Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transovarial Transmission of Anaplasma marginale in Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus Ticks Results in a Bottleneck for Strain Diversity

Anaplasma marginale is an obligate intraerythrocytic bacterium of bovines, responsible for large economic losses worldwide. It is mainly transmitted by Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus ticks and, despite mounting evidence suggesting transovarial transmission, the occurrence of this phenomenon remains controversial. We evaluated the vector competence of R. microplus larvae vertically infected with A. marginale to transmit the bacterium to a naïve bovine. A subgroup of engorged female ticks collected from an A. marginale-positive animal was dissected and the presence of the pathogen in its tissues was confirmed. A second subgroup of ticks was placed under controlled conditions for oviposition. After confirming the presence of A. marginale in the hatched larvae, an experimental infestation assay was conducted. Larvae were placed on an A. marginale-free splenectomized calf. The bacterium was detected in the experimentally infested bovine 22 days post-infestation. We analyzed the A. marginale diversity throughout the transmission cycle using the molecular marker MSP1a. Different genotypes were detected in the mammalian and arthropod hosts showing a reduction of strain diversity along the transmission process. Our results demonstrate the vertical transmission of A. marginale from R. microplus females to its larvae, their vector competence to transmit the pathogen, and a bottleneck in A. marginale strain diversity.
Phosphodiesterase 5 and Arginase Inhibitory Activities of the Extracts from Some Members of Nelumbonaceae and Nymphaeaceae Families

The objectives of this study were (1) to investigate the effect of extracts from some plants in the families Nelumbonaceae and Nymphaeaceae on phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) and arginase, which have been used in erectile dysfunction treatment, and (2) to isolate and identify the compounds responsible for such activities. The characterization and quantitative analysis of flavonoid constituents in the active extracts were performed by HPLC. Thirty-seven ethanolic extracts from different parts of plants in the genus Nymphaea and Victoria of Nymphaeaceae and genus Nelumbo of Nelumbonaceae were screened for PDE5 and arginase inhibitory activities. The ethanolic extracts of the receptacles and pollens of Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. , petals of Nymphaea cyanea Roxb. ex G.Don, Nymphaea stellata Willd. , and Victoria amazonica (Poepp.) Sowerby and the petals and receptacles of Nymphaea pubescens Willd. showed IC50 values on PDE5 of less than 25 μg/mL while none of the extracts showed effects on arginase. The most active extract, N. pubescens petal extract, was fractionated to isolate and identify the PDE5 inhibitors. The results showed that six flavonoid constituents including quercetin 3’-O-β-xylopyranoside (1), quercetin 3-methyl ether 3’-O-β-xylopyranoside (2), quercetin (3), 3-O-methylquercetin (4), kaempferol (5) and 3-O-methylkaempferol (6) inhibited PDE5 with IC50 values at the micromolar level.
Evaluation of Math Block-Scheduling for Low Performing At-Risk and Economically-Disadvantaged Students.

Evaluation of Math Block-Scheduling for Low Performing At-Risk and EconomicallyDisadvantaged Students by Toni M. Trice M.Ed., Tarleton State University, 2011 B.S, American Military University, 2004 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Walden University August 2017
Consecutive pedestrian tracking in large scale space

Pedestrian tracking is an important and meaningful part of the computer vision topic. Given the position of pedestrian in the first frame, our goal is to automatically determine the accurate position of the target pedestrian in every frame that follows. Current tracking methods show good performance in short-term tracking. However, there are still some open problems in real scenes, e.g. pedestrian re-identification under multi-camera surveillance and pedestrian tracking under occlusions. In our paper, we proposed an efficient method for consecutive tracking, which can deal with the challenging view changes and occlusions. Proposed tracker consists of short-time tracking mechanism and consecutive tracking mechanism. The consecutive tracking mechanism will be activated while the target pedestrian is under occlusion or changes dramatically in appearance. In consecutive tracking mechanism, proposed algorithm will detect the target pedestrian using a coarse but fast feature as first level classifier and a fine feature as the last level classifier. After regaining the accurate position of target pedestrian, the appearance model of the target pedestrian will be updated as historical information and the short-time tracking mechanism will be activated again to continue tracking the target pedestrian. Experimental results show that the proposed method can handle hard cases and achieve higher success rate than the current existing methods.
A novel SNP (c.1311C>T) on heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) gene of Kacang goat in Indonesia

Heat shock proteins (HSPs) associated with stress reactions play an important role in cell survival by activating numerous regulatory proteins and inducing black apoptosis. This study aimed to identify the potential SNPs of HSP70 gene in Kacang goats in Indonesia. Forty-three Kacang goats were selected from Sidoarjo and Tulungagung districts. The DNA isolated from blood samples was successfully amplified using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method with a pair of primers. The PCR products were sequenced in the coding region. The sequences were successfully aligned to determine the potential SNPs. A novel SNP (c.1311C>T) was found in this study. This SNP was categorized as a synonymous mutation. The insertion-deletion (in-del) mutation was also observed at the 1151stand 1161st nucleotide positions. Based on these mutations, four haplotypes were constructed where haplotype 1 had the highest frequency in Sidoarjo. Indonesian goats had no close relation with Iraqi goats according to Neighbor-Joing with Kimura’s 2-parameter approach. Haplotypes 1 and 2 in Indonesian goats had three different bases with all haplotypes in Iraqi goats in Median Joining Network. The study concluded that a novel SNP of HSP70 gene was identified in Kacang goats.
Communications of the Association for Information Systems

A growing number of information technology systems and services are being developed to change users’ attitudes or behavior or both. Despite the fact that attitudinal theories from social psychology have been quite extensively applied to the study of user intentions and behavior, these theories have been developed for predicting user acceptance of the information technology rather than for providing systematic analysis and design methods for developing persuasive software solutions. This article is conceptual and theory-creating by its nature, suggesting a framework for Persuasive Systems Design (PSD). It discusses the process of designing and evaluating persuasive systems and describes what kind of content and software functionality may be found in the ﬁnal product. It also highlights seven underlying postulates behind persuasive systems and ways to analyze the persuasion context (the intent, the event, and the strategy). The article further lists 28 design principles for persuasive system content and functionality, describing example software requirements and implementations. Some of the design principles are novel. Moreover, a new categorization of these principles is proposed, consisting of the primary task, dialogue, system credibility, and social support categories.
Far Infrared Astronomy after SPICA

This paper reviews the requirements for far-infrared astronomy in the period following the SPICA satellite in the late 2020’s. We take a very long view of the state of FIR astronomy and what facilities will be required in a twenty year timeframe. We show that spatial resolution to match that of observatories operating in the optical and mid-infrared and the radio will be a necessity. Moreover this high spatial resolution must be combined with high spectral and photometric sensitivity to provide the data required to further our understanding of planetary formation mechanisms, the history of star formation through cosmic time and the feedback between active galactic nuclei and their host galaxies in controlling star formation. We review three possible conceptual mission scenarios and comment on the possibility of realising them in the coming deades.
The BRadykinesia Akinesia INcoordination (BRAIN) tap test: capturing the sequence effect

Background The BRAIN tap test is an online keyboard tapping task that has been previously validated to assess upper limb motor function in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Objectives To develop a new parameter which detects a sequence effect and to reliably distinguish between PD patients ‘on’ and ‘off’ medication. Alongside, we sought to validate a mobile version of the test for use on smartphones and tablet devices. Methods BRAIN test scores in 61 patients with PD and 93 healthy controls were compared. A range of established parameters captured speed and accuracy of alternate taps. The new VS (Velocity Score) recorded the inter-tap speed. Decrement in the VS was used as a marker for the sequence effect. In the validation phase, 19 PD patients and 19 controls were tested using multiple types of hardware platforms including smart devices. Results Quantified slopes from the VS demonstrated bradykinesia (sequence effect) in PD patients (slope cut-off −0.002) with sensitivity of 58% and specificity of 81% (discovery phase of the study) and sensitivity of 65% and specificity of 88% (validation phase). All BRAIN test parameters differentiated between ‘on’ medication and ‘off’ medication states in PD. Most BRAIN tap test parameters had high test-retest reliability values (ICC>0.75). Differentiation between PD patients and controls was possible on all hardware versions of the test. Conclusion The BRAIN tap test is a simple, user-friendly and free-to-use tool for assessment of upper limb motor dysfunction in PD, which now includes a measure of bradykinesia.
The Joint Effects of Bisphenols and Iodine Exposure on Thyroid during Pregnancy

The aim of this research was to study the combined effects of bisphenols and iodine exposure on the thyroid gland during pregnancy. We included 162 pregnant women from a cohort established in Shanghai. Urinary concentrations of bisphenol A, bisphenol B(BPB), bisphenol C(BPC), bisphenol F, bisphenol S, and bisphenol AF(BPAF) were examined. Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) and quantile g-computation models were used. The geometric means of BPA, BPB, BPC, BPF, BPS, BPAF, and ΣBPs levels in urine were 3.03, 0.24, 2.66, 0.36, 0.26, 0.72, and 7.55 μg/g creatinine, respectively. We observed a positive trend in the cumulative effects of BPs and iodine on serum triiodothyronine (FT3) and free thyroxine (FT4), as well as a U-shaped dose–response relationship between BPs and the probability of occurrence of thyroperoxidase autoantibody positivity in women with low urinary iodine concentration. In addition, a synergistic effect on the probability of occurrence of thyroid autoantibody positivity was observed between BPF and BPB, as well as between BPC and BPAF in this study. There were adverse health effects on the thyroid after co-exposure to BPs and iodine. Even if pregnant women were exposed to lower levels of BPs, women with iodine deficiency remained vulnerable to thyroid autoimmune disease.
A Novel Unsupervised Approach for Cross-Lingual Word Alignment in Low Isomorphic Embedding Spaces

Cross-lingual word alignment is the task for word translation between monolingual word embedding spaces of two different languages. Recent work is mostly based on supervised approaches, while their success relies on bilingual seed dictionaries derived from aligned data. The unsupervised adversarial approaches, which utilize generative adversarial networks (GANs) to map the global monolingual space to another space, can eliminate the need for aligned data. However, most GAN-based unsupervised approaches ignore the issues of mode collapse and gradient disappearance in GANs, leading to a training failure to converge. In addition, these approaches often fail to account for the low isomorphism between language pairs, which prevents capturing the non-linear relationship contained in cross-lingual embedding spaces. To address these issues, we propose a novel unsupervised unified framework with an adaptive training objective for the GANs' improvement (ATOGAN) and a local mapping (LM) strategy for exploring the non-linear relationship. We present ATOGAN to learn bi-directional global mapping using unaligned word embeddings, which integrates particle swarm optimization (PSO) to adaptively select the training objective for preventing mode collapse and gradient disappearance. Then, we design an LM strategy based on the guidance of dictionaries generated by trained ATOGAN to alleviate reliance on isomorphism assumption for purely linear mapping. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method for cross-lingual word alignment in low isomorphic embedding spaces (distant language pairs).
THE PERCEPTION OF BRAZILIANS ON THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGs) AND THE LOW-CARBON ECONOMY

Objective: The objective of this study is to analyze the significance of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the context of the Low Carbon Economy (LCE) through a quantitative and descriptive approach. The research aims to identify and understand the relationships between the 17 SDGs and their impact on the promotion of sustainable development, particularly in mitigating climate change-related issues. Method: The research employed a quantitative and descriptive methodology, utilizing a survey conducted in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Brazil. The survey was designed to gather data from respondents representing civil society, government, and companies in the region. Participants were asked to evaluate the importance and influence of each of the 17 SDGs on the Low Carbon Economy. Results: The research findings reveal substantial relationships between the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Low Carbon Economy (LCE), as perceived by the respondents. The results indicate that all SDGs play a significant role in influencing the LCE. These findings emphasize the interconnectedness of sustainable development goals and their potential to drive the transition to a Low Carbon Economy. Conclusions: The study highlights the crucial role of Sustainable Development Goals in promoting a Low Carbon Economy. By fostering the use of renewable energy sources and sustainable practices, the LCE offers a solution to reduce environmental damage and work towards achieving sustainable development. The 2030 Agenda, comprising the 17 SDGs, serves as a global framework that necessitates collaborative efforts from civil society, governments, and businesses in the 193 signatory countries to address pressing global challenges, especially those related to climate change.
Distributed active vibration control of elastic beams

In the past two decades there have been significant research efforts on the topic of distributed controller synthesis. Distributed control is a tractable alternative to centralized control and fully decentralized control. Centralized control structure is characterized with a single control unit which collects all available measurements and commands all the actuators. In fully decentralized control, there is a set of independent local controllers, with no mutual coordination between the controllers. In contrast to the above, distributed control structure incorporates mutual communication and coordination between the local controllers, but there does not exists a single control unit which has all the information. While centralized control theory has reached its maturity in the case of linear time invariant (LTI) systems and decentralized control has in general shown to be intractable [1], certain classes of optimal distributed control problems have recently been shown to be both computationally tractable, scalable and with efficiency comparable to centralized solutions. In parallel with development of suitable theory, recent advances in communication, sensing and actuation technology has enabled design and real life use of smart structures. In particular, piezoelectric elements can be mounted on flexible structural elements (e.g., beams, plates) and, acting as both sensors and actuators, actively change dynamical behaviour of the structure. Typical application is damping of undesired vibrations. In this research we formulate active vibration control of a smart structure with piezoelectric elements as distributed optimal control problem. While limiting our focus on elastic beams, the work is summarized as follows. • Development and presentation of a structured model representing system’s dynamics, which is suitable for synthesis of a distributed controller. The model includes behaviour of piezoelectric elements and is a finite dimensional LTI system obtained via finite element method. • Optimal control problem formulation in terms of minimization of H∞ norm of a closed loop system, with external forces acting on a beam as disturbances and deflections as controlled outputs to be minimized. The controller synthesis has been based on results presented in [2]. • Simulation results of the closed loop behaviour, together with comparison relative to optimal centralized control solution, are presented. Acknowledgment: This work has been fully supported by Croatian Science Foundation under the project number 9354, Control of Spatially Distributed Systems.
Application of Discrete Wavelet Transformation to Defect Detection in Truss Structures with Rigidly Connected Bars

The structures examined in this paper are bridge-type trusses that were previously used as railway viaduct support structures. The considered trusses are modelled as 2D and 3D structures. The lower chord bar of the considered structure can be loaded by external forces located outside the rigid nodes (the points where truss bars are connected). Hence, in the numerical experiment in terms of 2D approach, the truss structure consists of the set of two-node beam finite elements with three degrees of freedom per node and exact shape functions. According to 3D approach, the truss is described as the set of two-node beam elements with six degrees of freedom per node. Axial and twisting displacements of the element are described by linear shape functions and the bending is described by polynomials of the third order corresponding to Euler-Bernoulli beam fields of deformation. The defect (damage) in truss structure is modelled as the local stiffness reduction of one or two lower chord bars. The analysis of a structural response is carried out using the discrete wavelet transformation (DWT). The aim if this work is to detect the localization of damage provided that it exists in the considered structure and to examine whether the DWT will prove to be the effective tool to defect detection. It is expected that the disturbance of the response signal will appear in the vicinity of the point where the defect exists. The family of Daubechies 4 wavelet is implemented. Numerical investigation is executed based on signal analysis of structural static response. Some numerical examples are presented.
Effect of finite beam size on the spatial and spectral response of a Fabry-Perot interferometer

Fabry-Perot (F-P) interferometers are commonly studied in undergraduate textbooks. Their spectral transmittance profiles are usually analyzed assuming that a plane wave is incident on the interferometer. This wave undergoes multiple reflections on the interferometer surfaces, and the interference of all these waves leads to the typical resonance structure of the spectral transmittance profile described by the Airy formula. However Fabry-Perot interferometers are commonly used in conjunction with laser beams, for example when they are used as intracavity-wavelength and longitudinal mode-selecting etalons. Although it is evident that the finite size of the beam will produce a deterioration of the filtering characteristics of the F-P interferometer, this effect is not usually analyzed in undergraduate textbooks. The aim of this work is to show students how the finite size of the incident beam influences the spatial and spectral response of the F-P interferometer. In particular it will be shown that the spectral response of the F-P interferometer can significantly differ from that predicted by the Airy formula. The theoretical approach is based on a plane-wave angular spectrum representation of the incident, transmitted, and reflected beams. The incident beam is assumed to be gaussian and the cases of normal and oblique incidence are discussed.
Investigation on the Mystery of the Qur’an's Disjointed Letters

Disjointed letters, also called disconnected, opening, or muqattaat letters, (in Arabic: ةعطقلما فورحلا) are characters that are put in the beginning of some chapters of the holy Qur’an, and which are pronounced discontinuously, such as acronyms or abbreviations. For a long time, there has been no clear explanation of their significance or at least no unanimous interpretation. In fact, different attempts to explain them were done, but no clear proofs of their interpretations were presented. This situation prompted us to make a text mining investigation in order to see if it is possible to find any explanation for this mysterious enigma. Hence, seven different approaches of text analysis are made: size based analysis, character frequency based analysis, lexical analysis, philosophical analysis, character N-gram based analysis, Qur’an based analysis and arithmetic analysis. The different quoted investigations did not give a clear explanation of the enigma, but they led to several interesting conclusions.
A Sustainable Approach for the Valorization of Underutilized Date Fruits

Secondary varieties of date fruits are often discarded because they do not have commercial value. However, their phytochemicals are very similar to those of the primary ones and therefore, they can be valorized as a source of compounds of interest, mainly phenols and dietary fiber. Their chemical composition changes with ripening, so their characterization throughout this process is of great significance. Date fruit samples were harvested at Khalal, Rutab, and Tamer stages, and a mixture of fruits from ornamental date trees was also analyzed. Aqueous and ethanolic extracts were studied for their phenolic composition. In aqueous extracts, phenols decreased with ripening, while in the ethanolic ones having higher phenolic content. Chelidonic acid, a γ-pyrone, was the major compound found in all extracts, but in the ethanolic ones, flavonoids were also present in similar amounts. After purification by adsorption chromatography, all extracts were assayed for their antimicrobial activity. Those from the Tamer stage showed the highest activity, especially against Gram-positive bacteria. The fibrous residues after aqueous and ethanolic extractions were also characterized. Their chemical composition suggested that they can be considered as a good source of prebiotic arabinoxylans and antioxidant fiber, whose antiradical activity correlated with their phenolic content. Date fruits from secondary varieties are promising as a worthwhile starting point for obtaining new value-added products.