Intervertebral Disc Degeneration, MRI-T2, Decision Trees,Multi-class Multi-label Classification.
CURRICULUM & TEACHING STUDIES | RESEARCH ARTICLE Gender identities and female students' learning experiences in studying English as Second Language at a Pakistani University

1 * Abstract: This paper attempts to examine how female students' roles as learners are influenced by their socially constructed gender identities and gender roles in studying English as Second Language (ESL) at a public sector university of Pakistan. The aim is to understand how female students' gender identities and gender roles affect their learning. With an interpretivist epistemological stance, qualitative approach has been used to collect and analysis data. Twenty-five female students of diverse education and family backgrounds were interviewed and observed several times. The findings suggest female students' gender identities can act to limit their actions and interactions with textbooks, peers and teachers. However, some female students seemed to challenge their socially structured identities. Against certain social norms, they were found to exercise their choice and agency, though such autonomy is limited and conditioned.
Effect of particle size and structure on harmonic intensity of blood-pooling multi-core magnetic nanoparticles for magnetic particle imaging

Magnetic particle imaging has been developed by the optimization of the tracer materials, excitation systems, and system functions for image reconstruction. Here, we prepared and studied magnetic nanoparticles with different core diameters, coated by carboxymethyl-diethylaminoethyl dextran as a blood-pooling agent. For comparison, measurements were also performed using Resovist ® , a widely used tracer agent. Transmission electron microscopy analysis of the prepared samples of nanoparticles revealed monodisperse single-core, chainlike aggregation, and multi-core structures. For optimizing the core size and structure of magnetic nanoparticles for use as imaging tracers, we evaluated the magnetization response to an applied field and harmonic intensity by measuring direct and alternating current hysteresis loops. To evaluate the dependence of the harmonic intensity on the core size and particle structures, large-magnetization particles were assembled using magnetic separation. The harmonic intensity depended not only on the core size but also on the particle structure. Diameters and distributions of single- and multi-core particles are important parameters. Solid and liquid samples of particles were studied for characterization of imaging of solid objects (such as tumors and organs) and liquids (such as blood).
Influence of inoculum, particle size and inoculum-substrate ratio on CH4 production from Ulex sp.

The performance of Anaerobic Digestion (AD) of solids wastes is affected by several factors. Most of them are related to each other. Currently, publish studies about AD only care about the individual influence of these variables, discarding possible interaction. A response surface experimental design was used to determine the most important variables and possible interactions – influence of inoculum type (anaerobic suspended sludge and granular sludge), Ulex sp. particle diameter (dp) and inoculum to substrate ratio (ISR) – on the Biochemical Methane Potential (BMP) and the maximum initial methane production rate (k). BMP and k of Ulex sp. varied between 153-308 L CH4 kg -1 VS and 14-49 L CH4 kg -1 VS d, respectively. Higher ISR and a mixture of granular and suspended sludge had a positive effect on the biodegradability of waste. A dp of 1.85 mm were defined as the optimal condition to simultaneously maximize the BMP and k.
Ensuring Sustainability of Kacip Fatimah (Labisia Pumila) Through Ex-Situ Conservation

A b s t r a c t Labisia pumila or locally known as Kacip Fatimah of the family Myrsinaceae is one of the popular herbal species in Malaysia. The leaves or the whole plant are being traditionally used to treat women internal problem and health. Other medicinal uses of the plant are as a treatment for dysentery, flatulence, dysmenorrhoea and gonorrhoea. The increasing demand of the plants for those usages has lead to the over-exploitation in the wild and might endanger the species if no conservation activities are being carried out. Beside the danger of extinction, the species also experience severe genetic loss and shortage of raw materials. Realizing to this, Plant Improvement Programme of Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) has taken an initiative to ex-situ conserve the species through the establishment of germplasm and development of breeding strategy. The purpose is to avoid extinction of the species and to produce high quality planting materials for commercial production. This paper discusses the collection, selection, propagation and establishment of clonal bank/germplasm of the species. It is anticipated that with the initiative, the sustainability of the species can be ensured to support the industries demand in the future.
A new species of Microthyrium from Yunnan, China

A new species, Microthyrium propagulensis, collected in Yunnan Province, southwestern China is introduced. The species is typical of Microthyriaceae (Microthyriales) in having superficial thyriothecia with a poorly developed basal layer and a prominent darker central ostiole, bitunicate asci and 1-septate ascospores. It is similar to the generic type, M. microscopicum , but differs in having relatively small ascospores, with two apical cilia, which lie downloads from the ascospore apex at a 45° angle. Phylogenetic analysis based on combined LSU and SSU gene sequence data clearly place this species in Microthyrium , but distinguishes it from Microthyrium microscopicum . This second sequence from a Microthyrium species indicates that the putative sequence of the type of this genus is CBS has been correctly named and supports the distinctiveness of Microthyriales and Microthyriaceae.
Nation Branding: An Analysis of Botswana’s National Brand

This paper evaluates Botswanai¯s national branding using the Gilmore (2002) and the Echtner & Ritchie (2003) models. The methodology involved an examination of the extant literature to identifying key factors that influence brand perceptions for a nation and the nature of those factors. The findings showed that the Botswana branding incorporated most of the variables depicted in the Gilmore model. The nature of the variables chosen were also consistent with the Echtner and Ritchie model in the sense that it made use of functional and psychological characteristics and combined them in a holistic manner to come up with the slogan i°our pride, your destinationi±. The paper advises future researcher to empirically test the robustness of the Botswana brand in terms of its effectiveness on the ground.
CVD graphene for electrochemical biosensing : synthesis, characterisation and device fabrication

This work describes the efforts undertaken towards the development of a biosensing device with graphene as a transducing element. A literature review was conducted in order to establish graphene’s role in the biosensing field, with electrochemical impedance measurements having been identified as a viable sensing approach. The graphene samples were synthesised by thermal chemical vapour deposition (TCVD) on Cu substrates and characterised using Raman spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), optical microscopy, Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) and Differential Pulse Voltammetry (DPV). Also, the transfer of the as-grown samples onto Si/SiO2 substrates was optimised. A functionalisation stage followed, with both covalent and non-covalent approaches having been explored. The latter, based on the attachment of the biorecognition elements (biotin and anti-human Chorionic Gonadotropin, hCG) to the amine groups of pyrene butyric hydrazide (PBH) immobilized on graphene’s surface, was studied using Raman spectroscopy, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and EIS. Lastly, sensing tests were conducted by evaluating the changes in EIS spectra in response to different concentrations of the analyte (either avidin or hCG). The as-grown samples were identified as being single-layer graphene with fewlayer islands and showed reduced electrochemical activity. Concerning the functionalisation strategies, the covalent one was unsuccessful, while the noncovalent one was achieved. However, the efforts towards the optimisation of this process were not enough to reach a clear conclusion regarding the optimal concentration of PBH. The biofunctionalised samples did not show a clear response to the different analyte concentrations.
Named Entity Recognition: Resource Constrained Maximum Path

Information Extraction (IE) is a process focused on automatic extraction of structured information from unstructured text sources. One open research field of IE relates to Named Entity Recognition (NER), aimed at identifying and associating atomic elements in a given text to a predefined category such as names of persons, organizations, locations and so on. This problem can be formalized as the assignment of a finite sequence of semantic labels to a set of interdependent variables associated with text fragments, and can modelled through a stochastic process involving both hidden variables (semantic labels) and observed variables (textual cues). In this work we investigate one of the most promising model for NER based on Conditional Random Fields (CRFs). CRFs are enhanced in a two stages approach to include in the decision process logic rules that can be either extracted from data or defined by domain experts. The problem is defined as a Resource Constrained Maximum Path Problem (RCMPP) associating a resource with each logic rule. Proper resource Extension Functions (REFs) and upper bound on the resource consumptions are defined in order to model the logic rules as knapsack-like constraints. A well-tailored dynamic programming procedure is defined to address the RCMPP.