Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of biochemical parameters and oxidative stress in sheep naturally infected with Dicrocoelium dendriticum and hydatid cysts

: The purpose of the study was to investigate the lipid peroxidation and antioxidant status as well as biochemical profile in sheep naturally infected with Dicrocoelium dendriticum and hydatid cysts. Ten sheep naturally infected with D. dendriticum , 10 sheep naturally infected with hydatid cysts, and 10 healthy sheep were used. The blood and visceral organs of sheep brought to a slaughterhouse in the region of Kırıkkale were checked for D. dendriticum and hydatid cysts . Plasma total protein, albumin, total bilirubin, total cholesterol, Ca, Mg, inorganic P, Cu, Zn, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, β-carotene, AST, ALT, GGT, ALP, erythrocyte MDA levels, and SOD and CAT activities were detected. Erythrocyte MDA, plasma total bilirubin levels, and AST and ALP activities were increased while total protein and vitamin A levels were decreased in sheep infected with parasites. Erythrocyte SOD activities were decreased in D. dendriticum group, and CAT activities were decreased in the hydatid cyst group and D. dendriticum group. Total bilirubin levels were increased and total protein levels were decreased in sheep infected with parasites. These results suggest that endoparasitic infections such as D. dendriticum and hydatid cysts cause oxidative stress and change some biochemical parameters in sheep.
Oxidative stability of edible oils via addition of pomegranate and orange peel extracts

The main objective of the present study was to improve the oxidative stability of sunflower oil (SFO) and soybean oil (SBO). The aqueous ethanol extracts (80% ethanol) of pomegranate and Baladi orange peels were used as natural antioxidants at concentrations of 800 and 1,200 ppm in SFO and SBO in comparison to butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). Their antioxidant activities were estimated via the Rancimat method and over 24 days of storage at 65°C. The effect of extracts on the stability of sunflower and soybean oils during the storage period was studied by measuring the peroxide value (PV), conjugated dienes (CD) at 232 nm, conjugated trienes (CT) at 270 nm, free fatty acids (FFAs), iodine value (IV), and the refractive index (RI). A great difference in PVs was observed between the control sample and the oil samples containing natural extracts which slowed the rate of peroxide formation. Generally, the results showed that during the storage period at 65°C, the conjugated diene formation followed a similar pattern relative to PV accumulation. The PV, CD, CT, FFA, and RI values of SFO and SBO containing a pomegranate peel extract (PPE) and Baladi orange peel extract (BOPE) at concentrations of 800 and 1,200 ppm were lower than those of SFO and SBO containing 200 ppm BHT, and this trend became apparent during the storage period. The rate of reduction of IV in the control was higher than that in SFO and SBO containing both synthetic and natural antioxidants. These findings confirmed that the natural antioxidants under investigation could be used as alternatives to synthetic antioxidants to improve the oxidative stability of edible oils in the food industry.
Succession and the Relationship between Vegetation and Soil in the Marl Quarries of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Open-pit mining is a common activity in the Yucatan Peninsula for the extraction of limestone. These areas are characterized by the total removal of the natural vegetation cover and soil in order to access calcareous material. The present study shows the composition and structure of the vegetation in five quarries after approximately ten years of abandonment, and the target vegetation near to the quarries in southeastern Mexico. A linear mixed model showed that P availability is one of the limiting factors for species establishment in the quarries. Using a canonical correspondence analysis (CCA), the distribution of the species was determined in relation to the edaphic variables: soil depth, the percentage of organic matter (OM), cationic exchange capacity (CEC), pH and texture. Twenty-six families, 46 genera and 50 species were recorded in the quarries, and 25 families, 45 genera and 47 species were recorded in the conserved areas. The dominant species in the quarries belong to the families Poaceae, Fabaceae, Rubiaceae and Anacardiaceae. The quarries with higher values of OM (2%), CEC (24 Cmol/kg), depth (11 cm) and sand percentage (31%) include the following species Lysiloma latisiliquum (L.) Benth. , Metopium brownei (Jacq.) Urb. and Bursera simaruba (L.) Sarg. , which are common in secondary forests. Quarries with lower values of OM (0.4%), CEC (17 Cmol/kg) and depth (5.02), and with a higher percentage of silt (42%) were dominated by herbs belonging to Poaceae and by Borreria verticillate (L.) G. Mey. , which are typical in disturbed areas of southeastern Mexico. In all cases, the pH was slightly alkaline due to the content of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), characteristic of the soils of the region.
Tomato Breeding for Insect-Pest Resistance

The tomato is susceptible to pest attacks that can lead to damages throughout the crop cycle. Pest control is carried out, mainly, by insecticide and chemical acaricide spraying. However, the use of chemical pest control can cause severe damage to the environment, biological imbalances and deleterious effects on farmers and consumer health, as well as increased production costs. An interesting alternative to minimizing the problems arising from the agrochemical application and maintaining pest populations below the economic damage level is the development of tomato plants displaying resistance to insect and arachnid pests. In this context, the main purpose of this chapter is to provide a review of the techniques applied in this regard, major progresses to date and future prospects for tomato pest-resistance breeding. This chapter is divided into five sections: (1) wild pestresistant tomato species, (2) allelochemicals that confer pest resistance, (3) techniques used for the introgression of pest resistance genes (4) overview, challenges and prospects for pest-resistant tomato breeding and (5) final considerations.
Occurrence, biology, natural enemies and management of Tuta absoluta in Africa

The South American tomato pinworm, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), is a devastating invasive pest of tomato crops in several areas around the world including Africa. Here, we comprehensively review and discuss the relevant scientific knowledge on its occurrence, biological and ecological aspects, fortuitous insect natural enemies, and potential advantages and constraints of pest management scenarios adopted against this pest in tomato crops in both Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa. We conclude the manuscript with a comprehensive research agenda providing future priorities towards sustainable control of this important tomato pest.
Suspicious Activity Detection and Tracking through Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Using Deep Learning Techniques

This paper focuses on crime detection that is extensively used in real world visual monitoring applications like video surveillance. Crime prevention is widely implemented in some countries, through police force and in many cases, private policing methods such as private security and home defense. Implementation of such private and public security could not completely eradicate such awful crimes. Therefore, there's a requirement for credible and effective surveillance in order to diminish the brutal and skeevy crimes. The reason for occurrence of many offences is late communication and unestablishment of authentic security or surveillance system . It's tragic that more than 20000 people lost their lives in Hit-and-run cases in India alone. Many notorious criminals who deserve dreadful punishment for their recklessness fly the coop due to the lack of evidence. Many other instances can be drawn out where there’s a requirement for an organized system of surveillance like ATM’s, shopping malls, etc. To stop such awful offences there’s a need for genuine security system. The idea of an Intelligent Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) proposed in this paper, is inspired from various sources [1], that is capable of monitoring its surroundings constantly for suspicious or illegal activities. Whenever it encounters a suspicious activity, it automatically captures and processes the scene, sends out an alert to the administrator and waits for his/her command. The main intention is to constantly monitor the surroundings using a bird shaped surveillance device, with very minimal human intervention.
The complete plastid genome of Grateloupia filicina (Rhodophyta) and phylogenetic analysis

Abstract In this study, we obtained the complete plastid genome of Grateloupia filicina (Lamouroux) C. Agardh using the high-throughput sequencing method. It had circular mapping organization with the length of 195,990 bp and contained 265 genes including 195 protein-coding genes, three rRNA genes, one tmRNA gene, 28 tRNA genes and 38 unidentified open reading frames (ORFs). Moreover, phylogenetic analysis revealed that G. filicina firstly clustered with Grateloupia taiwanensis. The complete plastid genome obtained in this work would be useful for further understanding the evolution of Grateloupia.
EFFICACY OF ENTOMOPATHOGENIC FUNGUS BEAUVERIA BASSIANA ISOLATES AGAINST THE TWO-SPOTTED SPIDER MITE, TETRANYCHUS URTICAE KOCH (ACARI: TETRANYCHIDAE)

A total of 17 isolates of entomopathogenic fungus (Beauveria bassiana) were tested against adult females of the two-spotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae Koch) under laboratory conditions. Spore suspension was prepared from 15 days old culture of the isolates on PDA medium. The fungal surface was scraped using a sterile loop with 10 ml of sterile distilled water having 0.02% Tween 80. Spore concentration of the filtrate was determined using a Neubauer Hemocytometer. This served as a stock suspension. In the pathogenicity tests 5 × 10 conidia ml was used. Inoculation was performed by spaying spor suspension directly on the adult female mites. Inoculated mites were transferred on bean leaf disks in sterile petri dishes and incubated under room conditions at 25 ± 2°C and 65 ± 5% RH for ten days. The mite sprayed with sterile distilled water having 0.02% Tween 80 were used as control. Mortality was noted daily. Dead mites were kept separately in humid sterile Petri dishes for another 10 days to determine the mycosis rate. Three isolates with higher mortality or mycosis rates (F-12, F-53, and F-56) were selected for dose-mortality tests. Spore suspension of the isolates at five different concentrations, 1 × 10, 1 × 10, 1 × 10, 1 × 10, and 1 × 10 conidia ml, was prepared and tested for its efficacy on adult females of two-spotted spidermite. The experiments were carried out with 3 replications and 10 adults were used for each replicate. In single dose trial, all isolates caused mortality to T. urticae adults. Different mortalities resulting from different isolates of B. bassiana were observed with the concentration of 5 × 10 conidia ml and varied from 32.5-72.5% at the end of 72 h incubation period. Mycosis ranged between 2.5% and 40.0%. In dose-mortality trial, isolate F53 caused the highest mortality percentage of T. urticae adults, followed by F-12 and F-56. The effectiveness of these isolates was not significantly different at the concentration of 1 × 10 conidia ml. Concentration of conidia affected the mortality of the mites differently (P < 0.05). The results showed that mortality and mycosis were dose dependent which increased with enhancing the spore concentration of the isolates. Mortality ranged between 43.3% and 83% on isolate F-53 from 24 h to 72h incubation period at concentration of 1×10 conidia ml. Followed by isolates F-12 and F-56 with 78.3% and 76.7% mortality rates, respectively. Maximum percent mycosis of 43.33% was recorded on 10 day after treatment with the concentration of 1×10 conidia ml; in contrast to this minimum percent mortality of 3.33% was obtained by the application of the lowest concentration 1×10 conidia ml at F-53 isolate. The present results demonstrated that the entomopathogenic fungi isolates of B. bassiana could be used as an alternative for the control T. urticae.
Identifying regions of risk to honey bees from Zika vector control in the USA

Managed honey bees are a crucial component of many countries’ agricultural systems. Critically, it is now well established that honey bees are faced with multiple threats, and therefore, it is important that we determine and mitigate new threats. The emergence of Zika virus has introduced the new threat of insecticidal mosquito control leading to honey bee losses, with demand from beekeepers for a comprehensive risk assessment to help mitigate losses. Here, we present novel estimates of county-level honey bee colony densities across the USA and combine these new data with different projections of Zika virus suitability to assess the magnitude of this risk. We find that up to 13% of colonies can reasonably be expected to experience elevated risk of damaging pesticide exposure, according to interpretation of current Zika virus projections. We show a significant positive correlation between areas of Zika suitability and honey bee colony density. Increased risk of colony loss to pesticides are found in the South-East, Gulf Coast, Florida, and the California Central Valley. We highlight certain states which are better placed to mitigate threats, recommending other states look towards these schemes to protect apiculture from both government and commercial pesticide application.
Static Energy Consumption Analysis for Android Applications

Energy consumption of mobile application software is an important factor influencing the battery life of smart phone terminals. Currently, for the tens of thousands of Android software, we propose a static visual detection and classification method based on application energy consumption. Compared with the high-precision and complex application component energy consumption model, this model analyzes the bytecode images generated by the dex and xml files in the Android apk and trains them with deep learning methods. The energy consumption level of two kinds of different mobile terminal software can be obtained, which can quickly estimate the energy consumption of mobile terminal when the application is runing. Experimental results show that the model’s classification accuracy of energy consumption estimation is 50.49%, which can help mobile end users to easily predict the battery power consumed by applications.
How profiles of school readiness relate to grade 3 performance among low-income ethnically- and linguistically-diverse children

Abstract A person-centered approach was used to explore how preschool school readiness profiles predict Grade 3 academic performance among a large (N = 43,044) low-income, ethnically-diverse longitudinal sample of children. Study aims: (a) determine the number and type of preschoolers’ school readiness profiles, (b) determine how profile membership relates to demographic characteristics, and (c) use the profiles to predict Grade 3 academic achievement. Six profiles were found: Pre-academic strength (PAS) strong school, average home behavior; PAS-average school, low home behavior; PAS-average school, strong home behavior; Pre-academic weakness (PAW) average school, low home behavior; PAW-low school, average home behavior; and Overall poor school readiness. Demographic characteristics were associated with profile membership, and profiles were differentially related to Grade 3 outcomes, after controlling for demographic factors. Results highlight the importance of starting school with strong social skills at school (vs. home) and the potential benefits of public school pre-K boosting children’s social/emotional skills.
Routine baseline serum carcinoembryonic antigen as a negative predictor of peritoneal metastasis in colorectal malignancies: a cost-effective tool in South India

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a formidable health problem worldwide. It is the third most common cancer in men (663000 cases, 10.0% of all cancer cases) and the second most common in women (571000 cases, 9.4% of all cancer cases). Almost 60% of cases are encountered in developed countries. The number of CRC-related deaths is estimated to be approximately 608,000 worldwide, accounting for 8% of all cancer deaths and making CRC the fourth most common cause of death due to cancer. In India, the annual incidence rates (AARs) or colon cancer and rectal cancer in men are 4.4 and 4.1 per 100000, respectively. The AAR for colon cancer in women is 3.9 per 100000. Colon cancer ranks 8th and rectal cancer ranks 9th among men. For women, rectal cancer does not figure in the top 10 cancers, whereas colon cancer ranks 9th. Usually the patients have a favourable prognosis when diagnosed at an early stage: 70-80% are eligible for curative-intent surgery, with a 5 years survival of 72-93% for stages I-II. Approximately 25% of the remaining ABSTRACT
Uses and losses of nitrogen by maize and cotton plants under salt stress

ABSTRACT There is no consensus on how much N can be applied to plants under salt stress. In our research we tested the hypothesis that such response depends on salt tolerance of the plant species. So, this study aimed to evaluate the uses and losses of N by cotton (salt-tolerant) and maize (moderately salt-sensitive) irrigated with waters of different electrical conductivity (0.5, 2.0, 4.0, and 6.0 dS m−1) and fertilized with nitrogen (60, 100, and 140% of the recommended dose for each crop). We found that nitrogen doses beyond the recommended values exacerbated the negative effects of salinity on growth and photosynthetic rates, especially in maize plants growing under moderate to high salinity. N rates over the recommended dose did not increase leaf nitrogenous compounds, believed to attenuate the negative impacts of salt stress. Our results indicate that the responses to additional nitrogen fertilization depend on crop salt tolerance and on the level of saline stress imposed. Increasing N rates beyond crop needs under salinity only increased leaching losses and reduced the nitrogen-use efficiency, indicating that such practice would result in economic losses and environmental N overload, especially when a supplemental dose is applied to a salt-sensitive crop.
Phytoplasmosis of Bioenergy Cultures

1 Czestochowa University of Technology, 19 B Armii Krajowej, Czestochowa, 42-200, Poland 2 University of Agriculture in Krakow, 21 Al. Mickiewicza, Kraków, 31-120, Poland 3University of Opole, 1/3 Dmowskiego str, Opole, 45-365, Poland 4Institute of Feeds and Agriculture of Podillia of the NAAS of Ukrain, 16 Yunotsi Avenue, Vinnitsa, 21100, Ukraine 5Zabolotny Institute of Microbiology and Virology, NAS of Ukraine, 154 Akad. Zabolotny Str. , Kyiv, 03143, Ukraine e-mail: akalinichenko@uni.opole. pl; tira@bigmir.net
The evaluation and comparison of three benchmark asset pricing models with daily data: supplementary evidence

ABSTRACT Recent studies advocate two new benchmark models (the Fama-French five-factor model and the Hou, Xue and Zhang four-factor model) with monthly data. Our daily data approach provides considerable supplement to the monthly data approach presented in recent studies. We adopt the advanced bootstrap methodology by replicating the original data sample, and this approach should effectively alleviate the problem of too much noise in the data of daily return. A two-pass cross-sectional regression and GMM with several useful testing statistics are used to more thoroughly diagnose the specifications of the model. The following consistency is observed when using different frequencies of sample data: the evidence indicates that the two newer benchmark models (the Fama-French five-factor model and the Hou, Xue and Zhang four-factor model) outperform the Fama-French three-factor model in estimating a few well-known portfolios (formed on different anomalies). However, several specification tests do not robustly accept the correct specifications of the Fama-French five-factor model and the Hou, Xue and Zhang four-factor model.
Heterogeneous Dynamics and Mechanisms of Primary Cilium Disassembly in Mammalian Cells

The primary cilium is an important regulator of signaling pathways in cell proliferation and differentiation. Mechanisms involved in cilium assembly and homeostasis are well described, but little is known about mammalian ciliary disassembly, which is required for cell cycle progression. We examined whether cilia disassembly in cultured mouse cells occurred by resorption into the cell or extracellular shedding. Live cell imaging of individual disassembly events revealed dynamic and heterogeneous behaviors, with rates varying by several orders of magnitude. Surprisingly, seconds-fast disassembly was the predominant method of cilium loss (83% of events), and we demonstrate that this is due to ciliary shedding. We tested the roles of candidate regulators of ciliary shedding, katanin and intracellular calcium. Katanin overexpression increased seconds-fast disassembly, and katanin and intracellular calcium levels independently, but not synergistically, reduced cilia length. This work provides new, detailed insights into mechanisms of primary ciliary disassembly in mammalian cells.
Privacy-Functionality Trade-Off: A Privacy-Preserving Multi-Channel Smart Metering System

While smart meters can provide households with more autonomy regarding their energy consumption, they can also be a significant intrusion into the household’s privacy. There is abundant research implementing protection methods for different aspects (e.g., noise-adding and data aggregation, data down-sampling); while the private data are protected as sensitive information is hidden, some of the compulsory functions such as Time-of-use (TOU) billing or value-added services are sacrificed. Moreover, some methods, such as rechargeable batteries and homomorphic encryption, require an expensive energy storage system or central processor with high computation ability, which is unrealistic for mass roll-out. In this paper, we propose a privacy-preserving smart metering system which is a combination of existing data aggregation and data down-sampling mechanisms. The system takes an angle based on the ethical concerns about privacy and it implements a hybrid privacy-utility trade-off strategy, without sacrificing functionality. In the proposed system, the smart meter plays the role of assistant processor rather than information sender/receiver, and it enables three communication channels to transmit different temporal resolution data to protect privacy and allow freedom of choice: high frequency feed-level/substation-level data are adopted for grid operation and management purposes, low frequency household-level data are used for billing, and a privacy-preserving valued-add service channel to provide third party (TP) services. In the end of the paper, the privacy performance is evaluated to examine whether the proposed system satisfies the privacy and functionality requirements.