Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Studies on the cytotoxicity of filtrates obtained from sewage sludge from the municipal wastewater treatment plant

Possible reuse of the municipal sewage sludge (SS) in the agricultural area is connected with the necessity of monitoring this type of material in order to avoid an environmental risk. SS consists of a mixture of potentially toxic compounds, which may influence metabolism of human and other living organisms. For the estimation of the risk that SS may cause in an exposed organism, a variety of strategies are being implemented. They are based mainly on chemical analyzes, which cannot predict their toxicological impact, therefore, biological assays are crucial in such studies. The aim of this study was to present the influence of three types of SS filtrates: SS1 – sludge from primary clarifier, SS2 – sludge from aeration tank and SS3 – sludge from thickened sludge tank after flocculant addition. SS cytotoxicity was studied using Enterobacter aerogenes and Proteus mirabilis as experimental models. The human cell culture model used in the study was represented by melanoma cells and fibroblasts. Statistically significant effect on bacterial cells exhibited SS2 and on cancerous cells – SS1. Taking into account above mentioned results, we conclude that the reuse of SS should be conducted cautiously and it is important for the SS to undergo a specific remediation process before introducing them into the environment.
Flight Capacity of Copidosoma floridanum (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) in Vegetable Greenhouses

SUMMARY The dispersion of the egg-larval parasitoid Copidosoma floridanum (Ashmead) (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) was studied under vegetable greenhouse conditions in southwestern Ontario where Trichoplusia ni is a major problem. The parasitoid dispersed up to 146 m, the limit of the greenhouse size, and probably it is able to disperse more than 146 m from the point of release.
Insect Resistance in Transgenic Chrysanthemum [Dendranthema ×grandiflorum (Ramat.) Kitamura] by the Introduction of a Modified δ-endotoxin Gene of Bacillus thuringiensis

We introduced a modified delta-endotoxin gene, modified cry1Ab (mcbt) of Bacillus thuringiensis, which displays a specific biological activity against lepidopteran insects into chrysanthemum [Dendranthema × grandiflorum (Ramat.) Kitamura]. The chrysanthemum cultivar ‘Shuho-no-chikara’ was transformed using a disarmed strain of Agrobacterium tumefaciens, EHA101, carrying a binary vector, pIG121mcbt that harboured a mcbt gene encoding an insecticidal crystal protein (ICP) fragment of B. thuringiensis var. kurstaki HD-1. Leaf discs were co-cultured with Agrobacterium and thereafter cultured on the callus induction medium containing G418. A total of 317 shoots were regenerated from 3,618 leaf discs on the regeneration medium (8.8 %). The mcbt gene was detected in all the regenerated plantlets by Southern blot analysis. The accumulation of Cry1Ab ICP in 20 transformed lines, selected at random, was confirmed by Western blot analysis. The level of accumulation of Cry1Ab ICP ranged from 10.5 ng to 80 ng per 50 μg total soluble protein (from 0.021 to 0.16 % of the total protein). Insect bioassay was conducted using tobacco budworm (Helicoverpa armigera) larvae and all the larvae of H. armigera tested died during the first instar on the leaves of the mcbt-transformed lines whose expression level of Cry1Ab ICP exceeded 47.6 ng per 50 μg compared to the wild type cry1Ab-transformed lines. Significantly higher feeding inhibition and/or growth inhibition of the insects was observed, compared to those on the non-transformed control plants.
Testing the GlórCáil System in a Speaker and Affect Voice Transformation Task

This paper describes the results of a voice transformation task experiment conducted as part of the evaluation of a speech synthesis system (the GlórCáil system, also described). The participants were required to manipulate the system’s control parameters reflecting changes in voice quality, f 0 and vocal tract length of the speaker (VT) in synthetic utterances. A synthetic baseline utterance was manipulated to make it sound like a target speaker ( man, woman, child ) with affective colouring ( sad, angry, no emotion ). The control parameters of the system proved useful in modulating speaker characteristics and para-linguistic prosody. The manipulations performed by the participants were mainly in the expected direction. f 0 and VT were found to be significant predictors of speaker gender/age, but not of affect. The voice quality related parameter R d was a significant predictor of affect, but not of speaker identity. Significant interactions of predictors were found for f 0 and VT. The control parameter values obtained in this experiment will be used to generate stimuli to test the proposed system when it is integrated into a DNN-based speech synthesis system as part of the ongoing work of the ABAIR project.
Automated Quality Assurance of OAR Contouring for Lung Cancer Based on Segmentation With Deep Active Learning

Purpose: Ensuring high-quality data for clinical trials in radiotherapy requires the generation of contours that comply with protocol definitions. The current workflow includes a manual review of the submitted contours, which is time-consuming and subjective. In this study, we developed an automated quality assurance (QA) system for lung cancer based on a segmentation model trained with deep active learning. Methods: The data included a gold atlas with 36 cases and 110 cases from the “NRG Oncology/RTOG 1308 Trial”. The first 70 cases enrolled to the RTOG 1308 formed the candidate set, and the remaining 40 cases were randomly assigned to validation and test sets (each with 20 cases). The organs-at-risk included the heart, esophagus, spinal cord, and lungs. A preliminary convolutional neural network segmentation model was trained with the gold standard atlas. To address the deficiency of the limited training data, we selected quality images from the candidate set to be added to the training set for fine-tuning of the model with deep active learning. The trained robust segmentation models were used for QA purposes. The segmentation evaluation metrics derived from the validation set, including the Dice and Hausdorff distance, were used to develop the criteria for QA decision making. The performance of the strategy was assessed using the test set. Results: The QA method achieved promising contouring error detection, with the following metrics for the heart, esophagus, spinal cord, left lung, and right lung: balanced accuracy, 0.96, 0.95, 0.96, 0.97, and 0.97, respectively; sensitivity, 0.95, 0.98, 0.96, 1.0, and 1.0, respectively; specificity, 0.98, 0.92, 0.97, 0.94, and 0.94, respectively; and area under the receiving operator characteristic curve, 0.96, 0.95, 0.96, 0.97, and 0.94, respectively. Conclusions: The proposed system automatically detected contour errors for QA. It could provide consistent and objective evaluations with much reduced investigator intervention in multicenter clinical trials.
Prescription Stimulant Diversion on a College Campus: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and Environmental Correlates

Prescription stimulant diversion is a behavior that increases the availability and accessibility of prescription stimulants for purposes such as misuse. As such, we aimed to develop a theory-guided understanding of diversion correlates. Data are from a probability sample of 499 undergraduate college students attending one California university. Participants completed a 100-item survey related to prescription stimulant misuse and diversion. We first calculated prevalence of diversion and associations with demographic variables. Next, to examine intrapersonal, interpersonal, and environmental correlates of diversion, we estimated three separate nested logistic regression models. Prescription stimulant diversion during college was reported by approximately 10% of the sample. In the nested logistic analyses, diversion was found to be associated with intrapersonal, interpersonal, and environmental variables. These findings highlight the importance of examining a comprehensive set of correlates to identify subgroups of students at risk for engaging in sharing and/or selling of prescription stimulants.
Capturing Research Value in Commercial Design Outputs

Effective university-industry collaboration has become a major focus for governments in recent years. Universities are increasingly expected to play a greater role in the innovation system and evidence their contribution to economic development. At the same time, the growth in research quality assessment exercises makes it imperative that all opportunities to discover excellent research with the university context are uncovered. This research was conducted at a commercial design consultancy based within an academic institution, PDR (International Centre of Design and Research). The interaction between applied research and commercial consultancy within PDR led to a recognition of research potentially existing within commercially designed output. The Research questions posed within this PhD thesis are: Research Question 1: How best to recognize where commercial outputs can be characterized as research? Research Question 2: Where a research characterization is met, how best to recognize and describe the research quality? The aim of this research is to identify whether research value exists within commercial design outputs produced in an academic context and how the quality of this research could be assessed. This thesis adopts grounded action research inquiry using semi-structured interviews to explore the barriers to, and drivers of, reconciling commercial design activities with research quality in design. The thesis uncovers opportunities to capture value beyond the commercial impact, which university-industry collaboration projects are initiated for. The research led to the identification of a knowledge creation spiral resulting from the knowledge and technology transfer activities taking place within the commercial design projects in a university- industry context. In some instances, this new knowledge can be of excellent research quality if it meets the necessary research criteria. A discovered barrier to the identification of research quality within in commercial outputs was the lack of granular data on the projects thus demonstrating appropriate rigour. It was concluded that there is a need to build a documentation framework to capture the needed information and assess the research potential of commercial design projects from the outset, in order to capture the exchanged and created knowledge. A prototype of a documentation process was developed and tested with two of PDR’s lead designers. The documentation process barriers are limited to technical issues, and its implementation could assist in learning and development, as well as generating new knowledge of research quality.
Towards a Saturated Molecular Genetic Linkage Map for Cultivated Sunflower

The density and utility of the molecular genetic linkage map of cultivated sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) has been greatly increased by the development and mapping of several hundred simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Of 1089 public SSR markers described thus far, 408 have been mapped in a recombinant inbred line (RIL) mapping population (RHA280 × RHA801). The goal of the present research was to increase the density of the sunflower map by constructing a new RIL map (PHA X PHB) based on SSRs, adding loci for newly developed SSR markers to the RHA280 × RHA801 RIL map, and integrating the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and SSR maps of sunflower. The latter was accomplished by adding 120 SSR marker loci to a backbone of 80 RFLP marker loci on the HA370 x HA372 F 2 map. The map spanned 1275.4 centimorgans (cM) and had a mean density of 6.3 cM per locus. The PHA x PHB SSR map was constructed from 264 SSR marker loci, spanned 1199.4 cM, and had a mean density of 4.5 cM per locus. The RHA280 × RHA801 map was constructed by adding 118 new SSR and insertion-deletion (INDEL) marker loci to 459 previously mapped SSR marker loci. The 577-locus map spanned 1423.0 cM and had a mean density of 2.5 cM per locus. The three maps were constructed from 1044 DNA marker loci (701 unique SSR and 89 unique RFLP or INDEL marker loci) and supply a dense genome-wide framework of sequence-based DNA markers for molecular breeding and genomics research in sunflower.
Effects of Selective Logging on Forest Bird Populations in a Fragmented Landscape

We evaluated the effects of perforation, or the creation of small gaps, within a mature, deciduous forest in southern Illinois (U.S.A.) on abundances of breeding birds. Openings of 0.02–0.4 ha were created by group and single‐tree selection logging within a 2000‐ha tract of forest. We used point counts to compare abundances of birds in uncut forest with those in similar adjacent forest compartments that were recently cut (1–5 years previously) and less recently cut (10–15 years earlier). Most species of forest birds were not significantly less common in logged tracts. Only Red‐eyed Vireos ( Vireo olivaceus) and Ovenbirds ( Seiurus aurocapillus) were significantly more numerous in uncut forest, but the vireo responded negatively to cuts at sites on ridges only, not in ravines, whereas Ovenbird populations differed substantially among years. Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata), important nest predators, were significantly more abundant in cut than uncut forest, but brood parasitic Brown‐headed Cowbirds ( Molothrus ater) showed no consistent differences. Populations of gap‐dependent species such as Hooded Warbler ( Wilsonia citrina), Indigo Bunting ( Passerina cyanea), White‐eyed Vireo ( Vireo griseus), and Carolina Wren ( Thryothorus ludovicianus) were dramatically larger in recently cut forest, with populations of most species reaching a peak 2–3 years after cutting. Between 5 and 10 years after cutting, nearly all gap‐dependent species had returned to population levels comparable to those in uncut forest. Species dependent upon larger gaps, such as Yellow‐breasted Chat ( Icteria virens), Blue‐winged Warbler ( Vermivora pinus), and Prairie Warbler ( Dendroica discolor), were absent. We conclude that the first cutting cycle in selective logging had only a minor effect on the forest bird community composition and created a short‐lived availability of habitat for gap species. In the southern Illinois landscape, selective logging appeared to add little to the existing effects of forest fragmentation. Effects of perforation may differ in more continuously forested landscapes, however, and may be influenced by total basal area of timber removed and by the length of the inter‐cut interval.
Surface Wave Diffraction Pattern Recorded on AlpArray: Cameroon Volcanic Line Case Study

Stripe‐like patterns of surface wave arrival angle deviations have been observed by several seismological studies around the world, but this phenomenon has not been explained so far. Here we test the hypothesis that systematic arrival angle deviations observed at the AlpArray broadband seismic network in Europe are interference patterns caused by diffraction of surface waves at single small‐scaled velocity anomalies. We use the observed pattern of Rayleigh waves from two earthquakes under the Southern Atlantic Ocean, and we fit this pattern with theoretical arrival angles derived by a simple modeling approach describing the interaction of a seismic wavefield with small anomalies. A grid search inversion scheme is implemented, which indicates that the anomaly is located in Central Africa, with its head under Cameroon. Moreover, the inversion enables the characterization of the anomaly: The anomaly is inferred to be between 320 and 420 km wide, matching in length the 2,500 km long upper mantle low‐velocity region under the volcano‐capped swells of the Cameroon volcanic line. We show that this approach can be generally used for studying the upper mantle anomalies worldwide.
Monitoring of Outbreaks of Bacterial Cold Water Disease among Ayu in a River Where Asymptomatic Carriers of Flavobacterium psychrophilum Were Released

Occurrences of bacterial cold-water disease (BCWD) caused by Flavobacterium psychrophilum were monitored among released and wild ayu Plecoglossus altivelis in Hirose River in 2006 and 2007 in order to clarify the infection source. When hatchery-reared juvenile ayu were examined immediately prior to release, F. psychrophilum was not isolated. However, when fish from the same lots were reared until maturation, the bacterium was isolated from ripe fish, indicating that the released juvenile ayu were carriers. In epizootiological investigations in Hirose River, outbreaks of BCWD occurred from June to August in both years, but the source of BCWD seemed to differ: released ayu in 2006 and wild ayu in 2007. Additionally, the disease occurred in released ayu by the pathogen carried by themselves in 2007. The disease subsided in August when water temperature exceeded 20°C. Thereafter, the prevalence of F. psychrophilum in ripe fish in the river increased to above 90% between October and November in both years.
Stridulobates anderseni, a new genus and species of ptilomerine Gerridae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) with 'stridulatory devices' from South India

Stridulobates anderseni gen. n. & sp. n. from South India (Karnataka, Kerala) is described. It is the first species of the subfamily Ptilomerinae known to bear possible stridulatory devices. These structures, which only occur in the male, are situated on the mesotrochanter ('plectrum') and abdominal stemites 2-6 ('strigil'). Stridulobates nostras (Thirumalai, 1986) is a new combination for Pleciobates nostras. Possible relationships of Stridulobates with other genera of Ptilomerinae and the possible use of stridulation in Stridulobates are discussed.
Secondary school students and self-efficacy in mathematics: Gender and age differences

ABSTRACT Gender differences in academic performance has received considerable attention over the years. Studies have found that even when there are no gender differences in math performance, female students exhibit larger levels of apprehension toward the subject and that this gap between the genders increases with time. This study investigates gender differences in the sources of information that lead to perceived self-efficacy in math and whether the information changes with age. Using items developed by Ellen Usher and Frank Pajares, 347 surveys were collected from six private schools in Lebanon. Confirmatory factor analysis is used to establish the validity of the measurement tool in a non-Western country. A structural component is then introduced into the model to account for age. Results indicate that older girls are more likely to receive negative information from the four sources, thus leading them to develop lower levels of perceived self-efficacy in math. These findings indicate that different socialization processes are at work, thereby providing support for social roles theories.
Molecular Mechanisms of Adiponectin-Induced Attenuation of Mechanical Stretch-Mediated Vascular Remodeling

Hypertension induces vascular hypertrophy, which changes blood vessels structurally and functionally, leading to reduced tissue perfusion and further hypertension. It is also associated with dysregulated levels of the circulating adipokines leptin and adiponectin (APN). Leptin is an obesity-associated hormone that promotes vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) hypertrophy. APN is a cardioprotective hormone that has been shown to attenuate hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. In this study, we investigated the molecular mechanisms of hypertension-induced VSMC remodeling and the involvement of leptin and APN in this process. To mimic hypertension, the rat portal vein (RPV) was mechanically stretched, and the protective effects of APN on mechanical stretch-induced vascular remodeling and the molecular mechanisms involved were examined by using 10 μg/ml APN. Mechanically stretching the RPV significantly decreased APN protein expression after 24 hours and APN mRNA expression in a time-dependent manner in VSMCs. The mRNA expression of the APN receptors AdipoR1, AdipoR2, and T-cadherin significantly increased after 15 hours of stretch. The ratio of APN/leptin expression in VSMCs significantly decreased after 24 hours of mechanical stretch. Stretching the RPV for 3 days increased the weight and [3H]-leucine incorporation significantly, whereas APN significantly reduced hypertrophy in mechanically stretched vessels. Stretching the RPV for 10 minutes significantly decreased phosphorylation of LKB1, AMPK, and eNOS, while APN significantly increased p-LKB1, p-AMPK, and p-eNOS in stretched vessels. Mechanical stretch significantly increased p-ERK1/2 after 10 minutes, whereas APN significantly reduced stretch-induced ERK1/2 phosphorylation. Stretching the RPV also significantly increased ROS generation after 1 hour, whereas APN significantly decreased mechanical stretch-induced ROS production. Exogenous leptin (3.1 nM) markedly increased GATA-4 nuclear translocation in VSMCs, whereas APN significantly attenuated leptin-induced GATA-4 nuclear translocation. Our results decipher molecular mechanisms of APN-induced attenuation of mechanical stretch-mediated vascular hypertrophy, with the promising potential of ultimately translating this protective hormone into the clinic.
Client views of counselor directives （指导）: A qualitative study in china

ABSTRACT In order to understand client views of counselor’ use of directives, we conducted in-depth interviews with nine clients immediately after they completed a session at a university counseling center in China. The results, derived by using Consensus Qualitative Research (CQR), revealed that participants generally expected counselors to give directives, reported having received them, and felt good after receiving them. In addition, clients perceived some non-directive counselor interventions as being directives. Clients felt discontented when they did not receive as many directives as they wanted and when they received directives that did not fit their needs. Clients indicated that they would implement only those directives that they anticipated would have a clear benefit and would not implement those that seemed difficult to do. The results shed light on outcomes related to directives, conditions needed for directives to be implemented, mechanisms by which directives lead to positive change, and client feelings after receiving counselor directives, all within the context of the Chinese culture. One implication of the results is that training programs need to focus on training how to use directives when working with Chinese clients.