Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Complexities of Using Digital Social Networks in Teaching and Learning

The aim of this investigation was to gain a broad sense of the implementation of digital social networks for teaching and learning by instructors in higher education. We were particularly interested in examples of instructors' use of digital social networks in their courses, the benefits and challenges of specific platforms for teaching and learning purposes, and the perceived role of digital social networks in teaching and learning during the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants in this investigation (n=336) were faculty and graduate students. Data was collected via an electronic questionnaire with closed and open-ended questions using Qualtrics. The quantitative analysis included descriptive statistics. The data analysis also included qualitative data analysis of textual responses provided to various questionnaire items. The results illustrate the ways in which instructors successfully apply or integrate digital social networks into teaching and learning, broadly and with specific digital social networks. Yet, the findings also highlight several complexities that instructors have experienced when considering digital social networks in their teaching practices such as data privacy issues, misinformation, user interface issues, and the willingness of students to use less trendy digital networks, among other challenges.
Isolation of High-Purity Betanin from Red Beet and Elucidation of Its Antioxidant Activity against Peroxynitrite: An in vitro Study

Reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) are damaging for many biomolecules. Peroxynitrite (ONOO−) is the most toxic molecular species among RNS. Betalains are known to possess ONOO− scavenging ability. Betanin, a betalain isolated from red beet, possesses antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antitumor activities; however, detailed studies of this isolated pigment have not been conducted, owing to its instability under physiological conditions. This study aimed to isolate highly purified betanin from red beetroots using an improved purification method involving deproteinization and citric acid co-precipitation and evaluated its antioxidant activities. The purified betanin thus obtained had a significantly lower isobetanin content than the commercially available betanin dyes. The antioxidant activity of purified betanin examined in the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl assay, the direct ONOO− reaction, ONOO−-dependent DNA damage, and lipid peroxidation reactions revealed that betanin possessed higher antioxidant capacity than general antioxidants such as ascorbic acid and quercetin. Furthermore, betanin showed indirect and direct cytoprotective effects against H2O2 and ONOO− cytotoxicity, respectively, in cultured mouse fibroblasts. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate the cytoprotective effects of betanin against ONOO− toxicity. The highly purified betanin obtained in this study will aid in further exploring its physiological functions.
Mechanical analysis of sisal fiber/bio-epoxy/fly-ash reinforced hybrid composites

This research investigates the mechanical characteristics of a novel hybrid composite material, which combines bio-epoxy reinforced with sisal fiber and integrated with fly ash nano-fillers. The study focuses on exploiting the environmentally friendly attributes of natural fiber composites and reducing reliance on synthetic materials. In this study, sisal fiber serves as the reinforcement, and a bio-epoxy matrix is utilized to create the composite. To further enhance its properties, fly ash, a byproduct of coal-fired power plants, is incorporated as a nano-filler. The experimental findings reveal significant improvements in the mechanical properties of the composite due to the inclusion of fly ash nano-fillers. The tensile strength shows a notable enhancement of up to 6.3%, flexural strength experiences an impressive increase of 68%, impact strength demonstrates a remarkable boost of 28%, and scratch hardness elevates by 17% which were all achieved at 20% fiber weight fraction and 5% fly ash weight fraction. The considerable potential of this hybrid sisal fiber reinforced bio-epoxy composite, integrated with fly ash nano-fillers, as an eco-friendly alternative to traditional synthetic composites is evident from these results. Such enhancements make the composite suitable for a wide range of engineering applications, including the manufacturing of automotive components, construction materials, and consumer goods. By adopting this bio-composite, industries can actively contribute to sustainable practices while maintaining optimal performance in their products. This research offers valuable insights into a promising solution for eco-conscious engineering applications, with both quantitative and qualitative evidence demonstrating the achievement of superior mechanical properties in this innovative hybrid material.
Similarity Measure of Plithogenic Cubic Vague Sets: Examples and Possibilities

The crisp, fuzzy, intuitionistic fuzzy, and neutrosophic sets are the extension of the plithogenic set, in which elements are characterized by the number of attributes and each attribute can assume many values. To achieve more accuracy and precise exclusion, a contradiction or dissimilarity degree is specified between each attribute and the values of the dominating attribute. A plithogenic cubic vague set is a combination of a plithogenic cubic set and a vague set. The key tool for resolving problems with pattern recognition and clustering analysis is the similarity measure. In this research, we characterize and investigate the similarities between two Plithogenic Cubic Vague sets (PCVSs) for (z≡F), (z≡IF) and (z≡N). Also, examples are given to examine similarities in the pattern recognition application problems.
Prediction of Water Quality Parameters Using An Artificial Neural Networks Model

Land use and cover (LULC) play crucial roles in driving water quantity and quality processes in watersheds. Often changes in LULC have direct effect on water quality of downstream waters. Therefore, developing relationships between LULC and water quality parameters is essential for the evaluation of surface water resources should the LULC change. In this paper we present a methodology based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) to predict water quality parameters in ungauged basins; Chlorine (Cl), Sulfate (SO4), Sodium (Na), Potassium (K), Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC). The model relies on LULC percentages, temperature, and flow discharge as inputs. The approach is tested on 18 watersheds in west Georgia varying in size from 296 to 2659 ha. Total number of data for each parameter is 801 ranging from 15 to 54 from 18 watersheds. Out of 18 watersheds, 12 were selected for training, 3 for validation and 3 for testing the ANNs model. Each set of validation and testing data consists of 1 forested, 1 pastoral, and 1 urban watershed while training data consist of 7 forested, 3 pastoral, and 2 urban watersheds. The model performance was measured with coefficient of determination (R 2 ), Nash- Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (E), and bias ratio (RB). The model developed using the training data set has successfully predicted the water quality parameters in the independent testing watersheds. The coefficient of determination (R 2 ) in the test watersheds ranged from 0.64 to 0.99 while E ranged from 0.54 to 0.98. Results from this study indicates that if water quality and LULC data are available from multiple watersheds in an area with relatively similar physiographic properties, then one can successfully predict the impact of LULC changes on water quality in any watershed within the same area.
Linkages between Regional Trends in Monthly Maximum Flows and Selected Climatic Variables

The potential impact of climate change on the hydrologic regime is a crucial question for water resources management. This study explores regional trends in monthly maximum flows and their possible linkages to trends in selected climatic variables in a hydroclimatologically homogeneous region. Trends are identified using the Mann-Kendall nonparametric test, with a modification for autocorrelated data. The regional significance of trends identified at the local scale is evaluated by means of a regional bootstrap algorithm. A trend significance index that accounts for both local and regional significance levels is proposed as a convenient tool for quantification and visual comparison of different trend results. The index is also used for identifying potential linkages between trends in hydroclimatic records. The plausibility of identified linkages is explored by means of cross-correlation analysis applied on residuals that are obtained from the original records after subtracting all serially dependent components. An uncertainty in regional trend analysis resulting from different observation periods is presented and quantified by calculating trend significance indices for several scenarios of different locations and lengths of a common observation period shifted on a timescale. The results show significant changes in the intraannual flood regime in the case study area of southern British Columbia. A regionally, strongly significant increase in the spring air temperature shifts the timing of the snowmelt process, resulting in a significant increase in early spring maximum flows and a significant decrease in late spring maximum flows. An autumn decrease in flows is related to increasing air temperature in the preceding summer months, which tends to dry out catchments more intensively, and is also related to precipitation activity in the previous months. The regional trend results are highly sensitive to the location and length of a given regional observation period on a timescale. Possible sources of the uncertainty in a low frequency climatic variability such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation are discussed.
Triassic sandstone petrology of Tasmania: evidence for a Tasmania-Transantarctic basin

Similar fluvial sequences of Triassic age occur in Tasmania and the Transantarctic Mountains of Victoria Land. The Tasmanian reference section at Poatina consists of Lower Triassic quartzose fluvial sandstones overlain by Middle and Upper Triassic volcaniclastic fluvial sandstones and shale containing coal. Similar, but less wel1-exposed sequences, occur in many places in Tasmania and in southern Victoria Land. The hypothetical Tasmania-Transantarctic basin was similar in scale, configuration, and history to the Sydney foreland basin. Palaeocurrent data suggest that streams flowed along the axis of the basin from Antarctica to Tasmania. Lower Triassic sandstones were deposited by braided streams, but Middle and Upper Triassic stream deposits change from braided to meandering downstream towanl Tasmania. Quartzose sandstones in the Lower Triassic were derived from northwestern Tasmania and the East Antarctic craton. The source of volcaniclastic sandstones in the Middle and Opper Triassic was a calcalkaline volcanic arc along the palaeo-Pacific margin.
Study of the Interface between Wild Bird Populations and Poultry and Their Potential Role in the Spread of Avian Influenza

Water birds play a crucial role in disseminating and amplifying avian influenza viruses (AIVs) in the environment. However, they may have limited interactions with domestic facilities, raising the hypothesis that other wild birds may play the bridging role in introducing AIVs into poultry. An ornithocoenosis study, based on census-transect and camera-trapping methods, was conducted in 2019 in ten poultry premises in northeast Italy to characterize the bird communities and envisage the species that might act as bridge hosts for AIVs. The data collected were explored through a series of multivariate analyses (correspondence analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling), and biodiversity indices (observed and estimated richness, Shannon entropy and Pielou’s evenness). The analyses revealed a high level of complexity in the ornithic population, with 147 censused species, and significant qualitative and quantitative differences in wild bird species composition, both in space and in time. Among these, only a few were observed in close proximity to the farm premises (i.e., Magpies, Blackbirds, Cattle Egrets, Pheasants, Eurasian Collared Doves, and Wood Pigeons), thus suggesting their potential role in spilling over AIVs to poultry; contrarily, waterfowls appeared to be scarcely inclined to close visits, especially during autumn and winter seasons. These findings stress the importance of ongoing research on the wild–domestic bird interface, advocating for a wider range of species to be considered in AIVs surveillance and prevention programs.
Quantitative assessment and prediction of drought under climate change impact in Birjand region, Iran

Drought as a natural hazard causes high amount of damages to farmers, government and different people in societies. Protecting against this phenomena can lead to decline the damage. In order to reach this aim, in the present study, A1 emission scenario, ECHO-G model and LARS-weather generator (LARS-WG) statistical downscaling method are used for downscaling parameters of minimum and maximum temperature and rainfall. Using two drought indices, standardised precipitation index (SPI) and reconnaissance drought index (RDI), the uncertainty of generated data is computed to assess the model abilities. The drought indices were estimated and assessed in different scales. Then, the frequency analyses of maximum and average characteristics of drought severity in different return periods were performed. The results indicated that SPI and RDI have similar trends in recognising classified range of drought severity. Of course, RDI index identified and assessed drought with high intensity. The frequency analysis in this station showed that the basin had strong sensitivity to these characteristics in different return periods.
Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Cultivar Yield and Quality Affected by Irrigation and Fertilization—From Field to Chip Bag

Potatoes are essential for chip production, requiring high quality for processors and high yields for farmers. This two-year study was carried out for the purpose of investigating the influence of irrigation, fertilization, and cultivar on potato yield and tuber and chip quality. Field experiments were conducted in Sombor, Serbia, using a split-split plot design with three replications. Whole-plot treatments involved two irrigation schemes: sprinkler irrigation (SI) used as standard (control) and drip irrigation (DI). Subplot treatments included nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) fertilization in four different combinations: 64 kg N/ha and 64 kg K/ha (N64K64) as control; 77 kg N/ha and 110 kg K/ha (N77K110); 90 kg N/ha and 156 kg K/ha (N90K156); and 103 kg N/ha and 202 kg K/ha (N103K202). Sub-subplots comprised three cultivars: VR-808; Pirol; and Brooke. The VR-808 cultivar consistently yielded the highest amount (25.6 and 24.9 t/ha) under both irrigation methods. DI raised tuber flesh temperature compared to SI. The N90K156 × Pirol interaction exhibited the highest number of tubers with defects, while N90K156 × VR-808 had the fewest. Under DI, the VR-808 cultivar produced chips with the highest total defects, whereas Brooke had the lowest. The postfrying palm oil temperature was the highest for N64N64 × Brooke and the lowest for N110K220 × Pirol. This study underscores the role of irrigation, fertilization, and cultivar in achieving high yields and high chip quality, providing valuable insights into the whole process, from field to chip bag.
Development of an HPLC-MS/MS Method for Chiral Separation and Quantitation of (R)- and (S)-Salbutamol and Their Sulfoconjugated Metabolites in Urine to Investigate Stereoselective Sulfonation

The aim of this study was to develop and optimize a chiral HPLC-MS/MS method for quantitative analysis of (R)-/(S)-salbutamol and (R)-/(S)-salbutamol-4′-O-sulfate in human urine to allow for bioanalytical quantitation of the targeted analytes and investigations of stereoselectivity in the sulfonation pathway of human phase Ⅱ metabolism. For analytical method development, a systematic screening of columns and mobile phases to develop a separation via enantiomerically selective high performance liquid chromatography was performed. Electrospray ionization settings were optimized via multiple-step screening and a full factorial design-of-experiment. Both approaches were performed matrix-assisted and the predicted values were compared. The full factorial design was superior in terms of prediction power and knowledge generation. Performing a longitudinal excretion study in one healthy volunteer allowed for the calculation of excretion rates for all four targeted analytes. For this proof-of-concept, either racemic salbutamol or enantiopure levosalbutamol was administered perorally or via inhalation, respectively. A strong preference for sulfonation of (R)-salbutamol for inhalation and peroral application was found in in vivo experiments. In previous studies phenol sulfotransferase 1A3 was described to be mainly responsible for salbutamol sulfonation in humans. Thus, in vitro and in silico investigations of the stereoselectivity of sulfotransferase 1A3 complemented the study and confirmed these findings.
Impact of Mechanical Refining Conditions on the Energy Consumption, Enzymatic Digestibility, and Economics of Sugar Production from Corn Stover

Reducing the energy intensity of the mechanical refining-based pretreatment process for producing lignocellulosic-derived sugars without significantly affecting enzymatic hydrolysis sugar yields is challenging. This work investigated the impact of different refining conditions on energy consumption, enzymatic sugar yields, minimum sugar selling price, and environmental impacts for the conversion of corn stover to sugars. A positive proportionate correlation between specific energy consumption and enzymatic sugar yields was observed when changing the refiner plate gap was changed, which agrees with other reported works. However, the correlation between specific energy consumption and enzymatic sugar yields is not straightforward when the rotational speed and refiner plate design change. We observed that, for a corn stover material with low consistency disc refining, specific energy consumption decreased by >50% by decreasing the rotation speed without affecting enzymatic sugar yields. By changing refiner plate designs, a 45% reduction in specific energy consumption could be achieved without affecting the glucose yield, albeit still with a detrimental impact on the xylose yield. Our high-fidelity disc refining model was able to predict the energy consumption for different refiner plate geometry designs and operating conditions. Techno-economic and life-cycle analyses indicate that the plate design and operating conditions have a direct impact on overall process power consumption and sugar yields, with sugar yields strongly dictating the minimum sugar selling price, the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions, and fossil energy consumption. To minimize the environmental impact and maximize process economics, optimization of the mechanical refining process should target maintaining high sugar yields, while lowering refining energy consumption.
Knotted1-like Genes Are Strongly Expressed in Differentiated Cell Types in Sun¯ower 1

Knotted1-like genes constitute a family of genes whose products are transcription factors involved in several aspects of plant development. In most species, these genes are expressed primarily in meristematic cells and are switched off as leaves develop. In this paper, the expression patterns of three kn1-like genes from sun¯ower (Helianthus annuus L.) are described. Northern blot experiments indicated that these genes are expressed at different levels in several organs of the plant, including ¯owers, leaves, stems, roots, and embryos. Notably, one of these genes, named HAKN1, was also highly expressed in leaves and roots. Using in situ hybridi-zation, expression was detected in parenchymatic cells from leaf veins, petiole and lamina, and also in stem and root. Enhanced expression in phloem was also evident in both leaves and stem. Another, HAKN2, showed preferential expression in stem, speci®cally in fascicular and interfascicular cambium and phloem. In ¯owers, both genes are expressed throughout in¯orescence and ¯oral meristems and in developing organ primordia. Strong expression of HAKN1 in developing involucral bracts was also observed. The results show the existence of some differencies in expression patterns of kn1-like genes in sun¯ower with respect to other plants. It is proposed that cell-and species-speci®c factors are involved in determining the developmental responses of plant cells to the expression of kn1-like genes.
Change detection for multi-polarization multi-pass SAR (Invited Paper)

This paper develops a unified mathematical theory of change detection for the multi-polarization, multi-pass synthetic aperture radar (SAR) change detection problem. A generalized likelihood ratio test (glrt) for optimum processing of the measured data is developed; an evaluation of the performance of the optimum glrt is also given in the form of ROC curves (PD versus PFA), quantifying the benefits of multi-polarization, multi-pass SAR change detection.
Antiprotozoal effect of saponins in the rumen can be enhanced by 1 chemical modifications in their structure 2 3

22 23 The antiprotozoal effect of saponins is transitory, as when saponins are deglycosylated to the 24 sapogenin by rumen microorganisms they become inactive. We postulated that the 25 substitution of the sugar moiety of the saponin with small polar residues would produce 26 sapogen-like analogues which might be resistant to degradation in the rumen as they would 27 not be enzymatically cleaved, allowing the antiprotozoal effect to persist over time. In this 28 study we used an acute assay based on the ability of protozoa to break down [C] leucine29 labelled Streptococcus bovis and a longer term assay based on protozoal motility over 24 h to 30 evaluate both the antiprotozoal effect and the stability of this effect with fifteen hederagenin 31 bis-esters esterified with two identical groups, and five cholesterol and cholic acid based 32 derivatives carrying one to three succinate residues. The acute antiprotozoal effect of 33 hederagenin derivatives was more pronounced than that of cholesterol and cholic acid 34 derivatives. Modifications in the structure of hederagenin, cholesterol, and cholic acid 35 derivatives resulted in compounds with different biological activities in terms of acute effect 36 and stability, although those which were highly toxic to protozoa were not always the most 37 stable over time. Most of the hederagenin bis-esters, and in particular hederagenin bis38 sucinate (TSB24), hederagenin bis-betainate dichloride (TSB37) and hederagenin bis-adipate 39 (TSB47) had a persistent effect against rumen protozoa in vitro, shifting the fermentation 40 pattern towards higher propionate and lower butyrate. These chemically modified triterpenes 41 could potentially be used in ruminant diets as an effective defaunation agent to, ultimately, 42 increase nitrogen utilization, decrease methane emissions, and enhance animal production. 43 Further trials in vivo or in long term rumen simulators are now needed to confirm the in vitro 44 observations presented. 45