Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparative Effect of Nitrogen Forms on Nitrogen Uptake and Cotton Growth Under Salinity Stress

The effects of nitrogen (N) forms (ammonium- or nitrate-N) on plant growth under salinity stress [150 mmol sodium chloride (NaCl)] were studied in hydroponically cultured cotton. Net fluxes of sodium (Na+), ammonium (NH4+), and nitrate (NO3−) were also determined using the Non-Invasive Micro-Test Technology. Plant growth was impaired under salinity stress, but nitrate-fed plants were less sensitive to salinity than ammonium-fed plants due mainly to superior root growth by the nitrate-fed plants. The root length, root surface area, root volume, and root viability of seedlings treated with NO3-N were greater than those treated with NH4-N with or without salinity stress. Under salinity stress, the Na+ content of seedlings treated with NO3-N was lower than that in seedlings treated with NH4-N owing to higher root Na+ efflux. A lower net NO3− efflux was observed in roots of nitrate-fed plants relative to the net NH4+ efflux from roots of ammonium-fed plants. This resulted in much more nitrogen accumulation in different tissues, especially in leaves, thereby enhancing photosynthesis in nitrate-fed plants under salinity stress. Nitrate-N is superior to ammonium-N based on nitrogen uptake and cotton growth under salinity stress.
FIELD PERFORMANCES OF DIFFERENT SEEDLING TYPES USED IN SWEET POTATO [Ipomea batatas (L.) Lam] GROWING

The purpose of the study was to compare field performances of three sweet potato seedlings such as in vitro plantlets (IP) rooted cuttings (RC) and cuttings (C). A field trial in the Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 3 replications arranged in Split Plots (SP) was conducted in 2016 and 2017 in the experimental field of the Ege University located at Bornova. The following results based on the analysis of data could be summarized: In vitro plantlets had the higher mean for the number of storage roots (8.4), single storage root weight (684.1 g), single plant yield (5.2 kg) and plot yield (37.0 kg). Genotype Lanceolado had high storage root number. Genotype Yan Shu-1 had high means for single storage root weight (809.8 g), single plant yield (5.9 kg) and plot yield (43.3 kg).
Molecular modeling, density functional theory, ADME prediction and antimicrobial activity studies of 2-(substituted)oxazolo[4,5-b]pyridine derivatives

In this study, the antimicrobial activities of previously synthesized 2-(substituted)oxazolo[4,5-b]pyridine derivatives toward six bacteria strains and twelve related drug-resistant isolates, and one fungus strain and two related drug-resistant isolates were investigated via the microdilution method. P6 (2-(4-trifluoromethylphenyl)oxazolo[4,5-b]pyridine) and P7 (2-(4-trifluoromethoxyphenyl)oxazolo[4,5-b]pyridine) showed better activity against E. faecalis isolate and E. coli isolate than ampicillin with a MIC of 16 μg mL−1. In addition, P5 (2-(4-methoxyphenyl)oxazolo[4,5-b]pyridine) and P6 showed gentamicin-equivalent activity against P. aeruginosa, with a MIC of 16 μg mL−1, while P7 showed better activity than gentamicin, with a MIC of 8 μg mL−1. The compounds generally showed good to strong antimicrobial activities. Molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations of the compounds were performed using the DNA gyrase enzyme, and the interactions were evaluated. The compounds showed an overlap at the DNA gyrase ATP binding site with similar protein–ligand interactions. Average RMSD values of the apo form, and P5-4KTN, P6-4KTN and P7-4KTN holo forms were measured to be 0.149 nm, 0.152 nm, 0.165 nm, and 0.146 nm, respectively. The P7 ligand stabilized the protein via further increasing its stability. HOMO–LUMO orbital energies and other electronic parameters derived from these energies, MEP and NBO analysis, and geometric optimization were obtained using DFT/B3LYP theory and the 6-311G(d,p) basis set. The LUMO–HOMO ΔE values for the most active compounds, P5, P6 and P7, are 4.3508, 4.4471, and 4.4852 eV, respectively. The predicted ADME profiles of the compounds were calculated, and they were compliant with Lipinski and other restrictive rules.
Bayesian Inference on Regression Model with an Unknown Change Point

In this work, we describe a Bayesian procedure for detection of change-point when we have an unknown change point in regression model. Bayesian approach with posterior inference for change points was provided to know the particular change point that is optimal while Gibbs sampler was used to estimate the parameters of the change point model. The simulation experiments show that all the posterior means are quite close to their true parameter values. The performance of this method is recommended for multiple change points.
Cooperative Cation Migrations upon CO Addition in CuI- and Alkali-Exchanged Faujasite: A DFT Study

CO adsorption in Al-rich faujasite zeolite containing copper and alkali cations has been investigated using DFT methods in order to determine how CO interacts and may modify the original position of the cations. Whether a cluster or a periodic model is used, addition of CO induces the formation of stable complexes labeled DI(CO) in which CO interacts by both its C-end and its O-end, resulting from a cooperative rearrangement of cations. In addition to a CuI migration from site II to the supercage, a migration of alkali from site III′ to site III may occur. DI(CO) also induces a downshift of the νCO mode in comparison with the complex containing CO interacting with a single cation, SI(CO). These results suggest a new assignment of the IR spectra of CO adsorbed in YCuI and YNa+: for YCuI, the upshifted signal at ca. 2160 cm−1 in comparison with νCOgas at 2143 cm−1 could be assigned to a SI(CO) structure, whereas the downshifted signal at ca. 2140 cm−1 could be assigned to a DI(CO) complex. For YNa+, the ups.
Rational engineering of Acinetobacter tandoii glutamate dehydrogenase for asymmetric synthesis of l-homoalanine through biocatalytic cascades

L-Homoalanine, a useful building block for the synthesis of several chiral drugs, is generally synthesized through biocascades using natural amino acids as cheap starting reactants. However, the addition of expensive external cofactors and the low efficiency of leucine dehydrogenases towards the intermediate 2-ketobutyric acid are two major challenges in industrial applications. Herein, a dual cofactor-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase from Acinetobacter tandoii (AtGluDH) was identified to help make full use of the intracellular pool of cofactors when using whole-cell catalysis. Through reconstruction of the hydrophobic network between the enzyme and the terminal methyl group of the substrate 2-ketobutyric acid, the strict substrate specificity of AtGluDH towards α-ketoglutarate was successfully changed, and the activity obtained by the most effective mutant (K76L/T180C) was 17.2 times higher than that of the wild-type protein. A three-enzyme co-expression system was successfully constructed in order to help release the mass transfer restriction. Using 1 M L-threonine, which is close to the solubility limit, we obtained a 99.9% yield of L-homoalanine in only 3.5 h without adding external coenzymes to the cascade, giving 99.9% ee and a 29.2 g L−1 h−1 space–time yield. Additionally, the activities of the engineered AtGluDH towards some other hydrophobic amino acids were also improved to 1.1–11.2 fold. Therefore, the engineering design of some dual cofactor-dependent GluDHs could not only eliminate the low catalytic activity of unnatural substrates but also enhance the cofactor utilization efficiency of these enzymes in industrial applications.
An exploratory study of pre-service teachers’ computational thinking and programming skills

Abstract This qualitative case study was designed to explore pre-service teachers’ computational thinking and programming skills in an educational technology course in which block-based programming was introduced in a teacher education program. 12 teacher candidates from different subject areas participated in the study. The findings show that participants’ views about computational thinking along with their programming skills evolved over the semester. They were mainly involved pattern recognition, debugging and trial-and-error to program coding tasks. They also used simple codes within a context and implemented remixing to solve complex problems. It can be concluded that well-designed educational technology courses for programming might be effective even for pre-service teachers who are novice coders. Further research and implications for teacher education curricula are also discussed in the paper.
Bayesian Prediction Bounds from a Family of Exponentiated Distributions in the Presence of Outliers

Abstract In this paper, Bayesian prediction bounds for order statistics of future observations from a family of exponentiated distributions are obtained in the presence of a single outlier arising from different members of the same family of distributions. During an experimentation, we come across circumstances where one or more observations may not be homogeneous to rest of the observations and hence can be treated as outliers. Nowadays, the classification for outlier prediction are applied in various fields like bioinformatics, natural language processing, military application, geographical domains etc. We consider single outliers of two types in future observations when the sample size of the future sample is a random variable. The exponentiated exponential distribution has been used as a special case from the suggested family. We introduce numerical examples and compute Bayesian prediction bounds based on the real data, by using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm.
Effect of leaf thinning on shoot growth and tuber yield of white Guinea yam

ABSTRACT Mutual leaf shading can inhibit the growth of yam, reducing tuber yield. To improve light utilization, approximately 25% of leaves in a plant were thinned during the period of maximum shoot growth. Shoot dry weight was estimated every two weeks using a non-destructive method. Leaf thinning caused higher shoot growth rates (SGRs) after thinning, while control plants had SGRs close to zero. The higher SGRs in the thinned plants was attributed to an increase in new leaf development. This indicates that the plateau in shoot growth commonly observed during the late growth period is reversible and could be improved artificially. In thinned plants, there was a positive relationship between shoot dry weight and SGR, although no such relationship was observed in control plants after the middle growth period. This positive correlation indicates a higher shoot growth per unit leaf area in the thinned plants than in the control plants, presumably due to improved light utilization and a higher photosynthetic rate of new leaves. However, leaf thinning reduced tuber yields, presumably because of a lower total carbon assimilation per plant and greater growth competition between shoots and tubers. High correlations between shoot dry weight and tuber yield indicated that a high shoot biomass is more important than improving light utilization for increased tuber yields. Graphical abstract
Non-intrusive Temperature Measurements during the Compression Phase of a DI Diesel Engine

Non-intrusive temperature measurements based on single-line laser-induced fluorescence of molecular oxygen in the transparent IDEA Diesel engine were investigated. Oxygen molecules were excited to fluorescence with a narrowband, tunable ArF excimer laser at 193 nm. The resulting fluorescence signals were recorded with an image-intensified CCD camera. The temperature increase during the compression phase of the four-cylinder direct injection Diesel engine could be evaluated from the LIF signals. In the crank angle range of the measurements, good agreement between measured and calculated temperatures (polytropic compression) was observed.
Clinical Features and Surgical Treatment of Synchronous Multiple Primary Lung Adenocarcinomas With Different EGFR Mutations

Background With the popularity of lung cancer screening and advances in imaging technology, more and more synchronous multiple primary lung adenocarcinomas (SMPLA) are being diagnosed clinically, however, the clinical characteristics and prognosis of SMPLA with different EGFR mutations remains unclear. We aimed to explore clinical features and surgical outcomes of these patients to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of SMPLA. Methods Medical records of patients with different EGFR mutations who have been diagnosed as SMPLA and underwent surgical resection from March 2015 to December 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. Clinical characteristics, surgical outcomes, recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were investigated. Results A total of 70 patients (68.6% female and 77.1% non-somkers) were included. Total of 161 lesions in all patients, 84.4% were ground-glass opacity (GGO) lesions. EGFR mutations were detected in 108 lesions, most of which were L858R (35.4%) and 19Del (20.5%). The mutation rate of mixed GGO is significantly higher than that of pure GGO and solid nodules (SN); the mutation rate of invasive adenocarcinoma is significantly higher than that of other histology subtypes; the mutation rate of lesions >20 mm was significantly higher than that of ≤20 mm. However, there is no significant difference in the mutation rate of specific driver gene between different radiological features, pathological characteristics and sizes. After a median follow-up time of 29 months, the 3-year OS and RFS were 94.4% and 86.0%, respectively. Conclusions A high discordance of EGFR mutations were identified between tumors in patients with SMPLA. Synchronous multiple lung adenocarcinomas with predominantly multiple GGO should be considered as SMPLA, and surgery may be aggressively performed for these patients due to a good prognosis.
Force Field for Tricalcium Silicate and Insight into Nanoscale Properties: Cleavage, Initial Hydration, and Adsorption of Organic Molecules

Improvements in the sustainability and durability of building materials depend on understanding interfacial properties of various mineral phases at the nanometer scale. Tricalcium silicate (C3S) is the major constituent of cement clinker and we present and validate a force field for atomistic simulations that provides excellent agreement with available experimental data, including X-ray structures, cleavage energies, elastic moduli, and IR spectra. Using this model and available measurements, we quantify key surface and interface properties of the dry and superficially hydrated mineral. An extensive set of possible cleavage planes shows cleavage energies in a range of 1300 to 1600 mJ/m2 that are consistent with the observation of faceted crystallites with an aspect ratio near one. Using pure and hydroxylated surface models that represent the first step in the hydration reaction, we examined the adsorption mechanism of several organic amines and alcohols at different temperatures. Strong attraction between.
Toward an Indigenization Process: Art Therapy Practice in the Chinese Cultural Context

Abstract In order to advance Chinese culturally-appropriate art therapy practice, a qualitative study identified key indigenous factors. The investigation documented contextual adaptations made by 7 Taiwanese “sojourner” art therapists. Inductive thematic analysis yielded six themes, which identified from the participants’ descriptions of art therapy practice with native Taiwanese/Chinese clients relate to the key processes of (a) responding to clients’ initial art therapy expectations, (b) orienting client to purposes of art making, (c) addressing client–art therapist roles, (d) understanding how cultural conceptions of art influences art therapy, (e) uncovering the client’s culture as a strength, and (f) reducing personal and relational tension. The study’s findings revealed ways to develop art therapy that are congruent with traditional Chinese clients’ cultural backgrounds.
Variation in Upper Plate Crustal and Lithospheric Mantle Structure in the Greater and Lesser Antilles From Ambient Noise Tomography

The crust and upper mantle structure of the Greater and Lesser Antilles Arc provides insights into key subduction zone processes in a unique region of slow convergence of old slow‐spreading oceanic lithosphere. We use ambient noise tomography gathered from island broadband seismic stations and the temporary ocean bottom seismometer network installed as part of the Volatile Recycling in the Lesser Antilles experiment to map crustal and upper mantle shear‐wave velocity of the eastern Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles Arc. Taking the depth to the 2.0 km/s contour as a proxy, we find sediment thickness up to 15 km in the south in the Grenada and Tobago basins and thinner sediments near the arc and to the north. We observe thicker crust, based on the depth to the 4.0 km/s velocity contour, beneath the arc platforms with the greatest crustal thickness of around 30 km, likely related to crustal addition from arc volcanism through time. There are distinct low velocity zones (4.2–4.4 km/s) in the mantle wedge (30–50 km depth), beneath the Mona Passage, Guadeloupe‐Martinique, and the Grenadines. The Mona passage mantle anomaly may be related to ongoing extension there, while the Guadeloupe‐Martinique and Grenadine anomalies are likely related to fluid flux, upwelling, and/or partial melt related to nearby slab features. The location of the Guadeloupe‐Martinique anomaly is slightly to the south of the obliquely subducted fracture zones. This feature could be explained by either three‐dimensional mantle flow, a gap in the slab, variable slab hydration, and/or melt dynamics including ponding and interactions with the upper plate.
High-Speed Searching of Optimum Switching Pattern for Digital Active Gate Drive to Adapt to Various Load Conditions

Digital active gate driving has been shown to effectively manage the switching performance for power devices with the adjustable driving waveforms. However, most of the studies are based on a dedicated test circuit rather than a practical inverter with the sinusoidal output current. In fact, it is the dependence on the load current that makes the design of the gate driving profiles a critical issue. To investigate the digital active gate driver in an inverter application, this article has applied optimal patterns adapting to time-varying output load current. Prior to the search of optimal patterns, the proper design of time slot is discussed with three different time resolutions. With the proper resolution determined for patterns, multiple optimizations are carried out for different current conditions. In this way, the search for optimal patterns can be completed in an efficient time. Next, a lookup table of optimal switching pattern in correspondence with each certain load current condition was built in advance. According to the output load current, the optimal pattern is selected based on the lookup table. Compared to conventional constant driving waveform, the power loss has been reduced by 7% with full optimal lookup table applied.
The Effect of EOR Technologies on the Content of Petroporphyrins and Naphthenic Acids of Recovered Heavy Oils from Usinskoye Field

The effect of EOR technologies on the contents of petroporphyrins and naphthenic acids in recovered crude oil was studied using heavy oil from Usinskoye oil field (Republic Komi), which has high density, high content nickel and vanadium porphyrin complexes, the oxygen compounds and naphthenic acids. It is found that EOR system in combination with thermal steam treatment injection brings about an increase in the content of vanadium porphyrin complexes of crude oils. As a result of the oil-displacement EOR system injection, the naphthenic acids content would decrease in heavy oils.
Critical success factors throughout the life cycle of information technology start-ups

Information technology start-ups (ITSs) contribute towards the rapid growth of society as well as encourage innovation, create technical jobs, and support the economic and technological development of countries. Despite their importance, however, ITSs have a high failure rate worldwide, making it important to identify the factors that influence their success throughout the life cycle. Moreover, studies of this topic are scarce. This study aims to identify the factors that influence the success of an ITS throughout its development stages to mitigate the risks of failure. We review the critical success factors that affect ITSs and their life cycle stages based on the literature and consider the relationship between these factors and stages. An empirical study is carried out to test the presented hypotheses about the perceptions of 125 CEOs of ITSs in Peru using a descriptive analysis, simple and multiple correspondence analysis, and the Student’s t hypothesis test. Five stages of the life cycle of an ITS are established: seed, early, growth, expansion, and exit. Of the 93 hypotheses tested to assess the influence of 27 critical success factors, 77 are supported. This study proposes an ITS life cycle composed of five stages, defines the critical success factors for each of them, and establishes their influence in all stages.
Nano-silver: Preparation by gallic acid reduction and reaction mechanism

The bright yellow nano-silver hydrosol was synthesized at 100 ℃ by adding small amounts of chloroauric acid to a mixed solution of gallic acid and silver nitrate. The silver nanoparticles were characterized by UV-Visible absorption spectroscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and energy dispersion X-ray spectrometry (EDX). The results show that the presence of small amounts of chloroauric acid is one of the most important factors, which can catalyze the reduction of Ag+ by gallic acid. The reaction mechanism is thought to be that the formed nanogold particles are acted as both crystal-core and catalyst to induce the reduction of silver ions by gallic acid. The method is simple, facile and fast. The prepared silver nanoparticles are close to sphere, monodispersed, symmetrical distributed with their average diameter of about 18 nm.
Structure and Dynamics of Star Polymer Films from Coarse-Grained Molecular Simulations

: We simulate the structure and dynamics of star polymer ﬁ lms of varying arm mass M a and number of star arms f on a supporting solid substrate with an attractive interaction and compare to the corresponding properties of thin ﬁ lms of linear polymers. While the spatial variation of segmental density pro ﬁ le is only weakly dependent on star polymer topology, the polymer topology signi ﬁ cantly a ﬀ ects both the average rate of relaxation and the spatial variation of the average segmental relaxation time τ α as a function of depth from the ﬁ lm substrate, z . In particular, we observe a general slowing down in the rate of relaxation of the entire ﬁ lm with an increasing functionality f , a general trend attributed mainly to an alteration of the e ﬀ ective cohesive interaction strength when f is increased. The mobility gradients in the ﬁ lm, quanti ﬁ ed by the relaxation time obtained from the intermediate scattering function on a layer-by-layer basis, are also signi ﬁ cantly altered by f . In particular, the width of the substrate interfacial layer grows with increasing f , saturating in value around f = 12, while the width of the interfacial zone near the “ free ” boundary, where the polymer dynamics is greatly accelerated compared to the ﬁ lm interior, is less in ﬂ uenced by changes in polymer topology. These observations are qualitatively consistent with the interpretation of recent X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy on supported star polymer ﬁ lms.