Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antagonistic activity of Bacillus subtilis strains isolated from various sources

An important link in solving the problem of healthy food is the intensification of the livestock, poultry and fish farming, which is possible only in the adoption and rigorous implementation of the concept of rational feeding of animals. In the implementation of this concept required is the application of probiotic preparations. Currently, there is an increased interest in spore probiotics. In many ways, this can be explained by the fact that they use no vegetative forms of the bacilli and their spores. This property provides spore probiotics a number of advantages: they are not whimsical, easily could be selected, cultivated, and dried. Moreover, they are resistant to various factors and could remain viable during a long period. One of the most famous spore microorganisms, which are widely used in agriculture, is Bacillus subtilis . Among the requirements imposed to probiotic microorganisms is mandatory – antagonistic activity to pathogenic and conditional-pathogenic microflora. The article presents the results of the analysis of antagonistic activity of collection strains of B. subtilis , and strains isolated from commercial preparations. We studied the antagonistic activity on agar and liquid nutrient medias to trigger different antagonism mechanisms of B. subtilis . On agar media, we applied three diffusion methods: perpendicular bands, agar blocks, agar wells. We also applied the method of co-incubating the test culture ( Escherichia coli ) and the antagonist (or its supernatant) in the nutrient broth. Our results demonstrated that all our explored strains of B. subtilis have antimicrobial activity against a wild strain of E. coli , but to varying degrees. We identified strains of B. subtilis with the highest antagonistic effect that can be recommended for inclusion in microbial preparations for agriculture.
Micropropagation of Aegle marmelos L. A Medicinal Tree through Culture of Axillary bud and Shoot tip Explants from In vitro Germinated Seedlings

Aegle marmelos L. is an important medicinal tree and it is commonly known as bael tree. In the present study, an efficient and improved plant regeneration protocol was developed for A. marmelos. Axillary bud and shoot tips from the in vitro germinated seedlings of A. marmelos were used as explants. Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium used as basal medium and MS medium devoid of any growth regulators was used for the in vitro germination of seeds. MS medium supplemented with different concentration and combinations of growth regulators such as 6-benzyl aminopurine (BAP), indole-3butyric acid (IBA) and α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) were employed. The medium fortified with 11. 11μM/L of BAP and 1. 07μM/L of NAA was found to be effective one for the initiation and multiplication of shoots with highest mean number of shoots (24.20 ± 3.85) and maximum mean length of the shoots (6.02 ± 0.64). Half strength MS basal medium supplemented with 14.76 μM/L of IBA was found to be effective one for rapid and maximum root induction per micro shoot. The well rooted in vitro raised plants were successfully hardened house with survival rate of 80%. This effective and improved protocol may be useful for the large scale production of this plant.
Dynamic Decision-Making Process in the Opportunistic Spectrum Access

We investigate in this paper many problems related to the decision-making process in the Cognitive Radio (CR), where a Secondary User (SU) tries to maximize its opportunities by finding the most vacant channel. Recently, Multi-Armed Bandit (MAB) problems attracted the attention to help a single SU, in the context of CR, makes an optimal decision using the well-known MAB algorithms, such as: Thompson Sampling, Upper Confidence Bound, e-greedy, etc. However, the big challenge for multiple SUs remains to learn collectively or separately the vacancy of channels and decrease the number of collisions among users. To solve the latter issue for multiple users, the All-Powerful Learning (APL) policy is proposed; this new policy considers the priority access and the dynamic multi-user access, where the number of SUs may change over time. Based on our APL policy, we consider as well as the Quality of Service (QoS), where SUs should estimate and then access best channels in terms of both quality and availability. The experimental results show the superiority of APL compared to existing algorithms, and it has also been shown that the SUs are able to learn channels qualities and availabilities and further enhance the QoS. © 2020 ASTES Publishers. All rights reserved.
A Secure Clustering Protocol With Fuzzy Trust Evaluation and Outlier Detection for Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks

Security is one of the major concerns in industrial wireless sensor networks (IWSNs). To assure the security in clustered IWSNs, this article presents a secure clustering protocol with fuzzy trust evaluation and outlier detection. First, to deal with the transmission uncertainty in an open wireless medium, an interval type-2 fuzzy logic controller is adopted to estimate the trusts. And then, a density-based outlier detection mechanism is introduced to acquire an adaptive trust threshold used to isolate the malicious nodes from being cluster heads. Finally, a fuzzy-based cluster heads election method is proposed to achieve a balance between energy saving and security assurance, so that a normal sensor node with more residual energy or less confidence on other nodes has higher probability to be the cluster head. Extensive experiments verify that our secure clustering protocol can effectively defend the network against attacks from internal malicious or compromised nodes.
Admissibility of Uncertain Injections in Quadratic Algebraic Systems

We study the admissibility problem in multivariate algebraic systems, such as ac electrical networks, where the power injection is quadratic in the state. The goal of such systems is to ensure that the state stays in some security set (e.g., magnitudes of nodal voltages and branch currents are within safety bounds). A common practice is to implicitly control the state by controlling the injection; a difficulty is that the number of states that correspond to a given injection can be zero or many. Further, the injection is subject to some uncertainty. The admissibility problem is whether it is possible to ensure that the state stays in the security set, given that the only available information is some uncertainty set that constrains the injection. We extend the recently proposed V-control theory, design a solution framework to test if a given uncertainty set is admissible, and develop a concrete method for ac electrical networks.
Debugging Bad Performance in Huge Infrastructure: Using ML and AI (White Paper)

Distributed systems present unique opportunities for massive computations and large data sets to be processed. However, the current state of the art uses these large infrastructures are often not optimally being used and there is little understanding to diagnose bad performances in very-large distributed jobs. In this paper, we argue that using AI and ML techniques, we can build “normal” profiles for these large infrastructures, that can help debug and improve the performance of the systems when they execute the distributed jobs
Sheet-Metal Production Scheduling Using AlphaGo Zero

This work investigates the applicability of a reinforcement learning (RL) approach, specifically AlphaGo Zero (AZ), for optimizing sheet-metal (SM) production schedules with respect to tardiness and material waste. SM production scheduling is a complex job shop scheduling problem (JSSP) with dynamic operation times, routing flexibility and supplementary constraints. SM production systems are capable of processing a large number of highly heterogeneous jobs simultaneously. While very large relative to the JSSP literature, the SM-JSSP instances investigated in this work are small relative to the SM production reality. Given the high dimensionality of the SM-JSSP, computation of an optimal schedule is not tractable. Simple heuristic solutions often deliver bad results. We use AZ to selectively search the solution space. To this end, a single player AZ version is pretrained using supervised learning on schedules generated by a heuristic, fine-tuned using RL and evaluated through comparison with a heuristic baseline and Monte Carlo Tree Search. It will be shown that AZ outperforms the other approaches. The work’s scientific contribution is twofold: On the one hand, a novel scheduling problem is formalized such that it can be tackled using RL approaches. On the other hand, it is proved that AZ can be successfully modified to provide a solution for the problem at hand, whereby a new line of research into real-world applications of AZ is opened.
PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A NEURAL NETWORK MODEL AND TWO EMPIRICAL MODELS FOR ESTIMATING SOIL MOISTURE BASED ON SENTINEL-1 SAR DATA

The objective of this paper is to propose an inversion model of soil moisture using a neural network and compare the performance of this method with two empirical models in soil moisture inversion. A wide dataset of backscattering coefficients extracted from Sentinel-1 images and in-situ soil surface parameter measurements (moisture content and roughness) are used. Since the available backscattering models have limited performances of describing the nonlinear relationship between soil parameters and backscatter coefficient, the retrieval of soil parameters from radar backscattering coefficient remains challenging. The proposed inversion method of a neural network is used for establishing this relationship. At the same time, two empirical models are employed to estimate the soil moisture for comparison. The results show that for most of the six measuring stations the inverted soil moisture with the neural network model has higher correlation coefficient with the in-situs oil moisture than those by the empirical models. Moreover, the neural network model inversion results under multipolarization input conditions are discussed in this paper. The results of stations 2, 4, and 5 show that R2 of multi-polarization inputs are increased by 0.1928, 0.4821, and 0.2758, respectively, compared with those of single-polarization inputs.
Improved pretensioning procedures for anchor bolt connections in sign, luminaire, and traffic signal structures

MnDOT, along with numerous other state departments of transportation (DOTs), are finding that anchor bolt nuts are coming loose at a concerning rate for overhead signs, luminaire, and traffic signal (SLTS) structures. Anchor bolts are critical to the structural stability of a structure, since, for MnDOT, they are the only connection to the foundation. Re-tightening loose nuts imposes a significant drain on state DOT resources. More importantly, the loosening of these nuts increases fatigue stresses on the anchor bolts, possibly increasing the risk of failure. Loose anchor bolt nuts were recorded on both old and new structures, some immediately after installation. In addition, even after retightening by MnDOT maintenance personnel, anchor bolt nuts were found to come loose within two years. The pre-tension force developed in anchor bolts during nut tightening is critical to keeping them sufficiently fastened to the structure and foundation. Anchor bolts loosening after installation and maintenance suggested a deficiency in MnDOT’s previous anchor bolt pre-tensioning procedures. To alleviate the anchor bolt pre-tensioning limitations, new specifications were developed in a previous study titled Re-Tightening the Large Anchor Bolts of Support Structures for Signs and Luminaires. The new specifications were developed through laboratory testing, field monitoring, surveys of current practices, and finite element modeling. This project focuses on the implementation and improvement of the previously proposed specifications. For a specification to be effective, constructability is critical; if the procedures cannot feasibly be performed in the field, they will likely not be utilized to the fullest extent. Previously proposed specifications were attempted on a variety of MnDOT SLTS structures. Both new installation and maintenance practices were investigated. Monitoring on a previously
Regeneration and Genetic Transformation Systems of Durum Wheat, Triticum durum

Wheat is a major cereal crop for humans but quite recalcitrant in transformation. Establishment of regeneration system in wheat using immature embryos is not easy and time/cost-consuming. Herein, we developed a regeneration and transformation system using mature seeds in four pasta wheat cultivars. The MS medium with 2.0 mg/l 2,4-D and 2 mg/l BA was the optimum medium for developing shoots from calli. Wheat cultivars showed different regeneration frequencies response due to their genetic makeup. The cultivar Sohag-3 produced the highest regeneration frequency (93.2%) among the tested cultivars. Developed cultivars Sohag-3 and ACSAD1105 mature embryos were co-cultivated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain GV3101 with the binary vector pISV2678 harboring the bar gene and Î²-glucuronidase (gus) gene. The transformation efficiencies were 12.3 and 9.1% for cultivars Sohag-3 and ACSAD1105, respectively. The polymerase chain reaction (with specific primers for the transgenes) and the dot blot hybridization were used to confirm the integration of the transgene in transformed plants. The transformation percentages were reduced according to their expression and reached 5.6 and 4.6% for cultivars Sohag-3 and ACSAD1105, respectively. RT-PCR and northern blot analysis confirmed the expression of the gus gene only in the transgenic plants. The procedures developed in this study demonstrate the ability to produce transgenic wheat plants expressing the gus gene; hence, this protocol could be used to regenerate transgenic wheat plants expressing desirable and selective genes.
Mammalian PITPs at the Golgi and ER-Golgi Membrane Contact Sites

Phosphatidylinositol (PI)-transfer proteins (PITPs) have been long recognized as proteins that modulate phosphoinositide levels in membranes through their intrinsic PI/PC-exchange activity. Recent studies from flies and mammals suggest that certain PITPs bind phosphatidic acid (PA) and possess PI/PA-exchange activity. Phosphoinositides and PA play critical roles in cell signaling and membrane trafficking, and numerous biochemical, genetic and functional studies have shown that PITPs regulate cellular lipid metabolism, various signaling pathways and intracellular membrane transport events. In this mini-review, we discuss the function of mammalian PITPs at the Golgi and ER-Golgi membrane contact sites (MCS) and highlight DAG (Diacylglycerol) as a central hub of PITPs functions. We describe PITPs-associated phospho-signaling network at the ER-Golgi interface, and share our perspective on future studies related to PITPs at MCSs.
Minimum Error Pursuit Algorithm for Symbol Detection in MBM Massive-MIMO

Media-based modulation (MBM) with massive multiple-input multiple-output (mMIMO) wireless systems is a viable solution to realize the ever-increasing demand for high-speed data and extensive connectivity in beyond 5G and 6G wireless communications. MBM-mMIMO utilizes less transmit power and radio resources measured against mMIMO to yield high spectral efficiency and high data rate. However, symbol detection in the uplink of MBM-mMIMO is challenging due to the sparse nature of the received signal, and the cumulative effect of inter-user interference and noise. In this letter, support recovery error constraint-based low complexity sequential symbol detection technique is proposed for uplink MBM-mMIMO system. The proposed MBM-mMIMO detection technique exploits the upper bound on support recovery error and iteratively minimizes the residual error associated with the estimated transmit vector. A reduced message space is also introduced to further enrich the exploration capability of the proposed technique. Simulation results reveal the viability of proposed techniques over several state-of-the-art MBM-mMIMO detection techniques as BER performance and computational complexity are concerned.
A Gate-Grounded NMOS-Based Dual-Directional ESD Protection With High Holding Voltage for 12V Application

Dual-direction electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection devices can discharge both positive and negative ESD surges, owing to their excellent area efficiency. This study proposes a novel dual-direction MOSFET ESD protection device with a high holding voltage. Most existing dual-direction ESD protection devices are based on silicon-controlled rectifiers (SCR). Among them, the low triggering dual-directional SCR (LTDDSCR) has good trigger characteristics, but with low holding voltage. In contrast, the proposed high-holding-voltage dual-direction NMOS (HHDDNMOS) operates using two NPN parasitic bipolar transistors connected to the ESD discharge path and has a very high holding voltage and excellent snapback characteristics. The electrical and dual-directional characteristics of HHDDNMOS were analyzed using the transmission-line -pulsing system, and the latch-up immunity was verified by conducting transient-induced latch-up tests using the 0.18- $\mu \text{m}$ BCD process.
Development of a Transgenic Flammulina velutipes Oral Vaccine for Hepatitis B

SUMMARY Orally administered fungal vaccines show promise for the prevention of infectious diseases. Edible mushrooms are deemed appropriate hosts to produce oral vaccines due to their low production cost and low risk of gene contamination. However, their low expression level of antigens has limited the potential development of oral vaccines using mushrooms. The low expression level might result from impurity of the transgenic mycelia since dikaryotic mycelia are commonly used as transformation materials. In this study, stable transgenic hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) in Flammulina velutipes transformants was obtained by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, followed by fruiting and basidiospore mating. The formation of HBsAg was detected by western blot analysis. The expression levels of HBsAg in transgenic F. velutipes fruiting bodies were (129.3±15.1), (110.9±1.7) and (161.1±8.5) ng/g total soluble protein. However, the values may be underestimated due to incomplete protein extraction. Two of the four pigs in the experimental group produced positive anti-HBsAg-specific IgG after being fed the HBsAg transgenic F. velutipes fruiting bodies for 20 weeks, while no anti-HBsAg antibody was detected in the control group. One of the positive pigs had HBsAg titres of 5.36 and 14.9 mIU/mL in weeks 10 and 14, respectively, but expression faded thereafter. The other positive pig displayed HBsAg titres of 9.75, 17.86 and 39.87 mIU/mL in weeks 14, 18 and 20, respectively. The successful immunogenicity in pigs fed transgenic F. velutipes fruiting bodies demonstrated the potential of using the fungus as an oral vaccine.
Risk Managers in Banks

How do banks remunerate risk managers and what are the implications for risk-taking? Studying 127 German banks during the years 2003 to 2007, we show that risk managers' remuneration is positively aligned with performance-linked pay in front offices (FOs). When bonuses in FOs increase by one Euro, the bonus of a risk manager increases by 13.6 to 33.5 Cents, depending on the risk manager's seniority. Risk-sharing among employees or labor market competition do not explain this finding. Banks with more aligned incentive pay between risk management and FOs during the years before the crisis of 2008-2009 performed better in the crisis.
Influence of Pine Bark Tannin on Bacterial Pathogens Growth and Nitrogen Compounds on Changes in Composted Poultry Litter

19/July/2019 Approved: 04/February/2020 ABSTRACT To study the antimicrobial and uric acid-preserving activity of pine bark tannin on poultry litter composting, antibiotic-free wood chip-based poultry litter was distributed (11 g) to 50-mL conical centrifuge tubes and immediately amended with 1.3 mL0.4 M sodium phosphate buffer (control) or with 1.3 mL condensed tannins from pine bark ( Pinus palustris ; 9 % tannin wt/vol in water). All tubes ( n = 3 tubes/treatment) were inoculated with a novobiocin and naladixic acid-resistant Salmonella typhimurium (STNN) to achieve 3.0 log 10 CFU/g and incubated at 37 o C for 3 days to simulate an initial compost period. Wildtype E. coli and the challenge STNN strain as well as concentrations of ammonia, uric acid and urea were measured on days 0 and 3. Pine bark tannin treatment decreased ( p <0.01) STNN populations in the litter by 0.6 log units compared to the controls. Wildtype E. coli populations were unaffected by tannin treatment ( p >0.05). Ammonia accumulation decreased ( p <0.01) 23% in tannin-treated litter compared to the control (2.8 ± 0.1 µmol/g). Conversely, the residual uric acid concentration was 1.6-fold higher ( p =0.02) in litter treated with the pine bark tannin than in the control litter. Urea concentrations were unaffected by tannin treatment ( p >0.05). Results suggest that pine bark tannin treatment may preserve uric acid and reduce ammonia volatilization in composted litter while
Circular Polarized Square Slot Antenna Based on Slow-Wave Substrate Integrated Waveguide

The design of a compact substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) cavity-backed circular-polarized antenna using a slow wave structure is proposed in PCB technology. Based on a multilayer substrate, this topology includes internal metallized blind via holes connected to the bottom conductive plane, inducing the physical separation of electric and magnetic fields in the SIW cavity. Hence, a slow wave effect is obtained, allowing a 47% reduction of the antenna cavity in comparison with its classic SIW antenna counterpart. Moreover, by asymmetrically inserting an inductive via into the patch region, a degenerated mode allows both a circular polarization and an enlargement of impedance bandwidth. Measurements and simulations are in good agreement in terms of radiation pattern and circular polarization with a return loss of 15 dB and a gain of 4.8 dBic.
Bandwidth Enhancement of an Antipodal Vivaldi Antenna Facilitated by Double-Ridged Substrate-Integrated Waveguide

A printed antipodal Vivaldi antenna (AVA) fed with double-ridged substrate-integrated waveguide (DRSIW) realizing decreased cut-off frequency and increased bandwidth is proposed in this communication. DRSIW can achieve a much lower cut-off frequency compared with normal substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) because of the inserted ridge. As the printed AVA has an intrinsically wide bandwidth, the DRSIW-fed printed AVA realizes a significantly decreased cut-off frequency and increased bandwidth compared with Vivaldi antennas fed by normal SIW. Consequently, the electrical dimensions at the cut-off frequency of the AVA fed by DRSIW are smaller than the AVA fed by normal SIW, and the miniaturization of the AVA is successfully realized. The design procedure of the proposed DRSIW-fed AVA is given in detail. To verify the feasibility of the proposed design, a prototype of a DRSIW-fed printed AVA is fabricated and measured. The bandwidth with $\vert \text{S}_{11}\vert \le -10$ dB ranges from 11.02 to 40 GHz, covering Ku-, K-, and Ka-bands. The gains are 2.15–5.75 dB within the operating band. The results show that the bandwidth of the printed AVA has been successfully increased by using the feed of DRSIW.